JP2020035043A - Inattentive driving notification device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an inattentive driving notification device capable of preventing a driver from being conscious of an end of automatic driving by issuing useless warning.SOLUTION: An inattentive driving notification device 1 determines that a driver of a vehicle during performance of automatic driving is inattentively driving, and issues warning to end automatic driving when it is not determined that a driver determined to be inattentively driving cancels inattentive driving within a predetermined time. The inattentive driving notification device 1 includes: a driver information acquisition section 11 for acquiring a face direction or a visual line direction of a driver; an inattentive driving determination section 12 for determining whether a driver is inattentively driving on the basis of a face direction or a visual line direction of a driver; and a notification section 13 for calling attention when it is determined that a driver is inattentively driving during performance of a lane change by automatic driving. The inattentive driving notification device 1 does not end automatic driving even when it is not determined that a driver cancels inattentive driving in response to attention calling.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present disclosure relates to an inattentive reporting device.

  The driver's gaze direction is detected from a face image obtained by capturing the driver's face, and if the detected gaze direction is outside a predetermined range such as the front, it is determined that the driver is looking aside. An apparatus is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1). In such an inattentiveness determination device, it is conceivable that an alarm for terminating automatic driving is issued to the driver if it is not determined that the driver of the vehicle performing automatic driving is looking aside.

Japanese Patent No. 5184596

  By the way, vehicle control for automatically changing lanes in automatic driving of a vehicle is known. When the vehicle changes lanes automatically, the driver may turn in a direction deviated from the front in order to check the surroundings of the vehicle. At this time, in the inattentiveness determination device described above, it is determined that the driver is looking aside because the driver is facing a direction deviated from the front in order to check the surroundings of the vehicle, and the driver is warned. May be issued to make the user aware of the end of automatic driving.

  Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an inattentive alerting device that can prevent a driver from being aware of the end of automatic driving by issuing an unnecessary alarm.

  The inattentiveness notifying device according to an aspect of the present disclosure determines that the driver of the vehicle that is performing automatic driving is looking aside, and the driver determined to be looking aside is provided for a preset time. An inattentive alerting device that issues an alarm that terminates automatic driving if it is not determined that the inattentive has been resolved within, a driver information acquiring unit that acquires the driver's face direction or gaze direction, and a driver information acquiring unit. Based on the acquired driver's face direction or line-of-sight direction, an inattentiveness determination unit that determines whether the driver is looking aside, and during execution of a lane change by automatic driving, An alerting unit that alerts when it is determined that the driver is inattentive, and does not terminate the automatic driving even if the driver does not determine that the driver has cleared the inattentive response in response to the alert.

  According to the aspect of the present disclosure, it is possible to avoid making the driver aware of the end of automatic driving by issuing an unnecessary alarm.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an inattentiveness notifying device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the inattentiveness notifying process.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an inattentiveness notifying device 1 according to the present embodiment. The inattentiveness notifying device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a vehicle such as a car capable of automatic driving, determines that a driver of a vehicle that is performing automatic driving is inattentive, and performs inattentiveness. This is a device that gives a notification according to the situation to the driver determined to be. "Automatic driving" is vehicle control for automatically driving the vehicle toward a preset destination. In automatic driving, the occupant does not need to perform a driving operation, and the vehicle runs automatically. "Looking aside" means a state in which the driver faces outside a predetermined range such as the front.

  “Notification” includes warnings and alerts. The “warning” is a notification for terminating the automatic driving if it is not determined that the driver determined to be inattentive has cleared the inattentiveness within a preset time in response to the warning. The “warning” is a notification that the automatic driving is not terminated even if it is not determined that the driver determined to be looking aside has eliminated the inattentiveness in response to the warning. Specific modes of the warning and the alert will be described later.

  The inattentive alerting device 1 includes an inattentive alerting ECU [Electronic Control Unit] 10 that controls the device as a whole. The inattentive notification ECU 10 is an electronic control unit having a CPU [Central Processing Unit], a ROM [Read Only Memory], a RAM [Random Access Memory], and the like. The inattentive notification ECU 10 loads the program stored in the ROM into the RAM, and executes the program loaded into the RAM by the CPU, thereby realizing each function related to the inattentive notification processing. The inattentive notification ECU 10 may be configured by a plurality of ECUs. A part of the functions of the inattentive notification ECU 10 may be executed by a server that can communicate with the vehicle.

  The driver monitor camera 2, the automatic driving ECU 3, and the HMI 4 are connected to the inattentive notification ECU 10.

  The driver monitor camera 2 is an imaging device that images a driver. The driver monitor camera 2 is provided at a position in front of the driver on a cover of a steering column of the vehicle, and captures at least an image of the driver's face. A plurality of driver monitor cameras 2 may be provided to image the driver from a plurality of directions. The driver monitor camera 2 transmits the driver's imaging information to the inattentive notification ECU 10.

  The automatic driving ECU 3 is an electronic control unit for executing automatic driving of the vehicle. The automatic driving ECU 3 is an electronic control unit having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The automatic driving ECU 3 realizes each function of the automatic driving by, for example, loading a program stored in the ROM into the RAM and executing the program loaded into the RAM by the CPU. The automatic driving ECU 3 may be composed of a plurality of ECUs. Some of the functions of the automatic driving ECU 3 may be executed by a server that can communicate with the vehicle.

  The autonomous driving ECU 3 is configured to detect the position of the vehicle measured by the on-vehicle GPS [Global Positioning System] receiver, the map information of the map database, and the vehicle recognized from the detection results of the on-vehicle camera and radar sensor (millimeter wave radar and rider). Destinations set in advance based on the surrounding environment (positions of other vehicles, etc.) of the vehicle and vehicle conditions (vehicle speed, yaw rate, etc.) recognized from the detection results of onboard internal sensors (vehicle speed sensors, yaw rate sensors, etc.) A travel plan along the target route up to is generated. The destination may be set by an occupant or the like. The target route may be set by a well-known navigation system based on the destination. The navigation system in this case may be integrated with the automatic driving ECU 3.

  The automatic driving ECU 3 performs automatic driving toward the destination according to the travel plan. The automatic driving ECU 3 executes automatic driving by transmitting a control signal to an actuator (engine actuator, steering actuator, brake actuator, etc.) of the vehicle. The automatic driving ECU 3 executes vehicle control for automatically changing the lane of the vehicle during automatic driving of the vehicle. The automatic driving ECU 3 transmits the lane change information to the inattentive notification ECU 10.

  “Lane change information” is information on whether or not the vehicle is changing lanes. The lane change information may be information indicating a timing at which the vehicle starts a lane change, information indicating that the vehicle is performing a lane change, or information indicating a timing at which the vehicle ends the lane change. . More specifically, the lane change information indicating the timing at which the vehicle starts lane change may be information indicating that the vehicle has started to turn on the turn signal. The lane change information indicating that the vehicle is in the process of changing lanes may be information indicating that the vehicle is in the process of turning on the turn signal. The lane change information indicating the timing at which the vehicle ends the lane change may be information indicating that the vehicle has finished turning on the turn signal.

  The HMI 4 is an interface for outputting information from at least the inattentiveness notifying device 1 to the occupant. The HMI 4 includes, for example, an output unit such as a display and a speaker. The HMI 4 outputs an image on a display or an audio output from a speaker according to a control signal from the inattentive notification ECU 10. For example, the HMI 4 notifies the driver of a warning, an alert, or the like by using an image or a sound.

  Next, a functional configuration of the inattentive notification ECU 10 will be described. The inattentive notification ECU 10 includes a driver information acquisition unit 11, an inattentive determination unit 12, and a notification unit 13.

  The driver information acquisition unit 11 acquires the driver's face orientation. More specifically, the driver information obtaining unit 11 obtains the driver's face orientation by a known image processing method based on the driver's imaging information received from the driver monitor camera 2. For example, the driver information obtaining unit 11 obtains angle information of the driver's face direction in each of the yaw angle direction and the pitch angle direction.

  The inattentiveness determination unit 12 determines whether or not the driver is looking aside by a known method based on the driver's face orientation acquired by the driver information acquisition unit 11. The inattentiveness determination unit 12, for example, shifts the face direction of the driver acquired by the driver information acquisition unit 11 in the yaw angle direction or the pitch angle direction by a predetermined angle or more with respect to the front direction of the driver. If so, it is determined that the driver is looking aside. The inattentiveness determination unit 12 performs driving when the driver's face orientation is shifted in the yaw angle direction or the pitch angle direction by a predetermined angle or more with respect to the front direction of the driver for a preset time. It may be determined that the person is looking aside.

  The notification unit 13 alerts the driver when the inattentiveness determination unit 12 determines that the driver is looking aside during lane change by automatic driving. More specifically, the notification unit 13 determines whether or not the vehicle is executing a lane change by automatic driving, based on the lane change information received from the automatic driving ECU 3. When the vehicle is determined to be performing lane change by automatic driving, the notification unit 13 gives an alert when the inattentive determination unit 12 determines that the driver is looking aside. A control signal is output to HMI4. “Executing a lane change” means the timing when the vehicle starts the lane change, while the vehicle is performing the lane change, and the timing when the vehicle ends the lane change. Therefore, for example, at the timing when the vehicle starts lane change (for example, at the timing when the vehicle starts to turn on the turn signal), the situation in which the inattentiveness determination unit 12 has determined that the driver is looking aside before the timing. Also, the notification unit 13 alerts the driver.

  On the other hand, the notification unit 13 issues a warning to the driver when the inattentiveness determination unit 12 determines that the driver is looking aside, except during execution of lane change by automatic driving. More specifically, the notification unit 13 determines whether or not the vehicle is executing a lane change by automatic driving, based on the lane change information received from the automatic driving ECU 3. When the vehicle is not determined to be performing lane change by automatic driving, the notifying unit 13 issues a warning signal when the inattentive determination unit 12 determines that the driver is looking aside. Is output to the HMI4.

  An example of a specific mode of the alarm and the alert will be described. The warning may be a notification in a mode emphasized as compared with the alert. For example, the warning may be a warning sound or a warning announcement output from the speaker of the HMI 4. The warning announcement may be an announcement that "inattentiveness has been detected. If the inattentiveness is not resolved, automatic driving will be terminated." The alarm may be an alarm message displayed on the display of the HMI 4. The warning message may be a message such as "The inattentiveness has been detected. If the inattentiveness is not resolved, the automatic driving is terminated." On the other hand, for example, the alert may be an alert announcement that is output as a sound from the speaker of the HMI 4. The alert announcement may be an announcement that "autonomous driving will be continued even though inattentiveness has been detected." In addition, the alert may be an alert message that is displayed as an image on the display of the HMI 4. The alert message may be a message stating that "Inattentive driving was detected, but automatic driving is continued."

  The inattentiveness notifying device 1 is configured to automatically operate when the inattentiveness determination unit 12 determines that the driver has eliminated the inattentiveness within a preset time in response to the warning when the HMI 4 issues an alarm to the driver. A control signal for terminating the operation is transmitted to the automatic driving ECU 3 to terminate the automatic driving. On the other hand, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 performs the automatic driving even if the driver does not determine that the driver has cleared the inattentiveness in response to the alert by the inattentiveness determination unit 12 when the driver is alerted by the HMI 4. The control signal for ending is not transmitted to the automatic driving ECU 3, and the automatic driving is not ended.

  Subsequently, an inattentiveness notifying process performed by the inattentiveness notifying device 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the inattentiveness notifying process. The flowchart in FIG. 2 is started, for example, when the speed of the vehicle that is performing the automatic driving is equal to or higher than a preset speed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in step S <b> 10, the driver's look-ahead notification device 1 uses the driver information acquisition unit 11 based on the driver's image information received from the driver monitor camera 2 by using a known method. Get orientation. After that, the inattentive reporting device 1 proceeds to step S12.

  In step S <b> 12, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 determines whether or not the driver is looking aside, based on the driver's face direction acquired by the driver information acquiring unit 11 by the inattentiveness determining unit 12. When the inattentiveness informing device 1 determines that the driver is inattentive (step S12: YES), the process proceeds to step S14. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the driver is looking aside (step S12: NO), the inattentiveness notifying device 1 ends the current inattentiveness notifying process, and executes the inattentiveness notifying process again from step S10.

  In step S14, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 uses the notifying unit 13 to determine whether or not the vehicle is performing a lane change by automatic driving. More specifically, the notification unit 13 determines whether or not the vehicle is executing a lane change by automatic driving, based on the lane change information received from the automatic driving ECU 3. When it is determined that the vehicle is performing a lane change (step S14: YES), the inattentiveness notifying device 1 proceeds to step S16. On the other hand, when it is not determined that the vehicle is performing the lane change (step S14: NO), the inattentiveness notifying device 1 proceeds to step S18.

  In step S16, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 uses the notifying unit 13 to alert the driver. More specifically, the notification unit 13 outputs a control signal for giving a reminder to the HMI 4 to cause the HMI 4 to perform a reminder. Thereby, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 ends the current inattentiveness notifying process, and executes the inattentiveness notifying process again from step S10.

  In step S18, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 causes the notifying unit 13 to issue an alarm to the driver. More specifically, the notification unit 13 outputs a control signal for issuing an alarm to the HMI 4, and causes the HMI 4 to issue an alarm. Thereby, the inattentiveness notifying device 1 ends the current inattentiveness notifying process, and executes the inattentiveness notifying process again from step S10. If an alarm is issued from the HMI 4 to the driver, the automatic driving is terminated unless the inattentiveness determination unit 12 determines that the driver has eliminated the inattentiveness within a preset time in response to the alarm. The control signal is transmitted to the automatic driving ECU 3 to terminate the automatic driving.

  As described above, according to the inattentiveness notifying device 1, when it is determined that the driver is looking aside during the execution of a lane change by automatic driving, a warning is issued instead of an alarm. The warning is a notification that terminates the automatic driving when the driver does not clear the inattentive driving within a preset time, and the alert is a warning that the automatic driving is performed even if it is not determined that the driver has cleared the inattentive driving. This is a notification that does not end. For this reason, for example, when the driver is looking away from the front to check the surroundings of the vehicle in preparation for the lane change of the vehicle, instead of looking aside, an unnecessary alarm is issued to the driver. This prevents the user from being aware of the end of the automatic driving.

  The embodiments described above can be implemented in various forms with various changes and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

  For example, the driver information acquisition unit 11 may acquire the driver's line of sight instead of the driver's face orientation. “Gaze direction” means the direction in which the driver's gaze is facing. More specifically, the driver information acquisition unit 11 may acquire the driver's line-of-sight direction by a known method based on the driver's imaging information received from the driver monitor camera 2. In addition, the inattentiveness determination unit 12 may determine whether or not the driver is looking aside by a known method based on the driver's line of sight obtained by the driver information obtaining unit 11.

  Further, the driver information acquisition unit 11 may acquire both the face direction and the line-of-sight direction of the driver. More specifically, the driver information acquisition unit 11 may acquire the driver's face direction and line-of-sight direction by a known method, based on the driver's imaging information received from the driver monitor camera 2. In addition, the inattentiveness determination unit 12 may determine whether or not the driver is looking aside by a known method, based on the driver's face direction and line-of-sight direction acquired by the driver information acquisition unit 11. .

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... inattentiveness notification device, 11 ... driver information acquisition part, 12 ... inattentiveness determination part, 13 ... notification part.

Claims (1)

It is determined that the driver of the vehicle performing the automatic driving is looking aside, and if it is not determined that the driver who is determined to be looking aside has eliminated the inattentive motion within a preset time. An inattentive alerting device that issues an alarm to end the automatic driving,
A driver information acquisition unit for acquiring a face direction or a line-of-sight direction of the driver,
An inattentiveness determination unit that determines whether or not the driver is looking aside, based on the driver's face direction or gaze direction acquired by the driver information acquisition unit,
During the execution of the lane change by the automatic driving, a notification unit that alerts when it is determined that the driver is looking aside by the inattentive determination unit,
An inattentiveness notifying device that does not terminate the automatic driving even if it is not determined by the inattentiveness determination unit that the driver has cleared the inattentive response in response to the alert.

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