Vehicle driving support system which is responsive to environmental conditions

A vehicle driving support system for facilitating the driving of a vehicle by a driver, comprising:

• environment detecting means for obtaining objective information concerning objects located around a vehicle;
• running mode specifying means for selectively specifying one from a plurality of running modes of the vehicle;
• information processing means for selectively generating one of a plurality of different kinds of driving operation reference information corresponding to a specified running mode of the vehicle by processing said objective information detected in accordance with a specified running mode;
• and
• indicating means for communicating said driving operation reference information to a driver of the vehicle, wherein said environment detecting means includes a distance information detector for obtaining distance information indicating a distance between said vehicle and an object located in front thereof, said running mode specifying means comprising command input means for generating a command signal in response a driver's input operation to specify that said vehicle is in a normal running mode or in a congestion running mode, and said information processing means includes means for monitoring a vehicle stopped in front of said vehicle and for generating driving operation reference information to inform the driver of the starting of the stopped vehicle during the congestion running mode, and further including means for generating preferable reference distance information between a preceding vehicle and said vehicle during the normal running mode, and the informing means includes means for notifying the driver by selectively displaying the driving operation reference information indicative of the starting of the preceding vehicle when the congestion running mode is specified by the driver and selectively displaying the preferred reference distance when the normal running mode is specified by the driver.

A vehicle driving support system for facilitating the driving of a vehicle by a driver, comprising:

• environment detecting means for obtaining objective information concerning objects located around a vehicle;
• running mode specifying means for selectively specifying one from a plurality of running modes of the vehicle;
• information processing means for selectively generating one of a plurality of different kinds of driving operation reference information corresponding to a specified running mode of the vehicle by processing said objective information detected in accordance with a specified running mode;
• and
• indicating means for communicating said driving operation reference information to a driver of the vehicle, wherein said running condition specifying means includes input means for specifying that said vehicle is in a narrow passage running condition or in a parking lot running condition in response to a driver's input operation, said information processing means including means, responsive to the vehicle being in the narrow passage running condition, for monitoring an object near said vehicle according to a relative positional relationship thereof to said vehicle and for generating driving operation reference information to inform the driver thereof, and responsive to the vehicle being in the parking running condition, for generating driving operation reference information to inform the driver of the distribution of objects existing in a parking lot, wherein the indicating means includes means for notifying the driver by selectively displaying the driving operation reference information regarding the relative positional relationship of the object near the vehicle when the narrow passage running mode is specified by the driver and for selectively displaying the information regarding the distribution condition of objects existing in the parking lot when the parking running mode is specified by the driver.

A vehicle driving support system comprising a vehicle body sensor mounted on a vehicle to detect both direction and speed of said vehicle;

• body motion detecting means to detect vehicle motion in response to signals from said body sensor;
• an environment sensor mounted on the periphery of the vehicle body to detect nearby obstacles;
• obstacle detecting means responsive to signals from said vehicle motion detecting means and said environment sensor for detecting the presence/absence of obstacles in the running direction of the vehicle, as well as the size, shape and location of an obstacle when any obstacle exists;
• an information memory in which data representing vehicle dimensions and map information are stored;
• environment information processing means for calculating environment information concerning objects around the vehicle based on information received from said body motion detecting means, said obstacle detecting means and said information memory;
• guidance information selecting means responsive to environment information calculated by said environment information processing means for selecting vehicle guidance information among a plurality of guidance information based on decision criteria concerning safety;
• and indicating means to inform the driver of the vehicle of the selected guidance information.

A vehicle guidance information system comprising a vehicle body sensor to detect both the direction and the speed of a vehicle;

• body motion detecting means to detect vehicle motion on the basis of signals received from said body sensor;
• an environment sensor mounted on the periphery of the vehicle body to detect nearby obstacles;
• obstacle detecting means responsive to signals received from said vehicle motion detecting means and said environment sensor for detecting the to presence/absence of obstacles in the running direction of the vehicle, as well as the size, shape and location of an obstacle when any obstacle exists;
• an information memory in which information such as vehicle dimensions and map information are stored;
• communicating means to communicate with a communication system including a ground or satellite communication system and another vehicle's communication system, to obtain wide ranged environment information of the environment around the vehicle;
• environment information processing means to calculate the wide ranged environment information based on information received from said body motion detecting means, said obstacle detecting means, said information memory and said communicating means;
• guidance information selecting means responsive to environment information calculated by said environment information processing means for selecting vehicle guidance information among a plurality of vehicle guidance information based on decision criteria on safety;
• and indicating means for informing a driver of the vehicle of the selected guidance information.

A method for facilitating the driving of a vehicle by a driver, comprising:

• obtaining objective information concerning objects located around a vehicle;
• selectively specifying one from a plurality of running modes of the vehicle;
• selectively generating one of a plurality of different kinds of driving operation reference information corresponding to a specified running mode of the vehicle by processing said objective information detected in accordance with a specified running mode, said plurality of different kinds of driving operation reference including information indicative of the start of a preceding vehicle from a stopped position in front of said vehicle, preferable reference distance information indicative of a preferred distance between a preceding vehicle cruising in front of said vehicle and said vehicle, a relative position with respect to said vehicle of an object present in the proximity of said vehicle and a distribution of objects present in a parking lot;
• and
• communicating said driving operation reference information to a driver of the vehicle.