JP5494408B2 - Travel prediction device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a travel prediction apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle and that predicts future travel of the host vehicle and transmits it to the surroundings.

  Conventionally, a technique is known in which the vehicle's travel information, such as the vehicle's position, speed, brake operation, turn-on indicator, etc., is transmitted to the surroundings to inform the surroundings of how the vehicle is traveling. . The vehicle that has received the transmitted travel information can grasp how the other vehicle is traveling based on the received travel information and can execute appropriate processing such as collision avoidance.

  In this way, in the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 as a device that transmits the traveling state of the host vehicle to the surroundings, the future host vehicle position is transmitted to the surroundings in addition to the current host vehicle position as the traveling information. And in patent document 1, the future position of the own vehicle is transmitted as discrete position information predicted that the own vehicle exists at every predetermined time interval.

JP 2000-269886 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, since the future position of the host vehicle is transmitted as position information that is discrete on the time axis, for example, the position where the host vehicle is predicted to exist within 5 seconds from now is set to 0.5 seconds. When transmitting as each position information, it is necessary to transmit 10 times of position information at a time. As a result, the amount of data transmitted once increases.

  In vehicle-to-vehicle communication and road-to-vehicle communication in which the communication band is limited, it is not a desirable communication state that the amount of one communication data increases. In particular, if the amount of communication data increases in an area where vehicles are concentrated, such as an intersection in the center of an urban area, a problem arises that communication capacity is exceeded and communication becomes impossible.

  Further, when the future position of the host vehicle is transmitted as position information that is discrete on the time axis, the position of the vehicle between the position information that is discrete on the receiving side of the position information, for example, on a straight line connecting the discrete position information Can only be obtained by estimation. As a result, an error may occur between the estimated position and the position where the vehicle that transmitted the position information actually exists in the future. For example, if the time interval for predicting the vehicle position is 0.5 seconds, a vehicle traveling at 90 km / s moves 12.5 m in 0.5 seconds, so the vehicle position estimated between the discrete position information and An error of about several meters may occur with the actual vehicle position.

If the time interval for predicting the vehicle position is shortened in order to reduce this error, the amount of communication increases, which causes a problem that the communication capacity is exceeded and communication becomes impossible.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and provides a travel prediction device that reduces the amount of transmission data as much as possible and informs the surroundings with high accuracy how the host vehicle will travel in the future. Objective.

According to the first to fifteenth aspects of the present invention, the travel prediction means predicts how the host vehicle will travel in the future based on at least the travel state of the host vehicle among the travel state and the travel environment of the host vehicle. The travel information generating means generates travel prediction information indicating how the host vehicle will continuously travel on the time axis based on the prediction result of the travel prediction means. The wireless communication means transmits the travel prediction information generated by the travel information generating means to the surroundings of the host vehicle.

  In this way, travel prediction information indicating how the host vehicle will continuously travel on the time axis is generated and the generated travel prediction information is transmitted to the surroundings, so how the host vehicle is traveling in the future. It is possible to inform the surroundings with high accuracy without missing on the time axis.

  In addition, since the travel prediction information represents continuous travel information on the time axis, the travel prediction information is one time compared to a case where a plurality of travel information that is discrete on the time axis of a predetermined length is transmitted all at once. The amount of data to be transmitted can be reduced as much as possible.

  The traveling state of the host vehicle represents the traveling state of the host vehicle itself, such as the speed of the host vehicle, the acceleration, the direction of the host vehicle, the amount of brake operation, the steering angle, and the position of the host vehicle. Means that the host vehicle is traveling, such as traffic light color information, weather, temperature, road information, current vehicle travel information of other vehicles around the host vehicle, and future travel prediction information of other vehicles Represents the surrounding environment.

According to the invention as set forth in claims 1 to 11, the travel information generating means generates a function as the travel prediction information.
Thereby, how the host vehicle will travel in the future can be easily approximated using a function, for example, by the least square method. Then, the generated function can continuously express how the host vehicle will travel in the future on the time axis.

The function generated as the travel prediction information may be a polynomial as described in claim 2 as long as it can approximate how the own vehicle will travel continuously on the time axis in the future. As described in claim 5, it may be an arbitrary function indicated by a function type.

Note that in claim 5, the function type specifies a function type such as a polynomial, a power function, an exponential function, a logarithmic function, etc., and the coefficient transmitted together with the function type by the wireless communication means is a function y = f In the case of (t), it represents a numerical value defining a function f (t) other than the time variable t.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when approximating the travel prediction information with a polynomial, the travel information generating means sets the minimum order at which the approximate accuracy representing the accuracy of the approximation is a predetermined value or more as the order of the polynomial.

As a result, the order of the polynomial can be reduced as much as possible within a range in which the approximate accuracy is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, so that the number of coefficients defining the polynomial can be reduced as much as possible. Therefore, the amount of data transmitted from the wireless communication means can be reduced as much as possible. As the approximate accuracy, a known determination coefficient, correlation coefficient, or the like can be used.

In addition, when the approximation process for approximating the travel prediction information with a polynomial is performed while increasing the degree of the polynomial, the approximation process ends when the approximation accuracy exceeds a predetermined value, so that the time required for the approximation process can be shortened as much as possible.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the travel information generating means sets an upper limit of the degree of the polynomial to be generated.
As a result, when the future travel of the host vehicle that is continuous on the time axis is approximated by a polynomial, the degree of the polynomial is limited to an upper limit at the maximum, so that the number of coefficients defining the polynomial can be reduced as much as possible. Therefore, the amount of data transmitted from the wireless communication means can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, since the approximation process for approximating the travel prediction information with a polynomial is not performed exceeding the upper limit value of the order, the time required for the approximation process can be shortened as much as possible.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the travel information generating means generates the latitude and longitude representing the position of the host vehicle as functions.

Since the position of the host vehicle is represented by the absolute position of latitude and longitude, the position of the host vehicle can be notified to the surroundings in any region.
By the way, the traveling prediction information is predicted based on at least the traveling state of the traveling state and traveling environment of the host vehicle up to the time when the traveling prediction information is transmitted. It is not taken into account whether the vehicle has been run. Therefore, the error between the travel prediction information and the actual vehicle travel information may increase with the passage of time after the travel prediction information is transmitted.

Therefore, according to the invention described in claims 7 and 12, the travel information generating means sets an effective time for which the travel prediction information is valid, and the wireless communication means is effective time in the travel prediction information generated by the travel information generating means. Add and send.

Thereby, during the effective time after transmitting the travel prediction information, on the reception side of the travel prediction information, based on the received travel prediction information, the relationship between the vehicle that has transmitted the travel prediction information and the reception side, Appropriate processing can be performed. And after the valid time of the travel prediction information has passed, the reliability of the received travel prediction information is reduced and appropriate processing is executed, or the received travel prediction information is not adopted at all, etc. Appropriate response can be selected.

According to invention of Claim 8 and 13, a radio | wireless communication means shortens the transmission period which transmits driving | running | working prediction information rather than the effective time which a driving | running | working information generation means sets.
As a result, the next travel prediction information is transmitted at least once during the period from when the travel prediction information is transmitted to the end of the effective time. As a result, the receiving side can receive the next travel prediction information before the end of the previous effective time, so that the effective time of the travel prediction information can be prevented from being interrupted.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, based on the travel prediction information generated by the host vehicle and the travel prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication unit, the collision prediction unit determines whether the host vehicle and the other vehicle Predict collisions.

As a result, each of the future travel prediction information that is continuous on the time axis between the host vehicle and the other vehicle is displayed.
Based on this, a collision between the host vehicle and another vehicle can be predicted with high accuracy.
Then, as in the invention described in claim 10, when the possibility of collision between the host vehicle predicted by the collision prediction means and the other vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the collision avoidance control for avoiding the collision is executed. Is desirable.

As the collision avoidance control, it is conceivable to warn the driver that the possibility of a collision is high with a screen display, an alarm sound or the like, or to execute automatic braking.
According to the invention described in claims 11 and 12, the collision predicting means is based on the travel prediction information generated by the own vehicle and the travel prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication means. Predict collisions with The collision avoidance means executes collision avoidance control for avoiding a collision when the possibility of collision between the own vehicle predicted by the collision prediction means and the other vehicle is a predetermined value or more, and the other vehicle transmits to perform wireless communication. If the wireless communication means cannot receive the next travel prediction information from the corresponding other vehicle within the valid time of the previous travel prediction information received by the means, the collision avoidance level is lowered.

If the next travel prediction information after the previous time cannot be received from another applicable vehicle within the valid time of the travel prediction information received last time, the previous travel prediction information is valid before receiving the next travel prediction information. The time ends. Therefore, even if a collision between the host vehicle and another vehicle is predicted based on the previous travel prediction information in a state where the valid time of the previous travel prediction information has expired, the reliability of the prediction result is low.

Therefore, when performing collision avoidance control based on travel prediction information with low reliability, it is desirable to reduce the collision avoidance level. For example, when automatic braking control is executed as collision avoidance control within the effective time, an alarm sound is sounded instead of automatic braking, and when an alarm sound is sounded within the effective time, a display is used instead of the alarm sound. To display a collision warning.

According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the wireless communication means receives the travel prediction information transmitted from another vehicle.
Thereby, it is possible to know with high accuracy how the other vehicle that has transmitted the travel prediction information will travel in the future. As a result, the travel of the host vehicle can be appropriately controlled based on the travel prediction information between the host vehicle and the other vehicle.

According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the travel prediction unit predicts the future position of the host vehicle, and the travel information generation unit generates the travel prediction information indicating the future position of the host vehicle continuous on the time axis. .
Thereby, it is possible to inform the surroundings with high accuracy without leaving the future own vehicle position on the time axis. As a result, the receiving side that receives the future vehicle position of the other vehicle can execute an appropriate process based on the received vehicle position.

  The functions of the plurality of means provided in the present invention are realized by hardware resources whose functions are specified by the configuration itself, hardware resources whose functions are specified by a program, or a combination thereof. The functions of the plurality of means are not limited to those realized by hardware resources that are physically independent of each other.

The block diagram which shows the driving | running | working prediction apparatus by this embodiment. The flowchart which shows a driving | running | working prediction process. The flowchart which shows the driving | running | working prediction process which produces | generates a polynomial as driving | running | working prediction information. The flowchart which shows the other driving | running | working prediction process which produces | generates a polynomial as driving | running | working prediction information. (A) is a data block diagram which shows the communication data in case driving | running | working prediction information is produced | generated by a polynomial, (B) is a data block diagram which shows the communication data in the case of producing | generating driving | running prediction information by designating a function classification. The time chart which shows the relationship between the effective time of driving | running | working prediction information, and a transmission period. The flowchart which shows the collision avoidance process in the receiving side of driving | running | working prediction information.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A travel prediction apparatus according to this embodiment is shown in FIG.
(Running prediction device 10)
The travel prediction device 10 wirelessly communicates with the other vehicle 30 and the roadside device 40 via the antenna 22 and acquires the travel state of the host vehicle 2 from the various sensors 24 and the GPS 26. The travel prediction device 10, the antenna 22, various sensors 24, the GPS 26, and the alarm device 28 are mounted on the host vehicle 2.

  The travel prediction device 10 includes a position prediction unit 12, a surrounding information storage unit 14, a function generation unit 16, a collision prediction unit 18, a wireless communication unit 20, and the like. Each function of the position prediction unit 12, the function generation unit 16, and the collision prediction unit 18 may be executed by a microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like configured for each function. It may be executed by one microcomputer. The surrounding information storage unit 14 is configured by a rewritable storage device such as a RAM.

  The position predicting unit 12 obtains detection signals such as speed, acceleration, brake operation amount, steering angle, and the like from the various sensors 24 and the position of the host vehicle 2 from the GPS 26 as the traveling state of the host vehicle. Further, the position prediction unit 12 sets the current vehicle travel information of the other vehicle 30 around the host vehicle, the future travel prediction information of the other vehicle 30, and the traffic light ahead of the host vehicle 2 as the travel environment of the host vehicle. Information, weather, temperature, road information, and the like are acquired from the surrounding information storage unit 14.

  Then, the position prediction unit 12 determines the future of the host vehicle 2 based on the traveling state of the host vehicle 2 acquired from the various sensors 24 and the GPS 26 and the traveling environment around the host vehicle 2 acquired from the surrounding information storage unit 14. Predict the position of.

  The surrounding information storage unit 14 of the other vehicle 30 received as the traveling prediction information that is the traveling environment of the own vehicle 2 from the traveling prediction device 32 of the other vehicle 30 having the same configuration as the traveling prediction device 10 of the own vehicle 2. Function information representing a future position, a vehicle identification number (vehicle ID) for identifying the other vehicle 30, and the like are stored.

  Further, the surrounding information storage unit 14 receives and stores the current vehicle travel information of the other vehicle 30 from the other vehicle 30 as the travel environment of the host vehicle 2. The future travel prediction information and the current vehicle travel information of the other vehicle 30 may be received directly from the other vehicle 30 or indirectly received via the roadside unit 40.

Further, the surrounding information storage unit 14 stores color information, weather, temperature, road information, and the like of a traffic light in front of the host vehicle received from the roadside unit 40 as the traveling environment of the host vehicle 2.
Based on the future position of the host vehicle 2 predicted by the position prediction unit 12, the function generation unit 16 generates a function that represents the future position of the host vehicle 2 that is continuous on the time axis.

  The collision predicting unit 18 includes a function that represents the future position of the other vehicle 30 that has been transmitted on the time axis transmitted by the other vehicle 30 and a function that has been generated on the time axis by the function generating unit 16 of the host vehicle 2. Based on the function representing the future position of the vehicle 2, the possibility of a collision between the host vehicle 2 and the other vehicle 30 is predicted. If the possibility of collision is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the alarm device 28 is activated to notify the driver of the danger of collision.

  The radio communication unit 20 creates transmission data based on the order and coefficient of the function generated by the function generation unit 16 and transmits the transmission data from the antenna 22 to the surroundings of the host vehicle 2. In addition, the wireless communication unit 20 receives the travel prediction information from the other vehicle 30 and the travel environment information of the host vehicle from the roadside device 40.

(Driving prediction process)
FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the travel prediction process of the host vehicle 2 executed by the travel prediction device 10. The travel prediction process in FIG. 2 is executed at predetermined time intervals. In FIG. 2, “S” represents a step.

  The position prediction unit 12 acquires the detection signals of the various sensors 24 and the position of the host vehicle 2 calculated by the GPS 26 as the traveling state of the host vehicle 2 (S400). Next, the position prediction unit 12 includes a function representing the traveling prediction information of the other vehicle 30 received from the other vehicle 30 from the surrounding information storage unit 14 and the own vehicle received from the roadside device 40 as the traveling environment of the own vehicle 2. The color information, weather, temperature, road information, etc. of the traffic light ahead of No. 2 are acquired (S402).

  Then, the position predicting unit 12 detects the vehicle at every predetermined time interval from the present based on the traveling state of the own vehicle 2 acquired from the various sensors 24 and the GPS 26 and the traveling environment of the own vehicle 2 acquired from the surrounding information storage unit 14. The future position of the vehicle 2 is predicted (S404).

  The function generation unit 16 generates an approximate function by approximating the position of the host vehicle 2 predicted by the position prediction unit 12 at each future predetermined time interval, for example, by the least square method (S406). Thus, the future position of the host vehicle 2 is approximated by a function in the future, so that the future position of the host vehicle 2 can be continuously represented on the time axis.

  The wireless communication unit 20 converts the transmission data including the function information defining the approximate function generated by the function generation unit 16 into the format of the transmission packet (S408), and transmits it from the antenna 22 (S410).

  In this embodiment, a polynomial is adopted as the approximate function. As shown in FIG. 5A, the order of the polynomial and the number of coefficients corresponding to the order are set as transmission data defining the polynomial. Then, the transmission data length is made as short as possible by setting the data length variably according to the number of coefficients corresponding to the degree N of the polynomial.

  In the data configuration of FIG. 5A, in addition to the order N of the approximate polynomial and the coefficients up to the Nth order, the vehicle ID of the host vehicle 2, the reference time and the reference position of the predicted position of the host vehicle 2 represented by the approximate polynomial. And the effective time of the approximate polynomial are set.

  On the other hand, the maximum degree of the polynomial may be determined in advance, and the transmission data may be fixed length composed of coefficients corresponding to the maximum order. In this case, if the degree of the generated polynomial is less than the maximum degree, an unnecessary degree coefficient is set to zero.

  Of the transmission data transmitted by the wireless communication unit 20, the reference time of the predicted position is the start time of the predicted position represented by a polynomial, and the reference position of the predicted position is the position of the host vehicle 2 at the reference time. Therefore, with the data transmitted in the packet shown in FIG. 5A, the position of the host vehicle 2 between the reference position and the effective time at the reference time is continuously expressed by a polynomial on the time axis. Each vehicle sets a reference time based on the time acquired by the GPS 26 from a GPS satellite.

The effective time of the approximate polynomial represents a period in which the reliability of the predicted future position of the host vehicle 2 represented by the approximate polynomial is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.
Here, it is desirable that the transmission period when the approximate polynomial that is the travel prediction information is calculated and transmitted to the surroundings and the effective time of the approximate polynomial satisfy the relation of effective time> transmission period. Since the transmission cycle becomes shorter than the effective time, the next approximate polynomial is transmitted at least once after the effective polynomial is transmitted until the effective time ends. As a result, the receiving side can receive the next approximate polynomial until the previous effective time ends, so that the effective time of the approximate polynomial can be prevented from being interrupted.

  Further, by setting effective time> transmission cycle × 2, the next approximate polynomial is transmitted at least twice during the period from when the approximate polynomial was transmitted to the end of the effective time. That is, there is an opportunity to receive the next approximate polynomial multiple times during the effective time since the previous approximate polynomial was received. For example, in FIG. 6, effective time = transmission cycle × 5 is set.

  As a result, even if reception fails once during the effective time, the approximation polynomial may be received at the next at least one reception opportunity, so that the effective time of the approximation polynomial is interrupted. Can be prevented.

  In addition, the function which approximates the position for every future predetermined time interval of the own vehicle 2 predicted by the position prediction unit 12 is not limited to a polynomial, and may be any function. For example, instead of the polynomial transmission data shown in FIG. 5A, the approximation function may be specified by the transmission data shown in FIG.

  The function type in the transmission data shown in FIG. 5B represents the type of function by code. As a function type, for example, in the case of a polynomial, the degree of the polynomial is set in the range of 0x01 to 0x10. The function type is represented by a code. It is assumed that the number of function coefficients is uniquely determined by each function.

(Polynomial generation)
Next, generation of a polynomial in the function generation unit 16 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the time count n is set to 0 (S420). Next, the time count n is incremented by 1 (S422), and the predicted position after n × t seconds is acquired from the position predicting unit 12 (S424). That is, the predicted position of the host vehicle 2 at every predetermined time interval t is acquired from the position prediction unit 12.

Then, the predicted position of the host vehicle 2 for each predetermined time interval t is sequentially acquired from the position prediction unit 12 until n × t seconds exceeds the predetermined time T (while the determination in S426 is No).
When n × t seconds exceeds the predetermined time T (S426: Yes), the future predicted position of the vehicle 2 acquired from the position prediction unit 12 at every predetermined time interval t is approximated by a polynomial by the least square method (S428). ). Thereby, the future position of the own vehicle 2 continued on the time axis is represented by an approximate polynomial. Then, the order and coefficient of the approximate polynomial are notified to the wireless communication unit 20 (S430).

(Other polynomial generation)
In contrast to the generation of the approximate polynomial described above, in the generation of the approximate polynomial shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, when the order of the approximate polynomial reaches the upper limit value or the approximation degree of the polynomial exceeds a predetermined value, the higher order is set. Stop.

In FIG. 4, the processing of S440 to S446 is the same as the processing of S420 to S426 of FIG.
In S426 of FIG. 4, when n × t seconds exceeds the predetermined time T (S426: Yes), the degree d of the polynomial is set to 0 (S448). Next, the order d is incremented by 1 (S450), and the future predicted position of the host vehicle 2 obtained from the position prediction unit 12 at every predetermined time interval t is approximated by a polynomial of the order d by the least square method (S452). When the order d is equal to or greater than the predetermined maximum order Dmax (S454: No), the process proceeds to S458.

When the order d is lower than the predetermined maximum order Dmax (S454: Yes), based on the distance between the predicted future position of the host vehicle 2 acquired from the position prediction unit 12 at every predetermined time interval t and the polynomial of the order d. determination coefficient R ² to be calculated to greater than a predetermined value, to approximate the future predicted position of the vehicle 2 using the +1 polynomial of degree d Te. Determining factor when R ² exceeds a predetermined value (S456: Yes), the process proceeds to S458. Instead of the determination coefficient, a correlation coefficient or the like may be used as an approximation accuracy representing the accuracy of approximation.

In S458, the approximate polynomial reaches a predetermined maximum order, or coefficient of determination R ^2, notifies the order and coefficients of the approximated polynomial exceeds a predetermined value to the radio communication unit 20.
As described above, when the order of the generated polynomial reaches a predetermined maximum order or the determination coefficient R ² exceeds a predetermined value, the approximation process is terminated and the order of the approximate polynomial is not increased any more. The data amount of the approximate polynomial to be transmitted can be reduced as much as possible. Further, the time required for generating the approximate polynomial can be shortened as much as possible.

(Collision avoidance process)
Next, a collision avoidance process executed by a vehicle that has received an approximation function as travel prediction information from another vehicle is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  When receiving a packet from the other vehicle 30 (S470), the wireless communication unit 20 extracts the degree and coefficient as approximate function information from the packet transmitted by the other vehicle 30, for example, if it is a polynomial (S472), and the roadside machine. The color information, weather, temperature, road information, etc. of the traffic light ahead of the host vehicle 2 are extracted from the packet transmitted by the host vehicle 40 as the travel environment information of the host vehicle 2 (S474), and each information is stored in the surrounding information storage unit. 14 is stored.

  The collision prediction unit 18 acquires, for example, the degree and coefficient of the polynomial as the approximate function information of the other vehicle 30 stored in the surrounding information storage unit 14 (S476), and the traveling prediction of the other vehicle 30 from the acquired order and coefficient. An approximate polynomial that is information is constructed (S478).

  Then, the collision prediction unit 18 calculates the closest approach distance at which the host vehicle 2 and the other vehicle 30 are closest to each other from the approximate function generated by the host vehicle 2 and the approximate function received from the other vehicle 30 (S480). . If the closest distance is within a predetermined range and the possibility of collision is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (S482: Yes), the collision prediction unit 18 instructs the alarm device 28 to sound an alarm sound or warns the display. Is displayed (S484). In addition to this, when the possibility of a collision is very high, in order to avoid the collision, the brake control device may be instructed to execute automatic braking.

  In the above-described embodiment, an approximate function is generated as travel prediction information indicating how the host vehicle 2 will continue to travel in the future on the time axis, and is transmitted to the periphery of the host vehicle 2. As a result, it is possible to inform the surroundings of how the host vehicle 2 will travel in the future without getting out on the time axis.

  And the vehicle which received the driving | running | working prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle 30 can know with high precision how the other vehicle 30 which transmitted the driving | running | working prediction information will drive in the future. As a result, the travel of the host vehicle 2 can be appropriately controlled based on the travel prediction information between the host vehicle 2 and the other vehicle 30. For example, when the travel prediction information is position information, the possibility of a collision can be determined from the closest approach distance between the host vehicle 2 and the other vehicle 30.

  In addition, since the travel prediction information represents continuous travel information on the time axis, the amount of data to be transmitted in one transmission is smaller than in the case of transmitting a plurality of discrete travel information on the time axis at one time. It can be reduced as much as possible.

  In the present embodiment, the host vehicle 2 corresponds to the host vehicle of the present invention, the travel prediction device 10 corresponds to the travel prediction device of the present invention, the other vehicle 30 corresponds to the other vehicle of the present invention, and the roadside device 40 It corresponds to the roadside machine of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the position prediction unit 12 corresponds to the travel prediction unit of the present invention, the function generation unit 16 corresponds to the travel information generation unit of the present invention, and the wireless communication unit 20 corresponds to the wireless communication unit of the present invention. The collision prediction unit 18 corresponds to the collision prediction means and the collision avoidance means of the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the processing of S400 to S404 in FIG. 2 corresponds to the function executed by the travel prediction means of the present invention, the processing of S406 corresponds to the function executed by the travel information generation means of the present invention, and S408 and S410. This process corresponds to the function executed by the wireless communication means of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the processing of S420 to S430 in FIG. 3 and the processing of S440 to S458 in FIG. 4 correspond to the functions executed by the travel information generating means of the present invention.
Further, in this embodiment, the process of S470 in FIG. 7 corresponds to the function executed by the wireless communication means of the present invention, and the processes of S476 to S480 in FIG. 7 and the process of calculating the collision possibility in S482 are the present invention. 7 corresponds to the function executed by the collision avoidance means of the present invention.

[Other Embodiments]
In the above embodiment, latitude and longitude are generated as position information of the host vehicle. In addition to the latitude and longitude, the altitude of the host vehicle may be generated as position information and transmitted to the surroundings. Thereby, for example, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination that a vehicle collides without considering the difference in altitude between vehicles that are crossing and traveling on different roads having different altitudes.

  In addition, as travel prediction information indicating how the host vehicle will continuously travel on the time axis, not only the position of the host vehicle but also the speed, acceleration, traveling direction, etc. of the host vehicle are predicted and You may send it.

  In the above embodiment, the travel prediction information of the host vehicle is generated based on both the travel state of the host vehicle and the travel environment around the host vehicle. On the other hand, the traveling prediction information of the own vehicle may be generated based only on the traveling state of the own vehicle.

  In the travel prediction device of the above embodiment, in addition to the function of generating and transmitting the travel prediction information, the own vehicle receives the travel prediction information of the other vehicle, and further, the collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle is detected. It has a function to predict based on collision prediction information. On the other hand, the travel prediction device may have only a function of generating and transmitting travel prediction information.

  In the above embodiment, the collision between the host vehicle and the other vehicle is predicted based on the traveling prediction information of the own vehicle and the traveling prediction information of the other vehicle. In addition to this, an appropriate traveling state may be instructed to the host vehicle from the roadside machine that has received the traveling prediction information of the host vehicle, and the traveling of the host vehicle may be controlled in accordance with the command.

  As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the gist thereof.

2: host vehicle, 10, 32: travel prediction device, 12: position prediction unit (travel prediction unit), 14: ambient information storage unit, 16: function generation unit (travel information generation unit), 18: collision prediction unit (collision) (Prediction means, collision avoidance means), 20: wireless communication unit (wireless communication means), 24: various sensors, 26: GPS, 28: alarm device, 30: other vehicle, 40: roadside machine

Claims (15)

In a travel prediction device that is mounted on a vehicle and predicts how the host vehicle will travel in the future and transmits it to the surroundings,
Travel prediction means for predicting how the host vehicle will travel in the future based on at least the traveling state of the traveling state and traveling environment of the host vehicle;
Based on the prediction result of the travel prediction means, travel information generation means for generating a function as travel prediction information representing how the host vehicle continuously travels on the time axis in the future;
Wireless communication means for transmitting the travel prediction information generated by the travel information generation means to the surroundings of the host vehicle;
A travel prediction apparatus comprising: The travel information generating means generates a polynomial as the function,
The wireless communication means transmits the degree and coefficient of the polynomial generated by the travel information generating means.
The travel prediction apparatus according to claim 1 . The travel information generating means, wherein when approximating the predicted travel information polynomial claim approximation accuracy representing the certainty of approximation, characterized in that the order of the smallest degree the polynomial equal to or greater than a predetermined value 2 The travel prediction device according to claim 1. The travel prediction apparatus according to claim 2 or 3 , wherein the travel information generation unit sets an upper limit of the degree of the polynomial to be generated. The travel prediction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication unit transmits the type and coefficient of the function generated by the travel information generation unit. The travel prediction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the travel information generation unit generates a latitude and a longitude representing a position of the host vehicle using the function. The travel information generating means sets an effective time for which the travel prediction information is valid,
The wireless communication means adds the valid time to the travel prediction information generated by the travel information generation means and transmits it.
The travel prediction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein The travel prediction apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the wireless communication unit shortens a transmission cycle for transmitting the travel prediction information than the effective time set by the travel information generation unit. Further provided is a collision prediction means for predicting a collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on the traveling prediction information generated by the own vehicle and the traveling prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication means. The travel prediction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein 10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising collision avoidance means for executing collision avoidance control for avoiding a collision when the possibility of a collision between the host vehicle predicted by the collision prediction means and another vehicle is a predetermined value or more. The travel prediction apparatus described. Collision prediction means for predicting a collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on the travel prediction information generated by the own vehicle and the travel prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication means;
When the possibility of a collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle predicted by the collision prediction unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the collision avoidance control for avoiding the collision is executed, and the previous time transmitted by the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication unit A collision avoidance means for reducing a collision avoidance level when the wireless communication means cannot receive the next travel prediction information from the corresponding other vehicle within the effective time of the travel prediction information.
The travel prediction device according to claim 7 , further comprising: In a travel prediction device that is mounted on a vehicle and predicts how the host vehicle will travel in the future and transmits it to the surroundings,
Travel prediction means for predicting how the host vehicle will travel in the future based on at least the traveling state of the traveling state and traveling environment of the host vehicle;
Based on the prediction result of the travel prediction means, travel prediction information indicating how the host vehicle will continuously travel on the time axis is generated in the future, and travel for which the travel prediction information is valid Information generating means;
Wireless communication means for adding the effective time to the travel prediction information generated by the travel information generating means and transmitting the information to the surroundings of the host vehicle;
Collision prediction means for predicting a collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle based on the travel prediction information generated by the own vehicle and the travel prediction information transmitted from the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication means;
When the possibility of a collision between the own vehicle and the other vehicle predicted by the collision prediction unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the collision avoidance control for avoiding the collision is executed, and the previous time transmitted by the other vehicle and received by the wireless communication unit A collision avoidance means for reducing a collision avoidance level when the wireless communication means cannot receive the next travel prediction information from the corresponding other vehicle within the effective time of the travel prediction information.
A travel prediction apparatus comprising: The travel prediction apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the wireless communication unit shortens a transmission cycle for transmitting the travel prediction information than the effective time set by the travel information generation unit. The travel prediction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the wireless communication unit receives the travel prediction information transmitted from another vehicle. The travel prediction means predicts the future position of the host vehicle,
The travel information generating means generates travel prediction information representing a future position of the host vehicle that is continuous on the time axis.
The travel prediction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein

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