Patent ID: 7650217

Claim:
An adaptive cruise control apparatus of a controlled vehicle, comprising: a terrain shape detector for detecting a terrain shape between a position of said controlled vehicle and a position spaced away therefrom by a headway distance between the controlled vehicle and a preceding vehicle on the basis of headway distance information issued from a headway distance detecting device for detecting said headway distance and terrain shape information issued from a terrain shape estimating device for estimating a terrain shape around the position of the controlled vehicle; a vehicle speed controller for controlling a speed of said controlled vehicle on the basis of an output issued from said terrain shape detector; a first cruise control executing means for controlling so as to keep the speed of the controlled vehicle at a target speed entered by the driver or externally inputted; a second cruise control executing means for acquiring the headway distance information from said headway distance detecting device and controlling an actuator of the controlled vehicle so as to keep said headway distance at a headway distance set by the driver; a preceding-vehicle lost cause determiner, when said preceding vehicle departs from a detection range of said headway distance detecting device and the preceding vehicle is lost at a time when the actuator is controlled by said second cruise control executing means, for determining whether or not the lost condition of said preceding vehicle is caused by a terrain shape on the basis of an output issued from said terrain shape detector; a target speed setter, when said preceding-vehicle lost cause determiner determines that said preceding-vehicle lost condition is caused by the terrain shape, for setting a predetermined vehicle speed in said first cruise control executing means; and a cruise control switch for switching to the first cruise control executing means with said predetermined vehicle speed set by said target speed setter.