JPH08160138A - Vehicle-to-vehicle distance warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To secure the safe traveling of a vehicle by making the vehicle issue a warning to the succeeding vehicle in accordance with the degree of risk of accident that the vehicle might have in front of the vehicle so that the driver of the succeeding vehicle can be informed of the degree of risk. CONSTITUTION: A range finder 21 emits a light beam S1 against a preceding vehicle, measures the distance to the preceding vehicle from the vehicle from the arrival time of the reflected light beam S2 from the preceding vehicle, and outputs distance information S5. A relative speed computing element 22 computes the relative speed S6 between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle from the distance information S5 and the measured time interval. A car speed measuring instrument 23 measures the traveling speed S7 of the vehicle and a safe vehicle-to-vehicle distance computing element 24 computes the safe vehicle-to-vehicle distance S8 to the preceding vehicle from the speeds S6 and S7. A degree-of-risk calculating device 25 calculates the degree of risk between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle from the information S5 and distance S8 and outputs a danger signal S9. When the danger signal S9 is outputted, a warning generator 26 issues an acoustic warning S3 to the vehicle and a succeeding-vehicle warning generator 27 issues an acoustic or optical warning S4 to the succeeding vehicle. Therefore, the succeeding vehicle can recognize the degree of risk concerning the preceding vehicle.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle distance warning device, and more particularly to an inter-vehicle distance warning device which issues an alarm to avoid a rear-end collision accident when a danger occurs due to sudden approach of vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional inter-vehicle distance warning device, a distance detecting means for detecting a relative distance to a target in the traveling direction of the own vehicle and a traveling state such as the traveling speed of the own vehicle are detected and a detection signal thereof is detected. Based on the setting means for setting a plurality of reference distances corresponding to the risk degree of a plurality of stages, and comparing the plurality of reference distances and the relative distance signal from the distance detection means to determine the risk degree of the own vehicle , A sound monitor that generates a judgment signal according to the judgment and a sound monitor that generates a warning of higher frequency sound as the danger level increases according to the judgment signal (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-56837). Gazette).

According to this inter-vehicle distance warning device, the higher the danger level is, the higher the frequency of the alarm sound is emitted to the target object in the traveling direction of the own vehicle. A driving operation can prevent a rear-end collision with a target in the traveling direction.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned inter-vehicle distance warning device, the degree of danger of the own vehicle is judged based on the relative distance to the target ahead and the traveling speed of the own vehicle, and an alarm is issued according to the degree of danger. Since the frequency of the sound is changed, the driver of the vehicle can know the degree of danger to the front, but the driver of the following vehicle traveling behind the vehicle can know the degree of danger of the vehicle. I couldn't do it, so if my car suddenly slowed down or braked to avoid a dangerous situation, there was a risk of a rear-end collision with the following car.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an inter-vehicle distance warning device of the present invention comprises a distance measuring means for measuring a distance to an object in front of a vehicle and a vehicle speed for measuring a traveling speed of the vehicle. Safety between the vehicle and the object based on a measuring means, a relative speed between the vehicle and the object calculated from the distance measured by the distance measuring means, and a traveling speed measured by the vehicle speed measuring means. The vehicle-to-vehicle distance is calculated, and the risk determining means determines the risk of the vehicle with respect to the object based on the distance measured by the distance measuring means and the calculated safe inter-vehicle distance, and the risk determining means. Alarm generation means for issuing an alarm according to the determined risk level,
In the inter-vehicle distance warning device including the above, the warning generation means issues a warning to a succeeding vehicle traveling behind the vehicle according to the determined degree of danger.

[0006]

As described above, the warning generating means of the inter-vehicle distance warning device of the present invention issues a warning to the following vehicle traveling behind the vehicle according to the degree of danger to the object in front of the vehicle. You can know the degree of danger that the vehicle is receiving.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to the present invention. The distance to the vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle is measured by the arrival time of the light S1 emitted from the own vehicle 1 and reflected by the light S2, and a sound is emitted in the own vehicle according to the degree of danger from the measured distance information. An inter-vehicle distance warning device 2 is mounted which issues an alarm S3 and issues an optical alarm S4 to a following vehicle traveling behind the vehicle.

FIG. 2 shows the vehicle 1, a forward vehicle 11 traveling in front of the vehicle 1, and a following vehicle 12 traveling in the rear of the vehicle 1. The inter-vehicle distance warning device 2 is as shown in FIG.
The degree of danger to the front vehicle 11 is set in each of the areas D1, D2, D3, and D4 according to the distance from the front of the host vehicle 1, and the set area and the measured distance value between the front vehicle 11 match. When you do, the vehicle 1 to the following vehicle 1
A light alarm S4 is emitted toward 2.

The D2 area has a higher degree of danger than the D1 area, and the D3 area and the D4 area have a higher degree of danger in that order. The inter-vehicle distance warning device 2 is, as shown in FIG.
Distance measuring device 21 for measuring distance information S5 from the vehicle 1 to the front vehicle 11 and a relative speed calculating device 6 calculates a relative speed S6 between the vehicle 1 and the front vehicle 11 from the distance information S5 output from the distance measuring device 21. A speed calculator 22, a vehicle speed measurer 23 that measures the running speed S7 of the own vehicle 1, a relative speed S6 calculated by the relative speed calculator 22, and a running speed S7 of the own vehicle 1 measured by the vehicle speed measurer 23. From the safe inter-vehicle distance calculator 24 that calculates the safe inter-vehicle distance S8, the distance information S5 output from the distance measuring device 21, and the safe inter-vehicle distance S8 calculated by the safe inter-vehicle distance calculator 24 from the vehicle 1 and the front. A risk determining device 25 that determines the risk of the vehicle 11 and outputs a danger signal S9;
A vehicle alarm generator 26 that issues an alarm S3 in the vehicle 1 in response to the danger signal S9 from the risk determiner 25, and a following vehicle alarm generator 27 that issues an alarm S4 to the following vehicle 12 traveling behind the vehicle 1. Composed of.

Next, each part will be described in detail. The distance measuring device 21 measures the distance from the own vehicle 1 to the front vehicle 11 according to the arrival time of the light S2 emitted from the light vehicle S1 and reflected by the front vehicle 11 at predetermined time intervals. The distance information S5 is output. The distance information S5 output from the distance measuring device 21 is input to the relative speed calculator 22 and sequentially stored. And the previously stored distance information S
5 and the distance information S5 stored this time and the measurement time interval corresponding to the previous and current distance information S5, the traveling distance per measurement time interval is calculated and the relative speed S6 between the own vehicle 1 and the preceding vehicle 11 is output. To do.

The vehicle speed measuring device 23 measures the traveling speed S7 of the own vehicle from the rotation of the wheels. Based on the relative speed S6 output from the relative speed calculator 22 and the traveling speed S7 of the host vehicle 1 output from the vehicle speed measuring unit 23, the safe inter-vehicle distance calculator 24 determines the safe inter-vehicle distance S8 between the host vehicle 1 and the preceding vehicle 11. Is calculated. Based on the distance information S5 output from the distance measuring device 21 and the safe inter-vehicle distance S8 output from the safe inter-vehicle distance calculator 24, the risk determining device 25 determines the risk between the own vehicle 1 and the preceding vehicle 11 and is dangerous. The signal S9 is output.

When the danger signal S9 output from the risk determining unit 25 is input to the own vehicle alarm generator 26 and the following vehicle alarm generator 27, the own vehicle alarm generator 26 issues an audible alarm in the own vehicle 1. S3 is emitted, and the following vehicle alarm generator 27 sets the following vehicle 12
A warning S4 is issued by sound or light. A warning sound, a warning lamp, or a display that displays a warning is used as an alarm for the following vehicle 12. To distinguish from the horn, stop lamp, direction indicator, etc., which are normally installed in the vehicle, the sound color, frequency, and It is desirable to change the color of light or the lighting interval. It is also possible to issue a different alert in stages depending on the degree of danger.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the distance measuring device 1.
Laser lighting signal S1 from the timing control unit 30
1 is output, and the laser driver 31 outputs the laser lighting signal S
A drive signal S12 for turning on the semiconductor laser 32 is generated at the output timing of 11, the semiconductor laser 32 is driven by the drive signal S12, and the pulsed light S1 is emitted to the front of the vehicle by the light transmitting lens 33. When the front vehicle 11 is irradiated with the pulsed light S1, the reflected pulsed light S2 is focused on the light receiving element 35 by the light receiving lens 34 and converted into an electric signal by the light receiving element 35. The converted light reception signal S13 is amplified to a predetermined level by the amplifier 36, and the A / D
It is output to the converter 37. The A / D converter 37 holds the signal level of the input signal and performs A / D conversion every time the sampling start signal S14 from the timing control section 30 is output at regular intervals, and the sampling start signal S14 is input. Amplifier 3 at the specified time
The signal level value S15 from 6 is output to the memory unit 38. The memory unit 38 sequentially stores the signal level values S15 input at regular intervals, and then stores the sampling start signal S1.
The sampling time of 4 and the signal level value S15 are associated with each other and output to the distance calculation unit 39. The distance calculation unit 39 continuously processes the signal level value S15 sampled at regular time intervals and outputs it as the distance to the measurement object.

According to the inter-vehicle distance warning device 2 of this embodiment, the warning S4 is also issued to the following vehicle 12 according to the degree of danger to the forward vehicle 11 ahead of the own vehicle 1. It is possible to smoothly perform deceleration and brake operation. Further, the following vehicle 12 recognizes the degree of danger of the vehicle in front and judges the degree of danger of the following vehicle 12 and can drive according to the degree of danger, so that an accident such as a collision with a vehicle in front can be avoided and safety is ensured. It is possible to realize various running.

[0015]

As described above, according to the inter-vehicle distance warning device of the present invention, the vehicle gives a warning to the following vehicle traveling behind the vehicle according to the degree of danger to the object in front, so that the following vehicle is It is possible to know the risk level of the vehicle, and to judge the risk level of the following vehicle from the risk level of the vehicle ahead. Then, the following vehicle can perform a driving operation according to the degree of danger that the following vehicle itself receives, so that a dangerous state with the vehicle ahead can be avoided and the vehicle can travel safely.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram showing a relationship between a vehicle equipped with an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to the present invention, a forward vehicle, and a following vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a distance measuring device of an inter-vehicle distance warning device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 distance measuring device, 23 vehicle speed measuring device, 25 risk judging device, 27 following vehicle alarm generator,

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location G08G 1/16 E

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A distance measuring means for measuring a distance to an object in front of the vehicle, a vehicle speed measuring means for measuring a traveling speed of the vehicle, and the vehicle calculated from the distance measured by the distance measuring means. The safe inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the object is calculated based on the relative speed with the object and the traveling speed measured by the vehicle speed measuring means, and the calculated distance and the distance measured by the distance measuring means are calculated. An inter-vehicle distance including a risk determination unit that determines a risk of the vehicle with respect to the object based on a safe inter-vehicle distance, and an alarm generation unit that issues an alarm according to the risk determined by the risk determination unit. In the distance warning device, the warning generation means issues a warning to a following vehicle traveling behind the vehicle in accordance with the determined degree of danger, an inter-vehicle distance warning device.