Lane recognition apparatus and lane recognition method

A lane recognition method comprising:

• calculating a current position of a subject vehicle;
• estimating a lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and a position, in a direction perpendicular to a traveling direction, of the subject vehicle in the lane based on the calculated current position of the subject vehicle, subject vehicle surroundings information indicating a positional relationship between a road structure and the subject vehicle and including a distance between the road structure and the subject vehicle, and road information associating a distance between the road structure and a lane of a road with each position on the road and being stored in a road structure storage, the road structure being a three-dimensional structure existing in relation to the road;
• wherein the estimation includes acquiring the road information from the road structure storage and acquiring the subject vehicle surroundings information from a surrounding environment detection unit that detects an object including the road structure around the subject vehicle;
• determining that the surrounding environment detection unit is not capable of detecting the road structure;
• and
• determining the lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and the position of the subject vehicle in the lane based on results of the estimation using only the road information and information on behavior of the subject vehicle.

A lane recognition apparatus comprising:

• a processor to execute a program;
• and
• a memory to store the program which, when executed by the processor, performs processes of,
• calculating a current position of a subject vehicle,
• estimating a lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and a position, in a direction perpendicular to a traveling direction, of the subject vehicle in the lane based on the calculated current position of the subject vehicle, subject vehicle surroundings information indicating a positional relationship between a road structure and the subject vehicle and including a distance between the road structure and the subject vehicle, and road information associating a distance between the road structure and a lane of a road with each position on the road and being stored in a road structure storage, the road structure being a three-dimensional structure existing in relation to the road, and
• determining the lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and the position of the subject vehicle in the lane based on results of the estimation,
• wherein
• the subject vehicle surroundings information includes, as a planer pattern being a two-dimensionally visible pattern, a line defining the lane or a road marking,
• the estimation includes
• estimating the lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and the position of the subject vehicle in the lane based on the current position of the subject vehicle and the line defining the lane or the road marking,
• the determination includes determining the lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and the position of the subject vehicle in the lane based on results of the estimation based on the current position of the subject vehicle, the subject vehicle surroundings information, and the road information and results of the estimation based on the current position of the subject vehicle and the line defining the lane or the road marking,
• the estimation includes acquiring the subject vehicle surroundings information from an image recognition unit that recognizes the planar pattern by image processing, and
• when the image recognition unit is not capable of recognizing the planar pattern, the lane in which the subject vehicle is traveling and the position of the subject vehicle in the lane are estimated based on the road information and information on behavior of the subject vehicle.