# US 10,871,773 B2 · Vehicle travel control apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,871,773 B2 - Document ID: US10871773B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/245,211 - Filed: 2019-01-10 - Published: 2019-07-18 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2018-01-15 - Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Toshiyuki Mizuno; Akira Kito; Yoshiaki Konishi; Takayuki Kishi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10871773B2 ## CPC - B60W 60/0051: {from occupants to vehicle} - B60W 30/146: {Speed limiting} - B60W 30/182: Selecting between different operative modes, e.g. comfort and performance modes - B60W 40/06: Road conditions - B60W 40/09: Driving style or behaviour - G05D 1/00: Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots (drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00) - B60W 2555/20: Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain - 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 - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES ## Abstract A vehicle travel control apparatus including a road surface condition detector, a drive mode instruction switch instructing a manual drive mode or a self-drive mode and, an electric control unit having a microprocessor and a memory. The memory stores a driving characteristic of a driver during traveling in the self-drive mode, and the microprocessor performs generating an action plan including a target path of the vehicle, controlling an actuator so that the vehicle travels in self-driving in accordance with the action plan, and the generating including restricting a target value of a physical quantity for traveling of the vehicle included in the action plan, based on the detected road surface condition and the driving characteristic stored in the memory, when a switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode is instructed by the drive mode instruction switch. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle travel control apparatus configured to control a travel behavior of a vehicle including an actuator for traveling, the vehicle being configured to travel in a self-drive mode with a self-drive capability enabled and in a manual drive mode with the self-drive capability disabled, the vehicle travel control apparatus comprising: a road surface condition detector configured to detect a road surface condition; a drive mode instruction switch configured to instruct the manual drive mode or the self-drive mode; and an electric control unit having a microprocessor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a driving characteristic of a driver during traveling in the self-drive mode, and the microprocessor is configured to perform: generating an action plan including a target path of the vehicle; controlling the actuator so that the vehicle travels in self-driving in accordance with the action plan generated in the generating, the generating including restricting a target value of a physical quantity for traveling of the vehicle included in the action plan, based on the road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector and the driving characteristic stored in the memory, in the self-drive mode after a switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode is instructed by the drive mode instruction switch, and the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching, restricting the target value based on the driving characteristic stored in the memory and a first road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector at a time when the switching is instructed, and thereafter, when a change from the first road surface condition to a second road surface condition is detected by the road surface condition detector, restricting the target value based on the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the target value includes a vehicle speed target value and an acceleration target value, the driving characteristic stored in the memory includes driving characteristics representing changes of vehicle speed and acceleration acquired during traveling in the manual drive mode, and the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode, restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the driving characteristic stored in the memory and the first road surface condition until the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected by the road surface condition detector. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode, calculating first limit values of the vehicle speed and the acceleration in accordance with the driving characteristics and second limit values of the vehicle speed and the acceleration in accordance with the first road surface condition, and restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value by a smaller one of the first limit values and the second limit values until the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected by the road surface condition detector. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the target value further includes an inter-vehicle distance target value between the vehicle and another vehicle ahead, and the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including restricting the inter-vehicle distance target value in accordance with the road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including determining, when the second limit values changes by or greater than a predetermined value, that the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected by the road surface condition detector, and thereafter restricting the target value based on the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including calculating a road surface estimated value indicating the road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector and restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the road surface estimated value calculated, the road surface estimated value is a numerical value obtained by quantifying a road surface slipperiness, and the calculating the road surface estimated value including calculating the road surface estimated value based on a driving force of the vehicle and a presence or absence of drive wheel slipping of the vehicle. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the microprocessor is configured to perform the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode, restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory after the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the driving characteristic includes a characteristic intrinsic to a driver representing a relationship of a maximum acceleration relative to the vehicle speed, corresponding to the road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector, the relationship determined based on the vehicle speed and the acceleration acquired under the road surface condition detected by the road surface condition detector during traveling in the manual drive mode. ### Claim 9 A vehicle travel control method configured to control a travel behavior of a vehicle including an actuator for traveling, the vehicle being configured to travel in a self-drive mode with a self-drive capability enabled and in a manual drive mode with the self-drive capability disabled, the vehicle travel control method comprising: detecting a road surface condition; instructing the manual drive mode or the self-drive mode; generating an action plan including a target path of the vehicle; controlling the actuator so that the vehicle travels in self-driving in accordance with the action plan; storing a driving characteristic of a driver during traveling in the self-drive mode in a memory, wherein the generating includes restricting a target value of a physical quantity for traveling of the vehicle included in the action plan, based on the road surface condition detected in the detecting and the driving characteristic stored in the memory, in the self-drive mode after a switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode when the switching is instructed, and the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching, restricting the target value based on the driving characteristic stored in the memory and a first road surface condition detected in the detecting at a time when the switching is instructed, and thereafter when a change from the first road surface condition to a second road surface condition is detected in the detecting, restricting the target value based on the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method according to claim 9, wherein the target value includes a vehicle speed target value and an acceleration target value, the driving characteristic stored in the memory includes driving characteristics representing changes of vehicle speed and acceleration acquired during traveling in the manual drive mode, and the restricting includes, in the self-drive mode after the switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode, restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the driving characteristic stored in the memory and the first road surface condition until the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected in the detecting. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the restricting includes calculating first limit values of the vehicle speed and the acceleration in accordance with the driving characteristics and second limit values of the vehicle speed and the acceleration in accordance with the first road surface condition, and restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value by a smaller one of the first limit values and the second limit values until the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected in the detecting. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein the restricting including determining, when the second limit values changes by or greater than a predetermined value, that the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected in the detecting detector, and thereafter restricting the target value based on the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method according to claim 11, wherein the restricting including calculating a road surface estimated value indicating the road surface condition detected in the detecting and restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the road surface estimated value calculated, the road surface estimated value is a numerical value obtained by quantifying a road surface slipperiness, and the calculating the road surface estimated value including calculating the road surface estimated value based on a driving force of the vehicle and a presence or absence of drive wheel slipping of the vehicle. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the target value further includes an inter-vehicle distance target value between the vehicle and another vehicle ahead, and the restricting includes restricting the inter-vehicle distance target value in accordance with the road surface condition detected in the detecting. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the restricting including, in the self-drive mode after the switching from the manual drive mode to the self-drive mode, restricting the vehicle speed target value and the acceleration target value in accordance with the second road surface condition without using the driving characteristic stored in the memory after the change from the first road surface condition to the second road surface condition is detected in the detecting. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The method according to claim 9, wherein the driving characteristic includes a characteristic intrinsic to a driver representing a relationship of a maximum acceleration relative to the vehicle speed, corresponding to the road surface condition detected in the detecting, the relationship determined based on the vehicle speed and the acceleration acquired under the road surface condition detected in the detecting during traveling in the manual drive mode.