JP2016192028A - Automatic travel control device and automatic travel control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique that lets an automatic travel vehicle run as much as possible even if it is not possible to obtain part of a plurality of pieces of position estimation information to estimate the current position of the automatic travel vehicle.SOLUTION: If position acquisition means (S408) cannot obtain part of a plurality of pieces of position estimation information to estimate the current position of an automatic travel vehicle, it obtains the current position estimated based on obtainable remaining position estimation information. Determination result acquisition means (S410) acquires a determination result about whether the action of the automatic travel vehicle will be continued or changed determined according to an elapsed time from the time when the part of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information became unobtainable. If the part of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information cannot be obtained, automatic travel control means (S422, S426) controls the automatic travel of the automatic travel vehicle on the basis of control information including the current position estimated based on the obtainable remaining position estimation information and the determination result obtained by the determination result acquisition means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling an autonomous vehicle that automatically travels along a route.

  In recent years, automatic driving by vehicles has attracted attention. Patent Document 1 discloses a notification that prompts a driver to cancel automatic driving when the detection accuracy of a detection unit that acquires at least one of a vehicle traveling state, a vehicle surrounding environment, and a driver state does not satisfy a predetermined criterion. Techniques for performing are disclosed. When the driver does not cancel the automatic traveling, the automatic traveling vehicle is guided to a safety point calculated in advance and stops.

JP 2014-106854 A

  In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the detection accuracy of the detection means does not satisfy a predetermined standard, the driver cancels automatic driving and performs manual driving, or when the driver does not cancel automatic driving, the calculation is performed in advance. Regardless of whether the automatic traveling vehicle is stopped at the safety point, the automatic traveling vehicle is immediately determined to stop.

  However, the detection accuracy of the detection means may be restored even if it temporarily decreases. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not consider recovering from a state in which the detection accuracy is lowered.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and there is provided a technique for causing an autonomous traveling vehicle to travel as much as possible even when a part of a plurality of pieces of position estimation information for estimating the current position of the autonomous traveling vehicle cannot be acquired. The purpose is to provide.

  An automatic travel control device of the present invention is an automatic travel control device mounted on an automatic travel vehicle that automatically travels along a route to a destination, and includes a position acquisition means, a determination result acquisition means, and an automatic travel control means. And.

  A position acquisition means acquires the present position estimated based on the remaining position estimation information which can be acquired, when some of several position estimation information for estimating the present position of an autonomous vehicle cannot be acquired.

  The determination result acquisition means acquires a determination result as to whether to continue or change the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle, which is determined according to an elapsed time after a part of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information cannot be acquired.

  Control information including the current position estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired and the determination result acquired by the determination result acquisition means when the automatic traveling control means cannot acquire a part of the plurality of position estimation information The automatic traveling of the automatic traveling vehicle is controlled based on the above.

According to this configuration, even if some of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information for estimating the current position of the autonomous traveling vehicle cannot be acquired, the current position estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired, and the automatic The automatic traveling vehicle is controlled based on control information including a determination result of whether to continue or change the behavior of the traveling vehicle.

  Judgment results are determined according to the elapsed time since some of the multiple pieces of position estimation information can no longer be acquired. Instead, the automatic traveling vehicle can travel as much as possible during the determination result of continuing the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis described in the claim shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later as one aspect, Comprising: The technical scope of this invention is limited is not.

The block diagram which shows an automatic traveling control system. Explanatory drawing which shows the automatic driving | running | working by a control center and an autonomous vehicle. The flowchart which shows the automatic travel control process by an automatic travel vehicle. Explanatory drawing which shows the provision state of the position estimation information from another vehicle. Explanatory drawing which shows the alerting | reporting content at the time of GPS information disruption. Explanatory drawing which shows the automatic traveling vehicle stopped according to the instruction | indication of a control center. The time chart which shows the time change of a self-position estimation error. The time chart which shows the change of the self-position estimation error when GPS information recovers. The time chart which shows the setting of the threshold value of the self-position estimation error according to the road width. The time chart which shows the self-position estimation error which changes according to the presence or absence of a white line. Explanatory drawing which shows the automatic traveling vehicle which stops in front of a stop prohibition area. The time chart which shows the setting of the threshold value of the self-position estimation error when an autonomous vehicle stops before the stop prohibition area. Explanatory drawing which shows the automatic traveling vehicle which carries out an emergency stop in the stop prohibition area. Explanatory drawing which shows switching from automatic driving | running | working to manual operation. The flowchart which shows the automatic travel control processing by a control center. Explanatory drawing which shows that a some vehicle stops according to the instruction | indication from a control center. Explanatory drawing which shows a GPS disruption area.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[1. Constitution]
As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 includes an automatic traveling control device 20, a periphery monitoring unit 40, a satellite information acquisition unit 60, a vehicle state detection unit 70, a communication unit 80, an occupant monitoring unit 90, an occupant input unit 92, And a map information management unit 94.

The automatic travel control system 2 includes an automatic travel control device 20, a control center 100, a center management vehicle 120, and a smart infrastructure 130.
The automatic traveling control device 20 is an in-vehicle device mounted on the automatic traveling vehicle 10. The automatic travel control device 20 is a known computer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The automatic travel control device 20 executes processing to be described later by a program stored in the ROM.

The automatic travel control device 20 functionally includes a vehicle information control unit 22, a self-position estimation unit 24, a relative position estimation unit 26, an automatic travel control unit 28, a vehicle control unit 30, and a notification unit 32.
The vehicle information supervision unit 22 provides position estimation information for estimating the current position of the automated traveling vehicle 10 from the periphery monitoring unit 40, the satellite information acquisition unit 60, the vehicle state detection unit 70, the communication unit, and the occupant monitoring unit 90. The vehicle information related to the automatic traveling vehicle 10 is acquired and managed. The vehicle information supervision unit 22 provides necessary information to the self-position estimation unit 24, the relative position estimation unit 26, and the automatic travel control unit 28, respectively.

  For example, in the position estimation information, the vehicle information management unit 22 notifies the automatic travel control unit 28 that the GPS information has been interrupted when the GPS sensor 62 described later cannot acquire GPS information as a positioning signal. Moreover, the vehicle information supervision part 22 acquires the number of persons riding on the automatic traveling vehicle 10 and the possession state of the driver's license as vehicle information before starting automatic traveling.

  The self-position estimation unit 24 estimates the absolute position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 as absolute coordinates of latitude and longitude based on the dynamic map managed by the map information management unit 94 and the position estimation information managed by the vehicle information management unit 22. To do.

  The relative position estimation unit 26 is based on the dynamic map managed by the map information management unit 94 and the position estimation information managed by the vehicle information management unit 22, and the relative coordinates of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 with respect to objects around the automatic traveling vehicle 10. Is estimated.

  When automatic traveling is instructed from the occupant input unit 92, the automatic traveling control unit 28 manages the dynamic map managed by the map information management unit 94, the absolute position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 acquired from the self-position estimating unit 24, the vehicle The route instructed from the control center 100 is based on the driving state information of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 and the absolute position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 acquired from the relative position estimation unit 26 among the vehicle information managed by the information control unit 22. Along with this, the vehicle control unit 30 is automatically driven at an appropriate vehicle speed.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 automatically travels to the destination 202 on the route 200 transmitted from the control center 100 by the automatic traveling control unit 28. During the automatic traveling control, the automatic traveling control unit 28 periodically transmits the position information of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 to the control center 100 using the center communication device 84. The control center 100 stores the position information in a database (not shown).

  Since the automatic traveling control method is a known method, detailed description thereof is omitted. During the automatic travel control, the automatic travel control unit 28 periodically acquires the current position of the automatic travel vehicle 10 from the self-position estimation unit 24 and maintains the position of the automatic travel vehicle 10 on the route 200. 10 is controlled.

  Further, the automatic travel control unit 28 recognizes an obstacle that may come into contact with the automatic travel vehicle 10 if the vehicle continues to travel based on the surrounding environment information detected by the periphery monitoring unit 40 described later during the automatic travel control. To do. When such an obstacle exists, the automatic traveling control unit 28 performs a course change by deceleration, stopping, steering, and the like in order to avoid contact with the obstacle.

  When there is an input operation to the occupant input unit 92 during the automatic travel control, the automatic travel control unit 28 operates the automatic travel vehicle 10 according to the input operation. The operation of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 includes a temporary stop, a start after the temporary stop, a change of destination, and the like.

The automatic traveling control unit 28 causes the notification unit 32 to notify when an abnormality that prevents automatic traveling occurs, such as when GPS information is interrupted.
The automatic travel control unit 28 communicates with the control center 100, the center management vehicle 120, and the smart infrastructure 130 using the communication unit 80.

The vehicle control unit 30 controls acceleration, deceleration, stopping, and steering of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 based on an instruction from the automatic traveling control unit 28, and causes the automatic traveling vehicle 10 to automatically travel along the route 200.

The notification unit 32 includes a display, a speaker, an indicator lamp, and the like.
The periphery monitoring unit 40 includes a camera 42, a LIDAR (Laser Detection and Ranging) 44, a millimeter wave radar 46, a sonar 48, a magnetic sensor 50, and the like. The surroundings monitoring unit 40 uses these sensors to monitor vehicles around the automated traveling vehicle 10, objects such as people and obstacles, roads on which the automated traveling vehicle 10 is traveling, and the like to detect the surrounding environment.

  As the surrounding environment information, for example, the presence / absence of an object in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle 10, the distance from the autonomous vehicle 10 to the object, the orientation of the object with reference to the autonomous vehicle 10, the presence / absence of a white line on the traveling road, the road surface State etc. are mentioned.

  As a positioning satellite, the satellite information acquisition unit 60 detects the current position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 based on the latitude and longitude based on a positioning signal received by the GPS sensor 62 from the GPS satellite 110 shown in FIG. 2, for example.

  The vehicle state detection unit 70 includes an acceleration sensor 72, a wheel speed sensor 74, a steering angle sensor 76, and the like. The vehicle state detection unit 70 detects the traveling state of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 using these sensors.

  The communication unit 80 includes a V2X (Vehicle to X) communication device 82 and a center communication device 84. The V2X communication device 82 communicates with a center management vehicle 120 managed by the control center 100 and a smart infrastructure 130 such as a roadside device. The center communication device 84 communicates with the control center 100.

  The occupant monitoring unit 90 monitors the movement of an occupant including a driver with an indoor camera or the like. The occupant input unit 92 receives an occupant input operation and generates an input signal corresponding to the input operation. The occupant input unit 92 can be configured with, for example, a push button switch, a touch panel, a keyboard, a voice input device, and the like.

  The map information management unit 94 stores a dynamic map. Dynamic map is digital map information that is integrated by adding road environment information such as road surface condition, construction location, accident occurrence location, position and speed of other vehicles around the host vehicle to map information showing road alignment. Yes, updated as the surrounding environment changes.

  The control center 100 is a center type device that controls the automatic traveling of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 within a specific area. The control center 100 includes a communication device 102, an information control unit 104, and a vehicle management unit 106.

  The information management unit 104 communicates with the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the center management vehicle 120, and the smart infrastructure 130 using the communication device 102, and manages various information including automatic traveling.

  The vehicle management unit 106 determines the current position, the destination, the number of people on the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the possession status of the driver's license, the movement from the automatic traveling vehicle 10 managed by the control center 100 before starting automatic traveling. A travel plan including the purpose, the vehicle ID of the autonomous vehicle 10 and the like is received, a route from the current position to the destination is generated and transmitted to the autonomous vehicle 10. In addition, the control center 100 instructs the automatic traveling vehicle 10 and the center management vehicle 120 managed by the control center 100 to decelerate, stop, and change the route during traveling.

  In addition, although not shown, the control center 100 stores a map information management unit that stores a dynamic map in the same manner as the autonomous vehicle 10, and information that periodically associates the position information of each vehicle with the vehicle ID. Database.

  The center management vehicle 120 communicates with the autonomous vehicle 10, the control center 100, and the smart infrastructure 130 using the communication device 122. The center management vehicle 120 is an automatic traveling vehicle or a vehicle that does not have an automatic traveling function but communicates with the control center 100 using the communication device 122.

  The smart infrastructure 130 is a device installed at a predetermined location on the road side, and includes a communication device 132 and an environment information detection unit 134. The smart infrastructure 130 communicates with the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the control center 100, and the center management vehicle 120 using the communication device 132.

The environmental information detection unit 134 detects environmental information around the smart infrastructure 130 using a sensor such as a camera (not shown) installed in the smart infrastructure 130.
[2. processing]
(1) Processing executed by the automatic travel control device 20 The automatic travel control processing executed by the automatic travel control device 20 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. The automatic travel control process is executed at predetermined time intervals.

In S400, the automatic travel control device 20 communicates with the control center 100, the center management vehicle 120, and the smart infrastructure 130 to transmit and receive information as shown in FIG.
For example, the automatic travel control device 20 acquires the absolute position of the center management vehicle 120 behind the host vehicle or the relative position with respect to the automatic travel vehicle 10 indirectly from the control center 100 or the smart infrastructure 130. Further, the automatic travel control device 20 acquires the absolute position of the center management vehicle 120 or the relative position with respect to the automatic travel vehicle 10 directly from the center management vehicle 120 behind the host vehicle. Further, the automatic travel control device 20 acquires the relative position of the center management vehicle 120 behind the host vehicle from the periphery monitoring unit 40.

  Further, the automatic travel control device 20 informs the control center 100 at the start of automatic operation whether or not there is an occupant of the automatic travel vehicle 10 and whether or not an occupant capable of driving the automatic travel vehicle 10 is in the vehicle. Send.

  The center management vehicle 120 periodically transmits the absolute position of the own vehicle and the relative position of the own vehicle with respect to the automatic traveling vehicle 10 to the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the control center 100, and the smart infrastructure 130 by communication.

  When the GPS sensor 62 can receive a positioning signal from the GPS satellite 110 as GPS information during automatic traveling (S402: No), the automatic traveling control device 20 acquires the GPS information and the surrounding environment information acquired from the surrounding monitoring unit 40. Then, the current position of the host vehicle is estimated based on the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle state detection unit 70 and the relative position of the host vehicle with respect to the other vehicle acquired from the communication unit 80 (S404).

Furthermore, the automatic travel control device 20 updates the error of the current position by performing mapping together with the map information of the dynamic map (S404), and proceeds to S400.
When the GPS sensor 62 cannot receive a positioning signal from the GPS satellite 110 during the automatic traveling and the GPS information is interrupted (S402: Yes), the automatic traveling control device 20 indicates that the GPS information is disrupted, “GPS abnormality”, FIG. As shown in FIG.
06). Furthermore, the automatic travel control device 20 may notify the interruption of GPS information by voice. Furthermore, you may alert | report the interruption | disconnection of GPS information to other vehicles around the own vehicle by an indicator lamp.

  When the GPS information is interrupted, the automatic travel control device 20 uses the surrounding environment information acquired from the periphery monitoring unit 40, the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle state detection unit 70, and the communication unit as remaining position estimation information other than the GPS information. The self position is estimated based on information acquired from the substitute means of the GPS sensor 62, such as the relative position of the own vehicle with respect to the other vehicle acquired from 80, and automatic traveling is continued as shown in FIG. 6 (S408).

  For example, the automatic travel control device 20 acquires the rotation angle of the wheel from the wheel speed sensor 74 and estimates the amount of change in the position of the host vehicle and the amount of change in the vehicle angle. The vehicle angle can be estimated from the angle difference between the left and right wheels. The vehicle angle may be estimated from a yaw rate sensor or the like.

In addition, the automatic travel control device 20 performs mapping between the image data or the three-dimensional point group captured by the camera 42 and the map information of the dynamic map, and estimates the position of the host vehicle.
Further, the automatic travel control device 20 may acquire the acceleration of the host vehicle from the acceleration sensor 72 and use the travel distance estimated by double integration of the acceleration for estimation of the position of the host vehicle.

Further, the automatic travel control device 20 may estimate the position of the host vehicle based on the absolute position of the center management vehicle 120 acquired in S400 and the relative position with respect to the automatic travel vehicle 10.
When GPS information is acquired, the self-position estimation error is constant as shown in FIG. When the GPS information is interrupted and the self-position is estimated based on information acquired from the periphery monitoring unit 40 and the vehicle state detection unit 70, the self-position estimation error is integrated and increased according to the elapsed time after the GPS information is interrupted. To do.

  If the automatic traveling is continued with the GPS information interrupted, as shown in FIG. 8, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 can escape from the shade behind the GPS satellite 110 and acquire the GPS information normally. GPS information may be restored.

  In the state in which the GPS information is interrupted for the first time in FIG. 8, the self-position is estimated based on the information of the vehicle state detection unit 70 such as the wheel speed sensor 74, and therefore, according to the elapsed time until the GPS information is restored. Self-position estimation error has increased. In the state where the GPS information is interrupted for the second time in FIG. 8, the self-position estimation error is almost changed until the GPS information is restored because the self-position is estimated based on the information of the peripheral monitoring unit 40 such as a camera from the middle. It is constant without.

  After execution of S408, the automatic travel control device 20 determines whether or not the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold value 1 (S410). Based on this determination, the automatic travel control device 20 determines whether to continue or change the behavior of the host vehicle.

  When the self-position estimation error is equal to or less than the threshold value 1 (S410: No), the automatic travel control device 20 determines whether or not the self-position estimation error may exceed the threshold value 1 in the stop prohibition section ahead of the traveling direction of the host vehicle. Is determined (S412). If the self-position estimation error is less than or equal to the threshold value 1, the threshold 1 can continue the automatic running based on the estimated self-position, and the automatic running can continue based on the self-position estimated that the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold 1. This is a dangerous value.

The running risk error represented by the threshold value 1 may be constant as shown in FIG. 7 or may be set variably by the automatic travel control device 20 in accordance with the width of the road on which the automatic travel vehicle 10 travels. Good. Since roads with wider roads are safer than roads with narrower roads, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the driving risk error when driving on roads with wider roads is larger than when driving on roads with narrower roads. May be.

  As a result, the road that has a wider road exceeds the travel risk error and the elapsed time until the autonomous traveling vehicle 10 is stopped becomes longer. The possibility that information will be recovered is increased.

  Even if the GPS information is interrupted, for example, when acquiring the white line information of the road on which the autonomous traveling vehicle 10 is traveling from the camera 42 and estimating the self-position based on the white line information, as shown in FIG. Although the self-position estimation error increases as compared with the case where the GPS information can be acquired, it hardly changes regardless of the elapsed time after the GPS information is interrupted.

  When the white line of the road stops, the self-position estimation error increases again. For example, by acquiring surrounding environment information such as a specific building around the own vehicle from the camera 42 and performing mapping together with the map information of the dynamic map, Although the self-position estimation error increases as compared with the case where white line information can be acquired, the self-position estimation error hardly changes regardless of the elapsed time after the GPS information is interrupted.

  If the current threshold value 1 remains unchanged and the vehicle is stopped after the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold value 1, the host vehicle may stop in the stop-prohibited section as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIGS. In the case (S412: Yes), the automatic travel control device 20 decreases the threshold value 1 (S414). Thereby, since the timing which starts a stop becomes early, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 can stop before the stop prohibition area. The amount of decrease in the threshold value 1 is set based on, for example, the distance from the automatic traveling vehicle 10 to the stop prohibited section and the vehicle speed of the automatic traveling vehicle 10.

  When there is no possibility that the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold value 1 in the stop prohibition section (S412: No), the automatic travel control device 20 shifts the process to S400. In this case, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 continues automatic traveling while estimating its own position by alternative means such as the periphery monitoring unit 40 and the vehicle state detection unit 70. In other words, the determination result of the automatic traveling control device 20 regarding the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 is that it is not determined that the automatic traveling vehicle 10 stops immediately even if the GPS information is interrupted, and the automatic traveling is continued. .

  When the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold value 1 (S410: Yes), as shown in FIG. 5, the automatic travel control device 20 displays “Notifying self-position estimation abnormality” on the display to notify (S416).

  If the occupant in the automatic traveling vehicle 10 does not have driving ability for reasons such as not having a driving license (S418: No), the automatic traveling control device 20 proceeds to S420. If the occupant on the automatic traveling vehicle 10 has driving ability (S418: Yes), the automatic traveling control device 20 shifts the process to S428. A case in which no occupant is on the automatic traveling vehicle 10 also corresponds to the fact that the occupant has no driving ability.

  In S420, the automatic travel control device 20 determines whether or not the host vehicle can stop before the self-position estimation error exceeds a threshold value 2 that is larger than the threshold value 1. The threshold value 2 represents an untravelable error in which it is impossible to continue automatic travel based on the estimated self-position.

  When the own vehicle can stop before the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold 2 (S420: Yes), the automatic travel control device 20 transmits vehicle information such as the current position and travel speed and a stop request to the control center 100. Then, a stop command and a safe stop place 210 such as a roadside belt are received from the control center 100 before the stop prohibited section.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 11, the automatic travel control device 20 is configured to automatically travel the vehicle 10.
As an example of changing the behavior of the vehicle, the vehicle automatically travels to a safe stop location 210 using the current position of the vehicle, vehicle information such as the vehicle speed, and the determination result of stopping the vehicle as control information for automatic travel. And stop the vehicle (S422). When the threshold value 1 is decreased in S414, the vehicle stops at a safe stop location 210 before the stop prohibition section, as shown in FIG.

  When the automatic traveling vehicle 10 stops, the automatic traveling control device 20 notifies the display of “I will stop at a safe place” on the display as shown in FIG. Furthermore, it is desirable to notify the center management vehicle 120 behind the host vehicle that the autonomous vehicle 10 is stopped by voice or an indicator lamp.

  Note that when the autonomous traveling vehicle 10 stops at a safe stop location 210 and GPS information can be normally acquired and recovered, the self-position estimation error is reduced as shown in FIG. May be resumed.

  When the own vehicle cannot stop before the self-position estimation error exceeds the threshold value 2 (S420: No), as shown in FIG. 5, the automatic travel control device 20 displays “Emergency stop due to GPS abnormality” on the display. And informing (S424). Furthermore, it is desirable to notify the center management vehicle 120 at the rear of the host vehicle that the automated traveling vehicle 10 has stopped urgently by voice or an indicator lamp.

  Then, as an example of changing the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the automatic traveling control device 20 controls the automatic traveling based on the current position of the own vehicle, vehicle information such as the vehicle speed, and the determination result that the own vehicle is emergency stopped. As information, the host vehicle is urgently stopped at a place determined to be safest in the front in the traveling direction (S426). In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, the automatic travel control device 20 causes the host vehicle to stop urgently even if the stop location is a stop prohibited section.

  In S428, the automatic travel control device 20 requests the occupant to cancel the automatic travel and switch to manual operation. If the occupant does not permit switching to manual operation (S430: No), the automatic travel control device 20 proceeds to S420.

  When the occupant permits switching to manual driving (S430: Yes), the automatic travel control device 20 cancels automatic driving and switches to manual driving as shown in FIG. 14 (S432). In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the automatic travel control device 20 notifies the display by displaying “automatic travel is canceled”.

(2) Automatic Travel Control Process Performed by Control Center 100 The automatic travel control process performed by the control center 100 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. The automatic travel control process of FIG. 15 is executed when the control center 100 receives a stop request from the automatic travel vehicle 10.

  The control center 100 transmits a stop request based on the current position estimated by the automatic traveling vehicle 10 received from the automatic traveling vehicle 10, vehicle information such as the vehicle speed of the automatic traveling vehicle 10, and a dynamic map provided in the control center 100. The safe traveling place 210 is instructed to the automatic traveling vehicle 10 that has been operated (S440). Further, the control center 100 notifies the center management vehicle 120 traveling around the automated traveling vehicle 10 in which the GPS information is interrupted, for example, the rear of the autonomous traveling vehicle 10 ahead (S442).

Here, as shown in FIG. 16, when a plurality of autonomously traveling vehicles 10 and 12 are traveling close to each other on the same route, there is a possibility that the GPS information is disrupted in the same manner. In this case, the control center 100 instructs and stops the safe stopping places 210 and 212 for each of the autonomously traveling vehicles 10 and 12.

  Then, the control center 100 is necessary to avoid a collision between the center management vehicle 120 traveling on the same route as the autonomous vehicle 10 whose GPS information is disrupted and the autonomous vehicle 10 whose GPS information is disrupted. In response to this, it is instructed to change the course and the vehicle speed or to stop (S444).

  The control center 100 may collect the received signal strength data of the positioning signal from the autonomous vehicle 10 and the center management vehicle 120, and store an area 220 where GPS information is likely to be interrupted, as shown in FIG. . Moreover, you may memorize | store the area | region 220 which receives the discontinuation of GPS information from the several autonomous vehicle 10.

  The control center 100 notifies the automatic traveling vehicle 10 and the center management vehicle 120 of an area 220 where GPS information is likely to be interrupted. Thus, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 continues the automatic traveling when it is determined that the region 220 can be passed through the automatic traveling with the GPS information interrupted. When the autonomous mobile vehicle 10 determines that it cannot pass through the area 220 in an automatic manner in a state where the GPS information is interrupted, the autonomous mobile vehicle 10 stops at a safe stop location 210 in front of the area 220.

[3. effect]
According to the embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The automatic travel control device 20 acquires the surrounding environment from the surrounding monitoring unit 40 as the remaining position estimation information even if the GPS information is interrupted among the position estimation information for estimating the current position of the host vehicle. The current position of the host vehicle is estimated based on the information, the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle state detection unit 70, and the relative position of the host vehicle with respect to the other vehicle acquired from the communication unit 80.

  Then, the automatic travel control device 20 determines the self-location of the host vehicle based on the travel distance of the host vehicle, the surrounding environment of the host vehicle, and the host vehicle speed, which change according to the elapsed time after the GPS information is interrupted. The reliability of the current position of the host vehicle estimated based on the estimation error, in other words, the remaining position estimation information is determined.

  The automatic travel control device 20 does not decide to immediately stop the own vehicle at the safe stop location 210 even if the GPS information is interrupted, and automatically travels until the determined self-position estimation error exceeds a predetermined travel risk error. Continue. Thereby, even if GPS information is interrupted, the automatic traveling vehicle 10 can be driven as much as possible.

  Further, there is a possibility that the GPS information can be acquired from the GPS satellite 110 by passing through a shield that blocks the GPS radio wave while the automatic traveling is continued. If the GPS information is restored, automatic driving can be continued.

  (2) In accordance with the self-position estimation error after the GPS information is interrupted, the abnormal state of the own vehicle and the running state to be executed next are notified to the inside of the vehicle and the outside of the vehicle. The surrounding vehicle can know the next traveling state of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 in advance.

  (3) In addition to the map information, the automatic travel control device 20 is map information that integrates road environment, road construction, accident location, and surrounding environment information such as the position and speed of other vehicles around the automatic travel vehicle 10. Automatic driving control is performed using a dynamic map. Thereby, automatic traveling control can be performed more appropriately.

(4) Whether or not the occupant of the automatic traveling control device 20 and the automatic traveling vehicle 1 holds a driving license, that is, whether or not the occupant has driving ability, and whether or not the occupant is on the automatic traveling vehicle 10. Are determined in advance before the automatic driving is started. As a result, if an occupant on the automatic traveling vehicle 10 can drive, the automatic traveling control device 20 does not automatically stop when the GPS information is interrupted, but automatically travels safely by manual driving. The vehicle 10 can be stopped.

  (5) The control center 100 of the automatic travel control system 2 provides a part of automatic travel control functions such as route calculation and notification of a safe stop location when GPS information is interrupted. Thereby, the processing burden of the automatic travel control device 20 can be reduced.

[4. Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can take the following various forms, without being limited to the said embodiment.

  (1) Not only when the GPS information is interrupted, but when any of the plurality of position estimation information cannot be acquired, as in the case where the GPS information is interrupted, the stop of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 is determined immediately. Alternatively, based on the self-position estimation error of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired, it may be determined whether to continue or stop the automatic traveling.

  (2) If any of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information cannot be acquired, it is necessary to limit the automatic traveling vehicle 10 to stop if the traveling is changed in order to ensure the safety of traveling of the automatic traveling vehicle 10. There is no. For example, the automatic travel control device 20 may change the vehicle speed of the automatic travel vehicle 10 by acceleration or deceleration. Further, the route may be changed by steering the automatic traveling vehicle 10.

  (3) The automatic traveling control system 2 may include a control device having the same function in place of the control center 100 or in addition to the control center 100, in the host vehicle, another vehicle, or the smart infrastructure. In this case, the control device and the automatic travel control device 20 communicate with each other, so that when the GPS information is interrupted and the automatic travel control device 20 notifies a stop request, a safe stop location 210 can be indicated.

  (4) When the control center 100 receives a stop request from the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the control center 100 is not a place on the route of the automatic traveling vehicle 10, but a stop where the automatic traveling vehicle 10 can safely stop from the current position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10. The route to the place 210 may be reset and notified to the autonomous vehicle 10.

Further, when the GPS information is restored during the automatic travel along the route after resetting, the automatic travel vehicle 10 may perform the automatic travel along the original route.
(5) The control center 100 may receive from the autonomous vehicle 10 that the GPS information has been interrupted instead of a stop request. In this case, the control center 100 may periodically transmit a safe stop location 210 to the automatic traveling vehicle 10 regardless of whether or not the automatic traveling vehicle 10 stops.

  (6) The sharing of functions related to automatic traveling between the automatic traveling control device 20 and the control center 100 can be set as appropriate. For example, when GPS information can be acquired normally, the automatic travel control device 20 may calculate a route to the destination. A dynamic map managed by the map information management unit 94 can be used for calculating the route.

(7) The current position of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 is the position estimation information including the GPS information acquired by the automatic traveling vehicle 10, the position estimation information regarding the automatic traveling vehicle 10 acquired by the control center 100, and the automatic acquired by the center management vehicle 120. Based on the position estimation information regarding the traveling vehicle 10 and the position estimation information regarding the automatic traveling vehicle 10 acquired by the smart infrastructure 130, the automatic traveling control device 20 of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 may estimate, the control center 100, the center The control device installed in either the management vehicle 120 or the smart infrastructure 130 may estimate.

  (8) When some of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information cannot be acquired, whether to continue or change the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle 10 is not the automatic traveling control device 20 but the control for acquiring information for determination. A control device installed in any of the center 100, the center management vehicle 120, and the smart infrastructure 130 may perform this.

  (9) The determination of whether to continue or change the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle 10, which is determined according to the elapsed time since some of the plurality of pieces of position estimation information cannot be acquired, is performed automatically by the automatic traveling vehicle 10. The travel control device 20 may perform it, or the control device installed in any of the control center 100, the center management vehicle 120, and the smart infrastructure 130 may perform it.

  (10) The functions of one component in the above embodiment may be distributed as a plurality of components, or the functions of a plurality of components may be integrated into one component. Further, at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be replaced with a known configuration having the same function. Moreover, you may abbreviate | omit a part of structure of the said embodiment. In addition, all the aspects included in the technical idea specified only by the wording described in the claim are embodiment of this invention.

  (11) In addition to the automatic travel control device 20 described above, an automatic travel control system 2 having the automatic travel control device 20 as a constituent element, an automatic travel control program for causing a computer to function as the automatic travel control device 20, and the automatic The present invention can also be realized in various forms such as a recording medium on which a travel control program is recorded, an automatic travel control method, and the like.

2: automatic travel control system, 10: automatic travel vehicle, 20: automatic travel control device, 22: self-position estimation unit (position acquisition means), 28: automatic travel control section (judgment result acquisition means, automatic travel control means, stop) (Location acquisition means), 32: notification section (notification means), 100: control center, 102: communication device (control apparatus), 104: information supervision section (control apparatus), 106: vehicle management section (control apparatus), 110: GPS satellite, 200: route, 210: stop location

Claims (14)

An automatic travel control device (20) mounted on an automatic travel vehicle (10) that automatically travels along a route to a destination (202),
Position acquisition means (28) for acquiring the current position estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired when a part of the plurality of position estimation information for estimating the current position of the autonomous vehicle cannot be acquired. , S408),
Judgment result acquisition means (28) for acquiring a determination result of whether to continue or change the behavior of the automatic traveling vehicle, which is determined according to an elapsed time since a part of a plurality of the position estimation information cannot be acquired. , S410),
Control information including the current position estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired and the determination result acquired by the determination result acquisition unit when a part of the plurality of position estimation information cannot be acquired. On the basis of automatic travel control means for controlling the automatic travel of the automatic travel vehicle (28, S422, S426),
An automatic travel control device comprising: In the automatic travel control device according to claim 1,
The position estimation information includes a positioning signal of the positioning satellite (110),
The determination result acquisition means acquires the determination result determined according to the elapsed time after the positioning signal cannot be acquired from the positioning satellite.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to claim 1 or 2,
The change in the behavior of the autonomous vehicle is either acceleration or deceleration, stopping, or steering of the autonomous vehicle,
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The determination result acquisition means acquires the determination result determined based on the reliability of the current position that is estimated based on the remaining position estimation information that can be acquired and that changes according to the elapsed time.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The determination result acquisition means acquires the determination result determined based on map information around the autonomous vehicle that changes according to the elapsed time.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
When the determination result is a stop, the vehicle includes a stop location acquisition means (28, S422, S426) for acquiring a stop location (210) where the autonomous vehicle stops.
When the determination result is a stop, the automatic travel control means causes the automatic travel vehicle to travel to the stop location acquired by the stop location acquisition means.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to claim 6,
The stop location acquisition means acquires the stop location set in a travel section excluding a stop prohibited section.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
When the determination result is a behavior change of the automatic traveling vehicle, a notification means (32, S406, S416, S424, S428) for notifying the behavior change is provided.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to claim 8,
When the determination result is the behavior change, the notification means (S428) prompts switching to manual operation.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to claim 8 or 9,
If the automatic traveling vehicle cannot stop at a safe stopping place when the determination result is a stop, the automatic traveling control means (S426) stops the automatic traveling vehicle in an emergency,
The informing means informs that an emergency stop will occur.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
The determination result acquisition means is determined based on at least one of a travel distance of the automatic traveling vehicle, a surrounding environment of the automatic traveling vehicle, and a vehicle speed of the automatic traveling vehicle, which change according to the elapsed time. Obtaining the judgment result,
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. In the automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 11,
The automatic traveling control means controls automatic traveling of the automatic traveling vehicle based on a dynamic map including surrounding environment information in map information.
An automatic travel control device characterized by that. The automatic travel control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
A control device (102, 104, 106, S440 to S444) for providing a part of the control information to the automatic travel control device;
An automatic travel control system (2) comprising: In the automatic travel control system according to claim 13,
The control device (S444) instructs the other vehicle (120) to decelerate, stop, or change course when notified of the behavior change of the automatic traveling vehicle from the automatic traveling control device.
An automatic travel control system characterized by that.

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