# US 2026/0062004 A1 · Driving assistance apparatus for vehicle > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2026/0062004 A1 - Document ID: US20260062004A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 19/246,931 - Filed: 2025-06-24 - Published: 2026-03-05 - Earliest claimed: 2024-09-03 - Assignees: Subaru Corporation - Applicants: Subaru Corporation - Inventors: Tetsuo SHIRAISHI; Masatoshi MINAKAWA; Yuki SASAKI - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20260062004A1 ## CPC - B60W 30/16: Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle - B60W 30/165: Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar" - B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres} - B60W 2552/10: Number of lanes - B60W 2554/4041: Position - B60W 2720/106: Longitudinal acceleration - B60W 2754/30: Longitudinal distance - 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 ## Abstract A driving assistance apparatus for a vehicle includes a traveling environment information acquirer that acquires information regarding traveling environment ahead of the vehicle; and a vehicle following controller that, when a preceding vehicle most previously traveling in front of the vehicle is detected based on the information regarding traveling environment, perform a vehicle following control with respect to the preceding vehicle. The vehicle following controller includes a registration unit for no-passing target vehicles that performs regarding the preceding vehicle registration as a no-passing target vehicle based on the information regarding traveling environment when the preceding vehicle has departed to a no-passing target lane side or the vehicle has departed to a no-passing lane side, and a no-passing target following controller that performs the vehicle following control with respect to the no-passing target vehicle when the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles has performed the registration as the no-passing target vehicle. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A driving assistance apparatus for a vehicle, the driving assistance apparatus comprising: a traveling environment information acquirer configured to acquire information regarding traveling environment ahead of the vehicle; and a vehicle following controller configured to, when a preceding vehicle most previously traveling in front of the vehicle in a same lane as the vehicle is detected based on the information regarding traveling environment acquired by the traveling environment information acquirer, perform a vehicle following control with respect to the preceding vehicle, wherein the vehicle following controller comprises a registration unit for no-passing target vehicles configured to perform, regarding the preceding vehicle, registration of the preceding vehicle as a no-passing target vehicle when one or both of first and second states are detected based on the information regarding traveling environment acquired by the traveling environment information acquirer, the first state being that the preceding vehicle has departed to a no-passing target lane side, the second state being that the vehicle has departed to a no-passing lane side, and a no-passing target following controller configured to perform the vehicle following control with respect to the no-passing target vehicle when the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles has performed the registration as the no-passing target vehicle. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a deceleration that is set while the no-passing target following controller performs the vehicle following control is smaller than a deceleration that is set while the vehicle following control is performed with respect to the preceding vehicle. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a target following distance that is set while the no-passing target following controller performs the vehicle following control is a minimum distance among target following distances that are set while the vehicle following control is performed with respect to the preceding vehicle. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein an acceleration that is set while the no-passing target following controller performs the vehicle following control is smaller than an acceleration that is set while the vehicle following control is performed with respect to the preceding vehicle. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles is configured to clear the registration as the no-passing target vehicle when the no-passing target vehicle has departed from the no-passing target lane or when the vehicle has departed from the no-passing lane. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles is configured to clear the registration as the no-passing target vehicle when the no-passing target vehicle has departed from the no-passing target lane or when the vehicle has departed from the no-passing lane. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles is configured to clear the registration as the no-passing target vehicle when the no-passing target vehicle has departed from the no-passing target lane or when the vehicle has departed from the no-passing lane. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The driving assistance apparatus for the vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the registration unit for no-passing target vehicles is configured to clear the registration as the no-passing target vehicle when the no-passing target vehicle has departed from the no-passing target lane or when the vehicle has departed from the no-passing lane. ### Claim 9 A driving assistance apparatus for a vehicle, the driving assistance apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to acquire information regarding traveling environment ahead of the vehicle; and when a preceding vehicle most previously traveling in front of the vehicle in a same lane as the vehicle is detected based on the information regarding traveling environment, perform a vehicle following control with respect to the preceding vehicle, wherein the circuitry is further configured to perform, regarding the preceding vehicle, registration as a no-passing target vehicle when one or both of first and second states are detected based on the information regarding traveling environment, the first state being that the preceding vehicle has departed to a no-passing target lane side, the second state being that the vehicle has departed to a no-passing lane side, and perform the vehicle following control with respect to the no-passing target vehicle when the registration as the no-passing target vehicle has been performed.