Patent ID: 11958493
Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 6:
7. A vehicle control device comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores a program that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of the program comprising:
recognizing a surrounding situation of a vehicle;
controlling steering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle independently of an operation of a driver of the vehicle; and
deciding on any one of a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode and a second driving mode, as a driving mode of the vehicle, resulting in a decided driving mode, and
changing the driving mode of the vehicle from the decided driving mode to a driving mode in which a number of tasks imposed on the driver is more than the number of tasks imposed on the driver in the decided driving mode when a task associated with the decided driving mode is not executed by the driver, the second driving mode being a driving mode in which the number of tasks imposed on the driver is less than the number of tasks imposed on the driver in the first driving mode, some of the plurality of driving modes including at least the second driving mode being controlled by a driving controller,
when a sign existing within a reference range of a route along which the vehicle travels is recognized, the performance of the program further comprises:
based on the driving mode of the vehicle being the second driving mode and based on a first determination that a number of signs recognized by the recognizer exceeds a first reference value, changing the driving mode of the vehicle from the second driving mode to the first driving mode, and
wherein the first reference value is updated when map information including at least information of a position of a sign installed in a lane on a map has been updated.