Patent ID: 8068957

Claim:
A backing operation assist apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus being coupled with a movement direction demand unit for demanding a forward movement or a backward movement of the vehicle and a change detection unit for detecting a change of a state of the vehicle taking place in association with a start-up of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a determination unit configured to make (i) a determination that a reverse departure, which is a backing operation for exiting a parking state, is performed if a transit time period, which ranges from when the change of the state is detected by the change detection unit to when the backward movement is demanded by the movement direction demand unit, is within a predetermined period, and (ii) a determination that a reverse parking, which is a backing operation for entering a parking state, is performed, if the transit time period is greater than or equal to the predetermined period; and an assist control unit configured to select one assist item from among an assist item for a backing operation relative to the reverse departure and an assist item for a backing operation relative to the reverse parking, in accordance with the determination made by the determination unit, and to control the selected one assist item.