CPC B60W 30/16 (2013.01) [B60W 2554/4041 (2020.02); B60W 2554/802 (2020.02); B60W 2720/10 (2013.01)] | 6 Claims |
1. A vehicle travel control apparatus comprising
a processor programmed to:
acquire (i) positional information of a current position of a subject vehicle, (ii) preceding vehicle information concerning a preceding vehicle travelling in front of the subject vehicle, and (iii) road information concerning a road in front of the subject vehicle, the road information being acquired from a database;
determine, based on the acquired road information, whether a special road terrain exists in front of the subject vehicle, energy efficiency for the subject vehicle being improved as a result of speed control for the subject vehicle performed before the subject vehicle enters the special road terrain; and
control a speed of the subject vehicle to be a pre-set vehicle speed, wherein
an energy efficiency zone includes the special road terrain and is a road zone at which energy efficiency of the subject vehicle can be improved by increasing or decreasing the speed of the subject vehicle relative to the pre-set vehicle speed,
an inter-vehicle distance maintenance zone is a road zone before the energy efficiency zone, and
the processor is further programmed to:
when the special road terrain does not exist in front of the subject vehicle but a preceding vehicle exists, control the speed of the subject vehicle to be the pre-set vehicle speed while maintaining at least a pre-set inter-vehicle distance from the subject vehicle to the preceding vehicle;
when the special road terrain exists in front of the subject vehicle but a preceding vehicle does not exist, control the speed of the subject vehicle to increase or decrease relative to the pre-set vehicle speed in the energy efficiency zone such that the energy efficiency is improved; and
when (i) the special road terrain exists in front of the subject vehicle, (ii) a preceding vehicle exists, and (iii) the speed of the subject vehicle is planned to increase with respect to the pre-set vehicle speed in the energy efficiency zone, control the speed of the subject vehicle in the inter-vehicle distance maintenance zone such that an inter-vehicle distance from the subject vehicle to the preceding vehicle is longer than the pre-set inter-vehicle distance.
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