Vehicle traveling control device

A vehicle traveling control device that performs traveling control of a vehicle, comprising:

• an other-vehicle recognition portion configured to recognize a presence of a preceding vehicle traveling in a traveling lane ahead of the vehicle;
• an external situation recognition portion configured to recognize a speed difference between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle and an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle when the other-vehicle recognition portion recognizes the preceding vehicle;
• a traveling state recognition portion configured to recognize a speed of the vehicle;
• a vehicle control portion configured to perform speed control of the vehicle using the speed of the vehicle and a target speed that is set in advance and using the inter-vehicle distance and a target inter-vehicle distance that is set in advance;
• an intervention determination portion configured to determine a start and an end of an intervention operation, performed by a driver of the vehicle, in the speed control;
• an intervention control portion configured to cause the vehicle control portion to interrupt the speed control when the intervention determination portion determines the start of the driver's intervention operation in the speed control, and causes the vehicle control portion to restart the speed control when the intervention determination portion determines the end of the driver's intervention operation in the speed control;
• a candidate selection portion configured to select a correction candidate from the target speed and the target inter-vehicle distance based on the presence of the preceding vehicle and on the speed difference between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle;
• a change determination portion configured to determine whether there is a change in the speed of the vehicle or there is a change in the inter-vehicle distance in a first determination period, the first determination period being a period from a predetermined time before the end of the driver's intervention operation in the speed control to the end of the driver's intervention operation in the speed control;
• a difference determination portion configured to determine whether there is a difference between the target speed and the speed of the vehicle when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended or whether there is a difference between the target inter-vehicle distance and the inter-vehicle distance when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended;
• and
• a target correction portion configured to correct the target speed or the target inter-vehicle distance, wherein
• if the candidate selection portion selects the target speed as the correction candidate,
• the change determination portion determines whether an amount of change in the speed of the vehicle in the first determination period is equal to or smaller than a first speed threshold, the difference determination portion determines whether a difference between the speed of the vehicle when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended and the target speed is equal to or larger than a second speed threshold, and the target correction portion corrects the target speed to the speed of the vehicle when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended if:
• the change determination portion determines that the amount of change in the speed of the vehicle in the first determination period is equal to or smaller than the first speed threshold, and if:
• the difference determination portion determines that the difference between the target speed and the speed of the vehicle when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended is equal to or larger than the second speed threshold, and
• if the candidate selection portion selects the target inter-vehicle distance as the correction candidate,
• the change determination portion determines whether an amount of change in the inter-vehicle distance in the first determination period is equal to or smaller than a first inter-vehicle distance threshold, the difference determination portion determines whether a difference between the target inter-vehicle distance and the inter-vehicle distance when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended is equal to or larger than a second inter-vehicle distance threshold, and the target correction portion corrects the target inter-vehicle distance to the inter-vehicle distance when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended if:
• the change determination portion determines that the amount of change in the inter-vehicle distance in the first determination period is equal to or smaller than the first inter-vehicle distance threshold, and if:
• the difference determination portion determines that the difference between the inter-vehicle distance when the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended and the target inter-vehicle distance is equal to or larger than the second inter-vehicle distance threshold, and
• if the intervention determination portion determines that the driver's intervention operation in the speed control is ended,
• the vehicle control portion restarts the speed control using the target speed or the target inter-vehicle distance corrected by the target correction portion.