| US 7,542,840 B2 | ||
| Driving control apparatus and method having a lane keep function and a lane departure warning function | ||
| Seiji Kawakami, Susono (Japan); Satoru Niwa, Susono (Japan); Katsuhiko Iwazaki, Numazu (Japan); Hiroaki Kataoka, Susono (Japan); and Chumsamutr Rattapon, Susono (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota (Japan) | ||
| Filed on May 25, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/136,450. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. P2004-163405 (JP), filed on Jun. 01, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0273262 A1, Dec. 08, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. B60W 30/12 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 701—93 [701/301; 340/436] | 3 Claims |
| 1. A driving control apparatus comprising:
driving road keeping means for providing a torque to a steering mechanism so as to keep a vehicle traveling at a predetermined
position on a driving road;
driving road departure warning means for providing a warning of a departure from the driving road on the basis of a position
of the vehicle relative to the driving road; and
setting means for setting a need or no need for execution of a control of the driving road keeping means or the driving road
departure warning means,
wherein in a case where the setting means sets a need for execution of the control, the control of the driving road keeping
means is executed when (1) an activation condition of the driving road keeping means is met and when (2) cruise control means for controlling a driving force or speed of the vehicle so as to keep the vehicle in a predetermined
driving state is active;
wherein in a case where the setting means sets a need for execution of the control, the control of the driving road departure
warning means is executed when an activation condition of the driving road warning means is met and when (1) the activation condition of the driving road keeping means is not met or when (2) the cruise control means is inactive,
wherein the activation condition of the driving road keeping means is whether the vehicle speed is within an activation speed
region of the driving road keeping means, such that the activation condition of the driving road keeping means is met when
the vehicle speed is within the activation speed region of the driving road keeping means, and the activation condition of
the driving road keeping means is not met when the vehicle speed is not within the activation speed region of the driving
road keeping means,
wherein the activation condition of the driving road departure warning means is whether the vehicle speed is within an activation
speed region of the driving road departure warning means, such that the activation condition of the driving road departure
warning means is met when the vehicle speed is within the activation speed region of the driving road departure warning means,
and the activation condition of the driving road departure warning means is not met when the vehicle speed is not within the
activation speed region of the driving road departure warning means,
wherein the activation speed region of the driving road departure warning means is wider than the activation speed region
of the driving road keeping means, and
wherein in a case where (1) the setting means sets a need for execution of the control and (2) the vehicle speed is within the activation speed region of the driving road departure warning means, the execution of the
driving road keeping means and the driving road departure warning means is automatically switched from one to the other based
on whether the vehicle speed is within the activation speed region of the driving road keeping means and whether the cruise
control means is active.
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