Patent ID: 8532880

Claim:
A steering assist apparatus of a vehicle, for applying steering force to a steering mechanism of the vehicle so that the vehicle travels on a target traveling position in a traveling lane; comprising: a lane set unit configured to recognize an environment ahead the vehicle and set the traveling lane; a deviation determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has a deviation tendency from the traveling lane; a steering control unit configured to apply steering force in a deviation avoiding direction to the steering mechanism when it is determined that the vehicle has a deviation tendency; a neighboring vehicle detection unit configured to detect a neighboring vehicle, which travels ahead of the vehicle and in a lane next to the traveling lane of the vehicle, based on the recognized environment; and an approach degree calculation unit configured to calculate an approach degree of the neighboring vehicle toward the vehicle based on the neighboring vehicle detection, wherein the steering control unit performs a steering force reduction control for reducing the steering force in the deviation avoiding direction according to an increase of the approach degree when the deviation determination unit determines that the vehicle has a deviation tendency in a direction away from the traveling lane of the neighboring vehicle.