Patent ID: 6505111
Filing Date: 2003-01-07
Classification: B60K,B60W

Abstract:
An apparatus for automatically controlling a vehicular velocity for a vehicle, comprising:an inter-vehicle distance detector to detect an inter-vehicle distance of the vehicle to a preceding vehicle which is running ahead of the vehicle; a target vehicular velocity variation rate calculating section that calculates a target vehicular velocity variation rate to make the detected inter-vehicle distance substantially equal to a target inter-vehicle distance; an automatic vehicular velocity controlling section enabled to perform an automatic vehicular velocity control to maintain the target vehicular velocity variation rate calculated by the target vehicular velocity variation rate calculating section; a shift operation detector to detect whether a range selection by a vehicular driver occurs from a drive range to a gear speed maintaining range and vice versa; a vehicular motion predicting section that predicts a vehicular motion at the gear speed maintaining range when the shift operation detector detects that the range selection by the vehicular driver occurs from the drive range to the gear speed maintaining range; an automatic vehicular velocity control release determining section that determines whether the vehicular motion predicted by the vehicular motion predicting section falls within an allowable range when the shift operation detector detects that the range selection by the vehicular driver occurs from the drive range to the gear speed maintaining range; and an automatic vehicular velocity control releasing section that releases the automatic vehicular velocity control by the automatic vehicular velocity controlling section when the vehicular motion falls out of the allowable range but continues the automatic vehicular velocity control by the automatic vehicular velocity controlling section when the vehicular motion falls within the allowable range.