JP2013061788A - Vehicle travel control device and vehicle travel control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle travel control device that allows lines of vehicles to join or intersect each other without interrupting smooth travel.SOLUTION: A vehicle travel control device includes vehicle state acquisition means to acquire a state of an own vehicle, inter-vehicle communication means to exchange the vehicle state with the other vehicle, and vehicle travel control means to control the own vehicle on the basis of the vehicle states of the own and other vehicles. When the own vehicle is traveling on a first road, if the vehicle travel control means detects the other vehicle traveling on a second road that joins or intersects the first road, the vehicle travel control means calculates positions on a common lane corresponding to positions of the vehicles on the first and second roads, and adjusts a travel position of the own vehicle so that a vehicle gap between the vehicles on the common lane becomes appropriate.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle travel control device and a vehicle travel control method.

  Systems for running multiple vehicles in a row are being researched and developed. By exchanging vehicle control information using inter-vehicle communication or the like, the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle can be kept short. Convoy travel is expected to improve traffic flow and improve fuel economy due to reduced air resistance.

  By the way, a lot of researches have been made on technologies for supporting merging in the case of side merging such as lane reduction points and highway ramps, but most of them are intended to control individual vehicles. Less control has been studied on the confluence of formations. For example, there has been proposed a control in which another platoon is merged behind the platoon that arrives at the merge point earlier (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

JP 2003-30777 A JP 11-328597 A

  In the method of joining another row behind one row at the time of joining, if the number of vehicles included in the row increases, it becomes necessary to stop one row for joining. In order to avoid such a situation, it is desirable that the vehicles included in the respective platoons join each other in such a way that they enter each other. Note that the above problem also applies to the case where a convoy composed of a plurality of vehicles and one vehicle merge. Therefore, in this specification, the concept of “merging between platoons” includes a case where a platoon composed of a plurality of vehicles and one vehicle merge.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for joining platoons without hindering smooth running. If the confluence of the formations can be performed smoothly, the intersections of the formations can be performed smoothly. Therefore, it can be said that the object of the present invention is to provide a technique for crossing the formations without interfering with smooth running.

  The vehicle travel control device according to the present invention includes vehicle state acquisition means for acquiring the state of the own vehicle, vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for exchanging the vehicle state with other vehicles, and vehicle states of the own vehicle and other vehicles. And vehicle travel control means for controlling the vehicle. When the vehicle travel control means detects another vehicle traveling on the second road that merges or intersects with the first road when traveling on the first road, A position in which the positions of the vehicles on the first and second roads correspond to a common lane is calculated, and the traveling position of the host vehicle is adjusted so that the distance between the vehicles on the lane is appropriate.

In this way, by calculating the position where the vehicles on the first and second roads correspond to the common road, and adjusting the inter-vehicle distance by regarding these as a whole unit, It is possible to join or cross the vehicles traveling on the second road. The common lane may be the first road or the second road, or may be a road (including a virtual road) different from the first road and the second road. It is not always necessary that the vehicles in the first row and the vehicles in the second row are arranged alternately at the time of joining and crossing.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the vehicle travel control means controls the host vehicle so as to travel in a row with another vehicle. And when the own vehicle is traveling in a row on the first road, it is preferable to perform the travel position adjustment process when another vehicle traveling on the second road is detected. Here, the vehicle traveling on the second road may be a plurality of vehicles traveling in a row, or may be a single vehicle traveling alone. Conversely, the vehicle traveling on the first road may be a vehicle traveling alone, and the vehicle traveling on the second road may be a plurality of vehicles traveling in a row. .

  The vehicle travel control device according to the present invention preferably further includes display means for displaying the position of the vehicle on the first and second roads corresponding to the common lane.

  A vehicle occupant can confirm the position of the vehicle in a common lane, thereby confirming safety at the time of merging / intersection.

  In the present invention, the first and second roads may be parallel roads, and the common lane may be either the first or second road. For example, lane reductions and expressway ramps. In this case, the position of the vehicle corresponding to the common lane is preferably a position obtained by orthogonally projecting the position of the vehicle on the common lane.

  In the present invention, the first and second roads are non-parallel roads that intersect at an intersection, and a common lane is a virtual that includes the first road, the second road, or the intersection. It can be any of the roads. In this case, the position of the vehicle corresponding to the common lane may be a position obtained by orthogonally projecting the position of the vehicle on the common lane, but is a position projected so as to keep the distance from the intersection. Preferably there is.

  The present invention can be understood as a vehicle travel control device having at least a part of the above means. Or this invention can also be grasped | ascertained as a vehicle travel system comprised from the some vehicle which has these vehicle travel control apparatuses. Moreover, this invention can also be grasped | ascertained as the vehicle travel control method which performs the said process, or the program for implement | achieving this method. Each of the above means and processes can be combined with each other as much as possible to constitute the present invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to join or cross the formations without hindering smooth running.

It is a figure which shows the functional block of the row control apparatus mounted in the vehicle which comprises a row running system. It is a figure which shows the packet format of vehicle-to-vehicle communication. It is a figure explaining joining of the formations in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process at the time of the convoys joining in 1st and 2nd embodiment. It is a figure explaining the confluence | merging (crossing) of the formations in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the confluence | merging (crossing) of the formations in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the confluence | merging (crossing) of the formations in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the confluence | merging (crossing) of the formations in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the delivery confirmation control of the communication between vehicles in this embodiment.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a row running control device (vehicle running control device) included in each vehicle in the row running control system according to the present embodiment. The convoy travel control device 1 includes a millimeter wave radar 2, a GPS device 3, an inter-vehicle communication device 4, and a convoy travel control ECU 5. The convoy travel control ECU 5 is a computer composed of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and realizes functions described below when the CPU executes a program.

  The convoy travel control ECU 5 acquires the distance from the millimeter wave radar 2 to the surrounding vehicle and the current position from the GPS device 3, and acquires various information from the surrounding vehicle by the inter-vehicle communication device 4. In inter-vehicle communication, each vehicle exchanges information such as the current position of the host vehicle, target acceleration, target speed, current acceleration, current speed, and order in the vehicle group. The inter-vehicle communication device 4 transmits the vehicle information at a frequency of once every 100 milliseconds, for example.

  Although detailed processing of inter-vehicle communication for maintaining and managing platooning is omitted, inter-vehicle communication may be one-way communication that does not perform delivery confirmation, or two-way communication that performs delivery confirmation. Also good. However, in order to perform advanced row control, it is preferable to employ bidirectional communication that can ensure safety. The method of realizing the two-way communication may be arbitrary, but if each receiving vehicle returns ACK in response to transmission from one vehicle, the amount of communication increases rapidly (in the order of the square of the number) with the number of vehicles. To do. Therefore, in this embodiment, for example, it is possible to adopt a form in which a management leader in a vehicle group periodically transmits a message and another vehicle transmits a message in response to the message.

  In the present embodiment, bidirectional communication will be described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 6A, a leader (A in the figure) performs broadcast communication in the vehicle group, and each member (B in the figure) responds to the broadcast communication. , C) adopts a communication method in which a response is returned. Here, communication from the leader is referred to as HB (HeartBeat), and communication from the member is referred to as MR (Membership Report). By adopting such a communication method, a cycle can be defined for communication within the vehicle group. One cycle starts with the HB from the leader and ends just before the next HB. Leaders and members can get one transmission right in one cycle.

  The ACK control method will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6B, “counter” identifies a message transmitted by each vehicle, and “ACK” indicates which message ACK is returned in the message transmission. As shown in the figure, the leader stores an ACK for communication from each member in the previous cycle and transmits an HB packet. Further, the member stores an ACK for communication from the leader in the current cycle and an ACK for communication from other members in the previous cycle, and transmits an MR packet. In this way, by transmitting the ACK for each cycle together, it is possible to confirm the bidirectionality of mutual communication while reducing the number of communication.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a packet format used for inter-vehicle communication. As shown in the figure, the packet includes a transmission source ID 201, a destination ID 202, position information 203 of the transmission source vehicle, and other convoy control information 204. Although not shown, header information and footer information according to various protocols are added to these payloads.

  The convoy travel control ECU 5 determines the target acceleration, target speed, target position, etc. of the own vehicle based on information obtained from the millimeter wave radar 2, the GPS device 3, the inter-vehicle communication device 4, etc., and implements it. In addition, the throttle 6, brake 7, steering 8 and the like are controlled. Since the process of determining the control amount of the vehicle based on various input information may be performed in the same manner as the conventional row running control, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The display device 9 displays the positional relationship of the vehicles when the platoons merge. The display device 9 can also be used as, for example, a display device of a car navigation device that displays a map, a route, and the like. The details of the information displayed on the display device 9 when joining the formation will be described later.

  The row running control ECU 5 according to the present embodiment includes a virtual vehicle projection unit 51 and a row running control unit 52. The convoy travel control ECU 5 uses these functional units to support the confluence of the convoys sideways due to lane reduction, highway ramps, and the like. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state where two platoons 100 and 200 merge in the merge area. The convoy 100 is traveling in the priority lane 10. The formation 200 is traveling in the non-priority lane 20. These platoons 100 and 200 run side by side, and the platoon 200 cannot join the priority lane 10 in the same state. The convoy travel control ECU 5 according to the present embodiment supports confluence of the convoys in such a situation.

  Hereinafter, the convoy travel control in the confluence of the convoys will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing performed by the convoy travel control device when convoys merge.

  First, it is detected whether or not the platoon 100 traveling in the priority lane 10 and the platoon 200 traveling in the non-priority lane 20 are close to each other before the merge area (S401). As described above, the vehicles in the platoon perform the platoon control while exchanging various information by inter-vehicle communication. When the platoons are adjacent to each other, the vehicles in one platoon can not only detect the other platoon by inter-vehicle communication, but can also acquire information such as the position and speed of the vehicles in the other platoon. Therefore, the vehicles in the platoons 100 and 200 can grasp information such as the position and the speed of each other, and can also determine whether the platoons are running side by side.

  If the platoons do not run side by side (S401-NO), no further processing is performed. If the formations are running side by side (S401-YES), the process proceeds to step S402.

  In step S402, the position information of each vehicle is exchanged between the two platoons running side by side. If all the position information of each vehicle has been acquired by the previous step, there is no need to perform the process of acquiring the position information again, but if there is a vehicle that has not acquired the position information, it is acquired here. To do. In addition, the exchange of the vehicle information including the position information is periodically performed thereafter.

  Next, the virtual vehicle projection unit 51 calculates a position when the vehicle on the non-priority lane 20 is projected onto the priority lane 10 (S403). In the center of FIG. 3, orthographic projections 201 ′, 202 ′, 203 ′ corresponding to the vehicles 201, 202, 203 constituting the platoon 200 are shown. Here, the priority lane 10 and the non-priority lane 20 are parallel. Therefore, the orthogonal projection of the vehicle position is a position on the priority lane 10 when the vehicle on the non-priority lane 20 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the road. A virtual vehicle indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 3 is an orthogonal projection of the vehicle on the non-priority lane 20 (the vehicle constituting the platoon 200) onto the priority lane 10. Immediately after entering the merge area, the distance between the vehicles on the priority lane 10 and the position of the virtual vehicle overlap because the inter-vehicle distance in the platoon is narrow.

  The virtual vehicle position and the actual vehicle position calculated in this way are preferably displayed on the display device 9. The display mode may be arbitrary, but it is preferably displayed in a mode in which at least the distance between the front vehicle and the rear vehicle can be grasped. The driver can confirm safety by knowing the distance between the vehicles.

  The convoy travel control unit 52 of the vehicles constituting the convoys 100 and 200 adjusts the traveling position of the own vehicle using the positions of the real vehicle and the projected virtual vehicle on the priority lane 10 (S404). That is, the real vehicle and the virtual vehicle on the priority lane are regarded as one platoon, and each vehicle identifies a preceding vehicle from these vehicles, and the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle becomes appropriate. As described above, traveling control is performed. At this time, since the priority lane 10 and the non-priority lane 20 are parallel, it is only necessary to control the position in the traveling direction of the road.

  In addition, acquisition of the positional information in the case of said control is performed through vehicle-to-vehicle communication. However, in order to ensure safety, it is preferable that the millimeter wave radar 2 continues to capture the actual forward vehicle to prevent a situation such as a rear-end collision. It is also preferable to provide support from the roadside device in order to more accurately identify the preceding vehicle when the real vehicle and the virtual vehicle are regarded as one platoon. For example, a roadside machine has equipment such as a camera and a communication device, grasps the positional relationship of the vehicle from captured images and road-to-vehicle communication, and notifies each vehicle which vehicle should be the preceding vehicle. You may do it.

  In addition, when a vehicle outside the platoon is interrupted in one platoon during platooning, control may be employed in which the platoon is divided before or after it, or the platoon itself is dissolved. This is thought to be effective from the standpoint of safety in platooning. When the same control is applied to the above-mentioned merge, if the virtual vehicle is regarded as an interrupting vehicle, the platoon is divided. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if there is an interruption in the merge area, the distance between the vehicles is extended without dividing or disbanding the formation.

  If the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicles of the platoon 100 and the platoon 200 becomes appropriate by the above processing (S405-YES), the vehicles of the platoon 100 and the platoon 200 are made into one platoon 300 as shown on the right side of FIG. Integration is performed (S406).

  Thereafter, the vehicle on the non-priority lane 20 physically moves to the priority lane 10 and the confluence of the formation is completed (S407). The lane change may be automatically performed by the platooning control device, or may be performed by the driver's operation by urging the driver to change the lane.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the position of the vehicle is exchanged by communication between the vehicles that merge by the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and the projection of the vehicle can also be shared. In addition, it is possible to realize confluence support through cooperation between the formations. At this time, since the bidirectionality of inter-vehicle communication is ensured, safety and certainty are ensured. Note that the communication method described in this embodiment is a specific example, and any other communication method may be adopted as long as bidirectionality can be ensured.

  Since the parallel platoons join together with an appropriate inter-vehicle distance, it is necessary to wait for one platoon to pass by the other platoon, compared to the traditional method of connecting one platoon to the other platoon behind it. And smooth merging becomes possible. In particular, smooth merging is possible even when the formation in the priority lane is not interrupted.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the control when the platoons traveling on parallel roads join each other has been described. With similar control, it is possible that the trains running on the intersecting roads intersect (pass each other). In the present embodiment, the intersection between the formations will be described.

  FIG. 5A shows an intersection where the road 40 and the road 50 intersect. A platoon 400 travels on the road 40, and a platoon 500 travels on the road 50. Similarly to the first embodiment, when it is detected that the platoon 400 and the platoon 500 are approaching each other by inter-vehicle communication, the position information and the like of each other are exchanged.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5B, the positions of the vehicles on the road 40 and the road 50 are projected onto a virtual road 70. The virtual road 70 is preferably a road that passes through the intersection center 80 and bisects the angle at which the road 40 and the road 50 intersect. However, as long as the condition of passing through the intersection center 80 is satisfied, the road may extend in other directions. Further, the projection destination need not be the virtual road 70, and may be either the actual road 40 or the road 50.

  The vehicle projection is preferably a projection that preserves the distance from the intersection center 80. That is, a projection that moves the position of the vehicle on the virtual road 70 by rotational movement around the intersection center 80 is preferable. This is because the distance between the actual road and the virtual road is saved. However, the position of the virtual vehicle may be obtained by orthogonal projection or the like. In this case, the distance between the vehicles changes, but the distance on the virtual road and the distance on the actual road can be converted to each other by a conversion formula.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, the inter-vehicle distance is adjusted based on the position of the projected virtual vehicle, as in the first embodiment. The control content determined based on the virtual road 70 needs to be changed to the control content on the actual roads 50 and 60. Specifically, the control amount related to the position such as the target position and the steering angle needs to be adjusted to an appropriate amount by the inverse transformation of the projection.

  When a projection that does not preserve the distance between vehicles, such as an orthogonal projection, is adopted, the inter-vehicle distance on the virtual road 70 and the inter-vehicle distance on the actual roads 50 and 60 are appropriately converted. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the traveling control.

  By controlling the inter-vehicle distance between the platoon 400 and the platoon 500 in this way, even if the platoon 400 and the platoon 500 enter the intersection at the same time, as shown in FIG. 5D, the vehicles can pass through the intersection without colliding with each other. it can. That is, the intersection of two platoons at the intersection can be realized.

(Other)
The above description is illustrative and does not limit the present invention. For example, the road on which the virtual vehicle is projected may be a priority lane or a non-priority lane, or may be a road other than these or a virtual road.

  In the above example, the platoon is composed of three vehicles, but the number of vehicles may be arbitrary. The number of vehicles in each platoon need not be the same. In addition, the description has been given using the example in which the vehicles belonging to different platoons alternately merge or intersect when the platoons merge or intersect, but the vehicles belonging to one platoon may be continuous.

  In the first embodiment, the case where two platoons on two parallel roads (or two lane roads) join is described as an example. However, the application of the present invention is limited to such a situation. Absent. For example, even at a point where two roads that are not parallel merge, the convoys entering from the respective roads can be merged by the same control as in the first embodiment.

Moreover, although the said 1st Embodiment aimed at joining, it can utilize also for the purpose of making a formation cross | intersect similarly to 2nd Embodiment. That is, for example, on roads with three or more lanes, if there are platoons in the left lane and the central lane, the lanes in the left lane pass through the lanes in the central lane and change to the right lane. it can.

  Further, in the above description, an example in which platoons merge or intersect each other has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where a platoon composed of a plurality of vehicles and only one vehicle merge or intersect. . By applying the present invention when a single vehicle joins or intersects a platoon, merging or intersection is possible even in the middle of the platoon, and merging or intersection can be performed smoothly.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Convoy travel apparatus 2 Millimeter wave radar 3 GPS apparatus 4 Inter-vehicle communication apparatus 5 Convoy travel control ECU
51 Virtual Vehicle Projection Unit 52 Convoy Travel Control Unit 6 Throttle 7 Brake 8 Steering 9 Display Device

Claims (10)

Vehicle state acquisition means for acquiring the state of the host vehicle;
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for exchanging vehicle status with other vehicles;
Vehicle traveling control means for controlling the vehicle based on the vehicle state of the host vehicle and the other vehicle;
A vehicle travel control device comprising:
The vehicle travel control means includes
When detecting another vehicle traveling on a second road that merges or intersects with the first road while traveling on the first road,
Calculate the position where the position of the vehicle on the first and second roads corresponds to the common lane, and adjust the travel position of the vehicle so that the distance between the vehicles on the common lane is appropriate To
Vehicle travel control device. The vehicle travel control means controls the host vehicle so as to travel in a platoon with another vehicle, and travels on the second road when the host vehicle travels in the platoon on the first road. When the other vehicle is detected, the travel position of the host vehicle is adjusted.
The vehicle travel control device according to claim 1. Further comprising display means for displaying the position of the vehicle corresponding to the common lane.
The vehicle travel control device according to claim 1 or 2. The first and second roads are roads parallel to each other;
The common lane is either the first or second road;
The vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 1. The first and second roads are non-parallel roads that intersect at an intersection,
The common lane is either the first road, the second road, or a virtual road including the intersection.
The vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 1. A vehicle travel control method in a vehicle travel system that performs vehicle travel control while exchanging the vehicle state between vehicles by inter-vehicle communication,
Detecting other vehicles traveling on a second road that merges or intersects with the first road when traveling on the first road;
Calculate the position where the position of the vehicle on the first and second roads corresponds to the common lane, and adjust the travel position of the vehicle so that the distance between the vehicles on the common lane is appropriate And steps to
A vehicle travel control method including: The vehicle traveling control is to control the own vehicle so as to perform a platooning with other vehicles,
The step of adjusting the travel position of the host vehicle is performed when another vehicle traveling on the second road is detected while the host vehicle is traveling in a row on the first road.
The vehicle travel control method according to claim 6. Further comprising displaying a position of the vehicle corresponding to the common lane.
The vehicle travel control method according to claim 6 or 7. The first and second roads are roads parallel to each other;
The common lane is either the first or second road;
The vehicle travel control method according to claim 6. The first and second roads are non-parallel roads that intersect at an intersection,
The common lane is either the first road, the second road, or a virtual road including the intersection.
The vehicle travel control method according to claim 6.

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