# US 12,179,747 B2 · Drive assist apparatus, drive assist method, and program

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- Number: US 12,179,747 B2
- Document ID: US12179747B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/075,453
- Filed: 2022-12-06
- Published: 2023-06-29
- Granted: 2024-12-31
- Earliest claimed: 2021-12-27
- Assignees: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Ichiro Baba; Yosuke Koike; Kenji Komori
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12179747B2

## CPC

- B60W 30/09: Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
- B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
- B60W 10/20: including control of steering systems
- B60W 30/095: Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
- B60W 40/06: Road conditions
- B60W 2050/143: {Alarm means}
- B60W 2552/05: Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
- B60W 2552/53: Road markings, e.g. lane marker or crosswalk
- B60W 2554/80: Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
- B60W 2554/801: Lateral distance
- B60W 2710/202: Steering torque
- 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

## Abstract

A drive assist apparatus includes: an avoidance target recognition portion that recognizes an avoidance target which is a target with which a host vehicle should avoid coming into contact when traveling on a road; a steering control portion that assists steering of the host vehicle at a time of the host vehicle and the avoidance target passing each other; a margin detection portion that detects a margin indicating a distance between the host vehicle and the avoidance target at the time of passing each other; and a level change portion that changes a steering assistance degree of the host vehicle by the steering control portion at subsequent times of passing each other based on the margin detected by the margin detection portion.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A drive assist apparatus, comprising:
an avoidance target recognition portion that recognizes an avoidance target which is a target with which a host vehicle should avoid coming into contact when traveling on a road;
a steering control portion that assists steering of the host vehicle at a time of the host vehicle and the avoidance target passing each other;
a margin detection portion that detects a margin indicating a distance between the host vehicle and the avoidance target at the time of passing each other; and
a level change portion that changes a steering assistance degree of the host vehicle by the steering control portion at subsequent times of passing each other based on the margin detected by the margin detection portion.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The drive assist apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the level change portion decreases the steering assistance degree in a case where the margin detected by the margin detection portion is equal to or more than a first threshold value, and
the level change portion increases the steering assistance degree in a case where the margin detected by the margin detection portion is less than the first threshold value.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The drive assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:
an alarm output control portion that causes an output device to output an alarm in a case where the margin detected by the margin detection portion is less than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The drive assist apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the margin detection portion detects, as the margin, a shortest distance between the host vehicle and the avoidance target at the time of passing each other.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The drive assist apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a travelable width detection portion that detects a travelable width indicating a width of the road where the host vehicle is travelable,
wherein the level change portion does not change the steering assistance degree in a case where the travelable width detected by the travelable width detection portion is larger than a predetermined width.

### Claim 6

A drive assist method by a computer, comprising:
recognizing an avoidance target which is a target with which a host vehicle should avoid coming into contact when traveling on a road;
assisting steering of the host vehicle at a time of the host vehicle and the avoidance target passing each other;
detecting a margin indicating a distance between the host vehicle and the avoidance target at the time of passing each other; and
changing a steering assistance degree of the host vehicle at subsequent times of passing each other based on the detected margin.

### Claim 7

A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium which includes a program causing a computer to:
recognize an avoidance target which is a target with which a host vehicle should avoid coming into contact when traveling on a road;
assist steering of the host vehicle at a time of the host vehicle and the avoidance target passing each other;
detect a margin indicating a distance between the host vehicle and the avoidance target at the time of passing each other; and
change a steering assistance degree of the host vehicle at subsequent times of passing each other based on the detected margin.