DRIVING SUPPORT DEVICE AND DRIVING SUPPORT METHOD

摘要

The present invention aims at providing a driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method which can predict with a high accuracy a state of a traffic light when a vehicle enters an intersection. The driving assisting apparatus for predicting the state of the traffic light when the vehicle enters the intersection comprises vehicle speed change predicting means for predicting a vehicle speed change of the vehicle in front of the intersection, and traffic light state predicting means for predicting the state of the traffic light when the vehicle enters the intersection according to the vehicle speed change predicted by the vehicle speed change predicting means, while the vehicle speed change predicting means predicts the vehicle speed change according to information stored in storage means in association with a characteristic of a driver concerning the past vehicle speed change in front of the intersection with running environments or changes a predicting method depending on whether or not the vehicle is positioned in front of a predetermined area set in front of the intersection.