JP2023021660A - Remote drive system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a remote drive system capable of suppressing pseudo engine sound including acceleration sound and deceleration sound from being transmitted to a steering seat side with a time lag when a vehicle is driven through remote operation from a steering seat outside the vehicle.SOLUTION: A remote drive system 10 comprises a vehicle 12 and a steering seat 20 which has a sound generation unit 40 generating pseudo engine sound including acceleration sound corresponding to accelerator operation and deceleration sound corresponding to brake operation, and on which the vehicle 12 can be driven through remote operation from outside the vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to remote driving systems.

A remote control device for remotely controlling an automatic driving vehicle has been conventionally known (see Patent Document 1, for example).

JP 2018-140755 A

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a demand for remote driving technology for remotely operating and driving a vehicle from a driver's seat provided outside the vehicle. In such remote driving, it is difficult for the driver who is driving from the cockpit to get a feeling of actual driving. Therefore, various sensor information (accelerator opening, engine speed, vehicle speed, etc.) provided in the vehicle is used to simulate engine sounds (electronically processed acceleration and deceleration sounds that remind the vehicle of driving). ) is proposed to generate

However, in such remote operation, due to communication delays between the vehicle and the driver's seat, the simulated engine sound generated by the vehicle is transmitted to the driver's seat with a delay (sound deviation occurs). There is a possibility. If such a sound deviation occurs, there is a concern that the driver may feel discomfort in operation and may induce an operation error or the like.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a remote driving system capable of suppressing delay transmission of pseudo engine sounds including acceleration and deceleration sounds to the cockpit side when the vehicle is operated remotely from the cockpit outside the vehicle. for the purpose.

In order to achieve the above object, the remote driving system according to claim 1 of the present invention generates a vehicle and a simulated engine sound including an acceleration sound in response to an accelerator operation and a deceleration sound in response to a brake operation. an operator's seat having a sound generator and capable of remotely controlling the vehicle from outside the vehicle.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a sound is generated for generating a pseudo engine sound including an acceleration sound corresponding to an accelerator operation and a deceleration sound corresponding to a brake operation in a cockpit where the vehicle can be remotely operated from outside the vehicle. section is provided. That is, the pseudo engine sound is generated on the cockpit side. Therefore, delayed propagation of the pseudo engine noise to the cockpit side is suppressed.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a vehicle is operated remotely from the driver's seat outside the vehicle, it is possible to suppress the delayed transmission of pseudo engine sounds including acceleration and deceleration sounds to the driver's seat. be able to.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a remote operation system according to this embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing processing steps on the remote cockpit side of the remote driving system according to the present embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a remote driving system 10 according to this embodiment includes a vehicle 12 that actually travels on a roadway and a driver (operator) who remotely operates the vehicle 12 from outside the vehicle. and a remote cockpit 20 as a pilot's seat.

The vehicle 12 includes a control unit 14 that receives operation instructions from the remote cockpit 20 and controls operations such as running, turning, and stopping. The vehicle 12 also includes a communication section 16 having a receiving section for receiving operation instructions from the remote cockpit 20 via an antenna 18 and a transmitting section for transmitting information necessary for remote operation to the remote cockpit 20. ing. The control unit 14 and the communication unit 16 are electrically connected.

The remote cockpit 20 has a receiving section that receives information necessary for remote operation from the communication section 16 via the antenna 28, and a transmitting section that transmits operation instructions from the remote cockpit 20 to the communication section 16. 26. The remote cockpit 20 also includes a display unit 22 for displaying camera images on the vehicle 12 side. In other words, the vehicle 12 is provided with a camera (not shown), and the image captured by the camera is also information necessary for remote driving.

In addition, the remote cockpit 20 sends an operation instruction on the remote cockpit 20 side to the vehicle 12 side, receives information necessary for remote operation from the vehicle 12 side, and displays the information on the display unit 22 to perform remote cockpit operation. A controller 24 is provided for controlling the 20 side. The control unit 24 is electrically connected to the display unit 22 and the communication unit 26, and the control unit 24 stores in advance a sound source, which will be described later.

The controller 24 is also electrically connected to an operation device 30 for driving the vehicle 12 . The operation device 30 includes an accelerator pedal 32 for the driver to operate the accelerator, a brake pedal 34 for the brake operation, a steering wheel 36 for the steering operation, and other necessary operations. and switches (SW) 38 of .

The remote cockpit 20 also includes a sound generator 40 that generates a simulated engine sound using operation information from the operation device 30 on the remote cockpit 20 side and vehicle information on the vehicle 12 side, and a simulated engine sound generated by the sound generator 40 . and a speaker 42 for outputting (blowing) an engine sound. The sound generator 40 is electrically connected to the controller 24 , and the speaker 42 is electrically connected to the sound generator 40 .

Here, a method of generating a pseudo engine sound in the sound generating section 40 will be described. The sound generation unit 40 selects each sound source including an acceleration sound corresponding to the accelerator operation (engine speed, vehicle speed, etc.) when the driver steps on the accelerator pedal 32 and a deceleration sound corresponding to the braking operation when the brake pedal 34 is pressed, A pseudo engine sound is generated by controlling the volume, pitch, etc.

Specifically, on the side of the remote cockpit 20, acceleration, deceleration, and the like are determined based on the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 32 and the brake pedal 34 by the driver. Then, a corresponding sound source (acceleration sound, regenerative sound, deceleration sound) is selected. That is, when the accelerator pedal 32 is depressed, the acceleration sound is selected, when the accelerator pedal 32 is released, the regenerative sound is selected, and when the brake pedal 34 is depressed, the deceleration sound is selected.

Further, when generating the pseudo engine sound, as described above, vehicle information such as the actual vehicle speed on the vehicle 12 side is also used as additional information. However, the vehicle information to be used is switched depending on the amount of communication delay. That is, when the communication delay is small, actual raw vehicle information is used. When there is a large communication delay, current vehicle information is estimated based on past vehicle information and used. The past vehicle information is pre-stored in the control unit 24 and estimated by the control unit 24 .

In the remote operation system 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the action (action on the side of the remote cockpit 20) will now be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the driver of the remote cockpit 20 starts remote driving of the vehicle 12 (step S1), vehicle information is acquired by the control unit 24 (step S2). That is, it is determined whether or not the accelerator pedal 32 has been stepped on (step S3). In addition, the determination method at this time may be determined by, for example, whether or not a predetermined threshold value is exceeded.

When the controller 24 determines that the accelerator is operated, the sound generator 40 selects an acceleration sound (step S4). Then, the sound generator 40 adjusts the amount of change in the sound source (acceleration sound) according to the depression amount (acceleration amount) of the accelerator pedal 32 (step S5). Next, the control unit 24 determines whether the communication delay is small or large (step S6).

When the communication delay is small, the sound generator 40 uses actual raw vehicle information (acceleration sound) (step S7). That is, the sound generator 40 uses the acceleration sound to generate a pseudo engine sound (step S8). Then, the generated pseudo engine sound is blown (output) from the speaker 42 (step S9).

As a result, the engine sound of the vehicle 12 is transmitted to the driver without delay as a pseudo engine sound, and the driver is not given a sense of discomfort in operation, and the driver is suppressed or prevented from making an operation mistake. can be done. Then, the driver of the remote cockpit 20 can appropriately obtain the feeling of driving the vehicle 12 actually traveling on the road and the feeling of operating the vehicle 12 .

Note that when there is a large communication delay, the control unit 24 estimates past vehicle information (acceleration sound) (step S10). Then, in step S8, the sound generation unit 40 generates (synthesizes) a pseudo engine sound by adding vehicle information (vehicle speed, etc.) corresponding to the amount of communication delay to the estimated vehicle information (acceleration sound), The generated pseudo engine sound is blown from the speaker 42. - 特許庁As a result, the engine sound of the vehicle 12 is transmitted to the driver without delay as a pseudo engine sound. The processing steps described above are also performed for regenerative sound and deceleration sound.

That is, if the controller 24 determines in step S3 that the accelerator operation has not been performed, it is determined whether or not the brake operation has been performed by stepping on the brake pedal 34 (step S11). When it is determined that the brake operation has not been performed, the regenerated sound is selected by the sound generator 40 (step S12). Then, in step S6, the control unit 24 determines whether the communication delay is small or large. Subsequent processing steps are the same as for the acceleration sound.

In step S11, when the controller 24 determines that the brake operation has been performed, the sound generator 40 selects a deceleration sound (step S13). Then, the sound generator 40 adjusts the amount of change in the sound source (deceleration sound) according to the stepping amount (braking amount) of the brake pedal 34 (step S14). Next, in step S6, the controller 24 determines whether the communication delay is small or large. Subsequent processing steps are the same as for the acceleration sound.

As described above, in the remote driving system 10 according to the present embodiment, instead of the actual engine sound (acceleration sound, deceleration sound, etc.) generated on the vehicle 12 side, the remote cockpit 20 side generates a sound corresponding to the driver's accelerator operation. It is possible to generate a pseudo engine sound including acceleration sound and regenerative sound, and deceleration sound according to braking operation. Therefore, when the vehicle 12 is operated remotely from the remote cockpit 20 outside the vehicle and driven, it is possible to suppress or prevent the delayed transmission of the pseudo engine sound to the remote cockpit 20 side.

The remote operation system 10 according to this embodiment has been described above with reference to the drawings, but the remote operation system 10 according to this embodiment is not limited to the illustrated one, and does not depart from the gist of the present invention. The design can be changed as appropriate within the range. For example, the pseudo engine sound generated by the sound generator 40 is not limited to acceleration sound, regenerative sound, and deceleration sound.

10 remote driving system 12 vehicle 20 remote cockpit (pilot seat)
40 sound generator

Claims (1)

a vehicle;
an operator's seat having a sound generator that generates a pseudo engine sound including an acceleration sound corresponding to an accelerator operation and a deceleration sound corresponding to a brake operation, and capable of remotely operating the vehicle from outside the vehicle;
remote driving system with

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