FR3082489A1 - METHOD FOR SUPPORTING THE DRIVING OF A MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER. - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of accompanying the driving of a driver of a motor vehicle is disclosed. The method comprises, for a first determined period after the vehicle has started, the triggering (202) by a computer located in the vehicle, of a time counter and the notification (203) to the driver, by the computer, by means at least one human-machine interface device located in the vehicle, the flow of at least one time interval of a second determined duration which is less than the first duration. Then, once the first duration has expired, if and only if the vehicle is stopped then (206) the computer stores a first piece of information associated with the stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first duration, and notifies the driver thereof by means of the human-machine interface device. Otherwise (205), the computer stores a second piece of information associated with the non-stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first period and notifies the driver thereof by means of the man-machine interface device.

Description

METHOD FOR SUPPORTING THE DRIVING OF A MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER.

Technical area

The present invention relates generally to driving support for a driver of a motor vehicle.

It relates more particularly to a driving assistance process which regularly informs the driver of his elapsed driving time and encourages him to respect break times during the total duration of the journey.

Technological background

It is known that the behavior of a driver of a motor vehicle, that is to say his manner of driving, has an influence on the consumption of the vehicle in fuel and / or in electrical traction energy. Good driving practices can significantly reduce the vehicle’s energy consumption by up to 20%, thereby reducing its impact on the environment. This virtuous driving style is commonly called "eco-driving" because it is a responsible driving style in terms of economic and ecological considerations.

It is also known to use a technique called "gamification" to motivate a driver to adopt an eco-driving. By definition, "gamification" makes it more or less fun to encourage a driver to adopt good driving behaviors, in other words behaviors likely to reduce his energy consumption. Such an incentive is based in particular on the allocation and communication to the user of a score based on his driving behavior.

Furthermore, in the same way that it is possible to establish a direct link between certain driving behaviors and the energy consumption of a vehicle, a link can also be established between certain driving behavior and safety risks incurred as a result of driving. In particular, an uninterrupted or too little interrupted driving during a long journey, can be at the origin of a loss of vigilance of the driver of the vehicle and / or a risk of falling asleep at the wheel. To avoid this, it is desirable that the driver respects pause times during the journey. The driving time between two break times is directly linked to the safety of the driver, his passengers and of course also other road users.

Prior Art

Document US 2010185359 discloses a device which analyzes and records the driving characteristics of each driver of a motor vehicle. This data is used in particular to allocate points to the driver, to establish a classification of drivers on the basis of these points, and thus to encourage drivers to drive economically and more safely. However, the device does not provide a direct incentive to limit the duration of driving during a journey by notifications indicating the elapsed time or by the allocation of points on the basis of this criterion.

The document US 20170203767 discloses a process aimed at modifying the behavior of drivers, while driving, by using one or more services available on their mobile communication terminal. Users are assigned a score based on their driving behavior (virtuous or not). Again, however, stopping driving by taking breaks during a long journey does not come into play as a criterion for driving behavior considered to be virtuous and rewarded accordingly.

Document US 4,616,208 describes a system which measures the time since a motor vehicle has driven and which warns the driver when the driving time exceeds a certain threshold. The improvement of good behavior (stopping the vehicle before a certain period of uninterrupted driving has elapsed), in the form of the allocation of points to the driver and the associated establishment of an incentive classification does not are not mentioned there.

Summary of the invention

The invention provides a method of supporting the driving of a motor vehicle driver which makes it possible both to inform the driver of the driving time already elapsed and to encourage him, for example through a score system and classification, to stop before a certain driving time has elapsed, which is considered safer for its safety.

To this end, a first aspect of the invention provides a method of supporting the driving of a driver of a motor vehicle. The method comprises, for a first determined period after the vehicle has started:

- the triggering, by a computer located in the vehicle, of a time counter and the notification to the driver, by the computer, by means of at least one human-machine interface device located in the vehicle, of the lapse of at least one time interval of a second determined duration which is less than the first duration, then, once the first duration has expired:

- if, and only if, the vehicle is stopped then the computer stores a first piece of information associated with the stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first period, and notifies the driver thereof by means of the man-machine interface device,

- otherwise, the computer stores a second piece of information associated with the non-stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first period and notifies the driver thereof by means of the man-machine interface device.

Modes of implementation, taken individually or in combination, also provide that:

- the computer can keep in memory a score associated with the driver and / or the vehicle and, once the first duration has expired, updates said score according to the first information or the second information;

- said method can be adapted to be initiated by the driver by means of the man-machine interface device or to be initiated automatically by the computer after starting the vehicle;

- the computer can be a computer on board the motor vehicle or a computer of a driver's mobile communication terminal;

- The human-machine interface device can comprise a human-machine interface device integrated into the motor vehicle and / or a human-machine interface device of the driver's mobile communication terminal;

- the first duration is configurable by the user by means of the man-machine interface device;

- The method may further comprise, once the first duration has expired, the initiation of the execution by the computer or by another computer on board of a product computer program corresponding to the driver's relaxation program; and or,

- The method can further comprise, once the first duration has expired, the transmission of the information stored by the computer to a remote server by means of a wireless transmission device associated with the computer.

A second aspect of the invention also relates to a computer program product comprising a set of program instructions which, when the program is executed by processing means, is capable of implementing all the steps of a method according to the first aspect above.

Finally, a third aspect of the invention also relates to a motor vehicle comprising an on-board computer which is programmed to implement all the steps of a method according to the first aspect above.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent on reading the description which follows. This is purely illustrative and should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the method according to the invention; and,

- Figure 2 is a diagram of steps illustrating an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Detailed description of embodiments

In the description of embodiments which follows and in the figures of the appended drawings, the same or similar elements bear the same numerical references in the drawings.

Referring to the diagram in FIG. 1, an embodiment of the method according to the invention is shown. The method is implemented in a computer (not shown) which is present in a motor vehicle 101 shown in FIG. 1 in different situations 101a-101f as a function of time. The implementation of the method, which involves, among other things, measuring the elapsed time of a journey in progress, when the vehicle has started and is in the course of movement.

In the example of FIG. 1, the method is initiated at time t = 0. The execution of the process can be triggered in different ways, for example:

- by the physical action of the driver on a human-machine interface device located in the vehicle. For example, by pressing a dedicated mechanical button or by touching a virtual button on a touch screen; or,

- by the detection, by the computer, of specific conditions linked to the movement of the vehicle. Indeed, it follows from the objective of the process related to driver safety that the initiation of the execution of the process may be more or less relevant depending on the type of journey that the driver starts. In this sense, identifying the start of a long and / or monotonous journey is a good criterion for automatically triggering the execution of the process. The calculator can be based for this purpose, for example, on the measurement of the instantaneous or average speed of the vehicle, the variation of this speed, the GPS position of the vehicle and its direction of travel, the destination address or the GPS coordinates. of the destination entered by the user in a navigation utility which can be embedded or not, etc. to start the execution of the process; or,

- by knowing the habits of the driver (for example the timetables for his home / work journeys, his regular professional / personal journeys, etc.) stored in the computer and the use of this information by means of, for example, a device based on artificial intelligence, to trigger, if necessary, the execution of the process when it is relevant, that is to say for example when a long journey (on a motorway for example) has just started.

When the process is initiated at t = 0, the computer starts a time counter (i.e., a stopwatch) on which it bases, in the rest of the process, the triggering of its other actions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer which makes it possible to carry out the driving assistance method according to the invention may as well be a computer on board the vehicle, for example the cockpit computer, as a a mobile communication terminal (typically a smartphone) that the driver can have with him inside the vehicle at the time of the implementation of the method. Indeed, and as will be explained in the following description, each step of the process carried out can be implemented both in one and in the other of these two use cases.

In addition, and as will also be explained below, the man-machine interface used for the implementation of the method in order to allow the driver to control certain operations or to receive certain information from the computer, may as well be embedded in the vehicle (it can thus be, for example, the man-machine interface of the on-board computer of the vehicle) as that of a mobile communication terminal of the driver. For example, the driver may receive notifications as described below on the vehicle dashboard or on the touch screen of the driver’s smartphone. The reception of notifications can also be carried out at the level of the dashboard of the vehicle with for source the smartphone, by using the technique of the mirror (“mirroring” in English) like for example technology SDL (put for “SmartDeviceLink”). Similarly, the selection or programming by the driver of parameters corresponding to the durations implemented according to the method, as will be described below, can be carried out via a man-machine interface of the vehicle or via the man-machine interface of the mobile communication terminal.

Furthermore, in a particular mode of implementation, the use by an on-board computer and by the computer of a mobile communication terminal of the driver of so-called “mirroring” protocols, or of intelligent link (in English “SmartDeviceLink”) ), makes it possible to display information on one interface and / or on the other indifferently, whatever the computer dedicated to the execution of the process. And, in the case of the intelligent link, the input by the driver of data intended to be memorized / used by the computer can be done, there too, on one and / or the other interface indifferently.

As has already been said in the introduction, the effect of the process is in particular to encourage the driver to limit the duration of his journey, before the expiration of the period specified for successfully completing his challenge, and above all in order to avoid any potentially security risk. linked to fatigue. In the example in Figure 1, the time limit used by the process to assess driver behavior is tiim. This duration can be set. For example, it can be selected from a list of predefined durations, or be entered in the form of a duration determined by the user, by means of the man-machine interface device and be memorized by the computer in order to be subsequently used by the computer. For this purpose, the computer uses a data memory to which it has write and read access. The time limit tüm can also be arbitrarily fixed and stored permanently in the computer memory, for example on the basis of recommendations provided by a road safety authority. For example, in France, a two-hour driving time limit between two stops is recommended by the Road Safety Authority.

Whatever the time limit tüm taken into account, the process makes it possible to encourage the driver to respect this limit by taking a break and stopping the vehicle before having reached this driving time limit. For this, in addition to the incentive by means of a reward as will be described later, the method makes it possible to keep the driver informed, as time passes while he drives the vehicle. , the time already elapsed since the initiation of the process. In other words, after each expiration of a time interval of duration At, the driver can receive a notification via a man-machine interface.

In the same way as for the limit time tüm, this time At can be chosen by the driver and transmitted to the computer via a man-machine interface or be arbitrarily fixed and permanently stored in the computer. In all cases, this duration is less than the first tüm duration in order to allow the driver to be informed before the expiration of this tiim duration.

Thus, in situations 101b, 101c and 101d which are represented in FIG. 1, which correspond to different distances traveled by the vehicle after it has started and the initiation of the process, the driver receives a notification indicating to him that the durations At, then 2xAt, then 3xAt, respectively, have passed. As a variant, these notifications can also be carried out in the manner of a countdown, by notifying that there remain durations of nxAt, then (n-1) xAt, (n-2) xAt, etc., until notifying that there remains for example only one last minute (1 min) to stop the vehicle and take a break, and finally that the challenge is won or lost depending on whether the vehicle has been stopped or not, respectively , before the expiration of this last minute. Such a notification can be visual (for example a display on a dashboard or smartphone screen) or audible (for example the emission of a specific sound, possibly repeated at a given repetition frequency).

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, as the presence of the arrows in front of the schematic representation of the car in situation 101a, 101 b, 101c, 101 d and 101 f indicates, the motor vehicle in its situations is in motion. In contrast, the vehicle shown in situation 101st is stationary, which is represented schematically by an arrow marked with a cross.

In addition, in the example shown in Figure 1, two final situations, i.e. at t = tüm, are shown:

-in the first situation 101st, the vehicle is stationary, and therefore, the driver has respected the prescribed duration limit by stopping before the duration tüm has completely expired, i.e., has expired.

- conversely, in the second situation 101f, the vehicle is still running at the end of the duration tüm and the driver has therefore not respected the prescribed duration limit.

As already mentioned above, the driver's incentive to comply with this time limit may, depending on the implementation methods, be based on a driver reward mechanism. In other words, depending on whether the driver has respected (case 101e) or has not respected (case 101f) the prescribed time to stop the vehicle in order to take a break, a score reflecting the virtuous nature of his driving behavior is increased or no, respectively, for example by adding or not adding point (s). The score can be associated with the driver and / or the vehicle.

In implementation modes, the improvement obtained by the evolution of the score can be multi-criteria, that is to say that it can depend on several criteria among, in particular: the duration of the journey before stopping, the kilometers traveled between two stops, the number of “successful” stops, that is to say made on time (or not) under similar conditions, with for example a bonus in the form of an increase in the score (or on the contrary a penalty in the form of a reduction in the score) if a clear change in behavior is noted in the right direction (or on the contrary in the wrong direction, respectively), etc.

This score is stored in an electronic memory of the computer. He can be notified to the driver to encourage him to reproduce his virtuous behavior or vice versa to encourage him to modify his behavior and mark a break time, if necessary. In addition, in order to further increase the motivation of the driver, this score can be transmitted to a remote server, capable of receiving and memorizing the scores of different users of the process and of establishing a classification on the basis of these scores. Thus, and if necessary, this classification can be returned to the calculator implementing the method in order for example to inform the driver of the comparison of his score with that of other drivers. This restitution of the driver's classification can allow him to follow the evolution of his classification thanks to a history of his previous classifications which are stored in the dedicated application, in addition to allowing him to compare himself with the other users of the application. .

In addition, the data contained by such a server could, for example, be recovered / used by the manufacturer of the motor vehicle or the insurer to trigger the allocation to the driver of a reward or a penalty of whatever kind. or, for example in the form of a bonus / penalty relating to his automobile insurance premium.

Finally, in one embodiment of the method, once the duration tüm has elapsed, regardless of the situation of the motor vehicle (ie, it is stopped as in the 101st case or that it is still in the process of being to drive as in case 101f), the computer can trigger the execution of a computer program product contained in this same computer. It can be a program to allow the driver to physically and / or nervous relax. For example, once the duration tüm has elapsed and if the vehicle is stopped, the computer launches a program which, when executed, indicates to the driver, via its man-machine interface, a series of exercises that this one can achieve. For example, an application can run on the driver’s smartphone, which communicates a series of instructions to the driver to help him get back in shape, thereby improving driver safety for the continuation of his journey.

The physical exercises which are thus offered to the user can be adapted to an execution in the passenger compartment or outside the vehicle, depending on whether the vehicle is rolling or not at the time of the launch of the computer program. In the first case, these would be specific exercises such as muscle stretches to be performed while sitting in the driver's seat. These exercises are specific in the sense that they would be compatible with the fact that the driver is driving. For example, none of these specific exercises would cause the driver to let go of the steering wheel or close their eyes. In the second case, more conventional muscle relaxation and relaxation exercises can be offered, which are to be performed in or around the vehicle. With reference to FIG. 2, an embodiment of the method will now be described in the form of a step diagram. All the steps described below are executed by a computer located in the vehicle, in which the computer is stored the first limit time tüm as well as the second duration At of the time intervals after which the notifications to the driver intervene.

In 201, the method is initiated, as has already been described above, either by an action of the driver which is transmitted to the computer via the man-machine interface, or by the detection, by the computer, of criteria specific to the type of journey in progress or the driver's driving habits (timetables, GPS coordinates, direction of travel and / or route (s) taken, etc.).

In 202, the computer triggers a time counter measuring the time elapsed from the initiation 201 of the process. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the steps 201 and 202 shown consecutively in FIG. 1, occur almost simultaneously in practice, the chronometer being started by the same action as the initiation of the process or an action derived therefrom.

In 203, the computer notifies the driver, for example in the form of a visual and / or audible alert issued by the man-machine interface of the computer, of the passage of one or more time interval (s) of duration In other words, these notifications take place when t = nx At where n is an integer ranging from 1 to a maximum value adapted so that the value nx At is less than the duration tiim.

In 204, once the counter reaches the limit time tüm (ie, when t = tüm), the computer checks, for example by checking the instantaneous speed of the vehicle supplied for example by a member for measuring this speed which is coupled to means of driving the vehicle or by analyzing the evolution of its GPS position, whether the vehicle is stopped or not. The first example above preferably corresponds to an implementation by a computer on board the vehicle, while the second example rather corresponds to an implementation in the computer of a portable object communicating with the driver. If the vehicle is stationary, step 206 is carried out, otherwise step 205 is carried out.

In step 206, the computer stores information relating to the stopping of the vehicle before the end of the time limit tüm, and it can also increment a score stored in its memory and notify it to the driver. In addition, the computer can transmit this information to a remote server, which is able to memorize it and use it to establish a classification between different conductors, as previously explained.

In step 205, conversely, the computer stores information relating to the non-stopping of the vehicle before the expiry of the time limit tüm and notifies the driver. The driver's score is not credited. In addition, the computer can transmit this data to a remote server capable of memorizing it and using it to establish a classification between different conductors.

Finally, in 207, the computer triggers the execution of a program stored in a memory accessible by said computer. The program is suitable for, when executed by the processing means of the computer, proposing to the driver, for example through the man-machine interface associated with the computer, a series of instructions corresponding to physical exercises to be carried out to relax and / or maintain his physical condition and his attention span with a view to continuing his journey in better safety conditions. These are specific exercises or more conventional exercises mentioned above, depending on whether the vehicle is stopped or not, respectively.

The present invention has been described and illustrated in the present detailed description and in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in possible embodiments. The present invention is not limited, however, to the embodiments presented. Other variants and embodiments can be deduced and implemented by a person skilled in the art on reading this description and the attached drawings.

In the claims, the term include or include does not exclude other elements or other steps. A single processor or more than one other unit can be used to implement the invention. The various features presented and / or claimed can be advantageously combined. Their presence in the description or in different dependent claims does not exclude this possibility. The reference signs should not be understood as limiting the scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. A method of supporting the driving of a driver of a motor vehicle, said method comprising, for a first period (tüm) determined after the vehicle (1) has started: - the triggering (202) by a computer located in the vehicle, of a time counter and the notification (203) to the driver, by the computer, by means of at least one man-machine interface device located in the vehicle, the flow of at least one time interval (At) of a second determined duration which is less than the first duration, then, once the first duration has expired: - if, and only if, the vehicle is stopped then (206) the computer stores a first item of information associated with the stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first period, and notifies the driver thereof by means of the human interface device -machine, - otherwise (205), the computer stores a second piece of information associated with the non-stopping of the vehicle before the expiration of the first period and notifies the driver thereof by means of the man-machine interface device. 2. Method according to claim 1, in which the computer keeps in memory a score associated with the driver and / or the vehicle and, once the first duration has expired, updates said score according to the first information or the second information. 3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, said method being adapted to be initiated (201) by the driver by means of the human machine interface device or to be initiated automatically by the computer after starting the vehicle. 4. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the computer is a computer on board the motor vehicle or a computer of a driver's mobile communication terminal. 5. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the man-machine interface device comprises a man-machine interface device integrated into the motor vehicle and / or a man-machine interface device of the terminal. driver's mobile communication system. 6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first duration (tüm) is configurable by the user by means of the man-machine interface device. 7. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising, once the first duration has expired, the triggering (207) of the execution by the computer or by another computer on board a product. computer program corresponding to driver relaxation program. 8. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising, once the first duration has expired, the transmission of the information stored by the computer to a remote server by means of a wireless transmission device associated with the computer. . 9. computer program product comprising a set of program instructions which, when the program is executed by processing means, is capable of implementing all the steps of a method according to any one of claims 1 to 8. 10. Motor vehicle (101) comprising an on-board computer which is programmed to implement all the steps of a process according to any one of claims 1 to 8.