JP2023056344A - Precedent vehicle selecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a precedent vehicle selecting device that selects a precedent vehicle to be followed so that effect of improvements in fuel economy or electricity consumption made by following travelling is increased, in consideration of a preference of an occupant in a vehicle.SOLUTION: A precedent vehicle selecting device comprises: a peripheral information obtaining part 15 that obtains information concerning surrounding vehicles 30 around an own vehicle 20; a parameter calculating part 16 that calculates relative speeds between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle, degrees of air resistance reduced by travelling while following the surrounding vehicle and vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle, on the basis of the information concerning the surrounding vehicle, with respect to each of the surrounding vehicles; and a precedent vehicle selecting part 17 that selects a precedent vehicle out of the surrounding vehicles. The precedent vehicle selecting part selects the precedent vehicle on the basis of the relative speeds, the degrees of air resistance reduced, the vehicle speed stability, and preference information preset by an occupant in the own vehicle concerning selection of the precedent vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a preceding vehicle selection device.

In order to reduce the amount of fuel or electric power required for running a vehicle, it is effective to reduce air resistance during running. Conventionally, as a method for reducing air resistance during running, following a preceding vehicle is known. In follow-up running, air resistance acting on a vehicle traveling behind the preceding vehicle is reduced due to the windbreak effect of the preceding vehicle.

As an example of such follow-up running, platooning is known in which a plurality of vehicles run in a row. In the platooning system described in Patent Document 1, the order of vehicles in platooning is determined so that the vehicle with excellent straight-line performance becomes the leading vehicle in order to suppress disorder in the platooning.

JP 2019-101677 A

However, in the platooning system described in Patent Literature 1, the preferences of the vehicle occupants are not taken into consideration at all when forming the platoon. For this reason, there is a possibility that a vehicle that is against the preferences of the occupants of the vehicle is selected as the preceding vehicle, or that the vehicle behaves undesirably to the occupants of the vehicle in order to follow the preceding vehicle.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to select a preceding vehicle to be followed so that the improvement effect of fuel consumption or electricity consumption by following driving is high while taking into consideration the preferences of the vehicle occupants.

The gist of the present disclosure is as follows.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a preceding vehicle selection device for selecting a preceding vehicle suitable for being followed by the own vehicle, comprising a surrounding information acquiring unit for acquiring information about surrounding vehicles around the own vehicle. and, for each of the surrounding vehicles, based on the information about the surrounding vehicles, the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicles, the degree of air resistance reduction due to following the surrounding vehicles, and the vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicles. and a preceding vehicle selection unit that selects the preceding vehicle from among the surrounding vehicles, wherein the preceding vehicle selection unit calculates the relative speed, the degree of air resistance reduction, A preceding vehicle selection device is provided that selects the preceding vehicle based on the vehicle speed stability and preference information preset by the occupant of the own vehicle regarding the selection of the preceding vehicle.

Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to select a preceding vehicle to be tracked so as to increase the effect of improving fuel consumption or electricity consumption by following driving while taking into consideration the preferences of the vehicle occupants.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle control system including a preceding vehicle selection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a scene in which a plurality of vehicles are traveling on a motorway. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the processor of the ECU. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control routine for preceding vehicle selection processing in the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a client server system including a preceding vehicle selection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the server. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control routine for preceding vehicle selection processing in the second embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals are given to the same constituent elements.

<First embodiment>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle control system 1 including a preceding vehicle selection device according to a first embodiment of the invention. The vehicle control system 1 is mounted on a vehicle and executes various vehicle controls.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle control system 1 includes a peripheral information detection device 2, a GNSS receiver 3, a map database 4, a navigation device 5, a vehicle state detection device 6, an actuator 7, an HMI 8, a communication device 9, and an electronic control device. A unit ((Electronic Control Unit (ECU))) 10. The peripheral information detection device 2, the GNSS receiver 3, the map database 4, the navigation device 5, the vehicle state detection device 6, the actuator 7, the HMI 8 and the communication device 9 are CAN It is electrically connected to the ECU 10 via an in-vehicle network or the like conforming to standards such as (Controller Area Network).

The peripheral information detection device 2 acquires data (images, point cloud data, etc.) around the vehicle (self-vehicle) and detects vehicle peripheral information (for example, peripheral vehicles, lanes, etc.). For example, the peripheral information detection device 2 includes a millimeter wave radar, a camera (for example, a stereo camera), a lidar (LIDAR: Laser Imaging Detection And Ranging), an ultrasonic sensor (sonar), or any combination thereof. The output of the peripheral information detection device 2 , that is, the peripheral information of the vehicle detected by the peripheral information detection device 2 is transmitted to the ECU 10 .

The GNSS receiver 3 detects the current position of the vehicle (for example, the latitude and longitude of the vehicle) based on positioning information obtained from multiple (for example, three or more) positioning satellites. Specifically, the GNSS receiver 3 captures a plurality of positioning satellites and receives radio waves transmitted from the positioning satellites. Then, the GNSS receiver 3 calculates the distance to the positioning satellite based on the difference between the transmission time and reception time of the radio wave, and based on the distance to the positioning satellite and the position (trajectory information) of the positioning satellite, the current position of the vehicle. Detect location. The output of the GNSS receiver 3, that is, the current position of the vehicle detected by the GNSS receiver 3 is transmitted to the ECU 10.

The map database 4 stores map information. The ECU 10 acquires map information from the map database 4 . A map database may be provided outside the vehicle (for example, a server or the like), and the ECU 10 may acquire map information from outside the vehicle.

The navigation device 5 sets the driving route of the vehicle to the destination based on the current position of the vehicle detected by the GNSS receiver 3, the map information of the map database 4, the input by the vehicle occupant (for example, the driver), and the like. . The travel route set by the navigation device 5 is transmitted to the ECU 10 .

The vehicle state detection device 6 detects the state quantity of the vehicle. The vehicle state detection device 6 includes, for example, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the vehicle, a yaw rate sensor that detects the yaw rate of the vehicle, and the like. The output of the vehicle state detection device 6 , that is, the state quantity of the vehicle detected by the vehicle state detection device 6 is transmitted to the ECU 10 .

Actuator 7 operates the vehicle. For example, the actuator 7 includes a drive device (eg, an internal combustion engine and an electric motor) for accelerating the vehicle, a brake actuator for braking the vehicle, a steering motor for steering the vehicle, and the like. The ECU 10 controls the behavior of the vehicle by controlling the actuator 7 .

In this embodiment, the vehicle control system 1 functions as an advanced driving assistance system (ADAS), controls the actuator 7, and operates a predetermined driving assistance function. Predetermined driving assistance functions include, for example, adaptive cruise control (ACC), which automatically controls the speed of the vehicle depending on the presence or absence of a preceding vehicle, steering of the vehicle so that the vehicle remains in the lane, and so on. It includes Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) that automatically controls.

A human machine interface (HMI) 8 exchanges information between a vehicle and a vehicle occupant (for example, a driver). The HMI 8 has an output unit (for example, a display, a speaker, a vibration unit, etc.) that provides information to the vehicle occupants, and an input unit (for example, a touch panel, operation buttons, operation switches, a microphone, etc.) to which information is input by the vehicle occupants. ) and The output of the ECU 10 is communicated to the vehicle occupant via the HMI 8 and the input from the vehicle occupant is transmitted to the ECU 10 via the HMI 8 . HMI 8 is an example of an input device, an output device or an input/output device. A mobile terminal (smartphone, tablet terminal, etc.) of a vehicle occupant may be connected to the ECU 10 by wire or wirelessly so as to be communicable and function as the HMI 8 . Also, the HMI 8 may be integrated with the navigation device 5 .

The communication device 9 can communicate with the outside of the vehicle, and enables communication between the vehicle and the outside of the vehicle. For example, the communication device 9 includes a wide area communication device that enables wide area communication between the vehicle and the outside of the vehicle (for example, a server) via a communication network such as a carrier network or the Internet network, and a predetermined frequency band. and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device that enables vehicle-to-vehicle communication between a vehicle and a surrounding vehicle, and a road-to-vehicle communication device that enables road-to-vehicle communication between a vehicle and a roadside device using a predetermined frequency band.

The ECU 10 executes various vehicle controls. As shown in FIG. 1, the ECU 10 has a communication interface 11, a memory 12 and a processor 13. FIG. The communication interface 11 and memory 12 are connected to the processor 13 via signal lines. Although one ECU 10 is provided in this embodiment, a plurality of ECUs may be provided for each function.

The communication interface 11 has an interface circuit for connecting the ECU 10 to the in-vehicle network. The ECU 10 is connected to other in-vehicle equipment via a communication interface 11 . The communication interface 11 is an example of a communication section of the ECU 10 .

The memory 12 has, for example, a volatile semiconductor memory and a non-volatile semiconductor memory. The memory 12 stores programs, data, and the like used when various processes are executed by the processor 13 .

The processor 13 has one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units) and their peripheral circuits. Note that the processor 13 may further have an arithmetic circuit such as a logic operation unit or a numerical operation unit.

By the way, in order to reduce the amount of fuel or electric power required for running the vehicle, it is effective to reduce air resistance during running. Conventionally, as a technique for reducing air resistance during running, it is known to perform follow-up running in which a vehicle follows a preceding vehicle. In follow-up running, air resistance acting on a vehicle traveling behind the preceding vehicle is reduced due to the windbreak effect of the preceding vehicle. It should be noted that platooning, in which a plurality of vehicles travel in a platoon, is an example of follow-up driving.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a scene in which a plurality of vehicles are traveling on a motorway. In the example of FIG. 2 , five surrounding vehicles 30 are running around the host vehicle 20 . In such a situation, a plurality of vehicles (five surrounding vehicles 30) are candidates for the subject vehicle 20 to follow.

It is desirable that the subject to be followed by the own vehicle is selected not only from the viewpoint of improvement in fuel consumption or electricity consumption, but also in consideration of the preferences of the vehicle occupants. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the ECU 10 mounted on the own vehicle functions as a preceding vehicle selection device that selects a preceding vehicle suitable for being followed by the own vehicle, and selection of the preceding vehicle is performed as follows.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the processor 13 of the ECU 10. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the processor 13 has a peripheral information acquisition section 15 , a parameter calculation section 16 and a preceding vehicle selection section 17 . The peripheral information acquisition unit 15 , the parameter calculation unit 16 , and the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 are functional modules realized by the processor 13 of the ECU 10 executing a program stored in the memory 12 of the ECU 10 . Note that each of these functional modules may be implemented by a dedicated arithmetic circuit provided in the processor 13 .

The peripheral information acquisition unit 15 acquires information about peripheral vehicles around the own vehicle. In the present embodiment, the peripheral information acquisition unit 15 acquires information about peripheral vehicles from each of the peripheral vehicles around the own vehicle via inter-vehicle communication.

The parameter calculation unit 16 calculates predetermined parameters for determining suitability as a preceding vehicle for each of the surrounding vehicles. For example, when the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle is low, following the surrounding vehicle becomes easier than when the relative speed is high. Further, the greater the degree of reduction in air resistance due to following the surrounding vehicle, the higher the effect of improving the fuel consumption or electricity consumption due to following traveling. Furthermore, the higher the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle is, the more fuel and electric power consumption can be reduced due to the acceleration and deceleration of the host vehicle during follow-up running. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the parameter calculation unit 16 calculates the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle and the degree of air resistance reduction by following the surrounding vehicle based on the information about the surrounding vehicle. and the vehicle speed stability of surrounding vehicles.

The preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects a suitable preceding vehicle as a target to be followed by the own vehicle from surrounding vehicles around the own vehicle. In this embodiment, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle, the degree of reduction in air resistance by following the surrounding vehicle, the speed stability of the surrounding vehicle, and the selection of the preceding vehicle. The preceding vehicle is selected based on preference information preset by the vehicle occupants. As a result, it is possible to select the preceding vehicle to be followed so that the improvement effect of fuel consumption or electric power consumption by following driving is high while taking into consideration the preferences of the occupants of the own vehicle.

For example, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 evaluates each of the surrounding vehicles based on the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicles, the reduction in air resistance due to following the surrounding vehicles, and the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicles. A value is calculated and the evaluation value is corrected based on the preference information preset by the occupant of the own vehicle regarding the selection of the preceding vehicle. The evaluation value of the surrounding vehicle indicates the suitability of the vehicle to be followed, and the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects the surrounding vehicle with the highest post-correction evaluation value as the preceding vehicle.

The processing flow of the control described above will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control routine for preceding vehicle selection processing in the first embodiment. This control routine is repeatedly executed by the processor 13 of the ECU 10 at predetermined execution intervals.

First, in step S101, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 determines whether or not a condition for starting follow-up running is satisfied. A condition for starting follow-up running is determined in advance, and is satisfied, for example, when an occupant of the own vehicle requests activation of ACC via the HMI 8 . Note that the condition for starting follow-up running may be that the own vehicle is running on an expressway at a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined value. If it is determined in step S101 that the conditions for starting follow-up running are not met, this control routine ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S101 that the conditions for starting follow-up running are satisfied, the control routine proceeds to step S102. In step S102, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 specifies the number N of surrounding vehicles that can communicate with the host vehicle through inter-vehicle communication, that is, the number N of surrounding vehicles located within the communication range of inter-vehicle communication, and selects N surrounding vehicles. A vehicle number (1 to N) is assigned to each vehicle.

Next, in step S103, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 adds 1 to the vehicle number i. Note that the initial value of the vehicle number i when the ignition switch of the host vehicle is turned on is zero.

Next, in step S104, the peripheral information acquiring unit 15 acquires information about the i-th peripheral vehicle through inter-vehicle communication between the i-th peripheral vehicle and the own vehicle. In this embodiment, as the information about the surrounding vehicle, the position of the surrounding vehicle, the speed of the surrounding vehicle, the ACC operating state (on or off) of the surrounding vehicle, the width and length of the surrounding vehicle, and the like are acquired.

Next, in step S105, the parameter calculator 16 calculates the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicles based on the information about the surrounding vehicles. Specifically, the parameter calculation unit 16 calculates the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle as the difference between the speed of the own vehicle detected by the vehicle speed sensor of the vehicle state detection device 6 and the speed of the surrounding vehicle (relative Velocity=|velocity of own vehicle−velocity of surrounding vehicles|). As the speed of the own vehicle, the set vehicle speed of the ACC set by the occupant (for example, the driver) of the own vehicle may be used. Further, when the ACC set vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicle is transmitted to the own vehicle via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the ACC set vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicle may be used as the speed of the surrounding vehicle.

Next, in step S106, the parameter calculation unit 16 calculates the degree of air resistance reduction by following the surrounding vehicle, that is, the degree of air resistance reduction when the own vehicle follows the surrounding vehicle, based on the information about the surrounding vehicle. do. The greater the degree of reduction in air resistance due to follow-up driving, the smaller the air resistance acting on the own vehicle when following a nearby vehicle compared to the air resistance acting on the own vehicle when the own vehicle is traveling alone. .

For example, the parameter calculator 16 calculates an estimated value of the front projected area of the surrounding vehicle based on the vehicle width and length of the surrounding vehicle, and calculates the degree of air resistance reduction based on this estimated value. In this case, the greater the forward projected area, the greater the degree of air resistance reduction.

The vehicle width and height of the surrounding vehicle are transmitted to the own vehicle via inter-vehicle communication, and the forward projected area is calculated by multiplying the vehicle width by the vehicle height. A forward projected area may be transmitted to the host vehicle. Also, the air resistance coefficient (Cd value) of the surrounding vehicle may be transmitted to the own vehicle via inter-vehicle communication, and the parameter calculator 16 may calculate the degree of air resistance reduction based on the Cd value. In this case, the greater the Cd value, the greater the degree of air resistance reduction.

Also, in a vehicle having a shape in which the rear end portion of the vehicle is not rounded, the area where the air resistance acting on the rear vehicle is reduced tends to be widened. Therefore, if a bus for passenger transportation and a truck for freight transportation have the same size, the truck has a greater degree of reduction in air resistance to the rear vehicle than the bus. For this reason, application type information of surrounding vehicles (for example, passenger transportation vehicles, freight transportation vehicles, etc.) is sent to the own vehicle via vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and the degree of air resistance reduction is corrected based on the usage type information. may be In addition, use type information and size type information (large size car, medium size car, ordinary car, etc.) of surrounding vehicles are transmitted to the own vehicle via vehicle-to-vehicle communication. may be used to calculate the degree of air resistance reduction.

Next, in step S107, the parameter calculator 16 calculates the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle based on the information about the surrounding vehicle. For example, the parameter calculator 16 calculates the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle based on the operating state of the ACC of the surrounding vehicle. In this case, when the operating state of the ACC is ON, the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle is made higher than when the operating state of the ACC is OFF. Note that the parameter calculation unit 16 may calculate the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle based on the history of the vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicle (for example, the amount of change in vehicle speed over a predetermined period of time).

Next, in step S108, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 uses a map or a calculation formula to determine the i-th surrounding vehicle based on the relative speed, air resistance reduction degree, and vehicle speed stability calculated by the parameter calculation unit 16. Calculate the evaluation value of At this time, the lower the relative speed, the higher the evaluation value, the higher the degree of air resistance reduction, the higher the evaluation value, and the higher the vehicle speed stability, the higher the evaluation value.

Next, in step 109, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 corrects the evaluation value based on the preference information preset by the occupant (for example, the driver) of the own vehicle regarding the selection of the preceding vehicle. The preference information is stored in the memory 12 of the ECU 10 or the like.

For example, the occupant of the own vehicle sends preference information to the HMI 8, such as whether or not to allow following a large vehicle such as a bus or truck, and whether or not to allow the own vehicle to change lanes for following travel. input. In this case, when following the large vehicle is not permitted, the evaluation value for the surrounding vehicle, which is a large vehicle, is corrected so as to be low (for example, the evaluation value is set to zero). In addition, when the own vehicle is not allowed to change lanes for follow-up driving, the evaluation value is corrected so that the evaluation value of surrounding vehicles traveling in a different lane from the own vehicle is lowered (for example, the evaluation value values are zeroed).

Next, in step S110, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 determines whether or not the vehicle number i is N or more. If the vehicle number i is determined to be less than N, the control routine returns to step S103, and steps S103 to S109 are executed again to calculate the evaluation value for another surrounding vehicle.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S110 that the vehicle number i is greater than or equal to N, the control routine proceeds to step S111. In step S111, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects the surrounding vehicle with the highest evaluation value among the N surrounding vehicles as the preceding vehicle. Then, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 notifies an occupant (for example, a driver) of the own vehicle of the preceding vehicle via the HMI 8 . For example, when the surrounding vehicles 30 of the own vehicle 20 are displayed on the display of the HMI 8 as shown in FIG. Display in different display modes (for example, transparency, luminance, color (hue), lightness of color, saturation of color, etc.).

In addition to the visual notification or instead of the visual notification, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 uses at least voice and vibration to indicate the timing of lane change for moving behind the surrounding vehicle selected as the preceding vehicle. You may notify the passenger|crew of the own vehicle by one. For example, when vibration prompts a lane change to the right lane, the preceding vehicle selector 17 uses the vibration unit of the HMI 8 to vibrate the right half of the steering wheel of the host vehicle at the timing of the lane change.

Further, when the own vehicle is an automatically driven vehicle in which all of acceleration, steering, and deceleration (braking) of the vehicle are automatically performed, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects the surrounding vehicle 30 selected as the preceding vehicle. The actuator 7 of the own vehicle may be controlled so that the vehicle follows. That is, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 may automatically start following the preceding vehicle.

Next, in step S112, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 resets the vehicle number i to zero. After step S112, the control routine ends.

Note that the peripheral information acquisition unit 15 may acquire information about peripheral vehicles around the own vehicle based on the output of the peripheral information detection device 2 instead of the vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In this case, in step S102, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 identifies the number N of surrounding vehicles detected by the surrounding information detection device 2, and assigns a vehicle number (1 to N) to each of the N surrounding vehicles. Further, in step S<b>104 , the peripheral information acquisition unit 15 acquires information about the i-th peripheral vehicle based on the output of the peripheral information detection device 2 . In this case, for example, the position of the surrounding vehicle, the speed of the surrounding vehicle, the width and height of the surrounding vehicle, and the like are acquired as the information about the surrounding vehicle.

Further, the calculation for calculating the evaluation value for each of the plurality of surrounding vehicles, that is, the processing of steps S104 to S109 may be performed in parallel.

<Second embodiment>
The configuration and control of the vehicle control system according to the second embodiment are basically the same as the configuration and control of the vehicle control system according to the first embodiment, except for the points described below. For this reason, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below, focusing on the differences from the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a client server system 100 including a preceding vehicle selection device according to a second embodiment of the invention. The client-server system 100 comprises a server 40 and multiple vehicles 50 . Server 40 can communicate with each of vehicles 50 via communication network 60 and radio base station 70 . The plurality of vehicles 50 includes the own vehicle requesting to follow the preceding vehicle and surrounding vehicles around the own vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of server 40. As shown in FIG. The server 40 has a communication interface 41 , a storage device 42 , a memory 43 and a processor 44 . The communication interface 41, storage device 42 and memory 43 are connected to the processor 44 via signal lines. The server 40 may further include an input device such as a keyboard and mouse, an output device such as a display, and the like. Also, the server 40 may be composed of a plurality of computers.

Communication interface 41 has an interface circuit for connecting server 40 to communication network 60 . The server 40 communicates with the outside of the server 40 (for example, multiple vehicles 50) via the communication network 60. FIG. The communication interface 41 is an example of a communication section of the server 40 .

The storage device 42 has, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SDD) or an optical recording medium and its access device. The storage device 42 stores various data, such as map information, information (identification information, location information, etc.) of a plurality of vehicles 50, computer programs for the processor 44 to execute various processes, and the like. The storage device 42 is an example of a storage unit of the server 40 .

The memory 43 has a nonvolatile semiconductor memory (for example, RAM). The memory 43 temporarily stores various data and the like used when various processes are executed by the processor 44, for example. The memory 43 is another example of the storage section of the server 40 .

The processor 44 has one or more CPUs and their peripheral circuits, and executes various processes. It should be noted that the processor 44 may further comprise other arithmetic circuitry such as a logical arithmetic unit, a numerical arithmetic unit or a graphics processing unit.

In the second embodiment, the server 40 functions as the preceding vehicle selection device instead of the ECU 10 , and the processor 44 of the server 40 has the peripheral information acquisition section 15 , the parameter calculation section 16 and the preceding vehicle selection section 17 . In this case, the peripheral information acquisition unit 15, the parameter calculation unit 16, and the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 are functional modules realized by the processor 44 of the server 40 executing a program stored in the storage device 42 of the server 40. .

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control routine for preceding vehicle selection processing in the second embodiment. This control routine is repeatedly executed by the processor 44 of the server 40 at predetermined execution intervals.

First, in step S<b>201 , the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 determines whether or not one of the plurality of vehicles 50 has requested follow-up running. For example, when an occupant of the vehicle 50 requests activation of ACC via the HMI 8 , a follow-run request signal is transmitted from the vehicle 50 to the server 40 . If it is determined in step S201 that follow-up running is not requested, this control routine ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S201 that follow-up running is requested, the control routine proceeds to step S202. In this case, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 recognizes the vehicle 50 requesting follow-up running as the own vehicle. Then, in step S202, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects surrounding vehicles located around the own vehicle (for example, a predetermined range in front and behind the own vehicle) based on the position information of the plurality of vehicles 50 including the own vehicle. A number N is specified, and a vehicle number (1 to N) is assigned to each of the N surrounding vehicles.

Next, in step S203, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 adds 1 to the vehicle number i. Note that the initial value of the vehicle number i is zero.

Next, in step S204, the peripheral information acquisition unit 15 acquires information about the own vehicle through wide area communication between the own vehicle and the server 40, and obtains information about the own vehicle through wide area communication between the i th surrounding vehicle and the server 40. Get information about vehicles in the vicinity of the . In this embodiment, the speed of the own vehicle is acquired as the information about the own vehicle, and the information about the surrounding vehicles includes the position of the surrounding vehicle, the speed of the surrounding vehicle, the operating state (on or off) of the ACC in the surrounding vehicle, and the surrounding vehicle. vehicle width, vehicle length, etc. are acquired.

Steps S205-S210 are then performed in the same manner as steps S105-S110 of FIG. The preference information of the occupant of the own vehicle used in step S209 is stored in advance in the storage device 42 of the server 40 together with the identification information of the own vehicle.

If it is determined in step S210 that the vehicle number i is greater than or equal to N, the control routine proceeds to step S211. In step S211, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 selects the surrounding vehicle with the highest evaluation value among the N surrounding vehicles as the preceding vehicle. Then, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 transmits information about the preceding vehicle (for example, position information of the preceding vehicle, etc.) to the host vehicle. As a result, the ECU 10 of the own vehicle notifies the occupants of the own vehicle of the preceding vehicle, and controls the own vehicle to follow the preceding vehicle.

Next, in step S212, the preceding vehicle selection unit 17 resets the vehicle number i to zero. After step S212, the control routine ends.

Note that the calculations for calculating the evaluation values for each of the plurality of peripheral vehicles, that is, the processes of steps S204 to S209 may be performed in parallel. Further, the own vehicle requesting follow-up running may acquire information about the surrounding vehicles around the own vehicle, and transmit the information about the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicles to the server 40 via wide area communication.

Although preferred embodiments according to the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the claims.

10 Electronic control unit (ECU)
13 Processor 15 Peripheral Information Acquisition Unit 16 Parameter Calculation Unit 17 Preceding Vehicle Selection Unit 20 Subject Vehicle 30 Peripheral Vehicle 40 Server 44 Processor 50 Vehicle

Claims (1)

A preceding vehicle selection device that selects a preceding vehicle suitable for being followed by the own vehicle,
a peripheral information acquiring unit that acquires information about peripheral vehicles around the own vehicle;
For each of the surrounding vehicles, based on the information about the surrounding vehicle, the relative speed between the own vehicle and the surrounding vehicle, the reduction in air resistance due to following the surrounding vehicle, and the vehicle speed stability of the surrounding vehicle. a parameter calculation unit that calculates and
a preceding vehicle selection unit that selects the preceding vehicle from among the surrounding vehicles;
The preceding vehicle selection unit selects the preceding vehicle based on the relative speed, the air resistance reduction degree, the vehicle speed stability, and preference information preset by the occupant of the own vehicle regarding the selection of the preceding vehicle. A leading vehicle selection device that selects the

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