JP2020117089A - Vehicular control apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a vehicular control apparatus improved to suppress a driver from feeling anxiety over a vehicle collision in association with traction control.SOLUTION: A vehicular control apparatus includes: risk evaluation means for evaluating a specific contact risk that is a degree of possibility that a nearby vehicle contacts a side or back of a vehicle itself; traction control means for executing traction control that includes control for increasing vehicular brake force by a first given amount and control for reducing vehicular drive force by a second given amount; and traction control suppression means for causing the traction control means to execute traction control in a state where a correction to increase the first given amount and a correction to decrease the second given amount are executed, in a case where the risk evaluation means has evaluated that there is a contact risk that is higher than a predetermined reference.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device.

Conventionally, a traction control technique for a vehicle is known, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-13424.

JP, 2002-13424, A

In order to avoid another vehicle from colliding with the own vehicle from the rear or the side, the own vehicle may be requested to accelerate. Even when the acceleration request is issued, the driving force is suppressed when the above-mentioned conventional traction control is actuated, so that there is a problem that it is contrary to satisfying the acceleration request.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a vehicle control device improved so as to suppress the driver from feeling anxiety of a rear-end collision due to traction control. To aim.

The vehicle control device according to the present invention is
A risk evaluation means for evaluating a specific contact risk, which is a high possibility that a surrounding vehicle comes into contact with the side or rear of the own vehicle,
Traction control means for executing traction control including control for increasing the braking force of the vehicle by a first predetermined amount and control for reducing the driving force of the vehicle by a second predetermined amount,
When the risk evaluation means evaluates that there is a contact risk higher than a predetermined standard, the traction is performed in a state where the correction for increasing the first predetermined amount and the correction for decreasing the second predetermined amount are performed. Traction control suppressing means constructed to perform the traction control by the control means,
Equipped with.

According to the present invention, when traction control is required and there is a risk of contact, the grip is restored by executing the traction control with the braking force increased and the degree of reduction of the driving force reduced. Let Since the grip can be recovered without relying on the reduction of the driving force, the vehicle can be quickly accelerated again after the traction is recovered. As a result, the traction control and the acceleration request can be compatible with each other in a high dimension, and it is possible to suppress the driver from feeling anxiety of a vehicle rear-end collision due to the traction control.

3 is a flowchart of a routine executed in the vehicle control device according to the embodiment. 3 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the vehicle control device according to the embodiment. It is a graph for explaining a problem of traction control. 1 is an example of a scene in which a vehicle control device according to an embodiment operates. 1 is an example of a scene in which a vehicle control device according to an embodiment operates. 1 is an example of a scene in which a vehicle control device according to an embodiment operates.

FIG. 3 is a graph for explaining the problems of traction control. As a basic concept of traction control, there is one that detects wheel slipping and throttles engine output to restore grip. The method of reducing the engine output includes, for example, control for reducing the fuel supply amount and control for stopping the ignition or reducing the throttle.

In FIG. 3, an operation of detecting the idling of the wheel at the reference sign Q1, narrowing down the engine output as indicated by the reference sign Q2, and then returning the engine output after gripping to the target output (aim) as indicated by the reference sign Q3. Is illustrated. Here, when the engine output is once throttled and then is increased to a target engine output, there is a drawback that the responsiveness is poor as compared with, for example, a case where the engine output is not throttled at all and the brake is applied. As a result, it takes time to reach the desired engine output.

In the embodiment, the following vehicle control device is mounted on the host vehicle. That is, the vehicle control device according to the embodiment includes a peripheral vehicle recognition process for recognizing a peripheral vehicle, a risk evaluation process for calculating a specific contact risk, a traction control process, and a plurality of acceleration slip suppressing means. There is. The vehicle control device according to the embodiment is specifically an electronic control unit (ECU).

The peripheral vehicle recognition processing may be based on various direct detection devices such as a millimeter wave, a camera, a rider, or a sonar mounted on the own vehicle. The peripheral vehicle recognition process is not limited to the one based on the direct detection device, and an indirect detection means such as GPS or communication between the own vehicle and another vehicle may be used. These detection device and detection means are communicatively connected to the vehicle control device.

The specific contact risk in the risk evaluation process is a high possibility that a surrounding vehicle contacts the side or the rear of the own vehicle. The information used in the calculation of the risk evaluation process is, for example, absolute speed, absolute acceleration, relative speed, relative acceleration, relative distance, size of surrounding vehicles, movement direction, time-series behavior, past travel information, and Various information such as road gradient information may be included.

The traction control processing is to execute traction control by issuing a control command to a plurality of acceleration slip suppressing means. The plurality of acceleration slip suppression means include engine output reduction and brake application. The traction control according to the embodiment includes brake application control for increasing the braking force of the own vehicle by a first predetermined amount and engine output reduction control for reducing the driving force of the own vehicle by a second predetermined amount.

In the embodiment, the engine output throttling degree of the traction control control is suppressed according to the contact risk based on the situation of the surrounding vehicles. Even if the traction control intervenes in a scene in which the contact risk can be reduced or avoided by acceleration, the degree of engine output throttling is suppressed, so the delay during re-acceleration can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to suppress anxiety caused by making the driver feel the risk of a side collision and a rear collision.

As an operation image, it is assumed that the traction control intervenes when an acceleration slip occurs during steady running or during acceleration. Conventional traction control suppresses acceleration slip in the power train, and the brake may intervene depending on the depth of slip. Since it has the advantages of suppressing brake wear and energy efficiency, acceleration slip suppression was performed by reducing the powertrain output.

On the other hand, in the embodiment, the reduction of the engine output is suppressed and the acceleration slip is suppressed by the brake. As a result, although the wear of the brakes may increase and the energy efficiency may decrease, it is possible to accelerate early, so it is possible to suppress the anxiety caused by making the driver feel the risk of a side collision and a rear collision. ..

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a routine executed in the vehicle control device according to the embodiment. In step S100, the information necessary to calculate the risk of a side impact and a rear impact is acquired. Next, risk evaluation processing (steps S101 and S103) is performed. First, in step S101, the specific contact risk is evaluated. The specific contact risk is a high possibility that a side collision (side collision) of the own vehicle or a rear collision (rear collision) of the own vehicle will occur, in other words, "side collision/rear collision risk". Is. Next, in step S103, it is determined whether the specific contact risk (that is, the side collision/rear collision risk) is equal to or larger than a predetermined reference threshold.

When the determination result of step S103 is negative (NO), the “side collision/rear collision risk” is not high. Therefore, the traction control by the normal engine output throttle (+brake) is carried out without carrying out the traction control suppression processing described later. As a result, the behavior becomes as shown by a broken line graph (without engine output throttling suppression) in FIG. 2 described later. After that, this routine ends.

On the other hand, when the determination result of step S103 is affirmative (YES), the “side collision/rear collision risk” is high. In this case, the traction control suppressing process (S104) is performed. The traction control suppression process (S104) is executed when it is evaluated in step S103 of the risk evaluation process that there is a contact risk higher than the predetermined reference threshold value.

In the traction control suppression processing (S104), the traction control by the traction control control is executed in a state where the correction for increasing the first predetermined amount for the brake application control and the correction for reducing the second predetermined amount for the engine output reduction control are performed. Is built as. As a result, the behavior is as shown by the solid line graph (with engine output throttle suppression) in FIG. 2 described later. After that, this routine ends.

FIG. 2 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the vehicle control device according to the embodiment. As can be seen by comparing the broken line graph and the solid line graph, in the case where the engine output throttling is suppressed in step S104, the wheel speed is high, the vehicle speed is quickly recovered, and the engine torque is constant during the acceleration slip period. Yes, the difference is that the brake fluid pressure is high. At the bottom of FIG. 2, a flag indicating that the side collision/rear collision risk is equal to or higher than the reference threshold is shown. This flag rises based on the judgment result in the above risk evaluation processing.

In the process of step S104 according to the embodiment, as an example, the engine torque is constant as shown in FIG. 2, that is, “the engine output is not throttled at all”.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the solid line graph showing the embodiment, the flag indicating that the side-collision/rear-collision risk is equal to or higher than the reference threshold falls earlier, and the risk of side-rear collision and rear-rear collision is reduced. Anxiety caused by making the driver feel is resolved early. This is because the acceleration slip is suppressed by the brake while suppressing the engine output throttle so that the response of the reacceleration becomes faster. Since the engine output cannot be throttled, the required engine torque before slipping can be secured, and the acceleration slip can be restored by gripping the brakes while reducing acceleration delay.

FIG. 4 is an example of a scene in which the vehicle control device according to the embodiment operates. A scene example 1 shown in FIG. 4 illustrates a scene in which the vehicle 10 passes through the slippery road surface 2 when another vehicle 12 travels from the side on a crossroad. The slippery road surface 2 is an iron plate or an ice plate. When the host vehicle 10 reaches the slippery road surface 2, the wheels slip. At this time, the rear-end collision risk is determined based on the inter-vehicle communication or the like according to the risk evaluation process described above.

In the scene example 1, in the host vehicle 10 having the control device according to the embodiment, the engine output throttle suppression “present” is implemented. Specifically, in the embodiment, the engine output is not throttled at all. As a result, as shown in the host vehicle 10a in FIG. 4, the acceleration response is good, and the vehicle can travel without feeling the risk of collision.

In this regard, according to the own vehicle 10b indicated by the broken line in FIG. 4 as a comparative example, the engine output throttle suppression is “none”. As a result, the output of the engine is throttled according to normal traction control, so that the acceleration of the host vehicle 10b shown by the broken line becomes slower, and there is a drawback that the vehicle is likely to experience a collision risk.

FIG. 5 is an example of a scene in which the vehicle control device according to the embodiment operates. A scene example 2 shown in FIG. 5 illustrates a scene in which the other vehicle 12 approaches from behind the host vehicle 10 when the host vehicle 10 passes through the slippery road surface 2.

In Scene Example 2, in the host vehicle 10 having the control device according to the embodiment, the engine output throttle suppression “present” is implemented. Specifically, in the embodiment, the engine output is not throttled at all. As a result, like the host vehicle 10a shown at the right end of FIG. 5, the acceleration response is good and the vehicle can travel without feeling the risk of collision.

In this regard, according to the host vehicle 10b in the center of FIG. 5 shown as a comparative example, the engine output throttle suppression is “none”. As a result, the output of the engine is throttled according to the normal traction control, so that there is a drawback that the acceleration becomes slow as shown in the host vehicle 10b in the center of FIG.

FIG. 6 is an example of a scene in which the vehicle control device according to the embodiment operates. In Scene Example 3 of FIG. 6, when the vehicle 10 passes the slippery road surface 2, another vehicle 12 in another lane traveling to the right rear of the vehicle 10 is approaching. In such a scene example 3 as well, as in the case of the scene example 2 described above, the control device according to the embodiment implements the “presence” of engine output throttle suppression. As a result, the acceleration response is good, and the vehicle can travel without feeling the risk of collision.

As described above, according to the control device according to the embodiment, when the traction control is necessary and the specific contact risk (side collision/rear collision risk) is also high, the traction control suppressing process (S104). Is carried out.

According to the traction control suppression process (S104), the traction control by the traction control control is performed in a state where the correction for increasing the first predetermined amount for the brake application control and the correction for decreasing the second predetermined amount for the engine output reduction control are performed. Be implemented. That is, the grip can be restored by executing the traction control in a state where the degree of reduction of the driving force is reduced while increasing the braking force.

As a result, the grip can be recovered without relying on the reduction of the driving force (engine output throttle), so that the host vehicle 10 can be rapidly accelerated again after the traction is recovered. As a result, the possibility of vehicle contact can be reduced.

2 slippery road surface 10 own vehicle 10a own vehicle (embodiment)
10b Own vehicle (comparative example)
12 Other vehicles

Claims (1)

A risk evaluation means for evaluating a specific contact risk, which is a high possibility that a surrounding vehicle comes into contact with the side or rear of the own vehicle,
Traction control means for executing traction control including control for increasing the braking force of the vehicle by a first predetermined amount and control for reducing the driving force of the vehicle by a second predetermined amount,
When the risk evaluation means evaluates that there is a contact risk higher than a predetermined standard, the traction is performed in a state where the correction for increasing the first predetermined amount and the correction for decreasing the second predetermined amount are performed. Traction control suppressing means constructed to perform the traction control by the control means,
And a vehicle control device.

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