Patent ID: 7561961

Claim:
A vehicle position estimating apparatus for estimating a vehicle position on the basis of a vehicle position (GPS position) calculated from a signal received from a GPS satellite, comprising: a travel direction history storage unit for storing vehicle travel direction history information; and a position estimating unit for predicting the position of a vehicle at the next position measurement time and a vehicle position range in which the vehicle is likely to be located at the next position measurement time, where the predicted vehicle position range is a predetermined area that is larger than the predicted vehicle position, and wherein, when the GPS position exists within a vehicle position range that has been predicted at the previous position measurement time, the position estimating unit defines the GPS position as the current position of the vehicle, and predicts the position of the vehicle at the next measurement time and a vehicle position range in which the vehicle is likely to be located at the next measurement time on the basis of the GPS position, a vehicle velocity (GPS velocity), and a vehicle travel direction (GPS travel direction) which are calculated from the signal received from a GPS satellite, and wherein, when the GPS position does not exist within the vehicle position range, the position estimating unit defines the position of the vehicle that has been predicted at the previous position measurement time as the current position of the vehicle, and predicts the position of the vehicle at the next measurement time and the vehicle position range in which the vehicle is likely to be located at the next measurement time on the basis of the current vehicle position, the GPS velocity, and data on a vehicle travel direction stored in the travel direction history storage unit.