Driving assistance device
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasahiro Takahashi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The driving assistance device 1 controls the notification device 30 to issue a predetermined alert to the occupants of the own vehicle if, at a first point in time, it detects the existence of a first driving lane L1 adjacent to the lane L0 in which the own vehicle is traveling, and no stationary object is present in a predetermined area R[n+10] located ahead of the own vehicle in that first driving lane L1, and then, at a second point in time after the first point in time, when the own vehicle is positioned on the side of this predetermined area, it detects the presence of a solid object OB within said area and that the distance Δd between this solid object OB and the own vehicle is less than a threshold.
Claims4
A driving assistance device comprising:
- a front detecting sensor configured to acquire information about objects in front of an own vehicle and a current lane in which the own vehicle is traveling;
- an object distance sensor configured to detect a lateral object distance between a solid object in a lane adjacent to the current lane and the own vehicle;
- a memory;
- and
- a processor operatively coupled to the front detecting sensor and the object distance sensor, the processor being programmed to:
- define a target area in the lane adjacent to the current lane that is a predetermined distance ahead of the own vehicle in the a traveling direction;
- perform a first determination step at a first point in time before the own vehicle has reached a lateral side of the target area that no stationary object is present in the target area;
- store a result of the first determination step in the memory;
- after the own vehicle has reached the lateral side of the target area, perform a second determination step at a second point in time after the first point in time whether a solid object exists in the target area;
- upon a determination in the second determination step that a solid object exists in the target area, determine a lateral distance to the solid object using the object distance sensor;
- based on the determined lateral distance, determine whether the solid object is an approaching other vehicle;
- and
- upon a determination that the solid object is an approaching other vehicle, output a predetermined alert to an operator of the own vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.