Headway control system

Abstract

To provide a headway control system, in which a congestion following processing can be started by the same operation as in ordinary driving. An arrangement is provided that lets a following control unit 10 to start a control to follow a preceding vehicle on condition that a characteristic value, which is produced in a host vehicle when a driver starts moving the host vehicle, is detected in congested traffic. Acceleration or a vehicle speed may be used as the characteristic value. Another possible arrangement is to start the following control on condition that a variation in an engine of the host vehicle, which is generated in the host vehicle when the driver operates to start moving the host vehicle, is detected in congested traffic. For example, the following control may be started under condition that at least either one of the following is detected: an increase in an engine speed, an increase in an intake pressure, an increase in an injection pulse width, an increase in an engine oil pressure, and an increase in the number of ignition pulses.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.