Patent ID: 9588222
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: B60W,G01S

Claim:
1. A preceding vehicle selection apparatus comprising: curvature estimating means that estimates a curvature of a traveling road on which an own vehicle is traveling; object position detecting means that detects an object ahead of the own vehicle, and determines a relative position in relation to the own vehicle, for each object ahead; instantaneous probability calculating means that repeatedly determines an own vehicle lane probability instantaneous value for each object ahead, based on the estimated curvature estimated by the curvature estimating means and the relative position determined by the object position detecting means, the own vehicle lane probability instantaneous value being an instantaneous value of a probability of the object ahead being present in the same vehicle lane as the own vehicle; filter calculating means that determines an own vehicle lane probability by performing a filter calculation on the own vehicle lane probability instantaneous value calculated by the instantaneous probability calculating means; preceding vehicle selecting means that selects a preceding vehicle based on the own vehicle lane probability determined by the filter calculating means; inter-vehicle time calculating means that calculates an inter-vehicle time for each object ahead, the inter-vehicle time indicating a time required for the own vehicle to reach a detected position of the object ahead; and filter characteristics setting means that changes characteristics of the filter calculation such that an effect of the own vehicle lane instantaneous value increases as the inter-vehicle time decreases, based on the inter-vehicle time determined by the inter-vehicle time calculating means, wherein: the filter calculating means determines a present value of the own vehicle lane probability in a present processing cycle by performing the filter calculation to calculate, using a weight, a weighted average of (i) the own vehicle lane probability instantaneous value and (ii) a previous value of the own vehicle lane probability determined in a previous processing cycle by the filter calculating means, and changes the weight for calculating the weighted average based on the inter-vehicle time; and the own vehicle lane probability is determined by where: