JP2871717B2 - Travel control device for mobile vehicles - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a traveling control device for a mobile vehicle, and more particularly to an improvement in steering control in a so-called semi-autonomous mode in which a vehicle and its driver travel in cooperation. About.

(Description of the Related Art) For example, a travel control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-240307 calculates the position and direction of a moving body from an image obtained by an imaging means, and controls the traveling of the moving body. Things. The technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho-A 1-5 makes use of the conventional electromagnetic guideway, the optical tape, and the inaccuracy of travel control provided by the travel distance calculation method when performing autonomous travel control with an unmanned vehicle. Therefore, the technology of image processing is adopted.

On the other hand, complete autonomous driving control loses the freedom of man's steering, and thus poses a problem to the driver's sensitivity. Also,
Dangers may not be avoided if humans had complete control of the maneuver, as is currently the case. Therefore, a so-called semi-autonomous mode in which a vehicle and a driver run in cooperation with each other has been receiving attention.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional traveling control in the semi-autonomous mode, there is a main interest in delineating a range of the control by the driver and a range of the control of the device, and the vehicle and the driver cooperate. Although the cruise control is performed, the coordination is not organically combined or fused.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed to eliminate the disadvantages of the conventional example described above, and an object of the present invention is to control the balance of the force required for the steering operation so as to change according to the recognition result of the outside world, thereby achieving the steering. An object of the present invention is to propose a traveling control device for a mobile vehicle in which operation and traveling control are organically linked to each other to enhance safety.

(Means and Actions for Achieving the Object) The configuration of the traveling control device for a mobile vehicle of the present invention for achieving the above object includes a steering operated by a driver, and a steering force of the steering in the left-right direction. A steering force changing means for changing the steering force, a recognition means for recognizing the external world in the left and right direction of the own vehicle, and controlling the steering force changing means on the basis of a result of recognition of the external world by the recognition means. Control means for setting a difference in the steering force.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, the principle configuration of a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, this principle configuration is based on an operation unit (eg, steering or accelerator) operated by a driver and an operating force (eg, required steering force of a steering wheel, required depression force of an accelerator) of the driver. A change means for changing the drag from the operation unit, a recognition means for recognizing the outside world, and a control means for controlling the change means based on a recognition result by the recognition means are provided.

A specific embodiment in which the present invention is applied to traveling control of a passenger car will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the traveling control system of this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a camera which captures an image of the outside world. The camera 20 is mounted on the upper part of the vehicle. Reference numeral 21 denotes an image processing unit, which includes a frame memory (not shown) for storing an image captured therein, a binarizing circuit, and the like. twenty two
Is a recognition unit for recognizing the outside world by performing a predetermined process on the image captured in the frame memory. The knowledge base 28 is used for the outside world recognition.

23 is an acceleration / deceleration control unit, and 24 is a steering control unit. The control units 23 and 24 control the throttle actuator 26, the steering actuator 27, and the brake actuator 25 to perform travel control by control based on the recognition result by the recognition unit 22. That is, the acceleration / deceleration control unit 23
By controlling the depression force control actuator 29 based on the recognition result and the accelerator depression amount β, the force required for the driver to press the accelerator pedal 31 is controlled. Similarly, the steering control unit 24 controls the force required to turn the steering 27 by controlling the steering force control actuator 30 based on the recognition result and the steering wheel rotation angle θ. The depression force control actuator 29 and the steering force control actuator 30 can be realized by, for example, including a compliance device.

The feature of the traveling control of this embodiment is that the steering force F _S and the stepping force F _A change according to the following conditions (1) to (4).

: Where the car is running on the road,: If there is another car around the car,: If there is another car, in which direction with respect to the car,
How far is the distance?

Hereinafter, how the above is realized by referring to FIGS. 3A to 4C will be described.

3B to 3C are graphs of the control characteristics of the steering force control actuator 29 and the stepping force control actuator 30 when only the vehicle is traveling in the center of the road (FIG. 3A). In FIG. 3B, the operating force increases according to the rotation amount θ as the rotation angle increases.
The characteristic in the figure is that if the steering force is F _S With a slope of In other words, even by turning to either the left and right, even slope k ₀ connexion steering force is increased. This is because the vehicle is traveling in the center of the road, and since there is no other vehicle in the range that affects the traveling of the vehicle, the steering force is equal on both the left and right sides. . In Figure 3C, the accelerator depression amount β is increased, the repulsive force F _A is accordance connexion increases the proportionality constant m _0. That is, It is.

FIG. 4A shows a state in which the own vehicle is traveling toward the right side of the road and another vehicle is traveling on the left side of the own vehicle. 4B to 4C are graphs of control characteristics of the steering force control actuator 29 and the stepping force control actuator 30, respectively, when the own vehicle and the other vehicle are traveling on the same road.

In FIG. 4B, when turning the steering wheel to the right, that is, when △ θ> 0, the inclination is Where k ₁ is a constant such that k ₁ > k ₀ . That is, the steering force is greatly increased as compared with the state shown in FIG. 3A. This is because it is dangerous to turn the steering wheel to the right because the own vehicle is traveling on the right side of the road, so that a large force is required to turn the steering wheel to the right.

In FIG. 4B, when turning the steering wheel to the left, that is, when △ θ <0, the inclination is Where k ₂ is a constant that satisfies k ₀ <k ₂ <k ₁ . The reason for setting k ₀ <k ₂ is that another vehicle is running on the left side of the own vehicle. Also, k ₂ <
k ₁ as setting, to other vehicle is traveling in front of the vehicle, to move to the left, because the relatively low degree of risk than to move to the right. However, in some cases, the distances p _R and p _L from the own vehicle to the left and right roadsides,
In some cases, it is necessary to consider the distance r between the host vehicle and the other vehicle in the left-right direction. That is, if the vehicle is traveling further away from the right shoulder than shown in FIG. 4A, that is, if p _R > r, the characteristics shown in FIG. 4B are: k ₂ > k _It may be necessary to set it to ₁ .

In FIG. 4C, when the accelerator depression amount β increases,
As the repulsive force F _A is accordance connexion increases the proportionality constant m _1. That is, It is. Here, the constant m ₁ is m _1> m _0. The reason for this setting is that another vehicle exists in front of the own vehicle.

The constant m changes depending on the fact that there is another vehicle ahead of the own vehicle and how much the other vehicle is ahead of the own vehicle. That is, m is a function of the “existence of another vehicle” and the distance 1 to the other vehicle, together with the amount of depression β.

m = m (present, l, beta) Similarly, constant k for determining the steering force F _S is, the rotation angle theta, the distance p _R to the left and right channel end from the vehicle, and p _L, the vehicle and the other vehicle Is a function of the distance r in the left-right direction with respect to. That is, k = k (p, r, θ).

According to the embodiment described above, it is determined that the steering force F _S depends on where the vehicle is traveling on the road.
Changes. Specifically, the required steering force increases as the vehicle approaches the roadside or the center line.

: Acceleration force F _A and steering force F _S change depending on whether another vehicle exists around the own vehicle.

: If there is another car,
Further, the accelerator depression force F _A and the steering force F _S change depending on how far the distance is.

In the above-described embodiment, mainly, the control in which the steering force F _S and the accelerator depression force F _A are variably controlled has been described. In particular, for the F _A, it was allowed to change depending on whether there is another vehicle ahead. This is because vehicles are generally moving forward. The present invention can be applied to a case where the vehicle moves backward. In this case, if another vehicle behind exists, set to an accelerator depression force F _A is increased.

The present invention is also applicable to the depression force of the brake 25. In this case, if another vehicle behind exists, set to brake pedal depression force F _B is increased.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the traveling control device for a mobile vehicle of the present invention, the balance between the left and right forces required to operate the steering changes in accordance with the result of recognition of the outside world. The driving of the vehicle can be controlled safely and rationally in accordance with the conditions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment system to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C each show a state of traveling, and FIG. 3A shows the required steering force F _S in FIG. 3A, respectively.
FIG. 4A is a graph showing the characteristics of the required accelerator pedaling force F _A , FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state in which the own vehicle and another vehicle are traveling on the road, and FIGS. 4B and 4C are necessary in FIG. 4A. Steering force F _S
And is a graph showing characteristics required accelerator depression force F _A. In the figure, 20 ... camera, 21 ... image processing unit, 22 ... recognition unit, 23 ...
… Acceleration / deceleration control unit, 24 …… Steering control unit, 25 …… Brake,
26, throttle, 27, steering, 28, knowledge base, 29, depression force control actuator, 30, steering force control actuator, 31, accelerator pedal.

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Shoichi Maruya 3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Mazda Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-1-106200 (JP, A) JP-A-54-70529 (JP, a) JP Akira 59-119418 (JP, a) JitsuHiraku flat 1-154021 (JP, U) Tokuoyake Akira 39-2565 (JP, B1) (58 ) investigated the field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G08G 1/16

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A steering operated by a driver, a steering force changing means for changing respective steering forces of the steering in the left and right direction, and a recognition means for recognizing an external field in a left and right direction of the vehicle. A traveling control device for a mobile vehicle, comprising: control means for controlling the steering force changing means based on the recognition result of the outside world by the recognition means to set a difference in steering steering force in the left-right direction.