Patent ID: 9260115
Filing Date: 2016-02-16
CPC Classification: B60W,G01S

Claim Text:
1. A vehicle control apparatus for implementing inter-vehicle distance control of a vehicle carrying the apparatus behind a preceding vehicle based on reflected waves from a target that is a reflecting portion of the preceding vehicle, the vehicle carrying the apparatus being referred to as a subject vehicle, the reflected waves being radar waves transmitted to a front of the subject vehicle and then reflected from the target, the apparatus comprising: a target information acquirer configured to acquire target information about the target from the reflected waves, the target information including a detected distance from the subject vehicle to the target and a relative speed between the subject vehicle and the target of the preceding vehicle; a distance estimator configured to calculate a variation of an inter-vehicle distance between a rear end of the preceding vehicle and the subject vehicle per predetermined time of period based on the relative speed, and calculate an estimated distance as the inter-vehicle distance between the rear end of the preceding vehicle and the subject vehicle based on the calculated variation of the inter-vehicle distance; a target determiner configured to determine whether or not the target of the preceding vehicle is displaced forward of the rear end of the preceding vehicle; and a controller configured to, when the target is present at the rear end of the preceding vehicle, implement the inter-vehicle distance control based on the detected distance from the subject vehicle to the target as the inter-vehicle distance, and when it is determined by the target determiner that the target of the preceding vehicle is displaced forward of the rear end of the preceding vehicle, implement the inter-vehicle distance control based on the estimated distance calculated by the distance estimator as the inter-vehicle distance.