Patent ID: 7327237

Claim:
An information providing apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: a contact possibility information unit configured to determine a contact possibility of the vehicle contacting with an object that is present in front of the vehicle according to relative motion between the vehicle and the front object, the contact possibility information unit providing contact possibility information by changing at least one of the driving force and the braking force of the vehicle according to the contact possibility; a driver intention detector configured to detect a driving intention of a driver of the vehicle, the driver intention detector detecting at least a driving intention of the driver that the driver is driving the vehicle in recognition that the possibility of the vehicle contacting the front object is increasing; and a controller configured to modify at least one threshold for providing the contact possibility information according to a detection result provided by the driver intention detector; wherein the controller is configured to modify the at least one threshold to delay the timing of providing the contact possibility information; wherein the contact possibility information unit determines a contact possibility by comparing a first time derived by dividing a relative distance between the vehicle and the front object by a speed of the vehicle with a first time threshold and provides contact possibility information under a first control condition according to the determined contact possibility; wherein the controller modifies the threshold to delay the timing of providing the contact possibility information by changing the first time threshold.