JP2020038090A - Recommended lane determination device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique which allows for recommending a driving lane suitable for automatic driving to a vehicle traveling on various roads including roundabouts by automatic driving, and allows the vehicle to continue automatic driving even in the event of a sudden event that prevents the vehicle from traveling on the recommended lane.SOLUTION: In the presence of a first lane and a second lane leading to a same destination, a recommended lane determination device of the present invention sets a higher priority on one of the first and second lanes that does not merge with another lane as a recommended lane and output the priority.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a recommended lane determination device that recommends a lane on which a vehicle travels.

  Currently, technologies for automatically driving vehicles are being actively developed. In automatic driving, it is important to determine the current position of the vehicle. In general, the current position of the vehicle can be determined, for example, by specifying the current coordinates of the vehicle by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and by specifying the direction of the vehicle by a sensor.

  The driver sets a destination in, for example, a car navigation system, and the car navigation system outputs a route that can reach the destination as a scheduled travel route. The automatic driving control device controls the vehicle such that the vehicle automatically travels on the planned traveling route. At this time, it is necessary to determine which lane of the road the vehicle should travel by comparing the current position of the vehicle with the planned travel route.

  Patent Literature 1 below describes a technique for guiding a route on which a vehicle should travel at a roundabout. This document provides a "navigation device that can perform route guidance at roundabouts without excess or deficiency." "If the exit to be passed at the roundabout on the guidance route is the first or second exit counted from the entrance to be passed at the roundabout, When the voice guidance of the road names A2 and A3 of the escape route from the intersection is not performed, and the exit to be passed at the roundabout on the guidance route is the third or later exit counted from the entrance to be passed at the roundabout. , Voice guidance of the road names A1, B1, and C2 of the escape route from the roundabout corresponding to the exit. ] (See abstract).

  Patent Literature 2 below describes a technique for recommending a lane on which a vehicle travels. This document states, "The route from the current location to the destination is always guided on one optimal recommended lane. Using the lane information acquired by the lane information acquisition unit 7 and the rules read out from the lane calculation rule storage unit 8 to reverse from the target point set by the target point extraction unit 5 toward the current location. The vehicle includes a lane determination unit 9 that determines a recommended lane by performing a running lane calculation, and an output unit 10 that guides the determined recommended lane along a trajectory that the lane determination unit 9 runs backward. ] (See abstract).

JP 2013-096744 A JP 2011-226962 A

  In the prior art as in Patent Document 1, the purpose is to mainly present an efficient route to the exit of a roundabout. On the other hand, when driving a vehicle automatically, it is also important to present a traveling route suitable for automatic driving. For example, it is not appropriate to present a route that reduces the safety of the vehicle as a route for automatic driving. This applies not only to automatic driving at a roundabout but also to driving on other general roads. Since the prior art does not provide a route for automatic driving, it is difficult to obtain an appropriate route even if the conventional technology is applied to automatic driving as it is.

  In the related art such as Patent Document 2, it is general to recommend a lane that is most suitable for a vehicle to travel. However, in such a case, if the vehicle cannot run on the optimal recommended lane for some reason, there is no recommended lane, and it is difficult to continue the automatic driving.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when a vehicle travels on various roads including a roundabout by automatic driving, while recommending a driving lane suitable for automatic driving, the vehicle It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology capable of continuing automatic driving even when a sudden event occurs that makes it impossible to travel on a recommended lane.

  When the first lane and the second lane are both heading to the same destination, the recommended lane determination device according to the present invention may be configured such that the first lane and the second lane that are not merged with other lanes are used. , A higher priority is set as a recommended lane, and the priority is output.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the recommended lane determination apparatus which concerns on this invention, even if the sudden event which a vehicle cannot run on a recommended lane occurs, the driving | running lane suitable for automatic driving | running can be recommended.

1 is a configuration diagram of a recommended lane determination device 100 according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the lane structure of the roundabout 300 typically. It is a figure which shows the lane structure of the roundabout 300 typically.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a recommended lane determination device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The recommended lane determination device 100 is a device that determines a lane for which the vehicle is recommended to run, and is configured as an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) mounted on the vehicle. The recommended lane determination device 100 includes a position acquisition unit 110, a route acquisition unit 120, a map acquisition unit 130, and a lane recommendation unit 140.

  The position acquisition unit 110 acquires coordinates representing the current position of the vehicle. The current position of the vehicle can be determined, for example, by specifying the current coordinates of the vehicle using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and specifying the direction of the vehicle using a sensor. The position acquisition unit 110 may determine the current position of the vehicle by itself, or may receive data representing the current position of the vehicle from outside the recommended lane determination device 100.

  The route acquisition unit 120 acquires data describing a planned traveling route on which the vehicle is to travel. For example, a scheduled travel route can be received from a car navigation system mounted on the vehicle.

  The map acquisition unit 130 acquires map data describing road coordinates from the high-precision map 200 mounted on the vehicle. The high-accuracy map 200 is map information having higher positional accuracy than the vehicle position acquired by the GNSS tuner.

  The lane recommending unit 140 outputs recommended lane candidates for recommending that the vehicle travels according to a procedure described later, calculates the priority of each recommended lane, and outputs them as a pair. The priority here is information indicating how desirable it is for the vehicle to travel in order to reach the destination of the planned traveling route.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a lane configuration of the roundabout 300. The circular intersection 300 has a double structure of an inner lane and an outer lane. The inner lane is composed of lanes A1 to D1, and the outer lane is composed of lanes A2 to D2. The outer lane has junctions 301 to 304 between the lane entering and exiting the roundabout 300. Each junction merges with a pair of a lane in a direction entering the roundabout 300 and a lane in a direction exiting from the roundabout 300. FIG. 2 illustrates a lane configuration in which the vehicle travels on the right lane. The division of each lane forming the inner lane and the division of each lane forming the outer lane correspond to the confluence points 301 to 304, respectively. The high-precision map 200 has a lane configuration as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, it is assumed that a vehicle enters the roundabout 300 from the lane E and exits the roundabout 300 from the lane F. When the vehicle is automatically driven, the recommended lane determination device 100 presents a recommended lane order for the vehicle to travel on the route from the lane E to the lane F. Hereinafter, a procedure in which the recommended lane determination device 100 determines a recommended lane will be described with reference to FIG.

  The vehicle reaching the junction 301 from the lane E can travel on either the lane A1 or the lane A2. Lane A1 does not intersect with the junction, while lane A2 intersects with junction 302. If a confluence exists in the traveling route, there is a possibility that the vehicle will intersect with another vehicle. Therefore, from the viewpoint of safety for the vehicle, it is desirable to select a lane where no confluence exists. Further, if another vehicle is present in the surroundings, it is necessary to perform a behavior such as avoidance, so that the difficulty of automatic driving and the calculation load increase. Therefore, from the viewpoint of automatic driving, it is desirable to select a lane where there is no junction. Therefore, the lane recommending unit 140 sets a higher priority for lane A1 than for lane A2. Since there is a possibility that the vehicle cannot travel on the lane A1 for some reason, the lane A2 is not excluded as an option. The same applies to the following procedures.

  After the vehicle has passed the junction 302 (or a corresponding location on the inner lane), the vehicle can travel on either lane B1 or lane B2. Since the vehicle is heading to lane F via junction 303, there is no need to avoid junction 303. Therefore, the lane recommendation unit 140 may recommend either lane B1 or lane B2 (that is, the same priority can be set).

  However, in order for the vehicle to exit the roundabout 300 from the junction 303, it is necessary to move to the lane B2 before reaching the junction 303. Therefore, the lane recommending unit 140 may calculate and output the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the junction 303 when the vehicle has passed the junction 302 (or the corresponding position of the inner peripheral lane). For example, the distance can be calculated based on the length of the lane B1 described by the high-accuracy map 200 and the current position of the vehicle. For example, when the display of the car navigation device or the like presents the distance to the driver, the driver is prompted to shift to the lane B2. The fact that the vehicle is about to exit the roundabout 300 from the junction 303 can be determined, for example, by obtaining the destination of the vehicle from a car navigation device provided in the vehicle.

  Depending on the congestion state of the lane F, the vehicle may not be able to exit the roundabout 300 from the junction 303. In this case, the lane recommendation unit 140 may present the recommended lane again. As described above, since it is desirable that the vehicle travels avoiding the junction, the lane recommendation unit 140 recommends the inner lane. In the example of FIG. 2, when the vehicle passes the junction 303, the highest priority is set for the route of lane C1 => lane D1 => lane A1. Lane B1 and lane B2 are as described above.

  The lane recommending unit 140 may recalculate the route when the vehicle has passed the junction 303 or may calculate the route in advance. For example, when the lane configuration of the roundabout 300 is complicated, or when the roundabout 300 tends to be congested, the calculation load for calculating the recommended lane may increase. It is useful to keep. Whether or not the recommended lane is calculated in advance can be determined, for example, by acquiring the characteristics (complexity of the structure, congestion tendency, etc.) of the roundabout 300 from the high-precision map 200. The timing at which the recommended lane is calculated in advance may be, for example, before the vehicle enters the roundabout 300.

<Embodiment 1: Summary>
The recommended lane determination device 100 according to the first embodiment sets a higher priority for the lane A1 when comparing the lane A1 having no merge point with the lane A2 having no merge point with another lane. Above, it is presented as a recommended lane. This will recommend lanes that are less likely to cross the vehicle with other vehicles, so recommend the appropriate lane both for ease of autonomous driving and for vehicle safety. Can be. Since a lane is recommended after further giving a priority, it is not prevented that a lane having a low priority is selected. Therefore, for example, even when a sudden event occurs such that the vehicle cannot run on the recommended lane, the automatic driving can be continued.

  The recommended lane determination device 100 according to the first embodiment sets a higher priority for the inner lane than for the outer lane at the circular intersection 300 having the inner lane and the outer lane. Accordingly, the same effect as described above can be exerted near the junction where the traffic lane merges with the roundabout 300 from an external lane.

  When the vehicle passes through the exit of the roundabout 300, the recommended lane determination device 100 according to the first embodiment presents the recommended lane in the process of traveling one more round on the circular lane and reaching the same exit. Thereby, even if it is not possible to escape from the roundabout 300 due to the situation of the roundabout 300 or a driving error, the automatic driving can be continued.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating the lane configuration of the roundabout 300. Unlike FIG. 2, the lanes that enter and exit the roundabout 300 are two lanes on each side. The other lane configurations are the same as in FIG. When the vehicle enters the roundabout 300, the vehicle can travel on either the lane E1 or the lane E2. The lane recommending unit 140 may set the same priority for the lanes E1 and E2, or may set one of the lanes E1 and E2 to a higher priority according to the criteria described below.

  In general, it is not preferable that the vehicle repeatedly changes lanes many times from the viewpoint of safety and ease of automatic driving. Therefore, as shown by the dotted arrow in FIG. 3, it is shared between the drivers that the vehicle goes to lane A1 when merging from lane E1 with the roundabout 300, and goes to lane A2 when merging from lane E2. It is thought that there is. As described in the first embodiment, it is desirable to present a recommended lane so that the vehicle does not pass through the junction as much as possible. Therefore, when the vehicle is about to join the roundabout 300, the lane recommending unit 140 sets a higher priority for the lane E1 than for the lane E2. This is because the lane A1 has a higher priority when comparing the lane A1 with the lane A2.

  The lane recommending unit 140 can similarly set the priority when the vehicle proceeds from the lane B2 to the lane F1 or the lane F2. That is, since it is assumed that the vehicle traveling on lane B2 proceeds to lane F2, a higher priority may be set for lane F2 than for lane F1.

<Regarding Modification of the Present Invention>
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and includes various modifications. For example, the above embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to one having all the described configurations. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of one embodiment can be added to the configuration of another embodiment. Further, for a part of the configuration of each embodiment, it is possible to add, delete, or replace another configuration.

  In the above embodiment, the operation of the lane recommendation section 140 has been described by taking the roundabout 300 as an example. It is the same as above. Therefore, when there are a plurality of lanes heading to the same destination, the lane recommending unit 140 may set a higher priority for a lane with a smaller confluence. For example, if the vehicle is traveling on a highway and there is a merging lane that merges with the highway, higher priority can be set for a lane that does not merge with the merging lane.

  When the number of confluences in each lane is the same, the priority of each lane is the same from the viewpoint of the number of confluences. In this case, the lane recommendation unit 140 may set the priority from another viewpoint. For example, it is conceivable to set a higher priority for a lane with a smaller number of lane changes by the vehicle.

  Each of the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, and the like may be partially or entirely realized by hardware, for example, by designing an integrated circuit. In addition, the above-described configurations, functions, and the like may be realized by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information such as a program, a table, and a file for realizing each function can be stored in a memory, a hard disk, a recording device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card or an SD card. In addition, control lines and information lines are shown as necessary for the description, and do not necessarily indicate all control lines and information lines on a product. In fact, it can be considered that almost all components are connected to each other.

100: recommended lane determination device 110: position acquisition unit 120: route acquisition unit 130: map acquisition unit 140: lane recommendation unit 200: high-accuracy map 300: circular intersections 301 to 304: junction

Claims (10)

A recommended lane determination device that recommends a lane in which the vehicle travels,
A position estimating unit that estimates a current position of the vehicle,
A route information obtaining unit that obtains route information describing a scheduled travel route in which the vehicle is scheduled to travel from the current position to the destination;
A map data acquisition unit that acquires map data describing coordinates of lanes of a road including the planned traveling route,
A lane recommendation unit that determines a recommended lane recommending that the vehicle travels among the lanes,
With
The lane recommendation unit is configured such that a first lane having a merging point with another lane and a second lane having no merging point with another lane are heading to the same destination. In this case, the recommended lane is set as the recommended lane to the second lane as a higher priority than the first lane, and the priority is output. A recommended lane determination device that recommends a lane in which the vehicle travels,
A position estimating unit that estimates a current position of the vehicle,
A route information obtaining unit that obtains route information describing a scheduled travel route in which the vehicle is scheduled to travel from the current position to the destination;
A map data acquisition unit that acquires map data describing coordinates of lanes of a road including the planned traveling route,
A lane recommendation unit that determines a recommended lane recommending that the vehicle travels among the lanes,
With
The lane recommendation unit is configured such that a first lane having a merging point with another lane and a second lane having no merging point with another lane form a circular lane at the same circular intersection. The priority of the recommended lane is set for each of the circular lanes at the circular intersection. The lane recommendation unit has a higher priority than the first lane as the recommended lane with respect to the second lane when another lane connected to the roundabout and the first lane merge with each other. The recommended lane judging device according to claim 2, wherein The circular intersection has an annular outer lane and an annular inner lane arranged inside the outer lane.
When the first lane is configured as the outer lane and the second lane is configured as the inner lane, the lane recommending unit determines the outer lane as the recommended lane with respect to the inner lane. The recommended lane judging device according to claim 3, wherein a higher priority is set than a lane. In the lane recommendation section, the third lane having a junction joining another lane and the fourth lane having a junction joining another lane are both heading to the same destination. 2. The recommended lane determination device according to claim 1, wherein, in the case, a higher priority is set as the recommended lane with respect to the third lane and the fourth lane having a smaller confluence point. 3. The lane recommendation unit is configured such that a third lane having a merge point with another lane and a fourth lane having a merge point with another lane are heading to the same destination. If the number of junctions of the third lane is equal to the number of junctions of the fourth lane, the vehicle needs to change lanes between the third lane and the fourth lane. The recommended lane judging device according to claim 1, wherein a higher priority is set as the recommended lane for a smaller number of times. The circular intersection has an annular outer lane and an annular inner lane arranged inside the outer lane.
The circular intersection is connected to a first parallel running lane and a second parallel running lane that merge with the outer peripheral lane and the vehicle travels in the same direction,
The lane recommending unit sets a higher priority as the recommended lane to the one of the first parallel lane and the second parallel lane that has a smaller number of times the vehicle needs to change lanes. 3. The recommended lane judging device according to claim 2, wherein: The circular intersection has an annular outer lane and an annular inner lane arranged inside the outer lane.
The lane recommendation unit obtains a destination of the vehicle from a car navigation system provided in the vehicle, thereby specifying an exit from which the vehicle escapes from the roundabout,
The outer peripheral lane has a first junction between the first junction lane connected to the roundabout and a second junction between a second junction lane connected to the roundabout. And
The lane recommendation unit is configured such that, when the second junction is disposed between the exit and the first junction, after the vehicle enters the circular intersection via the first junction, When passing through a second junction or a connection point between the second junction and the inner lane, a traveling distance from a current position of the vehicle to a connection point between the exit and the inner lane is calculated. The recommended lane judging device according to claim 2, wherein the output is output. The lane recommendation unit obtains a destination of the vehicle from a car navigation system included in the vehicle, thereby specifying an exit from which the vehicle escapes from the roundabout,
The lane recommendation unit, when the vehicle passes through the exit without exiting the roundabout from the exit, the traveling route to reach the exit again along the annular lane of the roundabout, as the recommended lane The recommended lane determination device according to claim 2, wherein the output is performed again. The map data describes the lane structure or congestion tendency of the roundabout,
The map data acquisition unit acquires a lane structure or a congestion tendency of the roundabout from the map data,
The lane recommendation unit, when the complexity or congestion tendency of the lane structure of the roundabout exceeds a predetermined threshold, the traveling route from the exit to the exit along the annular lane, the vehicle, the Calculate in advance before entering the roundabout,
The recommended lane determination device according to claim 9, wherein the lane recommending unit outputs the previously calculated travel route as the recommended lane when the vehicle passes through the exit.

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