JP2021128399A - Device and method for controlling emergency vehicle refuge - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an emergency vehicle refuge control device capable of recognizing a position of an emergency vehicle with higher accuracy.SOLUTION: Disclosed is an emergency vehicle refuge control device 32 which includes: an emergency vehicle recognition part 38 for recognizing an emergency vehicle based on information acquired in a first method and the information acquired in a second method; an other vehicle recognition part 40 for recognizing other vehicles around an own vehicle 10; and a refuge control part 44 which performs the retreat control so as to retreat the own vehicle 10 when the emergency vehicle is recognized. According to the number of other vehicles positioned in a range less than a predetermined distance with respect to the own vehicle 10, the emergency vehicle recognition part 38 recognizes the emergency vehicle using one of the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an emergency vehicle evacuation control device and an emergency vehicle evacuation control method that perform evacuation control so as to evacuate the own vehicle when an emergency vehicle is recognized.

Patent Document 1 below discloses an emergency vehicle notification system that recognizes the direction in which an emergency vehicle is located in consideration of the presence of a sound reflecting object.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-022453

However, sufficient studies have not been made on a technique capable of recognizing the position of an emergency vehicle with higher accuracy.

An object of the present invention is to provide an emergency vehicle evasion control device and an emergency vehicle evasion control method capable of recognizing the position of an emergency vehicle with higher accuracy.

The emergency vehicle evacuation control device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes an emergency vehicle recognition unit that recognizes an emergency vehicle based on the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method. An emergency vehicle evacuation control device having another vehicle recognition unit that recognizes other vehicles around the vehicle and an evacuation control unit that performs evacuation control so as to evacuate the own vehicle when the emergency vehicle is recognized. Therefore, the emergency vehicle recognition unit uses the information acquired by the first method and the second method according to the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance from the own vehicle. The emergency vehicle is recognized using one of the acquired information.

The emergency vehicle evacuation control mounting method of the second aspect of the present invention includes another vehicle recognition step for recognizing other vehicles around the own vehicle and the number of the other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance from the own vehicle. According to the emergency vehicle recognition step of recognizing an emergency vehicle and the case of recognizing the emergency vehicle by using one of the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method. Has a shunt control step for performing shunt control so as to shunt the own vehicle.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an emergency vehicle evasion control device and an emergency vehicle evasion control method capable of recognizing the position of an emergency vehicle with higher accuracy.

It is a schematic diagram which shows a vehicle. It is a block diagram of a vehicle. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a save control process.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the vehicle 10 of the present embodiment. The vehicle 10 of the present embodiment is an engine vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, or the like, and is not particularly limited. The vehicle 10 is an autonomous driving vehicle, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, the vehicle 10 is automatically driven without any driving operation by an occupant. The vehicle 10 corresponds to the own vehicle of the present invention.

The vehicle 10 has microphones 12a to 12d that collect sounds outside the vehicle 10. The microphone 12a mainly collects sound from the left front with respect to the vehicle 10. The microphone 12b mainly collects sound from the front right with respect to the vehicle 10. The microphone 12c mainly collects sound from the left rear with respect to the vehicle 10. The microphone 12d mainly collects sound from the rear right with respect to the vehicle 10.

The vehicle 10 has cameras 14a to 14d that photograph the outside of the vehicle 10. The camera 14a mainly captures the front of the vehicle 10. The camera 14b mainly captures the left side of the vehicle 10. The camera 14c mainly captures the rear of the vehicle 10. The camera 14d mainly captures the right side of the vehicle 10. In addition to the cameras 14a to 14d, the vehicle 10 may have a radar, a LiDAR, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, or the like that acquires information according to the distance between the vehicle 10 and an object.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the vehicle 10 of the present embodiment. In addition to the above-mentioned microphones 12a to 12d and cameras 14a to 14d, the vehicle 10 includes a communication module 16, a global positioning satellite system (hereinafter, GNSS) module 18, a map database 20, a drive control device 22, a braking control device 24, and steering. It has a control device 26, a display 28, a speaker 30, and a vehicle control device 32.

The communication module 16 is a module that performs wireless communication, and is used for vehicle-to-vehicle communication that directly communicates with other vehicles, or for communication with a server or base station installed on the ground. The GNSS module 18 acquires the position information of the vehicle 10. The map database 20 stores map information.

The drive control device 22 controls the driving force generated by a drive device such as an engine or a drive motor (not shown) of the vehicle 10. The braking control device 24 controls the braking force of the vehicle 10 by a braking device such as a hydraulic brake or a regenerative brake (not shown). The steering control device 26 controls the steering amount of the steering wheels (not shown) of the vehicle 10.

The display 28 provides information to the occupants of the vehicle 10 by video or the like. The speaker 30 provides information to the occupants of the vehicle 10 by voice or the like.

The vehicle control device 32 has an arithmetic processing unit 34 and a storage 36. The vehicle control device 32 corresponds to the emergency vehicle evasion control device of the present invention. The arithmetic processing device 34 has a processor such as a CPU (not shown) and a recording medium such as a RAM and a ROM. The storage 36 is a non-temporary tangible computer-readable recording medium.

The arithmetic processing unit 34 includes an emergency vehicle recognition unit 38, another vehicle recognition unit 40, a travel control unit 42, and a shunt control unit 44.

The emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the emergency vehicle based on the image information acquired by the cameras 14a to 14d or the sound information acquired by the microphones 12a to 12d. The emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the existence of an emergency vehicle when an image of the emergency vehicle is acquired from the image information acquired by the cameras 14a to 14d. Further, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the existence of the emergency vehicle when the siren of the emergency vehicle is acquired from the sound information acquired by the microphones 12a to 12d.

The other vehicle recognition unit 40 performs vehicle-to-vehicle communication with other vehicles around the vehicle 10 via the communication module 16 and recognizes the existence of other vehicles around the vehicle 10. The other vehicle recognition unit 40 may communicate with a server on the ground via the communication module 16 to acquire traffic jam information, and recognize the existence of other vehicles around the vehicle 10 based on the traffic jam information.

The travel control unit 42 implements travel control that automatically drives the vehicle 10 toward a set destination via the drive control device 22, the braking control device 24, and the steering control device 26.

When the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the existence of the emergency vehicle, the evasion control unit 44 interrupts the traveling control and executes the evasion control. In the evasion control, automatic operation is performed so that the vehicle 10 takes the evasion operation via the drive control device 22, the braking control device 24, and the steering control device 26. The evasion operation is, for example, an operation of moving the vehicle 10 to the edge of the road and stopping the vehicle 10. Further, the evasion operation is, for example, an operation of stopping the vehicle 10 in front of the intersection even if the signal of the traveling lane of the vehicle 10 is a green light (a signal permitting the entry into the intersection).

The emergency vehicle recognition unit 38, the other vehicle recognition unit 40, the travel control unit 42, and the escape control unit 44 are realized by executing the program stored in the storage 36 in the processor.

[Shelter control processing]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the save control process executed by the arithmetic processing unit 34.

In step S1, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 acquires the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance from the vehicle 10 based on the information of the other vehicle recognized by the other vehicle recognition unit 40, and in step S2. Move to. When the other vehicle recognition unit 40 recognizes the existence of other vehicles around the vehicle 10 based on the congestion information, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 uses the vehicle based on the number of lanes on the road on which the vehicle 10 is traveling. The number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance with respect to 10 may be estimated.

In step S2, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 determines whether or not the number of other vehicles located within a range of less than a predetermined distance with respect to the vehicle 10 is less than the predetermined number. If the number of other vehicles is less than the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S3, and if the number of other vehicles is more than the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S3, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 acquires image information from the cameras 14a to 14d and proceeds to step S5.

In step S4, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 acquires sound information from the microphones 12a to 12d and proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 determines whether or not the existence of the emergency vehicle has been recognized based on the acquired image information or sound information. When the existence of the emergency vehicle is recognized, the process proceeds to step S6, and when the existence of the emergency vehicle is not recognized, the evasion control process is terminated.

In step S6, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 determines whether or not the presence of the emergency vehicle has been recognized based on the sound information. When the existence of the emergency vehicle is recognized based on the sound information, the process proceeds to step S7, and when the existence of the emergency vehicle is recognized based on the image information, the process proceeds to step S9.

In step S7, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 acquires the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the vehicle 10, and proceeds to step S8. The direction in which the emergency vehicle is located can be acquired based on the volume of the siren of the emergency vehicle collected by the microphones 12a to 12d.

In step S8, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 improves the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle based on the image information of one of the cameras 14a to 14d that captures the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the vehicle 10. The process proceeds to step S9.

To improve the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle, for example, the emergency vehicle recognition process is performed on the image taken by one of the cameras 14a to 14d that captures the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the vehicle 10. It is realized by doing so. Those who perform emergency vehicle recognition processing on images taken by one of the cameras 14a to 14d, compared to performing emergency vehicle recognition processing on images taken by each of the cameras 14a to 14d. However, since the number of recognition processes can be increased, the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle can be improved.

Further, the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle may be improved by, for example, changing the recognition process of the emergency vehicle for the images taken by the cameras 14a to 14d to a high accuracy one. Further, the improvement accuracy of the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle may be realized by, for example, changing the settings of the cameras 14a to 14d and changing the images captured by the cameras 14a to 14d to high-quality ones. Furthermore, the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle can be improved by changing the image within the shooting range of the cameras 14a to 14d to a high-quality one by, for example, zooming in with the cameras 14a to 14d. May be good. Further, when each of the cameras 14a to 14d is composed of a plurality of cameras, the improvement of the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle is, for example, the recognition processing of the emergency vehicle for the image taken by the camera capable of taking a high-quality image. It is realized by doing it.

In step S9, the travel control unit 42 interrupts the travel control, and the escape control unit 44 performs the escape control. When the emergency vehicle moves away from the vehicle 10 and the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 does not recognize the emergency vehicle, the evasion control is terminated and the traveling control is restored.

[Action effect]
When other vehicles are crowded around the vehicle 10, even if the emergency vehicle exists near the vehicle 10, the images of the emergency vehicle cannot be acquired by the cameras 14a to 14d. Therefore, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 cannot recognize the existence of the emergency vehicle based on the image information captured by the cameras 14a to 14d.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance with respect to the vehicle 10 is equal to or greater than the predetermined number, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 uses the sound information collected by the microphones 12a to 12d. Recognize emergency vehicles based on. When the number of other vehicles located within a predetermined distance or less with respect to the vehicle 10 is less than the predetermined number, the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the emergency vehicle based on the image information taken by the cameras 14a to 14d. do. Thereby, the method of acquiring the information used for recognizing the emergency vehicle can be appropriately selected according to the number of other vehicles around the vehicle 10. Therefore, the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle can be improved.

Further, when the emergency vehicle recognition unit 38 recognizes the emergency vehicle based on the sound information collected by the microphones 12a to 12d, the images of the cameras 14a to 14d that capture the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the vehicle 10. Improve the recognition accuracy of emergency vehicles based on information. As a result, when an emergency vehicle enters the shooting range of the cameras 14a to 14d, the emergency vehicle can be recognized at high speed based on the image information.

[Second Embodiment]
The configuration of the vehicle 10 of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the vehicle 10 of the first embodiment, but the content of the evasion control performed by the evasion control unit 44 of the present embodiment is the evasion control unit of the first embodiment. It is different from the content of the evasion control performed by 44.

In the first embodiment, the evacuation control unit 44 implements evacuation control that automatically drives the vehicle 10 so as to perform the evacuation operation. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the evacuation control unit 44 controls the display 28 so as to display an image or the like for notifying the occupant of the vehicle 10 to urge the occupant of the vehicle 10 as the evasion control. Further, in the present embodiment, the evacuation control unit 44 controls the speaker 30 so as to output a voice or the like for notifying the occupant of the vehicle 10 to urge the occupant of the vehicle 10 to evacuate the vehicle 10.

After the notification is given, the travel control by the travel control unit 42 may be terminated so that the operation can be switched to the manual operation by the occupant of the vehicle 10. Further, the escape control unit 44 of the present embodiment can be applied to the vehicle 10 which does not have the automatic driving function.

[Technical Thought Obtained from the Embodiment]
The technical ideas that can be grasped from the above embodiments are described below.

The emergency vehicle recognition unit (38) that recognizes an emergency vehicle based on the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method, and other vehicles that recognize other vehicles around the own vehicle (10). An emergency vehicle evacuation control device (32) having a vehicle recognition unit (40) and an evacuation control unit (44) that performs evacuation control so as to evacuate the own vehicle when the emergency vehicle is recognized. Therefore, the emergency vehicle recognition unit uses the information acquired by the first method and the second method according to the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance from the own vehicle. The emergency vehicle is recognized using one of the acquired information.

In the emergency vehicle evacuation control device, the first method is a method of acquiring image information by a camera (14a to 14d) for photographing the outside of the own vehicle, and the second method is the method of acquiring image information. This is a method of acquiring sound information by a microphone (12a to 12d) that collects sounds outside the own vehicle, and the number of the other vehicles located within a predetermined distance or less with respect to the own vehicle is less than the predetermined number. At a certain time, the emergency vehicle recognition unit may recognize the emergency vehicle based on the image information acquired by the first method.

In the emergency vehicle evacuation control device, the first method is a method of acquiring image information by a camera that photographs the outside of the own vehicle, and the second method is a method of acquiring image information outside the own vehicle. This is a method of acquiring sound information by a microphone that collects sound, and when the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance to the own vehicle is equal to or more than a predetermined number, the emergency vehicle recognition unit may perform the emergency vehicle recognition unit. The emergency vehicle may be recognized based on the sound information acquired by the second method.

In the emergency vehicle evasion control device, the emergency vehicle recognition unit estimates and estimates the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the own vehicle based on the information acquired by the second method. The recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle may be set so as to be recognized with high accuracy by using the image information obtained by photographing the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located.

The emergency vehicle evacuation control method is a first method according to the other vehicle recognition step of recognizing other vehicles around the own vehicle and the number of the other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance with respect to the own vehicle. Using one of the acquired information and the information acquired by the second method, an emergency vehicle recognition step of recognizing an emergency vehicle and, when the emergency vehicle is recognized, the own vehicle is evacuated. It has a shunt control step for performing shunt control as described above.

10 ... Vehicle (own vehicle) 12a-12d ... Mike 14a-14d ... Camera 32 ... Vehicle control device (emergency vehicle evasion control device)
38 ... Emergency vehicle recognition unit 40 ... Other vehicle recognition unit 44 ... Evacuation control unit

Claims (5)

An emergency vehicle recognition unit that recognizes an emergency vehicle based on the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method.
Another vehicle recognition unit that recognizes other vehicles around the own vehicle,
When the emergency vehicle is recognized, the evacuation control unit that performs evacuation control so as to evacuate the own vehicle, and the evacuation control unit.
It is an emergency vehicle evasion control device that has
The emergency vehicle recognition unit obtains the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method according to the number of the other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance from the own vehicle. An emergency vehicle evasion control device that recognizes the emergency vehicle using one of the information. The emergency vehicle evasion control device according to claim 1.
The first method is a method of acquiring image information with a camera that photographs the outside of the own vehicle.
The second method is a method of acquiring sound information by a microphone that collects sounds outside the own vehicle.
When the number of other vehicles located within a predetermined distance or less with respect to the own vehicle is less than the predetermined number, the emergency vehicle recognition unit uses the image information acquired by the first method to obtain the emergency vehicle. An emergency vehicle evasion control device that recognizes. The emergency vehicle evasion control device according to claim 1 or 2.
The first method is a method of acquiring image information with a camera that photographs the outside of the own vehicle.
The second method is a method of acquiring sound information by a microphone that collects sounds outside the own vehicle.
When the number of the other vehicles located within a range less than the predetermined distance with respect to the own vehicle is equal to or more than the predetermined number, the emergency vehicle recognition unit performs the emergency vehicle based on the sound information acquired by the second method. An emergency vehicle evasion control device that recognizes. The emergency vehicle evasion control device according to claim 3.
The emergency vehicle recognition unit estimates the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located with respect to the own vehicle based on the information acquired by the second method, and photographs the estimated direction in which the emergency vehicle is located. An emergency vehicle evacuation control device that uses image information to set the recognition accuracy of the emergency vehicle so that it can be recognized with high accuracy. Another vehicle recognition step that recognizes other vehicles around the own vehicle,
Depending on the number of other vehicles located within a range less than a predetermined distance to the own vehicle, one of the information acquired by the first method and the information acquired by the second method is used. , Emergency vehicle recognition step to recognize emergency vehicle,
When the emergency vehicle is recognized, the evacuation control step of performing the evacuation control so as to evacuate the own vehicle, and the evacuation control step.
An emergency vehicle evacuation control method.

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