JP2023002278A - Determination system for confirming necessity of car washing, and vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

To keep an automatic driving vehicle clean.SOLUTION: A determination system 100 for confirming necessity of car washing, includes: a vehicle 10 which is automatically driven and comprises a camera 33 that captures a travel path, a travel recording device 35 that records a travel log, and a determination device 24 that determines whether a confirmation of a necessity of car washing is necessary; and a vehicle base for parking the vehicle 10 and washing the vehicle, wherein: the determination device 24 of the vehicle 10 determines whether the vehicle 10 is traveling without avoiding a muddy road based on an image of the travel road acquired from the camera 33 and the travel log acquired from the travel recording device 35; and when determining that the vehicle 10 is traveling without avoiding the muddy road, the determination device of the vehicle determines that a confirmation of necessity of the car washing is necessary and transmits a determination result to the vehicle base.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for determining whether or not it is necessary to confirm whether a vehicle needs to be washed, and to a vehicle that determines whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed.

An automatic parking service is used to automatically drive a vehicle to a predetermined parking space in a parking lot by communicating with on-road devices. In this service, the appearance and position of the vehicle are detected by a camera, and the vehicle is judged. Therefore, if the vehicle is dirty, the judgment may not be possible and the automatic parking service may not be available. For this reason, it has been proposed to take an image of a vehicle entering a parking lot with a camera and, if the vehicle is dirty, request the owner of the vehicle to perform maintenance or wash the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2020-119193 A

By the way, even if a self-driving vehicle or a shared vehicle returns to the depot in a dirty state, there is a long time lag before the vehicle is washed. Yes, and may result in poor service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to keep an automatic driving vehicle clean.

A system for determining whether or not a car wash is necessary according to the present invention includes a camera that captures images of a driving path, a travel recording device that records a travel log, and a determination device that determines whether or not it is necessary to confirm whether or not a car wash is necessary, and is used by a plurality of users. and a vehicle base for parking the vehicle and washing the vehicle, wherein the determination device of the vehicle includes: It is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the mud road based on the image of the traveling road acquired from the camera and the traveling log acquired from the travel recording device, and the vehicle does not avoid the mud road. If it is determined that the vehicle is running at full speed, it is determined that confirmation of the need for car washing is required, and the determination result is transmitted to the vehicle depot.

In this way, when it is determined that the vehicle needs to be washed, the determination result is sent to the depot, so the time lag until the vehicle is washed when it returns to the depot can be shortened, and the vehicle is kept clean. be able to.

The car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the present invention includes an operation management server that performs operation management of the vehicle, the determination device transmits a determination result to the operation management server, and the operation management server receives from the determination device When receiving the determination result that the car wash necessity confirmation is necessary, the vehicle for which the car wash necessity confirmation is required returns to the vehicle depot and transmits a return command to stop in the designated area of the vehicle depot. may

In this way, when it is determined that the vehicle needs to be washed, the vehicle that needs to be washed is returned to the depot, parked in a designated area, and checked for washing. When returning to the depot, it is possible to immediately determine whether or not the car needs to be washed, shorten the time lag until the car is washed when returning to the depot, and keep the vehicle clean.

In the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the present invention, the vehicle further includes a navigation device, the travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log, and the determination device uses the travel record. The driving log including the driving road information is acquired from the device, and if the driving log includes a change of the driving road, an image of the driving road is acquired from the camera, and the image of the driving road is a muddy road. If the image is not an image, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road, and if the image of the traveling road is an image of the mud road, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the mud road. You may

In this way, when the vehicle is traveling on a mud road after changing the travel road to a mud road, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the mud road, and the determination result indicating that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed is transmitted. It is possible to accurately determine whether or not the car wash is necessary.

In the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the present invention, the vehicle includes a navigation device, the travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log, and the determination device comprises the travel recording device. acquires the travel log including the travel path information from the camera, and when the travel log includes travel near a parking lot where a muddy vehicle is parked, acquires an image of the travel path from the camera; When the image of the travel road is not the image of the mud road, it is determined that the vehicle is avoiding the mud road, and when the image of the travel road is the image of the mud road, the vehicle does not avoid the mud road. It may be determined that the vehicle is traveling to

In this way, when the vehicle runs on a muddy road near the parking lot where the muddy vehicle is parked, it is determined that the vehicle is running without avoiding the muddy road, and the result of determination that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed is transmitted. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the car wash is necessary.

In the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the present invention, the vehicle includes an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration, the travel log includes the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, and the determination device detects the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor. an image of the travel road is obtained from the camera when the resulting acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold, and the vehicle avoids the mud road when the image of the travel road is not an image of the mud road. If the image of the road is an image of a mud road, it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the mud road.

In this way, when a large acceleration is detected, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a rough road, and an image of the road is acquired from the camera. It is possible to accurately determine the necessity confirmation.

A vehicle according to the present invention includes a camera that captures images of a travel path, a travel recording device that records a travel log, and a determination device that determines whether confirmation of the necessity of car washing is necessary, and is used by a plurality of users. wherein the determination device determines whether or not the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road based on the image of the travel road acquired from the camera and the travel log acquired from the travel recording device. When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a muddy road without avoiding the , it is determined that confirmation of the necessity of washing the car is necessary, and the determination result is output to the outside.

As described above, when it is determined that the car wash necessity confirmation is necessary, the determination result is output to the outside, so the time lag until the car wash can be shortened, and the vehicle can be kept clean.

The vehicle of the present invention further includes a navigation device, the travel recording device acquires travel road information from the navigation device as the travel log, and the determination device includes the travel road information from the travel recording device. Acquiring a travel log, obtaining an image of the travel path from the camera when the travel log includes a change of the travel road, and avoiding the mud road when the image of the travel road is not an image of the mud road. If the image of the road is an image of a muddy road, it may be determined that the vehicle is running without avoiding the muddy road.

In the vehicle of the present invention, a navigation device is provided, the travel recording device acquires travel road information from the navigation device as the travel log, and the determination device receives the travel information including the travel road information from the travel recording device. A log is acquired, and when the travel log includes travel in the vicinity of a parking lot where a muddy vehicle is parked, an image of the travel road is acquired from the camera, and the image of the travel road is not an image of a muddy road. If not, it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road, and if the image of the traveling road is an image of the mud road, it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the mud road.

The vehicle according to the present invention includes an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration, the travel log includes the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, and the determination device determines whether the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold. In this case, an image of the travel road is obtained from the camera, and if the image of the travel road is not an image of a mud road, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road, and the image of the travel road is an image of the mud road. In the case of images, it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding the muddy road.

The present invention can keep self-driving vehicles clean.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a system diagram which shows the structure of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of embodiment. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of an operating state database shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the data structure of a user database shown in FIG. 1; FIG. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle used for the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of embodiment. FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of the vehicle shown in FIG. 4; It is a flowchart which shows operation|movement of the operation management server of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation|movement of the driving control part of a vehicle, and a determination apparatus which are operated by the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the determination processing operation|movement of the determination apparatus of the vehicle operated by the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of embodiment. 7 is a flowchart showing another determination processing operation of the vehicle determination device operated in the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the embodiment. 7 is a flowchart showing another determination processing operation of the vehicle determination device operated in the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of the embodiment. It is a system diagram showing the configuration of a car wash necessity confirmation determination system of another embodiment. 12 is a diagram showing the data structure of the operating state database shown in FIG. 11; FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation|movement of the monitoring server of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of other embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation|movement of the operation management server of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of other embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows another operation|movement of the monitoring server of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system of other embodiment.

Hereinafter, the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a car wash necessity check determination system 100 of the embodiment determines whether it is necessary to check the necessity of car wash for a plurality of vehicles 10 that can be operated automatically in a predetermined operation area 80. It is a system that The plurality of vehicles 10 are self-driving taxis that travel in the operation area 80 and transport the user 70 by automatic operation based on commands from the operation management server 60 installed in the operation management center 50 . The operation management server 60 and the vehicle 10 are connected by wireless communication lines 45, respectively. Thus, the vehicle 10 is used by a plurality of users 70 and transports the users 70 by automatic operation.

In the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 of the embodiment, it is assumed that eight vehicles 10 are operated. When the eight vehicles 10 are distinguished from each other, the vehicles are referred to as vehicles 10a to 10h, and when the eight vehicles are not distinguished, they are referred to as the vehicle 10. In FIG. 1, three vehicles 10f to 10h are parked in a parking space 83 of a depot 82 in an operation area 80, and five other vehicles 10a to 10e are parked on a road 81 in the operation area 80. It shows the running state. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle depot 82 is provided with a building 84 for performing maintenance and inspection of the vehicles 10. In the building 84, communication with the operation management server 60 is performed to monitor the operating status of each vehicle. A base terminal 85 for displaying such as is provided. A car washing device 86 for washing the vehicle 10 is provided in the car depot 82 . 1 shows the connection state between the vehicles 10a, 10b, and 10h and the operation management server 60, and the illustration of the connection state between the other vehicles 10 and the operation management server 60 is omitted.

The operation management server 60 is a computer including a CPU 65 that internally processes information and a memory 66 that stores operation programs, operation data, databases, and the like, and performs operation management such as waiting for dispatch of the vehicle 10 . A map information database 61 , an operating state database 62 and a user database 63 are connected to the operation management server 60 . The map information database 61 is a database that stores map information. The operation management server 60 is also connected to the wireless communication line 45 via the center side communication device 67 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the operating state database 62 includes vehicle numbers of a plurality of vehicles 10 that are operated and managed by the operation management server 60, current operating states, names of users 70, and information on which the users 70 have boarded. This is a database that stores boarding times, boarding places, waypoints, destinations, and estimated arrival times in association with each other. Here, the operating status stores the operating status of each vehicle 10, such as boarding, picking up, waiting for reservation execution, getting off the user, being forwarded, waiting at the pool, waiting for delivery, and the like. During boarding indicates that the user 70 is in the vehicle 10 and is moving toward the destination or waypoint. During pickup indicates that the user 70 is requesting the vehicle and is moving toward the boarding place. Waiting for reservation execution indicates a state in which the vehicle has been dispatched after receiving the reservation of the user 70 and is on standby until the start time of use. During forwarding indicates that the user 70 has finished using the vehicle and is in the process of returning to the vehicle depot 82 . "Pool standby" indicates that charging has been completed and the vehicle is on standby in the depot 82 in an operable state. Waiting for dispatch indicates a state in which one task has been completed and the next dispatch is awaited. The boarding time stores the boarding time when the user 70 has boarded before the current time, and stores the scheduled boarding time when the user 70 plans to board the vehicle after the current time. Similarly, the boarding location stores the actual boarding point or planned boarding point. If there is no boarding plan, the item is blank. The waypoint is on the route between the boarding point and the destination, and the name of the point where the user 70 gets off and stops by is input. The name of the point where the user 70 actually got off, or the name of the planned waypoint where the user 70 is scheduled to get off is stored in the waypoint. If the user 70 does not get off between the boarding place and the destination, the waypoint is blank.

As shown in FIG. 3, the user database 63 is a database in which user IDs, names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of users 70 who use the vehicle 10 are associated and stored.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the vehicle 10 is an electric vehicle capable of automatic operation, and includes a motor 11 for driving, a battery 12 that supplies driving power to the motor 11, and steering angles of wheels 13. The steering device 14, the travel control unit 21 that controls travel of the vehicle 10, the determination device 24, the navigation device 27, the camera 33, the travel recording device 35, the vehicle-side communication device 40, and the user 70 are the objectives. A touch panel 30 for inputting the ground 93 or the like is provided.

The motor 11 , the battery 12 and the steering device 14 are connected to the travel control section 21 . A voltage sensor 15 and a current sensor 16 are mounted between the battery 12 and the motor 11 to detect the voltage and current of the electric power supplied from the battery 12 to the motor 11 . A temperature sensor 17 for detecting the temperature of the battery 12 is attached to the battery 12 . A vehicle speed sensor 18 for detecting the vehicle speed and a steering angle sensor 19 for detecting the steering angle of the wheels 13 are mounted between the motor 11 and the wheels 13 . Voltage sensor 15 , current sensor 16 , temperature sensor 17 , vehicle speed sensor 18 , and steering angle sensor 19 are connected to running control unit 21 .

The vehicle 10 is equipped with an acceleration sensor 28 and an angular velocity sensor 29 for detecting acceleration and angular velocity of the vehicle 10 . Acceleration sensor 28 and angular velocity sensor 29 are connected to navigation device 27 . The navigation device 27 determines the current position of the vehicle 10 based on the GPS signals acquired from the GPS satellites 90 via the vehicle-side communication device 40 and the acceleration information and angular velocity information of the vehicle 10 acquired from the acceleration sensor 28 and the angular velocity sensor 29. The position is specified, and position information of the vehicle 10 is output to the travel control unit 21 . The navigation device 27 also outputs the current position information of the vehicle 10 to the operation management server 60 via the wireless communication line 45 .

The travel control unit 21 is a computer provided with a CPU 22 that internally processes information, and a memory 23 that stores software, programs, and data executed by the CPU 22 . The travel control unit 21 receives an operation command input from the operation management server 60, or a destination 93 input from the touch panel 30, current position information input from the navigation device 27, and various sensors 15 to 19. The CPU 22 executes the software stored in the memory 23 on the basis of the input data, thereby controlling the motor 11, the battery 12, and the steering device 14 to drive the vehicle 10 automatically. Further, the traveling control unit 21 detects the voltage and current of the electric power output from the battery 12 to the motor 11 detected by the voltage sensor 15 and the current sensor 16, and the temperature of the battery 12 detected by the temperature sensor 17. 12 remaining capacity is calculated and output as vehicle state information.

The camera 33 is attached to the front of the vehicle 10 and acquires an image of the travel path of the vehicle 10 . The camera 33 has an image storage unit 34 for storing an acquired image. While the vehicle 10 is running, the image storage unit 34 stores image data from the present to a predetermined time ago. Here, the predetermined time may be several minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 to 2 hours. Camera 33 is connected to determination device 24 .

The acceleration sensor 32 is a sensor different from the acceleration sensor 28 connected to the navigation device 27, and is a sensor that measures the magnitude of acceleration due to vibration when the vehicle 10 vibrates. The acceleration sensor 32 is connected to the determination device 24 .

The travel recording device 35 is connected to the travel control unit 21, acquires travel information such as the speed and steering angle of the vehicle 10 from the travel control unit 21, and records it as a travel log. Further, the travel recording device 35 acquires travel route information such as the current position of the vehicle 10 on the map, the travel direction, and the name of the travel route from the navigation device 27 and records it as a travel log. The travel recorder 35 is connected to the determination device 24 .

The determination device 24 is a computer provided with a CPU 25 that internally processes information, and a memory 26 that stores software, programs, and data executed by the CPU 25 . The determination device 24 determines whether it is necessary to confirm whether or not the vehicle 10 needs to be washed based on the image of the travel road acquired from the camera 33 and the travel log acquired from the travel recording device 35, and outputs the determination result. Further, the determination device 24 is connected to the travel control unit 21 and exchanges data with each other.

Next, the operation of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. FIG.

A user 70 in the operation area 80 connects the mobile terminal 71 of the user 70 to the operation management server 60 to input the ID of the user 70, the e-mail address, the boarding place 92, the destination 93, and the waypoint 93a (see FIG. 1). ), input the dispatch time, etc., and request dispatch of the vehicle 10 . As shown in step S101 in FIG. 6, when the operation management server 60 receives a dispatch request for the vehicle 10 from the portable terminal 71 of the user 70, it refers to the user database 63 to confirm that the user is the registered user 70. confirm. Once confirmed, the operation management server 60 advances to step S102 in FIG.

Then, the operation management server 60 proceeds to step S103 in FIG. 6, and transmits an operation command from the boarding point 92 to the destination 93 to the vehicle 10a according to the content of the request from the user 70. FIG. The operation command includes the name of the user, boarding place 92, scheduled boarding time, destination 93, and waypoint 93a (see FIG. 1).

After transmitting the operation command, the operation management server 60 proceeds to step S104 in FIG. 6 and waits until the work of the vehicle 10a is completed.

Here, referring to FIG. 7, after the operation management server 60 transmits the operation command to the vehicle 10a, the user 70 is transported from the boarding place 92 to the destination 93 based on the operation command received by the vehicle 10a, After that, the operation of returning to the vehicle depot 82 will be described.

As shown in step S201 in FIG. 7, the vehicle 10a waits until an operation command is received from the operation management server 60, and when the operation command is received, proceeds to step S202 in FIG. A scheduled time, a boarding point 92, a destination 93, and a transit point 93a are input to the navigation device 27, and a travel route 94 to the destination 93 via the boarding point 92 and the transit point 93a is acquired from the navigation device 27. Then, the travel control unit 21 causes the vehicle 10a to travel along the travel route 94 from the current location 91 to the boarding place 92 by automatic operation. After causing the vehicle 10a to start traveling to the boarding place 92, the traveling control unit 21 transmits to the operation management server 60 a signal indicating that the operating state is picking up the vehicle. The operation management server 60 registers the received operating status in the operating status database 62 .

As shown in step S203 of FIG. 7, when the vehicle 10 starts running, the determination device 24 starts determination processing to determine whether or not the vehicle 10a is running in a manner that requires confirmation of whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed.

Here, the determination processing operation of the determination device 24 will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the travel recording device 35 acquires travel information such as the speed and steering angle of the vehicle 10 from the travel control unit 21, and the current position of the vehicle 10 on the map, the travel direction, and the travel information from the navigation device 27. Travel road information such as road names is acquired and recorded as a travel log. As shown in step S<b>301 in FIG. 8 , the determination device 24 acquires a travel log including travel road information from the travel recording device 35 . Then, the determination device 24 determines whether or not the travel log includes a change of travel route in step S302 of FIG. This determination can be made by referring to various travel logs. If there is an increase, it may be determined that the vehicle turns at the intersection and changes the traveling route. Also, if the current position deviates from National Highway No. 0 after traveling along the route with the name of National Highway No. 0, it may be determined that the route has been changed. 8, the determination device 24 proceeds to step S303 in FIG. In this case, the determination device 24 calculates the time when the travel route was changed based on the travel log, and acquires an image of the travel route after the change from the image storage unit 34 of the camera 33 .

Then, the determination device 24 proceeds to step S304 in FIG. 8 and determines whether or not the image of the traveling road acquired is the image of the muddy road. If the decision device 24 determines YES in step S304 of FIG. 8, the process proceeds to step S305 of FIG. In step S306, it is determined that it is necessary to confirm the necessity of washing the car. Then, the determination device 24 advances to step S307 in FIG. 8 and outputs the determination result that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the car wash is necessary.

On the other hand, if it is determined NO in step S304 of FIG. 8, the determination device 24 proceeds to step S308 of FIG. In step S309, it is determined that confirmation of whether or not the car wash is necessary is unnecessary. Then, the determination device 24 advances to step S307 in FIG. 8 and outputs the determination result that it is unnecessary to confirm whether or not the car wash is necessary.

The determination result output in step S307 of FIG. The determination result is also input to the travel control unit 21 .

Here, returning to FIG. 7, the operation of the travel control unit 21 after the determination device 24 starts the determination process in step S203 of FIG. 7 will be described.

As shown in step S204 in FIG. 7, the travel control unit 21 changes the operating state of the operation management server 60 to "boarding" when the vehicle 10 arrives at the boarding point 92 and the user 70 gets on the vehicle 10a. It transmits the signal and the time of arrival at the destination 93 . The operation management server 60 registers the received operating status in the operating status database 62 . When the vehicle 10a travels along the travel route 94 and arrives at the destination 93, it waits until the user 70 gets off as shown in step S205 of FIG. After the user 70 gets off the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S206 in FIG.

In step S206 in FIG. 7, when the travel control unit 21 receives a return command to return to the vehicle depot 82 from the operation management server 60, the process proceeds to step S207 in FIG. The signal inside and the time of arrival at the depot 82 are transmitted to the operation management server 60, and the process proceeds to step S208 in FIG.

Here, referring back to FIG. 6, the operation of the operation management server 60 after the determination device 24 has transmitted to the operation management server 60 the determination result indicating that the vehicle wash necessity confirmation is necessary will be described.

When the operation management server 60 receives the determination result indicating that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the car wash is necessary from the determination device 24, it determines YES in step S105 in FIG. 6, proceeds to step S106 in FIG. 82 and transmits a return command to the vehicle 10a to stop at a designated area of the vehicle depot 82. - 特許庁

Then, the process proceeds to step S107 in FIG. 6, and waits until the work end signal, the return signal, and the arrival time at the vehicle depot 82 are received from the vehicle 10a. Then, when these signals are received from the vehicle 10a, the process proceeds to step S108 in FIG.

When the vehicle 10a returns to the vehicle depot 82 and stops near the designated area, for example, the car wash device 86, the engineer at the depot 82 confirms whether the vehicle 10a needs to be washed. Then, when the car wash is necessary, the car wash device 86 is used to wash the vehicle 10a.

On the other hand, when the operation management server 60 does not receive the signal indicating that the car wash necessity confirmation is required from the vehicle 10a, or receives the signal indicating that the car wash necessity confirmation is unnecessary, the operation management server 60 performs step S105 in FIG. , the process advances to step S109 in FIG. 6 to register that the vehicle 10a is waiting for dispatch in the operating state database 62, and the operation ends.

As described above, the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 of the embodiment selects the vehicle 10a for which the car wash necessity confirmation is required when the determination device 24 determines that the vehicle wash necessity confirmation is necessary. Since the vehicle is returned to the base 82 and stopped in the designated area, the engineer can surely determine whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed immediately after returning to the vehicle base 82.例文帳に追加As a result, the time lag until the vehicle is washed when returning to the vehicle depot 82 can be shortened, and the vehicle 10a used by a plurality of users 70 can be kept clean.

In the above description, when the travel log includes a change in the travel route, an image of the travel route is acquired from the image storage unit 34 of the camera 33 to determine whether or not the car should be washed. Absent.

For example, as shown in step S401 in FIG. 9, if the travel log includes travel near a parking lot where a muddy vehicle is parked, the process proceeds to step S303 in FIG. An image of the travel road may be acquired to determine whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed. Here, a mud-stained vehicle is a vehicle that has mud adhering to its tires and body, and is likely to have mud on the road in the vicinity of the vehicle. Examples of mud-stained vehicles include construction trucks that run on soil or mud at construction sites.

10, the vibration acceleration of the vehicle 10a is detected by the acceleration sensor 32, and as shown in step S502 of FIG. If it is determined that there is a possibility that the vehicle is traveling on a muddy road, the process proceeds to step S303 in FIG. .

Further, in the above description, the determination device 24 sends the determination result to the operation management server 60 via the vehicle side communication device 40, the wireless communication line 45, and the center side communication device 67 that it is necessary to confirm whether the car wash is necessary or not. Although it has been described that the determination result that confirmation of necessity is unnecessary is transmitted, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the determination device 24 may transmit the determination result to the base terminal 85 of the vehicle depot 82 via the vehicle-side communication device 40 and the wireless communication line 45 .

In this case as well, the time lag until the vehicle 10a that needs to be washed returns to the vehicle depot 82 can be shortened, and the vehicle 10a can be kept clean.

Further, if the judgment device 24 of the vehicle 10a outputs the judgment result indicating that the vehicle wash necessity check is necessary, it does not have to transmit to the operation management server 60 or the base terminal 85 of the vehicle base 82 . For example, the determination device 24 may transmit the determination result that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the car wash is necessary to the mobile terminal 71 of the user 70 to prompt the user 70 to confirm whether or not the car is necessary to be washed. Further, the determination device 24 outputs the determination result indicating that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the car wash is necessary to the touch panel 30 attached to the vehicle 10a or the signage (not shown) attached to the vehicle interior, and informs the user 70 whether the car wash is necessary or not. A confirmation may be prompted.

Next, a car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200 of another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The same parts as those of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 described above with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 11, the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200 includes monitoring cameras 76a and 76b provided along the road 81 in the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 described above, a monitoring server 73, and a weather server. 77 is added. In the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200, the monitoring server 73 acquires images from the monitoring cameras 76a and 76b provided along the road 81 via the wireless communication line 45, and extracts the image of the vehicle 10 from the acquired images. , the extracted image of the vehicle 10 is transmitted to the operation management server 60, and based on the image received by the operation management server 60, it is determined whether it is necessary to confirm whether or not the vehicle 10 needs to be washed.

An operating state database 62 a is connected to the operation management server 60 of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200 . As shown in FIG. 13, the operating state database 62a is a database in which vehicle numbers, user names, operating states, travel route information, and vehicle characteristic information are stored in association with each other. The vehicle number, user name, and operation status are the same as the operation status database 62 connected to the operation management server 60 of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 100 described above. The travel route information is a data set in which a boarding time, a boarding place, a waypoint, a destination, and an estimated arrival time are set as a set. Vehicle feature information is a data set in which the vehicle type, license plate data, and color are combined. Here, the license plate data may store, for example, the last four digits of the license plate. In addition, the color may store an initial letter representing the color of the exterior of the vehicle 10 . For example, S may be stored for silver, R for red, and W for white.

The monitoring server 73 is a computer having a CPU 74 and a memory 75 that internally process information, and has a built-in communication function. It is connected and exchanges information with each monitoring camera 76 a and 76 b and the operation management server 60 . As will be described later in detail, the monitoring server 73 acquires the travel route information and the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle 10 from the operation management server 60, and controls the monitoring cameras 76a and 76b for capturing images based on this information. One or more of them are selected, images are acquired from the selected monitoring cameras 76 a and 76 b , images of the vehicle 10 are extracted from the acquired images, and transmitted to the operation management server 60 .

The weather server 77 is a server installed in a company that distributes weather data. The operation management server 60 acquires weather information from the weather server 77 via the center side communication device 67 and the wireless communication line 45 .

Next, the operation of the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG.

As shown in step S 601 in FIG. 13 , the monitoring server 73 acquires the travel route information and vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle 10 from the operation management server 60 . Then, the monitoring server 73 selects the monitoring camera 76a capable of imaging the vehicle 10 in step S602 of FIG. 13 based on the acquired travel route information.

As shown in FIG. 11, when the vehicle 10a travels from the boarding place 92 to the destination 93 via the waypoint 93a along the travel route 94, the monitoring server 73 is arranged along the travel route 94. The monitoring camera 76a is selected as a monitoring camera for capturing an image of the vehicle 10a.

After selecting the monitoring camera 76a, the monitoring server 73 proceeds to step S603 in FIG. 13 and acquires an image from the monitoring camera 76a. The monitoring server 73 calculates the time when the vehicle 10a passes the vicinity of the monitoring camera 76a based on the travel route information acquired from the operation management server 60, and receives images of a predetermined period before and after that time from the monitoring camera 76a. do.

In step S604 of FIG. 13, the monitoring server 73 extracts candidate images of the vehicle 10a from the images received from the monitoring camera 76a based on the vehicle characteristic information. Extraction of the candidate images of the vehicle 10a is performed, for example, by selecting a plurality of candidate images of the vehicle 10a based on the color and vehicle type information, reading the number of the license plate from the plurality of selected candidate images, and extracting the number of the vehicle usage feature information. A candidate image that matches the plate data may be specified and extracted as the image of the vehicle 10a.

After extracting the image of the vehicle 10 a , the monitoring server 73 transmits the extracted image to the operation management server 60 .

As shown in step S701 in FIG. 14, the operation management server 60 waits until it receives an image of the vehicle 10a from the monitoring server 73. FIG. When the image of the vehicle 10a is received from the monitoring server 73, the process proceeds to step S702 in FIG. 14 to acquire the weather information from the weather server 77. Without determining the degree of contamination, waiting for delivery is registered in the operating state of the vehicle 10a in the operating state database 62a, and the operation ends. This is because mud attached to the vehicle 10a may be washed away when it rains, making it difficult to determine whether or not it is necessary to check whether the vehicle needs to be washed.

On the other hand, if NO is determined in step S702 of FIG. 14, the operation management server 60 proceeds to step S703 of FIG. 14 and determines the dirtiness of the vehicle 10a based on the image of the vehicle 10a. The degree of contamination may be determined by, for example, the number and area of mud adhering to the outside of the vehicle 10a. Then, the operation management server 60 determines in step S704 of FIG. 14 whether the contamination level is higher than a predetermined threshold. When determining the degree of contamination based on the number of mud, the operation management server 60 may determine YES in step S704 of FIG. 14 when the number of mud is greater than the predetermined threshold number. Further, when the degree of contamination is determined by the area of mud, YES may be determined in step S704 of FIG. 14 when the area of mud is larger than the predetermined threshold area.

When the operation management server 60 determines YES in step S704 of FIG. 14, the operation management server 60 proceeds to step S705 of FIG. send a feedback order to

As described above with reference to FIG. 7, when the vehicle 10a receives the return command, it sends the work end signal, the signal that the vehicle 10a is being forwarded, and the arrival time to the vehicle depot 82 to the operation management server 60. It transmits and returns to the vehicle depot 82 .

When the operation management server 60 receives the service end signal, the turn signal, and the arrival time at the vehicle depot 82 from the vehicle 10a in step S706 of FIG. It transmits to the base terminal 85 a command for confirming the arrival time and whether or not the car needs to be washed.

When the vehicle 10a returns to the vehicle depot 82 and stops near the designated area, for example, the car wash device 86, the engineer at the depot 82 confirms whether the vehicle 10a needs to be washed. Then, when the car wash is necessary, the car wash device 86 is used to wash the vehicle 10a.

On the other hand, if the operation management server 60 determines NO in step S704 of FIG. 14, the operation management server 60 proceeds to step S708 of FIG. do.

As described above, in the car wash necessity confirmation determination system 200 of the embodiment, the operation management server 60 determines that the car wash necessity confirmation of the vehicle 10a is necessary based on the images of the vehicle 10a acquired from the monitoring cameras 76a and 76b. In this case, the vehicle 10a for which confirmation of the need for car wash is required is returned to the vehicle depot 82 and stopped in a designated area, so that the engineer can reliably determine whether the car wash is necessary immediately after returning to the depot 82. can do. As a result, the time lag until the vehicle is washed when returning to the vehicle depot 82 can be shortened, and the vehicle 10a used by a plurality of users 70 can be kept clean.

In the above description, the monitoring server 73 extracts the image of the vehicle 10a based on the images obtained from the monitoring cameras 76a and 76b arranged along the road 81, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the monitoring server 73 may extract an image of the vehicle 10a based on an image obtained from a monitoring camera (not shown) placed near the destination 93 of the vehicle 10a.

15, the monitoring server 73 obtains the travel route information and the vehicle characteristic information of the vehicle 10 from the operation management server 60 as shown in step S801 of FIG. 10, another vehicle 10b capable of capturing an image of the vehicle 10a with the camera 33 mounted on the vehicle 10 is selected, and as shown in step S803 of FIG. An image may be received from the camera 33, an image of the vehicle 10a may be extracted from the received image, and the extracted image of the vehicle 10a may be transmitted to the operation management server 60, as shown in step S804 of FIG. The other vehicle 10b may be, for example, a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction to the vehicle 10a, or may be a vehicle traveling in the same direction. At this time, the camera 33 may be attached to the front of the vehicle 10b or may be attached to the rear.

In this way, since images of the vehicle 10a are acquired by the large number of surveillance cameras 76a and 76b or the camera 33 mounted on the vehicle 10, the state of the vehicle 10a can be grasped in detail, and the vehicle 10a can be maintained in a clean state. can keep.

In the above description, the vehicle 10 has been described as an automatically driving taxi. may

10, 10a to 10h vehicle, 11 motor, 12 battery, 13 wheel, 14 steering device, 15 voltage sensor, 16 current sensor, 17 temperature sensor, 18 vehicle speed sensor, 19 steering angle sensor, 21 travel control section, 22, 25, 65, 75 CPU, 23, 26, 66, 75 memory, 24 determination device, 27 navigation device, 28, 32 acceleration sensor, 29 angular velocity sensor, 30 touch panel, 33 camera, 34 image storage unit, 35 travel recording device, 40 vehicle side communication device, 45 wireless communication line, 50 operation management center, 60 operation management server, 61 map information database, 62, 62a operating state database, 63 user database, 67 center side communication device, 70 user, 71 mobile terminal, 73 surveillance server, 76a, 76b surveillance camera, 77 weather server, 80 operation area, 81 road, 82 vehicle depot, 83 parking space, 84 building, 85 base terminal, 86 car wash device, 90 GPS satellite, 91 current location, 92 boarding point , 93 destination, 93a waypoint, 94 travel route, 100, 200 car wash necessity confirmation system.

Claims (9)

A vehicle that is used by a plurality of users and transports the users by automatic operation, equipped with a camera that captures a travel path, a travel recording device that records a travel log, and a determination device that determines whether or not the car needs to be washed. When,
A car wash necessity confirmation determination system including a vehicle base for parking the vehicle and washing the vehicle,
The determination device of the vehicle,
Determining whether the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a muddy road based on the image of the traveling road acquired from the camera and the traveling log acquired from the traveling recording device,
When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a muddy road, determining that confirmation of necessity of car washing is necessary and transmitting the determination result to the vehicle depot;
A car wash necessity confirmation system characterized by The car wash necessity confirmation determination system according to claim 1,
Including an operation management server that performs operation management of the vehicle,
The determination device transmits a determination result to the operation management server,
When the operation management server receives a judgment result indicating that confirmation of necessity of car washing is necessary from the judgment device, the operation management server returns to the vehicle depot for which confirmation of necessity of car washing is necessary, and returns to the vehicle depot. Sending a return command to stop in the designated area,
A car wash necessity confirmation system characterized by The car wash necessity confirmation determination system according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle further comprises a navigation device,
The travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log,
The determination device acquires the travel log including the travel route information from the travel recording device, and acquires an image of the travel route from the camera when the travel log includes a change in the travel route,
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road when the image of the road is not the image of the mud road;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A car wash necessity confirmation system characterized by The car wash necessity confirmation determination system according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle includes a navigation device,
The travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log,
The determination device acquires the travel log including the travel road information from the travel recording device, and if the travel log includes travel in the vicinity of a parking lot where a muddy vehicle is parked, the determination device determines whether the travel log is on the travel road. obtaining an image from the camera;
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road when the image of the road is not the image of the mud road;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A car wash necessity confirmation system characterized by The car wash necessity confirmation determination system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The vehicle includes an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration,
The travel log includes acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor,
The determination device obtains an image of the road from the camera when the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold,
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the mud road when the image of the road is not the image of the mud road;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A car wash necessity confirmation system characterized by a camera that captures a travel path;
a travel recording device that records a travel log;
A vehicle used by a plurality of users, comprising a determination device for determining whether confirmation of the necessity of car washing is necessary,
The determination device determines whether the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a muddy road based on the image of the travel road acquired from the camera and the travel log acquired from the travel recording device,
When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a mud road without avoiding the mud road, it is determined that it is necessary to confirm whether or not the vehicle needs to be washed, and the determination result is output to the outside.
A vehicle characterized by A vehicle according to claim 6,
further comprising a navigation device,
The travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log,
The determination device acquires the travel log including the travel route information from the travel recording device, and acquires an image of the travel route from the camera when the travel log includes a change in the travel route,
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the muddy road when the image of the traveling road is not the muddy road image;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A vehicle characterized by A vehicle according to claim 6,
equipped with a navigation device,
The travel recording device acquires travel route information from the navigation device as the travel log,
The determination device acquires the travel log including the travel road information from the travel recording device, and if the travel log includes travel in the vicinity of a parking lot where a muddy vehicle is parked, the determination device determines whether the travel log is on the travel road. obtaining an image from the camera;
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the muddy road when the image of the traveling road is not the muddy road image;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A vehicle characterized by A vehicle according to any one of claims 6 to 8,
Equipped with an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration,
The travel log includes acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor,
The determination device obtains an image of the road from the camera when the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold,
determining that the vehicle is traveling while avoiding the muddy road when the image of the traveling road is not the muddy road image;
Determining that the vehicle is traveling without avoiding a mud road when the image of the road is an image of a mud road;
A vehicle characterized by

Images