US 12,005,899 B2
Vehicle with inter-vehicular distance acceleration control
Hiroyuki Sasai, Osaka (JP); Hiroyuki Uematsu, Osaka (JP); Takeshi Ando, Kyoto (JP); and Duyhinh Nguyen, Chiba (JP)
Assigned to PANASONIC HOLDINGS CORPORATION, Osaka (JP)
Appl. No. 17/430,401
Filed by Panasonic Corporation, Osaka (JP)
PCT Filed Feb. 4, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/004133
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 12, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/166433, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 20, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-024312 (JP), filed on Feb. 14, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0105935 A1, Apr. 7, 2022
Int. Cl. B60W 30/165 (2020.01)
CPC B60W 30/165 (2013.01) [B60W 2720/106 (2013.01); B60W 2754/30 (2020.02)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle having a wheelchair-type structure that is used in an environment where people move and that automatically travels while following a preceding vehicle and keeping an inter-vehicle distance at a predetermined inter-vehicle distance, the vehicle comprising:
a detector that detects a moving body present in a first area around the vehicle, the first area being located outside of a second area between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle; and
a controller that determines, from among at least one of a plurality of the moving bodies detected by the detector, an entering moving body that possibly enters the second area, and accelerates or decelerates the vehicle based on a distance between the determined entering moving body and the second area,
wherein the predetermined inter-vehicle distance corresponds to the longitudinal length of the second area, and
wherein the controller accelerates, when the distance between the determined entering moving body and the second area is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, the vehicle such that the inter-vehicle distance becomes a first inter-vehicle distance which is smaller than the predetermined inter-vehicle distance.