JP2016038678A - Vehicle start support device and start notification method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide "a vehicle start support device and a start notification method" which can suppress an erroneous report of a message for promoting a start of an own vehicle even if the other vehicle which turns to right and left from a cross lane is detected by image recognition processing when the own vehicle is stopped at a cross point at the head.SOLUTION: In a vehicle start support device 10 which notifies a message for promoting a start of an own vehicle when a photographed image in front is recognition-processed during a stop of the own vehicle, and it is detected that a distance between a preceding vehicle and the own vehicle becomes a prescribed value or longer, when a head determination part 4 determines that the own vehicle is in a stop at the head of a cross point by the recognition processing of the photographed image, the other vehicle which turns to right and left from a cross lane is gradually separated from the own vehicle by not performing the notification of the message, and thereby, even in a situation that a notification condition of the message which promotes the start of the own vehicle is satisfied by erroneously recognizing that the other vehicle is the preceding vehicle, the notification of the message is not performed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle start support device and a start notification method, and in particular, the distance between a preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined value by recognizing a front captured image while the host vehicle is stopped. When this is detected, the present invention is suitable for use in a vehicle start support device that notifies a message prompting the start of the host vehicle.

  In recent years, driving support systems that make various notifications to drivers using an in-vehicle camera and image processing technology are increasing. For example, there is provided a vehicle start support device that notifies a driver that a preceding vehicle has started due to a signal waiting or the like (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

  The departure notification device described in Patent Literature 1 indicates that departure should be performed when the brake lamp of the preceding vehicle is turned off (that is, the departure operation of the preceding vehicle) based on the image data generated by the imaging unit. It is designed to output by voice.

  The driving support device described in Patent Document 2 is a state in which the front traffic light changes from red to blue by the image recognition processing of the image acquired by the front camera, and the preceding vehicle performs an accelerator operation so that the host vehicle can start. When it is confirmed that the vehicle is ready, a startable guidance message is notified.

  In addition, the vehicle surrounding situation recognition device described in Patent Document 3 detects the presence of a preceding vehicle by detecting the presence of a preceding vehicle by recognizing an image captured by the front camera when detecting the stop of the host vehicle. In such a case, notification is made when the preceding vehicle starts from a stopped state. On the other hand, when there is no preceding vehicle, a traffic light is searched for, and a notification is made when the signal changes from a red signal to a green signal.

  Further, there is also provided a vehicle start support device that notifies the driver with a buzzer sound or the like when the system determines that the host vehicle remains stopped despite waiting for a signal. For example, when the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is calculated using the image captured by the camera, and the system determines that the host vehicle remains stopped even if the preceding vehicle is more than a certain distance from the host vehicle. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a vehicle start support device that performs notification.

JP 2009-67240 A JP 2010-134851 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-223565

  However, in the conventional vehicle start support device that notifies when the preceding vehicle is more than a certain distance from the own vehicle, when the own vehicle stops at the head of the intersection and the preceding vehicle does not exist, When there is another vehicle that makes a right or left turn from a lane (hereinafter referred to as an intersection lane) that intersects the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, there is a problem that it may be erroneously determined that the preceding vehicle has started.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining this conventional problem. In FIG. 4, the host vehicle 100 stops at the head of the intersection, and there is no preceding vehicle that stops ahead of the host vehicle 100. In this situation, it is assumed that there is another vehicle 200 that enters the intersection from the right side of the intersection lane and turns right. In this case, the recognition process of the image taken by the front camera of the host vehicle 100 causes the other vehicle 200 that turns right in front of the host vehicle 100 and gradually moves away to be erroneously recognized as a preceding vehicle, and the other vehicle 200 and the host vehicle 100 are Will be erroneously determined that the preceding vehicle has started. For this reason, the notification for prompting the start of the host vehicle 100 is erroneously performed.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. When the host vehicle is stopped at the head of an intersection, it is assumed that another vehicle turning right and left from the intersection lane is detected by the image recognition process. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to suppress misreporting of messages that prompt the vehicle to start.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, when it is detected that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by recognizing a forward captured image while the host vehicle is stopped In addition, in the vehicle start support device configured to notify a message prompting the start of the host vehicle, when the host vehicle is confirmed to be stopped at the head of the intersection by the captured image recognition process, the message is notified. Do not do.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, when the own vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection and there is no preceding vehicle, the other vehicle that has turned right or left from the intersection lane gradually moves from the own vehicle in front of the own vehicle. Even if it is in a situation where the notification condition of the message prompting the start of the host vehicle is satisfied, it is controlled not to notify the message, so that the misreport of the message prompting the start of the host vehicle is suppressed. Can do.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of the vehicle start assistance apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the crossing vehicle reflected in the front picked-up image. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the vehicle start assistance apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the conventional problem.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a vehicle start support device 10 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle start assist device 10 of the present embodiment is connected to a front camera 21 disposed in front of the host vehicle, a speaker 22 installed in a room of the host vehicle, and a display 23. Moreover, the vehicle start assistance apparatus 10 of this embodiment is provided with the image acquisition part 1, the inter-vehicle distance calculation part 2, the alerting | reporting process part 3, the head determination part 4, and the stop determination part 5 as the function structure.

  Each of the functional blocks 1 to 5 can be configured by any of hardware, DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and software. For example, when configured by software, each of the functional blocks 1 to 5 is actually configured by including a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc. of a computer, and a program stored in a recording medium such as RAM, ROM, hard disk, or semiconductor memory. Is realized by operating.

  The stop determination unit 5 determines whether or not the host vehicle is stopped. For example, the stop determination unit 5 determines whether or not the host vehicle is stopped based on whether or not the traveling speed information (speedometer information) transmitted via the in-vehicle LAN or the like indicates zero.

  The image acquisition unit 1 acquires a captured image of the front of the host vehicle captured by the front camera 21. The inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 exists in front of the host vehicle by performing a recognition process on the captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1 when the stop determination unit 5 determines that the host vehicle is stopped. The distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is calculated.

  In other words, the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 first recognizes the captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1 when the stop determination unit 5 determines that the host vehicle is stopped, so To detect the preceding vehicle. A known method can be applied to the detection of the preceding vehicle. For example, when the similarity between the shape pattern of the rear part of the vehicle stored in advance and the shape of the object shown in the photographed image is obtained, and there is an object whose similarity is a predetermined threshold or more, the object is the preceding vehicle. It is determined that

  When the preceding vehicle is detected from the captured image in front of the vehicle, the inter-vehicle distance calculating unit 2 calculates the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle using the captured image. Since the information of the installation position and the shooting range of the front camera 21 is known, the distance from the position of the host vehicle (the installation position of the front camera 21) to the preceding vehicle depends on which position in the captured image the preceding vehicle is reflected in. Can be estimated. That is, the distance (number of pixels) on the captured image can be converted into the distance from the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle.

  The notification processing unit 3 determines whether or not the inter-vehicle distance calculated by the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and when it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, a notification that prompts the vehicle to start is notified. To do. This message may be an output such as a buzzer sound for the speaker 22 or may be a display of characters or images on the display 23. Moreover, both may be sufficient.

  As described above, the vehicle start support device 10 according to the present embodiment recognizes that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is equal to or greater than the predetermined value by recognizing the front captured image while the host vehicle is stopped. When detected, a message prompting the start of the host vehicle is notified.

  When the stop determination unit 5 determines that the host vehicle is stopped, the head determination unit 4 recognizes the front captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1 so that the host vehicle is at the head of the intersection. It is determined whether or not the vehicle is stopped. Specifically, the head determination unit 4 recognizes a captured image ahead and determines whether there is another vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a crossing vehicle) traveling in the crossing lane. A part. And the head determination part 4 determines with the own vehicle stopping at the head of an intersection, when the presence of an intersection vehicle is detected by the intersection vehicle determination part.

  Whether or not the moving body shown in the captured image is a crossing vehicle can be determined, for example, by recognizing the tire of the vehicle. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an intersecting vehicle that is reflected in a front captured image. When the own vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection and there is no obstacle ahead of the preceding vehicle, the front camera 21 captures an image as shown in FIG. In this case, the side surface of the tire of the crossing vehicle is shown in the captured image. Therefore, when the side surface of the tire is detected by image recognition, it can be determined that the crossing vehicle is traveling ahead of the host vehicle, and that the host vehicle is stopping at the head of the intersection. The side surface of the tire can be detected by image recognition pattern matching using the shape, color, wheel, and the like of the tire as elements.

  The specific method for determining whether or not the own vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection is not limited to the method for determining the presence of the intersection vehicle. For example, the head determination unit 4 may include a pedestrian crossing determination unit instead of the above-described crossing vehicle determination unit. The pedestrian crossing determination unit determines whether or not there is a pedestrian crossing on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle by recognizing the front captured image. And the head determination part 4 determines with the own vehicle stopping at the head of an intersection, when presence of a pedestrian crossing is detected by the pedestrian crossing determination part.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection and there is no obstacle ahead due to the preceding vehicle, a crossing drawn on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle is shown in the front captured image. The sidewalk is reflected. Therefore, when this pedestrian crossing is detected by image recognition, it can be determined that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection. Note that whether or not there is a pedestrian crossing can be determined, for example, by whether or not white and gray regions appear alternately in the left-right direction in the captured image.

  In the present embodiment, when the head determination unit 4 determines that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection, the notification of the message is not performed. The notification process is stopped by, for example, stopping the process of the notification processing unit 3. Alternatively, the notification process may be stopped by stopping the process of the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2. In other words, the process of the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 may be executed only when the head determination unit 4 determines that the host vehicle is not stopped at the top of the intersection.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the own vehicle 100 is stopped at the head of the intersection, and there is another vehicle 200 that enters the intersection from the right side of the intersection lane and turns right, for example, the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 The other vehicle 200 is erroneously recognized as a preceding vehicle. Moreover, since the other vehicle 200 gradually moves away from the host vehicle 100, it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and is subject to notification processing by the notification processing unit 3. However, even in this case, according to the present embodiment, since the execution of the notification process is forcibly stopped, it is possible to avoid a false report of a message that prompts the vehicle 100 to start.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the vehicle start support device 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above. Note that the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts when shooting with the front camera 21 is started.

  First, the stop determination unit 5 determines whether or not the host vehicle is stopped (step S1). If it is determined that the host vehicle is not stopped, the determination in step S1 is repeated. On the other hand, when the stop determination unit 5 determines that the host vehicle is stopped, the image acquisition unit 1 acquires a front image taken by the front camera 21 (step S2). Next, the head determination unit 4 performs a recognition process on the forward captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1 to determine whether the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection (step S3).

  Here, when it is determined by the head determination unit 4 that the host vehicle is not stopped at the head of the intersection (that is, when the vehicle is stopped at the second vehicle or later), the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 selects the front captured image. By performing the recognition process, the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle existing in front of the host vehicle and the host vehicle is calculated (step S4). And the alerting | reporting process part 3 determines whether the inter-vehicle distance calculated by the inter-vehicle distance calculation part 2 became more than predetermined value (step S5).

  If the inter-vehicle distance is not greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the determination in step S5 is repeated. On the other hand, when it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance has become equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the notification processing unit 3 notifies a message that prompts the vehicle to start (step S6). Thereby, the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is completed.

  In step S3, when the head determination unit 4 determines that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection, the processing of steps S4 to S6 (that is, the processing of the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit 2 and the notification processing unit 3). Is not performed, and the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  As described above in detail, in the present embodiment, when it is detected that the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by recognizing a front captured image while the host vehicle is stopped. In addition, in the vehicle start support device 10 configured to notify a message for prompting the start of the host vehicle, if the host vehicle is confirmed to be stopped at the head of the intersection by the captured image recognition process, the message Notification is not performed.

  According to this embodiment configured as described above, when the own vehicle stops at the head of the intersection and there is no preceding vehicle, the other vehicle turning right and left from the intersection lane is erroneously recognized as the preceding vehicle, When the misrecognized other vehicle gradually moves away from the host vehicle in front of the host vehicle, even if the notification condition of the message for prompting the start of the host vehicle is satisfied, an error message for prompting the start of the host vehicle is generated. Can be deterred.

  In the above embodiment, by performing recognition processing on a captured image in front of the vehicle, it is determined whether the crossing vehicle is traveling in front of the host vehicle or whether there is a pedestrian crossing in front of the host vehicle. Thus, although an example in which it is determined whether or not the own vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the vehicle is stopped at an intersection as a subsequent vehicle following the preceding vehicle, the proportion of the preceding vehicle in the captured image in the front is considerably large, so whether or not the proportion is a predetermined value or more. Accordingly, it may be determined whether or not the own vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the example which determines whether the own vehicle is stopping by whether the traveling speed information transmitted via in-vehicle LAN etc. has shown zero, this invention is It is not limited to this. For example, by recognizing a captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit 1, it is determined whether or not the host vehicle is stopped depending on whether or not a region that does not change for a certain period of time is included in the captured image. May be.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist or the main features thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image acquisition part 2 Inter-vehicle distance calculation part 3 Information processing part 4 Lead determination part 5 Stop determination part

Claims (4)

A message prompting the vehicle to start when it is detected that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by recognizing a forward captured image while the host vehicle is stopped. A vehicle start support device designed to notify,
An image acquisition unit for acquiring a captured image in front of the vehicle;
An inter-vehicle distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle existing in front of the host vehicle by recognizing the captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit while the host vehicle is stopped. When,
A notification processing unit that determines whether the distance calculated by the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and that notifies the message when it is determined that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined value;
A head determination unit that determines whether the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection by recognizing the front captured image;
The vehicle start support device, wherein the message is not notified when the host determination unit determines that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection. The head determination unit recognizes the front captured image to determine whether or not there is an intersecting vehicle that is another vehicle traveling in a crossing lane that is a lane that intersects the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling. An intersection vehicle determination unit for determining whether
2. The vehicle start support device according to claim 1, wherein when the presence of the crossing vehicle is detected by the crossing vehicle determination unit, it is determined that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection. The head determination unit includes a pedestrian crossing determination unit that determines whether or not there is a pedestrian crossing on the road surface ahead of the host vehicle by recognizing the front captured image.
2. The vehicle start support device according to claim 1, wherein when the presence of the pedestrian crossing is detected by the pedestrian crossing determination unit, it is determined that the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection. A message prompting the vehicle to start when it is detected that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined value by recognizing a forward captured image while the host vehicle is stopped. A start notification method designed to notify,
A first determination unit of the vehicle start support device recognizes the front captured image while the host vehicle is stopped, thereby determining whether the host vehicle is stopped at the head of the intersection. Steps,
The inter-vehicle distance calculation unit of the vehicle start support device recognizes the front captured image when the head determination unit determines that the host vehicle is not stopped at the head of the intersection. A second step of calculating a distance between the preceding vehicle existing in front of the host vehicle and the host vehicle;
The notification processing unit of the vehicle start support device determines whether the distance calculated by the inter-vehicle distance calculation unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and notifies the message when it is determined that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. A third step,
The start notification method, wherein the notification of the message is not performed when the host determination unit determines that the host vehicle is stopped at the start of the intersection in the first step.

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