Patent ID: 6473678
Filing Date: 2002-10-29
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 including a steering mechanism, said lane-following system comprising:sensor means for detecting a position of lane marking on the surface of a roadway in relation to the vehicle, said lane marking defining a lane of a roadway; means operatively coupled to said sensor means to estimate a lateral displacement of a point at a preview distance in front of the vehicle from the detected lane marking; an actuator coupled to the steering mechanism to provide a steering bias to the steering system, which may either assist or oppose a steer torque from a vehicle driver, in response to a steering control signal; steering controller means for producing said steering control signal based on said estimated lateral displacement to assist the driver of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle at a target line within the lane using the steering bias, said steering controller means being operable, when the vehicle travels without lateral control for lane following, to collect said estimated lateral displacement to produce lateral displacement data, said steering controller means being operable to update a position of the target line using said lateral displacement data.