Reliability calculation apparatus

A vehicle control system comprising:

• a reliability calculation apparatus that calculates a reliability of a recognized object that is recognized as being present on a route on which a vehicle travels;
• and
• a control apparatus that performs driving control of the vehicle based on the reliability of the recognized object calculated by the reliability calculation apparatus,
• the reliability calculation apparatus comprising:
• a provisional reliability calculating unit that determines a feature quantity of each of a plurality of recognized objects, selects a plurality of pairs of recognized objects from the plurality of recognized objects, determines a difference in feature quantity of each pair of recognized objects, and calculates, as a provisional reliability of each pair of recognized objects, a reliability that decreases as the difference in feature quantity increases;
• and
• an integrated reliability calculating unit that calculates an integrated reliability of each recognized object from the provisional reliabilities of the plurality of pairs of recognized objects.

A reliability calculation method for calculating a reliability of a recognized object that is recognized as being present on a route on which a vehicle travels, the reliability of the recognized object being used for driving control of the vehicle, the reliability calculation method comprising:

• determining a feature quantity of each of a plurality of recognized objects;
• selecting a plurality of pairs of recognized objects from the plurality of recognized objects;
• determining a difference in feature quantity of each pair of recognized objects;
• calculating, as a provisional reliability of each pair of recognized objects, a reliability that decreases as the difference in feature quantity increases;
• and
• calculating an integrated reliability of each recognized object from the provisional reliabilities of the plurality of pairs of recognized objects.