JP2019194088A - Operation mistake automatic correction device for pedal for automobile travel control - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent a serious accident caused by a wrong operation of a pedal for automobile travel control and to eliminate a feeling of fear that occurs in a driver because an operation unintended by the driver is automatically performed.SOLUTION: An operation mistake automatic correction device for a pedal for automobile travel control includes acceleration propriety determination means for determining whether an own vehicle can accelerate from a relative situation of the travel direction of the own vehicle. Only when a determination result of the acceleration propriety determination means is acceleratable in the case that a driver operates an accelerator pedal, the operation of the accelerator pedal is replaced with the operation of a brake pedal, an engine is set in an idle state, and brake force corresponding to an operation amount is given to the own vehicle when the brake pedal is pressed down as much as the operation amount corresponding to an operation amount of the accelerator pedal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

   In the present invention, when a driver of a vehicle mistakenly operates an accelerator pedal as a brake pedal, the erroneous operation is automatically corrected by a sensor and an in-vehicle electronic device, and a braking force reflecting the driver's intention is generated in the vehicle. It is related to the technology to make.

Various devices have been developed to date as automobile driving safety systems. For example, an anti-lock brake system is widely known as a technique for preventing slipping due to tire locking, and recently, a pre-crash safety system for reducing collision damage is known.
However, most of them except for seat belts and airbags have not yet been installed in so-called popular vehicles and commercial vehicles. For that reason, there are still many tragic accidents.

  On the other hand, automakers today are struggling to develop self-driving cars. Of course, if a fully-automated car is realized, the problem of accidents due to human driving mistakes will be solved. However, it seems that a considerable amount of time is still necessary for such vehicles to be realized and spread to a certain extent.

  By the way, in recent years, serious accidents caused by elderly drivers in particular have frequently occurred, which has become a major social problem. If an elderly driver who panics due to a minor accident, etc., makes a mistake in stepping on the accelerator pedal and brake pedal, he / she will not be aware of his / her wrong operation until it returns to normal psychological state, and it is extremely difficult to correct the error. Yes, as a result, it will induce a major accident.

  Therefore, it is an urgent issue to develop an erroneous operation correcting device that accurately reflects the intention of the operation on the movement of the vehicle regardless of the actual operation of the driver.

   Conventionally, as a technology to prevent accidental operation of the accelerator pedal and brake pedal, in addition to the driving state of the driver, the accelerator pedal depression amount and depression force are detected, and if it exceeds a certain value, it is determined as an erroneous operation. A technique is known in which engine rotation is set to an idling state or brake control is applied (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-273495). In addition, as a misoperation detection means, there is also known a technique for making a determination based on a combination of an operation history and an operation mode of a driver for a plurality of operators for maneuvering a vehicle (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-56371). .

JP 2005-273495 A JP 2003-56371 A

All of these technologies are characterized by the fact that they try to detect the driver's erroneous operation directly from the peculiarity of the operation itself, such as sudden depression of the accelerator pedal. There seems to be. Therefore, in some cases, the control is contrary to the driver's intention, which may cause fear to the driver, and is not necessarily sufficient as a so-called safe driving support vehicle.
The present invention improves the accuracy of the determination by giving the vehicle a movement as intended for the operation regardless of the actual operation of the driver, eliminates the fear given to the driver by an unintentional movement, and at a low price. Even if a misjudgment occurs due to the use of the belt sensor, the result is to make the result not to exceed the range of the driver's erroneous operation.

   In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention does not require the driver's operation method or operation result to determine whether or not the operation is wrong, but when the driver performs a certain acceleration operation, the vehicle is actually placed. Only when it is judged that it is impossible to perform such an operation objectively from the situation of the direction of travel, it is determined that this operation is an operation error in deceleration or stopping, and the accelerator pedal The vehicle control as intended by the driver is intended to be realized by generating a braking force corresponding to the amount of depression and the depression speed.

As an apparatus for realizing such vehicle control, the automatic operation error correcting device for a vehicle travel control pedal according to the present invention includes a travel state detecting means for detecting the travel state of the host vehicle and a fault present in the planned travel direction of the host vehicle. Obstacle detection means for detecting an object, accelerator pedal operation state detection means for detecting the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal, and a direction in which the host vehicle travels based on information obtained from the travel state detection means and the obstacle detection means When the host vehicle can be accelerated, an acceleration permission determination unit that grants acceleration permission to the host vehicle, and an accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit that calculates an operation state of the accelerator pedal based on information from the accelerator pedal operation state detection unit And the depression amount calculated by the accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit based on the depression amount of the accelerator pedal and the change over time of the depression amount of the accelerator pedal. When the brake signal generation unit generates a signal equivalent to the signal given to the braking system when the brake pedal is depressed with a strength corresponding to these, and the acceleration determination unit determines that the acceleration is impossible In addition, a correction control unit for correcting the driver's accelerator pedal operation to the brake pedal operation is provided,
When the accelerator pedal operation state detection means detects a depression amount that is a certain amount or more greater than the depression amount detected before a predetermined time, the acceleration permission determination unit confirms whether the acceleration is permitted and allows the acceleration. If not, the correction control unit sends a signal to the engine ECU so that the electronic control throttle is fully closed. In addition, by sending a braking signal generated by the braking signal generator to the braking system, a driver's pedal operation mistake is automatically corrected, and the accelerator pedal operation state detecting means is returned to the original position. This operation is continued until it is detected.

 Furthermore, in the invention described in claim 2, the detection accuracy is improved by making the central axis in the detection direction of the obstacle detection means always face the steering angle direction.

  Further, in the invention described in claim 3, when a predetermined braking signal is sent to the braking system, the vehicle is provided with notifying means for notifying the driver that the pedal operation error has been corrected. The user is indirectly urged to recognize the operation mistake and loosen the accelerator pedal, thereby allowing the control according to the present invention to converge early.

According to the present invention, even when the accelerator pedal is mistakenly recognized as a brake pedal and operated, the erroneous operation can be corrected with high probability.
Judgment of whether or not the driver has made an erroneous operation is left to the judgment of the acceleration possibility judging means, and this judgment depends on the performance of the obstacle detecting means, but the performance of the obstacle detecting means is inferior. However, it is possible to make fairly accurate judgments by preparing various comparison patterns in software. In addition, even if there are obstacles that cannot be detected by the detection means because it is difficult to provide advanced detection means due to price and technical restrictions, in this case, the result will be the same as the case without this device. The presence of this device does not become an obstacle.

  Furthermore, even if the judgment is delicate and the judgment is different from the driver's intention to accelerate, in such a case, the amount of depression of the driver's accelerator pedal is small and proportional to the amount of depression. Thus, the braking force generated is small, and it is expected that the influence of the determination error of acceleration / deceleration of this apparatus will be relatively small.

   Further, since the braking force is automatically corrected to the operation originally intended by the driver, there is no fear of unintentional operation.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an automatic operation error correction device for a vehicle travel control pedal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a control procedure of the automatic operation error correction device for a vehicle travel control pedal according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a determination procedure for a flag for instructing whether or not to operate the automatic driving error correcting device for a vehicle traveling control pedal according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an automatic operation error correction device for a vehicle travel control pedal according to the present embodiment. The operation error automatic correction ECU 1 is the central part of the apparatus, and obtains information from the accelerator pedal operation state detection means 2 to calculate the depression amount and the depression speed of the accelerator pedal, An acceleration propriety determination unit 131 that determines whether or not acceleration is possible based on the information of the traveling state detection unit 4, the information of the obstacle detection unit 3, and various information recorded in the data storage unit 132 of the acceleration propriety determination unit 13, and a braking signal It consists of a braking signal generator 14 that generates and a correction control unit 11 that executes a correction program that automatically corrects the operation of the driver.

  The accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit 12 calculates the depression amount and the depression speed of the accelerator pedal from the accelerator position information from the accelerator pedal sensor of the accelerator pedal operation state detection means 2.

  The correction control unit 11 activates the automatic correction program based on the calculation result of the accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit 12, and determines whether the driver's operation is an operation error with reference to the determination result of the acceleration possibility determination unit 13. In addition, when the driver's operation is a pedal selection mistake, it controls a calculation function for determining an appropriate operation amount when the driver is replaced with a correct pedal.

  The operation error automatic correction ECU 1 is an electronic control unit (ECU), which is not particularly shown in the drawing, including an input / output device (including a buffer), an AD converter, a storage device, and a central information processing device including a so-called microcomputer. It has a communication interface for exchanging data with engine ECUs. In addition to the part that records the program, etc., the storage device has a certain amount of time determined based on the relative distance from the obstacle including the previous vehicle, the vehicle speed, etc. In the case where it is impossible to step on the accelerator pedal more than a certain amount, a data storage unit for storing a number of patterns in a table is provided.

   The accelerator pedal sensor of the accelerator pedal operation state detection means 2 is also referred to as an accelerator pedal position sensor, and is used to determine the depression amount and the depression speed of the accelerator pedal with the accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit 12. If so-called electronically controlled throttles are used, they are already installed and signals can be obtained therefrom.

   The millimeter wave radar of the obstacle detecting means 3 is mainly for measuring a relative distance and a relative speed with respect to the traveling vehicle. Depending on the range in which a driver's operation error is corrected by this apparatus, it is possible to use a laser radar or an ultrasonic sonar instead of the millimeter wave radar 4. It is also possible to use an inexpensive ultrasonic distance sensor that can measure only the distance to obstacles within a range of several meters, specializing in avoiding collisions with obstacles ahead and behind due to operational mistakes at the start. Is possible. Further, it is more preferable that some of these are attached in an overlapping manner, or in place of them, taking a method such as recognizing the distance from the images from a plurality of cameras to the obstacle by the image recognition software is not prevented. In addition, in order to prevent an erroneous start in the multistory parking lot, it is preferable to attach sensors for confirming the presence of the front lower floor surface and the rear lower floor surface in addition to the obstacle sensor.

  The traveling state detection means 4 includes an inclination angle sensor 41, a vehicle speed sensor 42, a steering angle sensor 43, and a gear position sensor 44. Information on these sensors is sent to the acceleration determination unit 13 of the operation error automatic correction ECU 1.

   The inclination angle sensor 41 is used to acquire information when the vehicle starts to climb up a slope. When the vehicle starts to climb a hill, it is necessary to increase the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal as compared with the flat ground. In such a case, the inclination angle sensor 41 is determined even if it cannot be accelerated on the flat ground. This is because the depression of the accelerator pedal is permitted in consideration of the inclination angle information from. A triaxial acceleration sensor can be used for this sensor. Without this sensor, this device may cause braking on a slope against the driver's intention.

  The vehicle speed sensor 6 is an indispensable sensor for determining whether or not the accelerator pedal can be stepped on in combination with the distance measurement between the obstacle and the host vehicle. So it is possible to use this.

  The steering angle sensor is used to predict the traveling direction of the vehicle. Necessary when avoiding a collision with an obstacle in front of a slant due to an operation error at the time of departure. It is also used when the direction of the detection main axis of the ultrasonic distance sensor is changed according to the steering angle.

  The gear position sensor is used to determine the traveling direction of the vehicle. It is not necessary if only forward movement is targeted.

The engine actuator 5 is a device group that controls engine output, and includes a throttle valve opening / closing device, a fuel injection device, and the like. In a vehicle that uses an electric motor as a drive source, such as an electric vehicle, it becomes a controller for a motor power supply.
When the operation error automatic correction ECU 1 determines that the driver's accelerator pedal depression is an operation error, the correction control unit 11 interrupts the engine ECU control program and sends a signal to the engine actuator or the electric motor controller 5. The engine is set to an idling state, or the electric motor is set to a power regeneration state.

The brake actuator 6 is a group of devices that generate braking force on the vehicle, and is controlled by the brake ECU.
When the operation error automatic correction ECU 1 determines that the driver's depression of the accelerator pedal is an operation error, the correction control unit 11 interrupts the control program of the brake ECU, and based on the information obtained from the accelerator pedal sensor, A signal corresponding to the master cylinder output in the hydraulic brake mechanism is sent to the brake ECU according to the amount and speed of depression of the accelerator pedal. As a result, the brake ECU controls the brake actuator 6 according to the depression amount and depression speed of the accelerator pedal.

  When this apparatus determines that the driver's accelerator pedal operation is an operation error, the warning speaker or display 7 notifies the driver that the operation error has been corrected, and interrupts the operation of the accelerator pedal to the driver. It is for encouraging.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the flowchart of FIG. 3, the determination is continuously repeated from when the vehicle is turned on. First, in step S201, it is determined whether the current shift lever of the host vehicle is moving forward or backward based on information from the gear position sensor. As a result, in the next step S202, when the shift lever is moving forward, if the vehicle is equipped with a steering angle sensor, an obstacle ahead of the steering angle direction, and if not equipped with a steering angle sensor, an obstacle ahead of the vehicle. Check out.

  Specifically, the relative distance to the obstacle is obtained by a millimeter wave radar or a laser radar. Further, the relative distance increase / decrease information is acquired from the difference from the relative distance obtained in the same step in the previous time. Further, it is determined whether or not the vehicle can be further accelerated in consideration of information from the vehicle speed sensor. When the apparatus is to be used only at the time of starting or traveling at a low speed where there are relatively many collision accidents due to erroneous operations, an inexpensive ultrasonic distance sensor can be used instead of the millimeter wave radar or laser radar. A sudden start accident can be prevented in a parking lot with a building in the range of about 3 meters.

  As a result of the above determination, if further acceleration is possible, the acceleration permission flag is turned ON in the next step S203, and if acceleration is impossible, the acceleration permission flag is turned OFF in step 204.

  If it is determined in step 201 that the shift lever is in reverse, the next step 205 checks for an obstacle behind the vehicle. In the case of reverse, starting or low-speed traveling is normal, so it is sufficient to use an ultrasonic distance sensor for the obstacle sensor behind. Even so, there is a high possibility of preventing tragic accidents at home parking lots.

  As a result of the above determination, if further acceleration is possible, the acceleration permission flag is turned ON in the next step S206, and if acceleration is impossible, the acceleration permission flag is turned OFF in step S207.

Next, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 will be described.
This program also repeats the judgment from the time of power-on. When the power is turned on, 0 is input as an initial value to the memory that stores the depression amount of the accelerator pedal. First, in step S101, it is determined whether the accelerator pedal depression amount has increased by a certain amount or more.
The reason why it is more than a certain amount is that there is little need to operate the automatic correction program of the present invention because there is little risk of an accident if it is a slight step. Also, if you are stepping on the accelerator pedal, you may step in a little, especially when following the front car and driving at low speed, even if there is no inter-vehicle distance, predict the acceleration of the front car first. It is possible to step in slightly. This is because operating the automatic correction program of the present invention up to such a case is rather dangerous. Therefore, the above fixed amount is determined in consideration of such a case.

Therefore, if it is determined in step S101 that the accelerator pedal is not depressed more than a certain amount, the program returns to the start and monitors the depression amount of the accelerator pedal again.
If it can be determined in step S101 that the accelerator pedal has been depressed by a certain amount or more, the acceleration propriety flag is checked in step S102. If the flag is ON, there is no problem with the acceleration of the host vehicle at least at this time. It can be determined that the driver has depressed the accelerator pedal with the intention of accelerating the vehicle. Therefore, there is no mistake in the driver's operation of the accelerator pedal, and the automatic correction program of the present invention does not need to operate, so this program returns to the start and monitors the depression amount of the accelerator pedal again.
As described above, in the two cases where the program returns to the start without activating the correction program, the current depression amount of the accelerator pedal is overwritten in the memory at the time of return.

  Next, when the acceleration propriety flag is checked in step S102, if the flag is OFF, if there is an obstacle behind the host vehicle in the steering direction of the host vehicle or the reverse of the shift lever, the vehicle is accelerated at the present time. If this is the case, there is a high possibility of collision with the obstacle. Under such circumstances, it is impossible to assume that the driver will accelerate his / her own vehicle. In this case, it is natural that the driver depresses the accelerator pedal accidentally with the intention of depressing the brake pedal. It is. Therefore, the program starts the correction program in step S103, and first sets the engine output to the idle state. That is, a signal is sent to the engine ECU so that the electronic control throttle is fully closed. Since the engine is in an idle state at the time of starting, the effect of step S103 is to invalidate the depression of the accelerator pedal. When the driving force is an electric motor, a similar signal may be sent by sending a required signal to the motor controller.

Next, in step S104, when the brake pedal is depressed with a force corresponding to the depression amount and the depression speed of the accelerator pedal, a signal corresponding to the braking signal output from the brake ECU of the vehicle body to the brake actuator is corrected. Generated by the control unit and output to the brake actuator.
As a result, the driver recognizes that the vehicle has moved as predicted by his / her own operation, and fears the driver by making unintentional movement of the driver like a conventional erroneous operation prevention device. Never give a heart.

  Step S105 continues the operation of S103 and S104 until the driver notices his / her own operation mistake and releases his / her foot from the accelerator pedal. When the driver releases his / her foot from the accelerator pedal, the process proceeds to the next step S106 for the first time. The signal sent from the correction control unit of this device to the brake actuator is cut off, and the program is returned to the start. At this time, the memory recording the depression amount of the accelerator pedal is cleared.

  When the driver's operation error is corrected in steps S103 and S104, the display indicates that the driver has corrected the operation error so that the driver can return the accelerator pedal, or a notification to that effect is given by voice. It is good to make it.

1 ECU for automatic operation error correction
2 Accelerator pedal operation state detection means 3 Obstacle detection means 4 Traveling state detection means 5 Engine actuator or electric motor controller 6 Brake actuator 7 Alarm speaker or display 11 Correction control unit
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Accelerator pedal operation state calculating part 13 Acceleration determination part 14 Braking signal generation part 41 Inclination angle sensor 42 Vehicle speed sensor 43 Steering angle sensor 44 Gear position sensor

Claims (4)

A device for automatically correcting an operation error of a pedal for driving a vehicle,
Traveling state detection means for detecting the traveling state of the host vehicle;
Obstacle detection means for detecting an obstacle present in the planned traveling direction of the host vehicle;
An accelerator pedal operation state detection means for detecting the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal;
Based on information obtained from the traveling state detection means and the obstacle detection means, an acceleration propriety determination unit that grants acceleration permission to the host vehicle when the host vehicle can be accelerated in the traveling direction of the host vehicle; An accelerator pedal operation state calculator that calculates the operation state of the accelerator pedal based on information from the accelerator pedal operation state detection means;
When the brake pedal is depressed at a strength equivalent to the depression amount calculated by the accelerator pedal operation state calculation unit based on the depression amount of the accelerator pedal and the change over time of the depression amount of the accelerator pedal, the braking system A braking signal generator for generating a signal equivalent to the signal given to
A correction control unit that corrects the driver's accelerator pedal operation to a brake pedal operation when the acceleration determination unit determines that acceleration is impossible;
When the accelerator pedal operation state detection means detects a depression amount that is a certain amount or more greater than the depression amount detected before a predetermined time, the acceleration permission determination unit confirms whether the acceleration is permitted and allows the acceleration. If not, the correction control unit sends a signal to the engine ECU so that the electronic control throttle is fully closed. In addition, by sending a braking signal generated by the braking signal generator to the braking system, a driver's pedal operation mistake is automatically corrected, and the accelerator pedal operation state detecting means is returned to the original position. This operation is continued until it is detected that an automatic operation error correction device for a vehicle driving control pedal is provided.   2. An automatic operation error correcting device for a vehicle travel control pedal according to claim 1, wherein the central axis of the obstacle detection means according to claim 1 is always directed in the steering angle direction.   The automatic operation error correction device for a pedal for controlling vehicle driving according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a driver's pedal operation error is corrected when the predetermined braking signal is sent to the braking system. Device for automatically correcting an operation error of a pedal for driving a vehicle, characterized by comprising a notification means for notifying the vehicle   The automatic operation error correction device for an automobile travel control pedal according to claim 1, 2, or 3, for confirming the presence of a vehicle front and rear lower ground in addition to the obstacle detection means according to each claim. An automatic operation error correction device for an automobile travel control pedal, characterized in that a sensor is provided, and the acceleration propriety determination unit does not allow acceleration when the sensor cannot confirm the presence of a front and rear lower ground.

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