A vehicle control system includes: an automated driving controller that automatically controls at least one out of acceleration/deceleration or steering of a vehicle, and that performs automated driving control in one of a plurality of modes having different levels of automated driving; and a informing section that, in cases in which the automated driving mode transitions to one of the plurality of modes in accordance with a travel environment of the vehicle, predicts a timing at which the mode will transition, and informs the predicted timing.

A steering holding determination device determines a steering holding state in which a driver of a vehicle holds a steering wheel of the vehicle in a steerable manner. The device includes a torque recognition unit that recognizes a steering torque based on a detection result of a torque sensor, a contact state recognition unit that recognizes a contact state or a non-contact state, a threshold value setting unit that sets a threshold value used for the steering holding state determination, based on a recognition result of the contact state recognition unit, and a steering holding determination unit that determines that the driver is in the steering holding state, when the steering torque is equal to or greater than the threshold value. When the non-contact state is recognized, the threshold value setting unit sets the threshold value to a larger value compared to a case when the contact state is recognized.

A method of assisting an autonomous vehicle includes obtaining first surrounding area information of the vehicle when the vehicle is located at a first distance from a monitored area disposed ahead of the vehicle, providing a first control command for controlling the vehicle to operate in a first operating mode, by using the first surrounding area information, obtaining second surrounding area information of the vehicle when the vehicle has driven toward the monitored area and is located at a second distance less than the first distance from the monitored area, and providing a second control command for controlling the vehicle to operate in a second operating mode, by using the second surrounding area information.

A driving control system includes an automatic driving control device and a driver monitoring device. The automatic driving control device includes a driver state determining unit, an override detector, a retreat mode controller, and a retreat mode canceler. During traveling under an automatic driving mode, when the driver state determining unit determines from a driver state detected by the driver monitoring device that the driver is not in a state capable of driving normally, the retreat mode controller sets a retreat mode in which an override operation is disabled and an own vehicle is caused to travel for retreat. When the driver state determining unit determines, during traveling for retreat, that the driver has returned to the state capable of driving normally, the retreat mode canceler cancels the retreat mode, and enables detection of the override operation of the driver by the override detector.

An automated driving enabled vehicle includes a travel controller, an automated driving indicator lamp, and a lamp controller. The travel controller controls travel of the vehicle while switching a travel control state between automated driving and manual driving. The automated driving indicator lamp is switched on perceptibly from outside the vehicle on the occasion of the automated driving. The lamp controller makes a control to switch on the automated driving indicator lamp to indicate that the travel control state is the automated driving, during execution of the automated driving in which the travel controller controls the travel of the vehicle by the automated driving. The lamp controller changes, during the execution of the automated driving, a lighting state of the automated driving indicator lamp in response to a change in the travel control state or a change in travel environment, or both.

A control device of an automatic drive vehicle includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires power generator information as information on a power generator provided in the automatic drive vehicle; an operation control unit that switches between a first state in which automatic driving of the automatic drive vehicle is executed without restriction and a second state in which the automatic driving is partially or entirely restricted; and a determination unit that determines whether to perform switching to the second state by the operation control unit.

A vehicle control apparatus including a driving force generation unit, a driving force distribution mechanism distributing a driving force from the driving force generation unit to a front wheel and a rear wheel, and an electronic control unit having a microprocessor and a memory. The microprocessor is configured to perform: determining whether a mode switching instruction from self-drive mode enabling a self-drive function to manual drive mode disabling the self-drive function has been input; and controlling the driving force distribution mechanism so that a driving force distribution rate of rear wheel driving force relative to front wheel driving force is a first distribution rate during driving in the self-drive mode, and thereafter so that the driving force distribution rate is a second distribution rate greater than the first distribution rate when it is determined that the mode switching instruction has been input.

The present disclosure includes a travel operation unit that is configured to be manually operated and includes a mode operation tool for switching between automatic driving and manual driving, a manual travel control unit that includes a manual travel mode in which manual driving is performed based an operation signal received from the travel operation unit, and an automatic travel control unit that includes an automatic travel mode in which automatic driving is performed, a temporary stop mode in which a vehicle body is temporarily stopped during automatic driving for transitioning from the automatic travel mode to the manual travel mode, and a check mode in which whether a state of the travel operation unit satisfies a manual driving transition condition required for starting manual driving is checked in transition from the temporary stop mode to the manual travel mode.

In a case where a first control device performs traveling control, an abnormality occurs in a first control target, and an abnormality further occurs in a first control target or a second control target, a vehicle control system executes the following processes: (A) in a case where no abnormality occurs in a first control target required for the traveling control, the first control device continues the traveling control; (B) in a case where an abnormality occurs in the first control target required for the traveling control and no abnormality occurs in the second control target required for the traveling control, the second control device executes the traveling control; and (C) in a case where an abnormality occurs in the first control target required for the traveling control and an abnormality occurs in the second control target required for the traveling control, the traveling control is limited.

A method for the self-check of at least one driving function of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in vehicle operation, after an error message about the at least one driving function, in which in one step, at least one vehicle electronic system and/or at least one sensor is/are restarted, a check is made for a further appearance of the error message after each restart, and in the event an error message is not repeated after the restart, the driving function in question is checked during operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.