Headway control system

Abstract

To provide a headway control system, in which a congestion following processing can be started by the same operation as in ordinary driving. An arrangement is provided that lets a following control unit 10 to start a control to follow a preceding vehicle on condition that a characteristic value, which is produced in a host vehicle when a driver starts moving the host vehicle, is detected in congested traffic. Acceleration or a vehicle speed may be used as the characteristic value. Another possible arrangement is to start the following control on condition that a variation in an engine of the host vehicle, which is generated in the host vehicle when the driver operates to start moving the host vehicle, is detected in congested traffic. For example, the following control may be started under condition that at least either one of the following is detected: an increase in an engine speed, an increase in an intake pressure, an increase in an injection pulse width, an increase in an engine oil pressure, and an increase in the number of ignition pulses.

1 . A headway control system, comprising: 
 a following control unit that performs a following control that lets a host vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle in congested traffic, wherein the following control unit starts the following control on condition that a characteristic value generated in the host vehicle when a driver starts moving the host vehicle is detected.    
   
   
       2 . The headway control system according to  claim 1 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an acceleration of a predetermined value or more as the characteristic value is detected.  
   
   
       3 . The headway control system according to  claim 1 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when a vehicle speed of a predetermined value or more as the characteristic value is detected.  
   
   
       4 . A headway control system, comprising: 
 a following control unit that performs a following control that lets a host vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle in congested traffic, wherein the following control unit starts the following control on condition that a variation generated in an engine of the host vehicle when a driver operates to start moving the host vehicle is detected.    
   
   
       5 . The headway control system according to  claim 4 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an increase in an engine speed as the variation generated in the engine is detected.  
   
   
       6 . The headway control system according to  claim 4 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an increase in an intake air pressure as the variation generated in the engine is detected.  
   
   
       7 . The headway control system according to  claim 4 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an increase in an injection pulse width as the variation generated in the engine is detected.  
   
   
       8 . The headway control system according to  claim 4 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an increase in an engine oil pressure as the variation generated in the engine is detected.  
   
   
       9 . The headway control system according to  claim 4 , wherein the following control unit performs the following control when an increase in the number of ignition pulses as the variation generated in the engine is detected.  
   
   
       10 . A headway control system, comprising: 
 a following control unit that performs a following control that lets a host vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle in congested traffic, wherein the following control unit starts the following control on condition that it detects that the host vehicle remains stationary, the preceding vehicle has started moving, and a shift lever of a transmission is in a drive range.    
   
   
       11 . The headway control system according to  claim 10 , wherein the following control unit refrains from starting the following control if a driver is operating a brake.  
   
   
       12 . The headway control system according to  claim 10 , wherein the following control unit starts the following control on condition that it detects that a driver operates to release a brake pedal.