Driving assistance apparatus and driving assistance method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9964950-B2
Application number	US-201514819941-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 6, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2014
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A driving assistance apparatus includes: a determination unit configured to determine, when a first junction and a second junction located ahead of the first junction exist on a travel road in an advancement direction of a vehicle, whether or not the first junction and the second junction satisfy a concurrent destination presentation condition on the basis of a distance between the first junction and the second junction; a presentation unit configured to present, when the first junction and the second junction are determined to satisfy the concurrent destination presentation condition, destination information ahead of the first junction and destination information ahead of the second junction to a driver of the vehicle; and a driving assistance unit configured to provide driving assistance to the vehicle in accordance with a destination selected by the driver on the basis of the presented destination information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driving assistance apparatus that provides driving assistance to cause a vehicle to travel along a travel road, the driving assistance apparatus comprising:
an electronic control unit; and
a driving assistance execution unit connected to the electronic control unit,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:
when a first junction and a second junction located ahead of the first junction exist on the travel road in an advancement direction of the vehicle, so that the first junction is closer to the vehicle than the second junction, determine whether or not the first junction and the second junction satisfy a concurrent destination presentation condition on the basis of a distance on the travel road between the first junction and the second junction;
when the first junction and the second junction are determined to satisfy the concurrent destination presentation condition, present destination information indicating at least one destination between the first junction and the second junction, and destination information indicating at least one destination ahead of the second function to a driver of the vehicle; and
when the first junction and the second junction are determined not to satisfy the concurrent destination presentation condition, the electronic control unit is configured to present the destination information between the first junction and the second junction and not to present the destination information ahead of the second junction; and
a setting unit configured to set a destination to which the vehicle travels according to a destination selected by the driver on the basis of the destination information presented to the driver, and
the driving assistance execution unit is configured to control the vehicle to travel along the travel road in accordance with the destination selected by the driver on the basis of the destination information presented to the driver by the electronic control unit,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the concurrent destination presentation condition is satisfied when the distance on the travel road between the first junction and the second junction is equal to or shorter than a determination threshold,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to set the determination threshold to be higher when a curve of the travel road having one of a curvature equal to or larger than a predetermined curvature and a radius of curvature equal to or smaller than a predetermined radius of curvature exists within a predetermined region ahead of the second junction than when the curve does not exist.

2. A driving assistance apparatus that provides driving assistance to cause a vehicle to travel along a travel road, the driving assistance apparatus comprising:
an electronic control unit; and
a driving assistance execution unit connected to the electronic control unit,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:
when a first junction and a second junction located ahead of the first junction exist on the travel road in an advancement direction of the vehicle, so that the first junction is closer to the vehicle than the second junction, determine whether or not the first junction and the second junction satisfy a concurrent destination presentation condition on the basis of a distance on the travel road between the first junction and the second junction;
when the first junction and the second junction are determined to satisfy the concurrent destination presentation condition, present destination information between the first junction and the second junction and destination information ahead of the second junction to a driver of the vehicle; and
when the first junction and the second junction are determined not to satisfy the concurrent destination presentation condition, the electronic control unit is configured to present the destination information between the first junction and the second junction and not to present the destination information ahead of the second junction, and

the driving assistance execution unit is configured to control the vehicle to travel along the travel road in accordance with a destination selected by the driver on the basis of the destination information presented to the driver by the electronic control unit,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine that the concurrent destination presentation condition is satisfied when the distance on the travel road between the first junction and the second junction is equal to or shorter than a determination threshold,
wherein the electronic control unit is configured to set the determination threshold to be higher when a possibility of a lane change of the travel road by the vehicle between the first junction and the second junction exists than when the possibility of the lane change does not exist.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takano Masaki

Classifications

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60K35/00

  Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles · CPC title

• B60K37/06

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60W2540/00

  Input parameters relating to occupants · CPC title

• G01C21/3626

  Details of the output of route guidance instructions (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title