# US 12,008,900 B2 · Vehicle system for determining recommended lane

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- Number: US 12,008,900 B2
- Document ID: US12008900B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/571,604
- Filed: 2022-01-10
- Published: 2022-07-14
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2021-01-12
- Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Hidetoshi Chikamori; Kazumasa Nakamura; Hitoshi Konishi; Takuji Harayama; Tomoaki Masakawa; Naofumi Aso; Ryo Matsuzawa; Zhaoqi Wang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12008900B2

## CPC

- G08G 1/096811: {where the route is computed offboard}
- G08G 1/096827: {where the route is computed onboard}
- B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres}
- G01C 21/3492: {employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968)}
- G01C 21/3658: {Lane guidance}
- G01C 21/3691: {Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09)}
- G08G 1/096725: {where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control}
- G08G 1/096741: {where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle}
- G08G 1/096775: {where the origin of the information is a central station}
- G08G 1/096838: {where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality}
- B60W 2552/05: Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
- B60W 2552/10: Number of lanes
- B60W 2552/30: Road curve radius
- B60W 2554/408: Traffic behavior, e.g. swarm
- B60W 2556/10: Historical data
- B60W 2556/50: of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
- 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})
- 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
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)

## Abstract

A vehicle system includes: a controller configured to communicate with a map server; and a vehicle position acquiring device configured to acquire own vehicle position information. The controller includes: a vehicle position determining unit configured to determine a lane in which an own vehicle is traveling based on the own vehicle position information; and a recommended lane determining unit configured to determine a recommended lane. The recommended lane determining unit is configured to set a priority of each lane based on map information, determine the lane having a highest priority as the recommended lane, calculate a congestion degree of each lane based on traffic state information and/or a statistic, and adjust a switching point of the recommended lane according to the congestion degree of the lane to be switched to the recommended lane.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle system for determining a recommended lane for an own vehicle in a case where the own vehicle travels on a road having a plurality of lanes on one lateral side thereof, the vehicle system comprising:
a controller configured to communicate with a map server that stores map information including road structure information and traffic information, the traffic information including current traffic state information on each lane and/or a statistic of a past traffic state of each lane; and
a vehicle position acquiring device configured to acquire own vehicle position information for determining the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling and transmit the own vehicle position information to the controller,
wherein the controller includes:
a vehicle position determining unit configured to determine the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling based on the own vehicle position information; and
a recommended lane determining unit configured to determine the recommended lane, and
the recommended lane determining unit is configured to
set a priority of each lane based on the map information, and
determine the lane having a highest priority as the recommended lane,
wherein when switching the recommended lane to a branching connection lane connected to a branching route so as to guide the own vehicle to the branching route, the recommended lane determining unit sets the switching point for switching the recommended lane to the branching connection lane more rearward in a vehicle travel direction in a case where determining based on the road structure information that the recommended lane curves as compared with a case where determining that the recommended lane is straight.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein when switching the recommended lane in a vicinity of a merging point in a merging connection lane to which a merging route is connected, the recommended lane determining unit sets the switching point more forward in a vehicle travel direction than the merging point.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein the recommended lane determining unit is configured to
calculate a congestion degree of each lane based on the traffic state information and/or the statistic, and
adjust a switching point of the recommended lane according to the congestion degree of the lane to be switched to the recommended lane.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The vehicle system according to claim 3, wherein the map information includes the statistic, and
the recommended lane determining unit is configured to determine the congestion degree based on the statistic classified according to a day of a week and a time of the day.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The vehicle system according to claim 3, wherein when switching the recommended lane to a branching connection lane connected to a branching route so as to guide the own vehicle to the branching route, the recommended lane determining unit sets the switching point for switching the recommended lane to the branching connection lane more rearward in a vehicle travel direction in a case where the congestion degree of the branching connection lane is equal to or more than a prescribed value as compared with a case where the congestion degree thereof is less than the prescribed value.