Vehicle controller, method, and program for steering reaction during manual driving for returning to a preset route

A method for controlling a vehicle by a computer, the method comprising:

• acquiring a preset operation route;
• causing the vehicle to travel along the preset operation route in one of an autonomous driving mode in which the vehicle is operated by autonomous driving and a manual driving mode in which the vehicle is operated by manual driving in which at least steering is manually performed;
• determining whether a driving mode of the vehicle is the manual driving mode;
• upon determination that the driving mode of the vehicle is the manual driving mode, determining whether a preset time has elapsed since a previous intervention by the driver in the steering of the vehicle;
• upon determination that the preset time has elapsed since the previous intervention by the driver in the steering of the vehicle, acquiring a steering amount of a steering wheel of the vehicle;
• calculating an expected value of the steering amount based on a road shape of the operation route and a current attitude of the vehicle;
• comparing the steering amount of the vehicle to the expected value of the steering amount;
• upon determination that the steering amount of the vehicle is smaller than the expected value of the steering amount, generating torque for guiding the steering operation of the vehicle so that the vehicle follows the operation route;
• and
• upon determination that the steering amount of the vehicle is larger than the expected value of the steering amount, generating torque acting as steering resistance so that the vehicle follows the operation route.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute processing for controlling a vehicle, the processing comprising:

• acquiring a preset operation route;
• causing the vehicle to travel along the preset operation route in one of an autonomous driving mode in which the vehicle is operated by autonomous driving and a manual driving mode in which the vehicle is operated by manual driving in which at least steering is manually performed;
• determining whether a driving mode of the vehicle is the manual driving mode;
• upon determination that the driving mode of the vehicle is the manual driving mode, determining whether a preset time has elapsed since a previous intervention by the driver in the steering of the vehicle;
• upon determination that the preset time has elapsed since the previous intervention by the driver in the steering of the vehicle, acquiring a steering amount of a steering wheel of the vehicle;
• calculating an expected value of the steering amount based on a road shape of the operation route and a current attitude of the vehicle;
• comparing the steering amount of the vehicle to the expected value of the steering amount;
• upon determination that the steering amount of the vehicle is smaller than the expected value of the steering amount, generating torque for guiding the steering operation of the vehicle so that the vehicle follows the operation route;
• and
• upon determination that the steering amount of the vehicle is larger than the expected value of the steering amount, generating torque acting as steering resistance so that the vehicle follows the operation route.