Patent ID: 6970777

Claim:
An automotive lane deviation prevention apparatus capable of executing lane deviation prevention (LDP) control by which a host vehicle is avoided from deviating from a driving lane, the LDP apparatus comprising: a traveling-state detector that detects a traveling state of the host vehicle; a steering actuator that adjusts a steering torque applied to a steering system; braking force actuators that adjust braking forces applied to respective road wheels for adjusting a yaw moment exerted on the host vehicle; and a control unit being configured to be electronically connected to the steering actuator, the braking force actuators and the traveling-state detector, for controlling the steering actuator and the braking force actuators in response to signals from the traveling-state detector for lane deviation avoidance purposes; the control unit comprising (a) an LDP control allotted amount calculation section that determines, responsively to the host vehicle's traveling state, whether there is a tendency for the host vehicle to deviate from the driving lane, and calculates, responsively to the host vehicle's traveling state, a steering-control allotted amount for the LDP control and a braking-force-control allotted amount for the LDP control, in presence of the host vehicle's lane-deviation tendency from the driving lane; (b) a steering-control controlled variable calculation section that calculates a steering-torque-control controlled variable based on the steering-control allotted amount for producing the steering torque in a direction that the host vehicle's lane-deviation tendency is avoided; (c) a steering torque control section that controls the steering torque responsively to the steering-torque-control controlled variable; (d) a desired yaw-moment calculation section that calculates a desired yaw moment based on the braking-force-control allotted amount for producing the yaw moment in the direction that the host vehicle's lane-deviation tendency is avoided; (e) a braking-force-control controlled variable calculation section that calculates, based on the desired yaw moment, braking-force-control controlled variables for the respective road wheels; and (f) a braking force control section that controls the braking forces applied to the respective road wheels responsively to the braking-force-control controlled variables.