Driving assistance apparatus and driving assistance method

A driving assistance apparatus that assists driving of a vehicle, the driving assistance apparatus comprising:

• an outside world information acquiring unit that acquires outside world information on surroundings of an own vehicle, the outside world information having a first value;
• a vehicle position detecting unit that detects a position of the own vehicle, the position of the own vehicle having a second value;
• a movement route calculating unit that calculates a movement route when the own vehicle moves in a predetermined direction by automatic driving from a vehicle stop state in a predetermined area;
• and
• a safety confirmation position determining unit that determines
• a safety confirmation position present on the movement route calculated by the movement route calculating unit on a basis of the outside world information acquired by the outside world information acquiring unit and the position of the own vehicle acquired by the vehicle position detecting unit, the safety confirmation position being a safety confirmation position at which a driver can visually confirm a surrounding traveling environment, and
• a vehicle stop position determined by selecting a point obtained by making the second value larger than the first value of the outside world information by a certain value, the certain value being related to a characteristic of the driver,
• wherein, at regular intervals, the driving assistance apparatus moves the vehicle, determines the safety confirmation position, and determines whether the vehicle has reached the safety confirmation position,
• wherein the driving assistance apparatus reduces a speed of the own vehicle to a predetermined speed or less so that the driver can visually confirm the surrounding traveling environment at the vehicle stop position and the safety confirmation position,
• wherein, when the driving assistance apparatus determines the vehicle has not reached the safety confirmation position, the vehicle moves to the vehicle stop position, and
• wherein the certain value is a fixed value based on a distance from a tip of the own vehicle to a position of the driver sitting in a driver's seat of the own vehicle or a dynamic value based on a detection signal of a human sensor.