US 12,391,285 B2
Vehicle control device, storage medium storing computer program for vehicle control, and method for controlling vehicle
Kunio Goto, Tokyo-to (JP); Ryusuke Kuroda, Tokyo-to (JP); and Takuya Fujiki, Tokyo-to (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP); and DENSO CORPORATION, Kariya (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP); and DENSO CORPORATION, Kariya (JP)
Filed on Aug. 11, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/448,379.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-134081 (JP), filed on Aug. 25, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0067227 A1, Feb. 29, 2024
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 40/04 (2006.01)
CPC B60W 60/0051 (2020.02) [B60W 40/04 (2013.01); B60W 2520/10 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle control device comprising:
a processor configured to
calculate an average speed of a vehicle traveling in a traffic lane and another vehicle in a predetermined range from the vehicle, for each of multiple traffic lanes of a traveling road on which the vehicle is traveling, as a traffic lane average speed,
determine whether the traffic lanes are congested based on the traffic lane average speed for each of the multiple traffic lanes of the traveling road and estimate whether the traveling road as a whole is congested based on a proportion of traffic lanes of the traveling road that are congested, and
control the vehicle by automatic control when the traveling road as a whole is congested;
and wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that the traveling road as a whole is congested when the proportion of congested lanes in the traveling road is equal to or above a predetermined reference proportion, and
change the predetermined reference proportion based on the average speed of the vehicle.