JP2014090530A - Driving support system, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for supporting driving for the purpose of improving a degree of economic running without outputting a guide that does not contribute to upgrading of the degree of economic running.SOLUTION: An upper limit point that is a point at which the amount of energy to be recovered by a regenerative brake of a vehicle takes on an upper limit value of the amount of energy recoverable per a unit period is obtained. If a condition for a guide defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle observed at the upper limit point and the profile of a road on which the upper limit point is present are met, the upper limit point Etl is guided. If the condition for a guide is not met, the upper limit point is not guided.

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support system, a method, and a program for providing guidance for improving the economic driving degree of a vehicle.

  Conventionally, various techniques for performing display for improving the economical driving degree of a vehicle have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying on a map a point where loss energy that cannot be recovered by regenerative braking out of braking energy corresponding to kinetic energy reduced by a driver's braking operation is displayed on a map. Yes. Further, Patent Document 1 discloses that when the vehicle and an obstacle are in a predetermined approaching state during traveling, notification regarding loss energy is not performed.

JP 2010-206976 A

In the above-described conventional technology, since the notification regarding the loss energy is not performed when the vehicle and the obstacle are approaching during traveling, the notification regarding the loss energy hinders the driver's attention to the obstacle. This can be prevented. However, in the prior art, since the cause of the loss energy is a notification target regardless of the cause, the notification is performed even if it is not necessary to notify the loss energy. And even if such notification is given, since it does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree, the driver is forced to pay attention. In other words, if the state of the vehicle when loss energy is generated at a certain point is a state that induces accidental loss energy generation, even if the generation of the loss energy is notified, It is unlikely to reoccur. In addition, if the shape of the road when loss energy is generated at a certain point is a shape that inevitably generates loss energy, even if the generation of the loss energy is notified, the driver will not generate the loss energy. It is extremely difficult to prevent.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for providing driving assistance for improving economic driving without outputting guidance that does not contribute to improving economic driving.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, in the present invention, the upper limit point acquisition unit is configured to determine an upper limit point that is a point where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the vehicle is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period. get. Further, the upper limit point guiding means guides the upper limit point when a guide condition defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is satisfied. On the other hand, when the guide condition is not satisfied, the upper limit point guide means does not guide the upper limit point.

  That is, when the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point is a specific state, a slight driving operation induces a state where the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake reaches the upper limit value of the recoverable energy amount per unit period. . Further, it is possible to define the state where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake has reached the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period by the state of the vehicle. Furthermore, the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is a specific shape, which inevitably causes a state where the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake reaches the upper limit value of the recoverable energy amount per unit period. There may be.

  In these cases, guiding the upper limit point does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree, so it is not necessary to guide the upper limit point. Therefore, a guide condition is defined in advance by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists, and the upper limit point is not guided when the guide condition is not satisfied. By doing so, it is possible to provide a technology capable of providing driving support for improving the economic driving degree without outputting guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree.

  Here, the upper limit point acquisition means acquires an upper limit point that is a point where the regenerative brake is used in the vehicle, and the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake is the upper limit value of the recoverable energy amount per unit period. I can do it. In other words, the upper limit is the point where the vehicle has traveled in either a state where all of the energy generated by the regenerative brake can be recovered or a state where at least part of the energy generated by the regenerative brake cannot be recovered and discarded What is necessary is just to be able to acquire as a point. Such an upper limit point is a state in which the energy is discarded when the energy recovered by the regenerative brake in the past is slightly exceeded, or the energy recovered in the past by the regenerative brake is discarded. Therefore, by acquiring and guiding the upper limit point, it is possible to urge the driver not to reoccur a state where there is a high possibility of wasting energy.

  The upper limit value is the upper limit value of the amount of energy recovered per unit period due to regenerative braking, and is not the upper limit value of the battery capacity. That is, even if the remaining amount of the battery is less than the maximum remaining amount, the recovered energy cannot be recovered indefinitely in a normal vehicle. For example, it is necessary to limit the recovered energy in order to prevent destruction of the energy recovery system by regenerative braking. The upper limit value is the maximum amount of recovered energy within such a limit. For example, the amount of energy set in advance as the amount of energy per unit period in which the recovered energy generated by the regenerative brake can be charged to the vehicle battery. Is the upper limit. The unit period is an arbitrary period set to define the upper limit value, and may be a very short period that defines an instantaneous value of the recoverable energy amount or a longer period (for example, 1 Second).

  The upper limit point guide means guides the upper limit point when the guide condition defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is satisfied, and the guide condition is satisfied. It is only necessary that the upper limit point is not guided when it is not performed. That is, it is necessary to determine whether or not it is necessary to guide the upper limit point based on one or both of the vehicle state at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists. What is necessary is just to comprise so that an upper limit point may not be guided when there is not.

  Here, the state of the vehicle is such that even if it is informed that the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle is the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period, improvement in economic driving cannot be expected The vehicle state may be such that the upper limit value occurs sporadically, or the vehicle state may induce the upper limit value. Examples of the latter include the state of operation in the vehicle (vehicle speed, acceleration, etc.), the state of driving operation in the vehicle (operation amount of an accelerator pedal or foot brake pedal, etc.), and the like.

  In addition, the guidance condition may be defined by the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point, may be defined by the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists, or may be defined by both of them. Further, a plurality of conditions may be set according to the state of the vehicle, a plurality of conditions may be set according to the shape of the road, or a plurality of conditions may be set according to the state of the vehicle and the shape of the road. . Of course, when a plurality of conditions are set, the logic of the guide condition (logical sum or logical product of the plurality of conditions) as a result of combining the plurality of conditions can be selected as appropriate.

  Further, as an example of a configuration for defining the guidance condition based on the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point, when the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the vehicle at the upper limit point is equal to or higher than a predetermined acceleration, the guidance condition A configuration may be adopted in which it is assumed that is not satisfied. That is, when the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the vehicle at the upper limit point is a predetermined acceleration, the vehicle is often suddenly braked. Is often performed due to accidental circumstances such as sudden braking. And even if the amount of energy recovered by regenerative braking of the vehicle in the past has become the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period due to such accidental circumstances, this situation does not always recur at the same point. Absent.

  Therefore, when the upper limit is reached due to such an accidental situation, if it is configured not to guide the upper limit point, an improvement in economic driving performance can be achieved without outputting guidance that does not contribute to improvement in economic driving performance. Can provide driving assistance for. Here, the predetermined acceleration may be determined in advance as an acceleration that can be considered that sudden braking has been performed due to an accidental factor.

  Furthermore, a configuration may be adopted in which the guidance condition is regarded as not being satisfied when the vehicle speed when the operation of a braking instruction unit (for example, a foot brake pedal) is started at the upper limit point is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed. That is, the braking force is defined according to the operation amount of the braking instruction unit, and in a configuration in which the braking force is applied to the vehicle using either or both of the regenerative brake and the friction brake, energy is efficiently recovered. Therefore, in many cases, the braking force by the regenerative brake is configured to be as large as possible. Since the energy required for braking increases as the vehicle speed increases, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the vehicle tends to reach the upper limit of the energy amount recoverable per unit period as the vehicle speed increases. Therefore, when the vehicle speed is high, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle immediately reaches the upper limit value of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period even if the brake instruction unit is slightly operated. Such a small amount of operation of the brake instruction unit is performed for fine adjustment of the vehicle speed and the cause of the operation of the small amount of the brake instruction unit is often an accidental cause. It does not always recur at a point.

  Therefore, when the upper limit is reached due to such an accidental situation, if it is configured not to guide the upper limit point, an improvement in economic driving performance can be achieved without outputting guidance that does not contribute to improvement in economic driving performance. Can provide driving assistance for. Here, the predetermined vehicle speed is the vehicle speed at which the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle easily becomes the upper limit value of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period when a small amount of braking instruction unit is operated. As long as it is determined in advance.

  Further, as an example of a configuration for defining the guidance condition based on the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point, when the guidance condition is not the upper limit point in a part of the predetermined evaluation section, the guidance condition is set in the predetermined evaluation section. You may employ | adopt the structure considered that it is not satisfy | filled. That is, if the period in which the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle is the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period is too short, the possibility that the same situation will recur is low. For example, if the driver became the upper limit point by sporadically using the braking instruction unit to deal with accidental circumstances, but it is no longer the upper limit point, the same applies when traveling the same point again It is unlikely that the situation will recur.

  Therefore, when the upper limit is reached due to such an accidental situation, if it is configured not to guide the upper limit point, an improvement in economic driving performance can be achieved without outputting guidance that does not contribute to improvement in economic driving performance. Can provide driving assistance for. Here, when the predetermined evaluation section is the upper limit point in the front part of the evaluation section, the state where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle becomes the upper limit value of the energy amount recoverable per unit period is recurred. For example, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which a unit section of a certain distance or a part of the unit section is an evaluation section.

  Furthermore, as an example of a configuration that prescribes the guidance conditions based on the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point, a configuration may be adopted in which, when auto-cruise control is performed on the vehicle at the upper limit point, the guidance conditions are not satisfied. good. That is, when auto-cruise control is performed in a vehicle, the distance between the preceding vehicle ahead of the vehicle and the vehicle and the vehicle speed are automatically controlled, so the state of the vehicle for which the driver's own driving operation should be evaluated is not. Therefore, even when the upper limit point is reached during auto cruise control, this state is not a state in which the driver should improve the situation. Therefore, when auto cruise control is being performed at the upper limit point, if the upper limit point is not guided, guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree is not output and the economic driving degree is improved. Driving assistance can be performed.

  Furthermore, as an example of a configuration that prescribes the guidance conditions based on the shape of the road at the upper limit point, when the upper limit point exists on a road with a downward slope and the inclination angle of the gradient is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination angle, You may employ | adopt the structure which considers that guidance conditions are not satisfy | filled. In other words, the greater the down-gradient angle, the more energy is required for braking. Therefore, the greater the down-gradient angle, the higher the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle per unit period. Easy to reach. Accordingly, in the configuration in which the braking force is defined according to the operation amount of the braking instruction unit and the braking force is applied to the vehicle using either or both of the regenerative brake and the friction brake, the braking force by the regenerative brake is as much as possible. When configured to be large, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle can be recovered immediately per unit period even if the braking instruction section is slightly operated if the inclination angle of the downward slope is large. The upper limit of the amount is reached. Since the braking instruction unit inevitably performs braking on a downward slope with a large inclination angle, the operation of the braking instruction unit is suppressed even if the upper limit point is guided on the downward inclination with a large inclination angle. I can't.

  Therefore, when there is a constant cause for the upper limit point in this way, if the upper limit point is not guided, guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree is not output and the economic driving degree is not output. Driving assistance for improvement can be performed. Here, when the predetermined inclination angle is equal to or larger than the predetermined inclination angle, it is only necessary to be determined in advance as an inclination angle that is highly likely to be braked by the braking instruction unit.

  Further, the method of defining the guide condition for the upper limit point by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists as in the present invention can also be applied as a program or method. is there. In addition, the system, program, and method as described above may be implemented as a single device, or may be implemented using a plurality of devices, or may be implemented using components shared with the hybrid vehicle. Can be assumed, and includes various aspects. For example, it is possible to provide a navigation system, method, and program including the above-described devices. Further, some changes may be made as appropriate, such as a part of software and a part of hardware. Furthermore, the invention can be realized as a recording medium for a program for controlling the system. Of course, the software recording medium may be a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or any recording medium to be developed in the future.

It is a block diagram which shows the navigation terminal containing a driving assistance system. It is a flowchart which shows an evaluation information acquisition process. It is a flowchart which shows an evaluation information acquisition process. (4A) is a flowchart showing an upper limit point guidance condition determination process, and (4B) is a flowchart showing an evaluation information guidance process. It is a figure which shows the example of the map displayed.

Here, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
(1) Configuration of navigation terminal:
(2) Evaluation information acquisition process:
(3) Upper limit point guidance condition determination processing:
(4) Evaluation information guidance processing:
(5) Other embodiments:

(1) Configuration of navigation terminal:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a driving support system mounted on a hybrid vehicle. In the present embodiment, the driving support system is realized by the navigation terminal 10. The navigation terminal 10 includes a control unit 20 that includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and the control unit 20 can execute a program stored in the ROM. In this embodiment, a navigation program can be executed as one of the programs. The navigation program is a program for causing the control unit 20 to realize a function of displaying a map including the current position of the hybrid vehicle on the display unit of the navigation terminal and guiding the driver to the destination. A driving support program 21 that displays an icon serving as an advice for improving the vehicle is included.

  The hybrid vehicle according to the present embodiment includes an economic running degree evaluation ECU 40, a GPS receiver 41, a vehicle speed sensor 42, a gyro sensor 43, a user I / F unit 44, a friction brake 45, an HV mechanism 46, a drive control ECU 47, and a braking instruction unit. 48. The GPS receiver 41 receives a radio wave from a GPS satellite and outputs a signal indicating a signal for calculating the current position of the hybrid vehicle via an interface (not shown). The control unit 20 acquires this signal and acquires the current position of the hybrid vehicle. The vehicle speed sensor 42 outputs a signal corresponding to the rotational speed of the wheels included in the hybrid vehicle. The control unit 20 acquires this signal via an interface (not shown) and acquires the vehicle speed. The gyro sensor 43 detects angular acceleration about turning in the horizontal plane of the hybrid vehicle, and outputs a signal corresponding to the direction of the hybrid vehicle. The control unit 20 acquires this signal and acquires the traveling direction of the hybrid vehicle. The vehicle speed sensor 42, the gyro sensor 43, and the like are used for specifying the travel locus of the vehicle. In the present embodiment, the current position is specified based on the departure position and the travel locus of the vehicle, and the departure position and the travel are determined. The current position of the vehicle specified based on the trajectory is corrected based on the output signal of the GPS receiver 41.

  The economic travel degree evaluation ECU 40 includes a control circuit for evaluating the economic travel degree of the traveling hybrid vehicle based on the operation of the hybrid vehicle, and is connected to the instrument panel 40a. Based on the information indicating the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine and the output information of the vehicle speed sensor 42, the economic travel degree evaluation ECU 40 determines whether or not the vehicle is traveling while the internal combustion engine is not rotating. When the vehicle is traveling in a state where the vehicle is not rotating, it is regarded as EV traveling. The state in which the vehicle is performing EV traveling is a state in which the economic traveling degree is good. When the vehicle is performing EV traveling, the economic traveling degree evaluation ECU 40 outputs a control signal to the instrument panel 40a to perform EV traveling. Is displayed.

  Further, when the vehicle is running with the internal combustion engine rotating (in the case of HV running), the economic running degree evaluation ECU 40 is specified from information indicating fuel consumption (for example, a signal for operating the injector). And the information indicated by the fuel consumption sensor), the output information of the vehicle speed sensor 42, and the information indicating the state of the transmission meet the conditions for suppressing fuel consumption, and the economic driving degree is good in HV driving. Consider running. Note that various conditions can be defined as conditions for good economic travel, but in this embodiment, the fuel consumption is a predetermined amount or less and the vehicle speed is a predetermined threshold value or more, In addition, when the transmission is in a normal state (a state such as a drive mode that is not a state for accelerating at high efficiency such as a sports mode), the economic running degree is considered good. When the vehicle is traveling with good economic travel, the economic travel evaluation ECU 40 outputs a control signal to the instrument panel 40a to display that the economic travel is good. When the vehicle is not traveling with good economic travel, the economic travel evaluation ECU 40 outputs a control signal to the instrument panel 40a to display that the economic travel is poor. The economic travel level evaluation ECU 40 is information indicating that the vehicle is traveling with good economic travel level due to HV travel, information indicating that the vehicle is traveling with poor economic travel rate due to HV travel, vehicle Can be output to the control unit 20 indicating that the vehicle is running on EV.

  Further, the economic running degree evaluation ECU 40 acquires the amount of energy recovered per unit period by the regenerative braking of the vehicle based on a signal output from a drive control ECU 47 described later, and outputs a control signal to the instrument panel 40a to output the unit. A graph showing the amount of energy recovered per period is displayed. Moreover, the economic travel evaluation ECU 40 can determine whether or not the amount of energy recovered per unit period of the regenerative brake has reached the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period. If it is, a signal indicating that the amount of recovered energy per unit period has reached the upper limit value is output to the control unit 20. When the amount of energy recovered per unit period has reached the upper limit, all energy generated by the regenerative brake can be recovered, and at least part of the energy generated by the regenerative brake cannot be recovered and discarded It is one of the states. Such a state is a state where the energy is discarded when the energy recovered by the regenerative brake is slightly exceeded, or the energy recovered by the regenerative brake in the past is discarded. Therefore, the state in which the amount of energy recovered per unit period of the regenerative brake reaches the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period is a state in which the economic running degree is poor or the economic running degree is bad. It will be a guide showing that it is in a state of inducing.

  The upper limit value is an upper limit value of the recovered energy amount per unit period due to regenerative braking, and is not an upper limit value of the battery capacity. That is, even when the remaining amount of the battery is less than the maximum remaining amount, in the normal vehicle, the recovered energy cannot be recovered indefinitely. In the present embodiment, the energy recovery system is prevented from being destroyed by the regenerative brake. For this reason, the maximum value of the recovered energy amount per unit period is limited to the upper limit value, and the upper limit value is set in advance. Here, the unit period is an arbitrary period set for defining the upper limit value, and may be a very short period such as defining an instantaneous value of the recoverable energy amount or longer. It may be a period (for example, 1 second).

  The user I / F unit 44 is an interface unit for inputting a driver's instruction and providing various information to the driver. The user I / F unit 44 includes an input unit such as a display unit and a switch (not shown), a switch, a speaker, and the like. Audio output unit. The user I / F unit 44 receives a control signal from the control unit 20 and displays an image for performing various guidance on the touch panel display. In this embodiment, the driver can give an instruction to start auto cruise control using the touch panel display, and give an instruction to end auto cruise control by operating the braking instruction unit 48 having a foot brake pedal. Is possible. The auto-cruise control is performed on the vehicle until the end instruction is issued after the start instruction of the auto-cruise control is performed, and the inter-vehicle distance and the vehicle speed are automatically controlled within a predetermined range. The control unit 20 can specify that an auto-cruise control start instruction has been made based on the output signal of the user I / F unit 44, and can determine that the auto-cruise control has ended based on the output signal of the braking instruction unit 48. Can be identified. The control unit 20 determines that the auto-cruise control is being performed if the auto-cruise control start instruction is issued and the auto-cruise control end instruction is not performed, and if not, the auto-cruise control is not performed. Is determined not to be performed.

  Furthermore, the vehicle according to the present embodiment is a hybrid vehicle, and the HV mechanism 46 includes a fuel tank, an internal combustion engine, a battery, a motor, a generator, a power transmission mechanism, and the like, and is controlled by a drive control ECU 47. That is, in the HV mechanism 46, the internal combustion engine, the motor, and the generator are connected to a power transmission mechanism (not shown), and the drive control ECU 47 controls the hybrid vehicle by controlling the transmission efficiency among the internal combustion engine, the motor, and the generator. It can be driven and regenerative energy can be generated. In a state where regenerative energy is generated, a regenerative brake acts on the vehicle, and the regenerative energy is converted into electric power and charged to the battery. At this time, the drive control ECU 47 controls the HV mechanism 46 so that the amount of energy recovered per unit period due to regenerative energy is less than or equal to the upper limit value.

  Specifically, in this embodiment, the drive control ECU 47 adjusts the braking force of the friction brake 45 and the braking force by the regenerative brake based on the braking instruction of the braking instruction unit 48. In the present embodiment, the braking instruction unit 48 includes a foot brake pedal, and the braking instruction unit 48 outputs a signal corresponding to the operation amount of the foot brake pedal. The drive control ECU 47 acquires a signal corresponding to the operation amount of the foot brake pedal, determines the braking force of the vehicle according to the operation amount, and when the braking force is equal to or less than the maximum value of the braking force by the regenerative brake, A control signal is output to the HV mechanism 46 so that the braking force is generated by the regenerative brake. As a result, the braking force instructed by the braking instruction unit 48 is generated by the regenerative braking.

  On the other hand, if the braking force corresponding to the operation amount of the foot brake pedal is greater than the maximum value of the braking force by the regenerative brake, the vehicle is braked at the maximum value of the regenerative braking force, and the braking force corresponding to the shortage is friction brake. A control signal is output to the friction brake 45 so as to be generated by the motor 45. As a result, the braking force instructed by the braking instruction unit 48 is generated by the regenerative brake and the friction brake 45. Here, the state where the braking force by the regenerative brake is the maximum value is a state where the upper limit value of the recovered energy amount per unit period by the regenerative brake is reached. Therefore, the drive control ECU 47 controls the amount of energy recovered per unit period by the regenerative brake to be equal to or less than the upper limit value. The drive control ECU 47 can also supply a signal output to the HV mechanism 46 to the control unit 20, and the control unit 20 specifies the drive state of each part of the HV mechanism 46 based on the signal. Can do. For example, the control unit 20 can determine whether or not the internal combustion engine is rotating based on the signal.

  Map information 30 a is recorded on the recording medium 30. The map information 30a includes node data indicating the position and altitude of the node corresponding to the end point of the road on which the hybrid vehicle travels, and shape interpolation point data indicating the position of the shape interpolation point for specifying the shape of the road between the nodes. In addition, link data indicating connection between nodes is included. Note that the control unit 20 can specify the inclination angle of the road based on the altitudes of nodes located at both ends of the road indicated by the link data. Further, the control unit 20 determines that the road has a downward slope when the altitude of the node existing behind the traveling direction of the vehicle is higher than the altitude of the node existing ahead of the traveling direction, When the altitude of the node existing behind is lower than the altitude of the node existing ahead in the traveling direction, it can be determined that the road is an uphill grade.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, every time the hybrid vehicle travels, evaluation information 30b indicating the economic travel of the hybrid vehicle is recorded. The evaluation information 30b is information indicating the degree of economic travel in the unit section, information indicating that the unit section has been traveling with good economic travel by HV traveling (hereinafter referred to as good evaluation), and the unit section. Information indicating that the vehicle was traveling with a low economic driving rate due to HV driving (hereinafter referred to as bad evaluation), information indicating that the unit section was driven by EV driving (hereinafter referred to as EV evaluation), It is configured by any of information indicating that the amount of energy recovered per unit period due to regenerative braking has reached the upper limit (hereinafter referred to as upper limit evaluation) in the unit section. In the present embodiment, when the evaluation information 30b is recorded in a state where the destination is set and traveled, information indicating the destination and the departure place is recorded in association with the evaluation information 30b. .

  The control unit 20 displays the map including the evaluation information for each unit section in the current traveling and the past traveling on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 by executing the driving support program 21 included in the navigation program. . In order to execute this process, the driving support program 21 includes an evaluation acquisition unit 21a, an upper limit spot acquisition unit 21b, and an upper limit spot guide unit 21c.

  The evaluation acquisition unit 21a is a program module that causes the control unit 20 to realize a function of acquiring the economic driving degree in the current traveling of the hybrid vehicle for each unit section (in the present embodiment, a section of a constant distance (for example, 50 m)). is there. In addition, the control part 20 performs the evaluation information acquisition process mentioned later by the evaluation acquisition part 21a in the process in which a hybrid vehicle drive | works, acquires the evaluation of the economical travel degree for every unit section, and the position and economic travel degree of a unit section Are associated with each other and recorded as evaluation information 30b. And the control part 20 specifies the economical driving | running | working degree of this driving | running | working and past driving | running | working from the said evaluation information 30b by the process of the evaluation acquisition part 21a.

  In the present embodiment, when the driver sets the destination by operating the user I / F unit 44 by the function of the navigation program, the control unit 20 sets the current position of the hybrid vehicle at the time of setting the destination. The route from the departure point to the destination is searched and guided. If the vehicle is currently traveling from the departure point to the destination, the traveling from the departure point to the destination is regarded as the current traveling. That is, the section traveled this time is a section where the starting point is the start point and the current position is the end point, and the total distance of the section traveled this time until the hybrid vehicle reaches the destination as the hybrid vehicle progresses. In addition, when the driving | running | working which set the destination was performed and the hybrid vehicle arrived at the destination, when recording the evaluation information 30b, the control part 20 is about each unit area until it drive | works from a departure place to the destination. Are recorded in association with the starting point and the destination.

  And the control part 20 specifies the economical driving | running | working degree regarding this driving | running | working from the evaluation information 30b by the process of the evaluation acquisition part 21a. For this purpose, the control unit 20 acquires the economic driving degree for each unit section in the section in which the hybrid vehicle has traveled this time before reaching the destination after the start of traveling of the hybrid vehicle at the departure point. That is, based on the evaluation information 30b, the control unit 20 acquires the evaluation of the economic travel degree for each unit section traveled this time (any of good evaluation, bad evaluation, EV evaluation, and upper limit spot evaluation).

  Further, the control unit 20 determines the past in which a series of runs when the hybrid vehicle departs from the same point as the departure point in the past and travels to the same point as the destination as the display target of the evaluation information. It is considered as running. And the control part 20 acquires the economical driving | running | working degree for every unit area of the area where the hybrid vehicle drive | worked by the said past driving | running | working. That is, based on the evaluation information 30b, the control unit 20 obtains an evaluation of economic driving degree (any one of good evaluation, bad evaluation, EV evaluation, and upper limit spot evaluation) for each unit section that has traveled in the past travel. In addition, in order to determine whether the starting point and the destination are the same for the current driving and the past driving, a predetermined margin is provided for the distance from the point. For example, two points within a distance of 300 m A configuration that is regarded as the same can be adopted.

  The upper limit point acquisition unit 21b is a program module that causes the control unit 20 to realize a function of acquiring an upper limit point that is a point where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period. It is. Specifically, the control unit 20 acquires the current position of the vehicle specified based on the output signals of the GPS receiving unit 41, the vehicle speed sensor 42, and the gyro sensor 43. Further, when the economic running degree evaluation ECU 40 outputs a signal indicating that the amount of recovered energy per unit period has reached the upper limit value, the control unit 20 regards the current position of the vehicle as the upper limit point.

  The upper limit point guide unit 21c displays a map around the current position along with the current position of the hybrid vehicle on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44, and displays an icon indicating evaluation information for each unit section on the map. This is a program module that causes the control unit 20 to realize the function to be performed. That is, the control unit 20 specifies the current position of the hybrid vehicle based on the output signals of the GPS receiving unit 41, the vehicle speed sensor 42, and the gyro sensor 43, specifies the map display range around the current position of the hybrid vehicle, and Information such as roads and facilities within the display range is extracted from the map information 30a. Then, the control unit 20 outputs a control signal for drawing a map showing the current position of the hybrid vehicle and roads, facilities, and the like around the current position to the display unit of the user I / F unit 44. As a result, the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 displays a map showing roads and facilities around the current position of the hybrid vehicle, and the current position of the hybrid vehicle.

  The control unit 20 further specifies on the map the unit sections that have been traveled in the current travel and the unit sections that have been traveled in the past travel, and draws an icon indicating the economic travel in each unit section on the map. Is output to the display unit of the user I / F unit 44. As a result, one of the icons indicating good evaluation, bad evaluation, EV evaluation, and upper limit point evaluation is superimposed on the unit section on the map traveled in the current travel and the unit section on the map traveled in the past travel. The

  In addition, regarding the display of the icon indicating the upper limit spot evaluation, the upper limit spot acquisition unit 21b satisfies the guide condition defined by one or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit spot and the shape of the road where the upper limit spot exists. The upper limit point is displayed on the map displayed on the display unit, and the control unit 20 is caused not to display the upper limit point on the map when the guide condition is not satisfied. That is, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 has a condition that it is not necessary to display the upper limit point according to either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists. The upper limit point is not displayed on the map when it is not necessary to display and display.

  Here, the vehicle state may be a vehicle state related to the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the vehicle being the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period, and the upper limit value upper limit value is sporadic. It may be a state of the vehicle that is generated automatically, or a state of the vehicle that induces the upper limit value. In the present embodiment, as the state of the vehicle, the state of the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake, the state of the vehicle operation (vehicle speed and acceleration state), the state of driving operation in the vehicle (operation state of the braking instruction unit 48, auto The execution state of the cruise control) is analyzed (details will be described later).

  The guidance condition may be defined by the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point, may be defined by the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists, or may be defined by both of them, but in this embodiment A condition for each of a plurality of vehicle states is set, and one condition is set for the shape of the road. If any of these conditions is not satisfied, the guide condition is not satisfied (details will be described later). ). Of course, a plurality of conditions may be set for the shape of the road, or a plurality of conditions may be set depending on the combination of the state of the vehicle and the shape of the road. Here, the logic of the guide condition as a result of combining a plurality of conditions is defined by logical sum, but the logic may be composed of other logic such as logical product and can be selected as appropriate.

  In any case, in the present embodiment, the guide condition for the upper limit spot evaluation is defined in advance according to the state of the vehicle and the shape of the road at the upper limit spot, and when the guide condition is satisfied, the control unit 20 The icon indicating the upper limit point evaluation is displayed as the evaluation of the economic driving degree of the unit section. When the guidance condition is not satisfied, the control unit 20 displays an icon indicating another evaluation (any of good evaluation, bad evaluation, and EV evaluation) as an evaluation of the economic travel of the unit section.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a map displayed on the display unit. In this example, an icon C indicating the current position of the hybrid vehicle is displayed on the road R indicated by the solid curve. In FIG. 5, a bad evaluation icon indicating bad evaluation in HV traveling is configured by an icon having a hatch shape imitating a leaf, and an excellent icon in HV traveling is represented by an icon not having a hatch imitating a leaf shape. The good evaluation icon which shows evaluation is comprised. In addition, an EV evaluation icon indicating EV evaluation is configured by an icon imitating a car and having characters “EV” on the inside. In addition, the upper limit indicating the upper limit point evaluation is indicated by an icon with a letter that reminds that the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period and the character “CHG” in the rectangular character The point evaluation icon is configured.

  In addition, an icon whose outer periphery is indicated by a solid line indicates the economic driving degree in the current traveling, and an icon whose outer periphery is indicated by a broken line indicates the economic driving degree in the past traveling. Therefore, in FIG. 5, the icon Epb is a bad evaluation icon for past driving, the icon Epg is a good evaluation icon for past driving, the icon Epe is an EV evaluation icon for past driving, and the icon Epl is for past driving. An upper limit evaluation icon is shown. In FIG. 5, icon Etb is a bad evaluation icon for the current run, icon Etg is a good evaluation icon for the current run, icon Ete is an EV evaluation icon for the current run, and icon Etl is for the current run. An upper limit evaluation icon is shown.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the map displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 is displayed so that the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving and the past driving can be simultaneously viewed. . As a result, the driver can drive while easily comparing the economic driving degree in the current driving section and the past economic driving degree during driving.

  Furthermore, if the guide condition defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is not satisfied, the upper limit point evaluation icon is not displayed on the map. That is, when the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point is a specific state, a slight driving operation induces a state in which the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake reaches the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period. . A state where the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake reaches the upper limit value of the recoverable energy amount per unit period can be defined by the state of the vehicle. Furthermore, when the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is a specific shape, this causes a situation where the amount of energy recovered by regenerative braking reaches the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period There is.

In these cases, even if the upper limit point is displayed on the map, it does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree, so it is not necessary to display the upper limit point on the map. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the guide condition is defined in advance by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists, and the control is performed when the guide condition is not satisfied. The unit 20 does not display the upper limit spot evaluation icon on the map. As a result, it is possible to perform driving support for improving the economic driving degree without outputting guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree. In addition, when the upper limit spot evaluation icon is displayed, the upper limit spot evaluation icon indicates the upper limit of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period by the amount of energy recovered by regenerative braking within the unit section where the upper limit spot evaluation icon is displayed. Indicates that the value has been reached. And the state where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake has reached the upper limit of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period is
When the energy recovered by the regenerative brake is slightly exceeded, the energy is discarded, or the energy recovered by the regenerative brake is discarded. Therefore, by displaying the upper limit spot evaluation icon on the map, it is possible to urge the driver not to reoccur a state that is likely to consume energy wastefully.

(2) Evaluation information acquisition process:
Next, the evaluation information acquisition process will be described in detail. 2 and 3 are flowcharts of the evaluation information acquisition process. In this embodiment, the control unit 20 starts the travel with the destination set and then reaches the start position of the unit section, and then the evaluation acquisition unit 21a. To execute the evaluation information acquisition process. Before the evaluation information acquisition process is executed, the control unit 20 determines the cumulative distance for determining whether the hybrid vehicle has traveled a certain distance defined as the length of the unit section, and the economy within the unit section. The upper limit of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period by the evaluation distance for specifying the distance for evaluating the degree of travel, the EV travel distance for specifying the EV travel distance, and the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake A variable indicating an upper limit point evaluation cumulative distance for specifying the distance traveled by the vehicle in a state where the vehicle has traveled and a good evaluation cumulative distance for specifying the distance traveled by HV while the economic driving degree is good initialize.

  The control unit 20 adds the travel distance to the cumulative distance by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S100). In the present embodiment, steps S100 to S130 are a loop process, and when the loop process is repeated, the process of step S100 is performed every certain period (for example, 100 ms). Therefore, the control unit 20 specifies the current position of the vehicle based on the output signals from the GPS receiving unit 41, the vehicle speed sensor 42, and the gyro sensor 43, the current position of the vehicle specified in the previous step S100, and the current position of the vehicle. By comparing the current position of the vehicle identified in step S100, the travel distance ΔL traveled by the hybrid vehicle from the previous execution of step S100 to the current execution of step S100 is identified, and the cumulative distance Add to. That is, the control unit 20 performs an addition process so that a value indicating the total distance traveled by the hybrid vehicle while the steps S100 to S130 are repeated becomes the cumulative distance.

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the vehicle speed is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S110). If it is not determined that the vehicle speed is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, step S115 is performed. S125 is skipped. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S110 that the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the control unit 20 adds the travel distance to the evaluation distance by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S115). That is, the above-mentioned traveling distance ΔL added to the cumulative distance in step S100 is added to the evaluation distance.

  Here, the predetermined value that is the determination condition in the determination in step S110 is defined in advance as a vehicle speed value (for example, 4 km / h) that makes it impossible to evaluate a significant economic driving degree when the vehicle speed is lower than the predetermined value. It only has to be done. In other words, when the vehicle speed is excessively low, it is difficult to distinguish between driving with reduced fuel consumption and driving with excessive fuel consumption. Will not evaluate economic driving. For this reason, in this embodiment, when the vehicle speed is smaller than a predetermined value, it is regarded that a significant economic driving degree cannot be evaluated, and step S115 is not executed. Considering that it is possible to evaluate the degree of travel, the evaluation distance is increased by ΔL in step S115.

  Furthermore, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the internal combustion engine is rotating based on the output signal of the drive control ECU 47 by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S117), and determines that the internal combustion engine is rotating. If not, the control unit 20 adds the travel distance to the EV travel distance through the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S119). That is, when it is possible to evaluate a significant economic running degree and the internal combustion engine is not rotating, the control unit 20 considers that the hybrid vehicle is running EV, and step S100. The above-mentioned travel distance ΔL added to the cumulative distance is added to the EV travel distance.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S117 that the internal combustion engine is rotating, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the economic running degree is good by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S120). That is, in this case, since the vehicle is in an HV traveling state, the control unit 20 outputs information indicating that the economic traveling degree evaluation ECU 40 is traveling with a favorable economic traveling degree due to the HV traveling. If it is, it is determined that the economic travel is good.

  When it is determined in step S120 that the economic running degree is good, the control unit 20 adds the running distance to the good evaluation cumulative distance by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S125). That is, when it is possible to evaluate a significant economic running degree, and the internal combustion engine is rotating and the economic running degree is good, the control unit 20 has a good economic running degree by HV running. Assuming that the vehicle is traveling, the above-mentioned traveling distance ΔL added to the cumulative distance in step S100 is added to the good evaluation cumulative distance.

  In step S120, when it is not determined that the economic driving degree is good, or when step S119 is executed, or when step S125 is executed, the control unit 20 performs the upper limit spot acquisition unit 21b and the upper limit spot guide unit 21c. The upper limit point guide condition determination process is executed by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S127). The upper limit point guidance condition determination process is an upper limit point where the current position of the vehicle is a point where the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period, and the upper limit point This is a process for adding the travel distance to the upper limit spot evaluation cumulative distance when the guide condition for the evaluation icon is satisfied, and details will be described later.

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the cumulative distance has become a certain distance or more by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S130), and in step S130, it is determined that the cumulative distance has become the certain distance or more. Step S100 and subsequent steps are repeated until That is, when the cumulative distance becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined distance defined as the distance of the unit section, the control unit 20 regards that the hybrid vehicle has traveled the unit section and exits the loop process of steps S100 to S130. become.

  When it is determined in step S130 that the cumulative distance is equal to or greater than a certain distance, the control unit 20 determines whether all of the evaluation sections in the unit section are upper limit points by the processing of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. (Step S135). That is, when the upper limit spot evaluation cumulative distance / evaluation distance is 1, the control unit 20 determines that all of the evaluation sections in the unit section are upper limit spots. When the evaluation distance is 0, the control unit 20 does not determine that all the evaluation sections are upper limit points.

  In step S135, when it is determined that all of the evaluation sections in the unit section are the upper limit points, the control unit 20 sets the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the unit sections as the upper limit point evaluation by the processing of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. (Step S140). On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S135 that all of the evaluation sections in the unit section are upper limit points, step S140 is not executed, and the evaluation of the economic running degree is set as another evaluation after step S145. In other words, within the evaluation section of the unit section, if there is even one point where the state of the vehicle is in a state where the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake is not the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period, The upper limit spot evaluation icon is not displayed in the unit section. Therefore, when any part of the evaluation section in the unit section is not the upper limit point, the guide condition for the upper limit point evaluation icon is not satisfied.

  That is, if the period in which the amount of energy recovered by regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle is the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period is too short, the possibility that the same situation will recur is low. For example, if the driver became the upper limit point by sporadically using the braking instruction unit to deal with accidental circumstances, but it is no longer the upper limit point, the same applies when traveling the same point again It is unlikely that the situation will recur. Therefore, if the upper limit evaluation icon is not displayed on the map when the upper limit is reached due to such accidental circumstances, guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree is not output. Driving assistance for improving economic driving performance can be provided.

  If it is not determined in step S135 that all of the evaluation sections in the unit section are upper limit points, the control unit 20 determines whether or not all of the evaluation sections in the unit section have been EV-driven by the processing of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a. (Step S145). That is, when the EV travel distance / evaluation distance is 1, the control unit 20 determines that all the evaluation sections in the unit section have been EV traveled. When the evaluation distance is 0, the control unit 20 does not determine that the entire EV section has traveled EV. If it is determined in step S145 that all the evaluation sections in the unit section have been EV traveled, the control unit 20 sets the evaluation of the economic travel degree in the unit section to EV evaluation by the processing of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a (step S145). S150).

  On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S145 that all of the evaluation sections in the unit section have been EV traveled, the control unit 20 has a travel ratio in a state where the economic travel is good is equal to or greater than the threshold by the processing of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a. It is determined whether or not (step S155). That is, the control unit 20 determines that the running ratio in a state where the economic running degree is good is equal to or greater than the threshold when the good evaluation cumulative distance / evaluation distance is equal to or greater than the threshold. When the evaluation distance is 0, the control unit 20 does not determine that the travel ratio when the economic travel is good is equal to or greater than the threshold value.

  In step S155, when it is determined that the travel ratio in a state where the economic travel is good is equal to or greater than the threshold, the control unit 20 makes the evaluation of the economic travel in the unit section a good evaluation by the process of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a. Set (step S160). On the other hand, if it is not determined in step S155 that the travel ratio in a state where the economic travel is good is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the control unit 20 evaluates the evaluation of the economic travel in the unit section by the evaluation acquisition unit 21a. (Step S165). The threshold may be determined in advance so that the economic running degree can be considered good when the good evaluation cumulative distance / evaluation distance is equal to or greater than the threshold.

  When the evaluation of the economic driving degree is set by any of steps S140, S150, S160, and S165 as described above, the control unit 20 evaluates the economic driving degree to the position of the unit section, the destination, and the departure place. Correspondingly, it is recorded on the recording medium 30 as evaluation information 30b (step S170). According to the above processing, the evaluation information 30b for each unit section can be recorded on the recording medium 30.

(3) Upper limit point guidance condition determination processing:
Next, the upper limit point guide condition determination process in step S127 will be described in detail. FIG. 4A is a flowchart of an upper limit point guide condition determination process. In the upper limit point guidance condition determination process, the control unit 20 first determines whether or not the current position of the vehicle is the upper limit point by the process of the upper limit point acquisition unit 21b (step S200). That is, the control unit 20 considers that the current position of the vehicle is the upper limit point when the economic running degree evaluation ECU 40 outputs a signal indicating that the amount of recovered energy per unit period has reached the upper limit value. .

  In step S200, when it is not determined that the current position of the vehicle is the upper limit point, the control unit 20 skips steps S205 to S225. Since the skipped process includes step S225 for adding the upper limit point evaluation cumulative distance, in step S135 described above, it is not determined that all of the evaluation sections in the processing target unit section are the upper limit points. Therefore, in this case, the upper limit spot evaluation icon is not displayed as the evaluation of the economic driving degree for the unit section to be processed.

  When it is determined in step S200 that the current position of the vehicle is the upper limit point, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the operation start at the braking instruction unit 48 is less than the predetermined vehicle speed by the processing of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. Is determined (step S205). That is, the control unit 20 determines whether or not a braking instruction has been issued by the braking instruction unit 48 based on the output signal of the braking instruction unit 48. Further, when it is determined that the braking instruction unit 48 has issued a braking instruction, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the vehicle speed is less than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the output signal of the vehicle speed sensor 42, and the vehicle speed is determined to be predetermined. When the vehicle speed is less than the predetermined vehicle speed, it is determined that the operation start at the braking instruction unit 48 is less than the predetermined vehicle speed. In step S205, when it is not determined that the operation start at the braking instruction unit 48 is less than the predetermined vehicle speed (when the operation start at the braking instruction unit 48 is equal to or higher than the predetermined vehicle speed), the control unit 20 Steps S210 to S225 are skipped.

  In the present embodiment, the braking force to be applied to the hybrid vehicle is defined according to the operation amount of the braking instruction unit 48, and the braking force is applied using one or both of the regenerative brake and the friction brake 45 by the HV mechanism 46. Power is applied to the hybrid vehicle. And in the hybrid vehicle concerning this embodiment, in order to collect | recover energy efficiently, it is comprised so that the braking force by a regenerative brake may become as large as possible. That is, when the braking force instructed by the braking instruction unit 48 is less than or equal to the maximum value of the braking force by the regenerative brake, the drive control ECU 4 sends a control signal to the HV mechanism 46 so that all of the braking force is generated by the regenerative brake. It is configured to output.

  Since the energy required for braking increases as the vehicle speed increases, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the hybrid vehicle tends to reach the upper limit value of energy recoverable per unit period as the vehicle speed increases. Therefore, when the vehicle speed is high, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle immediately reaches the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period even if the braking instruction unit 48 is slightly operated. End up. Then, such a small amount of operation of the braking instruction unit 48 is performed for fine adjustment of the vehicle speed, and the cause of the operation of the small amount of braking instruction unit 48 being many accidental causes. May not recur at the same point.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which steps S210 to S225 are skipped when it is not determined that the operation start at the braking instruction unit 48 is less than the predetermined vehicle speed, and thus step S225 is skipped. With this configuration, it is not determined that all of the evaluation sections in the processing target unit section are upper limit points, and an upper limit point evaluation icon is displayed as an evaluation of the economic driving degree for the processing target unit section. It will not be. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake is set to the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period due to an operation caused by accidental circumstances such as fine adjustment of the vehicle speed. In this case, it is determined that the guide condition is not satisfied and the upper limit evaluation icon is not displayed on the map. As a result, it is possible to perform driving support for improving the economic driving degree without outputting guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree. Note that when a small amount of the brake instruction unit 48 is operated, the predetermined vehicle speed easily causes the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle to be the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period. The vehicle speed may be determined in advance.

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the auto cruise control is being performed by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c (step S210). That is, the control unit 20 is instructed to start auto-cruise control based on the output signal from the user I / F unit 44, and after the start instruction, the control unit 20 performs the auto-cruise based on the output signal from the braking instruction unit 48. When the control end instruction is not given, it is determined that the auto-cruise control is being performed.

  When it is determined in step S210 that the auto cruise control is being performed, the control unit 20 skips steps S215 to S225. In other words, in the present embodiment, it is considered that the guide condition is not satisfied when the auto cruise control is performed on the hybrid vehicle at the upper limit point. When auto cruise control is performed in a hybrid vehicle, the distance between the preceding vehicle ahead of the hybrid vehicle and the hybrid vehicle and the vehicle speed of the hybrid vehicle are automatically controlled. It is not a vehicle condition. Therefore, even when the upper limit point is reached during auto cruise control, this state is not a state in which the driver should improve the situation. Therefore, if auto cruise control is being performed at the upper limit point, if the upper limit point evaluation icon is not displayed on the map, the economic driving degree can be output without outputting guidance that does not contribute to improving the economic driving degree. Driving assistance to improve

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the inclination angle of the downward gradient is less than a predetermined angle by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c (step S215). That is, the control unit 20 refers to the map information 30a, specifies a node indicating the end point of the road where the current position of the hybrid vehicle exists, and the altitude of the forward node in the traveling direction of the hybrid vehicle indicates the traveling direction of the hybrid vehicle. When the altitude of the rear node existing behind is lower than the altitude, it is determined that the hybrid vehicle is traveling on a downward slope. When the hybrid vehicle is traveling on a downward slope, the control unit 20 descends based on the difference in altitude between the front node and the rear node and the distance between the front node and the rear node (the distance in the horizontal direction). Get the slope angle. And the control part 20 determines with the inclination-angle of a downward slope being less than a predetermined angle, when the said inclination-angle is less than a predetermined angle.

  In step S215, when it is not determined that the downward slope is less than the predetermined angle, the control unit 20 skips steps S220 to S225. That is, when the upper limit point exists on a road having a downward slope and the inclination angle of the inclination is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination angle, it is considered that the guide condition is not satisfied. In descending slopes, the greater the downward inclination angle, the more energy is required for braking. Therefore, the greater the downward inclination angle, the more energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle per unit period. It is easy to reach the upper limit of the amount. In the hybrid vehicle according to the present embodiment, when the braking force instructed by the braking instruction unit 48 is applied to the hybrid vehicle, the HV mechanism 46 is controlled so that the braking force by the regenerative brake is as large as possible.

  Therefore, if the inclination angle of the downward slope is large, the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle immediately reaches the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period even if the braking instruction unit 48 is slightly operated. End up. Since braking by the braking instruction unit 48 is inevitably performed on a descending slope with a large inclination angle, a braking instruction is issued even if it is guided that the upper slope is on a descending slope with a large inclination angle that causes an upper limit point. The operation of the part 48 cannot be suppressed. Therefore, if the upper limit point is not displayed on the map when the upper limit point is reached on a downward slope with an inclination angle greater than or equal to a predetermined angle that is regularly present on the road, the economic running rate can be improved. It is possible to perform driving support for improving the economic driving degree without outputting guidance that does not contribute. Here, when the predetermined inclination angle is equal to or greater than the predetermined inclination angle, the recovered energy amount of the regenerative brake immediately after braking by the braking instruction unit 48 is an upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period. It may be determined in advance as an inclination angle that would become.

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the hybrid vehicle is less than a predetermined acceleration by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c (step S220). That is, the control unit 20 obtains acceleration acting on the hybrid vehicle by time-differentiating the vehicle speed indicated by the output signal of the vehicle speed sensor 42, the acceleration is opposite to the traveling direction of the hybrid vehicle, and the magnitude is predetermined. If the acceleration is less than the predetermined acceleration, it is determined that the acceleration in the reverse direction acting on the hybrid vehicle is less than the predetermined acceleration.

  If it is not determined in step S220 that the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the hybrid vehicle is less than the predetermined acceleration, the control unit 20 skips step S225. That is, when the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the hybrid vehicle at the upper limit point is equal to or higher than the predetermined acceleration, it is considered that the guide condition is not satisfied. When the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the hybrid vehicle at the upper limit point is a predetermined acceleration, the hybrid vehicle often performs sudden braking. This is often done due to accidental circumstances such as sudden braking of the car. And even if the amount of energy recovered by regenerative braking of the hybrid vehicle in the past has become the upper limit of the amount of energy that can be recovered per unit period due to such accidental circumstances, this situation will not reoccur at the same point Not exclusively. Therefore, if the upper limit evaluation icon is not displayed on the map when the upper limit is reached due to such accidental circumstances, guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree is not output. Driving assistance for improving economic driving performance can be provided. Here, the predetermined acceleration may be determined in advance as an acceleration that can be considered that sudden braking has been performed due to an accidental factor.

  If it is determined in step S220 that the acceleration in the direction opposite to the traveling direction acting on the hybrid vehicle is less than the predetermined acceleration, the control unit 20 converts the travel distance to the upper limit point evaluation cumulative distance by the processing of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. (Step S225). That is, the control unit 20 adds the above travel distance ΔL added to the cumulative distance in step S100 to the good evaluation cumulative distance.

(4) Evaluation information guidance processing:
Next, the evaluation information guidance process will be described in detail. FIG. 4B is a flowchart of the evaluation information guidance process. In this embodiment, the destination is set by the driver, and the past starting point and the destination that are the same as the starting point and the destination of the current travel are past. The evaluation information guidance process is executed when the evaluation information 30b regarding the travel exists. Moreover, the control part 20 is updating the map display for every predetermined period in the display part of the user I / F part 44, and the said evaluation information guidance process is performed for every said update.

  Steps S300 to S315 are a loop process for displaying an evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving on the map, and the control unit 20 first performs the economic driving degree in the past driving by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. The unit section to be processed is selected from the display targets of the evaluation (step S300). That is, the control unit 20 specifies the range of the map displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. Further, the control unit 20 extracts the evaluation information 30b in which the same starting point and destination as the starting point and destination in the current travel are associated by the process of the upper limit point acquiring unit 21b. Furthermore, the control unit 20 is included in the range of the map displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 from the unit section associated with the extracted evaluation information 30b by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. The unit section is specified as a display target for evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving. Then, a unit section that is not subjected to the process of displaying the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past travel is selected as the unit section to be processed from the unit sections to be displayed.

  Next, the control unit 20 refers to the evaluation information 30b by the process of the upper limit spot acquisition unit 21b, and acquires the evaluation of the past economic running degree of the unit section to be processed (step S305). Next, the control part 20 displays the icon which shows the evaluation of the economical driving | running | working degree in the past driving | running | working of the unit area of a process target by the process of the upper limit spot acquisition part 21b (step S310). That is, the control unit 20 selects an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree acquired in step S305 from any one of the bad evaluation icon, the good evaluation icon, the EV evaluation icon, and the upper limit spot evaluation icon, and selects the icon. A signal for drawing in the unit section to be processed is output to the display unit of the user I / F unit 44. As a result, the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 displays an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic running degree in the unit section to be processed.

  Next, the control part 20 determines whether the icon of the unit area of a display target has been displayed by the process of the upper limit point guide part 21c (step S315). That is, the control unit 20 determines whether or not icons have been displayed for all of the display target unit sections specified in step S300. If it is not determined in step S315 that the icon of the unit section to be displayed has been displayed, the processes in and after step S300 are repeated. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S330 that the icon of the unit section to be displayed has already been displayed, processing for displaying the evaluation of the economic travel degree in the current travel is performed in step S320 and subsequent steps.

  At the time when the icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving is displayed on the display object of the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving, the solid line icons Ete, Etg, Etb, Etl (in this driving) The icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree) is not displayed, and the icons Epe, Epg, Epb, and Epl (the icons indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving) are displayed. If the route is the same for the current travel and the past travel, an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic travel in the past travel is also displayed in the unit section behind the current position of the hybrid vehicle. When the icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving is displayed on the same unit section by the processing after S320, the icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving is preferentially displayed. .

  Steps S320 to S335 are loop processing for displaying the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving on the map, and the control unit 20 first performs the economic driving degree in the current driving by the processing of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. A unit section to be processed is selected from the display targets of the evaluation (step S320). That is, the control unit 20 specifies the range of the map displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 by the process of the upper limit point guide unit 21c. Further, the control unit 20 is a unit section associated with the evaluation information 30b recorded on the recording medium in the course of the current traveling by the processing of the evaluation acquisition unit 21a, and is a display unit of the user I / F unit 44. The unit section included in the range of the map displayed in is specified as a display target of the evaluation of the economic travel degree in the current travel. Then, a unit section that is not subjected to the process of displaying the evaluation of the economic running degree in the current travel is selected as the unit section to be processed from the unit sections to be displayed.

  Next, the control unit 20 refers to the evaluation information 30b by the process of the upper limit spot acquisition unit 21b, and acquires the evaluation of the current economic running degree of the unit section to be processed (step S325). Next, the control part 20 displays the icon which shows the evaluation of the economical driving | running | working degree in this driving | running | working of the unit area to be processed by the process of the upper limit spot acquisition part 21b (step S330). That is, the control unit 20 selects an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree acquired in step S305 from any one of the bad evaluation icon, the good evaluation icon, the EV evaluation icon, and the upper limit spot evaluation icon, and selects the icon. A signal for drawing in the unit section to be processed is output to the display unit of the user I / F unit 44. As a result, the display unit of the user I / F unit 44 displays an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic running degree in the unit section to be processed.

  Next, the control part 20 determines whether the icon of the unit area of a display target has been displayed by the process of the upper limit point guide part 21c (step S335). That is, the control unit 20 determines whether or not icons have been displayed for all of the display target unit sections specified in step S300. If it is not determined in step S315 that the icon of the unit section to be displayed has been displayed, the processes in and after step S320 are repeated. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S325 that the icon of the unit section to be displayed has been displayed, the control unit 20 ends the evaluation information guidance process.

  In the present embodiment, when an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the past driving and an icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving are displayed on the same unit section, the economy in the current driving is displayed. Since the icon indicating the evaluation of the driving degree is preferentially displayed, when the icon indicating the evaluation of the economic driving degree in the current driving is displayed, the icon before the current position of the hybrid vehicle is displayed as in the example illustrated in FIG. In the section where the hybrid vehicle has traveled, icons Ete, Etg, Etb, Etl indicating the evaluation of the economic travel degree in the current travel are displayed by solid lines. In the above processing, the upper limit spot evaluation icon is not displayed when the guide condition defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit spot and the shape of the road where the upper limit spot exists is not satisfied. Therefore, it is possible to perform driving support for improving the economic driving degree without outputting guidance that does not contribute to the improvement of the economic driving degree.

(5) Other embodiments:
The above embodiment is an example for carrying out the present invention, as long as the conditions for guiding the upper limit point are defined by either or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists. Various other embodiments can be adopted. For example, the evaluation of the economic driving degree may be obtained from a device that is not mounted on the hybrid vehicle, such as an information management center. Of course, the navigation terminal 10 may be fixedly mounted on the hybrid vehicle, or the portable navigation terminal 10 may be brought into the hybrid vehicle and used. Furthermore, although the above-mentioned vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, the target vehicle is not limited to a hybrid vehicle, and is an economic driving degree in a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine or an electric vehicle (in the case of an electric vehicle, per unit distance). It may be configured to evaluate (power consumption).

  Furthermore, the economic driving degree may be evaluated based on a condition for a combination of a plurality of elements, or may be evaluated based on a condition for a single element (for example, a fuel consumption value). Furthermore, the economic driving degree may be information that serves as a guideline for changing the fuel consumption, may be information indicating the value of the fuel consumption (for example, information indicating an average value in the unit section), Information indicating the result of comparing the fuel efficiency with the current fuel efficiency (for example, information indicating a relative relationship with the reference fuel efficiency) may be used.

Further, when the upper limit point is displayed on the map, it is not limited to the configuration in which the unit section as described above is displayed as a unit, and the guide condition is satisfied for each section of any length (may be for each spot). It may be determined whether or not the upper limit point is displayed when the guidance condition is satisfied. Furthermore, the configuration for guiding the upper limit point to the driver is not limited to the display on the map, and voice guidance or the like may be employed.
Furthermore, as an example of the guide condition, a configuration may be adopted in which the guide condition is considered not to be satisfied when the distance that was the upper limit point is less than a predetermined ratio in a predetermined evaluation section.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Navigation terminal, 20 ... Control part, 21 ... Driving assistance program, 21a ... Evaluation acquisition part, 21b ... Upper limit spot acquisition part, 21c ... Upper limit spot guidance part, 30 ... Recording medium, 30a ... Map information, 30b ... Evaluation information 40 ... Economic driving degree evaluation ECU, 40a ... Instrumental panel, 41 ... GPS receiver, 42 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 43 ... Gyro sensor, 44 ... User I / F part, 45 ... Friction brake, 46 ... HV mechanism, 47 ... Drive control ECU, 48 ... Brake instruction unit

Claims (9)

Upper limit point acquisition means for acquiring an upper limit point, which is a point where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the vehicle is the upper limit value of the energy amount recoverable per unit period;
When the guide condition defined by one or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is satisfied, the upper limit point is guided and the guide condition is not satisfied Upper limit point guiding means not guiding the upper limit point in case,
A driving support system comprising: The upper limit value is an energy amount set in advance as an energy amount per unit period during which the recovered energy generated by the regenerative brake can be charged to the battery of the vehicle.
The driving support system according to claim 1. The upper limit point guide means is:
When the acceleration in the reverse direction of the traveling direction acting on the vehicle at the upper limit point is equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration, the guide condition is regarded as not satisfied.
The driving support system according to claim 1. The upper limit point guide means is:
When the vehicle speed when the operation of the braking instruction unit is started at the upper limit point is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed, the guide condition is regarded as not satisfied.
The driving assistance system in any one of Claims 1-3. The upper limit point guide means is:
If the upper limit point is not reached in a part of the predetermined evaluation section, the guide condition is considered not satisfied in the predetermined evaluation section.
The driving assistance system in any one of Claims 1-4. The upper limit point guide means is:
When auto cruise control is performed on the vehicle at the upper limit point, it is considered that the guide condition is not satisfied,
The driving support system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The upper limit point guide means is:
When the upper limit point exists on a road with a downward slope and the inclination angle of the inclination is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination angle, the guide condition is considered not satisfied.
The driving assistance system in any one of Claims 1-6. An upper limit point acquisition step of acquiring an upper limit point, which is a point where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the vehicle is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period;
When the guide condition defined by one or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is satisfied, the upper limit point is guided and the guide condition is not satisfied An upper limit point guide step that does not guide the upper limit point in case,
A driving support method comprising: An upper limit point acquisition function for acquiring an upper limit point that is a point where the amount of energy recovered by the regenerative brake of the vehicle is the upper limit value of the energy amount that can be recovered per unit period;
When the guide condition defined by one or both of the state of the vehicle at the upper limit point and the shape of the road where the upper limit point exists is satisfied, the upper limit point is guided and the guide condition is not satisfied In some cases, the upper limit point guide function that does not guide the upper limit point,
A driving support program characterized by causing a computer to realize the above.

Images