Patent ID: 8744685

Claim:
A lane departure control apparatus for controlling a lane departure of a vehicle using a steering mechanism comprising: an angle determiner which determines a controlled angle that is an angle between a direction in which the vehicle equipped with this apparatus is now heading within a given area of a lane on a road and a target angular direction in which the vehicle is to be pointed, the angle determiner also determining a correction angle that is an angle between a direction in which the vehicle is now pointing and a virtual line, the virtual line being defined to extend parallel to a lane boundary of the lane; and a lane departure controller engineered to operate in a first steering control mode and a second steering control mode following the first steering control mode, when the vehicle is determined to be about to unintentionally deviate from the given area of the lane, the lane departure controller entering the first steering control mode to acquire the controlled angle from the angle determiner and outputting a control signal to the steering mechanism to steer the vehicle toward a center of the given area of the lane by the controlled angle at a first yaw rate, when the vehicle is determined to be traveling toward the virtual line, the lane departure controller entering the second steering control mode to acquire the correction angle from the angle determiner and outputting a control signal to the steering mechanism to steer the vehicle by the correction angle so as to orient the vehicle parallel to the virtual line at a second yaw rate, the lane departure controller changing a value of the first yaw rate at a first rate in a first angular range within the controlled angle and also changing a value of the second yaw rate at a second rate in a second angular range within the correction angle, an absolute value of the second rate being smaller than that of the first rate.