DE102012213965A1 - Method for ensuring sufficient efficiency of rider of motor car, involves evaluating, reducing and maintaining performance of particular task depending on evaluation of degree of automation, and stopping vehicle based on evaluation - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves requesting a rider to perform different tasks in a vehicle at time spacing. Performance of particular task of the rider is evaluated, reduced and maintained depending on evaluation of degree of automation of automated driving. The vehicle is stopped based on the evaluation. Time duration between two requests is varied according to rider reaction. Rider control elements are exploited for sending the tasks. An assumption request is provided to the rider based on the evaluation.

Description

The invention relates to a method for ensuring sufficient performance of a driver of a motor vehicle in automated driving.

In principle, a distinction is made between different levels for automated driving, namely assisted driving (with longitudinal or lateral assistance, for example when using a distance control), semi-automated driving (with longitudinal and lateral assistance, for example when using a traffic jam assistant), highly automated driving (with Longitudinal and lateral support) and fully automated driving. While in assisted and semi-automated driving the driver has to permanently monitor the system, the driver does not have to monitor the system permanently in highly automated driving.

The automation of driving tasks has limits. The driver must therefore monitor the system in semi-automatic driving permanently and in highly automated driving at least at certain intervals and depending on the degree of automation be able to different speeds in the situation to take over the driving task itself. Such systems typically issue an audible, visual and / or haptic takeover request to the driver before assuming the driving task, which indicates to the driver to take over the driving task again. The driver should at least have such a capability that he receives the takeover request and can take over the driving task in a timely manner.

In automated driving, depending on the degree of automation, there is a risk that the driver will withdraw from the driving task and perform the monitoring task insufficiently; its performance can fall so far that the driver can not take over the driving task safely or in time at a takeover request. This is called an out-of-the-loop phenomenon, the driver is then "out-of-the-loop". The out-of-the-loop phenomenon typically manifests itself in a lack of, slowing, or deterioration in the driver's responses and actions as a result of automation in the event that the driver is to take action, for example, after a takeover request.

The driver is completely "in-the-loop" when he meets a number of requirements at different levels. For example, when he is awake, when he is physically strong, when he is mentally capable, when he monitors the system, when he looks at the street and when he is mentally alert.

In order to ensure that the driver is sufficiently efficient in automated driving, the driver can be observed through a camera and the driver's vital signs can be measured. If the condition of the driver is insufficient, for example, a takeover request is issued to the driver and the degree of automation is reduced (for example, an assistance function completely deactivated or partially deactivated).

The disadvantage of this is that suitable sensors are necessary. Additionally, methods of observing driver's vision have the disadvantage of having limited availability or performance with different eye shapes, wearing sunglasses, and changing light conditions. The measurement of vital data can also be used only to a limited extent in view of the different attire worn by people in different regions of the world, as well as of interindividual differences in heart rate, blood pressure, etc.

Alternatively, attempts can be made by means of a deadman switch, which must be operated continuously or repeatedly by the driver while driving, to exclude a lack of driver performance. However, this very rudimentary method does not allow the driver's performance to be deduced; The driver could namely operate the switch by a routine movement, without actually being sufficiently powerful.

From the publication DE 10 2010 022 433 A1 a method for controlling the operation of a fully automatic, designed for independent vehicle management driver assistance system of a motor vehicle is known in which at least one takeover condition a Fahrerübernahmeaufforderung is issued, which when driving by the driver, in particular by operating the steering wheel and / or the pedals, for Disabling the driver assistance system leads, wherein depending on an actuation of an operating element by the driver attention potential is set to a starting value. The attention potential is reduced with a sinking speed, wherein reaching or falling below a limit value by the attention potential and / or the non-actuation of the operating element in a predetermined period of time after reaching or falling below the limit value and the output of a trigger indication to the driver are used as a takeover condition.

A disadvantage of the method is that the driver can operate the switch, as in a deadman switch by a routine movement, without actually being sufficiently powerful and attentive.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method for ensuring sufficient performance of the driver of a motor vehicle in the automated driving of the motor vehicle, which eliminates the disadvantages of conventional methods.

The object is solved by the features of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims.

The invention relates to a method for ensuring sufficient performance of a driver of a motor vehicle during automated driving of the motor vehicle. For example, automated driving is highly automated driving or semi-automated driving (for example, on a highway) where the driver must monitor the automated driving system. According to the method, the driver is prompted during automated driving continuously at intervals, each perform a different task in the vehicle. The fulfillment of the respective task is evaluated and depending on the evaluation, the degree of automation for automated driving is reduced or maintained. With timely fulfillment of a task, the degree of automation for automated driving, for example, is maintained. The degree of automation is reduced, for example, if the task was not fulfilled at all, was fulfilled late, or was answered incorrectly. If a task is not performed, delayed or incorrectly, the vehicle changes after announcement in a lower level of automation, in particular in the manual driving. The change in the degree of automation can depend not only on the fulfillment of the last task, but also on the fulfillment of the tasks before.

To reduce the degree of automation, the automation can be partially withdrawn (for example, from an automatic longitudinal and lateral control of the vehicle to a pure longitudinal control of the driver's tool) or completely eliminated (for example, an automatic longitudinal and lateral control is completely disabled).

In an alternative embodiment of the method, the vehicle is stopped depending on the evaluation, namely, for example, when the evaluation has shown that the driver is no longer efficient, for example, asleep.

The reactions of the driver to the requests make it possible to draw conclusions about his performance. By prompting the driver to perform different tasks on a continuous basis, in the case of performance of the tasks, it can be concluded that the driver meets minimum mental and physical requirements, the driver has not fallen asleep and can follow a takeover request if necessary. If the tasks are not fulfilled, for example, after a corresponding acceptance request, the automation can be canceled.

The method assumes that by evaluating the operation of controls in the vehicle to appropriate prompts as well as answers or reactions of the driver to prompts a statement about the driver state can be obtained.

By evaluating the driver's reaction to tasks, the driver's out-of-the-loop phenomenon can be assessed. On the basis of the evaluation of the driver reaction to tasks set, a takeover request can be triggered.

The degree of driver fatigue can be empirically classified so that a prognosis can be made about the driver's performance and wakefulness after a particular driver action for the next few seconds (eg, 30-120 seconds). For a period of time following a driver action that can be guaranteed that the driver has a sufficient level of performance and is awake, then the automatic driving with the existing level of automation can be maintained, at the latest after the passage of time then the driver should have a new task be put. The length of time between two adjacent prompts, i. H. the reciprocal of the frequency of the prompts, ignoring the driver's reaction time of the presumed period of time, corresponds to a driver's reaction to a given task in which automated operation is possible and after which a new task is set.

Preferably, the driver is requested at irregular time intervals to perform different tasks in the vehicle, ie the time intervals between each two consecutive requests are unequal and fluctuate over time. The temporal irregularity of the calls ensures that the Driver can not be conditioned and automatically respond to the requests.

The duration of the driver's response to the next request may be oriented, for example, to the amount of time that the vehicle needs at a given vehicle speed to travel the horizon of the driver's foresight (eg, 500 m) looking at the road. At 20 km / h and 500 m horizon, the time corresponds to 90 s, at 60 km / h and 500 m horizon, the time corresponds to 30 s.

In general, the time between two tasks should be chosen so that the driver does not get too out-of-the-loop or even fall asleep during the time.

The time duration between two adjacent prompts or the time duration after the driver response to a request until the next request is preferably dependent on the driving speed. Here, the time period tends to be shorter at a high vehicle speed than at a lower vehicle speed. For example, the time period from a certain speed (for example, 20 km / h) is reduced with increasing vehicle speed (for example, inverse linear or inverse square).

The highly automated or semi-automated driving is preferably only possible up to a certain maximum speed. In addition, the degree of automation for automatic driving is reduced, then the system is switched to a mode with less automation or into a manual mode.

Preferably, the duration at a fixed speed should not be identical, but vary as described above. For example, the time period varies by a vehicle speed dependent (middle) value having a certain fluctuation range.

However, the time interval between two calls should not be too small; this should always be chosen so that the comfort and added value achievable by the automatic driving system are largely retained.

Preferably, to perform the tasks to operate driver controls on the part of the driver, which are already present for operating functions in the vehicle, for example, a central control element for operating comfort functions, controls for setting the air conditioning and / or controls for adjusting mirrors. By already existing elements are used to perform the tasks, can largely be dispensed with additional hardware for implementing the method in the vehicle.

The tasks are communicated to the driver visually, acoustically and / or haptically. A task is the driver first, for example, visually and then announced acoustically and / or haptically, so that even a driver who has closed his eyes, hear this request.

The tasks are preferably chosen so that a certain degree of mental and / or physical performance is necessary for their fulfillment depending on the task.

The actions for fulfilling the tasks can preferably be carried out largely only by the driver, so that it is prevented that the passenger performs the actions provided for the driver.

The tasks can be chosen so that the driver must observe the traffic environment as they are being carried out. For example, the tasks can alternately be chosen so that the driver has to direct their view towards the front, on a side mirror or a rear-view mirror. For example, the frequency of the prompts, which require side or rear view mirrors, is based on the frequency of glances in the sides or rear view mirrors during manual driving while driving straight ahead.

• – das Ändern der Einstellung für ein fahrerseitig einstellbares Element des Fahrzeugs, insbesondere eines Fahrzeugspiegels, beispielsweise eines linken oder rechten Seitenspiegels oder eines Rückspiegels,
• – das Beantworten einer Frage, die beispielsweise die Fahrzeugumgebung betrifft (z. B. welche Farbe hat das vorausfahrende Fahrzeug), und
• – das Erkennen einer oder Reagieren auf eine in einer optischen Anzeigeeinrichtung des Fahrzeugs dargestellten Information, beispielsweise das Erkennen einer Farbe oder eine geometrischen Form in einer optischen Anzeigeeinrichtung (beispielsweise im Head-Up-Display des Fahrzeugs) in Verbindung mit einer entsprechenden Eingabe über ein Bedienelement.

The tasks may include one or more of the following tasks:

• Changing the setting for a driver-side adjustable element of the vehicle, in particular a vehicle mirror, for example a left or right side mirror or a rear-view mirror,
• Answering a question concerning, for example, the vehicle environment (eg what color is the vehicle ahead), and
• Detecting or responding to information displayed in an optical display device of the vehicle, for example detecting a color or a geometric shape in an optical display device (for example in the head-up display of the vehicle) in conjunction with a corresponding input via an operating element ,

The tasks can take many forms and be designed in such a way that the driver feels a positive user experience when performing the tasks and does not feel that the task is being performed

The tasks available in the method can be grouped into different task classes, the task classes being respectively assigned to different degrees of difficulty or types of tasks (for example mental performance or physical performance tasks).

On the basis of the task and driver-side reaction to a task, values can be determined for a number of factors which describe the current state of the driver. In this case, the previous state of the driver can be taken into account in the calculation of the current state. The individual factors can indicate, for example, whether the driver is awake (factor W), the driver is tired (factor M), is physically sufficiently powerful (factor K) or looks ahead (factor I). From the values of the individual factors an index number can then be calculated for the evaluation of the driver status. The index number can then be used to calculate, for example, the duration after which a new request to fulfill a task takes place again. Furthermore, it can be deduced from the index number whether the degree of automation for the automatic driving is reduced or maintained.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 102010022433 A1 [0009]

Claims (7)

A method for ensuring sufficient performance of a driver of a motor vehicle in automated driving of the motor vehicle, wherein The driver is continuously asked at intervals to perform a different task in the vehicle, - the fulfillment of the respective task is evaluated, and - The degree of automation for automated driving depending on the evaluation is reduced or maintained, or alternatively depending on the evaluation, the vehicle is safely stopped. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of time between two consecutive prompts or the time period after a driver response to a prompt until the next prompt is irregular and varies over time. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the time period between two consecutive requests or the time period after a driver response to a request to the next request depends on the vehicle speed. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein for performing the tasks driver controls are used, which are available for operating functions in the vehicle anyway. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a transfer request to the driver takes place as a function of the evaluation. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the tasks comprise one or more of the following tasks: Changing the setting for a driver-side adjustable element of the vehicle, in particular a vehicle mirror, Answer a question concerning the vehicle environment, and Detecting or responding to information displayed in an optical display device of the vehicle. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein in the evaluation on the basis of the respective task and the driver-side response to this task values for a plurality of factors are determined, which describe the current state of the driver.