WO2020249535A1

WO2020249535A1 - Vehicle travel control method, vehicle travel control device and computer program product

Info

Publication number: WO2020249535A1
Application number: PCT/EP2020/065903
Authority: WO
Inventors: Heiko Altmannshofer; Junya Takahashi
Original assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
Priority date: 2019-06-12
Filing date: 2020-06-09
Publication date: 2020-12-17
Also published as: DE102019208525A1

Abstract

The present invention relates in particular to a vehicle travel control method and a vehicle travel control device as well as to a computer program product, which increase the safety and comfort of automated or computer-based vehicle driving.

Description

Vehicle travel control method, vehicle travel control device

and computer program product

The present subject matter relates in particular to a travel control method, a travel control device, a host vehicle that includes the travel control device, and a computer program product that is designed to carry out the travel control method. In particular, a technical advantage is that the control enables the automated or computer-aided driving of a carrier vehicle, in particular during cornering scenarios, with increased safety and with increased driving comfort.

WO 2015/181611 A2 describes a driving assistance device for a carrier vehicle that estimates the position of a moving body that is traveling parallel to the carrier vehicle. According to this prior art, it is assumed that the host vehicle has a blind spot area defined in advance on a side portion thereof.

EP 2 853 458 A1 describes a method and a device that uses a modified G-Vectoring Control (GVC), as described by EP 1992 537 A2, which is called "Preview G-Vectoring Control" (PGVC) create. The PGVC enables control of a longitudinal acceleration, the longitudinal direction being arranged along a moving direction of the host vehicle, based on information on a lateral acceleration (the lateral direction being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction) and a lateral jolt of the vehicle. The carrier vehicle can adapt to the driving behavior of a vehicle in front by using the PGVC, among other things.

However, the prior art does not describe a vehicle control method for a driver assistance system or for a system for autonomous driving, the constant dynamic speed and distance control (ACC) and / or the PGVC provides support if the detected other object such as a vehicle in front has moved out of the field of view (FOV) of the object detection sensors of the host vehicle, in particular during a cornering scenario. WO 2015/181611 A2 does not use a PGVC and only estimates the position of a detected object within a firmly defined area of the dead angle on the side of the carrier vehicle. EP 2 853 458 A1 does not take into account a scenario in which the detected other object such as a vehicle traveling ahead moves out of the FOV of the carrier vehicle.

The subject matter described and claimed here deals with the technical problem of creating at least one control method and one driving control device for a carrier vehicle that further increase the comfort and safety of automated driving or computer-aided driving. This technical problem is solved by the appended claims.

According to the subject matter set out in the appended claims, a vehicle (driving) control method, a vehicle driving control device [or an automated driving device or an (advanced) driving assistance device], a vehicle using an automated driving control device, and a computer program product are proposed.

According to a first aspect, a vehicle travel control method is described that can adopt / imitate / imitate the driveability of another vehicle; that is, the control achieves that a host vehicle behaves in accordance with another vehicle. In other words, the driving behavior is imitated. The driving behavior can contain one or more driving properties such as speed and lateral and / or longitudinal deceleration / lateral and / or longitudinal acceleration. The assumption of the driving behavior can optionally be carried out under predefined conditions, e.g. B. cannot start / stop the driving behavior assumption if the other vehicle is at a distance from the host vehicle that is greater than a predefined value, is traveling at a lower or higher speed than a predefined value, and the like. The controller may include checking for the presence of another vehicle in the vicinity of the host vehicle by at least one sensor of the host vehicle. The gauge of the carrier vehicle may include a single sensor, a detection unit or plurality of detection ^units', which may scan the environment of the host vehicle, such as lidar, radar, IR Senso reindeer, a unit of electromagnetic waves and so forth. If another vehicle is detected, the vehicle control method can automatically, preferably if the control method is activated, assume a driving behavior of the detected other vehicle, so that the carrier vehicle imitates the driving behavior (the assumption optionally only starts if more in advance defined conditions for the beginning of the assumption of driving behavior are met). This procedure can be carried out repeatedly so that the host vehicle can assume the respective actual driving behavior of the other vehicle detected. If it is recognized during the repeated checking that the other vehicle has been lost, ie is no longer detectable by the at least one sensor of the host vehicle, a position of the previously detected and now lost other vehicle can be based on the last known driving behavior of the other known vehicle to be determined. The last known driving behavior can contain the last known speed, the last known position of the other vehicle, the last known lateral acceleration and so on. The term "known" should preferably mean here that the driving behavior of the detected vehicle is not only repeatedly detected, but also in a memory of a control device that is built into the host vehicle or at a remote location such as a server to which the Data are transmitted wirelessly from the carrier vehicle, is backed up / buffered repeatedly.

If the other vehicle can be tracked, although it has moved out of the field of view (FOV) of the carrier vehicle or its sensor or sensors ("virtual tracking"), the safety and comfort of the driver of the carrier vehicle are increased , since the other vehicle z. B. not suddenly, just because of a specific driving scenario, can disappear from the sensor detection. For example, a human driver can still see the other vehicle if it is driving ahead on a winding road. However, the sensors with a fixed FOV may lose the signal to the other vehicle when entering a sharp turn or the like.

Even more preferably, the driving behavior of the other vehicle can be assumed / imitated / imitated continuously, even if the other vehicle is no longer detectable. Since the assumption of the driving behavior of the other vehicle is not interrupted, since the vehicle is out of "sight" for the sensor or sensors, this has even greater advantages with regard to driving safety and driving comfort. The assumption can be continued on the basis of the virtual tracking of the position of the other vehicle.

It is assumed that the other vehicle of the control method described here is preferably a preceding vehicle which travels in the same longitudinal direction as the carrier vehicle in front of the carrier vehicle. “The same direction” here preferably means that the other vehicle is heading in the same direction on the same road as the carrier vehicle. The preferred driving scenario for the control method is a road with curves, in particular a cornering scenario.

Although the host vehicle can be controlled to automatically drive on a road or to assist the driver through many other control processes, the host vehicle can preferably and most preferably during a cornering scenario in which the host vehicle is on a winding / winding road Road travels can be controlled by determining a longitudinal acceleration target value based on a lateral acceleration and one or more setting parameters and by controlling a longitudinal acceleration of the host vehicle based on the calculated longitudinal acceleration target value. If the host vehicle is turning during a cornering scenario, the host vehicle can be used without discomfort for drive the driver. With the setting parameters, the driver can also specify the level of acceleration forces that he would like to experience. It is preferably assumed in the above control that the host vehicle does not adopt the driving behavior of another vehicle, e.g. B. because there is no vehicle within the FOV or the initial conditions for acceptance are not met. In other words, the above controller can control the host vehicle during the automated driving without detecting another vehicle.

Again, the host vehicle can preferably be controlled in that a driving behavior of the other vehicle is estimated or determined and that the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value are set if the driving behavior of the other vehicle is assumed wherein the lateral acceleration applied to the other vehicle is estimated from the map information based on the determined speed of the other vehicle and the cornering information on the road. The one or more setting parameters can preferably be based on the estimated or predicted driving behavior of the other vehicle. More preferably, the estimation or determination of the driving behavior of the other vehicle comprises the estimation or determination of a lateral acceleration that acts on the other vehicle during cornering, the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value preferably based on the estimated or certain lateral acceleration that acts on the other vehicle while cornering can be set.

In other words, there is a method for carrying out a driving assistance / automated driving for a carrier vehicle moving in a longitudinal direction on a road, proposed, inter alia and preferably determining a longitudinal acceleration target value based on a (certain and / or predicted / estimated) Lateral acceleration of the host vehicle and one or more setting parameters and the control of a longitudinal acceleration of the host vehicle on the basis of the calculated longitudinal acceleration target value comprises. Furthermore, it comprises the estimation or determination of a driving property (of driving properties or a driving behavior) of a vehicle traveling ahead that is located in the longitudinal direction moves along the road in front of the host vehicle, and preferably setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated or determined driving property (s) of the vehicle in front during cornering.

Preferably, a driving behavior of the vehicle ahead based on information received from the vehicle ahead and / or from a data center that has information about the vehicle ahead, using a communication protocol between the host vehicle and the vehicle ahead and / or received, determined or estimated at the data center. Preferably, a driving behavior of the vehicle traveling ahead is estimated or determined on the basis of information that is detected by sensors from the host vehicle, and a driving behavior of the vehicle traveling in front is based on the longitudinal acceleration and / or the lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle traveling ahead , estimated or determined, and / or a driving behavior of the preceding vehicle on the base ^¬ location of a predicted longitudinal acceleration and / or transverse acceleration acting on the vehicle ahead is estimated.

It is noted that the information about a driving behavior of the vehicle ahead (which can indicate a speed, a position, a lateral acceleration and / or a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle ahead) can be obtained between a data center and the host vehicle, the data sensor receives the data from the vehicle in front or from other external vehicle sensors. Additionally or alternatively, information about the driving behavior of Sensor data, e.g. B. from sensors of the carrier vehicle that can detect a Relativgeschwin speed and relative position between the carrier vehicle and the vehicle ahead, can be obtained. Thereafter, the speed, the position and the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle in front can be determined on the basis of the speed and / or the position of the carrier vehicle and the relative speed and / or the relative position between the carrier vehicle and the vehicle in front. The lateral acceleration of the preceding vehicle can be estimated based on the estimated speed and position of the preceding vehicle and based on curvature information indicating a curvature of a road at the position of the preceding vehicle. The curvature information and the like can be obtained from egg ner data center, the map information for the host vehicle, including z. B. curvature information can provide. The curvature information can contain the curvature of the road at a specific point, a course of the curvature of the entire curve and / or a derivation of the curvature in relation to the path, ie the x and / or y axis. Furthermore, an on-board system can contain of the host vehicle such as a navigation device or the like also provide map information.

[0017] In addition to or as a representation of the step of estimating / determining the driving behavior of the vehicle traveling ahead, the method can include estimating (for example, predicting) or determining a lateral acceleration that occurs during cornering on a vehicle traveling ahead that moves, acts or will act in the longitudinal direction on the road in front of the host vehicle, and the setting of the one or more setting parameters for the calculation of the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front during cornering or will work.

For example, controlling the longitudinal acceleration without any knowledge of the preceding vehicle can disadvantageously lead to a situation in which the distance to the preceding vehicle during cornering can decrease below a threshold. The driver of the carrier vehicle may then have to actively use a brake in addition to the longitudinal acceleration control operation in order to avoid a further reduction in the distance to the vehicle in front, or a dynamic speed and distance control (ACC) can be activated to to reduce the speed of the host vehicle in order to avoid a further reduction in the distance to the vehicle in front, as a result of which the driving convenience / comfort for the driver of the host vehicle can be reduced.

However, because the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value are set on the basis of the estimated transverse acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front while cornering, the longitudinal acceleration control can be set to an estimated one Lateral acceleration based on the vehicle ahead. In particular, it helps that the setting parameters are advantageously set in such a way that the longitudinal acceleration control is adapted on the basis of the transverse acceleration of the host vehicle to the estimated transverse acceleration of the vehicle traveling ahead, to avoid the distance to the vehicle traveling ahead being reduced too much that there is no need for the driver to actively decelerate using the brake, or that there is no need for the dynamic cruise control to be able to activate.

Preferably, the method of assuming the driving control can include determining a speed of the preceding vehicle, wherein the lateral acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is preferably estimated on the basis of the determined speed of the preceding vehicle and curvature information. This has the advantage that the transverse acceleration acting on the vehicle ahead is based on curvature information such as a curvature of the road in front of the host vehicle, as it is e.g. B. from map data (z. B. Navigation map data) can be derived reliably and accurately can be. Preferably, the method can further include determining a position of the preceding vehicle based on map data and determining a curvature of the road at the position of the preceding vehicle based on map data, wherein the lateral acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is preferably based on the certain speed of the preceding vehicle and the certain curvature of the road at the position of the preceding vehicle is estimated.

In accordance with the above, it is preferable that the position of the preceding vehicle is determined based on positional data received from the preceding vehicle; and / or the method can further comprise determining a position of the host vehicle and determining a distance from the host vehicle to the vehicle driving in front (e.g. by means of a sensor such as radar, sonar or light reflection, etc.), the position of the preceding vehicle is preferably determined on the basis of the position of the host vehicle and the determined distance to the preceding vehicle.

Furthermore, the step of determining the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of a lateral acceleration of the host vehicle and one or more setting parameters is preferably carried out in one of several adjustment modes, the one or more adjustment parameters in each of the several adjustment modes preferably in the manner can be set differently so that an average lateral acceleration and / or a maximum lateral acceleration acting on the host vehicle during cornering are different for each of the plurality of setting modes if they are controlled on the basis of the longitudinal acceleration control. Accordingly, possibly according to the preferences of the driver, adjustment modes can be provided which provide less longitudinal deceleration than other adjustment modes during cornering (when entering the corner) and / or provide higher positive acceleration than other adjustment modes when exiting the corner. Furthermore, it is preferred in the above that the plurality of setting modes comprise at least a first setting mode and a second setting mode, an average lateral acceleration and / or a maximum lateral acceleration acting on the carrier vehicle during cornering in the second setting mode are greater than in the first setting mode, wherein the step of setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated transverse acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front during cornering, preferably selecting the first Operating mode if an absolute value of the estimated transverse acceleration acting on the vehicle in front is less than a threshold value, and / or selecting the second adjustment mode if the absolute value of the estimated transverse acceleration acting on the vehicle driving ahead acts that is greater than the threshold value.

Accordingly, the first setting mode is still actually selected for the longitudinal acceleration control, even if a driver of the host vehicle may have selected the second setting mode as a standard setting in advance according to the driver's preferences, when it is determined that the estimated lateral acceleration that occurs during the Cornering acts on the vehicle in front, can be smaller than the threshold value, which leads to a lower average lateral acceleration and / or to a maximum lateral acceleration that acts on the host vehicle during cornering, so that compared to the control behavior specified in advance it is efficiently and advantageously avoided that the distance to the vehicle in front is reduced too much during cornering.

Further, the method may include a step of determining which setting mode has been set in advance as a standard setting according to the preferences of the driver, that is, whether the driver is the first or the second setting mode (or another setting mode) in advance selected. Preferably, the above selection of a setting mode can be further carried out depending on the setting mode set in advance. For example, the second adjustment mode is preferably not selected even if the absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle in front is greater than the threshold value when the user is in the first adjustment mode (or another adjustment mode in which the average lateral acceleration and / or the maximum transverse acceleration which acts on the host vehicle during cornering is still lower than in the first setting mode) in advance. Instead, it is preferable to maintain the setting mode set in advance. The second setting mode (or an even higher setting mode) is preferably only selected if the absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle in front is greater than the threshold value when the user is using the second setting mode (or another higher setting mode, in which the average transverse acceleration and / or the maximum transverse acceleration that acts on the carrier vehicle during the curve travel is even higher than in the second setting mode) has been set in advance.

More precisely, it is more preferable in the above that the plurality of Einei Ibetriebsarten include at least a first setting mode and a second setting mode, wherein an average lateral acceleration and / or a maximum lateral acceleration acting on the host vehicle during cornering, in the second setting mode are higher than in the first setting mode, wherein the step of setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle in front during cornering, preferably selecting the first setting mode, if an absolute value of the estimated Querbe ^¬ acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is greater than a threshold value (although the driver may have selected the second setting mode in advance), mode of operation selecting the first setting, f all the abso- The absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle in front is greater than the threshold value, but the user has selected the first setting mode in advance, and / or selecting the second setting mode, if the absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration that affects the preceding vehicle acts is greater than the threshold value and the user has set the second setting mode in advance, includes.

In all of the above aspects, the position of the preceding vehicle can be determined based on position data received from the preceding vehicle and / or the speed of the preceding vehicle can be determined based on speed data received from the preceding vehicle be determined. The lateral and / or the longitudinal acceleration acting on the vehicle traveling ahead can also be determined on the basis of sensor data received from the vehicle traveling ahead. Alternatively or additionally, the position of the vehicle in front can be based on a relative position of the vehicle in front, which is detected by sensors of the host vehicle (e.g. on the basis of the detected direction and / or the distance to the vehicle in front), can be determined and / or the speed of the vehicle traveling ahead can be determined on the basis of a relative speed to the host vehicle on the basis of sensor data such as for example camera, sonar, lidar and / or radar. In addition or in addition, the data can be exchanged via wireless transmission.

[0028] Furthermore, the one or more setting parameters can comprise at least one gain factor for controlling the negative longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, an absolute value of the target longitudinal acceleration value increasing with increasing gain and decreasing with decreasing gain. The step of setting the one or more setting parameters for the calculation of the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated transverse acceleration applied to the vehicle in front during cornering preferably comprises the setting of the at least one gain factor for controlling the negative longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle on the basis of a function of the estimated transverse acceleration which acts on the vehicle in front during cornering. Preferably, the at least one gain factor for controlling the negative longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle as a function of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front while cornering decreases with an increasing absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front while cornering.

Accordingly, the at least one gain factor during the control of the negative longitudinal acceleration (the deceleration control) of the host vehicle (e.g. when entering a curve) on the basis of the function of the absolute value of the estimated transverse acceleration of the preceding vehicle, which increases with increasing Absolute value of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front decreases, determined.

That is, when it is determined that the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is lower, thereby indicating a lower cornering speed of the preceding vehicle, the at least one gain is set as a higher value, which results in leads to a greater longitudinal deceleration of the host vehicle, and if it is determined that the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is higher, which thereby indicates a higher cornering speed of the preceding vehicle, the at least one gain factor is set as a lower value, which leads to a less pronounced longitudinal deceleration of the carrier vehicle.

Accordingly, it is efficiently, reliably and expediently possible to carry out the longitudinal acceleration control in such a way that the distance from the vehicle in front does not decrease slightly below a safety distance at which either the driver must be able to actively decelerate or in which an additionally provided dynamic speed and distance control may be necessary in order to decelerate the vehicle at the expense of the driver's convenience and driving comfort.

Furthermore, the one or more setting parameters can include at least one gain factor for controlling the positive longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, an absolute value of the target longitudinal acceleration value increasing with increasing gain and decreasing with decreasing gain. The step of setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated transverse acceleration which acts on the vehicle in front during cornering preferably includes setting the at least one gain factor for controlling the positive longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle on the basis of a function of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front during cornering, the at least one gain factor for controlling the positive longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle as a function of the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front during cornering , with increasing absolute value of the estimated transverse acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front while cornering.

Accordingly, the at least one gain factor is determined during the positive longitudinal acceleration control (positive acceleration control) of the host vehicle (e.g. when exiting a curve) on the basis of the function of the absolute value of the estimated transverse acceleration of the preceding vehicle, which increases with the absolute value the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle in front increases.

That is, when it is determined that the estimated lateral acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is lower, thereby indicating a lower cornering speed of the preceding vehicle, the at least one gain factor is set as a lower value, which thereby leads to a less strong positive longitudinal acceleration of the host vehicle, and if it is determined that the estimated transverse acceleration acting on the preceding vehicle is higher, which results in a higher cornering speed of the preceding vehicle Specifies vehicle, the at least one gain factor is set as a higher value, which thereby leads to a stronger positive longitudinal acceleration of the host vehicle.

Accordingly, it is efficiently, reliably and expediently possible to carry out the longitudinal acceleration in such a way that the distance to the vehicle in front does not decrease slightly below a safety distance at which either the driver must be able to actively decelerate or an additionally provided dynamic speed limit. and adaptive cruise control may be necessary to decelerate the vehicle at the expense of the driver's convenience and comfort.

Furthermore, determining the longitudinal acceleration target value can include determining a different (second) longitudinal acceleration target value which is calculated on the basis of a specific longitudinal acceleration and a corresponding lateral jerk of the vehicle during cornering.

Furthermore, as an alternative or in addition to the above, determining the longitudinal acceleration target value may comprise determining another (third) longitudinal acceleration target value that is calculated on the basis of an estimated lateral acceleration of the vehicle at a preview point, which is preferably in a predetermined preview distance in front of the host vehicle or at a preview distance which is preferably calculated on the basis of a predetermined preview time and the current speed of the vehicle, the estimated transverse acceleration at a preview point preferably based on an estimate the curvature of the road at the preview point and the current speed of the host vehicle is calculated. The target longitudinal acceleration value may be determined based on the second target longitudinal acceleration value and the third target longitudinal acceleration value.

In addition, the control method can use at least one known (which preferably means last buffered) value / parameter of the preceding vehicle for "virtual tracking" of the preceding vehicle, if the preceding vehicle by the sensor or sensors of the carrier vehicle or because of a communication interruption a data server is no longer detectable, which forms a specifically preferred aspect of the claimed subject matter. This can preferably be done on the basis of equation (3) described below, which provides a relationship between a longitudinal acceleration and a speed of the preceding vehicle and a curvature of the road.

The last known parameter can be the last known longitudinal acceleration value of the preceding vehicle before the other vehicle has moved out of a field of view of the at least one sensor of the carrier vehicle or has been lost for the sensor or sensors. The last known value can be used to (continuously) extrapolate the position of the other vehicle out of view and its actual driving behavior. Instead of or in addition to the last known longitudinal acceleration, it can also be a last known speed and / or a last known position of the other vehicle. Furthermore, it can be assumed for the virtual tracking that the setting parameters that were previously determined do not change while the vehicle in front is outside the FOV. In addition, it can be assumed that the vehicle in front, while driving through a curve, cannot increase its speed above a last measured speed before entering the curve. Preferably, the above extrapolation can be carried out as follows: determining an extrapolated speed of the other vehicle on the basis of the last known longitudinal acceleration of the other vehicle and on the basis of a time difference between the determination of the last known longitudinal acceleration and the actual determination, determining one extrapolated distance of the other vehicle to the host vehicle on the basis of the extrapolated speed and the time difference, determining an extrapolated position of the other vehicle on the basis of the extrapolated distance and from map information and determining an extrapolated longitudinal acceleration at least on the basis of curvature information about the extrapolated position the card information. Furthermore, the last known position and the last known speed can alternatively or additionally be used in order to determine an extrapolated transverse acceleration, on the basis of which an extrapolated position can be estimated. Furthermore, the last known setting parameter values can additionally be used for the extrapolation and for the assumption of the driving behavior of the other vehicle while it is outside the field of view.

With the above extrapolated control, the other vehicle can be tracked "virtually" and its driving behavior can be imitated on the basis of the further control described above, without the need for the vehicle ahead, once it has been detected, to be constantly in view is. The above extrapolation options can be repeated as long as the other vehicle is out of view, with the extrapolated values being replaced with newly extrapolated values during each iteration / extrapolation loop.

The extrapolation may assume that the other vehicle is a preceding vehicle that continues to travel on the same road on which it was traveling while it was present within the field of view after it has moved out of the field of view. Furthermore, the above extrapolation can assume that the setting parameters are constant / unchanged compared to the last known setting parameter values during the time when the other vehicle is outside the field of view / during the extrapolation.

A field of view of the at least one sensor is preferably referenced to map information, so that the field of view can be determined on the basis of geometric coordinates (which should preferably contain geographic coordinates), the other vehicle being able to be determined as "no longer" detectable if it is outside the range of the geometric coordinates referential to the field of view of the at least one sensor of the host vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, a field of view of the at least one sensor can be determined on the basis of geometric calculations based on different road curvature values and it is determined that the other vehicle is "no longer" detectable "if it is outside the field of view calculated on the basis of different road value curvatures is.

The determination of the field of view in relation to the road on which the host vehicle and the other vehicle are traveling enables the position of the other vehicle to be estimated precisely at the moment when it begins to become undetectable. This is another preferred option to avoid having to buffer the position of the other vehicle (using buffered information about the position of the other vehicle).

If the last position within the field of view can be estimated on the basis of the determination of the field of vision or its boundaries in relation to the road, the last position does not need to be provided from a memory, but can be estimated / calculated. If the position of the other vehicle is otherwise repeatedly buffered together with other information such as the speed, parameter settings and / or the lateral acceleration, the field of view does not need to be calculated and the step of determining whether the other vehicle is within the field of view or outside can be used by checking whether the other vehicle has was detected and then not replaced. Both options offer safe and reliable ways to begin virtual tracking of the other vehicle.

Preferably, some or all of the control steps of the method described above can be repeated or carried out in one or more loops and sub-loops and / or in a different order of the steps.

Preferably, stop conditions can be implemented for the virtual tracking, the controller z. B. can be stopped if the other vehicle is undetectable for a predefined period of time or longer. In addition, if the map information indicates that the road ahead has many different driving options such as intersections, the control can be stopped. Since the "virtual tracking" can be stopped automatically if it can begin to be imprecise, this increases the security of the above method / aspect even further.

Further, a device (such as a control unit or a control system that is integrated or mountable in a vehicle) for performing driver assistance / automated driving of a host vehicle moving in a longitudinal direction on a road is according to any one as above Moved in one of the preceding claims, proposed method, wherein they propose a longitudinal acceleration target value determining means for determining a longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of a lateral acceleration of the host vehicle and one or more setting parameters and a longitudinal acceleration control means for controlling a longitudinal acceleration of the Includes host vehicle based on the calculated target longitudinal acceleration value.

Furthermore, the device may have driving characteristics determining means for estimating or determining driving characteristics of a preceding vehicle that is located in the longitudinal direction on the road ahead of the host vehicle and setting means for setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value on the basis of the estimated or predicted driving characteristics of the preceding vehicle.

In other words, an apparatus (such as a control unit or a control system that is integrated or mountable in a vehicle) can be provided for carrying out the method as described in any of the above aspects / features . The device may include a longitudinal acceleration target value determining means for determining a longitudinal acceleration target value based on a lateral acceleration of the host vehicle and one or more setting parameters and a longitudinal acceleration control means for controlling a longitudinal acceleration of the host vehicle based on the calculated longitudinal acceleration target value include. In addition, the device can further include a lateral acceleration estimating means for estimating a lateral acceleration which acts on a preceding vehicle during cornering that is moving in the longitudinal direction on the road in front of the host vehicle, and a setting means for setting the one or more setting parameters for calculating the target longitudinal acceleration value based on the estimated lateral acceleration that acts on the vehicle in front while cornering.

[0050] Further, a program product is proposed, comprising a computer ^¬ program means for causing a vehicle control device performs the steps of any one of the above aspects / characteristics Ver ^¬ described proceedings.

In the above, the term "acceleration" may refer to a derivative of a speed (or a speed vector) with respect to time, and the term jerk refers to a derivative of the acceleration with respect to time or to a second derivative of the speed (or the speed vector) according to the time. Unless otherwise stated, the term "acceleration" may be used in the present disclosure is used, usually contain both a positive acceleration (ie increasing speed) and a negative acceleration (ie deceleration or decreasing speed).

A lateral direction of the vehicle can also be referred to as a direction of the pitch axis of the vehicle, and a longitudinal direction of the vehicle can be referred to as a direction of the roll axis of the vehicle. In addition, although the velocity vector, the acceleration and the jerk are generally vector quantities, terms such as lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration and lateral jerk are usually referred to as scalar quantities. In a Cartesian coordinate system of the vehicle with yaw, pitch and roll axes as the main axes of the coordinate system, a transverse acceleration relates to the pitch axis coordinate of the acceleration vector and a longitudinal acceleration relates to the roll axis coordinate of the acceleration vector. Similarly, a lateral jerk relates to the pitch axis coordinate of the jerk vector.

[0053] Although preference, the longitudinal acceleration in the running control ^¬, between positive acceleration (acceleration of the vehicle in the sense of increasing the speed) and negative acceleration differ (delay) of the vehicle in the sense of reducing the speed and / or braking must need the Lateral acceleration is not necessary to differentiate between positive transverse acceleration (ie acceleration to the left / right) and negative transverse acceleration (acceleration to the right / left), since the drive control for driving a left turn and a right turn should preferably be carried out similarly.

Thus, a transverse acceleration can preferably relate similarly to the absolute value of the pitch axis coordinate of the acceleration vector, although a transverse jolt can then preferably relate to the derivation of the absolute value of the transverse acceleration with respect to time. On the other hand A lateral jolt must again distinguish between positive jerk (ie increase in lateral acceleration) and negative jerk (ie reduction in lateral acceleration).

In summary, the reliability of a travel control method and a travel control device of a vehicle such as a passenger car, a truck, a motorcycle and the like are increased, and particularly, the driving safety and comfort can be improved.

In the following, the claimed subject matter is further explained on the basis of at least one preferred example and with reference to the accompanying exemplary drawings, wherein:

1 shows an exemplary time diagram of the speed of a host vehicle and a vehicle traveling ahead, the distance from the vehicle traveling ahead, the longitudinal acceleration (Gx) and the lateral acceleration (Gy) during cornering with a vehicle traveling ahead. Gx is controlled by a PGVC and ACC system.

2 shows, by way of example, a relationship between transverse acceleration Gy, transverse jerk G _Y and a longitudinal acceleration target value Gxt_GVC determined in accordance with the GVC.

3 shows a g-g diagram by way of example.

[0060] FIG. 4 exemplifies a longitudinal acceleration model on the basis of a general look-ahead concept for a Preview G-Vectoring Con trol ^¬ (PGVC) represents.

FIG. 5 shows, by way of example, an illustration of the acceleration control by the PGVC. 6 shows an exemplary illustration of acceleration control by the PGVC.

[0063] FIG. 7 shows, by way of example, an illustration of a two-cornering route arrangement.

8 shows, by way of example, a comparison of the longitudinal acceleration caused by an experienced driver and a calculation result of the PGVC command (Gxt_PGVC).

9 shows an example of a representation of the lateral and longitudinal acceleration with several PGVC setting modes.

FIG. 10 shows exemplary g-g diagrams of the setting modes of FIG. 9.

11 shows, by way of example, a schematic block diagram of a controller system for the PGVC.

FIG. 12 shows, by way of example, a schematic block diagram of a controller system for an advanced PGVC.

Fig. 13 shows, by way of example, a relationship between PGVC settings in multiple setting modes as a function of the absolute value of GyestPV.

14 shows, by way of example, a relationship between PGVC gain factors and the absolute value of GyestPV for the deceleration control (14A) and for the acceleration control (14B).

15 shows an exemplary time diagram of the speed of the host vehicle and the vehicle traveling ahead, the distance from the vehicle traveling ahead, the longitudinal acceleration (G _x ) and the lateral acceleration (G _y ) while turning a curve with a vehicle ahead. G _x is controlled by the advanced PGVC and ACC system.

16 shows, by way of example, a control system arrangement for controlling the longitudinal acceleration by ACC combined with PGVC.

17 shows, by way of example, a sharp curve that a vehicle traveling ahead takes so that it moves outside the FOV of the host vehicle.

18a, b show, by way of example, a possible option for calculating an FOV area / blind spot from sensors of a carrier vehicle.

19 and 20 show an example of a procedure for virtual tracking.

FIG. 21 shows, by way of example, a schematic block diagram of a controller system for an advanced PGVC that contains the virtual tracking.

In the following and with reference to the accompanying figures, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described. The described features and aspects of the embodiments can be changed or combined in order to form further embodiments of the present invention.

The longitudinal acceleration control for driving a curve or for cornering scenarios (Preview G-Vectoring Control: PGVC) is a driver assistance system to the pedal work of a driver, z. B. when driving on a winding road to reduce. The PGVC can automatically decelerate / accelerate the vehicle depending on the shape of the route / route. Furthermore, the ACC can be used for decelerating / accelerating in order to establish a distance to another vehicle that is driving ahead of the host vehicle. maintain. It is possible to combine the PGVC and the ACC, but this can result in independent longitudinal acceleration controls that can discontinuously change the longitudinal acceleration, which would be a source of discomfort for a driver of the host vehicle. It is known, discontinuous changes in the longitudinal control, that the PGVC can receive an input from an object detection device (vehicle surroundings recognition unit, sensors)) of the host vehicle and the longitudinal acceleration control for cornering based on information about the vehicle in front such as the distance and / or the speed change can avoid. PGVC parameters are set to decelerate / accelerate the carrier vehicle for cornering as the vehicle in front does. For example, the host vehicle is also turning slowly if the preceding vehicle is turning slowly in order to reduce the lateral acceleration during cornering, even if the driver may have selected a cornering setting with high acceleration if the PGVC function has different settings such as allows sporty driving, cornering with high acceleration, comfort driving or the like. As a result, the host vehicle maintains the distance from the preceding vehicle while cornering and deceleration control by the ACC to maintain a gap with the preceding vehicle would not be activated; while the longitudinal acceleration is jerk-free during cornering.

Fig. 1 shows an example of the speed V of the carrier vehicle (solid line) and the speed of a vehicle ahead (dash-dotted line), the distance from the vehicle ahead (dash-dot line) and the target distance (dotted line), the longitudinal acceleration (Gx) and the lateral acceleration (Gy) while driving in a curve with a vehicle in front. The carrier vehicle is the vehicle to be controlled, which is also referred to below as the controlled vehicle. The longitudinal acceleration Gx of the host vehicle is controlled, as is known, by a PGVC and ACC system. While driving on a straight road (Fig. 1, Section A), the carrier vehicle detects the vehicle in front, the distance between the carrier vehicle and the vehicle in front being due to the difference in speed (in this example the carrier vehicle is faster than the vehicle in front ) decreases. However, the actual distance is still sufficiently larger than the target distance and the ACC does not decelerate the carrier vehicle. After the vehicle in front begins to take a curve, the sensors of the carrier vehicle lose the vehicle in front (FIG. 1, section B). In accordance with a comparative example without "virtual tracking" (the virtual tracking is further described below, including FIG. 19), the PGVC would be delayed during this period (section B), the carrier vehicle z. B. would receive the curvature information of the route (Fig. 1, section C). At the end of the cornering, the carrier vehicle would again detect the vehicle driving ahead and it would be detected that the actual distance is less than a target distance (FIG. 1, section D). The ACC would thus suddenly begin to decelerate the vehicle (FIG. 1, section E), which would at least lead to discomfort for the driver of the host vehicle. In FIG. 1 discussed above, the host vehicle may have lost the preceding vehicle due to the limitation in obstacle detection device / sensor performance or the like. If the host vehicle continues to detect the vehicle ahead, however, the known ACC would have decelerated the vehicle on the basis of the distance between the host vehicle and the vehicle ahead while cornering. This deceleration would be controlled independently of a longitudinal acceleration control for cornering, with a longitudinal acceleration not changing without jerks during cornering.

A previously known longitudinal acceleration control for cornering is first described below. To extend the function of ACC to use while driving on winding roads, an additional longitudinal acceleration control algorithm according to the GVC or PGVC using curvature information is proposed as an example. Since the longitudinal acceleration control is based on a transverse movement, the longitudinal acceleration called "G-Vectoring Control" (GVC) is available using the transverse jolt. As a basic equation, equation (1), which defines the GVC, the following equation can be used:

G xt_GVC sgn (

where Gxt_GVC is the longitudinal acceleration command (longitudinal acceleration target value), Cxy is a gain factor and Gy is the transverse acceleration of the carrier vehicle and Gy is the transverse jerk of the carrier vehicle, which is derived as a time derivative of the transverse acceleration of the carrier vehicle. Equation (1) is a basic equation for controlling the longitudinal acceleration in coordinates with lateral movement; in other words, the control rule follows that Gxt_GVC is determined by the product of Cxy and Gy with a time delay of the first order (Ts). According to the results of the vehicle tests, it was confirmed that Equation (1) can mimic / adopt / mimic part of the coordinate control strategy of an expert driver.

More precisely, on the basis of a sensor input by a sensor A or by a sensor system that is configured to transmit a regularly or periodically determined or even continuously monitored lateral acceleration Gy in the pitch axis direction of the host vehicle to a control unit (a controller) enter directly or indirectly provide sensor information, on the basis of which the lateral acceleration Gy can be estimated, a longitudinal acceleration control target value Gxt_GVC is determined and output to one or more actuators B for the vehicle acceleration / vehicle deceleration according to the longitudinal acceleration control target value Gxt_GVC output by the control unit. The sensor A or the sensor system can be acceleration-sensitive sensors such as e.g. B. include movement sensors, accelerometers and / or yaw rate, pitch rate and / o the roll rate sensitive gyro sensors. In addition or alternatively, the sensor A can be a steering wheel (or a drive wheel) angle sensor, the is sensitive to a steering wheel angle (or drive wheel angle), and a lateral acceleration can be calculated based on the vehicle speed and the determined steering wheel angle (or drive wheel angle) and / or it can be calculated based on the pitch, roll and pitch determined by the gyro sensor / or yaw rate can be estimated. On the basis of the input lateral acceleration Gy, a derivative of the lateral acceleration Gy with respect to time is derived or calculated, which is referred to as lateral jerk Gy, and based on the lateral acceleration Gy and lateral jerk Gy, the target longitudinal acceleration control value Gxt_GVC according to the above equation ) is calculated.

Cxy and T are auxiliary control / setting parameters that can be defined in advance and stored in a storage unit of the control unit 1. Cxy is referred to as a "gain factor" (a dimensionless parameter), and the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC is directly proportional to the gain factor Cxy and to the absolute value of the lateral jerk Gy. The longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC increases as the gain Cxy increases and decreases as the gain Cxy decreases. Another control factor such as T referred to as a "time constant" or a "time factor" (a dimensionless parameter) may be included. The longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC here increases with a reduced time factor T and decreases with an increased time factor T. According to the above equation (1), the sign of the target longitudinal acceleration control value Gxt_GVC is opposite to the sign of the product of the lateral acceleration Gy and the lateral jerk Gy.

The transverse acceleration Gy can differentiate between left and right transverse acceleration in that it is negative for the left-hand (or right-hand) transverse acceleration and is accordingly positive for the right-hand (or left-hand) transverse acceleration. On the other hand, the transverse acceleration Gy can also relate to an absolute value of the transverse acceleration, in which case the transverse jerk Gy then, however, must relate to the derivation of the absolute value of the transverse acceleration over time. Fig. 2 exemplarily shows a relationship between the lateral acceleration Gy, the lateral jerk Gy and the longitudinal acceleration Gx, which is controlled on the basis of the lateral acceleration Gy and the jerk Gy as a function of time, when the longitudinal acceleration Gx according to the is controlled as above-described longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC. 2 shows an example of the relationship between the transverse acceleration (Gy), the transverse jerk (Gy) and the longitudinal acceleration command of the G-Vectoring Control (GVC) (Gxt_GVC). When the vehicle begins to turn, it simultaneously begins to brake while the lateral jolt increases (Fig. 2 (1)). Thereafter, the braking stops during stationary cornering (Fig. 2 (2)), since the lateral jolt becomes zero. When the vehicle begins to return to straight travel, it begins to accelerate (Fig. 2 (3)).

More specifically, the lateral acceleration Gy (which is zero on a straight road regardless of whether the vehicle is accelerating, decelerating or moving at a constant speed) starts to increase from zero, see the period between times ti and t2 in FIG. 2 when a vehicle enters a corner for cornering and the driver moves the steering wheel so that the vehicle turns about the yaw axis. In an intermediate period between times t2 and t3 in FIG. 2, the transverse acceleration Gy reaches a maximum value and can remain approximately constant until it decreases to zero again in a last cornering period between times t3 and in FIG. 2 when the curve at Exit curve is left. Depending on the topology of the curve, the period of time between times t and t3 can be very short or not present at all. In the latter case, the transverse acceleration Gy can increase from zero to a maximum value and then decrease again directly to zero when leaving the curve.

As shown in FIG. 2, during this cornering scenario, the lateral jerk Gy increases to a maximum value between the times ti and t2 and decreases like that to zero. In the interim period between the times t2 and t3, in which the lateral acceleration Gy does not vary significantly, the lateral acceleration Gy remains zero and in the last period between the times t3 and U, the lateral acceleration Gy decreases from zero to a minimum during this cornering scenario value and increases again to zero.

The longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC, as described above, behaves, since it is directly proportional to the absolute value of the lateral jerk Gy, similar to the absolute value of the lateral jerk Gy, but the sign is the opposite sign of the product of the lateral acceleration and the rucksack is. As a result, the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC decreases from zero to a minimum value during this cornering scenario and increases again to zero in the first time period between times ti and t2 immediately after entering the corner and after starting cornering. During this period of time, the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC is negative and thus corresponds to a negative acceleration or deceleration (braking) of the vehicle in the first phase of cornering. Accordingly, the vehicle speed decreases (deceleration or braking control) during the entire period between times ti and t2. In the interim period between times t2 and t3, the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC remains approximately zero as long as the lateral jerk Gy remains zero, i.e. That is, during cornering, the vehicle moves through the curve at an approximately constant speed during the period between times t2 and t3. Finally, the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC increases in the last phase of cornering before leaving the corner during the period between times t3 and U from zero to a maximum value during this cornering scenario and then back to zero. In this period of time, the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC is positive and thus corresponds to a positive acceleration of the vehicle in the last phase of cornering. Accordingly, the vehicle speed increases for the entire period between times t3 and t4 (acceleration control).

3 shows an example of a gg diagram for the lateral and longitudinal acceleration Gy and Gx during cornering of the vehicle according to FIG the control of the longitudinal acceleration Gx based on the lateral acceleration Gy and the jerk Gy according to the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC. The horizontal axis here denotes the longitudinal acceleration Gx (negative values on the left and positive values on the right) and the vertical axis denotes positive values of the transverse acceleration Gy. According to the relationships as explained with reference to FIG. 2, the gg diagram from FIG. 3 is traversed in a clockwise direction, starting from an origin where Gx = Gy = 0, before entering the curve before cornering. As soon as the vehicle starts cornering, the lateral acceleration Gy increases, which leads to a negative longitudinal acceleration Gx, until the lateral acceleration Gy reaches a maximum value, which means that the longitudinal acceleration Gx is zero, after which the lateral acceleration Gy in the final phase the cornering decreases again to zero, which leads to a positive longitudinal acceleration Gx until the transverse acceleration Gy again reaches zero when exiting the curve.

To sum up, in the control of the longitudinal acceleration Gx of the vehicle according to the longitudinal acceleration target control value Gxt_GVC, the host vehicle automatically brakes (or decelerates) at the same time while the lateral jolt Gy increases (see the period between times ti and t2 in FIG. 2 , left side of Fig. 3) when the vehicle begins to enter a curve, and the vehicle then remains in the period between the times t2 and t3 in Fig. 2 in a stationary cornering, in which no longitudinal acceleration or longitudinal deceleration is carried out (ie, the vehicle stops braking without accelerating again) because the lateral jerk Gy becomes zero. Finally, the vehicle begins to accelerate again in the end phase of cornering, when the vehicle begins to return to straight-ahead travel (see the time period between times and U in FIG. 2, right-hand side of FIG. 3).

In addition to the GVC as discussed above, as another longitudinal acceleration control based on curvature, the longitudinal acceleration using a longitudinal control model called "Preview G-Vectoring Control" (PGVC) is available. Fig. 4 shows the longitudinal control model based on a general look-ahead concept using a look-ahead point (e.g. a point on the route in front of the same vehicle at a distance Lpv): the speed (Vpv) of the host vehicle at it Point, the vehicle speed (V) and the curvature of the road at the preview point (krn). When the vehicle travels at a constant speed at the preview point, the lateral acceleration (Gy_pv) generated on the vehicle is given in equation (2) as follows. Gy_pv ⁼ Kpv · V ² (2)

By assuming that the acceleration / deceleration is carried out in response to lateral movement of the vehicle (ie, GVC) with an algorithm equivalent to the longitudinal acceleration control, it is possible to control the longitudinal acceleration before the lateral movement of the vehicle actually occurs takes place. With the GVC, based on the assumption mentioned above, longitudinal accelerations corresponding to Gy_pv are calculated using Gy_pv instead of the lateral jerk (Gy) given in equation (1). In this way, a longitudinal acceleration command value (Gxt_pv) relating to the lateral movement of the vehicle that is generated (instead of the lateral movement of the vehicle that has been generated) is given. Under the same assumptions (krn is positive, V is constant), Gxt_pv is given by equation (3) from equations (1), (2) using the gain (Cxy_pv) and the time constant (Tpv). In equation (3), krn is derived from the path (although a point is used in the following equation.

[0093]

C 2

G xt_pv ^xy - ^pv - - K _pv - V (3)

1 + T _pv s

The longitudinal control of the PGVC (Gxt_PGVC) is calculated on the basis of the G vectoring control command (Gxt_GVC) described by (1) and the longitudinal acceleration (Gxt_pv) described by (3) for cornering. Figs. 5 and 6 show a cornering scenario with deceleration / acceleration control by PGVC. Fig. 5 shows an example of the first phase of cornering: from the approach to the curve to the stationary curve travel. As the vehicle approaches the curve, the curvature of the look-ahead point (krn) increases before the vehicle begins to pivot (FIG. 5, section A). At this stage, krn increases and the command (Gxt_pv) for deceleration before cornering is calculated on the basis of kr {dashed line). After the vehicle has started to pivot (FIG. 5, section B), the lateral acceleration (Gy) begins to increase. In this phase, the G-vectoring delay command (Gxt_GVC) is calculated on the basis of the cross jerk information (dash-dotted line). The delay command by PGVC is calculated by combining Gxt_pv and Gxt_GVC as shown in Fig. 5 (solid line). As the results, the PGVC can decelerate the vehicle during the first phase of cornering. Fig. 6 shows an example of the last phase of cornering: from the steady state to the end of the curve. Although the curvature of the preview point (krn) is constant, the PGVC does not give acceleration / deceleration (it maintains the constant speed) (Fig. 6C). When krn starts to decrease and krn becomes negative, the cornering acceleration command (Gxt_pv) is calculated based on kr (broken line) (Fig. 6, section D). At the end of cornering, the transverse acceleration (Gy) begins to decrease and the G-vectoring acceleration command (Gxt_GVC) is calculated on the basis of the transverse jerk information (dash-dotted line) (FIG. 6, section E). The acceleration command by the PGVC can be calculated by combining Gxt_pv and Gxt_GVC as shown in Fig. 6 (solid line). As a result, the PGVC can accelerate the vehicle as the distance from the end of the curve decreases.

7 shows an example of the two-curve driving route in order to compare Gxt_PGVC with a real driver acceleration / driver deceleration behavior. Fig. 8 shows the comparison of the longitudinal acceleration caused by an experienced driver (Fig. 8 (a)) and the calculation result of the PGVC- Command (Gxt_PGVC) (Fig. 8 (b)) at 80 km / h as the initial speed (VO): The left side shows the change in the longitudinal and lateral acceleration (Gx, Gy) and the right side shows the "g-g ' In Fig. 8 (b), the PGVC command (Gxt_PGVC) is calculated based on the above equations (1) and (3) using the curvature data calculated from the target line shown in Fig. 7, the measurement data of the vehicle speed and the lateral acceleration is calculated by driving tests. As shown in Fig. 8, the lateral acceleration (Gy) changes to plus for curve A and minus for curve B, each change in lateral acceleration having three phases: the increase phase (phase (1st )), the stationary phase (phase (2)) and the acceptance phase (phase (3)). The driver controls the acceleration / deceleration as a function of the lateral acceleration changes; he begins to decelerate the vehicle (Fig. 8 "Deceleration") ) before phase (1) begins, and ends when phase (1) ends et. The driver then begins to accelerate in phase (2), ie before phase (3) begins (FIG. 8 “Acceleration”). As shown in Fig. 8 (b), the calculated PGVC command (Gxt_PGVC) has the same characteristic as that driver's acceleration / deceleration. The "g-g" diagram by Gxt_PGVC (Fig. 8 (b)) also shows the same shape as that of the driver

(Fig. 8 (a)).

The desired acceleration during cornering depends heavily on a driver's preference. Some drivers like cornering with high acceleration and some drivers want cornering without undue delay. In response to the difference in driver preference, different settings of PGVC are prepared by changing the PGVC parameters (mainly the gain Cxy, Cxy_pv).

9 shows an example of the lateral and longitudinal acceleration with several PGVC settings (settings 1 to 4). The longitudinal acceleration (Gx, broken line) by the PGVC is set by adjusting each setting through PGVC setting parameter adjustment. As shown in Fig. 9 (a), Gx produce a difference in lateral acceleration (Gy, solid line) with the settings through the PGVC: The average of Gy (dotted line) increases as the setting number increases (1 to 4).

10 shows an example of the "g-g" diagram with several PGVC settings. This difference also appears in the "g-g" diagram (see Fig. 9 (b)): the trajectory in the "g-g" diagram becomes wider as the setting number increases. However, the relationship between Gx and Gy is relatively maintained: the direction of the resulting acceleration changes seamlessly in a "g-g" diagram. This change in acceleration in the "g-g" chart is one of the features of the PGVC that improves the driver's feeling while cornering.

11 shows, by way of example, the block diagram of a PGVC basic system for implementing a known control system as described above. In this system, a PGVC parameter setting unit / PGVC parameter setting block 110 detects the driver's input to set the PGVC parameters. These setting parameters are sent to the PGVC block 120 and the longitudinal acceleration command is calculated by the PGVC (Gxt_PGVC). Gxt_PGVC is sent to the actuator controller (s) 200 and in order to decelerate / accelerate the vehicle by means of the actuator (s) 200. More precisely, a driver input switch 230 can be designed to enable a user to select parameter settings of the PGVC parameters which can be entered as driver input information in the PGVC parameter setting block 110, which embodies a setting means. On the other hand, vehicle dynamics information detection devices 210 (such as sensors including a speed sensor, an accelerometer, a gyro sensor, a steering wheel angle sensor, etc.) can provide information about the vehicle dynamics (vehicle dynamics information) such as the vehicle speed, the steering wheel angle, the lateral and / or Provide longitudinal acceleration that acts on the carrier vehicle, etc. The vehicle dynamics information is provided for the PGVC block 120, which embodies a longitudinal acceleration target value determining means. Also be curvature information (such as map data and / or a curvature at a preview point determined based on the map data) is provided from a curvature detection device 220 to the PGVC block 120 embodying the longitudinal acceleration target value determining means.

A PGVC controller 100 (e.g. a longitudinal acceleration control means) comprises the PGVC block 120 and the PGVC parameter setting block 110 and is designed to set the target control value Gxt_PGVC via an actuator controller 200 (or in other embodiments directly) to the actuator controller (s) of the vehicle.

12 shows the block diagram of a further preferred PGVC system which forms a preferred basis for the control method of the present application described later. In this system, an obstacle detection device 240 is added, and the information about the preceding vehicle (the speed of the preceding vehicle, the distance from the preceding vehicle) is sent to the PGVC controller 100. In the PGVC controller 100, the PGVC parameter setting block 110 sets the parameters for the PGVC based on the driver input, the curvature information of the traveling route, and the information about the preceding vehicle received from the obstacle detection device 240. The obstacle detection device 240 can record data from a vehicle in front (and / or indirectly from a data center), which includes a position and / or a speed of the vehicle in front and / or a lateral acceleration and / or a longitudinal acceleration acting on the vehicle in front, e.g. B. received via a communication protocol. Alternatively or additionally, the obstacle detection device 240 can comprise sensors (such as a camera, a radar, a sonar, etc.) in order to determine a relative position and / or speed of the vehicle traveling in front.

Using the above information, the PGVC parameters for decelerating / accelerating the vehicle for cornering, like the vehicle in front does, to z. B. adjust his driving behavior, set. If the vehicle in front of the curve z. B. drives slowly to reduce the lateral acceleration during cornering, the host vehicle also drives slowly, even if the driver has selected the high-speed cornering setting such as setting 4 in FIG. As a result, the host vehicle maintains the distance from the preceding vehicle during cornering and the deceleration control by the ACC to maintain the distance is not activated; since there are no independent control systems that issue control commands in parallel, as a combination of GVC and ACC would eventually do, the longitudinal acceleration is smooth during cornering.

13 shows an example of setting the PGVC parameters. In this case, the PGVC has several preset modes (setting 1 to 4), the parameters being set to increase the average / maximum lateral acceleration during cornering while the setting number increases as shown in Fig. 9 ( 1 to 4). The estimated lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle ahead (GyestPV) is calculated from the speed of the vehicle ahead and from curvature information. The PGVC setting is based on the absolute value of GyestPV at the beginning (here

Gyi <Gy2 <Gy3) selected. This selected value is compared with the selected setting by the driver and a smaller setting number is selected as the PGVC setting.

Fig. 14 exemplifies another example of setting the PGVC parameters. In this case, the PGVC gain (Cxy_d, Cxy_pv_d (for deceleration control), Cxy_a, Cxy_pv_a (for acceleration control)) which is the parameter of the PGVC changes directly with the absolute value of GyestPV: PGVC gains for deceleration control decrease as the absolute value of GyestPV increases, and PGVC gains for acceleration control increase as the absolute value of GyestPV increases. The PGVC gain (Cxy_d, Cxy_pv_d, Cxy_a, Cxy_pv_a) is at the beginning calculated and compared by the driver with the selected gain. Larger values are chosen as PGVC gain for the deceleration control and smaller values are supply control selected as PGVC gain for Accelerati ^¬.

15 shows, by way of example, a speed of the carrier vehicle (solid line) and the vehicle traveling ahead (dash-dotted line), the distance from the vehicle traveling ahead (dash-dot line) and the target distance (dotted line), the longitudinal acceleration (Gx) and the lateral acceleration (Gy) while driving in a curve with a vehicle in front. Gx is controlled by the advanced PGVC with four differential settings as shown in Fig. 9 and by an ACC system.

In this case, the driver selects setting 4 at the beginning. While driving on the straight road (Fig. 15, Section A), the host vehicle detects the vehicle ahead and the distance between the host vehicle and the vehicle ahead decreases because of the speed difference (the host vehicle is faster than the vehicle ahead). However, the actual distance is still sufficiently greater than the target distance and the ACC does not decelerate the host vehicle. During this period, the PGVC setting is changed from setting 4 to setting 1 (Fig. 15, section B), and the delay start timing of the PGVC becomes earlier than the case of Fig. 1 (Fig. 15, section C). As a result, the host vehicle can expediently maintain the distance from the preceding vehicle (FIG. 15, section D) and the deceleration control by the ACC is not activated; In addition, the Längsbe ^¬ changes acceleration during cornering smoothly.

16 shows, by way of example, a system arrangement for controlling the longitudinal acceleration by the ACC, combined with the PGVC, which is a preferred basis for the present control method / device. The control system includes a longitudinal acceleration control unit 1 (which is realized, for example, as shown in Fig.11 or Fig.12), an accelerometer 2, a gyro sensor 3, a steering wheel 4, a Lenkradwin kelsensor 5, an obstacle detection device 6 (z. B. for detecting a Distance and / or a speed of a preceding vehicle), a tire 7, a vehicle e, a curve detection device 9, a brake control unit 10, a brake actuator 11, a drive torque control unit 12, a drive torque actuator 13 and a communication bus line 14.

After the arrangement of a controller for assisted driving or automated driving has been explained above, the present subject matter introduces further aspects for increased safety and increased comfort. More precisely, the above control concepts still have the challenge that a detected object such as a vehicle traveling ahead can be lost to the sensors of the host vehicle or due to a communication interruption. In other words, a scenario that can relate to the above control concepts includes that the detected object cannot remain within the FOV of the host vehicle, which the above control, e.g. B. the PGVC or the ACC combined with the PGVC would interrupt.

However, the other vehicle (in front) can be lost quite frequently, particularly while driving on a winding road or through a sharp curve or through a curve that runs around an obstacle or the like. For example, a vehicle traveling ahead can simply pivot out of the host vehicle's FOV due to geometric limitations of the FOV of the sensor or sensors of the host vehicle if a curve is sharp.

The challenges described above, which relate to the control of assisted driving or automated driving, are solved by the subject matter described below, wherein they are solved in particular by performing so-called “virtual tracking” of the other vehicle. The term "virtual tracking" is intended to include that the control explained above can be continued even if the other vehicle is (temporarily) no longer in the FOV; preferably until the other vehicle is detected again.

19 shows an example of a further improved control of assisted driving or automated driving, which additionally offers "virtual tracking". In a step, another vehicle, preferably a vehicle traveling ahead, is detected by the sensor or the sensors of the carrier vehicle. In the present example, the FOV (the area) and / or the blind spot are subsequently calculated or determined (see e.g.

18a and b). However, in other examples, the detection and the calculation / determination of the FOV / blind spot can be carried out continuously and in parallel with the flow of steps shown by FIG. 19. The FOC / blind spot can also be determined / calculated at another position within the sequence of steps or can be omitted. An example of a detailed calculation / determination of the FOV is described below.

[0113] Furthermore, the controller recognizes whether the vehicle traveling ahead can still be detected. This can preferably be done continuously or repeatedly. In accordance with one option, it is recognized that the vehicle in front is no longer detectable if the sensor or sensors of the carrier vehicle no longer detect it after it has been detected once. In addition, it can be recognized that the vehicle in front can no longer be detected if the FOV has been calculated and if it is determined whether the vehicle in front is inside / inside the FOV or whether it is not inside the FOV, ie outside the FOV. Still further, an alternative, shown by FIG. 19, is to determine whether the detected vehicle is inside the FOV or outside, and subsequently, if it is determined that it is inside the FOV, rechecking whether it is detectable . If it is detected that the vehicle in front is within the FOV, it is checked whether the activation conditions for a control as described above, such as PGVC control or PGVC control combined with ACC control, are met are. As described above, activation conditions may include the relative speed of the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle and / or the distance between the two vehicles. For example, the control can be activated if the vehicle in front is within the FOV of a forward sensing sensor and is traveling at a predefined relative speed or more / less. If the conditions are met, the control described above is activated and the behavior of the vehicle driving ahead is tracked / imitated / assumed, preferably by (advanced) PGVC and / or ACC. If the conditions are not met, control returns to a previous step after or before (see FIG. 19) the vehicle detection.

In addition, the present subject matter contains the further option that a “virtual tracking” is applied if it has been determined that the vehicle traveling ahead, after an initial detection thereof, is no longer detectable or is outside the FOV.

Fig. 19 shows the control of virtual tracking when following the arrow indicating "outside" in the step of determining whether the preceding vehicle is outside or inside the FOV. The flowchart shows a first step after determining that the preceding vehicle is outside the FOV which includes calculating the distance to the preceding vehicle using the last buffered / saved values of the preceding vehicle and the PGVC setting.

If the last setting / values were an estimate, they can also be used. More specifically, the last settings / data that are buffered before the preceding vehicle has left the FOV preferably contain a curvature or a derivative of the curvature of the road at the position and a longitudinal acceleration of the preceding vehicle at the position. Instead or in addition, the last buffered values can be a speed of the vehicle driving ahead, which is e.g. B. is measured by sensors of the carrier vehicle or the like, contain the determined / measured distance at the position and the position itself. One option for estimating position during virtual tracking (see Figure 20) is based on using the last buffered speed of the preceding vehicle and the curvature (derivative) of the road at the last position before the preceding vehicle leaves the FOV Has. In addition, the last parameter settings are used. Then, using the above equations (2) and (3), based on the lateral acceleration (equation (2)), the longitudinal acceleration for the position is estimated / calculated. With the longitudinal acceleration, the speed of the vehicle ahead can be calculated using the time difference between the times at which the last speed value was buffered and at which the next calculation of the driving values of the vehicle ahead is calculated / estimated. The newly calculated / estimated speed is then used (as a target speed) to calculate the new distance to the host vehicle, on the basis of which, including the road geometry information, the position of the preceding vehicle can be virtually determined. As shown in Fig. 20, as an optional step in between, the target speed can be limited to a buffered value; z. For example, it can be assumed that the vehicle is not traveling faster within the curve than before it entered the curve, so that the target speed can be limited to the buffered speed when entering the curve. The map information can be used to determine the curvature information for this new position, and the speed and curvature information can be used to estimate / calculate a further new longitudinal acceleration, based on which the above can be repeated to keep track of the vehicle ahead, albeit it's outside of the FOV. Other options for virtual tracking can be based on the extrapolation above, but using assumptions such as that the speed or longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle in front remain constant during the time the vehicle in front is outside the FOV. Another option for the extrapolation can assume that the last buffered value of the vehicle traveling ahead is its longitudinal acceleration. The extrapolation can then use differential calculus based on time differences, as discussed above, to estimate the new extrapolated velocity. The new distance can be extrapolated on the basis of this extrapolated speed. A virtual position is estimated based on the extrapolated distance, and curvature information is received from the map information.

This enables a new extrapolated longitudinal acceleration to be determined on the basis of equation (3) above, and the loop can begin again.

The above extrapolation can assume that the parameter settings, in particular those of the parameters contained in equation (3), remain constant at least during the application of the "virtual tracking".

In summary, based on map data from a map information source and based on the latest known travel data of the preceding vehicle, the position of the preceding vehicle can be determined even though it is outside the FOV ("virtual tracking"). Even if the vehicle in front is outside the FOV, with the determination of the position, ie the virtual tracking, as described above, it can also be checked whether the conditions for the following control according to the (advanced) PGVC and / or ACC are met where the behavior of the vehicle in front can be followed / imitated even if it is outside the FOV of the respective sensor of the host vehicle (see FIG. 19 after the step "track virtual object on the map"), if this is true. The driving behavior can be limited as described above by applying e.g. B. the advanced PGVC who carried out, it can be assumed that some values or parameters such as the setting parameters of the PGVC can be kept constant during the virtual tracking. The above-mentioned calculation of the blind spot / FOV can also be carried out by the controller of the present application. The advantage of knowing the blind spot of the relevant sensor (s) of the host vehicle is that the last position of the other vehicle can be estimated / determined without it being necessary to continuously buffer a position of the other vehicle. In other words, if, in accordance with a preferred aspect described here, the controller repeatedly buffers the last positions of a detected vehicle as long as it is detectable for the sensor (s) of the carrier vehicle, the control of the virtual tracking described here does not require a determination of the blind spot / FOV of the carrier vehicle. The virtual tracking can then be carried out simply on the basis of the decision as to whether the detection signal relating to the previously detected and tracked vehicle has been lost. If it is lost, the last known / buffered position can contain the further information required for the extrapolation, e.g. B. is described above, are not agile, contains, are used to perform the virtual tracking. However, the specific area of the blind spot or the FOV enables the last position of the other vehicle within the FOV to be estimated if the position should not or cannot be continuously buffered, so that the last buffered values of the other vehicle, such as its speed, are based on the estimated last known position can be mapped.

In principle, the estimate of the last known position can be based on the referencing of road data that originate from map information (map data) for the FOV. In other words, the area of the FOV that can be presumed to be defined in advance by sensor characteristics such as the maximum length of the "view" and the geometry of the FOV such as triangular or the like is applied to the information on the road , on which the carrier vehicle and the other detected vehicle are driving, pictured. If then z. For example, it is known that the road on which the vehicles are traveling has a sharp curve ahead (assuming that the detected vehicle in front continues to travel on the road), the position at which the preceding vehicle will be lost, based on an overlay of the FOV of the host vehicle and the area in which the road is to be determined, are determined, ie the delimitation position on the road at which the road begins can no longer be detected by the FOV can be assumed to be the last known position of the preceding vehicle before it is out of the FOV.

Possible options for referencing or mapping the FOV to the road information are explained below: The controller can include road data that is provided by a map information unit and information about the geometry of the FOV that is stored in a storage unit of the control device or in a Partial unit can be stored, use. If the card information z. B. indicate that the host vehicle is approaching a curve, and if it were known that the host vehicle's predictive 'looking' sensor is an isosceles triangle with a line of maximum height arranged along the longitudinal direction of the host vehicle and with a half angle between the two equal sides of 10 ° (see e.g.

17), the FOV can be determined / calculated by positioning other isosceles triangles perpendicular to the longitudinal direction with the same half-angle as the area of the FOV and with a different side length corresponding to other possible 1 / curvatures of the curve in front of it. By performing several geometric calculations using different reciprocal values of curve values, the FOV can be identified (see FIG. 18a). More specifically, each sub-triangle has one side that ends at the origin of the FOV and the other side of the two equal sides that ends at the point at which the FOV has its lateral boundary. The origin of the FOV and at least one end point of the lateral boundary of the FOV can be connected by a straight line which indicates the lateral boundary of the FOV (see the bold line in the figure between the origin of the FOV and the end of one side of an auxiliary triangle). The lateral boundary, which has been merged with the road information, makes it possible to determine the last position of the vehicle in front within the FOV before the sensor of the The carrier vehicle has been lost, ie outside the FOV, to be identified. In other words, as shown in Fig. 18a, the auxiliary triangle used in the exemplary geometric calculation, which corresponds to the curvature of the road on which the other vehicle and the host vehicle are traveling, is at one of its side ends at the boundary of the FOV.

It can be assumed that this attachment point is the last position of the other vehicle before moving outside of the FOV.

In other words, and as shown by the flowchart of Figure 18b, the process of determining the FOV as shown by Figure 18a includes the main steps of spanning the FOV based on the sensor specifications. For example, it may be known from a database that the forward sensor (s) (or any other sensor of the host vehicle) is triangular in shape having a corner located in the center of the front of the host vehicle. Then, in a second step, using orthogonal vectors, as shown by FIG. 18a and as explained above according to a possible example, points of intersection with the lateral boundary of the FOV are calculated. In a further (optional) step, the relevant area of the FOV is then limited by taking into account the speed of the carrier vehicle. The limit can be 1 to 10 s times the speed of the carrier vehicle. More preferably it is between 2 s to 5 s times the speed of the carrier vehicle and most preferably between 2 s to 3 s or 2.5 s times the speed of the carrier vehicle. The calculated area can then be used / spanned as the FOV area of the host vehicle at the current point in time. Furthermore, as described in connection with FIG. 18a, the calculated area can be mapped onto the road data.

Another option for calculating the FOV would be to use geometric / geographic coordinates such as GPS coordinates or the like. The position of the FOV in front of the host vehicle can be determined using the position of the host vehicle and the geometric data about the FOV, e.g. B. the area size, the area shape, etc. can be determined. Then you can the coordinates that are inside the FOV and the coordinates that are outside the FOV are determined. As soon as the FOV is determined, the other areas around the carrier vehicle can be determined as a blind spot (dead area). Furthermore, mapping / referencing the coordinates inside and outside the FOV of the road the vehicles are traveling on, with the information received via map information, allows the last position of the preceding vehicle within the FOV to be estimated before it leaves the FOV.

As explained above, when it is determined that the detected object, e.g. B. the vehicle ahead is outside the FOV or, according to another option, can no longer be detected by the sensor or sensors of the carrier vehicle, the distance to the carrier vehicle is determined, among other things, on the basis of the last known values of the vehicle ahead Map information is used to virtually position the vehicle in front on the map. The virtual positioning is performed on the assumption that the preceding vehicle continues on the same road / lane as it was driving before leaving the FOV. That is, as soon as the map information has been combined with the information about the actual distance to the host vehicle, the vehicle in front can be virtually fixed. For example, if the host vehicle follows a vehicle ahead in the direction of a sharp turn, the vehicle ahead may exit the carrier vehicle's VOV as soon as it enters the curve and before the host vehicle enters the curve. In other words, the preceding vehicle exits the host vehicle's FOV because of the limited width of the FOV and the sharpness of the curve to the side. However, the map information includes information about the curvature (or a derivative) of the curve and this information combined with the distance to the host vehicle, the position still being able to be determined and tracked if the above is done in a repeated manner. With the above information about the virtual position, the map information, in particular the curvature of the curve, and the last driving data that have been buffered, the (advanced) PGVC and / or ACC control described above (see the Description in Fig. 12 to 16) leads out, although the vehicle is out of view. Thus, driving a winding road cannot lead to discomfort or suspended automatic driving, since the virtual tracking of the vehicle in front, even during a situation when the vehicle in front is temporarily out of the FOV, uses an uninterrupted (advanced) PGVC and / or ACC- Control enables.

In addition, the virtual tracking can be abandoned if criteria defined in advance are met, which in particular indicate that the vehicle in front has not been temporarily lost. The criteria can include that a time that the preceding vehicle is outside the FOV is too long, that road junctions with multiple alternative routes are passed, and / or the like.

In addition, the virtual tracking can be stopped and actual values can be used for the PGVC / ACC if the vehicle in front is being tracked again, that is to say. i.e., re-entered the FOV after exiting it.

In Fig. 21, a control device which realizes the above control is shown by way of example. Compared with the control apparatus of Fig. 12, it also includes a map information unit that provides map information and the virtual tracking unit for executing control during the time when the preceding vehicle is outside the FOV.

Features, components and specific details of the structures of the embodiments described above can be interchanged or combined to form further embodiments which are optimized for the respective application. If these changes are for the expert on the Field easily apparent, for the brevity of the present description they are intended to be implicitly disclosed by the above description without explicitly specifying every possible combination.

Claims

Expectations

1. A vehicle travel control method for assuming a driving behavior of another vehicle, the vehicle travel control method comprising:

Checking for the presence of another vehicle by at least one sensor of a carrier vehicle;

Assuming that the other vehicle is driving behavior when the other vehicle has been detected by the at least one sensor of the host vehicle, and

repeated checking whether the other vehicle can still be detected by the at least one sensor of the carrier vehicle, wherein

a position of the other vehicle is estimated on the basis of at least the known driving behavior of the other vehicle and / or at least one last known position of the other vehicle if it is determined that the other vehicle is no longer detectable.

2. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein the driving behavior of the other vehicle is assumed to be uninterrupted even if the other vehicle is no longer detectable.

3. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein the other vehicle is a preceding vehicle traveling in the same longitudinal direction as the host vehicle ahead of the host vehicle.

4. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein the host vehicle is controlled by:

Determining a longitudinal acceleration target value (Gxt_PGVC) on the basis of a transverse acceleration (Gy; Gy_PV) of the host vehicle and one or more setting parameters (Cxy; Ts; Cxy_PV; Ts_PV), and

Controlling a longitudinal acceleration (Gx) of the host vehicle based on the calculated target longitudinal acceleration value (Gxt_PGVC).

5. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein the host vehicle is controlled by the following when assuming the travel behavior of another vehicle detected:

Estimating or determining the driving behavior of the other driving ^¬ zeugs,

Setting the one or more setting parameters (Cxy; Ts; Cxy_PV; Ts_PV) for calculating the longitudinal acceleration target value

(Gxt.PGVC), where

the lateral acceleration (Gy est_PV) acting on the other vehicle is estimated on the basis of the determined speed of the other vehicle and curvature information on the road Karteninformatio ^¬ NEN.

6. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal acceleration of the preceding vehicle is determined using a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and curvature information on the road and the speed of the preceding vehicle when the other vehicle is no longer detectable.

7. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein a last known longitudinal acceleration (Gx) of the other vehicle before the other vehicle has moved out of a field of view of the at least one sensor of the host vehicle for extrapolating an extrapolated position of the other vehicle outside of the field of view and / or his driving behavior is used when the other vehicle is no longer detectable.

8. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein a last known position and speed of the other vehicle before the other vehicle has moved out of a field of view of the at least one sensor of the host vehicle for extrapolating an extrapolated position of the other vehicle out of view and / or his Driving behavior is used when the other vehicle is no longer detectable.

9. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 7, wherein an extrapolated speed of the other vehicle is determined for the extrapolation based on the last known longitudinal acceleration (Gx) of the other vehicle and a time difference between the determination of the last known longitudinal acceleration and the actual determination, an extrapolated Distance of the other vehicle to the host vehicle is determined on the basis of the extrapolated speed and the time difference, where in an extrapolated position of the other vehicle is determined on the basis of the extrapolated distance and from map information and an extrapolated longitudinal acceleration based on at least curvature information about the extrapolated position is determined.

10. The vehicle travel control method according to claims 7, 8 and / or 9, wherein the extrapolation assumes that the other vehicle is a preceding vehicle that continues on the same road as it was traveling on during its presence within the field of view after it has moved on moved out of sight.

11. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein a field of view of the at least one sensor is referenced to map information so that geometric coordinates are referenced to a part of a road captured by the field of view and on which the host vehicle and the other vehicle are traveling.

12. The vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, wherein a field of view of the at least one sensor is determined on the basis of geometric calculations based on different road curvature values to determine a part of a road that is covered by the field of view and on which the host vehicle and the drive another vehicle.

13. Vehicle travel control method according to claim 1, 11 or 12, wherein at least one known position of the other vehicle of buffered information nen is received about the other vehicle and / or the last known position is estimated on the basis of the information about a limitation of the field of view, which is referenced on map information, in particular the road on which the other vehicle and the host vehicle are driving.

14. Control method according to the preceding claims, wherein some or all of the control steps are carried out repeatedly.

15. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the control is stopped when the other vehicle is undetectable for a predetermined period of time or longer.

16. Travel control device to be mounted on a carrier vehicle, wherein the travel control device is configured to carry out the steps of at least one of the preceding claims.

17. Computer program product which can be stored in a memory, which comprises instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method of at least one of the preceding method claims.