Automatic vehicle braking device
The automatic vehicle braking device is equipped with a braking force control processing portion which, based on the judgment result of a collision judgment processing portion and the judgment result of a steering avoidance judgment processing portion, imparts a turning property in a direction of head-on collision to the vehicle when the lateral position of the obstacle with respect to a travel route curve is large in a condition in which the driver is unconscious of a high possibility of collision between the vehicle and the obstacle and has taken no steering avoidance action yet. As a result, it is possible to reduce the speed of the vehicle and, at the same time, mitigate the damage suffered by the vehicle occupants at the time of collision.
1. An automatic vehicle braking device of a vehicle comprising:
detection means for detecting a relative distance, lateral position, and speed of an obstacle with respect to the vehicle;
an offset amount means for calculating an offset amount between a vehicle travel route and the lateral position of an obstacle;
collision judgment means for making a judgment as to whether a possibility of collision between one's vehicle and the obstacle exists based on detection values obtained by the detection means and the position of the obstacle with respect to the offset amount output by the offset amount means;
steering operation detecting means for detecting a steering operation by a driver of the vehicle; and
braking force control means for causing a braking force to be exerted on each wheel to brake the vehicle when it is judged by the collision judgment means that a possibility of collision exists and when the steering operation detecting means has detected no collision avoidance operation performed by the driver,
wherein the braking force control means causes a respective braking force to be exerted on each wheel to turn the vehicle in a direction in which a head-on collision between the vehicle and the obstacle is caused, wherein the vehicle is simultaneously braked and turned based on at least the relative lateral position of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle detected by the detection means.
2. The automatic vehicle braking device according to claim 1 , further comprising: collision travel route planning means for sequentially planning a travel route for head-on collision between one's vehicle and the obstacle based on the relative distance and lateral position of the obstacle detected by the detection means,
wherein the braking force control means causes a braking force to be exerted on each wheel to trace the travel route planned by the collision travel route planning means.
3. The automatic vehicle braking device according to claim 1 , wherein braking forces generated in right and left wheels of the vehicle are controlled individually.
4. The automatic vehicle braking device according to claim 1 , wherein the collision judgment means compares the relative distance of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle with a distance obtained by multiplying a predetermined collision prediction time by the speed of the obstacle.