Patent ID: 8718908

Claim:
A convoy travel apparatus disposed in a subject vehicle that is equipped with a position measurement unit for regularly having a measurement of satellite positioning coordinates of the subject vehicle, the convoy travel apparatus comprising: a wireless communication unit regularly transmitting convoy travel information of the subject vehicle, the convoy travel information including latest satellite positioning coordinates of the subject vehicle and travel locus information made from one of (a) a predetermined number of latest measurements of the satellite positioning coordinates of the subject vehicle and (b) a travel locus defined by the predetermined number of latest measurements of the satellite positioning coordinates of the subject vehicle measured by the position measurement unit; a convoy travel control unit performing convoy travel control of the subject vehicle based on the convoy travel information from other vehicles received by the wireless communication unit; and a sender vehicle identification unit identifying a sender vehicle transmitting a convoy travel information currently received by the wireless communication unit, based on a comparison between the travel locus information included in the convoy travel information currently received and the travel locus information previously received, wherein the convoy travel control unit determines, based on the sender vehicle identified by the sender vehicle identification unit, the convoy travel information transmitted by a forward vehicle to be followed by the subject vehicle, and performs the convoy travel control based on the convoy travel information of the forward vehicle.