A vehicle control device includes a recognizer 130 which recognizes a surrounding situation of a host vehicle and a driving controller 140 and 160 which executes driving control by controlling one or both of steering and acceleration/deceleration of the host vehicle on the basis of the surrounding situation recognized by the recognizer, wherein the driving controller assigns predetermined required tasks to an occupant of the host vehicle to execute the driving control when there is a gap of a threshold value or more between first speed information determined from at least one of a traveling speed of the host vehicle and a target speed and second speed information determined from at least one of a speed limit in a lane in which the host vehicle is traveling and a speed of a neighboring vehicle traveling around the host vehicle.

Until a lapse of a prescribed time from switching to a manual drive mode, a special judgment criterion for judging whether to generate an attention-arousing event is employed so that an attention-arousing event is generated more frequently than in an ordinary state and information is presented to a driver in a different expression form than in the ordinary situation. Since after occurrence of a handover the frequency of arousing attention of the driver is increased and attention of the driver is aroused in a different form, the driver realizes the switching to the manual drive mode soon and hence mode confusion can be avoided. Arousing attention of the driver is started earlier than in the ordinary situation by changing the judgment criterion for judging whether to generate an attention-arousing event.

A vehicle control system includes: an automated driving controller that is configured to execute automated driving of automatedly controlling at least one of speed control and steering control of a vehicle; an estimator that is configured to estimate a degree of wakefulness of a vehicle occupant of the vehicle; and an output controller that is configured to cause an outputter to output a first content requiring the vehicle occupant of the vehicle engage in active behavior in a case in which the degree of wakefulness is estimated as being equal to or lower than a criterion by the estimator when the automated driving is executed by the automated driving controller, whereby the degree of wakefulness of the vehicle occupant of the vehicle can be maintained at a necessary level or higher in automated driving.

A method for providing assistance to a driver of a vehicle, the vehicle including a driver assistance system that enables at least temporary autonomous driving, and that, after the termination of the autonomous driving, requests the driver to take over at least the lateral guidance of the vehicle via a signal. It is further provided that the steering of the vehicle is stiffened for a specified time span after the request to take over the lateral guidance. A computer program and a device that are set up to carry out the method, are also described.

A method including: determining, based at least in part on plural data items originating in plural distinct sources, at least one estimated driving condition for each one of a plurality of road segments in a road network, each of the at least one estimated driving condition being determined for a future time interval; determining at least one route in the road network for a vehicle which includes a first road segment with a first estimated driving condition, determined for a first time interval, which satisfies a driving condition restriction for an automated system or automated feature of the vehicle, for an at least partially automated mode of the vehicle; and scheduling instructions for the vehicle including the at least one determined route such that the vehicle is capable of traversing the first road segment during the first time interval.

An architecture for an autonomous vehicle uses a top-down approach to enable fully automated driving. The architecture is modular and compatible with hardware from different manufacturers. Each modular component can be tailored for individual cars, which have different vehicle control subsystems and different sensor subsystems.

The invention relates to an activation system for a vehicle comprising a steering wheel (20) and a semi-autonomous or an autonomous control system. The activation system comprises at least one imaging means (12), such as a camera, having a field of view encompassing at least a substantial portion of the steering wheel arranged to collect, in use, a first image data set representing a raw image of a subject within said field of view. A control module is also provided for processing said first image data and for making a determination as to whether a driver currently has both of their hands on the steering wheel or not. In response to making said determination, the activation system is configured and/or arranged to trigger a semi-autonomous or an autonomous control system.

A vehicle drive assistance system is provided, which includes a processor configured to execute a required driving ability estimating module to estimate a driver's driving ability required for driving a vehicle based on a traffic environment around the vehicle and drive assistance provided to the driver by the vehicle, a current driving ability estimating module to estimate a driver's current driving ability, and a changing module to perform reduction processing in which the required driving ability is reduced when the current driving ability is lower than the required driving ability, the required driving ability being reduced less in a case where the current driving ability is lower than a given threshold compared to a case where the current driving ability is equal to or higher than the given threshold, even when a difference between the required driving ability and the current driving ability is constant.

Vehicle systems and methods for controlling a vehicle to mitigate the effects of an incapacitated driver are disclosed. In one embodiment, a vehicle includes one or more sensors, one or more processors, and one or more non-transitory memory modules communicatively coupled to the one or more processors. The memory modules store machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to receive one or more signals output by the one or more sensors and determine a driver of the vehicle is incapacitated based on the one or more signals output by the one or sensors. In response to determining the driver is incapacitated, the processors are caused to determine a specific type of incapacitation of the driver based on the one or more signals output by the one or more sensors. The processors may select an individual vehicle control profile based on the specific type of incapacitation.

A vehicle control device includes the following components. An action plan generating unit generates an action plan of a vehicle. An automated driving control unit carries out a first driving mode in which at least one of acceleration/deceleration and steering of the vehicle is automatically controlled based on the action plan. An operation device accepts an operation performed by an occupant of the vehicle. A handover control unit instructs shifting to a second driving mode, in which the degree of automated driving is lower than in the first driving mode, when the occupant operates the operation device to instruct one or both of acceleration/deceleration and steering in the first driving mode. A restraint control unit generates an estimated path of the vehicle to be taken based on the operation and restrains shifting to the second driving mode if the estimated path contradicts the action plan.