JP6142718B2 - Driving support device and driving support method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device and a driving support method that are mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and that supports driving by a driver during automatic driving.

  Various driving support technologies have been developed for the purpose of reducing the driving load on the driver while ensuring safe driving of the vehicle. Further, for the purpose of further reducing the driving load on the driver, a technique for automatically driving the vehicle by, for example, following the preceding vehicle has also been proposed (Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-18872 A

However, the technology for automatically driving a vehicle has a problem that it is difficult to achieve both reduction of the driving load on the driver and ensuring of safe driving. This is due to the following reason.
First, even when the vehicle is driving automatically, there may be situations where the driver must be involved in driving in some way. For this reason, from the viewpoint of ensuring safe driving, it is necessary for the driver to maintain a certain level of consciousness even during automatic driving. However, during automatic driving, the driver's consciousness about driving tends to decrease, and therefore, when the driver has to be involved in driving, it is difficult to ensure safe driving. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and is a driving support technology that makes it possible to achieve both reduction of the driving load of the driver and ensuring of safe driving during automatic driving of the vehicle. For the purpose of provision.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the driving support apparatus and driving support method of the present invention detect the surrounding situation of the vehicle and execute automatic driving, and evaluate the surrounding situation from the viewpoint of difficulty of automatic driving. Furthermore, the time during which the vehicle is continuously continuously operated is integrated. Then, based on the evaluation result evaluated from the viewpoint of difficulty of automatic driving and the cumulative result of the time during which the vehicle is continuously automatically driven , the driver is warned about the control content of the automatic driving. A reminder notice is given.
In this way, the driver can be alerted only when he / she decides it is necessary according to the surrounding situation and the accumulated time of continuous automatic driving. It is possible to avoid getting used to the driver. As a result, it is possible to raise the driver's awareness of driving by calling attention as necessary even during automatic driving, so it is possible to reduce the driving load on the driver and ensure safe driving by automatic driving. It is possible to achieve both. In addition, if the time of automatic driving becomes longer, the driver's consciousness tends to move away from driving, so it is more appropriate to consider not only the surrounding conditions but also the influence of the accumulated time of automatic driving. It is possible to make a notice of alerting at the timing.
Alternatively, the driving support device and the driving support method of the present invention detect the surrounding situation of the vehicle and execute automatic driving, and evaluate the surrounding situation from the viewpoint of difficulty of automatic driving. Then, based on the evaluation result, a notice for alerting the driver to call attention to the control content of the automatic driving is given. Also, when performing the alert notification, it is determined whether or not a predetermined specific condition is satisfied, and if the specific condition is satisfied, after the alert notification is delayed, the notification is delayed. A reminder notice is given.
Even in this way, the driver can be alerted only when he / she decides it is necessary depending on the surrounding situation, so he / she gets used to the driver by making a reminder notice. Can be avoided. As a result, it is possible to raise the driver's awareness of driving by calling attention as necessary even during automatic driving, so it is possible to reduce the driving load on the driver and ensure safe driving by automatic driving. It is possible to achieve both. In addition, since the alert notification is not performed at the original timing, it is possible to prevent the driver from relying on the automatic driving or the alert notification. On the other hand, since the original alert notification is performed at a delayed timing, it is possible to prevent the driver from feeling distrusted in the automatic driving or alert notification.
It should be noted that when evaluating the surrounding situation from the viewpoint of difficulty in automatic driving, the degree of difficulty can be evaluated by quantifying the degree of difficulty, but more easily, a situation where automatic driving is difficult is set in advance. Alternatively, it may be determined only whether or not the surrounding situation corresponds to such a situation.

Moreover, in the driving assistance device of the present invention described above, it is also possible to detect the surrounding situation about at least one of the front and rear of the vehicle in the traveling direction, and issue a warning notice.
If the surrounding situation ahead of the direction of travel of the vehicle is detected, the driver can be alerted in advance. In addition, if the surrounding situation behind the direction of travel of the vehicle is detected, for example, when the rear vehicle is approaching rapidly, or when the distance between vehicles is short, the driver is notified in advance. Can do.

Further, in the above-described driving support device of the present invention, a consciousness state value representing the degree of the driver's consciousness state is detected, and a warning is generated based on the evaluation result of the surrounding situation and the detected consciousness state value. It may be determined whether or not notification is performed.
In this way, the driver's situation during automatic driving, such as when the driver feels sleepy, looks aside, or feels tired, can be taken into account, so a warning notice at a more appropriate timing It can be performed.

Moreover, in the driving assistance device of the present invention that performs the alerting notification in consideration of the driver's consciousness state value as described above, it may be determined whether or not the alerting notification is performed as follows. . First, the difficulty index value regarding the difficulty of automatic driving is acquired about the surrounding situation. Then, the driver's consciousness state value (necessary consciousness state value) is stored in advance in association with the difficulty index value, and the driver's consciousness state value is associated with the difficulty index value. When the state value is not satisfied, it may be determined that a notice of alerting is performed.
In the surrounding situation where automatic driving is easy, even if the driver's consciousness state value is low, it is considered that the need for alerting notification is low. On the other hand, in a surrounding situation where automatic driving is difficult, the driver's consciousness state value is required to be sufficiently high, so that the necessity of giving a warning notice increases. Therefore, if the driver's consciousness state value is less than the necessary consciousness state value, if it is determined that a notice of alert is to be issued, the appropriate timing will be set according to the difficulty of automatic driving and the driver's consciousness state value An alert notice can be made.

In addition, in the driving support device of the present invention that detects the consciousness state value as described above, the consciousness state value is improved by detecting the change in the consciousness state value due to the notice of alerting. If not, the driver may be encouraged to take a break.
When a notice of caution is given, the driver's consciousness state value is usually improved even if there is a difference in degree. Therefore, if the driver's consciousness state value is not improved even if the alerting notification is given, it is highly likely that the driver's consciousness is greatly reduced because the driver is tired. Therefore, in such a case, it is possible to ensure driving safety by notifying the driver of a break.
In addition, the case where the consciousness state value is not improved by the alerting notification can be a case where the improvement amount of the consciousness state value by the alerting notification is less than a certain value, or the consciousness state value is not at all. It can also be a case where it has not been improved.

Further, in the above-described driving support device of the present invention, when detecting a surrounding situation that affects at least one of acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle and steering operation, and when making a notice of alerting, it is determined according to the detected surrounding situation. It is good also as giving notice of contents.
In this way, the driver's consciousness can be directed toward driving the vehicle by performing the alerting notification. For this reason, even if a situation occurs in which the driver needs to be involved in driving during automatic driving, the driver can appropriately cope with the situation, so that safe driving can be ensured.

Further, as described above, in the driving support device of the present invention that performs the alerting notification of the content according to the surrounding situation, the content of the alerting notification is at least the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle or the steering operation according to the surrounding situation. Either of them may be a content that prompts the driver.
Acceleration / deceleration or steering operation of the vehicle is an operation that is directly related to the driving of the vehicle, so it is possible to effectively raise the driver's consciousness by driving a warning notice that prompts the driver to perform these operations It becomes.

Further, in the above-described driving support device of the present invention, even when the alert notification is necessary, the alert notification may be omitted when the predetermined condition is satisfied.
By doing so, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the driver thinks that “a reminder notification is performed under a necessary situation” and relies on automatic driving when the alert notification is not performed. The predetermined condition can be determined in advance as an arbitrary condition. For example, a random number is generated and the obtained random value is within a predetermined range.

As described above, in the driving support device of the present invention in which the alerting notification may be omitted, the history of the place that notified the alerting notification may be stored. And in the place where the history which notified the notice of alerting is memorized, even if the notice of alerting is required, the notice of alerting may be omitted when the predetermined condition is satisfied.
In this way, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the alert notification is performed many times at the same place, which is remembered by the driver, and the effect of the alert notification is reduced.

As described above, even in the driving support device of the present invention that may delay the alerting notification, the history of the location where the alerting notification is performed may be stored. And in the place where the history which notified the alerting notice is memorized, even if the alerting notice is necessary, the alerting notice may be delayed when the specific condition is satisfied.
In this way, it is possible to prevent the driver from being reminded many times at the same place and remembering it. In spite of this, it is possible to prevent the driver from feeling distrustful in automatic driving and alerting notices.

In the above-described driving support device of the present invention, the driver may be notified of the surrounding situation.
Since the surrounding situation is a situation related to the driving of the vehicle, the notification of the surrounding situation can naturally cause the driver's consciousness to be directed to driving the vehicle.

In the above-described driving support device of the present invention, the driver may be notified of at least one of vehicle acceleration / deceleration and steering operation performed by automatic driving.
Since acceleration / deceleration and steering operation of the vehicle directly affect driving of the vehicle, by notifying the driver of these, it becomes possible to direct the driver's interest to the contents of the control performed by the automatic driving.

In the above-described driving support device of the present invention, it is possible to detect surrounding vehicle information about a vehicle traveling around the host vehicle and notify the driver of the surrounding vehicle information.
The surrounding vehicle information can be, for example, the vehicle type or destination of the surrounding vehicle. If such information is notified, it becomes easy for the driver to be interested in the situation around the host vehicle, and as a result, the driver can be interested in driving.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the rough structure of the driving assistance apparatus 1 of a present Example. It is a flowchart of the first half part of the alerting notification process of a present Example. It is a flowchart of the latter half part of the alerting notification process of a present Example. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the required consciousness state value memorize | stored corresponding to the difficulty index value. It is a flowchart of a difficulty index value calculation process. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that the reference value of the difficulty index was set on the travel route from the home to the factory of work. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that the correction value of the difficulty index was set to the detailed map information. It is a flowchart of a notification mode determination process. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the content of the alerting notification memorize | stored with respect to the combination of the object of alerting and the grade of alerting.

Hereinafter, examples will be described in order to clarify the contents of the present invention described above.
A. Device configuration :
FIG. 1 shows a rough configuration of the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment includes a surrounding state detection unit 10, an automatic driving execution unit 20, a consciousness state value detection unit 30, a difficulty determination unit 40, a time integration unit 50, and a notification. Unit 60, storage unit 70, and the like.
These seven “parts” are abstract concepts in which the driving support device 1 is classified for convenience, mainly focusing on functions, and the entity includes various devices that constitute the driving support device 1, It is composed of electronic parts, computers, computer programs, or combinations thereof.

  The surrounding state detection unit 10 includes an in-vehicle camera 11 that captures an image around the host vehicle, a radar 12 that detects an obstacle or the like around the host vehicle, a GPS device 13 that detects the current position of the host vehicle, The navigation system 14 reads out map information based on the current position detected by the GPS device 13 or the destination set by the driver and presents it to the driver, or the external database 2 or the surrounding vehicle 3 traveling around the vehicle. An external communication device 15 that communicates wirelessly with each other is provided.

The automatic driving execution unit 20 is based on various surrounding situations detected by the surrounding situation detection unit 10 and controls a steering actuator 22 that steers a steering handle (not shown) of the host vehicle or an accelerator that drives an accelerator pedal (not shown) of the host vehicle. Automatic driving is performed by driving the actuator 24 and a brake actuator 26 that drives a brake pedal (not shown) of the host vehicle.
For example, when the destination is set in the navigation system 14 by the driver, the driving route indicated by the navigation system 14, the presence / absence and position of the surrounding vehicle 3 detected by the in-vehicle camera 11 and the radar 12, and the surrounding conditions such as the driving lane And operate the steering wheel, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, etc. Alternatively, when the driver is instructed to follow the vehicle ahead, the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal is set so that the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle traveling ahead detected by the in-vehicle camera 11 or the radar 12 is constant. While operating, automatic driving is performed by steering the steering wheel to follow the vehicle to be followed. Various known methods can be used as a method of determining the operation amount of the steering wheel, the accelerator pedal, the brake pedal, and the like based on the surrounding situation.

The consciousness state value detection unit 30 includes a near-infrared light LED 41 that irradiates near-infrared light toward the driver of the host vehicle, a near-infrared light camera 42 that captures a driver's face image using near-infrared light, The ECU 43 is provided. The ECU 43 controls the operation in which the near-infrared light LED 41 irradiates the driver with near-infrared light and shoots the driver's face image with the near-infrared light camera 42, and displays the obtained face image. By analyzing, the arousal level is detected as the driver's consciousness state value. Various well-known methods can be used as a method for the ECU 43 to detect the driver's arousal level. In the driving assistance apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the driver's arousal level may be detected using these methods.
During automatic driving, the driver leaves the driving to the automatic driving execution unit 20 and is immersed in things other than driving (for example, reading newspapers, reading documents, operating a computer). It can happen. In such a case, the situation is the same as when the driver is driving aside, so even if the driver's consciousness is clear, it is determined that the arousal level has decreased.
In addition, the driver's consciousness state can detect not only whether or not he / she is awake, but also vagueness, fatigue, instability, and feeling impatience. The detection unit 30 can also detect an index value representing the degree of these states as a consciousness state value.

  The difficulty determination unit 40 evaluates various surrounding situations detected by the surrounding situation detection unit 10 from the viewpoint of ease of automatic driving. For example, automatic driving is easier in a situation where there are few surrounding vehicles than in a situation where there are many vehicles around. In addition, automatic driving is easier in the suburbs where there are few obstacles and signals than in downtowns where there are many obstacles and signals such as buildings. Thus, the difficulty of automatic driving varies depending on the surrounding situation. The difficulty determination unit 40 receives the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit 10 from the automatic driving execution unit 20, and evaluates whether the surrounding situation is a situation suitable for automatic driving. The method by which the difficulty determination unit 40 evaluates the surrounding situation will be described in detail later.

In addition, the difficulty determination unit 40 not only evaluates the difficulty of automatic driving for the surrounding situation, but also receives information about the driver's consciousness state value from the consciousness state value detection unit 30 to alert the driver. It is determined whether notification is performed. As a result, when it is determined that the driver is notified of the alert, the notification unit 60 is used to notify the driver of the alert. The method by which the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether to notify the driver of alerting will be described in detail later.
Furthermore, the determination result by the difficulty determination unit 40 is fed back to the automatic driving execution unit 20, and the automatic driving result of the automatic driving execution unit 20 is determined again by the difficulty determination unit 40 and fed back to the automatic driving execution unit 20. . By doing this, it becomes possible to continue the automatic driving while maintaining the driver's consciousness state value (for example, the arousal level) during the automatic driving, thereby reducing the driving load on the driver and ensuring safe driving. It is possible to achieve both.
The difficulty determination unit 40 of this embodiment corresponds to the “peripheral situation evaluation unit” and the “determination unit” in the present invention.

The notification unit 60 includes a display device 61, a speaker 62 that outputs sound, and the like. The display device 61 can be a multi-function display provided in the center cluster, a head-up display that projects an image on a windshield or a combiner, and the like. When the notification unit 60 receives a command from the difficulty determination unit 40, the notification unit 60 reads out image data and audio data from the memory 71 of the storage unit 70, and outputs the data from the display device 61 or the speaker 62 to notify the driver of warning. Do. Note that the notification unit 60 is not limited to notification by sound or image, and may perform notification by other modes (for example, blowing by rotation of a blowing fan or vibration by a vibrator).
Moreover, the time integration unit 50 includes a timer counter 51, and integrates the time during which the automatic operation execution unit 20 continuously performs automatic operation. And according to the request | requirement from the difficulty determination part 40, integration time is output. For this reason, the difficulty determination part 40 can consider the integration time of automatic driving | running | working, when determining whether notification of alerting is performed to a driver | operator.

The driving support apparatus 1 of the present embodiment as described above can reduce the driving load on the driver by the automatic driving execution unit 20 performing automatic driving of the vehicle. However, during automatic driving, the driver's awareness of driving tends to decrease, so it is difficult to ensure safe driving when a situation occurs in which the driver must be involved in driving. Therefore, in the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment, the difficulty determination unit 40 evaluates the difficulty of automatic driving and notifies the driver of alerting only when necessary. In this way, unlike the case of repeatedly alerting the driver, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the driver's awareness of driving. As a result, it is possible to reduce both the driving load on the driver and ensure safe driving.
Below, the alerting notification process for the driving assistance apparatus 1 of a present Example to perform alerting notification with respect to a driver | operator is demonstrated in detail.

B. Alert notification processing:
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show a flowchart of the alert notification process performed in the driving support apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. This process is mainly executed by the difficulty determination unit 40 of the driving support device 1.
In the alert notification process, first, the surrounding situation of the host vehicle is acquired (S100). Here, the “peripheral situation” of the host vehicle is various information related to the traveling of the host vehicle. For example, the presence or position of a surrounding vehicle detected by the vehicle-mounted camera 11, the radar 12, or a sonar (not shown), the position of the traveling lane detected by the vehicle-mounted camera 11, ambient brightness, clear rain, or the current position detected by the GPS device 13 The route information presented by the navigation system 14, the traveling environment of the host vehicle, various information acquired from the external database 2 and the surrounding vehicle 3 via the external communication device 15, and the like. These pieces of information are acquired because the automatic driving execution unit 20 performs automatic driving, and the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires these pieces of information from the automatic driving execution unit 20.

  Then, the difficulty determination part 40 starts the process which calculates a difficulty index value based on the surrounding condition acquired from the automatic driving | operation execution part 20 (S200). Here, the “difficulty index value” is an index value for the surrounding situation evaluated from the viewpoint of ease of automatic driving (in other words, the control load on the automatic driving execution unit 20 during automatic driving). is there. Although a method for calculating the difficulty index value from the surrounding situation will be described later, the difficulty index value is a small value in the surrounding situation where automatic driving is easy, and a large value in the surrounding situation where automatic driving is difficult.

  Thereafter, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires a necessary consciousness state value corresponding to the difficulty index value (S102). Here, the “necessary consciousness state value” is as follows. First, the control load applied to the automatic driving execution unit 20 during the automatic driving changes according to the surrounding situation. For example, the automatic operation execution unit 20 can perform automatic operation with a margin in a peripheral situation with a small control load, but it is difficult for the automatic operation execution unit 20 to perform an automatic operation with a margin in a peripheral situation with a large control load. Thus, there is a possibility that the processing capability of the automatic operation execution unit 20 may be exceeded by some adjustment. Therefore, it is desirable to pay attention to the contents of the automatic driving performed by the automatic driving execution unit 20 in a surrounding situation where the control load on the automatic driving execution unit 20 is high, instead of leaving the driver to automatic driving. For this reason, it is necessary for the driver to maintain a certain level of consciousness state in accordance with the surrounding situation even during automatic driving. The necessary consciousness state value is a consciousness state value that should be maintained by the driver according to the surrounding situation during automatic driving.

In the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment, the necessary consciousness state value corresponding to the difficulty index value is stored in advance in the memory 71 of the storage unit 70. FIG. 4 illustrates necessary consciousness state values corresponding to the difficulty index values stored in the memory 71. As shown in the figure, the higher the difficulty index value, the higher the required consciousness state value, and the higher the difficulty index value is set to a value higher than a certain level, the necessary consciousness state value is set to be stuck to the upper limit value. ing. Conversely, when the difficulty index value decreases, the necessary consciousness state value also decreases, but when the necessary consciousness state value decreases to a certain value, the necessary consciousness state value does not decrease below that even if the difficulty index value decreases. Is set to
In S <b> 102 of the alert notification process shown in FIG. 2, the necessary consciousness state value corresponding to the difficulty index value calculated in the difficulty index value calculation process (S <b> 200) is acquired by referring to the memory 71.

  Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the driver's consciousness state value from the consciousness state value detection unit 30 (S104). As described above, the consciousness state value detection unit 30 detects the driver's consciousness state value (here, the arousal level) by analyzing the driver's face image captured using near-infrared light. Therefore, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the driver's consciousness state value from the consciousness state value detection unit 30. In addition, as a method of grasping the driver's consciousness state value, it is based on vehicle behavior such as steering operation, on-vehicle camera or radar is used to determine the stagger, and on the basis of a biosignal such as electrocardiogram Various known methods such as those to be performed may be used.

Thereafter, an integrated value (integrated time) of the time during which automatic operation is continuously performed is acquired from the time integrating unit 50 (S106). Here, “the time during which automatic driving is continuously performed” refers to the time during which the automatic driving execution unit 20 automatically drives the host vehicle regardless of whether or not the host vehicle is traveling. For example, the time when the host vehicle is stopped due to a signal or the like is accumulated as the time during which automatic driving is continued, but automatic driving is executed when the engine is stopped and the driver leaves the host vehicle Since the unit 20 ends the automatic operation, the accumulated time is reset.
The time integration unit 50 acquires information regarding whether or not the automatic driving execution unit 20 is performing automatic driving via the difficulty determination unit 40. During execution of the automatic operation, the time is accumulated by the built-in timer counter 51, and when it is detected that the automatic operation has been completed, a process for resetting the accumulated time is performed. When there is a request from the difficulty determination unit 40, the accumulated time at that time is output to the difficulty determination unit 40.

Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not a notification for alerting the driver (notice alert) is necessary (S108). In this embodiment, the required consciousness state value acquired based on the difficulty index value is compared with the driver's consciousness state value acquired from the consciousness state value detection unit 30, and the driver's consciousness state value is determined as the necessary consciousness state. When the value is not met, it is determined that a notice of alerting is necessary.
At this time, if the accumulated time of automatic driving exceeds the predetermined time, the consciousness state value is detected in consideration of the possibility that the driver's judgment will be reduced or the reflexes will become dull due to fatigue. The driver's consciousness state value may be estimated to be smaller than the value detected by the unit 30.

Of course, the method for determining whether or not a notice of alerting is necessary is not limited to the method described above. For example, when the difficulty index value or the necessary consciousness state value is equal to or greater than a certain value, it may be determined that the alert notification is issued just in case even if the driver's consciousness state value is high.
Alternatively, some surrounding situations that require a notice of alerting are set in advance, and if the surrounding situation acquired by the surrounding situation detection unit 10 corresponds to the preset surrounding situation, the alert is issued. It may be determined that notification is performed.

As a result, when it is determined that the notice of alerting is necessary (S108: yes), the form of the alerting notice is determined by performing the notice mode determining process (S300). That is, simply giving the necessary alerting notice may make the driver accustomed to being alerted and the purpose of alerting may not be sufficiently achieved. On the other hand, if the volume of alerting is increased or the tone of alerting is increased, the driver may feel uncomfortable.
Therefore, when calling attention, a notification mode determination process (S300) is performed to determine a mode capable of calling attention as effectively as possible. Although the details of the notification mode determination process (S300) will be described later, in this embodiment, there may be a case where the timing of alerting is intentionally delayed or the mode of intentionally omitting alerting is determined.

If the mode of alerting notification is determined in the notification mode determining process (S300), it is next determined whether or not the alerting notification is performed (S110). This corresponds to the fact that even when it is determined that the alert notification is necessary (S108: yes), the alert notification may be determined to be omitted in the notification mode determination process (S300).
As a result, when it is determined that a notice of alerting is to be performed (S110: yes), a notice of alerting is performed in the determined manner (S112). That is, voice data or image data corresponding to the determined mode is read from the memory 71 of the storage unit 70 and output to the notification unit 60, whereby a warning sound is output from the speaker 62 or a warning message is generated. The image is displayed on the display device 61.

And if a notice of alerting is given, the history of alerting will be memorized (S114 of Drawing 3). This is the following process.
First, as described above, in this embodiment, when the driver's consciousness state value is less than the necessary consciousness state value, it is determined that the alert notification is necessary (see S108 in FIG. 2). Is determined according to the difficulty index value (see FIG. 4). Details will be described later in the difficulty index value calculation process (S200), but there are points where the difficulty index value tends to be high. Therefore, at such a point, a notice of alert is issued every time the host vehicle passes, and the driver remembers the point where the notice of alert is notified, and the effect is obtained even if the alert is issued. There is a risk of disappearing. Therefore, in this embodiment, when a notice for alerting is performed (S112 in FIG. 2), position information indicating the point is stored in the memory 71 of the storage unit 70 together with the content of the notice for alerting (S114 in FIG. 3). ). As will be described later, in the notification mode determination process, the mode of alerting is determined in consideration of the history of alert notifications in the past.
In addition, the position information of the place where the notice of alerting is performed can be acquired using the GPS device 13. Further, the storage unit 70 of the present embodiment also stores the alerting history in the memory 71, and therefore corresponds to the “history storage unit” of the present invention.

Thereafter, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the driver's consciousness state value from the consciousness state value detection unit 30 (S116), and determines whether or not the driver's consciousness state value has been improved by the alert notification (S118). ). As shown in S104 of FIG. 2, since the driver's consciousness state value is acquired even before performing the alerting notification, the consciousness state value at that time is compared with the consciousness state value after the alerting notification. Thus, it can be determined whether or not the driver's consciousness state value has improved.
As a result, if the driver's consciousness state value is not improved despite the notification of alerting (S118: no in FIG. 3), the sleepiness is so strong that the driver does not notice the alerting notification. It is highly probable that they have been attacked. Therefore, the driver is notified of a proposal to take a break (S120). Audio data for proposing a break is stored in advance in the memory 71 of the storage unit 70, and the difficulty determination unit 40 reads out the audio data and outputs it to the notification unit 60, thereby reproducing the audio from the speaker 62. To do.
Even if the driver's consciousness state value is not improved by the alert notification (S118: no), if the driver's consciousness state value is a high value above a certain level, it is not enough to propose a break. Judgment may be made not to propose a break.

  The case where it is determined that a notice of alerting is necessary (S108: yes in FIG. 2) and it is determined that a notice of alerting is performed (S110: yes) has been described. On the other hand, when it is determined that the alert notification is not necessary (S108: no), or when it is determined that the alert notification is not performed (S110: no), the above-described series of processing (S300, S110). To S120) are omitted.

  Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 notifies the driver of a predetermined peripheral situation that is set in advance among the peripheral situations detected by the peripheral situation detection unit 10 (S122). Predetermined surrounding conditions are any surrounding conditions, such as the presence or absence of a curve on the road, the presence or absence of traffic jams in front, the presence or absence of vehicles traveling ahead and the distance to the vehicle. be able to. Further, the driver can register the surrounding situation to be notified in advance. These surrounding situations are notified to the driver by the notification unit 60.

  Moreover, the difficulty determination part 40 acquires the information about the control content of the automatic driving | running | working performed by the automatic driving | running | working execution part 20 from the automatic driving | running | working execution part 20, and notifies the content (S124). For example, it is possible to notify the details of the steering wheel operation, accelerator pedal operation, and brake operation performed by the automatic driving execution unit 20. Furthermore, information such as the current vehicle speed, the engine rotation speed, and the destination set in the navigation system 14 may be notified.

  Further, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires information on the vehicle type and information on the destination (peripheral vehicle information) from the surrounding vehicle 3 traveling around the host vehicle, and notifies the information (S126). Such peripheral vehicle information can be acquired by wirelessly communicating with the peripheral vehicle 3 via the external communication device 15.

  In this way, if the driver is notified of the surrounding situation set in advance, the details of automatic control, and the surrounding vehicle information to the driver, the driver with respect to the surrounding situation of the own vehicle, the contents of automatic control, and the surrounding vehicle. Therefore, it becomes easy to keep the driver's consciousness state value at a high value.

Thereafter, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not the driving is finished (S128). Since the fact is output from the automatic driving execution unit 20 at the end of driving, the difficulty determining unit 40 can determine whether or not the driving has ended.
As a result, when it is determined that the driving is not finished (S128: no), the process returns to the head of the alerting notification process, acquires the surrounding situation again (S100 in FIG. 2), and then repeats the series of subsequent processes described above. . On the other hand, when it is determined that the driving is finished (S128: yes), the alerting notification process is finished.

As described above, in the alert notification process, it is determined whether or not the alert notification is performed based on the difficulty index value calculated according to the surrounding situation, and further, the alert notification is performed according to the surrounding situation. I do. By doing so, it is possible to avoid the possibility that the driver's consciousness state value is lowered and the safe driving is impaired even during the automatic driving.
However, in order to realize this, it is important that the difficulty index value serving as a reference for determining whether or not to issue a notice of attention is appropriately calculated according to the surrounding situation. In addition, when it is determined that a notice of alerting is to be performed, it is important that an aspect of the alerting notice is appropriately determined according to the surrounding situation. Below, the difficulty index value calculation process (S200) which calculates a difficulty index value according to a surrounding situation, and the notification aspect determination process (S300) which determines the aspect of alerting notification according to a surrounding situation are demonstrated in detail.

B-1. Difficult index value calculation processing:
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a difficulty index calculation process in which the driving assistance device 1 of the present embodiment calculates a difficulty index value according to the surrounding situation. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, this process is a process that is executed after the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the surrounding situation via the automatic driving execution unit 20.

When the difficulty index calculation process (S200) is started, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires a reference value of the difficulty index on the travel route (S202). This is the following process.
When the vehicle is automatically driven toward the destination set in the navigation system 14, the travel route to the destination is specified in advance. Therefore, it is also known what kind of area it passes through before reaching the destination. For example, FIG. 6 illustrates an area that passes along the way as an automatic operation from home to the factory where the employee works. In the example shown, if you pass through a residential area where you have your home, you will enter the suburbs. Arrives at the factory site where the destination is.

In this case, the house is built in a house, has many pedestrians and vehicles, and has many intersections, so it is not an area where automatic driving is easy. On the other hand, in the suburbs, houses are not built, and the number of pedestrians, vehicles, and intersections is reduced, so that it is an area where automatic driving is easier than in residential areas. Moreover, in the downtown area, since the number of pedestrians, vehicles, and intersections is further increased than in the residential area, it may be considered an area where automatic driving is more difficult than the residential area.
In this way, it is possible to know the rough difficulty of automatic driving only by roughly classifying areas such as residential areas, suburbs, and downtown areas. The reference value of the difficulty index is an index value indicating a rough difficulty of the automatic driving determined by the region classification in this way. FIG. 6 illustrates the reference values of the difficulty index for each region.

  In the driving support apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the map information of the navigation system 14 stores rough classifications such as residential areas, suburbs, downtown areas, and factory areas. Further, the memory 71 of the storage unit 70 stores a reference value of the difficulty index for the region classification. Therefore, when the difficulty determination unit 40 starts the difficulty index value calculation process, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the classification of the region stored in the map information and acquires the reference value of the difficulty index corresponding to the region (see FIG. 5 S202).

  Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires a correction value of the difficulty index (S204). That is, since the reference value of the difficulty index is a rough index set by classification of areas such as residential areas, suburbs, and downtowns, more detailed map information, various information from the in-vehicle camera 11 and the radar 12, etc. The index will be revised according to the surrounding situation. Thus, although correction is performed from various viewpoints, in S204, correction using the map information of the navigation system 14 is performed.

FIG. 7 illustrates a state in which the correction value of the difficulty index is acquired based on finer map information. For example, FIG. 7A illustrates a travel route in the suburbs. In the illustrated example, the travel route is gently curved to the left, and then suddenly turns slightly to the right and then crosses the river. In a sharp reverse curve after a large loose curve, the centrifugal force applied to the vehicle suddenly reverses, so automatic driving tends to be difficult. For this reason, a positive correction value is set as the correction value of the difficulty index in such a place.
Further, the road surface may be different on the ground and on the bridge, and in particular, it may be slippery when it is raining or cold. Even in such places, automatic driving tends to be difficult. For this reason, a positive correction value is set as the correction value of the difficulty index also in such a place.

FIG. 7B illustrates a travel route in a residential area. In the illustrated example, after going straight on a wide road and turning left at a large intersection with a wide road, the car goes straight for a while and passes by the school. Large intersections often have a lot of traffic, and automatic driving tends to be difficult when turning right or left in places where many such vehicles pass. Moreover, since it is anticipated that there will be many pedestrians near the school, automatic driving tends to be difficult. Furthermore, pedestrians are expected to jump out, and automatic driving tends to be difficult in order to prepare for such danger. Accordingly, a positive correction value is also set as a correction value for the difficulty index in these locations.
In the map information of the navigation system 14, correction values of difficulty indicators are set in advance at locations where automatic driving is likely to be difficult as described above. Therefore, in S204 of the difficulty index value calculation process shown in FIG. 5, a correction value of the difficulty index set on the travel route is acquired.

  In the above description, it is assumed that the destination is set in the navigation system 14 and the vehicle is automatically driven on the travel route toward the destination. On the other hand, there may be a case where there is no travel route toward the destination, such as when an automatic driving is performed following the preceding vehicle. Therefore, in this case, for the current position and a point slightly ahead, in S202 of FIG. 5, the reference value of the difficulty index based on the rough region classification is acquired, and in S204, the correction value of the difficulty index set in the map information is acquired. Or various information from the in-vehicle camera 11 or the radar 12 may be used.

Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not there are a predetermined number or more of the surrounding vehicles 3 around the host vehicle (S206). Since the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the surrounding situation via the automatic driving execution unit 20, the difficulty determination unit 40 can recognize the presence or absence of the surrounding vehicle 3 and the number of the surrounding vehicles 3.
As a result, if it is determined that there are more than a predetermined number of surrounding vehicles 3 around the host vehicle (S206: yes), the difficulty index correction value is increased by a predetermined amount (S208). At this time, the increase amount may be increased as the number of the surrounding vehicles 3 increases or as the distance between the surrounding vehicles 3 decreases.

After that, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not the traveling road is likely to slip based on the image acquired by the in-vehicle camera 11 (S210). For example, if the road surface is wet and shining, or snow is piled up, it is determined that the road surface is likely to slip (S210: yes), and the correction value of the difficulty index is increased by a predetermined amount (S212).
The increase amount at this time may be the same value as the increase amount when the number of surrounding vehicles 3 is a predetermined number or more, or may be a different value. Also, the ease of slipping may be determined such as whether the road surface is wet or snow is piled up, and the amount of increase may be increased as the slipping becomes easier.

Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not the accident is a frequent occurrence point (S214). As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment can communicate with the external database 2 via the external communication device 15, and the surrounding state detection unit 10 is stored in the external database 2. You can get information about the accident location.
The difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not the traveling position is an accident-prone point based on the information about the accident-prone point acquired by the surrounding state detection unit 10 or whether or not the accident-prone point is about to be reached. Judging.

As a result, if it is determined that the current position is an accident-prone point or an accident-prone point is about to be reached (S214: yes), the difficulty index correction value is increased by a predetermined amount (S216).
The increase amount at this time can also be the same value as the increase amount when the number of surrounding vehicles 3 is more than the predetermined number or when it is determined that the road surface condition is likely to slip, or a different value. You can also. Moreover, the information regarding the extent of frequent accidents may be acquired, and the amount of increase may be increased as the degree of frequent occurrence increases. Alternatively, the increase amount may be changed by acquiring information related to the date and time when the accident occurred in the past. For example, if there have been many accidents in the past but no accident has occurred recently (for example, in the most recent half year), the increase amount may be reduced. Alternatively, when accidents occur frequently in a specific season or time zone, the increase amount may be increased if the accident falls within that season or time zone, and the increase amount may be decreased if the accident does not apply.

  As described above, according to various surrounding situations acquired from the surrounding situation detection unit 10, the correction value of the difficulty index is acquired, and when the correction value is further changed (S204 to S216), A difficulty index value is calculated using the reference value and the correction value (S218). In this embodiment, the difficulty index value is calculated by adding the reference value of the difficulty index and the correction value. But it is good also as calculating a difficulty index value by calculating | requiring a correction value in the aspect of a correction coefficient, and multiplying the reference value of a difficulty index by a correction value.

As explained in detail above, in the difficulty index value calculation processing of the present embodiment, the current road conditions such as geographical conditions such as road shapes, the number of surrounding vehicles 3 and road conditions, and accidents The difficulty index value can be appropriately calculated by considering the surrounding situation including past information such as history.
Then, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, in the attention calling notification process of the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not the warning notification is performed based on the difficulty index value. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the notice of alert from being issued unnecessarily even in a scene where the need for alert is low. As a result, it is possible to suppress a situation in which the driver gets used to alerting and no effect can be obtained even if the alert is notified.
In addition, in the alert notification process of the present embodiment, even when it is determined that the alert notification is necessary, the notification mode is not simply notified, but the notification mode is determined as follows. It is possible to make a notice of alerting.

B-2. Notification mode determination processing:
FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a notification mode determination process for determining a notification mode when the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment performs a warning notification. This process is a process executed by the difficulty determination unit 40 when the difficulty determination unit 40 determines that the attention notification is required in the attention notification process described above with reference to FIG.

  When the notification mode determination process (S300) is started, the difficulty determination unit 40 acquires the content of the automatic driving executed by the automatic driving execution unit 20, and determines the target of alerting based on the content (S302). For example, when the main processing content (so-called task) in the automatic driving performed by the automatic driving execution unit 20 is mainly related to steering of the steering wheel, the alerting target is determined as the steering operation-related content. Further, when the content of the automatic driving is mainly related to the accelerator operation, the target of alerting is determined to be the content related to the accelerator operation. Similarly, when the content of the automatic driving is mainly related to the brake operation, the alerting target is determined to be the content related to the brake operation.

  Subsequently, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines the degree of alerting (S304). For example, if the driver's consciousness state value is slightly below the required consciousness state value and the difference is within the specified value, the degree of alerting is “small”, and if the difference exceeds the specified value, be careful The degree of arousal can be determined as “large”. Alternatively, when the necessary consciousness state value exceeds a certain value (thus, when the difficulty index value exceeds a certain value), the degree of alerting may be determined as “large”.

  Then, the content of the alert notification is determined based on the target and degree of alert (S306). In the memory 71 of the storage unit 70, the contents of the alert notification are stored for each combination of the alert mode and the alert level. The difficulty determination unit 40 refers to the memory 71 to notify the alert. Determine the contents.

FIG. 9 illustrates the contents of the alert notification stored in the memory 71. For example, for a combination where the target of the alert is "handle operation related" and the alert level is "small", the alert notification content is "Please be careful about handle operation during automatic driving" Is stored. Of course, not only audio data but also image data showing similar contents may be stored.
In addition, even if the target of the alert is “related to steering wheel operation”, if the alert level is “Large”, the content of the alert notification will be as follows. "Please correct" is stored. In this way, when the degree of alerting is “Large”, it is effective to perform the alerting notification in a manner that makes the driver think that “automatic driving may cause erroneous steering operation”. Alerts can be made.

  Similarly, when the target of alerting is “accelerator operation related” or “brake operation related”, the attention differs depending on whether the level of alerting is “small” or “large”. The contents of the alert notification are stored (see FIG. 9).

  When the mode of alerting notification is thus determined, the difficulty determination unit 40 determines whether or not the location where the alert is to be alerted is a location that has been alerted within a predetermined period in the past (S308 in FIG. 8). As described above, in the alert notification process, when the alert notification is performed, the history is stored in the memory 71 of the storage unit 70 (S114 in FIG. 3). By referring to, it can be determined whether or not the place has been alerted within a predetermined period in the past.

This determination is made because of the following considerations. First, when traveling on the same route, when passing through the same point, there is a tendency that an alert notification with the same content is performed. For this reason, a driver who travels the same route many times may remember what kind of alert notification is given at which point, and the effect of giving the alert notice is greatly reduced. Resulting in.
Therefore, it is determined whether or not the place where the attention is to be drawn corresponds to the place where the attention was drawn within a predetermined period in the past. And if it does not correspond to such a place, it may be considered that there is no possibility that the driver will remember that the alert notification has been performed at that location even if the alert notification is performed. On the other hand, when it corresponds to the place where attention was drawn in the past predetermined period, it is considered that it is desirable to take some measures. For the above reasons, the predetermined period is set to about 1 to 2 weeks (typically 10 days).

For this reason, in the notification mode determination process according to the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not the place where attention is to be drawn corresponds to a place where attention has been given within a predetermined period in the past (S308). As a result, if it is determined that the location does not correspond to a location that has been alerted within a predetermined period in the past (S308: no), it is considered that the alert notification of the content determined in S306 may be performed.
However, before ending the notification mode determination process of FIG. 8, it is determined whether or not the degree of alerting is “large” (S310). If the degree of alerting is not “large” (S310: no), the notification mode determining process is terminated as it is, and the process returns to the alerting notifying process of FIG.

On the other hand, when the degree of alerting is “large” (S310: yes), an instruction to change the automatic driving to a mode different from normal is output to the automatic driving execution unit 20. (S312). For example, if the object of alerting is “handle operation related”, the handle operation is performed in a more jerky manner than usual. In addition, if the target of alerting is “accelerator operation related” or “brake operation related”, the accelerator operation or the operation will be performed at a timing that is more or less than usual, or earlier or later than usual. Perform the brake operation.
As mentioned above, for example, if the target of alerting is “related to steering wheel operation” and the degree of alerting is “large”, “please put your hand on the steering wheel and correct the steering operation of automatic driving” A notice of alert with the content is given. For this reason, it is possible to make the driver attach importance to the alert notification by performing the steering wheel operation in a more jerky manner than usual.

In the above, the case where it did not correspond to the place where attention was drawn in the past predetermined period (S308: no) was demonstrated. On the other hand, when it corresponds to the place where the alert was issued within the past predetermined period (S308: yes), the number of the alert notifications performed within the past predetermined period is the predetermined number (for example, 3 times). It is determined whether or not this is the case (S314).
As a result, when it is determined that the alert notification is performed more than a predetermined number of times (S314: yes), the alert notification is issued in order to prevent the driver from memorizing the alert further. It changes to the aspect which abbreviate | omits (it does not perform alerting notification) (S318). In this case, since the alerting notification is not performed (S110: no in FIG. 2), the alerting history is not stored in S114 in FIG.

In addition, although alerting is performed within a predetermined period in the past (S308: yes), if it is determined that the predetermined number of times has not been reached (S314: no), the mode of alerting notification is slightly delayed. The mode is modified so that the alert is notified (S316).
For example, when the alert notification mode determined in S306 is a mode of outputting a voice saying "Please correct the handle operation of automatic driving by attaching a hand to the handle", the following mode To correct. First, after a few seconds have passed since the original timing of alerting notification, a voice saying “I'm sorry. Notification was delayed” was output, then “Hands on the steering wheel, Please correct to the mode of outputting the original voice "Please correct."
In this case, the alert notification sound is output at a point after the original point. However, if it is considered to be a notice of alert in a mode in which a sound is output after several seconds have elapsed, it starts from the original point. For this reason, in S114 of FIG. 3, the alerting history is stored assuming that the alerting notification is performed at the original point.

Thus, in the notification mode determination process of the present embodiment, the alert notification may be performed later than the original timing of the alert notification. For this reason, the driver thinks that the driver cannot fully rely on the alert notification, so that the driver can pay attention to the contents of the automatic driving even during the automatic driving.
In addition, although it is delayed from the original timing, the alert notification is made with the correct content, so the driver's confidence in automatic driving is not lost.

As explained in detail above, in the alert notification process, it is determined whether or not the alert notification is performed based on the difficulty index value calculated according to the surrounding situation. An alert notice can be made. For this reason, alerting is repeated repeatedly to the driver, and the effect of the alerting notification is not impaired.
In addition, even when alerting notifications are issued, the driver will not remember that alerting notifications will be made, or the driver will not neglect the alerting notifications. A notice of alert is given in an appropriate manner so as not to rely on the system.
As a result, in the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment, it is possible to achieve both reduction of the driving load on the driver and ensuring of safe driving.

  As mentioned above, although the present Example was described, this invention is not limited to said Example and modification, It can implement in a various aspect in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driving assistance apparatus, 2 ... External database, 3 ... Surrounding vehicle,
10 ... Ambient condition detector, 11 ... In-vehicle camera, 12 ... Radar,
14 ... navigation system, 15 ... external communication device,
20 ... Automatic operation execution unit, 22 ... Handle actuator,
24 ... Accelerator actuator, 26 ... Brake actuator,
30 ... Consciousness state value detection unit, 40 ... Difficulty determination unit, 41 ... Near infrared LED,
42 ... Near-infrared light camera, 43 ... ECU, 50 ... Time integration part,
51 ... Timer counter, 60 ... Notification unit, 61 ... Display device,
62 ... Speaker, 70 ... Memory, 71 ... Memory.

Claims (17)

A driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and supports driving of the driver,
A surrounding state detection unit for detecting a predetermined surrounding state related to travel of the vehicle;
An automatic driving execution unit for automatically driving the vehicle by controlling at least one of acceleration / deceleration or steering operation of the vehicle based on the surrounding state detected by the surrounding state detection unit;
A surrounding situation evaluation unit that evaluates the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit from the viewpoint of difficulty of the automatic driving;
A time integration unit that integrates the time during which the automatic driving execution unit continuously drives the vehicle automatically;
A determination unit that determines whether or not to issue a caution notice to alert the driver about the control content of the automatic driving based on the evaluation result by the surrounding state evaluation unit and the time accumulated by the time accumulation unit; ,
A driving support apparatus comprising: a notification unit that performs the alerting notification based on a determination result by the determination unit. The driving support device according to claim 1,
The determination unit is a driving support device that is a determination unit that determines that the alert notification is omitted when a predetermined condition is satisfied even when the alert notification is necessary. The driving support device according to claim 2,
A history storage unit that stores a history of the location that notified the alert notification,
The determination unit is a determination unit that determines whether to omit the alert notification when a predetermined condition is satisfied in a place stored in the history storage unit even when the alert notification is necessary. . A driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and supports driving of the driver,
A surrounding state detection unit for detecting a predetermined surrounding state related to travel of the vehicle;
An automatic driving execution unit for automatically driving the vehicle by controlling at least one of acceleration / deceleration or steering operation of the vehicle based on the surrounding state detected by the surrounding state detection unit;
A surrounding situation evaluation unit that evaluates the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit from the viewpoint of difficulty of the automatic driving;
Based on the evaluation result by the surrounding situation evaluation unit, a determination unit that determines whether or not to issue a warning notice that calls the driver about the control content of the automatic driving;
A notification unit that performs the alerting notification based on a determination result by the determination unit;
The determination unit determines whether or not a predetermined specific condition is satisfied if the notice of attention is required, and if the specific condition is satisfied, delays the notice of notification and then notifies A driving support device that is a determination unit that determines whether to perform the alert notification together with the notification that the vehicle is delayed. The driving support device according to claim 4,
A time integrating unit that integrates the time during which the automatic driving execution unit continuously drives the vehicle automatically;
The determination unit is a driving support device that is a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform the alert notification in consideration of the time accumulated by the time accumulation unit. The driving support device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein
A history storage unit that stores a history of the place where the alert notification is made;
The determination unit determines whether or not the specific condition is satisfied when the alert notification is required at the place stored in the history storage unit, and the specific condition is satisfied The driving support device is a determination unit that determines whether to perform the alerting notification together with the notification that the notification is delayed after delaying the alerting notification. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The said surrounding condition detection part is a driving assistance device which is a detection part which detects the said surrounding condition about at least one of the advancing direction of the said vehicle, or back. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A consciousness state value detecting unit for detecting a consciousness state value indicating a degree of the driver's consciousness state;
The determination unit is a driving support device that is a determination unit that determines whether to perform the alert notification based on the evaluation result and the consciousness state value. The driving support device according to claim 8,
The surrounding situation evaluation unit is an evaluation unit that acquires a difficulty index value related to difficulty of the automatic driving from the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit,
In association with the difficulty index value, the storage unit stores a necessary consciousness state value required by the driver,
The determination unit determines to perform the alerting notification when the consciousness state value detected by the consciousness state value detection unit is less than the necessary consciousness state value associated with the difficulty index value. A driving support device that is a part. The driving support device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein
The consciousness state value detection unit is a detection unit that detects a change in the consciousness state value due to the notification unit performing the alert notification,
The determination unit is a determination unit that determines that the driver is notified of a break when the consciousness state value is not improved by the alert notification,
The said notification part is a notification part which performs the notification which encourages the said break based on the determination result of the said determination part. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
The surrounding situation detection unit is a detection unit that detects the surrounding situation that affects at least one of acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle or the steering operation.
The determination unit is a driving support device that is a determination unit that determines the content of the alert notification with the content according to the surrounding situation. The driving support device according to claim 11,
The determination support unit is a drive support device that is a determination unit that determines the content of the alert notification to a content that prompts the driver to perform acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle or the steering operation according to the surrounding situation. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
The driving support apparatus, wherein the notification unit is a notification unit that notifies the driver of the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 13,
The notification unit is a notification unit that notifies the driver of at least one of acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle or the steering operation by the automatic driving execution unit. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 14,
In addition to the surrounding situation, the surrounding situation detection unit is a detecting unit that detects surrounding vehicle information about a vehicle traveling around the vehicle,
The notification unit is a notification unit that notifies the driver of the surrounding vehicle information. A driving support method performed by a driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and supports driving of the driver,
A step of detecting a predetermined peripheral state related to the traveling of the vehicle by the peripheral state detecting unit of the driving support device ;
An automatic driving execution unit of the driving support device automatically driving the vehicle by controlling at least one of acceleration / deceleration or steering operation of the vehicle based on the surrounding situation;
The step of evaluating the surrounding situation of the driving support device evaluates the surrounding situation from the viewpoint of difficulty of the automatic driving,
A step of integrating a time integration unit of the driving assistance device continuously and continuously driving the vehicle;
The determination unit of the driving support device determines whether or not to issue a warning notice for urging the driver to pay attention to the control content of the automatic driving based on the evaluation result for the surrounding situation and the integration result of the time. And a process of
A driving support method comprising: a notification unit of the driving support device performing the alerting notification based on a determination result as to whether or not to perform the alerting notification. A driving support method performed by a driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and supports driving of the driver,
A step of detecting a predetermined peripheral state related to the traveling of the vehicle by the peripheral state detecting unit of the driving support device ;
An automatic driving execution unit of the driving support device automatically driving the vehicle by controlling at least one of acceleration / deceleration or steering operation of the vehicle based on the surrounding situation;
The step of evaluating the surrounding situation of the driving support device evaluates the surrounding situation from the viewpoint of difficulty of the automatic driving,
A step of determining whether or not the determination unit of the driving support device performs an alerting notice to call attention to the driver about the control content of the automatic driving based on the evaluation result with respect to the surrounding situation;
The notification unit of the driving support device includes a step of performing the alert notification based on a determination result as to whether or not to perform the alert notification.
In the step of determining whether or not to perform the alert notification, if it is determined that the alert notification is to be performed, it is further determined whether or not a predetermined specific condition is satisfied, and the specific condition is satisfied In this case, after delaying the alert notification, it is a step of determining that the alert notification is performed together with a notification that the alert notification is delayed.
OPERATION support method.

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