JP2023023757A - Traveling route selection device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a traveling route selection device that selects an optimum route for each vehicle from a travel plan of the self vehicle and a travel plan of another vehicle while reducing interference between traveling routes, thereby improving an efficiency of traffic as a whole.SOLUTION: A traveling route selection device generates a traveling route defined by a succession of road sections for connecting intersections between a current position and an estimated position after a set time; defines a traveling route group of a first vehicle and a traveling route group of a second vehicle as an arbitration target range; adds an overlap frequency of road sections when the traveling route of the first vehicle and the traveling route of the second vehicle have the same road section; evaluates the traveling route by the overlap frequency of road sections; and selects a combination of the traveling routes that minimizes the overlap frequency of road sections.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present application relates to a travel route selection device.

2. Description of the Related Art With the advancement of electronic devices mounted on vehicles, driving assistance devices that assist driving operations at various levels have been proposed. As a navigation device, a function has been proposed in which, when a starting point and a destination point are set, a traveling route to arrive at in the shortest time is displayed. By setting conditions such as whether toll roads can be used, the priority of shortest distance and shortest time, road width restrictions, etc., the driving route from the starting point to the destination is presented while referring to map information and traffic conditions. There is a system that

The navigation device calculates the estimated time of arrival at the destination by referring to lane restrictions on roads, traffic information, and the like. However, the navigation system does not have the function of comparing and examining the travel route of the own vehicle and the travel routes of other vehicles to improve traffic efficiency. In response to this, an action planning system has been disclosed that considers the interference between the travel route of the own vehicle and the travel routes of other vehicles and determines whether to maintain the travel lane or change the travel lane (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-509966

The technology described in Patent Literature 1 estimates lane maintenance and lane change trajectories when a plurality of vehicles are traveling, and determines whether the own vehicle should change lanes or not. It is possible to estimate the traveling route and traveling behavior of other vehicles and take appropriate measures. However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, a plurality of travel routes for the own vehicle and other vehicles are generated, the combination of travel routes for the own vehicle and other vehicles is evaluated in a wider range, and an optimal route is obtained while reducing the interference of the travel routes. However, it does not take into consideration the selection of a suitable combination of travel routes.

The present application is a travel route selection device that selects the optimal travel route combination for each vehicle from the travel plan of the own vehicle and the travel plans of other vehicles while reducing the interference of the travel routes, and aims to improve the efficiency of traffic as a whole. The purpose is to obtain

The travel route selection device according to the present application is
A travel route generation unit that generates a travel route defined by a series of road sections that connect intersections between the current position and an estimated position after a set time based on the travel plan of the vehicle;
A first vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the first vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit, and a second vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the second vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit. an arbitration target range calculation unit that sets a first vehicle travel route group and a second vehicle travel route group as an arbitration target range when the vehicle travel route groups have overlapping road sections;
When the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle within the arbitration target range determined by the arbitration target range calculation unit have the same road section, a road section overlap degree indicating the degree of overlap of the road sections is calculated. an evaluation unit for adding and evaluating the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle according to the road segment overlap frequency;
A combination of the first vehicle travel route and the second vehicle travel route that minimizes the road section overlap frequency from the first vehicle travel route and the second vehicle travel route evaluated by the evaluation unit is selected. and a selection unit for

According to the travel route selection device according to the present application, from the travel plan of the own vehicle and the travel plans of the other vehicles, the combination of the optimal travel routes for each vehicle is selected while reducing the interference of the travel routes, and the traffic as a whole is reduced. Efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual explanatory diagram of a data center of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; 1 is a functional block diagram of a travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing processing of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing initial settings for processing of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; 4 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 4 is a second travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a third queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; 3 is a third travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a fourth queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 1; FIG. 10 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 2; FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a first queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 2; FIG. 11 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 3; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a first queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 3; FIG. 10 is a second travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 3; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second queue for travel routes of the travel route selection device according to Embodiment 3;

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1. Embodiment 1
<Data center>
FIG. 1 is a conceptual explanatory diagram of the data center 200 of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. Data center 200 is also referred to as a base station. Data centers are provided corresponding to a plurality of intersections, and may be provided for each municipality. The data center 200 holds road information, sign information, signal information, intersection information, and their position information as map information.

Road information includes information such as the shape of the road between intersections, the position of the road, the name of the road, the number of lanes, the width of the lane, whether it is an expressway or a general road, whether it is a toll road or a toll road, speed limit, etc. . The sign information includes the type of road sign, the position of the road sign, description information, and the like. The intersection information includes information such as the shape of the intersection, the position of the intersection, the name of the intersection, and the presence or absence of traffic signals. The signal information includes information on the position of the signal, the lighting state of the signal, and the change interval of the signal.

A data terminal 210 is provided as a lower subsystem of the data center 200 . FIG. 1 shows an example in which a data terminal 210 is provided for each intersection.

In FIG. 1, nine intersections from intersection V1 to intersection V9 are shown. A road section connecting adjacent intersections is defined for each intersection. A succession of road segments defines the driving route of the vehicle.

The data terminal 210 stores queues indicating vehicle passage schedules for road sections that are destinations for each intersection. Queues are indicated by Q. For example, for an intersection V5, a road segment E(V5,V4) is defined that leads to an intersection V4, and the queue is indicated by Qv5-v4. Similarly, a road section E (V5, V8) heading to intersection V8 is defined and the queue is indicated by Qv5-v8. Similarly, a road section E (V5, V6) heading to intersection V6 is defined and the queue is indicated by Qv5-v6. Similarly, a road section E (V5, V2) heading to intersection V2 is defined and the queue is indicated by Qv5-v2.

The number of queues indicates the number of road section overlaps. That is, if several vehicles pass through the same road segment, a queue is defined for each vehicle. Two queues are defined when two vehicles are passing, and three queues are defined when three vehicles are passing.

Queues represent the likelihood of multiple vehicles occupying the same road section, and are a measure of traffic congestion. A large number of queues, ie, a high road segment overlap index, indicates that the road segment is congested.

Data terminals 210 at individual intersections store queue information for each destination that is updated each time a route is selected for each vehicle. Details of the queue information will be described later.

A vehicle A is indicated at 301 in FIG. Each vehicle has a trip plan defined by a starting point and a destination point. Vehicle A communicates with the data center 200 in order to select an optimal travel route based on the vehicle A's travel plan.

Vehicle A communicates with data center 200 and transmits vehicle A's position information, travel speed, and travel plan. The data center 200 obtains an estimated position after a preset target estimation time has elapsed from the information and the map information. Then, a plurality of travel routes from the current position to the estimated position are generated. The data center 200 selects the optimum travel route from the generated travel route group. The hatched portion in FIG. 1 is the area of the travel route group on which the vehicle A may travel.

The generation of the driving route and the selection of the optimum driving route may be calculated by the control device of each vehicle based on the information about each intersection and each road section acquired from the data center 200, but the data center 200 centrally It may be calculated. Alternatively, the vehicle and the data center 200 may share and collaborate to perform the calculation.

Further, instead of communicating directly with the data center 200, each vehicle may receive information from the data center 200 via the data terminal 210 and calculate and update queue information for each intersection in the data terminal 210. Since centralizing processing and communications in data center 200 would result in excessive data volumes, there may be advantages to using data terminal 210 . However, data center 200 may centrally perform processing and communication without using data terminal 210 . In the following description, an example in which the operation of the travel route selection device 100 is centrally performed in the data center 200 will be described, and the description of the data terminal 210 will be omitted for the sake of convenience.

<Functional block of travel route selection device>
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to Embodiment 1. As shown in FIG. The travel route selection device 100 inputs travel plans of vehicle A indicated by reference numeral 301, vehicle B indicated by reference numeral 302, and vehicle C indicated by reference numeral 303, and map information. The travel route generation unit 101 generates a plurality of travel routes for each vehicle from the current position to the estimated position after the target estimation time has elapsed.

The arbitration target range calculator 102 generates a congestion map. Congestion indicates traffic congestion, and a congestion map indicates a map area to be handled in order to select the optimum route among the traffic conditions of a plurality of vehicles. The congestion map is map information from the current position to the estimated position after the target estimated time has passed.

The message map includes not only the calculated travel route group for the host vehicle, but also regions related to travel route groups of other vehicles having travel routes that overlap with the travel route of the host vehicle. The entirety of these areas is called an arbitration target range, and the arbitration target range is calculated for each vehicle. Mediation is the act of finding an overall compromise between two or more opposing parties so that there is no dispute. Here, the range for optimizing the combination of travel routes of a plurality of vehicles is the arbitration target range.

The evaluation unit 103 evaluates the travel routes of the own vehicle and the other vehicles in the arbitration target range. In the evaluation, when the travel route of the own vehicle and the travel route of the other vehicle within the arbitration target range have the same road section, the road section overlap degree that indicates the overlap degree of the road section is added. Evaluate the driving route of the vehicle and the driving routes of other vehicles.

The road segment redundancy number for each road segment is equivalent to the number of queues for the road segment. However, the queue is different from the road section duplication frequency, which is simply an addition of the number of times, in that information about the vehicle and the timing at which the vehicle passes is added. In addition to the degree of road section duplication, the metrics used to evaluate traveled routes include the timing difference in crossing overlapping road sections, the number of right turns on the traveled route, the number of left turns on the traveled route, and the number of road sections held away from the destination. can be

The selection unit 104 selects a combination of the own vehicle's travel route and the other vehicle's travel route that minimizes the road section overlap frequency from among the travel routes of the own vehicle and the travel routes of the other vehicles evaluated by the evaluation unit 103. do. Further, the optimal combination of travel routes may be selected by comprehensively evaluating indexes other than the road section duplication frequency. Generating, evaluating, and selecting a driving route for each vehicle in the arbitration target range is called driving route search.

In the example of FIG. 2, the travel route selection device 100 outputs the selected optimal travel routes for vehicle A (301), vehicle B (302), and vehicle C (303). The driver may drive the vehicle based on the output travel route. Also, the vehicle may be automatically driven based on the output travel route.

<Hardware configuration of travel route selection device>
FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the travel route selection device 100. As shown in FIG. The hardware configuration of FIG. 3 can also be applied when the travel route selection device 100 is arranged in the data center 200 . Moreover, it can also be applied when the travel route selection device 100 is mounted on a vehicle. In this embodiment, the travel route selection device 100 is a control device that selects the optimum travel route for the vehicle. Each function of the travel route selection device 100 is implemented by a processing circuit provided in the travel route selection device 100 . Specifically, the travel route selection device 100 includes, as processing circuits, an arithmetic processing unit 90 (computer) such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device 91 that exchanges data with the arithmetic processing unit 90, and an arithmetic processing unit 90. An input circuit 92 for inputting an external signal to the processor 90 and an output circuit 93 for outputting a signal from the arithmetic processing unit 90 to the outside are provided.

As the arithmetic processing unit 90, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an IC (Integrated Circuit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), various logic circuits, various signal processing circuits, and the like are provided. may Further, as the arithmetic processing unit 90, a plurality of units of the same type or different types may be provided, and each process may be shared and executed. As the storage device 91, a RAM (random access memory) configured to enable reading and writing of data from the arithmetic processing unit 90, a ROM (read only memory) configured to enable reading of data from the processing unit 90, and the like are provided. It is

As the storage device 91, non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as flash memory, EPROM (Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact A disc, mini disc, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or the like may be used. The input circuit 92 is connected to various sensors, switches, and communication lines, and includes an analog-to-digital converter for inputting the output signals of these sensors and switches and communication information to the arithmetic processing unit 90, a communication circuit, and the like. The output circuit 93 includes a drive circuit and the like for outputting a control signal from the arithmetic processing unit 90 to the drive device. It is also possible to send a signal to another control device via the output circuit 93 to control it.

Each function provided in the travel route selection device 100 is such that the arithmetic processing device 90 executes software (program) stored in a storage device 91 such as a ROM, and controls the travel of the storage device 91, the input circuit 92, the output circuit 93, and the like. It is realized by cooperating with other hardware of the route selection device 100 . Arithmetic processing device 90 may receive a program from storage device 91 via a volatile storage device. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 90 may output data such as arithmetic results to the volatile storage device of the storage device 91 . Alternatively, data may be stored in a non-volatile memory via a volatile memory. Setting data such as threshold values and judgment values used by the travel route selection device 100 are stored in a storage device 91 such as a ROM as a part of software (program). Each function of the travel route selection device 100 may be configured by a software module, or may be configured by a combination of software and hardware.

<Processing flowchart>
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing processing of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing initial settings of processing of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. The processing of the flowchart of FIG. 4 is executed at predetermined intervals (for example, at intervals of 100 ms). The processing of the flowchart in FIG. 4 may be executed for each event, such as each time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance or each time the vehicle communicates with the data center 200, instead of every predetermined time.

Items that are initially set for processing include: update interval P1, target estimated time P2, route selection P3 for moving away from the destination, travel route re-search P4 for interruptions by other vehicles, allowable queue number C1, allowable right turn increment number C2. , the allowable left turn increment number C3 is set. When the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 4 is started, initialization is performed in step S501. The initial setting values shown in FIG. 5 may be changed according to traffic conditions (degree of traffic congestion).

The update interval is a cycle for updating the travel route search. In FIG. 5, 5s is installed for each vehicle. At step S502 of the flow chart of FIG. 4, it is determined whether the update interval has elapsed. If it has passed (determination is YES), the process proceeds to step S503. If it has not passed (determination is NO), the process is terminated.

In step S503, the travel route generation unit 101 generates a travel route. Based on the travel plan to the destination of the own vehicle, a plurality of travel routes are generated from the current location to the arrival point scheduled to travel by the target estimated time. A plurality of driving routes are similarly generated for other vehicles that can take driving routes that overlap the road sections of the driving route group of the own vehicle. A plurality of driving routes are generated from the current location of the other vehicle to the destination point to be reached by the target estimated time.

Next, in step S504, a congestion map is created by the arbitration target range calculation unit 102 from a plurality of travel routes to define an arbitration target range. Then, the queue information (road section duplication frequency) for each road section of the travel route is acquired, and the travel route is evaluated by the evaluation unit 103 . Then, the selection unit 104 selects an optimum combination of travel routes.

Next, in step S505, it is checked whether or not the combination of the selected travel routes violates the setting restrictions defined in FIG. Constraints include allowable queue number C1, allowable right turn increase number C2, allowable left turn increase number C3, and the like. If the rule is not violated (determination is NO), the travel route is determined in step S507, and the process ends.

If there is a violation in step S505 (determination is YES), the travel route is reselected in step S506 and the process proceeds to step S505. This is to confirm again whether or not the reselected travel route violates the settings. However, if there is no travel route that satisfies the constraints, a travel route cannot be selected and the vehicle is stuck. In order to prevent this, as shown in an embodiment described later, an evaluation function for evaluating the travel route may be provided, and the travel route with the smallest evaluation point calculated by the evaluation function may be selected.

<Congestion map>
FIG. 6 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. A congestion map is map information. A congestion map is derived from the current running speed and target estimated time. All vehicles scheduled to travel on this congestion map from the current position to the target estimated time are subject to route arbitration.

In this embodiment, vehicle A (301), vehicle B (302), and vehicle C (303) are shown. Here, it is assumed that each vehicle is traveling at an average speed of 30 km/h. As shown in FIG. 5, the update interval P1 is 5 seconds, the target estimation time P2 is 10 seconds, the route selection P3 that is far from the destination is not possible, the re-search P4 for interrupting other vehicles is required, and the allowable queue number C1 is 1. , the allowable right-turn increment number C2 is set to 1, and the allowable left-turn increment number C3 is set to 2.

Here, the current locations of all vehicles are set to be included on the congestion map. If there are vehicles driving within the congestion map at the target estimated time, the information of such vehicles is incorporated into the congestion map. Then, the data center calculates the queue of the intersection in the congestion map.

After the update interval has passed, the travel route information is extracted from the travel plan of each vehicle. Since the target estimation time is 10 seconds, a less than 100m (83m) congestion map is extracted from each vehicle. Assuming that there are three vehicles A, B, and C to be arbitrated, the hatched portion in FIG. 6 corresponds to the congestion map. In general, the congestion maps corresponding to individual vehicles do not match, and the travel route is arbitrated for each arbitration target range for each vehicle. For simplification of explanation, here, a case where only three vehicles A, B, and C are considered and congestion maps overlap will be explained. Hereinafter, the arbitration target range is synonymous with the congestion map, and the congestion map will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the intersections in the congestion map are vertices (V1 to V9), virtual intersections outside the map are vertices (Vx1 to Vx6), and the road sections between intersections V1 and V2 are branches E (V1, V2), and road sections between intersections V2 and V3 are defined as branches E(V2, V3), . . . A vertex may also be referred to as a node. A branch may also be called an edge. These are terms used when using graph theory.

Graph theory is the mathematical theory of graphs, which consist of a set of vertices (nodes) and a set of branches (edges). Graph theory is a theory about the properties of graphs, which are abstract concepts of "points and lines connecting them", focusing on "how they are connected". Examples of typical graphs are route maps and circuit diagrams of railroads, fixed-route buses, and the like. Here, the selected travel route is indicated by the adjacency list as Px=E(V1,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V4), . . . By abstracting the actual positions, shapes, and distances of intersections and road sections and abstracting them into vertices and branches to search for a driving route, the computational load can be lightened and the computation can be performed at high speed. As a result, it is possible to generate, evaluate, and select a combination of travel routes of a plurality of vehicles in the arbitration target range at high speed while suppressing the cost of the travel route selection device 100 .

Here, according to graph theory, a branch (road section) connecting vertices (intersections) has a direction and is identified as a different branch from branch E(V1, V2) and branch E(V2, V1). On a road with separate lanes for uphill and downhill traffic, traffic congestion does not occur even if two vehicles travel in opposite directions on the road section between intersections V1 and V2. This is because traffic is not congested when vehicles pass each other in opposite directions.

Assume that vehicle B and vehicle C have already extracted routes in the congestion map from their respective travel plans. In this case, the travel route PB of vehicle B and the travel route PC of vehicle C are defined by the adjacency list as follows.
PB = E(Vx5,V1), E(V1,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V6), E(V6,Vx1)
PC = E(Vx6,V2), E(V2,V5), E(V5,V8), E(V8,V7), E(V7,Vx3)

<Queue>
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a first queue for the travel routes of vehicles B and C of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. Each vertex (intersection) in FIG. 6 has a queue for each branch (road section). A queue is a queue and represents a first-in, first-out order.

Depending on the selected travel route within the target time for each vehicle, the expected arrival time and vehicle name are stored in the queue, as shown in FIG. In the current state, no queue (a state in which multiple vehicle names are stored) occurs in any of the queues.

In the diagram showing the queue in FIG. 7, branches (road sections) that define the queue are described at the top. The Vertex line indicates the vertex and describes the starting point of the branch (road section). The Source line describes the previous starting point (previous vertex). The Dest. line describes the destination of the branch (road section). 0 indicates the 0th queue, 1 indicates the 1st queue, 2 indicates the 2nd queue, and 3 indicates the 3rd queue.

In this situation, when the travel route PA of vehicle A is generated, the adjacency list for the travel route of vehicles A, B, and C is as follows.
PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,V9), E(V9,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx2)
PB = E(Vx5,V1), E(V1,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,Vx1)
PC = E(Vx6,V2), E(V2,V5), E(V5,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx3)

Road sections E (V3, V6) and E (V8, V7) marked with ^* in the adjacency list of the traveling route of vehicle A shown in FIG. 6 overlap. If this situation is represented by queues, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, vehicles C and A are queued in queues Qv8-v7 in that order. Queuing refers to managing elements using queues. The order of queuing is in descending order of expected arrival time at the intersection. kicked out (ejected) from Also, in order to prevent collision of data at the time of updating, while writing to the queue is performed for a certain vehicle, writing (updating) to the queue for another vehicle is prohibited (exclusive control).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second queue for the travel routes of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. The hatched portion is the queue related to the traveling route PA of the vehicle A. FIG. For vehicle A, the queue information for all branches (road sections) included in the currently selected travel route is obtained and compared with the allowable queue number C1.

From FIG. 8, the queues Qv8-v7 for vehicle A cannot satisfy the allowable number of queues C1. Therefore, a change in the travel route for vehicle A is considered. If there are multiple places on the travel route where the allowable number of queues C1 cannot be satisfied, the travel route is searched for elimination from the most recent queue. At that time, the queue information for all branches in the congestion map for the own vehicle is read again. In this embodiment, vehicle B is also interrupted by vehicle A and is queued in queues Qv3-v6, violating the allowable number of queues C1.

<When evaluating the queue time difference>
Here, time information such as t1, t2, ..., t5 is given in the queue, but this is just the sum of the number of branches (the number of road sections) that pass through, and does not necessarily match the actual time. do not. However, when it is assumed that there is clearly a margin in the time difference, for example, when the next value after "t1: A" is "t3: B", vehicle B reaches the branch (road section). There is a high possibility that the vehicle A will have passed through the branch (road section) by the time it reaches the end. Therefore, the allowable time difference between consecutive times in the queue is set as a threshold, and if the time difference is equal to or greater than the threshold, it is not counted as a queue (the road section overlap frequency is not added). good too. A case where the threshold value of the allowable time difference is set to 2 will be described below. Only when the time difference is smaller than a threshold (2 in this case), it is counted as a queue and the road section duplication frequency is added. If the time difference is equal to or greater than the threshold (2 in this case), it is not counted as a queue and the road section duplication frequency is not added.

FIG. 9 is a second travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. 6 shows an example in which only the travel route of vehicle A is changed from the travel route of FIG. The adjacency list for the travel routes of vehicles A, B, and C shown in FIG. 9 can be expressed as follows.
PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,V5), E(V5,V4), E(V4,V7), E(V7,Vx2)
PB = E(Vx5,V1), E(V1,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,Vx1)
PC = E(Vx6,V2), E(V2,V5), E(V5,V8), E(V8,V7), E(V7,Vx3)

Among the traveling routes of vehicle A and vehicle B shown in FIG. 9, the road section E (V3, V6) indicated by ^* in the adjacency list is an overlapping road section. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a third queue for the route of the travel route selection device 100 according to Embodiment 1 corresponding to the travel route shown in FIG. The queue for vehicle A is indicated by shading. The queues of Qv3-v6 are t1:A and t3:B, with a time difference of 2 or more. Therefore, the queues of Qv3-v6 are not counted as queues (the road section redundancy number is not added). Therefore, queue t3:B in FIG. 10 is not counted and the queue in FIG. 10 is allowed. Therefore, the travel route shown in FIG. 9 is permitted and selectable.

<When the queue time difference is not evaluated>
Below, the case where the said threshold value is not provided is demonstrated. By applying the following guideline to the parameters shown in FIG. 5, the travel route to be changed can effectively reduce the range of the travel route to be searched.
<Driving route selection guideline>
・Start searching from the travel route with less C2 and C3, and end the search as soon as a travel route that satisfies the constraint conditions is found.
・If a violation of the allowable queue number occurs on any travel route, the travel route will be determined in the following order.
(a) Select the travel route with the lowest evaluation score based on the evaluation function set for each vehicle.
Evaluation function example: a*ΣVC1 + b*ΣVC2 + ΣVC3
VC1, VC2, and VC3 indicate the number of constraint violations, and a, b, and c indicate coefficients. Σ indicates the total number of constraint violations for all road sections on the travel route.
(b) If there are multiple travel routes with the same evaluation score, select the most recent travel route with the least number of queues.

FIG. 11 is a third travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a fourth queue for the travel route of the travel route selection device 100 according to Embodiment 1 corresponding to the travel route shown in FIG. Regarding vehicle A, the changed travel route (PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6), E(V6,V5), E(V5,V4), E( V4,V7), E(V7,Vx2)) are generated. Therefore, subsequent searches are terminated, and after the cue information for the route is updated, the restricted access authority for the cue is released to other vehicles. Dashed lines are alternative travel routes for individual vehicles.

At this time, in Qv3-v6, due to vehicle A interrupting, vehicle B newly causes a permissible queuing violation. Since the re-search P4 for interrupting another vehicle is set as essential for vehicle B, reading the corresponding cue information for the side (road section) in the congestion map and changing the driving route for vehicle B are reconsidered. be. If P4 is negative, route re-search is not performed.

Except for the original route, there are two route candidates that do not violate the allowable increased number of right turns C2 and the allowable increased number of left turns C3 for the vehicle B. PB = E(Vx5,V1), E(V1,V4), E(V4,V5), E(V5,V6), E(V6,Vx1) is the only travel route that does not violate the allowable queue number C1. Therefore, the travel route is selected. After the cue information is updated, the access right to the cue information is released to other vehicles. The new route of vehicle B is shown in FIG. 11 by a solid line. As shown in Figure 12, there are no unacceptable queues (no road segment overlap count is added). Therefore, the queue in FIG. 12 is allowed and the travel route indicated by the solid line in FIG. 11 can be selected.

Although not described here, the re-search setting can have an evaluation function and a threshold as in route selection. In this case, coefficients a, b, and c may be set to values different from those at the time of initial selection.

In the evaluation of the travel route, the arrival time from the current position to the estimated position may be calculated for each travel route, and the combination with the shortest arrival time may be selected. Also, when the same road section exists on the travel route and queues are generated, the arrival time may be calculated assuming that the arrival time is delayed according to the number of queues generated.

2. Embodiment 2
<Priority for emergency vehicles>
A case in which the emergency vehicle is given the running priority will be described as a second embodiment. In this embodiment, an emergency vehicle A is assumed and indicated by reference numeral 301a. The conditions are the same as in the first embodiment, except that the emergency vehicle A has route priority. The route priority indicates that the travel route extracted from the own travel plan is given the highest priority and that other vehicles are not allowed to cut in. Therefore, if there is a road section that overlaps with the traveling route of the other vehicle, the traveling route of the other vehicle is re-searched.

Consider a case where route information is extracted from the travel plan of each vehicle after the update interval has elapsed, and a congestion map similar to that shown in FIG. 6 is extracted from each vehicle. The difference from the first embodiment is that the following travel route PA for the emergency vehicle A is preferentially determined regardless of the travel routes PB and PC for the vehicles B and C. The adjacency list for the travel route PA is as follows.
PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,V9), E(V9,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx2)

As in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the adjacency list for the travel routes PB and PC of vehicle B and vehicle C is defined as follows.
PB = E(Vx5,V1), E(V1,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,Vx1)
PC = E(Vx6,V2), E(V2,V5), E(V5,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx3)

The queue for this situation is shown in FIG. The queue for emergency vehicles A is the shaded portion. Here, it can be seen that queues are generated at two locations, Qv3-v6 and Qv8-v7. Regarding Qv3-v6, the estimated arrival time of emergency vehicle A is earlier than that of vehicle B, so the probability that emergency vehicle A will actually be kept waiting is expected to be low. Therefore, it is also possible to increase the threshold for the time difference between successive queues in the road section described in the first embodiment. For example, 3 is set as the threshold. In this way, only the time difference smaller than the threshold value (less than 3) should be counted as a queue. In that case, not only vehicle C in Qv8-v7, but also vehicle B in Qv3-v6 may interfere with the travel route of emergency vehicle A, and route re-search is performed. Only the route of the emergency vehicle A is fixed, and otherwise the same algorithm as in the first embodiment is applied.

FIG. 13 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the first queue for the travel routes of the travel route selection device 100 according to the second embodiment. The travel route of each vehicle after re-searching is indicated by a solid line in FIG. Other possible travel paths are indicated by dashed lines. The queue situation for the travel route indicated by the solid line in FIG. 12 is shown in FIG. Here, police vehicles, firefighting vehicles, Self-Defense Forces vehicles, blood and organ transport vehicles, infrastructure maintenance vehicles, etc. are assumed as emergency vehicles with running priority.

3. Embodiment 3
<Omission of intersections without traffic lights>
FIG. 15 is a first travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the third embodiment. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the first queue for the travel routes of the travel route selection device 100 according to Embodiment 3. As shown in FIG. FIG. 17 is a second travel route selection diagram of the travel route selection device 100 according to the third embodiment. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a second queue for the travel routes of the travel route selection device 100 according to the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, a case will be described in which the vertex information having permissible queues is specified not for all intersections but for specific intersections, for example, intersections with traffic lights. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the amount of information in the graph corresponding to the arbitration target range. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of data communication and speed up the processing including the algorithm.

The difference in algorithm from Embodiment 1 is as follows.
(a) Intersections without traffic lights are not included in vertices.
(b) Vehicles passing through intersections without traffic lights shall proceed straight.

In Embodiment 3, a case where there are no traffic lights at intersections V1 and V5 in the congestion map of FIG. 6 will be described. FIG. 15 shows a congestion map in this case. Other than this point, the conditions are the same as those in the first embodiment.

A description will be given of a case where vehicle B and vehicle C have already completed the travel route selection from the travel plan. When driving routes are generated for vehicle A, the adjacency list for driving routes PA, PB, and PC of each vehicle is as follows.
PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,V9), E(V9,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx2)
PB = E(Vx5,V2), E(V2,V3), E(V3,V6) ^* , E(V6,Vx1)
PC = E(Vx6,V2), E(V2,V8), E(V8,V7) ^* , E(V7,Vx3)

Compared to the first embodiment, the paths are aggregated, and the road sections E(V3, V6) and E(V8, V7) indicated by ^* in the adjacency list overlap. The queue is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 16, the information about intersections (vertices) V1 and V5 is deleted from FIG. Vehicles A and B in road section E (V2, V6) and vehicles A and C in road section E (V8, V7) cause permissible queuing violations.

At this time, with respect to vehicle B and vehicle C, the intersections V1 and V5 are omitted and the congestion map is reduced. Therefore, for vehicles A, B, and C, there is only the choice of the travel route indicated by the solid line in FIG. 17, and only vehicle A can change the travel route. A solid line and a dashed line for vehicle A indicate selectable travel routes.

Here, a travel route (PA = E(Vx4,V3), E(V3,V6), E(V6,V4), E(V4,V7), E(V7,Vx2)) is generated for vehicle A. be done. The queue for this travel route is shown in FIG. In response to the selection of this travel route, vehicle B queues up in road section E (V3, V6). However, since there is no other travel route below the evaluation function for this travel route, the travel route indicated by the solid line in FIG. 17 is developed for each vehicle as the optimum route.

Here, if the allowable number of queues C1 is set to 2, the constraint will not be violated. In this case, since there are no other options, a combination of travel routes that minimizes the road section duplication frequency may be selected even if there is a constraint violation.

While this application describes various exemplary embodiments and examples, various features, aspects, and functions described in one or more embodiments may not apply to particular embodiments. can be applied to the embodiments singly or in various combinations. Accordingly, numerous variations not illustrated are envisioned within the scope of the technology disclosed herein. For example, modification, addition or omission of at least one component, extraction of at least one component, and combination with components of other embodiments shall be included.

100 travel route selection device, 101 travel route generation unit, 102 arbitration target range calculation unit, 103 evaluation unit, 104 selection unit, 200 data center, 301 vehicle A, 301a emergency vehicle A, 302 vehicle B, 303 vehicle C, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, V9 intersections, Vx1, Vx2, Vx3, Vx4, Vx5, Vx6 virtual intersections

The travel route selection device according to the present application is
A travel route generation unit that generates a travel route defined by a series of road sections that connect intersections between the current position and an estimated position after a set time based on the travel plan of the vehicle;
A first vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the first vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit, and a second vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the second vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit. an arbitration target range calculation unit that sets a first vehicle travel route group and a second vehicle travel route group as an arbitration target range when the vehicle travel route groups have overlapping road sections;
If the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle within the arbitration target range determined by the arbitration target range calculation unit have the same road section traveling in the same direction , the same road section is A first estimated passage time of a vehicle passing through is estimated by the number of road sections traveled from the road section on which the first vehicle is currently traveling to the same road section. is estimated by the number of road sections traveled from the road section on which the second vehicle is currently traveling to the same road section, and the first estimated passage time and the second estimated passage time If the time difference is smaller than a predetermined threshold, add a road section overlap frequency that indicates the degree of overlapping of road sections, and evaluate the driving route of the first vehicle and the driving route of the second vehicle based on the road section overlap frequency. and an evaluation unit that
A combination of the first vehicle travel route and the second vehicle travel route that minimizes the road section overlap frequency from the first vehicle travel route and the second vehicle travel route evaluated by the evaluation unit is selected. and a selection unit for

Claims (10)

A travel route generation unit that generates a travel route defined by a series of road sections that connect intersections between the current position and an estimated position after a set time based on the travel plan of the vehicle;
A first vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the first vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit, and a second vehicle travel route group that is a plurality of travel routes for the second vehicle generated by the travel route generation unit an arbitration target range calculation unit that sets the first vehicle travel route group and the second vehicle travel route group as an arbitration target range when two vehicle travel route groups have overlapping road sections;
A road indicating a degree of overlapping of road sections when the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle within the arbitration target range determined by the arbitration target range calculator have the same road section. an evaluation unit that adds a section overlap frequency and evaluates the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle according to the road section overlap frequency;
The travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle that minimize the road section overlap frequency among the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle evaluated by the evaluation unit a selection unit that selects a combination of travel routes. 2. The travel route selection according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit adds the road section duplication frequency only for travel routes in which the first vehicle and the second vehicle travel in the same road section in the same direction. Device. When the travel route of the first vehicle and the travel route of the second vehicle have the same road section, the evaluation unit calculates the estimated passage time of the first vehicle in the same road section and the second 3. The travel route selection device according to claim 1, wherein the road section overlap frequency is added only when the difference between the estimated passage times of the two vehicles is smaller than a predetermined threshold. 4. The travel route selection device according to claim 3, wherein the evaluation unit estimates the estimated passage time of the road section based on the number of road sections passed through. The travel route selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the evaluation unit evaluates the travel route based on at least one of the number of right turns on the travel route and the number of left turns on the travel route. The evaluation unit evaluates the travel route by calculating a weighting function based on the road section duplication frequency, the number of right turns of the travel route, the number of left turns of the travel route, and the number of holdings of road sections moving away from the destination,
The travel route selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the selection unit selects a combination of travel routes that minimizes the total value of the weighting functions calculated by the evaluation unit. 7. The travel route selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a combination of travel routes that minimizes the total value of the road section duplication frequency is selected for travel routes of three or more vehicles. The evaluation unit uses intersections within the arbitration target range determined by the arbitration target range calculation unit as vertices, road sections that connect adjacent intersections as branches, and the degree of overlapping of road sections as queues, 8. The travel route selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the travel route is evaluated using graph theory. 9. The travel route selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein priority is given to travel routes of emergency vehicles and a combination of travel routes of other vehicles is selected. 10. The driving route generator according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the driving route generator generates a driving route defined by a continuation of road sections connecting an intersection with a signal and an intersection with a signal adjacent to the intersection with the signal. 1. Travel route selection device according to item 1.

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