One of objectives of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control system, a vehicle control method and a vehicle control program, which can properly perform control related to automatic driving based on the energy of the vehicle. The vehicle control system comprises: an automatic driving control part, executing automatic driving performing automatic driving of at least one of velocity control and steering control of an automatic vehicle, and a function limiting part, limiting functions related to automatic driving when the energy of the vehicle is insufficient due to automatic driving.

An onboard system equipped to a vehicle includes a vehicle control device controlling a switching of a driving mode of the vehicle between a manual driving and a self-driving, and a brain activity sensor capable of detecting an activated portion of a brain of a driver of the vehicle. The vehicle control device determines whether a degree of uneasiness felt by the driver exceeds a threshold or not based on a detection result detected by the brain activity sensor before the switching of the driving mode. When determining that the degree of uneasiness felt by the driver does not exceed the threshold, the vehicle control device switches the driving mode. When determining that the degree of uneasiness felt by the driver exceeds the threshold, the vehicle control device performs a vehicle control corresponding to the degree of uneasiness felt by the driver.

The present application discloses a driverless vehicle, a driverless vehicle control method and a driverless vehicle control apparatus. The vehicle includes: a steering wheel and a processor. A sensor is provided on the steering wheel. The processor is configured to switch a driving mode of the driverless vehicle to a manual driving mode in response to detecting a sensing signal outputted by the sensor, when the driverless vehicle is in an autonomous driving mode. This implementation achieves smooth switching of the driving mode.

A vehicle control system including a driving controller, a detection section, a state prediction section, and a switching section. The driving controller controls to switch to either automated driving in which driving support is performed for at least one out of speed control or steering control of a vehicle by implementing any of plural driving modes having different levels of automated control, or manual driving performed based on operations of a driver of the vehicle on both the speed control and the steering control of the vehicle. The detection section detects a change to a surrounding environment of the driver. A state prediction section predicts a state unsuitable for the driver to drive will arise based on the change. The switching section switches the driving mode to a driving mode with a high level of automated control when the state unsuitable to drive is predicted to arise.

An audio system of a vehicle includes a mode module that sets a mode signal to a first mode when a vehicle speed is greater than a predetermined speed and a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle is less than a predetermined acceleration. The predetermined acceleration is less than zero and the predetermined speed is greater than zero. A sound control module, when the mode signal is in the first mode, selectively sets audio characteristics for a deceleration event of the vehicle based on randomization parameters. An audio driver module, based on the audio characteristics, applies power to speakers to output sound within a passenger cabin of the vehicle.

A control system and method in a vehicle are disclosed for controlling an autonomous drive related operation of the vehicle. The method may include detecting a pre-determined foot arrangement of an occupant in a front seat of the vehicle and controlling a state of the autonomous drive related operation, based on the detected pre-determined foot arrangement. The system may include at least one sensor configured to detect a pre-determined foot arrangement of an occupant in a front seat of the vehicle, and a control unit configured to control a state of the autonomous drive related operation, based on the detected pre-determined foot arrangement.

Models can be generated of a vehicle's view of its environment and used to maneuver the vehicle. This view need not include what objects or features the vehicle is actually seeing, but rather those areas that the vehicle is able to observe using its sensors if the sensors were completely un-occluded. For example, for each of a plurality of sensors of the object detection component, a computer may generate an individual 3D model of that sensor's field of view. Weather information is received and used to adjust one or more of the models. After this adjusting, the models may be aggregated into a comprehensive 3D model. The comprehensive model may be combined with detailed map information indicating the probability of detecting objects at different locations. The model of the vehicle's environment may be computed based on the combined comprehensive 3D model and detailed map information.

To achieve an accurate transfer of control from a system to a driver, a semiconductor device includes: a recognition unit that recognizes an object present in the periphery of a vehicle based on a result of observation of the periphery of the vehicle; a route calculation unit that calculates, based on the recognized object, a travel route for the vehicle in an automatic control mode for automatically controlling the vehicle; and a mode control unit that transfers the vehicle from the automatic control mode to a manual control mode for controlling the vehicle according to an operation by a driver, when a travel route to avoid the recognized object cannot be calculated.

At least one object having a risk of collision with the vehicle is detected. Levels of autonomous control are transitioned in response to detection of a potential collision based at least in part on an autonomous peril factor which includes a probability of collision and a magnitude of possible damage in the event of a collision.

An autonomous driving apparatus executes an autonomous driving control of a vehicle. When an override occurs during the autonomous driving control, switching from the autonomous driving control to manual driving is executed. A first determination condition is for determining that the autonomous driving control can be resumed, when the driver is estimated to have a continued operation intention, which is an intention to continue the manual driving, after the switching from the autonomous driving control to the manual driving is executed. A second determination condition is for determining that the autonomous driving control can be resumed, when the driver is estimated not to have the continued operation intention after the switching from the autonomous driving control to the manual driving is executed. The first determination condition is less likely to be met than the second determination condition.