JP2013086632A - Vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle control device easily determining traveling environment such as a circuit road in order to make the control characteristics suited to a traveling road.SOLUTION: The vehicle control device, which can change the control characteristics being the relationship between input to a vehicle and the behavior shown by the vehicle according to the input, is composed to: store (step S3) the traveling track obtained by the traveling of the vehicle; determine (step S4) the traveling on the same traveling road based on the stored traveling track; and set (step S5) the control characteristics to the characteristics suited to the traveling road when the traveling on the same traveling road is determined.

Description

  The present invention relates to a control device that sets a control characteristic of a vehicle to a characteristic according to the traveling environment of the vehicle.

  The vehicle is a traveling body that shows a change in behavior such as acceleration and turning based on the driver's operation, and thus the behavior is based on the driver's operation. The relationship between the amount of operation of the actuator that realizes the operation as the behavior of the vehicle varies depending on the device that connects the operating device and the actuator. Such a relationship can be referred to as a control characteristic. For example, if the power characteristic that is the relationship between the accelerator operation amount and the power of the driving force source or the output torque is close to a proportional relationship, the accelerator operation Even when the amount is small, the power of the driving force source changes sensitively, and the behavior of the vehicle becomes agile. On the contrary, the power of the driving force source changes in a quadratic curve with respect to the accelerator operation amount. If so, in a region where the accelerator operation amount is small, the amount of change in the power of the driving force source is relatively small, and the behavior of the vehicle becomes so-called mild. This relationship, that is, the control characteristic is the same for the shift characteristic. Furthermore, if an upper limit is set for the vehicle speed and the rotational speed of the driving force source and the upper limit value is increased, the vehicle will have a so-called high-power characteristic. It becomes a vehicle without.

  Such control characteristics are determined at the vehicle design / manufacture stage. However, in vehicles equipped with electrical control devices, the control characteristics can be appropriately adjusted by changing parameters and gains for the control. Can be changed. For example, Patent Document 1 obtains a travel course (travel locus) of a vehicle based on the yaw rate and the vehicle speed, and based on the travel course, the vehicle speed, the rudder angle, the accelerator opening, and the brake depression amount. A device is described that is configured to estimate a driver's driving characteristics as a coefficient and automatically change the gain of the rear wheel steering amount based on the coefficient.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the position of the host vehicle is detected by GPS (Global Positioning System), road information corresponding to the position is obtained, and the rear wheel steering angle or the like is determined according to the type of the road on which the host vehicle is located. An apparatus configured to change the steering force assist amount is described. Further, in Patent Document 3, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is in the circuit based on the GPS signal, and if it is determined that the vehicle is in the circuit, the speed limit is released. On the contrary, a device is described that is configured to limit the speed when not entering the circuit.

JP-A-5-185947 JP-A-5-69848 JP 2010-167827 A

  The device described in Patent Document 1 utilizes the fact that the accelerator operation amount or the steering angle or the brake operation amount when entering or exiting the corner differs depending on the driving direction of the driver. The driving characteristic index is determined. In other words, so-called sports-oriented drivers have a characteristic that the vehicle speed is high until just before the corner, and the steering is large and quick, and a driver with strong luxury-oriented tendency tends to perform the opposite operation. There are characteristics such as. Therefore, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 obtains a driving characteristic index from a traveling course, a vehicle speed, a steering angle, and the like. However, the information that can be obtained is limited to the driving orientation of the driver, and since the running course (running locus) is obtained from the yaw rate and vehicle speed, the calculation itself is complicated, and in addition to this, the accelerator Since the calculation is performed by taking in the operation state such as the opening degree and the steering angle, the logic or calculation processing for switching or setting the control characteristics may be complicated.

  Moreover, since the apparatus described in patent document 2 and patent document 3 requires the positional information in GPS, it cannot apply to the vehicle which does not mount this kind of system. For example, a vehicle that is configured for the purpose of traveling on a circuit in addition to traveling on a general road has a strong tendency to reduce facilities other than traveling, so there are many cases in which GPS is not installed. The inventions described in Document 2 and Patent Document 3 cannot be applied to a vehicle that has a major purpose of traveling on such a circuit.

  This invention was made against the background of the above circumstances, without directly obtaining the position information or directly obtaining the road information based on the position information, the control characteristics are changed according to the driving situation at that time, Alternatively, it is an object to provide a vehicle control device that can be set.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a vehicle control device capable of changing a control characteristic that is a relationship between an input to a vehicle and a behavior exhibited by the vehicle in accordance with the input. The obtained travel locus is stored, and based on the stored travel locus, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the same travel route, and when the determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same travel route is established, the control is performed. The characteristic is that the characteristic is set to a characteristic suitable for the traveling road.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling route is configured based on repetition of the same or similar traveling locus. The vehicle control device.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling road is made by determining a traveling path shape prepared in advance and the traveling locus obtained by traveling the vehicle. It is a vehicle control device characterized by being compared.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention is the vehicle control device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the same travel path includes a circuit for the vehicle to travel around.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, it is determined that the driving orientation of the driver of the vehicle is a driving orientation in which the behavior of the vehicle is agile, and the same traveling path is determined. The control characteristic is configured to be set to a characteristic suitable for the traveling path when a determination that the vehicle is traveling and a determination that the vehicle behavior is agile is established. The vehicle control device.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the vehicle control device according to the fifth aspect, wherein the characteristic suitable for the travel path is a control characteristic that makes the behavior of the vehicle agile.

  According to the present invention, when the vehicle is traveling, the trajectory is sequentially stored, and the travel path on which the current travel path traveled immediately before, for example, by comparing the stored travel trajectory. It is determined whether or not the same. When the determination is satisfied, that is, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling road, the control characteristic of the vehicle is set to a control characteristic suitable for the current traveling road on which the vehicle is traveling repeatedly. Therefore, according to the present invention, the control characteristics are set depending on whether or not the current traveling road is the same as the road that was traveled immediately before, regardless of the current position of the vehicle and the road information about the current position. The calculation that is the basis for setting or changing the control characteristic may be the storage of the travel locus and the stored travel locus or a comparison of the data. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to simplify operations and devices required for setting or changing control characteristics.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 3, the current travel path that is repeatedly traveled is identified by comparing the travel path obtained by traveling with the travel path shape prepared in advance. The calculation or device can be further simplified, and moreover, the travel path can be specified or the control characteristics suitable for the travel path can be specified more accurately.

  The same travel path or a pre-prepared travel path shape may be a circuit for the vehicle to travel around. If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the circuit, the restriction on the vehicle speed is released. The control characteristics can be set so that the behavior of the vehicle body becomes agile, such as increasing the steering assist force, and further suppressing the sinking of the vehicle body by making the suspension so hard.

It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the control performed by the vehicle control apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the other example of the control performed by the vehicle control apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the vehicle which can be made into the control object of the vehicle control apparatus of this invention.

  The vehicle control apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to a specific example. The vehicle targeted by the present invention is configured such that the control characteristics can be changed to at least two types, more preferably steplessly changed. It is. The control characteristic is, in essence, the relationship between the input to the vehicle and the behavior of the vehicle or its change according to the input. Further, the input to the vehicle includes both an input by human operation and an external force such as a vibration transmitted to the vehicle from a traveling environment such as a road surface, the atmosphere, or rainfall as the vehicle travels. . Examples of the control characteristics include the relationship between the accelerator opening as input and the output or torque of the driving force source, the relationship between the vehicle speed or accelerator opening as input and the gear ratio, the steering angle or steering torque as input. And the relationship between the steering assist torque or the assist amount, the relationship between the determination result of the driving environment as the input and the vehicle speed limit, the relationship between the vibration from the road surface as the input and the vibration attenuation amount.

  The control for setting or changing the control characteristics is, for example, control for changing the throttle opening relative to the accelerator opening in a vehicle having a gasoline engine as a driving force source and an electronic throttle valve. If the opening changes in a quadratic curve, the vehicle behavior or driving torque changes slowly or mildly. On the contrary, the throttle opening and the accelerator opening are close to a proportional relationship. In this case, the change in driving torque becomes agile and so-called sporty. In addition, the control characteristics of the gear ratio will be explained. If the speed ratio is set to be relatively large even at high vehicle speed or high accelerator opening, the behavior of the vehicle becomes agile and so-called sporty driving is performed. In contrast to this, if the characteristic of setting a relatively small speed ratio is set, the agility of the behavior of the vehicle is lowered, and it is suitable for so-called mild or luxury driving. Furthermore, if the upper limit vehicle speed is limited or the upper limit vehicle speed is set to a relatively low vehicle speed, the agility of the vehicle behavior is limited, and conversely, if the upper limit vehicle speed limit control is canceled, the agile driving Is possible. Also, if the damping force of the suspension mechanism is weakened, the vehicle body will sink, but it will easily absorb the vibration, making it possible to run mildly or luxuriously. On the contrary, the damping force should be increased. In this case, the sinking of the vehicle body is reduced, so that it is suitable for so-called sporty driving. Furthermore, if the steering assist is increased, it is possible to make a large turn with a small steering, so that it is suitable for so-called sporty running, and on the contrary, although steering assist is performed, if the assist amount is reduced, Since the steering response is reduced, the agility of the behavior of the vehicle can be suppressed.

  The vehicle targeted by the present invention is further configured to be able to detect and store a travel locus. In the present invention, the travel locus is configured to be detected without using the above-described navigation system using GPS or the like. Since the amount of travel (travel distance) and travel direction of the vehicle can be obtained, for example, by integrating vehicle speed and yaw rate, the present invention obtains a travel locus based on those data and stores the travel locus. It is configured. Then, the control device according to the present invention is based on the stored travel locus, and the currently traveling road or the traveling road (hereinafter collectively referred to as a traveling road) It is comprised so that it may be determined whether it is the same with the prepared traveling path shape. More specifically, the travel time is divided into a predetermined length, and the travel trajectory during the time width is the same as the travel trajectory during a predetermined period retroactive from the current time point, or the travel path shape Is determined to be the same as the traveling locus that is converted into data and input to the storage device.

  An example of the travel locus to be determined in the present invention is a circuit made as a facility for a vehicle to travel around. When traveling on a circuit, it is normal to drive in a short time without waste, so the trajectory that the vehicle follows is almost constant, and the travel trajectory obtained by traveling is in units of one lap Will repeat. Therefore, when the vehicle goes around the circuit a plurality of times, the same trajectory exists in the stored travel trajectory, and it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling on the circuit by comparing these travel trajectories. .

  In addition, the shape of the circuit is determined for a predetermined purpose such as competition or running test, so there may be a part with a characteristic shape different from the normal road, and the overall shape is also the normal road May be different. Therefore, the travel trajectory obtained by traveling on the circuit and the shape of the travel path of the circuit prepared in advance are compared, and when they match or match within a predetermined error range, they are prepared in advance as data. It is possible to determine that the vehicle is traveling on the circuit that was on.

  In the present invention, when the travel path is determined in this way, control characteristics suitable for the travel path are set. One example thereof is an example in which a so-called circuit characteristic (circuit mode) is set when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a circuit as described above. In other words, since the circuit normally runs in a competition for speed, it is preferable to have control characteristics that can run at as high a speed as possible, and therefore, for example, the upper limit values such as the vehicle speed and the engine speed are canceled, In addition, the steering assist amount is increased so that the vehicle can turn quickly, the damping force of the shock absorber in the suspension mechanism is increased to suppress the sinking or rolling of the vehicle body, and the acceleration / deceleration response to accelerator operation is high. The power characteristic or the shift characteristic is set so that Such setting or changing of the control characteristics can be performed by processing such as changing the control gain or multiplying the control amount or the operation amount by a predetermined correction coefficient.

  A vehicle configured to perform the above control is a vehicle that accelerates / decelerates and turns by operating a predetermined operating device by a driver. Typical examples of the vehicle include an internal combustion engine and a motor as a driving force source. It is the car which was made. An example of this is shown in a block diagram in FIG. The vehicle 1 shown here is a vehicle having four wheels, that is, left and right front wheels 2 as steering wheels and left and right rear wheels 3 as drive wheels. Each of these four wheels 2 and 3 is a suspension mechanism 4. A vehicle body (not shown) is supported via The suspension mechanism 4 is the same as that conventionally known, and is mainly composed of a spring and a shock absorber (damper). FIG. 3 shows the shock absorber 5. The shock absorber 5 is configured to generate a buffering action by using the flow resistance of a fluid such as gas or liquid, and is configured to be able to change the flow resistance to an increase or decrease by an actuator such as a motor 6. That is, when the flow resistance is increased, the vehicle body is unlikely to sink, and the vehicle feels so hard that the comfort of the vehicle is reduced and the sporty feeling is increased. The vehicle height can be adjusted (height control) by supplying and discharging pressurized gas to and from these shock absorbers 5.

  The front and rear wheels 2 and 3 are each provided with a brake device (not shown). When the brake pedal 7 disposed in the driver's seat is depressed, each brake device operates to apply braking force to the front and rear wheels 2 and 3. Is configured to give.

  On the other hand, the driving force source of the vehicle 1 is a driving force source having a conventionally known configuration, such as an internal combustion engine, a motor, or a combination of these. FIG. 3 shows a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine (engine) 8, and an intake pipe 9 of the engine 8 is provided with a throttle valve 10 for controlling the intake air amount. The throttle valve 10 is configured as an electronic throttle valve, and is configured to be opened and closed by an electrically controlled actuator 11 such as a motor, and the opening degree is adjusted. . The actuator 11 operates in accordance with the depression amount of the accelerator pedal 12 arranged at the driver's seat, that is, the accelerator opening, and adjusts the throttle valve 10 to a predetermined opening (throttle opening).

  The relationship between the accelerator opening, which is the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 12, and the opening of the throttle valve 10 can be set as appropriate. The closer the relationship between the two, the stronger the so-called direct feeling and the more It feels good. On the other hand, if the control characteristic is set so that the throttle opening becomes relatively small with respect to the accelerator opening, the behavior or acceleration characteristic of the vehicle becomes a so-called mild feeling. When a motor is used as the driving force source, a current controller such as an inverter or a converter is provided in place of the throttle valve 10 to adjust the current according to the accelerator opening, and the current value relative to the accelerator opening. The relationship, that is, the behavior characteristic or the acceleration characteristic is appropriately changed.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, a transmission 13 is connected to the output side of the engine 8. The transmission 13 is configured to appropriately change the ratio between the input rotational speed and the output rotational speed, that is, the gear ratio. For example, a conventionally known stepped automatic transmission or belt-type continuously variable transmission is used. Or a toroidal continuously variable transmission. Therefore, the transmission 13 includes an actuator (not shown), and is configured to change the gear ratio stepwise (stepwise) or continuously by appropriately controlling the actuator. Note that the speed change control is basically performed so as to set a speed change ratio at which fuel efficiency is good. Specifically, a shift map in which the gear ratio is determined according to the vehicle state such as the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening is prepared in advance, and the shift control is executed according to the shift map, or the vehicle such as the vehicle speed and the accelerator opening is performed. The target output is calculated based on the state, the target engine speed is obtained from the target output and the optimum fuel consumption line, and the shift control is executed so that the target engine speed is obtained.

  A transmission mechanism such as a torque converter with a lock-up clutch can be provided between the engine 8 and the transmission 13 as necessary. The output shaft of the transmission 13 is connected to the rear wheel 3 via a differential gear 14 that is a final reduction gear.

  Further, the steering mechanism 15 that steers the front wheels 2 will be described. A steering linkage 17 is provided for transmitting the rotational operation of the steering wheel 16 to the left and right front wheels 2, and the assist assists the steering angle or steering force of the steering wheel 16. A mechanism 18 is provided. The assist mechanism 18 is configured to be able to adjust the assist amount by an actuator (not shown). Therefore, by reducing the assist amount, the steering angle and the actual turning angle of the front wheels 2 become close to a one-to-one relationship. The so-called direct feeling of steering increases, so that the behavioral characteristics of the vehicle become so-called sporty, and if the steering assist amount (assist force) is increased, the vehicle can be turned with a small steering force. It is configured to be sporty.

  Although not specifically illustrated, the vehicle 1 described above includes an anti-lock brake system (ABS), a traction control system, and a vehicle that integrates and controls these systems as a system for stabilizing behavior or posture. A stability control system (VSC) or the like is provided. These systems are conventionally known, and reduce the braking force applied to the wheels 2 and 3 based on the deviation between the vehicle body speed and the wheel speed, or apply the braking force. By controlling the engine torque, it is configured to prevent or suppress the locking and slipping of the wheels 2 and 3 to stabilize the behavior of the vehicle. In addition, a switch may be provided for manually selecting a driving mode such as a sports mode, a normal mode, and a low fuel consumption mode (eco mode), and a behavior such as climbing performance, acceleration performance, or turning ability is also provided. You may provide the four-wheel drive mechanism (4WD) which can change a characteristic. Furthermore, the upper limit value of the vehicle speed and the engine speed may be limited, and the limitation may be released.

  Various sensors are provided for obtaining data for controlling the engine 8, the transmission 13, the shock absorber 5 of the suspension mechanism 4, the assist mechanism 18, the above-described systems (not shown), and the like. For example, a wheel speed sensor 19 that detects the rotational speeds of the front and rear wheels 2 and 3, an accelerator opening sensor 20, a throttle opening sensor 21, an engine speed sensor 22, and an output speed of the transmission 13 are detected. An output rotation speed sensor 23, a steering angle sensor 24, a longitudinal acceleration sensor 25 for detecting longitudinal acceleration, a lateral acceleration sensor 26 for detecting lateral (left and right) acceleration (lateral acceleration), a yaw rate sensor 27, and the like are provided. . These sensors 19 to 27 are configured to transmit a detection signal (data) to an electronic control unit (ECU) 28, and the electronic control unit 28 stores those data, data stored in advance, and a program. The calculation result is output to each of the above-described systems or their actuators as a control command signal.

  An example of the control executed by the vehicle control apparatus according to the present invention is shown in the flowchart of FIG. The example shown here is an example in which the circuit travel is determined based on the travel trajectory and the control characteristics suitable for the circuit travel are set. The routine shown in FIG. 1 is repeatedly executed every predetermined short time. Is done. First, vehicle behavior history information is stored (step S1). This behavior history information is data indicating the behavior of the vehicle that occurs as the vehicle travels, and specifically includes yaw rate, lateral acceleration (lateral G), longitudinal acceleration (front and rear G), vehicle speed, and the like. Or these estimated values. The estimation can be performed based on the accelerator opening, the steering angle, the vehicle speed, the road gradient, and the like.

  In addition, sport running is determined (step S2). The determination of the sport driving is a determination of whether or not the vehicle is driven so as to show agile behavior. In the control example shown in FIG. 1, a driving operation that is not normally performed when driving in an urban area. This is done to determine whether or not The determination may be performed by various conventionally known methods. For example, the speed and frequency of the accelerator operation and the brake operation, the steering speed and the steering frequency, the magnitude of the longitudinal acceleration, or the combined acceleration of the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration. Sports running (sporty driving orientation) can be determined based on the size of the vehicle.

  If the determination in step S2 is affirmative, that is, if it is determined that the vehicle is being operated so that the behavior of the vehicle is agile, a travel locus is estimated or detected and stored (step S3). . In step S3, for example, the yaw rate, longitudinal acceleration, and lateral acceleration are integrated over time, and the amount of movement is obtained by multiplying this by the running time. Can be done by drawing. Next, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has passed the same trajectory as the travel trajectory thus obtained (step S4).

  In this determination, first, the current position of the vehicle at the above coordinates is obtained. This is possible by continuously obtaining the travel locus from the origin as described above. A match between the coordinate value of the current position and the already stored trajectory is determined by traveling, and when there is a match, determination of the identity of the trajectory is started. That is, it is determined whether or not the trajectories from the point where the current position matches the stored position on the travel trajectory are the same or whether the travel trajectories overlap. The determination of the trajectory identity or overlap is performed by comparing the travel trajectory after the above determination start point with the past or previous travel trajectory already stored, and the range of comparison is after the above determination start point. What is necessary is just to compare the data within the predetermined time. The predetermined time may be several tens of seconds (for example, about 30 to 60 seconds) as an example. In addition, the determination that the traveling trajectories are the same is made by determining whether or not the stored trajectory and the trajectory obtained this time are completely the same, and a range of deviation within about several meters. It is also possible to determine whether or not they are within the range, that is, whether or not they are similar. The circuit circuit is wide enough for several vehicles, and it is rare that the actual driving lanes coincide completely, and even if there is a deviation in the driving trajectory, the range of the circuit width is limited. This is because there is no change in running.

  If the determination in step S4 is affirmative, that is, if it is determined that the traveling locus is the same, the vehicle control characteristics are switched to the circuit mode (step S5), and then the routine of FIG. Once finished, go back to the start.

  The circuit mode is various control characteristics of the vehicle suitable for running on the circuit, and these control characteristics include driving force characteristics, speed change characteristics, steering characteristics, suspension characteristics, and the like. Values such as coefficients and control gains that determine these characteristics are determined in advance as values suitable for circuit running, and these values are prepared as a circuit mode as a unit. For example, in the circuit mode, the suspension characteristic is set to be so-called hard. As a specific example, in a variable suspension mechanism (AVS: Adaptive Variable Suspention), the number of steps is fixed to a harder number of damping characteristics. Further, the assist amount is set to the maximum for an electric power steering mechanism (EPS). In addition to this, the engine output characteristics with respect to the accelerator opening are set to characteristics that produce a relatively large output even with a small accelerator opening, and a large speed ratio is set to a characteristic that can be set even at high vehicle speeds. May be. On the other hand, in the normal mode (normal mode), the values that determine each characteristic are different from those in the circuit mode, and are determined to be suitable for driving on ordinary roads. Can be selected.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step S2 is negative, that is, if the determination of sport running is not established, the circuit mode described above is set to off (step S6), and then the routine of FIG. And return to the start. Therefore, in this case, the control characteristic is set to the normal mode (normal mode). In that case, the suspension characteristics are set so as to feel soft according to the condition of the road surface, and the steering characteristics require an operating force corresponding to the amount of steering when the steering force is large although the assist force works. It is suppressed to the assist force of the grade. In addition, the upper limit value of the vehicle speed and the engine speed is limited to a relatively low value, and the output of the driving force source is set to have a characteristic represented by a quadratic curve so as to decrease as the accelerator opening decreases. Furthermore, the speed ratio is set to be small according to the vehicle speed, and the characteristic is set such that the vehicle travels with good fuel efficiency.

  If the determination in step S4 is negative, that is, if it is not determined that the same trajectory has been passed, the routine shown in FIG. Mode is maintained.

  As described above, according to the control device according to the present invention configured to perform the control shown in FIG. 1, the environment in which the vehicle is traveling (specifically, based on the traveling locus obtained by actually traveling). Can determine the driving environment without using a control device that uses a position detection system such as GPS and road information in combination, and the control characteristics suitable for the driving environment can be set. Control characteristics suitable for the traveling environment can be set. In particular, it is possible to easily determine a circuit that is a circuit for a vehicle, and to automatically set driving force characteristics, steering characteristics, and the like suitable for circuit driving. Furthermore, since the traveling environment can be determined by storing (recording) the traveling locus and determining the identity of the traveling locus, the control logic and the arithmetic processing can be simplified.

  The control example shown in FIG. 1 described above is an example configured to determine whether or not the vehicle is traveling on the circuit by comparing the latest traveling locus with the traveling locus obtained in the past or immediately before. However, the travel trajectory to be compared with the latest travel trajectory may be prepared in advance at the manufacturing stage and input to the storage device other than the travel trajectory obtained by actually traveling immediately before. An example of this is shown in the flowchart of FIG. In the control example shown in FIG. 2, the control in step S4 in FIG. 1 described above is replaced with step S41 for determining whether or not the latest travel trajectory matches the course shape database. These are examples configured similarly to the control example shown in FIG.

  That is, in the control example shown in FIG. 2, when a travel locus is obtained (step S3), in step S41, first, the locus is calculated when the current coordinates of the calculated travel locus overlap with the already stored travel locus. Then, determination of coincidence of course shapes is started. Since the travel locus for at least one lap has been obtained at the start of the determination, a travel locus for that one lap, in other words, a course shape that matches the shape of the circulated road is prepared and input in advance. It is determined whether or not it is in the course shape database being set. When the determination is established and the determination result in step S41 becomes affirmative, the process proceeds to step S5 described above, and the circuit mode is set. Therefore, even when the control shown in FIG. 2 is executed, control using a position detection system such as GPS and road information together as in the case where the control shown in FIG. 1 is executed. The driving environment can be determined without using a device, and control characteristics suitable for the driving environment can be set. In particular, it is possible to easily determine a circuit that is a circuit for a vehicle, and to automatically set driving force characteristics, steering characteristics, and the like suitable for circuit driving. Furthermore, since the traveling environment can be determined by storing (recording) the traveling locus and determining the identity of the traveling locus, the control logic and the arithmetic processing can be simplified.

  The vehicle control apparatus according to the present invention may be configured to execute both the control illustrated in FIG. 1 and the control illustrated in FIG. In addition, the present invention is not limited to detecting or determining a circuit dedicated to a vehicle, but may be configured to determine the travel path when traveling on a general road, an expressway, or an automobile dedicated road. Furthermore, when the course shape database is used, instead of using the entire course shape as a reference for comparison, a characteristic shape of a part of the course may be used as a reference for comparison.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle, 4 ... Suspension mechanism, 5 ... Shock absorber, 8 ... Internal combustion engine (engine), 15 ... Steering mechanism, 18 ... Assist mechanism, 19 ... Wheel speed sensor, 20 ... Accelerator opening sensor, 21 ... Throttle opening DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 ... Engine speed sensor, 23 ... Output speed sensor, 24 ... Steering angle sensor, 25 ... Longitudinal acceleration sensor, 26 ... Lateral acceleration sensor, 27 ... Yaw rate sensor, 28 ... Electronic control unit (ECU).

Claims (6)

In a vehicle control device capable of changing a control characteristic that is a relationship between an input to a vehicle and a behavior exhibited by the vehicle according to the input,
The travel trajectory obtained by traveling the vehicle is stored, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the same travel path based on the stored travel trajectory, and the determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same travel path is established. In such a case, the vehicle control device is configured to set the control characteristic to a characteristic suitable for the traveling road.   The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling route is made based on repetition of the same or similar traveling locus.   2. The determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling route is performed by comparing a traveling route shape prepared in advance with the traveling locus obtained by traveling the vehicle. The vehicle control device described in 1.   The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the same travel path includes a circuit for the vehicle to travel around.   It is determined that the driving orientation of the driver of the vehicle is a driving orientation in which the behavior of the vehicle is agile, a determination that the vehicle is traveling on the same traveling path, and a driving orientation in which the behavior of the vehicle is agile. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the vehicle control device is configured to set the control characteristic to a characteristic suitable for the travel path when a certain determination is established.   The vehicle control device according to claim 5, wherein the characteristic suitable for the travel path is a control characteristic that makes the behavior of the vehicle agile.

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