Patent ID: 7974784

Claim:
A collision predicting apparatus, comprising: a subject target detector portion that detects a plurality of subject targets which exist in a course of the vehicle and which have a possibility of colliding with the vehicle; a relative quantity detector portion that detects a relative quantity between the vehicle and each of the subject targets detected by the subject target detector portion; a collision time calculator portion that predicts and calculates a collision time of each of the subject targets until a collision with the vehicle, by using the relative quantity between the vehicle and each of the subject targets detected by the relative quantity detector portion; a collision subject target selector portion that selects a collision subject target having a high possibility of colliding with the vehicle based on at least the collision time of each of the subject targets calculated by the collision time calculator portion; a collision predictor portion that predicts a collision between the collision subject target selected by the collision subject target selector portion and the vehicle by using the collision time of the collision subject target; a relative lateral position calculation portion that calculates a relative lateral position between the center axis of the vehicle and a part of each of the subject targets, wherein the relative lateral position is calculated based on the assumption that the vehicle is moving linearly relative to the subject targets; a curvature estimating portion that estimates a radius of a curvature along which the vehicle is running; an estimate relative lateral position calculation portion that calculates an estimated relative lateral position by correcting the relative lateral position calculated by the relative lateral position calculation portion based on the radius of the curvature estimated by the curvature estimating portion; and wherein the collision subject target selector portion excludes the subject targets from the collision subject target if at least one of the relative lateral position and the estimated relative lateral position is greater than a predetermined distance.