JP2002236993A - Travel control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To safely stop a vehicle even when the drive delivery to a driver (manual travel) is infeasible at the end of an automatic travel. SOLUTION: Refuge places, where the vehicle can be stopped on an operation route to the destination of the vehicle 100, are calculated based on the information of refuge places from one or more radio base stations 200-202 in the area of the route and sent to the vehicle. When the vehicle approaches a refuge place, the drivable state of the driver is judged, and the vehicle is stopped at the refuge place obtained from the radio base station if the driver is judged as undrivable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traveling control system for a vehicle, and more particularly to an improvement for enabling a safe switching between automatic traveling and manual traveling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional automatic driving control method for a vehicle, a guide marker is used and a vehicle driving control is performed according to the guide marker, or a map is used to grasp the position of the vehicle on the map. A method for controlling vehicle travel to a destination has been proposed.

In addition, as a method of switching between the automatic driving mode and the manual driving mode, a manual operation and an error by a driver are measured based on the driving control based on the automatic driving, and the manual driving is performed based on the error amount. A method for performing the transition to the mode has been proposed.

[0004]

As a problem in the automatic driving, a position error in the GPS has become very small at present, but there is a position error in a meter unit at present. Therefore, by detecting lane information such as white lines and yellow lines on the road using a visual sensor, etc.,
It is conceivable to increase the position information. However, some roads have no lanes, are erased by tires, or are unpaved even though they are on the map.

On the other hand, in the method using the guide marker, the guide marker embedded in the road is sensed and the vehicle travels in accordance with the guide marker. Therefore, in order to automatically travel, the guide marker must be installed in advance. For this reason, it takes years and years for road maintenance to be able to automatically travel from the departure to the destination according to the purpose of the vehicle occupant. Considering that manual driving is mainly used and automatic driving is used as an assist, a section is determined and automatic driving is performed, and operation is switched to manual driving in sections other than the specified section of automatic driving. However, when traveling for a long distance or the like, for example, traveling on a highway, the driver is assumed to take things other than driving, for example, sleep, at the time of transition to automatic traveling. For this reason, it is not always possible to switch the operation control subject from automatic traveling to manual traveling at the end of the section. On the other hand, it is conceivable to set the automatic driving and the end point of the designated section in a parking lot or the like, but there is no guarantee that the vehicle can be parked in the parking lot set in the destination in consideration of the return to a holiday or the like.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to communicate wirelessly with a vehicle and to obtain information on a stop route of a vehicle near a route in cooperation with a wireless base station in an area where the route of operation of the vehicle can be stopped. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling control system that enables switching between a traveling mode of automatic traveling and a traveling mode.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a traveling control system according to the present invention comprises a judging means for judging a switchable state between automatic driving and manual driving and outputting judgment information;
A vehicle configured to be capable of automatically traveling having control means for controlling traveling mode switching between automatic traveling and manual traveling, and information transmitting means for transmitting operation schedule information relating to a vehicle speed, a current position, a scheduled traveling route to a destination, and the like; At least one base station for receiving the operation schedule information, searching for a stopable evacuation site along the planned traveling route of the vehicle based on the operation schedule information, and transmitting the evacuation site information to the vehicle. The gist is that the control means is configured to switch the traveling mode based on the determination information and the evacuation place information.

In the present invention, the vehicle may be provided with a state measuring unit that measures the state of the driver and outputs the result to the determination unit.

Further, in the present invention, the vehicle may include a warning unit for warning that the end of the automatic driving is approaching.

Alternatively, in the present invention, the base station comprises:
An evacuation site search requesting unit that outputs a search request for requesting a search for a status of an evacuation site to a radio base station having the route as an area based on the route information included in the operation schedule information,
Evacuation place information output means for outputting evacuation place related information such as the number of vehicles that can be stopped on the route, the number of vehicles traveling between the routes, and the estimated arrival time to each evacuation place in response to the search request,
And an evacuation place calculating means for calculating a stopable evacuation place based on the evacuation place related information.

In the present invention, the warning unit may output a warning according to the evacuation place information.

Further, in the present invention, the vehicle may include a device for displaying or notifying a traveling mode state.

[0013] Further, the information processing terminal for traveling control of a vehicle configured to be capable of automatic traveling according to the present invention includes an automatic traveling mode and a manual traveling mode. The gist of the present invention is to provide a control unit for controlling the switching of the driving mode and an information transmitting unit for transmitting operation schedule information on a vehicle speed, a current position, a scheduled traveling route to a destination, and the like.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a travel control system according to the present invention. In the figure, 100 is a vehicle, 20
Reference numerals 0, 201, and 202 denote wireless base stations. The vehicle 100 and the wireless base stations 200 to 202 are configured to be able to wirelessly communicate with each other.

In the vehicle 100, 1 is an automatic traveling end warning means, 2 is a wireless communication means, 3 is an antenna, 4 and 5 are measuring means for measuring driving conditions, 6 is a judgment means, 7 is a traveling control means, 8 Is a measuring means for measuring a load state on the traveling operation unit of the vehicle, 9 is a traveling switching control means for controlling switching of traveling modes, and 14 is an information transmitting means.

In the radio base station 200, reference numeral 20 denotes an antenna, reference numeral 21 denotes a radio communication unit, reference numeral 22 denotes an evacuation place search unit, reference numeral 23 denotes an evacuation place information output means, and reference numeral 24 denotes an evacuation place calculation means. Other wireless base stations 201 and 202 have the same configuration as 200.

When receiving the vehicle speed, the operation schedule information including the destination and the route to the destination, and the vehicle information such as the remaining fuel amount from the information transmitting means 14 of the vehicle 100, the radio base station 200 receives the evacuation place search means. Reference numeral 22 transmits a request for a status of a save place near the route to the wireless base stations 201 and 202 having the route as an area. Wireless base stations 201, 20
2 receives the situation request, and creates information such as the number of vehicles that can be stopped at the evacuation site in the area, the estimated arrival time to the evacuation site, the number of vehicles on the route, etc. Transmit to the wireless base station 200. Similarly, the evacuation place information output means 23 of the radio base station 200 creates evacuation place related information such as the number of vehicles that can be stopped at the evacuation place in the area, the estimated arrival time to the evacuation place, and the number of vehicles on the route. The radio base stations 200, 201, 20
2 based on the evacuation place-related information in response to the situation request and vehicle information such as the remaining fuel level.
The evacuation place calculating means 24 calculates an evacuation place where the vehicle can be stopped, and transmits the calculated evacuation place to the vehicle 100 by the wireless communication means 21.

When the vehicle 100 is traveling automatically, the information transmitting means 14 transmits the traveling information such as the traveling route and the destination to the radio base station via the radio communication means 2 and the antenna 3 and the vehicle information such as the remaining fuel amount. Information is sent to obtain evacuation place information that can be stopped from the wireless base station. The travel control means 7 controls the automatic travel end warning means 1 via the determination means 6 to warn the driver of the end of the automatic travel. The state of the driver's eyes and the like is observed by the state measuring means 4 and 5, and the load on the operation unit such as the steering wheel and the accelerator is measured by the state measuring means 8 to continuously monitor the reaction speed of the driver. To measure. Based on the measurement results of the state measuring means 4, 5, 8, etc., the judging means 6 judges whether or not the driver can manually travel. The traveling control means 7 passes the processing to the traveling switching control means 9 if it is determined that the driver can steer based on the result of the determination by the determining means 6, and if it is determined that the steering is not possible, The vehicle is stopped at the evacuation area while the vehicle is traveling automatically.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, a description will be given of a mode relating to the automatic driving and the manual driving based on the evacuation place information and the judgment result by the judging means 6. In FIG. 2, a vehicle 100 that is automatically traveling issues an automatic traveling end warning in front of a retreat location 11 in front of a destination 12 on a traveling route. Assuming that the estimated traveling distance required to switch from automatic traveling to manual traveling is L1 and the traveling distance to the evacuation site 11 is L2, L2
If the determination unit 6 cannot make a determination that “the driver can steer” during> L1, the vehicle 100 stops at the evacuation area 11 with the vehicle running automatically. On the other hand, if it is determined that the vehicle is maneuverable, switching to manual traveling is performed until the shortest position at which the vehicle can enter the evacuation site 11 and the evacuation site 1 is switched.
1 through 102. If it is determined by the determination means 7 that the switching of the control takes a long time and there is a possibility that the vehicle will travel more than expected, the switching control is stopped, and the vehicle 101 is stopped at the evacuation place 11 with the automatic traveling. In this way, if the driver is sleeping during automatic driving and has not yet completely awakened by the automatic driving end warning, the driver automatically stops at the evacuation area 11 to prevent dangerous driving from occurring. Can be prevented.

In FIG. 3, a manually driven vehicle 10 is shown.
0 is a distance L3 estimated to be necessary for shifting from manual driving to automatic driving when the destination 12 is set for automatic driving and shifting to automatic driving, and necessary for shifting from automatic driving to manual driving. The sum of the travel distance L1 estimated as follows is L4> L3 + L with respect to the travel distance L4 to the evacuation place 11.
In the case of 1, the shift to automatic driving is performed. When the vehicle requests the destination 12 to shift to the automatic driving at the position 102, the shift to the automatic driving is prohibited because there is no evacuation place before the destination 12. Thereby, even if the driver sleeps by the automatic driving, the automatic driving can be safely ended.

Further, referring to FIG.
0 is an evacuation place on the traveling route to the destination 12,
The evacuation area 11 near the destination 12 and the evacuation area 13 next to the destination
It is assumed that there are two evacuation places. Wireless base station 201
Sends the number of vehicles that can be stopped at the evacuation site 11 to the base station 200 close to the own vehicle. The base station 200 is located at the evacuation place 1
The number of traveling vehicles between the vehicle 1 and the own vehicle 100 is received from another base station. If the number of vehicles that can be stopped at the evacuation site 11 is 0, the base station 200 sends the evacuation site 13 to the host vehicle 100 as evacuation site information. When the number of vehicles that can be stopped at the evacuation area 11 is N (> 0), the evacuation area 11 and the vehicle 100
If the number of traveling vehicles is M and N ≦ M, the evacuation place 1
1 may not be able to stop, the base station 200 sends the evacuation site 13 to the host vehicle 100 as evacuation site information. Further, if there is an evacuation place close to the own vehicle 100 and it is determined that the evacuation places 11 and 13 cannot be stopped, the next evacuation place is sent to the own vehicle 100 as evacuation information. The wireless base station searches for an evacuation site from the destination in the direction of the own vehicle, and secures at least one evacuation site that can be stopped. If there is no worst case evacuation place, it is conceivable to accumulate information such as a straight line or the like and a road that can be safely stopped, and to prompt a stop to the roadside zone based on the information.

In FIG. 5, a lamp 15 indicating the state of the traveling mode is installed at a position visible to the vehicle behind. Lamp 1
When 5 lights up, the character of automatic driving appears so that
It indicates to the following vehicle that the vehicle is running automatically. Lights yellow during automatic driving (a) and turns off during manual driving (c). When the traveling mode is switched from automatic traveling to manual traveling or from manual traveling to automatic traveling (b), the light flashes red. As a result, it is possible to notify the rear vehicle that it is time to switch the driving mode considered to be dangerous, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a contact accident due to the rear vehicle being overtaken by force. In this case, an electric bulletin board may be used instead of the lamp, and not only characters but also pictures may be displayed. Alternatively, the traveling mode state may be transmitted by the communication unit 2.

Here, the evacuation place is calculated by the radio base station. However, information on the evacuation place existing on the traveling route from the radio base station, the number of vehicles that can be stopped, and the number of vehicles traveling in the section are provided. May be received, and a method of calculating with the own vehicle may be used. Further, when the vehicle stops at the evacuation area with automatic traveling, the door of the vehicle is preferably locked. Further, the parts of the control means 7 and 9 necessary for carrying out the present invention and the information transmitting means 14 are configured as a traveling control information processing terminal so that they can be added to an existing vehicle configured to be capable of automatic traveling. Is also good.

[0024]

As described above, by using the traveling control system of the present invention, the wireless base stations on the route cooperate to search for the evacuation place of the vehicle, so that the vehicle can be more reliably stopped in the automatic traveling state. Since the evacuation place information can be provided, the vehicle can be safely stopped at the end of the section in the automatic traveling even if the driver is not in a state where the driver can manually travel.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating another operation example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating still another operation example of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a notification unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic traveling end warning means 2 Wireless communication means 3 Antenna 4 State measuring means 5 State measuring means 6 Judging means 7 Automatic traveling control means 8 State measuring means 9 Travel switching control means 10 Road 11 Evacuation place 12 Automatic traveling end point 14 Information transmission Means 15 Lamp 20 Antenna 21 Wireless communication means 22 Evacuation place search means 23 Evacuation place information output means 24 Evacuation place calculation means 100 Vehicle 101 Vehicle 102 Vehicle 200 Radio base station 201 Radio base station 202 Radio base station 300 Network

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Soru Morita 6-27-8 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo F-term in Kyocera D.I. 5H180 AA01 BB04 FF13 LL20 5K067 AA34 BB21 EE02 EE10 FF03 JJ53

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A determination means for determining a state in which automatic traveling and manual traveling can be switched and outputting determination information, a control means for controlling switching between automatic traveling and manual traveling modes, and a vehicle speed, a current position, and traveling to a destination. A vehicle configured to automatically travel having information transmitting means for transmitting operation schedule information relating to a scheduled route, etc .; receiving the operation schedule information; and stopping the vehicle along the scheduled travel route based on the operation schedule information. At least one evacuation place is searched for and evacuation place information is transmitted to the vehicle.
A travel control system comprising: a base station; and the control unit switches the travel mode based on the determination information and the evacuation location information. 2. The travel control system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes a state measurement unit that measures a state of a driver and outputs the result to the determination unit. 3. The travel control system according to claim 2, wherein the vehicle has a warning unit that warns that the end of the automatic traveling is approaching. 4. The evacuation site search, wherein the base station outputs a search request for requesting a wireless base station having the area of the route to search for a status of an evacuation site based on the route information included in the operation schedule information. Request means, evacuation place information output means for outputting evacuation place related information such as the number of vehicles that can be stopped on the route, the number of vehicles traveling between the routes, the estimated arrival time to each evacuation place in response to the search request, and 2. The travel control system according to claim 1, further comprising an evacuation place calculating unit that calculates an evacuation place where the vehicle can be stopped based on the evacuation place related information. 5. The travel control system according to claim 3, wherein the warning unit outputs a warning according to the evacuation place information. 6. The travel control system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle has a device for displaying or notifying a travel mode state. 7. A control means for controlling the switching of the traveling mode between the automatic traveling and the manual traveling based on the judgment information indicating the state where the automatic traveling and the manual traveling can be switched and the evacuation place information, and traveling to the vehicle speed, the current position and the destination. An information processing terminal for traveling control of a vehicle configured to be capable of automatic traveling, comprising information transmitting means for transmitting operation schedule information on a scheduled route and the like.