JP7223838B2 - Information providing device, program and information providing method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information providing device, a program, and an information providing method for sharing information between vehicles, for example.

A system called intelligent transport system (ITS) has been proposed and is being put to practical use, in which communication is performed between vehicles or between a vehicle and an antenna or the like on the road. As one application of such a function, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system has been proposed that provides road surface information to vehicles approaching the own vehicle (see Patent Document 1). According to Patent Document 1, in right turn accident support processing, a moving object is detected by itself based on position information of the own vehicle, position information of the moving object received from another vehicle via a wireless device, and information of the other vehicle. A judgment is made as to whether or not there is a risk factor for the vehicle, and a warning is output according to the judgment result.

JP 2007-310457 A (summary)

In Patent Literature 1, vehicle-to-vehicle communication is used, and the processing load on each vehicle is large on roads with heavy traffic. Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200000, right turn determination is performed based on whether the vehicle is in the right turn lane or the blinker is activated. In a four-wheeled vehicle, when the turn signal is activated and the turn is completed, the turn signal is automatically canceled. However, in motorcycles, the blinkers are often left in operation unless the driver actively performs a cancel operation. For this reason, it is possible for a motorcycle to go straight through an intersection even when the turn signal is on. In such a case, it is assumed that a vehicle that is about to turn right at the intersection will see the blinker operated by the oncoming two-wheeled vehicle, determine that there is no vehicle going straight, and attempt to turn right.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to improve traffic safety by accurately detecting a vehicle traveling straight ahead and a vehicle crossing the course of the vehicle traveling straight ahead.

According to one aspect of the invention,
a first vehicle entering an intersection based on the state information; and a second vehicle entering the intersection from a direction opposite to the first vehicle. a recognition means for recognizing the presence of the vehicle;
The first vehicle goes straight and the second vehicle crosses the oncoming lane based on the operation state of the direction indicator including the operation of the direction indicator and the operation state of the direction indicator included in the state information. a determination means for determining a turn;
When it is determined that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane, at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle is warned to prevent another vehicle from approaching. and an informing means for informing the possibility,
When the determination means determines that the direction indicator is not operating based on the state information received from the first vehicle and determines that the direction indicator has been left off, determining that the first vehicle goes straight,
The determining means further determines, based on the state information received from the first vehicle and the second vehicle, that the turn signal of the first vehicle is not activated and that the second vehicle is in an oncoming lane. when the direction indicator of the second vehicle is turned off, the first vehicle proceeds straight, The information providing device is characterized in that it is determined that the second vehicle turns in a direction crossing the oncoming lane.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, a straight vehicle and the vehicle crossing the course of a straight vehicle can be detected with high precision, and traffic safety can be improved more.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, the same or similar configurations are given the same reference numerals.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
1 is a control block diagram of a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. The figure which shows an example of the traffic safety system of embodiment. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the blinker forgetting-off determination. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for judging whether vehicles are approaching each other; FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing a procedure for displaying a warning by a vehicle that has received a notification;

An information providing system including a vehicle and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description, vehicles include four-wheeled vehicles and two-wheeled vehicles. Both four-wheeled vehicles and two-wheeled vehicles are vehicles equipped with power units. This information providing system monitors the positional relationship between a straight-ahead vehicle at an intersection and a vehicle crossing the traveling direction of the straight-ahead vehicle (for example, a right-turning vehicle in a left-hand traffic environment), and notifies the vehicle. By doing so, the safety at the intersection is further improved.

●Communication system FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, vehicle 201 is a two-wheeled vehicle and vehicle 202 is a four-wheeled vehicle. This is an example, and both may be two-wheeled vehicles, or both may be four-wheeled vehicles. Each vehicle can communicate with a server 211 via an antenna unit (simply called an antenna) 210 fixedly installed near the road or underground. Antenna unit 210 has a certain coverage and can communicate with vehicles therein. The antenna unit 210 is provided in the vicinity of the intersection in this example, and covers a range centered on the intersection according to its output. The configuration of the server 211 may be a general server, and includes a control unit 2111 including a processor and a storage unit 2112, for example. This server 211 functions as an information providing device for the vehicle. The server 211 also has a communication unit for communicating with the client vehicle.

●Configuration of Information Providing Device FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a control unit including a control unit 101 mounted on a vehicle 201 or the like. Although the vehicle 201 will be described below as an example, other vehicles such as the vehicle 202 that communicate with the vehicle 201 are similar. The vehicle 201 also has a power unit such as an engine and a drive system such as gears, but only the configuration related to the present embodiment will be described here. In FIG. 1, a control unit 101 controls the entire configuration shown in FIG. The control unit 101 includes, for example, a processor and memory, and by executing a program, can communicate with the server 211 and other vehicles, and display map information, warnings, and the like. The vehicle 201 includes various devices and sensors that detect the position of the vehicle 201 and the operating state of the direction indicator. The state detected by a sensor or the like or the operation state of various devices is transmitted to the server 211, and in the present embodiment, the server 211 recognizes vehicles whose paths may intersect at an intersection.

The vehicle 201 includes a direction indicator (blinker) 111 and a brake 112 as devices. These devices include an active portion for actually performing display and braking, and a control portion such as an ECU for controlling them, which are simply shown in FIG. Sensors include, for example, a velocity sensor 113, an acceleration sensor 114, an orientation sensor 115, and the like. The acceleration sensor 114 is desirably capable of measuring linear accelerations at least about two longitudinal and lateral axes of the vehicle. The azimuth sensor 115 is a sensor that detects an azimuth, and may use a sensor possessed by the navigation unit 140, which will be described later.

The control unit 101 transmits state information detected by various sensors and the operating state of the device to the server 211 via the wireless communication unit 130 . Wireless communication unit 130 transmits and receives signals to and from other vehicles 202 and 203 and to and from server 211 via antenna 210 in accordance with a predetermined standard. The transmitted and received signals include the state detected by the vehicle and the operating state (collectively referred to as state information) to the server 211 . Under the control of the control unit 101, the wireless communication unit 130 periodically broadcasts the state information, for example. Antennas 210 within range receive and forward the status information to server 211 .

The navigation unit 140 detects the current position of the vehicle 201 by the position detection unit 141 and displays, for example, a map for guidance to a set destination on the user interface unit 160 . The position detection unit 141 includes, for example, a GPS device, and can detect the current position. Other sensors may be used as long as they can detect the current position. The storage unit 150 stores various information such as information received from the server and information 151 for forgetting to turn off the blinker generated by the vehicle 201, programs, and the like. In this embodiment, non-volatile storage devices are used to store information.

The user interface unit 160 is composed of operation switches and a display unit (including a touch panel, etc.), and is also called an operation unit. In addition to various information, the navigation unit 140 can display maps and the like. Furthermore, a desired mark or the like can be displayed by superimposing it on the map.

● Turn Signal Failure Determining Process With the configuration shown in FIG. Here, one of the state information transmitted to the server 211 is information 151 on forgetting to turn off the blinker. Blinker forget-to-turn-off information 151 is generated based on other state information. The generation process is executed by the control unit 101 of the vehicle 201 in this embodiment, but may be executed by the control unit 2111 of the server 211 . In this embodiment, the procedure of FIG. 3 is executed in response to turning on the blinker to either the left or the right.

First, the control unit 101 acquires information on the direction in which the vehicle is facing (direction information), speed information, and acceleration information from the direction sensor 115, and stores them (S301). Next, it is determined whether the vehicle is currently stopped by referring to the speed information (S302). If the vehicle 201 is not in a stopped state, the azimuth information is obtained again to specify the traveling direction of the vehicle 201 itself ( S303 ). Then, the direction stored in step S301 at the time of turning on the blinker is compared with the current traveling direction identified in step S303 (S305). If the difference between the two directions exceeds a predetermined angle, it is determined that the cornering is completed. The predetermined angle may be, for example, 45 degrees in each of the left and right directions. It should be noted that the determination of completion of cornering by turning on the blinker may be performed based on acceleration information, for example. By periodically measuring the acceleration of the vehicle 201 and integrating it to identify the velocity vector, the direction of the vehicle can be identified. You may judge based on the transition of this direction.

Next, the process branches to step S307, and it is determined whether or not the blinkers have been turned off within a predetermined time after branching to step S307, that is, within a predetermined time after it is determined that cornering has been completed (S307, S309). . If the operation to turn off the blinker is not performed even after a predetermined time has passed since the cornering was completed, the blinker forget-to-turn-off information 151 is set (for example, turned on) (S310). On the other hand, if the operation to turn off the blinker is performed within a predetermined time after the cornering is completed, the blinker forget-to-turn-off information 151 is canceled (for example, turned off) (S311). In this way, when the blinker is forgotten to be turned off, the blinker turn-off information is set.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that the vehicle is stopped, it is determined whether the vehicle has started by referring to the acceleration information (S304). If it is determined that the vehicle has started, the process branches to step S307. In step S307, after branching to step S307, that is, after it is determined that the vehicle has started, it is determined whether the operation to turn off the blinkers has been performed within a predetermined time. The following is as explained. When an operation to turn off the blinker is performed, step S311 is executed regardless of the timing, and the blinker forget-to-turn-off information 151 is canceled.

By the above processing, even if the blinker is left to be turned off, it is possible to determine that the turn signal is left to be turned off, and to store the information indicating that the turn signal is left to be turned off. The blinker forgetting to turn off information set in this way indicates that the operation of the blinkers, which should be stopped after cornering is completed or after starting the vehicle, continues without being stopped. The blinker forgotten information is generated by the vehicle 201 and transmitted to the server 211 via the antenna 210 together with other state information such as the vehicle position, direction, speed, and blinker operation state. It should be noted that when the procedure of FIG. 3 is executed by the server 211, it must be executed for each vehicle. In addition, it is necessary to continuously obtain state information of each vehicle. If such a condition is satisfied, by executing the process of FIG. Further, in step S310, the driver may be notified of the possibility of forgetting to turn off the turn signal by, for example, displaying a display indicating that the turn signal has been left off.

●Approach Determination Processing FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure for determining whether or not a vehicle can approach an intersection, which is executed by the control unit 2111 of the server 211 . The procedure of FIG. 4 detects the possibility of proximity between a straight-ahead vehicle and a vehicle crossing its direction of travel (for example, a right-turning vehicle) at an intersection. Here, it is assumed that the position (coordinates, for example) of the intersection is known in advance. It is assumed that there is only one intersection of interest. When processing multiple intersections, the procedure in FIG. 4 may be executed in parallel for each intersection. It is also assumed that the server 211 can use at least the map information of the vicinity including the intersection of interest. First, in FIG. 4, among the state information received from each vehicle, position information, direction information, speed information, blinker information, etc. are acquired (S401). Since antenna 210 can receive information from multiple vehicles, step S401 is also executed for each of the multiple vehicles.

Next, based on the position, direction, and speed of each vehicle received from the vehicles, a group of vehicles whose traveling directions face each other and which enter the intersection of interest (hereinafter simply referred to as an intersection) at the same time is specified (S403). ). In order to simplify the processing, a set of one each is used here. Of course, one vehicle may enter the intersection at the same time as a plurality of oncoming vehicles. In such a case, the processing of FIG. 4 is performed in parallel for each pair. The target vehicle may be, for example, a vehicle within a certain distance from the center of the intersection. The fixed distance may be, for example, 100 to 300 meters, but of course an appropriate value may be determined according to, for example, the average speed. For example, from the position and direction received from the vehicle by the antenna 210, identify the vehicle traveling on the road that constitutes the intersection, predict the arrival time to the intersection from the position and speed, and estimate the time difference within a predetermined time difference range. If the two vehicles are equal within each other and their traveling directions are opposite to each other, they can be identified as vehicles that pass each other at the intersection. Once the target vehicle has been specified, it is determined in step S405 whether such a vehicle group has been found.

If it is determined in step S405 that there is a group of vehicles facing each other, it is determined whether the vehicle operating the turn signal is erroneously operating the turn signal, or more specifically, whether the turn signal has been turned off (S407). Whether or not the blinker is left to be turned off is determined based on turn signal turn-off information received from the vehicle. If there is a vehicle determined to have forgotten to turn off the blinker, the vehicle is re-identified as a straight vehicle (S409) even if it is determined to turn right or left based on the operating state of the blinker. On the other hand, if there is no group of vehicles facing each other in step S405, the process ends. If it is determined in step S407 that the blinker has not been left out, the process branches to step S410.

In step S410, it is determined whether one of the pair of opposing vehicles is a vehicle going straight and the other is a vehicle that may cross the traveling direction. Whether to go straight through the intersection or turn in one direction is determined based on the operating state of the blinker included in the received state information, in principle. However, exceptionally, in step S409, the vehicle judged to have forgotten to turn off the blinker is treated as a straight vehicle. In step S410, it is determined that a vehicle entering the intersection from one direction is a vehicle going straight, and a vehicle entering the intersection from the other direction is a vehicle crossing the traveling direction of the oncoming vehicle going straight. For example, if vehicles drive on the left side as in Japan, a vehicle turning right while facing a vehicle traveling straight will cross the traveling direction of the opposing vehicle traveling straight. Therefore, if one of the oncoming vehicles is going straight and the turn signal of the other vehicle is lit to indicate a right turn, it is determined that there is a vehicle crossing the oncoming lane. If the vehicle is driving on the right side, one of the oncoming vehicles is going straight, and if the blinker of the other vehicle is lit to indicate a left turn, it is determined that there is a vehicle crossing the oncoming lane.

If it is determined in step S410 that one of the vehicles is going straight and the other is crossing the oncoming lane, a notification of the presence of the crossing vehicle is sent to the vehicle going straight (S411), and the direction of travel of the vehicle going straight ( That is, a notification of the presence of a straight-ahead vehicle is transmitted to vehicles crossing the oncoming lane (S413). As a result, a warning can be given to vehicles approaching at the intersection. Note that the notification may be made to one of the vehicles. In that case, in step S413, it is desirable to notify the vehicle crossing the traveling direction of the oncoming vehicle traveling straight ahead.

With the above procedure, it is possible to determine whether a vehicle passing through an intersection is in a relationship of going straight or crossing with an oncoming vehicle, and notifying the vehicle when the relationship is established. In step S409, the vehicle may be re-identified as a straight-ahead vehicle only when an additional condition is further satisfied. For example, consider a situation in which one vehicle operates a blinker that turns in a direction that crosses the traveling direction of a straight-ahead vehicle, and the opposite vehicle does not operate the blinker. In this case, if the vehicle operating the blinker is regarded as a straight vehicle, the vehicles will pass each other and the warning will not be issued. Therefore, in step S409, if the vehicle facing the vehicle of interest is a vehicle traveling straight (including a vehicle that is regarded as a vehicle traveling straight due to forgetting to turn off the blinker), the vehicle of interest is allowed to proceed straight even if the blinker forgetting information is set. don't count it as a car. In addition, if the intersection indicated by the map information is an intersection with a dedicated lane that crosses the oncoming vehicle going straight, whether or not the vehicle turns at the intersection depends on whether the vehicle is in the dedicated lane. It may be determined that the vehicle crosses the oncoming lane.

Next, a processing procedure by the vehicle, especially the control unit 101, which has received the notification transmitted in steps S411 and S412 will be described. When the notification is received, a warning image corresponding to the notification is displayed on the user interface unit 160 (S501). At the same time, voice may be output from a speaker. While continuing to output images and/or sounds, it is determined whether the vehicle has passed through the intersection based on the current position of the vehicle (S503, S505). For example, if the center of the intersection moves behind the vehicle position, it can be determined that the intersection has been passed. When the vehicle has passed through the intersection, the output of the image and/or sound being output is stopped (S507).

With the above procedure, it is possible to alert the driver of the vehicle going straight and the vehicle crossing the direction of travel. In this way, the information providing system of the present embodiment monitors the positional relationship between a straight vehicle at an intersection and a vehicle crossing the direction of travel of the straight vehicle (for example, a right-turning vehicle in a left-hand traffic environment), and notifies the vehicle. output. By doing so, the safety at the intersection can be further improved.

The above embodiments are summarized as follows.
(1) According to the first aspect of the present invention,
receiving means for receiving state information indicating the state of the vehicle from the vehicle;
recognition means for recognizing the presence of a first vehicle entering an intersection and a second vehicle entering the intersection from a direction facing the first vehicle, based on the state information;
determining means for determining, based on the state information, that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane;
When it is determined that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane, at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle is warned to prevent another vehicle from approaching. and an informing means for informing the possibility,
If the determination means determines that the direction indicator is not operating or that the direction indicator has been forgotten to be turned off based on the state information received from the first vehicle, the first vehicle Provided is an information providing device characterized by determining that a is going straight.
With this configuration, a vehicle traveling straight ahead and a vehicle crossing the course of the vehicle traveling straight ahead can be detected with high accuracy and notified to the driver, thereby further improving traffic safety.

(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention,
The information providing device of (1),
When the state information received from the first vehicle includes information indicating that the direction indicator has been left off, the determining means determines that the first vehicle is going straight. There is provided an information providing device characterized by:
With this configuration, it is possible to use the determination result of the erroneous operation of the direction indicator performed by the vehicle, and to distribute the load.

(3) According to the third aspect of the present invention,
The information providing device according to (1),
The determining means determines that none of the status information received from the first vehicle since the first vehicle last turned around the intersection includes information indicating that the turn signal is not activated. In this case, there is provided an information providing device characterized by determining that the first vehicle will go straight.
With this configuration, it is possible to easily and rationally determine whether the direction indicator malfunctions.

(4) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention,
The information providing device according to any one of (1) to (3),
The determining means, based on the state information received from the second vehicle, determines that the direction indicator indicates that the second vehicle will turn in a direction to cross the oncoming lane. Provided is an information providing device characterized by determining to cross an oncoming lane.
According to the present invention, the direction of travel can be determined by the operating state of the direction indicator, and the determination can be performed by a vehicle other than the own vehicle.

(5) According to the fifth aspect of the present invention,
The information providing device according to any one of (1) to ( 4 ),
The information providing device is provided, wherein the notifying means notifies at least the second vehicle of the possibility of approaching another vehicle.
With this configuration, it is possible to notify the presence of a vehicle with a high priority to a vehicle with a low priority with respect to vehicles traveling straight ahead.

(6) According to the sixth aspect of the present invention,
A program is provided for causing a computer to function as the information providing apparatus according to any one of (1) to (5).
With this configuration, the computer can determine whether a vehicle is traveling straight or a vehicle crossing the lane, and can notify the driver of the determination result.

(7) According to the seventh aspect of the present invention,
receiving state information indicating the state of the vehicle from the vehicle;
recognizing the presence of a first vehicle entering an intersection and a second vehicle entering the intersection from a direction facing the first vehicle, based on the state information;
Based on the state information, determining that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane;
When it is determined that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane, at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle is warned to prevent another vehicle from approaching. inform the possibility of
In the determination, if it is determined based on the state information received from the first vehicle that the direction indicator is not operating or that the direction indicator has been left off, the first vehicle Provided is an information providing method characterized by determining to go straight.
With this configuration, when it is determined that there is no possibility of approaching even if the direction indicator is activated, the possibility of approaching is not notified, thereby eliminating the notification when the possibility of approaching is low. can reduce the annoyance of Furthermore, by determining an erroneous operation by the driver, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the notification.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, to publicize the scope of the invention, the following claims are included.

Claims (8)

receiving means for receiving state information indicating the state of the vehicle from the vehicle;
recognition means for recognizing the presence of a first vehicle entering an intersection and a second vehicle entering the intersection from a direction facing the first vehicle, based on the state information;
The first vehicle goes straight and the second vehicle turns in a direction to cross the oncoming lane based on the operation of the turn signals and the operation state of the turn signals including the failure to turn off the turn signals included in the state information. a determination means for determining that
When it is determined that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane, at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle is warned to prevent another vehicle from approaching. and an informing means for informing the possibility,
When the determination means determines that the direction indicator is not operating based on the state information received from the first vehicle and determines that the direction indicator has been left off, , determining that the first vehicle goes straight,
The determining means further determines, based on the state information received from the first vehicle and the second vehicle, that the turn signal of the first vehicle is not activated and that the second vehicle is in an oncoming lane. when the direction indicator of the second vehicle is turned off, the first vehicle proceeds straight, The information providing device, wherein it is determined that the second vehicle turns in a direction crossing the oncoming lane. The information providing device according to claim 1,
When the state information received from the first vehicle includes information indicating that the direction indicator has been left off, the determining means determines that the first vehicle is going straight. An information providing device characterized by: The information providing device according to claim 1,
The determining means determines that none of the status information received from the first vehicle since the first vehicle last turned around the intersection includes information indicating that the turn signal is not activated. , the information providing device determines that the first vehicle is going straight ahead. The information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The determining means, based on the state information received from the second vehicle, determines that the direction indicator indicates that the second vehicle will turn in a direction to cross the oncoming lane. An information providing device characterized by determining that the oncoming lane is crossed. The information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The information providing device, wherein the notification means notifies at least the second vehicle of the possibility of approaching another vehicle. The information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The recognition means is characterized by recognizing the presence of the second vehicle entering the intersection at the same time as the first vehicle, based on the position, direction and speed of the vehicle included in the state information. Information provider. A program for causing a computer to function as the information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. An information providing method executed by an information processing apparatus having receiving means, recognition means, determination means, and notification means,
The receiving means receives state information indicating the state of the vehicle from the vehicle,
The recognition means recognizes the presence of a first vehicle entering an intersection and a second vehicle entering the intersection from a direction facing the first vehicle, based on the state information;
The determination means determines whether the first vehicle is traveling straight and the second vehicle is in the oncoming lane, based on the operation state of the turn signals including the operation of the turn signals and the state of operation of the turn signals including failure to turn off, which is included in the state information. to make a decision to turn in a direction that crosses the
When the informing means determines that the first vehicle is going straight and the second vehicle is turning in a direction to cross the oncoming lane, at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle is instructed to Notify the possibility of approaching the vehicle,
If the determination means determines that the direction indicator is not operating or that the direction indicator has been forgotten to be turned off based on the state information received from the first vehicle, the first vehicle is determined to go straight,
The determining means further determines, based on the state information received from the first vehicle and the second vehicle, that the turn signal of the first vehicle is not activated and that the second vehicle is in an oncoming lane. when the direction indicator of the second vehicle is turned off, the first vehicle proceeds straight, The method of providing information, wherein it is determined that the second vehicle turns in a direction crossing the oncoming lane.

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