TRAVEL CONTROLLER FOR VEHICLE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To determine possibility of a collision against an obstacle in an actual movement direction of a vehicle for determination of the possibility of a collision against the obstacle with higher accuracy than a conventional one for effectively operating a collision influence reducing device. SOLUTION: A slip angle β of the vehicle is computed based on a condition quantity of the vehicle, and it is estimated that the direction of the slip angle β is the movement direction 104 of the center of gravity of the vehicle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle (S30). A radar sensor 46j detecting the obstacle in an angular range including the movement direction of the center of gravity is decided (S40), a relative velocity Vre of the own vehicle to the obstacle is computed based on a distance Lre to the obstacle detected by the radar sensor (S60), and a time Tc to the collision against the obstacle is computed (S70). It is determined whether there is a high possibility of the collision or not according to the time Tc to the collision (S80), and the collision influence reducing device is operated when there is a high collision possibility (S90, 100). COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI