Patent ID: 8577515

Claim:
A driving assisting system for a vehicle, the driving assisting system comprising: a side obstacle detector configured to detect an obstacle present in an obstacle detection area, wherein the obstacle detection area includes at least a posterolateral direction of the vehicle; an obstacle approach prevention controller configured to implement an obstacle approach prevention control which assists an approach prevention for preventing the vehicle from approaching an obstacle detected by the side obstacle detector; an overtaking state detector configured to detect an overtaking state which is at least one of a first state where the vehicle is overtaking, in a vehicle forward direction, the obstacle detected by the side obstacle detector and a second state where the vehicle is estimated to overtake, in a vehicle forward direction, the obstacle, wherein the overtaking state detector is configured to detect the overtaking state based at least on (i) a distance between the vehicle and the obstacle, (ii) a speed of the vehicle relative to the obstacle, and (iii) a detection angle of the obstacle relative to the vehicle; a control suppressor configured to suppress the obstacle approach prevention control when a determination that the overtaking state is established is made based on the detecting by the overtaking state detector compared with when the determination that the overtaking state is established is not made; and a future position estimator configured to estimate a future position which is a position of the vehicle after a certain time, wherein the obstacle approach prevention controller is configured to determine a start of the obstacle approach prevention control based on the future position estimated by the future position estimator, and wherein the control suppressor is configured such that, when the determination that the overtaking state is established is made based on the detecting by the overtaking state detector, the control suppressor suppresses the start of the obstacle approach prevention control by the obstacle approach prevention controller compared with when the determination that the overtaking state is established is not made, to thereby suppress the obstacle approach prevention control.