A longitudinal driver assistance system in a motor vehicle includes a detection system for recognizing upcoming relevant events which require a change in the maximum permitted top speed, and a functional unit which, upon recognizing a relevant event, determines a location-dependent time taking into consideration the location of the relevant event. Upon achieving this, the functional unit prompts the transmission of request information for permitting an automatic adaptation of the current maximum permitted top speed to a new maximum permitted top speed. With the determining of the location-dependent time, the functional unit is also configured to take into consideration a predetermined minimum duration for the transmission of the request information.

A longitudinally guiding driver assistance system in a motor vehicle includes a detection system for detecting currently applying events and relevant events lying ahead, which require an adaptation of the permissible maximum speed, and a function unit which, when detecting a relevant event, while taking into account the location of the relevant event lying ahead, determines a location-dependent point in time, whose reaching causes the function unit to initiate an output of prompt information for permitting an automatic adaptation of the currently permissible maximum speed to a new permissible maximum speed. The function unit is designed, in the case of an activation of the longitudinally guiding driver assistance system, while taking into account a detected currently applying event, to initiate a first output of prompt information for permitting an automatic first setting of the currently applying permissible maximum speed as the new permissible maximum speed.

A method for regulating a speed of a vehicle, in which a cruise control unit is provided to set a speed and a sensor system, which is directed in a direction of travel, is provided to detect an environment by spatially resolving electromagnetic radiation, the method including: defining a specified speed; setting a safety speed that is reduced with respect to the specified speed by the cruise control unit; detecting a lane change of the vehicle by the sensor system; detecting an exit ramp within a predicted travel path of the vehicle using the sensor system; and limiting the speed that is settable by the cruise control unit to a value below the specified speed. Also described is a related device and vehicle having such a device.

A vehicle driving control apparatus applied to a vehicle includes a surrounding environment information obtaining device, a vehicle situation information obtaining device, an external information receiving device, a velocity value setter, and a driving control unit. The driving control unit adjusts a velocity of the vehicle by considering surrounding vehicles and various information and performs driving control based on the adjusted velocity. If a leading vehicle is recognized, the velocity of the vehicle exceeds a speed limit or a predetermined velocity, a driver set velocity is not lower than a velocity of the leading vehicle, and a following vehicle is not recognized for a predetermined time or longer, the driving control unit sets a temporary velocity as the velocity of the vehicle and performs driving control by using the temporary velocity. The temporary velocity is lower than the velocity of the leading vehicle by a preset value.

A computer-implemented method is disclosed for controlling a speed of a vehicle. The method comprises acquiring information from a plurality of vehicle sensors, wherein the acquired information comprises image information acquired from one or more visual sensors, wherein the image information includes a driver of the vehicle. The method further comprises using one or more computer processors to perform image processing on the image information. The method further comprises dynamically determining an upper speed limit for the vehicle using the acquired information, wherein the upper speed limit is based in part on the image processing. The method further comprises receiving an acceleration input from a vehicle inceptor, and responsive to determining that application of the acceleration input would cause the speed of the vehicle to exceed the upper speed limit, transmitting a control signal to a vehicle actuator to avoid exceeding the upper speed limit.

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.

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 vehicle speed control system that carries out a method of receiving a user input of a target set-speed at which the vehicle is intended to travel and applying torque to the at least one of the vehicle wheels for propelling the vehicle at a vehicle control speed. The user input is received via an input device that enables the user to incrementally increase the target set-speed by pressing and holding a target set-speed + button. The system includes a controller configured to incrementally increase the target set-speed while the set-speed + button is held, and, once the set-speed + button is released the controller is configured to continue to increase the target set-speed by a value determined by the controller in dependence on at least one of the instantaneous vehicle speed and the terrain over which the vehicle is travelling.

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.

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.