Denso Corporation

Hiroyuki Nanjo

Noriaki Ikemoto

Yutaro Ito

Yuki Kishita

A driving operation supporting apparatus of a vehicle is provided with a notification unit that notifies a driver of an operation command for prompting the driver to perform operations to cause the vehicle to start an inertia travelling; and a changing unit that changes at least one of a frequency of notifications of the notification unit, a notification timing and a notification method, depending on at least one of a burden of the driver, a reduction amount of an energy consumption when performing the inertia travelling and a surrounding situation of the vehicle.

Driving operation supporting apparatus having notification unit notifying driver of operation command

An energy consumption predicting apparatus stores reference energy defined by an amount of energy required by a vehicle to move on a selected route and provides actual energy defined by an amount of energy actually used by a target vehicle. The apparatus includes a correcting unit which calculates a deviation of the actual energy from the reference energy and derives a correlation between amounts of energy actually consumed by a vehicle to move from a reference location to a first location and from the reference location to a second location. When the correlation is higher than a given value, the correcting unit determines the second location as a correction location, determines a correcting parameter as a function of the deviation derived at the correction location, and corrects the reference energy using the correction to predict an amount of energy consumed by the target vehicle until a target location is reached.

Energy calculating apparatus

An energy estimation apparatus includes a probability setting unit, a vehicle speed pattern estimation unit, a traveling load estimation unit, and an energy estimation unit. The probability setting unit sets a vehicle speed probability that is a probability of a vehicle reaching a certain vehicle speed on a traveling route that is specified by traveling route information. The vehicle speed pattern estimation unit estimates a vehicle speed variation pattern of the vehicle on the traveling route based on the traveling route information and the vehicle speed probability. The traveling load estimation unit estimates traveling load characteristics of the vehicle on the traveling route. The energy estimation unit estimates energy required for traveling of the vehicle using the traveling load characteristics and the vehicle speed variation pattern.

Energy estimation apparatus

A vehicle control system includes a travel control section, a first traffic condition quantity acquisition section, a second traffic condition quantity acquisition section, a correction parameter calculator, and a correction section. The first traffic condition quantity acquisition section acquires a current traffic condition quantity on a road on which a preceding vehicle is traveling further ahead of a front vehicle. The second traffic condition quantity acquisition section acquires a reference traffic condition quantity, which is a traffic condition quantity that serves as a reference for the road on which the preceding vehicle is traveling. The correction parameter calculator calculates a difference between the current traffic condition quantity and the reference traffic condition quantity and calculates a correction parameter using the difference. The correction section corrects a control parameter used during execution of the vehicle speed control by the travel control section, using the correction parameter.

Vehicle control system

A travelling control apparatus includes a preceding vehicle information acquiring unit acquiring a preceding vehicle travelling speed pattern indicating a travelling speed change of a preceding vehicle; an energy efficiency index calculation unit calculating an energy efficiency index indicating a degree of improvement in an energy efficiency of the vehicle, in the case where the vehicle travels based on an own vehicle travelling speed pattern indicating a travelling speed change of the vehicle when the vehicle travels tracking the preceding vehicle; a compatibility index calculation unit calculating a compatibility index indicating a degree of compatibility between the vehicle and a following vehicle based on a travelling speed of the vehicle and the following vehicle; and a control unit performing a coasting travel determination determining whether to perform a coasting travel of the vehicle based on a degree of the energy efficiency index and the compatibility index.

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Kariya, Japan

Hiroyuki Nanjo