Patent ID: 7801659

Claim:
A method for providing lane recognition for a controlled vehicle equipped with an adaptive distance and speed control system and traveling on a road, comprising: transmitting to the adaptive distance and speed control system, using an object detection system, a relative speed of a detected object with respect to the controlled vehicle; transmitting to the adaptive distance and speed control system: a) a variable for determining a lateral offset of the detected object with respect to the longitudinal vehicle axis of the controlled vehicle; and b) the speed of the controlled vehicle; determining, based on the relative speed of the detected object with respect to the controlled vehicle and the speed of the controlled vehicle, whether the detected object is one of oncoming, stationary, and moving in the same direction as the controlled vehicle; determining, using the lateral offset of the detected object with respect to the longitudinal vehicle axis of the controlled vehicle, the number of lanes present on the road and the lane in which the controlled vehicle is currently traveling; and adjusting a detection region of the object detection system based on the determined lane; wherein in a context of right-hand traffic, travel on a single-lane road is determined for the controlled vehicle when at least one of: a) an object is detected which exhibits a negative relative speed with respect to the controlled vehicle that is of greater magnitude than the speed of the controlled vehicle, and which object exhibits a left-side lateral offset with respect to the longitudinal vehicle axis of the controlled vehicle that is of lesser magnitude than a predetermined lane width value; b) an object is detected which exhibits a negative relative speed with respect to the controlled vehicle that approximately corresponds in magnitude to the speed of the controlled vehicle, and which object exhibits a right-side lateral offset with respect to the longitudinal vehicle axis of the controlled vehicle that is of lesser magnitude than a predetermined lane width value; and c) an object is detected which exhibits a negative relative speed with respect to the controlled vehicle that approximately corresponds in magnitude to the speed of the controlled vehicle, and which object exhibits a left-side lateral offset with respect to the longitudinal vehicle axis of the controlled vehicle that is of greater magnitude than a predetermined lane width value.