In-vehicle alert apparatus

1. An in-vehicle alert apparatus comprising:

an object information acquiring device configured to acquire object information related to a position of an object around a host vehicle with respect to the host vehicle and a relative speed of the object with respect to the host vehicle;

a vehicle status information acquiring device configured to acquire vehicle status information related to a traveling status of the host vehicle;

a display unit on which an alert screen that guides driver's line of sight in a direction of where a processing target obstacle is present is displayed; and

an electronic control unit configured to

estimate a predicted traveling course of a center point in a vehicle width direction of the host vehicle based on the vehicle status information,

extract an object having a possibility of colliding with the host vehicle as an obstacle based on the object information and the predicted traveling course,

calculate an index value based on at least the object information of each extracted obstacle, the index value being changed in accordance with a degree of need for an alert operation that alerts the driver to each extracted obstacle,

select the processing target obstacle from the extracted obstacles by using the index value calculated for each extracted obstacle, and

determine whether a specific condition is established, the specific condition being set to be established when the alert operation is needed in accordance with a result of comparison between the index value for the processing target obstacle and a predetermined threshold, and display the alert screen on the display unit when the electronic control unit determines that the specific condition is established, wherein

the electronic control unit is configured to, when the electronic control unit extracts a plurality of the obstacles,

execute, for each extracted obstacle, an operation of calculating a post-correction index value by calculating a distance between a specific point on the extracted obstacle and the predicted traveling course, setting the calculated distance as a correction lateral distance, and correcting the index value such that the degree of need for the alert operation indicated by the index value is increased as the correction lateral distance is decreased, and

select the obstacle having the highest degree of need for the alert operation indicated by the post-correction index value as the processing target obstacle from the extracted obstacles.

2. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to use a point between one end point and another end point of the obstacle in a direction orthogonal to the predicted traveling course as the specific point.

3. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to use a closest point of the obstacle to the predicted traveling course in a direction orthogonal to the predicted traveling course as the specific point.

4. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to

set the calculated distance as the correction lateral distance when the obstacle is not positioned across the predicted traveling course, and

set the correction lateral distance to zero when the obstacle is positioned across the predicted traveling course.

5. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to

calculate a margin time period as the index value, the margin time period being a time period in which the extracted obstacle comes into contact with or approaches a closest point to the host vehicle, and

determine whether the specific condition is established, by determining whether the margin time period as the index value of the processing target obstacle is less than or equal to a threshold time period as the threshold.

6. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to

acquire, based on the correction lateral distance, an index value correction gain that is decreased as the correction lateral distance is decreased,

set, as the post-correction index value, a post-correction margin time period that is calculated by multiplying the margin time period by the index value correction gain, and

select the obstacle having the smallest post-correction margin time period as the processing target obstacle from the extracted obstacles.

7. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the object information acquiring device includes a camera sensor that includes a vehicle-mounted stereo camera and an image processing device processing an image captured by the vehicle-mounted stereo camera, and a radar sensor that is configured to radiate an electric wave in a millimeter wave band, receive a reflective wave reflected by the object when the object is present within a radiation range of a millimeter wave, and detect a distance between the host vehicle and the object, a direction of the object with respect to the host vehicle, and the relative speed of the object with respect to the host vehicle based on the reflective wave.

8. The in-vehicle alert apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle status information acquiring device includes a vehicle speed sensor that is configured to detect a speed of a vehicle body of the host vehicle, an acceleration sensor that is configured to detect an acceleration of the host vehicle in a front-rear direction and a right-left direction in a horizontal direction, a yaw rate sensor that is configured to detect a yaw rate of the host vehicle, and a steering angle sensor that is configured to detect a steering angle of a steering wheel of the host vehicle.