JP2021109591A - Vehicle control device - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve accuracy of propriety determination of execution of automatic driving.SOLUTION: A vehicle control device (10) enables automatic driving of an own vehicle (1). The vehicle control device includes: calculation means (12) for calculating a second index value indicating a degree of influence of rain on automatic driving based on an integral value of an amount of rainfall at a point in front of a route of the own vehicle, and a first index value concerning drainage of the point; and determination means (13) for prohibiting the automatic driving on the condition that the second index value exceeds a predetermined threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device, and more particularly to a technical field of a vehicle control device capable of performing automatic driving.

As a device of this type, for example, preparations are made for non-execution of autonomous driving based on the autonomous driving information collected from a plurality of vehicles, the vehicle position, and the area where autonomous driving is not possible predicted from the information on the amount of rainfall. A technique for notifying the vehicle has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2017-224107

The sensors required to perform autonomous driving are affected not only by the water that falls from the atmosphere to the surface (eg, rain), but also by the water that is rolled up from the surface, for example, by the running of a vehicle (eg, splash). The technique described in Patent Document 1 does not consider, for example, splashing water, and there is room for improvement.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device capable of improving the accuracy of determining whether or not automatic driving can be executed.

The vehicle control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a vehicle control device capable of automatically driving the own vehicle, and is an integrated value of the amount of rain at a point in front of the course of the own vehicle and a first index relating to drainage at the point. The automatic operation is prohibited on the condition that the calculation means for calculating the second index value indicating the degree of influence of rain on the automatic operation based on the value and the second index value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. It is to have a decision-making means to make a decision.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle control device which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the time change of the index B. It is a figure for demonstrating the concept of operation of the vehicle control device which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the vehicle control device which concerns on embodiment.

An embodiment relating to the vehicle control device will be described. The vehicle control device according to the embodiment is configured to be capable of automatically driving its own vehicle. In particular, the vehicle control device is configured to be able to determine whether or not automatic driving can be executed based on weather information and the like. The vehicle control device includes calculation means and determination means for determining whether or not automatic driving can be executed. Since various existing modes can be applied to the automatic operation, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The calculation means calculates a second index value indicating the degree of influence of rain on automatic driving based on an integrated value of rainfall at a point in front of the course of the own vehicle and a first index value related to drainage at that point. do. Regarding the "accumulated value of rainfall", the period for accumulating rainfall may be arbitrary, but it is a relatively short period (for example, several minutes to several tens of minutes) so as to be able to cope with sudden heavy rainfall, for example. It's okay. The "first index value" is a physical quantity or parameter related to drainage. A specific example of the first index value is the surface rainfall index. The integrated value of rainfall and the first index value may be acquired from an external device (for example, a cloud server, etc.) of the own vehicle via a network such as the Internet.

The second index value can be expressed as a function of the integrated value of rainfall and the first index value. The second index value shall be larger as the integrated value of rainfall is larger and the first index value is larger (however, the first index value shall be larger as the drainage is poorer).

The determining means prohibits the automatic operation on condition that the second index value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The "predetermined threshold value" is a value for determining whether or not automatic operation is prohibited, and is set in advance as a fixed value or a variable value according to some physical quantity or parameter. Such a predetermined threshold value may be set experimentally, empirically, or by simulation as follows. That is, for example, the relationship between the second index value and the detection performance of the sensor required for automatic driving is obtained. Next, from the obtained relationship, a second index value which is a lower limit value of the level at which the detection performance of the sensor is required is specified. Then, the specified second index value or a value smaller than the specified second index value by a predetermined value is set as a predetermined threshold value.

The sensors required to perform autonomous driving are affected not only by the amount of rainfall, but also by the water that is hoisted from the surface of the earth, for example, due to the running of a vehicle. The effects of water hoisting from this surface can remain, even if there is zero rainfall (ie, even if the rain stops). In the vehicle control device, in addition to the integrated value of rainfall, it is determined whether or not to prohibit automatic driving based on the second index value in consideration of the first index value related to drainage. Therefore, according to the vehicle control device, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining whether or not automatic driving can be executed.

A vehicle control device 10 as a specific example of the vehicle control device according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. In FIG. 1, the vehicle control device 10 is mounted on a vehicle 1 corresponding to the above-mentioned example of the own vehicle. In addition to the vehicle control device 10, the vehicle 1 is provided with a sensor 21, various actuators 31 (for example, a throttle actuator, a brake actuator, a steering actuator, etc.), and an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 32.

The sensor 21 includes a rainfall sensor. The sensor 21 may include, for example, a camera, a millimeter-wave radar, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranger), or the like.

The vehicle control device 10 is configured to be able to automatically drive the vehicle 1. Specifically, the vehicle control device 10 generates a travel plan related to the vehicle 1 from the recognition result of the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 based on the output of the sensor 21 and the map information, and the vehicle is in accordance with the travel plan. Various actuators 31 and the like are controlled so that 1 travels.

In particular, the vehicle control device 10 is configured to be able to determine whether or not automatic driving can be executed. In order to determine whether or not automatic driving can be executed, the vehicle control device 10 determines the communication unit 11, the calculation unit 12, and the communication unit 11, as a processing block that is logically realized inside the vehicle, or as a processing circuit that is physically realized. A unit 13 and a control unit 14 are provided.

The communication unit 11 can communicate with an external device (for example, a cloud server) via a network such as the Internet. That is, the vehicle 1 may be a so-called connected car. Here, the vehicle control device 10 generates rainfall information by associating the detection result (that is, rainfall) of the rainfall sensor included in the sensor 21 with the time information and the position information of the vehicle 1. Then, the vehicle control device 10 sequentially transmits rainfall information to a data center (not shown) outside the vehicle 1 via the communication unit 11.

Here, the data center is configured to collect rainfall information from a plurality of vehicles. The data center organizes the collected rainfall information for each unit time, for example, for each location (or area), and generates, for example, a rainfall map for each unit time. The data center also has, for example, a database of parameter A indicating the degree of drainage associated with each of a plurality of predetermined sections of the road. It should be noted that such a database may be constructed, for example, by estimating the degree of drainage of the road surface from the images captured by the in-vehicle cameras of each of the plurality of vehicles. The value of parameter A increases as the drainage of the road surface deteriorates.

The vehicle control device 10 acquires, for example, the latest rainfall map and the parameter A indicating the degree of drainage in front of the course of the vehicle 1 from the data center via the communication unit 11. The calculation unit 12 acquires the rainfall at a point ahead of the course of the vehicle 1 (for example, a point where the vehicle 1 arrives after a dozen seconds to a few tens of seconds) from the rainfall map, and also acquires the parameter A at that point. The calculation unit 12 calculates an index B indicating the degree of influence of rain on the automatic operation based on the acquired rainfall amount and parameter A. The calculation unit 12 corresponds to an example of the above-mentioned calculation means.

The index B is expressed as B (A, tw) with the amount of rainfall per unit time as “tw”. How to obtain the index B from the rainfall and the parameter A may be appropriately set as long as the index B is a function of the rainfall tw of the unit time and the parameter A. The "rainfall tw per unit time", "parameter A", and "index B" correspond to examples of the above-mentioned "integrated value of rainfall", "first index value", and "second index value", respectively.

The index B will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows the time change of the index B when the drainage of the road surface is relatively poor, and FIG. 2B shows the time change of the index B when the drainage of the road surface is relatively good. There is. Assuming that the value of the parameter A in the case of FIG. 2A is A1 and the value of the parameter A in the case of FIG. 2B is A2, “A1> A2”.

In the case of FIG. 2A, since the drainage of the road surface is relatively poor, rainwater tends to collect on the road surface. When the vehicle 1 travels in such a place, the rainwater accumulated on the road surface is swirled up (for example, the spray rises), and the sensor 21 is relatively likely to be affected (because the situation around the vehicle 1 is detected). This is because the sensor to be used is often arranged at a relatively low position of the vehicle 1).

On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 2B, since the drainage of the road surface is relatively good, rainwater is unlikely to collect on the road surface. In this case, since the amount of rainwater collected on the road surface is relatively small, even if the rainwater is swirled up by the running of the vehicle 1, the possibility that the sensor 21 will be affected is relatively small.

Therefore, in the case of FIG. 2A, the influence on the change of the value of the index B is mainly the drainage of the road surface (that is, the magnitude of the parameter A) rather than the rainfall. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 2B, the influence on the change of the value of the index B is mainly the rainfall (specifically, the rainfall tw per unit time) rather than the drainage of the road surface.

The determination unit 13 determines whether or not the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C. Then, when the determination unit 13 determines that the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C, the determination unit 13 prohibits the automatic operation. On the other hand, when the determination unit 13 determines that the value of the index B does not exceed the threshold value C, the determination unit 13 permits automatic operation. When the value of the index B is "equal to" the threshold value C, it may be included in either case. The determination unit 13 corresponds to an example of the determination means described above.

When the vehicle 1 is automatically driven, the control unit 14 controls various actuators 31 so as to end the automatic driving when the determination unit 13 prohibits the automatic driving, and indicates that the automatic driving is terminated. The HMI 32 is controlled to notify the driver. When the vehicle 1 is not automatically driven (that is, the vehicle 1 is being driven by the driver), the control unit 14 indicates that the automatic driving is prohibited by the determination unit 13, for example, the automatic driving is prohibited. The HMI 32 may be controlled to notify the driver.

When the vehicle 1 is automatically driven, if the determination unit 13 permits the automatic driving, the control unit 14 controls various actuators 31 so that the vehicle 1 travels by the automatic driving (that is, the automatic driving is performed). continue). When the determination unit 13 permits the automatic driving when the vehicle 1 is not automatically driven, the control unit 14 causes the vehicle 1 to travel by the automatic driving on condition that the driver requests the automatic driving. The various actuators 31 are controlled so as to do so.

The operation of the vehicle control device 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, when the vehicle 1 is traveling at the position P1 by automatic driving at the time T1, the calculation unit 12 calculates the index B related to the point P2, and the determination unit 13 calculates the value of the calculated index B. Is determined not to exceed the threshold value C.

When the vehicle 1 reaches the position P2 at the time T2, the calculation unit 12 calculates the index B related to the point P3. The determination unit 13 determines whether or not the calculated value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C. When it is determined that the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C, the determination unit 13 prohibits the automatic operation. On the other hand, when it is determined that the value of the index B does not exceed the threshold value C, the determination unit 13 permits automatic operation. In parallel with the operations of the calculation unit 12 and the determination unit 13, the vehicle control device 10 associates the detection result of the rainfall sensor included in the sensor 21 with the time T2 and the position P2 to generate rainfall information. The generated rainfall information is transmitted to the above-mentioned data center via the communication unit 11. That is, the vehicle control device 10 calculates the index B and collects the rainfall information in parallel.

Further, even when the determination unit 13 determines at time T1 that the value of the index B does not exceed the threshold value C, when the vehicle 1 is traveling from the position P1 to the position P2, for example, a millimeter wave. When the detection performance of the sensor required for automatic operation such as radar and LiDAR deteriorates (however, it is not a sensor failure), the vehicle control device 10 calculates the index B at time T1 in consideration of the actual rainfall, for example. The parameter A used in the process is modified.

This is because the parameter A used when calculating the index B at time T1 may have been estimated to be smaller than the actual degree of drainage (hence, the detection performance of the sensor has deteriorated). Nevertheless, the value of the index B did not exceed the threshold C). The vehicle control device 10 transmits the modified parameter A to the above-mentioned data center via the communication unit 11. Whether or not the detection performance of the sensor has deteriorated may be determined by referring to, for example, the diagnosis result by the self-diagnosis function of the sensor.

Next, the operation of the vehicle control device 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 4, the calculation unit 12 sequentially calculates the index B, and the determination unit 13 monitors the index B by comparing the calculated value of the index B with the threshold value C (step S101). The determination unit 13 determines whether or not the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C (step S102).

When it is determined in the process of step S102 that the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C (step S102: Yes), the determination unit 13 prohibits the automatic operation (step S103). The operation shown in FIG. 4 is once terminated, and then the process of step S101 is performed after a predetermined time (for example, several tens of milliseconds to several hundreds of milliseconds) has elapsed. That is, the operation shown in FIG. 4 is repeated at a cycle corresponding to a predetermined time.

When it is determined in the process of step S102 that the value of the index B does not exceed the threshold value C (step S102: No), the vehicle control device 10 determines, for example, a malfunction by the self-diagnosis function of the sensor (that is, detection of the sensor). It is determined whether or not there is a determination (determination that the performance has deteriorated beyond the permissible range) (step S104). The process of step S104 may be performed by the determination unit 13.

If it is determined in the process of step S104 that there is a malfunction (step S104: Yes), the vehicle control device 10 prohibits automatic driving (step S103). The operation shown in FIG. 4 is once terminated, and then the process of step S101 is performed after a predetermined time has elapsed.

If it is determined in the process of step S104 that there is no malfunction determination (step S104: No), the operation shown in FIG. 4 is temporarily terminated, and then the process of step S101 is performed after a predetermined time has elapsed.

(Technical effect)
In the vehicle control device 10, an index B indicating the degree of influence of rain on automatic driving is calculated based on the rainfall tw per unit time and the parameter A indicating the degree of drainage. Then, in the vehicle control device 10, when the value of the index B exceeds the threshold value C, automatic driving is prohibited. Therefore, according to the vehicle control device 10, the accuracy of determining whether or not automatic driving can be executed can be improved as compared with a comparative example in which whether or not automatic driving can be executed is determined based only on the amount of rainfall.

Various aspects of the invention derived from the embodiments and modifications described above will be described below.

The vehicle control device according to one aspect of the invention is a vehicle control device capable of automatically driving the own vehicle, and is an integrated value of the amount of rain at a point in front of the course of the own vehicle and a first index value related to drainage at the point. Based on the above, the automatic operation is prohibited on the condition that the calculation means for calculating the second index value indicating the degree of influence of rain on the automatic operation and the second index value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. It is to have a decision-making means.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified within the scope of claims and within a range not contrary to the gist or idea of the invention that can be read from the entire specification, and the vehicle control device accompanied by such a modification. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 ... Vehicle, 10 ... Vehicle control device, 11 ... Communication unit, 12 ... Calculation unit, 13 ... Judgment unit, 14 ... Control unit

Claims (1)

It is a vehicle control device that can automatically drive its own vehicle.
Calculation to calculate the second index value indicating the degree of influence of rain on the automatic driving based on the integrated value of the rainfall at the point in front of the course of the own vehicle and the first index value related to the drainage at the point. Means and
On condition that the second index value exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the determination means for prohibiting the automatic operation and the determination means.
A vehicle control device comprising.

Images