JP5167016B2 - Vehicle driving support device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device for a vehicle that recognizes a driving environment around the host vehicle and performs driving support for avoiding a collision with an obstacle.

  In recent years, in vehicles such as automobiles, on-board cameras, laser radar devices, etc., detect the driving environment in the outside world to recognize obstacles such as preceding vehicles, and execute driving support control such as warning, automatic braking, and automatic steering. Therefore, technology that avoids collision and improves safety has been developed and put to practical use.

  In such driving support control, in particular, it is assumed that the host vehicle is in a state where the host vehicle is stopped and waiting for a right turn, and the oncoming vehicle is stopped straight ahead, for example, when the host vehicle starts. May not be determined that a collision will occur.

For this reason, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-197252) discloses a technique for evaluating the risk of collision when it is assumed that the oncoming vehicle moves when the host vehicle crosses the oncoming lane when turning right. It is disclosed. Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-260193) assumes that the oncoming vehicle starts with a certain accelerator opening, and calculates the gap, which is the required time to the intersection of the oncoming vehicle. Techniques for preventing accidents are disclosed.
JP-A-3-197252 JP 2002-260193 A

  However, since the techniques of Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 assume that the oncoming vehicle always moves and starts, it is assumed that the oncoming vehicle goes straight even when the oncoming vehicle does not start or makes a right or left turn. Thus, unnecessary processing for evaluating the risk of collision not only increases the processing load unnecessarily, but also may cause unnecessary warnings and control interventions.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle driving support device that can appropriately determine the start of an oncoming vehicle at an intersection and prevent unnecessary warnings and control interventions. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle driving support device according to the present invention recognizes a traveling environment around the host vehicle and provides driving support for avoiding a collision with an obstacle. An intersection information acquisition unit that acquires information around the intersection as intersection information, an oncoming vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information on the oncoming vehicle at the intersection as oncoming vehicle information, and a start from the stop of the oncoming vehicle at the intersection Predicting and determining the collision possibility associated with the start of the oncoming vehicle as the obstacle, and canceling the onset prediction of the oncoming vehicle based on at least one of the intersection information and the oncoming vehicle information And a start prediction stop determination unit that determines whether or not to start.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately determine the start of an oncoming vehicle at an intersection to prevent unnecessary warning and control intervention, and to provide appropriate driving support while reducing the burden of collision risk calculation processing. Can be done.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device mounted on a vehicle, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an intersection, FIG. It is a flowchart of a collision judgment process.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a vehicle such as an automobile (own vehicle), and a driving support device 2 that recognizes an external traveling environment and performs driving support for avoiding a collision with an obstacle is mounted on the vehicle 1. Has been. In the present embodiment, the driving support device 2 is based on a device group for recognition of the external environment by the stereo camera 3, the stereo image recognition device 4, and the traveling environment information acquisition device 5, and information from each device. A control unit 6 including a microcomputer or the like that performs various processes for driving support is provided as a main part. The control unit 6 is connected to various devices related to driving support such as a display 21 that also serves as an alarm device, an automatic brake control device 22, and an automatic steering control device 23.

  The stereo image recognition device 4, the driving environment information acquisition device 5, the control unit 6, the automatic brake control device 22, the automatic steering control device 23, and the like are each configured as a control unit including a single or a plurality of computer systems. Data is exchanged with each other via a communication bus.

  Further, the host vehicle 1 is provided with a vehicle speed sensor 11 that detects the host vehicle speed V, a yaw rate sensor 12 that detects a yaw rate, a main switch 13 to which an ON-OFF signal for driving support control is input, and the like. The own vehicle speed V is input to the stereo image recognition device 4 and the control unit 6, the yaw rate is input to the control unit 6, and the ON / OFF signal for driving support control is input to the control unit 6.

  The stereo camera 3 is composed of a pair of (left and right) cameras using, for example, a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD or a CMOS, and is attached to the front of the ceiling in the passenger compartment with a certain baseline length. The stereo camera 3 takes a stereo image of an object outside the vehicle from different viewpoints, and outputs image data to the stereo image recognition device 4. The stereo image recognition device 4 includes an image processing engine that processes an image captured by the stereo camera 3 at a high speed, and is configured as a processing unit that performs a recognition process based on an output result of the image processing engine. Image processing of the stereo camera 3 in the stereo image recognition device 4 is performed as follows, for example.

  That is, first, the stereo image recognition device 4 obtains distance information from a corresponding position shift amount with respect to a pair of stereo images in the traveling direction of the host vehicle 1 captured by the stereo camera 3, and generates a distance image. . Then, based on this distance image, a known grouping process or the like is performed, and compared with frames (windows) such as three-dimensional road shape data, side wall data, and three-dimensional object data stored in advance, white line data, Data on roadside objects such as guardrails and curbs that exist along the road are extracted, and three-dimensional objects are classified and extracted into other three-dimensional objects such as two-wheeled vehicles, ordinary vehicles, large vehicles, pedestrians, and utility poles. These data are calculated as data in a coordinate system based on the own vehicle with the own vehicle 1 as the origin, the longitudinal direction of the own vehicle 1 as the X axis, and the width direction as the Y axis, and exist along the white line data and the road. Sidewall data such as guardrails, curbs, and the like, the type of the three-dimensional object, the distance from the host vehicle 1, the center position, the speed, and the like are transmitted to the control unit 6 as obstacle information.

  Instead of the stereo camera 3 and the stereo image recognition device 4, the surrounding environment may be recognized using another recognition sensor such as a monocular camera or millimeter wave radar.

  The travel environment information acquisition device 5 detects an object in a wider range than the detection range of the stereo camera 3, and acquires various information such as road information, the presence / absence of an intersection, and traffic jam information. Specifically, the traveling environment information acquisition device 5 receives light and radio wave beacons from road incidental facilities and acquires various information such as traffic congestion information, weather information, and traffic regulation information for a specific area. Communicate with other vehicles around the vehicle (vehicle-to-vehicle communication), and exchange vehicle information such as vehicle type, vehicle position, vehicle speed, acceleration / deceleration state, brake operation state, blinker state, etc. It is configured as a device capable of acquiring a wide range of travel environment information by collecting information from a communication device, a positioning device such as a GPS, and a navigation device.

  Based on the vehicle speed V from the vehicle speed sensor 11, the yaw rate from the yaw rate sensor 12, the obstacle information from the stereo image recognition device 4, and the obstacle information from the traveling environment information acquisition device 5, the control unit 6 The possibility of collision is determined by calculating the collision risk indicating the risk of collision with the obstacle. When the collision risk is equal to or higher than the set value and there is a possibility of collision, an alarm is output to the driver via the display 21, forced deceleration via the automatic brake control device 22, or the automatic steering control device 23. Driving assistance for collision avoidance is performed by performing avoidance steering through the vehicle.

  In addition, the control unit 6 is provided with a support function for reliably avoiding a collision accident such as a right turn at an intersection. The support function at the intersection of the control unit 6 is realized by a function as a collision determination unit that predicts the start of an oncoming vehicle stopped at the intersection and reliably prevents a collision with the host vehicle accompanying the start of the oncoming vehicle. However, the control unit 6 is further provided with a function as a start prediction stop determination unit that determines whether to stop the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle from the situation at the intersection, and blocks the course of the host vehicle. The useless processing of judging collision by handling an oncoming vehicle with no possibility as an obstacle is eliminated, and unnecessary warnings and control interventions are prevented.

  Whether or not the oncoming vehicle to be judged is predicted to start is determined by the external environment recognition functioning as an intersection information acquisition unit that acquires information about the intersection and the vicinity of the intersection, and an oncoming vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information on the oncoming vehicle at the intersection Is determined based on at least one of the intersection information acquired by the stereo camera 3, the stereo image recognition device 4, and the traveling environment information acquisition device 5 and the oncoming vehicle information.

  Specifically, for example, as shown in the following (1) to (6), the conditions such as the shape of the intersection, the display state of the traffic light, the traffic congestion state, the position of the target oncoming vehicle and the lighting state of the lamps, etc. In response, it is determined whether or not to make a start prediction.

(1) When the oncoming vehicle is in the right turn lane or left turn lane at the intersection For example, as shown in FIG. 2, at the intersection with the right turn lane LNr and the left turn lane LNl, the oncoming vehicle 50, Since 51 is unlikely to block the course of its own vehicle, it passes through the intersection after calculating the collision risk of other vehicles and pedestrians, etc. without predicting the start of oncoming vehicles 50 and 51 (Go straight or turn right) to ensure safety while preventing unnecessary alarms and control interventions.

(2) When the oncoming vehicle blinks the left or right turn flasher (direction indicator) This case is also the same as (1), even if it is an intersection where there is no right turn lane LNr or left turn lane LNl. Since the traveling direction of the oncoming vehicles 50 and 51 is known, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped.

(3) When the hazard lamp (emergency blinking indicator light) of the oncoming vehicle is flashing or the parking light is lit, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 2, the oncoming vehicle 52, not the oncoming vehicle 50, stops before the intersection. If the oncoming vehicle 52 lights a hazard lamp or parking light, the oncoming vehicle 52 is assumed not to start and the start prediction is stopped.

(4) When the oncoming vehicle side traffic light is red When the oncoming vehicle side traffic light SG2 is lit red, naturally, the oncoming vehicle is in a stopped state, so the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped. This eliminates unnecessary processing.

(5) When the right-turnable arrow display of the traffic light on the own vehicle side is lit When the own vehicle 1 turns right at the intersection, the traffic light SG1 on the own-vehicle side lights a right-turnable display (lighting of the arrow display, etc.) In this case, since the traffic signal SG2 on the oncoming vehicle indicates prohibition of going straight ahead, unnecessary warnings and control intervention are prevented by stopping the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle.

(6) When the oncoming vehicle side intersection is congested In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, even if the oncoming vehicle 53 is on the straight lane LNc, the oncoming vehicle side road is the other multiple vehicles. When there is a traffic jam at 54,..., It is appropriate to determine that the oncoming vehicle 53 cannot enter the intersection. Therefore, in this case, the start of the oncoming vehicle 53 is not predicted, and unnecessary warnings and control interventions are prevented by passing through the intersection (turning right or going straight) while judging the collision risk with other obstacles. .

  On the other hand, when the above conditions are not satisfied, the start of the oncoming vehicle is predicted, and the collision risk associated with this start is calculated. In the oncoming vehicle start prediction process, for example, the positions of the host vehicle and the oncoming vehicle at every predetermined time interval are predicted, and the collision risk is calculated based on the time until the position becomes the same, the existence probability, and the like.

For example, when adopting a time-based collision risk, the host vehicle and the oncoming vehicle have a certain accelerator opening and a certain route (for example, if the host vehicle is turning right and the oncoming vehicle is going straight, the host vehicle is in the shape of an intersection. Assuming that the vehicle moves within a certain turning radius determined by the data, and the oncoming vehicle is going straight), as shown in the following equation (1), the host vehicle is at the same position at the time Ti until the oncoming vehicle reaches the predetermined position. By calculating the reciprocal by adding the time difference with the time T until the vehicle arrives, it is calculated as a collision risk R expressing the danger that the position of the host vehicle overlaps the position of the oncoming vehicle.
R = 1 / (Ti + | Ti-T |) (1)

Further, when the collision risk R is calculated based on the existence probability of the oncoming vehicle, as shown in the following equation (2), the oncoming vehicle is compared with the predicted oncoming vehicle existence position (x, y). The collision risk R is calculated as a function using the variances σx and σy in the XY axis direction set in accordance with the recognition accuracy and presence status of the.
R = G · exp (− ((Xi−x) ² / (2 · σx ² )) − ((Yi−y) ² / (2 · σy ² ))) (2)
Where G is a preset gain
Xi: X coordinate position (center position) of oncoming vehicle i
Yi: Y coordinate position (center position) of oncoming vehicle i

  Even when it is determined that the oncoming vehicle does not start (when the start prediction is stopped), if there are other vehicles or pedestrians, the collision risk is calculated in the same manner to determine the possibility of collision. Judgment is made, and if there is a possibility of collision, necessary driving assistance is performed.

  Specifically, the oncoming vehicle start prediction and the collision determination process are executed by the program process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Hereinafter, the oncoming vehicle start prediction and the collision determination process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described.

  In this program processing, first, in step S1, the absolute position of the host vehicle is acquired by a GPS device or the like. Next, proceeding to step S2, the map data held by the navigation device is checked from the absolute position of the host vehicle by map matching or the like to check for the presence or absence of a nearby intersection, and the position, size, presence or absence of traffic lights, number of lanes, type Get intersection information such as.

  Thereafter, when approaching the intersection, signal information such as the lighting color of the traffic light is acquired by the stereo camera 3 or road-to-vehicle communication in step S3, and obstacles such as preceding vehicles, oncoming vehicles, two-wheeled vehicles, pedestrians, etc. in step S4 Get information. The obstacle information is acquired by an autonomous sensor that can be recognized by the own vehicle such as the stereo camera 3 or by external communication such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication or road-to-vehicle communication. Further, in step S5, traffic jam information around the intersection is obtained as VICS ( Obtained from information received from the Vehicle Information and Communication System.

  In the following step S6, it is checked whether or not an intersection has been reached. If it is not an intersection, the process jumps to step S16 to cancel the oncoming vehicle start prediction process. If the intersection has been reached, each condition is set in steps S7 to S14. By examining, it is determined whether or not to start the oncoming vehicle at the intersection.

  That is, the presence or absence of an oncoming vehicle is checked in step S7. If there is no oncoming vehicle, the process jumps to step S16. If there is an oncoming vehicle, whether the own vehicle turns right at the intersection from the operating state of the turn signal of the own vehicle in step S8. It is determined whether the vehicle is going straight or left, and if it is straight or left, it is determined that the start of the oncoming vehicle is canceled and the process jumps to step S16. If the own vehicle turns right at the intersection, the process proceeds to step S9. Check if the position is a right turn lane or a left turn lane.

  If the oncoming vehicle is in a right turn lane or a left turn lane, it is determined that the start prediction is stopped and the process jumps from step S9 to step S16. There is no right / left turn lane at the intersection or there is a dedicated lane. If the oncoming vehicle is in a straight lane, in step S10 and S11, whether the left turn or right turn blinker of the oncoming vehicle is flashing, whether the hazard lamp is flashing or the parking light is lit. Check out.

  If the left or right turn blinker of the oncoming vehicle is blinking in step S10, or if the hazard lamp blinks or the parking light is lit in step S11 even if the blinker is not blinking, the oncoming vehicle starts. It is determined that the prediction is stopped, and the process jumps to step S16. On the other hand, when the winker, the hazard lamp, and the parking lamp of the oncoming vehicle are not lit in steps S10 and S11, the process proceeds to step S12.

  In step S12, it is checked whether or not the traffic light on the own vehicle side lights up an arrow or the like that permits a right turn. When the traffic light on the own vehicle side lights up the right turn indicator, the oncoming vehicle side signal lights in red forbidden to go straight, so jump to step S16 to predict the start of the oncoming vehicle. If the right turn indicator on the traffic light is not lit, or if there is no right turn indication on the traffic light, the process proceeds to step S13 to check whether the traffic light on the oncoming vehicle is lit red. Investigate.

  As a result, when the traffic light on the oncoming vehicle is displayed in red in step S13, similarly, jumping to step S16 as the start prediction stop of the oncoming vehicle, and when the traffic light is lit in blue or yellow instead of red Advances to step S14. In step S14, it is checked whether or not the road ahead of the oncoming vehicle intersection is congested. If there is no congested traffic, an oncoming vehicle start prediction process is executed in step S15. Determines that the vehicle does not enter the intersection and stops the start prediction process for the oncoming vehicle in step S16.

  Next, the process proceeds from step S15 or step S16 to step S17 to calculate an obstacle collision risk. In this case, when the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is carried out, the oncoming vehicle is treated as an obstacle, the collision risk is calculated, and when the start prediction is stopped, the oncoming vehicle is not handled as an obstacle. The collision risk is calculated for other pedestrians.

  After calculating the collision risk in step S17, the process proceeds to step S18 to determine whether or not there is a possibility of collision by comparing the collision risk with a preset threshold value. As a result, if there is no possibility of a collision, the process exits from step S18, and if there is a possibility of a collision, the process proceeds from step S18 to step S19. Driving support control such as forced braking via the brake control device 22 and avoidance steering via the automatic steering control device 23 is executed to ensure safety.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the host vehicle passes through the intersection, it is determined whether or not the oncoming vehicle stopped at the intersection starts from at least one of the intersection information and the oncoming vehicle information. In addition, since the start prediction is canceled for an oncoming vehicle that has no possibility of starting, it is possible to eliminate the useless process of determining a collision by treating the oncoming vehicle that does not have the possibility of blocking the course of the host vehicle as an obstacle. Unnecessary alarms and control interventions can be prevented.

  In particular, when the host vehicle turns right at the intersection, it is possible to appropriately determine whether the oncoming vehicle goes straight and avoid an increase in load due to unnecessary processing. It can be done and is extremely effective.

Schematic configuration diagram of a driving support device mounted on a vehicle Explanatory diagram showing an example of an intersection Flow chart of oncoming vehicle start prediction and collision determination processing

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Own vehicle 2 Driving assistance apparatus 4 Stereo image recognition apparatus (intersection information acquisition part, oncoming vehicle information acquisition part)
5 Driving environment information acquisition device (intersection information acquisition unit, oncoming vehicle information acquisition unit)
6 Control unit (collision judgment unit, start prediction stop judgment unit)

Claims (7)

In a vehicle driving support device that recognizes the driving environment around the host vehicle and performs driving support for avoiding a collision with an obstacle,
An intersection information acquisition unit that acquires information on an intersection and information around the intersection as intersection information;
An oncoming vehicle information acquisition unit for acquiring oncoming vehicle information at the intersection as oncoming vehicle information;
A collision determination unit that predicts a start from a stop of the oncoming vehicle at the intersection and determines a collision possibility associated with the start of the oncoming vehicle as the obstacle;
A vehicle driving support device comprising: a start prediction stop determination unit that determines whether to stop start prediction of the oncoming vehicle based on at least one of the intersection information and the oncoming vehicle information .   2. The vehicle driving support device according to claim 1, wherein when the traffic signal on the own vehicle side of the intersection is a right-turnable display, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped.   2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the traffic signal on the own vehicle side of the intersection is in a blue or yellow display state and the traffic signal on the oncoming lane side is in red, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped. Driving assistance device.   2. The vehicle driving support device according to claim 1, wherein when the position of the oncoming vehicle is a right lane or a left turn dedicated lane, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped.   2. The vehicle driving support device according to claim 1, wherein when the direction indicator of the oncoming vehicle, the emergency flashing indicator light, or the parking light is ON, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped.   The vehicle driving support device according to claim 1, wherein when the lane ahead of the intersection of the oncoming vehicle is congested, the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is stopped.   The vehicle driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the start prediction of the oncoming vehicle is processing when the host vehicle turns right at the intersection.

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