The speed control device is equipped with: an actual speed acquisition unit; an actual position acquisition unit; an acceleration/deceleration control unit; and a travel resistance calculation unit. When in a situation in which an target speed increases from a first target speed to a second target speed, the target speed in the second road section is set such that an actual speed increases with a first-order lag from the first target speed to the second target speed over a period between the start position and end position of the second road section, and the target speed in the second road section is set such that the amount of change in the speed, which increases with the first-order lag, with respect to the travel time of the vehicle is decreased as the travel resistance calculated by the travel resistance calculation unit increases.

A travel control device assists automatic traveling of a vehicle by controlling a target vehicle speed, which is a target value of an actual vehicle speed, when making the vehicle travel to a target point. The travel control device includes a setting unit for executing a setting process for setting the course of the target vehicle speed until the vehicle reaches the target point, based on the actual vehicle speed and the target point. If a request to change the vehicle speed occurs during execution of the automatic traveling and the actual vehicle speed is changed based on the request, the setting unit executes a resetting process for resetting the course of the target vehicle speed, based on the actual vehicle speed when the request is canceled and a remaining distance from a position of the vehicle when the request is canceled to the target point.

When making a switch from automated driving to manual driving in a vehicle capable of switching between the manual driving and the automated driving, a driving control method of the present invention makes the switch to the manual driving after changing driving characteristics for the automated driving to switch driving characteristics suitable for the switch to the manual driving.

A vehicle control device includes an operation detection unit detecting an operation input to an operation input unit capable of being used when increasing or decreasing a travel speed of a host vehicle, when initiating a following control with respect to a preceding vehicle, or when reinitiating the following control with respect to the preceding vehicle, and a lane change control unit performing a lane change control based on the operation input detected by the operation detection unit. In the case that a first operation input is performed, the lane change control unit performs a lane change into a first lane located on one side of a host vehicle lane where the host vehicle is traveling, whereas in the case that a second operation input is performed, the lane change control unit performs a lane change into a second lane located on another side of the host vehicle lane.

Disclosed is a method for controlling the speed of a vehicle, the method comprising: determining a speed limit; determining an offset value based on (i) the speed limit, and (ii) a speed map, the speed map comprising a plurality of entries, each entry associating one of the offset values with a respective speed limit; and setting the speed of the vehicle according to the speed limit and the determined offset value.

A driver assistance system may be a vehicle control system configured to perform a driver assistance operation, such as implementing cruise control or performing an automated driving control operation. The control system may be configured to perform a driver assistance operation which includes at least one step which conserves energy stored in at least one battery. The control system may conserve energy by controlling a speed or following distance of a vehicle based on road parameter, such as an uphill grade or downhill grade.

A vehicle travel control apparatus having a cruise control function allows a driver to perform an acceptance operation for rendering a set speed coincident with a speed limit when the speed limit is different from the set speed. When the drive can perform the acceptance operation, the vehicle travel control apparatus must inform the driver to that effect. In view of this, when the acceptance operation can be performed, an additional display is provided on a display unit to be located between a display representing the set speed and a display representing the speed limit, to thereby inform the driver that the driver can perform an operation relating to the set speed and the speed limit (i.e., can perform the acceptance operation).

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, cruise control of an automotive vehicle in a fuel economy cruise control mode controls vehicle speed to be within a fuel economy speed band about a cruise control set speed so that instantaneous fuel economy is at least equal to average fuel economy.

Provided is a control method of an automatic driving vehicle switchable between manual driving in which the vehicle is made to travel depending on an operation of an occupant and automatic driving in which driving characteristics in automatic travel are set and the vehicle is made to automatically travel based on the driving characteristics. Manual driving characteristics in the manual driving by the occupant are learned and, when switching from the manual driving to the automatic driving is performed, the automatic driving is performed with the manual driving characteristics maintained for a preset manual characteristic maintaining time. As a result, uneasiness of the occupant can be suppressed.

An automatic driving system includes: an information acquiring device configured to acquire driving environment information indicating a driving environment of the vehicle; a running control device configured to execute lane change control from a first lane to a second lane during automatic driving of the vehicle based on the driving environment information; and a display device configured to display an upper limit value of a running speed of the vehicle which is set by a driver of the vehicle during automatic driving. The display device is configured to display a deviation value which is calculated based on a target value of the running speed and the upper limit value along with the upper limit value during a speed-deviation running in which the running speed is higher than the upper limit value.