JP2012127861A - Vehicle travel support system, computer program, and vehicle travel support method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support travel so that a vehicle safely travels by considering a road surface condition on the road even when the vehicle is traveling at a place remote from the road of a bad road surface condition.SOLUTION: An acquisition part 21 of a probe vehicle 3a acquires operation information meaning that a safety device 10 is in operation including information about a road position and date and time. At a probe center 2, a collection part 22 collects environmental information about the environment affecting the road surface condition with respect to one or more road positions including information about date and time, and the environmental information is associated with the operation information and accumulated in a database 26 with the information about the road position and date and time as reference for association. When the environmental information about the prescribed road position is acquired, a determination part 23 searches the database 26 for the operation information associated with the environmental information and, when there is operation information associated, determines that the prescribed road position can be bad in road surface condition.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle travel support system that performs travel support for safely traveling a vehicle such as an automobile, a computer program for the vehicle travel support system, and a travel support method.

  In order to provide driving support for a vehicle such as an automobile, there is a travel route search device described in Patent Document 1, for example. In this device, the road position where the safety device such as the anti-lock brake system or the traction control system is operated and the number of times the safety device is operated at the road position are stored in the host vehicle, and the number of times of operation reaches a predetermined number of times. In the route search performed by the vehicle (in-vehicle navigation system), the priority is lowered for the road (road link) including the road position. This makes it possible to search for a route that avoids a road where the safety device is likely to operate.

  However, the device described in Patent Document 1 is not until the vehicle has passed the same road (road link) several times in the past and the safety device has been operated several times on the road in the past. Since the route is searched so as to avoid the road, it cannot be operated in the case of a road that passes for the first time.

  Therefore, Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus that can guide a vehicle to an effective route for safe driving even on a road that passes for the first time. In the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, the possibility of road surface freezing is determined when the route search is performed in winter, for example. When it is determined that there is a possibility of road surface freezing, a route that is effective for avoiding danger when the outside air temperature is equal to or lower than the freezing temperature and the number of over-operations of the safety device exceeds a predetermined number. Search again.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-186941 JP 2004-239739 A

  In the device described in Patent Document 2, when the vehicle is running, as described above, when the outside air temperature is equal to or lower than the freezing temperature, and the number of operating excesses of the safety device exceeds a predetermined number, risk avoidance is avoided. Therefore, since the effective route is re-searched, the driving support process for the safe driving is not executed unless the road surface is frozen. In other words, when the road surface of a certain road is frozen, when the road surface is still traveling away from the road, the road surface condition of the road cannot be taken into consideration, so the road surface at the destination is frozen. Is difficult to avoid in advance.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a vehicle travel support system, a computer program, and a vehicle program that can safely travel a vehicle in consideration of the road surface condition on the road even when the vehicle is traveling away from a road with a bad road surface condition. And it aims at providing a vehicle running support method.

(1) The present invention is a vehicle travel support system that performs travel support for a vehicle using information acquired from a vehicle equipped with a safety device that has a high probability of being activated when a road surface condition is bad. An acquisition unit that acquires operation information that means that the safety device has been operated, including information on the operated road position and date and time, environmental information about the environment that affects the road surface condition, and information on date and time A collection unit for collecting one or a plurality of road positions, a database for storing the environment information and the operation information in association with the road position and the date and time information as a reference for association, and a predetermined road position When the environmental information is acquired, the operation information associated with the environmental information is retrieved from the database, and there is the associated operation information. , Wherein the predetermined road position and a a determination unit may become located or poor potential poor road conditions.

According to the present invention, environmental information about the environment that affects the road surface condition is collected for one or a plurality of road positions, and this environmental information and operation information that means that the safety device has been operated are The date and time information is stored in the database as a reference for association.
(1-1) Environment information and operation information associated in this database are associated with the same time zone as a reference for association, that is, for example, environment information and morning time in the morning time zone When the operation information in the belt is associated with the database, environmental information about a predetermined road position away from the traveling position of the vehicle is acquired in the morning of one day (currently), and is associated with this environmental information. If the operating information is found from the database, this means that there is a track record of operating the safety device at this predetermined road position in the morning time zone. The determination unit determines (estimates) that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface state at the present time.
(1-2) Further, when the environment information and the operation information associated in the database are associated with a distant time zone as a reference for association, that is, for example, environmental information of a certain night and the next morning If the operation information associated with this environmental information is found from the database, the environmental information about a predetermined road position is obtained at night on a certain day. This means that there is a track record of operating the safety device on the next morning at the predetermined road position. According to the present invention, in this case, the determination unit is configured to perform the predetermined operation in the future (next morning). The road position is determined (predicted) that the road surface state may be deteriorated.

  As described above, when the environmental information about the distant road position is acquired, the current or future road surface state at the road position can be determined as described above. Therefore, information based on the determination result is transmitted to, for example, a vehicle that may travel on the road position, and if this is utilized, the vehicle travels or travels away from the road position. Even in this case, the vehicle can be safely driven in consideration of the road surface condition at the road position.

(2) Besides the environmental information about the environment in the time zone when the safety device is activated, the environmental information about the environment in the time zone before the time zone in which the safety device is activated is the operation information. The database is preferably stored in association.
According to this database, the operation of the safety device is effective when it is affected by the environment in a time zone before that other than the environment in the time zone in which the safety device is operated. For example, the road surface condition can be determined in consideration of the environment of the previous night in addition to the environment in the morning time zone of the day. That is, as in (1-2), it is possible to predict that the road surface state may deteriorate in a predetermined road position in the future.

(3) Further, the vehicle further includes a route search unit that searches for a route until the vehicle reaches the destination, and when the determination unit determines that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface state, The route search unit lowers the priority of the predetermined road position.
In this case, a route search that does not pass through a road position that may have a bad road surface condition is executed by the route search unit.

(4) In addition, in the case of (3), the information processing apparatus further includes an obtaining unit that obtains information about a road position where the road surface condition is constantly worsened, and the predetermined road position is poor in the road surface state by the determination unit. Even if it is determined that there is a possibility, the route search unit lowers the priority of the predetermined road position when the predetermined road position is a road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated. It is preferable not to process.
For example, in an area where there is a large amount of snowfall, there are many road positions where the road surface condition is constantly inferior. Therefore, if the route search unit keeps lowering the priority with respect to such road positions, it will hinder the route search. There is a risk of causing. However, as described above, by not performing the process of lowering the priority, it is possible to perform a normal route search in such an area where the amount of snowfall is large.

(5) Moreover, the said vehicle travel assistance system may be provided with the vehicle-mounted apparatus which acquires the information about the determination result by the said determination part, and alert | reports the said determination result to a driver.
In this case, if it is determined by the determination unit that there is a possibility that the predetermined road position has a bad road surface condition, the determination result can be notified to the driver by the in-vehicle device.

(6) In addition, in the case of (5), the information processing apparatus further includes an obtaining unit that obtains information about a road position where the road surface condition is steadily deteriorated, and the predetermined road position is poor in the road surface condition by the determination unit. Even if it is determined that there is a possibility, if the predetermined road position is a road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated, the in-vehicle device restricts notification of the determination result to the driver. Is preferred.
For example, in an area where there is a large amount of snowfall, there are many road positions where the road surface condition is constantly worsening, so the in-vehicle device is more frequently informed that the road surface condition may be bad, and the driver Can be bothersome for you. However, as described above, this can be prevented by limiting the notification of the determination result to the driver.

(7) Moreover, the computer program of this invention is for performing each function of the function part (acquisition part, collection part, and determination part) which comprises the said vehicle travel assistance system, The said vehicle travel support system, The same effect is obtained. Each step included in this computer program may be executed by a plurality of computers.
(8) Moreover, the vehicle travel support method of this invention is a method which the said vehicle travel support system performs, and there exists an effect similar to the said vehicle travel support system.

  According to the present invention, when the environmental information about the road position away from the current travel position of the vehicle is acquired, the road surface state at the road position can be determined, and information based on the determination result is, for example, If the vehicle is transmitted to a vehicle that may travel along the road position and is used, the vehicle can be safely considered in consideration of the road surface condition at the road position even if the vehicle is traveling away from the road position. It is possible to run the vehicle.

It is a whole block diagram which shows the probe information system which has a vehicle travel assistance system. (A) is explanatory drawing of environmental information, (b) is explanatory drawing of operation | movement information. It is explanatory drawing of a database. It is explanatory drawing of the construction method of a database. It is a flowchart explaining the function of a center computer. It is explanatory drawing in the case of performing vehicle travel assistance with respect to a probe vehicle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Overall system configuration]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a probe information system 1 having a vehicle travel support system. The probe information system 1 includes a probe center 2 that is an infrastructure-side device and an in-vehicle device 4 that is mounted on a large number of probe vehicles 3 (3a, 3b) traveling on a road. The vehicle travel support system has a function of performing travel support for safely traveling the probe vehicle 3 (3b).

The probe vehicle 3 includes a vehicle body 9 having a driver's boarding seat (not shown). The vehicle body 9 includes an engine, a brake device, a speed detector, and the like. An electronic control unit (ECU) 11 that controls each part of the vehicle 3 is mounted.
The ECU 11 performs control such as monitoring the operation of the safety device 10 in addition to engine drive control based on the accelerator operation of the driver, braking control based on the brake operation, and the like.

  The in-vehicle device 4 includes a display 19 and a speaker device 20 as a human interface for the driver, in addition to the in-vehicle computer 17 and the communication device 16 connected to the communication interface of the in-vehicle computer 17, and also includes GPS, DGPS, etc. A position detection unit 15 and a clock device 18 including a radio clock having a time correction function are connected to an interface of the in-vehicle computer 17.

  In addition, the probe vehicle 3 (3a) includes a safety device 10 that increases the probability that the probe vehicle 3 (3a) is activated when the road surface condition is poor, such as road surface freezing. The safety device 10 is danger avoiding means such as an antilock brake system (ABS) or a traction control system (TCS). For example, on a wet road surface after a rain or a frozen road surface, the probability that the safety device 10 is activated increases.

  As will be described later, when the safety device 10 operates when the probe vehicle 3a is traveling on a frozen road surface, for example, the probe vehicle 3a can acquire the information (operation information), and this information is The probe information D1 is transmitted to the probe center 2, and processing for driving support is executed in the probe center 2. In this embodiment, this travel support is executed not for the probe vehicle 3a that has transmitted the probe information D1, but for the other probe vehicle 3b. The probe vehicle 3a and the probe vehicle 3b have the same configuration, and are referred to as the probe vehicle 3 when the probe vehicles 3a and 3b are described together.

  The in-vehicle device 4 of each probe vehicle 3 includes the communication device 16 that is a communication interface capable of wirelessly communicating with the network 5 such as the Internet, various information received by the communication device 16, and information acquired by the probe vehicle 3 itself ( And an in-vehicle computer 17 for processing operation information and environment information (to be described later). The in-vehicle computer 17 includes a programmable computer having a CPU, a memory (RAM), and a storage device (ROM).

  The structure of the in-vehicle device 4 is not limited as long as it is mounted on the probe vehicle 3. For example, a dedicated in-vehicle terminal device that is provided in the probe vehicle 3 and has a communication function. Alternatively, the communication device 16 may be a mobile phone that is configured by connecting the mobile phone to the in-vehicle computer 17.

The in-vehicle device 4 (in-vehicle computer 17) of each probe vehicle 3 generates probe information D1 every predetermined time or every predetermined traveling distance, and includes its own vehicle ID in the probe information D1 in the network 5. Send.
The probe information D1 refers to information obtained in the probe vehicle 3 that actually travels on the road, and includes vehicle ID, vehicle position (position information), vehicle time (date information), vehicle speed (speed information), and the like. In addition to this, environmental information about the environment is also included. This environmental information is information indicating the environment on the currently traveling road, such as temperature and humidity. For this purpose, the probe vehicle 3 has a thermometer and a hygrometer. The vehicle time (date and time information) includes date and time in addition to time.

The probe center 2 includes a communication device 6 that is a communication interface connected to the network 5, and a center computer 7 that processes various information received by the communication device 6. The center computer 7 includes a programmable server computer having a CPU, a memory (RAM), and a storage device (ROM).
The probe center 2 can perform two-way communication with the in-vehicle device 4 of the probe vehicle 3 existing in the communication range of the network 5.

  The center computer 7 can acquire and collect the probe information D1 from each probe vehicle 3 received by the communication device 6 through the network 5. And the center computer 7 can produce | generate the traffic information D2 which consists of traffic conditions, a link travel time, etc. based on the probe information D1 collected for every vehicle ID, for example.

  Further, the center computer 7 performs a process of accumulating various types of information in the database 26 connected to the center computer 7 based on the acquired probe information D1 (particularly date information, position information, and environment information). Then, a process of determining (estimating / predicting) a road surface state at a predetermined road position is performed using the database 26 in which a large amount of information is stored. Further, the determination result is generated as determination information D3, and the traffic information D2 and the determination information D3 are transmitted to the network 5 by the communication device 6, and each probe vehicle 3 acquires the information D2 and D3, It can be used for vehicle driving support. The process based on the determination information D3 will be described later.

[Schematic configuration of vehicle driving support system]
In order for the vehicle travel support system to execute various processes, the support system includes an acquisition unit 21, a collection unit 22, a determination unit 23, a route search unit 24, and acquisition as function realizing means executed by the computer program. Part 25.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the in-vehicle device 4 includes the acquisition unit 21 as a function realizing unit executed by the computer program of the in-vehicle device 4 (in-vehicle computer 17), and the center computer 7 The function realizing means executed by the computer program of the computer 7 includes the collection unit 22, the determination unit 23, the route search unit 24, and the acquisition unit 25. In addition, arrangement | positioning of these function implementation | achievement means (function part) may be other than this, for example, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 4 may have the route search part 24. FIG.

[Configuration of in-vehicle device according to this embodiment]
The in-vehicle computer 17 stores a program that executes each predetermined function in a storage device, and includes the acquisition unit 21 as a functional unit that is executed by the program. The acquisition unit 21 has a function of acquiring “operation information”, which means that the safety device 10 mounted on the probe vehicle 3 has been operated, including information on the operated road position and date and time. The road position information is information indicating the road position (road link) where the safety device 10 is operated, and the date information is information indicating the date and time when the safety device 10 is operated.

For example, when traveling on a road, the road surface is frozen, and when the safety device 10 is activated, information indicating that the safety device 10 has been activated, position information regarding the position of the activated road, and time information regarding the time when the vehicle was activated The acquisition unit 21 acquires “operation information”.
Then, on the probe vehicle 3 side, the “operation information” acquired by the acquisition unit 21 is included in the probe information D1, and the probe information D1 is transmitted to the network 5 by the communication device 16.

[Configuration of Center Computer According to this Embodiment]
The center computer 7 stores a program for executing each predetermined function in a storage device, and includes the collection unit 22 and the determination unit 23 as functional units to be executed by the program. In the embodiment, the route search unit 24 and the acquisition unit 25 are included. Further, the probe center 2 includes the database 24, and stores “environment information” and “operation information” in association with each other using road position and time information as association criteria.

  When the communication device 6 receives the probe information D1 including “operation information” from the network 5, the collection unit 22 can acquire and collect “operation information”. Further, the collection unit 22 has a function of collecting “environment information” about an environment (such as temperature) that adversely affects the road surface condition, including information on date and time in the environment, for one or more road positions. is doing. As described above, “environment information” may be acquired from the probe vehicle 3, but may be acquired from another device. The other device is, for example, an observation device 8 provided at stations (regional weather stations) scattered in various places. In this case, in addition to the temperature, the weather such as rain / sunny, the amount of rainfall Information on snowfall can also be collected. From the observing station, together with the environmental information, information on the position of the observing station and date / time information on the observation date / time are acquired by the collection unit 22. Here, the position of the observation station is replaced with the position of a road existing nearby.

  Since the probe information D1 includes position information and time information, the probe center 2 side recognizes the road position and time when the safety device 10 is operated based on the “operation information”. In addition, based on the “environment information”, it is possible to recognize the road position having the environment that the environment information means and the time corresponding to the environment.

The collection unit 22 performs processing for associating and storing “operation information” and “environment information” in the database 26 connected to the center computer 7.
When the “environment information” for a predetermined road position is acquired, the determination unit 23 searches the database 26 for “operation information” associated with the “environment information”, and associates the “operation information” with the associated “operation information”. When the “information” is found, it is determined that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface condition or may become bad. The processing by the collection unit 22 and the determination unit 23 and the database 26 will be described later.

The route search unit 24 has a function of searching for a route until the probe vehicle 3 reaches the destination. That is, it is a function as a vehicle navigation system. The route search unit 24 can search for an optimal route from the departure point to the destination using a predetermined search logic, and can guide the optimal route as a search result by an image via the display 19 of the probe vehicle 3. . In the present embodiment, since the center computer 7 includes the route search unit 24, the search result (optimum route) is transmitted as search result information to the network 5, and the probe vehicle 3 acquires this information. The optimum route can be guided by an image via the display 19.
As a method for searching for the optimum route, there is a method for calculating a route that minimizes the link cost (for example, time) required when moving from the departure place to the destination. As this search logic, a conventionally known logic can be adopted, for example, Dijkstra method or potential method.

  The obtaining unit 25 has a function of obtaining information about a road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated. The obtaining unit 25 may be input by the administrator at the probe center 2 or may be obtained based on information from the weather station. The term “steady” may not be constant throughout the year, and may be constant throughout the season. For example, the obtaining unit 25 can obtain information (position information) about a road (road link) whose road surface freezes steadily (chronically) only in winter.

As described above, in order to perform the driving support method by the vehicle driving support system of the present invention in cooperation with the center computer 7 and the in-vehicle computer 17, the computer program for the driving support is stored in the center computer 7 and the in-vehicle computer 17. You can install each one. The computer program is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, and can be transferred. Further, the transfer of the program may be performed by downloading from a server stored so as to be downloadable via a network.
The procedure for driving support executed by each of the function realization means (functional units) will be described later.

[About database 26]
When the probe vehicle 3 and the observation device 8 of the observation station acquire “environment information”, the information is transmitted to the probe center 2 by radio (may be wired from the observation device 8). Then, the collection unit 22 of the center computer 7 collects this “environment information” and stores the information in the database 26.

  For example, it is assumed that “environment information” is acquired for the road position (reason link) A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the “environment information” is information indicating that the temperature is “−1 ° C.” and the weather is “fine”. Further, the “environment information” includes “road position A” as information on the position having this environment, and “February 1 AM 6:00” as date information. For road position A, “environmental information” is also acquired on February 3 and February 4, which are others. In addition, “environment information” is acquired for other roads (road positions B, C...), And the information is collected by the collection unit 22.

In addition, when the probe vehicle 3a (the acquisition unit 21 of the in-vehicle computer 17) acquires “operation information”, this information is included in the probe information D1 and transmitted to the probe center 2 side by radio. Are collected by the collection unit 22 of the center computer 7. Further, the information is accumulated in the database 26 by the collection unit 22.
For example, in the probe vehicle 3-1 traveling on the road position A, the safety device (ABS) 10 is activated, and the acquisition unit 21 of the probe vehicle 3-1 acquires “operation information”. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the “operation information” is information (ABS “ON”) indicating that the safety device 10 has been operated. In addition, “road position A” is included as information on the position where the safety device 10 is operated, and “February 1 AM 6:30” is included as information on the date and time when the safety device 10 is operated. In addition, “operation information” is acquired for other roads (road positions B, C...) And other probe vehicles 3-2 and 3-3, and these information are collected by the collection unit 22. Is done.

  Then, the collection unit 22 associates the “environment information” in FIG. 2A with the “operation information” in FIG. 2B by using the road position (position information) and date / time information as the association criteria. Accumulate in database 26. That is, based on FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), regarding the road position A, the temperature is −1 ° C. in the same time zone (morning time zone) on February 1, and the safety device 10 (ABS ) Is operating, the collecting unit 22 associates the “environment information” with the temperature “−1 ° C.” and the “operation information” with the ABS “ON” as shown in FIG. It is stored in the database 26 (association <1>). In this case, “environment information” and “operation information” are associated with each other with the same time zone as the reference for the same road position A.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 3, “environment information” and “operation information” are acquired at the same time zone on February 4 regarding road position B. The “operation information” is associated and stored in the database 26 (association <2>).
In associations <1> and <2>, “operation information” and “environment information” are associated one-to-one.
A specific example of processing performed by the determination unit 23 and the like using the information in the database 26 will be described later.

  Furthermore, as described above, the standard date and time for associating “environment information” and “operation information” is not only the same time zone on the same day, but also a distant time zone, for example, a predetermined time zone on a different day. (Association <3>). That is, as a predetermined time zone of different days, each time zone of two consecutive days, and according to FIG. 2 (a), regarding the road position C, “environment information” is obtained at 23:00 on February 3rd. “7 ° C., rain” has been acquired, and according to FIG. 2 (b), on the next day (the next morning) at 6:15 on February 4, the safety device is installed in the vehicle 3-3 at the same road position C. 10 is working. That is, at this road position C, if it rains on the previous night, the road surface condition is deteriorated the next morning (the road surface is frozen), and the safety device 10 is operating on the vehicle 3-3.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the collection unit 22 associates “road position C” as position information and “night on the first day” with “next morning” as date and time information. The “environment information” “7 ° C. (rain)” and the “operation information” ABS “ON” are associated with each other and stored in the database 26 (association <3>).

  Thus, in the database 26, in addition to the “environment information” about the environment in the time zone (for example, the morning time zone) when the safety device 10 is activated, the database 26 is more than the time zone (morning) in which the safety device 10 is activated. “Environmental information” regarding the environment (rainfall) in the previous time zone (the night before) is stored in association with “operation information”. According to such a database 26 associated based on different dates and times (distant time zones), it is possible to determine the road surface condition of the next day in consideration of the environment on that day (that night).

  That is, when the probe vehicle 3 is driven to the destination by the route passing the road position C on the morning of the next day, it rains at the road position C on the night before (the day). When the “environment information” meaning that is acquired, if the database 26 is searched, the “operation information” associated with the “environment information” is found at the road position C. The road position C can be determined (predicted) by the determination unit 23 if the road surface condition may deteriorate the next morning. Therefore, in this case, as will be described later, the priority of the road position C is lowered in the route search for the probe vehicle 3 for the next day driving, or the road surface condition of the road position C is deteriorated. Is notified.

  As described above, “environmental information” and “operation information” are associated with each other as follows: “When a certain road position is raining on the night of a certain day, the safety device 10 has been operated the next morning. The road surface of the road position may be frozen the next morning ”, but the association processing is automatically performed by teaching the center computer 7 of such knowledge. Executed.

  Another example will be described in the case where the standard date and time for associating the “environment information” with the “operation information” is a distant time zone (association <4>). According to FIG. 2A, “7 ° C., rain” is acquired as “environmental information” at 23:00 on February 3 regarding road position C. According to FIG. At 6:15 on February 4, the next day (next morning), the safety device 10 is operating in the vehicle 3-3 at the same road position C. In addition, “−2 ° C., clear” is acquired as “environment information” at 7:00 on February 4th. That is, at this road position C, if it rains at night and the temperature of the next morning is lowered, the road surface condition is deteriorated that morning (the road surface is frozen), and the vehicle 3-3 has a safety device. 10 is working.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the collection unit 22 associates “road position C” as position information and “second night on the second day in succession and morning on the second day” as date information. As a reference, “environment information” “7 ° C. (rain)” “−2 ° C. (clear)” and “operation information” ABS “ON” are associated and stored in the database 26 (association <4>). .

  Thus, in the database 26, in addition to “environment information” about the environment in the same time zone (for example, morning time zone) when the safety device 10 is activated, the database 26 includes the time zone (morning) when the safety device 10 is activated. “Environmental information” regarding the environment (rainfall) in the previous time zone (the night before that) is stored in association with the “operation information”. According to the database 26 associated based on such different dates and times (distant time zones), it is possible to determine the road surface state in consideration of the environment of the previous day in addition to the environment of the current day.

That is, when the probe vehicle 3 tries to travel to the destination by a route passing through the road position C one morning, it is raining at the road position C the night before, and this means “environment” When “information” has already been acquired, and “environment information” indicating that the morning temperature at the road position C is a temperature that may cause road surface freezing, the database 26 is searched. Then, since the “operation information” associated with the “environment information” is found at the road position C, the determination unit 23 determines that the road surface condition may be bad. Can do. Therefore, in this case, as will be described later, with respect to the probe vehicle 3, the priority of the road position C is lowered by route search, or the driver is notified that the road position C is in a poor road surface state.
As in the association <4>, the association between the “operation information” and the “environment information” may be one to multiple. That is, in this embodiment, two pieces of “environment information” are associated with one piece of “operation information”.

“Environmental information” and “operation information” are associated with each other as described above. “When a certain road position is raining on the previous night and the temperature in the next morning is a temperature that is likely to freeze the road surface, If there is a track record that the safety device 10 has been operated, the road surface of the road position may be frozen. ”This knowledge is taught to the center computer 7. Thus, the association process is automatically executed.
In each of the above explanations, the system focuses on the road positions A, B, and C (plural road positions), but the system may focus on only one road position (for example, only the road position A). Good.

[Vehicle driving support method]
In the vehicle travel support method executed by the vehicle travel support system having the above configuration, first, the database 26 (FIG. 3) needs to be constructed, and the method will be described with reference to FIG.

When the safety device 10 mounted on the probe vehicle 3a is activated on the traveling probe vehicle 3a (see FIG. 1) side, the acquisition unit 21 of the in-vehicle computer 7 means that the safety device 10 has been activated. “Operation information” is acquired (step S21).
As described above, the in-vehicle computer 7 is connected to the position detection unit 15 and the timepiece device 18, and acquires position information about the position of the currently traveling vehicle and date / time information of the current time (vehicle time). Is possible.

  Therefore, the acquisition unit 21 acquires position information and date / time information from the position detection unit 15 and the timepiece device 18 at the timing when the safety device 10 is operated. The acquisition unit 21 can acquire “operation information” by receiving a signal indicating that the safety device 10 has operated through the ECU 11. The acquisition unit 21 acquires the “operation information” including the road position (position information) on which the safety device 10 has been operated and date / time information (date / time information).

  This “operation information” is acquired in the probe vehicle 3a traveling in various places. Each probe vehicle 3a includes the acquired “operation information” in the probe information D1 and transmits it to the network 5 from the communication device 16 (step S22).

Apart from this, “environment information” about the environment at each road position (road link) is acquired (step S31). “Environmental information” is acquired by the probe vehicle 3a traveling in various places. The environmental information is information about the environment that affects the road surface condition, and for example, information about the temperature is acquired.
Then, each of the probe vehicles 3a traveling in various places includes “environment information” in the probe information D1 and transmits it to the network 5 (step S32). The “environment information” includes date and time information on the date and time in the environment, and position information on the road position in the environment.

Furthermore, the observation device 8 of the meteorological area meteorological station installed in each place can also acquire “environment information” (step S31). In this case, “environment information” about the environment at the road position (road link) adjacent to the observation station is acquired. The environment information is information about the environment that affects the road surface condition, and for example, information about temperature, weather, rainfall, and snowfall is acquired. These pieces of information are information that affects road surface freezing.
Then, the “environment information” is transmitted from the observation device 8 at each station to the probe center 2 side by wireless or wired (step S32). It may be transmitted via the network 5. This “environment information” includes date and time information on the date and time in the environment, and position information on the observation station (road position in the vicinity) that was the environment.

  On the probe center 2 side, the collection unit 22 of the center computer 7 collects the “environment information” and the “operation information” (step S3). Then, the collection unit 22 stores these “environment information” and “operation information” in the database 26 in association with each other using the road position and date / time information as a reference for association (step S4). The collection unit 22 performs association processing and updates the database 26 every time at least one of “environment information” and “operation information” is collected.

  As described above, “environment information” is collected from the probe vehicle 3a and the observation device 8 of the observation station by the collection unit 22 of the center computer 7 with respect to a large number of road positions (FIG. 2 (a)). From the probe vehicle 3a, “operation information” regarding a number of road positions is collected by the collection unit 22 (FIG. 2B). Then, the collection unit 22 performs the association process, and the database 26 shown in FIG. 3 is generated (step S4).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the functions of the center computer 7 for vehicle driving support. As described above, even after the database 26 is generated in step S4, the collection unit 22 is in a standby state waiting for “environment information” and “operation information” (step S5).

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram in the case of providing vehicle travel support to the probe vehicle 3b traveling on the road position A (road link A). In FIG. 6, a case where “environment information M1” is acquired by another probe vehicle 3a when another probe vehicle 3a travels on another road position B (road link B) will be described. The “environment information M1” is included in the probe information D1 and is transmitted from the probe vehicle 3a to the center computer 7 via the network 5.

When the collection unit 22 of the center computer 7 acquires the “environment information M1” (Yes in step S5 in FIG. 5), the determination unit 23 of the center computer 7 selects the “operation” associated with the “environment information M1”. Information "is searched from the database 26 (step S6).
This “environmental information M1” means, for example, that the temperature was 1 ° C. at 6:50 in the morning time zone at the road position B (road link B). In this case, according to the database 26 shown in FIG. 3 (association <2>), “operation information” corresponding to the content of the “environment information M1” is found (extracted). That is, at the road position B, the ABS has been operated in another probe vehicle in the same environment in the past (on February 4).

When the determination unit 23 finds the “operation information” associated with the “environment information M1” (Yes in step S7), the determination unit 23 may have a bad road surface state at the road position B (road link B). It is determined that there is a property (step S8). That is, in this embodiment, it is determined that there is a possibility of road surface freezing at the road position B (road link B).
On the other hand, when the associated “operation information” is not found (No in step S7), the process returns to step S5.

  When it is determined that there is a possibility of road surface freezing at the road position B (road link B), processing according to the determination result is executed by at least one of the route search unit 24 and the in-vehicle device 4 ( Step S9).

[Processing by the route search unit 24]
In the present embodiment (FIG. 1), the center computer 7 includes the route search unit 24 that searches for a route until the probe vehicle 3b (FIG. 6) reaches the destination, as described above. Therefore, since the determination unit 23 determines that the road position B (road link B) may have a bad road surface condition (Yes in step S7), the route search unit 24 determines that the road position B (road link) The route search is executed by lowering the priority for B). That is, when searching for the optimum route, the link cost of the road position B (road link B) is greatly increased so that the route including the road position B (road link B) does not become the minimum link cost.

The center computer 7 (route search unit 24) transmits the optimum route obtained by the search to the network 5 as search result information, and the probe vehicle 3b obtains this information to display the optimum route on the display 19. Can be guided by images.
Thus, not the route R1 (see FIG. 6) passing through the road position B (road link B) that may have a bad road surface condition, but the route R2 (see FIG. 6) that does not pass through the road position B (road link B). Reference) is searched by the route search unit 24, and based on this, the probe vehicle 3b can travel to the destination.

Moreover, in this embodiment (FIG. 1), the center computer 7 is provided with the acquisition part 25 which acquires the information about the road position where a road surface state becomes bad regularly as mentioned above.
In the present embodiment, in the probe center 2, when the administrator inputs information about the road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated to the center computer 7, the obtaining unit 25 can obtain the information. This is stored in the database 26 as additional information. For example, the area including the road position B (road link B) is an area where there is a large amount of snowfall, and if the road surface is constantly frozen in winter, the acquisition unit 25 may obtain the road position B (road link B). ) Has already acquired information that means that the road position (road link) is steadily deteriorated.

In this case, even if the determination unit 23 determines that the road surface B (road link B) may have a bad road surface state (step S8 in FIG. 5), the road position B (road link B) Since the road position is such that the road surface condition is steadily deteriorated, the route search unit 24 does not execute the process of lowering the priority of the road position B (road link B).
This is because, in areas where there is a lot of snowfall, there are many road positions where the road surface condition is constantly worsening. Therefore, if the priority of such road positions (road links) is lowered, it will hinder route search. However, as described above, by not performing the process of lowering the priority, a normal route search can be performed in such an area with a large amount of snowfall.

[Processing by in-vehicle device 4]
If the determination unit 23 determines that the road surface B (road link B) may have a bad road surface state as in step S8 of FIG. 5, the center computer 7 (determination unit 23) Information of the determination result is generated, and this information D4 is transmitted to the network 5.
In FIG. 6, determination result information D <b> 4 is acquired from the network 5 on the probe vehicle 3 b side. The in-vehicle computer 7 of the in-vehicle device 4 can guide the determination result information D4 through an image via the display 19. Further, the speaker device 20 can provide guidance by voice. Specifically, the road position B existing up to the destination notifies that the road surface state may be bad on one or both of the display 19 and the speaker device 20.
As a result, the driver of the probe vehicle 3b can reach the destination while avoiding the road position B.

Also in this case, in the present embodiment (FIG. 1), the center computer 7 includes the obtaining unit 25 that obtains information about the road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated. As in the above case, the obtaining unit 25 has already obtained information indicating that the road position B (road link B) is a road position (road link) where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated. Yes.
Therefore, even if it is determined by the determination unit 23 that the road position B (road link B) may have a bad road surface state (step S8), the road position B (road link B) is constantly on the road surface. Since it is a road position where a state gets worse, the vehicle-mounted apparatus 4 of the probe vehicle 3b heading to the destination restricts the notification of the determination result to the driver. That is, no notification is given.
As a result, in areas where there is a large amount of snowfall, there are many road positions where the road surface condition is steadily worsening, so the frequency with which the in-vehicle device 4 may notify that there is a possibility that the road surface condition is bad will increase. Although it may be troublesome for the driver, as described above, this can be prevented by restricting the notification of the determination result to the driver.

  According to the vehicle travel support method by the vehicle travel support system according to the above embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 6, a predetermined road position (far from the current travel position (road link A) of the probe vehicle 3 b ( When “environment information M1” for road link B) is acquired and “operation information” associated with this “environment information M1” is found from the database 26, this is the predetermined road position (road link). B) means that the safety device 10 has been operated, and the determination unit 23 of the center computer 7 determines that this predetermined road position (road link B) may have a bad road surface condition. be able to.

  Therefore, information based on the result of this determination (the result of optimal route search, the result of determination, etc.) is transmitted to, for example, the probe vehicle 3b that may travel on the road position (road link B). If used, the probe vehicle 3b can be used in consideration of the road surface condition at the road position (road link B) even when the vehicle is still traveling far away from the road position (road link B). It is possible to drive safely to the ground.

In each of the above embodiments, when the operation information related to the environmental information serving as input is searched based on the database storing the environment information and the operation information in association with each other, the road surface state Is not determined to be bad or possible.
However, as an application of this embodiment, in another road where similar environmental information is obtained, even if there is no operation information on the other road, there is a possibility that the road surface condition may be bad or worsen Can also be determined. That is, for example, when there is more than a certain amount of rainfall at midnight on the previous day and the temperature is below a predetermined value, there are a plurality of roads having operation information that the road surface condition in the early morning of that day is bad (the safety device has been activated). If present, another road that has the same environment (that is, another road with a certain amount of rainfall at midnight and the temperature has fallen below the specified temperature) Even if the operation information is not obtained on the road, in the early morning of the day, it can be determined that the road surface condition of the other road may be bad or may deteriorate.

The above-described embodiments are all illustrative and do not limit the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above embodiment but by the scope of claims for patent, and includes modifications within the scope equivalent to the configurations of the scope of claims for patent.
For example, the route search unit 24 may be included in the in-vehicle device 4. In addition, accumulation of environmental information in the database 26 may be performed when information is temporarily collected, but may be performed when, for example, it is statistically collected in one day.

3, 3a, 3b: probe vehicle, 4: on-vehicle device, 10: safety device, 21: acquisition unit, 22: collection unit, 23: determination unit, 24: route search unit, 25: acquisition unit, 26: database

Claims (8)

A vehicle travel support system that performs travel support for a vehicle using information acquired from a vehicle equipped with a safety device that has a high probability of being activated when a road surface condition is bad,
An acquisition unit for acquiring operation information that means that the safety device has been operated, including information on the road position and date and time of operation,
A collection unit that collects environmental information about the environment that affects the road surface condition for one or more road positions, including date and time information;
A database that stores the environmental information and the operation information in association with each other using the road position and the date and time information as a reference for association;
When the environmental information about a predetermined road position is acquired, the operation information associated with the environmental information is retrieved from the database, and when there is the associated operation information, the predetermined road position is in a road surface state. A determination unit that determines that there is a possibility of being bad or a possibility of becoming bad,
A vehicle travel support system comprising:   In addition to environmental information about the environment in the time zone when the safety device is activated, environmental information about the environment in the time zone prior to the time zone in which the safety device was activated is associated with the operation information, and the database is The vehicle travel support system according to claim 1 for storing. A route search unit for searching for a route until the vehicle reaches the destination;
The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the determination unit determines that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface state, the route search unit lowers the priority of the predetermined road position. Driving support system. It further comprises an obtaining unit for obtaining information on the road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated,
Even if it is determined by the determination unit that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface state, if the predetermined road position is a road position where the road surface state is constantly bad, The vehicle travel support system according to claim 3, wherein the route search unit does not perform a process of lowering the priority of the predetermined road position.   The vehicle travel support system according to any one of 1 to 4, further comprising an in-vehicle device that acquires information about a determination result by the determination unit and notifies the driver of the determination result. It further comprises an obtaining unit for obtaining information on the road position where the road surface condition is constantly deteriorated,
Even if it is determined by the determination unit that the predetermined road position may have a bad road surface state, if the predetermined road position is a road position where the road surface state is constantly bad, 6. The vehicle travel support system according to claim 5, wherein the in-vehicle device limits notification of the determination result to the driver. A computer program for causing a computer to execute a process of performing driving support for a vehicle using information acquired from a vehicle equipped with a safety device that has a high probability of being activated when a road surface condition is bad,
Obtaining operation information that means that the safety device has been activated, including information on the location and date and time of the operation;
Collecting environmental information about the environment affecting the road surface condition for one or more road positions including date and time information;
Storing the environment information and the operation information in a database in association with the road position and date and time information as a reference for association;
When the environmental information about a predetermined road position is acquired, the operation information associated with the environmental information is retrieved from the database, and when there is the associated operation information, the predetermined road position is in a road surface state. Determining that may be bad or possible, and
A computer program comprising: A vehicle travel support method for performing travel support on a vehicle using information acquired from a vehicle equipped with a safety device that has a high probability of being activated when a road surface condition is bad,
Acquire operation information that means that the safety device has been operated, including information on the road position and date and time of operation,
Collect environmental information about the environment that affects road surface conditions, including date and time information, for one or more road locations,
The environmental information and the operation information are stored in a database in association with the information on the road position and the date and time as a reference for association,
When the environmental information about a predetermined road position is acquired, the operation information associated with the environmental information is retrieved from the database, and when there is the associated operation information, the predetermined road position is in a road surface state. It is determined that there is a possibility that the vehicle is bad or there is a possibility that the vehicle will become bad.

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