JP2007025782A - Traveling support device using inter-vehicle communication - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a traveling support device capable of accurately functioning the control for safely securing a crew even when the other side vehicle is put in an abnormal state. <P>SOLUTION: A vehicle 1 receives information showing the status of a vehicle 2 by performing inter-vehicle communication between a vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2. The vehicle 1 detects the abnormality of the vehicle 2 based on the received information showing the status of the vehicle 2. Afterwards, the vehicle 1 judges the possibility of its collision with the vehicle 2. When the abnormality of the vehicle 2 is detected, or it is judged that the possibility of its collision with the vehicle 2 is large, warning is issued in the vehicle 1. Also, when the abnormality of the vehicle 2 is detected, it is controlled so as to perform at least any of the change of the decision level of the judgement of collision, the change of warning configurations and the transmission of a control signal to the vehicle 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device using inter-vehicle communication.

  Inter-vehicle communication (IVC) is an information communication means between traveling vehicles in proximity and is positioned as one of key technologies in ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems). In particular, it is expected to use this inter-vehicle communication to provide drivers with traffic conditions and behaviors of surrounding vehicles to support safe driving support.

  Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-263190 (Patent Document 1) relates to an occupant protection device that uses inter-vehicle communication, and provides predetermined data (position information, vehicle speed information, traveling direction information, etc.) of the own vehicle when the possibility of collision is high (Including) is transmitted to the opponent vehicle, and the opponent vehicle operates the occupant protection device based on this.

  Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-276696 (Patent Document 2) relates to a vehicle collision avoidance control device using inter-vehicle communication, and based on position data and existence probability data of another vehicle received by inter-vehicle communication. A technique for acquiring accurate motion information and performing collision avoidance control based on this information is disclosed.

JP-A-11-263190 JP 2000-276696 A

  However, there is a possibility that the partner vehicle starts to run abnormally when the partner vehicle breaks down or the driver of the partner vehicle falls into a sleep state or an unconscious state. However, such a case is not assumed in the conventional techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 as described above. Therefore, when such a case occurs, control (safety ensuring control) for ensuring the safety of the occupant, such as highly accurate operation of the occupant protection device or accurate collision avoidance control, functions correctly. That is not guaranteed.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device in which control for ensuring the safety of an occupant functions accurately even when the opponent vehicle is in an abnormal state.

  One aspect of the present invention relates to a driving support device using inter-vehicle communication for transmitting and receiving data between vehicles, and the other vehicle by inter-vehicle communication with another vehicle located in a predetermined area in front of or behind the own vehicle. Receiving means for receiving information indicating the state of the vehicle, abnormality detecting means for detecting an abnormality of the other vehicle based on information indicating the state of the other vehicle received by the receiving means, and the other received by the receiving means When an abnormality of the other vehicle is detected by the collision determination unit that determines the possibility of collision with the other vehicle based on the information indicating the state of the vehicle and the information indicating the state of the host vehicle, Alternatively, when the collision determination unit determines that the possibility of collision is high, the alarm determination unit performs warning in the own vehicle, and when the abnormality detection unit detects an abnormality of the other vehicle, Change of judgment level It has changed the alarm mode by the alarm means, and a control means for sending, in at least one of the control signals to the other vehicle.

  With this configuration, since it is determined whether an abnormality has occurred in the other vehicle based on the information indicating the state of the other vehicle obtained by the inter-vehicle communication, accurate safety ensuring control can be performed using this. it can.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the information indicating the state of the other vehicle includes information on an abnormal state of the driver of the other vehicle.

  As a result, the state of the driver of the other vehicle can also be grasped, so that more accurate safety ensuring control can be performed.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the information indicating the state of the other vehicle includes information on a vehicle failure of the other vehicle.

  As a result, since it is possible to grasp the presence or absence of a vehicle failure of another vehicle, more accurate safety ensuring control can be performed.

  Furthermore, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the change of the alarm mode is a change according to an abnormal state of the other vehicle.

  Thereby, the driver of the own vehicle can take measures for collision avoidance quickly.

  Furthermore, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the change of the determination level is a change to the determination level so that the possibility of collision is determined earlier.

  Thereby, safety ensuring control can be performed earlier while an abnormality of another vehicle is detected.

  Furthermore, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the control signal includes a control amount related to at least one of acceleration / deceleration, warning to an occupant, and blinking of a hazard.

  Thereby, the other vehicle which received the control signal can perform appropriate vehicle control for collision avoidance.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even when the other party vehicle is in an abnormal state, the driving | running | working assistance apparatus with which the control for ensuring a passenger | crew's safety functions correctly can be provided.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment, It shows only the specific example advantageous for implementation of this invention. In addition, not all combinations of features described in the following embodiments are indispensable as means for solving the problems of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between vehicles according to the present embodiment. Each of the vehicles 1 and 2 is a traveling vehicle equipped with the driving support device of the present invention, and the vehicle 2 follows the vehicle 1 and travels in the same lane. In the present embodiment, only the relationship between the front vehicle 1 and the rear vehicle 2 will be described in order to simplify the description. In the figure, a vehicle 2 monitors a region 3 in front of the host vehicle using a forward monitoring sensor described later. The vehicle 2 starts vehicle-to-vehicle communication with the vehicle 1 triggered by the presence of the vehicle 1 detected by the front monitoring sensor.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a layout of the driving support device in the vehicles 1 and 2. The left side of the drawing shows the front of the vehicle, and the right side shows the rear of the vehicle. Reference numeral 21 denotes a front monitoring sensor, which has two types of sensors 21a and 21b. The first front monitoring sensor 21a is, for example, a CCD camera, and is attached to, for example, the rear surface (the vehicle front side) of the room mirror. One second front monitoring sensor 21b is, for example, a millimeter wave radar, is attached to the front bumper, and detects objects (including the front vehicle) in the region 3 shown in FIG. However, a laser radar sensor or the like may be used as the second forward monitoring sensor 21b in place of the millimeter wave radar.

  A traveling state detection sensor 22 includes a vehicle speed sensor 22a and a steering angle sensor 22b.

  Reference numeral 23 denotes a driver state detection sensor for detecting a driver's arousal level or a side look. Specifically, it includes a pulse sensor 23a provided on the steering, a pressure sensor 23b provided on the seat, or an occupant detection camera (not shown). A known technique can be applied to these specific configurations and processes, which are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-23916 and 11-326084.

  A system failure detection sensor 24 is configured to collect failure information from each control unit (ECU) (not shown). The failure information includes, for example, information on whether or not each unit such as a brake, a steering, an engine, an accelerator, and a suspension has failed.

  Reference numeral 25 denotes a GPS antenna, and 26 denotes a gyro sensor that detects the traveling direction and inclination of the vehicle. Reference numeral 27 denotes an inter-vehicle communication antenna.

  Reference numeral 28 denotes an occupant protection device, which specifically includes, for example, a passenger seat airbag device 28a, a driver seat airbag device 28b, a driver seat seat belt pretensioner 28c, and a passenger seat side seat belt pretensioner 28d.

  Reference numeral 29 denotes an alarm device that is housed in, for example, a meter unit and performs a buzzer in a vehicle and lights / flashes a lamp.

  30 is an actuator for vehicle control, and specifically includes, for example, a brake actuator 30a, a throttle actuator 30b, and a steering actuator 30c.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a control system according to the travel support apparatus in the present embodiment.

  The ECU 40 is a control unit that controls the driving support device. The ECU 40 is configured to include a vehicle-to-vehicle communication circuit 44 for performing vehicle-to-vehicle communication via the antenna 27 in addition to the basic configurations of the CPU 41, RAM 42, and ROM 43. The inter-vehicle communication in the present embodiment is performed by, for example, narrow-range communication (DSRC). In addition, the ROM 43 stores a control program for realizing safety ensuring control including operation control of the occupant protection device and collision avoidance control.

  The ECU 40 receives signals from the front monitoring sensor 21, the traveling state detection sensor 22, the driver state detection sensor 23, the system failure detection sensor 24, the GPS antenna 25, and the gyro sensor 26. Further, signals are transmitted and received between the ECU 40 and the vehicle-to-vehicle communication antenna 27. The occupant protection device 28, the warning device 29, and the vehicle control actuator 30 all operate in response to a control signal from the ECU 40.

  4A and 4B are flowcharts showing the operation of the driving support apparatuses in the vehicles 1 and 2. The flow on the left side shows the operation of the driving support device for the vehicle 1, and the flow on the right side shows the operation of the driving support device for the vehicle 2.

  First, the ECU 40 of the vehicle 1 and the ECU 40 of the vehicle 2 each input a signal from each sensor in the above-described configuration (steps S101 and S201). Each of the vehicles 1 and 2 performs forward monitoring by the forward monitoring sensor 21. Specifically, for example, the ECU 40 determines the presence or absence of a forward object based on an output signal from the millimeter wave radar 21b, and if an object is detected, image data captured by the CCD camera 21a at that time. To determine whether the object is a vehicle. This embodiment assumes the scene where the back vehicle 2 detects the front vehicle 1 as mentioned above (step S202, S203).

  When it is detected in step S203 that the forward vehicle 1 exists, the vehicle 2 starts inter-vehicle communication with the vehicle 1 (steps S204 and S102). When this inter-vehicle communication is established, the vehicle 2 transmits predetermined vehicle information to the vehicle 1. Information included in the vehicle information in the present embodiment is as follows, for example.

(1) Position information of the vehicle 2 by GPS,
(2) Information on the traveling direction of the vehicle 2 by the gyro sensor 26,
(3) Traveling state information from the traveling state detection sensor 22 (including the vehicle speed value from the vehicle speed sensor 22a and the steering angle from the steering angle sensor 22b),
(4) Failure information from the system failure detection sensor 24,
(5) Driver state information from the driver state detection sensor 23 (including the pulse rate from the pulse sensor 23a and the pressure value from the pressure sensor 23b)

  Thereafter, the vehicle 1 determines whether or not the vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state based on the failure information and driver state information of the vehicle 2 received in step S102 (step S103). Specifically, first, it is confirmed whether or not information indicating any failure of the brake, steering, engine, accelerator, or suspension is included in the received failure information. Here, when information indicating such a failure is confirmed, it is determined that the vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state. As for the driver status information, it is examined whether the pulse rate detected by the pulse sensor 23a and the fluctuation of the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor 23b are stable within a certain range. Here, when such stability is observed, it is determined that there is a high possibility that the driver's arousal level is low (for example, a sleep state or an unconscious state), and in this case, the vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state. Judge that there is. Or it is good also as determining a passenger | crew's abnormal state from the image by the camera for passenger detection.

  If it is determined in step S103 that the vehicle 2 is not in an abnormal state, the process proceeds to step S110, whereas if it is determined that the vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state, the process proceeds to step S104.

  In step S104, the warning device 29 outputs a warning to notify the occupant of the vehicle 1 that the rear vehicle (partner vehicle) 2 is in an abnormal state. Here, it is preferable that the warning device 29 changes the warning mode according to the abnormal state of the rear vehicle 2. For example, a blue lamp may be blinked in the case of an abnormality due to a vehicle failure, and a red lamp may be blinked in the case of a driver abnormality. In addition to this, it is more effective if the type of sound of the in-vehicle buzzer is changed. As a result, the driver of the vehicle 1 can notice an abnormality in the rear vehicle 2 and can also determine the type of the abnormality, so that a quick collision avoidance measure can be taken.

  Next, if it is determined by the above processing that the driver of the opponent vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state (step S105, YES), the process proceeds to step S106, and if not, the process proceeds to step S107.

  Step S106 is processing when it is determined that the driver of the opponent vehicle 2 is in an abnormal state. Here, the vehicle 1 starts inter-vehicle communication with the counterpart vehicle 2. When this inter-vehicle communication is established, the vehicle 1 transmits an alarm signal as a control signal to the vehicle 2.

  When the vehicle 2 receives the warning signal in step S205, the warning device 29 immediately outputs a warning to alert the passenger of the vehicle 2 in step S206. At the same time, hazard blinking may be performed to alert the surrounding vehicle of the vehicle 2.

  Next, in step S107, the vehicle 1 executes a control amount calculation process for avoiding a collision. Specifically, for example, the relative position, the relative speed, and the traveling direction difference angle between the vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2 are calculated based on the position information, the vehicle speed value, and the steering angle information received in step S102. To do. Based on these calculation results, the control amounts of throttle, brake, and steering angle for performing follow-up travel by accelerating / decelerating to avoid a collision are calculated.

  In step S <b> 108, the vehicle 1 starts inter-vehicle communication with the vehicle 2. When the vehicle-to-vehicle communication is established, the vehicle 1 transmits the control amounts calculated in step S107 to the vehicle 2 as control signals.

  When the vehicle 2 receives the control amounts described above in step S207, the vehicle control actuator 30 is operated to control the throttle, brake, and snake angle with the control amounts in step S208. In this embodiment, collision avoidance control is performed in this way.

  Next, in step S109, the vehicle 1 performs a collision possibility determination process when the opponent vehicle (vehicle 2) is abnormal. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S103 that the opponent vehicle is normal, the vehicle 1 performs the opponent vehicle normal collision possibility determination process in step S110.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the collision possibility determination process when the opponent vehicle is normal in step S110, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the collision possibility determination process when the opponent vehicle is abnormal in step S109. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the vehicle speed of the vehicle 1 is V1, the vehicle speed of the vehicle 2 is V2, the distance between the vehicles 1 and 2 is L, and the traveling direction difference angle between the vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2 is θ.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the opponent vehicle normal collision possibility determination process, in step S301, the following evaluation formula regarding the inter-vehicle distance is calculated.
T0 × (V2 ・ cosθ−V1) (1)
However, T0 is a response delay time determined in consideration of variations in driver's brake operation.

  If the inter-vehicle distance L is shorter than the calculation result of the evaluation formula (1), it is determined that there is a possibility of collision (step S302), and otherwise, it is determined that there is no possibility of collision (step S303).

On the other hand, in the opponent vehicle abnormality collision possibility determination process, as shown in FIG. 6, the following evaluation formula relating to the inter-vehicle distance is calculated in step S311.
(T0 + T1) × (V2 · cos θ−V1) (2)
However, T1 is a response delay time caused by a driver abnormality or a vehicle abnormality.

  If the inter-vehicle distance L is shorter than the calculation result of the evaluation formula (2), it is determined that there is a possibility of collision (step S312). Otherwise, it is determined that there is no possibility of collision (step S313).

  That is, when the opponent vehicle is abnormal, the inter-vehicle distance required for determining that there is no possibility of a collision is longer than that when the opponent vehicle is normal. In other words, if the distance between the vehicles is gradually reduced, it is determined that there is a possibility of collision earlier when the opponent vehicle is abnormal than when the opponent vehicle is normal.

  Next, when it is determined that there is a possibility of a collision by the process in step S109 or S110 described above (step S111, YES), the vehicle 1 starts inter-vehicle communication with the vehicle 2 in step S112. When the vehicle-to-vehicle communication is established, the vehicle 1 transmits a message indicating that the possibility of a collision to the vehicle 2 is high. Thereafter, the vehicle 1 activates the occupant protection device 28 in step S113, and in step S114, the warning device 29 outputs a warning indicating that a collision has been predicted. Thereafter, in step S115, damage reduction control processing for operating the vehicle control actuator 30 to perform automatic braking, automatic steering, and the like is performed.

  Also in the vehicle 2, when the message indicating that the possibility of collision transmitted from the vehicle 1 in step S112 is large (step S209), the occupant protection device 28 is activated in step S210, and an alarm is issued in step S211. The device 29 outputs a warning to notify that a collision has been predicted. Thereafter, in step S212, damage reduction control processing for operating the vehicle control actuator 30 to perform automatic braking, automatic steering, and the like is performed.

  As described above, the embodiment described above starts vehicle-to-vehicle communication with the vehicle 1 triggered by the vehicle 2 being detected by the front monitoring sensor 21 (steps S203 and S204). ) Describes the scene. However, each of the vehicles 1 and 2 is further provided with a rear monitoring sensor that monitors a region behind the host vehicle, and the vehicle-to-vehicle communication in step S204 is triggered by the presence of another vehicle detected by the rear monitoring sensor. May be started. Furthermore, when the presence of another vehicle is detected at the same time by the front monitoring sensor and the rear monitoring sensor, the inter-vehicle communication is started and the above-described driving support control is performed in parallel. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that doing this is more practical.

It is a figure explaining the relationship between the vehicles which concern on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the layout of the driving assistance apparatus in embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control system which concerns on the driving assistance apparatus in embodiment. , It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the driving assistance apparatus in embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the other party vehicle normal collision possibility determination process in embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the other party vehicle abnormality collision possibility determination process in embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the collision possibility determination process in embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2: Vehicle 21: Forward monitoring sensor 22: Running state detection sensor 23: Driver state detection sensor 24: System failure detection sensor 25: GPS antenna 26: Gyro sensor 27: Inter-vehicle communication antenna 28: Crew protection device 29 : Alarm device 30: Vehicle control actuator 40: ECU (control unit)

Claims (6)

A driving support device using vehicle-to-vehicle communication for transmitting and receiving data between vehicles,
Receiving means for receiving information indicating the state of the other vehicle by inter-vehicle communication with another vehicle located in a predetermined area in front of or behind the host vehicle;
An abnormality detecting means for detecting an abnormality of the other vehicle based on information indicating the state of the other vehicle received by the receiving means;
A collision determination unit that determines the possibility of collision with the other vehicle based on the information indicating the state of the other vehicle received by the receiving unit and the information indicating the state of the own vehicle;
When an abnormality of the other vehicle is detected by the abnormality detection unit, or when it is determined that the collision possibility is high by the collision determination unit, an alarm unit that issues an alarm in the own vehicle;
When an abnormality of the other vehicle is detected by the abnormality detection means, at least one of a change in a determination level of the collision determination means, a change in an alarm mode by the warning means, and a transmission of a control signal to the other vehicle Control means for performing
A driving support device comprising:   The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the state of the other vehicle includes information on an abnormal state of a driver of the other vehicle.   The travel support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the state of the other vehicle includes information on a vehicle failure of the other vehicle.   The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the warning mode is changed according to an abnormal state of the other vehicle.   The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the change in the determination level is a change to a determination level such that the possibility of collision is determined earlier.   The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the control signal includes a control amount related to at least one of acceleration / deceleration, warning to an occupant, and blinking of a hazard.

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