ALERT CONTROL APPARATUS

摘要

In an alert control apparatus mounted in a vehicle, when collision avoidance control is being performed to automatically activate brakes of the vehicle to avoid collision with a forward object, an alert determiner determines whether or not a predefined alert condition for determining that the collision with the forward object cannot be avoided is met, based on a distance to the forward object and a stopping distance. The stopping distance is a distance the vehicle travels until the vehicle stops moving and is calculated based on the traveling speed of the vehicle and a collision avoidance deceleration at which the traveling speed is decreased under the collision avoidance control. An alert controller, if the alert condition is met, activates at least one alerting device to alert surroundings of the vehicle, and if the alert condition is not met, inhibits operation of the at least one alerting device.

主权项

1. An alert control apparatus mounted in a vehicle, comprising:
an avoidance control determiner configured to determine whether or not collision avoidance control is being performed to automatically activate brakes of the vehicle to avoid collision between the vehicle and a forward object that is an object located forward of the vehicle during traveling of the vehicle; a distance information acquirer configured to acquire a forward object distance information that is information indicative of a distance between the vehicle and the forward object; a vehicle speed information acquirer configured to acquire vehicle speed information that is information indicative a traveling speed of the vehicle; a stopping distance calculator configured to, if it is determined by the avoidance control determiner that the collision avoidance control is being performed, calculate a stopping distance based on at least the traveling speed of the vehicle indicated by the vehicle speed information acquired by the vehicle speed information acquirer and a collision avoidance deceleration that is a deceleration at which the traveling speed of the vehicle is decreased under the collision avoidance control, the stopping distance being a distance the vehicle travels until the vehicle stops moving; an alert determiner configured to, based on at least the distance to the forward object indicated by the forward object distance information acquired by the distance information acquirer and the stopping distance calculated by the stopping distance calculator, determine whether or not a predefined alert condition is met, the predefined alert condition being defined such that, if the condition is met, the collision between the vehicle and the forward object cannot be avoided; and an alert controller configured to, if it is determined by the alert determiner that the alert condition is met, activate at least one alerting device operative to alert surroundings of the vehicle, and if it is determined by the alert determiner that the alert condition is not met, inhibit operation of the at least one alerting device.