Vehicle on-board unit

A vehicle on-board unit comprising:

• a vehicle path history generating section configured to generate a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle on-board unit in a lane that the host vehicle is currently traveling, with the lane being a single lane of a road, the road having one or more lanes;
• a two-way wireless communications section configured to receive a preceding vehicle message that at least includes a preceding vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a preceding vehicle in the lane, the preceding vehicle traveling in the lane prior to the host vehicle;
• and
• a lane centerline determining section configured to determine a lane centerline of the lane based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle path history data,
• the lane centerline determining section being further configured to weight the preceding vehicle path history data more heavily than the host vehicle path history data in determining the centerline of the lane.

A vehicle on-board unit comprising:

• a vehicle path history generating section configured to generate a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle on-board unit in a lane that the host vehicle is currently traveling, with the lane being a single lane of a road, the road having one or more lanes;
• a two-way wireless communications section configured to receive a preceding vehicle message that at least includes a preceding vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a preceding vehicle in the lane, the preceding vehicle traveling in the lane prior to the host vehicle;
• and
• a lane centerline determining section configured to determine a lane centerline of the lane based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle path history data,
• the two-way wireless communications section being further configured to receive statistical information as part of the preceding vehicle path history data, and
• the lane centerline determining section being further configured to adjust the host vehicle path history data based on the statistical information and to increase a weight given to the preceding vehicle path history data in determining the centerline of the lane as the statistical information includes more vehicle path histories, the lane centerline determining section being further configured to weight the preceding vehicle path history data more heavily than the host vehicle path history data in determining the center line of the lane.

A lane centerline determination method comprising:

• generating a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a host vehicle that has traveled in a vehicle lane, with the vehicle lane being a single lane of a road, the road having one or more lanes;
• receiving a preceding vehicle message that includes preceding cumulative vehicle path history data of at least two preceding vehicle path history data indicative of travel paths of two preceding vehicles in the lane, the preceding vehicles traveling in the lane prior to the host vehicle;
• generating, on-board the host vehicle, updated cumulative vehicle path history data based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding cumulative vehicle path history data;
• broadcasting the updated cumulative vehicle path history data from the host vehicle to a following vehicle such that the following vehicle receives a subsequent message including the updated cumulative vehicle path history data, the following vehicle traveling in the lane subsequently relative to the host vehicle;
• and
• determining a centerline of the vehicle lane based on the updated cumulative vehicle path history data, the determining of the centerline of the vehicle lane including more heavily weighting the preceding cumulative vehicle path history data than the host vehicle path history data in determining the centerline of the vehicle lane.