JP6037350B2 - Inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device, and in particular, recognizes a forward instruction (forward request) from another vehicle to the host vehicle, calculates a forward distance based on the distance from the preceding vehicle, and does not collide with the preceding vehicle. The present invention relates to an inter-vehicle distance adjustment assisting device that assists the vehicle to move forward by releasing the automatic braking function.

  In recent years, preventive safety functions such as an automatic braking function using a vehicle-mounted camera or a radar and a front vehicle following function have been widely used. In relation to these technologies, many patents have been filed regarding functions for recognizing the surrounding situation of a vehicle by a camera or radar and assisting the driver in accordance with the recognition information.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a risk level of a collision with a preceding vehicle is calculated from information of a laser radar attached to the front of the vehicle and a vehicle speed sensor, and an operation reaction force generated on the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle is calculated according to the risk level. There has been proposed an apparatus for notifying the driver of the risk by controlling the vehicle and causing the driver to experience a change in the acceleration of the vehicle according to the degree of risk.

JP 2004-67070 A

  However, with the above-described technique described in Patent Document 1, even if it is possible to calculate the risk of a collision with a preceding vehicle and notify the driver of the risk level, the road condition is congested such as when there is a traffic jam It is not intended at all to make a situation judgment below and notify the driver of it, and that is not possible. That is, for example, when the vehicle is stopped under crowded road conditions, it is estimated whether there is a forward instruction (forward request) for advancing toward the host vehicle from the rear vehicle or other surrounding vehicles, I couldn't tell it to the driver at all.

  Also, in general, in a vehicle equipped with an automatic brake function that stops at a certain distance from the preceding vehicle, even if it can be estimated that a forward instruction from the surroundings has been received, the constant It is configured that the distance cannot be reduced and the vehicle can move forward in the direction of the vehicle ahead because it is locked. That is, in a vehicle equipped with a general automatic brake function, the necessity to further advance to a level where the certain distance is reduced and does not collide with the preceding vehicle is not taken into consideration.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The present invention estimates the presence / absence of a forward instruction directed from the rear vehicle to the host vehicle. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device that prompts the driver to adjust the inter-vehicle processing with the preceding vehicle within a range that does not collide with the preceding vehicle.

The present invention is an inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device that is mounted on a host vehicle and supports the adjustment of the inter-vehicle distance, and includes a rear camera that captures an image of the rear of the host vehicle and outputs image data, and a rear camera. A rear image recognition processing unit that performs vehicle image recognition processing on the output image of the vehicle and outputs data of the position and size of the rear vehicle existing behind the host vehicle, a rear end of the host vehicle, and the rear vehicle A rear distance measurement sensor for measuring a distance between the front end of the vehicle, a rear microphone for collecting and converting an engine sound of the rear vehicle into an electric signal, and an electric signal from the rear microphone, an acoustic analyzer for analyzing the change in the engine sound of the following vehicle, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication equipment receives radio signals from the rear vehicle, the change in position and size of the rear vehicle from the rear image recognition processing unit Based on There, the determination whether the rear vehicle is retracted or stopped whether approaching, the rear distance based on the measured change in the distance by the measurement sensor, the either retracted or stopped rear vehicle is approaching determine are the, it said by acoustic analysis unit based on the height of the size and the sound of the engine sound, determine only whether the engine is empty department, and, before Symbol backward by the inter-vehicle communication device based on at least one of the determination result of the determination whether or not it has received the vehicle or found no line signal, and the forward instruction determination section determines the presence or absence of the forward instruction from the rear vehicle with respect to the vehicle, Inter-vehicle distance adjustment comprising a notification sound output unit that outputs a notification sound for notifying the driver of the host vehicle of the forward instruction when it is determined by the forward instruction determination unit that the forward instruction has been issued Support equipment It is.

  The present invention estimates a forward instruction from a rear vehicle to the host vehicle from a video from a rear camera, a measurement distance by a rear distance measurement sensor, a change in engine sound from a rear microphone, or a radio signal received by an inter-vehicle communication device. If there is an instruction to move forward, the driver outputs a notification sound to the driver so that the vehicle moves forward by a distance that does not collide with the preceding vehicle. It is possible to notify the person of the need for appropriate advancement.

It is a block diagram of the whole system of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the whole system of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the hardware constitutions of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 and 2 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall system configuration of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a case where the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device is provided in a vehicle equipped with an automatic brake function will be described as an example. The inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment determines the surrounding situation, temporarily cancels the automatic brake function according to the surrounding situation, and assists the driver in adjusting the inter-vehicle distance. Is.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment includes a rear camera 1, a rear distance measurement sensor 2, a rear microphone 3, an inter-vehicle communication device 4, a determination unit 10, and a notification sound. An output unit 5 is provided.

  The rear camera 1 is provided at the rear of the vehicle, images the rear of the vehicle, and outputs the captured rear image. The rear camera 1 is configured to repeatedly capture images of the rear of the vehicle at a constant period, or to constantly capture the rear of the vehicle. Here, the rear part of the vehicle includes, for example, a rear bumper, a trunk panel, a tail gate, a back door, a rear window and the like of the vehicle, and the description “provided at the rear part of the vehicle” It means that you may install in any place of. The same applies to the following description.

  The rear distance measurement sensor 2 is provided in the rear part of the vehicle and measures the distance from the rear vehicle existing behind the host vehicle. More specifically, the rear distance measuring sensor 2 measures the distance between the rear end of the host vehicle and the front end of the rear vehicle. Any device can be used as the rear distance measurement sensor 2 as long as it can measure the distance to an object (usually a rear vehicle) existing around the host vehicle. For example, an infrared pulse is scanned. You may comprise from the laser radar which does. In that case, an infrared pulse is emitted from the laser radar with a horizontal or horizontal inclination, and then the reflected wave of the infrared pulse reflected by an object behind the host vehicle is received. Based on the arrival time, the distance to the object is detected. Further, the direction in which the object exists can be detected by the scanning angle when the infrared pulse with respect to the reflected wave is emitted. The scanning range (area) may be arbitrarily set, but may be set to about ± 6 deg with respect to the rear front of the host vehicle.

  The rear microphone 3 is provided in the rear part of the vehicle, collects engine sound of the rear vehicle, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it. Hereinafter, the electric signal is referred to as acoustic signal data.

  The inter-vehicle communication device 4 is a communication device that receives a radio signal transmitted from another vehicle. The installation position of the inter-vehicle communication device 4 is not limited to the rear part of the vehicle, and may be provided at any position of the vehicle such as the roof of the vehicle. Moreover, although it may set arbitrarily also about the reception area which receives a radio signal, since it is only necessary for one vehicle of back (and front, right and left) to enter, centering on the installation position of the inter-vehicle communication apparatus 4 The reception area is set to a radius of about 5 to 8 m.

  Moreover, the determination part 10 is a determination part which determines whether the advance instruction | indication which wants to advance is received from the surrounding vehicle. The determination unit 10 receives rear video data from the rear camera 1, receives distance data from the rear distance measurement sensor 2, receives acoustic signal data from the rear microphone 3, and wirelessly transmits from the inter-vehicle communication device 4 from other vehicles. Receive signal data. Based on the received data, the determination unit 10 determines whether or not a forward instruction for the host vehicle is received from a surrounding vehicle. Note that the determination unit 10 does not need to receive all of these data, and may perform the determination based on at least one of these data.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the determination unit 10 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the determination unit 10 includes a rear image recognition processing unit 11, an acoustic analysis unit 12, and a forward instruction determination unit 13. These will be described below.

  The rear image recognition processing unit 11 receives a rear image captured by the rear camera 1, recognizes an image of the rear vehicle from the rear image, and outputs data of the position and size of the rear vehicle.

  The acoustic analysis unit 12 receives the acoustic signal data acquired by the rear microphone 3, analyzes changes in the engine sound of the rear vehicle from the acoustic signal data, and outputs data on the amount of change in engine sound and pitch.

  The forward instruction determination unit 13 includes data of the position and size of the rear vehicle calculated by the rear image recognition processing unit 11, distance data from the rear distance measurement sensor 2, and engine sound calculated by the acoustic analysis unit 12. Based on at least one of the size and pitch change data and the radio signal from the other vehicle received from the inter-vehicle communication device 4, it is determined that a forward instruction of the host vehicle is received from the surroundings. , Output the judgment result.

  The detailed operation of the forward instruction determination unit 13 will be described.

  The forward instruction determination unit 13 determines whether or not the rear vehicle is approaching based on the change in the size and position information of the rear vehicle obtained by the image recognition processing by the rear image recognition processing unit 11 (reverse or stop). It is determined whether. That is, when the size of the rear vehicle output from the rear image recognition processing unit 11 is compared with the size at the time of previous imaging (at the time of the latest imaging), It is determined that the rear vehicle is approaching, and if not (the size is reduced or the size is not changed), it is determined that the rear vehicle is not approaching. The forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle when the approach of the rear vehicle is detected.

  Further, the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines whether the rear vehicle is approaching or not (reverse or stopped) based on the change in the distance measurement data by the rear distance measurement sensor 2. That is, the distance measurement data output from the rear distance measurement sensor 2 is compared with the distance measurement data at the previous measurement (at the latest measurement), and the value of the distance measurement data decreases with time (ie, If the distance is short), it is determined that the rear vehicle is approaching. Otherwise (the distance measurement data increases or does not change), it is determined that the rear vehicle is not approaching. To do. The forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle when the approach of the rear vehicle is detected.

  Further, the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines whether or not the rear vehicle has performed an engine emptying based on the acoustic analysis processing by the acoustic analysis unit 12. That is, the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines whether or not the engine is empty based on the amount of engine sound output from the acoustic analysis unit 12 and the amount of change in pitch (sound pitch). For example, the forward instruction determination unit 13 stores in advance reference data (threshold value) of the loudness and pitch of the engine sound when the engine is blown, and when the engine sound is louder than the reference data or the pitch If is high, it may be determined that there is an empty sky. Alternatively, when the amount of change in the volume of the engine sound or the pitch reaches a certain threshold value or more, it may be determined that it is an idling. The forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle when it is determined that the vehicle is flying.

  In addition, the forward instruction determination unit 13 receives the wireless signal transmitted from the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device mounted on the vehicle behind or in the surrounding vehicle when the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device 4 mounted on the host vehicle receives the rear vehicle. It is determined that there is a forward instruction from Here, an example has been described in which when a wireless signal transmitted from a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device mounted on a vehicle is received, it is determined as a forward instruction regardless of the type of the wireless signal. Instead, for example, a code of a radio signal in the case of a forward instruction may be set in advance, and when a radio signal of the code is received, it may be determined that the instruction is a forward instruction.

  Further, the forward instruction determination unit 13 may finally determine the presence or absence of the forward instruction based on any combination or all of the plurality of received data.

  Further, in FIG. 1, when the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that there is a forward instruction from a surrounding vehicle, the notification sound output unit 5 operates based on a command from the forward instruction determination unit 13. A notification sound is output to the person notifying that the forward instruction has been given. The notification sound generated by the notification sound output unit 5 may be an alarm sound such as “beep, beep, beep” or a buzzer sound such as “boo”, or “go forward a little before” or “vehicle ahead”. It may be 1m50cm, and move forward 80cm. "

  FIG. 10 shows a hardware configuration of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The rear camera 1 in FIG. 1 includes a camera 401 such as an image recognition camera or an infrared camera. The rear distance measuring sensor 2 in FIG. 1 includes a sensor 402 such as a laser radar. The rear microphone 3 in FIG. 1 includes a microphone 403 such as a sound collecting microphone. The inter-vehicle communication device 4 in FIG. 1 includes a transmission / reception device 404. The notification sound output unit 5 in FIG. 1 includes a speaker 405. The determination unit 10 in FIG. 1 is realized by a CPU that executes a program stored in the memory 407 and a processing circuit (processor 406) such as a system LSI. In addition, a plurality of processing circuits may cooperate to execute the above function.

  Hereinafter, the system operation of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment will be described together with the scene illustrations (FIGS. 2 to 4) to which the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment is actually applied. Will be described with reference to flowcharts (FIGS. 5 to 6).

  FIG. 2 is an example of a scene to which the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment is to be applied. FIG. 2 shows that when the vehicle 102 waiting for a right turn at the intersection 101 turns right immediately before the signal 103 changes to a red light, the right turn road is congested and cannot enter the right turn road. Since the rear part of the vehicle 102 protrudes to the intersection 101 and stops, the vehicle 102 obstructs the passage of the vehicle 104 that has traveled straight toward the intersection 101 as a result. In FIG. 2, a vehicle 105 is a host vehicle equipped with the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment.

  In such a case, it is assumed that the vehicle 102 wants to urge the own vehicle 105 to move forward by some method. For example, if the vehicle 102 gradually approaches the host vehicle 105, or the vehicle 102 makes an engine run-off, or if vehicle-to-vehicle communication is possible, the vehicle 102 sends a radio signal to the host vehicle 105. It is possible to use a method such as The inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment mounted on the host vehicle 105 recognizes that there is a forward instruction from such a vehicle 102, once cancels the automatic brake function, and collides with the front vehicle 106. By notifying the driver to advance the own vehicle 105 by the amount of the distance that is not, and urging the driver to advance the own vehicle 105, it is possible to secure a space where the vehicle 102 can advance.

  Similarly, the effect of applying the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment can also be expected in a scene as shown in FIG. In this scene, the progress of the vehicle 203 following the vehicle 202 is obstructed by the vehicle 202 trying to enter the entrance 201 to the parking lot adjacent to the road from the opposite lane. The vehicle 204 is a host vehicle equipped with the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment. In such a case, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment mounted on the host vehicle 204 is configured such that when the vehicle 202 issues a radio signal to the host vehicle 204 and receives the radio signal, Recognizing a forward instruction from 202, canceling the automatic braking function once, notifying the driver to advance the own vehicle 204 by a distance that does not collide with the preceding vehicle 205, and moving the own vehicle 204 forward Thus, it is possible to enter the entrance 201 of the vehicle 202. Even in the case of FIG. 3, if the rear camera 1 can capture the vehicle 202, the vehicle 202 gradually approaches the host vehicle 204 or the rear microphone 3 collects the engine sound of the vehicle 202. If the sound can be heard, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment mounted on the own vehicle 204 recognizes that the vehicle 202 is moving forward even when the vehicle 202 performs flying. be able to.

  Similarly, in the scene as shown in FIG. 4, the effect of applying the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment can be expected. In this scene, the emergency vehicle 301 is traveling on a congested road, and the vehicle 302 located in front of the emergency vehicle 301 cannot be evacuated as expected due to the traffic jam, and the progress of the emergency vehicle 301 is obstructed. The vehicle is stopped. The vehicle 303 is a host vehicle equipped with the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment. In such a case, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment assisting device according to the first embodiment mounted on the host vehicle 303 is based on the approaching operation of the vehicle 302, the flying noise of the engine of the vehicle 302, or the vehicle 302. Recognize the forward instruction from the vehicle 302 by using the inter-vehicle communication method, etc., cancel the automatic brake function, and notify the driver to advance the own vehicle 303 by a distance that does not collide with the preceding vehicle 304. Thus, the vehicle 302 can be retracted by moving the host vehicle 303 forward.

  Hereinafter, specific operations will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 5 is a series of process flows of the entire system of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support apparatus according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a process flow showing details of the process in step S1 of FIG.

  First, in FIG. 5, the own vehicle observes a forward instruction from a rear vehicle or other surrounding vehicles, and determines whether or not there is a forward instruction (step S <b> 1). This determination is performed by the determination unit 10 of FIG.

Details of step S1 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, first, a rear image is captured by the rear camera 1 (step S11), and the rear image recognition processing unit 11 performs a vehicle image recognition process on the video data, and the size and position of the rear vehicle. Information is calculated and output to the forward instruction determination unit 13 (step S12). Subsequently, the distance measurement data obtained by the rear distance measurement sensor 2 is transmitted to the forward instruction determination unit 13 (step S13). Further, engine sound data of the rear vehicle is acquired by the rear microphone 3 (step S14), and the sound analysis unit 12 performs sound analysis processing, and outputs data of the amount of change in engine sound and pitch to the forward instruction determination unit 13. (Step S15). Further, when a wireless signal is received from the vehicle behind by inter-vehicle communication, the signal is transmitted to the forward instruction determination unit 13 (step S16). Thus, the forward instruction | indication determination part 13 which received various data determines the presence or absence of the forward instruction | indication from another vehicle from those data (step S17).

  Next, in FIG. 5, when the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that there is a forward instruction from another vehicle (step S <b> 2), the forward instruction determination unit 13 outputs a notification sound to the notification sound output unit 5. The command is transmitted, and the notification sound output unit 5 receives it and outputs a notification sound (step S5). On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no forward instruction from another vehicle (step S2), the forward instruction determining unit 13 ends the process without doing anything.

  As described above, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the first embodiment is an inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device that is mounted on the host vehicle and supports the adjustment of the inter-vehicle distance, and images the rear of the host vehicle. The rear camera 1 that outputs image data and the rear image recognition that performs vehicle image recognition processing on the output image from the rear camera 1 and outputs the position and size data of the rear vehicle existing behind the host vehicle A processing unit 11, a rear distance measuring sensor 2 that measures the distance between the rear end of the host vehicle and the front end of the rear vehicle, and a rear microphone that collects engine sound of the rear vehicle, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it. 3, an acoustic analysis unit 12 that analyzes changes in the engine sound of the rear vehicle based on an electrical signal from the rear microphone 3, an inter-vehicle communication device 4 that receives a radio signal from the rear vehicle, and a rear image recognition process Rear car from part 11 Of the position and size of the vehicle, the distance measured by the rear distance measurement sensor 2, the analysis result of the engine sound by the acoustic analysis unit 12, and the radio signal from the rear vehicle received by the inter-vehicle communication device 4 Based on at least one, the forward instruction determination unit 13 that determines whether or not there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle for the host vehicle, and the forward instruction determination unit 13 determines that the forward instruction has been issued. And a notification sound output unit 5 that outputs a notification sound for notifying the driver of the vehicle. As a result, a forward instruction from the rear vehicle to the host vehicle is received, a video from the rear camera 1, a measurement distance by the rear distance measurement sensor 2, a change in engine sound by the rear microphone 3, or a radio signal received by the inter-vehicle communication device 4. If there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle, a notification sound is sent to the driver so that the host vehicle moves forward by a distance that does not collide with the front vehicle. Is output, it is possible to notify the driver of the necessity of appropriate advancement.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the entire system of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of the second embodiment further includes a front camera 6, a front distance measurement sensor 7, a control determination unit 8, and a vehicle control unit. 9 and a front inter-vehicle distance measuring unit 20. In addition, about the same structure as Embodiment 1, it attaches | subjects and shows the same code | symbol, and abbreviate | omits description here.

The front camera 6 is a camera that is provided at the front of the vehicle and images the front of the vehicle. Here, the front part of the vehicle includes a front bumper, a front grille, a bonnet, and a front glass peripheral part, and the description “provided at the front part of the vehicle” may be installed at any of these points. Means good. The same applies to other descriptions in this specification.
The front camera 6 may be composed of the same type of camera as that constituting the rear camera 1, but is not limited thereto, and the front camera 6 and the rear camera 1 may be composed of different types of cameras. .

  The front distance measurement sensor 7 is a front distance measurement sensor that is provided in the front part of the vehicle and measures the distance from the front vehicle located in front of the host vehicle. More specifically, the front distance measurement sensor 7 measures the distance between the front end of the host vehicle and the rear end of the front vehicle. The front distance measurement sensor 7 may be composed of the same type of sensor (laser radar) as the sensor constituting the rear distance measurement sensor 2, but the rear distance measurement sensor 2 and the front distance measurement sensor 7 are not limited thereto. You may be comprised from the sensor of a mutually different type.

  The front inter-vehicle distance measurement unit 20 calculates and outputs the inter-vehicle distance from the front vehicle based on the front video data received from the front camera 6 and the distance data received from the front distance measurement sensor 7. The front inter-vehicle distance measurement unit 20 includes a front image recognition processing unit 21 and a distance calculation unit 22. Below, these structures are demonstrated.

  The front image recognition processing unit 21 recognizes an image of the front vehicle from the front image captured by the front camera 6 and outputs data of the position and size of the front vehicle. The configuration and operation of the front image recognition processing unit 21 are basically the same as those of the rear image recognition processing unit 11.

  The distance calculation unit 22 is the minimum necessary between the vehicle ahead based on the position and size data of the vehicle ahead and the distance data from the front distance measurement sensor 7 calculated by the front image recognition processing unit 21. The inter-vehicle distance is calculated, and the advanceable distance is calculated based on the calculated inter-vehicle distance. As a method for calculating the advanceable distance, for example, a preset value (for example, 70 cm. This assumes a minimum required inter-vehicle distance and can be changed as appropriate) from distance data from the front distance measurement sensor 7. A method such as subtraction is given.

  The control determination unit 8 controls the distance to which the host vehicle should advance based on the advanceable distance calculated by the distance calculation unit 22 and the determination result of presence / absence of the advance instruction from the surroundings received from the advance instruction determination unit 13. It designates to the unit 9 and instructs the vehicle control unit 9 to advance the host vehicle.

  The vehicle control unit 9 is a vehicle control unit that performs overall control of the operation of the vehicle. The vehicle control unit 9 is responsible for overall control of the vehicle, and is further responsible for control of the vehicle in accordance with commands from the control determination unit 8. The vehicle control unit 9 advances the host vehicle by the “distance to be advanced” designated by the control determination unit 8. As a result, it is possible to automatically adjust the distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle without causing a collision without an operation by the driver.

  When the host vehicle is automatically moved by the vehicle control unit 9, for example, “moves forward a little earlier” or “forward vehicle” from the communication output unit 5 according to a command from the forward instruction determination unit 13. It will be 1m50cm until then, and it will move forward 80cm, "and the driver will be notified in advance that the vehicle will automatically advance. Good.

  Hereinafter, specific operations will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 8 is a series of process flows of the entire system of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support apparatus according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a process flow showing details of the process in step S3 of FIG.

  In FIG. 8, steps S1 and S2 are the same as steps S1 and S2 of FIG. 5 described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof is omitted here.

  If it is determined in step S2 that there is a forward instruction, the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device mounted on the host vehicle measures the distance from the preceding vehicle (step S3). This measurement is performed by the front inter-vehicle distance measurement unit 20. Details of step S3 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, first, a front image is captured by the front camera 6 (step S31), and the front image recognition processing unit 21 performs image recognition processing of the vehicle on the image data. Information is calculated (step S32). Further, distance measurement data from the front distance measurement sensor 7 is received (step S33). Based on the information from the front image recognition processing unit 21 and the distance measurement data from the front distance measurement sensor 7, the distance calculation unit 22 calculates a possible travel distance from the preceding vehicle (step S34). The detailed description of step S3 is as described above. Based on the calculation result of the advanceable distance in step S3 obtained in this way, the control determination unit 8 determines whether or not the vehicle can advance (step S4). That is, if the advanceable distance is not less than or equal to a preset threshold value, it is determined that the vehicle can advance, and if it is less than the threshold value, it is determined that the vehicle cannot advance. When it is determined that the vehicle can move forward, the control determination unit 8 instructs the advance instruction determination unit 13 to output a notification sound from the notification sound output unit 5, cancels the automatic brake function, and does not collide with the preceding vehicle. The vehicle control unit 9 is instructed to advance the host vehicle by that amount (step S6).

  The hardware configuration of the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to the second embodiment is as shown in FIG. The rear camera 1 and the front camera 6 in FIG. 7 are composed of a camera 401 such as an infrared camera. In FIG. 10, only one camera 401 is shown for simplification of the drawing, but actually two cameras are provided. The rear distance measurement sensor 2 and the front distance measurement sensor 7 in FIG. 7 are configured by a sensor 402 such as a laser. In FIG. 10, only one sensor 402 is illustrated for the sake of simplicity, but actually two sensors are provided. The rear microphone 3 in FIG. 7 includes a microphone 403 such as a sound collecting microphone. The inter-vehicle communication device 4 in FIG. 7 includes a transmission / reception device 404. The notification sound output unit 5 in FIG. 7 includes a speaker 405. The determination unit 10, the front inter-vehicle distance measurement unit 20, the control determination unit 8, and the vehicle control unit 9 in FIG. 7 are executed by a processing circuit (processor 406) such as a CPU and a system LSI that executes a program stored in the memory 407. Realized. In addition, a plurality of processing circuits may cooperate to execute the above function.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, a front camera 6 that captures an image of the front of the host vehicle and outputs image data, and a vehicle image recognition process are performed on the output image from the front camera 6 so that the front of the host vehicle is A front image recognition processing unit 21 that outputs data of the position and size of the existing front vehicle, a front distance measurement sensor 7 that measures the distance between the front end of the host vehicle and the rear end of the front vehicle, and front image recognition Based on the data of the position and size of the front vehicle from the processing unit 21 and the distance to the front vehicle measured by the front distance measurement sensor 7, the minimum required inter-vehicle distance from the front vehicle is calculated. A distance calculation unit 22 and a vehicle control unit that designates a forward distance of the host vehicle based on the minimum required inter-vehicle distance calculated by the distance calculation unit 22 and controls the forward operation of the host vehicle to control the entire host vehicle. System to instruct 9 Since further comprising a determination unit 8, the vehicle to the preceding vehicle of the own vehicle, within a range that does not collide, it is possible to automatically adjust.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the vehicle having an automatic brake function is described as an example of the vehicle. It goes without saying that the inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device of the invention can be applied.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rear camera, 2 Back distance measurement sensor, 3 Back microphone, 4 Inter-vehicle communication apparatus, 5 Notification sound output part, 6 Front camera, 7 Forward distance measurement sensor, 8 Control judgment part, 9 Vehicle control part, 10 Determination part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Back image recognition process part, 12 Acoustical analysis part, 13 Forward instruction | indication determination part, 20 Front inter-vehicle distance measurement part, 21 Front image recognition process part, 22 Distance calculation part

Claims (2)

An inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device that is mounted on the host vehicle and supports the adjustment of the inter-vehicle distance,
A rear camera that images the rear of the host vehicle and outputs image data;
A rear image recognition processing unit that performs vehicle image recognition processing on an output image from the rear camera, and outputs data of the position and size of the rear vehicle existing behind the host vehicle;
A rear distance measuring sensor for measuring a distance between a rear end of the host vehicle and a front end of the rear vehicle;
A rear microphone that collects engine sound of the rear vehicle, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it;
Based on an electrical signal from the rear microphone, an acoustic analysis unit that analyzes a change in engine sound of the rear vehicle;
A vehicle-to-vehicle communication device that receives a radio signal from the rear vehicle;
Based on changes in the position and size of the rear vehicle from the rear image recognition processing unit , it is determined whether the rear vehicle is approaching, retreating, or stopping, and measured by the rear distance measuring sensor. Based on the change in distance , it is determined whether the rear vehicle is approaching, retreating or stopping, and the engine is emptied based on the loudness and pitch of the engine sound by the acoustic analysis unit. only determine whether, and, based on at least one of the determination result of the determination whether or not it has received the previous SL rear vehicle or found no line signal by the inter-vehicle communication device, the self A forward instruction determination unit that determines whether or not there is a forward instruction from the rear vehicle to the vehicle;
An inter-vehicle distance adjustment comprising: a notification sound output unit that outputs a notification sound for notifying the driver of the host vehicle of the forward instruction when the forward instruction determination unit determines that the forward instruction is present Support device. A front camera that images the front of the host vehicle and outputs image data;
A front image recognition processing unit that performs a vehicle image recognition process on an output image from the front camera, and outputs data of a position and size of a front vehicle existing in front of the host vehicle;
A front distance measuring sensor for measuring a distance between a front end of the host vehicle and a rear end of the front vehicle;
Based on the position and size data of the front vehicle from the front image recognition processing unit and the distance measured by the front distance measurement sensor, the minimum required inter-vehicle distance from the front vehicle is determined. A distance calculating unit to calculate;
Specify the forward distance of the host vehicle based on the minimum required inter-vehicle distance calculated by the distance calculation unit, and instruct the vehicle control unit that controls the entire host vehicle to perform the forward operation of the host vehicle. The inter-vehicle distance adjustment support device according to claim 1, further comprising: a control determination unit that performs the following.

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