JP2017156954A - Automated driving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience for a driver in terms of a start of automated driving.SOLUTION: An automated driving system capable of switching a driving state of a vehicle between the automated driving and manual driving comprises: a map database for storing map information; a vehicle position recognition section for recognizing a position of the vehicle on a map; a landmark database for storing information on an interest target landmark previously set for the map information; a position determination section for determining whether or not the vehicle is within a previously set distance from the interest target landmark, when the driving state of the vehicle is the manual driving; an automated driving possibility determination section for determining whether switching to the automated driving of the vehicle is possible or not on the basis of the position of the vehicle on the map, when it is determined that the vehicle is within the previously set distance from the interest target landmark; and a driving state switching section for switching the driving state of the vehicle from the manual driving to the automated driving, when it is determined that switching to the automated driving of the vehicle is possible.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic driving system.

  Conventionally, JP, 2014-106854, A is known as technical literature about an automatic operation system. In this publication, when the detection accuracy of a sensor that acquires the surrounding situation of a vehicle does not meet a predetermined standard, it is determined that a condition for performing automatic driving is not satisfied and automatic driving vehicle control that does not start automatic driving is performed. An apparatus is described.

JP 2014-106854 A

  By the way, in the above-mentioned publication, it is described that automatic driving is not started when the conditions for performing automatic driving are not satisfied. However, sufficient consideration is given to starting automatic driving from the viewpoint of driver convenience. Not done. For this reason, there is room for improvement in improving the convenience of the driver regarding the start of automatic driving.

  Therefore, in this technical field, it is desired to provide an automatic driving system that can improve the convenience of the driver regarding the start of automatic driving.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is an automatic driving system capable of switching the driving state of a vehicle between automatic driving and manual driving, and is set in advance for a map database storing map information and map information. A landmark database for storing information on the landmarks of interest, a vehicle position recognition unit for recognizing a position of the vehicle on the map, and map information and landmarks in the map database when the vehicle driving state is manual driving. A position determination unit that determines whether or not the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest based on information on the landmark of interest in the database and a position on the map of the vehicle; and a position determination unit If it is determined that the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest, the automatic operation of the vehicle is based on the position of the vehicle on the map. When the automatic driving propriety determination unit that determines whether switching is possible and the automatic driving propriety determination unit determine that the automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible, the driving state of the vehicle is changed from manual driving to automatic driving. An operation state switching unit for switching.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the convenience of the driver regarding the start of automatic driving can be improved.

1 is a block diagram showing an automatic driving system according to the present embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the automatic driving | operation start process of an automatic driving | operation system.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  An automatic driving system 100 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a vehicle such as a passenger car, and switches the driving state of the vehicle between automatic driving and manual driving. Manual driving is a driving state in which a driving operation by the driver is reflected in the traveling of the vehicle. The automatic driving is a driving state in which the vehicle travels automatically without the driver having to perform the driving operation.

[Configuration of automatic driving system]
As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic driving system 100 includes an ECU 10 for executing automatic driving. The ECU 10 is an electronic control unit having a CPU [Central Processing Unit], a ROM [Read Only Memory], a RAM [Random Access Memory], a CAN [Controller Area Network] communication circuit, and the like. In the ECU 10, various functions are realized by loading a program stored in the ROM into the RAM and executing the program loaded in the RAM by the CPU. The ECU 10 may be composed of a plurality of electronic control units. An external sensor 1, a GPS receiver 2, an internal sensor 3, a map database 4, a landmark database 5, a navigation system 6, an actuator 7, and an HMI [Human Machine Interface] 8 are connected to the ECU 10.

  The external sensor 1 is a detection device for detecting an obstacle or the like around the vehicle. The external sensor 1 includes at least one of a camera and a radar sensor. The external sensor 1 may be used for measuring the position of the vehicle. The camera is an imaging device that captures an external situation of the vehicle. The cameras are provided on the back side of the vehicle windshield and on the back side of the vehicle. The camera may be provided on the left and right side surfaces of the vehicle. The camera transmits imaging information obtained by imaging the front and rear of the vehicle to the ECU 10. The radar sensor detects obstacles around the vehicle using radio waves (for example, millimeter waves) or light. The radar sensor detects an obstacle by transmitting radio waves or light to the periphery of the vehicle and receiving radio waves or light reflected by the obstacle. The radar sensor transmits the detected obstacle information to the ECU 10. Obstacles include fixed obstacles such as guardrails and buildings, as well as moving obstacles such as pedestrians, bicycles, and other vehicles.

  The GPS receiving unit 2 is mounted on a vehicle and functions as a position measuring unit that measures the position of the vehicle. The GPS receiver 2 measures the position of the vehicle (for example, the latitude and longitude of the vehicle) by receiving signals from three or more GPS satellites. The GPS receiver 2 transmits information on the measured vehicle position to the ECU 10.

  The internal sensor 3 is a detection device that detects the traveling state of the vehicle. The internal sensor 3 includes a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a yaw rate sensor. The vehicle speed sensor is a detector that detects the speed of the vehicle. As the vehicle speed sensor, a wheel speed sensor that is provided for a wheel of the vehicle or a drive shaft that rotates integrally with the wheel and detects the rotation speed of the wheel is used. The vehicle speed sensor transmits the detected vehicle speed information to the ECU 10.

  The acceleration sensor is a detector that detects the acceleration of the vehicle. The acceleration sensor includes a longitudinal acceleration sensor that detects acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and a lateral acceleration sensor that detects lateral acceleration of the vehicle. The acceleration sensor transmits vehicle acceleration information to the ECU 10. The yaw rate sensor is a detector that detects the yaw rate (rotational angular velocity) around the vertical axis of the center of gravity of the vehicle. A gyro sensor can be used as the yaw rate sensor. The yaw rate sensor transmits the detected yaw rate information of the vehicle to the ECU 10.

  The map database 4 is a database that stores map information. The map database 4 is formed in an HDD [Hard Disk Drive] mounted on the vehicle. The map information includes, for example, road position information, road shape information, and intersection and branch point position information. The road shape information includes, for example, a curve, a straight line type, a curve curvature, and the like. The map database 4 may be stored in a server that can communicate with the vehicle.

  The landmark database 5 is a database that stores landmark information in association with the map information of the map database 4. The landmark database 5 is formed in the HDD of the vehicle. Landmarks include facilities such as theme parks and shopping malls, landmarks, landscape viewpoints, fixed rare sports cars, and the like. The landmark information includes landmark position information, landmark name information, landmark type information, and the like.

  The landmark database 5 stores landmarks of interest set in advance by a vehicle occupant or the like. The landmark of interest is a landmark set as an object of interest of the vehicle occupant. The landmark of interest is set when a vehicle occupant operates an input button (or touch panel) provided in the navigation system 6. The landmark of interest may be set in advance before starting the engine of the vehicle, or may be set by the occupant when the navigation system 6 is activated by starting the engine of the vehicle.

  The landmark database 5 may be stored in a server that can communicate with the vehicle. The landmark database 5 may be a database integrated with the map database 4.

  The navigation system 6 is mounted on a vehicle and sets a target route for the vehicle to travel by automatic driving. The navigation system 6 calculates a target route from the position of the vehicle to the destination based on the preset destination, the position of the vehicle measured by the GPS receiver 2, and the map information in the map database 4. . The destination of the automatic driving control is set by operating the input button (or touch panel) of the navigation system 6 by the vehicle occupant. The target route is set by distinguishing the lanes that make up the road. The navigation system 6 can set the target route by a known method. The navigation system 6 outputs information on the target route of the vehicle to the ECU 10. The navigation system 6 calculates a target route to the target landmark of interest as the destination when the automatic driving with the target landmark as the destination is started, and obtains information on the target route as the ECU 10. Output to.

  The actuator 7 is a device that executes vehicle travel control. The actuator 7 includes at least a throttle actuator, a brake actuator, and a steering actuator. The throttle actuator controls the amount of air supplied to the engine (throttle opening) in accordance with a control signal from the ECU 10 to control the driving force of the vehicle. When the vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, in addition to the amount of air supplied to the engine, a control signal from the ECU 10 is input to a motor as a power source to control the driving force. When the vehicle is an electric vehicle, a control signal from the ECU 10 is input to a motor as a power source to control the driving force. The motor as the power source in these cases constitutes the actuator 7.

  The brake actuator controls the brake system in accordance with a control signal from the ECU 10, and controls the braking force applied to the wheels of the vehicle. A hydraulic brake system can be used as the brake system. The steering actuator controls driving of an assist motor that controls steering torque in the electric power steering system in accordance with a control signal from the ECU 10. As a result, the steering actuator controls the steering torque of the vehicle.

  The HMI 8 is an interface for outputting and inputting information between the driver and the automatic driving system 100. The HMI 8 includes, for example, a display that displays image information to a driver or the like, a speaker that outputs sound, operation buttons or a touch panel for the driver to perform an input operation, a voice input device, and the like. The HMI 8 transmits information input by the driver to the ECU 10. Further, the HMI 8 displays image information on a display and outputs sound from a speaker in accordance with a control signal from the ECU 10.

  Next, a functional configuration of the ECU 10 will be described. The ECU 10 includes a vehicle position recognition unit 11, an external situation recognition unit 12, a travel state recognition unit 13, a travel plan generation unit 14, a position determination unit 15, an automatic driving availability determination unit 16, a driving state switching unit 17, and a travel control unit 18. have. Note that some of the functions of the ECU 10 may be executed by a server that can communicate with the vehicle.

  The vehicle position recognition unit 11 recognizes the position of the vehicle on the map based on the position information of the GPS reception unit 2 and the map information of the map database 4. The vehicle position recognition unit 11 may recognize the position of the vehicle using the SLAM technology by using the position information of the fixed obstacle such as a utility pole included in the map information of the map database 4 and the detection result of the external sensor 1. .

  The external situation recognition unit 12 recognizes the external situation of the vehicle based on the detection result of the external sensor 1. The external situation recognition unit 12 recognizes the external situation of the vehicle by a known method based on the captured image of the camera and the obstacle information of the radar sensor. The external situation recognition unit 12 recognizes the position of an obstacle around the vehicle as an external situation based on the imaging information of the camera and / or the obstacle information of the radar sensor.

  The traveling state recognition unit 13 recognizes the traveling state of the vehicle including the vehicle speed and direction of the vehicle based on the detection result of the internal sensor 3. Specifically, the traveling state recognition unit 13 recognizes the vehicle speed based on the vehicle speed information of the vehicle speed sensor. The traveling state recognition unit 13 recognizes the direction of the vehicle based on the yaw rate information of the yaw rate sensor.

  The travel plan generation unit 14 generates a travel plan for the vehicle based on the target route set by the navigation system 6 and the map information in the map database 4. This travel plan is a travel plan from the current position of the vehicle until the vehicle reaches a preset destination. The travel plan generation unit 14 generates a travel plan by a known method. The travel plan includes the target vehicle speed and target steering angle of the vehicle associated with the position on the map.

  When the driving state of the vehicle is manual driving, the position determination unit 15 includes map information in the map database 4, information on the landmark of interest in the landmark database 5, and a position on the map of the vehicle measured by the GPS receiving unit 2. Based on the above, it is determined whether the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest. The preset distance may be arbitrarily changed by the occupant.

  When the position determination unit 15 determines that the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest, the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 determines whether or not automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible.

  First, the automatic driving availability determination unit 16 determines whether automatic driving is possible systematically. Based on the position on the map of the vehicle recognized by the vehicle position recognizing unit 11, the automatic driving propriety determining unit 16 determines whether or not automatic driving is possible systematically. When the position on the map of the vehicle is not a position where automatic driving is possible systematically (for example, when it is located in an area where the accuracy of the map is not sufficient), the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 is not capable of automatic driving systematically. Judge that there is no.

  Further, the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 determines whether automatic driving is possible systematically based on the external state of the vehicle recognized by the external state recognition unit 12 and the traveling state of the vehicle recognized by the traveling state recognition unit 13. Determine whether. The automatic driving availability determination unit 16 determines that automatic driving is not possible systematically when the external situation of the vehicle is a situation where there are many obstacles on the road due to construction or the like.

  When it is determined that automatic driving is possible systematically, the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 provides the driver with guidance (suggestion) for switching to automatic driving via the HMI 8. The HMI 8 guides the driver to the automatic driving for driving the vehicle toward the landmark of interest. The driver permits switching to automatic driving by operating the operation buttons of the HMI 8, operating the touch panel, or inputting voice.

  The automatic driving availability determination unit 16 determines that automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible when the driver permits switching to automatic driving. If the driver does not permit switching to automatic driving, the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 determines that automatic driving switching of the vehicle is not possible.

  The driving state switching unit 17 switches the driving state of the vehicle from manual driving to automatic driving when the automatic driving propriety determining unit 16 determines that the automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible. The driving state switching unit 17 notifies the driver of switching to automatic driving via the HMI 8 in advance, and then switches the driving state of the vehicle to automatic driving.

  When it is determined by the automatic driving availability determination unit 16 that the automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible, the driving state switching unit 17 sets the landmark of interest where the vehicle is located within a preset distance to the destination of the automatic driving. Set to. In this case, the navigation system 6 calculates a target route whose destination is the landmark of interest. The travel plan generation unit 14 generates a travel plan with the landmark of interest as the destination. In addition, when there are a plurality of landmarks of interest that are located within a preset distance from the vehicle, the driving state switching unit 17 causes the driver to select a landmark of interest as a destination.

  When the driving state of the vehicle is switched to automatic driving, the travel control unit 18 determines the vehicle based on the position on the map of the vehicle recognized by the vehicle position recognition unit 11 and the travel plan generated by the travel plan generation unit 14. Execute automatic operation. The traveling control unit 18 performs automatic driving of the vehicle by transmitting a control signal to the actuator 7. The traveling control unit 18 performs automatic driving so as to reach the landmark of interest that is the destination.

[Automatic operation start processing by automatic operation system]
Next, automatic driving start processing by the automatic driving system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an automatic driving start process of the automatic driving system 100. The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 is executed when the vehicle is running.

  As shown in FIG. 2, ECU10 determines whether the driving | running state of a vehicle is a manual driving | operation as S10. When the ECU 10 determines that the driving state of the vehicle is not manual driving (automatic driving) (S10: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current process and repeats the determination of S10 again after a predetermined time. If the ECU 10 determines that the driving state of the vehicle is manual driving (not automatic driving) (S10: YES), the ECU 10 proceeds to S12.

  In S12, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the vehicle is positioned within a preset distance from the landmark of interest by the position determination unit 15. When the driving state of the vehicle is manual driving, the position determination unit 15 includes map information in the map database 4, information on the landmark of interest in the landmark database 5, and a position on the map of the vehicle measured by the GPS receiving unit 2. Based on the above, the above determination is made.

  If it is not determined that the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest (S12: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current process and repeats the process from S10 again after a predetermined time. If it is determined that the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest (S12: YES), the ECU 10 proceeds to S14.

  In S <b> 14, the ECU 10 determines whether automatic driving is possible systematically by the automatic driving availability determination unit 16. The automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 determines the position on the map of the vehicle recognized by the vehicle position recognition unit 11, the external situation of the vehicle recognized by the external situation recognition unit 12, and the running state of the vehicle recognized by the running state recognition unit 13. Based on this, the above determination is made. The automatic driving availability determination unit 16 may perform the above determination based only on the position of the vehicle on the map.

  When it is determined that automatic operation is not possible systematically (S14: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current process and repeats the process from S10 again after a predetermined time. If it is determined that automatic operation is possible systematically (S14: YES), the ECU 10 proceeds to S16.

  In S <b> 16, the ECU 10 guides (suggests) automatic driving switching to the driver by the automatic driving availability determination unit 16. The automatic driving availability determination unit 16 guides the driver through the HMI 8 to perform automatic driving for driving the vehicle toward the landmark of interest. Thereafter, the ECU 10 proceeds to S18.

  In S18, the ECU 10 detects whether or not the driver has permitted switching to automatic driving by the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16. When it is not detected that the driver is allowed to switch to automatic driving (S18: NO), the automatic driving propriety determining unit 16 determines that automatic driving switching is not possible. In this case, the ECU 10 ends the current process and repeats the process from S10 again after a predetermined time has elapsed. If the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 detects permission of switching to automatic driving by the driver (S18: YES), the process proceeds to S20.

  In S20, the ECU 10 switches the vehicle driving state from manual driving to automatic driving by the driving state switching unit 17. Thereafter, the ECU 10 ends the current process and repeats the process from S10 again after a predetermined time has elapsed.

[Operational effects of automatic driving system]
According to the automatic driving system 100 according to the present embodiment described above, automatic driving is performed when the driving state of the vehicle is manual driving and the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest. If it is determined that the vehicle can be switched to the vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle can be switched from the manual driving to the automatic driving, so that the convenience of the driver regarding the start of the automatic driving can be improved.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above. The present invention can be implemented in various forms including various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art including the above-described embodiments.

  The automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 does not necessarily need to guide the driver to switch to automatic driving and obtain permission. For example, when the driver has set a mode in which the automatic driving system 100 is left to switch to automatic driving, the automatic driving propriety determination unit 16 manually sets the driving state of the vehicle without asking the driver for permission. You may switch from driving to automatic driving. In this case, S16 and S18 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 are unnecessary.

  Further, the automatic driving availability determination unit 16 may determine whether automatic driving switching is possible based on the reliability of the system. The reliability of the system is the reliability of recognition (high when there are few obstacles recognized in the external situation, weather conditions, etc.) and the reliability of the vehicle position (position where there is no building near the vehicle, under the overhead If the path plan that the vehicle travels in the travel plan is not a trajectory that avoids an obstacle but a trajectory that travels in the center of the lane Can be obtained on the basis of

  In the present invention, when the vehicle is located in the vicinity of the landmark of interest, the driving state of the vehicle is switched from manual driving to automatic driving. However, switching to automatic driving based on other conditions is also possible. Conceivable. For example, if there is a request to change the driving route from a management facility such as a traffic information center by road-to-vehicle communication for the purpose of smoothing traffic flow or suppressing traffic congestion (reducing the arrival time to the destination) It is conceivable to switch to automatic operation so that it follows. In addition, when the vehicle (own vehicle) is capable of inter-vehicle communication, the larger the proportion of other vehicles that can communicate between vehicles among the other surrounding vehicles, the more extensive information acquisition and sharing of traffic conditions around the vehicle, It is possible to optimize travel plans by obtaining and sharing (vehicle group function). Vehicle group functions include automatic generation of platoons and creation of efficient driving conditions by platooning (improvement of fuel consumption, increase of traffic capacity, etc.). For this reason, it is conceivable to propose switching to automatic driving so that the vehicle travels along a route in which the ratio of other vehicles capable of vehicle-to-vehicle communication to the surrounding radius R (m: meter) of the vehicle increases. Furthermore, when it is determined that the occurrence probability of an unspecified event is higher than a preset threshold value based on the trend of other vehicles around the vehicle being manually operated (detection of a reverse running vehicle, detection of a large animal such as a deer), In order to reduce the occurrence probability of unspecified events, it is conceivable to switch to automatic operation considering options such as route change, lane change, acceleration / deceleration.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... External sensor, 2 ... GPS receiving part, 3 ... Internal sensor, 4 ... Map database, 5 ... Landmark database, 6 ... Navigation system, 7 ... Actuator, 8 ... HMI, 10 ... ECU, 11 ... Vehicle position recognition part , 12 ... External situation recognition unit, 13 ... Traveling state recognition unit, 14 ... Travel plan generation unit, 15 ... Position determination unit, 16 ... Automatic driving availability determination unit, 17 ... Driving state switching unit, 18 ... Travel control unit, 100 ... automatic driving system.

Claims (1)

An automatic driving system capable of switching a driving state of a vehicle between automatic driving and manual driving,
A map database for storing map information;
A landmark database for storing information on landmarks of interest set in advance for the map information;
A vehicle position recognition unit for recognizing a position of the vehicle on a map;
When the driving state of the vehicle is manual driving, the vehicle is based on the map information of the map database, the information of the landmark of interest in the landmark database, and the position of the vehicle on the map. A position determination unit that determines whether or not it is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest;
If the position determination unit determines that the vehicle is located within a preset distance from the landmark of interest, is it possible to perform automatic driving switching of the vehicle based on the position on the map of the vehicle? An automatic driving availability determination unit that determines whether or not,
When it is determined that the automatic driving switching of the vehicle is possible by the automatic driving propriety determining unit, the driving state switching unit that switches the driving state of the vehicle from manual driving to automatic driving;
An automatic driving system comprising:

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