Steering assist apparatus in response to lane departure direction and vehicle in neighboring lane

摘要

A steering assist apparatus of a vehicle includes: a lane set unit to recognize an environment of ahead the vehicle; a deviation determination unit to determine whether the vehicle has a deviation tendency from a traveling lane; a steering control unit to apply steering force in a deviation avoiding direction to the steering mechanism when it is determined that the vehicle has a deviation tendency; a neighboring vehicle detection unit to detect a neighboring vehicle, which travels ahead of the vehicle in a lane next to the traveling lane of the vehicle; and an approach degree calculation unit to calculate an approach degree of the neighboring vehicle toward the vehicle. When the vehicle has a deviation tendency in a direction away from the traveling lane of the neighboring vehicle, the steering control unit reduces the steering force in the deviation avoiding direction according to an increase of the approach degree.