KR102079524B1 - Automatic driving vehicle and automatic driving system with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(Problem) Provide a self-propelled self-driving vehicle that can recognize the current position with high precision.
(Solution means) The autonomous vehicle is configured to be capable of autonomous driving in a state in which a speed is controlled based on a vertex provided on a predetermined main road. The autonomous vehicle passes through a vertex detector that detects that the vertex has passed, vertex position information on the position where each vertex is located, vertex identification information for identifying each vertex, and a memory stored therein, and the vertex detector. A vertex specifying unit which identifies a vertex detected by the vertex identification information, a mileage measuring unit which measures the travel distance from the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit to the current point, and detected based on the vertex position information. And a current point specifying section that specifies the current point based on the position of the peak and the distance traveled from the vertex measured by the travel distance measuring section to the present point.

Description

AUTOMATIC DRIVING VEHICLE AND AUTOMATIC DRIVING SYSTEM WITH THE SAME}

The present invention relates to an autonomous vehicle, and more particularly, to an autonomous vehicle capable of automatically traveling a predetermined main road. The present invention also relates to an autonomous driving system including such an autonomous vehicle.

Background Art Conventionally, an automatic traveling vehicle has been developed that detects an electromagnetic guide line embedded in a main road by a sensor and automatically runs a predetermined main road along the guide line. Such an autonomous vehicle is used, for example, in a golf car that carries cargo such as a caddy bag or a player at a golf course (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below). In addition, a golf car is also called a "golf cart."

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-181540

The golf car described in Patent Literature 1 has a function of automatically driving a predetermined main road, but does not have a function of recognizing the current running position. Recently, from the market, it is required to recognize the current position of the golf car for the operation management of the golf car. In addition, when detecting obstacles and controlling the running of the vehicle, it is required to recognize the current position of the golf car. In addition, in order to improve the running control of the vehicle such as the speed control of the vehicle, it is required to recognize the current position of the golf car.

An object of the present invention is to provide an autonomous vehicle capable of automatically driving a predetermined main road, which can recognize a current position with higher accuracy. In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic traveling system including such an automatic traveling vehicle.

The present inventors earnestly studied the golf car which is one of the autonomous vehicles before examining a means for recognizing the present position of the autonomous vehicle. The golf car automatically runs the road set according to the terrain of the golf course. For this reason, the golf car may run in a lush environment. In addition, a golf car may drive a large road with a high elevation. As a result of repeating the test, it was found that sufficient precision could not be obtained to specify the current point by GPS.

Therefore, the inventor of the present application has noted that the autonomous vehicle automatically travels the predetermined main road, and that the speed of the automatic traveling vehicle is controlled based on the vertex embedded in the predetermined main road. Then, using the vertices, it was conceived to specify the current position based on the position of the vertex and the mileage from the vertex to the current position. Thus, by utilizing the vertex and the mileage, the current position of the autonomous vehicle can be recognized even if the autonomous vehicle travels in an environment in which the trees are dense, or if the high-rise vehicle is driven on a large main road.

The present invention is directed to an autonomous vehicle configured to be capable of automatically traveling on a predetermined main road, and to control a driving state of the vehicle based on a vertex embedded below the predetermined main road.

A vertex detection unit for detecting that the vertex has passed;

A storage unit that associates and stores vertex position information about a position where each vertex is disposed and vertex identification information for identifying each vertex with respect to each of the plurality of vertices;

A vertex specifying unit specifying the vertex detected by the vertex detecting unit based on the vertex identification information;

A mileage measurement unit for measuring a mileage from the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit to the current point;

The position of the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit is detected based on the vertex position information on the position where each vertex is disposed, and the position of the detected vertex and the traveling distance measuring unit are measured. And a current point specifying unit which specifies the current point based on the mileage from the vertex to the current point.

According to the above structure, the vertex that the vehicle has just passed through is identified by the vertex specifying unit, and the position of the specified vertex is detected based on the vertex position information. In addition, the traveling distance from the specified vertex to the present point is measured by the traveling distance measuring unit. Since the autonomous vehicle travels mainly on a predetermined phase, it is possible to specify the current point of the autonomous vehicle with high accuracy based on two pieces of information: the position of the vertex and the travel distance from the position of the vertex.

When the autonomous vehicle passes through the vertex, various configurations can be adopted to identify the vertex that has passed through the vertex specifying unit. For example,

The automatic driving vehicle is provided with a coordinate measuring unit for measuring the world coordinate at the current point,

The vertex identification information includes information about world coordinates in which each vertex is disposed;

The vertex specifying unit specifies the vertex that has passed by matching the world coordinates measured in the vertex identification information with the world coordinates measured by the coordinate measuring unit at the time when the vertex detecting unit has passed the vertex. It does not matter.

Here, as a coordinate measuring part, GPS can be used, for example. In this configuration, GPS is used to specify the vertices that have passed through. That is, although a plurality of vertices are mainly embedded in the image, GPS is used as a means for specifying which of these vertices. Since the world coordinates of the vertices are stored in advance in the storage unit, the vertices that have passed can be specified by extracting the vertices representing the world coordinates closest to the world coordinates measured by the coordinate measuring unit such as GPS.

Moreover, as another structure of the said automatic driving vehicle,

The vertex detection unit is a configuration capable of reading a speed control command corresponding to the vertex,

The vertex identification information includes information about the speed control command corresponding to each vertex,

The vertex specifying unit may specify the vertex passed by matching the speed control command corresponding to the vertex read by the vertex detection unit with the information about the speed control command described in the vertex identification information.

As the speed control command, the content corresponding to the position of the vertex is added. Therefore, it is possible to specify a vertex that has passed by comparing the speed control command added to the passed vertex with the speed control command described in the vertex identification information at the time when the vertex passes.

Moreover, as another structure of the said automatic driving vehicle,

The vertex identification information includes information about a travel distance between two vertices adjacent in series on the predetermined main route,

When the vertex specifying unit detects that the vertex has passed, the vertex specifying unit may specify the vertex that has passed by comparing the traveling distance measured by the traveling distance measurement unit with the information about the traveling distance described in the vertex identification information. It doesn't matter.

The vertices are buried beneath the predetermined column for the purpose of controlling the running state of the vehicle, and the distance between adjacent vertices is different. Therefore, it is possible to specify the vertex that has passed by comparing the travel distance measured by the travel distance measurement unit with the information about the travel distance described in the vertex identification information at the time when the vertex passes.

Moreover, as a structure of the said autonomous vehicle,

It has an imaging part which picks up a predetermined direction by looking at the said predetermined | prescribed image from the said autonomous vehicle while traveling,

The vertex identification information includes information about the imaging data when the predetermined direction is captured from the autonomous vehicle at a position passing through the vertex,

At the time when the vertex specifying unit detects that the vertex has passed, the vertex specifying unit may specify the vertex that has passed by collating the data captured by the image capturing unit with the information about the image data described in the vertex identification information. .

Here, as the imaging data, for example, coordinate information about a feature point on the image can be included. In this case, the vertex can be specified by matching the coordinate information of the feature point included in the data captured by the image pickup unit with the coordinate information of the feature point included in the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit at the time when the vertex passes. .

In addition, when the imaging section is composed of a plurality of cameras, the information on the parallax image can be included as the imaging data. In this case, a vertex can be specified by matching the parallax image created from the data image | photographed by the imaging part at the time which passed the vertex, and the coordinate information of the feature point contained in the vertex identification information stored in the memory | storage part.

The traveling distance measuring unit may be configured to measure the traveling distance based on the rotation angle of the wheel mounted on the automatic traveling vehicle.

By the way, in the case of the structure which can store a some information in a vertex, it is possible to memorize | store the information regarding the position in which the vertex is arrange | positioned at the vertex itself ("vertex position information" mentioned above). As such an example, the case where a vertex is comprised by RFID is assumed. In such a case, the vertex detection unit may read the vertex position information.

That is, the present invention is an automatic driving vehicle which is configured to be capable of automatically traveling on a predetermined main road, and controls the running state of the vehicle based on a vertex embedded below the predetermined main road.

The vertex is attached with vertex position information regarding the position where each vertex is disposed,

A vertex detecting unit that detects the one that has passed the vertex and the vertex maintenance information added to the vertex that has passed;

A mileage measurement unit that measures a mileage from the position of the vertex detected by the vertex detection unit to the current point;

And a current point specifying section for specifying a current point based on the position of the vertex detected by the vertex detecting unit and the traveling distance from the vertex measured by the traveling distance measuring unit to the current point.

Even in this configuration, it is possible to specify the current point of the autonomous vehicle with high precision based on two pieces of information, the position of the vertex and the travel distance from the position of the vertex.

Further, the autonomous vehicle may be provided with an instruction unit for switching a mode for automatically driving the image on the predetermined state and a mode for manually driving a field other than the predetermined state.

According to this configuration, when the autonomous vehicle returns to the preset main road after running by manual, the present position of the autonomous vehicle can be specified.

In addition, the automatic traveling system according to the present invention,

The automatic driving vehicle,

A guide line laid for the automatic driving vehicle to automatically run,

And a vertex provided at a plurality of points through which the autonomous vehicle passes during autonomous driving to control the speed of the autonomous vehicle.

According to the above arrangement, an autonomous driving system capable of accurately specifying the current position of the autonomous vehicle during autonomous driving is realized.

(Effects of the Invention)

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an autonomous traveling vehicle capable of automatically driving a predetermined main road, which can recognize the current position with higher accuracy. In addition, it is possible to provide an autonomous driving system including such an autonomous vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram when the autonomous vehicle is seen from the front.
2 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the autonomous vehicle.
It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the main run which an autonomous vehicle runs.
4 is a diagram for explaining information stored in a storage unit.
Fig. 5 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the autonomous vehicle.
6 is a diagram for explaining information stored in a storage unit.
7 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of a third embodiment of an autonomous vehicle.
It is a schematic diagram when the automatic traveling vehicle of 4th Embodiment is seen from the front surface.
9 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of a fourth embodiment of an autonomous vehicle.
10 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of another embodiment of an autonomous vehicle.
11 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of another embodiment of the autonomous vehicle.

[First Embodiment]

The structure of 1st Embodiment of the automatic traveling vehicle of this invention is demonstrated with reference to drawings. In addition, in the following drawings, the actual dimension ratio and the dimension ratio on drawing do not necessarily correspond.

In the present embodiment, a golf car will be described as an example of an automatic traveling vehicle. However, the autonomous vehicle is not limited to a golf car, but also includes an unmanned transport vehicle traveling in a factory or an orchard. The autonomous vehicle in the present invention is not limited to a four-wheeled vehicle, but may be a three-wheeled vehicle or a monorail type. The same is true after the second embodiment described later.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram when the automatic traveling vehicle in this embodiment is seen from the front surface. The autonomous vehicle 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a golf car which automatically runs in a golf course. 2 is a block diagram functionally showing the configuration of this autonomous vehicle 1.

The autonomous traveling vehicle 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a steering wheel 4, a right front wheel 5 and a left front wheel 6 steered by the rotation of the steering wheel 4. In addition, the autonomous vehicle 1 includes a reading unit 7 below the vehicle body. The reading unit 7 includes a vertex detecting unit 7a and a guide line detecting unit 7b (see Fig. 2). The description of the vertex detection unit 7a and the guide line detection unit 7b will be described later.

The right front wheel 5 of the automatic traveling vehicle 1 is provided with a rotation angle detecting unit 9 for detecting the rotation angle of the right front wheel 5. The rotation angle sensor 9 detects the rotation angle of the wheel, and is comprised, for example with a rotary encoder. The rotation angle sensor 9 may be provided in the left front wheel 6 or the rear wheel instead of or in addition to the right front wheel 5.

2 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the autonomous vehicle 1. The autonomous vehicle 1 includes a vertex specifying unit 11, a traveling distance measuring unit 13, a storage unit 15, in addition to the vertex detecting unit 7a, the guide line detecting unit 7b, and the rotation angle detecting unit 9 described above. A current point specifying unit 17 and an automatic driving control unit 19 are provided. The vertex specifying unit 11, the travel distance measuring unit 13, the current point specifying unit 17, and the automatic driving control unit 19 are configured by, for example, a computing device such as a CPU. The storage unit 15 is configured by, for example, a memory or a hard disk.

The autonomous driving control unit 19 controls the autonomous driving vehicle 1 for autonomous driving along the electromagnetic guidance line provided on the main road. 3 is an example of the main road in which the autonomous vehicle 1 is scheduled to travel. As shown in FIG. 3, the electromagnetic induction line 24 is embedded below the main body 21. The guide line detection unit 7b is a configuration capable of receiving electromagnetic waves generated from the electromagnetic guide line 24, and is made of, for example, a magnetic sensor. The guidance line detection unit 7b outputs a detection signal to the automatic driving control unit 19 when receiving the electromagnetic wave generated from the electromagnetic guidance line 24. The automatic driving control unit 19 controls the steering mechanism (not shown) based on this detection signal. As a result, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 automatically drives the main phase 21.

As shown in FIG. 3, the vertices 23 are embedded at a plurality of predetermined positions including the starting point C0 on the main 21. The vertex 23 is comprised by the combination of several magnet, for example. The vertex detection unit 7a is a configuration capable of reading magnetic field information from the vertex 23, and is made of, for example, a magnetic force sensor. These vertices 23 transmit, for example, an instruction signal for instructing travel, stop, deceleration, and the like. When the autonomous driving vehicle 1 passes over the vertex 23, the vertex detection unit 7a receives an instruction signal from the vertex 23 that has passed, and outputs the instruction signal to the automatic driving controller 19. do. The autonomous driving control unit 19 controls the autonomous vehicle 1 in accordance with this instruction signal. As a result, the autonomous vehicle 1 automatically controls driving, stopping, deceleration, and the like based on the information designated by the vertex 23.

In addition, the vertex detection unit 7a outputs the information to the traveling distance measuring unit 13 at the time when the autonomous vehicle 1 passes the vertex 23. The traveling distance measuring unit 13 recognizes the time point at which the autonomous vehicle 1 has passed the vertex 23 based on the signal sent from the vertex detecting unit 7a. Then, the traveling distance measuring unit 13 travels to the current point after the autonomous vehicle 1 passes through the vertex 23 based on the information about the rotation angle of the wheel output from the rotation angle detecting unit 9. Measure the distance. The traveling distance measuring unit 13 may be configured to store information regarding the diameter of the right front wheel 5 in advance. As a result, the autonomous traveling vehicle from the time of passing through the vertex 23 on the basis of the rotation angle (number of revolutions) of the right wheel 5 from the time of passing through the vertex 23 and the diameter of the right wheel 5. The travel distance of (1) can be calculated by calculation.

In the storage unit 15, vertex identification information for identifying each vertex 23 embedded below the main portion 21 and vertex position information about a position where each vertex 23 is arranged are stored in association with each other. . 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of information stored in the storage unit 15.

For example, reference numerals 23a, 23b, 23c, ... are used to identify the vertices 23, respectively. This code corresponds to vertex identification information. In addition, the vertex identification information may include not only a code for identifying the vertex in this manner but also information on an instruction signal such as driving, stopping, and deceleration registered in the vertex 23. Note that the vertex identification information may include information indicating the number of vertices 23 counted from the vertices 23 arranged at the starting point C0 when the vehicle is driven along the main 21. .

In addition, in the storage unit 15, information relating to a position arranged at each vertex 23 is shown by latitude and longitude, for example. As an example, in the storage unit 15, the vertices 23a are stored at latitude xa and longitude ya positions. Information about the position of each vertex 23 corresponds to the vertex position information.

When the vertex detecting unit 7a detects that the autonomous vehicle 1 has passed the vertex 23, the vertex detecting unit 7a outputs the information to the vertex specifying unit 11. The vertex specifying unit 11 reads and verifies the vertex identification information from the storage unit 15, and specifies which vertices 23 are the vertices 23 that passed immediately before.

For example, when the instruction signal of each vertex 23 is described as the vertex identification information, the vertex specifying unit 11 stores information on the instruction signal read by the vertex detection unit 7a and the storage unit 15. The vertex 23 is specified by matching the stored information.

In addition, when the vertex identification information describes information on how many times each vertex 23 is arranged from the origin C0 (hereinafter, referred to as "order information"), the vertex specifying unit 11 is described. ) Counts the number of times a signal indicating that the vertex 23 has passed through the vertex 23 is sent. The vertex specifying unit 11 identifies the vertex 23 by matching the counted number with the sequence information described in the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15.

In addition, when the vertex detection unit 7a has a function of reading information about a code added to identify the vertex 23, when the autonomous vehicle 1 passes through the vertex 23, Information is output from the vertex detection unit 7a to the vertex specifying unit 11. The vertex specifying unit 11 can identify the vertex 23 by matching the information about the code added to the vertex 23 with the information about the code described in the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15. .

As described above, the vertex specifying unit 11 specifies the vertex 23 passed by the autonomous driving vehicle 1 as an example. Various methods can be adopted. When the vertex specification part 11 specifies the vertex 23 which the autonomous vehicle 1 passed in this way, it outputs the information to the present point specification part 17.

The current point specifying unit 17 determines from which position the vertices 23 specified by the vertex specifying unit 11 are arranged. The vertex position information corresponding to the vertices 23 is stored from the storage unit 15. Read and recognize As a result, the current point specifying unit 17 recognizes the position of the vertex 23 that the automatic traveling vehicle 1 has just passed. Then, the current point specifying unit 17 obtains information on the distance traveled by the autonomous vehicle 1 to the current position after passing through the vertex 23 immediately before the traveling distance measuring unit 13. The present point specifying section 17 specifies the present point of the autonomous vehicle 1 based on these information.

According to the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment, the current point can be detected automatically while traveling on the predetermined main 21. In addition, the normal vertex 23 is mainly embedded in the plurality 21. Since the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of this embodiment is a structure which detects a current position based on the information of the vertex 23 which passed just before among the some embedded vertices 23, a detection error can be made small.

Second Embodiment

Only the location different from 1st Embodiment is demonstrated about the structure of 2nd Embodiment of an automatic traveling vehicle. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment.

In the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment, the traveling distance measuring unit 13 also outputs the information about the measured traveling distance to the vertex specifying unit 11 as well. The vertex specifying unit 11 specifies the vertex 23 that has just passed on the basis of the information about the traveling distance input from the traveling distance measuring unit 13.

FIG. 6: is a schematic diagram for demonstrating an example of the information memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 15 with which the automatic traveling vehicle 1 in this embodiment is equipped.

As shown in FIG. 6, the memory | storage part 15 memorize | stores the information about the distance between the position where each vertex 23 is arrange | positioned, and the position where the previous vertex 23 was arrange | positioned. As an example, in the storage unit 15, the vertices 23b are stored at positions where the vertices 23a are advanced by a distance db. This information about the distance between two adjacent vertices 23 corresponds to vertex identification information with a code identifying the vertex 23.

Similar to the configuration of the first embodiment, the vertex specifying unit 11 recognizes the time when the autonomous vehicle 1 has passed the vertex 23 based on the information provided from the vertex detecting unit 7a. In addition, the traveling distance measuring unit 13 measures the distance traveled by the automatic traveling vehicle 1 from the time when the automatic traveling vehicle 1 passes the vertex 23 to the current position.

When the vertex specifying unit 11 recognizes the point in time when the autonomous vehicle 1 passes the next vertex 23 based on the information given from the vertex detecting unit 7a, the vertex specifying unit 11 receives one vertex 23 from the mileage measuring unit 13. After passing through the vehicle, the distance traveled by the autonomous vehicle 1 until the vehicle passes the vertex 23 immediately before is acquired. Thereby, the vertex specification part 11 recognizes the distance of the vertex 23 which passed just before, and the vertex 23 which passed before the one. The vertex specifying unit 11 describes the distance between two adjacent vertices 23 calculated based on the information from the travel distance measuring unit 13 in the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15. Contrast this with information about the distance between adjacent vertices. And the vertex specification part 23 specifies the vertex 23 in which the value closest to the calculated distance is described.

As described above, the autonomous traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment specifies the vertex 23 based on information about the distance between two vertices 23 adjacent to the vertex specifying unit 11. However, even if the vertex specification part 11 specifies the vertex 23 in addition to the information regarding the distance between two adjacent vertices 23, also including the other vertex identification information illustrated in 1st Embodiment, none.

Since the process content after the vertex 23 which the autonomous vehicle 1 passed immediately before is specified by the vertex specifying unit 11 is common to the first embodiment, the description is given.

[Third Embodiment]

Only the location different from 1st Embodiment is demonstrated about the structure of 3rd Embodiment of an automatic traveling vehicle. 7 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the autonomous traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment.

The automatic traveling vehicle 1 of this embodiment is provided with the coordinate measuring part 31 which measures the world coordinate in the current point of the automatic traveling vehicle 1. As the coordinate measuring unit 31, for example, a GPS system can be used. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the storage unit 15 stores positional information where the vertices 23 are arranged. In particular, in the present embodiment, the positional information where the vertices 23 are arranged is described in the form of world coordinates.

When the vertex specifying unit 11 detects that the autonomous vehicle 1 has passed the vertex 23 by the information given from the vertex detecting unit 7a, the current position of the autonomous vehicle 1 from the coordinate measuring unit 31 is detected. Get the world coordinates representing. The vertex specifying unit 11 compares the world coordinates acquired from the coordinate measuring unit 31 with the information about the world coordinates described in the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15, and identifies the vertices 23. do.

As described above, the autonomous vehicle 1 of the present embodiment includes the world described in the world coordinates obtained by the vertex specifying unit 11 from the coordinate measuring unit 31 and the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15. The vertex 23 is specified by collating information about the coordinates. However, the vertex specifying unit 11 may specify the vertex 23 by including other vertex identification information exemplified in the first embodiment in addition to the world coordinates acquired from the coordinate measuring unit 31.

In addition, the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of this embodiment is equipped with the function which measures the world coordinate in the present point by the coordinate measuring part 31. FIG. However, the autonomous vehicle 1 of this embodiment does not have the structure which specifies the present position of the autonomous vehicle 1 only with the information of the world coordinate measured by the coordinate measuring part 31 itself. This is because, when the autonomous vehicle 1 is used as a golf car, a situation in which many trees are planted in a region very close to the main 21 is assumed. In other words, depending on the position of the autonomous vehicle 1, the current position may not be specified by the coordinate measuring unit 31 composed of GPS. However, in this embodiment, the information about the world coordinate measured by the coordinate measuring part 31 is used for specifying the vertex 23 which passed just before. For this reason, the world coordinate measured by the coordinate measuring part 31 is the degree which can specify what is the closest to the measured world coordinate among the world coordinates of each vertex 23 memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 15. It is enough to have precision.

Since the process content after the vertex 23 which the autonomous vehicle 1 passed immediately before is specified by the vertex specifying unit 11 is common to the first embodiment, the description is given.

Fourth Embodiment

Only the location different from 1st Embodiment is demonstrated about the structure of 4th Embodiment of an automatic traveling vehicle. 8 is a schematic view of the automatic traveling vehicle according to the present embodiment as viewed from the front. 9 is a block diagram functionally showing the structure of the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of this embodiment.

The automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 3 in the front center portion. The imaging part 3 is comprised, for example with a stereo camera, and has the left image sensor 3a and the right image sensor 3b. These image sensors 3a and 3b are constituted by a general visible light sensor such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary MOS (CMOS).

In the present embodiment, the vertex identification information stored in the storage unit 15 includes data obtained by imaging the front part at the position of each vertex 23. In addition, the direction which the imaging part 3 picks up does not necessarily need to be ahead of the automatic traveling vehicle 1.

When the vertex specifying unit 11 detects that the autonomous vehicle 1 has passed the vertex 23 by the information given from the vertex detecting unit 7a, the imaging unit 3 at this point in time detects that the autonomous vehicle 1 Data obtained by capturing the front side of the image is input. The vertex specifying unit 11 identifies the vertex 23 by matching the image data input from the image capturing unit 3 with the information about the image data described in the vertex identification information read out from the storage unit 15. do.

Various methods can be adopted as a method of collating the imaging data input from the imaging unit 3 with the information about the imaging data read out from the storage unit 15. As an example, the parallax image created from the imaging data can be compared and contrasted. Parallax images are made in a known manner.

As described above, the autonomous vehicle 1 of the present embodiment uses the vertex 23 based on the imaging data generated by the imaging unit 3 at the time when the vertex specifying unit 11 passes the vertex 23. It is specified. However, the vertex specifying unit 11 may also specify the vertex 23 by including the other vertex identification information exemplified in the above embodiments in addition to the image data. For example, the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the present embodiment may be further provided with the coordinate measuring unit 31.

Since the process content after the vertex 23 which the autonomous vehicle 1 passed immediately before is specified by the vertex specifying unit 11 is common to the first embodiment, the description is given.

[Other Embodiments]

Hereinafter, another embodiment is described.

The <1> autonomous vehicle 1 may be equipped with the instruction | indication part which switches the mode which autonomously runs on the main 21, and the mode which runs the field other than the main 21 manually. FIG. 10 schematically shows a configuration in the case where the autonomous vehicle 1 described above in the first embodiment is provided with the indicating unit 33.

According to such a structure, the autonomous vehicle 1 can detect the timing which shifts to the mode which travels on the main 21 after running the fields other than the main 21. Since the autonomous vehicle 1 mainly passes the vertices 23 when the vehicle 21 enters the mode of autonomous driving, the current position of the autonomous vehicle 1 can be specified by the above-described method. Can be. In addition, the autonomous vehicle 1 mentioned above in each embodiment after 2nd Embodiment may be equipped with the instruction | indication part 33.

<2> The information itself (vertex position information) regarding the position where the vertex 23 is disposed with respect to the vertex 23 may be stored. As one example, when the vertex 23 is embedded in a form in which a lot of information such as RFID is stored, it is possible to store both vertex identification information and vertex position information in the vertex 23. In this case, when the autonomous vehicle 1 passes through the vertex 23, the vertex detection unit 7a can recognize not only the vertex 23 but also the position of the vertex 23 that has passed. You can make it a configuration.

In the case of such a structure, the automatic traveling vehicle 1 can be set as the structure shown, for example in FIG. That is, the vertex detection unit 7a can not only pass the vertex 23 at the time when the vertex 23 has passed, but also detect information on the position of the vertex 23 that has passed. Therefore, in the structure of this other embodiment, like the structure of each embodiment mentioned above, it is not necessary to necessarily provide the memory | storage part 15 in which vertex identification information and vertex position information are stored in association.

<3> The present invention and the automatically driven vehicle of the present specification are vehicles capable of autonomous driving. The autonomous vehicle is a vehicle which can autonomously run without steering by an operator. The autonomous vehicle is a vehicle capable of autonomous driving without acceleration and deceleration by the operator. In addition, the autonomous vehicle includes at least one sensor and includes an autonomously driven vehicle that can autonomously drive in accordance with the signal of the sensor.

1: autonomous vehicle 4: steering wheel
5: right front wheel 6: left front wheel
7 reading part 7a vertex detection part
7b: guide line detection unit 9: rotation angle detection unit
11: vertex specifying unit 13: mileage measurement unit
15: storage unit 17: current point specifying unit
19: automatic operation control unit 21: mainly
23 vertex 24: electromagnetic induction line
31: coordinate measuring unit 33: indicating unit

Claims (8)

An automatic driving vehicle configured to be capable of automatically traveling on a predetermined main road and controlling the running state of the vehicle based on a vertex embedded below the predetermined main road,
A vertex detection unit for detecting that the vertex has passed;
A storage unit that associates and stores vertex position information about a position where each vertex is disposed and vertex identification information for identifying each vertex with respect to each of the plurality of vertices;
A vertex specifying unit specifying the vertex detected by the vertex detecting unit on the basis of the vertex identification information;
A mileage measurement unit for measuring a mileage from the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit to the current point;
The position of the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit is detected based on the vertex position information, and the position of the detected vertex and the traveling distance from the vertex measured by the traveling distance measuring unit to the current point. A current point specifying unit specifying a current point based on
The vertex detection unit is a configuration capable of reading a speed control command corresponding to the vertex,
The vertex identification information includes information about the speed control command corresponding to each vertex,
The vertex specifying unit specifies the vertex that has passed by matching the speed control command corresponding to the vertex read by the vertex detection unit with the information about the speed control command described in the vertex identification information. vehicle. An automatic driving vehicle configured to be capable of automatically traveling on a predetermined main road and controlling the running state of the vehicle based on a vertex embedded below the predetermined main road,
A vertex detection unit for detecting that the vertex has passed;
A storage unit that associates and stores vertex position information about a position where each vertex is disposed and vertex identification information for identifying each vertex with respect to each of the plurality of vertices;
A vertex specifying unit specifying the vertex detected by the vertex detecting unit on the basis of the vertex identification information;
A mileage measurement unit for measuring a mileage from the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit to the current point;
The position of the vertex specified by the vertex specifying unit is detected based on the vertex position information, and the position of the detected vertex and the traveling distance from the vertex measured by the traveling distance measuring unit to the current point. A current point specifying unit specifying a current point based on
It has an imaging part which picks up a predetermined direction by looking at the said predetermined | prescribed image from the said autonomous vehicle while traveling,
The vertex identification information includes information about the imaging data when the predetermined direction is captured from the autonomous vehicle at a position passing through the vertex,
The vertex specifying unit specifies the vertex that has passed by comparing the data imaged by the image capturing unit with the information about the image capturing data described in the vertex identification information at the point of time when the vertex specifying unit has passed the vertex. Auto driving vehicle. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
It is provided with a coordinate measuring unit for measuring the world coordinates of the current point,
The vertex identification information includes information about world coordinates in which each vertex is disposed;
The vertex specifying unit specifies the vertex that has passed by comparing the world coordinates measured by the coordinate measuring unit with the information about the world coordinates described in the vertex identification information when the vertex detecting unit detects that the vertex has passed the vertex. An autonomous vehicle characterized by the above-mentioned. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The vertex identification information includes information about a travel distance between two vertices adjacent in series on the predetermined main route,
The vertex specifying unit specifies the vertex that has passed by matching the information about the mileage described in the vertex identification information with the mileage measured by the mileage measurement unit at a time point when the vertex has been detected. Running vehicle. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
And an instruction unit for switching a mode for autonomous driving of the image on the predetermined main road and a mode for manually driving a field other than the predetermined main road. The automatic driving vehicle according to claim 1 or 2,
A guide line laid for the automatic driving vehicle to automatically run,
An autonomous vehicle autonomous system, characterized in that it comprises a vertex provided to control the driving state of the autonomous vehicle at a plurality of points through which the autonomous vehicle passes during autonomous driving. delete delete

Images