Patent ID: 8423279

Claim:
A drive assist apparatus comprising: a road-information storage unit to store road information including positions of intersections on a road; a traffic-signal information storage unit to store information regarding a presence/absence of a signal light at each of the intersections and information regarding change timing of a traffic signal of the signal light; a receiving unit to receive other-vehicle information including information regarding a position and a speed of an other vehicle traveling ahead of a host vehicle; an obtaining unit to obtain host-vehicle information including a speed of the host vehicle; a determining unit to determine whether the other vehicle becomes an obstacle to travel of the host vehicle, by comparing the other-vehicle information and the host-vehicle information; and a calculating unit to calculate a recommended speed on a basis of the host-vehicle information, the road information, and information regarding the traffic-signal change timing when the determining unit determines that the other vehicle does not become an obstacle to the travel of the host vehicle, and that calculates the recommended speed on a basis of the host-vehicle information, the road information, the information regarding the traffic-signal change timing, and an arrival delay time for avoiding an obstacle caused by the other vehicle when the determining unit determines that the other vehicle becomes the obstacle to the travel of the host vehicle.