JP2018043576A - Vehicle control device, vehicle control method and vehicle control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method and a vehicle control program that enable improvement of reliability of traveling support.SOLUTION: A vehicle control device includes: an imaging section for imaging the surroundings of a vehicle; an object detection section for detecting an object around the vehicle on the basis of an image taken by the imaging section; a reliability determination section for determining the reliability of the object detected by the object detection section; and a traveling support section for performing traveling support of the vehicle in accordance with the object detected by the object detection section and determining at least either one of details of the traveling support of the vehicle or whether positional information on the object detected by the object detection section is used, on the basis of the degree of the reliability determined by the reliability determination section.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program.

  In recent years, an object around the vehicle is detected from information provided by a camera or radar mounted on the vehicle, and when it is determined that there is a high possibility of a collision between the detected object and the vehicle, driving assistance for avoiding the collision is performed. Technology is known. In addition, regarding such a technique, a technique is known in which the position of the preceding vehicle is interpolated with radar information when the preceding vehicle is lost by a camera (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-347471 A

  However, in the prior art, control is not performed for a case where the detection accuracy of the object by the camera is lowered, and there is a case where the reliability of the driving support such as object detection and collision possibility determination is lowered. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has an object to provide a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program capable of improving the reliability of driving support. To do.

  The invention according to claim 1 is an image pickup unit (10) for picking up an image around the vehicle, an object detection unit (110) for detecting an object around the vehicle based on an image picked up by the image pickup unit, and the object detection. A reliability determination unit (120) that determines the reliability of the object detected by the unit, and a travel support unit (130) that performs the travel support of the vehicle according to the object detected by the object detection unit, Based on the level of reliability determined by the reliability determination unit, at least one of whether to use the content of driving support of the vehicle or the position information of the object detected by the object detection unit It is a vehicle control apparatus (100) provided with the travel assistance part to determine.

  A second aspect of the present invention is the vehicle control device according to the first aspect, wherein the object detection unit is configured to be connected to the side of the vehicle when the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit is greater than or equal to a threshold value. Position information of the object related to the direction is determined based on an image obtained by the imaging unit.

  Invention of Claim 3 is a vehicle control apparatus of Claim 2, Comprising: The radar apparatus (20) which measures the position of the said vehicle and the object around the said vehicle by radiating | emitting an electromagnetic wave is further provided, The object detection unit preferentially uses an image obtained by the imaging unit for positional information of the object in the lateral direction of the vehicle when the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit is equal to or greater than the threshold. The position information of the object related to the distance direction from the vehicle is determined using the measurement result of the radar device preferentially.

  A fourth aspect of the invention is the vehicle control device according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the driving support unit has a reliability determined by the reliability determining unit less than a threshold value. In this case, the time for determining whether or not to perform the deceleration control of the vehicle is extended.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is the vehicle control device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the travel support unit uses an extrapolation process to detect an object by the object detection unit. If so, the time for determining whether or not to perform deceleration control of the vehicle is extended.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the vehicle control device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the travel support unit is not capable of detecting the object by the object detection unit. The determination as to whether or not to perform deceleration control of the vehicle is not performed.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the in-vehicle computer detects an object around the vehicle based on an image captured by an imaging unit that captures the periphery of the vehicle, determines the reliability of the detected object, and is detected. Whether or not to use the content of the vehicle driving support or the detected position information of the object based on the determined high reliability. A vehicle control method for determining at least one of the following.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, an in-vehicle computer is caused to detect an object around the vehicle based on an image captured by an imaging unit that images the periphery of the vehicle, and the reliability of the detected object is determined and detected. Whether or not to use the content of the vehicle driving support or the detected position information of the object based on the determined high reliability. A vehicle control program for determining at least one of the above.

  According to invention of Claim 1, 7, and 8, the reliability of driving assistance can be improved.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, when the reliability of the object detected from the image acquired from the imaging unit is high, the position information of the object in the lateral direction of the vehicle is determined using the information of the image having a high lateral resolution. Thus, the accuracy of the position information of the object can be improved.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the position information can be reliably used by properly using the position information determined from the image acquired from the imaging unit and the position information determined from the radar apparatus according to the reliability. Can be improved.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the reliability is low, it takes a certain amount of time and more appropriately by extending the time for determining whether or not to perform vehicle deceleration control. Deceleration control can be determined.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, even when the object cannot be directly detected from the image acquired from the imaging unit, the time for determining whether to perform the deceleration control of the vehicle is extended. Therefore, it is possible to determine the deceleration control more appropriately after taking a certain amount of time.

  According to the invention described in claim 6, it is possible to suppress the control under the condition of low reliability and to realize safer traveling control.

It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the vehicle control system. It is a figure for demonstrating the mode of the object detection by the object detection part. It is a figure which shows an example of the reliability determination information 152. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional information acquisition source switching information 154. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the driving assistance conditions. It is a figure for demonstrating the amount of laps. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process performed by the vehicle control apparatus 100 of embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the vehicle control system 1. The vehicle control system 1 includes, for example, a camera (imaging unit) 10, a radar device 20, a vehicle sensor 30, a travel driving force output device 40, a brake device 50, a steering device 60, a notification device 70, a vehicle And a control device 100.

  The camera 10 is a digital camera using a solid-state imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The camera 10 is attached to, for example, the upper part of the front windshield of the vehicle (hereinafter, the host vehicle) on which the vehicle control system 1 is mounted, the rear surface of the rearview mirror, and the like. For example, the camera 10 periodically and repeatedly images around the host vehicle. The camera 10 outputs the captured image to the vehicle control device 100. The camera 10 may be a monocular camera. Moreover, the camera 10 is not limited to one, and a plurality of cameras 10 may be provided in the host vehicle, or a stereo camera including a plurality of cameras may be used.

  The radar device 20 is provided, for example, around a bumper or a front grill of the host vehicle. For example, the radar apparatus 20 radiates a radio wave such as a millimeter wave in front of the host vehicle, and receives a reflected wave reflected by the radiated millimeter wave hitting an object around the host vehicle. Further, the radar device 20 measures position information related to the relative distance direction between the host vehicle and an object around the vehicle from the time from when the millimeter wave is emitted until the reflected wave is received. Further, the radar apparatus 20 detects position information (hereinafter referred to as a lateral position) of an object related to the lateral direction of the host vehicle. The lateral direction is the direction of an axis perpendicular to the axis of the traveling direction of the host vehicle. The radar apparatus 20 outputs the measured position information to the vehicle control apparatus 100.

  The vehicle sensor 30 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects a vehicle speed (traveling speed), an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration, a yaw rate sensor that detects an angular velocity around a vertical axis, an orientation sensor that detects the direction of the host vehicle M, and the like. The vehicle sensor 30 outputs information acquired by each sensor to the vehicle control device 100.

  The traveling driving force output device 40 outputs a traveling driving force (torque) for driving the host vehicle to driving wheels. For example, when the host vehicle is an automobile using an internal combustion engine as a power source, the traveling driving force output device 40 includes an engine, a transmission, and an engine ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls the engine, and the host vehicle M is an electric motor. When the vehicle M is a hybrid vehicle, the engine, the transmission, the engine ECU, the traveling motor, and the motor ECU for controlling the traveling motor are provided. A motor ECU.

  When the traveling driving force output device 40 includes only the engine, the engine ECU adjusts the throttle opening, the shift stage, and the like of the engine according to information input from the vehicle control device 100. When the traveling driving force output device 40 includes only the traveling motor, the motor ECU adjusts the duty ratio of a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal given to the traveling motor in accordance with information input from the vehicle control device 100. When the traveling drive force output device 40 includes an engine and a traveling motor, the engine ECU and the motor ECU control the traveling drive force in cooperation with each other according to information input from the vehicle control device 100.

  The brake device 50 is, for example, an electric servo brake device that includes a brake caliper, a cylinder that transmits hydraulic pressure to the brake caliper, an electric motor that generates hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and a braking control unit. The braking control unit of the electric servo brake device controls the electric motor according to the information input from the vehicle control device 100 so that the brake torque corresponding to the braking operation is output to each wheel. The electric servo brake device may include, as a backup, a mechanism that transmits the hydraulic pressure generated by operating the brake pedal to the cylinder via the master cylinder. The brake device 50 is not limited to the electric servo brake device described above, and may be an electronically controlled hydraulic brake device. The electronically controlled hydraulic brake device controls the actuator in accordance with information input from the vehicle control device 100, and transmits the hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder to the cylinder. Further, the brake device 50 may include a regenerative brake by a traveling motor that can be included in the traveling driving force output device 40.

  The steering device 60 includes, for example, a steering ECU and an electric motor. For example, the electric motor changes the direction of the steered wheels by applying a force to a rack and pinion mechanism. The steering ECU drives the electric motor according to information input from the vehicle control device 100 or information of the input steering steering angle or steering torque, and changes the direction of the steered wheels.

  The notification device 70 is, for example, a display (display unit) or a speaker (audio output unit) provided in the host vehicle. The notification device 70 notifies an occupant by displaying information (for example, an alarm) related to the control content in the vehicle control device 100 on a display or by outputting a sound through a speaker.

  The vehicle control device 100 is realized by, for example, one or more processors or hardware having an equivalent function. The vehicle control device 100 is configured by combining a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) in which a communication interface is connected by an internal bus, or an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit). It may be.

  The vehicle control device 100, for example, corresponds to the occupant's operation content obtained from an operator (not shown) (for example, an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and a steering wheel), for example, the driving force output device 40, the brake device 50, or the steering. At least one of the devices 60 is controlled to perform traveling control with respect to at least one of steering of the host vehicle and vehicle speed.

  In addition, the vehicle control device 100 includes, for example, an object detection unit 110, a reliability determination unit 120, a travel support unit 130, a notification control unit 140, and a storage unit 150.

  The object detection unit 110 detects an object based on an image captured by the camera 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a state of object detection by the object detection unit 110. In the example of FIG. 2, the host vehicle M, the traveling lane 210, the pedestrian crossing 220, and the objects 230-1 to 230-3 are shown. For example, the object detection unit 110 uses the luminance information or color information (R, G, B) for each pixel of the image captured by the camera 10 to calculate the object from the luminance difference or color parameter difference between the object and the background. 230 edge portions are extracted. Then, the object detection unit 110 compares the shape of the region surrounded by the extracted edge portion with the shape of each attribute such as a pedestrian, a two-wheeled vehicle, a bicycle, and a car set in advance, and the degree of matching of the shape ( When the determination score is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, 80% or more), the attribute of the object is determined. The shape of the motorcycle and the bicycle may be a shape including a person who gets on the motorcycle. For example, when there are a plurality of objects having a degree of matching equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the object detecting unit 110 determines the attribute having the highest degree of matching as the attribute of the object. The object detection unit 110 determines the attributes of the object 230-1 and the object 230-2 as a pedestrian, and determines the attribute of the object 230-3 as a bicycle.

  Further, the object detection unit 110 determines the position information of the object included on the image based on the installation position of the camera 10 in the host vehicle M and the camera parameters such as the angle of view. The position information includes, for example, information related to the relative distance from the host vehicle M to the object 230, and may include the direction and lateral position of the object 230 with respect to the host vehicle M. In addition, the object detection unit 110 sets the acquisition source of the position information of the object 230 as position information determined based on the image acquired from the camera 10 by switching control from the driving support unit 130 described later, or a radar apparatus. Whether the position information is measured at 20 may be switched.

  In addition, the object detection unit 110 measures the total movement amount and movement direction during observation of the object 230 based on images taken every predetermined time by the camera 10. Note that the object detection unit 110 may be a movement amount per unit time instead of the total movement amount. When the measured movement amount is equal to or greater than the threshold value and the movement direction is approaching the traveling lane 210 side, or the object detection unit 110 is moving in the direction approaching the host vehicle M in the traveling lane 210, It is determined that the object 230 may be a crossing person who crosses the front of the host vehicle M. Further, when the condition is not included, the object detection unit 110 determines that the object 230 may be an object other than a crossing person. Note that the object detection unit 110 determines whether or not each of the objects 230-1 to 230-3 included in the image captured by the camera 10 may be a crossing person.

  In addition, the object detection unit 110 may determine whether the object 230 that has been determined to be a crossing person is “crossing” or “pre-crossing”. The “crossing” is, for example, a case where there is a high possibility that an object 230 such as a pedestrian is crossing the traveling lane of the host vehicle M, and a pedestrian who crosses the front of the host vehicle M. In addition, “pre-crossing” is a crossing person who may have crossed the traveling lane 210 but cannot have much confirmation. In this case, the object detection unit 110, for example, the current position of the object 230, the distance from the host vehicle M, the movement amount, the movement direction, the movement speed, and the like are set in advance for each of “crossing” and “pre-crossing”. Either “crossing” or “pre-crossing” is determined depending on whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied.

  In addition, in the time-series image obtained from the camera 10, the object detection unit 110 calculates the displacement (magnification rate) of the size of the object 230 in the next image from the size (area) of the object 230 in the current image. If the amount of displacement of the object in the actual image frame exceeds the estimated value set in advance, the object 230 may be removed because the detection of the object 230 is incorrect.

  In addition, the object detection unit 110, when the object 230 that has been detected so far is hidden behind another object (for example, a vehicle, a power pole, or another pedestrian) and cannot detect the position of the object, On the basis of the movement trajectory of the object 230, extrapolation processing for estimating the presence or absence of the object 230 from the movement amount or movement direction of the object 230 may be performed.

  The reliability determination unit 120 determines the reliability of the object detected by the object detection unit 110. For example, the reliability determination unit 120 is based on the attribute of the object detected by the object detection unit 110 and the situation when the object detection unit 110 detects the object, and the reliability determination information stored in the storage unit 150 in advance. With reference to 152, the reliability of the object 230 is determined. The situation when the object is detected may be, for example, a situation regarding what operation the object 230 is performing, or may be a processing situation of the object detection unit 110 that is detecting the object 230.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the reliability determination information 152. In the reliability determination information 152, for example, reliability is associated with each combination of attribute and situation. In the reliability determination information 152, identification information is set so that a combination of attributes and situations can be identified. In the illustrated example, as the reliability, for example, four threshold levels of “none”, “low”, “medium”, and “high” are set. In this case, the degree of reliability is ““ none ”<“ low ”<“ medium ”<“ high ”. The reliability may be set with a numerical value.

  For example, when the object detection unit 110 detects position information of the object 230 by extrapolation processing, the reliability determination unit 120 determines that the reliability of the object is “low” regardless of the attribute of the object 230. To do.

  In the reliability determination unit 120, for example, the object 230 detected by the object detection unit 110 is a pedestrian, but the area expansion rate of the object between successive images is equal to or greater than the estimated value, and the object 230 is When removed (that is, when the object 230 has been removed but may have been a pedestrian), the reliability of the object 230 is determined to be “medium”. In this case, the reliability determination unit 120 can determine that the reliability of the lateral position is high because the object 230 is detected although the pedestrian is not specified.

  In addition, for example, when the attribute of the object 230 detected by the object detection unit 110 is a pedestrian and there is no removal of the object 230 at the above-described area expansion rate, the reliability determination unit 120 Whether the pedestrian is a normal pedestrian, a crossing pedestrian, or a pre-crossing pedestrian, the reliability is determined as “high”.

  In addition, when the object 230 is not detected by the object detection unit 110, there is no information related to the attribute or status of the object 230. In this case, the reliability of the object in the reliability determination unit 120 is “none”.

  The travel support unit 130 performs travel support for the host vehicle M according to the object 230 detected by the object detection unit 110. In addition, the driving support unit 130 determines the specific content of what kind of driving support is to be performed for the host vehicle M based on the high reliability determined by the reliability determination unit 120 or the object detection. At least one of whether to use the position information of the object 230 detected by the unit 110 is determined.

  For example, the travel support unit 130 refers to the position information acquisition source switching information 154 stored in advance in the storage unit 150 based on the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit 120, and travels based on the high reliability. Get support content.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the position information acquisition source switching information 154. The position information acquisition source switching information 154 is, for example, information associated with switching of the acquisition source of object position information for each reliability.

  For example, when the reliability of the object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “none”, the driving support unit 130 does not perform switching control of the acquisition source of the position information, but does not acquire the position information. The object detection by the object detection unit 110 is continued.

  In addition, when the reliability of the object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “low”, the driving support unit 130 has a low reliability of the detection result by the camera 10, and thus the object detection unit 110 detects the object 230. The lateral position is determined based on the measurement result of the radar apparatus 20.

  In addition, when the reliability of the object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “medium” or “high”, the driving support unit 130 detects the lateral position of the object 230 by the object detection unit 110. Based on the image acquired from

  The travel support unit 130 outputs the above-described switching information from which the position information is acquired to the object detection unit 110. Thereby, for example, when the reliability is equal to or higher than the threshold (“medium” or “high”) (when the reliability is high), the object detection unit 110 indicates the lateral position of the object 230 with respect to the host vehicle M. Can be determined based on the image obtained by the above. In other words, when the reliability of object detection by the camera 10 is high, the lateral position of the object with respect to the host vehicle M is determined using information on the image of the camera 10 having a high lateral resolution, thereby improving the accuracy of the position information of the object 230. Can be improved. Further, in this case, the object detection unit 110 determines the position information of the object 230 regarding the distance direction from the host vehicle M based on the measurement result by the radar device 20.

  Further, the object detection unit 110 determines the lateral position of the object 230 with respect to the host vehicle M by using the image of the camera 10 preferentially, and the position information of the object related to the distance direction from the host vehicle M is determined by the radar device 20. The measurement result by may be used with priority. For example, when the position information is calculated using the position information determined from the image of the camera 10 and the position information determined from the measurement result of the radar device 20, the priority position is used. It is to increase the weight for information. As described above, according to the reliability, the position information determined from the image acquired from the camera 10 and the position information determined from the radar apparatus 20 are appropriately used to improve the reliability of the position information. Can do.

  In addition, the driving support unit 130 refers to the driving support condition 156 stored in advance in the storage unit 150 based on the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit 120, and controls the driving of the host vehicle M corresponding to the object 230. Determine the contents of.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the driving support condition 156. For example, the driving support condition 156 is associated with the driving support condition of the host vehicle M for each reliability.

  For example, when the reliability of object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “none”, the driving support unit 130 maintains the current state without performing any particular control. As a result, it is possible to suppress control under conditions with low reliability and to realize safer travel control.

  Further, when the reliability of the object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “low” or “medium” (when it is less than the threshold value), the driving support unit 130 has reliability of the detection result by the camera 10. Since it is low, the time for determining whether or not to perform the deceleration control of the host vehicle M is extended beyond the predetermined time. The deceleration control is, for example, control for decelerating the host vehicle M by the brake device 50 when it is determined that the object 230 and the host vehicle M may collide. The deceleration control may be started when a predetermined time has elapsed, for example. Further, in the speed control, the operation of the deceleration control is permitted after a predetermined time has elapsed, and thereafter, TTC (Time To Collision) calculated from the relative speed and distance between the host vehicle M and the object 230; It may be started when the time until the contact with becomes a predetermined value or less. As a result, it is possible to determine deceleration control more appropriately over a certain period of time.

  In addition, when the reliability of object detection determined by the reliability determination unit 120 is “high”, the driving support unit 130 determines whether or not to perform deceleration control for a predetermined time because the reliability of object detection is already high. Judgment is made.

  Here, the driving support unit 130 determines whether or not to perform deceleration control for avoiding a collision between the object 230 and the host vehicle M, for example, as a driving support of the host vehicle M. In this case, the driving support unit 130 determines whether or not the object 230 and the host vehicle M may collide based on the lateral position information of the object acquired from the acquisition source switched according to the reliability. To do.

  The driving support unit 130 determines the possibility of collision depending on, for example, whether or not the object 230 substantially passes through the predicted collision point with the host vehicle M. The collision point is a portion where the planned travel path (scheduled travel area) of the host vehicle M and the pedestrian's crossing track overlap. The planned trajectory may be a region surrounded by two lines extending from the left and right ends of the host vehicle M in the direction of the central axis of the host vehicle M, and has a turn in consideration of the steering angle and the like. May be set. Further, whether or not the vehicle has almost passed is determined based on an expected time when the host vehicle M reaches the collision point. In order to make this determination, the driving support unit 130 calculates a lap amount and a lap rate, which are index values for evaluating the amount of overlap between the planned travel locus of the host vehicle M and the crossing locus of the pedestrian.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the lap amount. In the figure, an object 230 shown in the shape of a pedestrian is an expected position of the pedestrian at an expected time when the host vehicle M reaches the collision point. Further, y1 is a virtual line extending from the left end portion of the host vehicle M in the traveling direction of the host vehicle M, and y2 is a virtual line extending from the right end portion of the host vehicle M in the traveling direction of the host vehicle M.

  The driving support unit 130 obtains the predicted position of the object 230, and then the second virtual straight line y2 in which the front end portion has already passed from the front end portion (in this case, the left end portion H1L) considering the moving direction of the object 230. The distance βH2 is calculated as a lap amount. Here, when the front end portion does not reach any imaginary straight line at the expected position of the object 230, the lap amount is calculated as zero. Further, the driving support unit 130 divides the lap amount by the width W between the first virtual line y1 and the second virtual line y2, and calculates a value multiplied by 100 as a lap rate [%]. Then, the traveling support unit 130 determines that the object 230 has almost passed the collision point when the lap rate is 70% or more.

  In addition, the traveling support unit 130 determines that the object 230 has reached the collision point when the above-described lap rate is greater than 0 [%]. When determining the above-mentioned conditions, the driving support unit 130 relaxes the conditions related to the lap rate if it is already determined to be a crossing person (for example, minus 20% or more when calculating to minus) If it is determined that the vehicle has reached the collision point, the travel control may be easily activated.

  In addition, the driving support unit 130 continues to determine whether or not the object 230 and the host vehicle M are likely to collide by the above-described processing, and the time when it is determined that there is a possibility of collision is a predetermined time. When it is above, it determines with performing deceleration control. In this case, for example, when the reliability described above is “high” and the time when it is determined that there is a possibility of collision is equal to or longer than a predetermined time, the traveling support unit 130 decelerates the host vehicle M by the brake device 50. Take control. In addition, the driving support unit 130, for example, performs braking when the reliability described above is “medium” or “low” and the time determined to have a possibility of a collision is equal to or longer than a predetermined time. Deceleration control of the host vehicle M is performed by the device 50.

  In addition, the driving support unit 130 operates the predetermined driving control operation timing when the object 230 is crossing or pre-crossing compared to a pedestrian other than a crossing pedestrian. To increase the operating range or increase a predetermined travel control amount. Note that the travel support unit 130 may perform control combining a plurality of these. The predetermined traveling control is, for example, deceleration control for avoiding a collision such as automatically decelerating or automatically stopping the speed of the host vehicle M. Enlarging the operating region means expanding the control target area based on the host vehicle M, and increasing the width or making the control target including a position far in the traveling direction. The predetermined travel control amount is a size for automatic deceleration or automatic stop. Further, the driving support unit 130 may change at least one of the operation timing, the operation region, and the travel control amount depending on whether the object 230 is crossing or pre-crossing. . In addition, the travel support unit 130 may cause the occupant to be notified of the content of the travel control by the notification control unit 140.

  For example, when it is determined that the object 230 is crossing, the driving support unit 130 causes the brake device 50 to perform stronger brake control, and when the pedestrian 240 is determined to be pre-crossing, A weak brake control may be performed by the brake device 50.

  When the control unit 140 controls the crossing pedestrian from the driving support unit 130, the notification control unit 140 notifies the occupant of the presence of the object 230 with the possibility of collision by the notification device 70, and causes the driver to be alerted. For example, when the object 230 with the possibility of collision is a pre-crosser, the notification control unit 140 gives a light notification to the occupant by an alarm or the like, and the object 230 with the possibility of collision is a crosser. In some cases, an emergency alert or the like may be notified.

  The storage unit 150 stores information such as reliability determination information 152, position information acquisition source switching information 154, and driving support conditions 156, for example. The storage unit 150 is realized by a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or the like. A program (a vehicle control program or the like) executed by the processor may be stored in the storage unit 150 in advance, or may be downloaded from an external device via an in-vehicle internet facility (not shown). The program may be installed in the storage unit 150 by mounting a portable storage medium storing the program on a drive device (not shown) and executed by an in-vehicle computer or the like in the host vehicle M.

[Processing flow]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by the vehicle control device 100 according to the embodiment. The processing of this flowchart is repeatedly executed at a predetermined cycle, for example. First, the object detection unit 110 detects an object from an image acquired from the camera 10 (step S100). Next, the object detection unit 110 detects position information of the detected object (step S102). Next, the object detection unit 110 detects the position information of the object from the radar device 20 (step S104). Next, the reliability determination unit 120 determines the reliability based on the attribute and status of the object detected by the object detection (step S106).

  Next, the driving support unit 130 acquires the acquisition source of the position information of the object 230 and the driving support conditions according to the determined reliability (step S108). Next, the driving support unit 130 determines whether or not the object 230 and the host vehicle M may collide (step S110), and determines whether or not there is a possibility of collision (step S112). . If there is a possibility of a collision, the driving support unit 130 performs deceleration control of the host vehicle M in order to avoid the collision (step S114). Note that the travel support for avoiding a collision is not limited to deceleration control, and steering control such as lane change may be performed. Thereby, the processing of this flowchart is terminated.

  According to the embodiment described above, the vehicle control device can improve the reliability of the driving support. Further, according to the embodiment, when the reliability of the object 230 detected from the image acquired from the camera 10 is high, the lateral position of the object 230 with respect to the host vehicle M is determined using the information of the image with high lateral resolution. Thus, the accuracy of the position information of the object can be improved. In addition, according to the embodiment, the position information determined from the image acquired from the imaging unit and the position information determined from the radar apparatus are appropriately used according to the reliability, thereby improving the reliability of the position information. Can be improved. Further, according to the embodiment, the possibility of collision is determined by extending the time for determining whether or not to perform deceleration control of the host vehicle based on the reliability and the object detection result from the camera image. Deceleration control can be more appropriately determined for the result.

  In addition, according to the embodiment, not only the presence / absence of detection by each detection unit such as the camera 10 and the radar apparatus 20 but also the accuracy change and reliability change of each detection unit are considered, so that the optimum measurement accuracy as a fusion sensor can be obtained. Control reliability can be ensured.

  In addition, the vehicle control apparatus 100 in embodiment mentioned above may perform the automatic driving | operation of the own vehicle M, for example. The automatic operation may be a semi-automatic operation that automatically controls only acceleration / deceleration. In these cases, for example, the vehicle control device 100 causes the host vehicle M to travel while controlling steering or acceleration / deceleration by automatic driving control based on a preset action plan. Further, the travel support unit 130 of the vehicle control device 100 performs the above-described deceleration control by the travel support on the host vehicle M traveling by automatic driving. Thereby, the reliability of the driving assistance during the automatic driving of the host vehicle M can be improved.

  As mentioned above, although the form for implementing this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, this invention is not limited to such embodiment at all, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, various deformation | transformation and substitution Can be added.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle control system, 10 ... Camera (imaging part), 20 ... Radar apparatus, 30 ... Vehicle sensor, 40 ... Driving force output device, 50 ... Brake device, 60 ... Steering device, 70 ... Notification device, 100 ... Vehicle Control device, 110 ... object detection unit, 120 ... reliability determination unit, 130 ... travel support unit, 140 ... notification control unit, 150 ... storage unit

Claims (8)

An imaging unit for imaging the surroundings of the vehicle;
An object detection unit that detects an object around the vehicle based on an image captured by the imaging unit;
A reliability determination unit that determines the reliability of the object detected by the object detection unit;
A travel support unit that performs travel support of the vehicle according to the object detected by the object detection unit, based on the high reliability determined by the reliability determination unit, A traveling support unit that determines at least one of the content or the position information of the object detected by the object detection unit;
A vehicle control device comprising: The object detection unit determines position information of the object in the lateral direction of the vehicle based on an image obtained by the imaging unit when the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value.
The vehicle control device according to claim 1. A radar device that measures the position of the vehicle and objects around the vehicle by radiating radio waves;
The object detection unit preferentially uses an image obtained by the imaging unit for positional information of the object in the lateral direction of the vehicle when the reliability determined by the reliability determination unit is equal to or greater than the threshold. Determining the position information of the object with respect to the distance direction with the vehicle, using the measurement result by the radar device preferentially,
The vehicle control device according to claim 2. The driving support unit extends a time for determining whether to perform deceleration control of the vehicle when the reliability of the object detected by the object detection unit is less than a threshold;
The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The driving support unit extends time for determining whether or not to perform deceleration control of the vehicle, when extrapolation processing is used for object detection by the object detection unit;
The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The travel support unit does not determine whether to perform deceleration control of the vehicle when the object detection unit has not detected the object.
The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. In-vehicle computer
Detecting an object around the vehicle based on an image captured by an imaging unit that captures the periphery of the vehicle;
Determine the reliability of the detected object,
Assisting the vehicle to travel according to the detected object,
Based on the determined high degree of reliability, at least one of whether to use the content of driving support of the vehicle or position information of the detected object is determined.
Vehicle control method. On-board computer
Detecting an object around the vehicle based on an image captured by an imaging unit that captures the periphery of the vehicle;
Determine the reliability of the detected object,
According to the detected object, driving support of the vehicle is performed,
Based on the determined high reliability, at least one of whether to use the content of the driving support of the vehicle or the position information of the detected object is determined.
Vehicle control program.

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