Patent ID: 8521410

Claim:
A driving assistance apparatus mounted to a vehicle that travels by using a driving power source including at least one of an internal combustion engine and a motor, the driving assistance apparatus comprising: an information acquisition component configured to acquire information on both of a route condition in a predetermined region of a future travel path of the vehicle and a present vehicle condition; a prediction component configured to predict, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition component, whether fuel efficiency of the vehicle will be degraded in the future travel path; and a notification component configured to notify an operation for improvement of the fuel efficiency of the vehicle in the future travel path to an occupant of the vehicle in advance in cases where the fuel efficiency of the vehicle is predicted to be degraded in the future travel path, wherein: the prediction component determines, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition component, whether a stop point, at which the vehicle is required to make a stop, is present in the future travel path of the vehicle, and whether the vehicle is presently accelerating while traveling toward the stop point; the prediction component predicts that the fuel efficiency of the vehicle will be degraded in the future travel path, and the notification component gives the occupant of the vehicle a notification prompting suppression of present acceleration of the vehicle to reduce future needless energy consumption, when the prediction component determines that both (i) a stop point, at which the vehicle is required to make a stop, is present in the future travel path of the vehicle and (ii) the vehicle is presently accelerating while traveling toward the stop point.