Travel control apparatus of vehicle

A vehicle travel control apparatus for proxying or assisting driving of a driver by automatically controlling a control object without reference to driving operations of a driver during vehicle travel, the apparatus comprising:

• detecting means for detecting three or more types of travel data, one of the three or more types of travel data including a behavior of a vehicle during vehicle travel, and another one of the three or more types of travel data including at least one of a driving operation of a driver and a travel environment of the vehicle;
• sampling means for sampling all the travel data detected by the detecting means during non-control of the control object by the travel control apparatus;
• digitization means for digitizing as preference data a plurality of preferences during vehicle travel of the driver by performing multiple regression analysis with one travel data expressing a behavior of the vehicle as a target variable and the other travel data as explanatory variables among the travel data sampled by the sampling means;
• control target computing means for, during control of the control object by the travel control apparatus, computing a control target of the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable on the basis of, among the travel data detected by the detecting means, the travel data excluding the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable, and the preference data digitized by the digitization means;
• control means for controlling the control object so that the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable during vehicle travel becomes the control target computed by the control target computing means;
• and
• domain determining means for determining to which of a number of pre-divided travel domains the travel domain the vehicle belongs, using at least one of the travel data detected by the detecting means,
• wherein the sampling means samples the travel data in correspondence with the travel domains determined by the domain determining means,
• wherein the digitization means digitizes the preferences of the driver by travel domain, using the travel data for the travel domains sampled by the sampling means, and
• wherein the control target computing means computes the control target using, of the respective preference data of the travel domains digitized by the digitization means, the preference data corresponding to the present travel domain determined by the domain determining means.

A vehicle travel control apparatus for proxying or assisting driving of a driver by automatically controlling a control object without reference to driving operations of a driver during vehicle travel, the apparatus comprising:

• detecting means for detecting three or more types of travel data, one of the three or more types of travel data including a behavior of a vehicle during vehicle travel, and another one of the three or more types of travel data including at least one of a driving operation of a driver and a travel environment of the vehicle;
• sampling means for sampling all the travel data detected by the detecting means during non-control of the control object by the travel control apparatus;
• digitization means for digitizing as preference data a plurality of preferences during vehicle travel of the driver by performing multiple regression analysis with one travel data expressing a behavior of the vehicle as a target variable and the other travel data as explanatory variables among the travel data sampled by the sampling means;
• control target computing means for, during control of the control object by the travel control apparatus, computing a control target of the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable on the basis of, among the travel data detected by the detecting means, the travel data excluding the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable, and the preference data digitized by the digitization means;
• and
• control means for controlling the control object so that the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable during vehicle travel becomes the control target computed by the control target computing means;
• wherein the detecting means detects as travel data at least a front-rear direction acceleration or deceleration of the own vehicle, the relative speed of the own vehicle and a vehicle in front, and an inter-vehicle distance deviation, which is a deviation between the inter-vehicle distance from the own vehicle to the vehicle in front and a target inter-vehicle distance,
• wherein the digitization means digitizes the preferences of the driver when the vehicle is following a vehicle in front, by multiple regression analysis with, among the travel data detected by the detecting means, the front-rear direction acceleration or deceleration of the own vehicle as the target variable and the other travel data as the explanatory variables,
• wherein the control target computing means computes the control target of the front-rear direction acceleration or deceleration in a case where the own vehicle is being made to follow the vehicle in front using the preference data digitized by the digitization means and, among the travel data detected by the detecting means, the travel data excluding the front-rear direction acceleration or deceleration of the own vehicle, and
• wherein the control means, by controlling a control object constituting a drive or braking system of the vehicle so that the front-rear direction acceleration or deceleration of the own vehicle becomes the target acceleration or deceleration, performs automatic following control making the own vehicle follow the vehicle in front automatically.

A method for at least one of proxying and assisting vehicle driving of a driver by automatically controlling a control object without reference to driving operations of a driver during vehicle travel, the method comprising:

• detecting at least three travel data including:
• (i) first travel data of a behavior of the vehicle during vehicle travel, and
• (ii) other travel data including at least one of a driving operation of a driver and a travel environment of the vehicle;
• sampling all the travel data detected during non-control of the control object;
• digitizing a plurality of vehicle-travel preferences of the driver by determining relationships of the sampled first travel data with the sampled other travel data;
• computing a control target of the behavior of the vehicle, during control of the control object, based on the digitized vehicle-travel preferences and the sampled other travel data;
• and
• controlling the control object so that the behavior of the vehicle during vehicle travel becomes the computed control target;
• wherein the vehicle-travel preferences of the driver are digitized by using a multiple regression analysis with the sampled first travel data assigned to a target variable and the sampled other travel data assigned to explanatory variables.

A method for proxying or assisting vehicle driving of a driver by automatically controlling a control object without reference to driving operations of a driver during vehicle travel, the method comprising:

• detecting at least three travel data including:
• (i) first travel data of a behavior of the vehicle during vehicle travel, and
• (ii) second travel data including at least one of a driving operation of a driver and a travel environment of the vehicle;
• (iii) third travel data including travel data other than the first and second travel data;
• sampling all the travel data detected while automatic control of the control object is neither performed nor selected;
• digitizing a plurality of vehicle-travel preferences of the driver by determining relationships of the sampled first travel data with at least the sampled second and third travel data;
• computing a control target of the behavior of the vehicle, during control of the control object, based on the digitized vehicle-travel preferences and at least the sampled second and third travel data;
• and
• controlling the control object so that the behavior of the vehicle during vehicle travel becomes the computed control target;
• wherein the vehicle-travel preferences of the driver are digitized by using a multiple regression analysis with the sampled first travel data assigned to a target variable and at least the sampled second and third travel data assigned to explanatory variables.

A vehicle travel control apparatus for proxying or assisting driving of a driver by automatically controlling a control object without reference to driving operations of a driver during vehicle travel, the apparatus comprising:

• a detector which detects three or more types of travel data, the three or more types including (i) first travel data of a first travel data type corresponding to a behavior of a vehicle during vehicle travel, (ii) second travel data of a second travel data type corresponding to a driving operation of a driver or a travel environment of the vehicle, and (iii) third travel data of a third data travel type corresponding to travel data other than the first travel data and second travel data;
• a sampler which samples all the travel data detected by the detector while automatic control of the control object is neither performed nor selected;
• a digitizer which digitizes a plurality of preferences of the driver during vehicle travel by performing multiple regression analysis with the first travel data expressing a behavior of the vehicle as a target variable and the second and third travel data as explanatory variables among the travel data sampled by the sampler;
• a control target computer which computes, during control of the control object by the travel control apparatus, a control target of the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable on the basis of the second and third travel data and the digitized preference data;
• and
• a controller which controls the control object so that the behavior of the vehicle that is the target variable during vehicle travel becomes the control target computed by the control target computer.