JP2012118867A - Road shape estimation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a road shape estimation apparatus which is capable of accurately estimating a road shape.SOLUTION: A road shape estimation apparatus is provided which is mounted in a vehicle and estimates a shape of a road on which the vehicle travels. The road shape estimation apparatus includes an object detection section which detects positions at which stationary objects are present around the vehicle as a plurality of detection points, a traveling lane recognition section which recognizes a traveling lane indicating the road shape on the basis of the detection points, an empty zone detection section which detects a position where the traveling lane is intercepted as an empty zone on the basis of intervals of the detection points, and a shape estimation section in which, when the blank band is detected, while excluding a recognition result of the traveling lane farther than the empty zone, the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels is estimated on the basis of a traveling lane recognized in the area from the vehicle to the empty zone.

Description

  The present invention relates to a road shape estimation apparatus, and more particularly to a road shape estimation apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle and estimates the shape of a road on which the vehicle is traveling.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an in-vehicle system has been developed that estimates the shape of a road on which a vehicle travels, controls the steering of the vehicle according to the road shape, and notifies the danger of a vehicle collision. In the in-vehicle system as described above, it is necessary to accurately estimate the shape of the road in order to appropriately control the vehicle. An apparatus for estimating such a road shape is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1.

  The vehicle road shape recognition device disclosed in Patent Document 1 detects the position and shape of a roadside stationary object such as a guardrail based on a plurality of detection points obtained from a radio wave radar. Specifically, the vehicle road shape recognition device extracts a detection point group composed of adjacent detection points among a plurality of detection points obtained by a radio wave radar, and the detection point group is used as a roadside stationary object such as a guardrail. Detect as. Generally, a roadside stationary object such as a guardrail is arranged along a road on which a vehicle travels, and has a shape similar to the road. Therefore, the vehicle road shape recognition device can estimate and calculate the road shape based on the shape of the detection point group representing the roadside stationary object such as the guardrail detected as described above.

JP 2007-161162 A

  However, when the road shape is estimated by logic such as the vehicle road shape recognition device as in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the shape of the road on which the host vehicle travels cannot be estimated accurately.

  For example, a case is assumed in which the shape of the road on which the host vehicle travels suddenly changes greatly (for example, a T-shaped road) as shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a result of estimating the shape of a road by a conventional technique. In FIG. 11, the positions of the detection points P111 to 137 detected by the radar are indicated by black circles. Moreover, the result of having estimated the road shape by the conventional technique based on the said detection point is shown by a thick line. As shown by the thick line, in the conventional technique, the detection points P111 to 116 indicating the road on which the host vehicle is traveling and the detection points P121 to 126 indicating the end of the T-junction are grouped as the same group. There is a case. In other words, in the conventional technology, the road on which the host vehicle is traveling continues as a curved road even though the road actually ends at the junction with the front intersection (dotted line in FIG. 11). There was a risk of misrecognition (thick line in FIG. 11). As described above, in the conventional technique, the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels on a T-shaped road or the like cannot be accurately estimated.

  And, when the vehicle control device mounted on the host vehicle performs vehicle control based on the road shape that is erroneously recognized in this way, inappropriate vehicle control is executed, and the driver feels bothered was there.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a road shape estimation device capable of accurately estimating a road shape.

In order to solve the above problems, the present application adopts the following configuration. That is, the first invention is
A road shape estimation device that is mounted on a vehicle and estimates the shape of a road on which the vehicle travels, and an object detection unit that detects the positions of stationary objects around the vehicle as a plurality of detection points, and based on the detection points A road line recognition unit for recognizing a road line indicating a road shape, a blank band detection unit for detecting a point where the road line is interrupted based on the interval between detection points, and a blank band are detected. And a shape estimation unit for estimating the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels based on the travel route recognized in the region from the blank zone to the blank zone.

  According to a second invention, in the first invention, a threshold calculation for calculating a blank band detection threshold for detecting a blank band in the blank band detection unit based on a distance from the vehicle to a detection point indicating a start position of the blank band. And a blank band detection unit that detects a region between the detection points as a blank band when the interval between the detection points is longer than a blank band detection threshold.

  According to a third invention, in the first and second inventions, the runway line calculation unit calculates a left runway line indicating the left end shape of the road and a right runway line indicating the right end shape of the road as the runway line. The detection unit detects a blank band for each of the left and right lane lines, and based on the detection result of the blank band on the left lane line and the detection result of the blank band on the right lane line, the road in the destination of the vehicle It further comprises a road connection determination unit for determining the connection status of the vehicle.

  In a fourth aspect based on the third aspect, the road connection determination unit detects a blank zone on both the left lane line and the right lane line, and detects the distance from the vehicle to the blank zone on the left lane line, When the difference from the distance from the blank line on the right lane to the blank zone is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that an intersection road exists at the destination of the vehicle.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, the road connection determination unit determines that there is a combined flow path at the destination of the vehicle when a blank zone is detected on either the left lane line or the right lane line. It is characterized by determining.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the blank band detection unit starts from the front end position of the vehicle when the travel line having a start point within a predetermined distance with respect to the vehicle is not recognized by the travel line recognition unit. A region from the vehicle to the detection point is detected as a blank band based on an interval to the detection point closest to the vehicle.

  According to the first invention, the shape of the road on which the vehicle is traveling can be accurately detected. The blank zone indicates an intersection that intersects with the road on which the vehicle travels, and is likely to be a T-junction, for example. That is, it is highly possible that the road shape has changed greatly beyond the blank zone. In other words, it is considered that there is a relatively low possibility that the recognition result of the travel route beyond the blank zone indicates the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels. In that respect, in the present invention, the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels is estimated by estimating the road shape based on the route line from the vehicle to the blank zone, for example, by excluding the recognition result of the route line beyond the blank zone. The road shape can be estimated based only on the information that is considered to indicate the above. Therefore, the shape of the road can be accurately detected.

  According to the second invention, it is possible to detect a portion having a relatively large interval between detection points as a blank band by a simple process using a threshold value. In addition, the position of the detection point is likely to vary as the distance from the vehicle increases.Therefore, by changing the threshold size according to the start position of the blank band, the influence of such variations can be suppressed, and the blank band can be accurately detected. Can be detected.

  According to the third aspect, it is possible to determine the connection status of the road on which the vehicle is traveling without using a camera device or a navigation device. And if such a determination result is used, a vehicle can be controlled appropriately. For example, if it is determined that there is a crossroad ahead, a warning sound is issued to the vehicle driver to pay attention to other vehicles entering from the crossroad, or the vehicle speed is automatically reduced. Control can be performed.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, it can be determined whether or not an intersection exists at the destination of the vehicle.

  According to the fifth aspect, it is possible to determine whether or not there is a junction path at the destination of the vehicle.

  According to the sixth aspect, the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels can be estimated more accurately. A travel route that does not extend from the vicinity of the vehicle is considered to be less likely to indicate a road on which the vehicle travels. Therefore, when such a route line is not recognized, a route line that is considered unlikely to indicate a road on which the vehicle travels by first detecting a blank zone based on the position of the vehicle. Information can be excluded more reliably. Therefore, the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels can be estimated more accurately.

The block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the road shape estimation apparatus 1 which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the detection point which the radar apparatus 11 detected An example of a flowchart showing details of processing executed by the ECU 12 according to the first embodiment The figure which shows a mode that a blank belt is recognized under the situation where a runway is recognized An example of a flowchart showing discontinuous track area determination processing executed by the ECU 12 The figure which shows a mode that a blank zone is recognized in the condition where the detection points are scattered at a relatively long interval. The figure which shows a mode that a blank zone is recognized in the condition where the detection point is detected only comparatively far from the own vehicle An example of a graph representing a function for calculating the blank band detection threshold Wth An example of a flowchart showing details of processing executed by the ECU 12 according to the second embodiment An example of a flowchart showing a road connection determination process executed by the ECU 12 according to the second embodiment The figure which shows the example of the result of estimating the shape of the road with the conventional technology

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a road shape estimation apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The road shape estimation device 1 according to the present invention is a device that is mounted on the host vehicle 100 and estimates the shape of the road on which the host vehicle 100 travels. Hereinafter, the road on which the host vehicle 100 travels is referred to as the host vehicle traveling road.

  First, the hardware configuration of the road shape estimation apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the road shape estimation apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the road shape estimation device 1 includes a radar device 11 and an ECU 12. The ECU 12 is electrically connected to a vehicle control device 50 mounted on the host vehicle 100.

  The radar device 11 is a device that detects the positions of stationary objects existing around the host vehicle 100 as a plurality of detection points, for example, as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of detection points detected by the radar apparatus 11. The radar device 11 is mounted on the front end of the host vehicle 100 and detects an object existing in front of the host vehicle 100. The radar device 11 is typically an FM-CW radar device that transmits and receives electromagnetic waves in the millimeter wavelength band. For example, the radar device 11 irradiates a detection wave signal such as an electromagnetic wave in front of the host vehicle 100. Then, the position of the reflection point is detected as a detection point based on the reflected wave of the detection wave signal reflected by the object. As shown in FIG. 2, the radar apparatus 11 uses the front end O of the host vehicle 100 as the origin, the axis indicating the traveling direction of the host vehicle 100 as the Y axis, and the axis that intersects the Y axis perpendicularly on the horizontal plane as the X axis. The position information of the detection point is acquired in the XY coordinate system. In the following description, the Y-axis direction is referred to as the vertical direction, and the X-axis direction is referred to as the horizontal direction. Further, the radar apparatus 11 determines whether or not each detection point indicates a stationary object. The radar apparatus 11 may determine whether or not the detection point indicates a stationary object using a conventionally known method. For example, first, the radar apparatus 11 detects the relative speed of each detection point with respect to the host vehicle 100. And the radar apparatus 11 determines with the said detection point showing a stationary object, when a relative speed and the running speed of the own vehicle 100 are substantially the same value. The radar device 11 transmits the position information (XY coordinates) of the detection point determined to indicate a stationary object in this way to the ECU 12. Note that the radar device 11 may supplement the detection point at a position where no stationary object exists due to the influence of noise or the like.

  The ECU 12 is typically an electronic control device that includes an information processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device such as a memory, an interface circuit, and the like.

  The vehicle control device 50 is a control device such as a brake control device, a steering control device, and an alarm device. The brake control device, the steering control device, and the alarm device each control the travel of the host vehicle 100 according to the shape of the host vehicle travel road acquired from the ECU 12. For example, the brake control device and the steering control device control the traveling direction and traveling speed of the host vehicle 100 so that the host vehicle 100 does not deviate from the host vehicle traveling road. Further, the alarm device predicts a collision between a roadside stationary object such as a guardrail that is expected to be present at the end of the traveling road of the host vehicle and the host vehicle 100 and notifies the driver of the host vehicle 100 of the risk of the collision by voice or the like. Raise an alarm. That is, when the road shape estimation device 1 correctly detects the shape of the vehicle traveling road, the vehicle control device 50 can execute appropriate vehicle control.

  Next, a process executed by the ECU 12 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an example of a flowchart showing details of processing executed by the ECU 12. For example, when the IG power supply of the host vehicle 100 is set to the on state, the ECU 12 starts the process of the flowchart of FIG. When the process of the flowchart of FIG. 3 is started, the ECU 12 first executes the process of step S1.

  In step S <b> 1, the ECU 12 acquires stationary object detection point information from the radar device 11. The ECU 12 stores the acquired position information of the detection points in the storage device in association with the acquired (sampled) time. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S1, the process proceeds to step S2.

  In step S2, the ECU 12 extrapolates the current position of the detection point based on the history information of the detection points detected in the past. Extrapolation is the prediction of the position of the detection point at the current sampling from the position and relative speed of the detection point captured at the past sampling, and when the detection point is not captured near the predicted position. This is a technique that assumes that a detection point actually exists at the specified position. The ECU 12 may extrapolate the position of the detection point using any known technique. Hereinafter, the detection points directly detected by the radar device 11 and the extrapolation points calculated in this step are collectively referred to as detection points. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S2, the process proceeds to step S3.

  According to the process of step S2, the position of the detection point at the present time is estimated even when the detection point of the stationary object that has been continuously detected is not temporarily detected due to noise or the like. Can be treated as being detected. Therefore, the shape of the roadside stationary object can be detected more accurately. If the radar apparatus 11 is less affected by noise and can detect a stationary object well, the extrapolation process shown in step S2 may be omitted.

  In step S3, the ECU 12 recognizes the travel line based on the detection point. A travel line is a line which shows the shape of the own vehicle travel road. When detection points are continuously detected on the left and right front sides of the host vehicle 100, it is considered that these detection points are likely to indicate roadside stationary objects such as guardrails installed along the vehicle traveling road. It is done. And it is thought that such a roadside stationary object has the shape similar to the own vehicle traveling road. Therefore, the ECU 12 recognizes such a detection point group as a running route. Specifically, the ECU 12 recognizes a running route by sequentially connecting detection points existing within a predetermined range with a detection point existing in the vicinity of the host vehicle 100 as a start point. Although any method may be used as a method for the ECU 12 to recognize the running route, for example, a method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-252989 can be used. An example of the route line recognized in step S3 is shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a blank band is recognized under a situation in which a running route is recognized. In FIG. 4, a track line formed by connecting the detection point P1 to the detection point P6 and a track line formed by connecting the detection point P11 to the detection point P17 are recognized. When the process of step S3 is completed, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S4.

  In step S4, the ECU 12 executes a discontinuous track area determination process. The discontinuous track area determination process detects a point where the track line is interrupted as a blank zone, and when a blank zone is detected, the track route that outputs the recognition result of the track line beyond the blank zone to the vehicle control device 50. It is a process to exclude from information. FIG. 5 is an example of a flowchart showing a discontinuous track area determination process executed by the ECU 12. When the ECU 12 starts the discontinuous track area determination process, the ECU 12 first executes the process of step S41 in FIG.

  In step S41, the ECU 12 determines whether or not a running route is recognized in the process of step S3. If the ECU 12 determines that the travel route is recognized, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S42. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that the travel line is not recognized, the ECU 12 proceeds with the process to step S44.

  In step S <b> 42, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the starting point Ls of the route line exists beside the host vehicle. Specifically, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the Y coordinate of the starting point Ls of the track line recognized in step S3 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. For example, in FIG. 4, the ECU 12 recognizes the detection point P <b> 1 as the start point Ls and determines that it is present beside the host vehicle 100. If the ECU 12 determines that the starting point Ls of the route line is present beside the host vehicle, the ECU 12 proceeds with the process to step S43. On the other hand, when the ECU 12 determines that the starting point Ls of the route line does not exist beside the host vehicle, the ECU 12 proceeds with the process to step S44.

  In step S43, the ECU 12 sets the Y coordinate of the end point Le of the route line to the blank start position Ks. Specifically, the blank start position Ks is a vertical position (Y coordinate) where a blank band is assumed to start. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S43, the process proceeds to step S45.

  In step S44, the ECU 12 sets the vertical position (Y = 0) of the front end of the host vehicle to the blank start position Ks. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S44, the process proceeds to step S45.

  The processing from step S41 to step S44 will be described with a specific example. For example, when the ECU 12 recognizes a travel route extending from the vicinity of the host vehicle 100 as shown in FIG. 4 (Yes in steps S41 and S42), the ECU 12 recognizes the detection point P6 as the end point Le of the travel route and detects the detection. The Y coordinate position of the point P6 is set as the blank start position Ks (step S43). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, when the ECU 12 does not recognize the route line extending from the vicinity of the host vehicle 100 (No in step S41 or 42), the ECU 12 determines the vertical position (Y = 0) is set as the blank start position Ks (step S44). FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which blank bands are recognized in a situation where detection points are scattered at a relatively long interval. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a blank band is recognized in a situation where detection points are detected only relatively far from the host vehicle.

  In step S45, the ECU 12 sets the detection point having the closest vertical distance from the blank start position Ks as the blank end position Ke. Specifically, the Y coordinate of the detection point having the smallest Y coordinate ahead of the blank start position Ks when viewed from the host vehicle 100 is set as the blank end position Ke. For example, in FIG. 4, the Y coordinate of the detection point P21 is set as the blank end position Ke. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S45, the process proceeds to step S46.

In step S46, the ECU 12 calculates the distance from the blank start position Ks to the blank end position Ke as the blank band width W. Specifically, the ECU 12 calculates the blank band width W based on the formula (1).
W = | Ke−Ks | (1)
When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S46, the process proceeds to step S47.

  In step S47, the ECU 12 calculates a blank band detection threshold Wth based on the blank start position Ks. The blank band detection threshold value Wth is a threshold value for determining whether or not there is a blank band between the detection points based on the detection point interval (blank band width W). The ECU 12 calculates that the blank band detection threshold value Wth increases as the blank start position Ks is farther from the host vehicle 100. More specifically, the ECU 12 calculates the blank band detection threshold value Wth based on the blank start position Ks and a predetermined function as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is an example of a graph representing a function for calculating the blank band detection threshold Wth. The method for calculating the blank band detection threshold value Wth is an example, and the ECU 12 may calculate the blank band detection threshold value Wth by an arbitrary method. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S47, the process proceeds to step S48.

  In step S48, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the blank band width W is larger than the blank band detection threshold Wth. If the ECU 12 determines that the blank band width W is greater than the blank band detection threshold Wth, the ECU 12 detects a region from the blank start position Ks to the blank end position Ke as a blank band, and the process proceeds to step S49. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that the blank band width W is equal to or smaller than the blank band detection threshold Wth, the ECU 12 determines that no blank band has been detected, and advances the process to step S50.

  In step S49, the ECU 12 excludes the route information beyond the blank zone from the output route information. The output lane information is information indicating the shape of the host vehicle lane, and is information that is output from the ECU 12 to the vehicle control device 50 in step S5 described later. The output lane information includes the position information of the lane lines recognized in step S3 except for the lane lines excluded in the process of this step. For example, in FIG. 4, if a region between the detection point P6 and the detection point P21 is detected as a blank band, even if the detection points from the detection point P21 to the detection point P26 are recognized as a running line. The information on the route line formed by connecting the detection point P21 to the detection point P26 is excluded from the output route information. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S49, the process proceeds to step S5 of FIG.

  According to the processing from step S41 to step S49, it is possible to exclude the route line that is unlikely to indicate the shape of the own vehicle traveling road from the output traveling route information. The blank zone is highly likely to indicate the presence of an intersection or the like that intersects the road on which the vehicle travels, and the road shape is highly likely to change greatly beyond the blank zone. In other words, it is considered that the recognition result of the route line beyond the blank zone is relatively unlikely to indicate a road on which the vehicle travels. And according to the said discontinuous track area determination process, output track information is excluded from the recognition result of the track line beyond a blank zone. Therefore, the ECU 12 outputs only the information that is considered to substantially indicate the shape of the road on which the vehicle travels by outputting it as the shape of the own vehicle travel road from which the travel route from the vehicle to the blank zone is estimated. The road shape can be estimated based on the above.

  Further, according to the processing from step S44 to step S49, in the situation where the running route cannot be recognized in the vicinity of the host vehicle 100 as shown in FIG. A blank band can be detected accurately.

  In step S50, the ECU 12 determines whether or not there is a detection point far from the blank band end position Ke when viewed from the host vehicle 100. If the ECU 12 determines that there is a detection point beyond the blank band end position Ke, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S51. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that no detection point exists beyond the blank band end position Ke, the process proceeds to step S52.

  In step S51, the ECU 12 sets the position currently set as the blank end position Ke to a new blank start position Ks. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S51, the process returns to step S45, and the above process is repeated.

  In step S52, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the route line is recognized farther from the blank end position Ke when viewed from the host vehicle 100. If the ECU 12 recognizes and determines the travel line beyond the blank end position Ke, the ECU 12 returns the process to step S43, and sets the end point Le of the runway existing beyond the blank end position Ke as a new blank start position Ks. The above process is repeated. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that the travel line is not recognized beyond the blank end position Ke, the process proceeds to step S5 in FIG.

  According to the processing from step S50 to step S52, the blank band detection process based on the interval between the repeated detection points is performed until a blank band is detected or until there is no detection point to be determined.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, in a situation where the road is not recognized, first, the front end of the host vehicle is set as the blank start position Ks1 (step S44), and the position of the detection point P31 is set as the blank end position Ke1 ( Step S45). Next, when the blank band width W1 from the blank start position Ks1 to the blank end position Ke1 is less than the blank band detection threshold (No in Step S48), the detection point P32 exists beyond the blank end position Ke1 (Step S48). In S50, the blank end position Ke1 is set as a new blank start position Ks2 (Step S51). Then, the Y coordinate of the detection point P32 is set as a new blank end position Ke2 (step S45), and the presence / absence of a blank band is repeatedly determined based on the blank band width W2 from the blank start position Ks2 to the blank end position Ke2. (Step S48).

  Thus, by repeatedly determining the presence or absence of the blank zone from the vicinity of the host vehicle to the far side, the ECU 12 can perform a series of intermittent runs when the disconnection area is short even when the runway line is intermittently present. The route information can be output without excluding route information.

  In step S5, the ECU 12 outputs information on all the route lines other than those excluded in the process of step S49 to the vehicle control device 50 as output route information. When the process of step S5 is completed, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S6.

  In step S6, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the IG power source of the vehicle is set to an off state. When the ECU 12 determines that the IG power source of the vehicle is set to the off state, the ECU 12 ends the process of the flowchart of FIG. On the other hand, when the ECU 12 determines that the IG power source of the vehicle is maintained in the on state, the ECU 12 returns the process to step S1 and repeats the above process.

  As described above, according to the road shape estimation device 1 according to the present invention, it is highly possible to exclude the route line information that is less likely to indicate the shape of the host vehicle traveling road and to indicate the shape of the host vehicle traveling road. By outputting only the travel route information, the shape of the vehicle traveling road can be accurately detected.

(Second Embodiment)
The ECU 12 may further determine the connection status of the road at the destination of the host vehicle 100 according to the detection result of the blank band. More specifically, the ECU 12 may determine whether or not there is an intersection or a junction in the destination of the host vehicle 100. Hereinafter, the road shape recognition apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described.

  The road shape recognition apparatus according to the second embodiment differs from the road shape recognition apparatus according to the first embodiment in the processing of the ECU 12. Hereinafter, the process executed by the ECU 12 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is an example of a flowchart showing details of processing executed by the ECU 12 according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 9, steps for performing the same processing as in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. Moreover, since the hardware configuration of the road shape recognition apparatus according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, detailed description regarding the hardware is omitted.

  ECU12 which concerns on 2nd Embodiment will perform the road connection determination process of step S20, if the discontinuous track area determination process shown to the above-mentioned step S4 is completed. Hereinafter, details of the road connection determination process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is an example of a flowchart showing a road connection determination process executed by the ECU 12 according to the second embodiment. When the ECU 12 starts the road connection determination process, the ECU 12 first executes the process of step S201 in FIG.

  In step S201, the ECU 12 determines whether or not a running route is recognized on both the left and right sides of the host vehicle. When the ECU 12 determines that the route is recognized on both the left and right sides of the host vehicle, the ECU 12 proceeds with the process to step S202. On the other hand, when the ECU 12 determines that the travel line is not recognized on either the left or right side of the host vehicle, the ECU 12 proceeds with the process to step S5 in FIG.

  In step S202, the ECU 12 determines whether or not a blank zone is recognized on both the left and right lane lines. If the ECU 12 determines that a blank zone is recognized on both the left and right lane lines, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S203. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that a blank zone is not recognized on either one of the left and right lane lines, the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S203, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the blank strips on both the left and right lane lines exist at substantially the same position. Specifically, the ECU 12 calculates the start position deviation ΔK obtained by the following equation (2), where KsL is the blank start position of the left track, and KsR is the blank start position of the right track.
ΔK = | KsL−KsR | (2)
Next, the ECU 12 determines whether or not the start position deviation ΔK is less than a predetermined threshold value ΔKth. When the start position deviation ΔK is less than the threshold value ΔKth, it is determined that the blank bands on both the left and right lane lines exist at substantially the same position. Note that such a determination method is merely an example, and the ECU 12 may determine whether or not the blank zones on both the left and right lane lines are substantially located at the same position. If the ECU 12 determines that the blank strips on both the left and right lanes exist at substantially the same position, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S204. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that the blank bands on both the left and right lanes do not exist at substantially the same position, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S5 in FIG.

  In step S204, the ECU 12 adds an intersection road presence flag to the output runway information. The intersection road presence flag is flag data indicating that there is a road that intersects with the vehicle traveling road at the destination of the vehicle 100. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S204, the process proceeds to step S5 of FIG.

  In step S205, the ECU 12 determines whether or not a blank zone is recognized on one of the left and right lane lines. If the ECU 12 determines that a blank band is recognized on one of the left and right lane lines, the ECU 12 advances the process to step S206. On the other hand, if the ECU 12 determines that no blank zone is recognized on any of the left and right lane lines, the process proceeds to step S5 in FIG.

  In step S206, the ECU 12 adds the combined flow path presence flag to the output travel path information. The combined flow path presence flag is flag data indicating that there is a road that merges with the traveling road of the host vehicle 100 at the destination of the host vehicle 100. When the ECU 12 completes the process of step S206, the process proceeds to step S5 of FIG.

  As described above, according to the road shape estimation device according to the second embodiment, the connection state of the road where the vehicle is traveling is based on only the information from the radar device 11 without using a camera device or a navigation device. Can be determined. More specifically, it can be determined whether or not there is an intersection and a junction in the destination of the host vehicle 100. And the vehicle control apparatus 50 can control the own vehicle 100 appropriately by using such a determination result. For example, when the ECU 12 determines that there is an intersection in front of the own vehicle traveling road, the vehicle control device 50 generates a warning sound to the driver of the vehicle so as to pay attention to other vehicles entering from the intersection. The vehicle speed can be automatically reduced.

  The road shape estimation apparatus according to the present invention is useful as a road shape estimation apparatus that can accurately estimate the road shape.

1 Road shape estimation device 11 Radar device 12 ECU
50 Vehicle control device

Claims (6)

A road shape estimation device that is mounted on a vehicle and estimates a shape of a road on which the vehicle travels,
An object detection unit for detecting the presence positions of stationary objects around the vehicle as a plurality of detection points;
A travel line recognition unit for recognizing a travel line indicating the road shape based on the detection point;
A blank zone detector for detecting a location where the running line is interrupted based on the interval between the detection points as a blank zone;
A shape estimation unit configured to estimate a shape of a road on which the vehicle travels based on the route line recognized in an area from the vehicle to the blank zone when the blank zone is detected. Road shape estimation device. A threshold calculating means for calculating a blank band detection threshold for detecting the blank band in the blank band detection unit based on a distance from the vehicle to a detection point indicating a start position of the blank band;
2. The road shape according to claim 1, wherein when the interval between the detection points is longer than the blank zone detection threshold, the blank zone detection unit detects a region between the detection points as the blank zone. Estimating device. The travel route calculation unit calculates a left travel route indicating the left end shape of the road and a right travel route indicating the right end shape of the road as the travel route,
The blank zone detector detects a blank zone for each of the left-side lane line and the left-side lane line,
A road connection determination unit that determines a connection state of a road in a travel destination of the vehicle based on a detection result of the blank band on the left-side lane line and a detection result of the blank band on the right-side lane line; The road shape estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the road shape estimation apparatus is characterized.   The road connection determination unit detects the blank zone in both the left-side lane line and the right-side lane line, and detects the distance from the vehicle to the left-side lane line, and from the vehicle to the right-side lane line. The road shape estimation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the difference from the distance to the blank zone is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that an intersection road exists at the destination of the vehicle.   The road connection determination unit determines that there is a combined flow path in the travel destination of the vehicle when the blank zone is detected in any one of the left-side lane line and the right-side lane line. Item 5. The road shape estimation device according to any one of Items 3 and 4.   The blank zone detection unit, from the front end position of the vehicle to the detection point closest to the vehicle, when the route line having a start point within a predetermined distance with respect to the vehicle is not recognized by the route line recognition unit 6. The road shape estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an area from the vehicle to the detection point is detected as a blank band based on the interval of the road.

Images