JP3595739B2 - Headway control device, headway alarm device and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

これらのしきい値の大小関係は、以下のようになる。

このような関係は、作動指示と作動解除指示のチャタリングが発生しないために必要である。
（ｂ）各減速手段間の作動指示しきい値の関係
０＞Ａｒｅｆ１１≧Ａｒｅｆ２１≧Ａｒｅｆ３１≧Ａｒｅｆ４１
これは、より発生減速度の小さな手段が先に作動されることが望ましいからである。
（ｃ）各減速手段間の作動解除しきい値の関係
Ａｒｅｆ１２≧Ａｒｅｆ２２≧Ａｒｅｆ３２≧Ａｒｅｆ４２＞０
これは、発生減速度のより大きな手段が先に解除されることが望ましいからである。
【００８３】
以上は車間制御関連の処理の説明であったので、続いて、警報関連の処理であるＳ４９０，Ｓ８９０，Ｓ９９０の詳細について図１７〜図１９を参照して説明する。
まず、Ｓ４９０での第１警報判定サブルーチンについて、図１７のフローチャートを参照して説明する。
【００８４】
最初のステップＳ４９１では、第１警報要求を現在指示中であるかどうかを判断する。第１警報要求中でなければ（Ｓ４９１：ＮＯ）、所定の条件成立を判断して警報要求を指示するための処理（Ｓ４９２，Ｓ４９３，Ｓ４９４）を実行する。
【００８５】
Ｓ４９２では、以下の算出式に示すように、車速と相対速度に応じて警報距離を算出する。
警報距離＝ｆ（車速，相対速度）
次に、この警報距離よりも車間距離が短い状態が生じているかどうかを判断し（Ｓ４９３）、車間距離が警報距離以上の場合には（Ｓ４９３：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了する。そして、警報距離よりも車間距離が短い場合には（Ｓ４９３：ＹＥＳ）、第１警報要求を成立させる（Ｓ４９４）。
【００８６】
一方、Ｓ４９１にて肯定判断、すなわち、第１警報要求中であれば、所定の条件成立を判断して警報要求を解除するための処理（Ｓ４９５，Ｓ４９６，Ｓ４９７）を実行する。
Ｓ４９５では、第１警報要求が成立した後１秒経過したかどうかを判断する。第１警報要求成立後１秒経過していなければ（Ｓ４９５：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了する。これは、警報処理を実行した場合、少なくとも１秒間はその状態を続けるためである。
【００８７】
そして、第１警報要求が成立した後１秒経過すると（Ｓ４９５：ＹＥＳ）、続いて、車間距離が警報距離以上かどうかを判断し（Ｓ４９６）、車間距離が警報距離未満の場合には（Ｓ４９６：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了する。そして、車間距離が警報距離以上の場合には（Ｓ４９６：ＹＥＳ）、第１警報要求を解除する（Ｓ４９７）。
【００８８】
次に、Ｓ８９０での第２警報判定サブルーチンについて、図１８のフローチャートを参照して説明する。
この処理は、図１７で説明した第１警報判定と同様の処理であり、第１警報要求が第２警報要求に代わっただけである。つまり、第２警報要求中でなければ（Ｓ８９１：ＮＯ）、警報距離を算出し（Ｓ８９２）、この警報距離よりも車間距離が短い状態が生じているかどうかを判断する（Ｓ８９３）。そして、車間距離が警報距離以上の場合には（Ｓ８９３：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了するが、警報距離よりも車間距離が短い場合には（Ｓ８９３：ＹＥＳ）、第２警報要求を成立させる（Ｓ８９４）。
【００８９】
一方、第２警報要求中であれば（Ｓ８９１：ＹＥＳ）、第２警報要求が成立した後１秒経過したかどうかを判断し（Ｓ８９５）、第２警報要求成立後１秒経過していなければ（Ｓ８９５：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了する。そして、第２警報要求が成立した後１秒経過すると（Ｓ８９５：ＹＥＳ）、車間距離が警報距離以上かどうかを判断し（Ｓ８９６）、車間距離が警報距離未満の場合には（Ｓ８９６：ＮＯ）、そのまま本処理ルーチンを終了する。そして、車間距離が警報距離以上の場合には（Ｓ８９６：ＹＥＳ）、第２警報要求を解除する（Ｓ８９７）。
【００９０】
次に、Ｓ９９０での警報発生判定サブルーチンについて、図１９のフローチャートを参照して説明する。
最初のステップＳ９９１では、第１警報要求中であるかどうかを判断する。第１警報要求中であれば（Ｓ９９１：ＹＥＳ）、警報要求成立として（Ｓ９９２）、本ルーチンを終了する。また、第１警報要求中でなければ（Ｓ９９１：ＮＯ）、第２警報要求中であるかどうかを判断する（Ｓ９９３）。そして、第２警報要求中であれば（Ｓ９９３：ＹＥＳ）、警報要求成立として（Ｓ９９２）、本ルーチンを終了するが、第２警報要求中でなければ（Ｓ９９３：ＮＯ）、警報要求解除として（Ｓ９９４）、本ルーチンを終了する。
【００９１】
このＳ９９２において警報要求が成立した旨は、図５のＳ１２００でのエンジンＥＵＵデータとしてエンジンＥＣＵ６へ送信される。そして、エンジンＥＣＵ６からブレーキＥＣＵ４に対して指示することによって、ブレーキＥＣＵ４は警報ブザー１４を鳴動する。一方、Ｓ９９４において警報要求が解除されたことがエンジンＥＣＵ６へ伝わると、ブレーキＥＣＵ４を介して警報ブザー１４が停止されることとなる。
【００９２】
このように、本実施例のシステムによれば、車間制御及び車間警報を実行する際、車両確度が車両以外の場合には制御対象の先行車として選択しない。但し、車両確度が「未定」の物体については制御対象から除くことはせずに、次のように対処する。つまり、第１の先行車の車両確度が未定である場合には、車両確度が車両である物体の中から第２の先行車を選択する（図５のＳ５００）。
【００９３】
そして、車間制御の場合には、その第１の先行車の相対速度を略０、つまり０Ｋｍ／ｈ付近の値であるとみなして（図８のＳ４３３）、車間制御量である第１の目標加速度を算出する（図５のＳ４００）。それと共に、第２の先行車に対する第２の目標加速度を算出し（図５のＳ７００）、それら第１及び第２の先行車に対する目標加速度の内で減速側により大きく制御可能な方を、実際の車間制御に用いる目標加速度として選択する（図５のＳ８００，図１１）。
【００９４】
そのため、例えば車両確度が「未定」の物体（例えばポールコーン）を第１の先行車として選択しているときに真の先行車（車両確度が「車両」の物体）が接近してきて減速が必要な場合には、車両確度が「車両」の物体は第２の先行車として選択され、この第２の先行車に対する第２の目標加速度が減速側に大きくなるため、こちらを制御対象の先行車として選択して車間制御を行う。また、この真の先行車に対して減速が必要なければ、ポールコーンのような車両確度が「未定」の物体を制御対象の先行車として選択してしまう可能性がある。しかしこの場合は、先行車の相対速度が略０であるとみなして算出した第１の目標加速度に基づいて車間制御を行うため、誤って大きく減速制御してしまうことがなく、運転者が感じる違和感を排除あるいは軽減させることができる。つまり、誤った先行車選択による不要な減速制御を防止し、運転フィーリングを向上させた車間制御を実現することができるのである。
【００９５】
また、車間警報の場合には、その第１の先行車の相対速度を０Ｋｍ／ｈ付近の値であるとみなして（図８のＳ４３３）、警報距離を算出する（図１７のＳ４９２）。そして、この警報距離に基づいて第１警報要求の成立の有無を判断する。それと共に、第２の先行車に対する警報距離を算出し（図１８のＳ８９２）、この警報距離に基づいて第２警報要求の成立の有無を判断する。そして、これら第１あるいは第２の警報要求のいずれか一方でも成立していれば、実際の警報処理を行うための警報要求が成立したと判断している（図１９）。
【００９６】
そのため、車両確度が「未定」の物体（例えばポールコーン）を第１の先行車として選択しているときには、その第１の先行車の相対速度が略０であるとみなして算出した警報距離に基づいて警報要求の成立判定を行うため、実際に警報処理がなされることはほとんどないと考えられる。そして、この状態で真の先行車（車両確度が「車両」の物体）が接近してきて警報が必要な場合には、車両確度が「車両」の物体は第２の先行車として選択され、この第２の先行車に対する警報距離に基づく判定で警報要求が成立すれば、車間警報が行われる。したがって、実際には必要のない状況で警報がなされることを防止でき、必要な状況では適切に警報がなされるため、運転者が感じる違和感を排除あるいは軽減させることができる。つまり、誤った先行車選択による不要な警報を防止し、運転フィーリングを向上させた車間警報を実現することができるのである。
【００９７】
なお、本実施例では、図６のＳ３３０，図９のＳ６３０に示すように、第１の先行車及び第２の先行車を選択する際、それぞれ最も近距離に存在するものを選択している。一般的には自車両から最も近距離に存在する物体を先行車として選択することが好ましいからである。
【００９８】
以上、本発明はこのような実施形態に何等限定されるものではなく、本発明の主旨を逸脱しない範囲において種々なる形態で実施し得る。それらのいくつかを説明する。
（１）上記実施形態では、第１の先行車の車両確度が未定である場合、第１の先行車の相対速度を略０であるとみなして車間制御量としての第１の目標加速度を算出していたが、その代わりに、第１の目標加速度自体を、自車両が加減速しないような値に設定してもよい。つまり第１の目標加速度＝０とするのである。第１先行車の相対速度を略０とみなした場合には、第１先行車が制御対象の先行車として選択された場合に自車両が加減速してしまう場合も想定されるが、このようにすれば、自車両が加減速することがなくなる。
【００９９】
（２）また、上記実施形態では第１の先行車の車両確度が「車両」であれば、第１の目標加速度のみ演算し、第１の先行車の車両確度が「未定」であっても、第２の先行車の第２の目標加速度を演算するにとどまっていた。これに対して、車両確度が車両以外を除く全ての物体について、車両確度が未定の物体については当該物体の相対速度を略０であるとみなして目標加速度を算出し、車両確度が車両である物体についても目標加速度を算出し、これらの内で減速側に最も大きく制御可能な目標加速度に基づいて車間制御を実行してもよい。
【０１００】
上記実施形態の場合には、多くても２つの先行車の目標加速度を算出するだけで済んでいたが、この場合には３つ以上の物体に対する目標加速度を算出しなくてはならない場合も想定される。しかし、このようにすることで、例えば２台前、３台前の先行車を考慮した車間制御も可能となる。例えば、直前の先行車は自車両よりも高速で走行しているが、２台前の先行車が自車両よりも低速で走行している場合には、直前の先行車が将来的に減速し、結果的に自車両も減速しなくてはならない状況が生じ得る。その場合、直前の先行車のみを考慮していると、一旦加速した後にすぐに減速する、といった制御をしてしまう可能性があるが、２台前の先行車を考慮すれば加速せずに減速に移行でき、より運転フィーリングを向上させた車間制御を実現することができる。
【０１０１】
もちろん、車間警報についても同様の手法を適用すれば、より運転フィーリングを向上させた車間警報を実現できることとなる。
（３）また、制御対象の先行車として車両確度が未定の物体が選択されている際には、減速制御は実行しないようにしてもよい。具体的には、例えば上記実施形態の図１３の処理を図２０の処理に置き換える。この図２０の処理の内、Ｓ１９１１，Ｓ１９１３，Ｓ１９１５，Ｓ１９１７，Ｓ１９１９は、それぞれ図１３のＳ９１１，Ｓ９１３，Ｓ９１５，Ｓ９１７，Ｓ９１９と同じである。変わっている部分は、Ｓ１９１１の判断処理で肯定・否定いずれの判断がされた場合であっても、先行車の車両確度が「未定」であるか否かを判断している（Ｓ１９１２，Ｓ１９１６）。そして、フューエルカット要求中でない場合は（Ｓ１９１１：ＮＯ）、先行車の車両確度が「未定」であれば（Ｓ１９１２：ＹＥＳ）、Ｓ１９１３でのフューエルカット要求成立の有無の判定自体を行うことなく、無条件に処理を終了する。一方、フューエルカット要求中である場合は（Ｓ１９１１：ＹＥＳ）、先行車の車両確度が「未定」であれば（Ｓ１９１６：ＹＥＳ）、無条件にＳ１９１９へ移行してフューエルカット要求を解除する。
【０１０２】
フューエルカット要求判定の場合について説明したが、それ以外のＯＤカット要求判定、３速シフトダウン要求判定、ブレーキ要求判定についても、同様に変更した処理とすればよい。このようにすることで、制御対象の先行車として車両確度が未定の物体が選択されている際には、減速制御は実行されなくなる。
【０１０３】
（４）また、車間警報の実施方法について、上記実施形態では第１の先行車及び第２の先行車に対して警報要求の有無を判断し、いずれか一方でも成立していれば警報要求が成立したと判断した。このような実施形態に限らず、以下のように実現してもよい。
【０１０４】
まず、第１の先行車の車両確度が「車両」であれば、第１の先行車について警報判定値として「車間距離−警報距離」を算出する。この値が負側に大きくなるほど警報の必要度合いが大きいと考えてよい。この警報判定値が所定値（例えば０）未満であったとき警報要求が成立するとし、所定値以上であったとき警報要求は非成立であるとする。一方、第１の先行車の車両確度が「未定」であれば、第２の先行車についても同様に警報判定値を算出し、それぞれの警報判定値を比較して、小さい方の警報判定値に基づいて車間警報を実行する。すなわち、小さい方の車間警報値が所定値未満であったとき警報要求が成立するとし、所定値以上であったとき警報要求は非成立であるとする。
【０１０５】
このような実施形態においては、車間警報として数段階の警報処理を実行する場合にも容易に拡張することができる。つまり、上記警報要求を判断する所定値として複数の値を用意しておき、警報判定値の値に応じた適切な段階の警報処理を実行するのである。このようにすれば、より運転フィーリングを向上させた車間警報を実現することができる。
【０１０６】
（５）減速手段としては、上述した実施形態で説明したものも含め、採用可能なものを挙げておく。ブレーキ装置のブレーキ圧を調整して行うもの、内燃機関に燃料が供給されるのを阻止するフューエルカット制御、前記内燃機関に接続された自動変速機がオーバードライブのシフト位置となるのを禁止するオーバードライブカット制御、前記自動変速機を高位のシフト位置からシフトダウンさせるシフトダウン制御、前記内燃機関の点火時期を遅らせる点火遅角制御、前記自動変速機が備えたトルクコンバータをロックアップ状態にするロックアップ制御、前記内燃機関からの排気の流動抵抗を増加させる排気ブレーキ制御およびリターダ制御を実行して行うものなどである。
【０１０７】
（６）また、上記実施形態においては、車間距離をそのまま用いていたが、車間距離を車速で除算した車間時間を用いても同様に実現できる。つまり、相対速度と車間時間偏差比をパラメータとする目標加速度の制御マップを準備しておき、制御時には、その時点での相対速度と車間時間偏差比に基づいて目標加速度を算出して、車間制御を実行するのである。
【図面の簡単な説明】
【図１】実施形態の車間制御装置のシステムブロック図である。
【図２】レーザレーダセンサにおいて実行される認識処理を示すフローチャートである。
【図３】図２の認識処理中で実行される物標化処理サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図４】図２の認識処理中で実行される車両確度判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図５】車間制御ＥＣＵにて実行されるメイン処理を示すフローチャートである。
【図６】図５のメイン処理中で実行される第１先行車選択サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図７】（ａ）は図５のメイン処理中で実行される第１目標加速度演算サブルーチンを示すフローチャート、（ｂ）は制御マップの説明図である。
【図８】図７の第１目標加速度演算処理中で実行される相対速度演算サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図９】図５のメイン処理中で実行される第２先行車選択サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１０】図５のメイン処理中で実行される第２目標加速度演算サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１１】図５のメイン処理中で実行される制御先行車判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１２】図５のメイン処理中で実行される減速要求判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１３】図１２の減速要求判定中で実行されるフューエルカット要求判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１４】図１２の減速要求判定中で実行されるＯＤカット要求判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１５】図１２の減速要求判定中で実行される３速シフトダウン要求判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１６】図１２の減速要求判定中で実行されるブレーキ要求判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１７】図５のメイン処理中で実行される第１警報判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１８】図５のメイン処理中で実行される第２警報判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図１９】図５のメイン処理中で実行される警報発生判定サブルーチンを示すフローチャートである。
【図２０】別実施形態のフューエルカット要求判定処理を示すフローチャートである。
【符号の説明】
２…車間制御用電子制御装置（車間制御ＥＣＵ）
３…レーザレーダセンサ
４…ブレーキ電子制御装置（ブレーキＥＣＵ）
６…エンジン電子制御装置（エンジンＥＣＵ）
８…ステアリングセンサ
１０…ヨーレートセンサ
１２…車輪速センサ
１４…警報ブザー
１６…車速センサ
１８…ブレーキスイッチ
２０…クルーズコントロールスイッチ
２２…クルーズメインスイッチ
２４…スロットルアクチュエータ
２５…ブレーキアクチュエータ
２６…トランスミッション
２８…ボデーＬＡＮ[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle control device for causing an own vehicle to run following a preceding vehicle and an inter-vehicle alarm device for executing a predetermined alarm process when the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than a predetermined safe inter-vehicle distance.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for improving the driving safety of an automobile and reducing the operation burden on a driver, an inter-vehicle control device that automatically makes a subject vehicle follow a preceding vehicle has been known. The following method is a method of performing control such that the inter-vehicle deviation, which is the difference between the actual inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and a preset target inter-vehicle distance is eliminated. Specifically, a target acceleration is calculated based on the inter-vehicle deviation and the relative speed (the speed of the own vehicle relative to the speed of the preceding vehicle), and the acceleration device and the deceleration device are controlled so that the acceleration of the own vehicle becomes the target acceleration. You do it.
[0003]
It should be noted that the same can be realized not by using the inter-vehicle distance itself but by using, for example, a value obtained by dividing the inter-vehicle distance by the vehicle speed of the own vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as “inter-vehicle time”). Further, actually, the preceding vehicle is irradiated with a laser beam or a transmission wave, and the time until the reflected light or the reflected wave is received is calculated to calculate the inter-vehicle distance. The same control may be executed in real time and target time by using the same. Since a physical quantity corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance is feasible in this way, these are also referred to as “inter-vehicle physical quantity”. The target acceleration described above is also a specific example of the “inter-vehicle control amount”, and may be an acceleration deviation (target acceleration−actual acceleration), a target torque, or a target relative speed. However, in the following description, for the purpose of facilitating understanding, an inter-vehicle distance may be used as an example of the “inter-vehicle physical quantity” and a target acceleration may be used as an example of the “inter-vehicle control amount” as necessary.
[0004]
In such an inter-vehicle control, a control target is appropriately selected from a plurality of objects in front of the vehicle detected by a front detection radar or the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-203737 discloses that a front detection area is divided into a plurality of areas. In addition, there is disclosed a technique of determining the degree of danger of the closest object in each area based on the relative speed, and controlling the vehicle speed or issuing an alarm. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-95246 discloses that the vehicle should decelerate the most when each of the objects existing on the estimated traveling path of the vehicle during the lane change operation is selected as a control target. There is disclosed a technique for selecting one object determined as a control target and controlling the vehicle speed.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
These are all control methods on the assumption that the object detected ahead is a vehicle. However, in a forward detection radar, particularly a laser radar, there may be situations where it is not possible to reliably determine whether the detected object is a vehicle. For example, pole cones installed on the center dividing line of two-way roads and guardrail pillars installed on the roadside are as if the vehicle speed is equal to the value obtained by dividing the installation interval by the detection cycle of the laser radar. It may be determined that an object maintains a predetermined positional relationship with the moving vehicle, that is, a moving object. Although it is doubtful that these detected objects are vehicles due to variations in detection distances and the like, they cannot be reliably determined to be "non-vehicles" and cannot be excluded from control targets. In addition, since these exist at a short distance in the traveling path of the own vehicle, they are selected as control targets. Although these objects are determined to maintain a predetermined positional relationship with respect to the moving own vehicle, since these objects are actually stationary objects, the distances from the own vehicle are detected with variations. Erroneously determines that the object has a large relative speed. Therefore, there is a problem that the own vehicle may be unnecessarily decelerated.
[0006]
In the past, the problems with the inter-vehicle control were mentioned.However, when the actual inter-vehicle distance becomes shorter than a predetermined warning distance, an alarm sound etc. is sounded to alert the vehicle driver. Problems arise. That is, although there is no preceding vehicle to be actually alerted, useless alerts are issued due to the presence of the pole cones and guardrail pillars, and the driving feeling deteriorates.
[0007]
Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to prevent unnecessary deceleration control due to erroneous preceding vehicle selection and realize inter-vehicle control with improved driving feeling.
It is a second object of the present invention to prevent an unnecessary alarm due to incorrect selection of a preceding vehicle and realize an inter-vehicle alarm with improved driving feeling.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The inter-vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the object recognition means calculates a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle, and selects a preceding vehicle selection means. Is determined based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, to determine whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and determines whether the object exists in the own lane area. The preceding vehicle to the own vehicle is selected from the objects to be performed. Then, the inter-vehicle control means calculates an actual inter-vehicle physical quantity corresponding to the actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a physical quantity corresponding to the target inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. A vehicle-to-vehicle control amount is calculated based on a vehicle-to-vehicle deviation that is a difference from a certain target vehicle-to-vehicle physical quantity, and a relative speed between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle, and drive control of an acceleration unit and a deceleration unit is performed based on the calculated vehicle-to-vehicle control amount. This presupposes that the own vehicle follows the preceding vehicle and travels.
[0009]
The actual inter-vehicle physical quantity may be, for example, a configuration in which a preceding vehicle is irradiated with a laser beam or a transmission wave or the like and the time until the reflected light or the reflected wave is received is adopted. The vehicle itself may be used, a value converted into the following distance may be used, or the following time divided by the vehicle speed may be used. The inter-vehicle control amount may be a target acceleration, an acceleration deviation (target acceleration-actual acceleration), a target torque, a target relative speed, or the like.
[0010]
The headway distance control device of the present invention is further provided with a vehicle accuracy determination means, so that more appropriate headway distance control can be executed. That is, the vehicle accuracy determining unit determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, by classifying the vehicle accuracy into at least three types other than vehicle and vehicle and undecided. The preceding vehicle selecting means performs the following preceding vehicle selection using the determination result. That is, if the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means selects the first preceding vehicle from among objects other than the vehicle, and if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undetermined, the vehicle The second preceding vehicle is selected from objects whose vehicle accuracy is determined by the accuracy determining means. When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is a vehicle, the inter-vehicle control means performs the inter-vehicle control with the first preceding vehicle as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. If the accuracy is undecided, the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated by assuming that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially 0, and the inter-vehicle control amount for the second preceding vehicle is calculated. Then, the inter-vehicle control is executed based on the inter-vehicle control amount of the second preceding vehicle that can be controlled to a greater extent on the deceleration side.
[0011]
Various methods of determining the vehicle accuracy are conceivable.For example, the speed of the object is obtained from the own vehicle speed and the relative speed of the object to determine whether or not the object is a moving object, or to determine the relative acceleration generated by the object. (For example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-178842) and a method for making a determination based on the fact that the shape of an object is different from the shape of a normal vehicle (for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-184882). Can be Of course, the method is not limited to those using these methods, and any method may be used as long as the probability of being a vehicle can be classified and determined into at least three types other than vehicle and vehicle.
[0012]
In the case of the present invention, when the vehicle accuracy is other than the vehicle, the vehicle is not selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. However, an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” is not removed from the control target, and the following measures are taken. That is, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the second preceding vehicle is selected from objects whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle. The inter-vehicle control amount for the second preceding vehicle is calculated while the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is regarded as substantially zero, and the inter-vehicle control amount for the second preceding vehicle is calculated. The inter-vehicle distance control is performed based on the control amount that can be controlled to be larger on the deceleration side among the control amounts.
[0013]
As described in the above-described solution, the problem that the own vehicle is unnecessarily decelerated due to the fact that the presence of an object that cannot be reliably determined whether or not the vehicle is present is not considered. Is considered to have occurred. On the other hand, in the case of the present invention, for an object for which it is not possible to reliably determine whether or not the vehicle is a vehicle, that is, for an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined”, the relative speed is considered to be approximately 0, and , And a preceding vehicle candidate is obtained separately from an object having a vehicle accuracy of “vehicle”. Then, when considering the inter-vehicle control amounts for these, the inter-vehicle control is executed based on the control amount that can be controlled to a greater extent on the deceleration side. Therefore, for example, when an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” (for example, a pole cone) is selected as the first preceding vehicle, a true preceding vehicle (an object whose vehicle accuracy is “vehicle”) approaches and deceleration is necessary. In this case, the object having the vehicle accuracy of “vehicle” is selected as the second preceding vehicle, and the inter-vehicle control amount for the second preceding vehicle increases toward the deceleration side, so this is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. To perform inter-vehicle control. If the true preceding vehicle does not need to be decelerated, there is a possibility that an object such as a pole cone whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” may be selected as a preceding vehicle to be controlled. However, in this case, since the headway control is performed based on the headway control amount calculated assuming that the relative speed of the preceding vehicle is substantially zero, the deceleration control is not erroneously performed significantly, and the driver feels uncomfortable feeling. Can be eliminated or reduced. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent unnecessary deceleration control due to erroneous preceding vehicle selection and realize inter-vehicle control with improved driving feeling.
[0014]
As described in claim 2, when the first preceding vehicle is selected, an object whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects other than the vehicle is selected, and the second preceding vehicle is selected. At the time of selection, it is conceivable to select an object that has the vehicle accuracy at the shortest distance among objects that are vehicles. This is because it is generally preferable to select an object located closest to the own vehicle as the preceding vehicle.
[0015]
Further, in the above description, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated on the assumption that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially zero. Further, as set forth in claim 3, the inter-vehicle control amount may be regarded as a value such that the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate. For example, if the target acceleration is used as the inter-vehicle control amount, the target acceleration is regarded as zero. When the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is considered to be approximately 0, there may be a case where the own vehicle accelerates or decelerates when the first preceding vehicle is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. In this case, the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate.
[0016]
Therefore, the sense of incongruity felt by the driver can be more reliably eliminated.
Further, in order to achieve the first object, the configuration described in claim 4 may be adopted. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inter-vehicle distance control device having the same premise as the premise of the inter-vehicle distance control device according to the first aspect. Characteristic processing is performed. That is, for all the objects except the vehicle whose vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means is other than the vehicle, for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined, the relative speed of the object is regarded as substantially zero, and the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated. Also, the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle, and the inter-vehicle control is executed based on the control amount that can be controlled to the greatest extent on the deceleration side.
[0017]
In the case of the inter-vehicle control device according to the first aspect, it is only necessary to calculate the inter-vehicle control amount of at most two preceding vehicles, but in the case of the fourth aspect, the inter-vehicle control amount is determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means. As a result, the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated for all objects except for the vehicle, and the inter-vehicle control amount for three or more objects may need to be calculated. However, by doing so, it is also possible to perform inter-vehicle control in consideration of, for example, two preceding vehicles and three preceding vehicles. For example, if the preceding vehicle is traveling at a higher speed than the own vehicle, but the preceding vehicle is running at a lower speed than the own vehicle, the preceding vehicle will decelerate in the future. As a result, a situation in which the own vehicle must decelerate may occur. In this case, if only the immediately preceding vehicle is taken into consideration, there is a possibility that the vehicle may be accelerated and then decelerated immediately. However, if the preceding vehicle ahead is considered, the vehicle does not accelerate. It is possible to shift to deceleration, and it is possible to realize inter-vehicle control with further improved driving feeling.
[0018]
In addition, even in the case where such a configuration is premised, the same contrivance as the above-described claim 3 can be applied. In other words, as set forth in claim 5, in the headway control device according to claim 4, the preceding vehicle selecting means regards the relative speed of the object having an undetermined vehicle accuracy as substantially zero for the object, and controls the headway distance. Instead of calculating the amount, the inter-vehicle control amount for the object is regarded as a value at which the own vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate. When it is assumed that the relative speed of an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined is substantially 0, the vehicle may be accelerated or decelerated when the object is selected as a preceding vehicle to be controlled. In this case, the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate.
[0019]
On the other hand, as set forth in claim 6, in the headway control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, when the headway distance control means selects an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined as a preceding vehicle to be controlled. In such a case, the deceleration control may not be executed. As a process for not executing the deceleration control, for example, prohibiting the driving of a deceleration device such as a brake device can be considered. By doing so, at least the deceleration control can be prohibited, so that unnecessary deceleration can be prevented.
[0020]
The description so far relates to the headway distance control device made to achieve the first object. Next, the invention relating to the headway distance alarm device made to achieve the second object will be described.
In the inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 7, the object recognizing means calculates a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle, and the preceding vehicle selecting means calculates the position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means. Based on the relative position, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and a preceding vehicle for the own vehicle is selected from the objects existing in the own lane area. I do. Then, the inter-vehicle alarm means issues an alarm based on at least a real inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to an actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a relative speed between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. It is assumed that a determination value is calculated, and an alarm process for a vehicle driver is executed when the alarm determination value satisfies a predetermined alarm condition.
[0021]
The headway warning device of the present invention is further provided with a vehicle accuracy determination means, so that a more appropriate headway warning can be executed. That is, the vehicle accuracy determining unit determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, by classifying the vehicle accuracy into at least three types other than vehicle and vehicle and undecided. The preceding vehicle selecting means performs the following preceding vehicle selection using the determination result. That is, if the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means selects the first preceding vehicle from among objects other than the vehicle, and if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undetermined, the vehicle The second preceding vehicle is selected from objects whose vehicle accuracy is determined by the accuracy determining means. When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is a vehicle, the inter-vehicle warning unit performs the inter-vehicle warning with the first preceding vehicle as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. On the other hand, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is regarded as substantially zero, the alarm determination value is calculated, and the alarm determination value for the second preceding vehicle is determined. The value is calculated, and an inter-vehicle warning is executed based on the larger one of the alarm determination values for the first and second preceding vehicles.
[0022]
In the inter-vehicle warning, as in the case of the inter-vehicle control described above, unnecessary warning processing occurs due to the fact that the presence of an object that cannot be reliably determined whether or not the vehicle is present is not considered. Problem. On the other hand, in the case of the present invention, for an object for which it is not possible to reliably determine whether or not the vehicle is a vehicle, that is, for an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined”, the relative speed is considered to be approximately 0, and , And a preceding vehicle candidate is obtained separately from an object having a vehicle accuracy of “vehicle”. Then, when considering the alarm determination values for them, the following distance alarm is executed based on the determination value that requires a higher degree of alarm. Therefore, for example, when an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” (for example, a pole cone) is selected as the first preceding vehicle, a true preceding vehicle (an object whose vehicle accuracy is “vehicle”) approaches and deceleration is necessary. In such a case, an object having a vehicle accuracy of "vehicle" is selected as the second preceding vehicle, and the alarm determination value for the second preceding vehicle requires a higher degree of alarm. A headway warning is issued based on the value. It should be noted that the degree of necessity of alarm is only “greater”, and depending on the alarm determination value in that case, the actual alarm processing may naturally be unnecessary. Also, the alarm judgment value of an object such as a pole cone having a vehicle accuracy of "undecided" becomes greater than the alarm judgment value of the true preceding vehicle, and the degree of necessity of alarm is higher. May be selected as However, in this case, an inter-vehicle warning is performed based on the warning determination value calculated assuming that the relative speed of the preceding vehicle is substantially zero, and thus it is considered that the warning process is hardly actually performed. Therefore, the sense of incongruity felt by the driver can be eliminated or reduced. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary alarm due to an incorrect selection of a preceding vehicle and realize an inter-vehicle alarm with an improved driving feeling.
[0023]
In addition, also in the inter-vehicle warning device, as described in claim 8, when selecting the first preceding vehicle, a vehicle having a vehicle accuracy that is located at the shortest distance among objects other than vehicles is selected. When selecting the second preceding vehicle, it is conceivable to select an object having a vehicle accuracy at the shortest distance among objects which are vehicles. This is because it is generally preferable to select an object located closest to the own vehicle as the preceding vehicle.
[0024]
In the above description of the inter-vehicle control device, as described in claim 4, the relative speed of all the objects except for the vehicle accuracy except for the vehicle is approximately 0 for the object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined. That the vehicle-to-vehicle control amount is calculated, and the vehicle-to-vehicle control amount is also calculated for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle, and the vehicle-to-vehicle control is performed based on the control amount that can be controlled most to the deceleration side. Said. The same may be performed in the inter-vehicle alarm device. In other words, as described in claim 9, for all objects except for the vehicle accuracy except for the vehicle, for objects for which the vehicle accuracy is undetermined, the relative speed of the object is considered to be substantially 0, and the alarm determination value is calculated. Also, an alarm determination value is calculated for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle, and an inter-vehicle alarm is executed based on the alarm determination value that requires the greatest degree of alarm.
[0025]
In the case of the inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 7, it is only necessary to calculate the warning determination values of at most two preceding vehicles, but in the case of claim 9, the warnings for three or more objects are provided. It is assumed that the judgment value must be calculated. However, in this way, for example, an inter-vehicle warning that takes into account the preceding vehicle two cars ahead and three cars ahead is also possible. For example, if the preceding vehicle is traveling at a higher speed than the own vehicle, but the preceding vehicle is running at a lower speed than the own vehicle, the preceding vehicle will decelerate in the future. As a result, a situation in which the own vehicle must decelerate may occur. In this case, if only the preceding vehicle is considered, there is a possibility that a warning will not be issued. However, if the preceding vehicle two vehicles in front is considered, an appropriate warning can be executed early.
[0026]
Further, in the case of the above-described headway warning device, the concept of "warning determination value" is used, and the warning process is executed based on the determination value. The inter-vehicle warning means is assumed to be , Based at least on the relative speed between your vehicle and the preceding vehicle When a predetermined alarm condition is satisfied, an alarm process is executed. In this case, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the headway warning means executes the following headway warning. That is, it is assumed that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially zero, and the alarm determination is performed. At the same time, the warning determination is performed for the second preceding vehicle, and the warning determination for the first and second preceding vehicles is performed. If any result satisfies the alarm execution condition, the inter-vehicle alarm is executed.
[0027]
Also, in this type of inter-vehicle warning device, when the first preceding vehicle is selected, the vehicle accuracy that is present at the shortest distance among objects other than the vehicle when selecting the first preceding vehicle is also described. When selecting and selecting the second preceding vehicle, it is conceivable to select an object that has the vehicle accuracy at the shortest distance among the objects that are vehicles.
[0028]
Then, even in the case where such a configuration is premised, the inter-vehicle warning control as in claim 9 is also possible. That is, as shown in claim 12, for all objects except the vehicle accuracy other than the vehicle, for objects for which the vehicle accuracy is undetermined, the relative speed of the object is regarded as substantially 0, and an alarm determination is performed. The alarm determination is also performed for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle, and if any of these meets the alarm execution condition, an inter-vehicle alarm is executed.
[0029]
On the other hand, in the above description, it is assumed that the alarm determination value is calculated or the alarm determination is performed even when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided. The following may be applied to the inter-vehicle alarm device.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, as set forth in the thirteenth aspect, the inter-vehicle warning means does not calculate the warning determination value when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided. The inter-vehicle warning is performed based on the warning determination value for the preceding vehicle. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the vehicle-to-vehicle warning means does not calculate a warning determination value for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined. An alarm judgment value is calculated, and an inter-vehicle alarm is executed based on the alarm judgment value of which the degree of necessity of the alarm is the greatest. Further, in the headway warning device according to claim 10 or 11, as described in claim 15, the headway warning means does not execute the warning determination when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, and If the result of the alarm determination for the preceding vehicle 2 satisfies the alarm execution condition, an inter-vehicle alarm is executed. Further, in the headway warning device according to the twelfth aspect, the headway warning means does not execute a warning determination for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined, and warns an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle. Judgment is executed, and if any of these satisfies the alarm execution condition, an inter-vehicle alarm is executed.
[0030]
In this way, no warning is issued for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined.
As described in claims 17 and 18, a function of realizing such a preceding vehicle selecting means, a following distance control means and a vehicle accuracy determining means of the following distance control device by a computer system, or a preceding vehicle selecting means of the following distance warning device. The function of realizing the inter-vehicle warning means and the vehicle accuracy determination means in the computer system can be provided, for example, as a program activated on the computer system side. In the case of such a program, for example, it can be used by recording it on a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, or a hard disk, and loading and activating the computer system as needed. it can. Alternatively, the program may be recorded in a ROM or a backup RAM as a computer-readable recording medium, and the ROM or the backup RAM may be incorporated in a computer system and used.
[0031]
Further, as the deceleration means in the headway control device, for example, the vehicle is decelerated by a braking force generated by adjusting a brake pressure applied to a brake device mounted on the own vehicle, or, for example, a throttle valve of an internal combustion engine is fully closed. Thus, a braking force (so-called engine brake) may be generated in the internal combustion engine, or a braking force may be generated in the automatic transmission by, for example, shifting down the automatic transmission. Further, these controls may be combined to generate a braking force on the vehicle.
[0032]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 mainly shows an electronic control unit 2 for inter-vehicle control (hereinafter, referred to as “inter-vehicle control ECU”) and a brake electronic control unit 4 (hereinafter, referred to as “brake ECU”) to which the above-described invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of various control circuits mounted on the vehicle.
[0033]
The headway control ECU 2 is an electronic circuit mainly composed of a microcomputer, and includes a current vehicle speed (Vn) signal, a steering angle (str-eng, S0) signal, a yaw rate signal, a target headway time signal, wiper switch information, idle A control state signal and the like for control and brake control are received from an engine electronic control unit 6 (hereinafter, referred to as “engine ECU”). The inter-vehicle control ECU 2 performs an inter-vehicle control operation and an inter-vehicle warning operation based on the received data.
[0034]
The laser radar sensor 3 is an electronic circuit mainly composed of a scanning distance measuring device using a laser and a microcomputer. The laser radar sensor 3 receives the angle and distance of the preceding vehicle detected by the scanning distance measuring device, and receives the information from the headway control ECU 2. Based on the current vehicle speed (Vn) signal, the curve radius of curvature R, etc., the own vehicle lane probability of the preceding vehicle is calculated as a part of the following control device, and the following control is performed as preceding vehicle information including information such as relative speed. Transmit to ECU2. Further, a diagnosis signal of the laser radar sensor 3 itself is also transmitted to the headway control ECU 2. The laser radar sensor 3 also functions as the same preceding vehicle determination unit.
[0035]
The scanning range finder scans and irradiates a transmission wave or a laser beam to a predetermined angle range in the vehicle width direction, and determines a distance between the host vehicle and a forward object based on a reflected wave or reflected light from the object. Function as distance measuring means that can be detected in response to
[0036]
Further, the following distance control ECU 2 determines the preceding vehicle to be controlled for the following distance based on the own lane probability and the like included in the preceding vehicle information received from the laser radar sensor 3 as described above, and sets the following distance appropriately. A target acceleration signal, a fuel cut request signal, an OD cut request signal, a third speed downshift request signal, and a brake request signal are transmitted to the engine ECU 6 as control command values for adjusting the speed. In addition, it determines whether an alarm has occurred and transmits an alarm sounding request signal, or transmits an alarm sounding canceling request signal. Further, it transmits a diagnosis signal, a display data signal, and the like. The headway control ECU 2 corresponds to preceding vehicle selection means, headway control means, and headway warning means.
[0037]
The brake ECU 4 is an electronic circuit mainly composed of a microcomputer, and includes a steering sensor 8 as a steering angle detecting means for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle, a yaw rate sensor 10 for detecting a yaw rate as a vehicle turning detecting means, and A steering angle and a yaw rate are obtained from a wheel speed sensor 12 that detects a wheel speed, and these data are transmitted to an inter-vehicle control ECU 2 via an engine ECU 6 or provided in a brake hydraulic circuit for controlling a braking force. The brake actuator 25 that controls the opening and closing of the pressure increasing control valve and the pressure reducing control valve in duty is controlled. Further, the brake ECU 4 sounds the alarm buzzer 14 in response to an alarm request signal from the headway control ECU 2 via the engine ECU 6.
[0038]
The engine ECU 6 is an electronic circuit mainly composed of a microcomputer, and includes a throttle opening sensor 15, a vehicle speed sensor 16 as vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the vehicle speed, a brake switch 18 for detecting whether or not a brake is depressed, a cruise switch. Detection signals from the control switch 20, the cruise main switch 22, and other sensors and switches or wiper switch information and tail switch information received via the body LAN 28 are received, and further, the steering angle (str- eng, S0) signal, yaw rate signal, or target acceleration signal, fuel cut request signal, OD cut request signal, 3rd shift down request signal, alarm request signal, diagnosis signal, display data signal, etc. Has been received.
[0039]
The engine ECU 6 adjusts the throttle opening degree of an internal combustion engine (here, a gasoline engine) as a driving means in accordance with an operating state determined from the received signal. It outputs a drive command to it. With these actuators, it is possible to control the output, the braking force, or the shift shift of the internal combustion engine. The transmission 26 in the present embodiment is a 5-speed automatic transmission, in which the speed reduction ratio of the fourth speed is set to “1”, and the speed reduction ratio of the fifth speed is smaller than the fourth speed (for example, 0.7). , A so-called 4-speed + overdrive (OD) configuration. Therefore, when the above-described OD cut request signal is output, if the transmission 26 has shifted to the fifth speed (ie, the shift position for overdrive), the gear shifts down to the fourth speed. When the downshift request signal is output, the transmission 26 shifts down to the third speed when the transmission 26 shifts to the fourth speed. As a result, these downshifts cause a large engine brake, and the vehicle brake is decelerated by the engine brake.
[0040]
Further, the engine ECU 6 transmits necessary display information to a display device (not shown) such as an LCD provided on the dashboard via the body LAN 28 and causes the display device to display the current display speed or the current vehicle speed (Vn). ), A steering angle (str-eng, S0) signal, a yaw rate signal, a target inter-vehicle time signal, a wiper switch information signal, and a control state signal for idling control and brake control are transmitted to the inter-vehicle control ECU 2.
[0041]
Next, processing performed by the laser radar sensor 3 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the main processing, and the laser radar sensor 3 executes this processing at predetermined intervals.
When the processing is started, first, distance measurement data (distance / angle measurement data) obtained by the scanning distance measuring device provided in the laser radar sensor 3 is read (S1). Next, target recognition processing is performed to target individual vehicles and the like to be recognized (S2). Then, the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the recognized target is a vehicle is determined (S3). After that, the target data is transmitted to the headway control ECU 2 (S7), and the main processing is terminated.
[0042]
Next, the target setting process performed in step 2 of FIG. 2 will be described. This target processing is the same as the target processing described in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-112779 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-318652) filed by the present applicant, so that the description is simplified. Become
[0043]
As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, when the targetization process is started, in S31, an obstacle is recognized as a discontinuous point based on the distance measurement data, and adjacent ones of the points are recognized. It is integrated and recognized as a segment (line segment) having only the length in the width direction of the vehicle. Here, “proximity” means that the interval in the X-axis direction, that is, the width direction of the vehicle is equal to or less than the irradiation interval of the laser light H, and the interval in the Y-axis direction, that is, the interval in the front-rear direction of the vehicle is less than 3.0 m. . The segmentation is a process of combining points of the distance measurement data into one segment for each object assumed to be the same under predetermined conditions. This processing is for recognizing that each point is the same vehicle when one vehicle is detected at a plurality of scan angles, for example, a reflector or a vehicle body provided in tail lamps on the left and right of the vehicle. This is necessary processing.
[0044]
In the following S32, 1 is substituted for the variable i, and the routine goes to S33. In S33, it is determined whether or not the target is Bi. The target Bi (i is a natural number) is an obstacle model created for a group of segments by the processing described below. At the time of starting, since the target Bi has not been created, a negative determination is made and the process proceeds to the subsequent step S34.
[0045]
In S34, it is determined whether or not there is a segment without the corresponding target Bi. As described above, since the target Bi is not created at the time of starting, if the segment is recognized in S31, all of the segments are segments without the corresponding target Bi. In this case, an affirmative determination is made and the process proceeds to S35.
[0046]
In S35, it is determined whether or not the number of the targets Bi is less than a predetermined value (a value obtained by adding a margin to an upper limit value of the number of obstacles appearing within a predetermined angle at which the laser light H is swept and irradiated). At the time of starting, since the number of the targets Bi is less than the predetermined value, an affirmative determination is made and the process proceeds to S36.
[0047]
In S36, targets Bj (j = 1, 2,...) Are created for each segment in order from those closest to the vehicle, and the real target conversion processing routine is ended once. If the total number of targets reaches the predetermined value while sequentially creating the targets Bj, no more targets Bj are created.
[0048]
Here, each target Bj has the following data. That is, the data of the past four times of the center coordinates (X, Y), the width W, the relative velocities VX, VY in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, the center coordinates (X, Y), and the state flag Fj. When the target Bj is created, the data is set as follows. The center coordinates (X, Y) and width W use the center coordinates and width of the segment as they are. VX = 0, VY = -1 / 2 times the vehicle speed, the past four data are set to empty, and Fj = 0. The state flag Fj is a flag indicating whether the state of the target Bj is an undetermined state, a recognized state, or an extrapolated state. In the undetermined state, Fj = 0 is set. When the target Bj is created, an undetermined state is set.
[0049]
On the other hand, if it is determined in S33 that the target is the target Bi (YES), the process proceeds to S37, and a segment corresponding to the target Bi is detected. The segment corresponding to the target Bi is the same as that described with reference to FIG. 5 of Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 6-112779, and the method of selecting the segment is also shown in FIG. The description is omitted because it is the same as that described based on.
[0050]
In subsequent S38, the data updating process of the target Bi described below is executed according to the presence or absence of the corresponding segment, and the variable i is incremented in S39, and then the process proceeds to S33.
Note that the data update processing of the target Bi in S33 is the same as that described based on FIG. 7 of Japanese Patent Application No. 6-112779, which has already been filed, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.
[0051]
By the above-described processing, it is possible to satisfactorily determine whether the obstacle recognized as a segment is the same as the target Bi recognized in the past. Therefore, the relative speed (VX, VY) of the obstacle corresponding to the target Bi with respect to the own vehicle can be accurately calculated.
[0052]
Next, the vehicle accuracy determination process performed in step 3 of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is performed for all targets.
In the first step S51 of the vehicle accuracy determination processing, the value obtained by multiplying the relative speed VY in the Y-axis direction of the target to be determined by -1 by -1 is larger than the value obtained by multiplying the own vehicle speed by 0.7, or It is determined whether or not the value obtained by adding the own vehicle speed to the relative speed VY of the target in the Y-axis direction is 10 km / h or less. This is a condition determination process for determining whether or not the vehicle is a stationary object. If the condition is satisfied (S51: YES), the vehicle accuracy is set to "other than vehicle" (S60), and the processing routine ends.
[0053]
On the other hand, if the condition is not satisfied (S51: NO), since the vehicle accuracy is either "vehicle" excluding "other than vehicle" or "undecided", it is determined in S52 to S57 which of them is. judge.
First, in S52, the relative acceleration is calculated by dividing (the current value of the relative speed−the previous value) by the distance measurement cycle. Then, in subsequent S53, it is determined whether or not the absolute value of the relative acceleration calculated in S52 is larger than a predetermined value αAr. The predetermined value αAr is a value that cannot be obtained in the vehicle assumed to be controlled, and if an affirmative determination is made in S53, the process proceeds to S59, where the vehicle accuracy is set to “undetermined”, and then the process is terminated. End the routine. That is, in the determination focusing on the relative speed in S51, it is determined that the object is a moving object because it is determined to be a moving object. However, in the determination in S53 focusing on the relative acceleration, it cannot be obtained in a normal vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle accuracy was determined as "undecided".
[0054]
S54 to S57 are also determined based on the same concept. That is, in S54, it is determined whether or not the target width is larger than a predetermined value αOW, and in S55, it is determined whether or not the depth of the target is larger than a predetermined value αOD. These two predetermined values αOW and αOD are a vehicle width and a front-to-rear length of the vehicle, respectively, which cannot be taken by a normal vehicle. If the determination in S53 or S54 is affirmative, the process proceeds to S59, and the vehicle The accuracy is “undecided”. In S56, it is determined whether or not the change in the target width, that is, whether the absolute value of the value obtained by subtracting the previous value of the width from the current value of the width is larger than a predetermined value αOWC, and in S57, the change of the depth of the target, that is, It is determined whether or not the absolute value of the value obtained by subtracting the previous depth value from the current depth value is larger than a predetermined value αODC. Also for these two predetermined values αOWC and αODC, the change amounts of the vehicle width and the front-rear length of the vehicle that cannot be taken by a normal vehicle are set.
[0055]
Accordingly, all the negative determinations in S53 to S57, that is, all the conditions in terms of relative acceleration, target width, target depth, target width change, and target depth change were within the range that a normal vehicle can take. In this case, the vehicle accuracy is set to "vehicle" (S58), and then the present processing routine is terminated.
[0056]
The above is the description of the processing performed by the laser radar sensor 3. Next, the processing performed by the headway control ECU 2 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the main processing executed by the headway control ECU 2. In the first step S100, laser radar data such as data relating to the preceding vehicle is received from the laser radar sensor 3, and in subsequent S110, the current vehicle speed is transmitted from the engine ECU 6 to the current vehicle speed. Receive engine ECU data such as (Vn) and target inter-vehicle time.
[0057]
Based on these received data, the first preceding vehicle selection (S300), the first target acceleration calculation (S400), and the first alarm determination (S490) are executed. Details of each of these processes will be described later. Thereafter, it is determined whether the first preceding vehicle is being recognized and the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is "undecided" (S500). If so (S500: YES), the second preceding vehicle is determined. Selection (S600), second target acceleration calculation (S700), control preceding vehicle determination (S800), second warning determination (S890), deceleration request determination (S900), and warning generation determination (S990) are executed. Details of each of these processes will be described later. Thereafter, the estimated R is calculated (S1000), laser radar data such as the current vehicle speed (Vn) and the estimated R is transmitted to the laser radar sensor 3 (S1100), and the target acceleration and the fuel cut are transmitted to the engine ECU 6. A request, an OD cut request, a three bundle shift down request, an alarm request, and other engine ECU data are transmitted (S1200).
[0058]
On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in S500, that is, if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle being recognized is “vehicle”, the selection of the second preceding vehicle in S600 is not performed, and the process proceeds to S1300 to control the preceding vehicle. The vehicle is determined as the first preceding vehicle, and in S1400, the target acceleration is determined as the first target acceleration for the first preceding vehicle. Then, after releasing the second alarm request in S1500, the process proceeds to S900.
[0059]
The above has been a description of the entire process, and the details of each of the processes shown in S300, S400, S490, S600, S700, S800, S890, S900, and S990 will be sequentially described. Among these processes, S490, S890, and S990 are processes related to the alarm, and the other processes related to the following control are described first, and then the processes related to the alarm are described.
[0060]
First, the first preceding vehicle selection subroutine in S300 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S310, a first preceding vehicle candidate group is extracted. This process is a process of extracting, for all the target data received from the laser radar sensor 3, those having the own lane probability greater than a predetermined value. Here, the own lane probability is a probability that each target exists on the estimated traveling path of the own vehicle, is calculated in the laser radar sensor 3, and is transmitted to the inter-vehicle control ECU 2 as a part of the target data. You.
[0061]
In subsequent S320, it is determined whether or not there is a preceding vehicle candidate. If there is no preceding vehicle candidate (S320: NO), the first preceding vehicle data is set to the data when the preceding vehicle is not recognized, and the processing routine ends. On the other hand, if there is a preceding vehicle candidate (S320: YES), the process proceeds to S330, and the target with the smallest inter-vehicle distance is selected as the preceding vehicle. Thereafter, the flow shifts to S340, where the data of the target selected in S330 is set as the first preceding vehicle data, and this processing routine ends.
[0062]
Next, the first target acceleration calculation subroutine in S400 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S410, it is determined whether the first preceding vehicle is being recognized. If the first preceding vehicle is not being recognized (S410: NO), a value obtained when the preceding vehicle is not recognized is set as the first target acceleration (S450), and this subroutine ends.
[0063]
On the other hand, if the first preceding vehicle is being recognized (S410: YES), the flow proceeds to S420 to calculate the inter-vehicle deviation ratio. The inter-vehicle deviation ratio (%) is a value obtained by dividing a value obtained by subtracting the target inter-vehicle from the current inter-vehicle (inter-vehicle deviation) by the target inter-vehicle and multiplying by 100. Here, the target inter-vehicle distance is made variable in accordance with the vehicle speed. Here, the target inter-vehicle distance can be made more consistent with the driver's feeling.
[0064]
Further, in subsequent S430, the relative speed is calculated. In the relative speed calculation, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, first, it is determined whether or not the vehicle accuracy of the preceding vehicle is “undecided” (S431). If the vehicle accuracy is not “undecided”, that is, the vehicle accuracy is “ (S431: NO), a low-pass filter is applied to the relative speed (S432), and the present subroutine ends. On the other hand, if the vehicle accuracy is “undecided”, a predetermined value is set as the relative speed (S433), and the present subroutine ends. Note that the predetermined value set as the relative speed in S433 is substantially zero. That is, the relative speed of the undetermined object is not a relative speed obtained from actual distance measurement data, but is fixedly set to a value near 0 km / h.
[0065]
Returning to the description of the processing of FIG. 7A, when the inter-vehicle deviation ratio and the relative speed are obtained in S420 and S430, the control map shown in FIG. The target acceleration is obtained by reference. Note that this control map has seven values of -96, -64, -32, 0, 32, 64, and 96 as the inter-vehicle deviation ratio (%) and 16, 8, 0,-as the relative speed (Km / h). It shows the target accelerations for the six values of 8, -16 and -24, but for the values not shown as map values, the values calculated by linear interpolation are adopted in the map, and the map edges outside the map are used. Is adopted. Also, when using values in the map, predetermined upper and lower limit guards may be applied. After the processing in S440, the present subroutine ends.
[0066]
The first alarm determination in S490 will be described later. Next, the second preceding vehicle selection subroutine in S600 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. In the first step S610, a second preceding vehicle candidate group is extracted. In the first preceding vehicle candidate group extraction in S310 of FIG. 6 described above, for all target data received from the laser radar sensor 3, those having the own lane probability larger than a predetermined value are extracted. In the second preceding vehicle candidate group extraction, the vehicle accuracy is further limited to those whose vehicle accuracy is “vehicle”. That is, even if the own lane probability is larger than the predetermined value, a target whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” is not extracted.
[0067]
Subsequent processes in S620 to S650 have the same contents as S320 to S350 in FIG. That is, if there is no preceding vehicle candidate (S620: NO), the second preceding vehicle data is set to the data when the preceding vehicle is not recognized (S650), and this processing routine is ended. (S620: YES), the target with the smallest inter-vehicle distance is selected as the preceding vehicle (S630), the data of the target selected in S630 is set as the second preceding vehicle data (S640), and the processing routine ends. I do.
[0068]
Next, the second target acceleration calculation subroutine in S700 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S710, it is determined whether or not the second preceding vehicle is being recognized. If the second preceding vehicle is not being recognized (S710: NO), a value obtained when the preceding vehicle is not recognized is set as the second target acceleration (S750), and this subroutine ends.
[0069]
On the other hand, if the second preceding vehicle is being recognized (S710: YES), the flow shifts to S720 to calculate the inter-vehicle deviation ratio, and then performs a low-pass filter on the relative speed in S730. The second target acceleration is obtained based on both the deviation ratio and the relative speed by referring to the control map shown in FIG.
[0070]
In the relative speed calculation in S430 of FIG. 7A, a predetermined value is set as the relative speed when the vehicle accuracy of the preceding vehicle is “undetermined” as shown in FIG. In the case of the second preceding vehicle, only the vehicle accuracy is "vehicle", so that a low-pass filter is uniformly applied to the relative speed as shown in S730 of FIG.
[0071]
Next, the control preceding vehicle determination routine in S800 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S810, it is determined whether or not the second preceding vehicle is being recognized. If the second preceding vehicle is not being recognized (S810: NO), only the first preceding vehicle exists. Therefore, the first preceding vehicle is determined as the control preceding vehicle (S850), the first target acceleration calculated in S400 is determined as the target acceleration used for control (S860), and this routine ends.
[0072]
On the other hand, if the second preceding vehicle is being recognized (S810: YES), since both the first preceding vehicle and the second preceding vehicle exist, it is necessary to determine which of them is the preceding vehicle to be controlled. Therefore, in subsequent S820, it is determined whether the second target acceleration is smaller than the first target acceleration. If an affirmative determination is made in S820, it means that the second preceding vehicle needs a target acceleration with a greater degree of deceleration than the first preceding vehicle. Therefore, the second preceding vehicle is determined as the control preceding vehicle (S830), the second target acceleration calculated in S700 is determined as the target acceleration used for control (S840), and this routine ends. If a negative determination is made in S820, it means that the first preceding vehicle requires a target acceleration with a greater degree of deceleration than the second preceding vehicle, so the flow proceeds to S850. That is, as in the case where the second preceding vehicle is not being recognized, the first preceding vehicle is determined as the control preceding vehicle, and the first target acceleration is determined as the target acceleration used for control.
[0073]
The second warning determination in S890 will be described later. Next, the deceleration request determination subroutine in S900 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. This deceleration request determination is performed by sequentially performing a fuel cut request determination (S910), an OD cut request determination (S920), a third speed shift down request determination (S930), and a brake request determination (S940). Each control will be described.
[0074]
First, the fuel cut request determination subroutine in S910 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S911, it is determined whether or not a fuel cut request is being made. If the fuel cut is not being requested (S911: NO), it is determined whether or not the acceleration deviation is smaller than the reference value Aref11 (S913). If the acceleration deviation <Aref11 (S913: YES), the fuel cut request is satisfied (S915), and the present subroutine ends. If the acceleration deviation is equal to or greater than Aref11 (S913: NO), this subroutine is terminated.
[0075]
On the other hand, if a fuel cut request is being made (S911: YES), the flow shifts to S917 to determine whether the acceleration deviation is larger than the reference value Aref12. If acceleration deviation> Aref12 (S917: YES), the fuel cut request is canceled (S919), and this subroutine is terminated. If acceleration deviation ≦ Aref12 (S917: NO), this subroutine is executed as it is. finish.
[0076]
Next, the OD cut request determination subroutine in S920 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S921, it is determined whether or not an OD cut request is being made. If it is not (S921: NO), it is determined whether or not the acceleration deviation is smaller than the reference value Aref21 (S923). If the acceleration deviation is smaller than Aref21 (S923: YES), the OD cut request is satisfied (S925), and the present subroutine ends. If the acceleration deviation ≧ Aref21 (S923: NO), this subroutine is terminated.
[0077]
On the other hand, if an OD cut request is being made (S921: YES), the flow shifts to S927, and it is determined whether or not the acceleration deviation is larger than the reference value Aref22. If acceleration deviation> Aref22 (S927: YES), the OD cut request is canceled (S929), and this subroutine is terminated. If acceleration deviation ≦ Aref22 (S927: NO), this subroutine is executed as it is. finish.
[0078]
Next, the third speed shift down request determination subroutine in S930 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S931, it is determined whether or not the third speed downshift request is being made. If the third speed downshift request is not being made (S931: NO), it is determined whether or not the acceleration deviation is smaller than the reference value Aref31 (S933). If the acceleration deviation <Aref31 (S933: YES), it is determined that the third speed downshift request has been satisfied (S935), and the present subroutine ends. If acceleration deviation ≧ Aref31 (S933: NO), this subroutine ends.
[0079]
On the other hand, if the third speed shift down request is in progress (S931: YES), the flow shifts to S937 to determine whether the acceleration deviation is larger than the reference value Aref32. If acceleration deviation> Aref32 (S937: YES), the third speed downshift request is released (S939), and this subroutine is terminated. If acceleration deviation ≦ Aref32 (S937: NO), the main routine is left as it is. End the subroutine.
[0080]
Next, the brake request determination subroutine of S940 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In the first step S941, it is determined whether or not a fuel cut request is being made. If the fuel cut request is not being made (S941: NO), the brake request is released (S951), and this subroutine is terminated as it is. On the other hand, if a fuel cut request is being made (S941: YES), it is determined whether a braking request is being made (S943). If no braking request is being made (S943: NO), whether the acceleration deviation is smaller than the reference value Aref41 is determined. It is determined whether it is (S945). If the acceleration deviation is smaller than Aref41 (S945: YES), the brake request is satisfied (S947), and the present subroutine ends. If the acceleration deviation ≧ Aref41 (S945: NO), this subroutine is terminated.
[0081]
On the other hand, if a braking request is being made (S943: YES), the flow shifts to S949 to determine whether or not the acceleration deviation is larger than the reference value Aref42. If the acceleration deviation is greater than Aref42 (S949: YES), the brake request is released (S951) and the subroutine is terminated. If the acceleration deviation is less than or equal to Aref42 (S949: NO), the subroutine is terminated as it is. I do.
[0082]
Note that reference values Aref11, Aref12, Aref21, Aref22, Aref31, Aref32, Aref41, and Aref42 used in the description of the flowcharts of FIGS. These reference values are threshold values as shown below.

The magnitude relationship between these threshold values is as follows.

Such a relationship is necessary so that chattering between the operation instruction and the operation release instruction does not occur.
(B) Relationship of operation instruction threshold value between each reduction means
0> Aref11 ≧ Aref21 ≧ Aref31 ≧ Aref41
This is because it is desirable that the means with smaller generated deceleration be activated first.
(C) Relationship of operation release threshold between each speed reduction means
Aref12 ≧ Aref22 ≧ Aref32 ≧ Aref42> 0
This is because it is desirable that the means having a larger deceleration be released first.
[0083]
The above is the description of the processing related to the headway control. Next, the details of the processing related to the alarm, S490, S890, and S990, will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the first alarm determination subroutine in S490 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
[0084]
In the first step S491, it is determined whether or not a first alarm request is currently being instructed. If the first alarm request is not being issued (S491: NO), a process (S492, S493, S494) for instructing the alarm request by determining that a predetermined condition is satisfied is executed.
[0085]
In S492, the warning distance is calculated according to the vehicle speed and the relative speed as shown in the following calculation formula.
Warning distance = f (vehicle speed, relative speed)
Next, it is determined whether or not a state in which the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than the warning distance has occurred (S493). If the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or longer than the alarm distance (S493: NO), the present processing routine is terminated. If the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than the warning distance (S493: YES), the first warning request is satisfied (S494).
[0086]
On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in S491, that is, if the first alarm request is being issued, a process (S495, S496, S497) for determining that a predetermined condition is satisfied and canceling the alarm request is executed.
In S495, it is determined whether one second has elapsed after the first alarm request was established. If one second has not elapsed after the establishment of the first alarm request (S495: NO), this processing routine is terminated. This is because when the alarm processing is executed, the state is maintained for at least one second.
[0087]
Then, when one second has elapsed after the first warning request is satisfied (S495: YES), it is determined whether the following distance is equal to or longer than the warning distance (S496). If the following distance is less than the warning distance (S496). : NO), and terminates this processing routine. If the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or longer than the warning distance (S496: YES), the first warning request is canceled (S497).
[0088]
Next, the second alarm determination subroutine in S890 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
This process is similar to the first alarm determination described with reference to FIG. 17, except that the first alarm request is replaced with the second alarm request. That is, if the second warning request is not being issued (S891: NO), the warning distance is calculated (S892), and it is determined whether or not a state where the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than this warning distance occurs (S893). If the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or longer than the alarm distance (S893: NO), the present processing routine is terminated. If the inter-vehicle distance is shorter than the alarm distance (S893: YES), a second alarm request is established. (S894).
[0089]
On the other hand, if the second alarm request is being issued (S891: YES), it is determined whether one second has elapsed since the second alarm request was established (S895), and if one second has not elapsed since the second alarm request was established. (S895: NO), this processing routine ends as it is. Then, when one second has elapsed after the second alarm request is satisfied (S895: YES), it is determined whether the following distance is equal to or longer than the warning distance (S896). If the following distance is less than the warning distance (S896: NO). Then, the processing routine ends. If the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or longer than the warning distance (S896: YES), the second warning request is canceled (S897).
[0090]
Next, the alarm occurrence determination subroutine in S990 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.
In the first step S991, it is determined whether the first alarm request is being issued. If the first alarm request is being issued (S991: YES), the alarm request is satisfied (S992), and this routine ends. If the first alarm is not requested (S991: NO), it is determined whether the second alarm is requested (S993). If the second alarm request is being issued (S993: YES), the alarm request is satisfied (S992), and this routine is terminated. If the second alarm request is not being issued (S993: NO), the alarm request is canceled (S993: NO). S994), this routine ends.
[0091]
The fact that the alarm request has been established in S992 is transmitted to the engine ECU 6 as engine EUU data in S1200 in FIG. Then, when the engine ECU 6 instructs the brake ECU 4, the brake ECU 4 sounds the alarm buzzer 14. On the other hand, when it is transmitted to the engine ECU 6 that the alarm request has been released in S994, the alarm buzzer 14 is stopped via the brake ECU 4.
[0092]
As described above, according to the system of the present embodiment, when the following distance control and the following distance warning are executed, if the vehicle accuracy is other than the vehicle, the vehicle is not selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. However, an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” is not removed from the control target, and the following measures are taken. That is, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the second preceding vehicle is selected from objects whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle (S500 in FIG. 5).
[0093]
Then, in the case of the inter-vehicle control, the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is considered to be approximately 0, that is, a value near 0 km / h (S433 in FIG. 8), and the first target which is the inter-vehicle control amount is set. The acceleration is calculated (S400 in FIG. 5). At the same time, a second target acceleration with respect to the second preceding vehicle is calculated (S700 in FIG. 5), and one of the target accelerations with respect to the first and second preceding vehicles, which can be more largely controlled on the deceleration side, is actually determined. (S800 in FIG. 5, FIG. 11).
[0094]
Therefore, for example, when an object whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” (for example, a pole cone) is selected as the first preceding vehicle, a true preceding vehicle (an object whose vehicle accuracy is “vehicle”) approaches and deceleration is necessary. In this case, the object whose vehicle accuracy is "vehicle" is selected as the second preceding vehicle, and the second target acceleration with respect to the second preceding vehicle increases toward the deceleration side. To perform inter-vehicle control. If the true preceding vehicle does not need to be decelerated, there is a possibility that an object such as a pole cone whose vehicle accuracy is “undetermined” may be selected as a preceding vehicle to be controlled. However, in this case, since the headway control is performed based on the first target acceleration calculated on the assumption that the relative speed of the preceding vehicle is substantially zero, the driver does not feel that the deceleration control is erroneously largely performed. Discomfort can be eliminated or reduced. In other words, unnecessary deceleration control due to incorrect preceding vehicle selection can be prevented, and inter-vehicle control with improved driving feeling can be realized.
[0095]
In the case of an inter-vehicle warning, the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is regarded as a value near 0 Km / h (S433 in FIG. 8), and the warning distance is calculated (S492 in FIG. 17). Then, it is determined whether or not the first alarm request is satisfied based on the alarm distance. At the same time, the warning distance for the second preceding vehicle is calculated (S892 in FIG. 18), and it is determined whether or not the second warning request has been established based on the warning distance. If either one of the first and second alarm requests is satisfied, it is determined that the alarm request for performing the actual alarm process has been satisfied (FIG. 19).
[0096]
Therefore, when an object (for example, a pole cone) with a vehicle accuracy of “undecided” is selected as the first preceding vehicle, the warning distance calculated by assuming that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially 0 is set to Since it is determined whether the alarm request is satisfied based on the alarm request, it is considered that almost no alarm processing is actually performed. Then, in this state, if a true preceding vehicle (an object having a vehicle accuracy of “vehicle”) approaches and an alarm is required, the object having a vehicle accuracy of “vehicle” is selected as a second preceding vehicle. If a warning request is established based on the warning distance to the second preceding vehicle, a headway warning is issued. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a warning from being issued in a situation that is not actually necessary, and to appropriately issue a warning in a necessary situation, thereby eliminating or reducing a sense of discomfort felt by the driver. That is, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary alarm due to an incorrect selection of a preceding vehicle and realize an inter-vehicle alarm with an improved driving feeling.
[0097]
In the present embodiment, as shown in S330 of FIG. 6 and S630 of FIG. 9, when the first preceding vehicle and the second preceding vehicle are selected, those that are closest to each other are selected. . This is because it is generally preferable to select an object located closest to the own vehicle as the preceding vehicle.
[0098]
As described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment at all, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. We explain some of them.
(1) In the above embodiment, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the first target acceleration as the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated by regarding the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle as substantially zero. However, instead, the first target acceleration itself may be set to a value such that the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate. That is, the first target acceleration = 0. When the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is considered to be approximately 0, there may be a case where the own vehicle accelerates or decelerates when the first preceding vehicle is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. In this case, the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate.
[0099]
(2) In the above embodiment, if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is “vehicle”, only the first target acceleration is calculated, and even if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is “undetermined”. , Only the second target acceleration of the second preceding vehicle is calculated. On the other hand, for all objects other than vehicles whose vehicle accuracy is other than the vehicle, a target acceleration is calculated for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined, assuming that the relative speed of the object is substantially 0, and the vehicle accuracy is a vehicle. The target acceleration may also be calculated for the object, and the inter-vehicle control may be performed based on the target acceleration that can be controlled to the deceleration side the most.
[0100]
In the above-described embodiment, it is only necessary to calculate the target accelerations of at most two preceding vehicles, but in this case, it is assumed that the target accelerations for three or more objects must be calculated. Is done. However, by doing so, it is also possible to perform inter-vehicle control in consideration of, for example, two preceding vehicles and three preceding vehicles. For example, if the preceding vehicle is traveling at a higher speed than the own vehicle, but the preceding vehicle is running at a lower speed than the own vehicle, the preceding vehicle will decelerate in the future. As a result, a situation in which the own vehicle must decelerate may occur. In this case, if only the immediately preceding vehicle is taken into consideration, there is a possibility that the vehicle may be accelerated and then decelerated immediately. However, if the preceding vehicle ahead is considered, the vehicle does not accelerate. It is possible to shift to deceleration, and it is possible to realize inter-vehicle control with further improved driving feeling.
[0101]
Of course, if the same method is applied to the inter-vehicle warning, the inter-vehicle warning with further improved driving feeling can be realized.
(3) The deceleration control may not be executed when an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled. Specifically, for example, the processing in FIG. 13 of the above embodiment is replaced with the processing in FIG. 20, S1911, S1913, S1915, S1917, and S1919 are the same as S911, S913, S915, S917, and S919, respectively, in FIG. The changed portion determines whether or not the vehicle accuracy of the preceding vehicle is "undecided" regardless of whether a positive or negative determination is made in the determination process of S1911 (S1912, S1916). . If the fuel cut request is not being made (S1911: NO), and if the vehicle accuracy of the preceding vehicle is “undecided” (S1912: YES), the determination itself as to whether the fuel cut request has been made in S1913 is not performed. The processing is terminated unconditionally. On the other hand, if a fuel cut request is being made (S1911: YES), and if the vehicle accuracy of the preceding vehicle is "undecided" (S1916: YES), the process unconditionally proceeds to S1919 to cancel the fuel cut request.
[0102]
Although the case of the fuel cut request determination has been described, the other OD cut request determination, the third speed shift down request determination, and the brake request determination may be similarly modified. By doing so, the deceleration control is not executed when an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled.
[0103]
(4) In the above embodiment, the method for executing the inter-vehicle warning is to judge whether the first preceding vehicle and the second preceding vehicle have an alarm request, and if either of them is satisfied, the alarm request is issued. It was determined that it was established. The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and may be realized as follows.
[0104]
First, if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is “vehicle”, “inter-vehicle distance−warning distance” is calculated as the warning determination value for the first preceding vehicle. It can be considered that the greater the value is on the negative side, the greater the necessity of the alarm is. It is assumed that the alarm request is satisfied when the alarm determination value is less than a predetermined value (for example, 0), and that the alarm request is not satisfied when the alarm determination value is equal to or more than the predetermined value. On the other hand, if the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is "undecided", the alarm judgment value is similarly calculated for the second preceding vehicle, and the respective alarm judgment values are compared. The inter-vehicle warning is executed based on the. That is, it is assumed that the alarm request is satisfied when the smaller inter-vehicle alarm value is less than the predetermined value, and that the alarm request is not satisfied when the alarm value is equal to or more than the predetermined value.
[0105]
In such an embodiment, the present invention can be easily extended to a case in which several steps of alarm processing are executed as an inter-vehicle alarm. In other words, a plurality of values are prepared as predetermined values for determining the above-mentioned alarm request, and an alarm process at an appropriate stage corresponding to the value of the alarm determination value is executed. In this way, it is possible to realize an inter-vehicle warning with further improved driving feeling.
[0106]
(5) As the deceleration means, those that can be adopted, including those described in the above-described embodiment, will be mentioned. Adjusting the brake pressure of the brake device, fuel cut control for preventing fuel from being supplied to the internal combustion engine, prohibiting the automatic transmission connected to the internal combustion engine from being in the overdrive shift position Overdrive cut control, shift-down control to shift down the automatic transmission from a higher shift position, ignition retard control to delay the ignition timing of the internal combustion engine, and lock-up the torque converter provided in the automatic transmission Lock-up control, exhaust brake control for increasing the flow resistance of exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine, and retarder control are performed.
[0107]
(6) In the above embodiment, the inter-vehicle distance is used as it is, but the same can be realized by using the inter-vehicle time obtained by dividing the inter-vehicle distance by the vehicle speed. That is, a control map of the target acceleration using the relative speed and the headway time deviation ratio as parameters is prepared, and at the time of control, the target acceleration is calculated based on the relative speed and the headway time deviation ratio at that time, and the headway control is performed. Is performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of an inter-vehicle control device according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a recognition process performed by the laser radar sensor.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a target setting processing subroutine executed during the recognition processing of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a vehicle accuracy determination subroutine executed during the recognition processing of FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main process executed by an inter-vehicle control ECU.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a first preceding vehicle selection subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
7A is a flowchart showing a first target acceleration calculation subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7B is an explanatory diagram of a control map.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a relative speed calculation subroutine executed during the first target acceleration calculation process of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a second preceding vehicle selection subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a second target acceleration calculation subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a control preceding vehicle determination subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a deceleration request determination subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a fuel cut request determination subroutine executed during the deceleration request determination of FIG.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an OD cut request determination subroutine executed during the deceleration request determination of FIG. 12;
FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a third-speed downshift request determination subroutine executed during the deceleration request determination in FIG. 12;
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a brake request determination subroutine executed during the deceleration request determination of FIG.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a first alarm determination subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a second alarm determination subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an alarm occurrence determination subroutine executed during the main processing of FIG. 5;
FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a fuel cut request determination process according to another embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
2. Electronic control unit for inter-vehicle control (vehicle control ECU)
3 ... Laser radar sensor
4: Brake electronic control unit (brake ECU)
6. Engine electronic control unit (engine ECU)
8. Steering sensor
10 ... Yaw rate sensor
12 Wheel speed sensor
14. Alarm buzzer
16 ... Vehicle speed sensor
18 ... Brake switch
20 ... Cruise control switch
22 ... Cruise main switch
24 ... Throttle actuator
25 ... Brake actuator
26 ... Transmission
28 ... Body LAN

Claims (18)

Acceleration means and deceleration means for accelerating and decelerating the own vehicle,
Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
An actual inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to an actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a target inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to a target inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. The vehicle-to-vehicle control amount is calculated based on the vehicle-to-vehicle deviation, which is the difference between the vehicle, and the relative speed between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and the acceleration and deceleration units are drive-controlled based on the calculated vehicle-to-vehicle control amount. An inter-vehicle control means for causing the vehicle to run following the preceding vehicle;
The inter-vehicle control device including
A vehicle accuracy determining unit that determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, at least a vehicle, other than a vehicle, and classifies the vehicle into three undetermined types,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
The vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determination means selects a first preceding vehicle from among objects other than the vehicle,
If the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, further, the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means selects a second preceding vehicle from among objects that are vehicles,
The inter-vehicle control means includes:
When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is a vehicle, the first preceding vehicle is set as a preceding vehicle to be controlled and inter-vehicle control is performed;
On the other hand, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the inter-vehicle control amount is calculated by assuming that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially zero, and the second preceding vehicle is determined. Calculating the inter-vehicle control amount for the first and second preceding vehicles, and executing the inter-vehicle control based on the control amount that can be more largely controlled on the deceleration side among the inter-vehicle control amounts for the first and second preceding vehicles;
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. The headway control device according to claim 1,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
As the first preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects other than the vehicle is selected,
Selecting, as the second preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects that are vehicles;
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. The headway distance control device according to claim 1 or 2,
The inter-vehicle control means includes:
If the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, instead of calculating the inter-vehicle control amount on the assumption that the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is substantially zero, the inter-vehicle control of the first preceding vehicle is performed. Considering the amount as a value that does not cause the vehicle to accelerate or decelerate,
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. Acceleration means and deceleration means for accelerating and decelerating the own vehicle,
Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
An actual inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to an actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a target inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to a target inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. The vehicle-to-vehicle control amount is calculated based on the vehicle-to-vehicle deviation, which is the difference between the vehicle, and the relative speed between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and the acceleration and deceleration units are drive-controlled based on the calculated vehicle-to-vehicle control amount. An inter-vehicle control means for causing the vehicle to run following the preceding vehicle;
The inter-vehicle control device including
A vehicle accuracy determining unit that determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, at least a vehicle, other than a vehicle, and classifies the vehicle into three undetermined types,
The inter-vehicle control means includes:
For all objects except the vehicle, the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means, for an object for which the vehicle accuracy is undetermined, assuming that the relative speed of the object is substantially zero, and calculating the inter-vehicle control amount, Calculating the inter-vehicle control amount for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle, and executing the inter-vehicle control based on a control amount that can be controlled to the greatest extent on the deceleration side among these;
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. The headway distance control device according to claim 4,
The inter-vehicle control means includes:
For an object whose vehicle accuracy is undecided, instead of calculating the inter-vehicle control amount by assuming that the relative speed of the object is substantially 0, the inter-vehicle control amount for the object is set to a value such that the vehicle does not accelerate or decelerate. To consider,
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. The headway control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The inter-vehicle control means includes:
When an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined is selected as the preceding vehicle to be controlled, deceleration control is not executed,
An inter-vehicle control device characterized by the following. Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
At least an alarm determination value is calculated based on an actual inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to an actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a relative speed between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. An inter-vehicle warning unit capable of executing a warning process for a vehicle driver when the warning determination value satisfies a predetermined warning condition;
In an inter-vehicle alarm device comprising:
A vehicle accuracy determining unit that determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, at least a vehicle, other than a vehicle, and classifies the vehicle into three undetermined types,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
The vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determination means selects a first preceding vehicle from among objects other than the vehicle,
If the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, further, the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means selects a second preceding vehicle from among objects that are vehicles,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is a vehicle, an inter-vehicle warning is executed with the first preceding vehicle as a preceding vehicle to be controlled,
On the other hand, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is regarded as substantially zero, the alarm determination value is calculated, and the second preceding vehicle is calculated. Calculating an alarm determination value for the first and second preceding vehicles, and executing the inter-vehicle alarm based on the determination value of the greater of the necessity of the alarm among the alarm determination values for the first and second preceding vehicles;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 7,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
As the first preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects other than the vehicle is selected,
Selecting, as the second preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects that are vehicles;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
At least an alarm determination value is calculated based on an actual inter-vehicle physical quantity which is a physical quantity corresponding to an actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means, and a relative speed between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle. An inter-vehicle warning unit capable of executing a warning process for a vehicle driver when the warning determination value satisfies a predetermined warning condition;
In an inter-vehicle alarm device comprising:
A vehicle accuracy determination means for determining the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognition means is a vehicle, by classifying the vehicle accuracy into at least three types other than a vehicle and a vehicle; Is
For all objects except for the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determination means, except for the vehicle, for an object for which the vehicle accuracy is undetermined, assuming that the relative speed of the object is substantially 0, and calculating an alarm determination value, The vehicle accuracy is also to calculate an alarm determination value for an object that is a vehicle, of which the inter-vehicle warning is executed based on the alarm determination value having the highest degree of need of an alarm among these.
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
Whether the actual inter-vehicle physical quantity corresponding to the actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means satisfies at least a predetermined warning condition based on the relative speed between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle . An inter-vehicle alarm means capable of performing an alarm determination of whether or not, and as a result of the alarm determination, when an alarm condition is satisfied, performing an alarm process for a vehicle driver;
In an inter-vehicle alarm device comprising:
A vehicle accuracy determining unit that determines the vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognizing unit is a vehicle, at least a vehicle, other than a vehicle, and classifies the vehicle into three undetermined types,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
The vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determination means selects a first preceding vehicle from among objects other than the vehicle,
If the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, further, the vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means selects a second preceding vehicle from among objects that are vehicles,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is a vehicle, an inter-vehicle warning is executed with the first preceding vehicle as a preceding vehicle to be controlled,
On the other hand, when the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the relative speed of the first preceding vehicle is regarded as substantially 0, an alarm determination is performed, and the second preceding vehicle is determined. Executing an alarm judgment, and executing the headway alarm if any of the alarm judgment results for the first and second preceding vehicles satisfies an alarm execution condition;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 10,
The preceding vehicle selecting means,
As the first preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects other than the vehicle is selected,
Selecting, as the second preceding vehicle, a vehicle whose vehicle accuracy exists at the shortest distance among objects that are vehicles;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. Object recognition means for calculating a relative position and a relative speed of the object to be recognized with respect to the own vehicle,
Based on the relative position of the object calculated by the object recognizing means, it is determined whether or not the object exists in the own lane area determined based on the traveling direction of the own vehicle, and within the own lane area Preceding vehicle selecting means for selecting a preceding vehicle with respect to the own vehicle from existing objects;
Whether the actual inter-vehicle physical quantity corresponding to the actual inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle selected by the preceding vehicle selecting means satisfies at least a predetermined warning condition based on the relative speed between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle . An inter-vehicle alarm means capable of performing an alarm determination of whether or not, and as a result of the alarm determination, when an alarm condition is satisfied, performing an alarm process for a vehicle driver;
In an inter-vehicle alarm device comprising:
A vehicle accuracy determining unit that classifies vehicle accuracy indicating the probability that the object recognized by the object recognition unit is a vehicle as at least a vehicle, other than a vehicle, and three undetermined types,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
For all the objects except the vehicle whose vehicle accuracy determined by the vehicle accuracy determining means is other than the vehicle, for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined, the relative speed of the object is considered to be approximately 0, and an alarm determination is executed. Performing an alarm determination also for the object whose accuracy is a vehicle, and executing the inter-vehicle alarm if any of these meets the alarm execution condition,
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following.
Possible recording medium. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 7 or 8,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
When the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the warning determination value is not calculated, and the headway warning is performed based on the warning determination value for the second preceding vehicle;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 9,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
The vehicle accuracy is not calculated for an object with an undetermined alarm determination value, the vehicle accuracy is calculated for an object that is a vehicle, and an alarm determination value is calculated. Performing an inter-vehicle alarm;
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 10 or 11,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
If the vehicle accuracy of the first preceding vehicle is undecided, the warning determination is not performed, and if the result of the warning determination for the second preceding vehicle satisfies the warning execution condition, the inter-vehicle warning is performed. ,
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. The inter-vehicle warning device according to claim 12,
The inter-vehicle warning means,
No alarm determination is performed for an object whose vehicle accuracy is undetermined, and an alarm determination is performed for an object whose vehicle accuracy is a vehicle. thing,
An inter-vehicle alarm device characterized by the following. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer system to function as preceding vehicle selecting means, vehicle distance control means, and vehicle accuracy determining means of the vehicle distance control apparatus according to claim 1. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer system to function as preceding vehicle selecting means, inter-vehicle alarm means, and vehicle accuracy determining means of the inter-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 7 to 16.

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