Vehicle control device and vehicle control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018015923-A1
Application number	US-201615545268-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 20, 2016
Priority date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication date	Jan 18, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle control device mounted on the own vehicle and configured to control the own vehicle according to the position of another vehicle ahead of the own vehicle. The vehicle control device comprises an estimated course calculation means calculating an estimated course of the own vehicle; a setting means setting a parameter indicating whether the other vehicle is in the path of the own vehicle based on the relative position of the other vehicle with respect to the own vehicle in a lateral direction orthogonal to the estimated course of the own vehicle; a determination means determining whether the other vehicle is a leading vehicle in the path of the own vehicle based on the parameter; and a changing means changing the likelihood of being determined as the leading vehicle when the estimated course is a curve, based on the estimated course and the position of the other vehicle.

First claim

1 . A vehicle control device mounted on an own vehicle and configured to control the own vehicle according to the position of another vehicle ahead of the own vehicle, comprising:
an estimated course calculation means calculating an estimated course of the own vehicle; a setting means setting a parameter indicating whether the other vehicle is in the path of the own vehicle based on the relative position of the other vehicle with respect to the own vehicle in a lateral direction orthogonal to the estimated course of the own vehicle; a determination means determining whether the other vehicle is a leading vehicle in the path of the own vehicle based on the parameter; and a changing means changing the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by the determination means when the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means is a curve, based on the estimated course and the position of the other vehicle.

2 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means is a curve and the other vehicle is offset to the inside direction relative to the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle more likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

3 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means is a curve and the other vehicle is offset to the outside direction relative to the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle less likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

4 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the curvature of the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means gradually increases and the other vehicle is located inside the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle more likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

5 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the curvature of the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means gradually increases and the other vehicle is located outside the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle less likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

6 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the curvature of the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means gradually decreases and the other vehicle is located inside the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle less likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

7 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the curvature of the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation means gradually decreases and the other vehicle is located outside the estimated course, the changing means makes the other vehicle more likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

8 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the determination means compares the parameter with a certain threshold and determines whether the other vehicle is the leading vehicle based on the result of the comparison, and
the changing means changes the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by changing the threshold.

9 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the determination means compares the parameter with a certain threshold and determines whether the other vehicle is the leading vehicle based on the result of the comparison, and
the changing means changes the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by changing the parameter.

10 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the other vehicle has been made more likely to be determined as the leading vehicle, and the determination means continues to determine that the other vehicle is not the leading vehicle for a certain period of time, the changing means terminates the changing of making the other vehicle more likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

11 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein when the other vehicle has been made less likely to be determined as the leading vehicle, and the determination means continues to determine that the other vehicle is the leading vehicle for a certain period of time, the changing means terminates the changing of making the other vehicle less likely to be determined as the leading vehicle.

12 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the changing means changes the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by the determination means when the own vehicle and the other vehicle are getting close to each other.

13 . The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the changing means changes the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by the determination means when the distance between the own vehicle and the other vehicle is greater than a certain value.

14 . A vehicle control method mounted on an own vehicle and configured to control the own vehicle according to the position of another vehicle ahead of the own vehicle, comprising:
an estimated course calculation step of calculating an estimated course of the own vehicle; a setting step of setting a parameter indicating whether the other vehicle is in the path of the own vehicle based on the relative position of the other vehicle with respect to the own vehicle in a lateral direction orthogonal to the estimated course of the own vehicle; a determination step of determining whether the other vehicle is a leading vehicle in the path of the own vehicle based on the parameter set by the setting step; and a changing step of changing the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle by the determination step when the estimated course calculated by the estimated course calculation step is a curve, based on the estimated course and the position of the other vehicle.

15 . A vehicle control device mounted on an own vehicle and configured to control the own vehicle according to the position of another vehicle ahead of the own vehicle, comprising:
a memory; a processor communicable to the memory; and a set of computer-executable instructions stored on the memory that cause the processor to implement: calculating an estimated course of the own vehicle; setting a parameter indicating whether the other vehicle is in the path of the own vehicle based on the relative position of the other vehicle with respect to the own vehicle in a lateral direction orthogonal to the estimated course of the own vehicle; determining whether the other vehicle is a leading vehicle in the path of the own vehicle based on the parameter; and changing the likelihood of the other vehicle being determined as the leading vehicle when the estimated course is a curve, based on the estimated course and the position of the other vehicle.

Assignees

• Denso Corp
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kurumisawa Jin
• Tokimasa Mitsuhiro
• Katsukura Toyoharu
• Ogata Yoshihisa
• Nanami Takeshi
• Nishida Takashi

Classifications

• B60W2552/30

  Road curve radius · CPC title

• B60W50/0097

  Predicting future conditions · CPC title

• G08G1/163

  involving continuous checking · CPC title

• B60K2031/0016

  Identification of obstacles; Selection of a target vehicle · CPC title

• B60W2540/18

  Steering angle · CPC title