JP7310597B2 - Vehicle control system and vehicle control device - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control system and a vehicle control device used in the vehicle control system.

For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-100002, a vehicle control device positioned above the powertrain ECU, chassis ECU, body ECU, and infotainment ECU as functional domain ECUs controls a vehicle mode ( starting/sudden acceleration mode, constant high speed driving mode, acceleration/deceleration driving mode in urban areas, charging mode when stopped, etc.), and depending on the vehicle mode, each functional domain ECU and sub-domain ECU control the control target. Furthermore, management of resources (such as energy) provided to each functional domain ECU and abnormality management based on behavior abnormality of the controlled object are described.

JP 2010-241298 A

Here, vehicles traveling on public roads include various vehicles. For example, some vehicles have a relatively high capability of the vehicle control device and can execute various behavior controls with the vehicle control device of the own vehicle, while the capability of the vehicle control device is relatively low and the vehicle control device of the own vehicle has a relatively low capability. There are also vehicles that can only perform the minimum necessary behavior control. In the technique described in Patent Document 1, the vehicle control device installed in each vehicle only manages the behavior control of the corresponding vehicle. It is difficult to control properly.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above points, and provides a vehicle control system capable of appropriately controlling the operation of each vehicle having vehicle control devices with different levels of capability, and the vehicle control system. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device used in the system.

In order to achieve the above object, in the vehicle control system according to the present disclosure, a management center (100) and vehicle control devices (10a, 20a) mounted on vehicles (10, 20) are connected via wireless communication, to control the vehicle in cooperation with each other,
The management center determines, based on the capabilities of the vehicle control device, the content of processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device when performing control for causing the vehicle to execute a target operation,
The management center and the vehicle control device cooperate with each other to execute the processes assigned to each other according to the determined allocation of the processes, thereby causing the vehicle to perform the target operation.
The capability of the vehicle control device is configured to be stratified based on at least one of the processing capability of the microcomputer of the vehicle control device, the version of the OS of the microcomputer, and the communication speed of the network outside and/or inside the vehicle. be.

Further, the vehicle control device (10a, 20a) according to the present disclosure is connected to the management center (100) via wireless communication and cooperates to control the vehicle (10, 20),
When the management center controls the vehicle to perform a target operation, the content of processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device is determined based on the capabilities of the vehicle control device,
The vehicle control device cooperates with the management center to execute the processes assigned to each of them in accordance with the determined allocation of the processes, thereby causing the vehicle to perform the target operation ,
The capability of the vehicle control device is configured to be stratified based on at least one of the processing capability of the microcomputer of the vehicle control device, the OS version of the microcomputer, and the communication speed of the network outside and/or inside the vehicle. be.

As described above, according to the vehicle control system according to the present disclosure and the vehicle control device used in the vehicle control system, the management center and the vehicle control device cooperate to execute the processing that they are responsible for. to cause the vehicle to perform the target motion. The contents of the processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device are determined based on the capability of the vehicle control device. can be made to execute the target operation.

The reference numbers in parentheses above merely indicate an example of correspondence with specific configurations in the embodiments described later in order to facilitate the understanding of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It's not what I did.

In addition, technical features described in each claim of the scope of claims other than the features described above will become apparent from the description of the embodiments and the accompanying drawings, which will be described later.

1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a vehicle control system according to an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle; FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a functional structure of the main controller of a vehicle control apparatus. 4 is a flow chart showing processes executed by a vehicle control device and a management center; FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the details of sharing determination processing for determining the content of sharing between the management center and the vehicle control device in the flow chart of FIG. 4 ; FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the details of operation determination processing in which the management center determines a target operation of the vehicle in the flow chart of FIG. 4 ; FIG. When determining the target operation of the vehicle, if the management center becomes overloaded due to wireless communication connections with the vehicle control units of multiple vehicles, the level of operation to be executed by the vehicle as the target operation is lowered. 2 is a table for explaining some examples of what causes 4 is a flow chart showing a process of creating a control story composed of a combination of a plurality of control services for realizing an operation to be executed by a vehicle in a management center or vehicle control device; 4 is a flowchart showing a process of changing the contents of an energy balance service, an audit service, and a backup service as non-functional infrastructure services according to operations to be performed by a vehicle; 4 is a flow chart showing vehicle group processing executed in a management center to control a plurality of vehicles as a vehicle group. 4 is a flowchart showing vehicle group processing executed in a vehicle control device of a vehicle selected as a representative vehicle of the vehicle group.

A vehicle control system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of a vehicle control system according to this embodiment as a block diagram. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a first vehicle equipped with a vehicle control device 10a as an own vehicle, and 20 denotes a second vehicle equipped with a vehicle control device 20a as another vehicle. However, although FIG. 1 shows only one second vehicle 20 as another vehicle for the sake of convenience, there may actually be many other vehicles.

The vehicle control system according to the present embodiment includes vehicle control devices 10a and 20a mounted on vehicles 10 and 20 and a management center 100, as shown in FIG. The vehicle control devices 10a and 20a are connected to the management center 100 via wireless communication and cooperate to control the operations of the vehicles 10 and 20, respectively. At that time, the management center 100 determines the contents of the processing shared between the management center 100 and the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a based on the capabilities of the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the vehicle control device 10a of the first vehicle 10 has a relatively high capability, the management center 100 is arranged so that the management center 100 is less responsible and the vehicle side is more responsible. , determine the content of the assignment. Conversely, when the vehicle control device 20a of the second vehicle 20 has relatively low capability, the management center 100 determines the details of the sharing so that the management center 100 has a larger share and the vehicle side has a smaller share. . Then, the management center 100 and the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a cause the vehicle to perform the target operation by cooperating to execute the processing that they are responsible for in accordance with the determined allocation of the processing. The vehicle control devices 10a and 20a and the management center 100 will be described in detail below.

The vehicle control devices 10 a and 20 a mounted on the first vehicle 10 and the second vehicle 20 are configured to communicate with the management center 100 via the communication network 110 . Communication network 110 includes public communication networks provided by telecommunications carriers, such as mobile phone networks and the Internet. In addition, the vehicle control device 10a and the vehicle control device 20a are configured to be able to perform wireless communication (so-called inter-vehicle communication) without going through the communication network 110 . However, the vehicle control device 10a and the vehicle control device 20a may be configured to communicate with each other via the management center 100. FIG.

An example of the configuration of the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a mounted on the vehicles 10 and 20 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a of the respective vehicles 10 and 20 have a common configuration, the vehicle control device 10a of the first vehicle 10 will be described below as a representative example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle control device 10a includes, for example, a communication unit 30, a periphery monitoring unit 31, a map database 32, a sensor group 33, an operation input unit 34, a driving force control device 35, a braking force control device 36, a steering A control device 37 , a safety equipment control device 38 and a main controller 40 are provided. The communication unit 30 is for performing data communication with the management center 100 via the communication network 110 . Further, the communication unit 30 is configured to be able to perform so-called inter-vehicle communication with a communication unit of a vehicle control device mounted on another vehicle such as the second vehicle 20 . The surroundings monitoring unit 31 includes sensors (cameras, millimeter wave sensors, laser sensors, ultrasonic sensors, etc.) provided in various places of the first vehicle 10, and detects obstacles (automobiles, motorcycles, pedestrians, etc.) around the first vehicle 10. person, other objects), lane markings, stop lines, traffic lights, etc. of the lane in which the first vehicle 10 is traveling.

The map database 32 stores road map data including road shape, road width, number of lanes, speed limit, stop line position, traffic signal position, road type, location and name of various facilities. The sensor group 33 detects, for example, information about the current position of the first vehicle 10 as well as information about the actual running state of the first vehicle 10, such as running speed, longitudinal acceleration, steering angle, and lateral acceleration. is. The operation input unit 34 is for performing input for setting the departure point, destination, and departure time of the first vehicle 10, and input for determining the scheduled travel route from the departure point to the destination. is. Further, the first vehicle 10 has an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode, and is configured such that the driving mode can be switched by an input to the operation input unit 34 . For example, the automatic driving mode may be selectable only when the first vehicle 10 travels on a predetermined road or area such as a road for automobiles, or may be selectable on all roads including general roads. good too.

The drive force control device 35 controls the output of the drive source that causes the first vehicle 10 to travel according to the control signal from the main controller 40 . For example, when instructed by the main controller 40 to run the first vehicle 10 at the target speed, the driving force control device 35 controls the drive source so that the running speed of the first vehicle 10 matches the target running speed. to control the output of Further, when the main controller 40 instructs the driving force control device 35 to accelerate the first vehicle 10 at the target acceleration, the driving force control device 35 controls the output of the driving source so that the acceleration of the first vehicle 10 matches the target acceleration. to control. In the present embodiment, the first vehicle 10 is a hybrid vehicle having a normal internal combustion engine and an electric motor as drive sources. may be

The braking force control device 36 controls the braking force of the braking device according to the control signal from the main controller 40 regardless of the operation of the brake pedal by the driver. For example, when the main controller 40 instructs the braking force control device 36 to decelerate the first vehicle 10 at the target deceleration, the braking force control device 36 performs braking so that the deceleration of the first vehicle 10 matches the target deceleration. Controls the braking force applied by the device. The steering control device 37 rotates the steering shaft of the steering device according to a control signal from the main controller 40 to control the steering angle of the steered wheels. For example, in the automatic driving mode, when the road on which the first vehicle 10 travels is a curved road, when changing lanes or turning left or right, or when it is necessary to avoid sudden obstacles, the main The controller 40 instructs the steering control device 37 about a target steering angle and a steering angular velocity when changing the steering angle to the target steering angle. The steering control device 37 controls the steering angle of the steering device according to those instructions.

The safety equipment control device 38 controls the deployment of airbags to protect passengers and the raising of the bonnet to protect pedestrians in response to control signals from the main controller 40 when a collision cannot be avoided. . Furthermore, the safety equipment control device 38 controls lighting of lights in order to ensure visibility at night.

The main controller 40 has, for example, a functional configuration as shown in FIG. 3 in order to generate control signals for the various control devices 35 to 38 described above. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the main controller 40 has a VLP service 43, a VLC service 44, and a safety service 45 as functional infrastructure. The VLP service 43 detects the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 according to instructions from the management center 100 or by the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 detected by the above-described surrounding monitoring unit 31, the road map data provided by the map database 32, and the sensor group 33. Control signals to be output to the driving force control device 35 and the braking force control device 36 are generated in order to control the behavior of the first vehicle 10 in the longitudinal direction based on the information about the running state of the first vehicle 10 obtained. The VLC service 44 detects the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 according to instructions from the management center 100 or by the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 detected by the above-mentioned surrounding monitoring unit 31, the road map data provided by the map database 32, and the sensor group 33. A control signal to be output to the steering control device 37 is generated based on the information about the running state of the first vehicle 10 that is received, in order to control the left-right behavior of the first vehicle. The safety service 45 detects the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 according to instructions from the management center 100 or by the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 detected by the above-mentioned surrounding monitoring unit 31, the road map data provided by the map database 32, and the sensor group 33. A control signal to be output to the safety equipment control device 38 is generated based on the information about the traveling state of the first vehicle 10 received. Note that the functional infrastructure may include services other than the services described above.

The main controller 40 also has an energy balance service 46, an audit service 47, and a backup service 48 as non-functional infrastructures. The energy balance service 46 is for managing energy supply and demand in the first vehicle 10 so as to be optimized. For example, when a travel route to a destination is set, the energy balance service 46 collects the electric energy consumed by the electric motor, the electric energy regenerated by the electric motor, and the first vehicle 10 to travel the travel route. predicts the electrical energy consumed by various in-vehicle equipment (air conditioners, AV equipment, wipers, electric steering, lights, etc.) when driving along a driving route. Then, the energy balance service 46 balances the supply and demand of electrical energy based on the current charge amount of the battery so that the battery will not be excessively discharged or excessively charged due to the predicted consumption and regeneration of electrical energy. Develop a coordinated energy supply and demand plan. For example, in order to balance the supply and demand of electrical energy, the energy balance service 46 may factor in the generation of electrical energy by a generator into the supply and demand plan for periods of excessive battery discharge, or In line with this, the consumption of more electric energy by electric motors is factored into the supply and demand plan in advance. As a result, it is possible to avoid situations where electric energy is wasted or when electric energy is insufficient, and it is possible to optimize energy supply and demand.

The audit service 47 is for auditing whether an abnormality has occurred in the operation of the first vehicle 10 . For example, the audit service 47 performs abnormality detection based on whether the microcomputer of the main controller 40 is operating normally. The inspection service 47 also detects an abnormality based on whether the detected longitudinal acceleration (longitudinal G) of the vehicle matches the target longitudinal acceleration instructed to the driving force control device 35 . Furthermore, the inspection service 47 detects an abnormality based on whether the actual energy balance in the first vehicle 10 corresponds to the energy balance plan defined in the energy supply and demand plan. Which method or a plurality of methods are used for abnormality detection can be switched according to the target operation of the first vehicle 10 .

The backup service 48 performs processing to ensure the safety of the vehicle when an abnormality occurs in the function that controls the running of the vehicle. For example, in order to ensure the safety of the vehicle, the backup service 48 makes it possible to stop the vehicle in an emergency, run the vehicle at a speed below a predetermined speed, and enable the vehicle to evacuate by operating the steering wheel of the driver. Make evacuation run. Which method is used to ensure safety can be switched according to the target operation of the first vehicle 10 .

Further, the main controller 40 determines the content of the processing to be shared so that the control processing for causing the first vehicle 10 to execute the target operation is less shared by the management center 100 and more shared by the vehicle. It has a control story creation service 41 for creating a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing an action determined by the management center 100, if any. When the management center 100 decides to execute a plurality of actions at the same time, the control story creation service 41 determines whether to execute the plurality of actions at the same time or which action should be given priority. In order to make a decision according to the vehicle, the external environment, and the running state of the first vehicle, the arbitration rule 42 of multiple actions is referred to. The control story creation processing by the control story creation service 41 will be described later in detail.

As described above, the first vehicle 10 is configured to be able to automatically drive the first vehicle 10 . However, when trying to execute various processes for automatic driving only by the vehicle control device 10a in the first vehicle 10, it is necessary to use a very high-performance computer as the vehicle control device 10a of the first vehicle 10. be. In order to remove such restrictions, in this embodiment, the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a mounted on the respective vehicles 10 and 20 are connected to the management center 100 via wireless communication, and cooperate to control the respective vehicles 10 and 20. By controlling the operation of , each vehicle can be automatically driven without excessively depending on the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a of each vehicle 10 and 20. FIG.

Here, vehicles traveling on public roads include various vehicles. For example, a vehicle that is newer and has a relatively high-performance computer, a computer with the latest version of the OS, or a high-speed external and/or internal network communication speed. Some vehicles also have controls. On the other hand, there are vehicles with low computer performance, old computer OS versions, and vehicle control devices with slow communication speeds. In this way, on public roads, there are various vehicles with different capabilities of vehicle control devices. For this reason, in the present embodiment, when the management center 100 cooperates with the vehicle control devices of each vehicle, the mode of cooperation is changed based on the difference in capability of the vehicle control devices of each vehicle.

Specifically, in the vehicle control system according to the present embodiment, the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a, 20a is determined based on the capabilities of the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a. Then, the management center 100 and the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a cooperate with each other to execute the processes assigned to them in accordance with the determined allocation of the processes, thereby causing the vehicles 10 and 20 to perform target operations. . As a result, even if the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a of the vehicles 10 and 20 have different capabilities, the operations of the vehicles 10 and 20 can be controlled more appropriately.

Processing executed by the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a and the management center 100 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Also in the following description, the vehicle control device 10a mounted on the first vehicle 10 will be described as a typical example of the vehicle control device. The left side of FIG. 4 shows the processing executed by the vehicle control device 10a, and the right side of FIG. 4 shows the processing executed by the management center 100. As shown in FIG. 4 indicates communication between the vehicle control device 10a and the management center 100. As shown in FIG.

When the automatic driving mode is selected, the vehicle control device 10a transmits a connection request to the management center 100 via wireless communication in step S100. Upon receiving the connection request from the vehicle control device 10a, the management center 100 authenticates the ID of the vehicle control device 10a and then transmits a connection permission notice. This allows the vehicle control device 10a and the management center 100 to communicate with each other.

The vehicle control device 10a transmits capability information regarding its own capability to the management center 100 in step S110. The capability information includes, for example, the processing capability (number of cores, clock speed, etc.) of the microcomputer in the main controller 40, the version of the OS of the microcomputer, the communication speed of the network outside and/or inside the vehicle, and the like. The management center 100 receives the capability information of the vehicle control device 10a in step S210.

In step S220, the management center 100 determines the details of the sharing of the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a based on the capability information of the vehicle control device 10a. This sharing determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the sharing determination process, in the first step S300, the management center 100 sets the capability level of the vehicle control device 10a to three levels, for example, high level, medium level, and low level, based on the capability information received from the vehicle control device 10a. stratify to If the level is determined to be high, the process proceeds to step S310. If the level is determined to be medium, the process proceeds to step S320. If the level is determined to be low, the process proceeds to step S330. In addition, the stratification of the ability level of the vehicle control device 10a may be two stages, or may be four stages or more.

In step S310, since the ability level of the vehicle control device 10a to be determined is high, the details of the sharing are determined so that the management center 100 shares less and the vehicle control device 10a shares more. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the content of assignment of the management center 100 is to determine the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10, while the content of assignment of the vehicle control device 10a is to perform the determined operation. Therefore, it is decided to create a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services, and to control various vehicle-mounted devices installed in the first vehicle 10 according to the created control story.

Further, in step S320, since the capability level of the vehicle control device 10a that is the target of the determination is the average medium level, compared to the case where the capability level of the vehicle control device 10a is high level, the management center 100 The content of each assignment is determined so as to increase the assignment and decrease the assignment of the vehicle control device 10a. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the assignment of the management center 100 consists of determining the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10 and combining a plurality of control services for performing the determined operation. While the control story is to be created, the assignment of the vehicle control device 10a is determined to control various in-vehicle devices mounted on the first vehicle 10 according to the created control story.

Further, in step S330, since the ability level of the vehicle control device 10a to be determined is low, the details of the sharing are determined so that the management center 100 has a large share and the vehicle control device 10a has a small share. do. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the content of assignment of the management center 100 is to determine the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10, and a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for performing the determined operation. and to generate control signals for controlling various in-vehicle devices mounted on the first vehicle 10 according to the created control story, while managing the contents of the vehicle control device 10a. Using the control signal generated by the center 100, it decides to control the corresponding vehicle-mounted device.

When the sharing determination process between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a is completed, in step S230 of the flowchart in FIG. . Then, the vehicle control device 10a receives the allotment information transmitted from the management center 100 in step S120. As a result, the content of assignment between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a, which is determined by the management center 100, is shared between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a.

When the vehicle control device 10a first transmits a connection request, the management center 100 may store the determined sharing details if the sharing details between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device 10a are determined. . Then, the management center 100 may return the sharing details based on the stored sharing details in response to the next transmission of the capability information from the vehicle control device 10a. Also, the management center 100 may periodically review the determination criteria for stratifying the ability levels of the vehicle control device 10a and determine the content of assignment according to the ability levels stratified according to the latest criteria. good.

In step S130, the vehicle control device 10a controls the destination of the first vehicle 10, the travel route to the destination, the current position of the first vehicle 10, information indicating the travel state of the first vehicle 10, Sends information such as the environment. In step S240, the management center 100 receives various information transmitted from the vehicle control device 10a. Then, in step S250, the management center 100 determines the target operation of the first vehicle 10 based on the received various information. This operation determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6 and the table of FIG.

In the operation determination process, first, in step S400, road traffic information such as the type, shape, traffic volume, and congestion occurrence section of the road on which the first vehicle 10 travels is obtained from the received current position and travel route of the first vehicle 10. grasp. In the subsequent step S410, an operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is determined based on the grasped road traffic information, the surrounding environment of the first vehicle 10 received from the vehicle control device 10a, the running state of the first vehicle 10, and the like. At this time, the management center 100 utilizes information received from vehicle control devices of other vehicles such as the second vehicle 20 and information obtained from cameras and beacons installed on each road to Information on the surrounding environment may be supplemented.

The management center 100 can, for example, drive along a road, change lanes, turn left or right at an intersection, join a side road to a main road, branch off from a main road to a side road, form a group of vehicles, Appropriate behavior of the first vehicle 10 from among participation in a group, driving as a group (vehicle group behavior), leaving the group, following a preceding vehicle, overtaking a preceding vehicle, collision avoidance, and the like. determine at least one action.

In the subsequent step S420, the load state of the management center 100 is calculated based on the processor usage rate and network usage rate. In the subsequent step S430, it is determined whether or not the load state of the management center 100 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value through wireless communication connections with the vehicle control devices of a plurality of vehicles. If it is determined in this determination process that the load state of the management center 100 is greater than or equal to the threshold, the process proceeds to step S440. In step S440, the level of the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is lowered as the target operation according to the load state of the management center 100 exceeding the threshold.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is "overtaking a forward vehicle", if the load state of the management center 100 is low, the forward vehicle to be overtaken number of vehicles in front is allowed, and overtaking can be done at any location, such as a straight road or a curved road. However, when the load state of the management center 100 becomes a medium load above the threshold value, the number of vehicles in front to be overtaken is narrowed down to only one vehicle in front, and the place where overtaking is performed is a straight road with a curvature greater than a predetermined value. limited to curved roads with Furthermore, when the load state of the management center 100 becomes a high load higher than a medium load, the number of forward vehicles to be overtaken is narrowed down to only one forward vehicle, and the overtaking place is also limited to straight roads only. . In this manner, the level of the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is lowered in accordance with the load state of the management center 100 that is greater than or equal to the threshold for the "overtaking the preceding vehicle" operation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, when the action to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is "collision avoidance", if the load state of the management center 100 is low, when the possibility of a collision occurs, When a warning is issued and the possibility of collision increases, the vehicle automatically decelerates, and when the collision cannot be avoided only by deceleration, the implementation of collision avoidance steering is permitted to the extent that the first vehicle 10 protrudes out of the driving lane. do. However, when the load state of the management center 100 becomes a middle load that is equal to or higher than the threshold, warning and deceleration are similarly performed as the "collision avoidance" operation. It is limited to implementing collision avoidance steering within the range within the driving lane. Furthermore, when the load state of the management center 100 becomes a high load that is higher than the medium load, only warning and deceleration are performed, and collision avoidance steering is not performed. In this way, with respect to the "collision avoidance" operation, the level of the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is lowered according to the load state of the management center 100 equal to or greater than the threshold.

When the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is determined by the operation determination process of FIG. 6 described above, the management center 100 creates control data according to the assignment of the management center 100 in step S260 of the flowchart of FIG. and transmitted to the vehicle control device 10a. For example, if the content of assignment of the management center 100 is to determine the operation of the first vehicle 10 (see step S310 in the flowchart of FIG. 5), the management center 100 generates control data for the first vehicle 10 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 10a. Also, if the assignment of the management center 100 is to determine the operation of the first vehicle 10 and create a control story (see step S320 in the flowchart of FIG. 5), the management center 100 uses the created control story as control data for vehicle control. Send to device 10a. Alternatively, if the assignment of the management center 100 is to determine the operation of the first vehicle 10, create a control story, and generate an in-vehicle device control signal (see step S330 in the flow chart of FIG. 5), the management center 100 provides the following as control data: An in-vehicle device control signal is transmitted to the vehicle control device 10a. The control data transmitted from the management center 100 is received by the vehicle control device 10a in step S140.

Here, a process of creating a control story composed of a combination of a plurality of control services for realizing an action to be executed by the first vehicle 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control story creation process is executed by either the management center 100 or the vehicle control devices 10a and 20a, as described above.

In the first step S500, information indicating an operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10 is acquired. In the next step S510, it is determined whether or not there is a request to execute a plurality of operations at the same time. For example, the first vehicle 10 performs a lane change operation in preparation for a right turn or left turn, and a collision avoidance operation for avoiding a collision with an object on the road on which the lane is to be changed. may be required at the same time. Also, the first vehicle 10 may be required to diverge from the left side road of the motorway and overtake the preceding vehicle traveling in the left lane at the same time. Alternatively, the first vehicle 10 may be required to leave the vehicle group and branch off from the main road to the side road at the same time. In these cases, it is determined in step S510 that there is a request to execute a plurality of actions at the same time. If it is determined in step S510 that there is a request to execute a plurality of actions, the process proceeds to step S520, and if it is determined that there is no request to perform a plurality of actions, the process proceeds to step S550.

In step S520, it is determined whether or not multiple actions can be performed simultaneously. In this determination process, the arbitration rule 42 of a plurality of actions, which is determined and stored in advance, is referred to. This arbitration rule 42 does not simply determine whether or not a plurality of operations can be executed simultaneously. It is defined so that it can be determined whether it is executable or not. Therefore, even if the combination of multiple actions is the same, depending on the situation, it may or may not be possible to execute them at the same time.

For example, when an action of branching to a left side road of a motorway and an action of overtaking a preceding vehicle traveling in the left lane are requested at the same time, the current speed of the first vehicle 10 is the same as that of the preceding vehicle. If the current speed is higher than the current speed and it is predicted that by accelerating the first vehicle 10 from that state, overtaking of the preceding vehicle will be completed by the fork in the side road, execution of these operations at the same time is performed. determined to be possible. In this case, the process proceeds to step S530, and if the vehicle is traveling in the left lane in order to overtake the vehicle ahead, the steering service moves to the right lane, the acceleration service accelerates the first vehicle 10, and the steering service moves to the left lane. A control story is created that consists of a combination of a service, a steering service for branching to the side road, and a deceleration service for decelerating the first vehicle 10 on the branch to the side road. Thus, the control service in this embodiment includes acceleration, deceleration, steering, etc., which are basic behaviors of the vehicle. Also, each control service included in the control story is set to start and end at an appropriate timing.

On the other hand, for example, if the speed difference between the first vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is not large, or if the distance to the branch point of the side road is short, it is determined in step S520 that these actions cannot be executed at the same time. be done. In this case, the process proceeds to step S540 to determine the operation to be preferentially executed. The multiple operation arbitration rule 42 is also referred to when determining the operation to be executed with priority. In the above example, the arbitration rule 42 stipulates that if simultaneous execution is not possible, the preferred action is to branch off the motorway to a side road. Therefore, in step S540, the branching operation of the motorway to the side road is determined as the operation to be preferentially executed.

In step S550, a control story consisting of multiple control services for realizing a single action is created. For example, if a branching action of a motorway to a side road is defined as a single action to be performed by the first vehicle 10, then a steering service to branch to the side road and a second A control story consisting of a combination of deceleration services for decelerating one vehicle 10 is created.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 4 again, the description is continued. In step S150, the vehicle control device 10a changes the contents of the energy balance service 46, the audit service 47, and the backup service 48 as non-functional infrastructure services according to the target operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10. FIG. The change processing of this non-functional infrastructure service will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first step S600, the vehicle control device 10a determines whether or not the level of safety requirement for the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10 has changed. For example, when the first vehicle 10 is traveling along the left lane of a motorway, if a slow-moving vehicle appears ahead, the first vehicle 10 changes from traveling along the road to moving forward. It changes to the overtaking operation of the vehicle. In this case, the action of traveling in the same lane changes to the action of moving between lanes, so it is determined that the level of safety requirements has increased. In this case, the process proceeds to step S610, and in response to the increase in the level of safety requirements, for example, an audit for detecting an abnormality based on whether or not the microcomputer of the main controller 40 is operating normally. The service is switched to an inspection service that detects an abnormality based on whether the detected longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle matches the target longitudinal acceleration. Alternatively, the audit service may be switched so that abnormality detection based on longitudinal acceleration is simultaneously executed in addition to abnormality detection based on the operation of the microcomputer. By performing abnormality detection based on the actual behavior of the first vehicle 10 in this way, it becomes possible to detect the occurrence of an abnormality in a wider range in the vehicle control device 10a. When the occurrence of an abnormality is detected, appropriate safety measures are taken by the backup service 48, which contributes to ensuring the safety of the first vehicle 10. FIG.

In the example described above, when the first vehicle 10 overtakes the vehicle in front, returns to the left lane, and starts traveling along the road in the left lane again, in step S600, the safety requirement level of the operation to be executed by the first vehicle 10 is is determined to have decreased. In this case, in step S610, an audit service that performs abnormality detection based on longitudinal acceleration or an audit service that simultaneously performs abnormality detection based on longitudinal acceleration in addition to abnormality detection based on microcomputer operation is performed. switch to an audit service that performs anomaly detection based on

In step S620, the vehicle control device 10a determines whether or not the backup request for the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10 has changed. If it is determined in this determination process that the backup request has changed, the backup service is switched in step S630. For example, when the first vehicle 10 is traveling as a vehicle group, it is safer to automatically perform evacuation driving when an abnormality occurs, so the backup service is switched so that evacuation driving is automatically performed. may On the other hand, when an abnormality occurs while the driver is traveling alone, the first vehicle 10 can be moved to a position that the driver considers appropriate. Alternatively, the vehicle may be switched to a backup service that enables the vehicle to evacuate by operating the steering wheel.

In step S640, when the operation to be performed by the first vehicle 10 has changed, it is determined whether or not the balance of energy has changed from the planned energy supply and demand plan. If it is determined in this determination process that the energy balance has changed from the energy supply and demand plan, then in step S650 the energy supply and demand plan is changed so as to incorporate the change.

At step S160 in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the vehicle control device 10a controls each vehicle-mounted device based on the control data received at step S140. When the vehicle control device 10a receives control data other than the vehicle-mounted device control signal, the vehicle control device 10a generates the vehicle-mounted device control signal based on the received control data. Specifically, when the vehicle control device 10a receives an action to be executed by the first vehicle 10 as control data, the vehicle control device 10a creates a control story for causing the first vehicle 10 to execute the action. to generate an in-vehicle device control signal. Further, when receiving a control story as control data, the vehicle control device 10a generates an in-vehicle device control signal based on the control story. The vehicle control device 10a controls each vehicle-mounted device by outputting a vehicle-mounted device control signal to each vehicle-mounted device.

In step S<b>170 , it is determined whether or not the automatic driving mode has ended in the first vehicle 10 . If it is determined that the automatic operation mode has ended, the communication connection with the management center 100 is cut off in step S180. In response, the management center 100 also disconnects the communication connection with the vehicle control device 10a.

Next, vehicle group control in this embodiment will be described. The management center 100 manages a plurality of vehicles running adjacently on the same road in the same direction as a vehicle group. Vehicles belonging to the vehicle group travel in platoon while maintaining a predetermined distance from the preceding vehicle. As a result, the air resistance of the following vehicle is reduced, so it is possible to save the energy required for traveling as a whole. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing vehicle group processing 1 executed by the management center 100 to execute vehicle group control, and FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing vehicle group processing 2 executed by the vehicle control device. be. Vehicle group control will be described below with reference to these flowcharts.

In the first step S700 of the flowchart of FIG. 10, the management center 100 determines whether a new vehicle group is formed by a plurality of vehicles, or a new vehicle joins an existing vehicle group, or at least It is determined whether or not one vehicle leaves and the vehicles constituting the vehicle group change. When there are a plurality of vehicles traveling side by side in the same direction on the same road, the management center 100 instructs each vehicle to form a vehicle group as an operation to be executed, or instructs each vehicle to form a vehicle group. For example, a vehicle running near a vehicle is instructed to join an existing vehicle group as an action to be executed. If a plurality of vehicles form a vehicle group or a new vehicle joins an existing vehicle group in response to such an instruction, an affirmative determination is made in step S700, and the process proceeds to step S710.

In step S710, the management center 100 determines the vehicle having the vehicle control device with the highest capability as the representative vehicle based on the capability of the vehicle control device of each vehicle constituting the vehicle group, and determines the vehicle group capability. The vehicle group capability may be calculated by averaging the capabilities of the vehicle control devices of the vehicles included in the vehicle group. Alternatively, the vehicle group capability may be calculated based on the lowest capability among the vehicle control devices of each vehicle included in the vehicle group. In the following step S720, the management center 100 determines operating parameters for the entire fleet, taking into account fleet capabilities. For example, the management center 100 may determine, as an operating parameter, the minimum value of the inter-vehicle distance when a plurality of vehicles platoon as a vehicle group. Specifically, the management center 100 can determine the inter-vehicle distance such that the higher the vehicle group capability, the shorter the minimum inter-vehicle distance, and the higher the vehicle group capability, the longer the minimum inter-vehicle distance. . Note that the inter-vehicle distance may vary within a range equal to or greater than the minimum value, depending on the running speed and turning state. As an operating parameter, the management center 100 may also determine the upper limit of acceleration and/or deceleration when changing the running speed of the entire vehicle group. Specifically, the management center 100 controls the acceleration and/or deceleration so that the higher the fleet capability, the smaller the upper limit of acceleration and/or deceleration, and the higher the fleet capability, the larger the upper limit of acceleration and/or deceleration. /or an upper limit for deceleration can be determined. In addition, the management center 100 may consider the vehicle fleet capability as an operating parameter to determine the upper limit of lateral acceleration when the vehicle fleet changes heading.

After determining the representative vehicle of the vehicle group and the operation parameters of the vehicle group in this manner, the management center 100 communicates with the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle to determine the operation of the entire vehicle group and to The operation is transmitted to the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle. Specifically, as described in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the management center 100 determines the content of processing shared between the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle and the management center based on the capability of the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle. do. Then, the representative vehicle transmits to the management center 100 the information indicating the traveling route, the current position, the traveling state, the information indicating the surrounding environment, and the like. When the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle is traveling at a position other than the head of the vehicle group, the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle receives information about the surrounding environment from the vehicle control device of the vehicle positioned at the head, and detects the surrounding environment detected by itself. is preferably transmitted to the management center 100 along with information regarding The management center 100 receives various information from the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle, and determines the target operation of the entire vehicle group based on the received various information. The target operation of the entire vehicle group is transmitted to the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle of the vehicle group together with the operation parameters. In this way, the management center 100 determines the actions to be performed by the entire vehicle fleet under restrictions according to the level of vehicle fleet capability.

The vehicle control device of the vehicle selected as the representative vehicle of the vehicle group receives the target operation and operation parameters of the entire vehicle group transmitted from the management center 100 in the first step S800 of the flowchart of FIG. In subsequent step S810, the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle creates a control story for executing the target motion of the entire vehicle group. Note that if the management center 100 is also in charge of creating the control story as part of the division of responsibility between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle, the process of step S810 is omitted.

In step S820, the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle calculates information for each vehicle traveling as a vehicle group based on the control story and the operating parameters, and transmits the information to the vehicle control device of each vehicle. For example, when a group of vehicles travels at a constant speed on a straight road, the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle calculates the inter-vehicle distance and the target traveling speed and transmits them to the vehicle control device of each vehicle. Alternatively, when a vehicle group overtakes a preceding vehicle, the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle calculates the inter-vehicle distance, the target traveling speed, and the target steering angle, and transmits them to the vehicle control device of each vehicle.

In this way, in a vehicle group, a representative vehicle is determined based on the capability of the vehicle control device, and the management center 100 mainly communicates with the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle, thereby enabling communication between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device. An increase in load can be suppressed. Then, in the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle having the highest ability, information for each vehicle to run as a vehicle group is collectively calculated and transmitted to the vehicle control device of each vehicle, whereby each vehicle can operate as a vehicle. Can run properly as a group. In the example described above, in step S710, the vehicle having the vehicle control device with the highest capacity in the vehicle group is selected as the representative vehicle. However, for example, when a vehicle having a vehicle control device with high capacity is temporarily added to a vehicle group with most of the vehicles constituting the vehicle group having the same destination, etc., the complicated process of switching the representative vehicle is required. To avoid this, the current representative car may be maintained. In this case, a high-capacity vehicle control device may provide limited information to the management center 100 according to the capability of the representative vehicle. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a situation in which, under the conditions in which the vehicle group is placed, it is not possible to identify the vehicle with the highest ability among multiple vehicles that have the same ability. can be done.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various modifications without departing from the gist of the present invention. is.

For example, in the above-described embodiments, the vehicle control device of each vehicle provided a non-functional infrastructure service according to the operation that the vehicle should perform. However, the management center 100 may be configured to provide non-functional infrastructure services of at least one of energy balance services, audit services, and backup services.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the content of processing shared between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device is uniformly determined with respect to the target motion of all vehicles according to the capabilities of the vehicle control device provided in the vehicle. However, for each of a plurality of target motions of the vehicle, it is also possible to consider the strength of the ability of each vehicle, and determine the details of the sharing of processing between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the target operation of the vehicle group is shared between the management center 100 and the vehicle control device of the representative vehicle. However, in order to perform precise control that reflects the actual vehicle surroundings and vehicle conditions, information may be shared between vehicles, and the determined target motion may be modified as necessary. As a result, even if it is difficult for the management center 100 to grasp the situation or if there is no allowable time from the time of grasping to the instruction to the vehicle group, it is possible to perform the control more suited to the current situation of the vehicle. At this time, a proposal to change the target motion may be made to the management center 100 and approval may be obtained.

Furthermore, by sharing information between vehicles, the strengths of each vehicle's capabilities (e.g. strengths in the accuracy of maintaining the distance between vehicles and strengths in grasping the surrounding obstacles) can be mutually utilized to maximize the capabilities of the vehicle group. Individual competencies may complement each other. As a result, it is possible to improve the control accuracy assumed for a single vehicle. In addition, the management center 100 grasps the strengths of the abilities of each vehicle, resets the height of the abilities of each vehicle in a state in which the abilities are complemented each other, and then selects the representative vehicle in the above-mentioned vehicle group. You can make a selection. This makes it possible to set the capacity of the fleet at a level of vehicle capacity that could not be achieved with a single vehicle.

In addition, when forming a fleet, the number of vehicles that can be judged at the same time is limited to the number of vehicles that can be judged at the same time. may be increased. This makes it possible to relax restrictions on the number of vehicles in a vehicle group that can be handled at one time.

If the vehicle capacities belonging to the vehicle group are equalized, for example, even if the vehicle capacities are the same between a vehicle with a large running load and a vehicle with a small running load in the car group, gains and losses in energy consumption will occur. For this reason, in order to equalize gains and losses, the control center 100 may change the running order of the vehicles in the vehicle group, use the control center usage fee, or the like to equalize the gains and losses. As a result, it is possible to prevent refusal to belong to the vehicle group for personal reasons.

10: first vehicle, 10a: vehicle control device, 20: second vehicle, 20a: vehicle control device, 30: communication unit, 31: peripheral monitoring unit, 32: map database, 33: sensor group, 34: operation input unit , 35: driving force control device, 36: braking force control device, 37: steering control device, 38: safety equipment control device, 40: main controller, 41: control story creation service, 42: arbitration rule for multiple actions, 43: VLP service, 44: VLC service, 45: Safety service, 46: Energy balance service, 47: Audit service, 48: Backup service, 100: Management center, 110: Communication network

Claims (20)

A vehicle control system in which a management center (100) and vehicle control devices (10a, 20a) mounted on vehicles (10, 20) are connected via wireless communication and cooperate to control the vehicle,
The management center determines, based on the capability of the vehicle control device, the content of processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device when performing control for causing the vehicle to execute a target operation. ,
The management center and the vehicle control device cause the vehicle to perform a target operation by cooperating in executing the processes assigned to them in accordance with the determined allocation of the processes,
The capability of the vehicle control device is stratified based on at least one of the processing capability of the microcomputer of the vehicle control device, the version of the OS of the microcomputer, and the communication speed of the network outside and/or inside the vehicle. Vehicle control system. When the capability of the vehicle control device is relatively high, the management center determines the operation to be performed by the vehicle as part of the allocation of processing for performing control for causing the vehicle to perform a target operation. , the vehicle control device creates a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the determined operation, and controls various in-vehicle devices installed in the vehicle according to the created control story. A control system for a vehicle according to claim 1. When the capability of the vehicle control device is average, the management center determines the operation to be performed by the vehicle as the allocation of processing for performing control for causing the vehicle to perform a target operation. A control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the operation is created by the vehicle control device, and the vehicle control device controls various in-vehicle devices installed in the vehicle according to the control story created by the management center. 3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 or 2, which controls. The vehicle control device is a backup service (47 ), an audit service (48) for auditing whether the vehicle operates abnormally, and an energy balance service (49) for managing energy generation and consumption in the vehicle. can be,
4. The vehicle control system according to claim 2, wherein said vehicle control device changes the content of said infrastructure service according to the operation to be performed by said vehicle. When the capability of the vehicle control device is relatively low, the management center determines the operation to be performed by the vehicle as the contents of the allocation of processing for performing control for causing the vehicle to perform a target operation. create a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the operation, generate control signals for controlling various in-vehicle devices installed in the vehicle according to the control story, and 4. The vehicle control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control device uses the control signal generated by the management center to control the corresponding vehicle-mounted device. The management center further includes an energy balance service for managing the generation and consumption of energy in the vehicle, and an energy balance service for managing the generation and consumption of energy in the vehicle as infrastructure services for controlling the various on-vehicle devices. 6. The vehicle control device is provided with at least one of an audit service for auditing and a backup service for executing backup control for ensuring the safety of the vehicle when an abnormality occurs in the operation of the vehicle. The vehicle control system described in . the target motion of the vehicle includes a plurality of motions;
7. The vehicle control system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said management center determines the content of processing shared between said management center and said vehicle control device for each of a plurality of operations. The target motion of the vehicle includes a merging motion to join another vehicle to form a vehicle group, a vehicle group action motion to act as the vehicle group, and a leaving motion to leave the vehicle group. ,
When forming the vehicle group with a plurality of vehicles, vehicle group capability is determined based on the capability of the vehicle control device of each vehicle included in the vehicle group,
8. The vehicle control system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the management center determines actions to be performed by the entire vehicle fleet under restrictions according to the level of the vehicle fleet capability. Based on the capability of the vehicle control device of each vehicle included in the vehicle group, a vehicle having the vehicle control device with the highest capability is determined as a representative vehicle of the vehicle group,
the operation of the entire fleet determined by the management center is transmitted to the representative vehicle;
9. The vehicle control system according to claim 8, wherein said representative vehicle transmits information for each vehicle included in said vehicle group to travel as a vehicle group based on the determined operation of the entire vehicle group. . 10. The control center according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein, when overloaded due to wireless communication connections with the vehicle control devices of the plurality of vehicles, the management center lowers the level of the operation to be executed by the vehicle as a target operation. The vehicle control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A vehicle control device (10a, 20a) connected to a management center (100) via wireless communication and cooperatively controlling vehicles (10, 20),
When the management center performs control to cause the vehicle to perform a target operation, the content of processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device is determined based on the capabilities of the vehicle control device. ,
The vehicle control device cooperates with the management center to execute the processes assigned to each of them in accordance with the determined allocation of processes, thereby causing the vehicle to perform a target operation ,
The capability of the vehicle control device is stratified based on at least one of the processing capability of the microcomputer of the vehicle control device, the version of the OS of the microcomputer, and the communication speed of the network outside and/or inside the vehicle. Vehicle controller. When the capability of the vehicle control device is relatively high, the operation to be performed by the vehicle is determined by the management center as the contents of the processing assignment for controlling the vehicle to perform the target operation. and the vehicle control device creates a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the determined operation, and controls various on-vehicle devices installed in the vehicle according to the created control story. 12. The vehicle control device according to claim 11, wherein: When the ability of the vehicle control device is average, the management center determines the allocation of processing for performing control for causing the vehicle to perform a target operation based on the operation to be performed by the vehicle. A control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the operation is created by the control center, and the vehicle control device controls various in-vehicle devices installed in the vehicle according to the control story created by the management center. 13. The vehicle control device according to claim 11 or 12, which controls. The vehicle control device is a backup service (47 ), an audit service (48) for auditing whether the vehicle operates abnormally, and an energy balance service (49) for managing energy generation and consumption in the vehicle. can be,
14. The vehicle control device according to claim 12, wherein said vehicle control device changes the content of said infrastructure service according to the operation to be performed by said vehicle. When the capability of the vehicle control device is relatively low, the control center assigns the content of processing for performing control for causing the vehicle to perform a target operation based on the operation to be performed by the vehicle. a control story consisting of a combination of a plurality of control services for executing the operation is created, and according to the control story, a control signal for controlling various in-vehicle devices mounted in the vehicle is generated; 14. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the control device uses the control signal generated by the management center to control the corresponding in-vehicle device. The vehicle control device includes an energy balance service for managing the generation and consumption of energy in the vehicle as an infrastructure service for controlling the various on-vehicle devices, and an audit for whether an abnormality has occurred in the operation of the vehicle. and a backup service for executing backup control to ensure the safety of the vehicle when an abnormality occurs in the operation of the vehicle, provided by the management center. Vehicle controller as described. the target motion of the vehicle includes a plurality of motions;
17. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the management center determines the content of processing shared between the management center and the vehicle control device for each of a plurality of operations. The target motion of the vehicle includes a merging motion to join another vehicle to form a vehicle group, a vehicle group action motion to act as the vehicle group, and a leaving motion to leave the vehicle group. ,
When forming the vehicle group with a plurality of vehicles, vehicle group capability is determined based on the capability of the vehicle control device of each vehicle included in the vehicle group,
18. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the operation to be executed by the entire vehicle fleet is determined by a management center under restrictions according to the level of the vehicle fleet capability. Based on the capability of the vehicle control device of each vehicle included in the vehicle group, a vehicle having the vehicle control device with the highest capability is determined as a representative vehicle of the vehicle group,
the operation of the entire fleet determined by the management center is transmitted to the representative vehicle;
19. The vehicle control device according to claim 18, wherein said representative vehicle transmits information for each vehicle included in said vehicle group to travel as a vehicle group to each vehicle based on the operation of the entire vehicle group. 20. A level of operation to be performed by the vehicle as a target operation is lowered when the management center is overloaded by wireless communication connections with the vehicle control device of a plurality of vehicles. 1. A vehicle control device according to claim 1.

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