Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and non-transitory storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11891118-B2
Application number	US-202117472678-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2021
Priority date	Oct 29, 2020
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

Provided are a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and non-transitory storage medium. The vehicle control device includes: an acquisition part, acquiring a positional relationship between a vehicle and a lane; a control part, performing in-lane travel control that causes an actuator included in a steering device of the vehicle to output a force for causing the vehicle to travel in the lane within a range not exceeding an upper limit based on the positional relationship; and an upper limit adjustment part, adjusting the upper limit in a predetermined case, in which the upper limit adjustment part switches a change rate of the upper limit in response to a change of state of an operator that accepts a steering operation performed by an occupant of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control device comprising:
an acquisition part, acquiring a positional relationship between a vehicle and a lane;
a control part, performing in-lane travel control that causes an actuator comprised in a steering device of the vehicle to output a force for causing the vehicle to travel in the lane within a range not exceeding a lateral upper limit based on the positional relationship; and
a lateral upper limit adjustment part, adjusting the lateral upper limit in a predetermined case, wherein the lateral upper limit adjustment part switches a change rate of the lateral upper limit in response to a change of state of an operator that accepts a steering operation performed by an occupant of the vehicle,
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit from a specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, and
in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes a reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period before a timing at which the operator starts to be displaced regardless of the in-lane travel control to be greater than the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period after the timing.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit to be lower than a specified value in response to application of a force exceeding a threshold to the operator, and returns the lateral upper limit to the specified value in response to the force applied to the operator being mitigated to a predetermined degree.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit at which the lateral upper limit is reduced to be lower than the specified value to be greater than a rising speed of the lateral upper limit at which the lateral upper limit is returned to the specified value.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 3 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit from the specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit from the specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control.

6. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part acquires information indicating a gripping state of the operator by the occupant of the vehicle;
in response to the occupant not gripping the operator and the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period before a timing at which the operator starts to be displaced regardless of the in-lane travel control to be greater than the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period after the timing;
in response to the occupant gripping the operator and the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during the period after the timing to be greater than that when the occupant is not gripping the operator and the control part stops the in-lane travel control.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit to be lower than a specified value in response to application of a force exceeding a threshold to the operator, and reduces the lateral upper limit from the specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, wherein the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes a reduction speed of the lateral upper limit when the force exceeding the threshold is applied to the operator to be different from the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit when the control part stops the in-lane travel control.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the lateral upper limit adjustment part gradually reduces the lateral upper limit in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control when the vehicle is traveling on a curve, and causes a reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period after a timing at which centrifugal force due to the curve is commensurate with the lateral upper limit to be less than that during a period before the timing.

9. A vehicle control method comprising:
by a vehicle control device:
acquiring a positional relationship between a vehicle and a lane;
performing in-lane travel control that causes an actuator comprised in a steering device of the vehicle to output a force for causing the vehicle to travel in the lane within a range not exceeding a lateral upper limit based on the positional relationship;
adjusting the lateral upper limit in a predetermined case; and

switching a change rate of the lateral upper limit in response to a change of state of an operator that accepts a steering operation performed by an occupant of the vehicle,
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit from a specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, and
in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes a reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period before a timing at which the operator starts to be displaced regardless of the in-lane travel control to be greater than the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period after the timing.

10. A non-transitory storage medium, storing a program causing a processor of a vehicle control device to execute:
acquiring a positional relationship between a vehicle and a lane;
performing in-lane travel control that causes an actuator comprised in a steering device of the vehicle to output a force for causing the vehicle to travel in the lane within a range not exceeding a lateral upper limit based on the positional relationship;
adjusting the lateral upper limit in a predetermined case; and
switching a change rate of the lateral upper limit in response to a change of state of an operator that accepts a steering operation performed by an occupant of the vehicle,
the lateral upper limit adjustment part reduces the lateral upper limit from a specified value toward zero in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, and
in response to the control part stopping the in-lane travel control, the lateral upper limit adjustment part causes a reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period before a timing at which the operator starts to be displaced regardless of the in-lane travel control to be greater than the reduction speed of the lateral upper limit during a period after the timing.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Oniwa Yoshihiro

Classifications

• B62D15/025 Primary

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60W30/12 Primary

  Lane keeping · CPC title

• B60W10/20

  including control of steering systems · CPC title

• B62D6/00

  Arrangements for automatically controlling steering depending on driving conditions sensed and responded to, e.g. control circuits (means for initiating a change in direction B62D1/00; steering valves B62D5/06; combined with means for inclining the vehicle body or wheels on bends B62D9/00) · CPC title

• B60W60/001

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title