Patent ID: 8086372
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: B62D

Abstract:
1. A steering assistance apparatus for providing a steering mechanism with a steering torque such that a vehicle runs along a running path according to an image capturing the running path in front of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a curve direction estimating unit to estimate a curve direction of the running path by processing the image; a steering direction estimating unit to estimate a steering direction of a driver of the vehicle according to a steering operation of the driver; a curve exit determining unit to determine that the vehicle is running through a curve exit according to a fact that the curve direction estimated by the curve direction estimating unit and the steering direction estimated by the steering direction estimating unit do not coincide with each other; and a steering control unit to make a greater amount of change in the steering torque during turning back a steering wheel when the curve exit determining unit determines that the vehicle is running through the curve exit than when not.