JP2012234312A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving support device capable of improving the reliability of a driving support.SOLUTION: A driving support device 1 acquires condition information on traffic conditions around its own vehicle M through a condition information acquisition unit 30, and in a system control unit 20, on the basis of the condition information acquired by the condition information acquisition unit 30, effects that would be obtained by performing a driving support in the own vehicle M are evaluated prior to the performance of a driving support, and a driving support of the own vehicle M is controlled on the basis of the evaluated effects.

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vehicle driving support device, for example, a device described in Patent Document 1 is known. In the driving support device described in Patent Literature 1, it is determined whether or not traveling of the host vehicle is a cause of the traffic jam based on the vehicle density with the preceding and following vehicles existing within a predetermined distance of the host vehicle. In the case of the cause, the driver is informed of the cause of the traffic jam, and driving assistance for improving the traffic flow is implemented.

JP 2009-286274 A

  By the way, it is conceivable that the driver who has received the notification that the own vehicle is causing the traffic jam increases the speed in order to eliminate the traffic jam. At this time, even if the speed is increased, the effect of driving support is hardly exhibited when the vehicle stops at a red light immediately ahead or at a crossing. Thus, if the improvement effect of the traffic flow by driving support is small, the driver may feel uncomfortable with respect to driving support.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device that can improve the reliability of driving support.

  In order to solve the above problem, the driving support device according to the present invention is based on the situation information acquisition means for acquiring the situation information on the traffic situation around the host vehicle, and the situation information acquired by the situation information acquisition means. An evaluation unit that evaluates the effect of performing driving support in the host vehicle before driving support, and a driving support control unit that controls driving support of the host vehicle based on the effect evaluated by the evaluation unit; It is characterized by providing.

  In this driving support device, the effect of performing driving support in the host vehicle is evaluated in advance, and driving support is performed based on the evaluated effect. That is, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to implement driving support depending on whether it is worth performing driving assistance, that is, whether or not there is a merit of driving assistance. Therefore, for example, when the driving assistance is performed and the vehicle stops at a red light, that is, when the effect of the driving assistance is low, the driving assistance is not performed. As a result, the driver's feeling of discomfort with respect to the driving assistance is reduced, so that the reliability of the driving assistance can be improved.

  When the effect evaluated by the evaluation unit is lower than a predetermined degree, the driving support control unit does not perform driving support related to improvement of the traffic volume. In this way, since the driving assistance is not performed when the effect of the driving assistance is lower than the predetermined degree, for example, by setting the predetermined degree as the case where the desired traffic volume is obtained or the fuel consumption is not deteriorated. In addition, the reliability of driving assistance can be further improved.

  When the effect is lower than a predetermined degree, the driving support control means preferably controls the acceleration and deceleration of the host vehicle to be within a predetermined range. If it does in this way, the influence which driving | running | working of the own vehicle has on the circumference | surroundings can be restrained to the minimum, and it can prevent making the traffic flow behind the own vehicle worse than the present state.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the reliability of driving assistance.

1 is a block diagram showing a driving support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the state from which the own vehicle is a bottleneck. It is a figure which shows one Embodiment of driving assistance. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a driving assistance device.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same or equivalent elements will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a driving assistance apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A driving support apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile (hereinafter referred to as “own vehicle”) and performs driving support in order to improve the traffic volume in the traveling lane.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the driving support device 1 includes an ITSECU (Intelligent Transport Systems Electronic Control Unit) 2. An ITS information receiver 3, a braking / driving ECU 4, and an information providing device 5 are connected to the ITS ECU 2. The ITSECU 2 is an electronic control unit including a CPU [Central Processing Unit], a ROM [Read Only Memory], a RAM [Random Access Memory], and the like.

  The ITS information receiver 3 communicates between the own vehicle M (see FIG. 2) and other vehicles in the vicinity by radio, and between the own vehicle M and a communication device (for example, a beacon) installed on the surrounding road. It is a communication device that performs inter-road communication.

  The ITS information receiver 3 includes a situation information acquisition unit (situation information acquisition unit) 30 that acquires situation information about the traffic situation around the host vehicle M, and an infrastructure information acquisition unit (situation information acquisition unit) 31. Yes.

  The situation information acquisition unit 30 performs vehicle-to-vehicle communication including vehicle information including position information indicating the position of the vehicle and speed information indicating the speed of the vehicle from vehicles traveling in front of and behind the host vehicle M as the situation information. get. Further, the vehicle information may include information related to the temporal change in the relative speed and relative acceleration with the preceding and subsequent vehicles, and the inter-vehicle distance with the preceding and subsequent vehicles. The situation information acquisition unit 30 outputs the acquired vehicle information to the ITSECU 2.

  The infrastructure information acquisition part 31 acquires the infrastructure information which is lighting information regarding lighting of the traffic light ahead of the own vehicle M as the situation information by performing inter-road communication. The lighting information related to the lighting of the traffic light ahead of the host vehicle M is, for example, information related to the lighting color of the nearest traffic signal ahead of the host vehicle M, the lighting time of the lighting color, the lighting cycle of the traffic light, and the like. In the present embodiment, lighting information related to lighting of a traffic light is described as infrastructure information. However, the infrastructure information may be, for example, railroad crossing opening / closing information (information linked to a railway schedule), accident information, or the like. The infrastructure information acquisition unit 31 outputs the acquired infrastructure information to the ITSECU 2.

  The ITS ECU 2 is an ECU that determines the status of the host vehicle M based on the vehicle information and the infrastructure information acquired by the ITS information receiver 3 and determines whether or not to provide driving support. The ITSECU 2 has a system control unit (evaluation means, driving support control means) 20.

  When the system control unit 20 receives the vehicle information output from the ITS information receiver 3, the system control unit 20 determines, based on the vehicle information, whether the host vehicle M is a traveling that affects the surroundings, that is, a so-called bottleneck. To do. Specifically, the system control unit 20 acquires speed information related to the speed of the host vehicle M from, for example, a vehicle speed sensor, and from the speed information in the vehicle information, the preceding vehicle (front vehicle group) traveling in front of the host vehicle. The average speed and the average speed of the following vehicle (rear vehicle group) traveling behind the host vehicle are obtained. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the system control unit 20 determines that the speed of the host vehicle M is different from the average speed of the preceding vehicles F1 and F2 (divergence) and the following vehicles R1 to R3. If the speed of the host vehicle M is close to the average speed, it is determined that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck. In addition, although it is preferable from a viewpoint of reliability that the speed of a preceding vehicle and a succeeding vehicle is an average value of two or more vehicles, the speed of the vehicle located before and behind the own vehicle M may be sufficient.

  When the system control unit 20 determines that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck, the system control unit 20 determines whether or not there is a merit of performing driving support (changing the traveling state of the host vehicle M). The merit mentioned here is the effect of implementing driving assistance. When the system control unit 20 receives the infrastructure information output from the ITS information receiver 3, based on the infrastructure information, the speed information and the position information of the host vehicle M, whether the effect of the driving support is lower than a predetermined degree. Judge whether or not. That is, the system control unit 20 evaluates the effect when the driving support that can be performed by the host vehicle M is performed based on the infrastructure information before the driving support is performed. Determine whether it is useful. The predetermined degree is the degree that the desired traffic volume is obtained and the driver does not feel uncomfortable. Is set. This is appropriately set based on experimental data or the like.

  For example, the system control unit 20 notifies the driver that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck, and when the host vehicle M increases the speed in response to the notification, the signal at the intersection ahead of the driver. Then, it is determined whether or not the host vehicle M is stopped by the red light and it is predicted that the fuel efficiency will not be deteriorated. In this case, when it is predicted that the fuel consumption will deteriorate, it is determined that the effect of the driving support is lower than a predetermined degree. That is, the system control unit 20 determines that there is no merit of driving support when the driving support causes deterioration of fuel consumption and causes a driver's demerit. On the other hand, when it is predicted that the fuel consumption will not be deteriorated, it is determined that the effect of the driving support is higher than a predetermined degree.

  When the system control unit 20 determines that the effect of driving support is higher than a predetermined degree, the system control unit 20 outputs a support instruction signal instructing execution of driving support to the braking / driving ECU 4 and / or the information providing device 5.

On the other hand, when the system control unit 20 determines that the effect of the driving support implementation is lower than a predetermined degree, the system control unit 20 permits the driver of the host vehicle M to travel at the current speed as shown in FIG. To do. Then, the system control unit 20 acquires the traffic flow information of the subsequent vehicle from the vehicle information, and calculates the acceleration / deceleration upper limit value β of the host vehicle M based on the traffic flow information of the subsequent vehicle. Specifically, the system control unit 20 calculates the upper limit value β based on the speed propagation prediction calculation process. The velocity propagation prediction calculation process is expressed by the following formula (1).

Here, the above formula shows that the following vehicle acceleration at time t + T is proportional to the relative speed at time t, where t is the current time. T and α are variables, and T is generally said to be about 0.8 seconds, and α is an amount that varies depending on the situation.

  The system control unit 20 calculates the acceleration / deceleration upper limit value β of the host vehicle M based on the equations (1) and (2). That is, the upper limit value β is an acceleration / deceleration that satisfies the condition (2), and is a value at which the traveling (behavior) of the subsequent vehicles R1 to R4 is stabilized by the traveling of the host vehicle M. The system control unit 20 outputs to the braking / driving ECU 4 and the information providing device 5 a support instruction signal instructing execution of driving support that achieves acceleration / deceleration within the calculated upper limit value β. That is, the system control unit 20 does not provide driving assistance for improving the traffic volume for the host vehicle M when it is determined that the effect of the driving assistance is lower than a predetermined degree.

  The braking / driving ECU 4 is an ECU that controls acceleration / deceleration of the host vehicle M. When the braking / driving ECU 4 receives the support instruction signal output from the ITSECU 2, the braking / driving ECU 4 controls the braking / driving according to the support instruction signal. Specifically, the braking / driving ECU 4 controls the accelerator actuator and the brake actuator, for example, to perform the automatic operation intervention of the accelerator / brake, and the input / output characteristics of the acceleration / deceleration with respect to the depression amount of the accelerator / brake. Or control.

  The information providing device 5 is a device that notifies the driver that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck. When the information providing apparatus 5 receives the support instruction signal output from the ITSECU 2, the information providing apparatus 5 notifies the driver or the like that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck. In addition, the information providing device 5 provides information that prompts the user to increase or decrease the speed of the host vehicle M. The information providing apparatus 5 may display information such as a monitor such as a navigation system or a meter display, or may notify information by voice from a speaker or a buzzer.

  Next, the operation of the driving assistance device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the driving support device.

  As shown in FIG. 4, first, status information (vehicle information) is acquired by the status information acquisition unit 30 of the ITS information receiver 3 (step S1). Next, it is determined by the system control unit 20 of the ITSECU 2 whether or not the own vehicle M is obstructing smooth traffic flow, that is, a bottleneck (step S2). If it is determined that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck, the process proceeds to step S3. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck, the process ends.

  In step S3, infrastructure information is acquired by the infrastructure information acquisition unit 31 of the ITS information receiver 3. Then, based on the vehicle information and the infrastructure information, the system control unit 20 of the ITSECU 2 determines whether or not there is a merit of performing driving support as described above (step S4). If it is determined that there is a merit of implementing driving support, the process proceeds to step S5. On the other hand, if it is not determined that there is a merit in implementing driving assistance, the process proceeds to step S6.

  In step S <b> 5, the information providing apparatus 5 notifies that the host vehicle M is a bottleneck, and driving support for the host vehicle M is performed by the braking / driving ECU 4 and / or the information providing apparatus 5. In step S6, based on the situation information behind the host vehicle M, the system control unit 20 of the ITSECU 2 calculates the acceleration / deceleration upper limit value β. Then, the braking / driving ECU 4 provides driving assistance for the host vehicle M so as to accelerate / decelerate the calculated upper limit value β (step S7).

  As described above, in the driving support device 1, the effect of performing driving support in the host vehicle M is evaluated in advance, and driving support is performed based on this effect. That is, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to implement driving support depending on whether it is worth performing driving assistance, that is, whether or not there is a merit of driving assistance. Therefore, even if driving support is performed, when driving is stopped at a red light, that is, when the effect of driving support is low, driving support is not performed. Thereby, it is possible to reduce the driver's feeling of discomfort with respect to driving support, and to improve the reliability of driving support.

  In addition, since the system control unit 20 does not perform driving support when the effect of driving support is lower than a predetermined level, the system control unit 20 sets a predetermined level when the desired traffic volume is obtained or when fuel consumption is not deteriorated. By doing so, the reliability with respect to driving assistance can be further improved.

  Further, the system control unit 20 performs control so that the acceleration and deceleration of the host vehicle M are within a predetermined range when the effect of the driving support is lower than a predetermined degree. If it does in this way, the influence which driving | running | working of the own vehicle M has on the circumference | surroundings can be restrained to the minimum, and it can prevent making the traffic flow behind the own vehicle M worse than the present state.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the braking / driving ECU 4 and the information providing device 5 are described as examples of driving assistance, but driving assistance may be other methods.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driving assistance device, 2 ... ITS ECU, 3 ... ITS information receiver, 20 ... System control part (evaluation means, driving assistance control means), 30 ... Status information acquisition part (situation information acquisition means), 31 ... Infrastructure information acquisition Means (status information acquisition means), M ... own vehicle.

Claims (3)

Status information acquisition means for acquiring status information about traffic conditions around the host vehicle;
Evaluation means for evaluating the effect of carrying out driving support in the host vehicle based on the situation information obtained by the situation information obtaining means before carrying out driving support;
Driving support control means for controlling driving support of the host vehicle based on the effect evaluated by the evaluation means;
A driving support apparatus comprising:   The driving support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving support control unit does not perform driving support related to the improvement of the traffic volume when the effect evaluated by the evaluation unit is lower than a predetermined degree. The driving support device according to claim 2, wherein the driving support control unit controls the acceleration and deceleration of the host vehicle to be within a predetermined range when the effect is lower than the predetermined degree.

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