JP6494729B2 - Driving support system, program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support system.

  Conventionally, driving support methods for supporting driving of vehicles are known. As a certain prior art, there is a method of supporting driving in accordance with an instruction of an arrow signal lamp of a traffic signal, including a step of detecting a traveling lane of the host vehicle and a step of photographing a traffic signal ahead of the host vehicle (Patent Document 1). ).

JP 2008-242986 A

  However, in the above-described prior art, when a plurality of traffic lights can be confirmed from the host vehicle travel lane, there is a possibility that a signal other than the traffic signal corresponding to the host vehicle travel lane may be mistaken as a traffic signal of the host vehicle travel lane. As a result, in the above-described prior art, there is a risk of erroneous driving assistance. In addition, in the conventional driving support system, it has been desired to simplify the operation, improve the usability, improve the processing speed, reduce the cost, and save resources.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms or application examples.

(1) According to one aspect of the present invention, a driving support system that supports driving of a vehicle is provided. This driving support system includes a recognition unit that recognizes the presence of a feature existing around a vehicle, presence position information that indicates a position where a traffic light is installed, and a lane position that represents a specific point on a virtual line that defines the lane And a traffic light that informs whether or not the vehicle traveling on the road is allowed to pass by changing the lamp color, and the presence position information and the lane position information are associated with each other. The recognizing unit identifies the traffic signal corresponding to the lane on which the vehicle travels from the recognized features by referring to the presence position information associated with the lane position information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle. The display contents of the specified traffic light are recognized.

(2) In the driving support system of the above aspect, the presence position information represents each of the plurality of traffic lights, and each of the presence position information is associated with the lane position information,
The plurality of traffic lights are installed at the same intersection and represent the same notification content for vehicles traveling in the same traveling direction.

(3) In the driving support system of the above aspect, the lane position information represents each of specific points on the virtual line that defines a plurality of lanes adjacent in the width direction with respect to the same traveling direction. Are associated with the location information .

(4) According to another aspect of the present invention, a driving support system that supports driving of a vehicle is provided.
The driving support system includes a recognition unit that recognizes the presence of a feature existing around the vehicle, and a storage unit that has presence position information indicating the height at which the traffic light is installed. The vehicle recognizes whether or not the vehicle traveling on the road is allowed to pass, and the recognition unit recognizes the feature that is recognized by referring to the location information of traffic lights installed around the vehicle. The traffic lights installed around the vehicle are identified, the display content of the identified traffic lights is recognized, and the driving support system further displays the display content of the traffic lights recognized by the recognition unit prompting the passage of the vehicle If the content is a content, the driving is supported to move the vehicle in the traveling direction, and if the display content of the traffic light recognized by the recognition unit is a display content that prompts the vehicle to stop, the driving is performed to prompt the vehicle to stop. Branch It has a control part to assist.

  The present invention can be realized in various modes other than the driving support system and the data structure. For example, the present invention can be realized in the form of a driving support device, a driving support method, a computer program for realizing the method, a non-temporary recording medium recording the computer program, or the like.

The figure for demonstrating the structure of the driving assistance system 10 as one Embodiment of this invention. The figure for demonstrating the lane information 562. FIG. The flowchart for demonstrating the driving assistance process in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the screen of the display part 320 at the time of driving assistance. The flowchart for demonstrating the driving assistance process in 2nd Embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the structure of the driving assistance system 110 of 3rd Embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the stop line position information 568. FIG. The flowchart for demonstrating the driving assistance process in 3rd Embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the driving assistance in 3rd Embodiment.

A. First embodiment:
A1. System configuration:
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a driving support system 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. The driving support system 10 is a driving support system that supports driving of the vehicle 30 and includes a server 50 and a vehicle 30. The vehicle 30 and the server 50 are communicably connected to each other via the Internet INT as a communication line. The communication carrier BS includes a transmission / reception antenna, a radio base station, and an exchange station.

  The vehicle 30 includes a control unit 300, a vehicle side communication unit 310, a display unit 320, and a voice communication unit 330. The control unit 300 includes a RAM and a ROM. The control unit 300 controls each unit of the vehicle 30 by developing and executing a control program stored in the ROM on the RAM. More specifically, the control unit 300 executes control of an accelerator, a brake, etc. in addition to the vehicle side communication unit 310, the display unit 320, and the voice communication unit 330.

  The vehicle-side communication unit 310 is a device that communicates with the vehicle 30 of the server 50 via the Internet INT under the control of the control unit 300. The display unit 320 is a device that displays various images such as a map image. The audio communication unit 330 includes a speaker for outputting sound, a microphone for inputting sound, a circuit for driving these, and the like. The detection unit 340 detects the current position of the vehicle 30 based on radio waves received from artificial satellites that constitute a GPS (Global Positioning System). The recognition unit 350 is a device that recognizes the display content of the traffic light, and uses a CCD camera in this embodiment.

  The server 50 includes a communication unit 52, a control unit 54, and a storage unit 56. The control unit 54 includes a RAM and a ROM, and controls each unit of the server 50 by expanding and executing a control program stored in the ROM on the RAM. The communication unit 52 is a device that communicates with the vehicle 30 via the Internet INT under the control of the control unit 54. The storage unit 56 is configured by a hard disk in the present embodiment.

  The storage unit 56 stores lane information 562 and traffic signal information 564 in a state of being associated with each other. The lane information 562 is information related to the traveling lane. The traffic signal information 564 includes presence position information 566 that indicates the position of a traffic signal that is installed to notify the vehicle traveling in the traveling lane whether or not the vehicle is allowed to pass. This data structure is a data structure of road network data used for driving support of a vehicle. According to this data structure, it is possible to specify the position of a traffic signal associated with the lane based on the lane information.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the lane information 562. In FIG. 2, a total of 4 lanes, each with 2 lanes on one side, are shown. Lane information 562 indicates information for each lane. Specifically, the storage unit 56 has information on each of the lanes 42, 44, 46, and 48 as the lane information 562. In the present embodiment, the lane information 562 includes position information for each predetermined interval of a virtual line (center line) that defines the center of each lane. Further, the storage unit 56 stores the position information of the traffic lights 62 and 64 as the traffic signal presence position information 566. The traffic signal information 564 and the lane information 562 are associated with each other. Specifically, the lane information of the lane 42 and the lane 44 is associated with the presence position information of the traffic light 62. That is, the traffic signals corresponding to the lanes 42 and 44 are associated with the information on the traffic lanes 42 and 44 and the location information of the traffic signal 62 so that the traffic signal 62 can be seen. The lane information of the lane 46 and the lane 48 is associated with the presence position information of the traffic light 64. That is, the traffic signals corresponding to the lanes 46 and 48 are associated with the information on the lanes 46 and 48 and the presence position information of the traffic signal 64 so that the traffic signal 64 can be seen.
In addition to the latitude / longitude information, the location information of the traffic signal includes height information indicating the installed height.

A2. Driving support processing:
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the driving support process in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, it starts when the engine of the vehicle 30 is started.

  When the driving support process is started, the control unit 300 of the vehicle 30 specifies the current position of the vehicle 30 by the detection unit 340 in step S110. Thereafter, in step S120, the control unit 300 refers to the lane information 562 in the storage unit 56 to identify the lane on the road closest to the current position as the travel lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling.

  After the travel lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling is specified, in step S130, the control unit 300 refers to the traffic signal information 564 in the storage unit 56, and is associated with the lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling. Check for traffic lights.

  If there is a traffic signal associated with the travel lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling, the control unit 300 provides driving support according to the traffic signal in step S140.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen of the display unit 320 when driving assistance is performed. It is assumed that the vehicle 30 is currently traveling in the second lane 190 from the left in FIG. In this case, the signal to be seen by the driver of the vehicle is not the traffic light 191 on the left side of the drawing but the traffic light 192 on the right side of the drawing. For this reason, the control part 300 performs a driving | operation assistance by processing a part of the image obtained from the detection part 340, and making a driver | operator recognize the traffic signal which should be seen. In FIG. 4, the driver is alerted by surrounding the signal light portion of the traffic light 192 to be seen with a circle 200. By doing in this way, even when there are a plurality of traffic lights in the traveling direction of the vehicle, it is possible to support driving of the vehicle according to the traffic lights associated with the travel lane. In addition, even when there are traffic lights for pedestrians or streetcars in the direction of travel of the vehicle, the vehicle is driven according to the traffic lights associated with the travel lane, regardless of the display contents of those traffic lights. Can be supported.

  Note that the driving support method is not limited to the display on the display unit 320, and the control unit 300 may control the voice communication unit 330 so as to give a voice alert. Moreover, the image obtained from the detection unit 340 may not be used as the image of the display unit 320 when driving assistance is performed. For example, the driver may be alerted by displaying an image created using the lane information 562 and the location information 566 stored in the storage unit 56 on the display unit 320.

  The driving support process ends when the engine of the vehicle 30 is turned off. On the other hand, when the engine of the vehicle 30 is not off (step S150: NO), the flow returns to step S110 to continue the driving support process.

B. Second embodiment:
The driving support system 10 of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. The driving support process of the second embodiment is different from the driving support process of the first embodiment in the process after specifying the traffic light (the process after step S130), but is otherwise the same. That is, in the second embodiment, the processes of step S240 and step S245 are performed instead of the process of step S140 (driving support) in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the driving support process in the second embodiment. When there is a traffic signal associated with the travel lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling, the control unit 300 recognizes the display content of the traffic signal with the recognition unit 350 in step S240.

  Thereafter, in step S245, control unit 300 provides driving assistance for the vehicle according to the display content of the traffic light. Specifically, when the display content of the traffic light corresponding to the lane in which the vehicle 30 is traveling is the display content that prompts the vehicle to pass (when the green light is lit), the control unit 300 controls the accelerator. By doing so, the vehicle 30 is moved in the traveling direction. On the other hand, when the display content of the traffic light is the display content that prompts the vehicle to stop (when the red signal is lit), the controller 300 prompts the vehicle 30 to stop by controlling the brake. In addition, when the arrow signal lamp which shows the advancing direction which can pass at an intersection is attached to the signal apparatus, the driving assistance of the vehicle according to the display content of an arrow signal lamp is performed. By doing in this way, even when there are a plurality of traffic lights in the traveling direction of the vehicle, it is possible to support driving of the vehicle according to the display contents of the traffic lights associated with the traveling lane.

C. Third embodiment:
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the driving support system 110 according to the third embodiment. In addition to the driving support system 10 of the second embodiment, the driving support system 110 further stores stop line position information 568 indicating the position of the stop line associated with the traffic light. Other than that, the driving support system 10 and the driving support system 110 are the same.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the stop line position information 568. In FIG. 7, a lane 49, a traffic light 66, and a stop line 80 are shown. The traffic light 66 is a traffic light that is installed to notify a vehicle traveling in the lane 49 of whether or not traffic is permitted. The stop line 80 is a line that indicates a position where the vehicle should stop when the display content of the traffic light 66 is display content that prompts the vehicle to stop. Assuming that the position information of the traffic light 66 is (X, Y, Z), the position information of the traffic light 66 is associated with the position information of the stop line 80 in the stop line position information 568.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the driving support process in the third embodiment. The driving support process of the third embodiment is different from the driving support process of the second embodiment in that the process of step S345 is performed instead of the process of step S245 (driving support) in the first embodiment. But otherwise it is the same.

  Driving assistance (step S345) in the third embodiment is performed as follows. When the display content of the traffic light is identified by the recognition unit 350 as the display content that prompts the vehicle 30 to stop, the control unit 300 applies the brake so that the vehicle 30 stops at the position of the stop line associated with the traffic light. The driving of the vehicle 30 is supported by controlling. In addition, when the display content of the traffic light is not the content that prompts the vehicle to stop, the same driving assistance as the driving assistance in the second embodiment is performed.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining driving support in the third embodiment. In FIG. 9, a stop line 82 and traffic lights 68 and 69 are shown. The traffic light 69 is a traffic light showing the same notification content as the traffic light 68 and is also called a warning signal light. If the place where the original traffic light 68 is installed is a place where the line of sight is poor, it may not be in time even if it tries to stop by accepting a red light. For this reason, in such a place, there may be a case where a traffic light 69 is preliminarily installed as a warning signal light in a place with a good view before the intersection. It is assumed that the vehicle 30 in the present embodiment is traveling in a lane corresponding to the traffic light 68.

  In the present embodiment, the traffic light 68 and the traffic light 69 are both associated with the stop line 82. For this reason, the vehicle 30 in this embodiment can stop at the correct stop position (position of the vehicle 36) without stopping at the position (position of the vehicle 34) in front of the traffic light 69.

D. Variation:
In addition, this invention is not restricted to said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, it can be implemented in a various aspect, For example, the following deformation | transformation is also possible.

D1. Modification 1:
In the driving support system of the present embodiment, the display unit 320 and the voice communication unit 330 are part of the vehicle 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The functions of the display unit 320 and the voice communication unit 330 may be provided by, for example, a navigation device, and may be provided by a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a tablet terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable music player, a portable game machine, or the like. Also good.

D2. Modification 2:
The recognition unit 350 may be a laser scanner. A laser scanner is a type of optical wave rangefinder. The near-infrared pulse laser beam is irradiated while rotating the irradiation direction by the rotating mirror inside the laser header, and the reflected light reflected at the measurement target point is detected, and the pulse propagation time of the laser light is detected by the phase comparison method etc. To measure the distance to the measurement target point. At the same time, it refers to a measuring device that acquires the coordinates of a measurement target point by measuring the direction of irradiation with a pulsed laser beam. A feature such as a traffic light is recognized from a group of coordinate points acquired by the laser scanner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Driving assistance system 30 ... Vehicle 34 ... Vehicle 36 ... Vehicle 42 ... Lane 44 ... Lane 46 ... Lane 48 ... Lane 49 ... Lane 50 ... Server 52 ... Communication part 54 ... Control part 56 ... Memory | storage part 62 ... Traffic light 64 ... Traffic light 66 ... traffic light 68 ... traffic light 69 ... traffic light 80 ... stop line 82 ... stop line 110 ... driving support system 156 ... storage unit 200 ... circle 300 ... control unit 310 ... vehicle side communication unit 320 ... display unit 330 ... voice communication unit 340 ... Detection unit 350 ... Recognition unit 562 ... Lane information 564 ... Traffic signal information 566 ... Presence position information 568 ... Stop line position information BS ... Communication carrier INT ... Internet

Claims (8)

A driving support system for supporting driving of a vehicle,
A recognition unit for recognizing the presence of features present around the vehicle;
A storage unit having presence position information indicating a position where a traffic light is installed and lane position information indicating a specific point of a virtual line defining a lane;
The traffic light is for informing whether or not the vehicle traveling on the road by changing the light color.
The presence position information and the lane position information are associated with each other,
The recognition unit corresponds to the lane in which the vehicle travels from the recognized feature by referring to the existence position information associated with the lane position information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle. A driving support system that identifies the traffic light and recognizes the display content of the identified traffic light. The driving support system according to claim 1,
The presence position information represents each of a plurality of traffic lights,
Each of the presence position information is associated with the lane position information,
The plurality of traffic lights are installed at the same intersection, and are driving assistance systems that represent the same notification content for vehicles traveling in the same traveling direction. The driving support system according to claim 1,
The lane position information represents each specific point of the virtual line that defines a plurality of lanes adjacent in the width direction with respect to the same traveling direction,
A driving support system in which each of the lane position information is associated with the presence position information. A driving support system for supporting driving of a vehicle,
A recognition unit for recognizing the presence of features present around the vehicle;
A storage unit having presence position information indicating the height at which the traffic light is installed;
The traffic light is for informing whether or not the vehicle traveling on the road by changing the light color.
The recognition unit identifies the traffic signal installed around the vehicle from the recognized feature by referring to the presence position information of the traffic signal installed around the vehicle, and Recognize the display content of the specified traffic signal,
The driving support system further includes:
If the display content of the traffic light recognized by the recognition unit is display content that prompts the vehicle to pass, assist driving to move the vehicle in the traveling direction;
The driving assistance system which has a control part which supports a driving | operation so that the stop of the said vehicle may be promoted when the display content of the said traffic signal recognized by the said recognition part is a display content which prompts the said vehicle to stop. A program for causing a control unit to realize a recognition function for recognizing the presence of a feature existing around a vehicle,
In the recognition function, the control unit refers to presence position information associated with lane position information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle, so that the recognized feature is changed to a lane in which the vehicle travels. identify Shin unit the corresponding include ability to recognize display contents of the traffic that is the specific,
The presence position information represents a position where the traffic signal is installed,
The lane position information represents a specific point of a virtual line that defines a lane,
The said traffic light is a program which notifies the propriety of passage with respect to the vehicle which drive | works a road by changing a lamp color. A program for causing a control unit to realize a recognition function for recognizing the presence of a feature existing around a vehicle and a driving support function for supporting driving of the vehicle,
In the recognition function, the control unit refers to presence position information indicating a height at which a traffic light installed around the vehicle is installed, so that the surroundings of the vehicle can be determined from the recognized feature. Including the function of identifying the traffic signal installed in the vehicle, and recognizing the display content of the identified traffic signal,
The traffic light is for informing whether or not the vehicle traveling on the road by changing the light color.
When the display content of the traffic light recognized by the recognition function is display content that prompts the vehicle to pass, the driving support function assists the driving so that the control unit moves the vehicle in a traveling direction,
When the display content of the said traffic light recognized by the said recognition function is the display content which urges | stops the said vehicle, the program containing the function which assists a driving | operation so that the said control part may urge the stop of the said vehicle. A program for causing the control unit to realize a reference function for referring to map data stored in a storage unit in a control unit having a recognition function for recognizing the presence of features existing around the vehicle,
The map data includes lane position information that represents a specific point of a virtual line that defines a lane and presence position information in which the lane position information is associated with a position where a traffic light is installed, and
The reference function includes a function of causing the control unit to refer to the lane position information and the presence position information stored in the storage unit,
The recognition function is such that the vehicle travels from the recognized feature by the control unit referring to the presence position information associated with the lane position information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle. Including the function of identifying the traffic signal corresponding to the lane and recognizing the display content of the identified traffic signal;
The said traffic light is a program which notifies the propriety of passage with respect to the vehicle which drive | works a road by changing a lamp color. A control function having a recognition function for recognizing the presence of a feature existing around the vehicle and a driving support function for supporting driving of the vehicle is referred to by the control unit. A program to be realized,
The map data has location information indicating the height at which the traffic light is installed,
The reference function includes a function of causing the control unit to refer to the location information stored in the storage unit,
In the recognition function, the control unit refers to the presence position information of the traffic signal installed around the vehicle, and the traffic signal installed around the vehicle is detected from the recognized feature. Including the function of identifying and recognizing the display content of the identified traffic signal,
The driving support function, when the display contents of the traffic that has been recognized by the recognition function is a display content to encourage passage of the vehicle, helping the driver to move the vehicle in the progress direction,
When the display content of the traffic light recognized by the recognition function is a display content that prompts the vehicle to stop, the vehicle includes a function that supports driving so as to prompt the vehicle to stop.
The said traffic light is a program which notifies the propriety of passage with respect to the vehicle which drive | works a road by changing a lamp color.

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