Driving support apparatus and driving support method

A driving support apparatus for setting a traveling lane in which a vehicle can travel on the basis of a road marking to indicate a lane boundary or a traveling prohibited region and performing support by combining steering wheel control of the vehicle and deceleration of the vehicle so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane when the vehicle is to be departed from the traveling lane, the driving support apparatus comprising an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to perform the support

• so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane based on an output from at least any one of a yaw rate sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, and a wheel velocity sensor,
• the ECU is further configured to:
• obtain an angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane;
• when the obtained angle is smaller than a first threshold value, perform only the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane without performing the deceleration of the vehicle;
• when the obtained angle is not less than the first threshold value and smaller than a second threshold value, the second threshold value being set as a lower limit of the angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane where simultaneous control of a speed and a steering wheel of the vehicle causes the vehicle to be unstable, perform the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane and the deceleration of the vehicle simultaneously;
• and
• when the obtained angle is not less than the second threshold value, perform the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane after decelerating the vehicle.

A driving support method comprising:

• a step of setting a traveling lane in which a vehicle can travel on the basis of a road marking to indicate a lane boundary or a traveling-prohibited region;
• and
• a step of performing support by combining steering of the vehicle and deceleration of the vehicle so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane when the vehicle is to be departed from the traveling lane, wherein
• when the support is performed so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane based on an output from at least any one of a yaw rate sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, and a wheel velocity sensor,
• when an actual value is smaller than a target value of a parameter which indicates lateral movement in order to avoid departure of the vehicle from the traveling lane and the difference between the target value and the actual value is smaller than a first threshold value, only the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane is performed without performing the deceleration of the vehicle;
• when the difference between the target value and the actual value is not less than the first threshold value and smaller than a second threshold value, the second threshold value being set as a lower limit of the difference between the target value and the actual value where simultaneous control of a speed and a steering wheel of the vehicle causes the vehicle to be unstable, the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane and the deceleration of the vehicle are performed simultaneously;
• and
• when the difference between the target value and the actual value is not less than the second threshold value, the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane is performed after previously decelerating the vehicle.

A driving support method comprising:

• a step of setting a traveling lane in which a vehicle can travel on the basis of a road marking to indicate a lane boundary or a traveling prohibited region;
• and
• a step of performing support by combining steering wheel control of the vehicle and deceleration of the vehicle so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane when the vehicle is to be departed from the traveling lane, wherein:
• when the support is performed so that the vehicle is allowed to travel in the traveling lane based on an output from at least any one of a yaw rate sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, and a wheel velocity sensor,
• when an angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane is smaller than a first threshold value, only the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane is performed without performing the deceleration of the vehicle;
• when an angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane is not less than the first threshold value and smaller than a second threshold value, the second threshold value being set as a lower limit of the angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane where simultaneous control of a speed and a steering wheel of the vehicle causes the vehicle to be unstable, the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane and the deceleration of the vehicle are performed simultaneously;
• and
• when an angle between the vehicle's traveling direction and the boundary of the traveling lane is not less than the second threshold value, perform the steering wheel control of the vehicle as the support for the driving in order to avoid the departure from the traveling lane after decelerating the vehicle.