# US 2023/0056929 A1 · Preceding vehicle determining device and preceding vehicle determining program > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2023/0056929 A1 - Document ID: US20230056929A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/792,516 - Filed: 2020-01-31 - Published: 2023-02-23 - Earliest claimed: 2020-01-31 - Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation - Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation - Inventors: Saori WADA; Fumiaki TAKAGI; Toshihide SATAKE; Kazuhiro NISHIWAKI; Yuji SHIMIZU - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20230056929A1 ## CPC - B60W 30/165: Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar" - G08G 1/167: {Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection} - B60W 30/12: Lane keeping - B60W 30/18: Propelling the vehicle - B60W 40/105: Speed - B60W 40/114: Yaw movement - G08G 1/015: with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles - B60W 2420/403: Image sensing, e.g. optical camera - B60W 2420/408: Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar - B60W 2520/14: Yaw - B60W 2552/53: Road markings, e.g. lane marker or crosswalk - B60W 2554/402: Type - B60W 2554/4041: Position - B60W 2554/801: Lateral distance - B60W 2554/802: Longitudinal distance - B60W 2556/10: Historical data - B60W 2556/20: Data confidence level - 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 - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) ## Abstract Provided is a preceding vehicle determining device including: a signal acquisition unit configured to acquire a signal from an object detection device; a border setting unit configured to set a border of a lane on which the own vehicle is traveling; a determination area setting unit configured to set a preceding vehicle determination area being an area forward of the own vehicle based on at least one piece of information out of vehicle type information, device type information, detection state information, or preceding vehicle information being information on a vehicle set as a preceding vehicle in previous processing, and based on the border set by the border setting unit; and a preceding vehicle determining unit configured to determine whether the another vehicle is to be set as the preceding vehicle based on a position of the another vehicle with respect to the preceding vehicle determination area. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A preceding vehicle determining device, comprising: a signal acquisition circuitry to acquire a signal from an object detector to detect an object forward of an own vehicle; a border setting circuitry to set a border of a lane on which the own vehicle is traveling; a determination area setting circuitry to set a preceding vehicle determination area being an area forward of the own vehicle based on at least one piece of information out of vehicle type information being information on a type of another vehicle detected by the object detector, device type information being information on a type of the object detector, detection state information being information on a state of detection of the object by the object detector, or preceding vehicle information being information on a vehicle set as a preceding vehicle in previous processing, and based on the border set by the border setting circuitry; and a preceding vehicle determining circuitry to determine whether the another vehicle is to be set as the preceding vehicle based on a position of the another vehicle with respect to the preceding vehicle determination area. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the determination area setting circuitry is configured to: set, as a lateral width of the preceding vehicle determination area, a length obtained by subtracting, from a width of the lane, a margin distance being a distance from the border in a width direction of the lane, and change the margin distance based on at least one piece of information out of the vehicle type information, the device type information, the detection state information, or the preceding vehicle information, to thereby set the preceding vehicle determination area. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the determination area setting circuitry is configured to set the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the another vehicle is continuously determined as the preceding vehicle by the preceding vehicle determining circuitry to be wider in a width direction of the lane than the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the another vehicle is not continuously determined as the preceding vehicle by the preceding vehicle determining circuitry. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the determination area setting circuitry is configured to set the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the type of the another vehicle is a two-wheeled vehicle to be narrower in a width direction of the lane than the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the type of the another vehicle is a four-wheeled vehicle. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein, when the object detector includes a camera and a radar, the determination area setting circuitry is configured to set the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the another vehicle is detected by only the radar to be narrower in a width direction of the lane than preceding vehicle determination area at time when the another vehicle is detected by at least the camera. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the border setting circuitry is configured to estimate the border based on a travel speed of the own vehicle and a yaw rate of the own vehicle when a road dividing line is not detected by the object detector, and wherein the determination area setting circuitry is configured to set the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the road dividing line is not detected by the object detector to be narrower in a width direction of the lane than the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the road dividing line is detected by the object detector. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the border setting circuitry is configured to estimate the border based on a travel speed of the own vehicle and a yaw rate of the own vehicle when a road dividing line is not detected by the object detector, and wherein, when the another vehicle is continuously determined as the preceding vehicle by the preceding vehicle determining circuitry, the determination area setting circuitry is configured to set the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the road dividing line is not detected by the object detector to be wider in a width direction of the lane than the preceding vehicle determination area at time when the road dividing line is detected by the object detector. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The preceding vehicle determining device according to claim 1, wherein the determination area setting circuitry is configured to increase the preceding vehicle determination area in a width direction of the lane as a detection reliability being a degree of a probability of a detection position and a detection shape of the object increases. ### Claim 9 A preceding vehicle determining program for causing a computer to execute: acquiring a signal from an object detector to detect an object forward of an own vehicle; setting a border of a lane on which the own vehicle is traveling; setting a preceding vehicle determination area being an area forward of the own vehicle based on at least one piece of information out of vehicle type information being information on a type of another vehicle detected by the object detector, device type information being information on a type of the object detector, detection state information being information on a state of detection of the object by the object detector, or preceding vehicle information being information on a vehicle set as a preceding vehicle in previous processing, and based on the border set in the border setting processing; and determining whether the another vehicle is to be set as the preceding vehicle based on a position of the another vehicle with respect to the preceding vehicle determination area.