JP2009252024A - Travel controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a travel controller coping with a pedestrian with more allowance. <P>SOLUTION: The travel controller includes a communication part 62 for receiving a degree of risk Dn from an optical beacon 40 and a target calculating part 64 for generating a travel plan of a vehicle 60. The target calculating part 64 corrects the travel plan on the basis of the degree of risk Dn received by the communication part 62. Since the vehicle 60 travels according to the travel plan corrected on the basis of the degree of risk Dn in advance in this way, a driver of the vehicle 60 can cope with a pedestrian with more allowance before being notified of the presence of crossing pedestrian. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a travel control device, and more particularly to a travel control device that generates a travel plan for a vehicle.

Conventionally, a system for improving the safety of a pedestrian crossing a road has been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1, an IC tag that transmits pedestrian attribute information including information indicating the pedestrian's physique and sex is built in a pedestrian's shoes. A pedestrian crossing information output device that receives pedestrian attribute information transmitted from the pedestrian side and transmits pedestrian crossing information including the presence or absence of pedestrians and the direction of travel, the pedestrian crossing number of the pedestrian crossing, etc. If the pedestrian crossing information transmitted from the pedestrian crossing information output device is received and referred to and there is a pedestrian on the pedestrian crossing in the traveling direction of the own vehicle, the presence or absence of the pedestrian and the progress of the pedestrian A system that warns a driver of a direction or the like is disclosed.
JP 2007-72658 A

  However, in the technology as described above, since the pedestrian crossing information output device detects the crossing pedestrian, the presence of the crossing pedestrian is notified to the driver of the vehicle. Need to deal with crossing pedestrians in a short time. Therefore, a technique that can deal with pedestrians with more margin and improve the safety of pedestrians is desired.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a travel control device capable of dealing with a pedestrian with more margin.

  The present invention relates to a risk information receiving means for receiving risk information, which is a risk by a pedestrian on a road, from a roadside transmitter installed on a road on which the vehicle travels, and a travel plan generation for generating a travel plan for the vehicle And the travel plan generating means is a travel control device that corrects the travel plan based on the risk information received by the risk information receiving means.

  According to this configuration, since the travel plan generating unit corrects the travel plan based on the risk information received by the risk information receiving unit, the vehicle travels according to the travel plan that has been corrected based on the risk information in advance. As a result, the driver of the vehicle can deal with the pedestrian more easily before being notified of the presence of the crossing pedestrian.

  In this case, the travel plan generation means can correct the target speed in the travel plan, or can correct the travel lane in the travel plan.

  According to these configurations, since the travel plan generation unit corrects the target speed and the travel lane in the travel plan based on the risk information, it is possible to deal with pedestrians with more margin.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the risk information is calculated based on the number and attributes of pedestrians.

  According to this configuration, since the risk level information is calculated based on the number and attributes of pedestrians, the number of pedestrians and the attributes of pedestrians such as whether the pedestrian is a child or an elderly person. Thus, it is possible to obtain risk level information that matches the actual road conditions.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the risk information is calculated based on information related to a road parked vehicle.

  According to this configuration, since the risk level information is calculated based on the information on the road parked vehicle, the risk level information that matches the actual road situation such as a blind spot caused by the road parked vehicle is used. Can do.

  According to the traveling control device of the present invention, it is possible to deal with a pedestrian with more margin.

  Hereinafter, a travel control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a travel control system according to the embodiment. In the travel control system of the present embodiment, risk information that is a risk level by road pedestrians is transmitted from the roadside infrastructure, and the vehicle travel control device that has received the risk level information performs a travel plan based on the risk level information. It is comprised so that safety | security of a pedestrian may be improved by correcting.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the travel control system according to the present embodiment includes a device on the roadside infrastructure 50 side and a device on the vehicle 60 side. On the side of the roadside infrastructure 50, an IC tag 10, a roadside receiver 20, a roadside sensor 30, and an optical beacon 40 are provided.

  The IC tag 10 is worn by a pedestrian on the sidewalk, and generates electric power for operation in the circuit of the IC tag 10 by radio waves emitted from the roadside receiver 20, and the electric power relates to the pedestrian. This is for transmitting attribute information such as age to the roadside receiver 20.

  The roadside receiver 20 emits a radio wave to the IC tag 10 worn by the pedestrian and receives information transmitted from the IC tag 10, thereby attributes such as the number of pedestrians on the sidewalk and the age of the pedestrian. It is for acquiring information.

  The roadside sensor 30 is specifically a camera, a radar, or the like, and is for acquiring information such as the number of vehicles parked on the road and the total length of the vehicles.

  The optical beacon 40 includes information such as the number of pedestrians on the sidewalk received from the roadside receiver 20 and attributes such as the age of the pedestrians, the number of vehicles parked on the road received from the roadside sensor 30, and the number of such vehicles. Based on the information such as the total length, the degree of danger by a pedestrian on the road is calculated, and the degree of danger is transmitted to the vehicle 60 by infrared communication.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the optical beacon according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the optical beacon 40 of this embodiment includes a pedestrian risk calculation unit 41, a road parked vehicle risk calculation unit 44, an area risk calculation unit 45, and an information transmission unit 46. The pedestrian risk level calculation unit 41 includes a child risk level calculation unit 42 and an elderly person risk level calculation unit 43.

  Based on the information transmitted from the roadside transmitter 20, the child risk level calculation unit 42 is for calculating a child risk level Dc that is a risk level due to a child existing in a predetermined area on the road. Based on the information transmitted from the roadside transmitter 20, the elderly person risk level calculation unit 43 is for calculating an elderly person risk level Do, which is a risk level by an elderly person existing in the area.

  Based on the information transmitted from the roadside sensor 30, the road parked vehicle risk level calculation unit 44 calculates a road parked vehicle risk level Dv that is a risk level due to a road parked vehicle parked in a predetermined area on the road. Is to do.

  The area risk calculation unit 45 includes the child risk Dc and the elderly risk Do calculated by the pedestrian risk calculation unit 41, and the road parking vehicle risk Dv calculated by the road parking vehicle risk calculation unit 44. This is for calculating the area risk (risk level information) Dn, which is the risk for each predetermined area on the road.

  The information transmitter 46 is for transmitting the area risk Dn calculated by the area risk calculator 45 to the vehicle 60 in the form of infrared communication.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a travel control device mounted on the vehicle according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the travel control device of the vehicle 60 includes various sensors 61, a communication unit 62, a display unit 67, and actuators 68 in the ECU 63.

  The various sensors 61 are equipped with a white line recognition sensor for recognizing a white line drawn on the road, an inter-vehicle sensor for measuring the distance between the host vehicle and another vehicle, a front / rear side sensor for recognizing an object on the front and rear of the host vehicle and a side surface, and the like. The sensor has a function of inputting information necessary for automatic driving. For example, the white line recognition sensor includes an in-vehicle CCD camera capable of image recognition, and the inter-vehicle distance sensor and the front / rear side sensors include devices for inputting / outputting ultrasonic waves and lasers.

  The communication unit 62 includes a vehicle-to-vehicle communication function for communicating between vehicles, a road-to-vehicle communication function for communicating with the optical beacon 40 of the roadside infrastructure 50, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication function for communicating with a communication unit carried by a pedestrian, and the vehicle. It is a part that exchanges information necessary for automatic driving with various objects. The communication unit 62 is a communication device including, for example, an antenna, a signal transmission / reception unit, a signal control unit, and the like. In particular, the communication unit 62 of the present embodiment receives the area risk level Dn from the optical beacon 40. The communication unit 62 functions as a risk information receiving unit described in the claims.

  The ECU 63 has a target calculation unit 64. The target calculation unit 64 is for generating a travel plan for the vehicle 60. The target calculation unit 64 functions as a travel plan generation unit described in the claims. The target calculation unit 64 includes a target speed setting unit 65 and a travel lane setting unit 66. The target speed setting unit 65 is for setting and correcting the target speed in the travel plan. The travel lane setting unit 66 is for setting and correcting the travel lane in the travel plan.

  The display unit 67 is a liquid crystal display, an audio speaker, or the like, and is used for displaying the target speed and travel lane calculated by the target calculation unit 64 to the driver of the vehicle 60.

  Specifically, the actuator 68 is an accelerator actuator, a brake actuator, or a steering actuator, and automatically controls the vehicle 60 so that the vehicle 60 travels in accordance with the target speed or travel lane calculated by the target calculation unit 64. belongs to.

Hereinafter, the operation of the travel control device of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a travel plan according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the following description will be made on the assumption that the vehicle 60 enters the urban area I from the suburb O where the degree of danger is high. Roadside infrastructures 50 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively provided at points a to f in the city area I, and an area risk degree Dn is calculated for each traveling area A _{A to} A _F and transmitted to the vehicle 60. Shall.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a situation in which the travel control system of the embodiment is applied. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, in an area A _A where the vehicle 60 is about to enter, a roadside infrastructure 50 such as a roadside receiver 20 and an optical beacon 40 is installed on the road. _A plurality of pedestrians 80 wearing the IC tag 10 exist on the sidewalks P _A and P _B. A plurality of on-street parking vehicles S are parked on the roadside belt of the _two lanes L ₁ and L ₂ .

In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, since the blind spot B is generated by the road parked vehicle S from the vehicle 60 side, the situation of the sidewalks P _A and P _B becomes invisible. On the contrary, from the side of the pedestrian 80, the situation of the lanes L ₁ and L ₂ which are the roadways becomes invisible. Therefore, in the area A _A where the vehicle 60 travels, it is necessary to grasp the presence / absence, the number, and the like of the road parking vehicle S.

In addition, for the pedestrians 80 on the sidewalks P _A and P _B , there is a high incidence of accidents caused by the jumping out of children below elementary school age and risk crossing of the elderly. Therefore, in the area A _A where the vehicle 60 travels, it is necessary to grasp the presence and attributes of pedestrians.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of travel control of the present embodiment. The optical beacon 40 receives the number of child pedestrians Nc and the number of elderly pedestrians No for each pedestrian attribute in the area A _A by the roadside receiver 20 (S11). Also, the optical beacon 40, a roadside sensor 30, obtains the street parking number Nv such information in the area _{A A} (S11). The optical beacon 40 calculates the risk Dn of jumping out from information such as the number of child pedestrians Nc, the number of elderly pedestrians No., and the number of parked vehicles Nv (S12).

Hereinafter, the procedure for calculating the degree of risk Dn in the present embodiment will be described in detail.
(Calculation of the risk Dc (Nc) of child jumping out)
As shown in FIG. 5, sidewalks P _A is to be a sidewalk traveling direction left side of the vehicle 60, sidewalks P _B is assumed to be a sidewalk of the opposite lane side of the vehicle 60. Here, it is assumed that the risk Dca (1) the degree of risk in the case where the one of the children were on the sidewalk P _A. The risk level Dca (1) is
Risk level Dca (1) = (Number of accidents popping out) / (Child population)
Thus, it is calculated according to the region using the data for each prefecture. Here, risk Dca in the case where the Nca's children on the sidewalk _{P A} was present (Nca) is,
Dca (Nca) = Nca · Dca (1)
It becomes.

Further, the danger level when one child is present on the sidewalk P _{B is} defined as a danger level Dcb (1). The risk level Dcb (1) is
The risk level Dcb (1) = ((number of jumping accidents) / (child population)) / number of lanes is calculated according to the region using the data for each prefecture. Note that by dividing by the above equation "number of lanes" may multiply the number of accidents jumping from sidewalk P _A on the opposite lane side. Here, the risk Dcb (Ncb) when Ncb children are present on the sidewalk P _B is:
Dcb (Ncb) = Ncb · Dcb (1)
It becomes.

From the above, the risk level Dc (Nc) due to a child jumping out from the entire sidewalk is
Dc (Nc) = Dca (Nca) + Dcb (Ncb)
It becomes.

(Calculation of risk Do (No) for elderly people crossing danger)
The risk Doa (1) the degree of risk in the case of one of the elderly people there were on the sidewalk P _A. Risk Doa (1) is
Risk Doa (1) = (Number of accidents crossing danger) / (Popular elderly)
Thus, it is calculated according to the region using the data for each prefecture. Here, risk Doa when Noa's elderly on the sidewalk _{P A} is present (Noa) is,
Doa (Noa) = Noa ・ Doa (1)
It becomes.

Further, the degree of danger when one elderly person is present on the sidewalk P _B is assumed to be the degree of danger Dob (1). Risk Dob (1) is
Risk Dob (1) = ((number of accidents crossing danger) / (population of elderly people)) / number of lanes is calculated according to the region using data by prefecture. Note that by dividing by the above equation "number of lanes" may multiplying the risk crossing accidents from sidewalk P _A on the opposite lane side. Here, the risk Dob (Nob) when there are Nob children on the sidewalk P _B is:
Dob (Nob) = Nob · Dob (1)
It becomes.

From the above, the risk Do (No) due to danger crossing of the elderly from the entire sidewalk is
Do (No) = Doa (Noa) + Dob (Nob)
It becomes.

(Calculation of risk Dv (Nv) due to increase in blind spot due to presence of road parked vehicle)
As shown in FIG. 8, when the length of the area A _A and l, risk due to increased dead due to the presence of street parking the vehicle Dv (Nv) can be calculated as follows.
Dv (Nv) = (average vehicle length / number of parked vehicles Nv) / l

(Calculation of danger level Dn for each area)
From the above, the danger level Dn for each area is
Dn = f (Dc, Do, Dv)
= K ((Dc + Do). (1 + Dv))
Can be calculated. Here, 0 ≦ Dn ≦ γ and 0 ≦ γ ≦ 1. In the above formula, (1 + Dv) means that the risk increases in proportion to the number of vehicles due to the presence of road parked vehicles. In the above equation, K is a risk normalization coefficient, and is a coefficient that suppresses the risk in the range of 0 to γ.

Returning to FIG. 7, when the optical beacon 40 transmits the risk level Dn to the vehicle 60 for each area, the target calculation unit 64 of the vehicle 60 corrects the travel plan based on the risk level Dn (S13). The target speed setting unit 65 calculates the corrected target speed VTd with respect to the target speed VT before correction.
VTd = v (Dn, VT)
= VT. (1-Dn)
Can be calculated as As a result, as shown in FIG. 9, among the target speeds V _{A to} V _F for each area, V _B and V _F are modified to V _B ′ and V _F ′.

Further, the travel lane setting unit 66 sets the corrected travel lane Ln_pd to the travel lane Ln_p before correction,
Ln_pd = L (Dn, Ln_p)
Can be calculated as Here, the function L (Dn, Ln_p) changes the lane when the degree of danger Dn is β or more. However, if the road on which the vehicle 60 travels is one lane or one lane on one side, L (Dn, Ln_p) = L ₁ and the uncorrected travel lane Ln_p is maintained. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, when the road on which the vehicle 60 is traveling has a two lanes or more lanes _L 1 ~L ₄ is, L (Dn, Ln_p) = L 2 becomes, from sidewalks _{P A} The second lane is the target travel lane. Β is arbitrarily set, and for example, β = 0.5γ can be set.

  The display unit 67 displays to the driver so that the vehicle 60 travels based on the corrected target speed VTd calculated as described above and the corrected travel lane Ln_pd, or the actuators 68 The traveling of the vehicle 60 is automatically controlled.

  In the present embodiment, since the target calculation unit 64 corrects the travel plan based on the risk Dn received by the communication unit 62, the vehicle 60 travels according to the travel plan corrected in advance based on the risk Dn. Thus, the driver of the vehicle 60 can deal with the pedestrian with more margin before being notified of the presence of the crossing pedestrian.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the target calculation unit 64 corrects the target speed and the travel lane in the travel plan based on the risk degree Dn, so that it is possible to deal with pedestrians with more margin.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the risk level Dn is calculated based on the number and attributes of pedestrians, the number of pedestrians and the attributes of pedestrians such as whether the pedestrian is a child or an elderly person are included. Based on this, it is possible to obtain risk level information that matches the actual road conditions.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, since the degree of risk Dn is calculated based on the information on the road parked vehicle, the risk information that matches the actual road situation such as a blind spot caused by the road parked vehicle can do.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been focused on the aspect in which the travel control device 10 is mounted on each vehicle. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Only the display unit 67 and the actuators 68 are mounted, and a device corresponding to the target calculation unit 64 for generating a travel plan for each vehicle is separately installed in a management center or the like outside the vehicle. It is also possible to control the travel of each vehicle by issuing a command to execute a travel plan through the communication unit 62.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the traveling control system which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the optical beacon which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the traveling control apparatus mounted in the vehicle which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the travel plan which concerns on embodiment. It is a top view which shows the condition where the traveling control system of embodiment is applied. It is a top view which shows the blind spot by a road parking vehicle. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the traveling control of this embodiment. It is a top view explaining calculation of the risk by a road parked vehicle. It is a graph which shows the setting of the target speed in the traveling control of this embodiment. It is a top view which shows the setting of the travel lane in the travel control of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... IC tag, 20 ... Roadside receiver, 30 ... Roadside sensor, 40 ... Optical beacon, 41 ... Pedestrian risk calculation part, 42 ... Child risk calculation part, 43 ... Elderly person risk calculation part, 44 ... On the road Parking vehicle risk calculation unit, 45 ... area risk calculation unit, 46 ... information transmission unit, 50 ... roadside infrastructure, 60 ... vehicle, 61 ... various sensors, 62 ... communication unit, 63 ... ECU, 64 ... target calculation unit, 65 ... target speed setting unit, 66 ... traveling lane setting unit, 67 ... display unit, 68 ... actuators, 80 ... pedestrian.

Claims (5)

A risk information receiving means for receiving risk information which is a risk level by a pedestrian on the road from a roadside transmitter installed on the road on which the vehicle travels;
Travel plan generating means for generating a travel plan of the vehicle;
With
The travel plan generation unit corrects the travel plan based on the risk level information received by the risk level information reception unit.   The travel control device according to claim 1, wherein the travel plan generation unit corrects a target speed in the travel plan.   The travel control device according to claim 1, wherein the travel plan generation unit corrects a travel lane in the travel plan.   The travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the risk information is calculated based on the number and attributes of the pedestrians.   The travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the risk information is calculated based on information related to a road parked vehicle on the road.

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