JP2715528B2 - Vehicle safety control device - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a safety control device for a vehicle collision accident, and more particularly to a vehicle safety control for detecting a collision danger state of a vehicle and automatically performing various vehicle drive controls. Related to the device.

[Related Art] Conventionally, when a vehicle enters a dangerous area where it may collide with an obstacle ahead due to driving aside or falling asleep while driving, for example, a device for preventing collision and protecting occupants is provided. Various techniques for performing control have been proposed.

For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-47264, an obstacle in front of a vehicle and a relative distance to the obstacle are detected and measured by transmitting and receiving a pulse wave, and the vehicle enters a dangerous area where the vehicle may collide with the obstacle. A safety control device is provided that sometimes issues an alarm and locks the seat belt to pre-empt a collision. The safety control device has a configuration for preventing a pulse wave emitted from another person from being mistaken for a reflected wave of a pulse wave emitted by the own vehicle.

Next, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 58-15300 discloses a control device that detects a dangerous inter-vehicle distance with a preceding vehicle by an inter-vehicle distance detection device and performs throttle control and a brake driving device simultaneously based on the detection. Have been.

Next, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-58181, a reflected wave such as a sound wave transmitted from a launch device is received, and a relative speed and a distance between an obstacle and the obstacle are calculated. A warning device is activated when it is determined that the vehicle has entered, and is similar to the conventional example of Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-47264 in that control is performed to notify a driver of danger. .

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-246688, "distance means" detects that the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle traveling in front and the host vehicle is inappropriate, and this invincibility state (the inter-vehicle distance has become less than a certain value). At times), a light-emitting means for notifying the dangerous state of the vehicle following the own vehicle is provided, so that the light-emitting means can prevent a collision of the succeeding vehicle with a collision or the like. .

Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-36210 discloses a device for increasing the tension of a seat belt in an emergency such as a collision to protect an occupant. In this device, for example, an explosive is exploded by an impact at the time of a collision, and the explosive force pushes down a piston of a seat belt anchor for fixing a seat belt to a floor, thereby increasing the tension of the seat belt. After the collision, a configuration is added in which the belt is slightly extended by the inertia force of the occupant after the collision. Thus, the impact applied to the occupant at the time of the collision is reduced.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In each of the above-mentioned conventional safety control devices, a safety device prepared in advance is driven when it is determined that the vehicle is in a dangerous state that may cause a collision. The determination as to whether or not each is in a danger state is based on one criterion, for example, whether or not the vehicle is in a certain area. Therefore, each prepared safety control device is driven when there is a certain danger state, and the drive is a one-stage drive. Even in a device that performs a plurality of safety controls, since the driving is performed simultaneously, the safety control is not performed in a plurality of stages.

In such a conventional device, if the dangerous state determination unit cannot detect the initial state of the dangerous state or if the safety device fails and does not operate, there is a possibility that no safety control is performed. There was a problem that reliability was low.

In addition, for example, in a conventional example of Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-47264, when a vehicle is in a danger area, a control is performed such that an alarm is always issued and the seat belt is locked. Therefore, such control is performed even after the driver starts the operation of returning to the safe area. However, as a human sensibility, when performing an operation to return to the safety area, an alarm is always issued, and if the seat belt is locked, the user feels discomfort and may not use the safety device There is. Therefore, the protection means that can directly operate the occupant is not performed until the danger of collision becomes extremely high, and only the traveling control for the vehicle is performed in the danger area where the possibility of collision is low. However, there is a problem that a safety control device is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has as its object to replace a drive device for safety of a vehicle with another drive device even if the drive device fails, and to provide a hazardous device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle safety control device that does not cause discomfort to an occupant performing a state avoidance operation.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, a first vehicle safety control device according to the present invention includes a vehicle traveling direction including a recognition of a traveling state of an own vehicle and a detection of a forward obstacle. A running condition monitoring unit for recognizing the situation, a plurality of types of vehicle running control means for controlling the running of the own vehicle to avoid the collision of the own vehicle with an obstacle, and operation of a device for protecting an occupant in the event of a collision A vehicle control unit including an occupant protection unit for performing control, and a danger area having a high possibility of collision based on a recognition signal of the own vehicle traveling state and the forward situation from the traveling state monitoring unit according to the degree of the possibility. A plurality of steps are set, and when the vehicle enters the danger area in each step, a drive signal is transmitted to the vehicle traveling control means or the occupant protection means of the vehicle control section which is set corresponding to each danger area. The control unit and the Specified,
In accordance with the drive signal transmitted from the safety control unit, it is determined whether the predetermined control of the vehicle control unit has been performed, and if the predetermined control has not been performed, it is determined that the means to be controlled has failed. A failure diagnosis unit that performs, when the failure determination unit determines a failure, the safety control unit sets a dangerous area in a subsequent stage wider than when no failure determination is performed. It is.

[Operation] According to the vehicle safety control device having the above-described configuration, the vehicle control unit is provided with a plurality of types of traveling control means for performing drive control of the vehicle for avoiding a collision, and further ensuring occupant safety in the event of a collision. By providing the occupant protection means for performing the above operation, it is possible to operate these means in multiple stages.

Then, the safety control unit sets a dangerous area having a high possibility of collision in a plurality of steps. That is, a plurality of dangerous areas can be set stepwise from a state where the possibility of collision is low.

Further, the safety control unit sends a drive signal to a vehicle traveling control unit of a type predetermined in accordance with each danger area when the own vehicle enters the danger area of each stage, so that the collision is most likely to occur. A drive signal to the occupant protection means is sent in the danger area.

Therefore, the occupant protection means for performing a direct operation on the occupant is not operated until the final stage in the safety control, so that the occupant does not feel discomfort until the final stage. Further, since the traveling control of the vehicle for safety is performed stepwise as needed from a low risk state, if an obstacle is not detected in the initial stage or one vehicle traveling control means does not operate. Even in such a case, the traveling control means operates at another stage, so that the reliability of the safety control can be improved.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the embodiment.
The traveling state monitoring unit 10 that recognizes the traveling state of the own vehicle and the forward situation in the vehicle traveling direction such as the recognition of the obstacle ahead,
It comprises a visual sensor 12, a vehicle speed sensor 14, a steering angle sensor 16, a yaw rate sensor 18, an acceleration sensor 20, and a road surface μ sensor 22.

The visual sensor 12 uses a scanning pulse laser radar, and can detect a distance and an angle to an obstacle such as a vehicle in front of the own vehicle, a guardrail, a separation zone, and a road shoulder. That is, the semiconductor laser emits pulsed light,
The detection is performed by irradiating the obstacle and receiving the reflected light, and the distance to the obstacle can be calculated from the time difference between the light emission timing and the light reception timing.
By scanning a beam having a small diameter in the left-right direction, the angle of the obstacle from the own vehicle can be detected.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of such a scanning pulse laser radar. A light transmitting section 52 for scanning a laser beam in the left and right direction at a predetermined width l on the front surface of a casing 50 and a reflected light therefrom. A light receiving unit 54 for receiving light is provided. By providing this pulse laser radar on the front side of the vehicle, it functions as the visual sensor 12.

It should be noted that the visual sensor 12 is not limited to such a pulse laser radar, and for example, an image sensor can be effectively used as long as the processing time can be shortened.

Next, the vehicle speed sensor 14 detects the vehicle speed by detecting the number of pulses generated by the rotation of the magnetic rotating plate that rotates according to the vehicle speed.

The steering angle sensor 16 is configured by mounting, for example, a potentiometer or the like to a drive mechanism of the wheel, and can detect a steering angle of the steering wheel.

The yaw rate sensor 18 detects the acceleration of yawing of the vehicle, and is constituted by, for example, a rate gyro.

As the acceleration sensor 20, for example, a piezoelectric acceleration sensor or the like is used, and the acceleration is detected by utilizing a piezoelectric reduction in which a potential difference occurs due to a mechanical strain of a ceramic piezoelectric element generated according to the acceleration.

The road surface μ sensor 22 detects the friction coefficient μ of the road surface by irradiating ultrasonic waves or light from the vehicle to the road surface and measuring the reflectance.

Next, the vehicle control unit 24 includes vehicle running control means for controlling the running state of the vehicle and occupant protection means for performing some operation for the driver. And a brake control unit 28. The occupant protection means includes an alarm generation circuit 30 and a seat belt tension control unit 32.

Further, in this embodiment, the vehicle control unit 24 is provided with a stop lamp control unit 34 for notifying the following vehicle in advance of the operation when the own vehicle stops.

A safety control unit 36 that outputs a drive signal to each control unit of the vehicle control unit 24 based on each signal from the traveling state monitoring unit 10 is provided in an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 38. The safety control unit 36 calculates a situation in the vehicle traveling direction, a forward recognition unit 40, a traveling route calculation unit 42 that computes and predicts a traveling route of the own vehicle, and determines a possibility of collision of the own vehicle with an obstacle in front. And a drive control unit 46 that supplies a drive signal to each control unit of the vehicle control unit 24 based on a signal from the collision prediction unit 44.

In the present embodiment, the safety control unit 36 is provided with a failure diagnosis unit 48 for detecting the presence or absence of a failure state of each control unit of the vehicle control unit 24. 46 to supply.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 1, the forward recognition unit 40 of the safety control unit 36 detects the distance R to the obstacle detected by the visual sensor 12, the angle θ of the obstacle with respect to the own vehicle, and the vehicle speed sensor 14.
Is input.

In step 2, the forward recognition section 40 calculates the relative speed Vr between the host vehicle and the obstacle based on the input signal. In step 3, after recognizing the obstacle, the position of the obstacle is calculated. . The relative speed Vr can be obtained from the following equation (1) from the rate of the time change of the distance R between the host vehicle and the obstacle.

Vr = ΔR / t (1) Here, ΔR is a change in distance in one scan frame, and t is one scan frame time.

Next, in step 3, the forward recognition unit 40 recognizes an obstacle such as a vehicle ahead, a guardrail, a divider, a road shoulder, and a white line based on the obstacle detection pattern and the relative speed Vr. This is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
The information of the distance R to the obstacle and the angle θ obtained by the visual sensor 12 are used as XY information with the front center of the vehicle at an angle of 0 (an X-axis is a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the vehicle, and a Y-axis is the traveling direction. ) And adding recognition, it is possible to recognize a guardrail, a preceding vehicle, a separation zone, and the like. In the figure, the driving situation as shown in FIG.
The line is as shown in the graph of FIG. In the figure, part (a) is a guardrail, part (b) is a vehicle in front, part (c) is a white line, part (d) is another vehicle further ahead, and part (e) is a separator. Each is shown.

Next, in step 4, a forward running path is detected by the forward confirmation unit 40 based on the information obtained in step 3. That is, the part surrounded by the guardrail and the separation zone is determined to be a runway, and it is recognized whether the shape is a straight line or a curve.

In step 5, the traveling route calculation unit 42 of the safety control unit 36
In addition, the steering angle θs, the own vehicle acceleration α, the road surface friction coefficient μ, and the yaw rate correspond to the steering angle sensor 16, the acceleration sensor 20, the road surface μ, respectively.
It is input from the sensor 22 and the yaw rate sensor 18. Then, in step 6, the traveling route calculation unit 42 calculates the traveling state of the own vehicle based on the information input in step 5, and predicts the traveling route of the own vehicle based on the calculation result.

In step 7, the traveling route predicted in step 6 is superimposed on the traveling route condition recognized in step 4, and it is determined whether an obstacle exists on the traveling route of the own vehicle.

When there is no obstacle on the traveling route, the process returns to the start and the operation is sequentially performed from step 1. When there is an obstacle on the traveling route, the collision prediction unit 44 further calculates the first dangerous area Rs having the lowest possible collision among the dangerous areas that may collide with the obstacle by the following equation (2). ).

Rs = V · t + V ² / 2α− (V + Vr) ² / 2β (2) where V is the vehicle speed, t is the idle running time, α is the vehicle acceleration, and β is the forward obstacle acceleration. And β is V + Vr
Can be obtained by the derivative of. In addition, guardrails, dividers, and the like can be calculated as V + Vr = 0. Next, the calculation of the second dangerous area R's having a higher risk than the first dangerous area Rs, that is, having a higher possibility of collision, is performed. The second danger area R's is determined by the following equation (2): deceleration due to closing the throttle, shift position, road surface friction coefficient μ, vehicle deceleration αs
Can be calculated by the following equation (3).

R's = V · t + V 2/2 (α + α S) - (V + Vr) 2 / 2β ...... (3) In addition, following the collision prediction portion 44, a high third dangerous area potentially most in danger areas collide It is calculated by equation (4). That can be calculated by adding the (3) velocity V in the expression deceleration alpha _B by the brake, which is determined by the road surface friction coefficient μ and the vehicle weight.

R "s = V · t + V 2/2 (α + α S + α B) - (V + Vr) 2 / 2β ...... (4) Thus, first, second, third dangerous area Rs in step 8, R's , R ″ s are calculated, and then in step 9, the first dangerous area Rs is compared with the current distance R to the obstacle. Here, the distance R to the obstacle
If Rs.ltoreq.R with respect to the first danger region Rs, the own vehicle has not entered the first danger region Rs, and thus it is determined that there is no need to perform traveling control of the vehicle.

In that case, in step 10, various programs are reset. For example, if any vehicle running control is being performed, the control is reset and returns to the start, and the operation is performed sequentially from step 1.

In step 11, when Rs> R in the determination in step 9, the drive control unit 46 having received the detection signal sends a drive signal to the throttle control unit 26 to perform throttle control. In the throttle control unit 26 receiving this drive signal, the throttle actuator drive circuit 26a operates, and the throttle actuator 26b adjusts the throttle opening. That is, the throttle valve is operated to the closed side to decelerate the vehicle.

Next, at step 12, a comparison is made between the second dangerous area R's and the distance R between the obstacle and, if R's <R, there is a possibility that Rs <R by throttle control, that is, Rs <R. It is determined that there is a possibility that the own vehicle may escape from the dangerous area, and the operation returns to the operation of step 1 again (No in step 12). As a result, when the vehicle is in the first danger region Rs and is not in the second danger region R ″ s, the throttle control is automatically performed.

Then, in step 13, the distance R to the obstacle is equal to the second
If R ′s> R, which is smaller than the dangerous area R ′s, and Yes, the distance R is compared with the third dangerous area R ″ s. Here, the distance R is equal to the third dangerous area R ″. If s is greater than s, that is, if R ″ s> R is No, step 14
It is determined whether or not there is a response from the driver. That is, it is determined whether or not the driver is taking any action to avoid a collision, for example, based on whether or not a stop lamp is turned on by a brake operation, whether or not a steering wheel operation is being performed, and the like. When the avoidance operation is being performed, the process returns to step 1, and the state of the distance R due to the avoidance operation is confirmed. If the driver has not performed any collision avoidance operation (No), it is determined in step 15 whether an alarm has been issued.
If no alarm is issued, the drive control unit
In step 46, audio is turned off in step 16, and in step 17, a drive signal is sent to the alarm generation circuit 30 to generate an alarm.

Then, in step 18, the drive control unit 46 issues an alarm and sends a signal to the stop lamp lighting circuit 34a of the stop lamp control unit 34 to blink the stop lamp. This blinking can alert the following vehicle.

After the activation of the alarm and the stop lamp, the operation returns to the operation of step 1.

If it is determined Yes in step 15 that the alarm has already been generated, it is determined in step 19 whether T seconds have elapsed after the alarm was generated.
The time T seconds is set in consideration of the reaction time of a person after detecting the alarm, and is set, for example, to 0.4 to 0.5 seconds. Until this T seconds elapse (Step 19 No
In this case, the operation up to step 15 is performed again to determine the collision avoidance operation of the driver. Then, after the elapse of T seconds (in the case of Yes), the brake control is performed in step 20. That is, the drive control unit 46 sends the brake control unit 28
The drive signal is supplied to the brake actuator drive circuit 28a, and the brake actuator drive circuit 28a drives the brake actuator 28b to apply a brake.

As described above, by the operation after step 12 after the throttle control in step 11, when the own vehicle is not in the second dangerous region R's and is not in the third dangerous region R "s, the alarm sound is issued. , The stop lamp blinks, and the brake is automatically controlled.

Next, in step 21, when the distance R to the obstacle is smaller than the third dangerous area R ″ s in step 13, that is, in the case of Yes, it is determined that the risk of collision is extremely high, and the brake control is directly performed. That is, the brake actuator 28b is driven by the drive signal from the drive control unit 46. Then, in step 22, the collision predicting unit 44 calculates the time Ts from the running state of the vehicle to the collision, and the elapsed time Ts is calculated. It is determined whether or not it is before the time τ (0.1 to 0.2 seconds before), and the step operation up to the preceding stage is repeated as a No operation. In this operation, a drive signal is sent from the drive control unit 46 to the seat belt tension drive circuit 32a of the seat belt control unit 32. The seatbelt is supplied and the seatbelt tension mechanism 32b is driven to fasten the seatbelt with a predetermined strength.

Therefore, the brake is automatically applied when the own vehicle enters the third dangerous area R ″ s where the risk of collision is extremely high, and furthermore, a safety device that is a direct operation for the occupant, in this embodiment, the seat belt Control will be performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the safety operation directly performed on the occupant is performed when the vehicle enters the danger area and there is no collision avoidance operation by the driver, or enters the area where the collision is extremely high. Will be performed only if Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driver who has started the collision avoidance operation from feeling uncomfortable. Further, in the present embodiment, four-stage safety control of throttle control, alarm, brake control, and seat belt control can be performed, so that when an obstacle is not detected in the initial stage or when an obstacle suddenly If an object has entered, and if any of the safety controls fail, the other safety controls can replace them.

Next, a description will be given of a failure diagnosis unit 48 provided in the safety control unit 36 and an operation of the drive control unit 46 performed in response to a detection signal from the failure diagnosis unit 48.

In the throttle control performed in step 11, ECU 38 is provided with the drive control unit 46 to detect an output voltage upsilon ₀ from a throttle sensor attached to the throttle control unit 26 with respect to throttle circuit command voltage υi Feedback control is performed by
The failure detection operation of the failure diagnosis unit 48 is performed by the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 101, the throttle circuit command voltage υi sent to the throttle control unit 26 is input.

Next, in step 102, the throttle sensor output voltage upsilon ₀ is input.

The difference between the output voltage upsilon ₀ command voltage υi and the throttle sensor at step 103 whether more than a predetermined threshold υth is determined. If the threshold value υth is not exceeded, it is determined that no failure has occurred, and the process returns to step 101. If the threshold value Δth is exceeded (in the case of Yes), it is determined in step 104 that the throttle control unit 26 has failed.

When subjected to the failure determination is made as to alert the driver in step 105, in step 106, the corrected deceleration alpha _S of the vehicle in the formula (3) for calculating the second dangerous area R's . That is, by reducing to correct the deceleration alpha _S, without throttle control is set larger the area of the second dangerous area R's, the second critical region R '
This makes it possible to perform the brake control in s.

Further, the failure diagnosis unit 48 is not limited to detecting the presence or absence of the failure of the throttle control unit 26, and may determine the presence or absence of the failure of the brake control unit 28. That is, the vehicle control unit 36
When the deceleration of a certain value or more cannot be obtained in response to the brake control command from the controller, it is determined that the brake control unit 28 is faulty.
Deceleration due to brake α _{B in} calculation of R ″ s
Correct the value of. Thereby, the range of the third dangerous area R ″ s can be expanded.

As described above, the provision of the failure diagnosis unit 48 makes it possible to more effectively use the substitute function of the next-stage control unit when a failure occurs in any of the vehicle control units 24 for avoiding a collision. Can be achieved.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the basic operation of the present embodiment described above, and shows an example in which, for example, an obstacle is the other vehicle 62 ahead of the own vehicle 60 during traveling. First, when the distance between the own vehicle 60 and the other vehicle 62 does not enter the first dangerous region Rs and does not enter the second dangerous region R's, the throttle control is performed.

When the other vehicle 62 enters the second dangerous area R's and does not enter the third dangerous area R "s, a warning and a brake control are performed.

Then, it is shown that when the other vehicle 62 enters the third dangerous region R ″ s where the risk of collision is extremely high, the seat belt tension control, which is a direct safe operation for the driver, is performed for the first time. I have.

By performing such an operation, the safety control operation according to the distance R to the obstacle can be performed even when an obstacle is not detected in the initial stage or when an obstacle suddenly enters the dangerous area. Can be done quickly.

In the above embodiment, the setting of the danger area is calculated based on the distance R to the obstacle, but may be set based on the safety time (distance R to the obstacle / vehicle speed) instead of the distance R. It is possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the vehicle safety control device of the present invention, a plurality of danger areas are set according to the degree of danger of collision, and a plurality of danger areas corresponding to each danger area are set. Safety control operation can be performed. Then, a direct safe operation for the driver can be performed only in the most dangerous area. As a result, when an obstacle is not detected in the initial stage or when an obstacle suddenly enters the danger area, the vehicle traveling control of another stage can be performed even if one of the vehicle traveling control means fails. This makes it possible to reduce the discomfort of the driver performing the danger avoiding operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is an overall configuration diagram of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a forward recognition operation in a vehicle control unit, and FIG. 4 is an example of an operation of a failure diagnosis unit. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a visual sensor, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a basic operation of the embodiment. 10: Running condition monitoring unit 12: Visual sensor 24: Vehicle control unit 26: Throttle control unit 28: Brake control unit 30: Alarm generation circuit 32: Seat belt control unit 34: Stop ramp control unit 36 Safety control unit 40 Forward recognition unit 42 Travel route calculation unit 44 Collision prediction unit 46 Drive control unit 48 Failure diagnosis unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A running condition monitoring section for recognizing a running condition of a host vehicle and detecting a front situation in a vehicle traveling direction including detection of a front obstacle, and a host vehicle for avoiding collision of the host vehicle with an obstacle. A vehicle control unit including a plurality of types of vehicle travel control means for controlling the travel of the vehicle, and occupant protection means for controlling the operation of a device for protecting the occupant in the event of a collision; And, based on the recognition signal of the situation in front, a plurality of dangerous areas having a high possibility of collision are set stepwise according to the degree of the possibility, and when the vehicle enters the dangerous area at each stage, each dangerous area is set. A safety control unit that sends a drive signal to a vehicle travel control unit or an occupant protection unit of the vehicle control unit that is set correspondingly; and a drive signal that is set from a certain stage and that is sent from the safety control unit. Correspondingly, the predetermined of the vehicle control unit A failure diagnosis unit that determines whether control has been performed, and determines that the means to be controlled has failed if the predetermined control has not been performed.The safety control unit includes: A safety control device for a vehicle, in which when a failure is determined, the danger area in the subsequent stages is set wider than when no failure determination is made.