Vehicle control apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048699-B2
Application number	US-201615154023-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2016
Priority date	May 15, 2015
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus includes: a storage apparatus configured to store a steering modification point of a vehicle and a vehicle speed target point of the vehicle that are associated with map information; and an electronic control unit configured to: detect a position of the vehicle; detect a travel direction of the vehicle; calculate a lane travel distance, the position of the vehicle, and the travel direction of the vehicle; generate, lane travel map data, a target direction of the vehicle, and a target vehicle speed of the vehicle, on the basis of the map information, the steering modification point, the vehicle speed target point, the position of the vehicle, and the travel direction of the vehicle; and output a control signal to control the vehicle on the basis of the position of the vehicle, the lane travel distance of the vehicle, and the lane travel map data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a storage apparatus configured to store a steering modification point of a vehicle and a vehicle speed target point of the vehicle that are associated with map information; and
an electronic control unit configured to:
detect a position of the vehicle;
detect a travel direction of the vehicle;
calculate a lane travel distance that is a distance traveled by the vehicle along a lane from a lane entrance position in which the vehicle enters the lane, the lane being defined as a strip of a road between two intersections, such that a plurality of the lanes forms a route that extends from a current location to a destination, on the basis of the map information, the position of the vehicle, and the travel direction of the vehicle;
generate, for each lane, lane travel map data including a target position of the vehicle, a target direction of the vehicle, and a target vehicle speed of the vehicle, the target position, target direction, and target vehicle speed corresponding to the lane travel distance, on the basis of the map information, the steering modification point, the vehicle speed target point, the position of the vehicle, and the travel direction of the vehicle; and
output a control signal to control the vehicle on the basis of the position of the vehicle, the lane travel distance of the vehicle, and the lane travel map data.

2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the storage apparatus is configured to store, in association with the map information, target information relating to a landmark target located in a fixed position relative to the lane, and
the electronic control unit is configured to:
detect a landmark target in front of or behind the vehicle,
detect a distance from the vehicle to the landmark target, and
correct the position of the vehicle on the basis of the distance from the vehicle to the landmark target.

3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the electronic control unit is configured to correct the lane travel distance of the vehicle on the basis of the distance from the vehicle to the landmark target.

4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the steering modification point includes a curvature of radius and an angle of a turn.

5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle target speed point includes a speed of the vehicle at the target position of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd
• Univ Tokyo
• National Univ Corporation Tokyo Univ Of Agriculture And Technology

Inventors

• Inoue Hideo
• Mio Masahiro
• Okuwa Masayuki
• Shimizu Tsukasa
• Kamata Minoru
• Ito Takuma
• Raksincharoensak Pongsathorn
• Nagai Masao

Classifications

• G01C21/3644

  Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects · CPC title

• G01C3/08

  Use of electric radiation detectors · CPC title

• B60W30/00

  Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units · CPC title

• G05D1/0246

  using a video camera in combination with image processing means · CPC title

• G05D1/0278 Primary

  using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS · CPC title