Included are: a timing determining unit for determining timing for preparing for transfer of driving authority to a driver on the basis of current position information of the vehicle, route information of the vehicle, and vehicle information of the vehicle; an awakening level calculating unit for calculating an awakening level of an occupant on the basis of occupant information; an authority transfer determining unit for determining whether the transfer of the driving authority is allowed on the basis of the calculated awakening level; and a vehicle state controlling unit for performing control to change a state of the vehicle before switching to the manual driving is announced to the occupant of the vehicle when it is determined that the transfer of the driving authority is not allowed.

The present teaching relates to method, system, and medium, for switching a mode of a vehicle. Real-time data related to the vehicle are received, which include intrinsic/extrinsic capability parameters, based on which a set of tasks to switch from a current mode to a different mode is determined. A first duration of time required for the switch is determined based on a first risk evaluated with respect to the current mode and the real-time data. A task duration time needed by a driver to complete the task is estimated for each of the set of tasks. A second risk for the switching is estimated based on the required first duration of time and a total task duration times needed to complete the set of tasks. The switch is carried out when the second risk satisfying a criterion.

Techniques are described for transitioning control of a steering system from an autonomous mode in a vehicle to a driver-controlled mode where the driver can control the steering wheel of the steering system. A method includes receiving values that describe an amount of torque and a direction of torque in response to a torque applied to a steering wheel of a steering system operated in an autonomous mode, determining that the values are either greater than or equal to a threshold value or are less than or equal to a negative of the threshold value, determining that the values are measured over a period of time greater than or equal to a pre-determined amount of time, and transitioning the steering system from being operated in the autonomous mode to being operated in a driver-controlled mode in which the steering system is under manual control.

The present disclosure relates to a method of driving a motor vehicle. The method determines position data relating to at least one of a current position or a predicted future position of the motor vehicle detecting, using at least one sensor device, surroundings data relating to a surrounding environment of the motor vehicle, determining at least one driving intervention based on the surroundings data, and controlling at least one vehicle system of the motor vehicle to execute the determined at least one driving intervention. The at least one driving intervention executed by a selected software module that is selected based on the surroundings data, and the selected software module is selected from a plurality of software modules based on the position data. Each software module is configured to execute the at least one driving intervention.

A driving assistance device is configured to assist driving of a vehicle having an autonomous driving function. A traffic status acquisition unit is configured to acquire a traffic status in a section between a present location of the vehicle, which drives in automatic operation in an automatic operation feasible section, and an end point of the automatic operation feasible section. The automatic operation feasible section is set as a limited domain in advance on map information. A timing determination unit is configured to alter change request timing, at which a change request is made to request a driver to make a driving change from the autonomous driving function to the driver, according to the traffic status acquired by the traffic status acquisition unit.

An automatic driving proposal device or an automatic driving proposal method is used for a vehicle that selects either a state of an automatic driving or a state of a manual driving by an occupant. The automatic driving proposal device or the automatic driving proposal method performs a driving change request to the occupant in the state of the automatic driving, determines whether the automatic driving is possible in the state of the manual driving, calculates a calculation value corresponding to a distance or a prediction time or calculates a change index, and proposes the automatic driving to the occupant on a necessary condition of determining that the automatic driving is possible and also determining that the calculation value is higher than a threshold value or determining that the change index is lower than a threshold value.

A content information acquiring unit acquires content information including a watching-or-listening time period of content that an occupant of a vehicle desires to watch or listen to. A position information acquiring unit acquires position information of the vehicle. A road information acquiring unit acquires road information including information regarding an autonomous driving section and a manual driving section. A route setting unit sets a route in which the vehicle travels through the autonomous driving section in the watching-or-listening time period of the content on the basis of the content information, the position information, and the road information. A notification unit notifies the occupant of the vehicle of the route set by the route setting unit.

In one embodiment, a method of controlling adaptive window transparency includes calculating a buffer period having a start time and an end time. The method also includes adjusting transparency on a set of windows based on the start time of the buffer period and transferring control of the vehicle to the vehicle or driver based on the end time. In response to detecting an emergency, the method further includes removing all tinting on the set of windows. In another embodiment, a method of controlling adaptive window transparency includes calculating a buffer period based on a navigation route.

A method and a system analyze the control of a vehicle having an autonomous driving unit. A change in the driving mode from autonomous driving to manual driving is detected, and at least one driving parameter before and/or after detecting the change is monitored. Based on driving values obtained by the monitoring with respect to the detected change in driving mode, at least one driving quantity quantifying the quality of interplay between the autonomous driving unit and a human driver is determined.

A driving handover system according to the present disclosure is configured to execute a detection process of detecting an obstructive article that causes an obstruction of handover to manual driving when the obstructive article is present in a vehicle, and a determination process of determining whether the handover to the manual driving is allowed or disallowed upon receipt of a request for the handover to the manual driving. The driving handover system is configured to, in the determination process, disallow the handover to the manual driving when the obstructive article is detected in the detection process.