Running control apparatus and method

Claim 2

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein the braking system actuates the brake to retard rotation of the wheel of the vehicle if a degree of a necessity to decelerate the vehicle, which is determined based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, is higher than a preset degree.

Claim 3

A running control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control system determines whether the object detected in the preset area is the preceding vehicle.

Claim 4

A running control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control system determines that the object detected in the preset area is the preceeding vehicle by: determining whether the object detected in the preset area is in a moving state or a stationary state, and determining whether the object is at least one of a vehicle running on an opposite lane and a vehicle passing an intersection.

Claim 5

A running control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the control system determines that the detected object is a vehicle when the detected object has a size larger than a preset size, and determines that the detected object is not the vehicle when the detected object has a size smaller than the preset size.

Claim 6

A running control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control system determines that the detected object is a vehicle when the detected object has a size larger than a preset size, and determines that the detected object is not the vehicle when the detected object has a size smaller than the preset size.

Claim 7

A running control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an object detector which detects an object in the preset area in front of the vehicle.

Claim 8

A running control apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising an actual deceleration detector which detects an actual deceleration of the vehicle, wherein the braking system actuates the brake if a deceleration deviation-related amount is equal to or greater than a preset deviation-related amount, the deceleration deviation-related amount being related to a value obtained by subtracting the detected actual deceleration from a target deceleration determined based on a desired relative positional relationship and an actual relative positional relationship detected by the object detector.

Claim 9

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative postional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein if the relative positional relationship indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, the braking system controls at least one of a driving device that supplies power to drive the vehicle and a power transmitting device that is disposed between the driving device and the wheel of the vehicle such that the vehicle is decelerated, prior to actuation of the brake.

Claim 10

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative postional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, wherein if the relative positional relationship indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, the braking system controls at least one of a driving device that supplies power to drive the vehicle and a power transmitting device that is disposed between the driving device and the wheel of the vehicle such that the vehicle is decelerated, prior to actuation of the brake.

Claim 11

A running control apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the braking system controls at least one of the driving device and the power transmitting device if the relative positional relationship meets a preset controlling condition, and the braking system actuautes the brake if the relative positional relationship meets a brake actuating condition.

Claim 12

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, further comprising: a brake controller which is included in the braking system, and which actuates the brake and controls a brake operation state; the control system permits or prohibits actuation of the brake based on at least one of a state of the brake controller and a running state of a vehicle, and an alarm which produces an alarm signal when actuation of the brake is prohibited by the control system.

Claim 13

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the preset area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which actuates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability, further comprising: a brake controller which is included in the braking system, and which actuates the brake and controls a brake operation state; the control system permits or prohibits actuation of the brake based on at least one of a state of the brake controller and a running state of a vehicle, and an alarm which produces an alarm signal when actuation of the brake is prohibited by the control system.

Claim 14

A running control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the braking system comprises a brake controller which controls an operation state of the brake, and the brake controller comprises a cruise control portion which controls an operation state of the brake in accordance with a necessity to decelerate the vehicle.

Claim 15

A running control apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the brake controller also comprises an antilock control portion which controls the brake such that in a case where the brake is in actuated state and where a value indicating a slip state of the wheel that is in a locked state is larger than a preset value even when a brake operating member is not operated by a vehicle operator, the slip state of the wheel is brought into an appropriate range.

Claim 16

A running control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the braking system comprises a brake controller which controls an operation state of the brake, and the brake controller comprises an antilock control portion which controls the brake such that in a case where the brake is in an actuated state and where a value indicating a slip state of the wheel that is in a locked state is larger than a preset value even when a brake operating member is not operated by a vehicle operator, the slip state of the wheel is brought into an appropriate range.

Claim 17

A running control apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the control system includes a vehicle behavior control portion which controls at least one of the brake and the driving device, if a behavior of the vehicle is unstable as compared with a set state, such that the behavior of the vehicle is brought into an appropriate state.

Claim 18

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control command value determining controller which determines a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle; a brake controller which controls an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the control command value received from the control command value determining controller; and a control abnormality detector which detects a control abnormality based on logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing information transmitted between the control command value determining controller and the brake controller.

Claim 19

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control command value determining controller which determines a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle; a brake controller which controls an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the control command value received from the control command value determining controller; and a control abnormality detector which detects a control abnormality based on logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing information transmitted between the control command value determining controller and the brake controller.

Claim 20

A running control apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising a controller which controls at least one of a driving device that supplies power to drive the vehicle and a power transmitting device disposed between the driving device and the wheel of the vehicle in response to the control command value transmitted from the control command value determining controller, wherein the control abnormality detector detects the control abnormality based on the plurality of pieces of the information containing information regarding communication among the control command value determining controller, the brake controller, and the controller.

Claim 21

A running control apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the brake controller prohibits actuation of the brake in at least one state of: (a) a case where a value corresponding to a slip state of the wheel of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a set value, or a case where there is a high possibility that the value corresponding to the slip state of the wheel of the vehicle becomes equal to or greater than the set value; and (b) the brake controller is in a state in which actuation of the brake is undesirable.

Claim 22

A running control apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the brake controller prohibits actuation of the brake if the control abnormality is detected by the control abnormality detector.

Claim 23

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding object ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which operates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability.

Claim 24

A running control apparatus that controls a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding object ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising: a control system that determines a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and a braking system which operates a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding object indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a preset probability.

Claim 25

A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of: determining a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and actuating a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when one of the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a predetermined probability.

Claim 26

A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of: determining a probability that an object detected in the set area is in a same lane as the vehicle; and actuating a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle when one of the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, wherein the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle indicating that the vehicle should be decelerated includes a state in which the determined probability is equal to or greater than a predetermined probability.

Claim 27

A running control method according to claim 20 , wherein if the relative positional relationship indicates that the vehicle should be decelerated, at least one of a driving device which supplies power to drive the vehicle and a power transmitting device that is disposed between the driving device and the wheel of the vehicle is controlled to decelerate the vehicle prior to actuation of the brake.

Claim 28

A running control method according to claim 20 , wherein the vehicle includes a brake controller which controls an operation state of the brake, and actuation of the brake is permitted or prohibited based on at least one of a state of the brake controller and a running state of the vehicle, and an alarm is produced when actuation of the brake is prohibited.

Claim 29

A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of: determining a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle; controlling an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the determined control command value; and detecting a control abnormality based on a logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing a piece of information transmitted from or to a controller that produces the control command value.

Claim 30

A running control method for controlling a running state of a vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle running ahead of the vehicle in a preset area, comprising the steps of: determining a control command value related to deceleration of the vehicle based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle; controlling an operation state of a brake that retards rotation of a wheel of the vehicle in accordance with the determined control command value; and detecting a control abnormality based on a logical consistency of contents of a plurality of pieces of information containing a piece of information transmitted from or to a controller that produces the control command value.