Patent ID: 11970158
Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B

Claim 18:
19. A driving assistance method adapted for a driving assistance device for supporting a vehicle, the vehicle including a sensor for detecting an obstacle in a first lane where the vehicle is traveling and an automatic driving controller for calculating an avoidance path for avoiding the obstacle detected by the sensor, controlling automatic driving of the vehicle by referring to the avoidance path calculated, and allowing automatic driving to continue by avoiding the obstacle, the driving assistance method comprising:
providing, to an alert device, inquiry information for inquiring a passenger to determine whether to continue automatic driving beyond an edge of the first lane and without changing the vehicle to a second lane next to the first lane in order to avoid the obstacle when a distance between the obstacle and the edge of the first lane is equal to or smaller than a width for travel based on a width of the vehicle, and not providing inquiry information when the distance between the obstacle and the edge of the first lane is larger than the width for travel based on the width of the vehicle;
inputting a response signal for a passenger's manipulation indicating to continue automatic driving beyond the edge of the first lane in response to the inquiry information provided by the alert device; and
outputting a command, to the automatic driving controller, to continue automatic driving beyond the edge of the first lane and without changing the vehicle to the second lane in response to the response signal being input.