JPH11185200A - Method for judging conscious level of driver in automatic traveling controllable vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain the conscious level of a driver under automatic traveling control in a high state by giving a test item to the driver after the lapse of prescribed driving time, evaluating the deviation from a reference time value of the time from the start to completion of the operation of the response of the responding driver or the number of times of the non-execution of the response and judging the conscious level of the driver. SOLUTION: When the driving time elapses to be more than stipulated time during automatic driving, the task of this time is selected from the task list 20 of a task control means 4. Then, whether or not the task of this time matches with the task of a previous time is judged, and in the case that it does not match, the task of this time is given to the driver. Then, checking is performed by a task execution monitoring means 10. When the task is correctly executed, the time tv from the execution completion scheduled time ts of the task to the actual completion time is computed. In the case of (tv-ts)>=0, it is judged that the driving conscious level of the driver is lowered and coping at the time of driving conscious level decline is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for testing the driver's consciousness of a vehicle under automatic cruise control and determining the driver's consciousness level.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, attempts have been made to automatically drive a vehicle without manual driving control by a driver. In a factory, there is already a vehicle equipped with a sensor and an artificial brain and capable of automatically traveling in a predetermined passage area. Also, in golf courses, there are carts that automatically start and stop under the control of a small wireless terminal carried by a caddy.

[0003] However, these vehicles are vehicles used for a special purpose such as transportation of raw materials, parts or products in a factory, or transportation of a golf club in a golf course, and include occupants including drivers. It does not carry to the destination. In particular, in recent years, with the increase in traffic accidents, the emergence of vehicles that can travel automatically without burdening the driver has been desired.

[0004] From such a request, G using an artificial satellite
Using a global positioning system (PS), a large number of airships that are constantly hovering, and detecting the width of the road, the width of the road, and the conductor for guidance embedded in the road surface using a vehicle sensor Then, a system for automatically controlling the vehicle to travel within a predetermined road width is being developed.

In a normal vehicle that is not controlled automatically, a manual operation device that can be operated by a driver from a driver's seat is driven by a manual operation of the manual operation device, and a manual operation by the driver's will is performed. The vehicle travels, but if the vehicle is set to automatic traveling, then the driver operates the manual operation device to drive the driving device, which hinders automatic traveling control.
Normally, it is desirable that the manual operation device and the driving device are disconnected from each other during the automatic driving.However, in such a state, if the driver does not perform any driving operation, the driver becomes drowsy. Invited arousal state tends to decrease.

[0006]

As means for increasing the degree of awakening by stimulating the driver when the degree of awakening of the driver is lowered, music or an alarm is given, the volume of those sounds is changed, vibration of the driver's seat, electric It is possible to apply a pulse, spray a fragrance, open and close a window, and the like. However, these are stimuli given to the driver from outside the driver,
It is very difficult to raise the driver's consciousness level (a sense of mission that he / she is a driver) once lowered, and even if the consciousness level is temporarily increased, the effect is less persistent.

Maintaining a high level of consciousness of a driver of a vehicle under automatic cruise control is particularly necessary when urgently switching from automatic control to manual control. It is desired to maintain a sense of mission as a driver.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention provides a method for determining the driver's consciousness level in a vehicle capable of performing automatic cruise control by testing the consciousness of a driver of a vehicle under automatic cruise control and determining the consciousness level. It is intended for that purpose.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes means according to claims 1 and 2 in order to solve such problems. In the invention described in claim 1, "after a lapse of a driving time equal to or more than a predetermined value" means not only a predetermined value that is predetermined as an absolute value, but also a predetermined value that is appropriately changed in a running state of the vehicle. Including. Generally, it is considered that it is desirable to take a break at intervals of one hour to two hours when traveling on a highway. However, in a state where the driver is not driving by himself or in a state where the scenery outside the vehicle is poorly changed due to traffic congestion, drowsiness may be rather induced in a short time, in which case the predetermined value interval shorter than one hour It is desirable to test with Therefore, the predetermined value is a concept including an amount that can be varied by various parameters.

[0010] The "audible or visual test item for the driver" means that the control device in the vehicle asks or requests by voice such as a speaker or by visible characters such as a display panel. Items are given to the driver, and the test items are those that require a response or operation by voice or operation by the driver, and the test items are randomly selected from the test item table and the driver's answer state of the preceding test item Some are given to the driver in the order following the alertness improvement menu.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, when a response to a test item is received, a deviation of a voice from a driver responding to the test item or a time from a start to completion of an operation from a reference time value is measured, and the deviation is determined as follows. For example, if the value is plus or includes plus zero, the driver is determined to be low in consciousness level, and if the deviation is minus, it is determined to be normal.

If there is no correct response to the test item (including the case where there is a response even if there is a response and the case where there is no response), it is determined that those responses are not executed, and The stored test items are given to the driver again, and the number of non-executions is evaluated to determine the driver's consciousness level.

When this non-execution occurs, even if the test is performed again and the normal consciousness level is determined, it is desirable to perform the test at an earlier interval of the next test time.

In the present invention, since the driver's consciousness level can be determined in this way, the driver's consciousness level of the vehicle under the automatic driving control can be maintained at a high level. When switching to manual control, the driver can cope well.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, under automatic driving control, a part or all of a manual operation device that can be operated by a driver and a part or all of the manual operation device are operated. Since it is configured to release the connection with the driving unit to be driven, even if the driver touches and operates the manual operation device under the automatic traveling control, the driven device is not driven by the driver. , Does not hinder automatic cruise control.

Therefore, the same operation as that in the manual driving can be performed under the automatic driving control, so that the operation of the released manual operating device can be used as the test item. You can practice operating devices. Therefore, the driver's consciousness level can be maintained at a higher level.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. However, unless otherwise specified, dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are merely illustrative examples. Not just.

FIG. 1 is an electric block diagram of a control unit used in the present invention, FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram of an automatic traveling control device, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart. In FIG. 1, the control unit 1 includes an ignition switch 19,
A timer 2 which is started by an AND condition of an automatic operation switch 18 disposed at a lower portion or a rear surface of a dashboard which is difficult to contact in a normal operation state; and an arbitrary task output is transmitted after a predetermined automatic operation time has elapsed by the timer 2. A task control means 4 is provided.

The task control means 4 has a built-in task list 20 and, when an automatic operation progress output is received, is configured to randomly select and output one of a large number of task items in the task list 20. I have. In the task list 20, date and time, destination, current position, traveling lane, traveling speed, name, and the like are prepared as question items, and turn signal, wiper switch, accelerator, brake, steering wheel, seat switch, and mirror are provided as operation request items. Operation items such as a switch and a window opening / closing switch are provided. The output of the task control means 4 is output from the voice synthesis circuit 5 through the speaker 6 so that the driver can hear the voice. Further, instead of the audio output or together with the audio output, it is also possible to visually display on the display unit 7.

Further, the control unit 1 is provided with a timer 3, and a task execution means 9 is connected to an input end of the timer 3. The task execution means 9 is the same as the manual operation device operated during manual traveling, but is disconnected from the drive device driven by the operation of the manual operation device.

The input terminal of the timer 3 has a terminal T for inputting when the microphone catches the driver's voice signal.
1. A turn signal terminal T2, a wiper terminal T3, and a sheet switch terminal T for moving a sheet up and down or back and forth, respectively, when the driver operates with a hand or foot.
4, a mirror terminal T5 for rotating the mirror, a window opening / closing terminal T6, an accelerator terminal T7, a handle terminal T8, a brake terminal T9, etc. are arranged. When a signal is input from these terminals, the signal is used as a trigger to output a timer from the output terminal T10. Is transmitted.

On the other hand, the task signal is configured to send a task end signal at the end of the task. The corresponding task end signal is formed with a reset pulse by a pulse forming circuit 8, and the reset pulse is sent to the timer 3 and the timer 3 Is configured to reset.

The timer 3 has an input terminal connected to the task execution monitoring means 10 so as to receive a task execution input and receive the timer reset signal. The output terminal T of the timer 3
A switch 11 is arranged between the execution execution time calculating means 12 and the execution elapsed time calculating means 12 so that the switch 11 can be turned on and off by the output signal of the task execution monitoring means 10.

The task execution monitoring means 10 is configured to close the switch 11 when a timer reset signal arrives and to open when the task execution is completed. The execution elapsed time calculation means 12 is configured to be stored in the means 12, and the task processing reference time corresponding to the task prepared in the task list is stored as a table,
A predetermined reference time can be determined from the task information selected by the task control means 12. A deviation of the execution time from the reference time is calculated from the reference time and the execution time of the task, and the consciousness level connected to the output side is calculated. The calculation result can be output to the determination unit 14.

The task execution monitoring means 10 is connected to the non-execution number calculation means 13 and counts the number of non-executions when the task is not executed, and counts the number of non-executions.
4.

The output terminal of the consciousness level judgment unit 14 is the processing unit 1
5, an output end of the processing unit 15 is connected to the voice synthesizing unit 5, the display unit 7, and the automatic traveling control device 16,
When the consciousness level determining unit 14 determines that the consciousness level of the driver is lowered, an action is taken to change the automatic driving control continuation condition. This "measures to change the automatic driving control continuation condition" means a warning to the driver, a request to the driver to stop at the parking lot for a break, a notification to the driver to cancel the automatic driving, and the like.

Further, the processing unit 15 is connected to the task control means 4, and can adjust the interval of the task effective time.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram of the automatic traveling control device. Referring to FIG.
Are CPU, interface circuit I / F, ROM, RA
M and an electric control circuit 26 including
Reference numeral 6 denotes an input end connected to an automatic operation switch 18 for switching from manual traveling control to automatic traveling control, and a sensor means 17 for receiving information from various sensor groups including an antenna required for automatic traveling.

The sensor means 17 includes, for example, an artificial satellite for calculating the position of a traveling vehicle, an antenna for catching radio waves from an airship, a sensor for detecting an inductive conductor buried in a road surface, and an observation of a road surface condition. Road surface sensor,
Speed sensor, front sensor to detect obstacles ahead, rear sensor to detect vehicles approaching from behind, side sensor to detect road width on both sides of the vehicle, rain sensor, brightness sensor to detect brightness outside the vehicle It is a sensor means for obtaining various sensor information necessary for automatic traveling control.

The output side of the electric control circuit 26 is connected to the engine 24 and includes a turn signal, a wiper, a window, an accelerator, a brake, a steering wheel, etc., which need to be automatically controlled under automatic driving control. Control operation unit 21 for automatic driving that drives and drives driving unit 23 that drives
Further, a switching unit 22 for switching and transmitting the driving force of the control operation unit 21 and the driving force of the manual operation device 25 is connected to the driving unit 23.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 1 and 2, when the ignition switch 19 is closed to start the engine, the vehicle is driven, and the automatic operation switch 18 is closed, the electric control circuit 26 switches the switching means 2.
2 to drive the drive unit 23 to the manual operation device 2
5 is switched so that the driving force from the control operation unit 21 for automatic traveling is transmitted, and thereafter, the manual operation device does not operate even if the manual operation device is manually operated until the automatic driving is released. However, no driving force is transmitted to the driving unit 23.

In FIG. 3, during the automatic operation (30), when the operation time elapses beyond the specified time t1 (31), the current task is selected from the task list 20 of the task control means 4 (32). The selection of a task from the task list 20 is randomly selected at first, but depending on the driver's answer state of the preceding test item, subsequently, the arousal level including the accelerator, brake, steering wheel operation, etc. performed during manual operation It is given to the driver in the order according to the improvement menu.

Next, it is determined whether the current task matches the previous task. If not (33), the current task is provided to the driver (3).
4). Checked by the task execution monitoring means 10 (3
5) If the task is executed correctly (36), the time t from the scheduled completion time ts of the task to the actual completion time is
v is calculated (37). If the time tv is equal to or greater than a specified value, that is, if the deviation from the specified value is (tv−ts) ≧ 0, it is determined that the driver's driving consciousness level has decreased (39). (40) is performed.

The measures to be taken when the driving consciousness level is lowered are to change the automatic driving control continuation condition, and warn the driver, stop the vehicle at the parking lot for the driver, request a break,
This includes notifying the driver of automatic driving cancellation, shortening the automatic driving continuation time, and the like. In this way, the driver's consciousness level is restored by taking measures.

If there is no correct response to the test item (including the case where there is a response even if there is a response and the case where there is no response), it is determined that those responses are not executed (36), and The operation time t is greater than the specified value t1.
If it is less than 2 (41), the non-execution number calculation means 13
Is added to the non-execution counter, and if the operation time is equal to or longer than t2, the non-execution counter is incremented by +2.

If the non-execution counter is equal to or more than the specified value, it is determined that the driver's driving consciousness level is lowered (39). If the non-execution counter is less than the specified value, the task is not executed. The process returns to step 32 to execute the task again. Therefore, the number of non-executions is stored and the test item is given to the driver again. In this case, as described above, in the order according to the awakening degree improvement menu including the accelerator, the brake, the steering wheel operation, and the like performed at the time of the manual operation, Is given to And
If the number of non-executions is further added, the number of non-executions is evaluated to determine the driver's consciousness level.

If this non-execution occurs, the test may be performed again to determine the normal consciousness level.
In this case, it is possible that the degree of awakening of the driver is reduced, and therefore, it is desirable to perform the test at an earlier interval of the next test time.

As described above in detail, in the present embodiment, the comparison is made as a predetermined operation elapsed time reference value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the predetermined value can be varied depending on the running state. Value may be used. Normally, it is desirable to take a break at intervals of one hour to two hours when driving on a highway. However, the driver is not driving himself, and the scenery outside the vehicle is poorly changed due to traffic congestion. In some cases, sleepiness may be induced in a short time, and in such a case, it is desirable to perform the test at a predetermined value interval shorter than one hour.

In the present embodiment, a test item is given to the driver after the lapse of the operation time equal to or more than the predetermined value, and the deviation from the reference time value of the time from the start to completion of the response of the driver responding to the test item is given. Alternatively, since the driver's consciousness level is determined by evaluating the number of times that those responses are not executed, the driver's consciousness level can be determined at an appropriate cycle, and the vehicle under automatic driving control can be determined. Since the driver's consciousness level can be maintained at a high level, the driver can well cope with an emergency switch from automatic control to manual control.

[0040]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a test item is given to a driver after a lapse of an operation time equal to or more than a predetermined value, and a response of the driver in response to the test item is started and completed. The driver's awareness level is determined by evaluating the deviation of the time from the reference time value or the number of times that their response is not executed, so that the driver's awareness level can be determined at an appropriate cycle, The consciousness level of the driver of the vehicle under the automatic traveling control can be maintained at a high level.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, under automatic driving control, the connection between the manual operation device operable by the driver and the drive unit driven by the operation of the manual operation device is released. With such a configuration, even under the automatic traveling control, even if the driver touches and operates the manual operation device, the driving unit is not driven thereby,
It does not hinder automatic cruise control.

Therefore, the same operation as in the manual driving can be performed under the automatic driving control, so that the operation of the released manual operating device can be used as the test item. Can practice. Therefore, the driver's consciousness level can be maintained at a higher level.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an electrical block diagram showing an embodiment of the automatic traveling control device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Task control means 9 Task execution means 10 Task execution monitoring means 20 Task list

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for determining a driver's consciousness level in a vehicle capable of performing automatic cruise control by testing the consciousness of a driver of a vehicle under automatic cruise control, the method comprising: Give the driver an audio or visual test item and evaluate the deviation of the driver's voice or the time from the start to completion of the operation from the reference time value, or the number of times the response is not executed A driver's consciousness level in a vehicle capable of automatic traveling control, wherein the consciousness level of the driver is determined. 2. Under automatic driving control, a connection between a part or all of a manual operation device operable by a driver and a drive unit driven by operation of the part or all of the manual operation device is released, 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the manually operated device that has been released is used as the test item.