Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Makoto Otabe

Shohei Matsuda

Yuji Sakaki

Hiroshi Sekine

Yorihisa Yamamoto

Ichiro Harada

Nobuyoshi Asanuma

Yutaka Horiuchi

Yoshihiro Urai

Kenji Kodaka

Hideki Kubonoya

Shintaro Yokoyama

Kinji Matsuda

Atsushi Itakagi

Atsushi Itagaki

Yuuichi Okada

In a travel safety system for a vehicle: a preceding vehicle Vin a travel direction of a subject vehicle V is detected by a radar device; an overlap amount &#x3b4; (smaller one of &#x3b4;(L) and &#x3b4;(R)), at which the preceding vehicle Voverlaps a predicted course for the subject vehicle V, is calculated; and when time for which the over lap amount &#x3b4; exceeding a predetermined value exceeds a predetermined period, it is determined that there is a possibility that the subject vehicle V comes into contact with the preceding vehicle V, and a safety system comprising a warning or an automatic braking is actuated. Thus, if it is determined that there is a possibility of contact between the subject vehicle V and the preceding vehicle Vdue to course change of the subject vehicle V or the preceding vehicle, it is possible to prevent the safety system from being unnecessarily actuated to provide a sense of discomfort to a driver.

Travel safety system for vehicle

A road shape predicting method includes the steps of: selecting three positions of positions of a plurality of nodes constituting road map data and an own vehicle position on a road; and predicting the road shape on the basis of a crossing angle formed by a link connecting a first position and a second position of the selected three positions and another link connecting the second and a third position thereof, and a link length between the second and the third positions. In case that the link length between the second and the third positions is not larger than a reference link length set in accordance with the crossing angle, the third position is excluded, and the position of a node further forward is adopted in place of the third position, to thereby predict the road shape.

Road shape predicting method and vehicle controlling method

A system for determining the passability of a vehicle through a section of road ahead of the vehicle is controlled based on coordinates of a plurality of nodes N,(N,, N,, N,, N,. . . ) constituting the road section ahead of a subject vehicle. The system calculates a passing-state determination amount &thgr;,/L,for each of the nodes N,, and based on the passing-state determination amount &thgr;,/L,, the system then determines whether the vehicle can positively or safely pass through the road section. The passing-state determination amount &thgr;,/L,serves as an indicator which represents a degree of difficulty in the passage of the vehicle through the nodes N,and which is obtained, for example, by dividing an angle &thgr;,formed by a line segment connecting the adjacent nodes N,by a distance L,between the adjacent nodes N,. Even if only one or two nodes N,exist on a curve, it is possible to accurately determine whether the vehicle can pass the curve by using the passing-state determination amount &thgr;,/L,.

System for determining passability of vehicle

A system for determining the passability of a vehicle passing through a curved road section. The system provides road information, detects the position of a subject vehicle on the road and determines whether a node, representing road data, exists on a curved or straight section of road. If it is determined that the node exists on a curve, it is then determined whether the curve is a simple curve or an S-shaped curve. Based upon these determinations, the system determines whether the vehicle can safely pass through the curve.

Vehicle control apparatus enables a vehicle to positively and safely pass a curve present in a forward road ahead of the vehicle, irrespective of any error in road data used by the apparatus and any error in a detected vehicle position. The apparatus calculates a predicted passing speed for a curve on the basis of a vehicle speed and a vehicle position, and compares same with a maximum passable speed for the curve which is calculated on the basis of map information and the vehicle position to thereby determine whether the vehicle can positively and safely pass the curve. If the apparatus determines that the vehicle cannot positively and safely pass the curve, warning, automatic deceleration and/or automatic steering is executed by a control mechanism of the apparatus. At this time, the apparatus compares an actual transverse acceleration or an actual yaw rate detected by a transverse acceleration sensor or a yaw rate sensor with a reference transverse acceleration or a reference yaw rate presumed from a road shape determined by a passage-state decision quantity calculating mechanism, and a regulating mechanism regulates a controlled variable and a control timing for effecting the warning, the automatic deceleration and/or the automatic steering, thereby compensating for any error in the road data and any error in the vehicle position.

Vehicle control apparatus

A vehicle control apparatus is operative so as to prevent a chattering of initiation and termination of vehicle control, such as automatic deceleration, on the basis of a variation in a predicted passing speed. The apparatus comprises a maximum passable speed calculating mechanism M5 which calculates a maximum passable speed of a forward curve ahead of the vehicle on the basis of a road shape determined by a road shape decision mechanism M11, and a predicted passing speed calculating mechanism M7 calculates a predicted passing speed for the forward curve on the basis of a vehicle speed detected by a vehicle speed detector M6. The maximum passable speed includes a control initiation speed and a control termination speed larger than the control initiation speed, and a passage-possible/impossible determining mechanism M8 initiates operations of a warning mechanism M9 and a vehicle speed regulating mechanism M10 if the predicted passing speed exceeds the control initiation speed, and terminates the operations of the warning mechanism M9 and the vehicle speed regulating mechanism M10 if the predicted passing speed falls below the control termination speed.

The hydroplaning-occurring speed of a vehicle is estimated by detecting an amount of water on a wet road surface on which the vehicle is traveling, and estimating a speed of the vehicle at and above which a hydroplaning phenomenon can occur, based on the detected amount of water. The possibility of occurrence of a hydroplaning phenomenon of a vehicle is detected by detecting an amount of water on a wet road surface on which the vehicle is traveling, detecting the speed of the vehicle, and determining whether there is a possibility that a hydroplaning phenomenon can occur, based on the detected amount of water and the detected speed of the vehicle.

Method and device for estimating hydroplaning-occuring vehicle speed and

A road surface condition-detecting system for a vehicle detects a road surface condition from road noise generated by a vehicle wheel. The road surface condition is determined based on parameter data of frequency components of the road noise, by a neural network. The road noise may be corrected by eliminating therefrom a disturbance, such as audio output and exhaust noise. A present state of the road surface condition may be determined based on at least two consecutive determinations made based on the road noise detected at regular time intervals. Exclusive neural networks may be used for respective road surface condition types. One of a plurality of neural networks provided for respective vehicle speed ranges may be selected according to an actual vehicle speed. Detected sound pressure levels of the road noise extracted by frequency analysis may be normalized within respective ranges defined by upper and lower limits set corresponding to predetermined frequency ranges before being supplied to the neural network.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Makoto Otabe