JP2020042323A - Driving support device, driving support system, and driving support method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a driving support device that can maintain a robust tracking system even when a problem occurs in a photographic image of a camera mounted on one of the vehicles running in platoon.SOLUTION: A driving support device comprises: a camera 1 for photographing an other vehicle; a communication device 3 for having an inter-vehicle communication with the other vehicle; a position information calculation unit 2 for calculating first relative position information, which is the relative position information between an own vehicle and the other vehicle, on the basis of the images taken by the camera; and a corrected position information calculation unit 4 for calculating corrected relative position information, which is the corrected relative position information used for controlling the running of a subsequent vehicle 50B, one of the own vehicle and the other vehicle, by using both of the first relative position information and second relative position information, which the other vehicle has and which is the relative position information between the own vehicle and a front vehicle, or using the second relative position information, after the second relative position information is obtained through the communication device 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device for platooning.

  A platooning technology for transport vehicles has been developed to improve transportation efficiency. In this technology, traveling parameters such as an appropriate speed are determined by detecting the inter-vehicle distance from the succeeding vehicle to the preceding vehicle, the posture of the following vehicle with respect to the preceding vehicle, and inter-vehicle communication, and the traveling control of the following vehicle is performed based on the traveling parameters. The subsequent vehicle automatically follows the preceding vehicle while maintaining the target inter-vehicle distance.

  Regarding this type of technology, in a preceding vehicle detection system disclosed in Patent Document 1, at least three marker elements arranged on the back of a preceding vehicle (another vehicle) at predetermined intervals in the horizontal and vertical directions are connected to a CCD camera or the like. And at least the distance to the preceding vehicle and the relative attitude angle with the preceding vehicle are calculated from the positional relationship of the image of the marker element.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-163873 discloses based on self-vehicle information that is information including the traveling speed of the own vehicle (preceding vehicle) and succeeding vehicle information that is information including the position and running speed of the following vehicle for the own vehicle. If, for example, deceleration for leaving on the scheduled exit road is performed at a predetermined basic deceleration, the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and a following vehicle is less than a predetermined allowable value before the own vehicle exits on the expected exit road. A vehicle information providing device for estimating whether or not the vehicle information will be provided is disclosed.

JP 2001-202497 A

JP 2017-10463 A

  However, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-157, the robustness of following is reduced when an image of a marker element is overexposed or underexposed due to backlight or the like, and it becomes difficult to recognize the marker from a following vehicle. Further, when robust following becomes difficult due to a camera failure of the following vehicle, there is no means for safely stopping the following vehicle.

  Further, the vehicle information providing device of Patent Document 2 transmits deceleration notice information indicating that the preceding vehicle decelerates from the deceleration start point to the following vehicle by inter-vehicle communication, so that the preceding vehicle decelerates with respect to the following vehicle. Although it is disclosed to give a notice to start, what kind of processing should be performed when the robustness of following decreases due to a decrease in the calculation accuracy of the following distance between the own vehicle and the following vehicle, etc. Is not mentioned.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object the problem of images captured by cameras mounted on vehicles running in platoon due to the effects of environmental conditions such as backlight, dirt and breakdown of lenses, and the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a driving support device that can maintain the robustness of following even when it occurs.

  Although the present application includes a plurality of means for solving the above-described problems, to give an example, a camera mounted on the own vehicle, for photographing another vehicle traveling one of the front and rear of the own vehicle, A communication device that performs inter-vehicle communication with the other vehicle; and a position information calculation unit that calculates first relative position information that is relative position information between the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on an image captured by the camera. Acquiring, via the communication device, second relative position information that is relative position information of the own vehicle and the other vehicle and that the other vehicle has, and obtains the first relative position information and the second relative position information. A corrected position information calculation unit that calculates corrected relative position information that is corrected relative position information used for running control of a subsequent vehicle of the own vehicle and the other vehicle using both or the second relative position information; Is provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the robustness of following can be maintained even if a problem arises in the image | photographed image of a camera by the influence of environmental conditions, such as a backlight, the dirt of a lens, or a failure. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure explaining a platoon running vehicle carrying a driving support device. FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing an output example of a process of a position information calculation unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a correction position information calculation unit 4. It is a schematic structure figure of a driving support device by a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic structure figure of a driving support device by a third embodiment of the present invention. This is an example of an event that causes a reduction in recognition accuracy and information that can be used to determine which event has occurred. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a cause determination unit 5. An example of the camera 1A mounted behind the preceding vehicle during the following running, a marker image on the front of the following vehicle taken by the camera 1A, and the back of the preceding vehicle taken by the camera 1B mounted on the front of the following vehicle It is an example 94 of a marker image. This is a storage unit for information processing results acquired by the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle. It is a schematic structure figure of a driving support device by a 4th embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a cause determination unit 5. It is a figure which shows the state of the following driving | running | working driving | running | working in the environment of backlight. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating output contents of processing results of the position information calculation unit 2, the corrected position information calculation unit 4, and the cause determination unit 5 in the example of FIG. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a history stored in the history storage unit 6 in the case of the example of FIG. 13. It is a figure which shows the state of the following driving | running | working driving | running | working in a foggy environment. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating output contents of processing results of the position information calculation unit 2, the correction position information calculation unit 4, and the cause determination unit 5 in the case of the example of FIG. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a history stored in a history storage unit 6 in the case of the example of FIG. 16. It is a schematic structure figure of a driving support system by a 5th embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of an output of processing of a position information operation part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The following description shows specific examples of the content of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these descriptions, and various modifications by those skilled in the art within the technical idea disclosed in the present specification. Changes and modifications are possible. In all the drawings for describing each embodiment, components having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the repeated description thereof may be omitted. Further, in the following description, when there are a plurality of the same constituent elements, upper and lower case letters of the alphabet may be added to the end of the reference numerals, but when it is not necessary to distinguish each constituent element or when collectively referred to, The uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet may be omitted. For example, when three vehicles 19A, 19B, and 19C exist, these may be collectively described as a vehicle 19.

<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device and a driving support system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The driving support device 15 is mounted on each of a plurality of vehicles (for example, transport vehicles such as trucks) 50 that run in platoon. For the sake of simplicity, the description will be made on an example in which two trucks (the preceding vehicle (leading vehicle) 50A and the following vehicle (rear vehicle) 50B) run in platoon. The components mounted on the preceding vehicle 50A are appended with an A, and the components mounted on the succeeding vehicle 50B are appended with a B. Therefore, the driving support device 15A of FIG. 1 is mounted on the preceding vehicle 50A, and the driving support device 15B is mounted on the following vehicle 50B.

  The driving support system in FIG. 1 includes two driving support devices 15A and 15B. The driving support device 15A mounted on the preceding vehicle 50A includes a camera 1A, a control device 11A, a wireless communication device 3A, and a notification device 10A. The driving support device 15B mounted on the following vehicle 50B includes a camera. 1B, a control device 11B, a wireless communication device 3B, and a travel control device 9B.

  The driving support device 15 performs inter-vehicle communication with the camera 1 as a sensor (external sensor) for recognizing the external world, a control device (for example, an electronic control unit (ECU)) 11, and another vehicle (another vehicle). A wireless communication device (inter-vehicle communication unit) 3 for performing the operation, an alarm 10 serving as a notification device for notifying the occupant of various warnings when the occupant is present in the own vehicle (own vehicle), A traveling control device 9 for performing various controls for realizing automatic traveling of the own vehicle based on a traveling control signal output from the control device 11 when traveling is provided, and these are respectively mounted on the own vehicle. . Note that the alarm 10 and the travel control device 9 are not essential components, and can be omitted as appropriate. For example, the alarm 10 can be omitted from a vehicle that is always driven automatically (that is, a vehicle that does not travel manually), and a vehicle that is always driven manually by a driver (that is, a vehicle that does not travel automatically) is driven. The control device 9 can be omitted.

  The camera (external sensor) 1 is attached to at least one of the front and rear of the vehicle. The first vehicle 50A in the plurality of vehicles traveling in the platoon only needs to attach one camera behind the own vehicle, and the last vehicle 50B only needs to attach one camera in front of the own vehicle. In other vehicles, it is preferable to attach cameras in front of and behind the own vehicle. For example, the camera 1 is fixed at an attachment angle at which a marker 25 attached to the rear surface of a preceding vehicle or the front surface of a following vehicle (another vehicle) that travels while substantially maintaining a predetermined target inter-vehicle distance from the own vehicle can be photographed. Thus, the camera 1 captures the marker 25 of another vehicle traveling at least one of the front and rear of the own vehicle. The marker 25 is attached to the camera 1 by attaching a drive mechanism for rotating the camera 1 in a horizontal plane and appropriately operating the drive mechanism according to the relative positional relationship between the other vehicle (preceding vehicle and the following vehicle) and the own vehicle. It is also possible to add a configuration for surely photographing with.

  The control device (ECU) 11 includes an arithmetic processing unit (eg, a CPU) not shown, a storage device (eg, a memory, a hard disk, and a flash memory) that stores a program executed by the arithmetic processing device, and internal devices. And a computer provided with a communication device or the like for communicating with an external device. The control device 11 functions as the position information calculation unit 2, the corrected position information calculation unit 4, and the travel control unit 8 by executing a program stored in the storage device. Note that other functions (for example, the cause determination unit 5 described later) can be implemented by adding a program, and unnecessary functions can be deleted as appropriate.

  The position information calculation unit 2 calculates relative position information between the own vehicle and another vehicle based on an image (camera image) captured by the camera 1. The relative position information includes inter-vehicle distance information between the own vehicle and another vehicle, and direction information (angle information) of the other vehicle with respect to the own vehicle defined by the pitch angle, the roll angle, and the yaw angle. The relative position information is obtained by detecting a marker in the camera image by pattern matching based on the shape of the marker (matching template) 25 stored in the storage device of the control device 11 in advance, and detecting its size and distortion. It is calculated (details will be described later). The matching rate (correlation value) at that time is stored in the storage device of the control device 11 as an index value indicating the detection accuracy (computation accuracy) of the relative position information. In this document, the relative position information calculated by the control device 11 of the own vehicle and stored in the storage device is referred to as first relative position information, and the control device 11 of the other vehicle calculates and stores the relative position information in the storage device. This relative position information may be referred to as second relative position information. That is, the first relative position information is data calculated based on the detection result of the camera (outside sensor) 1 mounted on the own vehicle, and the second relative position information is the camera (outside sensor) mounted on another vehicle. 1 is data calculated based on the detection result.

  The wireless communication device 3 is used not only for inter-vehicle communication but also for communication with external equipment (for example, a roadside device) or a computer. The wireless communication device 3 and the control device 11 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other via a communication line, so that data received by the wireless communication device 3 can be output to the control device 11 and data output by the control device 11 is wireless communication. Output can be made to the outside via the device 3.

  The corrected position information calculation unit 4 acquires the second relative position information via the wireless communication device 3 and uses the both of the first relative position information and the second relative position information or the second relative position information to determine whether or not the own vehicle is in another position. Corrected relative position information, which is corrected relative position information used for traveling control of a following vehicle among the vehicles, is calculated. The calculated corrected relative position information is output to the travel control unit 8 and is converted by the travel control unit 8 into a travel control signal of the travel control device 9 corresponding to the corrected relative position information. A traveling control signal is output from the traveling control unit 8 to the traveling control device 9, and the traveling control device 9 operates according to the traveling control signal.

  The traveling control device 9 includes, for example, a steering (steering control device) that controls the traveling direction of the own vehicle, an internal combustion engine that controls the traveling speed of the own vehicle, an electric motor, and a braking device (speed control device). In addition, the control device 11 outputs a travel control signal (for example, a steering control signal, an acceleration control signal, and a deceleration control signal) to each of these devices individually, thereby automatically operating each device and driving the vehicle. Controlling.

  In the present embodiment, the succeeding vehicle 50B is defined as the own vehicle, and the preceding vehicle 50A is defined as another vehicle (that is, when the other vehicle runs ahead of the own vehicle). Hereinafter, the configuration of the following vehicle 50B will be described.

  The processing executed by the position information calculation unit 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, a marker 25 of a known size is attached to the rear surface of the preceding vehicle 50A and the front surface of the following vehicle 50B, and the marker 25 of the following vehicle 50B is attached to the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A. 1B, the marker 25 of the preceding vehicle 50A is photographed. An image 23 in FIG. 2 is obtained by the camera 1A photographing the front surface of the following vehicle 50B, and an image 24 is obtained by the camera 1B photographing the rear surface of the preceding vehicle 50A. Here, the position information calculation unit 2 of the control device 11B mounted on the following vehicle 50B detects the area of the marker 25 from the image 24 captured by the camera 1B by pattern matching, and detects the marker in the detected image 24. An example will be described in which the relative position information with respect to the preceding vehicle 50A is calculated by measuring the size and distortion of the preceding vehicle.

  In the example of FIG. 2, the succeeding vehicle 50B follows the preceding vehicle 50A, and the traveling control unit 8B and the traveling control device 9B in the control device 11B are mounted on the following vehicle 22.

  FIG. 3 shows a processing flow of the position information calculation unit 2B for obtaining relative position information of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B from the image 24 acquired by the camera 1B. This process is executed by the control device 11B (the position information calculation unit 2B) mounted on the following vehicle 50B.

In S31, the position information calculation unit 2B acquires the image 24 of the camera 1B. In S32, the position information calculation unit 2B detects a marker area from the image 24. As a detection method, for example, an outer frame rectangle of the marker 25 in the image 24 is obtained by an image processing program such as an edge detection, and a known marker texture is subjected to pattern matching with respect to the obtained area to obtain a correlation value (matching rate). Processing for detecting the largest area is used.

  In S33, the detection accuracy (calculation accuracy) of the marker area obtained in S32 is obtained. When a region having a maximum correlation value (matching rate) in pattern matching is employed as in this example, the maximum correlation value is obtained as the detection accuracy.

  In S34, relative position information such as the distance and attitude to the preceding vehicle 50A is calculated from the marker area obtained in S32. Note that the estimation of the distance and the posture using the marker 25 having a known size can be realized by a known method. For example, a marker 25 in which a pattern for identification (character in the example of FIG. 2) is drawn in a rectangle of a known size is used. The marker area is extracted by extracting the vertex coordinates surrounded by the four edges by contour extraction. The extracted region is normalized, and the position where the maximum similarity with the template pattern is obtained by pattern matching is set as the position of the marker. By converting the obtained marker coordinate system into the camera coordinate system, the posture between the camera and the marker, such as the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the yaw angle, can be obtained.

  In the present invention, the similarity (matching rate) of the pattern matching of the marker pattern is used as the detection accuracy of the position information. Therefore, the similarity is stored in the storage device in the control device 11 as the detection accuracy together with the calculated position and orientation.

  When the series of processes in FIG. 3 is completed, the position information calculation unit 2B temporarily suspends the process, starts the process of S31 at the timing when the next control cycle starts, and executes the above-described process.

  Although the position information calculation process of the succeeding vehicle 50B has been described above, the position information calculation process of the preceding vehicle 50A can be similarly executed by the process shown in FIG.

  The wireless communication device (inter-vehicle communication unit) 3B of the following vehicle 50B includes relative position information (second relative position information) with the following vehicle 50B calculated by the control device 11A (position information calculation unit 2A) of the preceding vehicle 50A, It is possible to receive the corrected relative position information of the following vehicle 50B calculated and transmitted by the control device 11A of the preceding vehicle 50A. In the present invention, the preceding vehicle 50A, which is another vehicle, also has the camera 1A and the position information calculation unit 2A that acquire the positional relationship information (second relative position information) with the succeeding vehicle 50B, and the position information calculation unit 2A. Measures positional relationship information (second relative position information) such as an inter-vehicle distance and a relative angle.

  The corrected position information calculation unit 4B of the succeeding vehicle 50B calculates the relative position information (first relative position information) and the detection accuracy (matching rate) obtained by the position information calculation unit 2B and the relative position information received from the preceding vehicle 50A by the inter-vehicle communication. Corrected relative position information is calculated based on the position information (second relative position information) and the detection accuracy. The corrected position information calculation unit 4B obtains more reliable relative position information (corrected relative position information) from the first relative position information, the second relative position information, and the detection accuracy information obtained from the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B. Which is used for calculating the travel control signal.

  The processing of the correction position information calculation unit 4B will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the preceding vehicle 50A also has the camera 1A and the position information calculation unit 2A, and detects the marker 25 attached to the front surface of the succeeding vehicle 50B. Further, as described above, the position information calculation units 2A and 2B of the present embodiment can obtain the inter-vehicle distance and the postures such as the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the yaw angle, but the following embodiments will simply describe. The following describes an example of obtaining the inter-vehicle distance.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the state of the captured images of the cameras 1A and 1B under the condition that the sun is ahead in the traveling direction and the preceding vehicle 50A is backlight when viewed from the following vehicle 50B. In this example, since the preceding vehicle 50A viewed from the following vehicle 50B (camera 1B) is backlit, the marker area in the image 24 obtained by the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B is blackened and the texture becomes unclear. ing. On the other hand, the marker area in the image 23 acquired by the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A is clearly shown.

  FIG. 20 shows an output example of the processing of the position information calculation units 2A and 2B in the case of such a marker detection state. In FIG. 20, column 26 is information (inter-vehicle distance information (second relative position information) and detection accuracy information) obtained by the position information calculation unit 2A from the image 23 obtained by the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A. Column 27 is information (inter-vehicle distance information (first relative position information) and detection accuracy information) obtained by the position information calculation unit 2B from the image 24 obtained by the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B. Lines 28 and 29 show the inter-vehicle distance information obtained by marker detection and the accuracy (matching rate) of marker detection, respectively.

  In the case where the environmental conditions are favorable and the marker area is clearly seen as in the image 23 by the camera 1A, the correlation value (matching rate) of the template matching takes a high correlation value of 95% as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the light condition such as backlight is bad, the marker area is blackened out as in the image 24, and accurate luminance information cannot be obtained or the edge becomes unclear. It is as low as 10%. Since the positions of the vertices of the rectangles of the markers in the images 23 and 24 are used for estimating the position and orientation, if the edges of the rectangles become unclear, an error occurs in the vertices or an area different from the marker area is erroneously detected. Thus, it can be determined that the matching accuracy is reduced. This also lowers the accuracy of the relative position information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of the correction position information calculation unit 4B of the succeeding vehicle 50B.
In S41, the corrected position information calculation unit 4B compares the detection accuracy (matching rate (matching similarity)) Af calculated by the position information calculation unit 2B with the position information of the preceding vehicle 50A received via the wireless communication device 3B. From the detection accuracy Ap calculated by the calculation unit 2B, a weight Wp based on the reliability of the first relative position information calculated for the own vehicle (the following vehicle 50B) and the second relative position information calculated for the other vehicle (the preceding vehicle 50A). , Wf. In the example described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 20, 95% is obtained as the detection accuracy of the preceding vehicle 50A, and 10% is obtained as the detection accuracy of the following vehicle 50B. As a method of calculating the weight, for example, a method of calculating using the following equation (1) is given.

Wp = Ap / (Ap + Af)
Wf = Af / (Ap + Af) Equation (1)
Wp: Weight of preceding vehicle information Wf: Weight of following vehicle information Ap: Detection accuracy of preceding vehicle Af: Detection accuracy of following vehicle

When the weights Wp and Wf are calculated from the detection accuracy obtained as shown in FIG.
Wp = 95 / (95 + 10) = 0.9
Wf = 10 / (95 + 10) = 0.1

  In S42, the corrected position information calculation unit 4B uses the weights Wp and Wf calculated in S41 to calculate the inter-vehicle distance Df (first relative position information) calculated by the position information calculation unit 2B of the succeeding vehicle 50B (own vehicle). From the inter-vehicle distance Dp (second relative position information) calculated by the position information calculation unit 2A of the preceding vehicle 50A (other vehicle), an inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information) as final control information is calculated by the following equation (2). Use and calculate.

D = Wp * Dp + Wf * Dp Equation (2)
D: Inter-vehicle distance Dp: Measured distance of the preceding vehicle (other vehicle) (second relative position information)
Df: Measurement distance of the following vehicle (own vehicle) (first relative position information)

In the case of the example of FIG. 20, the following distance D has the following value.
D = 0.9 * 3 + 0.1 * 2 = 2.9
That is, a value obtained by increasing the specific gravity of the measurement information having higher detection accuracy is obtained as the corrected relative position information. The example in which the weighted average of the first relative position information and the second relative position information is calculated based on the ratio of the detection accuracy has been described. Although the case where the weighted average of the inter-vehicle distances is used in the relative position information has been described here, the weighted average can be similarly calculated for the posture (angle).

As another implementation method, there is a method of correcting the detection accuracy by the following equation and calculating the final distance by the equations (1) and (2).
If ((Ap <Th0 or Af <Th0) and max (Ap, Af) -min (Ap, Af)> Th1) then
Max (Ap, Af) = 100
Min (Ap, Af) = 0

  That is, when one detection accuracy is less than the predetermined threshold value Th0 and the difference between the two detection accuracy values is larger than the predetermined threshold value Th1, a measurement value with a higher detection accuracy is adopted without taking a weighted average. is there. Thus, for example, when the detection accuracy of the first relative position information is relatively poor, the second relative position information becomes the inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information). If the detection accuracy is extremely low, the value of the measured distance may be significantly different from the actual state, and therefore, even if the weight is small, taking the weighted average can reduce the risk of increasing the error.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the weighted average is obtained based on the detection accuracy values of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B. However, the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A and the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B do not have the same performance but have a difference. If there is, there is a method of taking a weighted average using the difference in performance as a weight. As the difference in the weighting performance, a condition that affects the shooting state of the target, such as the resolution of the camera and the brightness of the lens, is used. In this case, an expression for calculating the weights Wp and Wf of the information of the preceding vehicle 50A and the succeeding vehicle 50B can be defined as the following expression (3).

Wp = (Ap * Wpu) / ((Ap * Wpu) + (Af * Wfu))
Wf = (Af * Wfu) / ((Ap * Wpu) + (Af * Wfu)) Equation (3)
Wpu: weight of the preceding vehicle camera performance Wfu: weight of the following vehicle camera performance

For example, in the example of FIG. 2, when the resolution of the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A is four times that of the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B, the information acquisition performance of the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A is inferior to that of the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B. Therefore, it is assumed that the following weights are set.
Wpu = 0.55
Wfu = 0.45

At this time, the values of the weights Wp and Wf are as follows from Expression (3).
Wp = (95 × 0.55) / (95 × 0.55 + 10 × 0.45) = 0.92
Wf = (10 * 0.45) / ((95 * 0.55) + (10 * 0.45)) = 0.08

From the equation (1), the final inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information) is as follows.
D = 0.92 * 3 + 0.08 * 2 = 2.92

  The calculated inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information) has a value closer to the inter-vehicle distance measured by the camera 1 having good performance than the case of the weighted average considering only the detection accuracy, and the measurement result of the camera 1 having good performance is obtained. This results in a measurement result with higher reliability. By adopting such means, even when there is a difference in the performance of the camera (view sensor) 1 between the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B, it is possible to obtain a measurement result closer to the actual state.

  In the above embodiment, the weighted average of the first relative position information and the second relative position information is used as the corrected relative position information. However, the detection accuracy of the first relative position information and the second relative position information is compared, One of the first relative position information and the second relative position information having higher detection accuracy may be selected as the corrected relative position information. At this time, the detection accuracy of one of the first relative position information and the second relative position information is lower than a predetermined threshold value, or the detection accuracy of one of the first relative position information and the second relative position information is different. May be added as a selection condition.

  In the above-described embodiment, the preceding vehicle 50A uses the camera 1A as the field-of-view sensor similarly to the following vehicle 50B, and acquires the relative position information by marker detection, but this configuration is not necessarily essential. For example, the relative position information may be measured by using a method other than marker detection by the camera 1A, or by a view sensor other than the camera 1A (for example, an optical sensor such as a stereo camera, a laser, or an ultrasonic sensor). You may acquire and use relative position information.

  However, when a means (for example, an optical sensor or an ultrasonic sensor) that cannot calculate the detection accuracy such as the similarity of the matching in the marker detection by the camera is used as the external sensor, the above-described embodiment is used. A weighted average of the first and second relative position information cannot be taken. Therefore, for example, when the detection accuracy of the vehicle (for example, the succeeding vehicle 50B) of which the relative position information is calculated by the camera 1 out of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B is less than a predetermined threshold value and falls below an allowable range, the vehicle is taken out of this vehicle. Also, the measurement distance of the other vehicle (for example, the preceding vehicle 50A) equipped with an external sensor that cannot detect the calculation of the detection accuracy, which can be expected to have high detection accuracy of the relative position information, is set as the inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information). You may comprise so that it may be employ | adopted.

  The corrected position information calculation unit 4B outputs the inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information) calculated as described above to the travel control unit 8B. The traveling control unit 8B calculates a traveling control signal that regulates acceleration and deceleration such that the inter-vehicle distance D approaches the target inter-vehicle distance, and outputs the computed signal to the traveling control device 9B. As a result, the traveling control device 9B operates in response to the inputted traveling control signal, thereby realizing the platooning of the plurality of vehicles 50A and 50B with the inter-vehicle distance kept substantially constant.

  The above is the first embodiment of the driving support device according to the present invention. When the driving support device 15 is configured as described above, the camera image of the own vehicle (following vehicle 50B) is overexposed or underexposed due to the influence of backlight or the like, and the relative position information (first vehicle) of the own vehicle (following vehicle 50B) is obtained. If the calculation accuracy of the relative position information is reduced, the specific gravity using the relative position information (second relative position information) calculated by the other vehicle (preceding vehicle 50A) which is not affected by the reverse movement is increased. In this case, a decrease in accuracy is suppressed, so that there is an effect that a more robust following travel becomes possible.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device and a driving support system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the difference is that the own vehicle equipped with the driving support device 15 having the corrected position information calculation unit 4 has been changed from the following vehicle 50B to the preceding vehicle 50A. That is, this is changed when the other vehicle (the following vehicle 50B) runs behind the own vehicle (the preceding vehicle 50A).

  The components 1, 3, 9, and 11 of the driving support device 15 of FIG. 5 are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the corrected position information calculation unit 4A (control device 11A) of the own vehicle (preceding vehicle 50A) controls the distance between vehicles. This is the same up to the point where the distance D (corrected relative position information) is calculated. However, the difference is that the corrected position information calculation unit 4A calculates the corrected relative position information for the other vehicle (the following vehicle 50B), and the wireless communication device 3A transmits the corrected relative position information to the other vehicle (the following vehicle 50B). ing. Specifically, the corrected relative position information of the present embodiment is the inter-vehicle distance D. The other vehicle (subsequent vehicle 50B) that has received the inter-vehicle distance D from the own vehicle (preceding vehicle 50A) calculates, in the traveling control unit 8B, a traveling control signal that regulates acceleration and deceleration such that the inter-vehicle distance D approaches the target inter-vehicle distance. And outputs it to the travel control device 9B. As a result, the traveling control device 9B operates in response to the inputted traveling control signal, thereby realizing the platooning of the plurality of vehicles 50A and 50B with the inter-vehicle distance kept substantially constant.

  By adopting the configuration of the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the driving support device 15B of the succeeding vehicle 50B realizes the following traveling with a simple configuration as compared with the first embodiment. There is an effect that can be done.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device and a driving support system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The configuration is such that a cause determination unit 5 is added to the function of the control device 11 of the first embodiment. The cause determination unit 5 can be added to both the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B.

  When the accuracy (detection accuracy) of the relative position information calculated by the position information calculation unit 2 is lower than a predetermined threshold, the cause determination unit 5 determines whether the cause of the decrease in accuracy is temporary (ie, Image information taken by the camera 1 (for example, the camera 1) determines whether the image can be eliminated after a certain amount of time passes or is permanent (that is, it is difficult to eliminate even after a certain amount of time). Is determined based on the parameters described above, the image feature amount of the captured image, the content of the image processing performed on the image) and other sensor information, and an output is performed in accordance with the determination result (for example, an alarm is issued). . That is, the cause determination unit 5 self-diagnoses the cause of the decrease in the accuracy of the relative position information using the image acquired by the camera 1, the camera parameters, and other sensor information, and the cause is temporarily and naturally resolved. It is determined whether the countermeasures are necessary permanently.

  The method of self-diagnosing the cause of the performance of image recognition by the camera 1 can be realized by a known method (for example, Japanese Patent No. 5863968). For example, when performance degradation such as dirt occurs in an in-vehicle camera equipped with multiple applications, the cause of performance degradation is to perform parameter adjustment, dirt removal and failure judgment at the optimal timing for each application. Can be self-diagnosed with images.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of an event (see the second row of the table in FIG. 7) that causes a reduction in the image recognition accuracy of the camera 1 and information that can be used to determine which event has occurred. is there. Columns 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, and 76 in the figure are examples of events that cause a reduction in recognition accuracy, and rows 77, 78, 79, 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h, and 7i show examples of information used to determine whether each event has occurred.

  The information that can be used for the determination includes the camera parameters shown in rows 77, 78, 79, and 7a, the determination based on the image analysis shown in rows 7b to 7e, and the information obtained from other sensors shown in rows 7f, 7g, 7h, and 7i. is there. First, the camera parameters include information that can be used to determine the state of light, such as whether or not there is exposure correction, whether or not there is shutter speed correction, and whether or not there is gain correction, and a state signal that indicates an abnormality in the state of the camera itself (camera state). Is given as an example. The determination by the image analysis is performed by extracting an image feature amount such as the level of the edge strength of the image shown in the row 7b, and performing image processing such as extracting a region with a constant luminance shown in the row 7d. Some can be determined by: In addition, as the information of the other sensors, of the sensor information such as the time zone at the time of traveling, the presence or absence of the operation of the wiper, and the temperature and illuminance, the information that can be used as the determination of the cause of the decrease in accuracy is used. Based on the information obtained from the plurality of sensors and the image analysis, it is determined which of the events in columns 71 to 76 is based on the criteria shown in each column in FIG.

  The relationship between the event that causes the reduction in recognition accuracy and the information used for determination is merely an example for explanation, and other known events that can be used for determination and events that cause reduction in recognition accuracy are known. Can be determined using the relationship

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the flow of the determination process of the cause determination unit 5 using the relationship diagram of FIG.
In S81, the cause determination unit 5 determines whether the detection accuracy (matching rate) acquired at the time of calculating the relative position information by the position information calculation unit 2 is less than a predetermined threshold. If the detection accuracy is less than the threshold, the process proceeds to S82. If the threshold value is exceeded, there is no problem in the detection accuracy, and the subsequent processing is skipped and ends. The threshold here is appropriately determined by experiments or the like.

  In S82, the cause determination unit 5 acquires camera parameters from the storage device in the control device 11 and the camera 1. Specifically, the values of the exposure, shutter speed, gain, and parameters related to the camera state shown in FIG. 7 correspond to the camera parameters. The information in the former three types of rows 77, 78, and 79 are parameters that are affected by the state of external light, and when these values are different from normal values or history values and are corrected, the column 71 “ The occurrence of a "backlight" event is a candidate. The “camera state” in the row 7a is a parameter indicating the normality of the camera, and if this indicates an abnormality, a failure is determined.

  In S83, the cause determination unit 5 acquires other sensor information. The types of the other sensors are, for example, the time zones of rows 7f, 7g, 7h, and 7i, the wiper, the temperature, and the illuminance shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, when the time zone is morning / evening, “backlight” is a candidate for the cause of the accuracy deterioration, and when the illuminance is low, “fog” or “event A” is a candidate.

  In S84, the cause determination unit 5 performs image analysis to extract information for determining the cause of the decrease in recognition accuracy. The edge strength of the image shown in row 7b of FIG. 7 is extracted, and if this is lower than the threshold value, it can be determined that an event such as the fog shown in column 72 that causes loss of image clarity has occurred. The threshold value used for the determination is determined in advance by appropriate means, such as by acquiring data through experiments. In addition, as shown in a row 7d, a process of detecting a fixed area having a constant luminance by image processing is performed, and information used for cause determination is generated.

  In S85, the cause determination unit 5 determines the cause of the decrease in detection accuracy. Based on the determination information acquired in S83, S84, and S85, it is comprehensively determined which of the events in columns 71 to 76 of FIG. Find the event that becomes

  In S86, the cause determination unit 5 determines whether the event that causes the decrease in accuracy is temporary or permanent. If it is determined that the cause is permanent, the process proceeds to S87. If it is determined to be temporary, the process ends. Whether the causal event is temporary or permanent is previously classified according to the event as shown in line 7j of FIG. For example, the back light in the row 71 is a detection accuracy reduction event that is naturally resolved by a change in the position of the sun or a change in the traveling direction, but the stain on the row 75 is permanent and cannot be eliminated unless some stain removal processing is performed. Accuracy is reduced.

  If it is determined in S86 that the accuracy has been permanently reduced, in S87, the cause determination unit 5 turns on the alarm flag and ends the process.

  If the alarm flag is ON, a permanent problem has occurred in the camera 1B of the succeeding vehicle 50B, and it can be determined that continuation of the automatic tracking is difficult, so that appropriate processing is performed according to the situation. Then, the automatic traveling control by the traveling control unit 8B of the following vehicle 50B is interrupted. The specific example is as follows.

  If the alarm flag is turned ON when the following vehicle 50B is unmanned, a notification is given via the alarm 10 of the preceding vehicle 50A that it is difficult to continue the automatic running of the following vehicle. The preceding vehicle 50A that has received this notification stops the vehicle as quickly and safely as possible while transmitting the traveling control information (the inter-vehicle distance D) to the following vehicle 50B via inter-vehicle communication. On the other hand, even when the following vehicle 50B is manned, if the automatic driving mode is selected and the vehicle is traveling by operating the traveling control device 9 based on the traveling control command from the traveling control unit 8, In addition, it is possible to notify the occupant via the alarm 10B of the following vehicle 50B that the continuation of the automatic running of the following vehicle has become difficult, and to prompt the user to switch to the manual driving mode as soon as possible.

  After the cause of the permanent deterioration in accuracy is eliminated, the alarm flag is set to OFF.

  Next, a specific example of the operation of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 9, an image 93 is an example of an image obtained by photographing the marker 25 attached to the front surface of the following vehicle 50B with the camera 1A mounted behind the preceding vehicle 50A that is following the vehicle. The image 94 is an example of an image of the marker 25 attached to the rear surface of the preceding vehicle 50A by the camera 1B mounted in front of the succeeding vehicle 50B. In the case of this example, it is assumed that dirt 95 has adhered to the lens of the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B, and the dirt 95 has been photographed on the image 94.

  FIG. 10 is a table that stores information acquired by the preceding vehicle 50A and the succeeding vehicle 50B in the situation of FIG.

  In FIG. 10, a column 107 shows the processing results of the position information calculating unit 2A and the cause determining unit 5A of the preceding vehicle 50A, and a column 108 shows the processing results of the position information calculating unit 2B and the cause determining unit 5B of the succeeding vehicle 50B. Is shown.

  In the processing of the position information calculating section 2, the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B use the respective cameras 1 as shown in rows 101 and 102, respectively, and detect the inter-vehicle distance (relative position information) and the inter-vehicle distance. (Matching rate). Based on these information, the correction position information calculation unit 4 determines the weight of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B, calculates the inter-vehicle distance D, and uses it for the following control.

  In S81 of FIG. 8, the cause determination unit 5 determines whether the detection accuracy is lower than a predetermined threshold. Assuming that this threshold value is 50%, in the case of the examples of FIGS. 9 and 10, the detection accuracy of the preceding vehicle 50A is 95%, which is equal to or greater than the threshold value. On the other hand, since the accuracy of the succeeding vehicle 50B is 10% or less than the threshold value, the cause determination unit 5B proceeds to the process of S82 in order to collect information for determining the cause of the decrease in accuracy.

  In S82, the cause determination unit 5B acquires camera parameters. In the case of this example, the exposure, shutter speed, gain, and camera state are all normal values and stored in the row 103 in FIG.

  In S83, the cause determination unit 5B acquires other sensor information. In the case of this example, it is assumed that there is no problem with the normal value for the other sensor information, and the information is stored in the row 104 of FIG.

  In S84, the cause determination unit 5B performs image analysis. Although there is no problem with the edge strength, it is assumed that an area with constant brightness is detected. In an image acquired by the camera 1 (camera) mounted on a running vehicle, a region where the luminance is constant does not usually appear because the photographing target is always moving, but a region where the luminance is constant and does not move is continuous. If it is detected by the detection, it can be determined that the lens is dirty. As an image processing method for detecting a constant brightness area, detection can be performed by a combination of an inter-frame difference, binarization, pattern matching, and the like. This is stored in row 106 of FIG.

  In S85, the cause determination unit 5B determines the cause of the decrease in detection accuracy. The information stored in the rows 103 to 106 in FIG. 10 is compared with the accuracy reduction cause determination criterion shown in FIG. 7 to determine the corresponding event that causes the accuracy reduction. In the case of this example, since there is no abnormality in the camera parameters and other sensors, and a region with constant luminance is detected by image analysis, it can be determined that the event is "dirt adhesion" in the column 75 in FIG.

  In S86, the cause determination unit 5B determines whether the cause of the decrease in detection accuracy determined in S85 is temporary or permanent. From FIG. 7, it can be determined that “dirt adhered” in the column 75, so that the permanent cause can be determined from the row 7 j.

  Proceeding to S87, the cause determining unit 5B turns on the alarm flag. For example, when the driver is in the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B is unmanned (during automatic driving), the cause determination unit 5B outputs a signal from the wireless communication device 3B and issues an alarm 10A for the preceding vehicle 50A. The driver of the preceding vehicle 50A is notified of the fact that it has become difficult to continue the automatic running of the following vehicle via the preceding vehicle. Upon receiving this notification, the driver of the preceding vehicle 50A stops as soon as possible, and performs maintenance work on the following vehicle 50B as necessary. As a result, when a decrease in the detection accuracy of the relative position information can be confirmed in each vehicle, the cause can be quickly eliminated, and it is possible to prevent continuous platooning with the detection accuracy being reduced.

  The above is an example of the operation of the third embodiment in which the cause determination unit 5 is added to the driving support device. If the detection accuracy of the relative position information is reduced in one of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B by adding the cause determination unit 5, not only the other camera 1 complements the detection accuracy but also the cause of the reduction in accuracy. Was self-diagnosed and an alarm was issued if a countermeasure was necessary. Thus, if an abnormality occurs in the camera 1, measures such as switching to manual operation or stopping safely and taking measures against the problem can be taken promptly, and platooning is performed in an abnormal state. Can be prevented.

<Embodiment 4>
FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device and a driving support system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. This is a configuration in which a history storage unit 6 is added to each of the control devices 11A and 11B of the third embodiment.

  The purpose of adding the history storage unit 6 is that in the third embodiment, when the cause determination unit 5 determines whether or not to issue an alarm, only the self-diagnosis result at that time is referred to. That is, it is possible to make a determination using time-series information. The history storage unit 6 stores the history of the index (for example, the inter-vehicle distance D) indicating the degree of the decrease in the detection accuracy of the relative position information, and the cause determination unit 5 detects the state in which the detection accuracy has decreased based on the history. When it is determined that the driving state has continued for a certain time or longer, it is determined that the traveling state is not normal, and a signal is issued to the alarm 10A. As the index indicating the detection accuracy, the detection accuracy itself of the position information calculation unit 2 may be used, the divergence between the inter-vehicle distance D indicating the result of the reduced detection accuracy and the target inter-vehicle distance, and the addition of the following vehicle 50B. Any one or a combination of a plurality of indices such as fluctuations in deceleration can be used.

  The operation of the driving support device 15 when the history storage unit 6 is added will be described. In the following embodiments, the history of the inter-vehicle distance D is used as the detection accuracy information stored in the history storage unit 6.

  The history storage unit 6 calculates the inter-vehicle distance D (corrected relative position information) from the information from the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle in the processing S42 of the position information calculation unit 2 described with reference to FIG. Store with

  FIG. 12 shows a flow of processing of the cause determination unit 5 according to the fourth embodiment. The processing flow shown in FIG. 8 is obtained by adding the determination in S121 to the processing flow shown in FIG. In S86, the cause determination unit 5 determines whether the cause of the decrease in accuracy is permanent, and if it is determined that the cause is temporary, the process proceeds to S121.

  In S121, the cause determination unit 5 refers to the history of the inter-vehicle distance D stored in the history storage unit 6 and determines whether the state in which the detection accuracy has been reduced has continued for a threshold period (predetermined period) or more. If it has continued for the threshold period or more, the process proceeds to S87, and the cause determination unit 5 turns on the alarm flag. If it has not continued for the threshold period or more, the process ends.

  A specific process according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15 show an example in which the state where the detection accuracy of the relative position information is low does not continue for a threshold period or more, and FIGS. 16 to 18 show an example in which the state where the detection accuracy of the relative position information is low continues for a threshold period or more.

  FIG. 13 shows a state in which the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B are performing platooning (follow-up running) in a backlight environment. It is assumed that the image 132 acquired by the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B has a poor image state (for example, blackout) due to the influence of the backlight.

  FIG. 14 shows output contents of processing results of the position information calculation unit 2, the correction position information calculation unit 4, and the cause determination unit 5 under the conditions of FIG. The distance between vehicles (first and second relative position information) and the detection accuracy shown in rows 142 and 143 are obtained by the processing of the position information calculation unit 2. The weight of the preceding vehicle information and the following vehicle information is obtained from the detection accuracy by the processing of the correction position information calculation unit 4 shown in FIG. 4, and the inter-vehicle distance D is calculated as the correction relative position information.

  Next, in S81, the cause determination unit 5 determines that the detection accuracy of the succeeding vehicle 50B is equal to or less than the threshold value in the processing flow of FIG. 12, and performs camera parameters (rows 144, 145, and 145) by the processing of S82, S83, and S84. 146), other sensor values (row 147), and image feature amounts (row 148, row 149) by image analysis are acquired.

  By the processing in S85, the cause determination unit 5B determines the cause of the decrease in detection accuracy. In the case of this example, it is compared with FIG. 7, and it is determined that the accuracy is deteriorated due to “backlight” as in 14a.

  By the processing of S86, the cause determination unit 5B determines whether the cause is permanent. Since "backlight" is a "temporary" cause as shown by 14b in FIG. 7, the process proceeds to S121.

  In S121, with reference to the history storage unit 6B, the cause determination unit 5B determines whether the detection accuracy deterioration state has continued for a threshold period or more. FIG. 15 shows an example of a history stored in the history storage unit 6B in this example. In this example, a history of how far the inter-vehicle distance D deviates from the target inter-vehicle distance is taken. In FIG. 15, the horizontal axis is time. The straight line denoted by reference numeral 151 is a target value of the inter-vehicle distance D, and is assumed to be 2 m. The boundary line denoted by reference numeral 152 is the upper limit of the allowable range of deviation from the target inter-vehicle distance, and is assumed to be 2.5 m. The boundary line denoted by reference numeral 153 is the lower limit of the allowable deviation from the target inter-vehicle distance, and is assumed to be 1.5 m. The curve denoted by reference numeral 154 is the inter-vehicle distance D actually calculated by the corrected position information calculation unit 4B.

  In the case of this example, the cause determination unit 5B determines that the accuracy of the detection of the relative position information by the following vehicle 50B is low, but the cause is temporary, and it is “backlight” that naturally resolves. In view of the fact that the history of the inter-vehicle distance D is within the allowable range of the target inter-vehicle distance (2 m ± 0.5 m), it is determined that the decrease in the detection accuracy has not deteriorated to a level requiring a measure. The process ends.

  Next, a description will be given with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 shows a state in which the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B are performing platooning (following) in a fog environment. The image 161 obtained by the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A and the image 162 obtained by the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B both have poor image conditions due to the influence of fog. It is assumed that the state of the image 162 is relatively worse.

  FIG. 17 shows output contents of processing results of the position information calculation unit 2, the correction position information calculation unit 4, and the cause determination unit 5 under the conditions of FIG. The inter-vehicle distances (first and second relative position information) and detection accuracy shown in rows 172 and 173 are obtained by the processing of the position information calculation unit. The weight of the preceding vehicle information and the following vehicle information is obtained from the detection accuracy by the processing of the correction position information calculation unit 4 shown in FIG. 4, and the inter-vehicle distance D is calculated as the correction relative position information.

  Next, in S81, the cause determination unit 5 determines that the detection accuracy of the succeeding vehicle 50A is equal to or less than the threshold value, and the camera parameters (line 174) and other parameters are determined by the processing of S82, S83, and S84. The sensor (line 175) acquires the image feature amount (line 176, line 177, line 178) by the image analysis.

  By the processing of S85, the cause determination unit 5B determines the cause of the decrease in detection accuracy. In the case of this example, it is compared with FIG. 7 and it is determined that the accuracy is reduced due to “fog” as in 179.

  By the processing of S86, the cause determination unit 5B determines whether the cause is permanent. Since "fog" is a "temporary" cause as shown at 17a in FIG. 7, the process proceeds to S121.

  In S121, with reference to the history storage unit 6B, the cause determination unit 5B determines whether the detection accuracy deterioration state has continued for a threshold period or more. FIG. 18 shows an example of a history stored in the history storage unit 6B in this example. As in FIG. 15, the horizontal axis in FIG. 18 is time. The straight line denoted by reference numeral 181 is a target value of the inter-vehicle distance D, and is assumed to be 2 m. The boundary line with reference numeral 182 is the upper limit of the allowable range of deviation from the target inter-vehicle distance, and is assumed to be 2.5 m. The boundary line with reference numeral 183 is the lower limit of the allowable range of deviation from the target inter-vehicle distance, and is assumed to be 1.5 m. The curve to which reference numeral 184 is attached is the inter-vehicle distance D actually calculated by the correction position information calculation unit 4.

  Unlike the example of FIG. 15, a period in which the deviation from the target inter-vehicle distance exceeds the allowable range (2 m ± 0.5 m) is a continuous period indicated by an arrow 185, and this period is a predetermined detection accuracy reduction period. Exceeds the threshold period (predetermined period) 186.

  In the case of this example, the cause determination unit 5B determines that the detection accuracy of the relative position information of the following vehicle 50B is lowered, but the cause is “fog” which is temporary and resolves naturally. However, from FIG. 18, since the period 185 in which the history of the inter-vehicle distance D exceeds the allowable range of the target inter-vehicle distance exceeds the threshold period 186, even if the accuracy temporarily decreases, the accuracy does not disappear for a long time. It is determined that the unstable state deviating from is continuing. In this case, it is determined that there is a problem in the stability of the follow-up running of the following vehicle 50B, and the process proceeds to S87, where the cause determination unit 5B turns on the alarm flag.

  The above is a specific example of the fourth embodiment in which the history storage unit 6 is added. Even if the cause of the decrease in the accuracy of the relative position information is of a temporary nature due to the natural environment, etc., if it continues for a long time, it is determined that the stability of the following running is lost, It is possible to take measures such as issuing the alarm 10 to switch the succeeding vehicle 50B from automatic driving to manual driving, and issuing a stop instruction to the driver of the preceding vehicle 50A. Conversely, even if the accuracy of any of the cameras 1 is reduced, if the cause is temporary and there is no problem in running stability, the driving is performed while utilizing the information of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B. Since it can be continued, there is also an effect that an excessive traveling stop instruction can be avoided.

<Embodiment 5>
FIG. 19 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device and a driving support system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, a control device (server computer) 11C installed in the control center is added, and the relative position information and the corrected relative position information are calculated by the control device 11C based on the image of the camera 1 of each vehicle 50. The feature is that the corrected relative position information is transmitted to the driving support device 15B of the succeeding vehicle 50B.

  The driving support system shown in FIG. 19 is configured such that the driving support device 15A mounted on the preceding vehicle 50A, the driving support device 15B mounted on the succeeding vehicle 50B, and the driving support devices 15A and 15B can wirelessly communicate with each other. It has a configured control device 11C.

  The control device 11C of the control center is a server computer having a wireless communication device (computer-side communication device) 3C, and includes a position information calculation unit (computer-side position information calculation unit) 2C and a corrected position information calculation unit (computer-side correction). It functions as a position information calculation unit 4C.

  The driving support devices 15A and 15B transmit images captured by the cameras 1A and 1B to the server 11C via the wireless communication devices 3A and 3B.

  The control device 11C of the control center calculates relative position information of the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B based on the received camera image, and calculates corrected relative position information based on the relative position information and the detection accuracy. The calculated corrected relative position information is transmitted to the following vehicle 50B, and is used by the running control unit 8B of the control device 11B for automatic running control of the following vehicle 50B.

  The wireless communication devices 3A, 3B, and 3C are not limited to inter-vehicle communication as in the first embodiment and the like, but are capable of communication between the vehicle 50 and the control device 11 of the control center. In the present embodiment, the position information calculation unit 2C and the corrected position information calculation unit 4C are provided in the control device 11C of the control center, and the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B transmit the acquired images and other sensor information from the wireless communication device 3 to the control center. And the control center acquires the relative position information and the corrected relative position information from the images acquired by the preceding vehicle 50A and the following vehicle 50B.

  In the example shown in FIG. 19, the control devices 11A and 11B do not have some functions of the position information calculation unit 2, the corrected position information calculation unit 4, the cause determination unit 5, and the history storage unit 6. May be provided.

  By adopting the above configuration, the vehicle equipped with the camera 1 and the wireless communication device 3 can perform the following traveling without having an advanced control device. In addition, the application of the present embodiment is not necessarily limited to only one set of following vehicles. For example, if the present embodiment is applied to a plurality of vehicles traveling in a specific area, the plurality of vehicles can be collectively controlled at a center.

  Further, by providing the cause determination unit 5 added in the third embodiment in the control device 11C of the center, it is possible to determine the cause of the decrease in accuracy and issue an alarm. Since the history storage unit 6 added in the fourth embodiment also includes the center control device 11C, it is possible to determine the stability of the running state based on the history and to issue an alarm.

  In addition, it is possible to issue a traveling instruction to a safe route without congestion from information such as a traffic flow sensor that can be obtained at the control center. As a result, there is an effect that it is possible to perform the traveling without the lane change with a high degree of difficulty during the automatic following travel.

  Also, as a result of the processing in the cause determination unit 5, when the alarm flag is turned on and it is determined that the vehicle is to be stopped, the control center uses the traffic congestion status and the map information from the traffic flow sensor to provide a safe It is also possible to determine the location and instruct the preceding vehicle 50A.

  The above is the embodiment of the driving support device according to the present invention. In the case where only the succeeding vehicle 50B carries a camera (external sensor) 1 and follows the vehicle while detecting the relative position and attitude with respect to the preceding vehicle 50A as in the known art, the field of view of the camera 1B of the following vehicle 50B is backlit. If it deteriorates temporarily, it will be difficult to continue following. However, as in the above embodiments, the corrected relative position information is calculated using the information from the camera 1A of the preceding vehicle 50A, and the following vehicle 50B is automatically followed to travel based on the corrected relative position information. It became possible to continue running. In addition, when the detection accuracy of the camera 1 is deteriorated, the cause determining unit 5 performs a self-diagnosis of the cause of the detection accuracy deterioration. Even if it is considered that the operation is continued for a long time, switching from automatic driving to manual driving, a stop instruction to the preceding vehicle 50A, and the like are performed, so that there is an effect that safe following operation can be supported.

  In the above embodiment, for simplicity, the example in which the subsequent vehicle 50B mainly includes the correction position information calculation unit 4 has been described. However, the following vehicle 50B may be mounted on the preceding vehicle 50A as in the second embodiment. Further, it can be mounted on both the preceding vehicle 50A and the succeeding vehicle 50B.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and includes various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the present invention is not limited to one having all the configurations described in the above embodiments, but also includes one in which some of the configurations are deleted. In addition, part of the structure of one embodiment can be added to or replaced by the structure of another embodiment.

  In addition, the components of the control device 11 and the functions and execution processes of the components are partially or wholly realized by hardware (for example, a logic that executes the functions is designed by an integrated circuit). You may. Further, the configuration of the control device 11 may be a program (software) that realizes each function of the configuration of the control device 11 by being read and executed by an arithmetic processing device (for example, a CPU). Information related to the program can be stored in, for example, a semiconductor memory (flash memory, SSD, etc.), a magnetic storage device (hard disk drive, etc.), a recording medium (magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.), and the like.

  Further, in the description of each of the above embodiments, the control lines and the information lines are understood to be necessary for the description of the embodiments, but all the control lines and the information lines related to the product are not necessarily required. Does not necessarily mean that In fact, it can be considered that almost all components are interconnected.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera, 2 ... Position information calculation part, 3 ... Wireless communication device, 4 ... Correction position information calculation part, 5 ... Cause determination part (determination part), 6 ... History storage part, 8 ... Travel control part, 9 ... Travel Control device, 10 alarm (notification device), 11 control device, 15 driving assist device, 25 marker, 50A preceding vehicle (vehicle), 50B following vehicle (vehicle)

Claims (13)

Mounted on own vehicle,
A camera that captures another vehicle traveling either forward or backward of the vehicle,
A communication device that performs inter-vehicle communication with the other vehicle,
A position information calculation unit that calculates first relative position information that is relative position information between the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on an image captured by the camera;
Acquiring, via the communication device, second relative position information that is relative position information of the own vehicle and the other vehicle and is calculated by the other vehicle, and obtains the first relative position information and the second relative position information; A corrected position information calculation unit that calculates corrected relative position information that is corrected relative position information used for running control of a subsequent vehicle of the own vehicle and the other vehicle using both or the second relative position information; A driving assistance device comprising: The driving support device according to claim 1,
When the other vehicle is the following vehicle,
The driving support apparatus, wherein the communication device transmits the corrected relative position information to the other vehicle. The driving support device according to claim 1,
When the own vehicle is the following vehicle,
A driving support device, further comprising a traveling control unit that controls traveling of the following vehicle using the corrected relative position information. The driving support device according to claim 1,
The corrected position information calculation unit calculates the corrected relative position information based on information related to the accuracy of the first relative position information and information related to the accuracy of the second relative position information obtained via the communication device. A driving assistance device characterized by performing. The driving support device according to claim 1,
If one of the accuracy of the first relative position information and the accuracy of the second relative position information obtained via the communication device is lower than a predetermined threshold, whether or not the factor is temporary A driving support device, further comprising a determination unit that determines The driving support device according to claim 5,
Further comprising a travel control unit that controls the automatic travel of the following vehicle using the corrected relative position information,
The driving support device, wherein the traveling control unit continues the traveling control of the following vehicle when the determining unit determines that the factor is temporary. The driving support device according to claim 5,
Further comprising a travel control unit that controls the automatic travel of the following vehicle using the corrected relative position information,
The driving support device, wherein the driving control unit interrupts the driving control of the following vehicle when the determining unit determines that the factor is not temporary. The driving support device according to claim 5,
When the accuracy of the first relative position information is lower than the predetermined threshold, the determination unit determines a factor based on a parameter of the camera, an image feature amount of an image captured by the camera, and the image. A driving support device for making a determination based on the implemented image processing. The driving support device according to claim 5,
Further comprising a travel control unit that controls the automatic travel of the following vehicle using the corrected relative position information,
The traveling control unit is configured to determine, when the determination unit determines that the factor is temporary, and when the state in which the accuracy of the corrected relative position information is reduced continues for a predetermined time or longer, A driving support device for interrupting travel control. A first driving assistance device, which is the driving assistance device according to claim 1 and is mounted on the vehicle,
A second driving support device mounted on the other vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle;
Computer and
In the first driving support device, the camera is a first camera that photographs the other vehicle traveling in front of the own vehicle, and the communication device is a first communication device that performs wireless communication with the computer. ,
The second driving assistance device includes a second camera that captures an image of the own vehicle traveling behind the other vehicle, and a second communication device that performs wireless communication with the computer.
The computer is
The first relative position information is calculated based on the image of the first camera transmitted from the first communication device, and the second relative position information is calculated based on the second camera transmitted from the second communication device. Computer-side position information calculation unit for calculating
Using both the first relative position information and the second relative position information or the second relative position information, corrected relative position information that is corrected relative position information used for traveling control of the own vehicle is calculated. A computer-side correction position information calculation unit;
A computer-side communication device that transmits the corrected relative position information calculated by the computer-side corrected position information calculation unit to the host vehicle,
The driving assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the first driving assistance device further includes a traveling control unit that controls traveling of the own vehicle using the corrected relative position information transmitted from the computer-side communication device. A first step of photographing another vehicle traveling either forward or backward of the own vehicle;
A second step of calculating first relative position information that is relative position information of the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on the image captured in the first step;
A third step of obtaining, from the other vehicle, second relative position information that is relative position information of the own vehicle and the other vehicle and that is calculated by the other vehicle;
The corrected relative position information used for traveling control of the following vehicle among the own vehicle and the other vehicle using both the first relative position information and the second relative position information or the second relative position information. And a fourth step of calculating certain corrected relative position information. The driving support method for a platooning vehicle according to claim 11,
When the other vehicle is the following vehicle,
A driving support method for platooning vehicles, further comprising a fifth step of transmitting the corrected relative position information to the other vehicle. The driving support method for a platooning vehicle according to claim 11,
When the own vehicle is the following vehicle,
A driving support method for platooning vehicles, further comprising a sixth step of controlling the running of the following vehicle using the corrected relative position information.

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