Patent ID: 7359788

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a distance between vehicles comprising: a host vehicle speed detection device that detects a traveling speed of a host vehicle; a preceding vehicle determining device that determines which is a preceding vehicle; a target inter-vehicular distance setting device that sets a target inter-vehicular distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle; an actual inter-vehicular distance detecting device that detects an actual inter-vehicular distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle; a preceding vehicle speed calculating device that calculates a traveling speed of the preceding vehicle; a distance deviation calculating device that calculates a distance deviation between the target inter-vehicular distance and the actual inter-vehicular distance; a target vehicle speed setting device that sets a target vehicle speed based on the traveling speed of the preceding vehicle and on the distance deviation; and an acceleration/deceleration control unit that controls an acceleration and a deceleration of the host vehicle based on the target vehicle speed, wherein the target vehicle speed setting device comprises: a predicted arrival time calculating device that calculates a predicted arrival time when the host vehicle will reach the preceding vehicle based on the actual inter-vehicular distance and on a relative speed between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle; and a target vehicle speed limiting device that calculates a target vehicle speed limit value based on the predicted arrival time and on the traveling speed of the host vehicle, and the target vehicle speed setting device sets a target vehicle speed based on the target vehicle speed limit value.