Patent ID: 8370028

Claim:
A road information sensing system on a vehicle, comprising: means for sensing a current position of the vehicle; means for storing map data; means for obtaining road information of a road ahead of the vehicle from the map data based on the current position of the vehicle; means for measuring a distance from the vehicle to one predetermined object selected from a plurality of predetermined objects on the road only when the road information is predetermined road information, which is contained in the map data and indicates one of a curve in the road, a railway crossing, a tunnel and an intersection located on the road ahead of the vehicle on a map of the map data; means for computing a predicted error which indicates a degree of accuracy of the current position of the vehicle; means for determining a degree of reliability of the current position of the vehicle based upon the computed predicted error; means for outputting the distance and the degree of reliability of the current position of the vehicle as control information of the vehicle; and means for controlling a device of the vehicle based on the control information including both the distance and the degree of reliability of the current position of the vehicle; wherein the measuring means changes the one predetermined object based on the road information.