JP7154006B2 - Vehicle control device and vehicle control system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control system .

In recent years, vehicles (self-driving vehicles) have been developed that run independently while acquiring the surrounding conditions of the vehicle using various sensors such as cameras and lidars (LiDAR: Light Detection And Ranging) mounted on the vehicle.

Map data with accurate road information is required for this type of self-driving vehicle to run in self-driving mode (see Patent Document 1, for example). Accurate road information includes, for example, detailed position information such as road width, lanes, and signs.

Patent document 1 has a first map including node and link information, and a second map including information indicating the boundary of lanes and information indicating the center of the lane. Explore and generate an action plan for automated driving on a second map. It also describes comparing the information freshness of the first map and the second map to determine whether or not automatic driving can be implemented.

JP 2017-7572 A

In the invention described in Patent Document 1, since the first map and the second map are used for different purposes, it is assumed that the second map covers the same area as the first map. This second map is a highly accurate map and is used for control of automatic driving as described in Patent Document 1, so detailed information is required. However, it costs a lot of money to prepare high-precision maps for all parts of the country.

One example of the problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the cost of creating a map that can be used for automatic driving.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a map data structure of a map used for driving a vehicle, wherein the map includes a first area having road network data; and a second area having road network data with higher precision than the second area.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a system having a map data storage device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of the server device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a vehicle control device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 1 is a conventional network configuration diagram; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of connection between a first area and a second area; FIG. 6 is a connection relation table of connection portion C1 in FIG. 5 ; FIG. FIG. 6 is a connection relation table of connection portion C2 in FIG. 5 ; FIG.

A map data structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. A map data structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is composed of a first area having road network data and a second area having road network data with higher accuracy than the first area. By doing so, only the area in the map that requires high accuracy is designated as the second area, so that the cost of creating a map that can be used for automatic driving can be reduced.

It may also have connection data for connecting the first area and the second area. By doing so, the continuity can be maintained by connecting the first area and the second area.

Also, the connection data may include connection information between the terminal node of the first area and the terminal node of the second area. By doing so, the first region and the second region can be connected.

Also, the second area may be an area including at least an intersection. By doing so, it is possible to use a highly accurate map at an intersection where highly accurate control is considered necessary for automatic driving of an automated vehicle.

A map data storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention stores the map data structure described above. By doing so, the map data can be stored in a server device or the like that distributes the map data to the automatic driving vehicle or the like.

A map data structure and a map data storage device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the server device 1 can communicate with the vehicle control device 3 mounted on the automatically driven vehicle C via a network N such as the Internet.

FIG. 2 shows the functional configuration of the server device 1 as a map data storage device. The server device 1 includes a control section 11 , a communication section 12 and a storage section 13 .

The control unit 11 functions as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the server device 1 and controls the entire server device 1 . In response to a request from the vehicle control device 3 , the control unit 11 reads map data of a required area from the map data 13 a stored in the storage unit 13 and distributes it to the vehicle control device 3 via the communication unit 12 .

The communication unit 12 functions as a network interface or the like of the server device 1 and receives request information or the like output by the vehicle control device 3 . Also, the map data read from the map data 13 a by the control unit 11 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 3 .

The storage unit 13 functions as a storage device such as a hard disk of the server device 1, and stores map data 13a. Details of the map data 13a will be described later.

An automatically driven vehicle C includes a vehicle control device 3 and a sensor 4 . The vehicle control device 3 autonomously drives (automatically drives) the automatically driven vehicle C based on the results detected by the sensor 4 and the map data 33a that the vehicle control device 3 has.

FIG. 3 shows the functional configuration of the vehicle control device 3. As shown in FIG. The vehicle control device 3 includes a control section 31 , a communication section 32 and a storage section 33 .

The control unit 31 controls the steering wheel, accelerator, brakes, etc. of the automatically driven vehicle C based on the results detected by the sensor 4 and the map data 33a stored in the storage unit 33, so that the automatically driven vehicle C runs autonomously. . That is, the detection result (recognition result) of the sensor 4 as the external world recognition unit is obtained. Also, the server device 1 is requested via the communication unit 32 to distribute the map data of the area to be the travel route, and the map data distributed from the server device 1 is stored in the storage unit 33 as the map data 33a.

The communication unit 32 transmits request information and the like output by the control unit 31 to the server device 1 . It also receives map data distributed from the server device 1 .

The storage unit 33 as a map data storage device stores map data 33a. The map data 33a is a map containing information to the extent that the automatically driven vehicle C can autonomously travel.

The map data 33a will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. The map data 13a also have the same configuration. FIG. 4 shows a network (road network) in a map used in a conventionally known navigation device or the like. In FIG. 4, it is composed of nodes N01 to N08 and links connecting each node. These nodes are configured as a node table including, for example, node IDs, coordinate points, the number of connecting links, connecting link IDs, and the like. A link is configured as a link table including, for example, a node ID connected as a start point, a node ID connected as an end point, road width information, the number of lanes, and the like.

The map data 33a is basically a road network in which the links shown in FIG. 4 are not individually divided into up and down lines and lanes. It is not a single node such as node N02 or node N03, but a more detailed and highly accurate lane network as shown in FIG. Here, the lane network increases the amount of information contained by detailing the links of the road network to the unit of lane as described above. Therefore, the lane network is a subordinate concept included in the road network. That is, the areas A and B in FIG. 4 are the second areas with the improved precision, and the areas other than the areas A and B are the first areas. Although the area A will be described below as the second area, the same applies to the area B as well.

FIG. 5 shows the network configuration of area A as an example of the second area, which is a highly accurate road network. As shown in FIG. 5, the area A is an intersection of two-lane two-way roads, and right-turn lanes are provided on the roads extending in the horizontal direction in FIG. Within the area A, as indicated by symbols a to ab in FIG. 5, for example, lane branching points and intersection points are defined as nodes. Therefore, within the area A, the nodes and links constitute a network that is more subdivided than the road network shown in FIG. Similar to the first area, these network configurations may be configured as node tables, link tables, and the like. may include items that are not in the first area of .

Furthermore, the data held as the second area may include information on features existing on the road that are not included in the first area. The features existing on the road are, for example, signboards, buildings, traffic lights, poles, utility poles, and the like. This information may also be configured as a table, and a plurality of feature IDs may be associated with the name of the feature, the coordinate point sequence indicating the outline of the feature, the node ID where the feature exists, and the like. . Such information is also information that the second area has as a result of higher precision.

Here, the first region and the second region (region A) can be connected as shown by the connection portions C1 to C4 shown in FIG. The connecting portion C1 is a case where the first area has no links for each of the up and down lines and lanes. A connecting portion C1 is a connection example of a link between the node N01 and the node N02 in FIG. In this case, nodes are provided at the end of the link in the first area and the end of the link in the second area (area A), respectively, and a new link is provided to connect them. In the case of the connection portion C1, since there is one link on the first area side, a node N02_N1 is provided at the end thereof. On the other hand, on the second area side, there are four links corresponding to up/down lines and lanes, so nodes N02_L1 to N02_L4 are provided at the respective ends. Since the node N02_N1 and the nodes N02_L1 to N02_L4 are nodes for connection, the newly provided links connecting these nodes are for convenience, and it is sufficient if the connection relationship of each node can be understood. .

The connection relationship of these nodes can be represented by the table shown in FIG. 6, for example. The table shown in FIG. 6 defines arbitrarily determined lane link IDs, and the start node and end node for each lane link ID. For example, the lane link ID C1_L1 defines the node N02_N1 on the first area side as the starting point and the node N02_L1 on the second area side as the ending point. That is, the table shown in FIG. 6 becomes connection data for connecting the first area and the second area.

Next, the connecting portion C2 in FIG. 5 is a case where the first area has links for each up and down line but no link for each lane. A connecting portion C2 is a connection example of a link between the node N02 and the node N06 in FIG. It is assumed that the node N06 in this case is divided into a node N06_1 and a node N06_2 by dividing into an upper and a lower line. In the case of this connection portion C2, as in the case of the connection portion C1, nodes are provided at the end of the link in the first area and the end of the link in the second area, respectively, and a new link is provided to connect them. In the case of the connecting portion C2, since there are two links in total on the first area side, the nodes N02_N61 and N02_N62 are provided at the respective ends. On the other hand, on the second area side, there are four links corresponding to up/down lines and lanes, so nodes N02_L5 to N02_L8 are provided at the respective ends.

The connection portion C2 can also be basically represented by a table in the same manner as in FIG. The connection relationship of the connection portion C2 is shown in the table of FIG. The table in FIG. 7 consists of items similar to those in FIG.

In addition to the above, if the link connecting the first area and the second area does not match, such as when there is a link for each lane only for uphill but no downlink, the procedure is the same as in the tables shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 above. to create a table and generate connection data.

That is, the map data structure according to this embodiment has a configuration as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7. FIG.

In addition, if the links are configured by dividing the first area side into up and down lines or lanes, and if the configuration of the lanes of the links in the second area is the same as that of the links in the second area, they can be connected as they are (connection portion C3, connection portion C4 ). Alternatively, even if the first area does not have links for each up/down line or lane, the links or nodes on the first area side can be connected to the second area based on the number of lanes or the like contained in the link table or the like. The connection may be made after performing preprocessing such as generation.

According to this embodiment, the map data 13a is composed of a first area, and areas A and B, which are second areas that are lane network data with higher accuracy than the first area. there is By doing so, only the area in the map that requires high accuracy is designated as the second area, so that the cost of creating a map that can be used for automatic driving can be reduced.

Also, the second area is an area including at least an intersection. By doing so, it is possible to use a highly accurate map at an intersection where highly accurate control is considered necessary for automatic driving of an automated vehicle.

Further, it has the tables shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as connection data for connecting the first area and the second area. The tables shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 contain connection information between the terminal node of the first area and the terminal node of the second area. By doing so, the continuity can be maintained by connecting the first area and the second area.

Further, the server device 1 and the vehicle control device 3 store the map data 13a described above. By doing so, the map data can be stored in a server device or the like that distributes the map data 13a to the automatic driving vehicle or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the second area is the area around the intersection, but it may be only the area around the intersection, or it may be an area including node b and node aa, which are branch points, as shown in FIG. . Moreover, it is good also as the area|region of the range of fixed distance, such as how many meters, from an intersection. Further, by appropriately selecting these area setting methods for each intersection, a plurality of area setting methods may be mixed as map data.

In addition, the second area is not limited to intersections, but also areas where there are confluences and branches such as junctions of expressways, areas where it is difficult to acquire signals for recognizing the current position from the outside such as GPS (Global Positioning System), urban areas , busy streets, commercial facilities, and other areas with heavy traffic and pedestrian traffic, and parking lots and other areas that require complex driving control.

Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. That is, those skilled in the art can carry out various modifications according to conventionally known knowledge without departing from the gist of the present invention. As long as it still has the map data structure of the present invention even with such modification, it is of course included in the scope of the present invention.

1 server device (map data storage device)
3 Vehicle control device (map data storage device)
13a Map data (map data structure)
33 storage unit (map data storage device)
33a Map data (map data structure)
A, B area (second area)

Claims (4)

a storage unit for storing map data of a map used for driving the vehicle;
a control unit that drives the vehicle based on the map data stored in the storage unit;
The map data is
a first region having road network data;
a second area having lane network data obtained by refining the road network data of the first area into lane units ;
and connection data for connecting the first area and the second area,
The first area is an area other than the second area on the map ,
The connection data is
a first area side node provided corresponding to the node at the terminal end of the first area;
a second area side node provided corresponding to the node at the terminal end of the second area;
a link connecting the first area side node and the second area side node;
When a plurality of said second area side nodes corresponding to one said first area side node are set, said link is for each of said one said first area side node and said plurality of said second area side nodes. A vehicle control device comprising a plurality of lane links connecting to and from each other . 2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the second area is an area including at least an intersection. the second area includes information about features existing on roads of the map;
3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the first area does not contain information about the feature. a vehicle control device for running a vehicle;
a server device that stores map data of a map and can communicate with the vehicle control device;
The vehicle control device includes:
a communication unit that acquires the map data from the server device ;
a control unit that drives the vehicle based on the map data acquired by the communication unit;
The map data is
a first region having road network data;
a second area having lane network data obtained by refining the road network data of the first area into lane units ;
and connection data for connecting the first area and the second area,
The first area is an area other than the second area on the map ,
The connection data is
a first area side node provided corresponding to the node at the terminal end of the first area;
a second area side node provided corresponding to the node at the terminal end of the second area;
a link connecting the first area side node and the second area side node;
When a plurality of said second area side nodes corresponding to one said first area side node are set, said link is for each of said one said first area side node and said plurality of said second area side nodes. A vehicle control system comprising a plurality of lane links connecting to and from .

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