Patent ID: 8306700

Claim:
A vehicle travel support device comprising a first processing element configured to recognize a disposition of a lane mark on a road where a vehicle is traveling according to an image of the road obtained through an imaging device mounted on the vehicle, said first processing element further configured to recognize a travel area demarcated by the lane mark; and a second processing element configured to control an operation of one or both of a steering device and a braking device mounted in the vehicle to prevent the vehicle from departing from the travel area recognized by the first processing element, wherein the first processing element evaluates a reliability of the lane mark based on a difference between recognizable distances between a first lane mark on the left side of the vehicle and a second lane mark on the right side of the vehicle, or based on a difference between respective densities of the first lane mark on the left side of the vehicle and the second lane mark on the right side of the vehicle, and the second processing element sets a degree of control on the operation of either one or both of the steering device and the braking device higher stepwise or continuously as the reliability of the lane mark evaluated by the first processing element becomes higher.