IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,311,934
Granted Patent B2
US 12,311,934 · App. 18/323,850 · Granted May 27, 2025

Driving assistance apparatus, driving assistance method, and computer-readable storage medium storing driving assistance program

Inventor: Yuma Ito (Obu, JP)
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
B60W30/143B60W50/085B60W50/14B60W60/001G10L15/22B60W2050/143B60W2540/21B60W2540/215G10L2015/223
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,311,934
App. No.
18/323,850
Granted
May 27, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A driving assistance apparatus executes a moving control to autonomously control a moving of a vehicle. The apparatus informs a driver of contents of a voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control in accordance with utterance contents of the driver acquired by voice recognition and request the driver to perform an approval operation to approve the informed contents. The apparatus executes the voice operation process when the approval operation is performed. When a moving situation of the vehicle is not a predetermined situation which needs the approval operation, the apparatus execute the voice operation process without the approval operation being performed, and set an upper limit of an acceleration of the vehicle by the moving control to a value smaller than the upper limit set when executing the voice operation process in response to the approval operation being performed.

Claims (30)

1. A driving assistance apparatus, comprising an electronic control unit configured to execute a moving control to autonomously control a moving of a vehicle,

the electronic control unit being configured to:

(i) inform a driver of the vehicle of contents of a voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control in accordance with utterance contents of the driver acquired by voice recognition and request the driver to perform an approval operation to approve the informed contents; and

(ii) execute the voice operation process when the approval operation is performed,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:

when a moving situation of the vehicle is not a predetermined situation which needs the approval operation

(i) execute the voice operation process without the approval operation being performed; and

(ii) set an upper limit of an acceleration of the vehicle by the moving control to a value smaller than the upper limit set when the electronic control unit executes the voice operation process in response to the approval operation being performed.

2. The driving assistance apparatus as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:

inform the driver of the contents of the voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control and request the driver to perform the approval operation when the moving situation of the vehicle is the predetermined situation; and

inform the driver of the contents of the voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control without requesting the driver to perform the approval operation when the moving situation of the vehicle is not the predetermined situation.

3. The driving assistance apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the upper limit is an upper limit of an acceleration rate of the vehicle by the moving control.

4. The driving assistance apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the upper limit is an upper limit of an increasing rate of an acceleration rate of the vehicle by the moving control.

5. A driving assistance method of executing a moving control to autonomously control a moving of a vehicle,

the driving assistance method comprising steps of:

(i) informing a driver of the vehicle of contents of a voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control in accordance with utterance contents of the driver acquired by voice recognition and requesting the driver to perform an approval operation to approve the informed contents; and

(ii) executing the voice operation process when the approval operation is performed,

wherein the driving assistance method comprises steps of:

when a moving situation of the vehicle is not a predetermined situation which needs the approval operation,

(i) executing the voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control without the approval operation being performed; and

(ii) setting an upper limit of an acceleration of the vehicle by the moving control to a value smaller than the upper limit set when executing the voice operation process in response to the approval operation being performed.

6. A computer-readable storage medium storing a driving assistance program which executes a moving control to autonomously control a moving of a vehicle,

the driving assistance program being configured to:

(i) inform a driver of the vehicle of contents of a voice operation process planned to be executed for the moving control in accordance with utterance contents of the driver acquired by voice recognition and request the driver to perform an approval operation to approve the informed contents; and

(ii) execute the voice operation process when the approval operation is performed,

wherein the driving assistance program is configured to:

when a moving situation of the vehicle is not a predetermined situation which needs the approval operation,

(i) execute the voice operation process without the approval operation being performed; and

(ii) set an upper limit of an acceleration of the vehicle by the moving control to a value smaller than the upper limit set when executing the voice operation process in response to the approval operation being performed.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 25, 2023
From: ITO, YUMA
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 063765/0836 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2022-126987 · Aug 9, 2022 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240051534A1 · Feb 15, 2024
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