Patent ID: 7809506

Claim:
A system for estimating a driving intention, comprising: a detector configured to obtain a first type of environmental information and a second type of environmental information relating to a driving environment associated with an own vehicle, wherein the first type of environmental information is different from the second type of environmental information; an operation detector configured to detect an operation of a real driver of the own vehicle; a first imaginary driver's operation calculator configured to calculate a respective imaginary operation of each of a plurality of imaginary drivers of a first type based on the first type of environmental information, wherein the respective imaginary operation of each of the imaginary drivers of the first type is needed to accomplish a respective imaginary driving intention assigned to each of the imaginary drivers of the first type; a second imaginary driver's operation calculator, in a parallel configuration with the first imaginary driver's operation calculator, configured to calculate a respective imaginary operation of each of a plurality of imaginary drivers of a second type based on the second type of environmental information, wherein the respective imaginary operation of each of the imaginary drivers of the second type is needed to accomplish a respective imaginary driving intention assigned to each of the imaginary drivers of the second type; a selector configured to select information related to the imaginary drivers of the first type or the imaginary drivers of the second type; and a driving intention estimator configured to estimate a driving intention of the real driver based on the detected operation of the real driver and the respective imaginary operation of each of the imaginary drivers of the selected type.