Vehicle control device, vehicle control system, vehicle control method, and computer-readable storage medium

A vehicle control method comprising:

• a surrounding vehicle lane determination step of determining a lane to which a surrounding vehicle, among surrounding vehicles, present around an own vehicle belongs;
• a surrounding vehicle behavior prediction step of predicting whether or not, at a time point after a present, the surrounding vehicle will cut in to an own vehicle traveling lane on which the own vehicle is traveling;
• a preceding vehicle determination step of determining, among the surrounding vehicles, a preceding vehicle to be followed by the own vehicle;
• a target acceleration calculation step of calculating a target acceleration for keeping a vehicle-to-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle determined in the preceding vehicle determination step;
• and
• a drive force calculation step of calculating a drive force of the own vehicle on the basis of the target acceleration calculated in the target acceleration calculation step, wherein
• the preceding vehicle determination step includes
• a preceding vehicle candidate selection step of selecting, as a preceding vehicle candidate, the surrounding vehicle traveling in front on the own vehicle traveling lane and the surrounding vehicle predicted to cut in to the own vehicle traveling lane in the surrounding vehicle behavior prediction step,
• a collision risk determination step of determining a collision risk of each surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate in the preceding vehicle candidate selection step, and
• a preceding vehicle selecting step of selecting, as the preceding vehicle, the surrounding vehicle of which the collision risk determined in the collision risk determination step is greatest,
• wherein in the collision risk determination step, if a relative velocity of the surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate with respect to the own vehicle in an advancing direction of the own vehicle is negative, a time to collision is calculated on the basis of the relative velocity and a relative distance between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle in the advancing direction of the own vehicle, and the collision risk is determined to be greater as the time to collision becomes shorter, and if the relative velocity is zero or greater, the collision risk is determined to be greater as the relative distance becomes shorter, and
• wherein in the collision risk determination step, if an absolute value of the relative velocity is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the relative velocity is replaced with a predetermined negative set value, to determine the collision risk.

A vehicle control device comprising:

• a surrounding vehicle lane determination circuitry to determine a lane to which a surrounding vehicle, among surrounding vehicles, present around an own vehicle belongs;
• a surrounding vehicle behavior prediction circuitry to predict whether or not, at a time point after a present, the surrounding vehicle will cut in to an own vehicle traveling lane on which the own vehicle is traveling;
• a preceding vehicle determination circuitry to determine, among the surrounding vehicles, a preceding vehicle to be followed by the own vehicle;
• a target acceleration calculation circuitry to calculate a target acceleration for keeping a vehicle-to-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle determined by the preceding vehicle determination circuitry;
• and
• a drive force calculation circuitry to calculate a drive force of the own vehicle on the basis of the target acceleration calculated by the target acceleration calculation circuitry, wherein
• the preceding vehicle determination circuitry includes
• a preceding vehicle candidate selection circuitry to select, as a preceding vehicle candidate, the surrounding vehicle traveling in front on the own vehicle traveling lane and the surrounding vehicle predicted to cut in to the own vehicle traveling lane by the surrounding vehicle behavior prediction circuitry,
• a collision risk determination circuitry to determine a collision risk of each surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate by the preceding vehicle candidate selection circuitry, and
• a preceding vehicle selecting circuitry to select, as the preceding vehicle, the surrounding vehicle of which the collision risk determined by the collision risk determination circuitry is greatest,
• wherein if a relative velocity of the surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate with respect to the own vehicle in an advancing direction of the own vehicle is negative, the collision risk determination circuitry calculates a time to collision on the basis of the relative velocity and a relative distance between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle in the advancing direction of the own vehicle, and determines the collision risk to be greater as the time to collision becomes shorter, and if the relative velocity is zero or greater, the collision risk determination circuitry determines the collision risk to be greater as the relative distance becomes shorter, and
• wherein the collision risk determination circuitry performs setting such that the collision risk set when the relative velocity is zero or greater is smaller than the collision risk set when the relative velocity is negative.

A vehicle control method comprising:

• a surrounding vehicle lane determination step of determining a lane to which a surrounding vehicle, among surrounding vehicles, present around an own vehicle belongs;
• a surrounding vehicle behavior prediction step of predicting whether or not, at a time point after a present, the surrounding vehicle will cut in to an own vehicle traveling lane on which the own vehicle is traveling;
• a preceding vehicle determination step of determining, among the surrounding vehicles, a preceding vehicle to be followed by the own vehicle;
• a target acceleration calculation step of calculating a target acceleration for keeping a vehicle-to-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle determined in the preceding vehicle determination step;
• and
• a drive force calculation step of calculating a drive force of the own vehicle on the basis of the target acceleration calculated in the target acceleration calculation step, wherein
• the preceding vehicle determination step includes
• a preceding vehicle candidate selection step of selecting, as a preceding vehicle candidate, the surrounding vehicle traveling in front on the own vehicle traveling lane and the surrounding vehicle predicted to cut in to the own vehicle traveling lane in the surrounding vehicle behavior prediction step,
• a collision risk determination step of determining a collision risk of each surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate in the preceding vehicle candidate selection step, and
• a preceding vehicle selecting step of selecting, as the preceding vehicle, the surrounding vehicle of which the collision risk determined in the collision risk determination step is greatest,
• wherein in the collision risk determination step, if a relative velocity of the surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle candidate with respect to the own vehicle in an advancing direction of the own vehicle is negative, a time to collision is calculated on the basis of the relative velocity and a relative distance between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle in the advancing direction of the own vehicle, and the collision risk is determined to be greater as the time to collision becomes shorter, and if the relative velocity is zero or greater, the collision risk is determined to be greater as the relative distance becomes shorter, and
• wherein in the collision risk determination step, setting is performed such that the collision risk set when the relative velocity is zero or greater is smaller than the collision risk set when the relative velocity is negative.