JP2010188874A - Inter-vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inter-vehicle control device reducing an incongruity sense felt by a driver. <P>SOLUTION: The inter-vehicle control device 1 includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 2. The ECU 2 controls travel of one's own vehicle 10 so as to follow a preceding vehicle. The ECU 2 detects an operation situation of an in-vehicle apparatus 5 and a face direction of the driver based on respective signal values output from the in-vehicle apparatus 5 and a face direction sensor 4, obtains a degree of attentiveness to the travel of the driver based thereon, and changes at least one of a deceleration gain value and an acceleration gain value of ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) control according to the degree of the attentiveness. Therefore, in controlling the ACC, an acceleration/deceleration gradient is controlled according to the attentiveness to the preceding vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle control device for controlling an inter-vehicle distance of a host vehicle with respect to a preceding vehicle.

  As a conventional inter-vehicle distance control device, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a travel control unit that controls the travel of the host vehicle so as to follow the preceding vehicle (hereinafter simply referred to as “follow-up control”) is provided. Things are known. In this inter-vehicle distance control device, follow-up control is performed by changing the deceleration gradient according to the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle.

JP 2006-043326 A

  However, in the inter-vehicle control apparatus as described above, the driver may feel uncomfortable with the acceleration / deceleration gradient of the follow-up control depending on the driver's attention to the preceding vehicle.

  Then, this invention makes it a subject to provide the inter-vehicle control apparatus which can reduce the discomfort which a driver | operator feels.

  In order to achieve the above object, an inter-vehicle control apparatus according to the present invention is an inter-vehicle control apparatus for controlling the inter-vehicle distance of the own vehicle with respect to a preceding vehicle, and controls the traveling of the own vehicle so as to follow the preceding vehicle. A driving control means for controlling the vehicle, an attention detecting means for detecting the degree of attention to the driving of the driver of the host vehicle, and an acceleration gain of control by the driving control means according to the degree of attention detected by the attention detecting means. Gain value changing means for changing at least one of the value and the deceleration gain value.

  In this inter-vehicle distance control device, at least one of the acceleration gain value and the deceleration gain value of the control by the travel control means is changed according to the degree of attention to the travel of the driver. Therefore, during the follow-up control, the acceleration / deceleration gradient is controlled according to the attention to the preceding vehicle, and as a result, it is possible to reduce the uncomfortable feeling felt by the driver.

  Here, it is preferable that the travel control means controls the travel of the host vehicle so that the relative positional relationship between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is maintained at a set value. In this case, for example, automatic traveling such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) is executed.

  Further, as a configuration that preferably exhibits the above-described effects, specifically, the attention detecting means includes a face direction detecting means that detects the face direction of the driver, a driver's foot with respect to the brake pedal or the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle. There is a case where it is configured to include at least one of a mounting status detecting means for detecting the mounting status of the vehicle and an operating status detecting means for detecting the operating status of the in-vehicle device of the host vehicle.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the uncomfortable feeling felt by the driver.

It is a block diagram which shows the distance control apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the distance control apparatus of FIG.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same or equivalent elements will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the inter-vehicle control device 1 of the present embodiment is for controlling the inter-vehicle distance of the host vehicle 10 with respect to the preceding vehicle. The inter-vehicle distance control device 1 here is mounted on the own vehicle 10 such as an automobile, and controls the inter-vehicle distance when the ACC is activated and the follow-up control is executed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the inter-vehicle distance control device 1 includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 2. The ECU 2 is connected to an actuator 3 such as an engine actuator (throttle actuator) and a brake actuator.

  Thus, the ECU 2 controls the actuator 3 so as to keep the relative positional relationship between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle 10 at a set value based on the traveling state of the host vehicle 10 detected by a sensor such as a millimeter wave radar, for example. The travel of the host vehicle 10 is controlled so as to follow the preceding vehicle (hereinafter simply referred to as “following control” or “ACC control”).

  The ECU 2 is connected to a face orientation sensor (face orientation detection means) 4 and an in-vehicle device 5. The face orientation sensor 4 determines the driver's face orientation based on, for example, the driver's line of sight of the host vehicle 10, and outputs a signal related to the face orientation to the ECU 2. Examples of the in-vehicle device 5 include a car navigation system, an audio system, an air conditioner, an in-vehicle phone, and the like, and includes in-vehicle equipment such as a wiper switch and a winker switch. This in-vehicle device 5 outputs a signal related to the operation status (whether or not being operated) to the ECU 2.

  Thereby, ECU2 detects a driver | operator's face direction and the operation condition of the in-vehicle apparatus 5 based on each output signal value, calculates | requires the driver | operator's attention level with respect to driving | running based on these, and this attention level At least one of the acceleration gain value and the deceleration gain value of the ACC control is changed according to the degree (details will be described later).

  In the inter-vehicle distance control apparatus 1 configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, first, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is following the preceding vehicle, that is, whether or not ACC control is being executed (S1). . When the ACC control is not executed, the process is terminated as it is, while when the ACC control is executed, it is determined whether or not the driver is operating the in-vehicle device 5 (S2).

  When the driver is operating the in-vehicle device 5, the acceleration gain value is changed from the standard value (default value) to a smaller value, and the deceleration gain value is kept at the standard value (S3). This is due to the following reason.

  That is, when the driver is operating the in-vehicle device 5, it can be determined that the driver's attention is not directed to driving and the degree of attention to traveling is low (detectable). Therefore, by reducing the acceleration gain value and suppressing the acceleration even at the expense of the followability to the preceding vehicle, it is possible not only to follow the drive more safely, but also to encourage the driver to pay attention to the driving by himself / herself. Because. Note that the deceleration gain value is not changed because even a normal standard value is sufficiently safe.

  On the other hand, when the driver is not operating the in-vehicle device 5, it is determined whether or not the driver is facing forward (S4). When the driver is not looking forward, the acceleration gain value and the deceleration gain value are kept at the standard values (S5). On the other hand, when the driver is looking forward, the acceleration gain value is changed to a larger one and the deceleration gain value is changed to a smaller one (S6). This is due to the following reason.

  That is, when the driver is looking forward, it can be determined (detectable) that the driver's attention is toward driving and the degree of attention to driving is high. Therefore, since it can be inferred that the driver can always decelerate, it is possible to smoothly follow the vehicle by increasing the acceleration gain value and improving the followability to the preceding vehicle. Further, by reducing the deceleration gain value, it is possible to suppress a decrease in speed and improve NV performance and fuel consumption.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the driver is in the forward attention state and when the driver is operating various switches, the ACC control is changed according to each of the driver states. . That is, at least one of the acceleration gain value and the deceleration gain value of the ACC control is changed according to the degree of attention to the driving by the driver. Accordingly, during the ACC control, the acceleration / deceleration gradient is controlled according to the attention to the preceding vehicle, and it is possible to reduce the uncomfortable feeling felt by the driver.

  By the way, in following driving | running | working, even when the driver | operator himself / herself drives rapidly, even if the preceding vehicle being accelerated suddenly decelerates, the driver can decelerate safely because it immediately performs the decelerating operation. On the other hand, in the case of automatically accelerating by the ACC control, when the preceding vehicle being accelerated suddenly decelerates, the driver may not always perform the deceleration operation. Therefore, the ACC control requires a wide inter-vehicle distance, and as a result, the host vehicle 10 may be placed on the preceding vehicle.

  In the follow-up driving, when the driver drives by himself / herself, even when the preceding vehicle being decelerated increases the deceleration, the driver immediately increases the deceleration, so that the driver can decelerate safely. On the other hand, in the case of automatically decelerating by ACC control, when the preceding vehicle being decelerated increases the deceleration, the driver may not be able to perform a decelerating operation. For this reason, the ACC control requires a wide inter-vehicle distance and may be decelerated more than necessary.

  In contrast, in the present embodiment, as described above, at least one of the acceleration gain value and the deceleration gain value of the ACC control is changed according to the degree of attention to the driver's travel. Therefore, even in the ACC control, when the driver can perform the deceleration operation drastically (when the degree of attention is high), the acceleration gain value is large and the deceleration gain value is small, so a wide inter-vehicle distance is required. Or slowing down more than necessary.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the above-described embodiment may further include a sensor (mounting condition detecting unit) that detects the mounting condition of the driver's foot with respect to the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle 10. In this case, for example, when it is detected that a foot is placed on the accelerator pedal, the degree of attention to running (particularly acceleration) is high, and the acceleration gain value is increased. For example, when it is detected that a foot is placed on the brake pedal, the degree of attention to running (particularly deceleration) is high, and the deceleration gain value is reduced.

  In the above, the ECU 2 that executes the ACC control constitutes the travel control means. The ECU 2 and the face direction sensor 4 that calculate the degree of attention based on the driver's face direction and the operation status of the in-vehicle device 5 constitute attention level detection means. ECU2 which changes the acceleration gain value and deceleration gain value of ACC control comprises a gain value change means.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle distance control apparatus, 2 ... ECU (travel control means, attention detection means, gain value change means, operation condition detection means), 4 ... Face direction sensor (face direction detection means, attention force detection means), 5 ... In-vehicle Equipment, 10 ... own vehicle.

Claims (3)

An inter-vehicle control device for controlling the inter-vehicle distance of the host vehicle with respect to a preceding vehicle,
Traveling control means for controlling traveling of the host vehicle so as to follow the preceding vehicle;
Attention detecting means for detecting the degree of attention to the driving of the driver of the host vehicle;
Gain value changing means for changing at least one of an acceleration gain value and a deceleration gain value of the control by the travel control means according to the degree of the attention detected by the attention detection means. The inter-vehicle control device.   2. The inter-vehicle distance control device according to claim 1, wherein the travel control unit controls travel of the host vehicle so that a relative positional relationship between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is maintained at a set value.   The attention detecting means includes a face orientation detecting means for detecting the face orientation of the driver, a placement situation detecting means for detecting a placement situation of the driver's foot with respect to a brake pedal or an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle, 3. The inter-vehicle distance control device according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of an operation status detection unit that detects an operation status of an in-vehicle device of the host vehicle.

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