Vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus

1. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a forward monitoring unit that monitors an obstacle within a predetermined forward area extending in a direction forward of an own vehicle;

one or a plurality of forward-lateral monitoring units that monitor an obstacle within a predetermined forward-lateral area extending in a direction lateral of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward area; and

a traveling environment detecting unit that detects whether the own vehicle is traveling on a predetermined road including a highway, whether the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including a junction, of the predetermined road, and a lane on which the own vehicle is traveling on, wherein

the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on the predetermined road including a highway,

a level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is eased when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including the junction, of the predetermined road, and

when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on a junction-side lane, an output and/or sensitivity of the forward monitoring unit is increased relative to a case when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is not traveling on the junction-side lane.

2. The vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined road further includes a freeway.

3. The vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined area further includes an area around a toll gate of the predetermined road.

4. The vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling in the predetermined area, the level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is greatly eased in a case where the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on the junction-side lane relative to a case where the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is not traveling on the junction-side lane.

5. The vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the monitoring with the forward monitoring unit is maintained even when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on the predetermined road.

6. The vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 , comprising:

one or more backward-lateral monitoring units that monitor an obstacle within a predetermined backward-lateral area extending in a direction backward of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward-lateral area, wherein

when the traveling environment detecting unit detects that the own vehicle is traveling on the predetermined road, and

the level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is eased in a case where the backward-lateral monitoring units detect an obstacle approaching in the rear of the own vehicle at a speed greater than or equal to a predetermined relative speed.

7. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a forward monitoring unit that monitors an obstacle within a predetermined forward area extending in a direction forward of an own vehicle;

one or a plurality of forward-lateral monitoring units that monitor an obstacle within a predetermined forward-lateral area extending in a direction lateral of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward area;

a vehicle speed obtaining unit that obtains a vehicle speed; and

a traveling environment detecting unit that detects a traveling environment of the own vehicle, the traveling environment detecting unit including a navigation computer and a GPS receiver; wherein

the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the vehicle speed obtaining unit obtains a vehicle speed greater than or equal to a predetermined vehicle speed, and

a level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is eased when the traveling environment detecting unit determines a position of the own vehicle with the navigation computer via GPS data received by the GPS receiver and detects that the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including a junction, of a predetermined road including a highway.

8. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a forward monitoring unit that monitors an obstacle within a predetermined forward area extending in a direction forward of an own vehicle;

one or a plurality of forward-lateral monitoring units that monitor an obstacle within a predetermined forward-lateral area extending in a direction lateral of the own vehicle relative to the predetermined forward area; and

a traveling environment detecting unit that detects a traveling environment of the own vehicle, the traveling environment detecting unit including a navigation computer and a GPS receiver; wherein

the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the traveling environment detecting unit determines a position of the own vehicle with the navigation computer via GPS data received by the GPS receiver and detects that the own vehicle is traveling on a predetermined road including a highway.

9. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus, comprising:

one or a plurality of forward-lateral monitoring units that monitor an obstacle present in a forward-lateral direction of an own vehicle; and

a traveling environment detecting unit that detects a traveling environment of the own vehicle, the traveling environment detecting unit including a navigation computer and a GPS receiver, wherein

the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is suppressed when the traveling environment detecting unit determines a position of the own vehicle with the navigation computer via GPS data received by the GPS receiver and detects that the own vehicle is traveling on a predetermined road including a highway, and

a level of the suppressing of the monitoring with the forward-lateral monitoring units is eased when the traveling environment detecting unit determines the position of the own vehicle with the navigation computer via the GPS data and detects that the own vehicle is traveling in a predetermined area, including a junction, and/or an area around a toll gate, of the predetermined road.

10. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , wherein

the traveling environment detecting unit further includes a memory that stores map information, and

the navigation computer determines the own vehicle position using the GPS data and compares the vehicle position to the map information to determine whether the vehicle is traveling in the predetermined area of the predetermined road.

11. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein

the traveling environment detecting unit further includes a memory that stores map information, and

the navigation computer determines the own vehicle position using the GPS data and compares the vehicle position to the map information to determine whether the vehicle is traveling on the predetermined road.

12. A vehicle peripheral monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein

the traveling environment detecting unit further includes a memory that stores map information, and

the navigation computer determines the own vehicle position using the GPS data and compares the vehicle position to the map information to determine whether the vehicle is traveling in the predetermined area of the predetermined road.