Detecting operator contact with a steering wheel, including: applying a torque to at least a portion of a steering system of an autonomous vehicle; identifying a measured torque for a steering wheel of the autonomous vehicle; calculating, based on the applied torque, an expected torque for the steering wheel; and determining, based on a difference between the measured torque and the expected torque, whether an operator of the autonomous vehicle is in contact with the steering wheel.

In at least some implementations, a method of estimating road friction, includes determining an actual steering load, determining a nominal steering load as a function of vehicle speed, steering angle, and a nominal road friction value, and comparing the actual steering load to the nominal steering load to determine an estimated road friction. In at least some implementations, the nominal steering load is not determined as a function of vehicle yaw, or vehicle lateral acceleration, or vehicle wheel speed compared to vehicle speed, or vehicle tire compliance or road wheel angle.

A vehicle driving support system evaluates the ability of a driver based on the driving operation of the driver for each of driving-related functions possessed by the driver to drive the vehicle. Based on the past evaluation result, the vehicle driving support system determines whether the ability of the driver is less than a predetermined standard, whether the ability of the driver is not improved from then on, and whether the ability of the driver is on a declining trend for each of the driving-related functions. The vehicle driving support system performs support control for causing the vehicle to support the exertion of the ability of the driver when determining that the ability of the driver is less than the predetermined standard and improvable from then on or that the ability of the driver is equal to or more than the predetermined standard and is on a declining trend.

A control device includes a lane departure detection unit that detects lane departure of a vehicle, a rear vehicle determination unit that determines whether a rear vehicle is present on a rear side, a lane change start detection unit that detects start of a lane change, a lane change end detection unit that detects end of the lane change, a steering assistance control unit that applies an assistive steering torque to a steering wheel, and an assistive steering torque cancellation unit that, in a case where the start of the lane change is detected and no rear vehicle is present, cancels application of the assistive steering torque, and in a case where the end of the lane change is detected and a rear vehicle is present, cancel the application of the assistive steering torque.

A driving assistance device includes a storage device configured to store a program and a processor connected to the storage device. The processor executes the program to recognize a physical object, generate a future avoidance trajectory along which a moving object is able to move while avoiding the contact with the physical object, acquire a steering state of the moving object, determine an amount of change in an avoidance trajectory error, calculate an index value by making a weight of an avoidance trajectory error at a point in time earlier than a reference point in time greater or less than a weight of the avoidance trajectory error at the reference point in time according to the amount of change, and guide a driver of the moving object or the moving object such that the steering state of the moving object is changed in accordance with the index value.

Surrounding situation information of a vehicle is acquired. A steering torque applied by using a steering mechanism of the vehicle is detected. A steering angle and a steering direction of the vehicle are detected. Traveling control involving steering assist control is executed based on those pieces of information. In a case where a steering torque amount or the steering angle is detected, a new target lane keeping traveling path or a predetermined target lane departure prevention traveling path of the vehicle is created based on the steering torque amount, the steering angle, and the steering direction of the vehicle. In a case where the steering torque amount or the steering angle is detected again within a predetermined period, the new target lane keeping traveling path or the predetermined target lane departure prevention traveling path is set and traveling control is executed along the set traveling path.

A vehicle and an obstacle avoidance assist method thereof are capable of performing obstacle avoidance assist control by tracking a previously sensed obstacle that deviates from a sensing region of a sensor. The obstacle avoidance assist method of a vehicle includes: detecting at least one obstacle near a vehicle using a proximity sensor; determining a travel range corresponding to a predicted travel trajectory of the body of the vehicle based on a gear stage and a steering angle; determining at least one effective obstacle, based on the travel range, from the at least one detected obstacle; and outputting a warning about the determined at least one effective obstacle.

The disclosure relates to a vehicle system for a vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, that includes an electronically controllable pneumatic braking system, and an electronically controllable steering device. The electronically controllable pneumatic braking system has a redundant control unit, which controls the brake circuits in the event of a failure of an electronic stability control of the braking system during travel. In the event of the failure of the electronic stability control during travel, the redundant control unit performs axle-wise control of the front axle with a front axle redundancy brake pressure and/or of the rear axle with a rear axle redundancy brake pressure and the electronically controllable steering device carries out laterally stabilizing steering interventions in order to keep the vehicle in a tolerance corridor of a predefined target trajectory of the vehicle. The disclosure also relates to a vehicle and a method.

A method includes, in response to an ignition on signal: determining, using one or more sensors, whether a host vehicle is moving from a first lane to a second lane; determining, using one or more sensors, whether an object is in at least one of a blind zone of the host vehicle and in the second lane within a threshold distance of the host vehicle; in response to a determination that an object is in at least one of the blind zone of the host vehicle and in the second lane within the threshold distance of the host vehicle, performing at least one operator assistance maneuver; and, in response to a determination that an object is not in at least one of the blind zone of the host vehicle and in the second lane within the threshold distance of the vehicle, not performing the at least one operator assistance maneuver.

The present application generally relates to a method and apparatus for controlling an autonomous vehicle. In particular, the method and apparatus are operative for detecting, by a sensor, an object within a first vehicle path, generating, by a processor, a second vehicle path in response to either the detection of the object such that the second vehicle path avoids the object, or a user initiated trajectory shift, generating, by the processor, an initial steering torque in response to the second vehicle path, performing, by the processor, an adaptation on the initial steering torque to generate an adapted steering torque in response to the initial steering torque exceeding a torque rate limit, and controlling, by a vehicle controller a host vehicle steering system to follow the second vehicle signal path in response to the adapted steering torque.