# US 12,759,574 B2 · Driver assistance apparatus, driver assistance method, and non-transitory recording medium

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- Number: US 12,759,574 B2
- Document ID: US12759574B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/969,384
- Filed: 2024-12-05
- Published: 2025-03-20
- Granted: 2026-10-13
- Earliest claimed: 2023-03-23
- Assignees: Subaru Corporation
- Applicants: Subaru Corporation
- Inventors: Takato Saito
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12759574B2

## CPC

- B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
- B60K 35/21: using visual output, e.g. blinking lights or matrix displays
- B60W 40/08: related to drivers or passengers
- B60W 2050/146: {Display means}
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- B60K: ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES

## Abstract

A driver assistance apparatus that assists a driver in driving a vehicle includes one or more processors. The processor acquires information on a surrounding environment of the vehicle, recognizes the surrounding environment based on the information, calculates a trust level of the driver in the driver assistance apparatus, and displays at least recognition result information. When the recognition result information is displayed, the processor changes the number of information items indicating a display area around the vehicle or a state of a detection object present around the vehicle in accordance with the trust level. The processor determines that the driver is in a standard trusting state when the trust level is less than or equal to a predetermined over-trust threshold and greater than or equal to a predetermined distrust threshold, and sets the display area to a first area when the driver is in the standard trusting state.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A driver assistance apparatus configured to assist a driver in driving a vehicle, the driver being a person who drives the vehicle, the driver assistance apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories communicably coupled to the one or more processors, wherein
the one or more processors are configured to;
acquire information on a surrounding environment of the vehicle;
recognize the surrounding environment based on the information, including recognizing one or more detected objects present around the vehicle;
calculate a level of trust of the driver in the driver assistance apparatus,
display, in a display area of a display, recognition result information including an image indicating the vehicle and one or more images indicating the one or more detected objects;
determine that the driver is in a standard trusting state with respect to the driver assistance apparatus when the trust level is greater than or equal to a predetermined distrust threshold and less than or equal to a predetermined over-trust threshold;
set the display area to a first area when the driver is in the standard trusting state, the first area being a display range of the display in which results of measurement in a first predetermined region around the vehicle are displayed;
determine that the driver is in a distrusting state when the trust level is less than the predetermined distrust threshold, and increase, when the driver is in the distrusting state, a number of information items indicating a state of at least one of the one or more detected objects displayed in the display area; and
determine that the driver is in an over-trusting state when the trust level is greater than the predetermined over-trust threshold, and set, when the driver is in the over-trusting state, the display area to an area different from the first area.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, when the driver is in the over-trusting state, set the display area narrower than the first area.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to narrow the display area as the trust level is higher.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to, when the driver is in the distrusting state, increase the number of information items as the trust level is lower.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the information items include information indicating at least one of a kind, a relative position, or a moving speed of at least one of the one or more detected objects.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to calculate the trust level based on a frequency of use of an automated driving control functionality by the driver.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to calculate the trust level based on a frequency of driving operation performed by the driver against an operation command from an automated driving processor during activation of an automated driving control functionality.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The driver assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to calculate the trust level based on information recorded during driving of the vehicle by the driver or during use of the vehicle by the driver.

### Claim 9

A driver assistance method of assisting a driver in driving a vehicle, the driver being a person who drives the vehicle, the driver assistance method comprising:
acquiring information on a surrounding environment of the vehicle;
recognizing the surrounding environment based on the information, including recognizing one or more detected objects present around the vehicle;
calculating a level of trust of the driver in a driver assistance apparatus;
displaying, in a display area of a display, recognition result information including an image indicating the vehicle and one or more images indicating the one or more detected objects;
determining that the driver is in a standard trusting state when the trust level is greater than or equal to a predetermined distrust threshold and less than or equal to a predetermined over-trust threshold;
setting the display area to a first area when the driver is in the standard trusting state, the first area being a display range of the display in which results of measurement in a first predetermined region around the vehicle are displayed;
determining that the driver is in a distrusting state when the trust level is less than the predetermined distrust threshold, and increase, when the driver is in the distrusting state, a number of information items indicating a state of at least one of the one or more detected objects displayed in the display area; and
determining that the driver is in an over-trusting state when the trust level is greater than the predetermined over-trust threshold, and set, when the driver is in the over-trusting state, the display area to an area different from the first area.

### Claim 10

A non-transitory computer readable recording medium containing a computer program to be applied to a driver assistance apparatus, the driver assistance apparatus being configured to assist a driver in driving a vehicle, the driver being a person who drives the vehicle, the computer program causing, when executed by one or more processors, the one or more processors to implement a method, the method comprising:
acquiring information on a surrounding environment of the vehicle;
recognizing the surrounding environment based on the information, including recognizing one or more detected objects present around the vehicle;
calculating a level of trust of the driver in the driver assistance apparatus;
displaying, in a display area of a display, recognition result information including an image indicating the vehicle and one or more images indicating the one or more detected objects;
determining that the driver is in a standard trusting state when the trust level is greater than or equal to a predetermined distrust threshold and less than or equal to a predetermined over-trust threshold;
setting the display area to a first area when the driver is in the standard trusting state, the first area being a display range of the display in which results of measurement in a first predetermined region around the vehicle are displayed;
determining that the driver is in a distrusting state when the trust level is less than the predetermined distrust threshold, and increase, when the driver is in the distrusting state, a number of information items indicating a state of at least one of the one or more detected objects displayed in the display area; and
determining that the driver is in an over-trusting state when the trust level is greater than the predetermined over-trust threshold, and set, when the driver is in the over-trusting state, the display area to an area different from the first area.