Patent ID: 7177750

Claim:
System for evaluating a driving environment of a motor vehicle and for influencing a speed of the motor vehicle in its own lane, comprising: an electronic control unit (ECU), which is connected to: a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of a desired speed of the motor vehicle, a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of a yaw rate of the motor vehicle about its vertical axis, a signal generator which generates, for objects located in a space lying in front of the motor vehicle in its direction of travel, a signal which is characteristic of a distance and orientation of the objects with respect to the motor vehicle and which reproduces at least one of: a speed relative to the speed of the motor vehicle, a distance relative to the motor vehicle, and an angular offset or a lateral deviation relative to a vehicle longitudinal axis of the motor vehicle, and a signal generator generating a signal which is characteristic of a speed at least of one wheel of the motor vehicle; wherein the electronic control unit (ECU) is connected to at least one control device for influencing road behavior of the motor vehicle in order to supply said at least one control device with output signals which are derived from road behavior of a target motor vehicle located in front of the motor vehicle, whereby characteristic values having fluid boundaries are established in the electronic control unit (ECU) for at least two different road environments (town traffic, country road, highway) in order to distinguish the type of road on which the motor vehicle is traveling, wherein a quantity influencing the respective characteristic value is the “environmental speed” established from the speeds of the objects detected in the space in front of the driver's motor vehicle.