A method for determining a viewing direction of a person, such as a driver in a motor vehicle, is provided. The method includes detecting a surface contour of a surface of an eye of the person, ascertaining a normal vector on the surface of the eye depending on the detected surface contour, and determining the viewing direction of the person depending on the normal vector.

When a to-be-monitored image exists in an image lacking from a bird's-eye image for surroundings monitoring though the to-be-monitored image is imaged by a camera for monitoring, the to-be-monitored image is securely displayed on a display. Cameras 6F, 6B, 6L, 6R are provided in a longitudinal direction and in a lateral direction of a dump truck 1, in playing bird's-eye images 10F, 10B, 10L, 10R acquired by converting view points of a through image imaged by each camera, so as to display a to-be-monitored image in a to-be-monitored image undisplayable area, each through image imaged by each camera is aggregated on one screen by an image aggregating unit 21, this aggregated screen is scanned by a to-be-monitored image detector 20 to detect the to-be-monitored image, and the to-be-monitored image is superimposed on a synthetic bird's-eye image 10 displayed on the display 9 and is displayed.

An avoidance route calculation part calculates an avoidance route for avoiding a collision between an own vehicle and an obstacle through a collision avoidance assist control (an automatic brake control and an automatic steering control). A post-avoidance route calculation part calculates a post-avoidance route. A post-avoidance route collision determination part determinates whether a secondary obstacle is present on the post-avoidance route. When the secondary obstacle is determined to be present, the automatic steering control is prohibited from being performed.

A hybrid vehicle includes an engine, a fuel tank, a motor, a battery, a charger, and a notification mechanism. The battery is configured to supply electric power to the motor. The charger is configured to carry out external charging that charges the battery by use of electric power from an external power source. The notification mechanism is configured to notify, to an outside of the vehicle, information on a use index indicative of a degree of use of external charging in a predetermined time period.

A hybrid vehicle includes an engine, a fuel tank, a motor, a battery, a charger, and a notification mechanism. The battery is configured to supply electric power to the motor. The charger is configured to carry out external charging that charges the battery by use of electric power from an external power source. The notification mechanism is configured to notify, to an outside of the vehicle, information on a use index indicative of a degree of use of external charging in a predetermined time period.

A method for furnishing a warning signal of a detected imminent microsleep event includes reading in at least one behavior pattern that represents a behavior of a driver while driving the vehicle, comparing the behavior pattern with at least one stored pre-microsleep pattern that represents an individual behavior that has taken place or is taking place prior to a microsleep event on the part of the driver, and outputting the warning signal if a predetermined relationship exists between the behavior pattern and the pre-microsleep pattern.

A method for furnishing a warning signal of a detected imminent microsleep event includes reading in at least one behavior pattern that represents a behavior of a driver while driving the vehicle, comparing the behavior pattern with at least one stored pre-microsleep pattern that represents an individual behavior that has taken place or is taking place prior to a microsleep event on the part of the driver, and outputting the warning signal if a predetermined relationship exists between the behavior pattern and the pre-microsleep pattern.

A method of determining a surface condition of a path of travel. A plurality of images is captured of a surface of the path of travel by an image capture device. The image capture device captures images at varying scales. A feature extraction technique is applied by a feature extraction module to each of the scaled images. A fusion technique is applied, by the processor, to the extracted features for identifying the surface condition of the path of travel. A road surface condition signal provide to a control device. The control device applies the road surface condition signal to mitigate the wet road surface condition.

A method of determining a surface condition of a path of travel. A plurality of images is captured of a surface of the path of travel by an image capture device. The image capture device captures images at varying scales. A feature extraction technique is applied by a feature extraction module to each of the scaled images. A fusion technique is applied, by the processor, to the extracted features for identifying the surface condition of the path of travel. A road surface condition signal provide to a control device. The control device applies the road surface condition signal to mitigate the wet road surface condition.

Provided is a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle including an environment recognition unit and an automatic operation control unit. The environment recognition unit is configured to acquire information on surrounding environment around the vehicle, and provide the automatic operation control unit with the information on the surrounding environment. The automatic operation control unit is configured to acquire select one proposed traveling line, as a target traveling line of the vehicle, from a plurality of proposed traveling lines, on a basis of the information on the surrounding environment, and allow the vehicle to travel along the target traveling line. The vehicle control device is configured to acquire provide display of an image of one or more non-selected traveling lines other than the proposed traveling line selected as the target traveling line from the plurality of proposed traveling lines, together with display of an image of the target traveling line.