CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-035212, filed on Feb. 28, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a driving support apparatus, and particularly relate to a driving support apparatus configured to support deceleration of a vehicle, for example, when a red light or the like is recognized.

2. Description of the Related Art

For a technology/technique used in this type of apparatus, for example, there is proposed a method of recognizing a traffic light by using a camera mounted on a vehicle and of calculating a distance from the vehicle to the traffic light on the basis of image data of the camera. In the method, in the case of a red light, a position at which the vehicle is to be stopped is determined in such a manner that the traffic light remains in a visual field area of the camera, and a driver of the vehicle is notified of the determined position, and automatic deceleration is further performed (refer to Japanese Translation of PCT International Application No. 2016-501408 (Patent Literature 1)).

The technology/technique disclosed in the Patent Literature 1 does not take into account measures to be taken if the red light is no longer recognized when the vehicle is automatically decelerated due to the red light, which is technically problematic.

In view of the aforementioned problems, it is therefore an object of embodiments of the present disclosure to provide a driving support apparatus that can appropriately perform a driving support, even if a target that requires deceleration of a host vehicle, such as, for example, a red light, is no longer recognized when supporting the deceleration of the host vehicle due to the recognition of the target.

The above object of embodiments of the present disclosure can be achieved by a driving support apparatus provided with: a recognizer configured to obtain information indicating a surrounding environment of a host vehicle, and configured to recognize a deceleration required target, which is a target that requires deceleration of the host vehicle; and a supporter configured to perform a driving support operation for supporting the deceleration of the host vehicle, on condition that the deceleration required target is recognized by said recognizer, wherein if a recognition situation, which is recognized by said recognizer, of the deceleration required target that causes the driving support operation to be performed becomes uncertain while performing the driving support operation, said supporter is configured to maintain a preceding operating state of the driving support operation, which is an operating state immediately before the recognition situation becomes uncertain.

