Driving assistance apparatus and driving assistance method for vehicle

A driving assistance apparatus for a vehicle that includes an irradiation apparatus that irradiates light toward an advancing direction of an own vehicle and an imaging apparatus that images a periphery of the own vehicle, the driving assistance apparatus comprising:

• a processor programmed to:
• detect an object that is present in the periphery of the own vehicle based on an image captured by the imaging apparatus;
• perform collision avoidance control including at least one of a warning operation in which a warning apparatus is operated and an automatic brake operation in which a brake apparatus of the vehicle is automatically operated when the likelihood of a collision between the object and the vehicle further increases after start of the warning operation;
• determine whether to switch irradiated light of the irradiation apparatus between high beam and low beam based on a predetermined switching condition, the predetermined switching condition including switching of the irradiated light from high beam to low beam in response to an own vehicle speed being equal to or less than a determination value;
• and
• perform switching suppression control to suppress switching of the irradiated light from high beam to low beam, despite the own vehicle speed being equal to or less than the determination value, in response to determining that the warning operation is being performed, wherein the switching suppression control maintains the irradiated light in a state of high beam.

A driving assistance method for a vehicle that includes an irradiation apparatus that irradiates light toward an advancing direction of an own vehicle and an imaging apparatus that images a periphery of the own vehicle, the driving assistance method comprising:

• detecting an object that is present in the periphery of the own vehicle based on an image captured by the imaging apparatus;
• performing collision avoidance control including an automatic brake operation in which a brake apparatus of the vehicle is automatically operated, the collision avoidance control configured to avoid a collision between the detected object and the vehicle when a collision between the object and the vehicle is likely;
• determining whether to switch irradiated light of the irradiation apparatus between high beam and low beam based on a predetermined switching condition, the predetermined switching condition including switching of the irradiated light from high beam to low beam in response to an own vehicle speed being equal to or less than a determination value;
• and
• performing switching suppression control to suppress switching of the irradiated light from high beam to low beam, despite the own vehicle speed being equal to or less than the determination value, in response to determining that the automatic brake operation is being performed, wherein the switching suppression control maintains the irradiated light in a state of high beam.