Patent 10106163 was granted and assigned to Denso on October, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In assisting merging vehicles on the road, a own vehicle is accelerated to target speed on a first lane. The own vehicle accelerated to the target speed is caused to change a travel lane from the first lane into a second lane. A distance A from the own vehicle to a reference position is acquired in the first lane, and speed of the own vehicle is also acquired. A traveling distance B required for the own vehicle to stop is calculated under a condition where the own vehicle traveling at speed acquired starts to slow down at predetermined deceleration. Assisting in merging is performed, on condition that a value obtained by subtracting the calculated distance B from the acquired distance A is smaller than a predetermined threshold value during a period from a start time of the acceleration to a start time of changing the travel lane.