Patent ID: 6580986
Filing Date: 2003-06-17
Classification: B60T,B62D,G05D

Abstract:
A lane-following system of facilitating steering of a vehicle by tracking a lane of a roadway, the vehicle having a steering system, said lane-following system comprising:a look-ahead sensor detecting the presence of lane marking on the surface of a roadway in relation to the vehicle; a processor estimating the position of the vehicle in relation to said detected lane marking; and a steering controller rendered operable in the presence of detected lane marking but inoperable in the absence of detected lane marking, said steering controller, when rendered operable, producing, based on said estimated position of the vehicle, a steering control signal of magnitude to produce, in turn, a bias to the steering system, said steering controller being operable to determine whether or not said look-ahead sensor has detected the presence of lane marking, and to evaluate the manner in which said look-ahead sensor has failed to detect the presence of lane marking to provide an evaluation result, said steering controller being held inoperable in response to said evaluation result for a predetermined period of delay time since said look-ahead sensor has resumed to detect the presence of lane marking until said steering controller is subsequently rendered operable upon expiration of said predetermined period of delay time.