Description
Following is a sample of the information contained on this CD: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in general to a running control apparatus for a motor vehicle, and a method of controlling running of the vehicle, and more particularly to a technique for controlling deceleration of the vehicle during running control. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, a running control apparatus for an automobile which is equipped with a following distance control device has been developed and put into practical use, so as to enable the vehicle to follow or track a preceding vehicle, thereby to reduce the effort of the driver in a driving the automobile. The running control apparatus equipped with the following distance control device is adapted to detect a following distance between the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as subject vehicle) and the preceding vehicle, based on information obtained from a forward recognition sensor, such as a camera and a laser radar, and control the vehicle speed by adjusting the engine output, or the like, so that the following distance becomes equal to a predetermined target following distance. The subject vehicle follows or tracks the preceding vehicle at the speed controlled in this manner. Recently, there has been also proposed an apparatus that enables the subject vehicle to be decelerated by automatically actuating or operating a brake system when the preceding vehicle is decelerated, as disclosed in Japanese laid-open Patent Publication No. 7-65297. In the apparatus disclosed in the above-identified publication, the speed of the subject vehicle is automatically reduced, namely, brakes are automatically applied to the subject vehicle, even where the preceding vehicle is decelerated by a large degree. Although the subject vehicle may be completely automatically braked or decelerated in accordance with the deceleration degree of the preceding vehicle, the resulting braking state of the vehicle
