Vehicle travelling control apparatus, vehicle travelling control method and computer program product

1. A vehicle travelling control apparatus configured to be installed on an own vehicle, the vehicle travelling control apparatus comprising one or more memory devices storing instructions thereon, that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine, based on a signal received from a vehicle location device, the actual position of the own vehicle;

receive map information;

receive information from a vehicle surroundings sensor and detect an object in the surroundings of the own vehicle based on said information received from the vehicle surroundings sensor;

determine whether a detected object and the own vehicle could meet within a meeting area at an intersection ahead of the own vehicle;

predict a future behavior of the detected object when the instructions caused the one or more processors to estimate that a collision could happen in said meeting area; and

alter a travelling plan of the own vehicle based on the predicted future behavior of the detected object;

control an operation of the own vehicle associated with the altered travelling plan in response to a determination that the detected object and the own vehicle could meet within the meeting area,

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to set said meeting area and set a branching area ahead of the meeting area in the travelling direction of the detected object, the branching area being an area defined by the map information and the information received from the vehicle surroundings sensor in which the detected object can change its travelling path before entering the meeting area; and

the instructions cause the one or more processors to apply a normal prediction mode when the detected object is outside said branching area and a detailed prediction mode when the detected object is within said branching area.

2. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in the normal prediction mode, the instructions cause the one or more processors to use a predetermined number of features of the detected object for predicting the future behavior of the detected object, and, in the detailed prediction mode, to use more features of the detected object than in the normal prediction mode for predicting the future behavior of the detected object.

3. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predicting of the future behavior includes predicting which of a possible future travelling paths the detected object may take.

4. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in the normal prediction mode, the future behavior of the detected object is predicted based on at least one the features including speed of the detected object, direction of movement of the detected object, shape of the detected object.

5. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in the detailed prediction mode, the future behavior of the detected object is predicted based on at least one of the additional feature including a blinker, a change of the shape of the tire(s) between two time frames and/or a tire position of the detected object.

6. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the map information is received from a map information unit and the map information received includes at least links representing lanes and/or streets and nodes representing intersections of lanes and/or streets.

7. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the meeting area is set at a node which is located in an area where the detected object and the own vehicle could meet and the branching area is set at a node before the node of the meeting area in the driving direction of the detected object.

8. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the branching area is set at a node immediately before the node of the meeting area in the driving direction of the detected object.

9. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein a diameter of the merging and/or branching area is set based on the parameters of the street or based on a predefined value or a value defined in a database.

10. The vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an intersection of streets or lanes include roundabouts and approach lanes of a motorway.

11. An own vehicle including a vehicle travelling control apparatus according to claim 1 and a vehicle surroundings sensor, which is one of or a combination of a lidar sensor, a camera, a stereo-camera sensor, a radar sensor, or an electro magnetic wave sensor.

12. A method for controlling an own vehicle comprising the steps of:

receiving map information and localizing an actual position of the own vehicle based on a signal received from a vehicle location device;

detecting an object in the surroundings of the own vehicle based on received data from a vehicle surroundings sensor of the own vehicle,

determining whether a detected object and the own vehicle could meet in a meeting area at an intersection towards which the own vehicle travels;

predicting a future behavior of the detected object when it was estimated that a meeting could happen in said meeting area; and

deciding about an adaption of a travelling plan of the own vehicle based on the predicted future behavior of the detected object, wherein a normal prediction mode is applied when the detected object is outside a branching area and a detailed prediction mode is applied for the predicting of the future behavior of the detected object when the detected object is within a branching area, the branching area defined, based on the map information and the data received from the vehicle surroundings sensor, to be an area that is placed before the meeting area in the travelling direction of the detected object and in which the detected object can change its travelling path before entering the meeting area.

13. A computer program product storable in a non-transitory memory comprising instructions which, when carried out by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to claim 12 .