Vehicle control apparatus, vehicle control method, and storage medium
A vehicle control apparatus of an embodiment includes a surrounding situation recognition unit which recognizes a situation of surroundings of a vehicle, a branch point recognition unit which recognizes a branch point present in a traveling direction of the vehicle on the basis of the recognition result of the surrounding situation recognition unit, a main lane recognition unit which recognizes a main lane connected to the branch point, and a driving control unit which controls one or both of the steering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle and causes the vehicle to travel in the direction of the main lane recognized by the main lane recognition unit at the branch point.
1. A vehicle control apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores instructions, that when executed by the processor, causes performance of operations, comprising:
determining a situation associated with a surroundings of a vehicle;
determining a branch point present in a traveling direction of the vehicle based on the situation;
determining a main lane connected to the branch point; and
causing control of one or both of steering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle and causing the vehicle to travel in a direction of the main lane at the branch point,
wherein the main lane is determined based on a steering angle required for traveling being continuous with respect to a lane at the branch point,
wherein the steering angle is determined as being continuous when an anticipated displacement or change in the steering angle is small as a road approaches and after passing the branch point, and
wherein the steering angle is predicted into a future based on a target trajectory candidate for the vehicle on each lane of multiple lanes after passing the branch point.
2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining positions of lane markings or road edges in the traveling direction, and determining the main lane connected to the branch point based on the positions of lane markings or road edges.
3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining at least positions of road edges in the traveling direction, and determining that the branch point is present in the traveling direction based on an extent of a road width determined based on the positions of road edges.
4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining at least positions of road edges in the traveling direction, and determining that the branch point is present in the traveling direction based on a presence or an absence of a crossing point where a position of a road edge of the positions of road edges in the traveling direction protrudes to a path of the vehicle.
5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a first lane having a first curvature continuous with respect to a second curvature of a second lane at a side proximate to the branch point as being the main lane.
6. A vehicle control method performed by a computer mounted in a vehicle, comprising;
a processor; and
a memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause performance of operations, the method comprising:
determining a situation associated with a surroundings of the vehicle;
determining a branch point present in a traveling direction of the vehicle based on the situation;
determining a main lane connected to the branch point; and
controlling one or both of steering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle and causing the vehicle to travel in a direction of the main lane at the branch point,
wherein the main lane is determined based on a steering angle required for traveling being continuous with respect to a lane at the branch point,
wherein the steering angle is determined as being continuous when an anticipated displacement or change in the steering angle is small as a road approaches and after passing the branch point, and
wherein the steering angle is predicted into a future based on a target trajectory candidate for the vehicle on each lane of multiple lanes after passing the branch point.
7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer comprising a processor to execute:
determining a situation associated with a surroundings of a vehicle;
determining a branch point present in a traveling direction of the vehicle based on the situation and determining a main lane connected to the branch point;
controlling one or both of steering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle; and
causing the vehicle to travel in a direction of the main lane at the branch point
wherein the main lane is determined based on a steering angle required for traveling being continuous with respect to a lane at the branch point,
wherein the steering angle is determined as being continuous when an anticipated displacement or change in the steering angle is small as a road approaches and after passing the branch point, and
wherein the steering angle is predicted into a future based on a target trajectory candidate for the vehicle on each lane of multiple lanes after passing the branch point.