JP2003026026A - Automatic steering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic steering device for allowing a vehicle to travel while being held in a lane, allowing a driver to optionally set a target lane position at starting automatic steering control. SOLUTION: An arithmetic part 3 finds a relative position between the lane detected by a lane detecting part 2 and the vehicle and controls a steering actuator 4 using the relative position as the target lane position of the vehicle when the start of the automatic steering control is instructed by the starting switch 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic steering system, and more particularly to an automatic steering system for a vehicle to keep running in a lane.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In such an automatic steering apparatus, a lane detecting section for detecting the lane in which a vehicle is traveling is provided. The lane detection unit visually detects the lane markings using a camera or the like, lays a marker array consisting of magnets and radio wave transmitters in the lane, and detects the marker array with a magnetic sensor or radio wave antenna. Things, etc. are generally known.

The control by such an automatic steering device is shown in FIG.
In general, it is considered desirable to drive in the center of the lane. Therefore, in the case of the above lane detection unit, the detected left lane LL and right lane RL are detected.
The lane width center position CL obtained from is controlled as the target lane position of the automatic steering device, and in the case of the above lane detection unit, a marker row is laid at the lane width center position CL as the target lane position, The automatic steering device controls with this as the position in the target lane.

Therefore, a vehicle for which automatic steering control is performed
10 is controlled such that the vehicle center line CC, which is the center of the vehicle in the left-right direction, is in a state (state A) in which the vehicle center line CC matches the in-lane center position CL. That is, when the vehicle center line CC is close to the left side lane LL side as in the state B, the steering to the right is automatically performed. On the contrary, when the vehicle center line CC is close to the right lane lane RL as in the state C, steering to the left is automatically performed.

As described above, in any of the above-mentioned lane detecting section, the center of the lane width is controlled as the target in-lane position of the automatic steering device.

[0006]

If the center of the lane is always controlled as the target lane position of the automatic steering device as described above, the following problems occur. (1) In a section where the road shoulder is narrow adjacent to the own lane or a section where the adjacent lane is under construction, the driver's psychology is that the road shoulder and the adjacent lane side have anxiety when there is no room.

(2) If the difference between the speed of the traffic flow in the adjacent lane and the traveling speed of the vehicle is greater than a certain level, the driver feels anxious as in the above (1). (3) In the case of a road maintenance work vehicle, it is not possible to drive at the lane edge by automatic steering control.

The above-mentioned problems (1) to (3) become serious problems especially in a large vehicle having a small lane width. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to allow a driver to arbitrarily set a target in-lane position at the start of automatic steering control in an automatic steering device for a vehicle to perform lane keeping traveling.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic steering apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a start switch for instructing the driver to start automatic steering control, a lane detection section, and a lane detection section. A calculation unit that determines the relative position between the lane and the vehicle detected by the detection unit, and that sets the relative position when the start switch instructs the start of the automatic steering control as the target in-lane position of the vehicle, An actuator that performs steering control based on the position in the target lane is provided.

That is, in the present invention, the arithmetic unit obtains the relative position between the lane detected by the lane detection unit and the vehicle (for example, the center position of the lane width or the relative position between the divided lane position and the vehicle reference position). In addition, the calculation unit sets the relative position when the start switch is instructed to start the automatic steering control as the target in-lane position of the vehicle.

The actuator performs steering control based on the target in-lane position determined by the calculation unit. In this way, according to the present invention, the automatic steering control is performed with the lateral position of the host vehicle in the lane at the time when the driver instructs the start of the automatic steering control by the start switch.

Therefore, when the driver operates the start switch, if the vehicle 10 in FIG. 1 is in the state B, the target lane position is set to the left side lane LL, and if it is the state C, the target lane position is set. Is set closer to the right lane RL, and the driver can arbitrarily set the target in-lane position at the start of the automatic steering control.

Further, the automatic steering device according to the present invention further includes an end switch for instructing the driver to end the automatic steering control, and the arithmetic unit controls the automatic steering control by the start switch. The adjustment amount of the target in-lane position may be stored when the start is instructed, and the adjustment amount may be deleted when the end switch instructs the end of the automatic steering control.

That is, in order to set the relative position when the start of the automatic steering control is instructed by the start switch as the target in-lane position, the arithmetic unit stores the adjustment amount of the target in-lane position at the start of the automatic steering control. Then, when the end switch instructs the end of the automatic steering control, the stored adjustment amount is deleted.

The start switch and the end switch may be a single switch.

[0016]

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an embodiment of an automatic steering device according to the present invention. The automatic steering device according to this embodiment includes a start / end switch 1, a lane detection unit 2, a calculation unit 3, and a steering actuator 4.

The start / end switch 1 may be a well-known one that gives an instruction signal to the arithmetic unit 3 to start and end the automatic steering control by the driver. The lane detection unit 2 outputs information regarding the relative position of the lane detected with respect to the own vehicle, and is configured by a combination of a camera and an image processing device, a combination of a lane marker sensor and a signal processing device, and the like. A known one that can be used may be used.

The calculation unit 3 uses the input / output unit 31 that reads the start / end switch signal from the start / end switch 1 and the lane information from the lane detection unit 2, and the automatic steering control using the output signal of the input unit 31. A CPU 32 that performs calculations and determinations regarding, a RAM 33 used by the CPU 32 for calculations, a ROM 34 that stores control programs and control parameters, and an output unit 35 that drives the steering actuator 4 according to output data obtained by the CPU 32. , A power supply unit 36 for supplying necessary power from the vehicle power supply to these units.

The steering actuator 4 may be a known device that automatically operates the steered wheels (not shown) of the vehicle by the output from the output section 35. FIG. 3 shows the flow of the control program stored in the ROM 34 in the arithmetic unit 3 shown in FIG. 2. The operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIG. It should be noted that this flowchart is assumed to be started at a predetermined time interval and only the part related to the control of the control device is described, but the initial processing at the time of activating the hardware such as the CPU is omitted.

(1) At the Start of Automatic Steering Control First, the operation immediately after the driver operates the start / end switch to instruct the start of the automatic steering control will be described. CP
The U32 reads the start / end switch signal from the start / end switch 1 and the lane information of the lane detection unit 2 via the input unit 31 (step S1). In this case, the lane information from the lane detection unit 2 is information about the relative position of the lane detected with the center line in the left-right direction of the vehicle as a reference (in the case of the divided lane detection, the positional information of the left and right divided lanes, and the marker string In case of detection,
Position information of the marker row).

Next, the CPU 32 confirms the start / end switch signal read in step S1 (step S2), and if it is a signal instructing the start of automatic steering control, advances the processing to step S6 and reads it in step S1. The lane width center position is calculated based on the lane information (at step S6). In this case, if the lane information of the lane detection unit 2 is the section lane information, the center of the left section lane and the right section lane is set as the lane width center position, and when the marker row information is used, the position of the marker row is the lane width as it is. It is usually the central position.

Next, the CPU 32 confirms the storage flag (see S
7). The storage flag indicates whether or not the adjustment amount for correcting the target in-lane position is stored, and the storage flag is “OFF” in step S7 at the start of the automatic steering control.
Is. Therefore, the CPU 32 stores the value obtained by subtracting the lane width center position obtained in step S6 from "0" as the adjustment amount (at step S8),
Set the memory flag to "ON" (at step S9).

Further, the CPU 32 determines the target in-lane position by adding the adjustment amount stored in step S8 to the lane width center position calculated in step S6 (step S1).
0). The position in the target lane is as follows since it is based on the center line in the vehicle left-right direction. (a) Position in target lane = 0: The position in the target lane is on the center line in the lateral direction of the vehicle. (b) Position in target lane <0: The position in the target lane is on the left side of the center line in the vehicle left-right direction. (c) Position in target lane> 0: The position in the target lane is on the right side of the center line in the lateral direction of the host vehicle.

It is determined whether the target lane position thus determined corresponds to any of the above cases (step S11). That is, when the target lane position = 0 (a),
Since the target in-lane position is located on the center line of the host vehicle in the left-right direction, the steering actuator 4 is controlled to be held neutral in step S12.

When the target lane position is less than 0 (b),
Since the position in the target lane is on the left side of the center line in the left-right direction of the host vehicle, the steering actuator 4 is controlled to turn left in step S13. If the target lane position> 0 (c),
Since the position in the target lane is on the right side of the center line in the left-right direction of the host vehicle, the steering actuator 4 is turned to the right in step S14.

(2) During Automatic Steering Control Next, the operation during automatic steering control will be described. Similar to the case of (1) above, the CPU 32 reads the start / end switch signal and the lane information (step S1).

Next, the CPU 32 confirms the start / end switch signal read in step S1 (step S2). Since the automatic steering control is in progress, the process proceeds to step S6, and based on the lane information read in step S1. Calculate lane width center position (S
6). Further, the CPU 32 confirms the storage flag (at step S7). Since the storage flag has already been set to “ON” in step S9 of (1) above, the process proceeds to step S10.
The target in-lane position is determined by adding the adjustment amount stored in step S8 in (1) above to the lane width center position calculated in 6.

With respect to the position in the target lane thus determined, the processes of steps S11 to S14 are performed in the same manner as in the case of the above (1). (3) At the end of automatic steering control or during manual steering Next, the operation immediately after the driver operates the start / end switch during automatic steering control to instruct the end of automatic steering control or during manual steering will be described. .

Similar to the above cases (1) and (2), first the CPU 3
2 reads start / end switch signal and lane information
(Step S1). Next, the CPU 32 confirms the start / end switch signal read in step S1 (step S2). Since the end or manual steering is in progress, the process proceeds to step S3, resets the adjustment amount to “0”, and then stores it. The flag is set to “OFF” (at step S4), the steering is not controlled (at step S5), and the process is terminated.

In the above embodiment, the target in-lane position of the vehicle is calculated by adding the adjustment amount to the center position of the lane width relatively calculated with the center line in the left-right direction of the host vehicle as a reference. In this case, the relative position of the vehicle and the lane is the relative position of the lane (lane width center position) with respect to the vehicle.

On the contrary, the relative position of the vehicle with respect to the lane can be used as the relative position between the vehicle and the lane. In other words, the same operation as described above is achieved even if the target in-lane position of the vehicle is obtained by adding the adjustment amount to the specific position of the own vehicle, which is relatively obtained with reference to the lane (divided lane position or lane width center position). can do.

[0032]

As described above, according to the automatic steering device of the present invention, the arithmetic unit obtains the relative position between the lane detected by the lane detection unit and the vehicle and the automatic steering control is performed by the start switch. Since the steering actuator is controlled with the relative position when the start of the vehicle is instructed as the target in-lane position of the vehicle, the driver arbitrarily sets the target in-lane position at the start of the automatic steering control. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a target in-lane position in automatic steering control.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic steering device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control program used in the embodiment of the automatic steering device according to the present invention shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Start / end switch 2 lane detector 3 Arithmetic section 4 Steering actuator 10 vehicles CC vehicle center line CL lane width center position RL Right-hand division lane LL Left side lane In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G08G 1/00 G08G 1/00 X 1/16 1/16 C F term (reference) 3D032 CC20 DA84 DA88 DA91 DD02 EB04 EB08 EC22 GG01 5H180 AA01 CC04 CC12 CC17 CC24 LL02 LL09 5H301 BB20 CC03 CC06 DD07 DD17 EE06 EE12 FF04 FF06 FF08 FF11 FF15 FF23 HH01 HH04 HH07 LL01 LL06

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A start switch for a driver to instruct the start of automatic steering control, a lane detection unit, a relative position between a lane detected by the lane detection unit and a vehicle, and the start switch. A calculation unit that sets the relative position when the start of the automatic steering control is instructed as the target in-lane position of the vehicle, and an actuator that performs steering control based on the target in-lane position. And automatic steering device. 2. The end driver according to claim 1, further comprising an end switch for instructing the driver to end the automatic steering control, and the computing unit is instructed to start the automatic steering control by the start switch. The automatic steering device is characterized in that the adjustment amount of the position in the target lane is stored when the adjustment switch is turned on, and the adjustment amount is deleted when the end switch instructs the end of the automatic steering control. 3. The automatic steering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the start switch and the end switch are a single switch. 4. The automatic steering according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic unit sets the relative position to a relative position between a lane width center position or a divided lane position and a vehicle reference position. apparatus.