JP2006317343A - Warning device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To travel safely by paying attention to an oncoming car, when traveling a curved road having a narrow road width and having poor forward visibility. <P>SOLUTION: When a road curved with a curvature radius below a specified value exists in front of a vehicle (affirmative determination in step S40), it is determined whether the road width of the road is below a specified value or not (step S60). When the road width is below the specified value, a warning is issued relative to the curve just before entering the road, for example, 'A curve is in front of the vehicle. Pay attention to an oncoming car because the road is narrow', and a warning is also issued relative to narrowness of the road width (step S70). Hereby, a driver can travel the curved road safely by paying attention sufficiently. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device that alerts a driver to be able to turn safely when driving on a curved road.

Conventionally, when there is a road that curves below the specified curve radius in front of the vehicle, or there is a road that curves continuously, for example, “There is a curve ahead” or “This curve continues” There are devices that warn the driver. Furthermore, in Patent Document 1, it is determined whether or not the curved road can be safely turned from the curve radius of the road ahead of the vehicle and the current vehicle speed. A device has been proposed that encourages the user to slow down.
JP-A-5-141979

  By the way, for example, when traveling on a narrow road where two vehicles cannot pass at the same time, it is necessary to confirm whether or not an oncoming vehicle is coming from the front and travel at a sufficiently low speed. Furthermore, when the road is curved, it is difficult to grasp the previous situation, and an oncoming vehicle may suddenly appear in front of the host vehicle.

  However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, the road width of the road is not taken into consideration, so in fact, the road is wide and the road that can be bent with a margin is warned. For narrow roads where two vehicles cannot pass, it is possible that the warning is not warned because the curve radius has not reached the warning criteria.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, so that when traveling on a curved road having a narrow road width and a poor forward view, it is possible to travel safely while paying attention to oncoming vehicles. An object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device that alerts the driver.

  In order to achieve the above object, the driving support device according to claim 1 includes a current position detection unit that detects a current position of a vehicle, a road map data storage unit that stores road map data including data indicating each road, Based on the detection result of the current location detection means, data indicating a road ahead of the vehicle is read from the road map data storage means, the road is curved based on the data indicating the road, and Determining means for determining whether or not the road is a narrow road that does not reach a predetermined standard regarding the road width; and when the determination means determines that the road in front of the vehicle is a narrow road that is curved, Warning means for notifying the driver of the fact and giving a warning is provided.

  In this way, the driver also warns that the road is narrow, so the driver can drive safely on that road with particular care rather than when driving on a curved road of normal width. it can.

  In the travel support device according to claim 2, in the road map data, information indicating the shape of the road is attached to each of the data indicating the roads, and the determination unit is based on the information regarding the shape of the road. A curve radius of a road ahead of the vehicle is calculated, and when the curve radius is equal to or less than a predetermined curve radius, it is determined that the road is curved.

  Even if the road is curved, the driver can visually check whether the oncoming vehicle is coming from the front if the road can be seen to some extent. Then, when the driver can visually recognize that the oncoming vehicle is coming from the front, the driver can travel while paying attention to the oncoming vehicle without giving a warning. For this reason, the driving support apparatus according to claim 2 warns when the road ahead is a road having a predetermined radius or more.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the road support data, the road map data includes information indicating road widths in each of the data indicating the roads, and the determination unit is configured to determine the vehicle based on the information related to the road widths. It is determined whether the road ahead of is the said narrow road. Thus, by using the information of the road map data, it can be determined whether the road ahead is a narrow road.

  Specifically, as in claim 4, it is possible to determine whether or not the road ahead is a narrow road based on information directly indicating the road width itself. Further, in claim 5, it is determined whether or not the road is a narrow road based on the number of lanes. Here, “information indicating the number of lanes” in claim 5 refers to information such as “roads on one lane on both sides” and “roads on one lane on one side”. For example, roads on both lanes with no center line are considered to be narrow. In this way, whether or not the road is narrow may be determined based on the number of road lanes.

  Further, as in claim 6, information indicating that is attached to the data indicating the road corresponding to the narrow curved road, and based on whether the information is attached or not, It may be determined whether the road at is a narrow curved road.

  The driving support apparatus according to claim 7 is characterized in that the warning means gives different warnings according to the degree of narrowness of the road ahead of the vehicle. For example, the driver is warned so that the degree of narrowness of the road can be understood. As a result, the driver can sensuously determine how much the vehicle speed should be reduced in order to safely drive the curved road according to the degree of narrowness of the road.

  The driving support device according to claim 8, wherein when the determination unit determines that the road ahead of the vehicle is the narrow curved road, the vehicle is On the other hand, a warning is given to the driver when a predetermined distance is reached. For example, if there is a road to be warned ahead of the vehicle, even if the road is still far away from the vehicle, the warning will occur when the vehicle actually travels on the road. Compared to the attention level. On the other hand, even if a warning is issued when the road to be warned is close to the vehicle, the driver cannot deal with it immediately. For this reason, in the driving support device according to the seventh aspect, the warning is issued when the vehicle comes a predetermined distance before the road to be warned. Accordingly, by setting the predetermined distance to an appropriate distance, the driver can safely travel on the curved road.

  The driving support device according to claim 9, wherein the warning means determines that the determination means determines that the road ahead of the vehicle is curved but has reached a predetermined standard related to the road width. When it does, it warns that the said road is curving. In this way, the road ahead of the vehicle is not narrow, but if the road is curved, the driver's attention can be increased by warning the driver when driving on a straight road. .

  Hereinafter, the example which applied the driving assistance device of the present invention as an in-vehicle navigation device is explained.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 includes a position detector 1, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 7, an external memory 9, a display device 10, an audio output device 11, a remote control sensor 12, a remote control 13, and these. The control circuit 8 is connected. Each component will be described below.

  The control circuit 8 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a well-known CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line for connecting these configurations. In the ROM, a program to be executed by the control circuit 8 is written. In accordance with this program, the CPU or the like uses the following units to search for a route to the destination, and guides the vehicle according to the searched route. Perform various arithmetic processes. In particular, the control circuit 8 is a feature of the present invention, in the case where there is a curved road with a narrow road width in front of the vehicle where the line of sight is poor and the host vehicle and the oncoming vehicle cannot travel simultaneously. In the process of warning the driver to pay attention. The processing at this time will be described later using a flowchart. Note that a program related to processing performed by the control circuit 8 may be acquired from the outside via the external memory 9.

  The position detector 1 includes a known geomagnetic sensor 2, a gyroscope 3, a distance sensor 4, and a GPS receiver 5 for GPS (Global Positioning System) that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. Have. Since these have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy of each sensor, the position detector 1 may be constituted by a part of the above-described parts, and a steering rotation sensor (not shown), a vehicle speed sensor for each rolling wheel, or the like may be used. The current position of the vehicle is detected by the position detector 1, and the control circuit 8 can recognize, for example, where the vehicle is traveling on the searched route when performing route guidance. Whether or not the vehicle is traveling along the route can be determined.

  The map data input device 6 is a device for inputting various data including road data, background data, landmark data, and the like. As a storage medium for storing various data, a writable storage medium such as a memory card or a hard disk can be used in addition to a read-only storage medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

  The road data is composed of link data and node data. This link divides each road on the map into multiple nodes such as intersections, branches, and merge points, and defines each link as a link. By connecting each link, the road is Composed. Link data is a unique number (link ID) that identifies the link, link length indicating the link length, link start and end node coordinates (latitude / longitude), road name, road type, road width, number of lanes, right turn・ Consists of data such as the presence of the left turn lane, the number of lanes, the speed limit, etc. Furthermore, the link data has shape data indicating the shape of the corresponding road, and the control circuit 8 can recognize how much the road is curved by referring to this shape data. .

  On the other hand, the node data includes a node ID, a node coordinate, a node name, and a link ID of a link connected to the node, each node having a unique number for each node where roads on the map intersect, merge and branch. It consists of data such as ID and intersection type.

  The operation switch group 7 is, for example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with the display device 10 to be described later, and is used for various inputs such as setting of a starting point and a destination when searching for a route. .

  The display device 10 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display, and the vehicle position mark corresponding to the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detector 1 and the map input from the map data input device 6 are displayed on the screen of the display device 10. A road map around the vehicle generated by data, background data, landmark data, and the like can be displayed. It is also possible to change the road map to a predetermined scale and display it by scrolling the road map by operating the operation switch group 7 or the remote controller 13 described later. Further, in the present embodiment, when there is a curved road with a narrow road width in front of the vehicle, a message for calling attention is output from the display device 10.

  The voice output device 11 is configured by, for example, a speaker, and is a device that notifies various information such as voice guidance performed during route guidance by voice. Further, in the present embodiment, when there is a curved road with a narrow road width in front of the vehicle, a sound calling for attention is output from the sound output device 11.

  The remote controller 13 is, for example, a multi-function remote controller having various functions, and instructs the in-vehicle navigation device 100 to start and end various navigation operations via the remote control sensor 12. This instruction may be performed by the operation switch group 7.

  Next, a process performed by the control circuit 8 to issue a warning to alert the driver when there is a curved road with a narrow road width in front of the vehicle will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S10, the current location of the vehicle is detected. Specifically, the detection result of the position detector 1 described above is matched with the map data input from the map data input device 6 to detect which point on which road the vehicle is currently traveling. .

  In step S20, road data corresponding to the road ahead of the vehicle is read from the map data input device 6. The range ahead of the vehicle is, for example, a range between the current location of the vehicle and 200, 300 m ahead. If there is a road to be warned if the range in front is too wide, the vehicle does not always travel on this road, and conversely, if the range in front is narrowed, there is a road to be warned and there is a warning. This is because the driver cannot cope with it.

  In step S30, the road curve radius is calculated from the road data read in step S20. As described above, this is calculated based on the shape data indicating the shape of the road, which is one of the configuration data of the road data.

  In step S40, it is determined whether the calculated curve radius is equal to or less than a specified value. Here, when the curve radius is larger than the specified value (negative determination), the road ahead is gentle even if it is a straight road or a curve, and the subsequent warning process is not performed. On the other hand, when the curve radius is smaller than the specified value (positive determination), the process proceeds to step S50.

  In step S50, it is determined whether or not the current location is a point to be warned. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the current location is a point that is a predetermined distance (for example, 100 m) ahead of the road determined to be curved with a predetermined curve radius in step S40. Here, when the current location is not a point to be warned, that is, when it is a predetermined distance or more away from the road to be warned (negative determination), the subsequent processing is not performed. This is because even if a warning is given when the road is too far away from the warning target road, the warning effect is reduced when actually driving on the road. On the other hand, if the current location is a point to be warned (positive determination), the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S60, it is determined whether the road width of the curved road ahead of the vehicle is equal to or less than a specified value. This can be determined by referring to the information indicating the road width attached to the link data corresponding to the road. If the road width is equal to or greater than the specified value (negative determination), a warning message indicating that the road is curved is displayed in step S80, for example, “There is a curve ahead”, as in the past. 10 for output. At this time, the voice output device 11 also outputs the voice. On the other hand, if the road width is equal to or less than the specified value (positive determination), in step S70, for example, “There is a curve ahead. Be careful of oncoming vehicles because the road width is narrow.” In addition, a warning that calls attention to oncoming vehicles due to the narrow road width is also given.

  As described above, in the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment, when there is a curved road with a road width equal to or less than a specified value in front of the vehicle, the oncoming vehicle suddenly appears in front of the host vehicle when traveling. A warning is given as possible. Thus, when actually traveling, the driver can safely travel on the road, for example, by sufficiently reducing the speed.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Based on the meaning of this invention, it can implement with a various form. For example, in the above embodiment, whether or not the road ahead of the vehicle is a narrow road is determined based on the size of the road width directly, but may be determined based on the number of lanes on the road. This is because, for example, it is generally considered that a road having one lane on both sides is narrower than a road having two lanes on one side. Note that the number of road lanes can be recognized by referring to the link data.

  In the above embodiment, based on the road data constituting the map data, it is determined whether or not there is a road in front of the vehicle with a curve radius equal to or less than a specified value and having a road width equal to or less than the specified value. Judgment. In this regard, information indicating that is attached in advance to road data corresponding to a narrow road where the vehicle is curved with a curve radius equal to or less than a specified value and two vehicles cannot pass simultaneously. May be. In this case, based on whether or not the information is attached to the road data, the vehicle is curved in front of the vehicle with a curve radius equal to or less than a specified value, and two vehicles cannot pass simultaneously. It will be determined whether there is a narrow road.

  In the above embodiment, if there is a road with a curve radius less than the specified value and a road width less than the specified value in front of the vehicle, the same warning is uniformly issued in step S70. It was. In this regard, the warning may be varied depending on the width of the road. As a result, the driver can sensibly determine how much the vehicle speed should be reduced in accordance with the degree of narrowness of the road.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 100 which concerns on this embodiment. A process performed by the control circuit 8 to warn the driver when there is a curved road with a narrow road width in front of the vehicle where the line of sight is poor and two vehicles cannot pass simultaneously. It is a flowchart which shows.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Car-mounted navigation apparatus 1 Position detector 2 Geomagnetic sensor 3 Gyroscope 4 Distance sensor 5 GPS receiver 6 Map data input device 7 Operation switch group 8 Control circuit 9 External memory 10 Display apparatus 11 Voice output device 12 Remote control sensor 13 Remote control

Claims (9)

Current location detection means for detecting the current location of the vehicle;
Road map data storage means for storing road map data composed of data indicating each road;
Based on the detection result of the current location detection means, data indicating a road ahead of the vehicle is read out from the road map data storage means, the road is curved based on the data indicating the road, and Determining means for determining whether the road is a narrow road that does not meet the predetermined standard regarding the road width;
When the determination means determines that the road ahead of the vehicle is a narrow curved road, the driving support includes warning means for notifying the driver of the fact and giving a warning. apparatus. In the road map data, information indicating the shape of the road is attached to each of the data indicating the roads,
The determination unit calculates a curve radius of a road ahead of the vehicle based on information on the shape of the road, and the road is curved when the curve radius is equal to or less than a predetermined curve radius. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the driving support device is determined. In the road map data, information indicating the road width is attached to each of the data indicating the roads,
The travel support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not a road ahead of the vehicle is the narrow road based on information on the road width. The information on the road width is information indicating the road width itself of the road,
The driving support according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not a road ahead of the vehicle is a narrow road by performing threshold determination on information indicating the road width itself. apparatus. The information on the road width is information indicating the number of road lanes,
The said determination means determines whether the road ahead of the said vehicle is a narrow road by carrying out threshold determination of the information which shows the number of lanes of the said road, The driving | running | working of Claim 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Support device. In the road map data, information indicating that is attached to data corresponding to the curved narrow road among the data indicating each road,
The determination means determines whether the road is narrow, based on whether or not the data indicating the road ahead of the vehicle is attached with information indicating that the road is a narrow road that is curved. It is determined whether it is a road, The driving assistance apparatus of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the warning unit gives a different warning depending on a degree of narrowness of a road ahead of the vehicle.   If the determination means determines that the road ahead of the vehicle is the narrow curved road, the warning means then the vehicle has come a predetermined distance before the road. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a warning is given to the driver.   The warning means determines that when the determination means determines that the road ahead of the vehicle is curved but has reached a predetermined standard regarding the road width, the road is curved. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein a warning is given to the driver.

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