# US 11,027,735 B2 · Vehicle control apparatus, vehicle control method, and vehicle control program

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- Number: US 11,027,735 B2
- Document ID: US11027735B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/743,317
- Filed: 2016-07-14
- Published: 2018-07-12
- Granted: 2021-06-08
- Earliest claimed: 2015-08-06
- Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Masanori Takeda
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11027735B2

## CPC

- B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres}
- B60K 31/00: Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator
- B60T 7/12: for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger {(limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00)}
- B60W 30/10: Path keeping {(cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165)}
- B60W 30/14: {Adaptive} cruise control
- B60W 50/082: {Selecting or switching between different modes of propelling}
- B60W 60/001: {Planning or execution of driving tasks}
- 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)
- G05D 1/0253: {extracting relative motion information from a plurality of images taken successively, e.g. visual odometry, optical flow (determining position or orientation from images G06T7/70)}
- G05D 1/0257: {using a radar (radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931)}
- B60T 2201/089: using optical detection
- B60T 2210/36: Global Positioning System [GPS]
- B60W 2400/00: Indexing codes relating to detected, measured or calculated conditions or factors
- B60W 2420/403: Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
- B60W 2420/408: Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
- B60W 2554/801: Lateral distance
- B60W 2556/00: Input parameters relating to data
- B60W 2710/20: Steering systems
- B60W 2720/106: Longitudinal acceleration
- G08G 1/167: {Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection}
- 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
- B60K: ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
- 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
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- 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 control apparatus includes: a first detection part that detects a peripheral vehicle which is traveling around a vehicle; a control plan generation part that is configured to generate a control plan of the vehicle according to the peripheral vehicle; and a travel control part that is configured to control acceleration, deceleration, or steering of the vehicle according to the control plan, wherein the control plan generation part generates the control plan of the vehicle according to a peripheral vehicle that satisfies a predetermined condition among one or more peripheral vehicles that are detected by the first detection part, and wherein when it is not possible to detect the peripheral vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition, the control plan generation part is configured to set a virtual vehicle which virtually simulates the peripheral vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition and generate the control plan of the vehicle.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a processor that executes executable components stored on a memory, the executable components comprising:
a first detection part configured to detect states of other vehicles that are traveling around a vehicle and exist in a predetermined detection region;
a control plan generation part configured to generate a control plan for the vehicle according to a result of determining whether the other vehicles are detected by the first detection part; and
a travel control part configured to read the control plan generated by the control plan generation part and to control acceleration, deceleration, or steering of the vehicle according to an event contained in the control plan,
wherein the control plan generation part is configured to generate the control plan of the vehicle according to one of the other vehicles that satisfies a predetermined condition among the other vehicles that are detected by the first detection part,
wherein the control plan generation part is configured to, in response to determining that the one of the other vehicles that satisfies the predetermined condition cannot be detected,
set a virtual vehicle that virtually simulates the one of the other vehicles that satisfies the predetermined condition and generate the control plan of the vehicle, and
set the virtual vehicle as a stationary body in an outer edge of the detection region of the first detection part, and
wherein while executing a lane change event from a present lane to an adjacent lane, the control plan generation part
sets lane change target position candidates between multiple other vehicles on the adjacent lane,
estimates, for each lane change target position candidate of the lane change target position candidates, future position changes of a first vehicle traveling in front of the lane change target position candidate, a second vehicle traveling behind the lane change target position candidate, and a third vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle in the present lane, and
determines a lane change target position from the lane change target position candidates based on estimations of the future position changes.

### Claim 2

A vehicle control method, implemented by an in-vehicle computer, comprising:
detecting a state of other vehicles that are traveling around a vehicle and that exist in a predetermined detection region;
generating a control plan of the vehicle according to a determination of whether the other vehicles are detected;
controlling acceleration, deceleration, or steering of the vehicle according to an event contained in the control plan;
generating the control plan of the vehicle according to another vehicle, of the other vehicles, that satisfies a predetermined condition;
in response to determining that another vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition cannot be detected:
setting a virtual vehicle which that virtually simulates the other vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition and generating the control plan of the vehicle, and
setting the virtual vehicle as a stationary body in an outer edge of the detection region of the detecting; and
during execution of a lane change event from a present lane to an adjacent lane:
setting lane change target position candidates between multiple other vehicles on the adjacent lane;
estimating, for each lane change target position candidate of the lane change target position candidates, future position changes of a first vehicle traveling in front of the lane change target position candidate, a second vehicle traveling behind the lane change target position candidate, and a third vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle in the present lane; and
determining a lane change target position from the lane change target position candidates based on a result of the estimating.

### Claim 3

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that causes an in-vehicle computer to:
detect a state of other vehicles that are traveling around a vehicle and that exist in a predetermined detection region;
generate a control plan of the vehicle according to a result of determining whether the other vehicles are detected;
control acceleration, deceleration, or steering of the vehicle according to an event contained in the control plan;
generate the control plan of the vehicle according to another vehicle, of the other vehicles, that satisfies a predetermined condition;
in response to determining that the other vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition cannot be detected:
set a virtual vehicle that virtually simulates the other vehicle that satisfies the predetermined condition and generate the control plan of the vehicle, and
set the virtual vehicle as a stationary body in an outer edge of the detection region; and
during execution of a lane change event from a present lane to an adjacent lane:
set lane change target position candidates between multiple other vehicles on the adjacent lane;
estimate, for each lane change target position candidate of the lane change target position candidates, future position changes of a first vehicle traveling in front of the lane change target position candidate, a second vehicle traveling behind the lane change target position candidate, and a third vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle in the present lane; and
determine a lane change target position from the lane change target position candidates based on estimations of the future position changes.