A vehicle-mounted equipment control device includes a controller configured to cause equipment of any of a headlight, a wiper, and an air-conditioning device to continue a visual securing operation for securing visibility of a driver of a vehicle even after driving control of the vehicle is switched from automated driving control to manual driving control regardless of an operation mode of the equipment specified by an operation switch for setting an operation of the equipment when an operation mode executed by the equipment immediately before driving control of the vehicle is switched from automated driving control to manual driving control is an operation mode corresponding to the visual securing operation.

A method for controlling autonomous driving in an autonomous vehicle includes: determining whether a human driver is in a forward gaze state under an autonomous driving mode, setting a first steering wheel torque threshold and a first torque holding time, based on a result of determining whether the human driver is in the forward gaze state, determining whether human driver intervention has occurred, based on the first steering wheel torque threshold and the first torque holding time, and switching the autonomous driving mode to a manual driving mode when the human driver intervention has occurred.

A vehicle control apparatus is capable of switching between an automatic driving control mode and a manual driving mode. The apparatus includes a driver state monitor and a vehicle controller. The driver state monitor monitors a gaze of a driver and a state of the driver. The vehicle controller controls steering and a drive system in the automatic driving control mode. In a case that the driver state monitor detects that the driver gazes at a device that is operated by the driver as a second task when the vehicle controller requests to the driver for a takeover from the automatic driving control mode to the manual driving mode, the vehicle controller stops a function of the device.

A driving assistance system for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, includes a user interface module which is set up for interaction with a driver The user interface module is further set up to: output at least two questions in relation to a driving assistance function to the driver sequentially; and receive a user input of the driver for answering the at least two questions. A control module is set up to activate and/or operate the driving assistance function based on a composition of incorrectly answered and correctly answered questions from the at least two questions, wherein the driving assistance function is activated only when a minimum number of questions and/or a specific subgroup of the at least two questions have been answered correctly at least in part.

A driving handover control device includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. In a case in which driving is handed over from a first state in which a vehicle travels in accordance with instruction from a remote operator of the vehicle to a second state in which the vehicle travels in accordance with operation by a passenger of the vehicle, the processor implements a transition from the first state to a third state in which the vehicle travels autonomously without instruction from the remote operator or operation by the passenger, and, after the transition from the first state to the third state, implements a transition from the third state to the second state.

A remote assistance management system is in communication with autonomous traveling vehicles for letting an operator provide remote assistance in response to an assistance request from a vehicle. The system predicts an occurrence of an assistance request in future based on operation states of the vehicles, and categorize a cause of an assistance request predicted to occur into a first category cause that lasts for a long time and a second category cause that lasts only for a short time. The system receives an assistance request from the vehicles. In response to acquiring a first assistance request of which the cause is the first category cause from a first vehicle, the system transmits a first command signal for the first vehicle that is decided by an operator to the first vehicle, and applies the first command signal to another vehicle from which the first assistance request is predicted to occur.

In a driving assistance device for a vehicle provided with an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode, a standby member is provided to allow a driver seated at a seat to rest an arm. A sensor senses that a hand of a driver is placed at a position where the driver can reach the sensor while the driver rests the arm on the standby member. The sensor senses that a finger of the driver is in contact with the sensor. The sensor is provided in an arm rest.

Provided is a vehicle control device configured to execute specific control while at the same time sequentially switching the specific control that defines an operation to be executed by each of a plurality of surrounding environment acquisition devices configured to acquire information on a surrounding environment of a vehicle, a recognition/determination ECU configured to generate a path on which the vehicle is to travel, and an integrated control ECU configured to control the vehicle based on the generated path along with an elapse of time since detection of an anomaly, when the anomaly is detected in any one of the plurality of surrounding environment acquisition devices, the recognition/determination ECU, and the integrated control ECU.

An autonomous driving control device includes: a plurality of control devices that each have a first storage unit and a processing unit; a load control unit; a second storage unit; and a failure detection unit. The programs include autonomous driving programs and other programs. When a failure is detected, the load control unit unloads at least some of the other programs from the first storage unit of a normal control device, and loads the autonomous driving program corresponding to that loaded in the first storage unit of a failed control device from the second storage unit into the first storage unit of the normal control device.

A method for controlling autonomous driving in an autonomous vehicle includes detecting a situation in which autonomous driving is impossible while the vehicle operates in an autonomous driving mode, outputting a control-right handover request warning alarm and then activating a minimal risk maneuver driving mode, determining a human driver gaze validity based on the detected situation, determining a human driver intervention validity upon determination that the human driver gaze is valid, and determining control-right handover of the autonomous vehicle based on the human driver intervention validity. Thus, the control-right may be reliably transferred from a system to a human driver.