Auto-drive control unit for vehicles
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKazunori Kagawa, Hiroaki Tanaka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A unit for smoothly switching from auto-drive to manual drive for a vehicle provided with an auto-drive mode. To perform auto-drive, an auto-drive ECU controls steering wheel, brake, and accelerator actuators in accordance with signals from a route recognition/obstruction check sensor, a GPS and the like. When an interface (switch) for switching to the manual drive is operated, the auto-drive ECU evaluates running stability/instability in accordance with signals from various running safety devices and sensors for detecting a variation in vehicle state, and if the vehicle is in an instable state, prohibits a shift to the manual drive, even when the vehicle is running on a straight road.
Claims9
An auto-drive control unit for a vehicle comprising:
- (a) running control means for performing auto-drive to control speed and steering angle of the vehicle based on detection signals from a plurality of sensors,
- (b) changeover means for switching between the auto-drive and manual drive,
- (c) evaluation means for evaluating running stability of the vehicle while running when the steering angle is within a given range and substantially in a neutral state, and
- (d) mode control means for prohibiting changeover from the auto-drive to the manual drive by said changeover means when the vehicle running is evaluated to be in an unstable state by said evaluation means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.