US Patent 8185296 Driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method

A driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method for predicting the state of a traffic light at the time when a vehicle enters an intersection includes predicting vehicle speed change of a vehicle in front of an intersection. The driving assisting apparatus and driving assisting method predicts the traffic light state when the vehicle enters the intersection according to the predicted vehicle speed change, while predicting the vehicle speed change according to stored driver characteristic information concerning the past vehicle speed change in front of the intersection with running environments, or changes a predicting method depending on whether or not the vehicle is positioned in front of a predetermined area set in front of the intersection.