Patent ID: 11928871
Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC B  G

Claim 9:
10. A parking assistance apparatus that assists a parking of a vehicle, the parking assistance apparatus comprising:
a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium; and
a microcomputer, by executing a program stored in the computer-readable non-transitory storage, configured to:
acquire a distance from a road edge to a subject vehicle using at least one of an imaging device or a distance measuring sensor, the imaging device capturing images of a predetermined range around the subject vehicle, the distance measuring sensor detecting an object existing in a predetermined direction relative to the subject vehicle by transmitting a probe wave or a laser beam;
acquire position information of lane boundary lines detected by analyzing the images captured by the imaging device;
acquire map information including a lane quantity of a traveling road of the subject vehicle from a map storage disposed inside or outside of the subject vehicle;
calculate, as a roadside area width, a lateral direction distance between an outermost detection line, which is an outermost boundary line among the detected boundary lines, and the road edge; and
specify a traveling lane of the subject vehicle, in which the subject vehicle is traveling, based on (i) the distance from the road edge to the subject vehicle, (ii) the roadside area width, and (iii) the lane quantity included in the acquired map information, wherein,

when position information of both of a left road edge located on a left side of the subject vehicle and a right road edge located on a right side of the subject vehicle is acquired as the road edge, an estimated lane quantity, which is an estimated value of the lane quantity, is calculated using (i) a distance between the left road edge and the right road edge and (ii) the roadside area width, and
when a difference between a lane quantity included in the map information and the estimated lane quantity is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the calculated roadside area width is determined as an erroneous result or specifying of the traveling lane of the subject vehicle is interrupted.