Lane keeping system and lane centering system

A lane keeping system for use in a vehicle driving in a lane on a road, said lane keeping system comprising:

• a controller;
• a lane delimiter detection device;
• said lane delimiter detection device comprising a camera disposed behind a windshield of the vehicle and having a field of view through the windshield and forward of the vehicle;
• wherein the controller is responsive to an output of the lane delimiter detection device that is indicative of sensed positions of a left lane delimiter on the road on a left side of the vehicle and a right lane delimiter on the road on a right side of the vehicle;
• wherein the controller is operable to establish a safe zone having a left safe zone delimiter based on the sensed position of the left lane delimiter and a right safe zone delimiter based on the sensed position of the right lane delimiter, wherein the safe zone has a width between the left and right safe zone delimiters;
• and
• an output device configured to send feedback to the driver of the vehicle,
• wherein, responsive to the output of the lane delimiter detection device, the controller is operable to:
• a) determine whether the vehicle is at risk of unintentionally exiting the safe zone via a left side of the safe zone if the controller determines that the driver of the vehicle intends to exit the lane via a right side of the lane;
• b) determine whether the vehicle is at risk of unintentionally exiting the safe zone via a right side of the safe zone if the controller determines that the driver of the vehicle intends to exit the lane via a left side of the lane;
• and
• c) notify the driver via the output device that the vehicle is at risk of unintentionally exiting the safe zone based on the determinations made in steps a) and b);
• wherein, responsive to driver performance, said controller is operable to adjust the positions of the left safe zone delimiter and the right safe zone delimiter so as to adjust the width of the safe zone;
• and
• wherein said controller reduces the width of the safe zone responsive to the vehicle remaining within the safe zone for at least a threshold period of time and without any notification being made by the controller during that threshold period of time.

A lane centering system for use in a vehicle driving in a lane on a road, said lane centering system comprising:

• a lane delimiter detection device;
• said lane delimiter detection device comprising a camera disposed behind a windshield of the vehicle and having a field of view through the windshield and forward of the vehicle;
• wherein the controller is responsive to an output of the lane delimiter detection device that is indicative of sensed positions of a left lane delimiter on the road on a left side of the vehicle and a right lane delimiter on the road on a right side of the vehicle;
• a steering assist device configured to apply steering corrections to the vehicle;
• and
• a controller;
• wherein the controller is operable to establish a target path for the vehicle based on the output of the lane delimiter detection device, wherein the controller is operatively connected to the steering assist device and controls the steering assist device to apply selected steering corrections to the vehicle to steer the vehicle towards the target path, wherein the target path is selected based at least in part on whether the controller has sufficient information to determine the positions of both lane delimiters or just one of the lane delimiters;
• wherein the target path is within a safe zone having a width less than a width between the sensed positions of the left and right lane delimiters, and wherein the controller is operable to adjust the width of the safe zone responsive to (i) the vehicle remaining within the safe zone for a threshold period of time without steering correction and (ii) the vehicle requiring steering correction to remain within the safe zone;
• and
• wherein said controller reduces the width of the safe zone responsive to the vehicle remaining within the safe zone for at least a threshold period of time and without any steering correction being made by said controller during that threshold period of time.