# US 11,077,862 B2 · Vehicle control system, vehicle control method, and storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,077,862 B2 - Document ID: US11077862B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/992,303 - Filed: 2018-05-30 - Published: 2018-12-06 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2017-06-02 - Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Yoshitaka Mimura; Yoshihiro Oniwa; Mineyuki Yoshida; Yuko Ouchi; Fue Kubota; Toshiyuki Kaji; Naotaka Kumakiri; Hironori Takano - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11077862B2 ## CPC - B60W 50/082: {Selecting or switching between different modes of propelling} - B60W 30/16: Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle - B60W 30/162: {Speed limiting therefor} - B60W 50/08: Interaction between the driver and the control system - B60W 50/12: Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation - 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 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres} - B60W 2520/10: Longitudinal speed - B60W 2520/105: Longitudinal acceleration - B60W 2540/223: Posture, e.g. hand, foot, or seat position, turned or inclined - B60W 2540/225: Direction of gaze - B60W 2554/80: Spatial relation or speed relative to objects - B60W 2554/802: Longitudinal distance - B60W 2554/805: Azimuth angle - 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 - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES ## Abstract A vehicle control system includes a control unit configured to support a driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle and the vehicle in a case where the speed is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, and an equipment control unit configured to release a use restriction on a specific function in which the line of sight of a driver is removed from the vehicle surroundings due to its utilization in a case where the control unit operates the low speed following travel mode is executed. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle control system comprising: a controller configured to support driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in a case where a speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, wherein the preceding traveling vehicle being a vehicle that is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle, a grip sensor provided in a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to detect whether or not the steering wheel is being gripped by a driver of the vehicle, and an equipment controller configured to release a use restriction on a specific function in which a line of sight of the driver is removed from surroundings of the vehicle due to its utilization by an occupant of the vehicle in a case where the controller operates in the low speed following travel mode, and not to release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle is travelling by a travel mode different to the low speed following travel mode, wherein the controller is configured to maintain the different travel mode in a case where the grip sensor detects that the steering wheel is being gripped by the driver, in a case that a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied when the controller operates in the low speed following travel mode, the equipment controller conducts the use restriction on a specific function to display information indicating that the low speed following travel mode is ended and information for requesting the occupant to monitor a traffic situation of the surroundings in a display that is provided in a front of a seat occupied by the driver, wherein the display is presented in an instrument panel. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the specific function is a video phone function. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The vehicle control system of claim 2, further comprising: a display unit; and a speaker, wherein, in a case where the controller is being operated in the low speed following travel mode in a state in which the video phone function is used as the specific function, the equipment controller displays a display of an image of a call counterpart of the video phone function on the display unit, in a case where the controller stops operating in the low speed following travel mode in a state in which the video phone function is used as the specific function, the equipment controller stops a display of an image of the call counterpart of the video phone function on the display unit and continues outputting speech of the call counterpart with the speaker. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The vehicle control system of claim 3, wherein, after stopping the display of the image of the call counterpart on the display unit, in a case where the driving support mode is switched from a state in which operation is not in the low speed following travel mode to the state in which operation is in the low speed following travel mode, the equipment controller displays the image of the call counterpart of which the display was stopped on the display unit again. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The vehicle control system of claim 2, further comprising: an imaging unit configured to image the occupant; wherein an image captured by the imaging unit is used in the video phone and in monitoring a state of the occupant by an occupant state monitoring controller that monitors the state of the occupant. ### Claim 6 A vehicle control method that causes an in-vehicle computer to: support a driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in a case where a speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, wherein the preceding traveling vehicle being a vehicle that is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle, use a grip sensor provided in a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to detect whether or not the steering wheel is being gripped by a driver of the vehicle, and release a use restriction on a specific function in which a line of sight of the driver is removed from surroundings of the vehicle due to its utilization by an occupant of the vehicle in a case where the low speed following travel mode is operative, and not release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle is traveling by a travel mode different to the low speed following travel mode, wherein in a case where the grip sensor detects that the steering wheel is being gripped, the in-vehicle computer maintains the different travel mode, and wherein in a case that a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied when operating in the low speed following travel mode, conducting the use restriction on a specific function to display information indicating that the low speed following travel mode is ended and information for requesting the occupant to monitor a traffic situation of the surroundings in a display that is provided in a front of a seat occupied by the driver, wherein the display is presented in an instrument panel. ### Claim 7 A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes an in-vehicle computer to: support a driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in a case where a speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, wherein the preceding traveling vehicle being a vehicle that is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle, use a grip sensor provided in a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to detect whether or not the steering wheel is being gripped by a driver of the vehicle, and release a use restriction on a specific function in which a line of sight of the driver is removed from surroundings of the vehicle due to its utilization by an occupant of the vehicle in a case where the low speed following travel mode is operative, and not release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle is traveling by a travel mode different to the low speed following travel mode, wherein in a case where the grip sensor detects that the steering wheel is being gripped, the in-vehicle computer maintains the different travel mode, and wherein in a case that a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied when operating in the low speed following travel mode, conducting the use restriction on a specific function to display information indicating that the low speed following travel mode is ended and information for requesting the occupant to monitor a traffic situation of the surroundings in a display that is provided in a front of a seat occupied by the driver, wherein the display is presented in an instrument panel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The vehicle control system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of driving support modes include a low speed following travel mode and an assist mode, the assist mode is that the vehicle travels at the predetermined speed in a case where a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied and there is not a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle or the assist mode is that the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between the preceding traveling vehicle and the vehicle in a case where the condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied, the equipment controller configured not to release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle travels by the assist mode. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The vehicle control system of claim 8, wherein in a case where the controller operates in the assist mode, the vehicle is configured to travel at a speed higher than the predetermined speed. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The vehicle control system of claim 8, wherein the low speed following travel mode is a mode in which the occupant is not obligated to monitor the surroundings of the vehicle, and the assist mode is a mode in which the occupant is obligated to monitor the surroundings of the vehicle. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The vehicle control system of claim 8, wherein in a case where the controller operates in the assist mode, the equipment controller displays information requesting the occupant monitor the traffic situation of the surroundings in the display, wherein in a case where the controller operates in the low speed following travel mode, the equipment controller does not display information requesting the occupant monitor the traffic situation of the surroundings in the display.