Method for assisting a vehicle user during a lane change maneuver taking into account different areas in the surroundings of the vehicle, and driver assistance system for a vehicle

A method for operating a driver assistance system of a vehicle to execute an automated lane change maneuver, comprising:

• defining a far field, a mid field and a near field in the surroundings of the vehicle, wherein the near field adjoins the vehicle, the mid field adjoins the near field and the far field adjoins the mid field, wherein the far field is outside a capture range of environmental sensors of the vehicle, and wherein the near field and the mid field are within the capture range of the environmental sensors;
• receiving a navigation command to carry out the automated lane change maneuver from a second lane to a first lane of a road;
• searching for gaps for the vehicle between further road users in the first lane based on captured data of the environmental sensors;
• and
• selecting one of the gaps for the lane change maneuver based on the captured data;
• and
• executing the automated lane change maneuver via the selected gap,
• wherein the searching and/or selecting is according to a predetermined order of the far field, mid field and near field, wherein the predetermined order is:
• first an area of the far field that is in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, then an area of the mid field that is in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, and then the near field, are checked.