# US 10,864,901 B2 · Vehicle travel control system

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- Number: US 10,864,901 B2
- Document ID: US10864901B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/253,418
- Filed: 2019-01-22
- Published: 2019-09-19
- Granted: 2020-12-15
- Earliest claimed: 2018-03-19
- Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Yusuke Ikebata; Shinpei Kokubo
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10864901B2

## CPC

- B60W 10/20: including control of steering systems
- B60S 1/486: {including control systems responsive to a vehicle driving condition, e.g. speed}
- B60S 1/56: specially adapted for cleaning other parts or devices than front windows or windscreens {(rear-view mirror arrangements mounted on vehicle exterior including cleaning devices B60R1/0602)}
- B60W 30/09: Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
- B60W 50/023: Avoiding failures by using redundant parts
- G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes}
- B60W 10/184: with wheel brakes
- B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
- B60W 2556/50: of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
- 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
- B60S: SERVICING, CLEANING, REPAIRING, SUPPORTING, LIFTING, OR MANOEUVRING OF VEHICLES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- 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})

## Abstract

A vehicle travel control system installed on a vehicle includes: a recognition sensor configured to recognize a situation around the vehicle; a sensor cleaning device configured to clean the recognition sensor; and a control device configured to execute vehicle travel control based on result of recognition by the recognition sensor, and to actuate the sensor cleaning device to execute sensor cleaning processing that cleans the recognition sensor. The control device permits execution of the sensor cleaning processing in a situation where decrease in recognition performance has a small influence on the vehicle travel control. For example, when a surrounding vehicle recognized by a first recognition sensor is also recognized by a second recognition sensor, the control device permits execution of the sensor cleaning processing that cleans the first recognition sensor.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle travel control system installed on a vehicle and comprising:
a recognition sensor configured to recognize a situation around the vehicle;
a sensor cleaning device configured to clean the recognition sensor; and
a control device configured to execute vehicle travel control based on result of recognition by the recognition sensor, and to actuate the sensor cleaning device to execute sensor cleaning processing that cleans the recognition sensor,
wherein:
the recognition sensor includes a first recognition sensor and a second recognition sensor;
a cleaning permission condition with respect to the first recognition sensor is that a surrounding vehicle recognized by the first recognition sensor is also recognized by the second recognition sensor; and
the control device is further configured to:
permit execution of the sensor cleaning processing that cleans the first recognition sensor when the cleaning permission condition is satisfied; and
prohibit the execution of the sensor cleaning processing that cleans the first recognition sensor when the cleaning permission condition is not satisfied.

### Claim 2

A vehicle travel control system installed on a vehicle and comprising:
a recognition sensor configured to recognize a situation around the vehicle;
a sensor cleaning device configured to clean the recognition sensor;
a control device configured to execute vehicle travel control based on result of recognition by the recognition sensor, and to actuate the sensor cleaning device to execute sensor cleaning processing that cleans the recognition sensor; and
a map database,
wherein:
a recognized road shape is a road shape that is in a recognition area around the vehicle and recognized by the recognition sensor;
a registered road shape is another road shape that is in the recognition area and registered in the map database;
a cleaning permission condition is that degree of coincidence between the recognized road shape and the registered road shape is equal to or higher than a threshold; and
the control device is further configured to:
permit execution of the sensor cleaning processing when the cleaning permission condition is satisfied; and
prohibit the execution of the sensor cleaning processing when the cleaning permission condition is not satisfied.

### Claim 3

A vehicle travel control system installed on a vehicle and comprising:
a recognition sensor configured to recognize a situation around the vehicle;
a sensor cleaning device configured to clean the recognition sensor; and
a control device configured to execute vehicle travel control based on result of recognition by the recognition sensor, and to actuate the sensor cleaning device to execute sensor cleaning processing that cleans the recognition sensor,
wherein:
the control device creates a vehicle travel plan and executes the vehicle travel control in accordance with the vehicle travel plan;
the vehicle travel control includes steering control;
a cleaning permission condition is that the vehicle is in a section where the steering control is not planned; and
the control device is further configured to:
refer to the vehicle travel plan to determine whether the cleaning permission condition is satisfied;
permit execution of the sensor cleaning processing when the cleaning permission condition is satisfied; and
prohibit the execution of the sensor cleaning processing when the cleaning permission condition is not satisfied.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The vehicle travel control system according to claim 3,
wherein:
the control device refers to the vehicle travel plan to determine whether or not a remaining time before end of the vehicle travel control is less than a predetermined value; and
when the remaining time is less than the predetermined value, the control device executes the sensor cleaning processing after the end of the vehicle travel control.