JP6399491B2 - Jam judgment device - Google Patents

Description

  The present disclosure relates to a traffic jam determination device that is mounted on a vehicle and detects that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section.

  As a technique for scanning the front of a vehicle with a radar or the like and determining whether or not the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section, there is a traffic jam judging device disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The traffic jam judging device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a vehicle speed sensor that detects a host vehicle speed and a distance measuring sensor that detects a distance between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle, and the vehicle speed has reached a predetermined speed or less. When a certain time is counted from the time point and the vehicle speed during that time is equal to or lower than the predetermined speed, and when the preceding vehicle is continuously detected by the distance measuring sensor during the certain time, it is determined that there is a traffic jam.

  However, in the traffic jam judging device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the preceding vehicle is a low-speed vehicle compared to an automobile including the own vehicle such as a light vehicle such as a bicycle or a motor-driven bicycle, In some cases, even if it was not a traffic jam, it was mistakenly determined to be a traffic jam.

  As described above, there is a case in which the accuracy of determining a traffic jam is insufficient with one preceding vehicle, and therefore there is a traffic jam determining device that uses two preceding vehicles in addition to the preceding preceding vehicle to determine the traffic jam. .

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-22466

  However, even in a traffic jam judging device that judges traffic jam using information related to the preceding preceding vehicle and information related to the preceding preceding vehicle, either one of the two preceding vehicles is a slow bicycle or prime mover. In the case of an attached bicycle or the like, it may be erroneously determined as a traffic jam even if it is not actually a traffic jam.

  This indication is made in order to solve such a problem, and it aims at providing the traffic judgment apparatus which can judge accurately whether the own vehicle is in a traffic jam area.

The traffic jam judging device according to the present disclosure is mounted on a vehicle, receives a reflected wave reflected by an object around the own vehicle by transmitting a radar transmission signal, and whether there is a preceding vehicle located in the traveling direction of the own vehicle A radar device that detects an inter-vehicle distance and relative speed from the host vehicle, a host vehicle speed detection unit that detects the speed of the host vehicle, and the detected speed of the host vehicle is equal to or lower than a first predetermined speed. And the radar apparatus detects two or more preceding vehicles, and the relative speed of the preceding vehicle having the largest relative speed is such that the inter-vehicle distance with the two or more preceding vehicles is not more than a predetermined reference distance. When the speed is equal to or lower than the second predetermined speed, or the distance between the two or more preceding vehicles is greater than the reference distance, and the relative speed of the two or more preceding vehicles is relative to that of the preceding vehicle. Less than the speed Vehicle has a traffic jam requirements determination unit that determines to be within the congested section.

  According to the present disclosure, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section.

The figure which shows an example of a structure of the traffic congestion determination apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure which illustrates detection of the preceding vehicle of the last 2 units by a radar device The figure which shows an example of operation | movement of the congestion requirement determination process which determines whether the own vehicle is in a congestion area. The figure which shows an example of a structure of the traffic congestion determination apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. The figure for demonstrating the radar scanning range which a radar scanning range control part sets The figure which shows the operation example of the traffic congestion determination apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2.

  Hereinafter, the congestion determination device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a traffic jam determination device 100 according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the traffic jam determination device 100 includes a radar device 1, a host vehicle speed detection unit 2, and a traffic jam requirement determination unit 3. The traffic jam determination device 100 is assumed to be mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile.

[Radar device 1]
The radar apparatus 1 is an in-vehicle millimeter wave radar, for example, which transmits a radar transmission signal, receives a reflected wave from an object around the host vehicle, and generates information about each object.

  As objects around the host vehicle, for example, other vehicles including other automobiles and motor-driven bicycles, light vehicles such as bicycles, pedestrians, or stationary objects such as road side walls and guardrails are assumed. Further, the information on the object is information including the distance and direction from the host vehicle to the object, the speed of the object, and the moving direction.

  In particular, the radar device 1 detects information relating to an object that exists in the traveling direction of the host vehicle and travels in the same direction as the host vehicle, that is, a preceding vehicle, and outputs the detected information to the traffic jam requirement determining unit 3.

  Here, when there are two or more preceding vehicles in the radar scanning range by utilizing the road surface reflection of the radar transmission wave or the reflected wave as shown in FIG. Information on two or more preceding vehicles, that is, distance and direction to two or more preceding vehicles, and detecting the relative speed and moving direction of two or more preceding vehicles, and information on each preceding vehicle Output to the determination unit 3. When a camera or a laser is used instead of the radar apparatus 1, it is difficult to obtain information on two or more preceding vehicles because the range is limited to the line-of-sight range.

[Own vehicle speed detection unit 2]
The host vehicle speed detection unit 2 measures the speed of the host vehicle and outputs host vehicle speed information regarding the speed of the host vehicle to the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3.

[Congestion requirement determination unit 3]
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section based on the information on each preceding vehicle generated by the radar device 1 and the host vehicle speed information generated by the host vehicle speed detection unit 2. I do.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the traffic jam requirement determination process in which the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the own vehicle is in the traffic jam section.

(Step ST1)
Based on the own vehicle speed information output from the own vehicle speed detection unit 2, the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the own vehicle is below the first predetermined speed. As a result of the determination, if the speed is equal to or lower than the first predetermined speed, the flow proceeds to step ST2, otherwise proceeds to step ST5. Note that the first predetermined speed is assumed to be the speed of a vehicle traveling in a traffic jam section, and may be, for example, 10 to 20 km per hour.

(Step ST2)
The traffic jam requirement determining unit 3 determines whether two or more preceding vehicles have been detected by the radar device 1. As a result of the determination, if it can be detected, the flow proceeds to step ST3, and if it cannot be detected, the process proceeds to step ST9.

(Step ST3)
The traffic jam requirement determining unit 3 determines whether or not the distance between the two preceding vehicles among the preceding vehicles detected in step ST2 is within a predetermined reference distance. As a result of the determination, if it is within the reference distance, the flow proceeds to step ST4, and if larger than the reference distance, the process proceeds to step ST5. The predetermined reference distance is assumed to be a state in which the distance between vehicles is reduced due to traffic jams. That's fine.

(Step ST4)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the relative speed of the preceding vehicle having a higher relative speed among the preceding preceding vehicle and the preceding preceding vehicle is equal to or lower than a second predetermined speed. As a result of the determination, if it is equal to or lower than the second predetermined speed, the flow proceeds to step ST6, and if it exceeds the second predetermined speed, the process proceeds to step ST5. The second predetermined speed is a relative speed for determining whether or not the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle are traveling at the same speed, and may be, for example, 10 km / h.

(Step ST5)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle is greater than the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle. As a result of the determination, if the relative speed is high, the flow proceeds to step ST6, and if not, the process proceeds to step ST9.

(Step ST6)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 is in a state where the relative speed of the preceding vehicle having a large relative speed is equal to or lower than the second predetermined speed in step ST4, or the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle in step ST5 is two previous It is determined whether or not a state in which the relative speed of the preceding vehicle is greater than a predetermined time has continued. As a result of the determination, if the state continues, the flow proceeds to step ST7, otherwise proceeds to step ST9. The predetermined time is, for example, a time longer than the average waiting time at a signal or a railroad crossing, and is a time that can be regarded as a traffic jam if the above state continues for this time or longer. That is, the predetermined time may be 1 minute 30 seconds, for example.

(Step ST7)
The traffic jam requirement determining unit 3 determines that the requirement that the host vehicle is in the traffic jam section is satisfied, and sets the variable T_jam to 1. The variable T_jam is a flag that is valid in the traffic jam determination device 100 and indicates whether or not the host vehicle is in the traffic jam section. T_jam = 1 indicates that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section, and T_jam = 0 indicates that the host vehicle is not in a traffic jam section. It is assumed that the congestion determination device 100 holds a variable T_jam that takes a value of 0 or 1 according to the result of the immediately preceding congestion determination process.

(Step ST8)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result indicating that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section.

(Step ST9)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines that the requirement that the host vehicle is in the traffic jam section is not satisfied, and sets the variable T_jam to 0.

(Step ST10)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines whether or not the variable T_jam has changed in step ST9. As a result of the determination, if there is a change, that is, if T_jam = 1 indicating that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section in steps ST1 to ST6 prior to step ST8, the flow proceeds to step ST11, where In ST1 to ST6, if T_jam = 0 indicating that the host vehicle is not in the traffic jam section, the process proceeds to step ST12.

(Step ST11)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result that the host vehicle has transitioned to a state where it is not in the traffic jam section, that is, has left the traffic jam section.

(Step ST12)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result indicating that the vehicle is not in the traffic jam section.

  As described above, in the congestion determination device 100 of the first embodiment, the congestion requirement determination unit 3 determines that the speed of the host vehicle detected by the host vehicle speed detection unit 2 is equal to or lower than the first predetermined speed, and When the radar apparatus 1 detects two or more preceding vehicles, the inter-vehicle processing with the two preceding vehicles is not more than a predetermined reference distance, and the preceding vehicle having a larger relative speed is not more than the second predetermined speed. Or when the distance between the two preceding vehicles is larger than the reference distance and the relative speed of the two preceding vehicles is smaller than the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle. Is determined to be within a traffic jam section.

  That is, the traffic congestion determination device 100 according to the first embodiment is configured such that the speed of the host vehicle detected by the host vehicle speed detection unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed and the radar apparatus 1 detects two or more preceding vehicles. When the inter-vehicle processing with the two preceding vehicles is equal to or less than a predetermined reference distance and the preceding vehicle with the larger relative speed is equal to or less than the second predetermined speed, the host vehicle and the preceding preceding vehicle Since the two preceding vehicles are approaching and traveling at a low speed and the same speed, it is considered that the host vehicle is in the traffic jam section.

  In addition, the traffic congestion determination device 100 according to the first embodiment is configured so that when the speed of the own vehicle is equal to or lower than a predetermined speed and the radar device 1 detects two or more preceding vehicles, When the inter-vehicle distance is greater than a predetermined reference distance and the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle is greater than the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle, the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding preceding vehicle is immediately Although it is not close enough to be judged as a traffic jam, it is a distance that can be detected by the radar device 1, and the preceding preceding vehicle is approaching the preceding preceding vehicle due to the speed difference. It is considered that the vehicle is about to enter a traffic jam section.

  Thus, according to the congestion determination device 100 of the first embodiment, in addition to the speed of the host vehicle, the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section using the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle two or more vehicles ahead and the speed of the preceding vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the traffic jam. In particular, even if the preceding vehicle in front of one vehicle or two in front is a bicycle that is slower than the own vehicle or a motorbike, it refers to the speed relationship with the other preceding vehicle. However, it is possible to avoid a situation in which it is erroneously determined that the vehicle is in a traffic jam section.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 performs traffic jam determination using information related to the preceding preceding vehicle and information related to the preceding preceding vehicle. However, the traffic jam may be determined using information on the preceding vehicle three or more vehicles ahead.

  Further, the first predetermined speed in step ST1 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the predetermined reference distance in step ST3, and the second predetermined speed in step ST4 are not limited to the exemplified values. The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines, for example, whether the host vehicle is traveling on a highway or a general road other than the highway based on the host vehicle speed information from the host vehicle speed detection unit 2. Then, each value may be changed according to the determination result. Specifically, for example, the first predetermined speed may be 40 km / h on a highway, 20 km / h on a general road, and the like.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, the traffic congestion determination device 100A according to Embodiment 2 of the present disclosure will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the traffic congestion determination device 100A according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the traffic jam determination device 100A includes a radar device 1, a host vehicle speed detection unit 2, a traffic jam requirement determination unit 3, an environment information acquisition unit 4, and a radar scanning range control unit 5. . Of the configuration of the traffic congestion determination device 100A, the radar device 1, the own vehicle speed detection unit 2, and the traffic congestion requirement determination unit 3 have the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted in the second embodiment. .

[Environmental information acquisition unit 4]
The environment information acquisition unit 4 acquires information about the environment around the host vehicle. The information about the environment around the host vehicle includes, for example, weather information indicating whether the weather is clear or rainy, and day / night information indicating whether it is day or night.

  The environment information acquisition unit 4 acquires, for example, information related to whether or not the wiper of the host vehicle is operating from a wiper control unit (not shown). Then, the environment information acquisition unit 4 determines that the weather is rain if the state where the wiper is operating continues for a predetermined time, and determines that the weather is sunny otherwise and generates weather information. .

  Moreover, the environment information acquisition part 4 acquires the information regarding whether the headlight of the own vehicle is lit, for example from the headlight control part which is not shown in figure. Then, the environment information acquisition unit 4 determines that it is nighttime when the headlight is on for a predetermined period of time, and determines that it is daytime otherwise, and generates day / night information.

[Radar scanning range controller 5]
The radar scanning range control unit 5 controls the radar scanning range of the radar apparatus 1 using the traffic jam determination result output by the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 and the weather information and day / night information output by the environment information acquisition unit 4.

  Specifically, the radar scanning range control unit 5 sets different radar scanning ranges depending on whether the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section and the combination of weather information and day / night information. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the radar scanning range set by the radar scanning range control unit 5.

  FIG. 5A shows a radar scanning range when the host vehicle is not in a traffic jam section. As shown in FIG. 5A, the radar scanning range has a fan shape with a radius Rn. The scanning range of this radius Rn is the normal scanning range of the radar apparatus 1 and is the maximum scanning range. Here, the radius Rn of the radar scanning range is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, the radius Rn of the radar scanning range may be a distance at which two preceding vehicles can be detected with an appropriate inter-vehicle distance of a vehicle traveling at a speed limit. preferable.

  FIG. 5B shows a radar scanning range in the case where the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section and is in sunny daytime. FIG. 5C shows a radar scanning range in the case where the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section and is rainy or at night. As shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, in a traffic jam section, the radius R2 of the radar scanning range when it is raining or at night is compared with the radius R1 of the radar scanning range when it is sunny daytime. It is getting bigger. This is because it is considered that the distance between the preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle should be larger when it is raining or at night than when it is sunny and daytime. In the second embodiment, for example, R2 is set to 1.2 times R1.

Note that FIG. 5B shows rainy or nighttime conditions, but in the case of rainy and nighttime, the radius R3 may be set to 1.2 times the radius of the radar scanning range. Here, the relationship between the radius R1 to R3 of the radar scanning range in the traffic jam section and the radius Rn of the radar scanning range when not in the traffic jam section is expressed by the following equation (1).
Rn>R3>R2> R1 (1)

  As described above, the radar scanning range control unit 5 changes the radar scanning range according to whether it is in a traffic jam section, whether it is sunny or rainy, daytime or nighttime. The reason why the scanning range is narrowed by making the scanning radius smaller when the traffic is in the traffic jam section than when it is not the traffic jam section is that the inter-vehicle distance becomes smaller in the traffic jam section and the traveling speed of the host vehicle and the preceding and following vehicles is also reduced. This is because the necessity of scanning a long distance from the host vehicle is reduced. Also, in the case of rainy weather, the scanning radius is increased to be wider than in the case of clear weather, and in the case of rainy weather, it is more difficult to see the driver and the braking distance than in the case of clear weather. This is because the inter-vehicle distance should be increased. In the case of nighttime, the scanning radius is made larger than in the case of daytime to widen the scanning range based on the same idea as in the case of rainy weather.

  In addition, when the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a determination result that the own vehicle has left the traffic jam section, the radar scan range control unit 5 is a radar scan that has any of the radii R1 to R3 within the traffic jam section. The range is quickly returned to the maximum radar scan range, that is, the radar scan range of radius Rn. This is to prevent the surrounding object from being detected by narrowing the radar scanning range even though it is not a traffic jam section, thereby preventing an accident such as a collision.

[Operation example]
An operation example of the traffic congestion determination apparatus 100A according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

(Step ST101)
The own vehicle speed detection unit 2 acquires the speed of the own vehicle and outputs own vehicle speed information.

(Step ST102)
The radar apparatus 1 acquires and outputs a radar detection result.

(Step ST103)
The traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 performs the traffic jam requirement determination process shown in FIG. 3 described above based on the own vehicle speed information in step ST101 and the radar detection result in step ST102. When the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result indicating that the host vehicle is in the traffic jam section, the flow proceeds to step ST104. When the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result indicating that the vehicle is not in the traffic jam section, the flow returns to step ST101. When the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 outputs a detection result indicating that the traffic jam section has left, the flow proceeds to step ST107.

(Step ST104)
The environmental information acquisition unit 4 acquires environmental information related to the environment around the host vehicle.

(Step ST105)
The radar scanning range control unit 5 sets a radar scanning range based on the environment information in step ST104. Specifically, as described above, an appropriate radar scanning range is set according to a combination of weather information and day / night information.

(Step ST106)
The radar scanning range control unit 5 controls the radar scanning range of the radar apparatus 1 based on the radar scanning range set in step ST105. Specifically, the radar scanning range control unit 5 outputs a signal or the like for controlling the radar transmission intensity to the radar apparatus 1 and sets the reaching range of the radar transmission signal to be the radius of the radar scanning range set.

(Step ST107)
The radar scanning range control unit 5 returns the radar scanning range, which has been narrowed as being a traffic jam section, to the normal scanning range (maximum radar scanning range).

  As described above, the traffic jam determination device 100A of the second embodiment, when the traffic jam requirement determination unit determines that it is within the traffic jam section, based on the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit, Control the scanning range. In particular, when the weather is clear and daytime, the radar scanning range control unit 5 sets the radar scanning range to be narrower than the normal scanning range because radar scanning over a long distance is not necessary in a traffic jam section. Also, in rainy weather or at night, it is necessary to increase the distance between vehicles compared to when it is clear and daytime even in a traffic jam section, so the radar scan range is wider than the clear and daytime scan range. Set narrowly.

  The object detection by the radar apparatus 1 is performed by performing multi-stage arithmetic processing on the radar reflected wave, and there is a property that the amount of calculation rapidly increases as the radar scanning range becomes wide. For this reason, in the traffic congestion determination device 100A of the second embodiment, the radar scanning range control unit 5 sets the radar scanning range according to the surrounding environment, thereby reducing the amount of calculation of object detection in the radar device 1, and the radar device 1 The power consumption can be reduced. Further, an excessive calculation amount in the radar apparatus 1 may cause problems such as heat generation of the radar apparatus 1 and a failure associated therewith, and the traffic congestion determination apparatus 100A of the second embodiment can prevent these problems in advance. it can.

  In addition, according to the traffic jam determination device 100A of the second embodiment, when the traffic jam requirement determination unit 3 determines that the traffic jam section has left, the radar scan range control unit 5 immediately scans the radar scan range with a normal scan. Return to range. As a result, the surrounding object cannot be detected by narrowing the radar scanning range even though it is not a traffic jam section, and a situation in which an accident occurs can be prevented.

  As a modification of the second embodiment, for example, the radar scanning range control unit 5 determines whether the own vehicle is traveling on an expressway based on the own vehicle speed information by the own vehicle speed detection unit 2 or other than the expressway. It may be determined whether the vehicle is traveling on a general road, and when traveling on a highway, the radar scanning range may be made wider than when traveling on a general road.

  The present invention is suitable for a traffic jam determination device that determines whether or not the vehicle is in a traffic jam section.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100,100A Congestion determination apparatus 1 Radar apparatus 2 Own vehicle speed detection part 3 Congestion requirement determination part 4 Environmental information acquisition part 5 Radar scanning range control part

Claims (4)

Mounted on the vehicle, transmits a radar transmission signal, receives a reflected wave reflected by an object around the own vehicle, and whether there is a preceding vehicle located in the traveling direction of the own vehicle, an inter-vehicle distance from the own vehicle And a radar device for detecting the relative speed;
A host vehicle speed detector for detecting the speed of the host vehicle;
The detected speed of the host vehicle is equal to or lower than a first predetermined speed, and the radar device detects two or more preceding vehicles;
When the inter-vehicle distance between two or more preceding vehicles is not more than a predetermined reference distance and the relative speed of the preceding vehicle having the largest relative speed is not more than the second predetermined speed, or
When the inter-vehicle distance between two or more preceding vehicles is larger than the reference distance and the relative speed of two or more preceding vehicles is smaller than the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle,
A traffic jam requirement determining unit for determining that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section;
A traffic jam judging device. The traffic jam requirement determining unit
After the state in which the relative speed of the preceding vehicle is equal to or lower than the second predetermined speed continues for a predetermined time or more, or
After the relative speed of the two or more preceding vehicles is lower than the relative speed of the preceding preceding vehicle continues for a predetermined time or more,
Determining that the host vehicle is in a traffic jam section;
The traffic jam judging device according to claim 1. An environmental information acquisition unit that outputs environmental information that is information related to the environment around the host vehicle;
A radar scanning range control unit that controls the scanning range of the radar apparatus based on the environmental information acquired by the environmental information acquisition unit when the traffic congestion requirement determination unit determines that the host vehicle is in a traffic congestion section When,
The traffic jam judging device according to claim 1, further comprising: The environmental information acquisition unit includes at least one of weather information indicating whether the weather is sunny or rain, or day / night information indicating whether it is day or night in the environmental information,
The traffic judgment device according to claim 3.

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