JP2019048552A - Vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

To further enhance safety when an abnormality occurs in a driver.SOLUTION: A vehicle control device 1 can execute automatic driving control for automatically traveling a vehicle 10 instead of a manual driving operation by a driver, and includes detection means 1A, determination means 1B and control means 1C. The detection means 1A detects an abnormality of the driver. The determination means 1B determines whether a lane change is permitted on the basis of a current position of the vehicle 10 and road information. When the detection means 1A detects the abnormality of the driver and the determination means 1B determines that the lane change is permitted, the control means 1C moves the vehicle 10 to a position across two lanes by performing the automatic driving control and then, stops the vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device for safely running or stopping a vehicle when an abnormality occurs in a driver.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, development of a driver abnormality response system (dead man system) has been advanced, in which a vehicle is automatically run or stopped when an abnormal situation such as driver fainting occurs. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a vehicle control device that, when it is determined that the driver is not conscious, drives and controls a brake, an engine, a transmission, and a steering drive unit to urgently stop the vehicle at the left edge of the road. It is done.

JP, 2008-037218, A

  However, in the case where the vehicle is brought to an emergency stop automatically at the left side edge of the road as described above, there is a possibility that it will be difficult to avoid contact with other vehicles. For example, when the vehicle is automatically moved from the right lane of the two-lane road (second lane) to the left edge (left end of the first lane) for emergency stop, the vehicle crosses the first lane from right to left As a result, it may be difficult for other vehicles traveling in the first lane to avoid contact.

  In addition, when the vehicle is urgently stopped at the left edge of the road, there is a possibility that the following vehicle may pass near the right side of the vehicle. For this reason, there is a concern about the safety of the occupant when the occupant gets off the vehicle which has made an emergency stop. In addition, there is also a possibility that a following vehicle trying to avoid a vehicle which has an emergency stop may come in contact with other vehicles.

  The vehicle control device of the present invention is devised in view of the problems as described above, and has an object to further enhance the safety when the driver has an abnormality.

  The vehicle control device disclosed herein is a vehicle control device capable of performing automatic driving control for causing the vehicle to automatically travel instead of the manual driving operation of the driver, and includes detection means for detecting an abnormality of the driver, and the vehicle A determination unit that determines whether to change the lane based on the current position of the vehicle and the road information, and the detection unit detects an abnormality of the driver, and the determination unit determines that the lane change is possible In this case, the automatic driving control is characterized by further comprising: control means for stopping the vehicle after moving it to a position straddling two lanes.

  As a result, since the vehicle travels across two lanes when the driver has an abnormality, other vehicles traveling near the vehicle are likely to notice an abnormality. This makes it easier for other vehicles to take more appropriate evasive action.

  According to the disclosed vehicle control device, the safety can be further improved in the event of a driver abnormality.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a vehicle to which a vehicle control device according to an embodiment is applied. Each of (a) to (c) is a schematic view illustrating a lane change in the case where the abnormal state countermeasure control is performed by the vehicle control device of FIG. 1. Both (a) and (b) are schematic views exemplifying the case where it is determined that the lane change is inappropriate in the abnormal state response control. It is the flowchart which illustrated the procedure of the control implemented by the vehicle control apparatus of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart (a sub-flowchart of FIG. 4) illustrating the procedure of abnormal state response control; FIG. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the effect | action of abnormality response control, (a) shows the state immediately after a vehicle starts a lane change, (b) has shown the state which the vehicle stopped. Each of (a) and (b) is a schematic view showing a lane change in the case where abnormality response control is performed by the vehicle control device according to the modification.

  A vehicle control device as an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments shown below are merely illustrative, and there is no intention to exclude the application of various modifications and techniques that are not specified in the following embodiments.

[1. Device configuration]
A vehicle control device 1 according to the present embodiment (hereinafter, abbreviated as "control device 1") is applied to a vehicle 10 shown in FIG. The control device 1 can carry out automatic driving control for causing the vehicle 10 to travel automatically, instead of the manual driving operation of the driver of the vehicle 10. In other words, the vehicle 10 is capable of traveling by the manual driving operation by the driver, and is configured to be automatically traveling by the automatic driving control implemented by the control device 1 even without the manual driving operation by the driver. In the present embodiment, automatic operation control (hereinafter referred to as abnormality response control) performed when an abnormality such as fainting occurs in the driver of the vehicle 10 will be described. In addition, the case where the vehicle 10 is a bus | bath which transports a passenger is illustrated here.

  The vehicle 10 displays sensors 11 to 19 for detecting information on the vehicle 10, devices 21 to 23 for operating (accelerating, braking, steering) the vehicle 10, and information on the vehicle 10 (for example, destination and system) A display plate 24 is provided. In addition, the vehicle 10 is provided with the control device 1 described above, and the communication device 2 and the navigation system 3 for acquiring information other than the vehicle 10.

  The vehicle speed sensor 11 and the acceleration sensor 12 detect the vehicle speed and the acceleration of the vehicle 10, respectively, and the steering angle sensor 13 detects a steering angle of steering. The brake sensor 14 and the accelerator sensor 15 detect depression amounts of the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal. The surrounding sensor 16 is, for example, a camera, a radar, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like, and acquires all the information around the vehicle 10. Specific examples of the information acquired by the surrounding sensor 16 include the position of the boundary line (white line, yellow line) partitioning the traveling lane of the vehicle 10, the presence of other vehicles existing within a predetermined range from the vehicle 10, and the position thereof Etc.

  Each of the in-vehicle camera 17, the first operation switch 18 and the second operation switch 19 is for detecting an abnormality of the driver of the vehicle 10. The in-vehicle camera 17 captures, for example, the upper half including the face of the driver sitting in the driver's seat. Further, the first operation switch 18 is a switch for operating by itself when the driver feels an abnormality in itself, and is provided near the driver's seat. On the other hand, the second operation switch 19 is a switch for operating when the passenger detects an abnormality in the driver, and is provided in the vicinity of the seat of the passenger.

  The respective operation switches 18 and 19 in the present embodiment are configured by toggle switches in which one of ON and OFF is selected, and have only a function as an operation switch for causing the control device 1 to execute an abnormality response control. It also serves as a release switch for releasing the execution of this abnormal state response control. Each operation switch 18, 19 detects its on / off state. Information detected and acquired by these sensors 11 to 19 is transmitted to the control device 1.

  The vehicle 10 may be provided with a device capable of detecting at least an abnormality of the driver, and a sensor for detecting, for example, the heartbeat of the driver may be provided in place of (or in addition to) the in-vehicle camera 17 described above. The driver's abnormality may be detected from the heartbeat detected by this sensor by being incorporated in the steering wheel or the driver's seat. Alternatively, install a speaker and a microphone in the vicinity of the driver's seat, make a call such as "Is it all right?" From the speaker, and judge the driver's abnormality if the microphone response is not detected by the microphone ( Detection). Note that either one or both of the first switch 18 and the second switch 19 may be omitted.

  The communication device 2 is an electronic control device that transmits and receives information by communicating with a communication target 4 other than the vehicle 10 via the wireless network 5. Specific examples of the communication target 4 include GPS satellites, a road traffic information center (VICS), a roadside device disposed on a road, an external organization or facility, and other vehicles. The communication device 2 transmits the information received from the communication target 4 to the control device 1.

  The navigation system 3 incorporates detailed map data, and uses the signal from the GPS satellites received by the communication device 2 and the map data to detect (recognize) the current position of the vehicle 10 or to the destination. It provides route guidance and the like.

  The driving device 21 is a driving source (engine or electric motor) or transmission mechanism of the vehicle 10, and the braking device 22 is a braking device or a regenerative braking system that applies a braking force to the vehicle 10. The steering device 23 is an electric power steering device or the like that assists the driver's steering operation. The operating states of the devices 21 to 23 can be changed by manual operation and can be controlled by the control device 1.

  The display plate 24 is, for example, a light bulletin board provided on each of the front, rear and side surfaces of the vehicle 10. The display board 24 displays a message (for example, a sentence such as “Abnormal situation occurs! Please do not drop out”) notifying the driver's abnormality to the outside as well as the destination and system of the vehicle 10. The content displayed by the display plate 24 is controlled by the control device 1. A display similar to the display plate 24 may be provided in the vehicle compartment, and the same message may be displayed on the display to notify the passenger of the vehicle 10 of the driver's abnormality.

  The control device 1 is an electronic control device that performs integrated control of various devices mounted on the vehicle 10. The control device 1 is configured as, for example, an LSI device or a built-in electronic device in which a microprocessor, a ROM, a RAM, and the like are integrated, and is connected to a communication line of an in-vehicle network provided in the vehicle 10. The control device 1 according to the present embodiment implements automatic driving control based on various types of information acquired by the sensors 11 to 19, the communication device 2, and the navigation system 3.

[2. Control configuration]
In automatic driving control, the respective devices 21 to 23 are controlled such that the vehicle 10 travels automatically regardless of the manual driving operation by the driver. Hereinafter, among the automatic operation control, the abnormal state countermeasure control performed when the driver is abnormal will be described in detail.

  The abnormality response control is control to automatically stop the vehicle 10 and then stop the vehicle 10 regardless of the driver's manual driving operation when an abnormality occurs in the driver. In the abnormal state response control, the vehicle 10 is controlled to move to a position straddling two lanes and then stop, on the condition that the traveling lane can be changed. Further, in the abnormal state response control of the present embodiment, the speed of the vehicle 10 is limited to a predetermined speed (for example, 40 k / m or less) and the driver's abnormality is notified to the outside of the vehicle 10 by the display plate 24.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c), in the present embodiment, on the left-handed road, a position where the vehicle 10 straddles the first and second two lanes L1 and L2 from the left under abnormal condition response control The case of moving to the boundary line BL between the first lane L1 and the second lane L2 will be described. Hereinafter, the position crossing the first lane L1 and the second lane L2 is also referred to as a "boundary position".

  As shown in FIG. 2A, when the vehicle 10 moves from the first lane L1 to the boundary position, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed to the diagonal right direction. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), when the vehicle 10 moves from the second lane L2 to the boundary position, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed to the diagonal left direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 2C, also when the vehicle 10 moves from the third lane L3 to the boundary position, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10 is changed to the diagonal left direction.

  In the abnormal state response control of the present embodiment, after the vehicle 10 moves to the boundary position, the surrounding stopable area is searched, and the vehicle 10 is controlled to stop in the nearest stopable area. That is, the vehicle 10 is controlled to automatically go to the nearby stoppable area while traveling at the boundary position when the driver's abnormality occurs and to stop when it arrives at the stoppable area. In the present embodiment, a place where it is possible to arrive within several minutes after the driver's abnormality is detected is searched as the surrounding stoppable area. The stoppable area is a place where the vehicle 10 can be safely paused (specifically, a parking lot, a stop, a chain attachment / detachment place, a service area of an expressway, etc.), for example, the communication device 2 and the navigation system 3 is searched. If the stoppable area is not searched or it is determined that the movement to the stoppable area is inappropriate, the vehicle 10 may be stopped on the boundary position.

  Further, in the abnormal state response control of the present embodiment, when there is any manual driving operation before the vehicle 10 completes the movement to the boundary position, the manual driving operation is ignored and the boundary by the automatic driving control is ignored. Movement to position continues. Furthermore, if there is any manual driving operation after the vehicle 10 completes moving to the boundary position and before reaching the stoppable area, the manual driving operation is ignored and the vehicle 10 is It is controlled to decelerate and stop (urgent stop) at (on the boundary position). As described above, during the execution of the abnormal state response control of the present embodiment, automatic operation control is prioritized over manual operation operation.

  The control device 1 includes a detection unit (detection unit) 1A, a determination unit (determination unit) 1B, and a control unit (control unit) 1C as functional elements for performing the above-described abnormality response control. In this embodiment, the detection unit 1A, the determination unit 1B, and the control unit 1C are all realized by software, but the detection unit 1A, the determination unit 1B, and the control unit 1C are realized by hardware (electronic circuit). It may be realized by combining software and hardware.

  The detection unit 1A detects an abnormality of the driver based on the information transmitted from the in-vehicle camera 17, the first operation switch 18, and the second operation switch 19. The driver's abnormality here means a state in which it is difficult for the driver to drive the vehicle 10 by the manual driving operation. For example, when the detection unit 1A processes an image captured by the in-vehicle camera 17 and detects that the driver's eyelid is closed or the upper half is falling, it is determined that the driver has an abnormality. to decide. The detection unit 1A also determines that the driver has an abnormality even when at least one of the first operation switch 18 and the second operation switch 19 is switched from the off state to the on state.

  Determination unit 1B determines whether or not the lane of vehicle 10 can be changed based on the current position of vehicle 10 and the road information. The determination unit 1B of the present embodiment performs this determination when the detection unit 1A detects an abnormality of the driver. The current position of the vehicle 10 is acquired by, for example, the communication device 2 or the navigation 3. The current position here includes information on the lane in which the vehicle 10 is traveling. Further, the road information is acquired by the surrounding sensor 16, the communication device 2, the navigation 3 and the like. The road information referred to here includes at least the number of lanes of the road on which the vehicle 10 is traveling, the position of the boundary dividing the lanes, the presence of other vehicles, and the position thereof.

More specifically, determination unit 1B determines that the lane change of vehicle 10 is possible when both of the following change conditions 1 and 2 are satisfied, and the lane change of vehicle 10 is not performed otherwise. Determine that it is possible.
Change Condition 1: The road you are driving is a road with two or more lanes.
Change condition 2: There are no following vehicles in the movement route from the current position to the boundary position.

  Therefore, the determination unit 1B of the present embodiment determines that the lane change of the vehicle 10 is not possible when the road being traveled is a one-lane road. Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, for example, when the vehicle 10 tries to move from the inside of the first lane L1 to the boundary position as shown in FIG. Determine that the change can not be made (is inappropriate). Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, for example, when the vehicle 10 is moving from the inside of the third lane L3 to the boundary position as shown in FIG. Determine that the lane change can not be made (is inappropriate). In addition, the following vehicle 30 here means the other vehicle which exists in the predetermined range (for example, less than 40 m) of the back of the vehicle 10. FIG.

The control unit 1 </ b> C performs abnormality response control by controlling the devices 21 to 23 and the display plate 24 when the following start condition is satisfied.
Start condition: An abnormality in the driver has been detected by the detection unit 1A.
(It is determined that the driver has an abnormality at the detection unit 1A.)

  First, when the start condition is satisfied, the control unit 1C limits the speed of the vehicle 10 to a predetermined speed or less, and causes the display plate 24 to display a predetermined message for notifying the driver of an abnormality. Further, when the start condition is satisfied and it is determined by the determination unit 1B that the lane change is possible, the control unit 1C causes the vehicle 10 to move to the boundary position by the automatic driving control and then stops.

  The control unit 1C of the present embodiment moves the vehicle 10 to the boundary position in the emergency response control, and then, while holding the vehicle 10 at the boundary position, causes the vehicle 10 to move to the nearest stopable area and Stop it. Note that the control unit 1C does not change the stopable area (for example, when the vehicle 10 is stopped due to traffic congestion after moving to the boundary position and before arrival to the stoppable area in the emergency response control). The vehicle 10 may be put on standby (stopped) on the spot).

  On the other hand, when the start condition is satisfied and the determination unit 1B determines that the lane change can not be made, the control unit 1C holds the vehicle 10 in the traveling lane by the automatic driving control. In this case, if it is not possible to change the lane because the road being driven is a one-lane road (ie, the change condition 1 is not satisfied), the controller 1C decelerates the vehicle 10 on the spot and stops it (urgent Stop). On the other hand, depending on the movement of the following vehicle 30, if the lane change can not be made because the following vehicle 30 is on the moving path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the boundary position (that is, the change condition 2 is not satisfied). Since it is possible to change lanes, the control unit 1C causes the vehicle 10 to travel as it is, and moves the vehicle 10 to the boundary position after the follow-on vehicle 30 is not in the movement path to the boundary position.

  In addition, the control unit 1C according to the present embodiment ignores the manual driving operation by the driver or the passenger while the abnormal state countermeasure control is performed. Specifically, control unit 1C ignores the manual driving operation even if the manual driving operation is performed after the start of the abnormality response control control and before the vehicle 10 completes the movement to the boundary position. The vehicle 10 is moved to the boundary position by automatic driving control. In addition, when the vehicle 10 moves to the boundary position by the emergency response control and the manual driving operation is performed before reaching the stoppable area, the control unit 1C performs the vehicle 10 on the spot. Slow down and stop (emergency stop).

On the other hand, the control unit 1C cancels the execution of the abnormal state response control when the following end condition is satisfied.
End Condition: At least one of the operation switches 18 and 19 is switched from the on state to the off state.

  The controller 1C determines the success or failure of the termination condition 1 based on the information transmitted from each of the operation switches 18 and 19. Note that, to cancel the implementation of the abnormality response control, specifically, the above-described speed limitation of the vehicle 10 is canceled and the predetermined message displayed on the display plate 24 is eliminated, and the driver or the passenger of the vehicle 10 is removed. It means making manual operation operation effective.

[3. flowchart]
FIG.4 and FIG.5 is a flowchart for demonstrating the control content implemented by the control apparatus 1 mentioned above. The flow of FIG. 4 shows a procedure for determining whether or not to execute the abnormality response control (whether to cancel the implementation of the abnormality response control). The flow of FIG. 5 performs the abnormality response control. If the procedure is shown.

  The flow of FIG. 4 is repeatedly performed at a predetermined calculation cycle while the power of the vehicle 10 is turned on (during operation of the control device 1). At the start of this flow (when the power of the vehicle 10 is turned on), both of the operation switches 18 and 19 are in the OFF state, and the abnormality response control is not implemented (execution of the abnormality response control is cancelled) Should be In addition, the flag F used in this flow is a variable indicating whether or not the abnormality response control is being performed, and F = 1 during the execution of the abnormality response control, otherwise F It becomes = 0.

  First, various types of information are acquired from the sensors 11 to 19, the communication device 2, and the navigation system 3 (step A1). The various information acquired here is used in the subsequent determination process. Next, when both of the operation switches 18 and 19 are in the off state (step A2) and the flag F is 0 (step A3), it is determined whether or not there is an abnormality in the driver (step A4).

  If an abnormality in the driver is detected by the detection unit 1A, the abnormality response control is performed (step A5), the flag F is set to 1 (step A6), and this flow is returned. On the other hand, when there is no abnormality in the driver, the process proceeds from step A4 to step A7, the abnormality response control is not performed (while the implementation of the abnormality response control is released), the flag F is maintained at 0 (Step A8) This flow is returned.

  When the abnormality response control is performed in step A5, in the subsequent calculation cycle, as long as at least one of the operation switches 18 and 19 is maintained in the on state, the process proceeds from step A2 to step A5, and the abnormality response control continues To be implemented. On the other hand, when at least one of the operation switches 18 and 19 is switched from the on state to the off state during execution of the abnormality response control (that is, when F = 1) (step A2), the process from step A3 to step A7 The process proceeds to advance, the implementation of the abnormality response control is canceled, and the flag F is returned to 0 (step A8). When the power supply of the vehicle 10 is turned off (the operation of the control device 1 is stopped), the execution of the abnormality response control is forcibly canceled.

  In the abnormal state response control (step A5), the flow of FIG. 5 is performed. The flag G used in this flow is a variable indicating whether or not the vehicle 10 has completed the movement to the boundary position in the emergency response control, and G = 1 if the vehicle 10 has completed the movement to the boundary position. Otherwise, G = 0.

  In the abnormal state response control, first, various types of information are acquired from the sensors 11 to 19, the communication device 2, and the navigation system 3 (step B1). The various information acquired here is used in the subsequent determination process. Next, the control unit 1C restricts the speed of the vehicle 10 to a predetermined speed or less, and reports the driver's abnormality to the outside through the display plate 24 (step B2). That is, if the vehicle 10 is traveling at a speed higher than a predetermined speed, the vehicle is decelerated to a predetermined speed or less, and a predetermined message indicating an abnormality of the driver is displayed on the display plate 24.

  If the flag G is 0 (step B3), it is determined in steps B4 and B5 whether or not the lane change of the vehicle 10 is possible. Specifically, it is determined by the determination unit 1B whether the road being traveled is a road with two or more lanes and there is no following vehicle 30 in the movement route to the boundary position (steps B4 and B5). If it is determined that the lane change is possible, the control unit 1C controls the respective devices 21 to 23 to move the vehicle 10 to the boundary position (step B6), and the flag G is set to 1 (Step B7).

  On the other hand, if the road on which the vehicle is traveling is a one-lane road (NO route in step B4), the lane can not be changed, so the process proceeds to step B12 and the vehicle 10 is decelerated at a predetermined deceleration by the controller 1C. It is stopped. On the other hand, if there is a follow-on vehicle 30 in the movement route to the boundary position (NO route in step B5), although the lane change can not be made at that time, the lane change may be possible depending on the movement of the follow-on vehicle 30 The traveling of the vehicle 10 is continued, and the process from step B1 is repeated.

  When the movement to the boundary position is completed, it is determined whether or not there has been a manual driving operation by a driver or a passenger (step B8). For example, when there is an erroneous operation (unintended operation) by a driver who has fainted, or a manual driving operation by a passenger who notices that the driver has fainted, the process proceeds to step B12. The vehicle 10 is decelerated and stopped on the spot by the control unit 1C.

  On the other hand, if there is no manual driving operation as described above in step B8, position information of the surrounding stopable area is acquired (step B9), and the nearest stopable area is set as the destination of the vehicle 10 (step B10). ). Then, when the vehicle 10 arrives at the stoppable area by controlling the respective devices 21 to 23 by the control unit 1C, the vehicle 10 is stopped in the stoppable area (steps B11 and B12).

  In addition, when a stoppable area is not found around the vehicle 10 in step B9, this flow is returned. In this case, since the flag G is 1 in the next operation cycle, the process proceeds from step B3 to step B8, and the search is repeated until a stoppable area is found around the vehicle 10 unless manual operation is performed (step B9) ).

  Also, after the stoppable area is set as the destination, the flow returns from step B11 until the vehicle 10 arrives at the stoppable area, and in the next calculation cycle, the process proceeds from step B3 to step B8 and manual operation is performed The determination of presence / absence, the search for the surrounding stoppable area based on the latest current position information, and the setting of the destination are repeated (steps B8 to B10).

[4. Action, effect]
(1) According to the control device 1 described above, when the driver's abnormality is detected and the lane change is possible, the vehicle 10 is moved to the boundary position by the automatic driving control. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the driver has an abnormality, the vehicle 10 traveling in the second lane L2 does not cross the first lane L1 from the right to the left, but from the second lane L2 to the first The vehicle moves to a position where a part of the lane L1 protrudes. For this reason, on the left side of the vehicle 10 which has moved to the boundary position, it is easy to secure a space in which the other vehicle 40 can travel.

  Therefore, when vehicle 10 starts moving from the second lane L2 to the boundary position, even if other vehicle 40 is traveling in the vicinity of the left of vehicle 10, other vehicle 40 is on the left side of first lane L1. By escaping to the side, contact with the vehicle 10 can be avoided. In addition, by moving the vehicle 10 to the boundary position, it becomes easy for the following vehicle 30 to notice an abnormal situation of the vehicle 10, so overtaking by the following vehicle 30 can be suppressed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B, for example, when the vehicle 10 stops at the boundary position due to the passenger performing a manual driving operation before reaching the stoppable area, the first lane L1 and the second lane L2 are obtained. The following vehicle 30 traveling on can be blocked by the vehicle 10.

  Therefore, as shown by a pattern in FIG. 6B, a space in which the following vehicle 30 can not enter can be secured around the vehicle 10 in the first lane L1 and the second lane L2. Thus, even if the passenger gets off the vehicle 10, the safety of the passenger can be enhanced. In addition, blocking the passage of the following vehicle 30 can prevent the following vehicle 30 from coming in contact with other vehicles in an attempt to avoid the vehicle 10.

  As described above, according to the control device 1, by moving the vehicle 10 to the boundary position when the driver is abnormal, it is more appropriate for the other vehicle 40 traveling near the left and right of the vehicle 10 and the following vehicle 30 traveling backward. Evasive action can be taken. Thus, the risk of contact between vehicles or between vehicles and passengers can be reduced. Therefore, the safety can be further enhanced.

  (2) According to the control device 1 described above, by causing the vehicle 10 to travel to the nearby stoppable area and then stopping the vehicle at the time of abnormality of the driver, passage of other vehicles can be made less likely to be impeded. The safety of the vehicle 10 can be further enhanced. Further, by maintaining the vehicle 10 at the boundary position until reaching the stoppable area, as described above, more appropriate evasive action can be taken by other vehicles, and safety can be further enhanced.

  (3) In the control device 1 described above, the manual driving operation is ignored during the execution of the abnormal state response control. For this reason, even if the accelerator pedal, the brake pedal, the steering hole, etc. are erroneously operated by the time the driver faints and falls down, the erroneous operation is not reflected in the behavior of the vehicle 10, and thus the vehicle 10 is made to travel more safely. be able to.

  On the other hand, since the operation switches 18 and 19 function as release switches for canceling the implementation of the abnormality response control, for example, if the passenger turns off the operation switches 18 and 19, the manual operation operation is enabled as usual. As a result, the vehicle 10 can be operated manually instead of the driver.

  (3) Normally, on a road with three or more lanes on the left, the right lane is used as an overtaking lane, so the vehicle 10 is positioned from the left across the two lanes L1 and L2 when the driver is abnormal as described above By moving the vehicle 10, the vehicle 10 can travel in the low speed lanes L1 and L2. Thus, the safety can be further enhanced.

  (4) In the above-mentioned abnormal state response control, since the display board 24 informs the outside of occurrence of an abnormal situation in the vehicle 10, the other vehicles traveling in the vicinity of the vehicle 10 can be alerted. Therefore, other vehicles can be made to take more appropriate evasive action. In particular, if a message such as "Don't pull it out" is displayed on the display plate 24 provided on the rear surface of the vehicle 10, it is possible to prevent the succeeding vehicle 30 from passing the left and right vicinity of the vehicle 10. Therefore, the safety can be further enhanced.

[5. Modified example]
Regardless of the embodiment described above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The configurations of the present embodiment can be selected as needed, or may be combined as appropriate.

  In the embodiment described above, the case where the vehicle 10 moves to a position straddling the first lane L1 and the second lane L2 in the abnormal state response control has been described, but the movement destination of the vehicle 10 is a position straddling at least two lanes I hope there is. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the destination of the vehicle 10 may be a position crossing the second lane L2 and the third lane L3. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), the destination of the vehicle 10 may be a position crossing the lane in which the vehicle 10 is traveling and either the left or right lane adjacent thereto.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 7B, when there are candidates of moving destinations on both the left and right sides of the vehicle 10, it is preferable to select the moving destination on the left side by priority from the viewpoint of the traveling speed. In any case, according to the control device 1, when moving the vehicle 10 to a position straddling two lanes at the time of driver's abnormality, as described above, more appropriate evasive action is taken by another vehicle Can be more secure.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, when abnormality of the driver is detected in the detection unit 1A, the determination unit 1B determines whether to change the lane, but instead, detection and determination by the detection unit 1A are performed. The determination by the unit 1B may be performed in parallel. Further, at least when the driver is abnormal and the lane change is possible, the control unit 1C may perform control to move the vehicle 10 to a position straddling two lanes and then stop the vehicle, The limitation, the notification by the display plate 24, the search of the stoppable area, and the like may be omitted.

  Further, when it is determined that the lane change is not possible by the determination unit 1B in the abnormal state response control, the control unit 1C may decelerate the vehicle 10 on the spot and stop it (urgent stop). That is, instead of waiting for the follow vehicle 30 to disappear from the current position to the boundary position as described above, the vehicle 10 may be decelerated and stopped on the spot.

  Further, conversely to this, when it is determined that the lane change is not possible by the determination unit 1B in the abnormal state response control, the vehicle 10 may be automatically traveled until the lane change becomes possible. . That is, instead of the configuration in which the vehicle is decelerated and stopped on the one-lane road as described above, the configuration in which the traveling of the vehicle 10 is continued by the automatic driving control is applied while performing speed limitation and notification by the display plate 24 Good.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the manual driving operation is ignored during the execution of the emergency response control, but the brake operation with the intention of stopping as the manual driving operation (for example, the brake pedal operation having a predetermined strength or more or parking) When the brake operation is performed, the vehicle 10 may be stopped even if the movement to the boundary position is not completed. On the other hand, if there is a manual driving operation (for example, an accelerator operation) after moving to the boundary position, instead of decelerating and stopping the vehicle 10 on the spot as described above, accelerate to a safe place Alternatively, traveling may be continued while crossing the lane (on the boundary position). As described above, the control may be appropriately changed in accordance with the content of the manual operation.

  In addition, the means to alert | report the abnormality of a driver outside is not limited to the display board 24 mentioned above. For example, in place of (or in addition to) the display plate 24, a hazard lamp, a horn or the like equipped on the vehicle 10 may be applied. The vehicle 10 on which the control device 1 described above is mounted may be a vehicle other than a bus (for example, a passenger car).

1 Control device (vehicle control device)
1A Detection unit (detection means)
1B Determination unit (determination means)
1C control unit (control means)
10 vehicles
L1 first lane
L2 second lane
L3 third lane

Claims (1)

A vehicle control device capable of performing automatic operation control for automatically moving a vehicle instead of a driver's manual operation operation,
Detection means for detecting an abnormality of the driver;
A determination unit that determines whether to change lanes based on the current position of the vehicle and road information;
The vehicle is moved to a position straddling two lanes by the automatic driving control when the abnormality of the driver is detected by the detection means and the lane change is determined to be possible by the determination means And a control means for stopping later.

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