JP2013020293A - Vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle control device capable of making the construction of a wide range infrastructure unnecessary, avoiding a scale increase in a system and coping with an unstable traveling state easy to occur when passing on a metallic structure on a road surface in advance.SOLUTION: When slip point information about the metallic structure on a road surface stored into a database is acquired on the basis of present position information about one's own vehicle, the one's own vehicle approaches the position of the metallic structure on a road surface and the metallic structure on a road is detected in front of the one's own vehicle in an acceleration traveling or a turning traveling state of the one's own vehicle, an engine torque control or a throttle control and a brake control are performed before the one's own vehicle passes on the metallic structure on a road, the acceleration of the one's own vehicle is controlled, a control for suppressing the occurrence of a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon is performed when the one's own vehicle passes on the metallic structure on a road, and the unstable state such as slip or spin is prevented.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that prevents a running vehicle from entering an unstable state such as slip or spin.

The automobile can be driven by friction between the rubber tire surface and the road surface. On the other hand, the friction coefficient μ on the road surface varies depending on the material constituting the road surface, the amount of water on the road surface, the temperature, and the like. When a vehicle travels on a road surface with such a slightly changing friction coefficient, if the road surface with a smaller friction coefficient than the previous friction coefficient, such as a normal asphalt road surface, changes to a frozen road surface with frozen water, The wheels run idle and the vehicle becomes unstable. In particular, when the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating or turning, the vehicle is unstable due to slipping or spinning.
Therefore, in order to avoid an unstable state of the traveling vehicle, the friction coefficient μ on the traveling road surface is detected by each vehicle as slipperiness information, and the detected slipperiness is detected. Collecting information and position information of each vehicle, creating road surface information of the road, delivering road surface information of the created road to other vehicles, receiving road surface information of the road in the other vehicles, There is one that avoids an unstable driving state such as slip or spin based on the received road surface information and improves the performance of driving control of the host vehicle (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-8198

Therefore, the conventional vehicle control device needs a system that collects and creates road surface information detected by each vehicle and distributes the created road surface information to other vehicles. There was a problem that the construction of infrastructure was required and the scale of the system increased.
In addition, when traveling on metal structures such as manholes or road metal structures such as road joints that are often found on concrete road surfaces such as expressways, slips, spins, etc. Although it is likely to become unstable, there has been a problem that it is not possible to cope with the state where traveling becomes unstable when traveling on a slippery road surface including a metal structure on the road surface.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and does not require the construction of a wide range of infrastructure, avoids an increase in the scale of the system, and travels easily when passing over a metal structure on the road surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control apparatus that can cope with a state where the vehicle becomes unstable in advance.

  The invention according to claim 1 is based on the database storing slip point information about the metal structure on the road surface including the manhole and the joint portion of the road, and the slip point information from the database based on the current position information of the own vehicle. Slip point information acquisition means for acquiring vehicle information, own vehicle information detection means for detecting own vehicle information including acceleration traveling and turning traveling of the own vehicle, and on a road surface for detecting the metal structure on the road surface in front of the own vehicle Slip point information is acquired by the metal structure detection means and the slip point information acquisition means, the host vehicle approaches the metal structure on the road surface of the acquired slip point information, and the host vehicle information detection means Accelerated traveling or turning traveling of the host vehicle information is detected, and the road surface metal structure detecting means When an on-surface metal structure is detected, the own vehicle controls acceleration of the own vehicle before the own vehicle passes over the on-road metal structure, and the own vehicle moves over the on-road metal structure. And control means for performing control to suppress the occurrence of a phenomenon that the traveling becomes unstable when passing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the slip point information about the metal structure on the road surface including the manhole and the road joint is stored in the database, and the slip point is determined from the database based on the current position information of the host vehicle. Information is obtained by slip point information obtaining means, own vehicle information including acceleration traveling and turning traveling of the own vehicle is detected by own vehicle information detecting means, and the metal structure on the road surface in front of the own vehicle is detected by metal on the road surface. Detected by the structure detection means, slip point information is acquired by the slip point information acquisition means, the host vehicle approaches the metal structure on the road surface of the acquired slip point information, the host vehicle information detection means Acceleration traveling or turning traveling of the vehicle information is detected, and the road surface metal structure detection means When the on-road metal structure is detected, the acceleration of the own vehicle is controlled before the own vehicle passes over the on-road metal structure. Since the control means is configured to control the occurrence of the phenomenon that the driving becomes unstable when passing over, it is possible to control a wide range of infrastructure such as equipment on the road and communication systems with other vehicles. Vehicle control that eliminates the need for construction, can avoid an increase in the scale of the system, and can cope in advance with a situation where traveling that tends to occur when passing over a metal structure on the road surface becomes unstable by acquiring the slip point information There is an effect that a device can be provided.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the slip point information includes identification information about the metal structure on the road surface, road information on which the metal structure on the road surface is provided, position information about the metal structure on the road surface, Since it is configured to include a layout diagram showing a planar layout relationship with respect to the road surface of the metal structure on the road surface, it is possible to obtain slip point information including the identification information, road information, position information, and layout map on the road surface. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a vehicle control device that can cope in advance with a state in which traveling that tends to occur when passing over a metal structure becomes unstable.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the road surface metal structure detecting means performs image processing on a video signal output from a camera that images the front of the host vehicle, and the road surface metal on the road surface in front of the host vehicle. A road surface on the road surface in front of the host vehicle based on a reflected wave that is reflected from the road surface in front of the vehicle when a structure is detected or a radio wave of a predetermined wavelength is irradiated from the radar device onto the road surface in front of the host vehicle. Since it is configured to detect the upper metal structure, it is not necessary to construct a wide range of infrastructure such as roadside equipment and communication systems with other vehicles, and it is possible to avoid an increase in the scale of the system. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a vehicle control device that can cope in advance with a state in which traveling that tends to occur when passing over is unstable.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, slip point information is not acquired by the slip point information acquiring means, acceleration driving or turning driving of the own vehicle information is detected by the own vehicle information detecting means, and the on-road surface metal structure detecting means is detected. When the metal structure on the road surface is detected by the control means, the control means controls the acceleration of the host vehicle before passing over the metal structure on the road surface, and the host vehicle controls the metal structure on the road surface. Since it is configured to control the occurrence of the phenomenon that the driving becomes unstable when passing through the road, even if slip point information is not acquired, it can be connected with equipment on the road and other vehicles. It is not necessary to construct a wide-ranging infrastructure such as a communication system, can avoid an increase in the scale of the system, and advance to a state where traveling that tends to occur when passing over metal structures on the road surface becomes unstable There is an effect capable of providing a corresponding possible vehicle control device.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle control apparatus which is embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the metal structure on a road surface which is a manhole determined from the image imaged with the camera in the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the metal structure on a road surface which is a joint part of the road determined from the image imaged with the camera in the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the slip point information made into the database of the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement | positioning figure of the slip point made into the database of the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The vehicle control device of this embodiment includes an acceleration sensor 1 (own vehicle information detection means), a navigation device (slip point information acquisition means) 2, a camera (road surface metal structure detection means) 3, a radar device (road surface metal). (Structure detection means) 4 and rain sensor 5, road surface metal structure determination means 6, 7, slip determination device (control device) 8, slip suppression control device (control device) 9, and database 21.
The acceleration sensor 1 detects acceleration that is a change in the traveling speed of the host vehicle and lateral turning acceleration when the host vehicle is turning.
The navigation device 2 includes a current position determination means for determining the current position of the host vehicle based on GPS signals received from a plurality of GPS satellites, and a metal structure (hereinafter referred to as a road surface) including a manhole and a joint portion of the road. A database 21 in which slip point information indicating the position of the metal structure on the road surface and the positional relationship with the road surface and map information for displaying a road map are stored. The slip point information includes slip point identification information (identification ID), road information for identifying the road where the slip point exists (for example, a central expressway as road information), and latitude and longitude indicating the position of the slip point. Information (for example, latitude and longitude information indicating the position of the slip point existing near the Chofu Interway on the Chuo Expressway), road surface position information indicating the planar arrangement relationship with the road surface (for example, near Chofu Interway on the Chuo Expressway) The layout diagram showing a planar layout relationship with respect to the road surface of the slip points present in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of slip point information in the database 21. Slip point identification information, road information indicating the road where the slip point exists, latitude and longitude information indicating the position of the slip point, slip A layout diagram showing a planar layout relationship of points with respect to the road surface is associated with each other in a database. The slip point information is associated with the map information.
FIG. 6 is a layout diagram illustrating an example of a slip point on a road surface. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 201 denotes a slip point which is a road joint.

Returning to FIG. 1, the camera 3 is an in-vehicle camera that captures an image of the front on the road surface of the host vehicle using light in a normal visible region, and is attached to a driver's cab near the center of the upper edge of the windshield, for example. An image of the road surface ahead of the vehicle is taken from above. The camera 3 has a zoom function that can enlarge an object that is difficult to distinguish from a distance when taking an image of the road surface ahead of the host vehicle.
The radar device 4 irradiates, for example, a microwave, a millimeter wave, or a laser wave on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle. It detects metal structures on the road surface including manholes and road joints existing on the road surface in front of the vehicle.
The rain amount sensor 5 is attached, for example, in the driver's cabin near the center of the upper edge of the windshield, and detects the amount of raindrops falling on the windshield and measures the amount of rain.
The road surface metal structure determination means 6 performs image processing on the video signal output by the camera 3 that images the road surface ahead of the host vehicle, and performs edge detection, pattern recognition, etc. on the image on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle. By performing the process, the metal structure on the road surface on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle is identified, and the identification result of the metal structure on the road surface is output.
The road surface metal structure judging means 7 obtains the characteristics unique to the road surface metal structure from the reflected waves reflected from the road surface when the road surface ahead of the host vehicle is irradiated with microwaves, millimeter waves or laser waves. By detecting, the metal structure on the road surface on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle is identified, and the identification result of the metal structure on the road surface is output.
The slip determination device 8 is a road on a road of a metal structure on the road surface corresponding to the travel speed change of the host vehicle, which is the host vehicle information output from the acceleration sensor 1, the turning acceleration, and the current position of the host vehicle output from the navigation device. Slip point information indicating the position of the road and the arrangement relationship with respect to the road surface, the identification result of the metal structure on the road surface with respect to the image taken by the camera 3 output from the road surface metal structure determination means 6, and the road surface metal structure determination means 7 Based on the identification result of the metal structure on the road surface obtained from the reflected wave reflected from the road surface in front of the host vehicle output from the vehicle, and further, the host vehicle detects the metal on the road surface based on the rainfall detected by the rainfall sensor 5. The possibility of occurrence of a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon (a phenomenon in which traveling becomes unstable) is determined when passing over a structure.
The slip suppression control device 9 determines whether a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon occurs when the host vehicle passes over a metal structure on the road surface. Strengthen or weaken the control to suppress the occurrence of The control of the slip suppression control device 9 includes, for example, control for adjusting the throttle opening for the throttle control unit 10, control for adjusting the engine output for the engine ECU 11, or control of the braking force for the brake control unit 12.
The slip determination device 8 and the slip suppression control device 9 are constituted by a microcomputer that is a vehicle control ECU that realizes the function of the vehicle control device.

Next, the operation of the inter-vehicle distance control apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The own vehicle is traveling on a highway at a predetermined speed, for example, and performs acceleration / deceleration operation or turning operation at a traveling speed as necessary.
The navigation device 2 receives GPS signals output from a plurality of GPS satellites with a GPS receiver, and determines and acquires the current position information of the host vehicle by the current position determination means. Subsequently, a slip point indicating the position on the road and the arrangement relationship with respect to the road surface of the metal structure on the road surface including the manhole and the joint portion of the road based on the acquired current position information of the own vehicle and the traveling direction of the own vehicle. Information and map information are read from the database 21. At this time, slip point information about a slip point existing within a radius of, for example, 1 km from the current position of the host vehicle is retrieved from the database 21 and read out.

  As a result, based on the slip point information on the slip point read from the database 21 and the map information corresponding to the current position of the host vehicle, the navigation device 2 displays the host vehicle on the monitor screen of the driver's seat of the host vehicle. Current position and a road map including the current position are displayed. In addition, slip points existing within a radius of 1 km from the current position of the vehicle are displayed on the road map. At this time, the navigation device 2 outputs the current position information and slip point information of the host vehicle to the slip determination device 8. As a result, the slip determination device 8 acquires current position information of the host vehicle (step S1). The slip determination device 8 determines whether or not slip point information has been acquired from the navigation device 2 (step S2). As a result, when slip point information is obtained, the distance between the slip point and the host vehicle is, for example, Based on the reference value of less than 20 m, it is determined from the current position of the host vehicle and the position information of the slip point whether the host vehicle is approaching the slip point (step S3). As a result, when the distance between the slip point and the host vehicle is less than 20 m, for example, the slip determination device 8 determines that the host vehicle is approaching the slip point, and subsequently the output of the acceleration sensor 1 and the traveling speed at this time It is determined whether the host vehicle is in an acceleration state from the change of (step S4). As a result, when it is determined that the host vehicle is accelerating, it is obtained from the determination result by the road surface metal structure determining means 6 for the video signal when the front of the host vehicle is captured by the camera 3 or the output of the radar device 4. The slip determination device 8 determines whether or not a metal structure on the road surface has been detected in front of the host vehicle based on the identification result of the road surface metal structure determination means 7 (step S6).

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a metal structure on the road surface that is a manhole determined from an image obtained by capturing the front of the host vehicle with the camera 3. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 101 denotes a metal structure on the road surface which is a manhole.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a metal structure on the road surface that is a joint portion of the road determined from an image obtained by capturing the front of the host vehicle with the camera 3. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 102 denotes a metal structure on the road surface which is a joint portion of the road.

Then, the slip determination device 8 determines the possibility of occurrence of a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon when the host vehicle passes through the metal structure on the road while accelerating. Further, the control for suppressing the occurrence of the slip phenomenon or the spin phenomenon is strengthened or weakened according to the possibility of the occurrence of the slip phenomenon or the spin phenomenon via the slip suppression control device 9. That is, a certain distance range centered on the position indicated by the slip point information, or a certain traveling time range, engine torque control or throttle control and brake control are performed to control the acceleration of the host vehicle (step S7).
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 that the host vehicle is traveling at a constant speed and has not accelerated, the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, it is determined whether the host vehicle is turning. In this turning traveling, it is determined whether the host vehicle is turning by detecting the lateral acceleration generated by turning when the vehicle is traveling along a sharply curved road surface. When the host vehicle is turning, the determination result by the determination unit 6 on the road surface metal structure for the video signal when the front of the host vehicle is imaged by the camera 3 or the metal on the road surface obtained from the output of the radar device 4 Based on the identification result of the structure determination means 7, the slip determination device 8 determines whether a metal structure on the road surface has been detected in front of the host vehicle (step S6).
Then, the slip determination device 8 determines the possibility of occurrence of a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon when the host vehicle travels on the road surface while turning.
And control which suppresses generation | occurrence | production of a slip phenomenon and a spin phenomenon according to the possibility that the said determined slip phenomenon and a spin phenomenon generate | occur | produce is performed via the slip suppression control apparatus 9 (step S7).
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S5 that the host vehicle is not turning, the host vehicle is traveling substantially linearly at a constant speed. The possibility of occurrence of the slip phenomenon or the spin phenomenon at this time is a smaller value than the possibility of occurrence of the slip phenomenon or the spin phenomenon when passing over the metal structure on the road surface in an accelerated or decelerated state. Therefore, there is no possibility of the occurrence of a slip phenomenon or a spin phenomenon, and it is determined that the driving is safe, and this flowchart is skipped.

In addition, when slip point information cannot be acquired from the navigation apparatus 2 in step S2, it progresses to step S4 from step S2, and the acceleration driving | running | working or turning driving | running | working of the own vehicle is determined. Then, when it is determined that the host vehicle is accelerating or turning, and the metal structure on the road surface is detected forward by the camera 3 or the radar device 4, the host vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface. In step S7 that follows, engine torque control or throttle control and brake control are performed, the acceleration of the host vehicle is controlled, and control for suppressing the occurrence of slip and spin phenomena is performed.

  When the control for suppressing the occurrence of the slip phenomenon or the spin phenomenon is strengthened or weakened via the slip suppression control device 9, the degree to which these controls are strengthened or weakened depends on the rainfall detected by the rain sensor 5. Thus, control may be performed so as to shift in the direction of strengthening as a whole.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the slip point information on the metal structure on the road surface that is stored in the database is acquired based on the current position information of the own vehicle, and the own vehicle is the metal structure on the road surface. When a metal structure on the road surface is detected in front of the host vehicle while approaching the position of the object and accelerating or turning, the engine torque control or throttle is performed before the host vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface. Control and brake control are performed, the acceleration of the host vehicle is controlled, and the control of suppressing the occurrence of the slip phenomenon and the spin phenomenon when the host vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface. Prevent a stable state. Therefore, it is not necessary to construct a wide range of infrastructure such as roadside equipment and communication systems with other vehicles, and it is possible to avoid an increase in the scale of the system. By acquiring the slip point information above the metal structure on the road surface There is an effect that it is possible to provide a vehicle control device capable of responding in advance to a state in which traveling that tends to occur when passing is unstable.

  In addition, according to this embodiment, even when slip point information about the road surface metal structure cannot be obtained, the road surface metal structure is ahead of the host vehicle in a situation where the host vehicle is accelerating or turning. When an object is detected, engine torque control or throttle control and brake control are performed before the host vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface to control the acceleration of the host vehicle. Control is performed to suppress the occurrence of slip and spin phenomena when passing through the vehicle to prevent unstable states such as slip and spin. Therefore, it is not necessary to construct a wide range of infrastructure such as roadside equipment and communication systems with other vehicles, the increase in the scale of the system can be avoided, and traveling that tends to occur when passing over metal structures on the road surface is not possible. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a vehicle control device that can cope with a stable state in advance.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Acceleration sensor (own vehicle information detection means) 2 ... Navigation apparatus (slip point information acquisition means) 3 ... Camera (road surface metal structure detection means) 4 ... Radar apparatus (road surface metal structure) (Object detection means), 6, 7... Metal structure determination means on road surface, 8... Slip determination device (control means), 9... Slip suppression control device (control means), 21.

Claims (4)

A database storing slip point information about metal structures on the road surface including manholes and road joints;
Slip point information acquisition means for acquiring slip point information from the database based on the current position information of the host vehicle;
Own vehicle information detecting means for detecting own vehicle information including acceleration traveling and turning traveling of the own vehicle;
A road surface metal structure detecting means for detecting the road surface metal structure ahead of the host vehicle;
Slip point information is acquired by the slip point information acquisition means, the host vehicle approaches a metal structure on the road surface of the acquired slip point information, and the host vehicle information detection unit detects accelerated traveling of the host vehicle information or When turning traveling is detected and the metal structure on the road surface is detected by the road surface metal structure detecting means, the acceleration of the vehicle is measured before the vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface. Control means for controlling and suppressing the occurrence of a phenomenon in which traveling becomes unstable when the host vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface;
A vehicle control device comprising:   The slip point information includes identification information about the metal structure on the road surface, road information where the metal structure on the road surface is provided, position information about the metal structure on the road surface, road surface of the metal structure on the road surface The vehicle control device according to claim 1, further comprising a layout diagram showing a planar layout relationship with respect to the vehicle.   The road surface metal structure detecting means performs image processing on a video signal output from a camera that images the front of the host vehicle, detects a metal structure on the road surface on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle, or has a predetermined wavelength. When a radio wave is irradiated onto the road surface in front of the host vehicle from a radar device, a metal structure on the road surface on the road surface in front of the host vehicle is detected based on a reflected wave reflected from the road surface in front of the host vehicle. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2. The control means includes
Slip point information is not acquired by the slip point information acquiring means, acceleration traveling or turning traveling of the own vehicle information is detected by the own vehicle information detecting means, and the metal structure on the road surface is detected by the metal structure detecting means on the road surface. When an object is detected, the acceleration of the own vehicle is controlled before the own vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface, and when the own vehicle passes over the metal structure on the road surface. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein control is performed to suppress the occurrence of a phenomenon in which traveling becomes unstable.

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