JP6607164B2 - Vehicle safe driving system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle safe traveling system that controls traveling based on the state of an occupant in a passenger compartment.

  In recent years, development of an automatic driving function has progressed in vehicles such as automobiles. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a travel control device including a vehicle surrounding environment recognition device. This travel control device detects and monitors the surrounding environment information such as intersections, traffic lights, lanes, etc., and the driving status of vehicles to be overtaken and subsequent vehicles, etc., and judges whether or not to pass The overtaking driving control including stopping is performed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-4443

  By the way, the traveling control device as described above recognizes information outside the vehicle and performs traveling control, but on the other hand, it is also necessary to protect the safety of passengers in the vehicle interior. For example, when the vehicle suddenly accelerates or decelerates, there is a risk that the occupant may be shocked, especially when the occupant stands up in the passenger compartment or sits in a dangerous manner. The danger for passengers increases. However, in the past, there has been little focus on the safety of passengers in the passenger compartment, and there is still room for improvement in vehicle control from the viewpoint of ensuring the safety of passengers. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a safe traveling system for a vehicle that enables safe traveling control in accordance with the state of an occupant in a vehicle compartment.

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle safe traveling system (1) of the present invention is provided in a vehicle having an automatic driving function and configured to be able to switch between manual driving and automatic driving , A camera (3) that is a camera for photographing the interior of the vehicle and also serves as a driver photographing camera for photographing the state of the driver , detects an occupant state based on a photographed image of the camera (3), and the occupant When the safety determination unit (5) for determining safety against the impact of the vehicle and the safety determination unit (5) determines that the safety is low, the acceleration / deceleration and / or steering travel operation is limited. When in manual operation, the camera (3) is set to a photographing mode for mainly photographing the face of the driver, and when switched to automatic operation, the camera (3) is placed over the entire passenger in the passenger compartment. Whole shot to shoot Where with the camera control unit for switching the mode and (7) having the characteristics (the invention of claim 1).

  According to the above configuration, the vehicle interior is photographed by the camera (3), and based on the photographed image, the safety determination unit (5) detects the occupant's state and determines the safety against the occupant's impact. The When the safety determination unit (5) determines that the safety is low, the travel control unit (6) limits the acceleration / deceleration and / or steering travel operation. As a result, acceleration / deceleration and / or steering travel operations are performed while ensuring the safety of the passenger. As a result, there is an excellent effect of enabling safe travel control according to the state of the passenger in the vehicle interior.

The block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the structure of a safe driving | running | working system roughly The flowchart which shows the process procedure regarding the determination of the safety which the safe driving control apparatus performs, and restriction | limiting of driving | running | working operation | movement The figure which shows the example of the classification | category of the level of safety, judgment conditions, and restriction | limiting of driving | running | working operation | movement

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle capable of automatic driving will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a vehicle safe traveling system 1 according to the present embodiment mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile or a bus. Here, the safe traveling system 1 is mainly configured by a safe traveling control device 2 including a computer, and includes an in-vehicle camera 3 provided in a vehicle interior. The in-vehicle camera 3 captures the interior of the vehicle and also serves as a driver capturing camera that captures the state of the driver. The captured image data of the in-vehicle camera 3 is input to the safe travel control device 2 via the image processing unit 4.

  The safe travel control device 2 includes a safety determination unit 5, a travel control unit 6, and a camera control unit 7. As will be described in detail later, the safety determination unit 5 detects the state of the occupant based on the captured image data captured by the in-vehicle camera 3 and processed by the image processing unit 4, and the safety against the impact of the occupant It comes to judge. The traveling control unit 6 limits the acceleration / deceleration and / or steering traveling operation of the vehicle when the safety determining unit 5 determines that the safety is low.

  The camera control unit 7 is configured so that the orientation of the in-vehicle camera 3 is between two modes of the in-vehicle camera 3, that is, a driver imaging mode for mainly imaging a driver's face and an overall imaging mode for imaging the entire passenger in the vehicle interior. Switches the focus and zoom magnification. In the present embodiment, the camera control unit 7 switches the mode of the in-vehicle camera 3 in conjunction with the driving mode of the vehicle. In the manual driving mode, the driver photographing mode is set and the automatic driving mode is switched. Then, the in-vehicle camera 3 is switched to the whole photographing mode. In the driver imaging mode, the driver's line-of-sight detection, physical condition determination, and the like are performed from the captured image data of the in-vehicle camera 3 and used for driving support.

  The safe traveling control device 2 is connected to an in-vehicle LAN 8 such as CAN. The in-vehicle LAN 8 is also connected to an HMI unit 9, a vehicle control device 10, an automatic driving ECU (artificial intelligence) 11, a seat belt ECU 12, and the like. The HMI unit 9 includes an operation unit for the driver to give various input instructions, a display unit for displaying necessary messages, a voice input / output unit for performing voice notification, and the like. In this case, the driver can switch to the automatic operation mode by operating the HMI unit 9. In the present embodiment, the cruise control function (the function of following the preceding vehicle with a certain inter-vehicle distance) can be executed even during manual operation by operating the HMI unit 9.

  The vehicle control device 10 is configured to be able to automatically control various in-vehicle devices such as an accelerator, a brake, a clutch, and a steering. The automatic driving ECU 11 includes artificial intelligence, and gives an instruction to the vehicle control device 10 in an automatic driving mode or the like to realize automatic driving (including a cruise control function). The seat belt ECU 12 is configured to be able to determine whether or not each occupant seated on a seat in the vehicle compartment is wearing a seat belt, and functions as a seat belt detection device.

  Although not shown in the figure, the in-vehicle LAN 8 further includes an in-vehicle camera that captures the periphery (front and rear) of the host vehicle, a preceding vehicle, and an obstacle in order to realize automatic driving and a cruise control function. A laser radar that detects the distance between objects, a vehicle position detection device that detects the position of the vehicle, a map database that stores road map data, and a communication device that performs vehicle-to-vehicle communication and road-to-vehicle communication are also connected. Yes.

  In the present embodiment, when the information that the automatic driving mode is switched to or the cruise control function is turned on is input to the safe driving control device 2, as described above, the in-vehicle camera 3 is operated by the camera control unit 7. Is switched from the driver shooting mode to the whole shooting mode. At the same time, the safe travel control device 2 performs safety determination by the safety determination unit 5 and travel control (restriction of travel operation) by the travel control unit 6 in the automatic operation mode.

  At this time, the safety determination unit 5 detects the state of each occupant, that is, whether it is taking a safe posture against the impact, or the like, based on the image data of the entire vehicle interior captured by the in-vehicle camera 3. And safety is judged. In the present embodiment, the safety determination by the safety determination unit 5 includes the detection signal from the seat belt ECU 12, that is, the detection result of whether each occupant is wearing the seat belt. In this case, for example, when transporting a large number of people such as a route bus, the elderly, children, pregnant women, etc. The degree of safety is determined by whether or not the person is vulnerable to the impact of the person, whether or not he / she holds a strap or keeps his / her body in something.

  The safety determination unit 5 determines safety (danger level) in a plurality of stages. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the determination is made in four stages of no danger, level 1, level 2 and level 3. Level 1 or lower is defined as low safety. For example, when all the occupants are seated on the seats and wearing the seat belts, there is no danger. If all passengers are seated but are not seat belts, they are considered level 1. If there is a person standing in the occupant and is holding a fixture, then it is level 2. Level 3 if there is a person standing in the crew and they are defenseless.

  Then, the traveling control unit 6 limits the traveling operation according to the safety level determined by the safety determining unit 5 when the safety is low, that is, when the level is 1 to 3. At this time, the traveling control unit 6 outputs a control signal to the vehicle control device 10 so as to limit the acceleration / deceleration and steering traveling operations of the vehicle. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, when safety is high, that is, there is no danger, acceleration / deceleration and steering restrictions are not provided.

  On the other hand, when safety is level 1, the acceleration / deceleration limit is within ± 5 (kg / m) / s (the change in speed per hour is within ± 5 km) in terms of speed change. The steering amount is limited to within ± 10 dps (degree par second: the amount of change in the steering angle for 10 seconds is 10 °) in terms of the steering angle. When the safety is level 2, the acceleration / deceleration limit is set within ± 3 (kg / m) / s, and the steering amount limit is set within ± 5 dps. When the safety is level 3, the acceleration / deceleration limit is set within ± 1 (kg / m) / s, and the steering amount limit is set within ± 3 dps.

  In this embodiment, during automatic driving, when the automatic driving ECU 11 determines that there is a possibility of collision with another vehicle, the collision avoidance is more effective than the limitation of the driving operation by the driving control unit 6 described above. Execution of the operation has priority. However, when a collision avoidance operation with another vehicle is performed, a warning is given to the occupant by display or voice notification.

  Next, the operation of the vehicle safe traveling system 1 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 2 shows a processing procedure related to safety determination and travel operation restriction performed by the safe travel control device 2. That is, first, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the automatic operation mode is set. If the automatic operation mode is set (Yes in step S1), the process proceeds to step S5 described later.

  On the other hand, if it is not the automatic operation mode (the manual operation mode) (No in step S1), the vehicle camera 3 is set to the driver photographing mode in step S2, and the vehicle camera 3 is set in step S3. The driver is photographed. In the next step S4, it is determined whether or not the cruise control function is turned on. If the cruise control function remains off (No in step S4), the process ends. When the cruise control function is turned on (Yes in step S4), the process proceeds to step S5.

  In the case of the automatic operation mode or when the cruise control function is turned on, a determination regarding the occupant's safety is performed in the processing from step S5 to step S8. Here, first, in step S5, the in-vehicle camera 3 is switched to the whole photographing mode. In step S6, the interior of the vehicle is photographed by the in-vehicle camera 3, and the state of the occupant is grasped. At the same time, in step S7, information on the seat belt wearing state of each seat is acquired. In step S8, safety (risk level) is determined from the state of the occupant and the seat belt, as shown in FIG.

  In step S9, it is determined whether or not the safety level is “no danger”. If the safety level is not “no danger” (No in step S9), it is determined whether or not the safety level is level 1 in step S10. If the safety level is not level 1 (No in step S10), it is determined in step S11 whether the safety level is level 2.

  If the safety level is “no danger” (Yes in step S9), the travel operation is not limited, and the process ends. If the safety level is level 1 (Yes in step S10), it is determined in next step S12 whether acceleration or deceleration is in progress. If neither acceleration nor deceleration is in progress (No in step S12), the process proceeds to step S14. When acceleration or deceleration is in progress (Yes in step S12), in step S13, the acceleration / deceleration is limited to be within ± 5 (kg / m) / s depending on the speed change. . In step S14, it is determined whether steering is in progress. If steering is in progress (Yes in step S14), in step S15, the steering amount is limited so that the steering angle is within ± 10 dp. If the vehicle is not being steered (No in step S14), the process is terminated as it is.

  If the safety level is level 2 (Yes in step S11), it is determined in next step S16 whether acceleration or deceleration is in progress. If neither acceleration nor deceleration is in progress (No in step S16), the process proceeds to step S18. When acceleration or deceleration is in progress (Yes in step S16), in step S17, the acceleration / deceleration is limited to be within ± 3 (kg / m) / s depending on the speed change. . In step S18, it is determined whether steering is in progress. If steering is in progress (Yes in step S18), in step S19, the steering amount is limited so that the steering angle is within ± 5 dp. If the vehicle is not being steered (No in step S18), the process ends.

  If the safety level is level 3 (No in step S11), it is determined in next step S20 whether acceleration or deceleration is in progress. If neither acceleration nor deceleration is in progress (No in step S20), the process proceeds to step S22. When acceleration or deceleration is in progress (Yes in step S20), in step S21, the acceleration / deceleration is limited to be within ± 1 (kg / m) / s depending on the speed change. . In step S22, it is determined whether steering is in progress. If steering is in progress (Yes in step S22), in step S23, the steering amount is limited so that the steering angle is within ± 3 dp. If the vehicle is not being steered (No in step S22), the process ends as it is.

  Although detailed explanation is omitted, as described above, during automatic driving, a collision avoidance operation is performed when there is a possibility of a collision with another vehicle. This collision avoidance operation is performed by the travel control unit 6. It is executed with priority over the limit of travel operation. That is, in the collision avoidance operation, acceleration / deceleration and steering angle are not limited. However, when a collision avoidance operation with another vehicle is performed, the HMI unit 9 performs display, voice notification, etc., and alerts the occupant.

  According to the vehicle safe traveling system 1 of the present embodiment as described above, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the interior of the vehicle is photographed by the in-vehicle camera 3, and based on the photographed image, the safety determination unit 5 detects the state of the occupant and determines the safety against the impact of the occupant. When the safety determination unit 5 determines that the safety is low, the traveling control unit 6 limits the acceleration / deceleration and steering traveling operations. As a result, acceleration / deceleration and steering travel operations are performed while ensuring the safety of the passenger. As a result, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect of enabling safe traveling control according to the state of the passenger in the vehicle interior.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the safety determination unit 5 determines safety at a plurality of levels, and the traveling control unit 6 is configured to limit the traveling operation according to the safety level. Thereby, according to the stage of safety, when the safety is low, it is possible to control the traveling operation more finely and appropriately, for example, the restriction becomes larger. In the present embodiment, the in-vehicle camera 3 is also used as a driver photographing camera for photographing the state of the driver. Thereby, without adding a dedicated camera, it can be realized by adjusting the direction, focus, and zoom magnification of the in-vehicle camera 3 by mode switching, and the configuration can be simplified.

  In the present embodiment, the safety determination unit 5 is configured to take into consideration the detection result from the seat belt ECU 12 that detects that the occupant seated in the seat is wearing the seat belt. It is known that whether the occupant seated on the seat is wearing a seat belt greatly affects the safety of the occupant. Therefore, by adding the detection result of the seat belt ECU 12 in addition to the captured image of the in-vehicle camera 3, the safety determination unit 5 can more accurately determine the safety of the occupant.

  In the present embodiment, the vehicle has an automatic driving function and is configured to be able to switch between manual driving and automatic driving, and in the automatic driving, the driving control unit 6 is configured to limit the driving operation. . Thereby, the high safety | security of a passenger | crew at the time of automatic driving | operation can be ensured, and the reliability of automatic driving | operation can be improved more.

  Here, when there is a possibility of a collision with another vehicle during automatic driving, a collision avoiding operation is performed. However, when limiting acceleration / deceleration and / or steering traveling operation, there is a contradiction with the collision avoiding operation. May occur. However, it can be said that the collision avoidance operation is more important in view of the seriousness of the situation due to the occurrence of the collision. In this embodiment, since the execution of the collision avoidance operation has priority over the limitation of the travel operation by the travel control unit 6, it is possible to avoid a collision with another vehicle. When a collision avoidance operation with another vehicle is performed, a warning is given to the occupant, so that the occupant is expected to take a safety posture by forecasting when receiving an impact, etc. be able to.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various expansions and modifications as exemplified below are possible. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the camera for driver shooting is used for the passenger shooting in the passenger compartment, but the camera for shooting in the passenger compartment may be provided exclusively. When the passenger compartment such as a bus is large, the interior of the passenger compartment may be photographed by a plurality of cameras. In the above embodiment, the travel operation is restricted for both acceleration / deceleration and steering. However, it may be configured to restrict either acceleration / deceleration or steering.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, safety determination and travel operation restriction are performed during automatic driving (including when the cruise control function is turned on), but similar control is also performed during manual driving. Of course, it is also good. In addition, various modifications can be made to specific numerical values for limiting the level of safety level, their judgment criteria, and the running motion (acceleration and steering angle), and various system configurations are possible. The present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications within a range that does not depart from the gist of the present invention.

  In the drawings, 1 is a safe driving system, 2 is a safe driving control device, 3 is an in-vehicle camera (camera), 5 is a safety determination unit, 6 is a driving control unit, 7 is a camera control unit, 8 is an in-vehicle LAN, 10 is A vehicle control device, 11 is an automatic operation ECU, and 12 is a seat belt ECU (seat belt detection device).

Claims (7)

A safe driving system (1) provided in a vehicle having an automatic driving function and configured to be able to switch between manual driving and automatic driving ,
A camera (3) that is a camera that shoots the interior of the vehicle and also serves as a driver shooting camera that shoots the state of the driver ;
A safety determination unit (5) that detects the state of an occupant based on a photographed image of the camera (3) and determines safety against the impact of the occupant;
A traveling control unit (6) for limiting the acceleration / deceleration and / or steering traveling operation when the safety determining unit (5) determines that the safety is low ;
During manual driving, the camera (3) is set to a shooting mode for mainly photographing the face of the driver, and when switched to automatic driving, the camera (3) is switched to a whole shooting mode for shooting the entire occupant in the passenger compartment. A safe traveling system for a vehicle comprising a control unit (7) .   The vehicle safety traveling system according to claim 1, wherein the safety determining unit determines safety in a plurality of stages, and the traveling control unit adds a restriction to the traveling operation according to the safety stage. The safe traveling system for a vehicle according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the traveling operation is restricted by the traveling control unit during automatic driving . 4. The execution of the collision avoidance operation is prioritized over the limitation of the travel operation by the travel control unit when there is a possibility of collision with another vehicle during automatic driving. The vehicle safe driving system described. The vehicle safe driving system according to claim 4 , wherein when a collision avoiding operation with another vehicle is performed, a warning is given to an occupant . A seat belt detection device for detecting that a passenger seated in the seat is wearing a seat belt;
The vehicle safety traveling system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the safety determination unit adds a detection result of the seat belt detection device to the determination of safety. The safety judging unit detects whether all the occupants are seated, whether the occupants are wearing seat belts, standing occupants, and standing occupants are holding fixtures, and the safety level. The vehicle safe traveling system according to claim 6, wherein:

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