Vehicular system control method and apparatus

A non-transitory storage medium readable by a processor for controlling a vehicular system installed in a vehicle,

• the non-transitory storage medium comprising control program instructions that cause the processor to:
• detect an obstacle located around the vehicle;
• determine whether the obstacle has a collision possibility that the obstacle is likely to collide with the vehicle;
• determine, in response to determination that the obstacle has the collision possibility, to instruct a notification system installed in the vehicular system to issue, to at least one occupant of the vehicle, a notification related to the collision possibility with the obstacle in at least one of a visible format and an audible format;
• determine whether at least one collision-avoidance operation has been carried out by the at least one occupant since an issuance of the notification related to the collision possibility;
• and
• determine not to instruct a vehicle motion control system installed in the vehicular system to execute a collision-avoidance assistance operation upon determination that:
• (i) no collision-avoidance operations have been carried out by the at least one occupant since the issuance of the notification related to the collision possibility;
• and
• (ii) the obstacle having the collision possibility is a low-height object, the low-height object being defined as an object that has fallen on a road and has a height that is sufficiently low that the vehicle is enabled to pass over the obstacle,
• wherein the control program instructions further cause the processor to:
• determine whether the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object by determining whether a height of the obstacle being likely to collide with the vehicle is greater than or equal to a first threshold height and smaller than or equal to a second threshold height that is greater than the first threshold height, wherein
• the determining whether the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object determines that the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object upon determination that the height of the obstacle having the collision possibility is greater than or equal to the first threshold height and smaller than or equal to the second threshold height.

A control apparatus for controlling a vehicular system installed in a vehicle, the control apparatus comprising:

• a recognizing unit configured to recognize an obstacle located around the vehicle;
• and
• an operation determiner configured to:
• determine whether the obstacle has a collision possibility that the obstacle is likely to collide with the vehicle;
• determine, in response to determination that the obstacle is likely to collide with the vehicle, to instruct a notification system installed in the vehicular system to issue, to at least one occupant of the vehicle, a notification related to the collision possibility with the obstacle in at least one of a visible format and an audible format;
• determine whether at least one collision-avoidance operation has been carried out by the at least one occupant since an issuance of the notification related to the collision possibility;
• and
• determine not to instruct a vehicle motion control system to execute a collision-avoidance assistance operation upon determination that:
• (i) no collision-avoidance operations have been carried out by the at least one occupant since the issuance of the notification related to the collision possibility;
• and
• (ii) the obstacle having the collision possibility is a low-height object, the low-height object being defined as an object that has fallen on a road and has a height that is sufficiently low that the vehicle is enabled to pass over the obstacle,
• wherein the operation determiner is further configured to:
• determine whether the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object by determining whether a height of the obstacle being likely to collide with the vehicle is greater than or equal to a first threshold height and smaller than or equal to a second threshold height that is greater than the first threshold height, wherein
• the determining whether the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object determines that the obstacle having the collision possibility is the low-height object upon determination that the height of the obstacle having the collision possibility is greater than or equal to the first threshold height and smaller than or equal to the second threshold height.