The present technique relates to a vehicle controller and a vehicle control method capable of changing from autonomous driving to manual driving more safely.

The vehicle controller includes a running control section exercising control over deviating running from normal running of a vehicle at a time of switching a driving mode from an autonomous driving mode to a manual driving mode; and a driving state detection section detecting a reactivity and a degree of awakening of a driver on the basis of a running operation performed by the driver on the control over the deviating running. A detected reactivity and a detected awake state of the driver are used at a time of switching the driving mode from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode by the driver. The present technique is applicable to, for example, a vehicle controller that controls autonomous driving.

The present disclosure relates to an electronic device for a vehicle including: at least one interface unit; and at least one processor for receiving, through the interface unit, a sensing signal generated by force applied to a steering wheel in a direction different from a rotation direction of the steering wheel, and providing a control signal to switch a travel mode between a manual mode and an autonomous mode based on the sensing signal. At least one of an autonomous vehicle, a user terminal or a server of the present disclosure may be linked to an artificial intelligence module, a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and devices associated with 5G services, etc.

Provided is a method for use by a driving assistance apparatus that assists a transition from an autonomous driving mode in which a vehicle is driven under autonomous control to a manual driving mode in which the vehicle is driven by a driver. The method includes: detecting an activity by the driver; detecting conditions of the driver; and determining a take-over request method which is a method of presenting, in the vehicle, a take-over request that informs the driver that the autonomous driving mode is going to be cancelled, the determining being based on at least the detected activity by the driver and the detected conditions.

An enhanced map information processing unit 14 of a driving assistance device 1 acquires from a determination unit 13 information on surroundings of a vehicle which is needed to perform autonomous driving, and acquires from a server device 2 environment information on surroundings of a route on which autonomous driving is performed. On the basis of the acquired environment information, the enhanced map information processing unit 14 extracts, as an autonomous driving unsuitable location Pn, a location at which the accuracy of the acquirement of the sensor unit 12 is predicted not to satisfy a standard for acquiring the information on the surroundings of the vehicle needed to perform autonomous driving. An informing unit 18 alerts the extracted autonomous driving unsuitable location Pn to a user.

Aspects of the disclosure provide for determining when to provide and providing secondary disengage alerts for a vehicle having autonomous and manual driving modes. For instance, while the vehicle is being controlled in the autonomous driving mode, user input is received at one or more user input devices of the vehicle. In response to receiving the user input, the vehicle may be transitioned from the autonomous driving mode to a manual driving mode and provide a primary disengage alert to an occupant of the vehicle regarding the transition. Whether to provide a secondary disengage alert may be determined based on at least circumstances of the user input. After the transition, the secondary disengage alert may be provided based on the determination.

A vehicle control device includes a driving controller configured to control one or both of steering and acceleration or deceleration of a vehicle; and a mode determiner configured to determine a driving mode of the vehicle to be one of a plurality of driving modes including a first driving mode and a second driving mod, in which the second driving mode is a driving mode in which a task imposed on a driver of the vehicle is lighter than that of the first driving mode and one or both of the steering and the acceleration or deceleration are controlled by the driving controller, and to change the driving mode to the first driving mode on the basis of an operating state of a wiper mounted in the vehicle when the driving controller controls the vehicle in the second driving mode.

Provided is a method for use by a driving assistance apparatus that assists a transition from an autonomous driving mode in which a vehicle is driven under autonomous control to a manual driving mode in which the vehicle is driven by a driver. The method includes: detecting an activity by the driver; detecting conditions of the driver; and determining a take-over request method which is a method of presenting, in the vehicle, a take-over request that informs the driver that the autonomous driving mode is going to be cancelled, the determining being based on at least the detected activity by the driver and the detected conditions.

A drive mode switch control device acquires operation information. The drive mode switch control device switches a drive state among at least an autonomous drive state, a manual drive state, and a coordination drive state. The operation detection unit detects a first operation and a second operation based on the operation information when the drive state is not in the manual drive state. The second operation is the drive operation different from the first operation and input after the input of the first operation. The drive mode switch control device switches the drive state from the autonomous drive state to the coordination drive state based on a detection determination of the first operation. The drive mode switch control device switches the drive state from the coordination drive state to the manual drive state based on a detection determination of the first operation.

A vehicle control system includes: an external-world recognition unit configured to recognize a position of a peripheral vehicle of a vehicle; a trajectory generation unit configured to generate a plurality of trajectory candidates based on the position of the peripheral vehicle recognized by the external-world recognition unit; and a display control unit configured to cause a display unit to display an image indicating a trajectory along which the vehicle is able to travel and a trajectory along which the vehicle is not able to travel among the plurality of trajectory candidates generated by the trajectory generation unit.

A user interface unit alternately designates an automatic switching mode, a manual-on mode, and a manual-off mode. A determining unit determines whether or not execution of driving assistance is permitted at a current time, based on a predetermined determination index related to whether or not execution of driving assistance is possible. A control unit executes a driving assistance mode when the execution of driving assistance is permitted and executes a manual driving mode when the execution of driving assistance is determined to not be permitted, under a condition that the automatic switching mode is designated. The control unit executes the driving assistance mode when a switch for designating the manual-on mode is operated, under a condition that the execution of driving assistance is permitted. The user interface unit does not receive input that designates the manual-on mode when the execution of driving assistance is determined to not be permitted.