Vehicle control apparatus

1 . A vehicle control apparatus that is applicable to a vehicle including a monitoring sensor that monitors a front side of an own vehicle in a vehicle advancing direction and a brake apparatus that brakes the own vehicle, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a vehicle determining unit that determines whether a pre-preceding vehicle is present in front of a preceding vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction, the preceding vehicle being positioned in front of the own vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction;

a following control unit that, in response to the vehicle determining unit determining that the pre-preceding vehicle is present in front of the preceding vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction, compares a first required deceleration that is deceleration required to cause the own vehicle to travel so as to follow the preceding vehicle based on a monitoring result of the monitoring sensor monitoring the preceding vehicle and a second required deceleration that is deceleration required to cause the own vehicle to travel so as to follow the pre-preceding vehicle based on a monitoring result of the monitoring sensor monitoring the pre-preceding vehicle, and controls the brake apparatus to bring deceleration of the own vehicle closer to the second required deceleration in response to the second required deceleration being greater than the first required deceleration;

an object determining unit that determines whether an object is detected in front of the preceding vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction; and

a prefill control unit that controls the brake apparatus, wherein

the vehicle determining unit determines whether the object is the pre-preceding vehicle by determining whether the pre-preceding vehicle is present in front of the preceding vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction,

the brake apparatus includes a pump that compresses and ejects brake fluid, and a plurality of brakes that brake a plurality of wheels of the own vehicle by pressure of the brake fluid ejected from the pump,

the prefill control unit controls the pump so that the brake fluid is compressed by the pump and ejected toward the plurality of brakes from when the object determining unit determines that the object is detected until the vehicle determining unit determines that the object is the pre-preceding vehicle, and

in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the vehicle determining unit determining that the object is the pre-preceding vehicle, the following control unit controls the pump so that the pressure of the brake fluid ejected from the pump towards the plurality of brakes further increases and thereby controls the brake apparatus to bring the deceleration of the own vehicle closer to the second required deceleration.

2 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a speed determining unit that determines whether a speed of the own vehicle is less than a threshold; and

a speed determination prohibiting unit that prohibits execution of the prefill control unit in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the speed determining unit determining that the speed of the own vehicle is less than the threshold.

3 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:

a relative speed determining unit that determines whether a relative speed of the own vehicle to the object is less than a threshold; and

a relative-speed determination prohibiting unit that prohibits execution of the prefill control unit in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the relative speed determining unit determining that the relative speed is less than the threshold.

4 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:

a time determining unit that determines whether an estimated collision time is equal to or greater than a threshold, the estimated collision time being estimated to be required for the own vehicle to collide with the object; and

a time-determination prohibiting unit that prohibits execution of the prefill control unit in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the time determining unit determining that the estimated collision time is equal to or greater than the threshold.

5 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a relative speed determining unit that determines whether a relative speed of the own vehicle to the object is less than a threshold; and

a relative-speed determination prohibiting unit that prohibits execution of the prefill control unit in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the relative speed determining unit determines that the relative speed is less than the threshold.

6 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a time determining unit that determines whether an estimated collision time is equal to or greater than a threshold, the estimated collision time being estimated to be required for the own vehicle to collide with the object; and

a time-determination prohibiting unit that prohibits execution of the prefill control unit in response to the object determining unit determining that the object is detected and the time determining unit determining that the estimated collision time is equal to or greater than the threshold.

7 . The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a red light determining unit that determines whether a traffic light displaying a red light toward the own vehicle is present in front of the own vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction, wherein

in response to the red light determining unit determining that the traffic light is present in front of the own vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction, determination criteria of the vehicle determining unit is relaxed compared to when the red light determining unit determines that the traffic light is not present in front of the own vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction.

8 . A vehicle control apparatus that is applicable to a vehicle including a monitoring sensor that monitors a front side of an own vehicle in a vehicle advancing direction and a brake apparatus that brakes the own vehicle, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a deceleration determining unit that determines whether a second required deceleration that is deceleration required for the own vehicle to avoid collision with a preceding vehicle by deceleration based on a monitoring result of the monitoring sensor monitoring the preceding vehicle is greater than a first required deceleration that is deceleration required for the own vehicle to travel so as to follow the preceding vehicle based on the monitoring result of the monitoring sensor monitoring the preceding vehicle, the preceding vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle in the vehicle advancing direction; and

a deceleration control unit that controls the brake apparatus to bring the deceleration of the own vehicle closer to the second required deceleration in response to the deceleration determining unit determines that the second required deceleration is greater than the first required deceleration.