JP6685696B2 - Road management system, in-vehicle device, and road management method - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments of the present invention relate to a road management system that manages an autonomous driving vehicle that travels on a road, an in-vehicle device that has a function of detecting the autonomous driving vehicle, and a road management method.

  In recent years, research on an automatic driving function of a vehicle has been advanced. In the future, as vehicles having an automatic driving function (hereinafter referred to as “autonomous driving vehicles”) become widespread, for example, on highways and toll roads, automatic driving vehicles and ordinary vehicles that are manually driven as usual (hereinafter, “automatic driving vehicles”) In order to distinguish from a driving vehicle, it is assumed that a situation in which a vehicle is manually driven) is mixed for convenience.

JP, 2015-44432, A JP, 2002-015396, A JP, 2005-102893, A

  At the stage of popularization of self-driving vehicles, for the time being, it is inevitable that self-driving vehicles and manual-driving vehicles will run together on actual roads. At this time, since the manually driven vehicle is driven based on the driver's intention, when the automatically driven vehicle and the manually driven vehicle are traveling on the road together, unpredictable traffic congestion occurs due to different driving modes of each vehicle. there's a possibility that. Therefore, there has been a problem that a traffic control system that manages roads such as expressways and toll roads is required to perform appropriate management in order to cope with a situation where roads are mixed.

The road management system according to the present embodiment has a configuration including an image generating unit, a recognizing unit, a characteristic amount information generating unit, a database, an information providing unit, and a receiving unit . The image generation means photographs a vehicle on the road and generates image data. The recognition means recognizes whether or not the vehicle is an autonomous driving vehicle. When the recognition result of the recognition means is an automatic driving vehicle, the characteristic amount information generating means generates characteristic amount information of the automatic driving vehicle based on the image data generated by the image generating means. The database stores the recognized feature amount information of the self-driving vehicle . The information providing means, for an in-vehicle device of a manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of performing follow-up control with respect to a vehicle traveling ahead , characteristic amount information of the automatically-operated vehicle stored in the database and the automatically-operated vehicle. The information about the position of is distributed by wireless communication . The receiving means is a manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of follow-up control with respect to a vehicle traveling ahead, detects the automatic driving vehicle based on the characteristic amount information distributed from the information providing means, and Information indicating that the follow-up control for the autonomous driving vehicle is continued for a predetermined time is received from the on-vehicle device of the manually driven vehicle.

The figure for demonstrating the outline of the road management system concerning 1st Embodiment. The block diagram for explaining the composition of the road management system concerning a 1st embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the feature-value registration process of the automatic driving vehicle of the road management system concerning 1st Embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the detection process of the automatic driving vehicle of the road management system concerning 1st Embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the automatic driving vehicle detection process of a manually driven vehicle regarding the 1st Embodiment, and the support process of a road management system. The flowchart for demonstrating the automatic driving vehicle detection process of a manually driven vehicle and the support process of a road management system regarding 2nd Embodiment.

  Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Since an autonomous vehicle travels according to the traffic conditions, traffic congestion can be significantly alleviated if only the autonomous vehicle travels. Therefore, if the manually-operated vehicle travels following the automatically-operated vehicle, traffic congestion can be alleviated considerably. For this reason, if the manually driven vehicle is driven by the automatically driven vehicle, the traffic congestion on the entire road can be alleviated.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a road management system according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the road management system according to the present embodiment monitors a plurality of vehicles 100 traveling on a road such as a highway or a toll road, and displays information necessary for road management with the vehicles 100. Exchange. Here, in the present embodiment, the plurality of vehicles 100 traveling on the road are a situation in which the manually-operated vehicle 100M and the automatically-operated vehicle 100A, which are general vehicles, are mixed.

  The road management system has a surveillance camera 3 and a wireless communication device 4 installed at a gate 2 at an entrance of a highway or a toll road. The gate 2 is, for example, an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) gate. Further, the road management system has a roadside wireless device (including the antenna unit 5 and the device body 6) installed on the main line of the road, and a road observation camera 7.

  The roadside wireless devices 5 and 6 are wireless communication equipment called ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) spots, and can perform wireless communication with the vehicles 100 by a DSRC (dedicated short range communication) method. In the present embodiment, both the manually-operated vehicle 100M and the automatically-operated vehicle 100A are equipped with vehicle-mounted devices that can wirelessly communicate with the roadside wireless devices 5 and 6. As will be described later, the manually-operated vehicle 100M is equipped with a vehicle-mounted camera that particularly images the front.

  The road observation camera 7 is a CCTV (closed circuit television) image pickup device, photographs the manually driven vehicle 100M or the automatically driven vehicle 100A traveling on the main line of the road, and captures the imaged data (image data) by wireless communication equipment. Send to the road management system. Here, the road observation camera 7 is installed adjacent to the roadside wireless devices 5 and 6, detects the characteristic amount of the vehicle (the autonomous driving vehicle 100A) located in the detection area 201 on the road, The image data is transmitted. The feature amount is a feature on the appearance of the vehicle as described later.

  The road management system according to the present embodiment includes, in addition to the above-described devices and equipment, a detection system 1 for an autonomous vehicle, which mainly includes a computer system. The detection system 1 has a feature amount database (DB) 10 for storing and registering feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A, as described later. Here, the feature amount is a feature amount related to the appearance of the vehicle (here, the autonomous driving vehicle 100A) such as the shape of the vehicle body, the color of the vehicle body, the mark added to the vehicle body, and the license plate. The feature amount DB 10 stores and registers feature amount information, which is a feature amount of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A, in particular.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration in which the detection system 1 for an automatically driving vehicle is a main part in the road management system of the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the detection system 1 includes a feature amount detection unit 11 that generates feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A and stores / registers it in the feature amount DB 10. Further, the detection system 1 has an information processing unit 12 of the autonomous driving vehicle. The information processing unit 12 processes information regarding the detection process of the autonomous driving vehicle.

  In the road management system, the detection system 1 of the present embodiment may be another system related to the conventional central system 20 or may be a configuration included in the central system 20. The central system 20 includes a VICS (registered trademark) central station that manages the roadside wireless devices 5 and 6, an ETC central station that manages the surveillance camera 3 and the wireless communication device 4 installed at the gate 2, and a road observation camera (CCTV). This is a configuration including a CCTV central station that manages the imaging device) 7.

  The ETC central station manages the vehicle type registration device 21 that reads vehicle type information from the ETC card 123 mounted on the autonomous driving vehicle 100A and the manually driving vehicle 100M. The vehicle type registration device 21 stores / registers the vehicle type information from the ETC card 123 in the vehicle type DB 22.

  In the present embodiment, the manually-operated vehicle 100M is an in-vehicle device other than an in-vehicle device capable of wireless communication, an in-vehicle camera 120 that captures a front 202, a detection device 121 that detects the autonomous driving vehicle 100A, and an ACC (Adaptive Cruise). Control) device 122 is installed. The ACC device 122 is a conventional constant speed traveling / inter-vehicle distance control device. The detection device 121 is configured by a computer as a main element, and analyzes image data of a vehicle located in front, which is captured by the vehicle-mounted camera 120, and detects a feature amount of the vehicle (here, the autonomous driving vehicle 100A). To do.

  Further, the detection device 121 of the manually-operated vehicle 100M collates the feature amount information with the feature amount information (information registered in the feature amount DB 10) acquired from the detection system 1 of the road management system, and locates at the front 202. It is determined whether the vehicle to be operated is the autonomous driving vehicle 100A. The ACC device 122 functions by, for example, a switch operated by a driver, and controls the manually-operated vehicle 100M to follow the automatically-operated vehicle 100A in front. By the follow-up control of the ACC device 122, the manually-operated vehicle 100M can perform the follow-up operation such that the manually-operated vehicle 100M keeps the inter-vehicle distance and runs at a constant speed with respect to the vehicle 100A in front.

  Hereinafter, the operation and effect of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 to 5.

  First, the operation of the feature amount registration processing of the autonomous driving vehicle will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the road management system communicates with the vehicle 100 passing through the ETC gate 2 at the entrance of a highway, for example, by the wireless communication device 4 to acquire the vehicle-mounted device information of the vehicle 100 (block 300). The vehicle-mounted device information of the vehicle 100 includes information recorded in the ETC card 123 and identification information of the vehicle 100 when the vehicle 100 is the autonomous driving vehicle 100A.

  When the road management system detects that it is the autonomous driving vehicle 100A based on the identification information included in the vehicle-mounted device information of the vehicle 100, the road management system notifies the ETC central station included in the central system 20 (Yes in block 301). Upon receiving this notification, the ETC central office photographs the appearance of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A using the surveillance camera 3 installed in the ETC gate 2 and sends the image (image data) to the detection system 1 of this embodiment. Send.

  In the detection system 1, the feature amount detection unit 11 generates feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A based on the image (image data) from the surveillance camera 3 and stores / registers it in the feature amount DB 10 (block 302). ). The characteristic amount information is information such as the shape of the vehicle body of the autonomous vehicle 100A, the color of the vehicle body, the mark added to the vehicle body, and the license plate. The feature amount information is registered in the feature amount DB 10 in association with the identification information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 2, in the road management system, the vehicle type registration device 21 records the vehicle type recorded in the ETC card 123 as the vehicle-mounted device information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A acquired by the wireless communication device 4. Information is stored / registered in the vehicle type DB 22.

  Next, a process of detecting an automatically driving vehicle among vehicles traveling on a road will be described.

  In FIG. 4, the autonomous driving vehicle 100A can perform wireless communication with the roadside wireless device 5 (6) such as an ITS spot on the main line such as an expressway after passing through the ETC gate 2. The roadside apparatus 5 (6) acquires the vehicle-mounted device information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A by wireless communication and transmits it to the detection system 1 of the road management system (block 400). The information processing unit 12 of the self-driving vehicle detects that it is the self-driving vehicle 100A based on the identification information included in the vehicle-mounted device information and the vehicle type information registered in the vehicle type DB 22 (Yes in block 401).

  When the detection system 1 detects that the vehicle is the autonomous driving vehicle 100A, the detection system 1 notifies the CCTV central station included in the central system 20. The CCTV central station that has received this notification uses the road observation camera (CCTV image pickup device) 7 adjacent to the roadside wireless device 5 (6) to automatically locate in the detection area 201 as shown in FIG. The driving vehicle 100A is imaged, and the image (image data) thereof is transmitted to the detection system 1.

  In the detection system 1, the feature amount detection unit 11 generates feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A based on the image (image data) from the CCTV image pickup device 7 (block 402). The characteristic amount information is information such as the shape of the vehicle body of the autonomous vehicle 100A, the color of the vehicle body, the mark added to the vehicle body, and the license plate. The feature amount detection unit 11 determines whether the feature amount information is registered in the feature amount DB 10 (block 403). If the determination result is not registered, the road management system determines that the autonomous driving vehicle 100A cannot be detected and ends the process (No in block 403).

  In the detection system 1, when the feature amount detection unit 11 determines that the feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A is registered in the feature amount DB 10, the information processing unit 12 detects the position of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A. , Generate its location information (block 404). That is, since the roadside wireless device 5 (6) on the main line is capable of wireless communication with a plurality of autonomous driving vehicles 100A, it is possible to determine in which lane the autonomous driving vehicle 100A to be communicated is traveling. I can't recognize. Therefore, the CCTV imaging device 7 adjacent to the roadside wireless device 5 (6) is used to capture an image of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A located in the detection area 201, and the image (registered in the feature amount DB 10 based on the image data). The autonomous driving vehicle 100A thus detected is detected, so that the autonomous driving vehicle 100A located in the detection area 201 can be recognized.

  The detection system 1, based on the position information generated by the information processing unit 12, sets characteristic amount information (information registered in the characteristic amount DB 10) of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A located in the detection area 201 to, for example, a roadside radio. Notification may be made via device 5 (6) (block 405). That is, as will be described later, the road management system of the present embodiment can perform the information providing process for notifying the manually-operated vehicle 100M that the automatically-operated vehicle 100A is traveling ahead.

  Next, the processing of the vehicle-mounted device of the manually-operated vehicle 100M following the automatically-operated vehicle 100A and the processing relating to the suppression of traffic congestion by the road management system will be described.

  As described above, the detection system 1 of the road management system detects the autonomous driving vehicle 100A located in the detection area 201 by wireless communication between the roadside wireless device 5 (6) and the autonomous driving vehicle 100A. In this case, the manually-operated vehicle 100M that follows the automatically-operated vehicle 100A is connected to the detection system 1 via wireless communication between the vehicle-mounted device and the roadside wireless device 5 (6).

  As shown in FIG. 5, the manually-operated vehicle 100M acquires the characteristic amount information of the automatically-operated vehicle 100A registered in the characteristic amount DB 10 from the detection system 1 by wireless communication with the roadside wireless device 5 (6) ( Block 500). That is, the detection device 121 of the manually driven vehicle 100M acquires the characteristic amount information of the automatically driven vehicle 100A traveling ahead. Further, the detection device 121 acquires image data of the image capturing range 202 obtained by capturing the image of the front autonomous driving vehicle 100A by the vehicle-mounted camera 120 of the manually driven vehicle 100M. The detection device 121 analyzes the acquired image data to detect the characteristic amount of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A ahead (block 501). This characteristic amount information is information such as the shape of the vehicle body of the autonomous vehicle 100A, the color of the vehicle body, the mark added to the vehicle body, and the license plate.

  The detection device 121 collates the characteristic amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A in the front acquired by the in-vehicle camera 120 with the characteristic amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A acquired from the characteristic amount DB 10 of the detection system 1, and the both match. (Block 502). Here, if the determination results do not match, the manually-operated vehicle 100M cannot detect the preceding vehicle as the registered automatically-operated vehicle 100A, and thus the process ends (No in block 502).

  When the determination result by the detection device 121 matches, and the manually-operated vehicle 100M detects the front autonomous driving vehicle 100A, the detection result is displayed to the driver on the display device of the vehicle-mounted device. Accordingly, the driver of the manually operated vehicle 100M operates the switch of the ACC device 122 to activate the ACC function (block 503). Accordingly, the manually-operated vehicle 100M can perform follow-up operation such that the manually-operated vehicle 100M follows the front-side automatically-operated vehicle 100A and the front-side automatically-operated vehicle 100A travels at a constant speed while maintaining the inter-vehicle distance.

  The ACC device 122 may cooperate with the detection device 121 to automatically start the follow-up control when the front autonomous driving vehicle 100A is detected. In this case, the driver of the manually driven vehicle 100M includes a configuration in which the switch of the ACC device 122 can be operated to disable the ACC function.

In this way, the manually-operated vehicle detects the automatically-operated vehicle and performs tracking, thereby making it possible to smooth the traffic flow on the entire road.
(Second embodiment)
In order to recommend the tracking operation (following operation) to the autonomous driving vehicle described above, it is considered that the incentives for the autonomous driving vehicle and the manually driven vehicle that has performed the tracking are more popular.

  The second embodiment is an embodiment to which an incentive is added. Note that the system configuration is similar to that of the first embodiment, so description will be omitted. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the second embodiment. Here, in FIG. 6, the processing of blocks 500 to 503 is the same as that of the first embodiment with reference to FIG.

  The manually operated vehicle 100M notifies the road management system of the duration of the follow-up control from the activation of the ACC function of the ACC device 122 to the stop thereof by wireless communication with the roadside wireless device 5 (6). Receiving this notification, the road management system recognizes that the manually driven vehicle 100M has traveled while being controlled to follow the front autonomous driving vehicle 100A for a certain time or longer (Yes in block 504). Based on this recognition, the road management system performs a particular service process (block 505).

  Specifically, the service process is a process of giving some incentive (points or the like) to the manually driven vehicle 100M that has traveled under follow-up control. Incentives (points, etc.) are considered to be, for example, discounts on highway usage fees, and discounts that can be used when purchasing goods or services in the service area (SA) or parking area (PA) installed on the highway. To be Incentives (points and the like) may be given to the manually-operated vehicle 100M as well as to the automatically-operated vehicle 100A traveling in front of the manually-operated vehicle 100M.

  As described above, according to the road management system of the present embodiment, firstly, for example, the autonomous driving vehicle 100A traveling on a highway is moved to a position (detection area 201) such as an ITS spot where the roadside wireless devices 5 and 6 are installed. ) Can be detected. In this case, the road observation camera (CCTV imaging device) 7 can be used to acquire the characteristic amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A at the position and register it in the characteristic amount DB 10. Therefore, the road management system can recognize the position of the self-driving vehicle 100A together with the characteristic amount information.

  Secondly, the feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle 100A can be provided at the position to the manually driving vehicle 100M that follows the detected autonomous driving vehicle 100A. If the manually-operated vehicle 100M is equipped with the detection device 121 that can acquire the feature amount information of the vehicle in front by using the vehicle-mounted camera 120, the manually-operated vehicle 100A can detect the vehicle 100A in front of the vehicle. In this case, the manually driven vehicle 100M does not need a special device for identifying the automatically driven vehicle 100A by wireless communication with the automatically driven vehicle 100A.

  Further, the manually-operated vehicle 100M can travel while being controlled to follow the detected automatically-operated vehicle 100A in front by mounting the ACC device 122. Therefore, so-called platooning that contributes to alleviation of traffic congestion can be realized. That is, when an automatically driving vehicle and a manually driving vehicle are traveling on the road together, stable traveling of both vehicles is possible and occurrence of traffic congestion can be avoided.

  Thirdly, the road management system can recognize the duration of the follow-up control by the ACC device 122, so that service processing such as giving incentives (points or the like) to both the manually driven vehicle 100M and the automatically driven vehicle 100A. Can be executed. As a result, it is possible to promote the formation of platooning that contributes to the alleviation of traffic congestion as described above.

  Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and the gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and the scope equivalent thereto.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Self-driving vehicle detection system, 2 ... Gate, 3 ... Surveillance camera, 4 ... Wireless communication device,
5, 6 ... Roadside wireless device (antenna unit and device body), 7 ... Road observation camera (CCTV),
10 ... Feature amount database (DB), 11 ... Feature amount detection unit,
12 ... Information processing unit of autonomous vehicle, 20 ... Central system, 21 ... Vehicle type registration device,
22 ... vehicle type DB, 23 ... ETC card,
100 ... vehicle, 100A ... automatic driving vehicle, 100M ... manual driving vehicle,
120 ... vehicle-mounted camera, 121 ... detection device, 122 ... ACC device.

Claims (7)

Image generation means for photographing a vehicle on the road and generating image data;
Recognition means for recognizing whether the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle,
When the recognition result of the recognizing means is an automatic driving vehicle, based on the image data generated by the image generating means, characteristic amount information generating means for generating characteristic amount information of the automatic driving vehicle,
A database that stores the feature amount information of the recognized automatic driving vehicle ,
For an in-vehicle device of a manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of following a vehicle traveling ahead, the feature amount information of the automatically-operated vehicle and information about the position of the automatically-operated vehicle stored in the database are displayed. Information providing means to be distributed by wireless communication ,
A manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of follow-up control with respect to a vehicle traveling ahead detects the automatically-driving vehicle based on the characteristic amount information distributed from the information providing unit, and detects the automatically-driving vehicle. A road management system comprising: a receiving unit that receives information indicating that the follow-up control is continued for a certain period of time from the in-vehicle device of the manually driven vehicle . The road management system according to claim 1 , further comprising a service processing unit that executes a service process for providing a service to the manually-operated vehicle based on the information indicating that the operation has continued for the predetermined time. The feature amount information generating means,
The road management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for generating feature amount information indicating any one of a shape of the vehicle, a color of the vehicle body, a mark added to the vehicle body, and a license plate as the feature amount of the autonomous driving vehicle. The recognition means is
The road management system according to claim 1, further comprising means for recognizing the autonomous driving vehicle by using one or both of the identification information and the image data acquired by wireless communication from the autonomous driving vehicle. An on-vehicle device for a vehicle, which is mounted on a vehicle having a function capable of following a vehicle traveling in front and exchanges information with a road management system by wireless communication,
A means for generating characteristic amount information indicating a characteristic amount of a vehicle traveling ahead, based on image data from a camera mounted on the vehicle;
An acquisition means for acquiring characteristic amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle from the road management system;
Detecting means for detecting that the vehicle traveling in front is an autonomous driving vehicle by collating each characteristic amount information ,
Means for transmitting, to the road management system, information indicating that the follow-up control for the self-driving vehicle is continued for a certain time when the self-driving vehicle traveling ahead is detected by the detecting means. In-vehicle device equipped. The acquisition means is
The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 5 , further comprising: a unit that receives the feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle, which is delivered when the autonomous vehicle located in front of the vehicle is detected by the road management system. A road management method applied to a road management system for managing a vehicle traveling on a road, comprising: a process of capturing an image of a vehicle traveling on the road to generate image data;
A process of recognizing whether the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle,
When the recognition result by the recognition process is an autonomous vehicle, a process of generating feature amount information of the autonomous vehicle based on the image data,
A process of storing the recognized feature amount information of the autonomous driving vehicle in a database,
For an in-vehicle device of a manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of following a vehicle traveling ahead, the feature amount information of the automatically-operated vehicle and information about the position of the automatically-operated vehicle stored in the database are displayed. The process of delivering by wireless communication ,
A manually-operated vehicle having a function capable of follow-up control with respect to a vehicle traveling ahead detects the automatically-driving vehicle based on the distributed characteristic amount information, and keeps the follow-up control for the automatically-driving vehicle constant. A road management method for executing a process of receiving information indicating that the time has continued from the in-vehicle device of the manually driven vehicle .