Patent ID: 7957866
Filing Date: 2011-06-07
Classification: B60W,B66F,F02D

Abstract:
1. A travel control apparatus for a wheel-driven vehicle, comprising: a steering operation device configured to receive steering input to steer a wheel to be steered of the vehicle; a steering angle detector configured to detect a steering angle of the wheel, the steering angle being a direction and steered angle of the wheel to be steered; a steering actuator configured to change the steering angle of the wheel; a steering controller configured to control the steering actuator so that the steering angle of the wheel detected by the steering angle detector becomes a target steering angle of the wheel which is set in response to an operation command outputted from the steering operation device, and a traveling speed regulator configured to regulate the traveling speed of the vehicle in accordance with an operational state of the steering operation device and an actuation state of the steering actuator, wherein the steering control controller is configured to actuate the steering actuator at a first actuation speed if the size of the steering angle, which is obtained on the basis of detection information from the steering angle detector, is a predefined reference amount or lower, and to actuate the steering actuator at a second actuation speed, which is lower than the first actuation speed, for the same operation command when the size of the steering angle exceeds the reference amount, and wherein the steering control controller is configured to actuate the steering actuator such that the larger the detected steering angle with respect to a straight forward direction of the wheel, the slower the actuation speed of the steering actuator actuated by the steering controller.