JP2024072176A - Safe driving behavior establishment support system - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a safe driving behavior establishment support system capable of supporting the establishment of spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the intrinsic motivation of the driver. [Solution] When the inter-vehicle time between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle itself falls below a predetermined threshold, suggestive behavior induction information is displayed on the windshield as information that implicitly encourages the driver to avoid a potentially dangerous event (ST5). After that, when the potentially dangerous event is resolved, intrinsic motivation information is displayed on the windshield as information that stimulates the driver's sense of self-efficacy and self-determination that foster intrinsic motivation (ST8). This is expected to increase the driver's awareness of safe driving by inducing a sense of self-efficacy and self-determination in the driver due to the intrinsic motivation information. In addition, it is possible to support the establishment of spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation without causing the driver to feel bothered. [Selected Figure] Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a system for supporting the establishment of safe driving behavior.

To reduce the number of traffic accidents, it is necessary to help drivers avoid not only obvious dangerous events while driving a vehicle, but also potentially dangerous events. Conventional HMIs (Human Machine Interfaces) that target obvious dangerous events encourage drivers to avoid dangerous events by presenting strong stimuli that attract the driver's attention (alert the driver to the danger).

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that when an obstacle or another vehicle is present in front of or to the side of a vehicle while the vehicle is moving, it is determined whether the driver has directed their gaze or face toward the object (obstacle, etc.) that they should be paying attention to, and if the driver's gaze or face is not directed toward the object, a warning message is displayed on a display device inside the vehicle, a warning sound is output from a speaker, the steering wheel is vibrated, and the belt tension is adjusted by a seatbelt pretensioner device.

JP 2022-119498 A

However, if the strong stimuli presented by the HMI targeted at obvious dangerous events as in conventional technology were presented at the stage of potentially dangerous events (a stage where the degree of danger is lower than that of obvious dangerous events), there is a concern that the driver will feel annoyed by the frequent occurrence of the stimuli and will be less receptive to the presentation.

In light of this, the inventors of the present invention have considered a system for supporting spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation and establishing this behavior. They have come to the conclusion that, in order to support the establishment of safe driving behavior, it is effective to present information that implicitly encourages the driver to avoid potentially dangerous events, as well as information that stimulates the driver's sense of self-efficacy and self-determination, which foster intrinsic motivation.

The present invention has been made in consideration of these points, and its purpose is to provide a system for supporting the establishment of safe driving behavior that can support the establishment of spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation.

The solution of the present invention for achieving the above object is a safe driving behavior establishment support system that supports the establishment of safe driving behavior in a vehicle driver. This safe driving behavior establishment support system is characterized by comprising: a surrounding information acquisition means for acquiring surrounding information of the vehicle; a dangerous event determination unit that uses the surrounding information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition means to determine whether a potentially dangerous event has occurred; a behavior induction information generation unit that generates suggestive behavior induction information to be provided to the driver when the potentially dangerous event is determined to have occurred by the dangerous event determination unit; and a motivation information generation unit that generates intrinsic motivation information to be provided to the driver after the suggestive behavior induction information has been provided to the driver, on the condition that the potentially dangerous event has been resolved.

Due to this specification, when a potentially dangerous event occurs, suggestive behavior induction information is provided to the driver. This suggestive behavior induction information is information that implicitly encourages the driver to avoid the potentially dangerous event. By providing this suggestive behavior induction information to the driver, it is expected that the driver will take action to avoid the potentially dangerous event. Then, after this suggestive behavior induction information is provided, if the potentially dangerous event is resolved, intrinsic motivation information is provided to the driver. This intrinsic motivation information is information that works on the self-efficacy and self-determination that foster intrinsic motivation. It is expected that the driver's awareness of safe driving will increase as the self-efficacy and self-determination are induced in the driver due to this intrinsic motivation information. This makes it possible to support the establishment of spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation without causing the driver to feel bothered.

In the present invention, when a potentially dangerous event occurs, suggestive behavior-inducing information is provided to the driver, and intrinsic motivation information is provided to the driver on the condition that the potentially dangerous event is resolved. This makes it possible to support the driver in establishing spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation, without causing the driver to feel bothered.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a safe driving behavior establishment support system according to an embodiment; Figure 2(a) is a diagram for explaining an example of the relationship between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle when providing suggestive behavior guidance information, Figure 2(b) is a diagram showing an example of suggestive behavior guidance information displayed on the front window of the vehicle, and Figure 2(c) is a diagram showing an example of intrinsic motivation information displayed on the front window of the vehicle. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of an information display operation by the safe driving behavior establishment support system.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention based on the drawings. In this embodiment, the vehicle's surrounding information includes information about a preceding vehicle, and the information is displayed on the front window (windshield) as a form of providing each piece of information. In the following, a vehicle equipped with the safe driving behavior establishment support system according to the present invention will be called a "self-vehicle" when it is necessary to distinguish it from other vehicles, and a vehicle traveling in front of the "self-vehicle" will be called a "preceding vehicle". FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a safe driving behavior establishment support system 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the safe driving behavior establishment support system 1 includes a surrounding information acquisition device (surrounding information acquisition means) 2, a vehicle state detection device 3, a control device 4, and a display device 5. These devices 2, 3, 4, and 5 are connected to each other so that they can communicate with each other through an in-vehicle network such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

The surrounding information acquisition device 2 is a sensor that acquires information about the situation around the vehicle. This information about the situation around the vehicle includes information about the road ahead of the vehicle and obstacles around the vehicle (such as preceding vehicles and pedestrians). Specifically, the surrounding information acquisition device 2 can be, for example, a camera, a lidar (LIDAR: Laser Imaging Detection And Ranging), a millimeter wave radar sensor, etc. The surrounding information acquisition device 2 is not limited to these, and any sensor capable of acquiring surrounding information can be used. The surrounding information acquisition device 2 transmits the acquired surrounding information to the control device 4. The vehicle state detection device 3 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the traveling speed of the vehicle. In addition, a sensor that detects the driver's operation information (such as an accelerator opening sensor that detects the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal), a longitudinal acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, a lateral acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration in the lateral direction of the vehicle, a yaw rate sensor that detects the yaw rate of the vehicle, etc. may be included. The vehicle state detection device 3 transmits the detection result information (information about the vehicle) to the control device 4.

The control device 4 includes, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read-Only Memory) that stores a control program, a RAM (Random-Access Memory) that temporarily stores data, and an input/output port. The control device 4 includes, as functional units realized by the control program, a receiving unit 41, a dangerous event determination unit 42, a behavior guidance information generation unit 43, a motivation information generation unit 44, and a transmitting unit 45. An outline of the functions of each of these units will be described later.

The display device 5 is, for example, a head-up display device, and displays the display information transmitted from the control device 4 on the windshield, thereby providing the driver with suggestive behavioral guidance information and intrinsic motivation information, which will be described later.

The following provides an overview of the functions of the functional units 41 to 45 implemented by the control program. The receiver 41 receives surrounding information from the surrounding information acquisition device 2 and information about the vehicle itself from the vehicle state detection device 3. The surrounding information includes position information of the preceding vehicle (information for calculating the relative distance between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle itself). The information about the vehicle itself includes information about the vehicle's traveling speed (information about the vehicle's speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor).

The dangerous event determination unit 42 determines whether a potentially dangerous event has occurred by using the surrounding information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition device 2 and the information on the subject vehicle acquired by the vehicle state detection device 3. Specifically, it uses the position information of the preceding vehicle (information on the relative distance between the preceding vehicle and the subject vehicle) as surrounding information and the vehicle speed information of the subject vehicle as the information on the subject vehicle, and calculates the headway time THW (the time interval between the preceding vehicle and the subject vehicle) by the following formula (1).

THW=(Relative distance between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle itself)/Vehicle speed (1)
Since the shorter the calculated time headway THW, the higher the possibility that the host vehicle will collide with the vehicle ahead, when the time headway THW falls below a predetermined threshold, the hazardous event determination unit 42 determines that a potentially hazardous event has occurred. Specifically, in this embodiment, when the time headway THW calculated by the above formula (1) is less than a predetermined threshold (e.g., 3 sec), it is determined that a potentially hazardous event has occurred.

When the risk event determination unit 42 determines that a potentially dangerous event has occurred, the behavior induction information generation unit 43 generates suggestive behavior induction information to be provided to the driver and outputs the suggestive behavior induction information to the transmission unit 45. This suggestive behavior induction information is information that implicitly prompts the driver to avoid a potentially dangerous event, and in this embodiment, a display device (head-up display device) 5 is used to display a line with a vehicle headway time THW of 1 sec, a line with a vehicle headway time THW of 2 sec, and a line with a vehicle headway time THW of 3 sec on the front windshield based on the front end position of the vehicle. Figure 2(a) is a diagram for explaining an example of the relationship between the vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 when suggestive behavior induction information is provided, and Figure 2(b) is a diagram showing an example of a state in which the behavior induction information generation unit 43 generates suggestive behavior induction information due to the occurrence of a potentially dangerous event in the state shown in Figure 2(a), and the suggestive behavior induction information is displayed on the front windshield FW of the vehicle V1. In the figure, the dashed line L1 indicates a position where the inter-vehicle time THW is 1 sec, the dashed line L2 indicates a position where the inter-vehicle time THW is 2 sec, and the dashed line L3 (see FIG. 2(a)) indicates a position where the inter-vehicle time THW is 3 sec. The state shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) shows a state where a potentially dangerous event has occurred because the position of the preceding vehicle V2 is on the dashed lines L2 and L3 (the rear end position of the preceding vehicle V2 is closer to the vehicle itself than the dashed lines L3 and L2) and the inter-vehicle time THW is less than 3 sec (more specifically, less than 2 sec in the state shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b)). Note that when this suggestive behavior-inducing information is displayed on the windshield FW, the positions of the dashed lines L1 to L3 need to be set to appropriate positions on the road surface when the driver looks at the windshield FW (see FIG. 2(b)). For this reason, the display position on the front window FW by the display device 5 is adjusted using the image acquired by the surrounding information acquisition device 2 and the driver's seated position and seated height (information for determining the driver's line of sight position).

After the suggestive behavior induction information is provided to the driver (displayed on the front window FW), the motivation information generation unit 44 generates intrinsic motivation information to be provided to the driver on the condition that the vehicle headway time THW becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (e.g., 3 sec or greater) and the potentially dangerous event is eliminated, and outputs the intrinsic motivation information to the transmission unit 45. This intrinsic motivation information is information that stimulates the sense of self-efficacy and self-determination that fosters intrinsic motivation, and this information is also displayed on the front window FW using the display device 5. Figure 2(c) is a diagram showing an example of a state in which the motivation information generation unit 44 generates intrinsic motivation information due to the elimination of the potentially dangerous event, and the intrinsic motivation information is displayed on the front window FW of the vehicle V1. When this intrinsic motivation information is displayed, the suggestive behavior induction information is not displayed. As shown in FIG. 2(c), the intrinsic motivation information is displayed in the form of a mark M that praises the driver's action (action of reducing the vehicle speed to increase the relative distance from the preceding vehicle V2, such as depressing the brake pedal or releasing the accelerator pedal). The display form of this mark M is not limited to FIG. 2(c), and may be any form that stimulates the driver's sense of self-efficacy and self-determination, as described above.

Next, the procedure for the information display operation by the safe driving behavior establishment support system 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 3. In step ST1, position information of the preceding vehicle V2 is acquired from the surrounding information acquisition device 2. Then, the process proceeds to step ST2, where vehicle speed information of the host vehicle V1 is acquired from the vehicle state detection device 3. In step ST3, this information is used to calculate the inter-vehicle time THW using the above-mentioned formula (1). In step ST4, it is determined whether the calculated inter-vehicle time THW is less than a predetermined threshold value A (e.g., 3 sec). If the inter-vehicle time THW is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value A and the determination in step ST4 is NO, it is determined that the inter-vehicle time THW between the preceding vehicle V2 and the host vehicle V1 is sufficient, and the process returns.

If the time headway THW is less than the predetermined threshold A and the judgement in step ST4 is YES, a potentially dangerous event has occurred, so the process proceeds to step ST5, where the behavior induction information generation unit 43 generates suggestive behavior induction information, which is output from the transmission unit 45 to the display device 5, causing the display device 5 to display the suggestive behavior induction information (see FIG. 2(b)). Then, in step ST6, it is determined whether the time headway THW is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold A (e.g., 3 sec or greater) and less than the predetermined threshold B (e.g., less than 5 sec). In other words, it is determined whether the potentially dangerous event has been resolved. The display state of the suggestive behavior induction information in step ST5 continues until the potentially dangerous event is resolved (during the period in which the judgement in step ST6 is NO).

When the time headway THW is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold A and less than a predetermined threshold B, and the potentially dangerous event is resolved, a YES judgment is made in step ST6, the process proceeds to step ST7, the suggestive behavior guidance information is hidden on the display device 5, and the process proceeds to step ST8, the motivation information generating unit 44 generates intrinsic motivation information, and the intrinsic motivation information is output from the transmitting unit 45 to the display device 5, so that the intrinsic motivation information is displayed by the display device 5 (see FIG. 2(c)). Then, in step ST9, a timer provided in the control device 4 is started. This timer times out after, for example, 6 seconds. This time is not limited to this. In step ST10, it is judged whether the timer has timed out. The display state of the intrinsic motivation information continues until the timer times out (during the period in which a NO judgment is made in step ST10). Then, when the timer times out and a YES judgment is made in step ST10, the process proceeds to step ST11, the intrinsic motivation information is hidden, and the process returns. The above operations are repeated.

As described above, in this embodiment, the surrounding information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition device 2 is used to determine whether a potentially dangerous event has occurred, and if a potentially dangerous event has occurred, the display device 5 provides the driver with suggestive behavior induction information. Since this suggestive behavior induction information is information that implicitly encourages the driver to avoid a potentially dangerous event, it is expected that the driver will take action to avoid the potentially dangerous event by providing the driver with the suggestive behavior induction information. After the suggestive behavior induction information is provided, if the potentially dangerous event is resolved, the display device 5 provides the driver with intrinsic motivation information. Since this intrinsic motivation information is information that works on the self-efficacy and self-determination that foster intrinsic motivation, it is expected that the driver's awareness of safe driving will be increased by inducing the self-efficacy and self-determination in the driver due to the intrinsic motivation information. As a result, by not presenting a strong stimulus to the driver (for example, presenting information such as "keep a safe distance"), it is possible to support the establishment of spontaneous safe driving behavior based on the driver's intrinsic motivation without causing the driver to feel bothered. Furthermore, when a potentially dangerous event is resolved, intrinsic motivation information is provided immediately, so the driver recognizes that he or she has been provided with information that is feedback on the driver's behavior of maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead, and this appeals to a sense of self-determination. Furthermore, by setting the time for providing the intrinsic motivation information (6 seconds in the above-mentioned case), the intrinsic motivation information is not provided continuously for a long period of time, which also prevents the driver from feeling annoyed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and all modifications and applications within the scope of the claims and equivalents thereto are possible.

For example, in the above embodiment, it is determined that a potentially dangerous event has occurred when the time headway THW falls below a predetermined threshold. The conditions for determining that a potentially dangerous event has occurred are not limited to this. In addition, the information is provided by displaying the information on the front window FW. The information is not limited to this in the manner in which it is provided.

The present invention can be applied to a system that helps drivers establish voluntary safe driving behavior.

1... Safe driving behavior establishment support system 2... Peripheral information acquisition device (peripheral information acquisition means)
42: Dangerous event determination unit 43: Action guidance information generation unit 44: Motivation information generation unit

Claims (1)

A safe driving behavior establishment support system that supports the establishment of safe driving behavior by a vehicle driver,
A surrounding information acquisition means for acquiring surrounding information of the vehicle;
a dangerous event determination unit that determines whether or not a potentially dangerous event is occurring by utilizing the surrounding information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition means;
a behavior guidance information generating unit that generates suggestive behavior guidance information to be provided to the driver when the risky event determining unit determines that the potentially risky event has occurred;
and a motivation information generation unit that generates intrinsic motivation information to be provided to the driver on condition that the potentially dangerous event is resolved after the suggestive behavior guidance information has been provided to the driver.

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