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 vehicle speed control system for controlling a vehicle having a plurality of wheels. The vehicle speed control system is configured to automatically control the speed of the vehicle in dependence on an input target set-speed. The system carries out a method that includes: applying torque to at least one of the plurality of wheels; 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 plurality of wheels for propelling the vehicle at a vehicle control speed. The system further controls the vehicle control speed as a function of at least one of the instantaneous vehicle speed and the terrain over which the vehicle is travelling.

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 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).

An upper-limit vehicle speed should be prevented from being set to speed different from an intention of a driver. When it is detected that a speed limit is changed, an upper-limit vehicle speed setting ECU temporarily switches a control mode from a normal mode to an inquiry mode. An ASL operation unit serves a function for a change operation of upper-limit vehicle speed in the normal mode, and serves a function for a reply operation about whether the speed limit is accepted in the inquiry mode. When the ASL operation unit is operated in the normal mode, the upper-limit vehicle speed setting ECU does not switch the control mode to the inquiry mode, even if a change of a speed limit is detected, until a certain period of time (a certain period during which a mode switching prohibition period is set) has passed since the operation.

When an accept operation for permitting a speed limit to be set as a target speed has been detected, a driving support ECU gradually increases the current target speed toward the current speed limit. The target speed is displayed in a gradual-change display screen on a display apparatus. A driver performs a correcting operation at the time at which the driver recognizes that the displayed target speed exceeds the speed limit. The driving support ECU corrects the target speed based on the correcting operation.

A method and apparatus for controlling speed are provided. The method includes: receiving a first input to display a cruise control menu on a display; in response to receiving the first input, displaying the cruise control menu including a plurality of cruise control submenu items comprising at least two from among a speed increase menu item, a speed decrease menu item, a speed set menu item, a cruise control pause menu item, and a cruise control cancel menu item; receiving a second input, from a unitary input, to initiate a function corresponding to one of the displayed plurality of cruise control submenu items; and in response to receiving the second input, performing the function corresponding to the one of the displayed plurality of cruise control submenu items. The method and apparatus may be used to set a speed of a vehicle by operating a unitary input.

Systems and methods for adaptive cruise control based on user defined parameters are disclosed. An example disclosed vehicle includes a GPS receiver configured to provide a location of the vehicle, an adaptive cruise control; and a cruise control adjuster. In the example cruise control adjuster is configured to generate an action when a cruise control event is defined for the location. In the disclosed example the cruise control event is based on past changes to the adaptive cruise control at the location. The example cruise control adjuster is also configured to apply the action to the adaptive cruise control to change how the adaptive cruise control controls the vehicle.

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 driver assistance system in a motor vehicle includes a map-based detection system for detecting upcoming events which lead to a change in the maximum permissible speed, and a functional unit which, when a relevant upcoming event is detected by the map-based detection system, at a defined time before the upcoming event is reached, initiates an output of a request indication to permit an automatic adjustment of the current maximum permissible speed to a new maximum permitted speed. When a manually triggered authorization confirmation or detected rejection is identified the functional unit, initiates a withdrawal of the request indication. The functional unit is configured to prompt a withdrawal of the output of the request indication after passing the relevant upcoming event when there is no detected authorization confirmation or no detected rejection.