CN107851377B

CN107851377B - Driving evaluation device

Info

Publication number: CN107851377B
Application number: CN201680042976.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 大石启之
Original assignee: Yazaki Energy System Corp
Current assignee: Yazaki Energy System Corp
Priority date: 2015-08-06
Filing date: 2016-07-25
Publication date: 2021-05-25
Anticipated expiration: 2036-07-25
Also published as: JP6342858B2; JP2017033507A; WO2017022538A1; MY191057A; CN107851377A

Abstract

A right/left turn start time of the vehicle and a turn signal operation start time in the vicinity of the right/left turn start time are detected based on operation record data of the in-vehicle device (10), a covered travel distance between the two times is calculated, and an evaluation result is output based on the calculation result. The vehicle-mounted device (10) records information of lateral acceleration and traveling speed of the vehicle together with time. An office PC (40) calculates a curvature radius (r) based on at least an acceleration in a width direction of the vehicle and a traveling speed of the vehicle, determines whether the vehicle makes a turn at the intersection based on the calculated curvature radius, and determines a time when the vehicle starts turning at the intersection. The results obtained by statistical processing were evaluated. The results are displayed in the form of a list to enable comparison with evaluation reference values, the tendencies of a plurality of drivers are identified, and comparison is made between the individual drivers.

Description

Driving evaluation device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a driving evaluation device for evaluating a driving operation of a driver driving a vehicle.

Background

Conventionally, an overspeed warning function is provided in an in-vehicle apparatus such as a digital automobile data recorder mounted in a vehicle for commercial use and an apparatus that analyzes and evaluates operation record data recorded by such an in-vehicle apparatus (patent document 1). They may have the function of evaluating driving based on the number of occurrences of overspeed events and other information.

In the drive recording apparatus disclosed in patent document 2, the right/left turn state and the straight traveling state are discriminated from each other based on the winker signal, and the discrimination result is reflected in the data compression ratio control.

In the vehicle operation management system disclosed in patent document 3, a driving behavior regarding which the driver should be warned is selected from an operation history obtained by analyzing vehicle operation data, and is provided to the driver. Further, whether the direction lamp is turned on at the time of each left turn or right turn is analyzed based on the steering angle and the direction lamp turn-on signal included in the operation data.

List of documents

Patent document

Patent document 1: JP-A-2013-206420

Patent document 2: JP-A-2009-175848

Patent document 3: JP-A-2012-248087

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

However, it cannot be appropriately determined whether the driver always performs safe driving only by evaluating speeding (as in the device of patent document 1), sudden acceleration/deceleration, and the like.

For example, by well signaling with the turn signal before the own vehicle makes a right or left turn at an intersection (intersection), the driver of another vehicle such as an oncoming vehicle can avoid the occurrence of a dangerous situation by predicting the route of the own vehicle. On the other hand, if the own vehicle does not signal with the winkers or signals with the winkers just before turning right or left, the driver of another vehicle may be confused or encounter an undesirable situation that forces the driver of the other vehicle to make an emergency brake or even cause a collision with the own vehicle.

In view of the above, the road traffic law stipulates that a signal should be sent with a turn signal lamp at a position 30 meters away from the position where a left or right turn is made. As long as the driver of the own vehicle drives at the intersection following this rule, the drivers of other vehicles such as oncoming vehicles can avoid encountering dangerous situations by predicting the route of the own vehicle.

The vehicle operation management system of patent document 3 can warn the driver if the driver drives the own vehicle so that a left or right turn is made at the intersection without signaling with the turn signal lamp. However, even if a dangerous situation of the own vehicle is caused because the driver signals at an inappropriate time (for example, the driver signals with the turn signal lamp just before turning right or left), with the vehicle operation management system, the driver cannot be warned about such driving behavior.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a driving evaluation device capable of appropriately evaluating a left/right turn driving operation made at an intersection.

Problem solving scheme

To achieve the above object, the driving evaluation device according to the present invention has features that will be described below in the form of items (1) to (6).

(1) A driving evaluation apparatus for evaluating a driving operation of a driver based on operation record data that is a record of a prescribed event detected on a vehicle, the driving evaluation apparatus comprising:

an evaluation result output unit that extracts data representing an intersection from the operation record data and outputs an evaluation result based on driving performed at the intersection.

(2) The driving evaluation device according to item (1), wherein the evaluation result output unit detects a right/left turn start time of the vehicle and a turn signal operation start time in the vicinity of the right/left turn start time based on the operation log data, and outputs the evaluation result based on the turn signal operation start time and the right/left turn start time.

(3) The driving evaluation device according to item (2), wherein the evaluation result output unit calculates a travel distance of the vehicle covered from the turn signal operation start time to the right/left turn start time based on a travel speed, and outputs the evaluation result based on the calculated travel distance.

(4) The driving evaluation device according to the item (2) or (3), further comprising an in-vehicle device that is mounted in the vehicle and records operation log data, wherein:

the in-vehicle apparatus records at least information of an acceleration in a width direction of the vehicle and a traveling speed of the vehicle together with time as a part of the operation record data; and is

The evaluation result output unit calculates a curvature radius of a travel locus of the vehicle based on at least the acceleration in the width direction of the vehicle and the travel speed of the vehicle, determines whether the vehicle makes a turn at an intersection based on the calculated curvature radius, and determines a time when the vehicle starts turning at the intersection as the right/left turn start time.

(5) The driving evaluation device according to item (4), wherein the evaluation result output unit determines that the vehicle has made a turn at the intersection if the curvature radius is less than or equal to a first threshold value, the acceleration for turning is greater than or equal to a second threshold value, and the cumulative steering angle is greater than or equal to a third threshold value.

(6) The driving evaluation device according to the item (4) or (5), further comprising a turn signal operation start time recording unit that monitors an operation state of a turn signal of the vehicle or an operation on the turn signal, and detects at least a time when the turn signal starts to be operated, and records the time as a part of the operation record data, wherein:

after detecting the right/left turn start time, the evaluation result output unit determines the turn signal operation start time by searching for respective data of the operation record data at least in a direction toward the past from the right/left turn start time.

According to the driving evaluation device of item (1), since the evaluation result output unit extracts the data relating to the intersection from the operation record data, it is possible to easily evaluate the driving behavior such as the operation of the winker, the intersection entry speed, the lateral acceleration, and whether or not the temporary stop is made at the intersection.

According to the driving evaluation device of item (2), since the evaluation result output unit outputs the evaluation result based on the turn signal operation start time and the turn right/left start time, it is possible to reflect in the evaluation whether or not to start the signal emission with the turn signal in such a manner that a sufficient time margin is given when the own vehicle makes a turn right or left.

The driving evaluation device according to the item (3), which can reflect a distance from a point at which a signal is emitted using a turn signal of the own vehicle to a point at which the own vehicle starts turning left or right in the evaluation. Thus, the result of the evaluation can be easily compared with the relevant regulations of the road traffic laws.

According to the driving evaluation device of item (4), since the evaluation result output unit calculates the radius of curvature, it is possible to easily distinguish a case where the own vehicle runs on a curved road and a case where the own vehicle makes a right or left turn at an intersection from each other based on the radius of curvature. Further, since the curvature radius is calculated based on the acceleration, the evaluation can be performed even with an ordinary vehicle that cannot acquire the steering angle information.

According to the driving evaluation device of item (5), since whether or not to make a turn at the intersection is determined based on the curvature radius of the own vehicle and the acceleration and the cumulative steering angle of the turn, a more accurate determination result can be obtained.

The driving evaluation device according to the item (6), which first detects the right/left turn start time and thereafter determines the turn signal operation start time, enables appropriate evaluation. For example, even in the case of turning right or left from the vehicle without signaling with the turn signal, the dangerous driving behavior can be reliably evaluated.

Advantageous effects of the invention

The driving evaluation device according to the present invention enables appropriate evaluation of right/left-turn driving operations made at an intersection. More specifically, since data relating to the intersection is extracted from the operation record data, driving behaviors such as an operation of a turn signal, an intersection entry speed, a lateral acceleration, and whether or not a temporary stop is made at the intersection can be easily evaluated.

Further, since the evaluation result output unit outputs the evaluation result based on the turn signal operation start time and the right/left turn start time, it is possible to reflect in the evaluation whether or not to start the signal emission with the turn signal in such a manner that a sufficient time margin is given when the own vehicle makes a right turn or a left turn.

The present invention has been described briefly above. The details of the present invention will become more apparent by reading the embodiments (hereinafter referred to as examples) for carrying out the present invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a driving evaluation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing the main operation of the driving evaluation device according to the embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an exemplary road on which a vehicle has traveled and is traveling.

Fig. 4 is a front view showing an example of display of the evaluation result.

List of reference marks

10 vehicle-mounted device

11 video decoder

12 image processing CPU

13,18 read-only memory (ROM)

14,19 temporary Storage (SDRAM)

NTSC signal processing unit

16 monitoring output unit

17 control system processing CPU

Vehicle signal interface 20

GPS position information acquisition unit

22 CAN interface

23 speech output unit

24 vibration output unit

25 recording medium

26 rear analysis database

27 PC interface

28 hand held terminal connection unit

29 nonvolatile memory (EEPROM)

31 main vehicle-mounted camera

32 optional vehicle-mounted camera

33 acceleration sensor

35 daily report

36 display screen

40 office PC

50: road

50a intersection

54 self vehicle

54a motion track

P0 starting point of right/left turn

P10, P20, P30 reference points

Detailed Description

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows an exemplary configuration of a driving evaluation device according to an embodiment of the invention. The driving evaluation apparatus shown in fig. 1 is equipped with an in-vehicle apparatus 10 and an office PC 40.

Each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 has a function of a digital drive recorder (i.e., an operation recorder) and is used in a state of being installed in a vehicle for commercial use as a management object such as a taxi, a truck, a bus, or the like. Each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 is capable of automatically acquiring various types of information representing the operating state of the own vehicle, and recording and storing the acquired data in the recording medium 25.

The office PC40 is a management device installed in an office or the like of a company that owns a certain number of vehicles and manages the operation work of the vehicles, and is configured as a device obtained by installing dedicated management software in a general-purpose Personal Computer (PC). In this way, the office PC40 acquires and analyzes information representing operating states recorded by the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 installed in many vehicles, and thereby can use the information for operation management of the vehicles, labor management of drivers driving the respective vehicles, safe driving management, and the like.

The data transmission between each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 and the office PC40 may be performed by carrying the recording medium 25 detachable from the in-vehicle apparatus 10, or by transmitting data of the in-vehicle apparatus 10 by wireless communication in the case where the in-vehicle apparatus 10 has a wireless communication function.

The feature point of the embodiment is that when the own vehicle has made a route change (a right turn or a left turn) at a position such as an intersection on the road, each of the in-vehicle devices 10 records various information required to judge the manner of the route change in the recording medium 25. Various types of information to be recorded in the recording medium 25 at respective points in time include lateral acceleration (G value), vehicle speed, position information (longitude/latitude) indicating the current position of the vehicle, azimuth information, date/time, information indicating the operating state of the winkers, and other information. Each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 also has a function of recognizing a divisional line (e.g., a white line) drawn on the road surface to represent a boundary between the traveling lanes.

The information that has been recorded in the recording medium 25 by the respective in-vehicle apparatuses 10 is accumulated in the rear analysis database 26 that can be accessed by the office PC 40. The office PC40 acquires necessary information by reading the recorded information of each vehicle from the rear analysis database 26 and analyzing the information. More specifically, the office PC40 calculates a radius of curvature r of a turn based on the recorded vehicle speed and lateral acceleration, and extracts an event as a route change (right turn or left turn) at the intersection based on the calculated radius of curvature r and other information.

Further, the office PC40 detects route change start points of respective route change events (right turn or left turn), and also detects turn signal operation start points in the vicinity thereof. The office PC40 then calculates the travel distance of the vehicle between the route change start point and the turn signal operation start point based on the time and the vehicle speed. That is, the office PC40 determines the travel distance from the point in time at which the turn signal starts to be emitted from the winker to the start of the actual route change in the route change event (right turn or left turn). Further, the office PC40 collects the travel distances of the route change events recorded as data in the rear analysis database 26 and statistically processes them.

In collecting the travel distance, the following two collection results are separately recorded: collecting results of the left-turn route change and the right-turn route change to distinguish them from each other; and collecting the collected results of the left-turn route change and the right-turn route change without distinguishing the former from the latter. A specific example of the statistical process is to generate a histogram and calculate the most frequent value (a most frequent value), standard deviation, maximum value, minimum value, and the like.

The office PC40 displays the result of the statistical processing on the screen. In this process, the office PC40 outputs in such a manner that the difference between the actual travel distance and the predetermined evaluation reference value can be easily visually recognized. The office PC40, which has access to recorded data of many individual drivers, statistically processes each driver and displays the results in the form of a list, so that differences between groups of behaviors of multiple drivers can be recognized for comparison.

Part of the functions of the office PC40 may be implemented in each in-vehicle apparatus 10. In this case, the analysis is performed in each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 in almost real time based on the information recorded in the recording medium 25; the time t00 of the start point of the route change (right or left turn) is detected, the time t01 of the start point of the turn signal operation is determined, and the travel distance corresponding to the time difference t00-t01 between the two points in time can be calculated using the vehicle speed. Further, if it is determined that the route change does not constitute safe driving behavior by comparing the calculated travel distance with a predetermined threshold value, the driver can be warned.

Next, an exemplary configuration of each of the in-vehicle apparatuses 10 will be described. As shown in fig. 1, each in-vehicle apparatus 10 is equipped with a video decoder 11, an image processing CPU12, a read only memory 13, a temporary memory 14, an NTSC signal processing unit 15, a monitor output unit 16, a control system processing CPU17, a read only memory 18, a temporary memory 19, a vehicle signal interface 20, a GPS position information acquisition unit 21, a CAN interface 22, a voice output unit 23, a vibration output unit 24, a recording medium 25, a PC interface 27, a palm-type terminal connection unit 28, a nonvolatile memory (EEPROM)29, and an acceleration sensor 33.

The acceleration sensor 33 is capable of detecting the magnitude (G value, m/s2) of the acceleration of the own vehicle in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction). In the embodiment, the acceleration sensor 33 is used to detect a turning operation from the vehicle turning right or left at an intersection or the like. The acceleration sensor 33 does not always have to be mounted in such a manner that its axis in the acceleration detection direction is parallel to the left-right direction of the own vehicle; for example, the axial direction thereof may be deviated from the left-right direction of the own vehicle as long as the acceleration sensor 33 can acquire the acceleration in the left-right direction by, for example, vector calculation.

The main onboard camera 31 and the optional onboard camera 32 are connected to two video inputs of a video decoder (decoder) 11, respectively. The main onboard camera 31 is installed in the vehicle compartment in a state capable of shooting a scene including a road surface, the front of the own vehicle in the traveling direction, and outputs a video shot as a video signal of the NTSC (national television systems committee) standard. The optional in-vehicle camera 32 is installed in the vehicle compartment in such a manner as to be able to capture the driver of the driving own vehicle as a capture object, and outputs video captured as a video signal of the NTSC standard.

The video decoder 11 receives video signals output from the main onboard camera 31 and the optional onboard camera 32, respectively, and generates digital image data that can be processed by a computer or the like in frame by frame. Digital image data corresponding to video captured by the main onboard camera 31 and digital image data corresponding to video captured by the optional onboard camera 32 are input to the image processing CPU12 and the control system processing CPU17, respectively.

The image processing CPU12 as a microcomputer can execute predetermined image processing at high speed by running a program installed in advance. More specifically, among the digital image data corresponding to the video captured by the main onboard camera 31, the image processing CPU12 is able to recognize the outline and position of each part of the own vehicle section, and is also able to recognize a divisional line (white line) drawn on the road surface included in the scene and representing the boundary between the traveling lanes. The image processing CPU12 can send the image processing result to the control system processing CPU 17.

A Read Only Memory (ROM)13, which is a memory capable of being read data when accessed by the image processing CPU12, holds in advance various programs and data such as various constants necessary for the operation of the image processing CPU 12.

A temporary memory (SDRAM)14 is used to temporarily store various types of data when necessary, and is capable of writing and reading data when accessed by the image processing CPU 12.

The NTSC signal processing unit (encoder) 15 generates an NTSC standard video signal based on the image and the like in the recognition result of the image processing CPU 12. When a prescribed monitoring device (display) is connected, the video signal is output to the monitoring output unit 16, which is capable of monitoring the recognition result of the image processing CPU12 and the like.

The control system processing CPU17, which is a microcomputer, is capable of executing control for realizing various functions required for the in-vehicle apparatus 10 by running various pre-installed programs. Since the in-vehicle apparatus 10 is a digital drive recorder, the main operation of the control system processing CPU17 is to automatically acquire various information relating to the operation of the own vehicle and record them in the recording medium 25.

The information to be recorded in the recording medium 25 by the control system processing CPU17 includes the following data D1 to D11:

d1: acceleration in the left-right direction (G value);

d2: current time (date/time);

d3: vehicle speed (km/h);

d4: the current position (latitude/longitude) of the host vehicle;

d5: azimuth information indicating a traveling direction of the host vehicle;

d6: information indicating whether the left and right turn signals are operated;

d7: presence/absence of a partitioning line representing a boundary between the traveling lanes;

d8: ignition (IGN) on/off state;

d9: a brake on/off state;

d10: image data obtained by photographing a driver; and

d11: data indicating whether various events such as an alarm occur.

A Read Only Memory (ROM)18, which is a memory from which data can be read when accessed by the control system processing CPU17, holds in advance various programs and data such as various constants necessary for the control system processing CPU17 to operate.

A temporary memory (SDRAM)19 is used to temporarily store various data when necessary, and is capable of writing and reading data when accessed by the control system processing CPU 17.

The nonvolatile memory (EEPROM)29, which is a memory into and from which data can be written and read when accessed by the control system processing CPU17, can hold various parameters, various thresholds, tables, and the like for determining the operation mode of the in-vehicle apparatus 10. The data held by the nonvolatile memory 29 may be rewritten when necessary.

The vehicle signal interface (I/F)20 performs signal processing necessary for exchanging signals between the in-vehicle device 10 and various other electrical devices on the vehicle. For example, the following signals are input to the in-vehicle apparatus 10 via the vehicle signal interface 20 and output from the in-vehicle apparatus 10:

SG 0: vehicle speed pulse signal (input);

SG 1: trigger signal (output);

SG 2: a signal (input) indicative of Ignition (IGN) on/off status;

SG 3: signal (input) representing the state of a manual switch that can be operated by the driver:

SG 4: a signal (input) indicating a brake on/off state;

SG 5: a signal (input) indicating the on/off state of the left winker; and

SG 6: a signal (input) indicating the on/off state of the right direction lamp.

The GPS position information acquisition unit 21 can acquire the latitude and longitude from the current position of the vehicle by calculation using a receiver that receives radio waves from a GPS (global positioning system) satellite. The GPS position signal acquisition unit 21 may be incorporated in the in-vehicle apparatus 10 or externally connected to the in-vehicle apparatus 10.

The CAN interface 22 includes a transceiver for performing data communication of CAN (controller area network) standard on the vehicle. The CAN interface 22 is connected to other devices such as a meter unit of an instrument panel and various Electronic Control Units (ECUs) via a communication network on the vehicle. Thus, the in-vehicle device 10 can acquire the vehicle speed information, the engine speed information, and other information from other devices.

As for the vehicle speed information, it is also possible to cause the control system processing CPU17 to calculate the vehicle speed based on the pulse period of the vehicle speed pulse signal SG0 or the number of pulses generated within a prescribed time.

The voice output unit 23 can generate a synthesized voice signal to output a message such as a warning message or a guidance message from a prescribed speaker as a virtual voice that can be heard by the driver. That is, the voice output unit 23 outputs a desired voice message according to an instruction from the control system processing CPU 17.

The vibration output unit 24 can drive a prescribed vibrator in accordance with an instruction from the control system processing CPU 17. The use of the vibration generated by driving the vibrator enables the driver to be aware of a specific situation.

The recording medium 25 is, for example, a card-like device including a nonvolatile memory. The recording medium 25 is detachably attached to a predetermined card slot provided in the in-vehicle apparatus 10. Information such as a driver ID indicating a specific driver who is to use the recording medium 25 is recorded in the recording area of the recording medium 25.

The control system processing CPU17 is capable of writing data to the recording medium 25 and reading data from the recording medium 25 by accessing the recording medium 25 attached to the in-vehicle apparatus 10. Actually, under the control of the control system processing CPU17, the operation information including the above-described data D1 to D11 is successively written to the memory of the recording medium 25. Specific access control is performed to prevent the operation information written to the recording medium 25 from being tampered or cleared by illegal access.

For example, when the vehicle running work has been ended, the driver may remove the recording medium 25 from the in-vehicle apparatus 10, bring it to the office, and transmit various operation information recorded therein to the server of the office PC40, so that the various operation information is recorded in the rear analysis database 26. In the case where the in-vehicle apparatus 10 has the wireless communication function, the operation information stored in the recording medium 25 can be automatically transmitted to the server in a state where the recording medium 25 remains attached to the in-vehicle apparatus 10.

The PC interface 27 has terminals for connection of a Personal Computer (PC) to the in-vehicle apparatus 10. By connecting a predetermined personal computer to the PC interface 27, for example, the state of the in-vehicle device 10 can be displayed on the screen of the personal computer.

The handy terminal connection unit 28 has a connection terminal for connection of a predetermined handy terminal (H/T). Although not shown in any of the drawings, the handy terminal is equipped with a display and a plurality of keys that can be manipulated by a user (administrator). For example, when a prescribed administrator performs maintenance work on the in-vehicle apparatus 10, various parameters stored in the nonvolatile memory 29 can be read and updated by connecting a handy terminal to the in-vehicle apparatus 10.

Next, how to recognize a right turn or a left turn of the own vehicle at the intersection will be described.

Fig. 3 is a top view showing a specific example case where the vehicle travels on a road. Fig. 3 shows a case where the running own vehicle 54 has made a route change (right turn) at the intersection 50a as indicated by the movement locus 54 a.

In the example of fig. 3, as indicated by the motion trace 54a, the route change (right turn) is made since the vehicle 54 is traveling straight on the road 50 until the intersection 50a is reached, and then by turning right from the right/left turn start point P0 located at the entrance of the intersection 50 a. The reference points P10, P20, and P30 shown in fig. 3 are located at distances of 10m, 20m, and 30m from the right/left turn start point P0, respectively.

In the case of a normal driving maneuver, the driver starts signaling a right or left turn with the turn signal before entering the intersection 50 a. This makes it possible to notify the driver of the other vehicle that the own vehicle is about to make a right or left turn, and thereby avoid the occurrence of a dangerous situation with a high probability.

In view of the above, for example, the road traffic law stipulates that a signal should be sent with a turn signal lamp at a position 30 meters away from a left or right turn. Thus, in the example shown in fig. 3, by starting the operation of the winker at the reference point P30 at a distance of 30m from the right/left turn start point P0, the right turn can be made without violating the relevant regulations of the road traffic laws. Further, this gives the driver of the nearby vehicle a sufficiently long time to accurately predict the route change of the own vehicle, and causes the driving of other vehicles to react to the predicted route change.

On the other hand, in order to check whether the own vehicle 54 turning right in the manner shown in fig. 3 does not violate the regulation relating to the road traffic law, it is first necessary to determine whether it has turned right or left at the intersection.

In the embodiment, for example, when the office PC40 analyzes the operation information that has been transmitted from the recording medium 25 to the rear analysis data path 26, the curvature radius r of the turn from the vehicle is referred to as one condition for identifying a right turn or a left turn made at the intersection. The radius of curvature r can be calculated according to the following equation:

r＝V²/G(m)…(1)

wherein

V: vehicle speed (m/s)

G: acceleration (m/s)²)。

In the above equation, the information of the vehicle speed V may be acquired as the above-described data D3 included in the recorded operation information. The information of the acceleration G may be acquired as the above-described data D1 included in the recorded operation information.

When the vehicle turns on a curved road or on a flat surface at an intersection, for example, acceleration is inevitably generated in the lateral direction (the left-right direction of the vehicle body). The radius of curvature r may be calculated based on the acceleration and the vehicle speed. It is also possible to determine the trajectory of the turn and to distinguish between right and left turns using the direction of the lateral acceleration.

In the case of a right or left turn at the intersection, the radius of curvature r of the host vehicle is relatively small. On the other hand, when the own vehicle runs on a road curved in a normal manner, the detected radius of curvature r is relatively large. Thus, if comparing the radius of curvature r to the prescribed threshold yields a result that the former is less than or equal to the latter, it is highly likely that a right or left turn has been made at the intersection. Further, since the lateral acceleration G is relatively large when turning with a small curvature radius r, it is conceivable to compare the lateral acceleration G with a threshold value to provide one condition for identifying the turning made at the intersection.

Whether one of the right and left direction lights is operated or not can be identified based on the data D6 contained in the recorded operation information. If turning is performed with one of the right and left winkers operating, there is a high possibility that the intersection will turn right or left.

Since the relationship of the following formula is maintained among the vehicle speed V (m/s), the curvature radius (m), and the angular speed ω (rad/s), the angular speed of the turn can be calculated based on the vehicle speed V and the curvature radius r:

V＝r×ω…(2)

the steering angle at which the vehicle turns can be calculated by integrating the angular velocity ω, and the cumulative steering angle from the start of turning can also be calculated. With the knowledge of the circumferential movement distance l (m) along the trajectory of the turn and the radius of curvature r (m), the steering angle θ can be calculated according to the following equation:

L＝r×θ…(3)

when ordinary right and left turns are made at the intersection, the vehicle turns at about 90 °, although the angle varies to some extent depending on actual road conditions. Thus, if the cumulative steering angle from the start of turning is compared with a prescribed threshold value, and a result is obtained in which the former is greater than or equal to the latter, there is a high possibility that a right turn or a left turn has been made at the intersection.

In the case where a partition line (white line) on a road is identified by image recognition, the partition line disappears at an intersection. Thus, whether the lane line disappears during turning can be added to the condition for identifying whether the vehicle is at the intersection. More specifically, it is determined whether or not each divisional line of the boundary of the driving lane has disappeared by referring to the above-described data D7 contained in the recorded operation information, and is reflected in the process of identifying whether or not the vehicle is at the intersection.

The in-vehicle apparatus 10 includes a GPS receiver, and obtains information indicating an azimuth in addition to the position information of the own vehicle, so that the traveling direction of the vehicle at each time point can be known. That is, the azimuth indicating the traveling direction when the vehicle enters the intersection and the azimuth indicating the traveling direction when the vehicle leaves the intersection can be acquired from the data D5 included in the recorded operation information.

Thus, the accumulated steering angle referred to when identifying whether the vehicle is at the intersection can be obtained based on the angular velocity ω satisfying the above equation (2), according to the above equation (3), or as the change in the azimuth angle calculated based on the above data D5.

By searching for the position where the turn starts using the acceleration G after the turn (right turn or left turn) at the intersection is recognized using the above-described method, the right/left turn starting point P0 shown in fig. 3 can be determined, and the time t00 corresponding to the right/left turn starting point P0 can be acquired from the above-described data D2 contained in the recorded operation information.

Based on the data D6, it is possible to determine the point at which the direction indicator starts to signal that a right or left turn will soon be made, by looking for the recorded operation information at least from the data position of the right/left turn start point P0 in the direction toward the past, and then acquire the time t01 corresponding to the determined point from the above-mentioned data D2 contained in the recorded operation information.

If a point at which the winker starts to emit a signal that a right or left turn will soon be made is not found even if the recorded operation information is searched for in the past direction for a prescribed period of time (e.g., 5 seconds) from the data position of the right/left turn starting point P0, the recorded operation information is searched for in the forward direction on the time axis for a prescribed period of time (e.g., 5 seconds) from the data position of the right/left turn starting point P0. That is, the timing of the signal relating to the start of the right or left turn by the turn signal lamp is determined by searching the recorded operation information in the time range from a predetermined time before the time corresponding to the right/left turn start point P0 to a predetermined time after the time.

Since the vehicle speed at each time point is known from the data D3 included in the recorded operation information, the travel distance per unit time from the vehicle can be calculated using the vehicle speed. Further, the travel distance between time t00 and time t01 can be calculated.

The travel distance between time t00 and time t01 is very important in achieving safe driving because it relates to the time margin necessary for the drivers of the other vehicles to predict and react to a right or left turn route change from the vehicle 54 in their driving operations. For example, if a driving operation of signaling with a turn signal at a distance of 30m from a point where a right or left turn is started is performed as specified in the road traffic law, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a dangerous situation with a high probability. Furthermore, evaluating the travel distance between time t00 and time t01 enables a simple check whether driving violates relevant regulations of road traffic laws.

Fig. 2 shows the main operation of the driving evaluation device shown in fig. 1. In the process shown in fig. 2, steps S11 and S12 are executed in the in-vehicle apparatus 10, and other steps S21-S31 are executed in the office PC 40. Steps S21-S31 shown in fig. 2 are examples; the various types of information described above can be used to distinguish turns at intersections from other motions that utilize operations other than those shown in fig. 2. The operation shown in fig. 2 will be described below.

In the in-vehicle apparatus 10, the image processing CPU12 performs image processing on the digital image data corresponding to the video of the scene captured by the main onboard camera 31, thereby recognizing a white line on the road, i.e., a partition line drawn on the road (S11).

The control system processing CPU17 automatically acquires the above-described data D1-D11, i.e., acceleration values (G values) in the left and right directions, the current time (date/time), the vehicle speed (km/h), the current position (longitude/latitude) of the own vehicle, azimuth information indicating the traveling direction of the own vehicle, information indicating whether the left and right respective winkers are operated, the presence/absence of a partitioning line indicating the boundary between the traveling lanes, and other kinds of information, and records them in the recording medium 25 (S12).

After the completion of the daily vehicle operation, the operation information recorded in the recording medium 25 is transmitted to the rear analysis database 26 managed by the server of the office PC40 by physical movement of the recording medium 25 or wireless communication.

On the other hand, in order to evaluate the operation information on the office PC40, a prescribed manager accesses the rear analysis database 26 and thereby starts reading the operation information of the respective drivers successively recorded as time-series data from the information corresponding to the position of the operation start time.

At step S22, in order to detect the turning operation of the own vehicle from the operation information, based on the data D1 representing the acceleration G in the left-right direction and the data D3 representing the vehicle speed included in the read-in operation information, the office PC40 acquires the curvature radius r from the operation information at each point in time by performing calculation according to the above equation (1).

At step S23, the office PC40 calculates the steering angle from the turning operation of the vehicle, and adds the steering angles together. That is, the office PC40 calculates the angular velocities ω according to the above equation (2) and adds the angular velocities together, or acquires the steering angle θ according to the above equation (3).

At step S24, the office PC40 compares the curvature radius r calculated at step S22 with a prescribed threshold value. If the radius of curvature r is less than or equal to the threshold, it is highly likely that the vehicle is located at the intersection and therefore the office PC40 moves to the next step S25. If the radius of curvature r is larger than the threshold, the office PC40 determines that the vehicle is not located at the intersection, and returns to step S22.

At step S25, the office PC40 compares the lateral acceleration G of the own vehicle that made the turning operation with a predetermined threshold value. If the lateral acceleration G is greater than or equal to the threshold, it is highly likely that a right or left turn is made at the intersection, and therefore the office PC40 moves to step S26. If the lateral acceleration G is less than the threshold value, the office PC40 determines that the vehicle is not located at the intersection and returns to step S22.

At step S26, the office PC40 compares the cumulative steering angle calculated at step S23, that is, the angle variable from the start of the turning operation, with a predetermined threshold value. If the accumulated steering angle is greater than or equal to the threshold value, because this means that the angle of the turning operation is so large that the turning operation is regarded as a right turn or a left turn, the office PC40 moves to step S27. If the accumulated steering angle is smaller than the threshold value, the office PC40 determines that the turning operation is not a right turn or a left turn, and returns to step S22.

At step S27, the office PC40 finds the starting point of the turning operation of the own vehicle, i.e., the right/left turn starting point P0 shown in fig. 3, under the current analysis, and determines the time t00 corresponding to the point based on the data D2. Then, the office PC40 searches for the data D6 in a time range from a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds) before the time corresponding to the point to a predetermined time after the time corresponding to the operation start point of the direction lamp. The office PC40 also determines the time t01 corresponding to the thus found work start point based on the data D2.

At step S28, the office PC40 calculates the travel distance from the vehicle between the right/left turn start point P0 and the turn signal operation start time. More specifically, since the travel distance per unit is known from the vehicle speed of the data D3, the office PC40 calculates the movement distance covered between the time t00 corresponding to the right/left turn start point P0 and the time t01 corresponding to the turn signal operation start time based on the vehicle speed. The office PC40 records the calculated travel distance as an evaluation target value.

In the case of an ordinary driving operation, a route change of a right turn or a left turn is started after the start of the turn signal operation. Thus, in order to search for the start point of the turn signal operation at step S27, the normal time-series data are referred to in order in the direction toward the past from the turning operation start point P0. However, since there is a possibility that the driver makes an abnormal driving operation, the search is performed in two time ranges before and after the turning operation start point. There is also the possibility of making a right or left turn without signalling from the turn signal lights. In this case, the search for the start point of the turn signal operation will fail, and thus the fact that the driving operation is abnormal is detected.

If all the time-series data or the time-series data in the range specified by the manager are not read in, the office PC40 returns from step S29 to step S22 to re-execute the above steps. As a result, the travel distance in the time period t00-t01 for each right or left turn event recorded as part of the operation information is recorded as the evaluation target value.

If the reading in of all the time-series data has been completed or the reading in of the time-series data within the range specified by the administrator has been completed, the office PC40 moves to step S30, where it performs prescribed statistical processing at step S30. More specifically, the office PC40 collects the evaluation target values (travel distances) of all right/left turn events and calculates a statistical value. The office PC40 collects the evaluation target values in two ways, that is, a way of collecting the right-turn route change and the left-turn route change separately, and a way of collecting the right-turn route change and the left-turn route change together. For example, the office PC40 generates a histogram showing the distribution of the occurrence frequency of each travel distance, or calculates an average value, a most frequent value, a standard deviation, a maximum value, a minimum value, and the like.

Upon completion of the step to step S30, the office PC40 generates the daily report 35, the daily report 35 including information reflecting the result of the statistical processing of step S30 as the evaluation result, and the office PC40 prints the daily report 35 on the worksheet. Further, the office PC40 displays a driving evaluation screen on its display (S31).

After the evaluation result of the right/left turn operation actually output from the vehicle, it is assumed that the evaluation is made in consideration of the speed at which the vehicle enters the intersection, the lateral acceleration value, whether the temporary stop is made, and other information, in addition to the travel distance calculated at step S28 shown in fig. 2. This enables an appropriate evaluation to be made.

Next is a specific example of display of the evaluation result.

Fig. 4 shows an example of display of the evaluation result. The displayed content shown in fig. 4 is a specific example of the driving evaluation screen (display screen 36) to be displayed on the display of the office PC40 at step S31 shown in fig. 2.

The driving evaluation screen shown in fig. 4 is an output as a histogram of evaluation results of driving operations of a left-turn only made by five drivers (driver a, driver B, driver C, driver D, and driver E) which are displayed in the form of a list so that the evaluation results of the five drivers can be compared with each other. In these histograms, the difference in frequency is represented as a difference in display density or color. Vertical lines representing positions (evaluation reference values) of "before 10 m", "before 20 m", and "before 30 m" are shown in the histogram as reference lines. The "before 10 m", "before 20 m", and "before 30 m" positions (evaluation reference values) shown in fig. 4 correspond to the positions of reference points P10, P20, and P30 shown in fig. 3, respectively.

In fig. 4, time t0 corresponds to time t0 of the start of the actual left turn operation. Times t1, t2, and t3 represent times corresponding to "before 10 m", "before 20 m", and "before 30 m" positions (evaluation reference values), respectively. However, since the vehicle speed is not constant, the actual times t1, t2, and t3 differ from event to event.

For example, in the histogram of driver a in the screen shown in fig. 4, the highest frequency evaluation target value (the travel distance between the positions corresponding to times t00 and t 01) is located in the vicinity of 27m, which is almost equal to 30m specified in the road traffic law. Thus, it can be considered that the driver a makes almost safe driving. In the histogram of the driver E, the highest frequency evaluation target value is located in the vicinity of 2m, which means that the driver E starts a left turn almost at the same time as it starts signaling with the turn signal lamp. Thus, it can be considered that the driver E has made a very dangerous driving.

The evaluation results of the plurality of drivers are displayed in such a manner that they are arranged in a list, which enables the manager to easily recognize the tendencies of the evaluation results of all drivers. Further, displaying the position of the evaluation reference value enables the manager to easily recognize the difference from the evaluation reference value. As a result, the manager can easily determine a person who needs to correct his driving style like the driver E shown in fig. 4.

On the other hand, in the in-vehicle apparatus 10 shown in fig. 1, image data corresponding to the video of the driver captured by the optional in-vehicle camera 32 is also automatically recorded as data D10 in the recording medium 25. This enables the manager to recognize the driving-related behavior of each driver by reproducing such image data. For example, by searching using time, an image showing the behavior of the driver when the driver makes a right turn or a left turn can be found. Thus, using such an image, it is possible to check whether the driver looks to the left and right for safety check, and reflect the result of the check in the evaluation.

In the operation shown in FIG. 2, it is determined whether a right turn or a left turn is made at the intersection using the relatively simple conditions of steps S24-S26. However, as described above, in the description of how to recognize the right or left turn of the own vehicle at the intersection, the recognition condition involving the combination of various types of information may be employed to meet the situation.

For example, it is conceivable to store information about intersections obtained when the office PC40 executes steps S21-S31 shown in fig. 2 in the office PC40 and use the information in future evaluations. It is also conceivable to transmit information of an intersection from the office PC40 to the respective in-vehicle apparatuses 10 using the recording medium 25 and reflect the information in the control of each in-vehicle device 10 in the future.

The features of the above-described driving evaluation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be briefly summarized in the form of items [1] to [6] below:

[1] a driving evaluation apparatus for evaluating a driving operation of a driver based on operation record data that is a record of a prescribed event detected on a vehicle, the driving evaluation apparatus comprising:

an evaluation result output unit (S21-S31) that extracts data representing an intersection from the operation record data and outputs an evaluation result based on driving performed at the intersection.

[2] The driving evaluation device according to item [1], wherein the evaluation result output unit detects a right/left turn start time of the vehicle and a turn signal operation start time in the vicinity of the right/left turn start time, and outputs the evaluation result based on the turn signal operation start time and the right/left turn start time.

[3] The driving evaluation device according to item [2], wherein the evaluation result output unit calculates a travel distance of the vehicle covered from the turn signal operation start time to the right/left turn start time based on a travel speed, and outputs the evaluation result based on the calculated travel distance.

[4] The driving evaluation device according to the item [2] or [3], further comprising an in-vehicle device (10) that is mounted in the vehicle and records the operation record data, wherein:

the in-vehicle apparatus records, as a part of the operation record data, at least information of an acceleration (G) in a width direction of the vehicle and a traveling speed (V) of the vehicle together with time; and is

The evaluation result output unit calculates a curvature radius (r) of a travel locus of the vehicle based on at least the acceleration in the width direction of the vehicle and the travel speed of the vehicle, determines whether the vehicle makes a turn at an intersection based on the calculated curvature radius, and determines a time when the vehicle starts turning at the intersection as the right/left turn start time (t 00).

[5] The driving evaluation device according to item [4], wherein the evaluation result output unit determines that the vehicle has made a turn at an intersection if the curvature radius is less than or equal to a first threshold value, the acceleration for turning is greater than or equal to a second threshold value, and a cumulative steering angle is greater than or equal to a third threshold value.

[6] The driving evaluation device according to item [4] or [5], further comprising a turn signal operation start time recording unit (control system processing CPU17) that monitors an operation state of a turn signal of the vehicle or an operation on the turn signal, and detects at least a time when the turn signal starts to operate, and records the time as a part of the operation record data (D6), wherein:

after detecting the right/left turn start time (t00), the evaluation result output unit determines the turn signal operation start time by searching for respective data of the operation record data at least in a direction toward the past from the right/left turn start time.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to specific embodiments, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

This application is based on Japanese patent application No.2015-156051 filed on 8/6 of 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Industrial applicability

The present invention provides a technical advantage of being able to appropriately evaluate a right/left-turn driving operation made at an intersection. With this technical advantage, the present invention is useful when applied to a driving evaluation device for evaluating a driving operation of a driver driving a vehicle.

Claims

1. A driving evaluation apparatus for evaluating a driving operation of a driver based on operation log data that is a log of prescribed events detected on a vehicle, comprising:

an evaluation result output unit that extracts data representing an intersection from the operation record data and outputs an evaluation result based on driving performed at the intersection,

wherein the evaluation result output unit detects a right/left turn start time of the vehicle and a turn signal operation start time in the vicinity of the right/left turn start time based on the operation record data, and calculates a travel distance of the vehicle covered from the turn signal operation start time to the right/left turn start time based on a travel speed, and

the evaluation result output unit processes a plurality of the operation record data for a plurality of drivers, respectively, and displays the evaluation result in a histogram showing a distribution of occurrence frequencies of the respective travel distances of the plurality of drivers so that the evaluation results of the plurality of drivers can be compared with each other.

2. The driving evaluation device according to claim 1, further comprising an in-vehicle device that is mounted in the vehicle and records the operation record data, wherein:

the vehicle-mounted device records at least information of an acceleration in a width direction of the vehicle and a traveling speed of the vehicle together with time as a part of the operation record data; and is

3. The driving evaluation device according to claim 2, wherein the evaluation result output unit determines that the vehicle has made a turn at an intersection if the curvature radius is less than or equal to a first threshold value, the acceleration of the turn is greater than or equal to a second threshold value, and the cumulative steering angle is greater than or equal to a third threshold value.

4. The driving evaluation device according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a turn signal operation start time recording unit that monitors an operation state of a turn signal of the vehicle or an operation of the turn signal, and detects at least a time when the turn signal starts to operate and records the time as a part of the operation record data, wherein:

after detecting the right/left turn start time, the evaluation result output unit determines the turn signal operation start time by searching for respective pieces of the operation recording data at least in a direction toward the past from the right/left turn start time.