JPH02120908A - Route guiding device for mobile vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely recognize the end of a traveling plan and to surely guide the route of a mobile vehicle by comparing elapsed time with an expected time of decide the end of the traveling plan. CONSTITUTION:A local plan end recognizing module 8 in a route guiding device 6 receives a local plan forming module 7 from a local plan and forecasts time T required up to arrival at a subgoal from the position of the subgoal and the speed of the moving vehicle 100. The current position of the vehicle 100 and elapsed time (t) are respectively inputted from a traveling distance sensor 4 and a timer 5 and the forecasted time T is compared with the time (t) passed to monitor the time (t). Thereby, the overrun of the subgoal due to the failure of the sensor 4 or the like or the devergency of the traveling route can be suppressed and a trouble such as misreconition recognizing unarrival due to the idle of wheels in correct as arrival can be removed. Since the end of the traveling plan can be surely detected, the route of the mobile vehicle can be surely guided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a route guidance device for a moving vehicle that forms a travel plan and performs movement control based on the plan, and particularly relates to a route guidance device for a moving vehicle that makes a travel plan and performs movement control based on the plan. Regarding improvements to detect.

(Prior art) In a mobile vehicle that recognizes the outside world and performs autonomous driving control, intermediate passing points (hereinafter referred to as "subgoals") are set and these subgoals are reached before reaching the final destination. Driving plan (hereinafter referred to as "local plan") up to
The vehicle is controlled according to the following.

As a conventional example of such autonomous driving control, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6
No. 1-100898 is known. This JP-A-611
No. 00898 sequentially specifies passing singular points, sets a planned route to a destination, and guides a vehicle along the route.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) By the way, until the final objective value is reached, the steps of setting one subgoal, reaching that subgoal, setting the next subgoal, etc. I have no choice but to step on it. Therefore, accurate detection of reaching a subgoal is essential. This is because if the next local plan is created based on the arrival of an erroneous subgoal, the error will only be magnified in autonomous driving control.

As in the above-mentioned JP-A-Sho, arrival at a subgoal is determined based on the integral of the distance traveled up to that point (or the integral based on the distance traveled per unit time and the traveling direction). This mileage is based on, for example, the output of a mileage sensor attached to a wheel or the like. However, this distance sensor is prone to errors; for example, if the wheels spin, the actual distance traveled will be shorter than the detected distance, and the subgoal will not be reached.
It is falsely detected that the second arrival has been reached. In addition, in order to determine that the subgoal has been reached two-dimensionally, it is necessary to
However, if the accuracy and resolution of the sensors in both directions are not high enough, in some cases, it may be determined that the subgoal has not yet been reached in the It is possible that you have already passed in that direction. In other words, the vehicle ends up in a situation where it passes the subgoal and deviates from the running route.

As described above, the conventional subgoal arrival detection method cannot eliminate the possibility of erroneous detection, resulting in the problem that autonomous driving control cannot be performed reliably.

Therefore, the present invention was proposed in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional example, and its purpose is to propose a route guidance device for a moving vehicle that allows the moving vehicle to reliably detect the end of a travel plan. There it is.

(Means and operations for achieving the object) The configuration of the route guidance device for a moving vehicle according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes means for generating a travel plan according to the external environment, and a means for generating a travel plan according to the external environment. means for controlling the movement of a moving vehicle based on the plan and counting the elapsed time; means for estimating the time required to complete the travel plan; and terminating the travel plan based on at least the elapsed time and the predicted time. The method is characterized by comprising a means for determining.

(Example) An example according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a route guidance system for a mobile vehicle 100 according to this embodiment. 1 is a camera as an imaging device attached to a moving vehicle, and 2 is a sonar. Camera 1 and sonar 2 constitute a means for inputting information about the environment, and based on this information, the environment recognition device 3 performs environment recognition such as detecting the presence or absence of road edges or obstacles, and their positions. . The road edges, the positions of obstacles, etc. are mapped as an environment map, and the environment recognition device 3 sends it to the route guidance device 6.

The route guidance device 6 includes a local plan generation module 7 and a local plan completion recognition module 8. The generation module 7 generates the next subgoal position, vehicle speed, etc. based on the map including information such as the position of road edges and obstacles obtained from the environment recognition device 3 and the own vehicle position obtained from the mileage sensor. A local plan including the information is generated and sent to the motor controller 9 and the termination recognition module 8.

This mobile vehicle 100 is equipped with wheels (10L, 10R) that serve as a steering shaft and a driving wheel at the center of the vehicle body. The controller 9 that received the local plan controls the drive motor IIL.
, IIR sends rotation speed signals NL and NR. The controller 9 calculates the traveling direction from the position coordinates of the sub-goal, and outputs the rotation speed signal N1. ≠Turn the wheel as NR. Also, based on the vehicle speed information of the local vehicle, a rotation speed signal (N, =Nl+) is sent to the motor 11L in order to drive in a straight line after steering.

Send to 11R.

The recognition module 8 determines, according to the algorithm described below: (1) whether it has detected that the subgoal has been reached (judgment of arrival at the subgoal is based on information from the travel sensor 4); (2) whether it has detected that the expected arrival time has elapsed ( The elapsed time is determined by timer 5), and the subgoal is considered to have been reached at the earliest detection point. In addition, in this embodiment, arrival at a subgoal too early is also checked.

FIG. 2 shows the point in time when the mobile vehicle 100 arrives at the subgoal I that was set during the previous local brand creation. The driving path is defined by a left road edge 21 and a right road edge 22, and when the vehicle reaches the subgoal ■, the environment recognition device 3 of the moving vehicle detects the obstacle 200 based on the image obtained from the camera 1 (FIG. 3). Recognize existence and its location. Then, the local branch generation module generates the next subgoal I, which is a route that detours around the obstacle 200, as shown in FIG.
Create a local bran containing I. If there is an error in the information from the mileage sensor 4, the arrival at subgoal II cannot be reliably recognized, and before reaching the subgoal, the user may deviate from the running route, collide with an obstacle 200, or
Even though it has not arrived at all, it may be incorrectly determined that it has arrived. Next, by explaining the control procedure of the recognition module 8, how the guidance system of this embodiment detects the end of the local run will be explained.

FIG. 5 is a program flowchart showing the control procedure in the local branch end recognition module 8.

In step S2, the local bran generation module 7
kara uke takes. In step S4, the time T required to reach the subgoal is estimated from the subgoal position and vehicle speed. This can be simply calculated from. At this point, the motor controller 9 should start driving the motor 11, and the vehicle should be running. In step S6, the current position of the mobile vehicle 100 is input from the mileage sensor 4, and the elapsed time t from the start of travel is input from the timer. In step S8, it is determined whether the current position matches the sub-goal position, or whether it approaches within a certain range of the sub-goal.

If the subgoal has not been reached or close to the subgoal, the process proceeds to step 310 to check whether the elapsed time t exceeds the expected arrival time T.

If T does not exceed T, the process returns to step S8 and continues monitoring to recognize the end of the local branch.

If t≧T is reached before the subgoal is reached or close to the subgoal (determination of No in step S8), the process proceeds to step S12, where it is assumed that the subgoal has been reached, and in step S14, the local brand generation module support local bran production. This is because the sensor 4 is operating normally for some reason, and if the process continues as it is, there is a risk that the subgoal will be passed, so the local braking end judgment state is forcibly generated.

If it is determined in step S8 that the subgoal has been reached or approached while t<T, then in step S9, in order to determine whether the arrival or approach is too early, T-t>δ (δ: constant). For example, if T is expected to be 10 seconds but arrives in 1 second, the sensor 4 may be idling. In such a case, control returns to step S6 to continue traveling. In this way, it is possible to prevent a non-arrival from being mistakenly detected as an arrival.

If the arrival time t falls within the range of the expected time T and δ, the process proceeds to step S12, where it is determined that the subcall has arrived. Note that δ is a time width that is determined in advance based on the distance to the subgoal and the vehicle speed.

In this way, according to the above-described embodiment, since the expected time T until reaching the subgoal and the elapsed time are compared and monitored, it is possible to avoid passing the subgoal due to failure of the distance sensor or lack of resolution, etc. deviations are prevented,
Additionally, problems such as non-arrivals caused by wheels idling being mistaken as arrivals have been resolved.

Although the above embodiments have been described using a two-wheel drive vehicle as an example, the present invention can also be applied to a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Further, the same applies whether there is one travel plan or whether there is a plurality of local plans.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a so-called discontinuous type of running side (explained using a wholesaler as an example, but in this case The invention is also applicable to so-called continuous travel control in which a trajectory is created and feedback control is performed along the trajectory.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained hereinafter, the configuration of the route guidance device for a mobile vehicle according to the present invention includes a means for generating a travel plan according to the external environment, and a means for generating a travel plan for a mobile vehicle based on the travel plan. 07Ft, a means for controlling the movement of the travel plan and counting the elapsed time, a means for predicting the time required to complete the travel plan, and a means for determining the end of the travel plan based on at least the elapsed time and the predicted time. It is characterized by

Since the end of the travel plan is determined by comparing the elapsed time with the expected time, it is possible to reliably recognize the end of the travel plan due to, for example, an error in the travel distance sensor. As a result, the route guidance of the moving vehicle becomes reliable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of an obstacle avoidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 show that when a moving vehicle discovers an obstacle,
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the control procedure of the local plan end recognition module according to the embodiment. In the figure, 1...Camera, 2...Sonar, 3...Environment recognition device, 4...Midometer sensor, 5...Timer, 6...
- Route guidance device, 7... Local plan generation module, 8... Local plan end recognition module, 9.
・・Motor controller, IOL, IOR・・Wheel,
IILllR...Motor, 20...Camera imaging range, 21...Left roadside, 22...Right roadside, 10o...
・Moving vehicle, 2°O...It is an obstacle. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) means for generating a travel plan according to the external environment; means for controlling the movement of a mobile vehicle based on the travel plan and counting elapsed time; and means for predicting the time required to complete the travel plan. A route guidance device for a moving vehicle, comprising at least means for determining the end of a travel plan based on an elapsed time and a predicted time.