JP2016049830A - Preceding vehicle start notification device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a preceding vehicle start notification device which can reduce a possibility that a driver feels irritation related to the notification of a start of a preceding vehicle.SOLUTION: In the case that a succeeding vehicle exists within a prescribed distance of a rear side with respect to a vehicle during a stop of the vehicle (own vehicle), when a reference time elapses after a start of a preceding vehicle, preceding vehicle start notification by an output of a notification sound from a buzzer is performed. On the other hand, in the case that the succeeding vehicle does not exists within the prescribed distance of the rear side of the vehicle, a time after the start of the preceding vehicle up to the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification is set at a time which is obtained by adding a delay time Td to a reference time Tw. By this constitution, the preceding vehicle start notification is performed with a delay of the delay time Td rather than a normal time (in the case that the succeeding vehicle exists within the prescribed distance of the rear side with respect to the vehicle) with respect to the preceding vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a preceding vehicle start notification device for notifying that a preceding vehicle that has stopped in front of a parked vehicle has started.

  For example, while stopping due to waiting straight ahead before the intersection, the driver does not notice that the preceding vehicle that has stopped ahead has started, and after the start of the preceding vehicle, the driver of the following vehicle May cause a horn to sound. In this case, the driver who notices the start of the preceding vehicle in the horn may hit the vehicle to start, and such a start is not preferable in terms of traffic safety. In addition, troubles over the horn may occur between the driver of the vehicle and the driver of the following vehicle.

  Therefore, the vehicle is equipped with an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle, and when the inter-vehicle distance increases with the preceding vehicle while the vehicle is stopped, the start of the preceding vehicle is notified (alarm is output). A configuration is proposed.

JP 2001-277967 A

  The timing of notifying the start of the preceding vehicle is after the timing when the driver who notices the start immediately after starting the preceding vehicle starts the vehicle and before the timing when the driver of the following vehicle rings the horn. It is desirable. If the driver is aware of the start of the preceding vehicle but is notified of the start of the preceding vehicle, the notification may cause the driver to feel frustrated. On the other hand, even if the preceding vehicle has started, the driver may feel frustrated even if the driver is not notified of the start and a horn is sounded by the driver of the following vehicle.

  However, the time from the start of the preceding vehicle until the driver who noticed the start of the preceding vehicle immediately starts the vehicle (own vehicle) and the time from the start of the preceding vehicle until the driver of the succeeding vehicle rings the horn. There are individual differences among drivers. Therefore, it is not always possible to notify the start of the preceding vehicle at a desirable timing.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a preceding vehicle start notification device that can reduce the possibility of making the driver feel offended regarding the notification of the start of the preceding vehicle.

  In order to achieve the above object, a preceding vehicle start notification device according to the present invention includes distance detection means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance between a host vehicle and a preceding vehicle ahead of the host vehicle, and a rear side of the host vehicle. Subsequent vehicle detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a following vehicle within a predetermined distance, determination means for determining whether or not the inter-vehicle distance detected by the distance detection means while the host vehicle is stopped has increased by a predetermined amount or more, and determination In response to a lapse of a predetermined time since it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance has increased beyond a predetermined amount by the means, a following vehicle is detected by a notification means for executing a predetermined preceding vehicle start notification and a subsequent vehicle detection means. And a suppression means for suppressing execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification means.

  According to this configuration, when the preceding vehicle stopped in front of the own vehicle starts while the own vehicle is stopped, the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle increases. When a predetermined time elapses after the increase amount of the inter-vehicle distance reaches a predetermined amount, a preceding vehicle start notification is executed. Thereby, when the driver of the vehicle (own vehicle) is not aware of the start of the preceding vehicle, the driver can be made aware of the start of the preceding vehicle. As a result, when the driver starts his / her own vehicle, it is possible to suppress the horn from being squeezed by the driver of the following vehicle, and to reduce the possibility that the driver feels offended.

  When there is no subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the host vehicle, even if the driver of the vehicle does not notice the start of the preceding vehicle, the driver of the subsequent vehicle does not make a horn. Therefore, when there is no subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the host vehicle, execution of the preceding vehicle start notification is suppressed. As a result, it is possible to reduce the possibility that execution of the preceding vehicle start notification will make the driver feel offended.

  Therefore, it is possible to reduce the possibility of making the driver feel angry about the notification of the start of the preceding vehicle.

  The suppression means is a predetermined time from when the increase amount of the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle reaches a predetermined amount until the preceding vehicle start notification is executed when the subsequent vehicle is not detected by the subsequent vehicle detection means. , The execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification means may be suppressed. In this case, the preceding vehicle start notification is executed later than usual (when the succeeding vehicle exists within a predetermined distance behind the host vehicle) with respect to the start of the preceding vehicle.

  In addition, the suppression unit may prohibit the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification unit when the subsequent vehicle is not detected by the subsequent vehicle detection unit. In other words, the suppression means suppresses the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification means indefinitely only until the vehicle (own vehicle) starts when the subsequent vehicle is not detected by the subsequent vehicle detection means. Good. In this case, the preceding vehicle start notification is not executed.

  For example, it is assumed that a front vehicle (preceding vehicle) starts after the own vehicle stops behind a parked vehicle at a parking lot or a roadside.

  Under this assumption, in the configuration in which the preceding vehicle start notification is executed later than usual, the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification can be prevented from making the driver feel annoyed for some time after the start of the preceding vehicle. Thus, it is possible to prevent the driver who has noticed the start of the preceding vehicle from feeling uncomfortable due to the fact that the preceding vehicle start notification is not executed, or to raise a suspicion that the failure to execute the preceding vehicle start notification is a failure. Further, by executing the preceding vehicle start notification, it is possible to notify the driver that a parking space has occurred in front of the space where the host vehicle is stopped.

  On the other hand, in the configuration in which the preceding vehicle start notification is not executed, the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification can prevent the driver from getting frustrated.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the possibility of making the driver feel angry about the notification of the start of the preceding vehicle.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the preceding vehicle start notification apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a preceding vehicle start notification execution process. Graph showing each statistic from the start of the preceding car to the time when the driver who noticed the start of the preceding car starts immediately after starting the vehicle and the time from the start of the preceding car until the driver of the following car rings the horn It is. It is a figure which shows the condition where the preceding vehicle stopped in front of the parked vehicle is started in the parking lot. It is a figure which shows the condition where the preceding vehicle stopped in front of the parked vehicle is started on the shoulder of the road.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a preceding vehicle start notification device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The preceding vehicle start notification device 1 is a device that is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile and notifies that a preceding vehicle that has stopped in front of the vehicle (own vehicle) has started. The preceding vehicle start notification device 1 includes, for example, an ECU (electronic control unit) 2 having a configuration including a CPU and a memory.

  The ECU 2 includes a vehicle speed sensor 3 for detecting the vehicle speed of the vehicle, a preceding vehicle detection sensor 4 for detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle ahead of the vehicle, and within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle. Is connected to a subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5 for detecting the presence or absence of the following vehicle. The vehicle speed sensor 3, the preceding vehicle detection sensor 4, and the subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5 are arranged in the vehicle.

  The vehicle speed sensor 3 includes, for example, a rotor made of a magnetic body that rotates as the vehicle travels, and an electromagnetic pickup that is provided in non-contact with the rotor.

  As the preceding vehicle detection sensor 4 and the subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5, for example, a laser radar, a millimeter wave radar, an ultrasonic sensor, a monocular camera, or a stereo camera can be employed. In this embodiment, as an example, a laser radar is employed for the preceding vehicle detection sensor 4 and an ultrasonic sensor is employed for the subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5.

  Moreover, the alarm device 6 is connected to ECU2 as a control object. The alarm device 6 is composed of, for example, a buzzer that outputs a notification sound (electronic sound).

  The ECU 2 controls the output of the notification sound from the notification device 6 based on signals input from the vehicle speed sensor 3, the preceding vehicle detection sensor 4 and the subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of the preceding vehicle start notification execution process. FIG. 3 shows the time T1 from the start of the preceding vehicle until the driver who notices the start of the preceding vehicle immediately after starting the vehicle (own vehicle) and the start of the preceding vehicle until the driver of the succeeding vehicle rings a horn. It is a graph showing each statistic with time T2.

  The preceding vehicle start notification execution process is repeatedly executed by the ECU 2 at a constant cycle.

  In the preceding vehicle start notification execution process, it is first determined whether or not the vehicle is stopped (step S1).

  When the vehicle is not stopped (NO in step S1), various data (inter-vehicle distance and elapsed time T, which will be described later) stored during the preceding vehicle start notification execution processing are reset (erased) from the memory of the ECU 2 ( Step S11), the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is terminated.

  When the vehicle is stopped (YES in step S21), the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle is detected based on the signal output from the preceding vehicle detection sensor 4 (step S2). The inter-vehicle distance detected for the first time after the vehicle stops is held in the memory of the ECU 2 until it is determined that the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is newly executed and the vehicle is not stopped. Further, when the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is repeated while the vehicle is stopped and the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle is newly detected, the newly detected inter-vehicle distance is updated in the memory of the ECU 2. Saved.

  When the vehicle is stopped, the presence / absence of a subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle is detected based on a signal output from the subsequent vehicle detection sensor 5 (step S3).

  And when the following vehicle exists in the back predetermined distance with respect to a vehicle (YES of step S4), when the preceding vehicle starts, the alerting | reporting sound for alert | reporting the start from the alerting device 6 is sent. A reference time Tw (for example, 1 second) is set as a time for defining the output timing (hereinafter simply referred to as “notification timing”) (step S5).

  If the driver who notices the start immediately after the start of the preceding vehicle starts the vehicle (own vehicle) and the vehicle is not started after the start of the preceding vehicle, the driver of the subsequent vehicle sounds a horn It is preferable that a notification sound for notifying the start of the preceding vehicle is output from the notification device 6 before the timing. In consideration of this, as shown in FIG. 3, the elapsed time from the start of the preceding vehicle is taken on the horizontal axis, and the driver who noticed the start of the preceding vehicle immediately after the start of the preceding vehicle starts the vehicle. The intersection between the graph representing the statistics of the time T1 and the graph representing the statistics of the time T2 from the start of the preceding vehicle until the driver of the subsequent vehicle rings when the vehicle is not started after the start of the preceding vehicle is obtained. The horizontal axis coordinate of the intersection is set as the reference time Tw.

  Note that the reference time Tw may be the start time of the time T2 (the horizontal axis coordinate at the rise time of the graph representing the statistics of the time T2).

  On the other hand, when there is no subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle (NO in step S4), the time for defining the notification timing is set as a delay time Td ( For example, the time added for 2 to 4 seconds is set (step S6).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the delay time Td is determined such that the time (Tw + Td) obtained by adding the delay time Td to the reference time Tw is larger than the statistical maximum value of the time T1.

  Thus, after the notification timing according to the presence or absence of the following vehicle is set, it is determined whether or not the preceding vehicle has started (step S7). For example, the first detected inter-vehicle distance after the vehicle stops and the most recently detected inter-vehicle distance are compared, and the increase amount of the most recently detected inter-vehicle distance with respect to the first detected inter-vehicle distance after the vehicle stops is a predetermined amount. When it is (for example, 3 m) or more, it is determined that the preceding vehicle has started, and when the increase amount is less than the predetermined amount, it is determined that the preceding vehicle has not started. Therefore, the determination as to whether or not the preceding vehicle has started is equivalent to the determination as to whether or not the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle has increased beyond a predetermined amount after the vehicle has stopped.

  When it is determined that the preceding vehicle has not started (NO in step S7), the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is terminated.

  When it is determined that the preceding vehicle has started (YES in step S7), an elapsed time T thereafter is measured (step S8). The elapsed time T is updated and stored in the memory of the ECU 2.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time T from the start of the preceding vehicle has reached the time that defines the notification timing (step S9). That is, when there is a subsequent vehicle, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time T from the start of the preceding vehicle has reached the reference time Tw. It is determined whether or not the time T has reached a time obtained by adding the delay time Td to the reference time Tw.

  If the elapsed time T has not reached the time for defining the notification timing (NO in step S9), the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is terminated.

  When the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is repeatedly executed while the vehicle is stopped, and the elapsed time T from the start of the preceding vehicle reaches the time that defines the notification timing (YES in step S9), the notification device 6 notifies the user. By outputting the sound, the start of the preceding vehicle is notified (step S10), and the preceding vehicle start notification execution process is terminated.

  As described above, when there is a succeeding vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle (own vehicle), the reference time Tw after the preceding vehicle starts (after the increase in the inter-vehicle distance reaches the predetermined amount). Is passed, the preceding vehicle start notification by the output of the notification sound from the notification device 6 is executed. Thereby, when the driver of the vehicle is not aware of the start of the preceding vehicle, the driver can be made aware of the start of the preceding vehicle. As a result, when the driver starts the vehicle, it is possible to suppress the horn from being squeezed by the driver of the following vehicle, and to reduce the possibility that the driver feels offended.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, after a vehicle (own vehicle) is stopped in a parking space behind a parked vehicle (preceding vehicle), a preceding vehicle is started from the parking space in front of the parked vehicle. There is a case. Also, as shown in FIG. 5, when the vehicle (preceding vehicle) is stopped on the shoulder of the road, and the preceding vehicle is started after the vehicle (own vehicle) is stopped behind the preceding vehicle There is. In these cases, there is often no other vehicle (following vehicle) within a predetermined distance behind the host vehicle.

  When there is no subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle, the driver of the subsequent vehicle does not sound a horn even if the driver of the vehicle does not notice the start of the preceding vehicle. Therefore, when there is no subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle, execution of the preceding vehicle start notification is suppressed. Specifically, when there is no following vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle, the time from when the preceding vehicle starts until the preceding vehicle start notification is executed is added to the reference time Tw and the delay time Td. Set to In this case, the preceding vehicle start notification is executed with a delay time Td later than usual (when a subsequent vehicle exists within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle) with respect to the start of the preceding vehicle.

  Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the driver from feeling annoyed by executing the preceding vehicle start notification until the time obtained by adding the delay time Td to the reference time Tw elapses from the start of the preceding vehicle. Then, when the time obtained by adding the delay time Td to the reference time Tw elapses from the start of the preceding vehicle, the preceding vehicle start notification is executed, so that the driver who notices the start of the preceding vehicle is not executed. It is possible to suppress a sense of incongruity due to the fact that the vehicle is not in trouble and that the failure to execute the preceding vehicle start notification is caused. Further, in the situation shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to notify the driver that the parking space ahead of the parking space where the vehicle is stopped is vacant by executing the preceding vehicle start notification.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can also be implemented with another form.

  For example, the delay time Td may be fixed, or may be variably set to a time desired by the driver. In the case of a configuration in which the delay time Td is variably set, for example, the delay time Td may be changed (customized) by a vehicle dealer, or the delay time Td is changed on a display device arranged on a vehicle meter panel or the like. May be.

  The delay time Td may be set to infinity. That is, when there is no following vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle, the delay time Td is set to infinity until the vehicle is reset in response to the start of the vehicle (step S10 in FIG. 2). However, the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification may be prohibited (infinitely suppressed). In this case, the execution of the preceding vehicle start notification can be prevented from making the driver feel annoyed.

  Not only the method of setting the delay time Td to infinity, but when the following vehicle does not exist within a predetermined distance behind the vehicle, the output of the notification sound by the notification device 6 is prohibited, so that the preceding vehicle starts. Notification may be prohibited.

  Moreover, although the buzzer was employ | adopted for the alerting | reporting device 6 and the structure which the advance vehicle start alerting | reporting is performed by the output of the alerting sound from the alerting | reporting device 6 was taken up, the alerting | reporting device 6 is not restricted to a buzzer but the driver's seat of a vehicle Or a device that performs a preceding vehicle start notification (haptic notification) by applying vibration to the steering wheel, or a device that performs a preceding vehicle start notification by light emission or display.

  In addition, various design changes can be made to the above-described configuration within the scope of the matters described in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Prior vehicle start notification apparatus 2 ECU (distance detection means, subsequent vehicle detection means, determination means, notification means, suppression means)
4 Leading vehicle detection sensor (distance detection means)
5 Subsequent vehicle detection sensor (following vehicle detection means)
6 Alarm (notification means)
T Elapsed time (predetermined time)

Claims (3)

Distance detecting means for detecting a distance between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle ahead of the own vehicle;
Subsequent vehicle detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a subsequent vehicle within a predetermined distance behind the host vehicle;
Determining means for determining whether or not the inter-vehicle distance detected by the distance detecting means has increased by a predetermined amount or more while the host vehicle is stopped;
Informing means for executing a predetermined preceding vehicle start notification in response to elapse of a predetermined time since it was determined by the determining means that the inter-vehicle distance has increased beyond the predetermined amount;
A preceding vehicle start notification device, comprising: suppression means for suppressing execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification means when a subsequent vehicle is not detected by the subsequent vehicle detection means.   The said suppression means suppresses execution of the said preceding vehicle start alerting | reporting by the said alerting | reporting means by increasing the said predetermined time, when the following vehicle is not detected by the said succeeding vehicle detection means. The preceding vehicle start notification device.   2. The preceding vehicle start notification device according to claim 1, wherein the suppression unit prohibits execution of the preceding vehicle start notification by the notification unit when a subsequent vehicle is not detected by the subsequent vehicle detection unit.

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