Patent ID: 11945437
Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 16:
17. A system for permitting or overriding a overriding a manual deactivation of a cruise control system, the system comprising:
a vehicle;
a cruise control system of the vehicle;
a user control disposed on the vehicle that, when activated, commands a deactivation of the cruise control system;
a first sensor disposed on the vehicle and configured to determine whether a driver's foot is on an accelerator pedal of the vehicle;
a second sensor disposed on the vehicle and configured to determine a speed of the vehicle;
a third sensor disposed on the vehicle and configured to determine a current road slope;
a fourth sensor disposed on the vehicle and configured to determine a distance and speed of a second vehicle approaching the vehicle;
a processor disposed on the vehicle and configured to, when the user control is activated while the vehicle is in motion:
compute an expected distance the vehicle will travel in a time given period, based on the speed of the vehicle, the current road slope, and a mass of the vehicle;
compute an expected distance the second vehicle will travel in the given time period, based on the speed of the second vehicle; and
if the expected distance the vehicle will travel minus the expected distance the second vehicle will travel in the time period is less than the distance of the second vehicle, and the driver's foot is not on the accelerator pedal, override the deactivation of the cruise control system, and otherwise permit the deactivation of the cruise control.