JP2008070965A - Vehicle control apparatus and vehicle control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To comprehensively determine a psychological state (feeling) of a driver, and to control a vehicle in accordance with a result of the determination. <P>SOLUTION: A result of situation determination and a result of feeling estimation of the driver are stored in association with each other as feeling estimation result, and history of an accident is also stored. The psychological state of the driver is comprehensively determined by estimating the feeling of the driver by comparing time information, position information, a road shape, behavior of its own vehicle, and a surroundings with the feeling estimation result and accident history. Thereby accidents etc. can be positively prevented by controlling a notification to the driver by a control content deciding unit 15 and by reflecting to a behavior control of the vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that perform control according to the situation of the vehicle, and more particularly to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that perform control corresponding to a driver's emotion.

  Conventionally, an apparatus has been devised that assists in driving a vehicle by collecting information related to vehicle travel, judging the situation, providing information to the driver, and controlling the operation of the vehicle.

  Furthermore, in recent years, a technique has been devised in which a driver's psychological state and the like are monitored and the driver himself / herself is notified whether the state is suitable for driving. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for determining a state that hinders driving such as driver's facial expression, eyeball behavior, heart rate and the like, such as driver's tension, fatigue, and sleepiness, and displaying a symbol mark that simulates the determination result. Disclosure.

JP 2003-339681 A

  However, according to the conventional technology, what can be discriminated is limited only to the psychological state directly connected to the physical state, and emotions such as anger and sadness cannot be discriminated.

  Further, the determined state is merely notified. For example, even when the determination result is displayed when the user feels drowsiness, there is a high possibility that the display confirmation itself is not performed due to sleepiness.

  In other words, the conventional technique has a problem that only a very limited psychological state can be discriminated and the discrimination result cannot be used effectively. For this reason, it has been important to realize a technology that can comprehensively determine a driver's psychological state (emotion) and actively prevent accidents based on the determination result.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems in the prior art and to solve the problems, and comprehensively determines a driver's psychological state (emotion) and performs control based on the determination result. An object is to provide a vehicle control device.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the vehicle control device and the vehicle control method according to the present invention use at least one of time information, position information, road shape, behavior of the own vehicle, and surrounding situation. When estimating the driver's emotion and using the estimation result to determine the contents of vehicle operation control and driver notification control, the current situation and the situation at the time of the accident stored in the accident history means It is estimated that there is a possibility that a change in emotion occurs in the driver.

  According to the present invention, the vehicle control device and the vehicle control method use the time information, the position information, the road shape, the behavior and the surrounding situation of the host vehicle, and the past accident situation as the driver's emotional factors. There is an effect that it is possible to obtain a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that comprehensively determine a psychological state (emotion) and perform control based on the determination result.

  Exemplary embodiments of a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the vehicle control device 10 mounted on the vehicle 1 includes a navigation device 20, an outside camera 31, a vehicle speed sensor 32, an acceleration sensor 32, a communication device 34, a radar 35, a heart rate sensor 41, a respiration sensor 42, The pressure sensor 43, the sweat sensor 44, the microphone 45, the vehicle camera 46, the vehicle notification system 50, and the vehicle control system 60 are connected.

  The navigation device 20 includes a position of the host vehicle identified by a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 22 communicating with an artificial satellite, map data 21, road traffic information received by a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) receiver 23, and the like. This is an in-vehicle device for setting and guiding a travel route using

  Specifically, this route guidance is performed using the in-vehicle notification system 50. In addition, the navigation device 20 supplies the vehicle control device 10 with location information of the host vehicle, surrounding map information, traffic information, and the like.

  The camera 31 outside the vehicle is a photographing means for photographing the surroundings of the host vehicle. The speed sensor 32 is a measuring unit that measures the traveling speed of the host vehicle, and the acceleration sensor 33 is a measuring unit that measures an acceleration applied to the host vehicle.

  Further, the communication device 34 is a communication device that communicates with the surroundings of the host vehicle, for example, other vehicles or a communication device installed near the road, and the radar 35 detects objects around the host vehicle using millimeter waves or microwaves. It is the detection means to do.

  The heart rate sensor 41 is a sensor that measures the heart rate (pulse) of the driver, and the respiration sensor 42 is a sensor that monitors the respiration state of the driver. The pressure sensor 43 is a sensor that monitors a change in the posture of the driver by measuring the pressure applied to the seating surface of the driver's seat.

  The perspiration sensor 44 is a sensor that is provided, for example, on a handle or the like, and monitors a driver's perspiration state. Further, the microphone 45 is sound collecting means for acquiring the driver's voice, and the in-vehicle camera 46 is photographing means for photographing the inside of the own vehicle, particularly the driver.

  The in-vehicle notification system 50 is a group of devices that notify the passengers of the host vehicle, and includes a display 51 that performs display notification, a speaker 52 that performs voice notification, and the like. This in-vehicle notification system 50 can be shared by various in-vehicle devices such as an in-vehicle audio device in addition to the vehicle control device 10 and the navigation device 20.

  The vehicle control system 60 is a group of devices that control the operation of the vehicle, and includes an engine control mechanism 61 that controls the operation of the engine based on the accelerator operation, a brake control mechanism 62 that brakes the vehicle based on the operation of the brake pedal, A steering angle control mechanism 63 that controls the steering angle of the vehicle based on the steering wheel operation is included.

  The vehicle control system 60 controls the operation of the vehicle in response to a control instruction from the vehicle control device 10 in addition to performing vehicle control in response to a driver's operation. Further, the vehicle control system 60 outputs the operation state of the vehicle to the vehicle control device 10.

  The vehicle control device 10 is a device that supports the driving operation by performing notification control to the driver and operation control of the vehicle corresponding to the situation of the host vehicle, and the situation determination unit 11 and emotion factor detection are included therein. Unit 12, biological state monitoring unit 13, personal identification unit 14, control content determination unit 15, emotion estimation unit 16, and user state database 17.

  The situation determination unit 11 is a processing unit that determines the situation of the host vehicle. In this situation determination, the position information of the own vehicle acquired from the navigation device 20, surrounding map information, traffic information, image recognition with respect to the image taken by the outside camera 31, the running speed and acceleration of the own vehicle measured by the vehicle speed sensor 32. The acceleration applied to the host vehicle measured by the sensor 33, the communication result by the new notification device 34, the object detection result by the radar 35, and the operation state of the vehicle acquired from the vehicle control system 60 are used.

  The emotion factor detection unit 12 performs a process of detecting a factor that induces a change (emotional) in the driver's emotion. As the emotion factor, the determination result of the situation determination unit 11 can be used.

  The biological information monitoring unit 13 performs processing for monitoring the physical condition of the driver. The physical state includes the heart rate measured by the heart rate sensor 41, the respiration state monitored by the respiration sensor 42, the change in posture detected by the pressure sensor 43, the perspiration state detected by the perspiration sensor 44, and the voice acquired by the microphone 45. An image recognition result for a driver image taken by the in-vehicle camera 46 can be used.

  The personal identification unit 14 is a processing unit that performs processing for identifying a driver. This personal identification of the driver may be realized by image recognition of the driver's face image taken by the in-vehicle camera 36, or may be performed by recognizing an individually assigned key for each driver, for example. Alternatively, it may be performed by input by the driver himself.

  The emotion estimation unit 16 performs a process of estimating the driver's emotion using the detection result by the emotion factor detection unit 12, the monitoring result by the biological information monitoring unit 13, and the identification result by the personal identification unit 14.

  For example, if it is detected that an other vehicle has interrupted in front of the host vehicle or a traffic jam is occurring as an emotional factor, it is assumed that the driver may be frustrated or angry. Can do. Similarly, emotions such as anger and anxiety can be estimated from changes in the biological state.

  Here, since there is a large individual difference in how to react to the same emotion factor, and the degree of change in the biological state and the correspondence with emotion, it is preferable to use the identification result by the individual identification unit 14.

  The user state database 17 is a storage unit that stores the determination result by the situation determination unit 11, the estimation result by the emotion estimation unit 16, and the identification result by the personal identification unit 14 in association with each other.

  The control content determination unit 15 determines the control content based on the determination result by the situation determination unit 11 and the emotion estimation result by the emotion estimation unit 16. That is, even if the vehicle situation (judgment result of the situation judgment unit 11) is the same, different appropriate controls can be selected and executed depending on the driver's feelings.

  Moreover, the control content determination part 15 has the special control start part 15a, the prediction control part 15b, the threshold value control part 15c, and the resource distribution part 15d in the inside. The special control start unit 15a is a processing unit that performs a process of starting control corresponding to a specific emotion, and the prediction control unit 15b is a processing unit that performs a pre-treatment for a state that is predicted to occur due to an emotion. is there. The threshold control unit 15c is a processing unit that adjusts the threshold value in vehicle control according to the driver's emotion, and the resource distribution unit 15d is a processing unit that adjusts resource allocation for vehicle control according to the driver's emotion. It is.

  Thus, the driver's psychological state can be comprehensively determined by estimating the driver's emotion using the emotional factor that induces the driver's emotion. Further, accidents and the like can be positively prevented by notifying the driver from the determination result and intervening in the vehicle behavior control.

  Specifically, the vehicle control apparatus 10 estimates the driver's emotion using time information, position information, road shape, behavior of the own vehicle and surrounding conditions as emotion factors. For example, a driver who is not good at turning right at an intersection shows emotions such as tension and anxiety when turning right at the intersection, as shown in FIG. 2, and is unable to perform an appropriate driving operation or only in a specific direction. It is possible that attention is taken away from other directions.

  In addition, there are drivers who tend to be impatient in a specific time zone such as commuting time, drivers who are not good at a specific place, and drivers who feel uneasy when encountering a specific situation.

  Therefore, the driver's emotion is first estimated from biometric information, etc., and stored in association with the situation of the own vehicle (time information, location information, road shape, behavior of the own vehicle and surrounding situation). It is possible to analyze what kind of emotion is induced.

  In addition, it can be assumed that a driver who has experienced an accident is nervous or anxious in a situation similar to the situation at the time of the accident. For example, a driver who has experienced an accident (so-called thank you accident) that comes into contact with or collides with a two-wheeled vehicle coming out from behind an oncoming vehicle when making a right turn while waiting for the oncoming vehicle is similar to the situation shown in FIG. There is a possibility that the consciousness concentrates in the direction of the shadow of the oncoming vehicle, and other pedestrians are overlooked.

  Thus, by storing the situation of past accident histories, it is possible to infer emotional changes under similar situations.

  In order to realize the emotion estimation based on the emotion estimation results and the accident history, the user state database 17 determines the determination result of the situation determination unit 11 (that is, time information, position information, road shape, own vehicle as shown in FIG. 4). And the estimation result of the birth estimation unit 16 (that is, the driver's emotion) are stored in association with each other.

  The emotion estimation at this time is mainly performed based on the biological information. A specific example of emotion estimation based on biological information is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, wrinkles between the eyebrows are photographed by the in-vehicle camera 46, and when there are more wrinkles than usual, it can be estimated that the driver is likely to be angry. Similarly, the driver's line of sight is acquired by image recognition, and when the line of sight is not fixed, it can be estimated that the driver is likely to feel anxiety.

  In addition, as a result of acquiring the driver's voice by the microphone 45, if the sigh is detected, it is estimated that the driver is likely to feel uneasy, and if the tongue is detected, the driver feels angry. It can be estimated that the possibility is high.

  Further, if it is detected from the output of the sweat sensor 44 that the driver's sweat amount is larger than normal, it can be estimated that the driver is nervous. In addition, it is possible to estimate the driver's emotion using arbitrary biological information, for example, when the driver is holding the steering wheel strongly, it is estimated that the driver is nervous. is there.

  The stored contents once stored in the user state database 17 can be used for subsequent emotion estimation. When the stored contents are used for emotion estimation, as shown in FIG. 6, the emotion estimation unit 16 acquires the determination result of the situation determination unit 11, and searches the user state database 17 using the situation determination result as a key.

  By performing this search, it is possible to read out what feeling the driver has shown in the past under a situation similar to the current vehicle situation and whether there is an accident history in a similar situation.

  Since there is an individual difference in the correspondence between the emotion and the vehicle situation, the user state database 17 manages storage for each user (for each driver) as shown in FIG. For example, in the same figure, the user A tends to get impatient around 16:00, and the user B tends to feel uneasy when turning right at the intersection. Furthermore, the user C has a history of accidents caused by turning right while waiting for an oncoming vehicle.

  Therefore, if the user A is driving around 16:00, it is estimated that the driver is likely to be impatient even if the change in the biometric information cannot be sufficiently obtained, and the user B is driving the intersection. When making a right turn, it can be estimated that the driver may feel uneasy.

  Similarly, when the user C is driving and the time, position, road shape, and situation (the behavior of the host vehicle and the surrounding situation) are similar to the situation at the time of the accident, the user C feels nervous and anxious. Can be estimated.

  Next, a specific example of the driver's emotion and control will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, when the driver shows emotions such as “anger”, “irritability”, and “impression”, the state of the driver, that is, an expected risk (predicted by the prediction control unit 15b) "Driving is rough", "Concentrate on the front and specific objects, and less attention to others".

  When it is predicted that “driving will be rough”, acceleration suppression for the engine control mechanism 61 and deceleration support for the brake control mechanism 62 are executed as vehicle control, and a notification for prompting relaxation is given as notification control to the driver. As a specific example of the notification for prompting relaxation, any method such as outputting a message or music, or giving a relaxing scent can be used.

  Here, the acceleration control and the deceleration support are specifically processes in which the threshold control unit 15c adjusts various acceleration and deceleration start timing, control intensity, and the like by changing various thresholds related to engine control and brake control. is there.

  In addition, if it is expected that “focus on the front or a specific target and less attention will be paid to others”, the peripheral monitoring will be enhanced by adjusting the resource allocation such as the monitoring range of the camera and radar and the processing capacity. Then, information notification is provided to provide the driver with the results of surrounding monitoring.

  If the driver is “sad”, the expected dangers are “oversight, delayed response”, “speed reduction”, etc.

  When the occurrence of “oversight, reaction delay” is expected, deceleration control for the brake control mechanism 62 as vehicle control, and peripheral monitoring is strengthened by adjusting the resource allocation such as the monitoring range of the camera and radar and the calculation processing capability. As a notification control for the driver, information on the result of the peripheral monitoring and a notification for concentrating on the driving are performed.

  In addition, when a “speed reduction” is predicted, a low-speed warning process, which is a special control for giving a warning when the traveling speed falls below a predetermined speed, is started as vehicle control, and driving is performed as notification control for the driver. Notification to encourage concentration.

  When the driver shows emotions such as “joy” and “fun”, the expected dangers include “oversight, delayed response”, “speed over”, “rapid acceleration”, and the like.

  When the occurrence of “oversight, reaction delay” is expected, deceleration control for the brake control mechanism 62 as vehicle control, and peripheral monitoring is strengthened by adjusting the resource allocation such as the monitoring range of the camera and radar and the calculation processing capability. As a notification control for the driver, information on the result of the peripheral monitoring and a notification for concentrating on the driving are performed.

  In addition, when the occurrence of “speed over” is predicted, acceleration control for the engine control mechanism 61 and enhancement of speed monitoring are performed as vehicle control, and notification for prompting safe driving is performed as notification control to the driver.

  Similarly, when the occurrence of “rapid acceleration” is predicted, acceleration control for the engine control mechanism 61 is performed as vehicle control, and notification for prompting safe driving is performed as notification control to the driver.

  When the driver shows emotions such as “anxiety” and “tension”, the expected dangers are “occurrence of driving mistakes due to sweating, tightening the steering wheel, etc.” Attention will be disappointing. "

  When “occurrence of driving error” is predicted, deceleration support for the brake control mechanism 62 and steering support for the steering angle control mechanism 63 are executed as vehicle control, and notification for prompting relaxation is performed as notification control to the driver.

  In addition, if it is expected that “focus on the front or a specific target and less attention will be paid to others”, the peripheral monitoring will be enhanced by adjusting the resource allocation such as the monitoring range of the camera and radar and the processing capacity. Then, information notification is provided to provide the driver with the results of surrounding monitoring.

  Next, the processing operation of the vehicle control device 10 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation of a routine process that is started and repeated when the power source of the vehicle control device 10 is turned on.

  As shown in the figure, the vehicle control device 10 first acquires the driver's physical state as biological information (step S101), and further acquires an emotion factor that induces the driver's emotion (step S102).

  Then, the driver's emotion is estimated from the biological information and emotional factors (step S103), and if the occurrence of a specific emotion that affects driving is not estimated (step S104, No), normal notification or vehicle behavior Is controlled (step S106), and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the occurrence of a specific emotion that affects driving is estimated (step S104, Yes), the processing content is changed based on the estimated emotion (step S105), and then notification and vehicle behavior control are performed. (Step S106) and the process is terminated.

  As described above, the vehicle control device 10 according to the present embodiment associates the situation determination result with the driver's emotion estimation result and stores it as an emotion estimation result, stores the accident history, and stores time information and position information. Then, the driver's emotional state is estimated by comparing the road shape, the behavior of the vehicle and the surrounding situation with the emotion estimation results and the accident results, so that the driver's psychological state is comprehensively determined, and the control content determination unit 15 It is possible to positively prevent accidents and the like by reflecting the notification control to the driver and the behavior control of the vehicle.

  The present embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the content of the invention. In implementing the present invention, the configuration can be changed as appropriate.

  As described above, the vehicle control device and the vehicle control method according to the present invention are useful for assisting driving operation, and are particularly suitable for control corresponding to the driver's feelings.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the condition at the time of the intersection right turn. It is explanatory drawing explaining the condition in the case of making an oncoming vehicle wait and making a right turn. It is explanatory drawing explaining preparation of a user state database. It is explanatory drawing explaining the specific example of the emotion estimation based on biometric information. It is explanatory drawing explaining the emotion estimation using a user state database. It is explanatory drawing explaining the memory content of a user state database. It is explanatory drawing explaining a driver's emotion and the specific example of control. It is a flowchart explaining the processing operation of a vehicle control apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 10 Vehicle control apparatus 11 Situation judgment part 12 Emotion factor detection part 13 Biological state monitoring part 14 Personal identification part 15 Control content determination part 15a Special control start part 15b Prediction control part 15c Threshold control part 15d Resource distribution part 16 Emotion estimation part 17 User state database 20 Navigation device 21 Map data 22 GPS receiver 23 VICS receiver 31 Outside camera 32 Vehicle speed sensor 33 Acceleration sensor 34 Communication device 35 Radar 41 Heart rate sensor 42 Respiration sensor 43 Pressure sensor 44 Sweating sensor 45 Microphone 46 In-vehicle camera 50 In-car notification system 51 Display 52 Speaker 60 Vehicle control system 61 Engine control mechanism 62 Brake control mechanism 63 Steering angle control mechanism

Claims (3)

Emotion estimation means for estimating the driver's emotion using at least one of time information, position information, road shape, own vehicle behavior and surrounding situation;
A situation judging means for judging the situation of the own vehicle;
Control content determination means for determining the content of vehicle operation control and / or notification control to the driver based on the result of the situation determination and the estimation result of the emotion;
Accident history storage means for storing past accident history;
With
The emotion estimation means estimates that a change in emotion may occur in the driver when the current situation and the situation at the time of the accident stored in the accident history means are similar. Vehicle control device.   The control content determination unit is configured to activate control corresponding to a specific emotion based on the emotion estimation result, to cope with a state in which an occurrence is predicted due to emotion, adjustment of a threshold in vehicle control, vehicle control The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of resource allocation adjustments is performed. An emotion estimation step of estimating the driver's emotion using at least one of time information, position information, road shape, own vehicle behavior and surrounding situation;
A situation judgment process for judging the situation of the own vehicle;
A control content determination step for determining the content of the vehicle operation control and / or the notification control to the driver based on the situation determination result and the emotion estimation result;
Including
The emotion estimation step is characterized in that when the current situation is similar to the situation at the time of the accident stored as the past accident history, it is estimated that a change in emotion may occur in the driver. A vehicle control method.

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