# US 10,766,488 B2 · Driving control device

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- Number: US 10,766,488 B2
- Document ID: US10766488B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/849,235
- Filed: 2017-12-20
- Published: 2018-06-28
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2016-12-26
- Assignees: Denso Corporation; Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Denso Corporation; Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Mitsuhiro Tokimasa; Takuma Sudo; Takashi Maeda; Naoki Kusumoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10766488B2

## CPC

- B60W 30/165: Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"
- B60W 30/09: Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
- G01S 7/415: {Identification of targets based on measurements of movement associated with the target}
- G01S 13/58: Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
- G01S 13/723: {by using numerical data}
- G01S 13/931: of land vehicles
- G05D 1/0246: {using a video camera in combination with image processing means}
- G06V 20/58: Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
- G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes}
- B60T 2201/022: Collision avoidance systems
- B60W 2554/801: Lateral distance
- B60W 2720/106: Longitudinal acceleration
- G01S 13/42: Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S13/46)
- G01S 2013/9318: {Controlling the steering}
- G01S 2013/93185: {Controlling the brakes}
- G01S 2013/9319: {Controlling the accelerator}
- G01S 2013/9321: {Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control}
- G01S 2013/9325: {for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons}
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- B60T: VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL (electrodynamic brake systems for vehicle, in general B60L; brakes per se, i.e. devices where braking effect occurs, including ultimate brake actuators, F16D); ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES

## Abstract

A driving control device has a target-following driving control part performing a target-following driving control of a preceding vehicle in front of a vehicle, and a target acceleration setting part setting a target acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle to maintain a inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle within a target inter-vehicle distance during the target-following driving control. The target acceleration setting part increases the target deceleration of the vehicle according to increasing of a difference between the inter-vehicle distance and the target inter-vehicle distance. A deceleration correction part increases the target deceleration when a period during which the preceding vehicle has been continuously recognized is more than a predetermined period and the inter-vehicle distance is less than a predetermined distance.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A driving control device mounted on an own vehicle equipped with an object detection sensor capturing front view images including objects in front of the own vehicle, the driving control device comprising a computer system including a central processing unit, the computer system being configured to provide:
a target-following driving control function receiving the front view images transmitted from the object detection sensor, the target-following driving control function recognizing, extracting and selecting a target object from the front view images, and performing a target-following driving control of the target object;
an inter-vehicle distance acquiring function acquiring an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the target object;
a target acceleration setting function determining a target acceleration of the own vehicle so as to maintain the inter-vehicle distance detected by the inter-vehicle distance acquiring function within a target inter-vehicle distance during a period of the target-following driving control, and the target acceleration setting function increasing a target deceleration, which is the target acceleration of a negative value, according to increasing of a difference between the target inter-vehicle distance and the inter-vehicle distance acquired by the inter-vehicle distance acquiring function, and
a deceleration correction function increasing the target deceleration detected by the target acceleration setting function prior to deceleration of the own vehicle, in response to
a period during which the target-following driving control function continuously recognizes the target object being more than a predetermined period, and
the inter-vehicle distance acquired by the inter-vehicle distance acquiring function being less than a predetermined distance.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The driving control device according to claim 1, wherein the deceleration correction function multiplies the target deceleration determined by the target acceleration setting function by a predetermined coefficient of more than 1 in order to increase the target deceleration determined by the target acceleration setting function.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The driving control device according to claim 2, wherein the deceleration correction function increases the predetermined coefficient according to increasing of a relative deceleration of the target object to the own vehicle.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The driving control device according to claim 3, wherein the deceleration correction function uses the predetermined coefficient of 1 in response to the relative deceleration of the target object to the own vehicle being less than a threshold value.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The driving control device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined distance used by the deceleration correction function is obtained by adding a predetermined distance value to the target inter-vehicle distance.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The driving control device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined distance used by the deceleration correction function is obtained by adding a predetermined distance value to the target inter-vehicle distance.

### Claim 7 (depends on 3)

The driving control device according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined distance used by the deceleration correction function is obtained by adding a predetermined distance value to the target inter-vehicle distance.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The driving control device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined distance used by the deceleration correction function is obtained by adding a predetermined distance value to the target inter-vehicle distance.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The driving control device according to claim 1, further comprising an upper limit value setting function determines an upper limit value of a rate of change of the target deceleration, and limits the rate of change of the target deceleration to the upper limit value.

### Claim 10 (depends on 2)

The driving control device according to claim 2, further comprising an upper limit value setting function determines an upper limit value of a rate of change of the target deceleration, and limits the rate of change of the target deceleration to the upper limit value.

### Claim 11 (depends on 3)

The driving control device according to claim 3, further comprising an upper limit value setting function determines an upper limit value of a rate of change of the target deceleration, and limits the rate of change of the target deceleration to the upper limit value.

### Claim 12 (depends on 4)

The driving control device according to claim 4, further comprising an upper limit value setting function determines an upper limit value of a rate of change of the target deceleration, and limits the rate of change of the target deceleration to the upper limit value.

### Claim 13 (depends on 5)

The driving control device according to claim 5, further comprising an upper limit value setting function determines an upper limit value of a rate of change of the target deceleration, and limits the rate of change of the target deceleration to the upper limit value.

### Claim 14

A computer-implemented method for controlling an own vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle, the own vehicle equipped with an object detection sensor that captures front view images including objects in front of the own vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving the front view images transmitted from the object detection sensor;
recognizing, extracting and selecting a target object from the front view images;
performing a target-following driving control of the target object;
acquiring an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the target object;
determining a target acceleration of the own vehicle so as to maintain the inter-vehicle distance within a target inter-vehicle distance during a period of the target-following driving control, and increasing a target deceleration, which is the target acceleration of a negative value, according to increasing of a difference between the target inter-vehicle distance and the inter-vehicle distance; and
increasing the target deceleration prior to deceleration of the own vehicle, in response to:
a period during which the target object is continuously recognized being greater than a predetermined period; and
the inter-vehicle distance being less than a predetermined distance.