JP7466490B2 - Vehicle group determination device, merging support device, vehicle group determination method, and program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a vehicle group determination device, a merging support device, a vehicle group determination method, and a program.

When driving on a road, a vehicle can drive appropriately by understanding the status of vehicles other than the vehicle itself that are driving around the vehicle. For example, in a merging section on a highway, a vehicle traveling on the merging road (hereinafter, merging vehicle) needs to merge into the mainstream road while checking the status of vehicles traveling on the mainstream road (hereinafter, mainstream vehicle).
For this reason, a system that supports driving operations in merging sections needs to accurately identify the status of vehicles in the main stream. In particular, accurately identifying a group of vehicles traveling closely together is important in determining the appropriate timing for driving operations.

As a device for grasping the state of vehicles on the road, for example, a traffic situation determination device such as that disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.

JP 2020-004235 A

In Patent Document 1, surrounding images captured by an on-board camera of each vehicle are collected, and the congestion status of the road is determined.
However, for example, when there are few vehicles equipped with on-board cameras in a particular location, the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot collect sufficient images of the surroundings.
For this reason, the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 may not be able to grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above problem, and aims to provide a vehicle group determination device, a merging support device, a vehicle group determination method, and a program that can grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

To solve the above problem, the vehicle group determination device according to the present disclosure includes an acquisition unit that acquires detection information from a roadside sensor that detects vehicles traveling on a road, a first determination unit that determines whether the vehicle's inter-vehicle distance to another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance based on the detection information, a second determination unit that determines whether the vehicle's speed is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the detection information, and a vehicle group identification unit that identifies a vehicle group based on the determination results of the first determination unit and the second determination unit.

The vehicle group determination method disclosed herein acquires detection information from a roadside sensor that detects vehicles traveling on a road, determines whether the vehicle's inter-vehicle distance to another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance based on the detection information, determines whether the vehicle's speed is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the detection information, and identifies the vehicle group based on the determination result of whether the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or less than the predetermined distance and the determination result of whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the predetermined vehicle speed.

The program disclosed herein causes a computer of a vehicle group determination device to acquire detection information from a roadside sensor that detects vehicles traveling on a road, determine whether the vehicle's inter-vehicle distance to another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance based on the detection information, determine whether the vehicle's speed is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the detection information, and identify a vehicle group based on the determination result of whether the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or less than the predetermined distance and the determination result of whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than the predetermined vehicle speed.

The vehicle group determination device, merging support device, vehicle group determination method, and program disclosed herein make it possible to grasp road conditions at a specific location.

1 is an overall view of a merging assistance system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle group determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of image data acquired by a vehicle group determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 11 is a table showing an example of vehicle information acquired by a vehicle group determination device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure in association with each vehicle ID. 4 is a flowchart of a vehicle group determination method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is an overall view of a merging assistance system according to a modified example of an embodiment of the present disclosure. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating an example of image data acquired by a vehicle group determination device according to a modified example of an embodiment of the present disclosure. 4 is an example of a hardware configuration of a computer included in a vehicle group determination device or a merging support device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding configurations in all drawings will be given the same reference numerals, and common descriptions will be omitted.

<Embodiment>
A vehicle group determination device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Overall configuration of the merging support system)
The merging assistance system 100 is a system for assisting a vehicle traveling on a merging road RM that merges with a road RR with driving operations in the merging section with the road RR depending on the situation of the vehicle traveling on the road RR.
For example, the road RR may be a main road such as an expressway.
For example, the merging road RM may be a ramp that merges onto a main road such as an expressway.

As shown in FIG. 1, the merging support system 100 includes a merging support device 1, a roadside sensor 2, a roadside wireless device 3, and an on-board device VMa mounted on a vehicle traveling on a merging road RM.
In the following description, a vehicle traveling on road RR will be referred to as "vehicle VV," and a vehicle traveling on merging road RM will be referred to as "merging vehicle VM."
In FIG. 1, each vehicle travels in the direction indicated by the arrow.
For example, the merging vehicle VM according to this embodiment may be an autonomous vehicle.

Hereinafter, the direction in which the road RR extends and in which the vehicles travel will also be referred to as the X direction.
Further, the width direction of the road RR, which is the direction from the road RR toward the merging road RM, is also referred to as the Y direction.

(Configuration of the merging support device)
As shown in FIG. 2 , the merging assistance device 1 includes a vehicle group determination device 11 and an assistance information generation unit 12 .
The merging assistance device 1 is communicably connected to the roadside sensor 2 via a dedicated communication line or a public communication line.
The merging assistance device 1 is communicably connected to the roadside wireless device 3 via a dedicated communication line or a public communication line.
For example, the merging support device 1 may be installed on a road RR, which is a main road of a road (such as a highway), in the vicinity of a merging section where a merging road RM merges, or may be set in a remote location away from the merging section.
For example, a computer may function as the merging assistance device 1 by executing a program described below.

(Configuration of vehicle group determination device)
The vehicle group determination device 11 includes an acquisition unit 111 , a first determination unit 113 , a second determination unit 114 , and a vehicle group identification unit 115 .
The vehicle group determination device 11 may further include a lane determination unit 112 and a third determination unit 116 .
For example, a computer may function as the vehicle group determination device 11 by executing a program described below.

The acquisition unit 111 acquires detection information DD from a roadside sensor 2 that detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR.
For example, the detection information DD may include image data D1 of a predetermined area AA of a road RR that includes a plurality of vehicles VV.
For example, the predetermined area AA may be set immediately before the merging section of the road RR and the merging road RM.

For example, the acquisition unit 111 may individually identify multiple vehicles VV included in the image data D1, and assign a vehicle ID to each identified vehicle VV that enables the vehicle VV to be distinguished from other vehicles VV.
For example, the acquisition unit 111 may perform matching processing for each vehicle VV between multiple image data D1 at different times, and assign the same vehicle ID to vehicles VV that can be identified.
For example, the acquisition unit 111 may determine the order in which multiple vehicles VV pass through a specified area AA from the changes over time between multiple image data D1 acquired at different times, and assign vehicle IDs to the vehicles in the chronological order in which they pass through the specified area AA.

The lane determination unit 112 determines, based on the detection information DD, the lane LL in which the vehicle VV is traveling, among the multiple lanes LL included in the road RR.
For example, the lane determination unit 112 determines the lane LL in which the vehicle VV is traveling among the multiple lanes LL that are the multiple lanes on the road RR heading in the X direction (the multiple lanes on one side of the road RR).
For example, the lane determination unit 112 may determine the lane LL in which each vehicle VV is traveling across multiple vehicles VV, and associate the determined lane LL with the vehicle ID assigned to each vehicle.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when road RR has lanes L1 and L2 on one side, the lane determination unit 112 may determine, for a vehicle V1 included in image data D1, which of lanes L1 and L2 the vehicle V1 is traveling in, based on the position of the vehicle V1 in a predetermined area AA.

The first determination unit 113 determines whether or not the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r, based on the detection information DD.
For example, the first judgment unit 113 may acquire the inter-vehicle distance D2 between each vehicle VV and other vehicles across multiple vehicles VV, determine whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 is less than a predetermined distance r, and associate the acquired inter-vehicle distance D2 and the judgment result with the vehicle ID assigned to each vehicle VV.
For example, the first determination unit 113 may compare the acquired inter-vehicle distance D2 with a predetermined distance r stored in advance in the vehicle group determination device 11 .
For example, the predetermined distance r may be set to 10 m, and the first determination unit 113 may determine whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is less than or equal to 10 m.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the first judgment unit 113 may identify a vehicle V1 included in image data D1 and a vehicle V2 immediately preceding the vehicle V1, and by identifying the positions of the vehicles V1 and V2, obtain the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicles V1 and V2 in the X direction as the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle V1 and another vehicle.
In the case shown in Figure 3, the distance between multiple vehicles traveling in lane L1 is closer than the distance between multiple vehicles traveling in lane L2, and there is a possibility of congestion, accidents, and tailgating on lane L1.

The second determination unit 114 determines whether or not the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed β, based on the detection information DD.
For example, the second judgment unit 114 may acquire the vehicle speed D3 of each vehicle VV across multiple vehicles VV, determine whether the vehicle speed D3 is below a predetermined vehicle speed β, and associate the acquired vehicle speed D3 and the judgment result with the vehicle ID assigned to each vehicle VV.
For example, the second judgment unit 114 may individually identify multiple vehicles VV contained in the image data D1, and obtain the vehicle speed D3 of each vehicle VV from the change over time in the position of each vehicle VV between multiple image data D1 acquired at different times.
For example, the second determination unit 114 may compare the acquired vehicle speed D3 with a predetermined vehicle speed β stored in advance in the vehicle group determination device 11 .
For example, the predetermined vehicle speed β may be set to 50 km/h, and the first determination unit 113 may determine whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or lower than 50 km/h.

For example, the second judgment unit 114 may judge whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV that is determined by the first judgment unit 113 to be not less than the predetermined distance r is less than or equal to a predetermined vehicle speed β.

The vehicle group identification unit 115 identifies the vehicle group GG based on the determination results of the first determination unit 113 and the second determination unit 114 .
For example, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the vehicle VV, for which the first determination unit 113 has determined that the inter-vehicle distance D2 is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r, as belonging to the same vehicle group GG.
For example, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the vehicle VV whose vehicle speed D3 is determined by the second determination unit 114 to be equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed β as belonging to the same vehicle group GG.

For example, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify, as the same vehicle group GG, a plurality of vehicles VV that are in the same lane LL determined by the lane determination unit 112 and have consecutive vehicle IDs assigned in chronological order, among the vehicles VV that the first determination unit 113 has determined to have a vehicle distance D2 that is equal to or less than the predetermined distance r. In this case, a vehicle ahead of the consecutive vehicles VV may be added to the same vehicle group GG.
For example, when the lane LL and inter-vehicle distance D2 as shown in Figure 4 are obtained for each vehicle VV and a predetermined distance r = 10 m is set, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the group of vehicles VV associated with the portion surrounded by group G1 as vehicle group GG.
In this example, the vehicle VV with consecutive vehicle IDs (vehicles with vehicle IDs 102, 103, and 104) is grouped with a vehicle (vehicle with vehicle ID 101) that precedes the vehicle VV and is added to the same vehicle group GG.

For example, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify, as the same vehicle group GG, multiple vehicles VV whose vehicle speed D3 has been determined by the second determination unit 114 to be equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β, that have the same lane LL determined by the lane determination unit 112, and that have consecutive vehicle IDs assigned in chronological order.
For example, when the lane LL and vehicle speed D3 as shown in Figure 4 are obtained for each vehicle VV and a predetermined vehicle speed β = 50 km/h is set, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the group of vehicles VV associated with the portion surrounded by group G2 as vehicle group GG.

The third determination unit 116 determines whether the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is greater than two.
For example, the third determination unit 116 may determine whether the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG identified based on the inter-vehicle distance D2 is greater than two.
When the third determination unit 116 determines that the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is greater than two, the third determination unit 116 may further detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring.
If the third determination unit 116 determines that the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is not more than two, it may further detect that there is a possibility of aggressive driving occurring.

In other words, in the case of a vehicle group GG that is determined to have more than two vehicles, the third judgment unit 116 may detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident, as described above, since a vehicle group containing more than two vehicles is traveling with a short inter-vehicle distance.
In addition, in the case of a vehicle group GG in which the number of vehicles is determined to be no more than two, the third judgment unit 116 may detect that there is a possibility of aggressive driving occurring, as described above, since the two vehicles are traveling with a short distance between them.

For example, the third determination unit 116 may further detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring for the vehicle group GG identified based on the vehicle speed D3.
In other words, since the vehicle group GG identified based on the vehicle speed D3 is a vehicle group including two or more vehicles traveling at a slow speed, the third judgment unit 116 may detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident, as described above.

For example, if there is no vehicle group GG identified by the vehicle group identification unit 115, the third determination unit 116 may further detect that the behavior of the vehicle group is normal.

(Configuration of the support information generating unit)
The assistance information generating unit 12 generates merging assistance information DA based on the vehicle group GG.
For example, when the vehicle group determination device 11 determines that a vehicle group GG exists, the assistance information generating unit 12 may create information indicating that the vehicle group GG is approaching a merging section, and include the information in the merging assistance information DA.

For example, when the vehicle group determination device 11 identifies a vehicle group GG whose inter-vehicle distance D2 is less than a predetermined distance r, the support information generation unit 12 may create information indicating that the vehicle group GG with a short inter-vehicle distance is approaching a merging section, and include this information in the merging support information DA.
For example, if the vehicle group determination device 11 determines that a vehicle group GG has a vehicle speed D3 that is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed β, the assistance information generation unit 12 may create information indicating that the vehicle group GG with a slow vehicle speed is approaching a merging section, and include this information in the merging assistance information DA.

For example, the assistance information generation unit 12 may include the possibility of a traffic jam or accident occurring, and the possibility of tailgating occurring, detected by the vehicle group determination device 11, in the merging assistance information DA.
For example, the assistance information generating unit 12 may include information indicating the position of the mainstream vehicle on the road RR in the merging assistance information DA.

(Roadside sensor configuration)
The roadside sensor 2 detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may capture an image overlooking a predetermined area AA of the road RR and obtain detection information DD including image data D1 of the predetermined area AA of the road RR that includes a plurality of vehicles VV.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may be set so that the predetermined area AA is an area that can accommodate a plurality of vehicles VV traveling on the road RR in the X direction.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may be set so that the specified area AA is an area that includes multiple lanes LL in the Y direction.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may repeatedly capture images at a predetermined time and acquire multiple image data D1 at different times.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may include an area sensor such as a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) or a camera.
For example, the roadside sensor 2 may provide the acquired detection information DD to the merging assistance device 1 via a communication line.

(Configuration of roadside wireless device)
The roadside wireless device 3 may acquire the merging assistance information DA from the merging assistance device 1 via a communication line.
For example, the roadside wireless device 3 may transmit the acquired merging assistance information DA to an in-vehicle device VMa mounted on a merging vehicle VM traveling on the merging road RM to notify the driver or the like.
For example, the roadside wireless device and the vehicle-mounted device VMa may perform wireless communication based on Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology.
For example, the roadside radio 3 may transmit the merging assistance information DA to an on-board unit VMa mounted on the merging vehicle VM, or may transmit the information to a display board or the like erected on the roadside, and notify the merging vehicle VM traveling on the merging road RM of the merging assistance information DA by display or voice via a display board, speaker, etc.

(motion)
The operation of the vehicle group determination device 11 of this embodiment will be described.
The operation of the vehicle group determination device 11 corresponds to the vehicle group determination method of this embodiment.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, the acquisition unit 111 acquires detection information DD from a roadside sensor 2 that detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR (ST01: step of acquiring detection information).

After performing ST01, the lane determination unit 112 determines, based on the detection information DD, the lane LL in which the vehicle VV is traveling, among the multiple lanes LL included in the road RR (ST02: step of determining the lane).
For example, the following steps may be performed for each determined lane LL.

For example, in ST02, the lane determination unit 112 may determine whether the lane is lane L1 or lane L2. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the following steps may be performed separately for a vehicle VV determined to be traveling in lane L1 and a vehicle VV determined to be traveling in lane L2.

After performing ST02, the first determination unit 113 determines whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance r, based on the detection information DD (ST03: step of determining the inter-vehicle distance).
If it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance D2 is equal to or less than the predetermined distance r (ST03: Yes), the process proceeds to ST05.

If it is determined that the inter-vehicle distance D2 is not less than the predetermined distance r (ST03: No), the second judgment unit 114 judges whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is less than or equal to a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD (ST04: step of judging the vehicle speed).
If it is determined that the vehicle speed D3 is equal to or lower than the predetermined vehicle speed β (ST04: Yes), the process proceeds to ST05.
If it is determined that the vehicle speed D3 is not equal to or lower than the predetermined vehicle speed β (ST04: No), the process proceeds to ST06.

In ST05, the vehicle group identification unit 115 identifies the vehicle group GG based on the determination result of the first determination unit 113 and the determination result of the second determination unit 114 (ST05: step of identifying a vehicle group).
For example, after performing ST03, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the vehicle group GG based on the vehicle VV whose inter-vehicle distance D2 is determined by the first determination unit 113 to be equal to or less than the predetermined distance r.
For example, after performing ST04, the vehicle group identification unit 115 may identify the vehicle group GG based on the vehicle VV whose vehicle speed D3 is determined by the second determination unit 114 to be equal to or lower than the predetermined vehicle speed β.

After performing ST05, the third determination unit 116 determines whether the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is greater than two (ST06: step of determining the number of vehicles).
For example, if the third determination unit 116 determines in ST06 that the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is greater than two (ST06-1: Yes), it may further detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring.
For example, in ST06, if the third determination unit 116 determines that the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is not more than two (ST06-1: No), it may further detect that there is a possibility of aggressive driving occurring.

For example, in ST06, the third determination unit 116 may detect that there is a possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring in the vehicle group GG identified based on the vehicle speed D3 (ST06-2).
For example, in ST06, if there is no vehicle group GG identified by the vehicle group identification unit 115, the third determination unit 116 may further detect that the behavior of the vehicle group is normal (ST06-3).
After performing ST06, the process returns to ST01 and repeats each step.

(Action and Effects)
According to this embodiment, the vehicle group determination device 11 identifies the vehicle group GG based on the detection information DD from the roadside sensor 2 .
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can identify the vehicle group GG as long as the vehicles are within the detection range of the roadside sensor 2, regardless of the different functions of each vehicle VV.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

According to this embodiment, the vehicle group determination device 11 can identify the vehicle group GG for each lane LL.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can grasp the road conditions at a specific position for each lane LL.

According to this embodiment, the vehicle group determination device 11 can determine a vehicle group associated with the possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring, and a vehicle group associated with the possibility of aggressive driving occurring.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can detect the possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring, and the possibility of aggressive driving occurring.

According to this embodiment, the second judgment unit 114 judges the vehicles VV that the first judgment unit 113 judges to be more than the predetermined distance r, so that the vehicle group judgment device 11 can identify a vehicle group that is traveling at a slower speed despite having a long inter-vehicle distance.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can detect the possibility of a congestion or an accident occurring regardless of the length of the inter-vehicle distance.

According to this embodiment, the merging support device 1 can generate the merging support information DA based on the vehicle group GG for which the road conditions at a specific position can be grasped.
Therefore, the merging assistance device 1 can provide assistance according to the road conditions at a specific location.

(Modification)
In one example of the above-described embodiment, the roadside sensor 2 captures images overlooking a specified area AA of the road RR, but the roadside sensor 2 may be configured in any manner as long as it can acquire image data D1 that can identify a group of vehicles GG.
For example, the vehicle group determination device 11 may include a roadside sensor 2 a as a modified example of the roadside sensor 2 .
For example, the roadside sensor 2a may include a line sensor that detects each vehicle VV traveling across the road RR from the roadside at a point A1, as shown in FIG.

For example, the roadside sensor 2a may include a laser scanner 2a1 and a laser scanner 2a2 that emit a laser from the roadside of the road RR so as to cross each vehicle traveling. In this case, the laser scanner 2a1 and the laser scanner 2a2 that scan the laser in the height direction may be installed at a predetermined sensor interval upstream and downstream in the X direction near the point A1.

For example, each of the laser scanners 2a1 and 2a2 may scan with a laser within a plane perpendicular to the X direction.
For example, each of the laser scanners 2a1 and 2a2 may be provided on the side of the road RR at approximately the same height as each of the vehicles VV. In this case, each of the laser scanners 2a1 and 2a2 may scan with a laser centered on the horizontal direction within a plane perpendicular to the X direction.
For example, each of the laser scanners 2a1 and 2a2 may be capable of measuring the distance to each vehicle.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the roadside sensor 2a may acquire image data D1 that can identify the vehicle distance, vehicle height, vehicle length, etc., for each vehicle VV.
For example, the roadside sensor 2a may be able to measure the lane and vehicle speed of each vehicle VV from the distance between the vehicle VV and each laser scanner, the distance between the two laser scanners, and the time difference between the times when each laser scanner detects the traveling vehicle VV.

In the example of the embodiment described above, the vehicle group determination device 11 identifies the vehicle group GG for each lane LL, but the vehicle group determination device 11 may be configured in any manner as long as it can identify the vehicle group GG.
As a modified example, the vehicle group determination device 11 may identify a vehicle group GG without distinguishing between lanes on a road having multiple lanes.
As another modified example, for a road having only one lane, the vehicle group determination device 11 may identify the vehicle group GG without identifying the lane LL.

In the example of the embodiment described above, the vehicle group determination device 11 is provided in the merging assistance device 1, but the vehicle group determination device 11 may be configured in any manner as long as it can determine the vehicle group GG.
As a modified example, the vehicle group determination device 11 may be provided separately from the merging assistance device 1 .
As another modified example, the vehicle group determination device 11 may be provided on a merging road and a non-merging road. In this case, the vehicle group determination device 11 may provide information on the identified vehicle group GG to a monitoring panel of a control center or the like, or to an on-board device of a vehicle in front, behind, or in the vicinity.

In the above embodiment, the vehicle group determination device 11 performs determination regarding the inter-vehicle distance D2 and determination regarding the vehicle speed D3, but any determination may be made as long as the vehicle group GG can be identified.
As a variant example, the vehicle group determination device 11 may first determine whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD, and then determine whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r based on the detection information DD.
As another variant, the vehicle group determination device 11 may determine whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD, and at the same time determine whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r.

In the example of the embodiment described above, the first determination unit 113 makes the determination based on the predetermined distance r stored in advance, but the predetermined distance r may be set in any manner.
As a variant example, the first judgment unit 113 may identify the vehicle speed of a group of vehicles including the vehicle VV to be judged based on the detection information DD, and sequentially set the specified distance r in relation to the vehicle VV to be judged so that the specified distance r becomes larger as the identified vehicle speed becomes higher.
As another variant example, the first judgment unit 113 may identify the vehicle speed of the vehicle VV to be judged based on the detection information DD, and sequentially set the specified distance r in relation to the vehicle VV to be judged so that the specified distance r becomes larger as the identified vehicle speed becomes larger.

(Computer Configuration)
In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, a program for realizing the functions of the merging assistance device 1 or the vehicle group determination device 11 is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in the recording medium is read into a computer system such as a microcomputer and executed to perform various processes. Here, the various processes of the CPU of the computer system are stored in the form of a program in a computer-readable recording medium, and the computer reads and executes the program to perform the various processes. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium refers to a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a semiconductor memory, etc. In addition, the computer program may be distributed to a computer via a communication line, and the computer that receives the program may execute the program.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an example of the hardware configuration of a computer that executes a program to realize the functions of the merging assistance device 1 or the vehicle group determination device 11 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 8, the computer provided in the merging assistance device 1 or the vehicle group determination device 11 includes a CPU 91, a memory 92, a storage/playback device 93, an Input Output Interface (hereinafter referred to as "IO I/F") 94, and a communication Interface (hereinafter referred to as "communication I/F") 95.

The memory 92 is a medium such as a Random Access Memory (hereinafter referred to as “RAM”) that temporarily stores data and the like used by the programs executed by the merging assistance device 1 or the vehicle group determination device 11 .
The storage/playback device 93 is a device for storing data in external media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and flash memories, and for playing back data from external media.
The IO I/F 94 is an interface for inputting and outputting information between the merging assistance device 1 and other devices, or between the vehicle group determination device 11 and other devices.
The communication I/F 95 is an interface for communicating with other devices via a communication line such as the Internet or a dedicated communication line.

Although several embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the disclosure. These embodiments and their modifications are considered to be within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, as well as within the scope and gist of the disclosure.

<Additional Notes>
The vehicle group determination device, the merging support device, the vehicle group determination method, and the program described in each embodiment can be understood, for example, as follows.

(1) The vehicle group determination device 11 according to the first aspect includes an acquisition unit 111 that acquires detection information DD from a roadside sensor 2 that detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR, a first determination unit 113 that determines whether the inter-vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r based on the detection information DD, a second determination unit 114 that determines whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD, and a vehicle group identification unit 115 that identifies a vehicle group GG based on the determination results of the first determination unit 113 and the second determination unit 114.

According to this embodiment, the vehicle group determination device 11 identifies the vehicle group GG based on the detection information DD from the roadside sensor 2 .
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can identify the vehicle group GG as long as the vehicles are within the detection range of the roadside sensor 2, regardless of the different functions of each vehicle VV.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

(2) The vehicle group determination device 11 according to the second aspect is the vehicle group determination device 11 of (1), further including a lane determination unit 112 that determines the lane LL in which the vehicle VV is traveling among the multiple lanes LL included in the road RR based on the detection information DD.

According to this aspect, the vehicle group determination device 11 can identify the vehicle group GG for each lane LL.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can grasp the road conditions at a specific position for each lane LL.

(3) The vehicle group determination device 11 according to the third aspect is the vehicle group determination device 11 according to (1) or (2), and further includes a third determination unit 116 that determines whether the number of vehicles in the vehicle group GG is greater than two.

According to this aspect, the vehicle group determination device 11 can determine a vehicle group associated with the possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring, and a vehicle group associated with the possibility of aggressive driving occurring.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can detect the possibility of a traffic jam or an accident occurring, and the possibility of aggressive driving occurring.

(4) The vehicle group determination device 11 according to the fourth aspect is any one of the vehicle group determination devices 11 according to (1) to (3), in which the second determination unit makes a determination about the vehicle that is determined by the first determination unit to be not within the predetermined distance.

According to this aspect, the vehicle group determination device 11 can identify a vehicle group that is traveling at a slower speed despite the large inter-vehicle distance.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination device 11 can detect the possibility of a congestion or an accident occurring regardless of the length of the inter-vehicle distance.

(5) The merging support device 1 according to the fifth aspect includes a vehicle group determination device 11 according to any one of (1) to (4) and a support information generation unit 12 that generates merging support information DA based on the vehicle group GG.

According to this aspect, the merging assistance device 1 can generate the merging assistance information DA based on the vehicle group GG for which the road conditions at a specific position can be grasped.
Therefore, the merging assistance device 1 can provide assistance according to the road conditions at a specific location.

(6) The vehicle group determination method according to the sixth aspect acquires detection information DD from a roadside sensor 2 that detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR, determines whether the vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r based on the detection information DD, determines whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD, and identifies the vehicle group GG based on the determination result of whether the vehicle distance D2 is equal to or less than the predetermined distance r and the determination result of whether the vehicle speed D3 is equal to or less than the predetermined vehicle speed β.

According to this aspect, the vehicle group determination method identifies the vehicle group GG based on the detection information DD from the roadside sensor 2 .
Therefore, the vehicle group determination method can identify the vehicle group GG as long as it is within the detection range of the roadside sensor 2, regardless of the different functions of each vehicle VV.
Therefore, the vehicle group determination method can grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

(7) The program according to the seventh aspect causes the computer of the vehicle group determination device to acquire detection information DD from a roadside sensor 2 that detects a vehicle VV traveling on a road RR, determine whether the vehicle distance D2 between the vehicle VV and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance r based on the detection information DD, determine whether the vehicle speed D3 of the vehicle VV is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed β based on the detection information DD, and identify the vehicle group GG based on the determination result of whether the vehicle distance D2 is equal to or less than the predetermined distance r and the determination result of whether the vehicle speed D3 is equal to or less than the predetermined vehicle speed β.

According to this embodiment, the program causes the computer of the vehicle group determination device 11 to identify the vehicle group GG based on the detection information DD from the roadside sensor 2 .
Therefore, the program can cause the computer of the vehicle group determination device 11 to identify the vehicle group GG as long as the vehicles are within the detection range of the roadside sensor 2, regardless of the different functions of each vehicle VV.
Therefore, the program can grasp the road conditions at a specific location.

Reference Signs List 1 Merging support device 2 Roadside sensor 2a Roadside sensor 2a1 Laser scanner 2a2 Laser scanner 3 Roadside wireless device 11 Vehicle group determination device 12 Support information generation unit 91 CPU
92 Memory 93 Storage/playback device 94 IO I/F
95 Communication I/F
100 Merging support system 111 Acquisition unit 112 Lane determination unit 113 First determination unit 114 Second determination unit 115 Vehicle group identification unit 116 Third determination unit A1 Point AA Predetermined area D1 Image data D2 Vehicle distance D3 Vehicle speed DA Merging support information DD Detection information G1 Group G2 Group GG Vehicle group L1 Lane L2 Lane LL Lane r Predetermined distance RM Merging road RR Road V1 Vehicle V2 Vehicle VM Merging vehicle VMa Vehicle-mounted device VV Vehicle β Predetermined vehicle speed

Claims (7)

an acquisition unit that acquires detection information from a roadside sensor that detects a plurality of vehicles traveling on a road , identifies the plurality of vehicles included in the detection information, and assigns a vehicle ID to each identified vehicle in chronological order, the vehicle ID being distinguishable from other vehicles ;
a lane determination unit that determines, based on the detection information, a lane in which each vehicle is traveling among a plurality of lanes included in the road;
a first determination unit that determines whether or not a vehicle-to-vehicle distance between each vehicle and another vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance based on the detection information;
a second determination unit that determines whether or not the vehicle speed of each vehicle is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the detection information;
a vehicle group identification unit that identifies a vehicle group based on a determination result of the first determination unit and a determination result of the second determination unit;
Equipped with
The vehicle group identification unit is a vehicle group determination device that identifies, as the same vehicle group, a plurality of vehicles that have the same determined lane and whose vehicle IDs assigned in chronological order are consecutive . 2. The vehicle group determination device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle group identification unit identifies, as the same vehicle group, the plurality of vehicles whose inter-vehicle distance has been determined by the first determination unit to be equal to or less than the specified distance, whose lane determined by the lane determination unit is the same, and whose vehicle IDs assigned in chronological order are consecutive . The vehicle group determination device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a third determination unit that determines whether the number of vehicles in the vehicle group is greater than two. The vehicle group determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second determination unit determines the vehicle that is determined by the first determination unit to be not within the predetermined distance. The vehicle group determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
an assistance information generating unit that generates merging assistance information based on the vehicle group;
A merging assistance device comprising: an acquisition unit of the vehicle group determination device acquires detection information from a roadside sensor that detects a plurality of vehicles traveling on a road, identifies the plurality of vehicles included in the detection information, and assigns a vehicle ID that enables each identified vehicle to be distinguished from other vehicles in chronological order;
a lane determination unit of the vehicle group determination device determines, based on the detection information, a lane in which each vehicle is traveling among a plurality of lanes included in the road;
a first determination unit of the vehicle group determination device determines whether or not a vehicle-to-vehicle distance between each vehicle and another vehicle is equal to or smaller than a predetermined distance based on the detection information;
a second determination unit of the vehicle group determination device determines whether or not a vehicle speed of each vehicle is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed based on the detection information;
a vehicle group identification unit of the vehicle group determination device identifies a vehicle group based on a determination result of whether the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance and a determination result of whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed ;
the vehicle group identification unit identifies, as the same vehicle group, the plurality of vehicles that are in the same determined lane and whose vehicle IDs assigned in chronological order are consecutive . The vehicle group determination device's computer
acquiring detection information from a roadside sensor that detects a plurality of vehicles traveling on a road, identifying each of the plurality of vehicles included in the detection information, and assigning a vehicle ID that enables each of the identified vehicles to be distinguished from other vehicles in chronological order;
determining a lane in which each vehicle is traveling among a plurality of lanes included in the road based on the detection information;
Based on the detection information, it is determined whether or not the inter-vehicle distance between each vehicle and another vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance;
Based on the detection information, it is determined whether the vehicle speed of each vehicle is equal to or lower than a predetermined vehicle speed;
Identifying a vehicle group based on a result of determining whether the inter-vehicle distance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance and a result of determining whether the vehicle speed is equal to or less than a predetermined vehicle speed;
a program for executing the program to execute the program to identify, as the same vehicle group, the plurality of vehicles that are determined to be traveling in the same lane and have consecutive vehicle IDs assigned in the chronological order .

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