VEHICLE HEADWAY DISTANCE CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD

Abstract

A vehicle headway distance control apparatus is provided with a first deceleration control system for controlling the deceleration of a vehicle according to a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle, and a second deceleration control system, which is different from the first deceleration control system and which controls the deceleration of a vehicle according to the same distance. A driver operable selection section is configured to allow a driver to arbitrarily turn “on” and “off” each of the first and second deceleration control systems, but prohibit simultaneously operation of both of the first and second deceleration control systems

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a headway maintenance assist system having a vehicle headway distance control apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of a vehicle equipped with the headway maintenance assist system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the specifics of the process performed by the vehicle headway distance control apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the specific method executed by the control unit for calculating the first headway distance threshold L* 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the specific method executed by the control unit for calculating the second headway distance threshold L*2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the detailed process executed by the control unit for applying reaction force to the accelerator pedal in the vehicle headway distance control apparatus;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the state transitions between the tracking control system and the headway distance control system;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process in the tracking control system and headway distance control system;

FIG. 9 is an example of a display showing the operational state of the tracking control system;

FIG. 11 is an example of a display showing the operational state of the headway distance control system;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the headway maintenance assist system having a vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the states of the tracking control system and the headway distance control system;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 1;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 2;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 3;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 4;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 5;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 6;

FIG. 19 is an example of a display in a case in which the headway distance control system has been selected when the systems are in state 6;

FIG. 20 is an example of a display in a case in which the tracking control system has been selected when the systems are in state 6;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing the state transitions in a tracking control system and a headway distance control system of a vehicle headway distance control apparatus in accordance with in a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 2;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 3;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the sequence executed by the control unit for carrying out the state transition process when the systems are in state 4;

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing the headway distance threshold value L* when the driver has released the accelerator pedal; and

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the relationship between the relative speed Vr and the gain Kr.

Claims

1. A vehicle headway distance control apparatus comprising: a first deceleration control system configured to perform a first deceleration control of a host vehicle according to a detected distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle;a second deceleration control system configured to perform a second deceleration control of the host vehicle according to the detected distance, in which the second deceleration control is different from the first deceleration control; anda driver operable selection section configured to allow a driver to arbitrarily turn “on” and “off” each of the first and second deceleration control systems, while prohibiting simultaneous operation of both of the first and second deceleration control systems.

2. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driver operable selection section comprises a first selection operating unit configured to selectively turned “on” or “off” the first deceleration control system by the driver; anda second selection operating unit configured to selectively turned “on” or “off” the second deceleration control system by the driver.

3. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a preceding vehicle detection section configured to detect a preceding vehicle in front of the host vehicle as the preceding obstacle;the first deceleration control system being configured to selectively control both acceleration and deceleration of the host vehicle in response to changes in the detected distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle; andthe second deceleration control system being configured to only control deceleration in relation to the preceding vehicle.

4. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first deceleration control system is configured to cease the first deceleration control upon detecting a braking operation by the driver; andthe second deceleration control system is configured to continue the second deceleration control during the braking operation by the driver if the second deceleration control was being performed prior to the braking operation by the driver.

5. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first deceleration control system is configured to cease the first deceleration control upon detecting an acceleration operation by the driver; andthe second deceleration control system is configured to cease the second deceleration control upon detecting the acceleration operation by the driver, and perform reaction force control for applying reaction force to an accelerator of the host vehicle when a headway distance from the preceding obstacle is equal to or less than a prescribed value.

6. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driver operable selection section is configured to allow an arbitrary selection of one of the first and second deceleration control systems only when the first and second deceleration control systems are both “off”.

7. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a notification section configured to notify the driver that selection is not possible when one of the first and second deceleration control systems is turned “on” by the driver operable selection section while the other the first and second deceleration control systems is operating.

8. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the driver operable selection section further comprises a control unit configured to allow only one of the first and second deceleration control systems to operate when the first and second deceleration control systems are both turned “on”.

9. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the driver operable selection section further comprises a control selection unit configured to select which one of the first and second deceleration control systems will be given priority to operate when the first and second deceleration control systems are turned “on” simultaneously; andthe control unit is configured to permit operation of the one of the first and second deceleration control systems that has been selected by the control selection unit as been given priority.

10. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a display unit configured to display an indication of which of the first and second deceleration control systems has been permitted to operate, and which of the first and second deceleration control systems is not operating, when the first and second deceleration control systems are turned “on” simultaneously.

11. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is configured to turn “off” one of the first and second deceleration control systems that was currently “on” and then turn “on” the other of the first and second deceleration control systems that was currently “off” in response to selection of the first and second deceleration control systems that was currently “off” when the one of the first and second deceleration control systems that was currently “on” is in operation.

12. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a notification section configured to notify the driver of switching operation being performed when one of the first and second deceleration control systems being operated by the control unit is switched to the other of the first and second deceleration control systems.

13. The vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit is configured to initiate operation of one of the first and second deceleration controls after halting operation of the other of the first and second deceleration controls when the one of the first and second deceleration control systems being operated by the control unit is switched to the other of the first and second deceleration control systems.

14. A vehicle comprising the vehicle headway distance control apparatus according to claim 1.

15. A vehicle headway distance control apparatus comprising: first deceleration control means for performing a first deceleration control of a host vehicle according to a detected distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle;second deceleration control means for performing a second deceleration control of the host vehicle according to the detected distance, which is different from the first deceleration control; anddriver selection means for allowing a driver to arbitrarily turn “on” one of the first and second deceleration control means and turn “off” the other of the first and second deceleration control means while one of the first and second deceleration control means selected from the first and second deceleration control means is operational.

16. A vehicle headway distance control method comprising: providing a deceleration control system configured to selectively perform one of first and second different deceleration controls of a host vehicle according to a detected distance between the host vehicle and a preceding obstacle;sensing a selection of one of the first and second different deceleration controls by a driver during operation of one of the first and second different deceleration controls; andperforming the one of the first and second different deceleration controls in accordance with the selection by the driver and prohibiting the other of the first and second different deceleration controls from being performed in accordance with the selection by the driver.