Patent ID: 8600673
Filing Date: 2013-12-03
Classification: B60R,G06K,G08G

Abstract:
1. A driving assistance apparatus comprising: a marking information storage section which stores position information with respect to road markings formed on a road, with the position of each road marking being stored associated with at least one marking-target distance which is the distance along the road between the road marking and a control target, a particular road marking having more than one associated control target when each associated control target for that particular road marking is located on a different branch road from the road on which the road marking is located; an image acquisition section which is mounted on the vehicle, and which acquires an image of the vehicle's surroundings; a road marking detection section which detects, based upon an image acquired by the image acquisition section, a road marking formed on the road on which the vehicle is traveling; a road information storage section which stores information with respect to the road; a road divergence determination section which determines, based upon the road information, whether or not the road diverges forward of the vehicle; a marking-target distance acquisition section which acquires, by the marking information storage section, a marking-target distance between the road marking and each control target which is associated with the road marking detected by the road marking detection section; a target-vehicle distance calculation section including a target count determination section configured such that, in a case in which the road divergence determination section has determined that the road diverges ahead, the target count determination section determines whether or not there are a plurality of control targets associated with the road marking detected by the road marking detection section, the target-vehicle distance calculation section being configured such that: a driving assistance section which assists the user to drive the vehicle based upon the calculation results calculated by the target-vehicle distance calculation section.