Vehicle running control apparatus and program therefor

A vehicle running control apparatus comprising:

• a following distance control unit maintaining a following distance between an own vehicle on which the vehicle running control apparatus is mounted and a preceding vehicle:
• an accelerating unit accelerating the own vehicle at a set acceleration so that a speed of the own vehicle reaches a set speed when the preceding vehicle is lost;
• and
• an acceleration suppressing unit configured to suppress acceleration of the own vehicle by the accelerating unit on condition that the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle are under an acceleration suppression condition when an allowance time to collision between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than a predetermine lower limit at a moment of a loss of the preceding vehicle;
• wherein
• the acceleration suppression condition includes a condition A that a relative speed of the own vehicle relative to the preceding vehicle at the moment of the loss is lower than or equal to a predetermined threshold speed, and a combination of the following distance and the acceleration of the own vehicle at the moment of the loss satisfies the acceleration suppression condition.

A vehicle running control apparatus comprising:

• a following distance control unit maintaining a following distance between an own vehicle on which the vehicle running control apparatus is mounted and a preceding vehicle:
• an accelerating unit accelerating the own vehicle at a set acceleration so that a speed of the own vehicle reaches a set speed when the preceding vehicle is lost;
• and
• an acceleration suppressing unit configured to suppress acceleration of the own vehicle by the accelerating unit on condition that the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle are under an acceleration suppression condition when an allowance time to collision between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than a predetermine lower limit at a moment of a loss of the preceding vehicle;
• wherein
• the acceleration suppression condition includes a condition B that a value of a relative speed of the own vehicle relative to the preceding vehicle at the moment of the loss is negative and exceeds in absolute value a predetermined threshold value, and a combination of the following distance and an estimated time to collision at the moment of the loss satisfies the acceleration suppression condition.

A program recorded on a non-transitory medium enabling a computer to operate a vehicle running control apparatus, the vehicle running control apparatus comprising:

• a following distance control unit maintaining a following distance between an own vehicle on which the vehicle running control apparatus is mounted and a preceding vehicle;
• an accelerating unit accelerating the own vehicle at a set acceleration so that a speed of the own vehicle reaches a set speed when the preceding vehicle is lost;
• and
• an acceleration suppressing unit configured to suppress acceleration of the own vehicle by the accelerating unit on condition that the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle are under an acceleration suppression condition when an allowance time to collision between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle is smaller than a predetermine lower limit at a moment of a loss of the preceding vehicle;
• wherein
• the allowance time is a time to collision between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle after loss of the preceding vehicle using an assumption that acceleration of the own vehicle is not suppressed.