JP2005289213A - Speed limiting system for traveling vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a speed limiting system for a traveling vehicle capable of preventing the speed of a vehicle from exceeding the speed limit by setting an adequate value according to the kind of vehicles and the kind of roads to various kinds of vehicles passing on roads. <P>SOLUTION: The speed limit set at the present position is compared with the speed of an objective vehicle obtained by a speed measurement means while referring to the database in which speed limit information is accumulated based on present position information obtained by using a GPS (Global Positioning System). When the present speed of the objective vehicle exceeds the speed limit, a driving force generation means is limited, and a braking means is operated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly to vehicle traveling speed control using GPS (Global Positioning System).

  With the development of industry, traffic conditions have become complicated, and vehicles with different legal speed limits, such as large vehicles and small vehicles, are mixed. In order to ensure safety, a self-propelled vehicle such as an automobile has conventionally been provided with a speed limiter. These are self-regulations by automakers and are intended to protect the vehicle from overloading the vehicle, and the speed at which the limiter operates is far from the legal speed set for each route or lane. is there. Therefore, for large vehicles such as trucks, a speed limiter that assumes traveling on a highway is provided.

  While traveling, it may be too close to the front car. On the other hand, vehicles equipped with a device for ensuring (promoting) the distance between the vehicle and the front vehicle are also on the market. For example, when a vehicle with a lower speed than the host vehicle enters while driving at a constant speed, it is detected by the radar radiated from the front of the vehicle body and automatically decelerates to the same speed. As you move away at higher speeds, it will automatically accelerate to the set speed. (Non-patent document 1)

In order to grasp the traveling position of the own vehicle, it is common to use GPS. GPS is a system that knows the position and time by receiving signals from multiple (at least four) satellites. A technique for referring to map data from position information obtained by GPS and displaying the current position on a map has become common.
As for the technology related to imposing vehicle travel restrictions using GPS, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228667 limits automatic travel. The purpose is to set a restricted area around the important facilities and prevent the important facilities from entering (intruding) by automatic driving.
JP 2001-337724 A “Car Information Center” Mainichi INTERACTIVE, [Search March 5, 2004], Internet

  The form to be used and the potential risk vary depending on the type of vehicle. In order to ensure traffic safety, a speed limit must be set for each type of vehicle and for each road. A method of warning a vehicle with a speed detector on the side of the road and warning an overspeed vehicle with a lightning board can be seen on many roads. Speed restrictions are not necessary only on highways that are exclusive roads for automobiles, and safety should be more stringent on ordinary roads where light vehicles such as pedestrians and bicycles pass. In areas where the speed limit is set slower, such as a residential area, there may be a convexity on the road to limit the speed of the vehicle, but this is dangerous for motorcycles. In any case, compliance with the speed limit ultimately depends on the driver's morality.

  The positioning accuracy of GPS is more than a dozen meters in a single measurement, and the type of road can be determined from position information and map information even on a general road parallel to the expressway.

  However, even if such high-performance GPS-equipped equipment is installed in a car, it can be used for entertainment purposes such as searching for the route from the current location to the destination or searching for information about the current location of the vehicle. Many are not aware of traffic safety.

The present invention has been made as a method for solving the above problems. That is, a positioning means by GPS, a map information database in which map information is accumulated, a speed limit information database in which speed limit information for each route and each vehicle type is accumulated, a speed limit obtained from the speed limit information database, and a vehicle A traveling vehicle speed limiting system comprising means for comparing the current speed of the vehicle and power generating means for self-running is provided.
Furthermore, a traveling vehicle speed limiting system including means for updating the map information database to the latest information is provided.
In order to avoid danger, in a vehicle equipped with a speed limiting system for a traveling vehicle, deceleration, etc. are lit during the speed limiting operation by the speed limiting system.
Here, the means for limiting the generation of power is means for limiting energy supply to the propulsion device or braking means for reducing the vehicle speed.

  Travel exceeding the speed limit can be suppressed for each vehicle type and each road type. It is also possible to determine the direction of travel, and an alarm can be issued when an attempt is made to enter a road where entry is prohibited. It is possible to prevent an error in speed and direction of travel that can cause an accident.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the speed limiting system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, a vehicle 1 includes a GPS system 2, a speed limit information acquisition unit 3, a vehicle speed measurement unit 4, a fuel supply device 5, a propulsion device 6, a drive wheel 7, and a CPU 8. Information (radio waves) from the GPS satellite 11 is received by an antenna (not shown) of the GPS system 2 mounted on the vehicle. The current position of the vehicle 1 is measured by the GPS system 2 based on the received information (radio wave), and the speed limit information acquisition unit 3 refers to the speed limit information database 9 based on the obtained current position information, Get speed limit information. The speed limit information database 9 is located outside the vehicle and is disclosed so that it can be shared with other vehicles, and the speed limit information is centrally managed. The speed limit information database includes speed limit information for each route and each vehicle type, one-way information, and the like. In parallel, the GPS information is acquired by the CPU 8 from the map information database 10 in the GPS system 2. In many cases, the map information database 10 is installed outside the vehicle, but it may be present in the vehicle as long as the latest information is obtained. When the map information database 10 is mounted in a vehicle, the map information may be updated to the map information provided as needed to update the map information. When the map information database 10 is installed outside the vehicle, the map information database may be updated by communication with the map information database 10. The vehicle speed measuring means 4 measures the current speed of the vehicle 1. The CPU 8 compares the obtained speed limit at the current position and the current speed. If the current speed is equal to or higher than the speed limit, the fuel supply device 5 is restricted from fuel supply. The propulsion device 6 in which the fuel supply is limited is limited in generating propulsive force. For example, if the propulsion device 6 is an internal combustion engine, the speed of the host vehicle is limited by controlling the output of the internal combustion engine, that is, suppressing the increase in the rotational speed of the drive wheels 7 by controlling the fuel supply device. While comparing the current vehicle speed with the speed limit, if the vehicle speed is higher than the speed limit, the fuel supply restriction on the fuel supply device 5 is maintained, and the restriction is lifted if the vehicle speed falls below the speed limit. Like that. If the fuel supply limitation alone is insufficient, the braking means is activated.

  Thus, the vehicle equipped with the speed limiting system according to the present invention can be made to comply with the speed limit according to the route and the vehicle type.

  In addition, during the speed limit operation according to the present invention, the speed is reduced, so that the deceleration lamp of the vehicle may be turned on. By doing so, the intention of deceleration is displayed to the following vehicle, so safety can be ensured. Obviously, if the vehicle is equipped with an auxiliary reduction lamp, the auxiliary reduction lamp may be turned on.

  In the case where it is impossible to cope with the speed limitation alone, it is sufficient to provide means for alerting the driver. It is clear that visual means such as lamp lighting, auditory means such as buzzer operation, and tactile means such as operation of a seat belt pretensioner are effective as means.

  Map information and speed limit information always change according to time and weather. A means for updating the map information and the speed limit information to the latest one may be added to the speed limit system of the present invention. Map information and speed limit information can be collected and the database updated. For this purpose, of course, the map information database and the speed limit information database may be provided outside the vehicle so that necessary information can be referred to by communication means such as radio waves.

  As described above, an example of an automobile with an internal combustion engine having a fuel supply device as power generation means has been described. However, an electric vehicle is also possible, and the same effect can be obtained by replacing the propulsion device 6 with a motor and the fuel supply device 5 with electric power supply means. Obviously you get.

The speed limiting device according to the present invention will be described along the traveling state of the vehicle.
The driving state on the highway (101 and 102, 103 and 104) and the driving state on the ordinary road (111 and 113) can be discriminated by the function of the conventional GPS. The current position is grasped from the GPS and the map information database 10 according to each traveling state, and the speed limit at the current position read from the speed limit information database 9 is compared with the speed of the own vehicle measured by the vehicle speed measuring means 4. If the speed of the vehicle exceeds the speed limit, the speed limit is applied.

  In the driving state 151 (the route is changed from the highway 50 to the general road 61 via the interchange 55 and the driving state is changed from 101 to 112), the vehicle is set to decelerate to the speed limit at the interchange 55, and further to the driving state 112. The speed is set to be In the driving state 152 (the route is changed from the general road 61 to the highway 50 via the interchange 55 and the driving state is changed from 111 to 104), the vehicle is set to decelerate to the speed limit at the interchange 55. The speed limit is set so that Traveling at a speed that is not suitable for the type of route can be suppressed.

  When the route is changed from the general road 62 to the general road 63, the fuel supply device 5 is limited based on the information in the speed limit information database 3 so that the speed in the driving state 114 is changed to the speed in the driving state 116. . When trying to enter the general road 64 where the sign 71 (entrance prohibited in FIG. 2) is installed from the general road 62, it is determined from the road information stored in the map information database 10 that the entry is prohibited. It is possible to alert the driver that entry is prohibited and to avoid / suppress entry to the entry prohibited road.

  For travel of large vehicles on a highway, if there is a travel lane restriction such as a lane change from the travel lane 51 to the travel lane 52 (or a lane change from the travel lane 54 to the travel lane 53), the travel state 101 Although the acceleration to the traveling state 102 (or acceleration from the traveling state 104 to the traveling state 103) can be limited by the present invention, it cannot be limited until the lane change. Also in this case, dangerous actions can be suppressed by means for alerting the driver.

It is a figure explaining the Example of the speed limiting apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining the operation state in the road running of the speed limiting device concerning the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle 2 ... GPS system 3 ... Speed limit information reading means 4 ... Vehicle speed measuring means 5 ... Fuel supply device 6 ... Propulsion device 7 ... Drive wheel 8 ...・ CPU
9 ... Speed limit information database 10 ... Map information database 11 ... GPS satellite 50 ... Highway 51, 54 ... Driving lane 52, 53 ... Passing lane 55 ... Interchange 61 , 62, 63, 64 ... general road 71 ... road signs 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 101, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 151, 152 ... traveling state

Claims (4)

GPS positioning means;
A map information database in which map information is accumulated;
A speed limit information database in which speed limit information for each route and each vehicle type is accumulated;
Means for comparing the speed limit obtained from the speed limit information database with the current speed of the vehicle;
A speed limiting system for a traveling vehicle, characterized by comprising means for limiting power generation to power generating means for self-running.   2. The speed limiting system according to claim 1, further comprising means for updating the map information database to the latest information. A vehicle comprising the speed limiting system according to claim 1. 4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein a speed-reduction lamp is lit during operation of speed limit by the speed limit system.

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