JPH06262960A - Running controller for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent degradation in drivability due to repeating of control stop/recovery when interruption frequently occurs in a running controller following a preceding car. CONSTITUTION:Detection signals from a car interval sensor 10 and a car speed sensor 12 are fed to a microcomputer 18. A throttle actuator 20 and a brake actuator 22 are controlled by the microcomputer 18 so that the car interval becomes safe car interval. When interruption occurs, the time frequency alphais calculated by the microcomputer 18, and when the value is no less than a frequency threshold when compared with the frequency threshold, it is judged that follow running is not appropriate, and control is stopped while the recovery of control is also inhibited.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle running control device, and more particularly to a follow-up running control when an interrupt occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various traveling control devices have been developed for the purpose of reducing driver's driving operation and improving safety. The inter-vehicle distance with a preceding vehicle is detected, and this inter-vehicle distance is determined by the vehicle. One of them is a travel control device that controls the vehicle speed so that the safe inter-vehicle distance is calculated based on the vehicle speed and follows the preceding vehicle.

In such a travel control device, the vehicle speed is controlled so as to maintain the safe inter-vehicle distance according to the speed of the own vehicle as described above, so that the safe inter-vehicle distance is equal to the actual inter-vehicle distance. There is a case where they do not coincide with each other. For example, when traveling control is performed to maintain a safe inter-vehicle distance from a preceding vehicle on a congested road or the like, another vehicle may interrupt from an adjacent lane. In such a case, if the interrupted vehicle is set as a new preceding vehicle and the follow-up running is continued, the own vehicle is gradually delayed, which causes a problem that the smooth running cannot be continued. Therefore, for example, as in the vehicle running control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-265037, a configuration has been proposed in which the running control is stopped when an interrupt is detected during the running control.

[0004]

In such a structure, after detecting the occurrence of an interrupt and stopping the traveling control,
Although it is possible to return the travel control when a predetermined condition is met, in a situation where the road is congested and interrupts occur frequently, the control is stopped and returned frequently, and There was a problem that the feeling deteriorated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is for a vehicle which can smoothly continue running even in a situation where an interrupt occurs while following a preceding vehicle. To provide a travel control device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicular traveling control device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle, and a speed of an own vehicle. A traveling control device for a vehicle, comprising: a speed detecting unit that controls the vehicle speed and a control unit that controls a vehicle speed to maintain a predetermined distance calculated based on the speed, and an interrupt occurs due to a sudden decrease in the detected inter-vehicle distance. Interrupt detection means for detecting that, the frequency calculation means for calculating the time frequency of the interrupt occurrence, when the calculated frequency is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold, the control of the control means is stopped, and It has a prohibition means for prohibiting restoration.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the vehicle travel control device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the vehicle travel control device according to the first aspect, wherein the threshold value is adjusted according to the driving characteristics of the driver. It is characterized by having an adjusting means.

[0008]

In the traveling control system for a vehicle according to claim 1,
When it detects that an interrupt has occurred due to a sudden decrease in the distance between vehicles,
The normal traveling control by the control means is stopped. Further, the time frequency of this interrupt occurrence is calculated by the frequency calculating means, and when the road is congested and interrupts frequently occur, and the frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, even if the set for follow-up running is set. Even if the switch is operated, by prohibiting the control return of the control means, the frequent repetition of the control stop and the return is prevented, and the deterioration of the driving feeling is prevented.

When the control return of the control means is prohibited, the driver is informed of that fact and the driver continues the traveling by manual operation.

Further, in the vehicle travel control device according to the present invention, the threshold value is automatically adjusted based on the driving characteristics of the driver. The influence of the driver on the magnitude of the interrupt frequency varies depending on the driver, and for example, the percentage frequency that is acceptable for one driver may not be acceptable for another driver.

Therefore, more appropriate control becomes possible by automatically adjusting the threshold value to a value unique to the driver.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of a vehicle control device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. An inter-vehicle distance sensor 10 is provided at the front of the vehicle as inter-vehicle distance detecting means. As the inter-vehicle distance sensor 10, for example, a CCD camera, a radar device, a laser radar device or the like that captures an image of a preceding vehicle can be used. A vehicle speed sensor 12 that optically detects the rotation speed of the drive shaft of the vehicle is provided as vehicle speed detection means.

Further, an adjusting lever 14 for setting a vehicle speed during constant speed traveling and for adjusting an inter-vehicle distance during following traveling is provided in the driver's seat, and a system switch 16 is similarly provided in the driver's seat. The signals from these sensors and switches are supplied to the microcomputer 18.

The microcomputer 18 has an input / output port, a ROM storing a processing program to be described later, a CPU for performing an operation according to the processing program, a RAM for storing the operation result, and the like. The operation result is stored in the throttle actuator 20 or the brake. When the vehicle 22 is supplied with a control signal to the actuator 22 to control the traveling of the vehicle, and the warning / display device 24 provided in the driver's seat appropriately displays the current inter-vehicle distance, or when the inter-vehicle distance becomes unacceptable, it will be described later. As described above, the driver is informed of the message for prohibiting the following traveling.

The processing of the microcomputer 18 will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First,
Initial setting including operation confirmation of the inter-vehicle distance sensor 10 such as a radar is performed (S101), and the running state of the vehicle based on the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle, the speed of the own vehicle, the steering angle (by a steering angle sensor not shown), and the like are determined. Input to the microcomputer 18 (S102). The microcomputer 18 detects the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle based on the detection signal from the inter-vehicle distance sensor 10 (S103), and the control amount based on the difference between the safe inter-vehicle distance calculated based on the speed of the own vehicle and this inter-vehicle distance. Is calculated and the throttle actuator 20 is controlled.
Further, the detected change in inter-vehicle distance is compared with a predetermined threshold value to determine whether or not there is a sharp decrease in the inter-vehicle distance. If the third vehicle interrupts from the adjacent lane while following the preceding vehicle, the inter-vehicle distance decreases discontinuously. Can be determined. Then, the microcomputer 18 calculates the time frequency of whether or not such an interrupt has occurred. A method of calculating the time frequency are various calculates the lower limit distance R _m or less become time T _m at time T ₀ with in this embodiment, and calculates the ratio as a time frequency. That is, the time frequency α is α = T _m / T _0, where T _m = τ _m · Δt τ _m : The number of data detected when the lower limit distance R _m or less is Δt: Distance data output sampling time. As the roads are congested and frequent interrupts occur, the time frequency α increases accordingly. Needless to say, the frequency of interruption changes depending on the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle, so the time frequency α is also calculated at each distance.

The time frequency α calculated in this way is compared with a predetermined frequency threshold value α ₀ and evaluated. FIG. 3 shows an example of the frequency threshold value α ₀ . In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents the inter-vehicle distance (m), the vertical axis represents the frequency α (%), and α ₀ is shown as a curve that sharply rises at a short distance and is gently saturated at a long distance. This frequency threshold value α ₀ may be stored in advance in a memory, and as will be described later, it is possible to match it with the driving characteristics of the driver and sequentially learn it, and set it to the optimum threshold value peculiar to the driver.

As a result of size comparison between the time frequency α and the frequency threshold α ₀ , when the time frequency α is equal to or greater than the threshold α ₀ , that is, in the region on the threshold α ₀ curve in FIG. 3, the road is congested. It is determined that it is not appropriate to follow the preceding vehicle at the current inter-vehicle distance, and if it is under control, the alarm / display device 24 is informed that it is difficult to follow the vehicle by controlling the following distance. And the throttle actuator 2
A control signal is sent to 0 to gradually return the throttle to stop the follow-up control (S106 to S108). In addition, when the road is congested, it is not appropriate to carry out follow-up running, so the driver may use the system switch 1 to control the control once suspended.
Even if 6 is operated to continue the follow-up traveling, the setting is prohibited (S109) and the driver is forced to shift to the manual operation.

On the other hand, when the time frequency α is less than or equal to the frequency threshold value α _0, it is determined that the road congestion is not so high and it is appropriate to follow the preceding vehicle, and the system switch 16 is turned on. In this case, the following traveling is continued, the safe inter-vehicle distance calculation and the control amount calculation are performed (S111), and the throttle actuator 20 is controlled (S112).

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the frequency of interruption is high, it is judged that it is not appropriate to follow the preceding vehicle due to the congestion of the road, and the follow-up running is forcibly stopped. Furthermore, even if the driver wants to return, the control return is prohibited to ensure safety, so that the follow-up traveling control is prevented from being repeatedly stopped and returned, and the driver is not forced to perform unnecessary operations. Can guarantee safe driving.

Second Embodiment In the first embodiment described above, the frequency threshold α ₀ is stored in the memory in advance and the magnitude comparison between the frequency threshold α ₀ and the calculated time frequency α is carried out to follow the traveling. Whether or not the control should be stopped / prohibited was determined, but the influence of the magnitude of the interrupt frequency on the driver is peculiar to the driver. Depending on the person, the frequency may be unacceptable. That is, whether or not to stop / prohibit the follow-up traveling control depending on the time frequency is made to match according to the driving characteristics of the driver.
It will better match the driving feeling of the driver.

In the second embodiment, in order to meet such a request, the frequency threshold value α ₀ is automatically tuned to match the driving characteristics of the driver.

The automatic tuning is performed as follows. That is, first, an appropriate temporary frequency threshold value α ₀ is determined,
The processing shown in FIG. 2 is performed using this frequency threshold value α ₀ . If the frequency threshold α ₀ is too small and the control is stopped despite the interrupt frequency being acceptable to the driver, the driver tries to recover by operating the system switch 16. At this time, the microcomputer 1
No. 8 prohibits this return, but at this time, it is judged that the operation of this system switch 16 is an indication that the driver's current frequency threshold value α ₀ is inappropriate, and this frequency threshold value α 0
Update ₀ by increasing ₀ by a predetermined amount (for example, 5%). Then, at the time of the next following running, the frequency threshold α increased by 5%
Since the magnitude comparison is performed, the control that matches the driving feeling of the driver is performed.

On the other hand, when the predetermined temporary frequency threshold value α ₀ is too large and the interrupt frequency is not acceptable to the driver, the result control of the magnitude comparison with the time frequency α is continued. Therefore, the driver operates the brake or turns off the system switch 16. The microcomputer 18 operates the brake pedal,
Alternatively, it is determined that the OFF operation of the system switch 16 is an indication of the driver's intention that the current frequency threshold value α ₀ is inappropriate, and the current frequency threshold value is decreased by a predetermined amount (for example, 5
%) And update. As a result, in the next following traveling control, the traveling control is stopped and the control that matches the driving feeling of the driver is performed when the frequency becomes an unacceptable rate for the driver.

When the frequency threshold value α ₀ is increased or decreased, the frequency threshold value α ₀ may be automatically tuned by using a learning fuzzy or a neural network in order to improve the accuracy.

Further, not only the frequency threshold value α ₀ but also the continuous time T ₀ used when calculating the interrupt time frequency α may be automatically tuned.

[0027]

As described above, according to the vehicle travel control apparatus of the present invention, even when the road is congested, the follow-up travel control is interrupted / returned frequently by interruption. It is possible to prevent and enable smooth and safe running.

Furthermore, by adjusting the threshold value for control suspension to match the driving characteristics of the driver, comfortable driving can be performed without impairing the driving feeling of the driver.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a frequency threshold value according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Vehicle Distance Sensor 12 Vehicle Speed Sensor 14 Adjustment Lever 16 System Switch 18 Microcomputer 20 Throttle Actuator 22 Brake Actuator 24 Alarm / Display Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle, a speed detecting means for detecting a speed of the own vehicle, and a control for controlling a vehicle speed to maintain a predetermined distance calculated based on the speed. A vehicle travel control device comprising: an interrupt detection unit that detects that an interrupt has occurred due to a sudden decrease in the detected inter-vehicle distance; and a frequency calculation unit that calculates the time frequency of the interrupt occurrence. A traveling control device for a vehicle, comprising: a prohibiting unit that stops the control by the control unit and prohibits the return when the calculated frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value. 2. The vehicle travel control device according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting unit that adjusts the threshold value according to a driving characteristic of a driver.