JP2007058326A - Vehicular moving body detection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular moving body detection device that can accurately and efficiently detect moving bodies such as pedestrians. <P>SOLUTION: When an own vehicle 30 entering an intersection is detected trying to turn left, a radar 14 mounted on the vehicle 30 is reoriented to shift an area between dashed lines, which is a normal detection range of the radar 14 on the vehicle 30, by a predetermined angle θ to an area enclosed by dotted lines. The predetermined angle θ is set at a value that allows the radar shift by the angle to bring the radar detection range covering a major part of a crosswalk 60A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular moving body detection device, and more particularly to a vehicular moving body detection device that detects a moving body such as a pedestrian crossing a pedestrian crossing when turning right or left at an intersection.

  Conventionally, various devices for avoiding a collision with an obstacle by detecting an obstacle such as a pedestrian existing in the turning direction at the time of turning such as when turning right or left of a vehicle have been proposed.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, when a vehicle turns right or left, the sensitivity of the radar is increased, and the beam irradiation range of the radar is rotated by a predetermined angle in the direction of turning left or right, or the detection range of the radar is made larger than when traveling on a straight road. A radar control device is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an obstacle that estimates the position of a pedestrian crossing existing in the turning direction when the vehicle turns right or left, and matches the detection area of the obstacle detection means to the estimated position of the pedestrian crossing. A sensing device is disclosed.

In Patent Document 3, when the host vehicle is turning on a road having at least two lanes in the same direction, the detection range of one radar device on the adjacent lane side is changed to the adjacent lane. An obstacle detection system for a vehicle configured to change the detection range of the other radar device to a range along the traveling path of the host vehicle is disclosed.
JP-A-2005-9913 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-110899 JP 2000-57494 A

  When a vehicle makes a right or left turn at an intersection, it is important to accurately detect and warn a pedestrian walking on a pedestrian crossing over the road in the traveling direction of the vehicle. When the technology is applied, there is still room for improvement in terms of the accuracy of pedestrian detection and detection efficiency.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle moving body detection apparatus that can accurately and efficiently detect a moving body such as a pedestrian.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a receiving means for receiving detection information transmitted from a moving body detecting means provided on an intersection side and detecting a moving body on a road near the intersection; Based on the advancing direction detecting means for detecting the advancing direction of the vehicle at the intersection, the detecting means for detecting a moving body existing in the detection range ahead of the vehicle, the detection information and the advancing direction of the vehicle, Control means for controlling the detection range of the detection means so that the moving body is included in the detection range.

  According to this invention, the receiving means receives the detection information transmitted from the moving body detecting means provided on the intersection side and detecting the moving body on the road near the intersection. The detection information includes, for example, information indicating whether or not a moving body such as a pedestrian walking on a pedestrian crossing near an intersection or a moving body such as a person riding on a bicycle exists.

  The traveling direction detection means detects the traveling direction of the vehicle at the intersection. For example, as described in claim 7, the traveling direction detection means may be at least one of a winker switch, a yaw rate sensor, and a steering angle sensor of the vehicle.

  The detection means detects a moving body that exists in a detection range in front of the vehicle. For example, as described in claim 8, the detection means may be a radar. In addition, you may detect a moving body with the camera which image | photographs the front of a vehicle.

  The control means controls the detection range of the detection means based on the detection information and the traveling direction of the vehicle. That is, when a moving body such as a pedestrian exists in the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the detection information, the detection range of the detection unit is controlled so that the direction becomes the detection range. Thereby, it becomes possible to accurately and efficiently detect a moving body such as a pedestrian.

  For example, as described in claim 2, when the moving body is detected by the detection information, the control unit can change the detection range to the traveling direction.

  Specifically, for example, as described in claim 3, the control means can control the detection means so as to shift the detection range by a predetermined angle in the traveling direction.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the traveling direction detection unit detects rotation angle information related to a rotation angle of the vehicle, and the control unit sets the predetermined angle based on the rotation angle information. Can do. The rotation angle information includes, for example, information such as the rotation angular velocity of the vehicle and the steering angle of the vehicle steering. Thereby, a detection means can be shifted to an optimal angle according to the rotational angular velocity or steering angle of the vehicle.

  In addition, as described in claim 5, the information processing apparatus further includes providing means for providing intersection angle information related to an intersection angle of a road that intersects at the intersection, and the control means sets the predetermined angle based on the intersection angle information. You may make it do. Thereby, the detection means can be shifted to an optimum angle according to the angle between the road on which the vehicle has traveled and the curved road ahead.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the control means may control the detection means so as to limit the detection range to a predetermined range on the traveling direction side. In this way, by narrowing down the detection range, it is possible to perform processing at high speed, and it is possible to shorten the time until a moving body is detected.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that a moving body such as a pedestrian can be detected accurately and efficiently in a short time.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a vehicle moving body detection apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle moving body detection device 10 includes a control unit 12, a radar 14, a yaw rate sensor 16, a left turn signal switch 15L, a right turn signal switch 15R, a steering angle sensor 18, an operation unit 20, a display unit 22, The alarm device 24, the car navigation system 26, and the receiving unit 28 are included.

  The radar 14 is attached to the front of the vehicle so that an electromagnetic wave signal for detection is output toward the detection range in front of the vehicle, and detects a moving body such as a pedestrian existing in the detection range. The radar 14 can be turned in the horizontal direction by a driving device (not shown). That is, the detection range can be shifted in the horizontal direction.

  The radar 14 can be configured by, for example, a millimeter wave radar. The millimeter wave radar is a radar using the Doppler effect, and can detect a distance to a target object such as a pedestrian and a relative speed. The radar detection range is, for example, a range of several degrees to several tens of degrees.

  The left turn signal switch 15L is a switch that is turned on when the driver operates the winker lever of the vehicle so that the left turn signal of the vehicle blinks. This switch is turned on when the blinker lever is operated.

  The yaw rate sensor 16 detects the rotational angular velocity around the center of gravity of the vehicle and outputs a signal (rotational angular velocity signal) corresponding to the rotational angular velocity.

  The steering angle sensor 18 detects the steering angle of the steering for steering the front wheels of the vehicle, and outputs a signal (steering angle signal) corresponding to the detected steering angle.

  The operation unit 20 includes buttons and switches for setting air conditioning conditions and various functions.

  The display unit 22 displays the vehicle state such as the vehicle speed, the engine speed, the door opening / closing state, and the trunk opening / closing state.

  The warning device 24 is a device for warning a driver or the like when the radar 14 detects that a moving body such as a pedestrian is present in a predetermined range. For example, the warning device 24 outputs a warning sound or a warning message. Is output by voice.

  The car navigation system 26 is a system that calculates the position (latitude, longitude, altitude) of the host vehicle based on a signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite and displays it on a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map. .

  The receiving unit 28 wirelessly receives the mobile body information (detection information) output from the mobile body information output device 50 configured as shown in FIG. 2 provided for each intersection.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile body information output device 50 includes an image processing unit 52, cameras 54A to 54D, a transmission unit 56, a memory 58, and the like. As shown in FIG. 3, the cameras 54 </ b> A to 54 </ b> D are provided for each pedestrian crossing existing at the intersection, take a picture of the pedestrian crossing in charge at predetermined time intervals, and output the captured images to the image processing unit 52. The camera 54A images the pedestrian crossing 60A, the camera 54B images the pedestrian crossing 60B, the camera 54C images the pedestrian crossing 60C, and the camera 54D images the pedestrian crossing 60D. Each pedestrian crossing is assigned a sidewalk number in advance, for example, and the pedestrian crossing can be specified by this sidewalk number.

  The image processing unit 52 determines whether or not a moving body such as a pedestrian exists at each pedestrian crossing based on the captured images output from the cameras 54A to 54D. For example, an image of only a pedestrian crossing, that is, image data of a captured image when a moving body such as a pedestrian does not exist on the pedestrian crossing is stored in the memory 58 in advance, and the image data stored in the memory 58 and the image are captured by the camera. It is possible to determine that a moving body such as a pedestrian exists on the pedestrian crossing when the images on the pedestrian crossing are greatly different from each other by comparing the image data of the captured image. Note that detection targets are not limited to pedestrians, but may include humans riding on bicycles, animals other than humans, and the like. Further, the detection method is not limited to the above, and any method can be used as long as it can detect the presence of a moving body on a pedestrian crossing.

  Then, for example, mobile unit information including at least a correspondence relationship between a sidewalk number and the presence or absence of a mobile unit such as a pedestrian on the pedestrian crossing is wirelessly transmitted from the transmission unit 56. In addition, you may make it include information, such as the direction where the pedestrian is walking, in mobile body information.

  Next, as an operation of the present embodiment, control executed by the control unit 12 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. The control routine shown in FIG. 4 is executed when an ignition switch (not shown) of a vehicle is turned on and it is detected that the vehicle is running.

  First, in step 100, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is about to enter an intersection. Whether or not the vehicle is about to enter the intersection can be determined by the car navigation system 26, for example. As a part of the map data, the car navigation system 26 stores in advance coordinate data (for example, latitude / longitude data) indicating the center position P of the intersection as shown in FIG. 3, for example. Then, the distance between the current position of the host vehicle 30 calculated based on the signal from the GPS satellite and the center position P of the intersection existing at the closest position on the traveling road of the host vehicle 30 is sequentially calculated. It is determined that the host vehicle 30 is about to enter the intersection when the distance falls below a predetermined distance R. That is, when the host vehicle 30 enters a distance within a radius R from the center position P of the intersection, it can be determined that the vehicle is about to enter the intersection. When the car navigation system 26 determines that the vehicle is about to enter the intersection, the car navigation system 26 outputs an intersection entry signal to the control unit 12. As a result, the control unit 12 can determine that the host vehicle 30 is about to enter the intersection.

  Note that whether or not the host vehicle 30 is about to enter the intersection is not limited to the above, and may be determined based on a specific signal output from the infrastructure side. For example, when a device that outputs a specific signal in a predetermined range near the intersection is provided at the intersection, it is determined that the own vehicle 30 is about to enter the intersection when the own vehicle 30 receives the signal. Also good. In this case, the vehicle moving body detection device 10 may be provided with a receiving device that receives a specific signal output from the intersection side.

  If it is determined that the host vehicle 30 is about to enter the intersection, the process proceeds to step 102. If it is determined that the host vehicle 30 is not about to enter the intersection, the process returns to step 100 and the same processing as described above is repeated. .

  In step 102, it is determined whether a right turn or a left turn is to be made. Specifically, for example, it may be determined whether the right turn signal switch 15R or the left turn signal switch 15L is turned on.

  The determination as to whether the host vehicle 30 is going to turn right or left is not limited to the above. For example, it is determined whether or not the rotational angular velocity represented by the rotational angular velocity signal output from the yaw rate sensor 16 is equal to or greater than a predetermined right turn threshold or greater than a predetermined left turn threshold. You may make it judge that it is going to turn right or is going to turn left.

  Further, it is determined whether or not the steering angle of the steering of the host vehicle 30 represented by the steering angle signal output from the steering angle sensor 18 is greater than or equal to a predetermined right turn threshold or greater than a predetermined left turn threshold. If it is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it may be determined that a right turn or a left turn is about to be made. As described above, when determining the right / left turn based on the output signal from the yaw rate sensor 16 or the steering angle sensor 18, each threshold value is reliably determined if the rotational angular velocity or the steering angle detected by each sensor is equal to or greater than this value. It is set to a value that can be determined to be turning right or left. As a result, when the host vehicle 30 is moved to the right or left (lane change or the like), it is possible to prevent erroneous detection of a right / left turn.

  If it is determined that the host vehicle 30 is about to make a right turn or a left turn, the process proceeds to step 104. If not, the process returns to step 100 to repeat the same processing as described above.

  In step 104, it is determined whether or not the mobile unit information output from the mobile unit information output device 50 has been received by the receiving unit 28. If received, the process proceeds to step 106. Returning to 100, the same processing as described above is repeated.

  In step 106, based on the received moving body information, it is determined whether or not there is a moving body such as a pedestrian on the pedestrian crossing where the vehicle 30 has turned right or left. That is, the sidewalk number of the pedestrian crossing after the right turn or the left turn is specified, and the presence or absence of a moving body such as a pedestrian corresponding to the specified sidewalk number is confirmed with reference to the moving body information. The sidewalk number can be specified by the car navigation system 26, for example. For example, the correspondence between the sidewalk number and the position data indicating the position (latitude, longitude, etc.) of the pedestrian crossing is stored in advance in the car navigation system 26 as a part of the map data, and this is associated with the current position of the host vehicle 30, Based on the right-left turn direction determined in step 102, the sidewalk number of the pedestrian crossing to which the host vehicle 30 has made a right turn or the left-turned destination can be specified.

  If it is determined that a moving body such as a pedestrian exists on the pedestrian crossing to which the vehicle 30 has made a right turn or a left turn, the process proceeds to step 108 and it is determined that there is no moving body such as a pedestrian. If so, the process returns to step 100 and the same processing as above is repeated.

  In step 108, the direction of the radar 14 is shifted by a predetermined angle θ in the direction in which the host vehicle 30 bends. The predetermined angle θ is set to an angle such that most of the bent pedestrian crossing falls within the detection range of the radar 14 when the direction of the radar 14 is shifted by this angle.

  For example, when the own vehicle 30 entering the intersection is going to turn left as shown in FIG. 5, when the detection range of the radar 14 of the own vehicle 30 is a region sandwiched by alternate long and short dash lines, At the stage, since the front side of the host vehicle 30 does not face the pedestrian crossing 60A side, most of the area of the pedestrian crossing 60A is outside the detection range of the radar 14.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the radar 14 is instructed to drive the radar 14 so that the detection range of the radar 14 is shifted by a predetermined angle θ from the area surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line to the area surrounded by the dotted line. Change the direction of. Thereby, it becomes possible to accurately detect the pedestrian 62 crossing the pedestrian crossing 60A.

  Note that the optimum predetermined angle θ may vary depending on the rotational angular velocity and steering angle of the host vehicle 30, so the optimum predetermined angle θ depends on the rotational angular velocity and steering angle detected by the yaw rate sensor 16 and the steering angle sensor 18. May be determined. In this case, the correspondence relationship between at least one of the rotational angular velocity and the steering angle and the predetermined angle θ is stored in advance in a memory (not shown), and the predetermined angle corresponding to the detected rotational angular velocity and steering angle is used using this correspondence relationship. θ can be obtained. Further, depending on the angle formed by a plurality of roads intersecting at the intersection, that is, the intersection angle formed by the road on which the host vehicle 30 has traveled and the curved road ahead, the optimum predetermined angle θ may differ, so that Similarly, an optimum predetermined angle θ may be determined according to the intersection angle. The intersection angle can be acquired by storing in advance the intersection angle of each intersection as a part of map data in the car navigation system 26, for example.

  In step 110, it is determined whether or not a moving body such as a pedestrian has been detected by the radar 14. If detected, the process proceeds to step 112. If not detected, the process returns to step 100 and returns to the above step. Repeat the same process.

  In step 112, warning processing is performed. Specifically, in order to warn the driver that a moving body such as a pedestrian is present at the pedestrian crossing where the vehicle 30 is bent, for example, the warning device 24 outputs a warning sound, or a warning message by voice. Or output. As a result, the driver of the host vehicle 30 can easily recognize that a moving body such as a pedestrian is present on the pedestrian crossing, and can quickly avoid danger.

  As described above, in this embodiment, not only the radar mounted on the vehicle but also the moving body information is received from the road side, and the direction of the radar 14 is shifted based on the result. The body can be detected. In addition, since the detection range of the radar 14 can be narrowed compared to the conventional configuration in which the direction of the radar 14 is not shifted, it is possible to detect a moving object such as a pedestrian at high speed.

  In this embodiment, the case where the detection range of the radar 14 is shifted by the predetermined angle θ has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when the detection range of the radar 14 is wide to some extent, the radar detection range is set to the own vehicle 30. You may make it narrow down in the direction which turns. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the radar detection range of the host vehicle 30 is in the range of the angle α, when the host vehicle 30 turns left at the intersection, for example, a range of the left half of the angle α / 2. Is the detection range. The narrowing range is not limited to the above, and can be set arbitrarily. Thus, by narrowing down the detection range, it is possible to shorten the time until a moving body such as a pedestrian is detected.

  Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where moving bodies, such as a pedestrian, were detected by radar, you may comprise so that moving bodies, such as a pedestrian, may be detected with the camera which image | photographs the front of a vehicle.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the moving body detection apparatus for vehicles which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a moving body information output device. It is a top view of an intersection. It is a flowchart of the control routine performed by the control part of the moving body detection apparatus for vehicles which concerns on this invention. It is a top view of an intersection. It is a figure for demonstrating the detection range of a radar.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vehicle moving body detection apparatus 12 Control part (control means)
14 Radar (detection means)
15R Right turn signal switch (traveling direction detection means)
15L left turn signal switch (traveling direction detection means)
16 Yaw rate sensor (traveling direction detection means)
18 Steering angle sensor (traveling direction detection means)
20 operation unit 22 display unit 24 alarm device 26 car navigation system (providing means)
28 Receiver (Receiver)
30 own vehicle 50 moving body information output device (moving body detecting means)
52 Image processor 54A, 54B, 54C, 54D Camera 56 Transmitter 58 Memory 60A, 60B, 60C, 60D Pedestrian crossing 62 Pedestrian

Claims (8)

A receiving means for receiving detection information transmitted from a moving body detecting means provided on the intersection side and detecting a moving body on a road near the intersection;
Traveling direction detection means for detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle at the intersection;
Detecting means for detecting a moving object existing in a detection range in front of the vehicle;
Control means for controlling a detection range of the detection means based on the detection information and the traveling direction of the vehicle;
A vehicle moving body detection apparatus comprising:   The vehicle moving body detection device according to claim 1, wherein, when the moving body is detected based on the detection information, the control unit changes the detection range to the traveling direction.   The vehicle moving body detection device according to claim 2, wherein the control means controls the detection means so as to shift the detection range by a predetermined angle in the traveling direction.   4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the traveling direction detection unit detects rotation angle information related to a rotation angle of the vehicle, and the control unit sets the predetermined angle based on the rotation angle information. Moving body detection device.   The provision means which provides the intersection angle information regarding the intersection angle of the road which cross | intersects at the said intersection, The said control means sets the said predetermined angle based on the said intersection angle information, The Claim 3 or Claim characterized by the above-mentioned. Item 5. The vehicle moving body detection device according to Item 4.   The vehicle moving body detection device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the detection unit to limit the detection range to a predetermined range on the traveling direction side.   The vehicle moving body according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the traveling direction detection means is at least one of a winker switch, a yaw rate sensor, and a steering angle sensor of the vehicle. Detection device.   The vehicle detection device according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is a radar.

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