Patent ID: 6339740
Filing Date: 2002-01-15
Classification: B60K,B60W

Abstract:
An adaptive vehicle speed control system comprising:a vehicle speed detection device which detects a vehicle speed of a host vehicle which is subjected to adaptive vehicle speed control including preceding vehicle following control and vehicle speed control; an inter-vehicle distance detection device which detects an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle ahead of the host vehicle; a set-vehicle-speed setting device having a man-machine interface for setting a set vehicle speed; a vehicle speed controller comprising: a desired inter-vehicle distance arithmetic-processing section calculating a desired inter-vehicle distance based on at least the host vehicle speed; and a following control section determining a desired speed of the host vehicle based on the host vehicle speed and the inter-vehicle distance so that the inter-vehicle distance is brought closer to the desired inter-vehicle distance in presence of detection of the preceding vehicle; and a vehicle-speed adjustment device which adjusts the host vehicle speed to the desired speed determined by said vehicle speed controller; and an adaptive-vehicle-speed-control initiation command device which outputs a command signal indicative of initiation of the adaptive vehicle speed control including the following control performed through the following control section and the vehicle speed control performed through the vehicle speed control section; wherein said vehicle speed controller includes a vehicle speed setting section which sets the desired speed determined by said vehicle speed controller to a speed value higher than a low-speed threshold value, in presence of output of the command signal under a specified condition where the host vehicle speed is below the low-speed threshold value.