US Patent 9969393 Intelligent gap setting for adaptive cruise control

The present invention relates to a method for assisting a driver in driving a vehicle, in which sensor data are produced by at least one sensor physically sensing the environment of a host vehicle or by obtaining data conveying information about the environment of a host vehicle, an object in a path of the host vehicle is detected based on the sensor data, a distance between the host vehicle and the detected object is controlled based on a preset gap (tGAP), environmental conditions of the host vehicle are estimated based on the sensor data, gap adaption indicators associated to the estimated environmental conditions are determined, wherein each of the gap adaption indicators indicates an extension or a reduction of the preset gap (tGAP) and the preset gap (tGAP) is adjusted based on the gap adaption indicators.