JP5777974B2 - Automatic travel control device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic travel control device, and more particularly to a technique for confirming an appropriate relationship of a driver to driving during execution of automatic travel control for automatically driving a vehicle.

  In recent years, vehicles with a so-called auto-cruise function have been developed for the purpose of reducing the burden on the driver and the like, which automatically travels while maintaining a vehicle speed arbitrarily designated by the driver. In addition to the auto-cruise function, when there is a preceding vehicle in front of the host vehicle, there are also vehicles equipped with an inter-vehicle distance maintaining function that adjusts the vehicle speed so as to maintain the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle. Has been developed.

On the other hand, when such an automatic cruise operation using the auto-cruise function or the inter-vehicle distance maintaining function is performed for a long time, the driver's attention tends to be reduced because the operation directly performed by the driver is reduced. It is in. As a result, problems such as a drowsy driving and a delay in dealing with an emergency occur.
Therefore, a technique for estimating the driver's concentration and attention has been developed. For example, there is a technique for estimating the driver's concentration by detecting the reaction of the driving operation by the driver. Specifically, the time series data of the driver's driving operation is stored, and the driver's ideal tracking operation and the response intensity or reaction time from the actual tracking operation according to the inter-vehicle distance are used to determine the driver's driving operation. There is a technique for determining concentration (see Patent Document 1).

However, during the automatic driving, the vehicle speed is kept constant by the auto-cruise function, and the following operation is automatically performed by the inter-vehicle distance maintaining function. For this reason, the driving operation by the driver is hardly performed, and the driver's attention cannot be accurately determined from the driving operation situation.
In addition, as another example of a method for estimating the driver's concentration and attention, a method of measuring the driver's arousal level has been proposed. There are cases where people concentrate on conversation, food, etc.). In such a case, since the driver's arousal level is high, the method for estimating the driver's concentration and attention cannot determine whether or not the driver is monitoring the automatic driving.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-92285

  However, even when the vehicle is driven by automatic driving, the driver is responsible for monitoring and supervising whether or not driving is appropriate. It is not possible to determine whether there is proper monitoring of driving. For this reason, in the said prior art, there exists a problem that a driver | operator cannot be alerted when the appropriate monitoring with respect to automatic driving | running | working driving | running | working is not made.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. The object of the present invention is to detect an appropriate relation of the driver to the automatic driving operation and to give up the monitoring abandonment to the automatic driving operation of the driver. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic travel control device that can be suppressed.

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic travel control device according to claim 1 is an automatic travel control device that performs automatic travel control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed of the vehicle, and sets a target vehicle speed in the automatic travel control. A target vehicle speed setting means, an attention monitoring means for determining a driver's driving attention level, and a vehicle speed from the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means at a predetermined time during the automatic travel control , Vehicle speed changing means for decelerating at a degree of deceleration set according to the driving attention level determined by the attention monitoring means, driver response detecting means for detecting the driver's reaction to the vehicle speed change by the vehicle speed changing means, An alerting means for alerting the driver when a driver's reaction is not detected by the driver response detection means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change; It is characterized in that it comprises.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automatic travel control device according to the first aspect, the vehicle speed changing means sets the degree of deceleration larger as the driving attention level determined by the focus monitoring means is lower.
The automatic travel control device according to claim 3 is an automatic travel control device that performs automatic travel control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed of the vehicle, the target vehicle speed setting means for setting a target vehicle speed in the automatic travel control, and the automatic travel control device. Vehicle speed changing means for decelerating the vehicle speed from the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means at a predetermined degree during the traveling control with a degree of deceleration set according to the vehicle speed, and driving with respect to the vehicle speed change by the vehicle speed changing means A driver reaction detecting means for detecting a driver's reaction, and a notice for alerting the driver when a driver's reaction is not detected by the driver reaction detecting means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change. And a stimulating means.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic travel control apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the vehicle speed changing means sets the degree of deceleration larger as the vehicle speed is higher.

According to an automatic travel control device of a fifth aspect , in any one of the first to fourth aspects , the vehicle speed changing means detects a driver reaction by the driver reaction detecting means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change. In this case, the vehicle speed is returned to the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the automatic travel control device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the alerting means is an alarm device that issues a warning to the driver.
In an automatic travel control device according to a seventh aspect , in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the alerting means is an automatic travel control stop means for stopping the automatic travel control.

The automatic travel control device according to claim 8 is characterized in that, in any one of claims 1 to 7 , the driver reaction detection means is a switch that detects a reaction of the driver by a switch operation of the driver. Yes.
In the automatic travel control device according to claim 9 , in any one of claims 1 to 8 , the driver reaction detecting means is a sound receiving means for detecting the driver's reaction by a voice uttered by the driver. It is characterized by.

In the automatic travel control device according to claim 10 , in any one of claims 1 to 9 , the driver reaction detecting means is an accelerator operation detecting means for detecting a reaction of the driver by an accelerator operation by the driver. It is characterized by.
In the automatic travel control apparatus according to claim 11, in any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the automatic travel control, when there is no leading vehicle, a set vehicle speed which is arbitrarily set to the target vehicle speed, front vehicle If there is a vehicle speed, the vehicle speed of the vehicle is adjusted with the vehicle speed that keeps the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle at a predetermined distance as the target vehicle speed.

According to the automatic running control apparatus of claims 1 to 4 of the present invention using the above means, at a predetermined time of the automatic travel control in, by changing the speed different from the target vehicle speed based on the vehicle speed to the automatic travel control, the operation Judgment is made on whether or not the driver's automatic driving is monitored, and it is confirmed whether or not the driver is properly involved in driving. And when a driver | operator's reaction is not detected in the predetermined period from the said vehicle speed change start, a driver | operator is alerted.

  In this way, even during automatic driving control, where the driver does not perform direct driving operations, the driver is appropriately involved in driving by intentionally changing the vehicle speed from the target vehicle speed in the automatic driving control periodically. The driver's attention can be confirmed by prompting and confirming the driver's reaction to the change. And when a driver | operator does not react for a predetermined period from the start of a vehicle speed change, a driver | operator can be alerted and a driver | operator can be monitored again for an automatic driving | running | working driving | operation.

In this way, it is possible to confirm whether or not the driver is properly involved in driving during the automatic traveling, and to suppress the monitoring abandonment for the automatic traveling driving by the driver.
According to the automatic travel control device of the fifth aspect , when the driver's reaction is detected within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change, the vehicle speed is automatically returned to the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means. It is possible to quickly return to travel control.

According to the automatic travel control device 請 Motomeko 6, by giving a warning to the driver by the alarm device when there is no reaction even if the driver by changing the vehicle speed, it is possible to alert the driver.

According to the automatic travel control device of claim 7 , automatic travel control is performed in a state where the driver's attention is reduced by stopping the automatic travel control when there is no response from the driver even if the vehicle speed is changed. Can be resolved early.
According to the automatic travel control apparatus of the eighth aspect , since the driver's reaction is detected by the driver directly operating the switch, the driver's reaction can be reliably detected.

According to the automatic travel control device of the ninth aspect , by detecting the driver's reaction from the voice of the driver, the driver's reaction can be easily detected without the need for direct operation by the driver. it can.
According to the automatic travel control device of the tenth aspect , by detecting the driver's reaction by the accelerator operation, the driver's reaction can be easily detected without providing a new device or the like.

According to the automatic travel control device of claim 11, as the automatic travel control, when there is no preceding vehicle, the automatic travel control performs so-called auto-cruise control with a set vehicle speed set arbitrarily as a target vehicle speed. When there is a traveling vehicle, inter-vehicle distance maintenance control is performed with a vehicle speed that maintains the inter-vehicle distance at a predetermined distance as a target vehicle speed.
As a result, it is possible to confirm the proper relation of the driver to the driving even in the automatic traveling control having the automatic cruise function and the inter-vehicle distance maintaining function.

It is the block diagram which showed schematic structure of the automatic traveling control apparatus in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the driving | running | working monitoring confirmation control routine which automatic traveling ECU of the automatic traveling control apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention performs.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automatic travel control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, which will be described with reference to FIG.
An automatic travel ECU (electronic control unit) 1 shown in FIG. 1 is one of various ECUs mounted on a vehicle, and is a control device that performs automatic travel control. Here, the automatic travel control is control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed and travels the vehicle regardless of the operation of the driver. For example, as automatic travel control, ACC (Adaptive) is used to maintain the vehicle speed at a preset speed by engine output control or brake control, or to maintain the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle at a constant distance to control the vehicle speed and the distance between the vehicles. Cruise Control). Specifically, the automatic travel ECU 1 includes an input / output device (not shown), a storage device (ROM, RAM, nonvolatile RAM, etc.), a central processing unit (CPU), and the like.

  Various devices such as a vehicle speed sensor 2, a millimeter wave radar 4, an automatic traveling operation unit 6, an attention monitoring unit 8, a response switch 10, a microphone 12, and an accelerator opening sensor 14 are connected to the input side of the automatic traveling ECU 1. Yes. Various devices such as the engine 20, the transmission 22, the brake 24, and the alarm device 26 (attention means) are connected to the output side.

Specifically, the vehicle speed sensor 2 is a sensor that detects the vehicle speed of the host vehicle, and the millimeter wave radar 4 detects obstacles such as a preceding vehicle in front of the host vehicle using a millimeter wave band radio wave. This measures the relative distance and relative speed of the vehicle in front of the vehicle.
The automatic travel operation unit 6 is provided in the driver's seat, and the driver can set ON / OFF switching of automatic travel control and any vehicle speed and inter-vehicle time in the automatic travel control.

The attention monitoring unit 8 determines the level of the driver's driving attention by comprehensively judging from, for example, vehicle wobbling, driver's correction steering, winker operation, and the like.
The response switch 10 and the microphone 12 are respectively provided in the driver's seat. The response switch 10 is a switch that can be switched ON and OFF by a driver's pressing operation, and the microphone 12 detects sound in the vehicle. The accelerator opening sensor 14 detects the amount of accelerator depression by the driver.

  The response switch 10, the microphone 12, and the accelerator opening sensor 14 are means for detecting the driver's reaction (driver response detecting means). Since the response switch 10 detects the driver's reaction by the driver's direct operation, the driver's reaction can be reliably detected, and the microphone 12 is easy without the driver's direct operation or the like. The accelerator opening sensor 14 can easily detect the driver's reaction while using existing equipment. Further, as a driver's reaction to deceleration, the driver is highly likely to step on the accelerator, and the accelerator opening sensor 14 can detect the driver's response to deceleration early.

The engine 20, the transmission 22, and the brake 24 are main devices related to the traveling of the vehicle, respectively. The automatic traveling ECU 1 adjusts the output of the engine 20, the transmission gear speed of the transmission 22, the braking force by the brake 24, and the like. Control the running of the vehicle.
The alarm device 26 includes an indicator lamp displayed on a meter portion of the driver's seat and a speaker that emits a warning sound so as to visually give a warning to the driver.

Here, the internal configuration of the automatic travel ECU 1 will be described in detail.
1, the internal configuration of the automatic travel ECU 1 is conceptually shown. As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic travel ECU 1 includes a target vehicle speed setting unit 30 (target vehicle speed setting means) and a monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 (vehicle speed change). Means), a timer 34, and a driver reaction detector 36 (driver response detector).

The target vehicle speed setting unit 30 is operated by the automatic travel operation unit 6 such as vehicle speed information detected by the vehicle speed sensor 2, relative distance information and relative speed information from the preceding vehicle detected by the millimeter wave radar 4, and the like. ON / OFF information of automatic traveling control set by the user, information on the set vehicle speed and inter-vehicle time, and the like are input.
When the automatic traveling control is turned on by the automatic traveling operation unit 6, the target vehicle speed setting unit 30 is set by the driver in the automatic traveling operation unit 6 when no preceding vehicle is detected by the millimeter wave radar 4. The set vehicle speed is set as the target vehicle speed. When there is a preceding vehicle, control is performed as the target vehicle speed based on the inter-vehicle time selected by the driver in the automatic traveling operation unit 6. Then, the target vehicle speed setting unit 30 calculates an engine output, a shift gear stage, a braking force, and the like for achieving the target vehicle speed, and outputs these calculation results and target vehicle speed information to the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32.

The monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 includes information from the target vehicle speed setting unit 30, timing information by the timer 34, driver attention level information determined by the attention monitoring unit 8, and driver from the driver reaction detection unit 36. The reaction information of is input.
The monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 confirms whether or not the driver is properly involved in driving, that is, whether or not there is monitoring / supervision for the automatic driving control operation (hereinafter, referred to as “automatic driving control operation”). Is called driving monitoring). Specifically, the confirmation of the driver's driving monitoring is performed by running the vehicle at a driving monitoring confirmation vehicle speed that is decelerated by a predetermined speed from the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting unit 30. As described above, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 changes the vehicle speed based on the automatic traveling control during the automatic traveling control, and confirms an appropriate relation to the driving of the driver based on whether or not the driver notices this change. The degree of deceleration from the target vehicle speed is set in accordance with the attention level determined by the attention monitoring unit 8. For example, when the attention level is low, that is, when the driver is less conscious of driving. Considering that it is difficult for the driver to notice, the deceleration is large. Alternatively, the degree of deceleration may be set according to the vehicle speed. For example, it may be set such that the higher the vehicle speed, the greater the deceleration.

  Then, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 switches to the automatic traveling control based on the target vehicle speed again when the driver's reaction is detected by the driver reaction detection unit 36. On the other hand, if there is no response from the driver for a certain period after the start of the vehicle speed change, the alarm 26 is used to warn the driver to alert the driver, or the automatic driving control is forced. Control such as stopping. The monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 controls the engine 20 or the like as it is based on the engine output or the like input from the target vehicle speed setting unit 30 at a time other than the predetermined time for confirming the driving monitoring.

  The driver reaction detection unit 36 receives various information from the response switch 10, the microphone 12, and the accelerator opening sensor 14, and detects the driver's reaction from these information. That is, within a certain period after the start of deceleration of the target vehicle speed by the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32, the driver presses the response switch 10, the microphone 12 detects a predetermined utterance by the driver, the accelerator When the accelerator sensor detects depression of the accelerator by the opening sensor 14, it is output to the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 as a response from the driver.

The automatic travel ECU 1 configured as described above normally performs the automatic cruise control and the inter-vehicle distance maintenance control in the target vehicle speed setting unit 30 while periodically decelerating the vehicle speed by the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32, and the driver The reaction detection unit 36 confirms the proper relation of the driver to driving.
Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the automatic travel control device according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 shows a flowchart representing an operation monitoring confirmation control routine executed by the automatic traveling ECU of the automatic traveling control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The following description will be made along the same flowchart. The driving monitoring confirmation control routine shown in FIG. 2 is mainly executed in the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 of the automatic traveling ECU 1 at the same time as the automatic traveling control is started.

  As shown in FIG. 2, first in step S <b> 1, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 determines whether or not a first predetermined time for confirming the driving monitoring of the driver has elapsed. For example, the timer 34 measures the time from the start of the automatic travel control or the previous execution of the driving monitoring confirmation, and determines whether or not the time has passed a first predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes). If the determination result is false (No), step S1 is repeated again. If the first predetermined time has elapsed and the result is true (Yes), the process proceeds to the next step S2.

In step S <b> 2, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 acquires the attention determination level from the attention monitoring unit 8 and sets the vehicle speed for driving monitoring confirmation at a deceleration degree (for example, 10 km deceleration) corresponding to the attention determination level.
In the subsequent step S3, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 controls the engine 20, transmission 22, brake 24, or the like with the engine output, the shift gear stage, or the braking force, which is the set vehicle speed for driving monitoring confirmation. Run.

  In step S4, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 determines whether or not there is a driver's reaction to the deceleration. The driver's reaction is discriminated based on information from the driver reaction detector 36, that is, the response switch 10 is pressed, the driver's predetermined utterance is detected by the microphone 12, and the accelerator pedal is depressed by the accelerator opening sensor 14. The presence or absence of the driver's reaction is detected from the presence or absence of the vehicle. If the determination result is false (No), that is, if a driver reaction is detected, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 resets the time measurement of the first predetermined time by the timer 34, and returns the vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed based on the automatic travel control set by the target vehicle speed setting unit 30. And return to this routine.
On the other hand, if the determination result in step S4 is true (Yes), that is, if there is no driver reaction, the process proceeds to step S6.

  In step S6, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 determines whether or not the vehicle speed has been reduced until the vehicle speed reaches the driving monitoring confirmation vehicle speed. If the determination result is false (No), the process returns to step S3, and the driver's reaction is confirmed in step S4 while continuing to perform deceleration. On the other hand, if the determination result of step S6 is true (Yes), the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S7, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 resets the timer 34 to measure the time after reaching the driving monitoring confirmation vehicle speed, and proceeds to the next step S8.
In step S8, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 confirms the driver's reaction based on the information of the driver reaction detection unit 36 as in step S4. If the determination result is false (No), the process proceeds to step S5, the timer 34 is reset, the normal automatic travel control is resumed, and the routine is returned.

On the other hand, if the determination result of step S8 is true (Yes), the process proceeds to step S9.
In step S9, the timer 34 determines whether or not a second predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes) has elapsed. If the determination result is false (No), the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 returns to step S8 and confirms the driver's reaction.

On the other hand, if the determination result is true (Yes), that is, if there is still no response from the driver within a predetermined period of time until the vehicle monitoring confirmation vehicle speed is reduced to the second predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S10.
The second predetermined time is a predetermined time after the vehicle speed for driving monitoring confirmation is reached, and the fact that the driver does not react even after the second predetermined time has elapsed means that the driver falls asleep and is involved in driving. In step S10, the alarm device 26 issues a warning display and a warning sound, turns off the automatic travel control, and ends the routine.

  As described above, the automatic travel ECU 1 reduces the vehicle speed from the target vehicle speed based on the automatic travel control to the vehicle speed for driving monitoring confirmation every time the first predetermined time during the automatic travel control elapses. Confirm. When the driver's reaction is not detected before the second predetermined time elapses after starting the deceleration and reaching the driving monitoring confirmation vehicle speed, the automatic travel ECU 1 performs warning or automatic travel control by the alarm device 26. To stop and alert the driver.

  In this way, even during the automatic driving control where the driver does not directly drive, the vehicle speed is periodically deliberately reduced from the target vehicle speed based on the automatic driving control, and attention to driving is given. By checking the driver's reaction, it is possible to check the driver's driving monitoring. And when a driver | operator does not react for a predetermined period from the start of deceleration, a driver | operator can be concentrated on a driving | operation again by alerting a driver | operator.

On the other hand, when the driver's reaction is detected, it is possible to quickly return to the automatic travel control by returning the vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed.
In addition, the vehicle speed is changed to check the driver's driving monitoring. However, since the vehicle speed is changed to a lower vehicle speed than the target vehicle speed, it is confirmed that the driver is properly involved in driving while ensuring driving safety. can do.

Furthermore, by stopping the automatic traveling control when there is no reaction from the driver, it is possible to quickly eliminate the continued automatic traveling control in a state where the driver's attention is reduced.
From these things, the automatic travel control device according to an embodiment of the present invention can confirm the proper relation to the driving of the driver during the automatic driving, and can suppress the monitoring abandonment for the automatic driving of the driver. it can.

Although the description of the embodiment of the automatic travel control device according to the present invention is finished above, the embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment.
In the above embodiment, the monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit 32 confirms the driver's driving monitoring by setting the driving monitoring confirmation vehicle speed by decelerating the target vehicle speed by a predetermined speed. The speed may be increased by a predetermined speed from the target vehicle speed. Further, in the above embodiment, the degree of deceleration from the target vehicle speed is increased as the attention level is lower, but conversely, the driver's attention is reduced in order to increase the preventive effect against the decrease in the driver's attention. The higher the level of attention, the greater the degree of deceleration may be so that attention can be drawn at the initial stage.

  In the above embodiment, the alarm device 26 composed of an indicator lamp and a speaker is used as the alerting means. However, the alerting means is not limited to this, and for example, a device that generates vibration in the driver's seat is used. You may use.

1 Automatic travel ECU
2 Vehicle speed sensor 4 Millimeter wave radar 6 Automatic traveling operation unit 8 Attention monitoring unit 10 Response switch (driver response detection means)
12 Microphone (Driver reaction detection means)
14 Accelerator opening sensor (Driver reaction detection means)
20 Engine 22 Transmission 24 Brake 26 Alarm (attention means)
30 target vehicle speed setting unit (target vehicle speed setting means)
32 Monitoring presence / absence confirmation unit (vehicle speed changing means)
34 Timer 36 Driver reaction detection unit (driver response detection means)

Claims (11)

An automatic travel control device that performs automatic travel control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed,
Target vehicle speed setting means for setting a target vehicle speed in the automatic traveling control;
Attention monitoring means for determining the driving attention level of the driver;
At a predetermined time during the automatic traveling control, the vehicle speed is decelerated from the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means with a deceleration degree set according to the driving attention level determined by the attention monitoring means . Vehicle speed changing means,
Driver response detection means for detecting a driver's response to a change in vehicle speed by the vehicle speed change means;
An alerting means for alerting the driver when a driver's reaction is not detected by the driver response detection means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change;
An automatic travel control device comprising:   2. The automatic travel control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle speed changing means sets the degree of deceleration larger as the driving attention level determined by the focus monitoring means is lower. An automatic travel control device that performs automatic travel control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed,
Target vehicle speed setting means for setting a target vehicle speed in the automatic traveling control;
Vehicle speed changing means for decelerating the vehicle speed from the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means at a predetermined degree during the automatic traveling control with a degree of deceleration set according to the vehicle speed;
Driver response detection means for detecting a driver's response to a change in vehicle speed by the vehicle speed change means;
An alerting means for alerting the driver when a driver's reaction is not detected by the driver response detection means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change;
An automatic travel control device comprising:   4. The automatic travel control device according to claim 3, wherein the vehicle speed changing means sets the degree of deceleration larger as the vehicle speed is higher. The vehicle speed changing means returns the vehicle speed to the target vehicle speed set by the target vehicle speed setting means when a driver reaction is detected by the driver response detection means within a predetermined period from the start of the vehicle speed change. The automatic travel control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The alerting means, the automatic running control apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the alarm device that performs alert by issuing a warning to the driver 5. The automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the alerting means is an automatic travel control stopping unit that alerts the user by stopping the automatic travel control. The driver reaction detection means, an automatic running control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that by the driver's switch operation is a switch for detecting the reaction of the driver. The driver reaction detection means, an automatic running control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the emitted voice of the driver is a sound receiving means for detecting the reaction of the driver. The automatic driving control device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 , wherein the driver reaction detecting means is an accelerator operation detecting means for detecting a reaction of the driver by an accelerator operation by the driver. In the automatic traveling control, when there is no preceding vehicle, an arbitrarily set vehicle speed is set as the target vehicle speed, and when there is a preceding vehicle, an inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is predetermined. The automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , wherein the vehicle speed of the vehicle is adjusted by using a vehicle speed maintained at a distance as the target vehicle speed.

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