Control system for semi-autonomous control of vehicle along learned route

A vehicular control system, the vehicular control system comprising:

• a vehicle control comprising circuitry and associated software, wherein the vehicle control is operable to control driving of a vehicle equipped with the vehicular control system;
• an acceleration sensor disposed at the vehicle;
• a camera disposed at an in-cabin side of a windshield of the vehicle and viewing forward of the vehicle through the windshield, the camera capturing image data;
• wherein the circuitry of the vehicle control comprises an image processor for processing image data captured by the camera;
• wherein image data captured by the camera while the vehicle is driven along a route by a driver of the vehicle is processed at the image processor to detect traffic viewed by the camera while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle;
• wherein image data captured by the camera while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle is processed at the image processor to detect road topography of a road currently traveled by the vehicle while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle;
• wherein the vehicle control, responsive at least in part to (i) detecting traffic while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle, (ii) detecting road topography while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle, and (iii) determining acceleration of the vehicle via the acceleration sensor while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle, learns the route driven by the driver of the vehicle during multiple repetitive drives of the route by the driver of the vehicle;
• wherein, during the multiple repetitive drives of the route by the vehicle to learn the route, a confidence level for the learned route is increased;
• wherein the control increases the confidence level of the learned route by predicting driver behavior for an upcoming segment of the route and comparing the prediction to actual driver behavior of the driver during driving by the driver of the vehicle along the segment of the route;
• wherein the predicted driver behavior comprises (i) steering of the vehicle by the driver, (ii) acceleration of the vehicle by the driver and (iii) braking of the vehicle by the driver;
• wherein the upcoming segment of the route comprises one selected from the group consisting of (i) a set distance along the route from the vehicle location at the beginning of the upcoming segment of the route and (ii) a set amount of time from the time at the beginning of the upcoming segment of the route;
• and
• wherein, responsive to the confidence level of the learned route exceeding a threshold value, the vehicle control is operable to at least semi-autonomously control the vehicle to drive the vehicle along the learned route.

A method for vehicular control, the method comprising:

• equipping a vehicle with a vehicular control system comprising a vehicle control comprising circuitry and associated software, an acceleration sensor disposed at the vehicle, and a camera disposed an in-cabin side of a windshield of the vehicle and viewing forward of the vehicle through the windshield, wherein the circuitry of the vehicle control comprises an image processor for processing image data captured by the camera;
• capturing image data by the camera while the vehicle is driven along a route by a driver of the vehicle;
• providing image data captured by the camera to the vehicle control;
• processing, via the image processor of the vehicle control, image data captured by the camera and provided to the vehicle control;
• detecting, by the vehicle control, based on processing the provided image data captured by the camera, traffic along the route driven by the driver of the vehicle;
• detecting, by the vehicle control, and based on processing the image data from the camera, road topography of a road currently traveled by a vehicle while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle;
• determining, by the vehicle control, acceleration of the vehicle while the vehicle is driven along the route by the driver of the vehicle via the acceleration sensor;
• learning, by the vehicle control, the route driven by the driver of the vehicle during multiple repetitive drives of the route by the driver of the vehicle, based on (i) the detected traffic along the route, (ii) the detected road topography along the route and (iii) the determined acceleration of the vehicle along the route;
• increasing, by the vehicle control, a confidence level for the learned route based on the multiple repetitive drives of the route by the driver;
• and
• when the confidence level exceeds a threshold level, at least semi-autonomously controlling, by the vehicle control, the vehicle to drive the vehicle along the learned route.