JP2018151818A - Failure determination device, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a failure determination device for determining presence/absence of a failure in a periphery monitoring system to monitor a periphery of a vehicle.SOLUTION: A failure determination device 6a includes: a driver state determination section 612 for determining whether a driver is in a high concentration state on the basis of detection information of a driver state detection sensor to detect a state of a driver; a question information output section 613 for outputting information of a question related to a peripheral state of a vehicle on the basis of monitoring information of a periphery monitoring system when the driver state determination section determines that a driver is in a high concentration state; and a failure determination section 614 for determining presence/absence of a failure in the periphery monitoring system on the basis of information of an answer of a driver to a question.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a failure determination apparatus, method, and program for determining the presence or absence of a failure in a peripheral monitoring system.

  In recent years, as a driving mode of a vehicle, in addition to a manual driving mode in which the vehicle is driven based on a driving operation of the driver, an automatic driving mode in which the vehicle is driven along a predetermined route without depending on the driving operation of the driver. Development is underway. The automatic driving mode is, for example, information on a navigation system using GPS (Global Positioning System), traffic information obtained by road-to-vehicle communication, a person around the vehicle, and a position monitoring system that monitors the position and movement of the vehicle. Based on the information, a power unit, a steering device, a brake, and the like are controlled to enable automatic driving of the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP2015-184975A

  In traveling in the automatic operation mode, it is indispensable that a peripheral monitoring system that monitors the positions and movements of people around the vehicle and the vehicle functions normally. The periphery monitoring system can be configured by, for example, a sensor such as a camera that acquires information around the vehicle, and a processing device such as a computer that processes the acquired information.

  In recent years, various sensors, processing devices, and the like often have a self-diagnosis function for detecting their own failures. However, the self-diagnosis function cannot always be said to function normally. For example, a malfunction may occur in the sensing function of the sensor or the determination function of the processing device due to aging or thermal stress. In such a case, the sensor, the processing apparatus, etc. output incorrect information although it is determined that the self-diagnostic function has not failed.

  Considering such a situation, it is considered necessary to periodically check whether there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system, for example, its sensor or processing device, instead of leaving it to the machine.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such circumstances, and intends to provide a failure determination device, method and program for determining whether or not there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first aspect of the present invention is a failure determination device that determines the presence or absence of a failure in a periphery monitoring system that monitors the periphery of a vehicle, and detects a driver state. A driver state determination unit that determines whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration based on detection information of the sensor, and the driver is in a state of high concentration by the driver state determination unit Based on the monitoring information of the surroundings monitoring system, based on the monitoring information of the surroundings, a question information output unit that outputs information of questions about the situation around the vehicle, A failure determination unit for determining whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system.

  A failure determination device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the failure determination device according to the first aspect, further comprising: an instruction information output unit that outputs instruction information related to automatic driving control to the automatic driving control device mounted on the vehicle. Furthermore, it has. The instruction information output unit outputs instruction information that at least restricts the function of the automatic operation control device when the failure determination unit determines that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system.

  The failure determination device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the failure determination device according to the second aspect, wherein the automatic operation control device is determined when the failure determination unit determines that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system. The instruction information output unit is configured to output instruction information for stopping the function.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state based on the detection information of the driver state detection sensor that detects the state of the driver. When it is determined that the vehicle is in a highly concentrated state, a question regarding the situation around the vehicle is output based on the monitoring information of the surrounding monitoring system, and the failure of the surrounding monitoring system is determined based on the driver's answer to the question. The presence or absence of is determined. For this reason, the presence or absence of a failure in the periphery monitoring system is interactively determined. This makes it possible to find a failure that is not perceived by the periphery monitoring system itself. This contributes to reducing or preventing the occurrence of malfunctions in automatic operation control that may occur due to such a failure.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when it is determined that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system, the instruction information for limiting the function of the automatic operation control device is output. For this reason, it becomes possible to reduce the occurrence of a control failure of the automatic driving control apparatus that may occur due to a failure that is not perceived by the periphery monitoring system itself.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, when it is determined that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system, the instruction information for stopping the function of the automatic driving control device is output. For this reason, it becomes possible to prevent the occurrence of a control failure of the automatic operation control apparatus that may occur due to a failure that the periphery monitoring system itself does not sense.

  That is, according to each aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a failure determination device control device, method, and program for determining the presence or absence of a failure in the peripheral monitoring system.

It is a figure showing the whole automatic operation control system composition provided with the operation mode change control device containing the failure judging device concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the failure determination apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure and control content of the operation mode switching control by the failure determination apparatus shown in FIG. In one Embodiment of this invention, it is a figure which shows typically a mode that the reply with respect to a question is input by the touchscreen type input / output device.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[One Embodiment]
(Constitution)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an automatic driving control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This automatic driving control system is mounted on a vehicle 1 such as a passenger car.

  The vehicle 1 includes, as basic equipment, a power unit 2 including a power source and a transmission, and a steering device 3 equipped with a steering wheel 3a. An engine and / or a motor is used as the power source.

  The vehicle 1 is configured to be able to travel in either a manual operation mode or an automatic operation mode.

  The manual driving mode is a mode in which the vehicle 1 is driven mainly by a driver's manual driving operation, for example. The manual operation mode includes, for example, an operation mode for driving the vehicle based only on the driver's driving operation, and an operation mode for performing driving operation support control for supporting the driving operation of the driver while mainly driving the driver's driving operation. Is included.

  In the driving operation support control, for example, the steering torque is assisted so that the driver's steering becomes an appropriate steering amount based on the curvature of the curve when the vehicle 1 is traveling on the curve. The driving operation support control includes control for assisting a driver's accelerator operation (for example, operation of an accelerator pedal) or brake operation (for example, operation of a brake pedal), manual steering (manual operation of steering), and manual speed adjustment (speed). Adjustment manual operation) is also included. In manual steering, the vehicle 1 is steered mainly by the driver's operation of the steering wheel 3a. In manual speed adjustment, the speed of the vehicle is adjusted mainly by the driver's accelerator operation or brake operation.

  Note that the driving operation support control does not include control for forcibly intervening in the driving operation of the driver to automatically drive the vehicle. In other words, in the manual driving mode, the driving operation of the driver is reflected in the driving of the vehicle within a preset allowable range, but forcibly intervenes in the driving of the vehicle under certain conditions (for example, deviation from the lane of the vehicle). Control to do is not included.

  On the other hand, the automatic driving mode is a mode that realizes a driving state in which the vehicle automatically travels along the road on which the vehicle travels, for example. The automatic driving mode includes, for example, a driving state in which the vehicle automatically travels toward a preset destination without driving by the driver. In the automatic driving mode, it is not always necessary to automatically control all of the vehicle, and the driving state in which the driving operation of the driver is reflected in the driving of the vehicle within the preset allowable range is also included in the automatic driving mode. That is, the automatic driving mode includes control for forcibly intervening in driving of the vehicle under certain conditions, while reflecting the driving operation of the driver in driving of the vehicle within a preset allowable range.

  In FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 is also provided with an automatic driving control device 5 for executing driving control in the automatic driving mode. The automatic driving control device 5 acquires sensing information from the steering sensor 11, the accelerator pedal sensor 12, the brake pedal sensor 13, the GPS receiver 14, the gyro sensor 15, and the vehicle speed sensor 16, respectively. The automatic driving control device 5 is a peripheral monitoring system that monitors these sensing information, route information generated by a navigation system (not shown), traffic information acquired by road-to-vehicle communication, and positions and movements of surrounding people and vehicles. Based on the information obtained by 17, the traveling of the vehicle 1 is automatically controlled.

  Automatic control includes, for example, automatic steering (automatic steering operation) and automatic speed adjustment (automatic driving of speed). Automatic steering is an operating state in which the steering device 3 is automatically controlled. Automatic steering includes LKA (Lane Keeping Assist). For example, the LKA automatically controls the steering device 3 so that the vehicle 1 does not deviate from the traveling lane even when the driver does not perform the steering operation. Even when LKA is being executed, the driver's steering operation may be reflected in the steering of the vehicle in a range where the vehicle 1 does not deviate from the travel lane (allowable range). Note that automatic steering is not limited to LKA.

  Automatic speed adjustment is an operating state in which the speed of the vehicle 1 is automatically controlled. Automatic speed adjustment includes ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control). For example, when there is no preceding vehicle ahead of the vehicle 1, ACC performs constant speed control that causes the vehicle 1 to travel at a constant speed at a preset speed, and when the preceding vehicle exists ahead of the vehicle 1. Is a follow-up control that adjusts the vehicle speed of the vehicle 1 in accordance with the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle. The automatic operation control device 5 decelerates the vehicle 1 according to the driver's brake operation (for example, operation of the brake pedal) even when ACC is being executed. In addition, the automatic operation control device 5 can perform the driver's accelerator operation (for example, accelerator) up to a preset maximum allowable speed (for example, the maximum speed legally determined on the traveling road) even during execution of ACC. The vehicle can be accelerated according to the pedal operation. The automatic speed adjustment is not limited to ACC but also includes CC (Cruise Control).

  The automatic operation control system of this embodiment includes an operation mode switching control device 6 for controlling switching of the operation mode between the manual operation mode and the automatic operation mode. The automatic driving control system has a driver monitoring system 10 for monitoring the driver, which includes a driver camera 7 as a monitoring sensor for monitoring the driver and a part of the driving mode switching control device 6. doing. The driver monitoring system 10 also has an input / output device 9 for exchanging information with the driver based on the acquired monitoring information.

  The driver camera 7 is installed at a position in front of the driver, such as on the dashboard, for example, and images the driver and outputs the video signal to the driving mode switching control device 6.

  The input / output device 9 has, for example, a speaker and a display as output functions, and outputs a voice signal of the message output from the operation mode switching control device 6 from the speaker and also displays a display signal of the message on the display. . The input / output device 9 may have only one of a speaker and a display. The input / output device 9 includes, for example, a microphone and a touch panel as input functions, and outputs a signal input from the microphone and the touch panel to the operation mode switching control device 6. The input / output device 9 may have only one of a microphone and a touch panel. The input / output device 9 may be configured using an image display function, a voice input / output function, and an information input function of the navigation system.

  The operation mode switching control device 6 has a function of interactively determining whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system 17 in addition to the function of controlling the switching of the operation mode of the vehicle 1. For this reason, the operation mode switching control device 6 has a failure determination device 6a that performs a function of determining this failure.

  The surroundings monitoring system 17 has a function of monitoring the positions and movements of people and vehicles around the vehicle 1 and outputting monitoring information regarding the surroundings of the vehicle 1. The monitoring information output from the peripheral monitoring system 17 is used for control of the automatic driving control device 5. For example, the periphery monitoring system 17 may include a periphery monitoring sensor such as a camera that acquires information around the vehicle 1 and a processing device such as a computer that processes the acquired information.

  Such a failure of the peripheral monitoring system 17 may be a failure of the peripheral monitoring sensor, a failure of the processing device, or a failure of both.

  The failure determination device 6a interactively determines the presence or absence of a failure in the periphery monitoring system 17, and is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration.

  The failure determination device 6a includes a control unit 61, an input / output interface unit 62, and a storage unit 63.

  The input / output interface unit 62 receives the video signal and the periphery monitoring signal respectively output from the driver camera 7 and the periphery monitoring system 17, converts them into digital data, and outputs them to the control unit 61. The input / output interface unit 62 also converts the message output from the control unit 61 into an audio signal and / or a display signal and outputs it to the input / output device 9. The input / output interface unit 62 also converts an input signal from the input / output device 9 into digital data and outputs the digital data to the control unit 61. The input / output interface unit 62 further converts the instruction information data output from the control unit 61 into a signal and outputs the signal to the automatic operation control device 5.

  The storage unit 63 uses a non-volatile memory that can be written and read as needed, such as a solid state drive (SSD) and a hard disk drive (HDD), as a storage medium. The storage unit 63 includes a driver monitoring video storage unit 631, a driver state storage unit 632, and a determination result storage unit 633 as storage areas used for carrying out this embodiment. The storage unit 63 is not limited to a nonvolatile memory, and may be a volatile memory such as a RAM.

  The control unit 61 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a program memory that constitute a computer. The control unit 61 includes a driver monitoring video acquisition unit 611, a driver state determination unit 612, a question information output unit 613, a failure determination unit 614, an instruction as control functions necessary for carrying out the present embodiment. And an information output unit 615. All of these control functions are realized by causing the CPU to execute a program stored in the program memory.

  The driver monitoring video acquisition unit 611 has a function of acquiring a driver monitoring video from the driver camera 7. The driver monitoring video acquisition unit 611 takes in the digital data (driver monitoring video data) of the driver's video signal output from the driver camera 7 from the input / output interface unit 62, and uses the captured driver monitoring video data. The information is stored in the driver monitoring video storage unit 631 of the storage unit 63.

  The driver state determination unit 612 has a function of determining the state of the driver. The driver state determination unit 612 reads the driver monitoring video data from the driver monitoring video storage unit 631 at a preset time interval, and determines the state of the driver based on the driver monitoring video data each time. The driver state determination unit 612 stores information representing the determination result in the driver state storage unit 632 of the storage unit 63.

  The driver state determined by the driver state determination unit 612 is, for example, whether the driver is looking aside, whether the driver is drowsy, or whether the driver is highly concentrated on driving. It may be various, such as whether or not the vehicle is in a state, and whether or not the driver can return to manual operation if automatic driving is in progress. The determination of the driver's state is performed as follows, for example.

  First, the driver state determination unit 612 detects a driver's eye opening degree, blinking frequency, eye movement, or the like based on the driver monitoring video data, and the driver's line-of-sight direction or driver's awakening. Recognize degrees. Next, the driver state determination unit 612 determines the state of the driver by comparing the dwell time of the driver's line of sight, the arousal level, and the like with a preset threshold value.

  In this embodiment, the information indicating the determination result of the driver state stored in the driver state storage unit 632 of the storage unit 63 is at least whether the driver is in a state of high concentration with respect to driving. Contains information indicating the determination result.

  The question information output unit 613 has a function of outputting information on a question regarding the situation around the vehicle 1 at a predetermined timing. The question information output unit 613 reads information representing a determination result as to whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration from the driver state storage unit 632, and the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver has a high concentration level. When indicating that the vehicle is in a state, a question about the situation around the vehicle 1 is generated based on the monitoring information of the periphery monitoring system 17, and the information on the question is output to the input / output device 9.

  The failure determination unit 614 obtains information on the driver's answer to the question from the input / output device 9 and compares it with the information on the question output from the question information output unit 613, so that the failure of the surroundings monitoring system 17 is corrected. It has a function to determine the presence or absence. The failure determination unit 614 stores information indicating the determination result in the determination result storage unit 633 of the storage unit 63.

  The instruction information output unit 615 has a function of outputting instruction information related to automatic driving control to the automatic driving control device 5 as needed based on information representing the determination result of the failure determining unit 614. The instruction information may be control information for limiting or stopping the function of the automatic driving control device 5, for example.

(Operation)
Next, the operation of the failure determination device configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall control procedure and control contents.

(1) Driver monitoring start When driving is started, the driver monitoring system 10 starts monitoring the driver in step S1. Driver monitoring continues, for example, during driving. The driver is monitored as follows, for example.

  When driving is started, the driver camera 7 is activated, and continuously captures a predetermined range including the driver's face and outputs the video signal. In this state, the failure determination device 6a takes in digital data (driver monitoring video data) of the video signal output from the driver camera 7 from the input / output interface unit 62 under the control of the driver monitoring video acquisition unit 611. The captured driver monitoring video data is stored in the driver monitoring video storage unit 631 of the storage unit 63.

  In addition, you may perform a driver | operator's imaging intermittently at a predetermined time interval. In addition, the driver camera 7 or the input / output interface unit 62 may encode the video signal according to a predetermined encoding method. In this way, it is possible to reduce the information amount of the monitoring video data and save the storage capacity of the driver monitoring video storage unit 631.

  When the acquisition of the driver monitoring video data is started, the failure determination device 6a determines the state of the driver every time a certain period of time is determined under the control of the driver state determination unit 612. Do. The determination time interval of the driver may be set to a short interval of about 1 second so that a substantially continuous determination can be performed, for example, or set to a relatively long interval of 10 to 30 seconds. May be.

  The driver state determination unit 612 reads the driver monitoring video data from the driver monitoring video storage unit 631 at a preset time interval. Next, every time the driver monitoring video data is read, the driver status determination unit 612 determines whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state with respect to driving based on the driver monitoring video data. . The driver state determination unit 612 stores information indicating the determination result in the driver state storage unit 632 of the storage unit 63 in association with information indicating the determination timing, for example, time stamp information.

  The automatic driving control system has a periphery monitoring system 17 that monitors the positions and movements of people around the vehicle 1 and the vehicle. For example, when the driving is started, the automatic driving control system starts monitoring the periphery of the vehicle 1 in parallel with the start of monitoring of the driver. Monitoring of the periphery of the vehicle 1 may be started at the start of automatic driving, or may be started when determining whether or not the surrounding monitoring system 17 has failed during traveling in the manual driving mode. Here, for the sake of convenience, the monitoring of the periphery of the vehicle 1 will be described as being started in parallel with the start of the driver's monitoring.

(2) Start of failure determination After the operation is started, the failure determination device 6a starts determining whether there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 at a predetermined timing by the question information output unit 613 in step S2. . The timing of starting the failure determination is not limited to this, but may be, for example, the following situation. (A) Each time a certain time elapses while the vehicle 1 is traveling. (B) Every time the vehicle 1 travels a certain distance while traveling. (C) When approaching an inter-vehicle distance confirmation section while traveling on an expressway, or each time. (D) When parked in the service area or parking area while driving on the highway, or each time. In addition, the failure determination may be performed at various timings.

  The determination of the failure may be started while the vehicle is traveling or may be started while the vehicle is stopped, but is preferably started when the driver is not busy with the driving operation. The determination of failure may be started, for example, when there is little or no stearin operation, accelerator operation, or brake operation even during automatic driving, stopping, or manual driving.

(3) Determination of driver state When determination of failure is started, the failure determination device 6a determines whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state by the question information output unit 613 in step S3. To do.

  As described above, the driver state determination unit 612 determines the state of the driver at regular time intervals, and stores information indicating the determination result in the driver state storage unit 632. The information indicating the determination result of the driver state includes information indicating the determination result as to whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration.

  The question information output unit 613 reads, from the driver state storage unit 632, information representing a determination result as to whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration.

  When the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver is not in a high concentration state, for example, the failure determination device 6a stops the current failure determination process, returns to step S2, and returns to the next failure. Wait for the judgment to start.

  Here, as an example, when the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver is not in a state of high concentration, the failure determination process is stopped, but after a predetermined time has elapsed, step S3 You may make it return to the process of this, ie, the process of determination whether a driver | operator is in the state with high concentration.

(4) Output of question On the contrary, when the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver is in a highly concentrated state, the failure determination device 6a causes the question information output unit 613 to execute the vehicle 1 in step S4. Outputs information about questions about the situation around.

  The question information output unit 613 reads monitoring information related to the situation around the vehicle 1 from the periphery monitoring system 17. Next, the question information output unit 613 generates a question regarding the situation around the vehicle 1 based on the monitoring information, and outputs a message of the content of the question.

  The message of the question content is converted into an audio signal and / or a display signal by the input / output interface unit 62 and output to the input / output device 9. The input / output device 9 outputs the input audio signal from the speaker as an audio message, and displays the input display signal on the display as a display message.

  The monitoring information output from the periphery monitoring system 17 is information related to the situation around the vehicle 1. The monitoring information is not limited to this, but may include, for example, relative position information with respect to the vehicle 1 such as vehicles existing around the vehicle 1. Here, the vehicle or the like is not limited to an actual vehicle, and may include an indicator such as a person or an animal, a fixed object such as a sign or a guardrail, or a center line. Hereinafter, all of these are referred to simply as vehicles. The monitoring information may include video information around the vehicle 1 and information on the video processing result.

  The question is preferably a question that does not depend on the driver's feeling. This is because an appropriate answer may not be obtained for a question that depends on the driver's sense. The question may be a so-called yes / no answer, for example, whether the monitoring information is “correct” or “wrong”.

  Although a question is not restricted to this, For example, the following questions may be sufficient. (A) A question that there are other vehicles around the vehicle 1. (B) Further, it asks whether the relative position of other vehicles or the like with respect to the vehicle 1 obtained based on the monitoring information is correct. (C) A question as to whether an attribute of another vehicle or the like obtained based on the monitoring information, for example, the vehicle type is correct. In addition, the questions may be various questions.

  The question asking whether the driver is right or wrong, that is, the message of the question asking whether the driver is “right” or “wrong” is not limited to this, but may be the following message, for example. (A) “There is another vehicle on the right side” (b) “The distance to the preceding vehicle is 100m” (c) “The preceding vehicle is a truck” (d) “Currently running to the right of the lane” ( e) “It stops at a distance of 30 cm from the white line on the right side of the parking spot”. In addition, the question message may be various.

  The message of the content of the question may be information of voice, image, or both. In other words, the message of the question content may be output by voice, image, or both.

(5) Acquisition of Answer Subsequently, the failure determination device 6a acquires information on the driver's response to the question through the failure determination unit 614 in step S5.

  After outputting the message of the contents of the question, the failure determination unit 614 waits for an answer from the input / output device 9 for a predetermined time. If an answer is input from the input / output device 9, information on the answer is acquired. If there is no response input from the input / output device 9 while the predetermined time has elapsed, the failure determination device 6a performs processing according to the situation. For example, returning to step S4, the process of outputting question information may be performed again. Alternatively, information indicating that there is no answer may be stored in the determination result storage unit 633 in association with the time stamp, and the process may return to step S2 to wait for the start of the next failure determination.

  The answer may be input by voice input, for example. Alternatively, the answer may be input using a sensing technique using an image such as a touch panel. Furthermore, the input of the answer may be performed by both of them.

  FIG. 4 schematically shows how an answer to a question is input by the touch panel type input / output device 9. In this example, there are two questions displayed on the display of the input / output device 9, "Question 1: There is a large car diagonally to the right" and "Question 2: There is a passenger car on the right side". Two buttons for answering “correct” and “wrong” are displayed for each question. Here, a state in which the “wrong” button is pressed for question 1 is shown.

(6) Determination of presence / absence of failure Furthermore, in step S6, the failure determination device 6a compares the result of the driver's answer with the content of the question by the failure determination unit 614 to determine whether there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17. judge.

  The failure determination unit 614 determines that there is no failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 in step S7 if both match as a result of comparing the contents of the question and the result of the answer. In step S8, it is determined that there is a possibility that the periphery monitoring system 17 has a failure.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 4, the failure determination unit 614 determines that there is no failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 for an answer “correct”, and It is determined that there is a possibility of failure in the monitoring system 17.

  Subsequently, the failure determination unit 614 stores information indicating the determination result in the determination result storage unit 633 in step S9.

  In addition, the failure determination unit 614 notifies the instruction information output unit 615 of the end of the determination process.

(7) Restriction or stop of automatic driving function When the failure determination unit 614 determines that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17, the failure determination device 6a uses the instruction information output unit 615 as necessary in step S10. In response, instruction information for limiting or stopping the automatic driving function of the automatic driving control device 5 is output.

  This processing is not necessarily performed when it is determined that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17. For example, this processing may be performed when it is determined that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 and a predetermined condition is met.

  When the notification of the end of the determination process by the failure determination unit 614 is received, the instruction information output unit 615 reads information representing the determination result from the determination result storage unit 633.

  When the information indicating the determination result indicates the determination result that there is no failure, the instruction information output unit 615 does not perform any particular processing.

  On the other hand, when the information indicating the determination result indicates the determination result that there is a possibility of failure, and when the predetermined condition set in advance is satisfied, the instruction information output unit 615 performs the automatic operation control. Instruction information for limiting or stopping the automatic driving function of the device 5 is output.

  For example, the instruction information output unit 615 may output the instruction information when the determination result that there is a possibility of failure continues for a predetermined number of times. The predetermined condition is not limited to this, and may be various conditions. For example, in the predetermined number of determination results, if the determination result that there is a possibility of failure is not continuous but the ratio is very high, the instruction information output unit 615 may output the instruction information. Good.

  For example, the instruction information for restricting or stopping the automatic driving function of the automatic driving control device 5 causes the automatic driving control device 5 to automatically control the traveling of the vehicle 1 without using the information from the periphery monitoring system 17. It may be a thing. Alternatively, the instruction information may prevent the automatic driving control device 5 from executing automatic control of traveling of the vehicle 1.

  Along with the output of the instruction information, preferably, the instruction information output unit 615 may further output a message corresponding to the content of the instruction information to the input / output device 9. The message is not limited to this, but may include the following contents, for example. (A) The peripheral monitoring system 17 may be out of order. (B) The automatic operation control device 5 cannot use the periphery monitoring system 17. (C) The automatic driving function of the automatic driving control device 5 cannot be used. (A) The periphery monitoring system 17 needs to be inspected. It can be various.

(8) Determination of operation end In step S11, the failure determination device 6a determines whether or not the operation has ended. If it is determined that the operation has not ended, the process returns to step S2. If it is determined that the operation has ended, the process ends.

(effect)
As described above in detail, in one embodiment of the present invention, the driver state determination unit is based on detection information of the driver camera 7 that is a driver state detection sensor that detects the state of the driver at a predetermined timing. At 612, it is determined whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state. Then, when it is determined that the driver is in a highly concentrated state, the question information output unit 613 sends the question information about the situation around the vehicle to the input / output device 9 based on the monitoring information of the surrounding monitoring system. Output. The failure determination unit 614 determines whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system based on information on the driver's answer to the question input from the input / output device 9. For this reason, the presence or absence of a failure in the periphery monitoring system is interactively determined. This makes it possible to find a failure that is not perceived by the periphery monitoring system itself.

  In addition, when the failure determination unit 614 determines that there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system, the instruction information output unit 615 outputs instruction information that restricts the function of the automatic operation control device as necessary. For this reason, it becomes possible to reduce the occurrence of a control failure of the automatic driving control apparatus that may occur due to a failure that is not perceived by the periphery monitoring system itself.

  Alternatively, when the failure determination unit 614 determines that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system, the instruction information output unit 615 outputs instruction information for stopping the function of the automatic operation control device as necessary. For this reason, it becomes possible to prevent the occurrence of a control failure of the automatic operation control apparatus that may occur due to a failure that the periphery monitoring system itself does not sense.

[Other Embodiments]
In the embodiment, the case where the driver state detection sensor is configured by the driver camera 7 and the state of the driver is determined based on the video signal including the driver's face obtained by the driver camera 7 has been described as an example. However, the driver state detection sensor is not limited to the driver camera 7, and is configured by a biological sensor that acquires biological information of the driver, and is detected by a biological signal obtained by the biological sensor, for example, a pulse wave sensor or a heart rate sensor. The state of the driver may be determined based on the pulse wave signal or heartbeat signal of the driver or a signal representing the vertical movement of the diaphragm detected by the pressure sensor.

  In the embodiment, the surrounding monitoring system 17 has been described as a system separate from the automatic driving control device 5 with reference to FIG. 1, but the surrounding monitoring sensor such as a camera mounted on the vehicle 1 and the automatic driving control device are described. The periphery monitoring system may be configured from an information processing unit provided in the inside of the computer 5. In this case, the failure determination device 6a may acquire monitoring information from the information processing unit in the automatic operation control device 5.

  In the embodiment, the failure determination device 6a limits or stops the automatic operation function of the automatic operation control device 5 when it is determined in step S8 that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 and a predetermined condition is met. In the case where it is determined in step S8 that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17, a message that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 immediately. Furthermore, it may be configured to cause the input / output device 9 to output a message for prompting inspection of the periphery monitoring system 17.

  Alternatively, the failure determination unit 614 determines that there is a possibility of failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17 when the contents of the question and the answer result do not match, but immediately determines that there is a failure in the peripheral monitoring system 17. May be. Accordingly, in this case, the failure determination device 6a is configured to output instruction information for limiting or stopping the automatic driving function of the automatic driving control device 5 and to output a message to the input / output device 9. Also good.

  In addition, the vehicle type, the function of the automatic driving control device, the control function and control procedure of the failure determination device, the control content, and the like can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

A part or all of the above embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes, but is not limited thereto.
(Appendix 1)
A failure determination device for determining the presence or absence of a failure in a periphery monitoring system for monitoring the periphery of a vehicle, comprising a hardware processor and a memory,
The hardware processor is
Based on the detection information of the driver state detection sensor that detects the state of the driver, it is determined whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration, information indicating the determination result is stored in the memory,
When information indicating the determination result is read from the memory at a predetermined timing, and the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver is in a highly concentrated state, based on the monitoring information of the surrounding monitoring system , Output information on questions about the situation around the vehicle,
A failure determination device that determines whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system based on information on the driver's answer to the question.
(Appendix 2)
A failure determination method executed by a device that determines whether or not there is a failure in a periphery monitoring system that monitors the periphery of a vehicle,
Information indicating the determination result by determining whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state based on detection information of a driver state detection sensor that detects a driver's state using a hardware processor. Is stored in memory,
When the information indicating the determination result is read from the memory at a predetermined timing using the hardware processor, and the information indicating the determination result indicates that the driver is in a highly concentrated state, the peripheral Based on the monitoring information of the monitoring system, output information on the question about the situation around the vehicle,
A failure determination method for determining whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system based on information on the driver's answer to the question using the hardware processor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle, 2 ... Power unit, 3 ... Steering device, 3a ... Steering wheel, 5 ... Automatic driving control device, 6 ... Driving mode switching control device, 6a ... Failure determination device, 7 ... Driver camera, 9 ... Input / output device DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Driver monitoring system, 11 ... Steering sensor, 12 ... Accelerator pedal sensor, 13 ... Brake pedal sensor, 14 ... GPS receiver, 15 ... Gyro sensor, 16 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 17 ... Perimeter monitoring system, 61 ... Control Unit 62 62 Input / output interface unit 63 Storage unit 611 Driver monitoring video acquisition unit 612 Driver state determination unit 613 Question information output unit 614 Failure determination unit 615 Instruction information output unit , 631 ... Driver monitoring video storage unit, 632 ... Driver state storage unit, 633 ... Determination result storage unit.

Claims (5)

A failure determination device that determines the presence or absence of a failure in a periphery monitoring system that monitors the periphery of a vehicle,
A driver state determination unit that determines whether or not the driver is in a highly concentrated state based on detection information of a driver state detection sensor that detects the state of the driver;
A question that outputs information on a question about the situation around the vehicle based on the monitoring information of the periphery monitoring system when the driver state determining unit determines that the driver is in a highly concentrated state An information output unit;
A failure determination device comprising: a failure determination unit that determines whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system based on information on the driver's answer to the question.   The automatic operation control device mounted on the vehicle further includes an instruction information output unit that outputs instruction information related to automatic operation control, and the instruction information output unit is configured to detect a failure of the periphery monitoring system by the failure determination unit. The failure determination device according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that there is a command, instruction information for limiting at least a function of the automatic operation control device is output.   The failure according to claim 2, wherein the instruction information output unit outputs instruction information for stopping the function of the automatic operation control device when the failure determination unit determines that there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system. Judgment device. A failure determination method executed by a device that determines whether or not there is a failure in a periphery monitoring system that monitors the periphery of a vehicle,
A driver state determination step for determining whether or not the driver is in a state of high concentration based on detection information of a driver state detection sensor that detects the state of the driver;
When it is determined that the driver is in a highly concentrated state, based on the monitoring information of the surrounding monitoring system, a question information output step for outputting information on a question about the situation around the vehicle;
A failure determination method comprising: a failure determination step of determining whether or not there is a failure in the periphery monitoring system based on information on the driver's answer to the question.   The program which makes a computer perform the function of each part with which the failure determination apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3 is equipped, or each step of the failure determination method of Claim 4.