JP4591777B2 - Self-recognition system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a local position recognition system employed in a navigation device or the like.

Accurate recognition of the own position is a very important matter for navigation devices, travel control devices, and the like.
As a self-recognition system, a so-called autonomous navigation system is known, and another navigation system for recognizing the self-position based on information from others such as GPS information is also known. In addition, the features located along the road (for example, stop lines at intersections, white lines drawn along the road (including solid lines, broken lines, etc.)) are recognized from the imaging information, and these A system for recognizing its own position from the position of a feature is also being adopted.
These three types of systems are basically systems that recognize and determine the position of the vehicle from information that can be detected by the vehicle.

On the other hand, a system for recognizing / determining its own position from information possessed by other vehicles other than the own vehicle has also been proposed.
The technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 is this type of technology, and in the technology disclosed in this document, the rear vehicle recognizes and determines its own position based on the position information of the front vehicle. In this technique, the positional relationship between a group of vehicles can be well recognized by using information on other vehicles.

JP-A-9-245287

However, if the position of the vehicle is determined based only on information that can be detected by the vehicle, the recognition limit inherent in those systems cannot be exceeded.
For example, in a system that recognizes the position of the vehicle by sequentially calculating the movement trajectory of the vehicle from information obtained from the autonomous navigation sensor, recognition errors accumulate as the travel distance increases, and the probability of the travel distance increases. It is well known that it decreases with an increase.
In the case of other navigation using GPS information or the like, the accuracy limit of the position information obtained from the GPS information is the limit of the probability.
On the other hand, in a system that recognizes its own position from the position of the feature, its position is recognized at the position where the feature exists, so its accuracy is high and the probability is quite high. The features that can be used are not always along the road.

  Thus, as previously indicated, attempts have been made to use the position information of other vehicles for recognition of the own position. For example, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, the position information of the preceding vehicle is used by the rear vehicle to recognize the own position of the own vehicle. No consideration is given to the accuracy and accuracy.

  Therefore, if the position of the host vehicle is uniquely corrected based on the position information of the preceding vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance, the accuracy of the position information of the preceding vehicle is not always high, and the position of the preceding vehicle is not necessarily good. The self-position is recognized and determined, and the accuracy of self-position recognition deteriorates.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a self-recognition system capable of maintaining a high position accuracy and a high probability of a recognized self-position in a system for recognizing the self-position based on information on the self-position of another vehicle. It is in.

According to the present invention for achieving the above object,
Each vehicle includes own position recognition means for recognizing the own position, and correction means for correcting the own position recognized by the own position recognition means,
The characteristic configuration of the self-position recognition system including vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles is as follows:
Each vehicle is equipped with a confidence level calculation means for calculating the confidence level, which is an index of the likelihood of its own position.
A positional relationship detecting unit configured to transmit the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle. With
Comprising confidence degree comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle sent via the inter-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle,
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, wherein the correction means have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The transmission vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the vehicle, a recognition traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and a traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling The self-position is corrected based on the relationship with the traveling lane in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling .

The self position recognition method in this self position recognition system goes through the following procedure.
That is, in each vehicle, a self-position recognition process for recognizing the self-position and a self-position correction process for correcting the self-position recognized in the self-position recognition process are performed.
The characteristic means of the own position recognition method for performing information communication between vehicles is as follows:
In each vehicle, execute a confidence level calculation process to calculate the confidence level, which is an index of the accuracy of the position of the vehicle,
Transmitting the own position and confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle, and performing a positional relationship detection step of detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle;
Performing a confidence level comparison step of comparing the confidence level of the transmitted vehicle and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle;
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, in the current position correction step, have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The transmission vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the vehicle, a recognition traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and a traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling The self-position is corrected based on the relationship with the traveling lane in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.

  Further, according to the present invention for achieving the above object,
  Each vehicle includes own position recognition means for recognizing the own position, and correction means for correcting the own position recognized by the own position recognition means,
  The characteristic configuration of the self-position recognition system including vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles is as follows:
  Each vehicle is equipped with a confidence level calculation means for calculating the confidence level, which is an index of the likelihood of its own position.
  A positional relationship detecting unit configured to transmit the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle. With
  Comprising confidence degree comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle sent via the inter-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle,
  When the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, the correction means corrects the own position based on the own position of the transmitting vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The transmitting vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the own vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and the traveling path on which the own vehicle is traveling The self position is corrected based on the relationship with the travel path on which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.

  The self position recognition method in this self position recognition system goes through the following procedure.
  That is, in each vehicle, a self-position recognition process for recognizing the self-position and a self-position correction process for correcting the self-position recognized in the self-position recognition process are performed.
  The characteristic means of the self-position recognition method for performing information communication between vehicles is as follows:
  In each vehicle, execute a confidence level calculation process to calculate the confidence level, which is an index of the accuracy of the position of the vehicle,
  Transmitting the own position and confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle, and performing a positional relationship detection step of detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle;
  Performing a confidence level comparison step of comparing the confidence level of the transmitted vehicle and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle;
When the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, in the own position correction step, the own position is corrected based on the own position of the transmitting vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The transmitting vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the own vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and the traveling path on which the own vehicle is traveling The self position is corrected based on the relationship with the travel path on which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.

  In this system, the self-confidence level of the self-position recognized by both the transmitting vehicle and the receiving vehicle is required. That is, each vehicle has a degree of confidence that is an index of the certainty of the recognition that it recognizes as its own position. Here, as the own position, as will be shown later in the embodiment, the position in the direction along the traveling path, the position in the width direction of the traveling path, or the traveling path recognized as traveling ( Or a travel path identified by a travel path identification name or the like.

  In this system, the own position recognized by the transmitting vehicle and the degree of confidence thereof are transmitted from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle. First, a comparison between confidence levels is performed. By doing in this way, it becomes clear which vehicle is the vehicle of the high confidence level between the transmitting vehicle side and the receiving vehicle side. And in this application, the own position of a receiving vehicle is correct | amended on the basis of the own position of the vehicle of the side with high confidence. At this time, the positional relationship between the transmitting vehicle and the receiving vehicle is determined separately, and the receiving vehicle's own position is determined based on the own position recognized by the transmitting vehicle and the positional relationship between the vehicles. As a result, the position of the receiving vehicle can be made highly accurate.

  Therefore, this system corrects and determines the own position of each vehicle constituting the vehicle group based on the own position recognized by each vehicle and the accuracy (reliability) of the own position, so that the position accuracy is high. As a result, navigation, travel control, and the like that use information about its own position can be made more accurate than before.

In this system, the self-position is recognized in units of travel paths (in the present application, the travel paths recognized in this way are called recognition travel paths), and the degree of confidence is related to the probability of the recognition. As an index, and as a relative positional relationship, the relationship between the traveling paths on which each vehicle is traveling is obtained as a relative positional relationship, thereby correcting and determining the recognized traveling path of the receiving vehicle from the recognized traveling path of the transmitting vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily identify the traveling road that is running.
This type of travel path authorization can provide an effective recognition / determination technique when, for example, there are parallel roads running in parallel and it is difficult to identify the travel roads running between the parallel roads. .

  In this case, as the characteristic means, the self-position is recognized in units of travel roads, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of the recognized travel road recognized that the vehicle is traveling, and the relative position The recognition method is established assuming that the relationship is the relationship between the traveling paths on which the vehicles are traveling among the vehicles.

In addition, in this system, it is possible to obtain recognized travel path information that is information that identifies a travel path on which the host vehicle is traveling with high confidence by using information held by surrounding vehicles existing around the host vehicle. it can.

  In this case, the characteristic means is a surrounding vehicle in which the transmitting vehicle is traveling around the own vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the own vehicle, a recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and the own vehicle is The own position is corrected based on the relationship between the traveling road on which the vehicle is traveling and the traveling road on which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.

The system configuration to be mounted on the transmission-side vehicle employed in this system configuration is as follows.
That is, the transmission system for self-position recognition that is the system on the transmission side is
A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
Via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means, the receiving vehicle is configured to be able to transmit its own position and confidence level ,
The self-position is recognized in units of travel lanes, and the confidence level is an index indicating the probability of the recognized travel lane recognized that the vehicle is traveling.

  Further, the system configuration to be mounted on the transmission-side vehicle employed in this system configuration is as follows.
  That is, the transmission system for self-position recognition that is the system on the transmission side is
  A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
  Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
  Via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means, the receiving vehicle is configured to be able to transmit its own position and confidence level,
    The self-position is recognized in units of travel roads, and the confidence level is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized travel roads that the vehicle is recognizing.

On the other hand, the configuration of the reception system for self-position recognition that is the reception side and performs self-position correction according to the situation is recognized by the self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position and the self-position recognition means. Correction means for correcting the own position, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles,
Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
A positional relationship detecting unit configured to be able to receive the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle transmitted from the transmitting vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and to detect a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the own vehicle. Prepared,
Comprising a confidence level comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmission vehicle sent through the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the own vehicle;
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence of the vehicle, wherein the correction means have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The surrounding vehicle in which the transmitting vehicle is traveling around the vehicle, the recognized traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, the traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling, and the traveling in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling The own position can be corrected based on the relationship with the lane.

  Further, the configuration of the receiving system for self-position recognition which is the receiving side and corrects the self-position according to the situation is recognized by the self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position and the self-position recognition means. Correction means for correcting the own position, and vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles,
  Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
  A positional relationship detecting unit configured to be able to receive the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle transmitted from the transmitting vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and to detect a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the own vehicle. Prepared,
  Comprising a confidence level comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmission vehicle sent through the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the own vehicle;
When the confidence level of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle, the correction means corrects the own position based on the own position of the transmission vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The surrounding vehicle in which the transmitting vehicle is traveling around the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, the traveling path in which the own vehicle is traveling, and the traveling in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling The own position can be corrected based on the relationship with the road.

  In the self-position recognition system having the above configuration,
  The self-confidence degree calculating means may increase or decrease the self-confidence degree by a predetermined value set in advance for each recognition case according to the recognition case when the self-position recognition means recognizes the self-position. preferable.

Further, in the configuration described above, the self position recognizing means is based on at least one of position information of the feature recognizable along the travel path, GPS information, or detection information detected from the autonomous navigation sensor. It is preferable that recognition of the own position is possible.
Based on the one or more types of information, the self-position recognition unit recognizes the self-position so that the self-position can be recognized according to the information obtained by the own vehicle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the present specification, the self-position to be recognized is a position on the travel path along the travel direction in a situation where the vehicle travels along the travel path, relative to the travel direction. The position in the width direction, specifically the second embodiment for recognizing the travel lane r, there is a possibility that the vehicle is recognized as traveling on a plurality of travel paths such as parallel roads. In the situation, the third embodiment in which the traveling road that is actually traveling is recognized will be introduced in order.
In the second embodiment and the third embodiment, in addition to the function of recognizing the own position in the direction along the travel path that can be executed in the first embodiment, the recognition of the travel path width direction, the travel path, respectively. Since the device itself can be recognized, additional functions will be described in the description of the second embodiment and the third embodiment.

  In these embodiments, when executing the own position correction, the own position is recognized in advance in the own car Ci, and the degree of confidence of the own position is obtained. First, the self-recognized position and the degree of confidence are received. First, a comparison is made between the confidence levels, and only when the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle Co This is common in that the position of the vehicle Ci is corrected based on the position.

1 First Embodiment This embodiment is an example in which the subject position to be recognized is a position on the traveling path R along the traveling direction. For example, as shown in FIGS. It is an example which recognizes the position on the driving path R in a direction. These drawings show a state where the vehicle is traveling on the traveling path R from the bottom to the top.
In the drawing, the car shown on the upper side corresponds to the other car Co described so far, and the car shown on the lower side corresponds to the host vehicle Ci. Therefore, in these examples, whether or not to correct the own position based on the own position information from the other vehicle Co in the own vehicle Ci illustrated in the lower side becomes a problem.

The form of the own position recognition system 1 on the own vehicle side in this embodiment is shown in FIG.
The own position recognition system 1 is constructed as a system for determining the own position of the own vehicle Ci, and the navigation apparatus for generating the navigation information based on the information on the own position obtained by the own position recognition system 1. It is sent to the main body 2 or the travel control device 3 for performing travel control and used appropriately.

In the navigation device body 2, for example, the information on the own position is used for searching for a new route and guidance based on the current accurate own position, and the current position is accurately displayed on the map. Used for.
In the traveling control device 3, for example, when there is a stop line ahead and the own vehicle Ci needs to be stopped, it is used to perform appropriate deceleration control.

  The self-position recognition system 1 includes an arithmetic control device 4 serving as a system main body and various attached devices connected to the arithmetic control device 4.

The arithmetic and control unit 4 is configured to be able to capture detection information from the autonomous navigation sensor 5. Specifically, the autonomous navigation sensor 5 includes a direction sensor 5a for detecting a direction in which the host vehicle is facing, and a vehicle travel distance based on the number of rotations of a rotating body connected to a wheel such as a drive shaft. And a distance sensor 5b for obtaining
Detection information from the autonomous navigation sensor 5 is used to calculate a movement locus of the own vehicle. In other words, by finding the movement locus of the vehicle as having been moved to the azimuth detected by the azimuth sensor 5a by the traveling distance determined from the distance sensor 5b during a predetermined time interval. The position can be obtained sequentially.

  A GPS receiver 6 is connected to the arithmetic control device 4, and the GPS information sent from the GPS satellite 7 is sequentially received, and based on the GPS information from the GPS information in the arithmetic control device 4. The self-position can be recognized. The self-location obtained based on the GPS information is information obtained as a combination of longitude and latitude.

  The arithmetic and control unit 4 is configured to receive image information that is imaging information from the front camera 8a and the rear camera 8b. For example, a feature that is within the imaging range of each camera 8 by image recognition. M is configured to be recognizable. FIG. 8B is an example of an image captured by the front camera 8a.

  A vehicle-to-vehicle communication module 9 (an example of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means) is connected to the arithmetic and control unit 4 and is configured to receive information received from the module 9 through vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In the present application, the information to be communicated in the inter-vehicle communication is the information on the own position of the transmitting vehicle that is the other vehicle Co and its confidence level.

  The arithmetic control device 4 is connected to an inter-vehicle distance detection module 10 (an example of a positional relationship detection means), and the relative position information of the transmission vehicle Co with respect to the host vehicle Ci is input from the inter-vehicle distance detection module 10. It is configured. In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the inter-vehicle distance detection module 10 detects the inter-vehicle distance from the front vehicle Co. That is, the inter-vehicle distance between the transmitting vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci existing in the traveling direction R on the traveling path R is input to the arithmetic and control unit 4.

The calculation control device 4 is provided with a database DB, and as this database DB, a map database DBm and a confidence level calculation database DBc are provided. The database DB includes a device having a recording medium capable of storing information and its driving means, such as a hard disk drive, a DVD drive equipped with a DVD-ROM, a CD drive equipped with a CD-ROM, and the like. It is provided as a configuration.
The map database DBm is a database that stores map information. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of the map information stored in the map database DBm. As shown in this figure, the map database DBm stores a road network layer L1, a road shape layer L2, and a feature layer L3 as map information.
The road network layer L1 is a layer that indicates connection information between roads that are the traveling road R. Specifically, it has information on a large number of nodes N having position information on a map expressed by latitude and longitude, and information on a large number of links L constituting the road by connecting the two nodes N. It is configured. Each link L includes information such as a road name, a road type (a type such as an expressway, a toll road, a national road, a prefectural road), a link length, and the like as link information.
The road shape layer L2 is a layer that is stored in association with the road network layer L1 and indicates the shape of the road. Specifically, information on a number of road shape complementary points S that are located between two nodes N (on the link L) and have position information on the map expressed in latitude and longitude, and each road shape complementary point Information of the road width W in S.

The feature layer L3 is a layer that is stored in association with the road network layer L1 and the road shape layer L2, and indicates information on various features provided on the road and in the vicinity of the road. As the information on the feature M stored in the feature layer L3, at least the feature M to be image-recognized that can be captured by a camera or the like is stored together with the related information.
Specifically, as the feature M, various features such as a feature Mp of a paint display provided on the road surface of the road, a feature of a three-dimensional object such as various road signs Mf and a traffic light Ms provided along the road, etc. Information about the object is stored in the feature layer L3. Here, for example, the white line that separates the lane (including information on the type of lane marking such as solid line, broken line, and center line), zebra zone, stop line, pedestrian crossing, and the traveling direction of each lane are specified in the paint display. The display includes a direction-by-direction traffic classification display, a speed display, and the like. In addition, although not precisely based on paint, a manhole provided on the road surface may also be included in the paint display here. In addition to various road signs and traffic lights, the three-dimensional objects include various three-dimensional objects provided on or around the road, such as guardrails, buildings, utility poles, and signboards.

By using this map database DBm, the current position of the vehicle Ci is matched on the map based on the current position (latitude / longitude) obtained from the travel locus from the autonomous navigation sensor 5 or GPS information. be able to.
Further, since various features M are registered in the map database DBm together with their positions in the feature layer L3, the specific feature M is captured in the image captured by the camera 8 described above. The position (absolute coordinate position) of the vehicle Ci is recognized from the position registered in the map database DBm of the feature M and the positional relationship between the feature M and the vehicle Ci found from the image. Can do.

The confidence level calculation database DBc includes a score database DBc1 and a confidence level conversion database DBc2.
As shown in Table 1 below, the score database DBc1 is a score that is added or subtracted at the timing of recognition of its own position (shown in the left column of Table 1), and case factors of the score (shown in the right column of Table 1) Is a data table summarizing the relationship with The addition and subtraction of scores is determined by plus or minus shown in the left column.

For example, the case factors shown in Table 1 will be described. After the feature on the road is recognized and the position is corrected, 50 points are added. This is because when the feature M is recognized and the position is corrected, the probability is most increased.
On the other hand, the score is subtracted every 5 points “every 10 m after the feature recognition position correction”. This situation corresponds to the fact that after performing position correction with feature recognition and running while recognizing its own position with normal autonomous navigation, the degree of confidence decreases according to the distance traveled.
Regarding the GPS reception status, if the reception status is relatively good, a relatively high score can be given (20 points addition), but if the reception status is bad, the score does not change (0 points addition). Show.
Immediately after turning right or left at the intersection, after correction with a curve, a certain amount of points can be given based on the information on the points (the former adds 20 points and the latter adds 10 points). On the other hand, the confidence level decreases in the tunnel (10 points subtraction). Furthermore, the degree of confidence decreases due to a failure of an image recognition system such as a camera or a GPS receiver (the former subtracts 40 points and the latter subtracts 30 points).

The structure of the confidence conversion database DBc2 is shown in Table 2.
This table shows the relationship between the total score (the right column in Table 2) and the confidence level (the left column in Table 2) obtained as the integrated value of the scores. The higher the total score, the higher the confidence level is set. You can see that

The above is the description of the devices connected to the arithmetic control device 4 and the functions thereof. The configuration within the arithmetic control device 4 will be described below.
As can be seen from FIG. 1, the device 4 includes a self-position recognition unit 41, a self-position determination unit 42, a confidence level determination unit 43, and a confidence level comparison unit 44.

The self-position recognition unit 41 is a functional unit that executes recognition of the self-position from information sent to the arithmetic control device 4, and the self-position determination unit 42 corrects the self-position recognized so far, This is a functional unit that corrects and determines the self-position with the highest certainty as the current self-position.
On the other hand, the confidence level determination unit 43 is a functional unit that calculates the level of confidence regarding the position determined as described above, and the confidence level comparison unit 44 is sent via the inter-vehicle communication module 9. Whether the confidence level of the other vehicle Co and the confidence level of the current host vehicle Ci are compared, and based on the comparison result, the host position determination unit 42 should correct the other vehicle information and determine the host vehicle position. It is a functional unit that determines whether or not.

In this example, the own position recognizing unit 41 is provided with three kinds of recognizing means: a first own position recognizing means 41a, a second own position recognizing means 41b, and a third own position recognizing means 41c.
The first own position recognizing means 41a is a means for obtaining the own position by autonomous navigation, and based on the information from the direction sensor 5a and the distance sensor 5b, the movement locus of the own vehicle is sequentially determined at each own position recognition processing timing. It is a means for obtaining and recognizing its own position.

  The second self position recognizing means 41b is a means for recognizing the self position based on GPS information received at a predetermined timing from a GPS satellite.

  The third position recognition unit 41c compares the imaging information of the camera 8 and the like with the information of the feature M stored in the map database DBm, and the same feature M is recognized in the captured image. Furthermore, it is a means for recognizing its own position based on the position information of the feature M. Since the self position recognition by this means is based on the presence of the feature M, the recognition is performed only at the timing when the vehicle reaches the point where the feature M exists.

  The own position determining unit 42 is provided with own vehicle information dependent correcting means 42a for correcting own position dependent on own vehicle information, and other vehicle information dependent correcting means 42b for correcting own position based on other vehicle information. Yes.

  The own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a determines the current own position based on the new recognition information when a new own position is recognized by the own position recognition unit 41 with respect to the own position determined in the past. It is a functional means for correcting and determining. That is, each of the own position recognizing units 41a, 41b, 41c provided in the own position recognizing unit 41 has a fixed timing (the first own position recognizing unit 41a is set at a fixed time interval, Each time GPS information is taken in, the third position recognition means 41c recognizes its position every time a feature that can be used for position recognition is image-recognized). Specifically, when the self-position recognized by the second self-position recognition means 41b and 41c exists while the self-position recognized by the first self-position recognition means 41a is used for correction / determination. The self position recognized by the latter means is prioritized over the self position recognized by the first self position recognizing means 41a, and the self position is corrected and determined.

That is, in the case of this example, since the probability of the self-position recognition is higher on the latter side, information on the latter side is preferentially used for correction / determination of the own position. Here, since the frequency of self-position recognition is higher in the former side, the second and third self-position recognition means 41b and 41c were recognized based on autonomous navigation in a situation where self-position recognition was not possible. Your position is automatically used.
By doing in this way, in the own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a, the own position is always corrected and determined from information obtained by the own vehicle.

The other vehicle information dependent correction means 42b is a functional means for executing a correction method unique to the present application.
This means that the own position of the other vehicle Co is received with respect to the own position determined by the own vehicle information dependence correcting means 42a based on the own vehicle information, and the degree of confidence in the own position of the other vehicle Co is high. As a condition, the own position of the own vehicle Ci is corrected / determined based on the own position of the other vehicle Co.
The other vehicle information dependent correction means 42b receives the own position of the other vehicle Co and the distance between the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co. Therefore, in this means 42b, a position separated by the inter-vehicle distance is obtained as the own position with reference to the own position of the other vehicle Co.
The self-position obtained in this way is given priority over the self-position determined by the own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a, and when this means 42b works, it is decided by the other vehicle information dependence correction means 42b. The determined own position is determined as the current own position.
The reason for this determination is that information necessary for position determination is sent to the other vehicle information dependence correction means 42b, and the confidence level comparison unit 44 performs the other vehicle information at the stage of executing the processing in this means. This is because the determination result that the confidence level of Co is higher than the confidence level of the vehicle Ci is being obtained.

The confidence level determination unit 43 includes score accumulation means 43a and confidence level calculation means 43b.
The score accumulating means 43a determines the determination status every time the own position determination unit 42 performs the own position determination. When the determination status corresponds to the addition / subtraction of the score, it is shown in Table 1. In accordance with the score table, the score is added / subtracted and added up as a total score. At the same time, when the own position is determined by the autonomous navigation that is always performed, as shown in Table 1, after the feature recognition position correction, 5 points are subtracted every 10 m of travel.
The total score is provided with an upper limit value (for example, 100 points) and a lower limit value (for example, −100 points), so that the total score is within a certain range even if a specific event occurs continuously. It is configured.

This integration state will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 3, the upper diagram shows the traveling state of the car C, and the lower diagram shows the change in the total score (score integrated value) when the traveling shown in the upper diagram is performed.
The above figure shows the situation where the car C travels from the right side to the left side, where there is a pedestrian crossing X that is a feature M that can recognize its position in the direction of travel, and there is a tunnel T beyond that. Is shown. On the other hand, a downward arrow indicates that the position of the subject is sequentially determined at the position where the arrow is described. In this example, the position is first recognized and determined by the pedestrian crossing X, which is the feature M, and then the position recognition state by the autonomous navigation continues for a while, during which time GPS information is received twice, After the self-position recognition and correction based on the GPS information, the tunnel T is reached.

  As for the change of the total score, first, assuming that the total score is 0, 50 points are added when the self-position recognition using the pedestrian crossing X which is the recognition of the self-position by the feature M is first performed. After that, in the autonomous navigation state, the total score gradually decreases, but 20 points are added every time the position recognition using GPS information is performed, and the total score is a sawtooth as shown in the figure. Changes. By entering the tunnel T, 10 points are subtracted when entering the tunnel T.

The confidence level calculation means 43b calculates the confidence level from the confidence level conversion table shown in Table 2 based on the total score accumulated by the score accumulation means 43a.
Therefore, the calculated degree of confidence is always maintained in a vehicle in a running state.

The above is the description of the configuration of the arithmetic and control unit 4 in this embodiment. Hereinafter, the correction of the position on the travel path along the travel direction will be described based on FIGS. 4, 5, and 6.
In the description, it is assumed that the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co exist, but both the vehicles Ci and Co have a function unit that enables recognition, correction and determination of the own position, and the degree of confidence of the corrected and determined own position. And a vehicle communication module 9 are provided. Furthermore, the own vehicle Ci is provided with an inter-vehicle distance detection module 10 for detecting an inter-vehicle distance from another vehicle Co.
5 and 6 show a situation in which the other vehicle Co has reached the position where the pedestrian crossing X is located in advance, and the host vehicle Ci tries to approach the other vehicle Co in a state of following the other vehicle Co. Yes. Therefore, the other vehicle Co is a transmitting vehicle, and the host vehicle Ci is a receiving vehicle.
5 and 6 both show a situation in which the other vehicle Co has approached the pedestrian crossing X, which is the feature M, but in the state shown in FIG. This shows a situation in which the position of the other vehicle Co is well determined with reference to the position of. Therefore, the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is changed from 2 to 10.
On the other hand, the state shown in FIG. 6 shows a situation in which the position of the other vehicle Co is not well determined based on the position of the pedestrian crossing X because the feature recognition is not performed well. Therefore, the confidence level of the other vehicle Co remains at 2.

From this state, correction / determination of the own position of the own vehicle Ci using inter-vehicle communication between the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co is executed.
FIG. 4 shows a processing flow in the vehicle Ci in this state.
Hereinafter, the description will proceed according to this flow.
Accompanying the start of the process, information on another vehicle Co (front vehicle) is acquired (step 1). The information acquired at this time includes an identification number of another vehicle Co, a vehicle type, a communication form, and the like. When the information on the other vehicle Co cannot be acquired and the other vehicle Co cannot be recognized (step 2: no), the information acquisition is repeated. If information can be acquired and communication can be established (step 2: yes), the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is acquired (step 3).
Then, the confidence level comparison unit 44 compares the confidence levels of the other vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci (step 4). As a result of the comparison, when the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci (step 4: yes), the process of correcting the own location of the own vehicle Co based on the information of the own location of the other vehicle Co is performed. Move (steps 5-8).

  On the other hand, as a result of comparison, if the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is lower than the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci (step 4: no), the process returns to step 1 and the confidence level of the other vehicle Co exceeds the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci. Steps 1 to 4 are repeated until the above. This situation is the situation shown in FIG. 6. In this figure, the own position of the own vehicle Ci that is the following vehicle is not corrected according to the information of the other vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the case where the confidence level of the host vehicle Ci is lower than the confidence level of the other vehicle Co, the following processing is sequentially executed. That is, information on the own position of the other vehicle Co (front vehicle) is acquired (step 5). The inter-vehicle distance detection module 10 detects and acquires the inter-vehicle distance between the other vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci (step 6). Subsequently, the other vehicle information dependence correcting means 42b obtains the own position of the own vehicle Ci from the own position of the other vehicle Co and the inter-vehicle distance obtained in this way, and uses the obtained own position as the current position. Is corrected and determined (step 7). If this correction is completed satisfactorily, the correction / determination process of the own position is completed (step 8: yes), and if it cannot be completed for some reason, the process returns to step 5 to execute the process. When completed, the self-recognition degree of own vehicle Ci is replaced with the self-confidence degree of the other vehicle.
This situation is the situation shown in FIG. 5, and the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci is changed from 5 to 10.

2 Second Embodiment This embodiment is an example in which the position to be recognized is the position in the width direction (specifically, the travel lane r) on the travel path in the lateral direction with respect to the travel direction. 11 and FIG. 12, this is an example of recognizing, correcting, and determining a driving lane r. Also in these examples, the car illustrated on the upper side in the figure corresponds to the other vehicle Co, and the car illustrated on the lower side corresponds to the host vehicle Ci. Therefore, in the host vehicle Ci shown in the lower side, it becomes a problem whether or not to correct the travel lane r of the host vehicle Ci based on information on the own position from the other vehicle Co (travel lane information). .

The system configuration of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
Travel lane information obtained from this system is sent to the navigation device body 2 or the travel control device 3 and used for accurate navigation and travel control, as in the previous example.

  Even in this example, the local position recognition system 1 is configured to include an arithmetic control device 4 serving as a system main body and an attached device connected to the arithmetic control device 4.

  As in the previous example, the autonomous navigation sensor 5, the GPS receiver 6, the front camera 8a, and the rear camera 8b are connected to the arithmetic control device 4, and detection information from each device is input. The inter-vehicle communication module 9 is connected as in the previous example.

  In the previous example, the inter-vehicle distance detection module 9 for detecting the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co is provided, but in addition to this, imaging of the front camera 8a and the like in the control arithmetic device 4 An inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11 is provided as a positional relationship detection unit that confirms the inter-vehicle state that is the positional relationship between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co by image recognition processing based on imaging information that is information from the apparatus. The configuration of the means 11 will be described later in detail.

The arithmetic and control unit 4 includes a database DB, and the database DB includes a map database DBm and a confidence level calculation database DBc.
The map database DBm has a hierarchized configuration as shown in FIG. 3 as shown in the previous example, and stores a road network layer L1, a road shape layer L2, and a feature layer L3.

By using this map database DBm, based on the current position (latitude / longitude) obtained from the traveling locus from the autonomous navigation sensor 5 or GPS information, the current position along the traveling path R of the vehicle Ci Can be matched on the map.
Further, in this map database DBm, since various features M are registered together with their positions in the feature layer L3, the image of the specific feature M is included in the image information captured by the camera 8. When the vehicle is present, the position (travel lane r) of the host vehicle Ci can be recognized from the position information of the feature M. In this embodiment, since the travel lane r in which the vehicle Ci is traveling is a problem, registration information such as the position of the shoulder and the white line (solid line, broken line, center line, etc.) that separates the lane is used. .

  That is, as shown in FIG. 8B, the position of the road shoulder G1i, the position of the white line (solid line G2i, broken line G3i, center line G4i, etc.) that separates the lane in the imaging information obtained from the camera 8, etc., and the current own vehicle At the position Ci, the position of the road shoulder G1d shown in FIG. 8 (a), the position of the white line (solid line G2d, broken line G3d, center line G4d, etc.) dividing the lane, which is information about the feature M obtained from the map database DBm. By comparing with the above, the traveling lane r of the host vehicle Ci can be recognized. The recognition of the travel lane r will be described in the fourth self position recognition means 41d.

Similar to the previous example, the confidence calculation database DBc includes a score database DBm and a confidence conversion database DBc.
As shown in Table 3 below, the score database DBm adds or subtracts the score (shown in the left column of Table 3) and the score for the position recognition in the traveling road width direction as shown in Table 3 below. It is a database that summarizes the relationship of the case factors (shown in the right column of Table 3). The score addition and subtraction will depend on the plus or minus shown in the left column.

Exemplarily explaining the case factors shown in Table 3, it indicates that 50 points are added when “the shoulder, white line, etc. can be recognized well”. This is because the lanes can be accurately identified because the feature has been reliably recognized.
On the other hand, when “crossing determination is performed and the shoulder is recognized and the white line is not recognized”, 30 points are added. Furthermore, when “the stride determination cannot be performed but the white line is recognized well”, 20 points are added. Here, the stride determination is a determination that is made based on whether or not the fourth self-position recognizing means 41d described later has traveled across the white line. Based on whether this determination is possible and whether the road shoulder, white line, etc. can be recognized, the certainty of travel lane recognition is low as shown in the table.
Furthermore, no score is given in the situation “when the road runs on four or more lanes, the white line on the left and right lanes is a broken line and the crossing determination is not performed”.
In situations where straddling, white lines, and shoulders cannot be recognized, 5 points are subtracted every 10 m from the stage where it is no longer possible.
Furthermore, in a situation where the vehicle is traveling on a road without a white line, 20 points are subtracted.
In addition, as in the previous example, the score is determined so that the score is added and subtracted depending on the situation.

  The structure of the confidence level conversion database DBc2 is the same as that of Table 2 shown above, and the usage pattern is also the same.

The above is the description of the equipment connected to the arithmetic control device 4 and the function thereof in this example. The configuration within the arithmetic control device 4 will be described below.
As can be seen from FIG. 7, even in this example, a self-position recognition unit 41, a self-position determination unit 42, a confidence level determination unit 43, and a confidence level comparison unit 44 are provided in the device 4. .

The own position recognizing unit 41 is a functional unit that also recognizes the own position (in this example, the traveling lane) from the information sent to the arithmetic and control unit 4, and the own position determining unit 42 recognizes so far. It is a functional unit that corrects the self-position that has been performed and determines the travel lane with the highest probability as the current self-position.
On the other hand, the confidence level determination unit 43 is a functional unit that also calculates the confidence level related to the travel lane r determined as described above, and the confidence level comparison unit 44 is sent via the inter-vehicle communication module. Then, the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is compared with the confidence level of the current own vehicle Ci, and based on the comparison result, the own position determination means 43 determines whether or not the other vehicle information-dependent correction is performed. It is a functional part to get.

The self-position recognition unit 41 includes the three kinds of recognition means described above, the first self-position recognition means 41a, the second self-position recognition means 41b, and the third self-position recognition means 41c. Four-position recognition means 41d is provided.
The functions of the first, second, and third own position recognizing means 41a, 41b, and 41c are the same as those in the first embodiment in recognizing the own position along the traveling direction. Omitted.

  The fourth self position recognizing unit 41d is a functional unit that recognizes the currently traveling lane r, and includes a traveling lane determining unit 411 that performs this function. A stride determination unit 412 is provided as an auxiliary unit for the travel lane determination unit 411, and the determination result by the stride determination unit 412 can be used to determine the travel lane r by the travel lane determination unit 411. .

  The traveling lane determining means 411 basically compares the image information from the camera 8 and the like with the feature information stored in the map database DBm, and when the same feature M is recognized, This is means for recognizing the current travel lane r based on the positional information of the feature M (specifically, the positional relationship of white lines recognized in the image information). Since the self position recognition by this means is based on the presence of the feature M, the recognition is performed at the timing at which the feature M exists.

  The process by the fourth own position recognition means 41d is a process in a direction crossing the traveling direction. Therefore, using the self-position determined in accordance with the traveling method, the feature M corresponding to the road condition at that point from the map database DBm (the type of the shoulder G1d, solid line G2d, broken line G3d, center line G4d, etc.) ) Is extracted, and the information obtained from the map information side (FIG. 8A) is compared with the information obtained from the image information (FIG. 8B) as shown in FIG. Then, when the own vehicle Ci is in a specific travel lane r, when the degree of coincidence is high by comparing and contrasting the imaging information to be captured with the image information actually captured, the travel lane The travel lane r in which the vehicle is traveling can be determined from r. FIG. 8 shows a situation where the vehicle Ci is traveling in the left lane.

  The fourth self position recognizing means 41d is further provided with a so-called stride judging means 412. This determination means 412 monitors whether or not the lane marking has been straddled by the own vehicle Ci by sequentially monitoring image information obtained sequentially. If it is determined that straddling in a predetermined direction has been performed, it is assumed that straddling between lanes has been performed in the moving direction from the currently recognized travel lane r, and the travel lane r after straddling is Recognize as a driving lane.

  Even in this example, the own position determination unit 42 includes the own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a that performs own position correction dependent on own vehicle information, and the other vehicle information dependence that performs own position correction based on other vehicle information. Correction means 42b is provided. Since the determination of the own position along the travel path R is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, only the determination of the travel lane r will be described in the following description.

The own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a, when a new travel lane r is recognized by the own position recognition unit 41 with respect to the travel lane r determined in the past, the current travel lane r in the new travel lane r. Correct. In this example, the recognition result by the fourth self position recognizing means 41d provided in the self position recognizing unit 41 is substantially used as it is for determining the travel lane r.
By doing in this way, the driving lane r of the own vehicle Ci is sequentially determined from the information obtained on the own vehicle side sequentially and constantly.

The other vehicle information dependence correction means 42b receives the traveling lane r (own position) of the other vehicle Co for the traveling lane r determined based on the own vehicle information, and is confident about the traveling lane r of the other vehicle Co. On the condition that the degree is high, the travel lane r of the own vehicle Ci is corrected and determined from the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co on the basis of the travel lane r of the own vehicle Ci.
The other vehicle information dependency correcting means 42b receives the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co and the relationship information regarding the travel lane r between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co from the inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11. The means 42b determines the traveling lane r of the host vehicle Ci with reference to the traveling lane r of the other vehicle Co. For example, in a situation where it is confirmed from the image obtained by the front camera 8a that the other vehicle Co is traveling on the same travel lane r as the own vehicle Ci, the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co is retained. The information is given priority over the travel lane r determined by the own vehicle information dependency correction unit 42a, and the travel lane r determined by the other vehicle information dependency correction unit 42b is determined as the current travel lane r. The

Even in this example, the confidence level determination unit 43 includes a score integration unit 43a and a confidence level calculation unit 43b.
The score accumulating unit 43a determines the determination status every time the lane determination is performed in the own position determination unit 43. When the determination status corresponds to the addition / subtraction to the score, the score is shown in Table 3. In accordance with the score table, the score is added / subtracted and added up as a total score. However, in this example, the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the total score are set. For example, the recognition state in which the traveling lane r is favorably recognized using the imaging information continues continuously for a relatively long time. However, the total score is adjusted so that the total score does not exceed the upper limit.

This integration state will be described with reference to FIG.
The upper figure shows the situation where the car C travels from the right side to the left side as in FIG. 3, and the road R can no longer be recognized from the road where the road shoulder, white line, etc. could be recognized well. After that, it is possible to make a crossover determination again, and then perform this. After that, the road shoulder is recognizable and the white line is not recognized. It shows the situation that led to the road.

  The change in the total score corresponds to the situation where a total score of 50 points was secured first because the shoulders, white lines, etc. were first recognized well. After that, because it became impossible to recognize straddling, white line, and shoulder, subtraction was sequentially performed, and by re-crossing determination, 30 points were added, further subtraction was performed, and the total score was It becomes a sawtooth change as shown in the figure. And it has shown that 30 points are subtracted at the time of the approach by reaching the driving | running route without a white line.

The confidence level calculation means 43b calculates the confidence level from the confidence level conversion table shown in Table 2 based on the total score accumulated by the score accumulation means 43a.
Accordingly, also in this example, the confidence level is always maintained in the vehicle in the running state.

The inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11 is a unit that confirms the relationship of the travel lane r between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co based on imaging information obtained from the camera 8 or the like. That is, the state of the traveling lane r in which the vehicle C is traveling is confirmed from the relationship between the other vehicle Co and the white line that appear in the imaging information. For example, in the situation shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, it is possible to confirm that the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co are in the same travel lane r because the imaging present in the same white line pair Mp is obtained. On the other hand, when the imaging shown in FIG. 8 (b) is obtained, the other vehicle Co is photographed beyond the white line (broken line) located on the right side of the host vehicle Ci. It can be confirmed that the vehicle is in the driving lane r.
Therefore, when the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci, the information on the traveling lane r recognized by the other vehicle Co and the information obtained by the inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11 are used. The current driving lane r of the vehicle Ci can be corrected and determined.

The above is the description of the configuration of the arithmetic and control unit 4 in this embodiment. Hereinafter, correction and determination of the travel lane r will be described based on FIGS. 10, 11, and 12.
11 and 12 both show a situation in which the other vehicle Co recognizes the white line Mp (specifically, the break line) that is the feature M. In the example shown in FIG. The situation is shown in which the recognition is performed well and the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co is determined well. Therefore, the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is set to 10.
On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 12, since the feature recognition is not performed well, the traveling lane r is erroneously recognized (recognized as the left lane), and the degree of confidence is low. Therefore, the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is 4.

From this state, the correction / determination process of the travel lane r of the host vehicle Ci using inter-vehicle communication between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co is executed in the system according to the present application.
FIG. 10 shows a processing flow in the vehicle Ci in this state.
Hereinafter, the description will proceed according to this flow.
Accompanying the start of the process, information on another vehicle Co (front vehicle) is acquired (step 11). The information acquired at this time includes an identification number of another vehicle Co, a vehicle type, a communication form, and the like. When the information on the other vehicle Co cannot be acquired and the other vehicle Co cannot be recognized (step 12: no), the information acquisition is repeated. If the information can be acquired and communication can be established (step 12: yes), the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is acquired (step 13).
Then, the confidence level comparison unit 44 compares the confidence levels of the other vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci (step 14). As a result of the comparison, when the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci (step 14: yes), the travel lane r of the own vehicle Ci is corrected based on the information on the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co. Move on to processing.

  On the other hand, as a result of comparison, if the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is lower than the confidence level of the own vehicle (step 14: no), the process returns to step 11 until the confidence level of the other vehicle Co exceeds the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci. The processes of steps 11 to 14 are repeated. This situation is the situation shown in FIG. 12. In this figure, the own position of the own vehicle Ci that is the succeeding vehicle is corrected, and the confidence level 8 is not changed.

As shown in FIG. 11, the processing in the case where the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci is lower than the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is performed sequentially as follows. That is, information on the traveling lane r of the other vehicle Co (the vehicle ahead) is acquired (step 15). Then, the inter-vehicle state confirmation means 11 detects the relationship of the travel lane r between the other vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci (step 16). In the example shown in FIG. 11, it is confirmed from the imaging information that the other vehicle Co and the host vehicle Ci are traveling on the same travel lane r. Subsequently, the travel lane r of the own vehicle Ci is obtained from the travel lane r of the other vehicle Co obtained in this way, and the other vehicle information dependent correction means 42b automatically determines the obtained travel lane Ci as the current travel lane r. The travel lane r of the car Ci is corrected (step 17). When this correction is completed satisfactorily, the correction process for the driving lane r is completed (step 18: yes), and when it cannot be completed for some reason, the process returns to step 15 to execute the process. When completed, the self-recognition degree of the own vehicle Co is replaced with the confidence degree of the other vehicle.
This situation is the situation shown in FIG. 11, and the confidence level of the own vehicle Co is changed from 3 to 10.

3 Third Embodiment This embodiment is an example in which the position to be recognized is the traveling road itself.
The system configuration of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
Information on the recognized travel path, which is information on the own position obtained from this system, is sent to the navigation device body 2 or the travel control device 3 and used for accurate navigation and travel control.

  Even in this example, the local position recognition system 1 is configured to include an arithmetic control device 4 serving as a system main body and an attached device connected to the arithmetic control device 4.

  As in the previous example, the autonomous navigation sensor 5, the GPS receiver 6, the front camera 8a, and the rear camera 8b are connected to the arithmetic control device 4, and detection information from each device is input. The inter-vehicle communication module 9 is connected as in the previous example.

  In the first embodiment, the inter-vehicle distance detection module 10 for detecting the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the other vehicle is provided. In this example, in addition to the device 10, As in the embodiment, the inter-vehicle state that is the positional relationship between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co is confirmed by image recognition from the imaging information that is information from the imaging device such as the front camera 8a in the control arithmetic device 4. An inter-vehicle state confirmation means 11 is provided.

The arithmetic and control unit 4 is provided with a database DB as storage means, and this database DB is provided with a map database DBm and a confidence level calculation database DBc.
The map database DBm has a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 3 and stores a road network layer L1, a road shape layer L2, and a feature layer L3.

By using this map database DBm, based on the current position (latitude / longitude) obtained from the traveling locus from the autonomous navigation sensor 5 or GPS information, the current position along the traveling path R of the vehicle Ci Can be matched on the map.
Further, the map database DBm stores identification information (for example, the name of the travel path) of the travel path itself, and as described in the first embodiment, the travel path R on the travel path R At the stage where the own position along the road has been determined, it is possible to recognize the travel route R recognized as currently traveling (this travel route is the recognized travel route in the present application). The recognition of the travel path R itself will be described in the fifth self-position recognition means 41e.

Similar to the previous example, the confidence calculation database DBc includes a score database DBc1 and a confidence conversion database DBc2.
As shown in Table 4 below, the score database DBc1 is a score that is added or subtracted at the timing of recognition of its own position (shown in the left column of Table 4), and case factors of the score (shown in the right column of Table 4) ). The score addition and subtraction will depend on the plus or minus shown in the left column. However, in this example, the vehicle's own position is the road itself, so the addition / subtraction of the total score corresponding to the case may be changed to a road that the vehicle is actually aware of. In a state where there is no error (for example, branching / merging has not been reached), addition / subtraction is not performed. That is, when it is recognized that the actual travel route has been changed, or when there is a possibility of change in the travel route, such as passing through a branch, addition / subtraction is performed once.

Explaining about the case factors shown in Table 4 exemplarily, it shows that 50 points are added in the case of “matching on a single road and no parallel running road nearby”. This is because the matching is performed reliably, so that the traveling path on which the host vehicle is traveling can be accurately recognized.
On the other hand, in the case of “running on a road with a parallel road”, it indicates that a score is added in a separated state on the parallel road. The closer the parallel road is, the lower the added points. In fact, when the parallel road is within 20 m, there is no score to be added.
Furthermore, it is shown that 10 points are deducted in the case of “the parallel running road is near the top and bottom roads”. In addition, 10 points are subtracted immediately after “branch”.
In addition, as in the previous example, the score is determined so that the score is added and subtracted depending on the situation.

  The structure of the confidence level conversion database DBc2 is the same as that of Table 2 shown above, and the usage pattern is also the same.

The above is the description of the equipment connected to the arithmetic control device 4 and the function thereof in this example. The configuration within the arithmetic control device 4 will be described below.
As can be seen from FIG. 13, a self-position recognition unit 41, a self-position determination unit 42, a confidence level determination unit 43, and a confidence level comparison unit 44 are also provided in the device 4.

The own position recognizing unit 41 is a functional part that also executes recognition of the own position (recognized running road that is the running road itself) from the information sent to the arithmetic and control unit 4. It is a functional part that corrects the recognized self-position and determines the travel path with the highest probability as the current self-position.
On the other hand, the confidence level determination unit 43 is a functional unit that also calculates the confidence level related to the recognized travel path determined as described above, and the confidence level comparison unit 44 is sent via the inter-vehicle communication module 10. The comparison information of the other vehicle Co is compared with the confidence level of the current own vehicle Ci, and based on the comparison result, the own position determination unit 43 determines whether or not to make correction dependent on the other vehicle information. It is a functional part that also has

In this example, the self-position recognizing unit 41 includes the three kinds of recognizing means described above, the first self-position recognizing means 41a, the second self-position recognizing means 41b, and the third self-position recognizing means 41c. In addition to the above, fifth self-position recognition means 41e is provided.
The functions of the first, second, and third self-position recognition means 41a, 41b, and 41c are the same as those in the first embodiment in recognizing the self-position along the running direction on the running path R. Yes, the description is omitted.

  The fifth own position recognizing means 41e is a functional unit that recognizes the currently traveling road R. In this means 41e, the own position determination unit 42 sequentially determines the own position along the traveling path R, and thus recognizes the traveling path itself that the vehicle recognizes as traveling in the determination. Road. The identification information used in the recognition of the travel path is, for example, the travel path name registered in the database for each travel path described above.

  Even in this example, the own position determination unit 42 includes the own vehicle information dependence correction means 42a that performs own position correction dependent on own vehicle information, and the other vehicle information dependence that performs own position correction based on other vehicle information. Correction means 42b is provided. Since the determination of the own position along the travel path R is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, only the determination of the travel path will be described in the following description.

The own vehicle information dependence correction means 42b, when a new recognized traveling path R is recognized by the own position recognition unit with respect to the recognized traveling path R determined in the past, is recognized as a new recognized traveling path R. Correct the road. In this example, the recognition result by the fifth self-position recognition means 41e provided in the self-position recognition unit 41 is substantially used as it is for the correction / determination of the recognized travel path R.
By doing in this way, the recognition traveling path of the own vehicle is sequentially determined from the information obtained on the own vehicle side sequentially and continuously.

The other vehicle information dependence correcting means 42b receives the recognized traveling path (own position) of the other vehicle Co with respect to the traveling path R determined based on the own vehicle information, and is confident about the recognized traveling path of the other vehicle Co. On the condition that the degree is high, the traveling path of the own vehicle is corrected and determined from the recognized traveling path of the other vehicle Co.
As shown in FIG. 13, the other vehicle information dependent correction unit 42 b is actually traveling with the information on the recognized travel path of the other vehicle Co and the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co from the inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11. Information on the relationship between the traveling paths is sent. Then, the means 42b determines the recognized traveling path of the host vehicle Ci with reference to the recognized traveling path of the other vehicle Co. For example, in a situation in which it is confirmed from the captured image obtained by the front camera 8 that the other vehicle Co is traveling on the same traveling route R as the own vehicle Ci, the recognized traveling route possessed by the other vehicle Co. Is prioritized over the recognized travel path determined by the own vehicle information dependency correcting means 42a, and the travel path determined by the other vehicle information dependent correction means 42b is determined as the current recognized travel path. The

Even in this example, the confidence level determination unit 43 includes a score integration unit 43a and a confidence level calculation unit 43b.
The score integrating means 43a corrects / determines the recognized traveling path in the own position determination unit 42, and determines the situation at that time every time the own vehicle reaches the branch, and the situation corresponds to addition / subtraction of the score. If this is the case, the score is added or subtracted according to the score table shown in Table 4, and this is added up as the total score. Also in this example, the total score is provided with an upper limit value and a lower limit value.

This integration state will be described with reference to FIG.
This figure shows that the traveling paths R1 and R2 are in a joined state, and the first traveling path R1 located on the lower side in the figure reaches the joining point RM from a single road. The second traveling path R2 located on the upper side repeats branching sequentially from the upper left direction to the junction RM with the first traveling path R1. These branch paths are illustrated as RD1, RD2, and RD3 in order from the top.
Further, the distance between the branch roads RD1, RD2, and RD3 and the distance between the branch road RD3 and the first travel path R1 on the lower side of the junction RM is set to be within 20 m.

The change in the total score in this case is shown in the corresponding part on the figure.
Since the first traveling road R1 is a single road, the total score of a vehicle traveling on the traveling road R1 is 50 points. On the other hand, regarding the second traveling route R2, the total score was 50 because it was a single road on the upper left side, but the confidence decreased to 20 points as the branch RD was repeated, and the confluence RM It is the result to reach.

The confidence level calculation means 43b calculates the confidence level from the confidence level conversion table shown in Table 2 based on the total score accumulated by the score accumulation means 43a.
Accordingly, also in this example, the confidence level is always maintained in the vehicle in the running state.

The inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11 confirms, for example, the relationship of the traveling road R that is actually traveling between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co by image recognition based on the imaging information obtained from the camera 8 or the like. For example, it is possible to confirm the state of the traveling path R on which the vehicles Ci and Co are traveling from the relationship between the other vehicle Co appearing in the imaging information and the shoulder or white line. In the situation shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 described above, it is possible to confirm that the own vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co are on the same traveling path because the imaging present in the same white line pair is obtained.
Therefore, when the confidence level of the other vehicle Co is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle Ci, the information on the travel route recognized by the other vehicle Co and the information obtained by the inter-vehicle state confirmation unit 11 are used to You can correct and determine the travel path of your vehicle.

  In the case of this example, the information on the travel lane in the second embodiment becomes information on the recognized travel route, and the degree of confidence between the host vehicle Ci and the other vehicle Co is obtained through a sequence similar to the second embodiment. When a comparison is made and it is determined whether the recognition travel path of the other vehicle Co is used or the recognition travel path of the host vehicle Ci is used in the correction / determination of the recognition travel path. In addition, the recognized travel path of the host vehicle Ci can be corrected and determined based on the recognized travel path of the other vehicle Co.

FIG. 14 and FIG. 15 show this state, and show the situation where the recognized traveling path is corrected and determined between the preceding vehicle Cf and the following vehicle Cb on the lower driving side of the junction RM. Yes.
In this situation, the degree of confidence of the following vehicle Cb decreases due to the presence of the branch in the state in which the following vehicle Cb merges from the second traveling route R2 to the first traveling route R1 (see the upper box in FIG. 15).
As for the following vehicle Cb, it is not possible to determine whether the vehicle has entered the first traveling road R1 or the third branch road RD3 as shown on the branch road RD3 by the broken line on the lower side of the confluence RM on the solid line. Is the situation.
Even in this situation, a comparison of confidence levels was performed between the preceding vehicle Cf and the following vehicle Cb, and when the confidence level of the preceding vehicle Cf was high, it was confirmed that the vehicle was traveling on the same road R1. As a condition, the recognition travel path of the following vehicle Cb can be made highly accurate as the recognition travel path of the preceding vehicle Cb.

On the other hand, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 14, in the situation where the following vehicle Cb enters the branch road RD3, the inter-vehicle state confirmation means 11 determines that the first traveling path R1 in which the preceding vehicle Cf is a parallel traveling path diagonally forward. By confirming that the vehicle is traveling, it is possible to confirm the situation in which the following vehicle Cb is traveling on the parallel road RD3 after branching.
[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above embodiment, the configuration having all of the three types of means 41a, 41b, and 43c has been described as the own position recognition means for executing the recognition of the own position along the travel path. The structure which has the above may be sufficient. When the vehicle has only a single position recognition means, the vehicle information dependence correction means need not be provided. However, for the purpose of the present application, other vehicle information dependent correction means are necessarily provided.
(2) Concerning the calculation of confidence level, the score is integrated according to the event factors as shown in Tables 1, 3, and 4, and the confidence level is calculated from the total score. For example, the confidence level may be calculated and determined based on, for example, a method of determining the own position, and the confidence level can be obtained by an arbitrary method.
(3) In the above embodiment, after recognizing / determining its own position in the direction along the travel route, recognition / determination of the travel lane using map information at that location, or recognition of the recognized travel route Although the determination is made, the travel lane history, the recognized travel route history, and the like may be used to recognize and determine only the travel lane alone or the recognized travel route alone.
(4) In the above embodiment, an example in which vehicle-to-vehicle communication is directly performed between vehicles has been described. However, communication may be finally performed from a transmitting vehicle to a receiving vehicle. It may be performed in an indirect form via a center or the like.

  In the system for recognizing the own position based on the information related to the own position of the other vehicle, it is possible to obtain a self-position recognition system that has high positional accuracy and can maintain the probability of the recognized self-position.

The figure which shows the structure of the self-position recognition system which concerns on 1st embodiment. Diagram showing the structure of the map database Explanatory drawing which shows the change of the total score in 1st embodiment The figure which shows the processing flow of the self-position recognition system which concerns on 1st embodiment. Explanatory drawing when using the position of another vehicle for correction in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing when no correction is performed in the first embodiment The figure which shows the structure of the self-position recognition system which concerns on 2nd embodiment. Illustration of driving lane recognition Explanatory drawing which shows the change of the total score in 2nd embodiment The figure which shows the processing flow of the self-position recognition system which concerns on 2nd embodiment. Explanatory drawing when using the position of another vehicle for correction in the second embodiment Explanatory drawing when no correction is performed in the second embodiment The figure which shows the structure of the self-position recognition system which concerns on 3rd embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows the change of the total score in 3rd embodiment Explanatory drawing in the case of using the own position of the succeeding vehicle according to the third embodiment for correction

1 Local Position Recognition System 4 Arithmetic Control Device 5 Autonomous Navigation Sensor 6 GPS Receiver 8 Camera (Imaging Means)
9 Vehicle-to-vehicle communication module (vehicle-to-vehicle communication means)
10 Inter-vehicle distance detection module (positional relationship detection means)
11 Inter-vehicle state confirmation means (position relation detection means)
41 Self position recognition unit 42 Self position determination unit 43 Self confidence level determination unit 44 Self confidence level comparison unit (confidence level comparison means)
Ci own car Co other car DB database DBm map database DBc confidence calculation database

Claims (12)

Each vehicle includes own position recognition means for recognizing the own position, and correction means for correcting the own position recognized by the own position recognition means,
A self-position recognition system comprising vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles,
Each vehicle is provided with a confidence level calculating means for calculating a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the own position,
A positional relationship detecting unit configured to transmit the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle. With
Comprising confidence degree comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle sent via the inter-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle,
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, wherein the correction means have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The transmission vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the vehicle, a recognition traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and a traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling A self-position recognition system that corrects the self -position based on a relationship with a travel lane in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling .   Each vehicle includes own position recognition means for recognizing the own position, and correction means for correcting the own position recognized by the own position recognition means,
  A self-position recognition system comprising vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles,
  Each vehicle is provided with a confidence level calculating means for calculating a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the own position,
  A positional relationship detecting unit configured to transmit the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle. With
  Comprising confidence degree comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle sent via the inter-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle,
  When the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, the correction means corrects the own position based on the own position of the transmitting vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The transmitting vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the own vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and the traveling path on which the own vehicle is traveling A self-position recognition system that corrects the self-position based on a relationship with a travel path on which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.   The self-confidence level calculating means increases or decreases the self-confidence level by a predetermined value set in advance for each recognition case according to the recognition case when the self-position recognition means recognizes the self-position. The local position recognition system according to claim 1 or 2. The self position recognizing means is configured to be able to recognize the self position from any one or more of position information, GPS information, and detection information detected from an autonomous navigation sensor that can be recognized along the travel path. The self-position recognition system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . In each vehicle, execute a self-position recognition process for recognizing the self-position and a self-position correction process for correcting the self-position recognized in the self-position recognition process.
A self-localization method for performing information communication between vehicles,
In each vehicle, execute a confidence level calculation step of calculating a confidence level, which is an index of the accuracy of the position of the vehicle,
Transmitting the own position and confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle, and performing a positional relationship detection step of detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle;
Performing a confidence level comparison step of comparing the confidence level of the transmitted vehicle and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle;
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, in the current position correction step, have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The transmission vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the vehicle, a recognition traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and a traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling A self position recognition method for correcting the self position based on a relationship with a travel lane in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling .   In each vehicle, execute a self-position recognition process for recognizing the self-position and a self-position correction process for correcting the self-position recognized in the self-position recognition process.
  A self-localization method for performing information communication between vehicles,
  In each vehicle, execute a confidence level calculation step of calculating a confidence level, which is an index of the accuracy of the position of the vehicle,
  Transmitting the own position and confidence of the transmitting vehicle from the transmitting vehicle to the receiving vehicle, and performing a positional relationship detection step of detecting a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the receiving vehicle;
  Performing a confidence level comparison step of comparing the confidence level of the transmitted vehicle and the confidence level recognized by the receiving vehicle;
  When the confidence level of the transmitting vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the receiving vehicle, in the own position correction step, the own position is corrected based on the own position of the transmitting vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The transmitting vehicle is a surrounding vehicle traveling around the own vehicle, the receiving vehicle is the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, and the traveling path on which the own vehicle is traveling A self-position recognition method for correcting the self-position based on a relationship with a travel path on which the surrounding vehicle is traveling.   The confidence level calculating step increases or decreases the confidence level by a predetermined value set in advance for each recognition case according to a recognition case when the self position is recognized by the self position recognition step. The self-position recognition method according to 5 or 6. The self-position recognition step is configured to be able to recognize the self-position from at least one of position information, GPS information, and detection information detected from an autonomous navigation sensor that can be recognized along the travel path. The self-position recognition method according to any one of claims 5 to 7 . A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
Via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means, the receiving vehicle is configured to be able to transmit its own position and confidence level ,
A transmission system for recognizing a self position, wherein the self position is recognized in units of travel lanes, and the confidence level is an index indicating the probability of a recognized travel lane in which the self vehicle is traveling .   A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
  Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
  Via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means, the receiving vehicle is configured to be able to transmit its own position and confidence level,
  A transmission system for recognizing a self position, wherein the self position is recognized in units of a travel path, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating a probability of a recognized travel path in which the self vehicle is traveling. A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
A positional relationship detecting unit configured to be able to receive the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle transmitted from the transmitting vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and to detect a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the own vehicle. Prepared,
Comprising a confidence level comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmission vehicle sent through the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the own vehicle;
Confidence of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence of the vehicle, wherein the correction means have lines to correct the current position based on the vehicle position and the relative positional relationship of the transmission vehicle,
The own position is recognized in units of driving lanes, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the probability of a recognized driving lane in which the own vehicle is driving, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the driving lanes
The surrounding vehicle in which the transmitting vehicle is traveling around the vehicle, the recognized traveling lane recognized by the surrounding vehicle, the traveling lane in which the vehicle is traveling, and the traveling in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling A reception system for recognizing a self position based on the relationship with the lane .   A self-position recognition means for recognizing the self-position, a correction means for correcting the self-position recognized by the self-position recognition means, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for performing information communication between vehicles;
  Comprising a confidence level calculating means for obtaining a confidence level that is an index of the probability of the self-position,
  A positional relationship detecting unit configured to be able to receive the own position and the degree of confidence of the transmitting vehicle transmitted from the transmitting vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit, and to detect a relative positional relationship of the transmitting vehicle with respect to the own vehicle. Prepared,
  Comprising a confidence level comparison means for comparing the confidence level of the transmission vehicle sent through the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means and the confidence level recognized by the own vehicle;
  When the confidence level of the transmission vehicle is higher than the confidence level of the own vehicle, the correction means corrects the own position based on the own position of the transmission vehicle and the relative positional relationship,
  The self-position is recognized on a road-by-road basis, and the degree of confidence is an index indicating the certainty of the recognized road that the car is running, and the relative positional relationship is determined by each vehicle between vehicles. Is the relationship between the traveling roads,
  The surrounding vehicle in which the transmitting vehicle is traveling around the own vehicle, the recognized traveling path recognized by the surrounding vehicle, the traveling path in which the own vehicle is traveling, and the traveling in which the surrounding vehicle is traveling A receiving system for recognizing a self position that corrects the self position based on the relationship with the road.

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