WO2014024247A1

WO2014024247A1 - Vehicle approach alerting apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2014024247A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/069996
Authority: WO
Inventors: 和也小原
Original assignee: 三菱電機株式会社
Priority date: 2012-08-06
Filing date: 2012-08-06
Publication date: 2014-02-13

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to switch the content of alerting information in a vehicle approach alerting apparatus, depending on the type of the object to be alerted, so that the object can be appropriately alerted of an approaching vehicle. A vehicle approach alerting apparatus according to the present invention is provided with: an object detection unit (1) that detects a moving body from a picture acquired by a camera (20) mounted on a vehicle (101); an object determination unit (5) that determines the type of the moving body on the basis of the result of detection by the object detection unit (1); a memory unit (2) in which alerting information determined in accordance with the type of the moving body is stored; an alerting information setting unit (8) that acquires the alerting information corresponding to the type of the moving body determined by the object determination unit (5) from the memory unit (2); and an output control unit (4) that controls the output of the alerting information acquired by the alerting information setting unit (8).

Description

Vehicle approach notification device

The present invention relates to a vehicle approach notification device that notifies the approach of a vehicle.

Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles use an electric motor that is quieter than engine vehicles as a driving source, so noise during driving is greatly reduced and driving noise is quiet. Therefore, a pedestrian or a passenger of a light vehicle or a motorcycle may not be aware of the approach of the vehicle and may cause an accident. As a method for solving this problem, a method is disclosed in which a notification sound for notifying the approach of a vehicle is generated by an approach notification device and the presence of the vehicle is notified to a pedestrian or a passenger of a light vehicle or a two-wheeled vehicle.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sound output device for an electric vehicle that controls the volume or output direction of sound generated by sound generation means based on acquired vehicle state information or surrounding information and outputs the sound to the outside of the vehicle. Yes. In this technique, by generating sounds that are generated based on vehicle state information or surrounding information, it is possible to generate sounds that are easy for pedestrians, light vehicles, and two-wheeled vehicles to hear.

Patent Document 2 discloses a vehicle sounding device that controls parameters such as the type, volume, and generation timing of sound generated by the sounding means in accordance with the noise level detected by the detecting means. In this technology, when the traffic volume is high and the noise level is high, the pedestrian can be made aware of the approach of the car by sounding at a high volume, while when the traffic volume is low and the noise level is low, the volume is low. By generating a sound, it is possible to make the pedestrian recognize the approach of the car and to realize control that does not cause noise to neighboring people.

Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a traveling simulated sound generating device that increases the volume of traveling simulated sound generated from traveling simulated sound generating means when a person existing around the vehicle is detected. This technology realizes the generation of simulated driving sound with a volume suitable for the environment.

International Publication No. 2011/070630 JP 2002-196765 A JP 2006-21667 A

However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3 described above, the sound volume is controlled based on the vehicle state or the surrounding information, so that the sound level is low and the sound volume is low at the vehicle position. There is a problem that the sound level may not be recognized at the position of a pedestrian, a light vehicle, or a two-wheeled vehicle occupant. Also, even if the sound is pronounced with a loud volume set depending on the surrounding noise, it is appropriate that there is a difference in recognition depending on the type of notification target, for example, a pedestrian, a light vehicle, or a two-wheeled vehicle occupant, so There was a problem that it might not be recognized.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The content of the notification information is switched according to the type of the notification target such as a pedestrian, a light vehicle, or a two-wheeled vehicle occupant, and the approach of the vehicle is appropriately adjusted An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle approach notification device capable of notification.

A vehicle approach notification device according to the present invention includes a moving body detection unit that detects a moving body from an image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle, and a type determination unit that determines the type of the moving body based on a detection result of the moving body detection unit. A memory unit that stores notification information determined according to the type of the mobile object, a notification information setting unit that acquires notification information corresponding to the type of the mobile object determined by the type determination unit from the memory unit, and notification information And an output control unit that controls output of the notification information acquired by the setting unit.

According to this invention, it is possible to appropriately notify the approach of the vehicle according to the type of the moving body.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle approach alerting | reporting apparatus by Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the storage information of the memory part of the vehicle approach alerting | reporting apparatus by Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle approach notification device according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the prediction process of the behavior prediction part of the vehicle approach alerting | reporting apparatus by Embodiment 1. FIG.

Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention in more detail, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle equipped with a vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
The own vehicle 101 shown in FIG. 1 detects the distance between the camera 20 that captures the front of the vehicle, the own vehicle 101 and a pedestrian, a passenger of a light vehicle or a two-wheeled vehicle (moving body; hereinafter referred to as a notification object). A distance sensor 30 such as an ultrasonic sensor or a millimeter wave radar is mounted. In addition, a left speaker 40a and a right speaker 40b that generate a notification sound, a left headlight 50a and a right headlight 50b that generate visual effects, are provided at both front ends of the host vehicle 101. The camera 20, the distance sensor 30, the speaker 40, and the headlight 50 are connected to the vehicle approach notification device 10 mounted on the host vehicle 101. Further, the vehicle approach notification device 10 includes a host vehicle information acquisition unit 60 that acquires host vehicle information of the host vehicle 101, and a peripheral information acquisition unit 70 that acquires current position information of the host vehicle 101 and peripheral information of the host vehicle 101 by GPS. And connected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The vehicle approach notification device 10 includes an object detection unit (moving body detection unit) 1, a memory unit 2, a control unit 3, and an output control unit 4. The vehicle approach notification device 10 is connected to the camera 20, the distance sensor 30, the speaker 40, and the headlight 50 described above. The own vehicle information acquisition unit 60 connected to the vehicle approach notification device 10 acquires vehicle speed information of the own vehicle, lighting information indicating whether or not the headlight is turned on, and the like, and the surrounding information acquisition unit 70 includes a navigation system 71 and the like. The map information around the vehicle acquired from the above, the brightness information acquired by the illuminance sensor 72, and the noise information acquired by the sound collecting microphone 73 are acquired.

Each configuration of the vehicle approach notification device 10 will be described.
The object detection unit 1 performs image analysis of the captured video input from the camera 20 and determines the presence or absence of a notification object. When the notification object is detected, image analysis of the captured video input from the camera 20 is continuously performed, and the subsequent behavior of the detected notification object is observed.

The memory unit 2 stores announcement information, notification sound, volume level information indicating the output volume, and the like. As notification sounds, pseudo engine sounds (pseudo running sounds), melodies, warning sounds, and the like are stored. In addition to the pseudo engine sound, an environmental sound, a natural and comfortable sound, or a sound according to the user's preference may be stored. The announcement information, the notification sound, and the volume level information are stored in association with the type of the notification object that notifies the approach of the vehicle. An example is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing information stored in the memory unit of the vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In the example of FIG. 3, the types of notification objects are classified into “child”, “old man”, “adult”, “bicycle occupant”, “bike occupant”, and “animal”.
When the notification object is “child”, for example, an easy-to-understand announcement for children, such as “Please drive, please be careful.” Is stored as announcement information, and a melody is stored as a notification sound. In addition, volume level information indicating volume levels “2: normal” and “3: high” is stored. In addition, when the notification target is “old man”, the announcement that is slowly and clearly pronounced as the announcement information, for example, “A car passes, please be careful.” Is stored, and the pseudo engine sound and A warning sound is stored, and volume level information indicating volume levels “3: high” and “4: higher” is stored. In addition, when the notification target is “motorcycle occupant”, it is assumed that the running sound of the motorcycle is loud, so the announcement information is not stored, the pseudo engine sound and warning sound are stored as the notification sound, and the volume level Volume level information indicating “3: large” and “4: larger” is stored.

The information shown in FIG. 3 is appropriately combined and output according to the relationship between the notification object and the vehicle when reporting the approach of the vehicle. For example, when the notification target is a child and only the approach of the vehicle is notified, the melody is combined so as to be output at the volume “2: normal”. On the other hand, when the notification object is a child and it is necessary to notify the vehicle approach more strongly and to notify the danger, the announcement information is output at the volume “3: high” in addition to the melody. Combine with.
In addition, when the notification target is “adult” or “bicycle occupant” and the image analysis accuracy of the target detection unit 1 is good, it can be determined whether the target is male or female. In this case, the announcement may be made by switching between an announcement made by a male voice and an announcement made by a female voice.

Next, the control unit 3 includes an object determination unit (type determination unit) 5, a behavior prediction unit 6, a behavior detection unit 7, and a notification information setting unit 8.
The object determination unit 5 is detected by the object detection unit 1 based on the image analysis result input from the object detection unit 1 and the separation distance information between the host vehicle and the notification object input from the distance sensor 30. The notified objects are classified according to a preset type. The types to be classified are adults, children, elderly people, men, women, bicycles, motorcycles, animals, etc. as shown in FIG. This classification type can be changed and added as appropriate, and can be configured to perform finer classification when the image analysis accuracy of the object detection unit 1 is good.

For example, the following method can be given as a specific method for classifying notification objects. Refer to the image analysis result input from the object detection unit 1 and the distance information input from the distance sensor 30 to compare the position of the head of the notification object and the size of the body, thereby classifying adults and children. Do. In addition, when it is possible to determine whether or not the walking stick is used based on the walking speed of the notification target or the image analysis result, it is recognized and classified as an elderly person. Bicycle occupants and motorcycle occupants are classified based on the contour shape of the bicycle or motorcycle. Animals are similarly classified from contour shapes.

The behavior prediction unit 6 determines the traveling direction of the notification target from the image analysis result of the notification target observed by the target detection unit 1, and notifies from the determined traveling direction and the shape of the road that can be acquired from the image analysis result. A walking line or a traveling line of an object (hereinafter, a walking line will be described as an example) is predicted.

The behavior detection unit 7 refers to the image analysis result of the notification object continuously observed by the object detection unit 1 for a predetermined period, and notifies the vehicle of the approach through the speaker 40 and the headlight 50. To detect the expected course. In addition, it is determined whether the detected course deviates from the walking line predicted by the behavior prediction unit 6. As an example of deviating from the walking line, for example, after notifying the approach of the vehicle, the notification object approaches the roadway side. Or, if the object to be notified is about to cross the road, take a path that seems to be unnoticeable to approach the vehicle, or take a path where the gait of the object to be noticed may jump out in the direction of travel of the vehicle Take it.

When the behavior detection unit 7 determines that the detected course deviates from the predicted walking line, the behavior detection unit 7 instructs the subsequent notification information setting unit 8 to continue the notification of the approach of the vehicle. Or you may output instructions, such as raising a sound volume level or changing the combination of announcement information, a notification sound, and sound volume level information, notifying the approach of vehicles more strongly and notifying danger. On the other hand, when the danger such as contact between the notification object and the vehicle is avoided, the notification information setting unit 8 is instructed to switch to the output of the pseudo engine sound.

The notification information setting unit 8 acquires announcement information, notification sound, and sound volume level information associated with a corresponding type of notification target, based on the classification result of the notification target input from the target determination unit 5. . Further, the vehicle information and the light lighting information input from the own vehicle information acquisition unit 60, the map information, the brightness information, and the noise information input from the surrounding information acquisition unit 70 are referred to, and the speaker 40 is connected via the output control unit 4. The output control unit 4 sets whether to make a notification by sound output from the head ride 50, to make a notification by light emission output from the head ride 50, or to make a notification by sound output and light emission output using both the speaker 40 and the headlight 50. When the sound output using the speaker 40 is set, the acquired announcement information, notification sound, and volume level information are also set. Further, the notification information setting unit 8 sets the output control unit 4 to continue the notification, enhance the notification, or switch to the pseudo engine sound based on the instruction input from the behavior detection unit 7.

The output control unit 4 performs control to switch the output destination of the notification information between the speaker 40 and the headlight 50 based on the notification method set by the notification information setting unit 8, that is, the setting of the audio output or the light emission output. Specifically, when at least one of announcement information, notification sound, and pseudo engine sound is output, control for switching to output from the speaker 40 is performed to output a sound signal and light emission such as passing a headlight. In the case of output, control to switch to the output from the headlight 50 is performed and a light emission signal is output.

The speaker 40 outputs the announcement information, notification sound, or pseudo engine sound set by the notification information setting unit 8 at a set volume according to the control of the output control unit 4. When the vehicle includes the left speaker 40a and the right speaker 40b, which information is output from the left or right speaker 40 based on the behavior input from the behavior prediction unit 6 or the behavior detection unit 7 by the notification information setting unit 8 May be configured to be output to the output control unit 4 and controlled to be output from the left speaker 40a or the right speaker 40b to which the output control unit 4 is set.
The headlight 50 performs a passing operation or the like according to the control of the output control unit 4.

Next, operation | movement of the alerting | reporting information setting part 8 mentioned above is demonstrated in detail.
The notification information setting unit 8 sets announcement information and notification sound with reference to information stored in the memory unit 2, but there are a plurality of notification objects in the image analysis result of the object detection unit 1, and the object When the determination unit 5 determines a plurality of types of notification objects, the degree of risk with respect to the behavior of each type of notification object (for example, a child may jump out suddenly, hereinafter referred to as behavior risk) The notification information is set in accordance with the notification object having the highest behavioral risk. The behavior risk level for each type of notification object is stored in advance by the object discrimination unit 5 and is ranked in the order of, for example, child> old man>adult>animal> bicycle occupant> bike occupant. When the object discriminating unit 5 discriminates that there are children, elderly people, and animals in the image analysis result and ranks them in the order of children, elderly people, and animals, the notification information setting unit 8 has the highest behavioral risk. Is set to output the announcement information, notification sound and volume level information set for.

Further, when there is a notification target in the image analysis result and the notification information setting unit 8 determines that the vehicle is traveling in a residential area from the map information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition unit 70, or from the brightness information at night If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, it is set to notify the approach of the vehicle only by the passing operation of the headlight 50, and control in consideration of noise to the surroundings can be performed. Furthermore, the setting of only the passing operation of the headlight 50 described above is performed only for a notification target (for example, an adult, an animal, etc.) having a low behavioral risk level, and a function for appropriately notifying the approach of the vehicle is provided. Maintained control can also be performed.

Further, the notification information setting unit 8 performs setting so that the announcement information and the notification sound are output at a volume that allows the notification target object to be recognized in consideration of the noise information input from the sound collection microphone 73. When the noise is loud, the volume level stored in the memory unit 2 is increased by a predetermined level and output. On the other hand, when the noise is low, the volume level stored in the memory unit 2 is decreased by a predetermined level and output. Perform the settings to be performed.
In addition, the notification information setting unit 8 refers to the vehicle speed information acquired by the own vehicle information acquisition unit 60, and when the host vehicle is traveling at a predetermined vehicle speed or higher, for example, 70 km / h or higher, or from the map information If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a dedicated road, it may be set not to notify the approach of the vehicle.
As described above, the notification information setting unit 8 provides the notification information according to the vehicle speed information and light lighting information acquired by the own vehicle information acquisition unit 60, the map information, brightness information, and noise information acquired by the surrounding information acquisition unit 70. It can be set appropriately. In addition, the setting of alerting | reporting information is not limited to what was mentioned above, It can comprise freely.

Then, operation | movement of the vehicle approach alerting | reporting apparatus 10 is demonstrated. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the description is given on the assumption that the host vehicle is traveling.
The target object detection unit 1 performs image analysis of the captured image of the camera 20 and detects the presence or absence of a notification target object (step ST1). If there is no notification target in the captured video (step ST1; NO), the determination process of step ST1 is continued.

On the other hand, when a notification target exists in the captured image (step ST1; YES), the target determination unit 5 classifies the notification target for each preset type (step ST2). Furthermore, the object discriminating unit 5 determines whether or not there are a plurality of classified notification object types (step ST3). When there are not a plurality of types of notification objects (step ST3; NO), the process proceeds to step ST5. On the other hand, when there are a plurality of types of notification objects (step ST3; YES), the object determination unit 5 refers to the behavior risk for each type of notification object stored in advance, and ranks the notification objects. Is performed (step ST4).

The behavior prediction unit 6 determines the traveling direction of the notification object and predicts the walking line of the notification object (step ST5). On the other hand, the notification information setting unit 8 acquires and sets announcement information, notification sound, and volume level corresponding to the type of notification object from the memory unit 2 (step ST6). It should be noted that there are a plurality of types of notification objects, and for the notification objects that have been ranked in step ST4, announcement information, notification sound, and volume corresponding to the type of notification object having the highest behavioral risk level Set the level.

Next, the notification information setting unit 8 determines whether or not to perform light emission output based on the own vehicle information acquired by the own vehicle information acquisition unit 60 and the surrounding information of the own vehicle acquired by the surrounding information acquisition unit 70 (step) ST7) and whether or not to output sound is determined (step ST8). When it is determined that light emission output is performed (step ST7; YES) and sound output is performed (step ST8; YES), the notification information setting unit 8 is based on the announcement information, notification sound, and volume level selected in step ST6. The sound output is set, the light emission output is set, and the output control unit 4 outputs the announcement information and the notification sound at a predetermined volume via the speaker 40, and performs the passing operation of the headlight 50 (step ST9).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the light emission output is not performed (step ST7; NO), the notification information setting unit 8 sets the sound output based on the announcement information, the notification sound, and the volume level selected in step ST6, and the output control unit 4 outputs the announcement information and the notification sound at a predetermined volume via the speaker 40 (step ST10). When it is determined that the light emission output is performed (step ST7; YES) and the sound output is not performed (step ST8; NO), the notification information setting unit 8 sets the light emission output, and the output control unit 4 sets the headlight 50. The passing operation is performed (step ST11).

In step ST9, step ST10, or step ST11, when the operation of notifying the approach of the vehicle is performed, the behavior detection unit 7 displays the detection result of the notification target object that the target object detection unit 1 continues after the determination process of step ST1. The predicted course of the notification object is detected with reference to (step ST12). Furthermore, the behavior detection unit 7 compares the detected course with the walking line predicted in step ST5, and determines whether or not the course deviates from the predicted walking line (step ST13).

When it is determined that the course of the notification object deviates from the predicted walking line (step ST13; YES), the notification information setting unit 8 continues to notify the approach of the vehicle (step ST15), and the process of step ST12 is performed. The process described above is repeated. It should be noted that in the continuation of the notification in step ST15, the notification may be strengthened by increasing the volume level of the warning sound.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the course of the notification object does not deviate from the predicted walking line (step ST13; NO), the notification information setting unit 8 sets the output of the pseudo engine sound stored in the memory unit 2 and outputs it. The control unit 4 controls switching to the pseudo engine sound via the speaker 40 (step ST14), and returns to the determination process of step ST1. In addition, after switching to the output of a pseudo engine sound in step ST14 mentioned above, you may provide the process which stops a pseudo engine sound, when it determines with the notification target object not existing in step ST1.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing processing of the vehicle approach notification device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 5A shows that when the host vehicle 101 is located at the position A, the object detection unit 1 detects the notification object 201, and the object determination unit 5 classifies the type of the notification object 201. The notification information setting unit 8 performs setting to output the notification sound 202a corresponding to the type of the notification object 201 from the left speaker 40a. As the notification sound 202a, for example, a melody is set when the notification target is a child, and a pseudo engine sound is set when the notification target is an adult.

Further, the behavior prediction unit 6 determines the traveling direction 203 of the notification target object 201 using the image analysis result of the target object detection unit 1, and the traveling direction 102 of the host vehicle 101 (in the example of FIG. 5, the straight traveling direction). ) Is recognized, and a walking line 204 along the road white line or road shape is predicted.

After the own vehicle 101 outputs the notification sound 202a at the position A, the behavior detection unit 7 detects the predicted course 205 of the notification target object 201 after the notification sound 202a is output while the own vehicle 101 moves to the position B. To do. Since the detected route 205 does not deviate from the walking line 204 created by the behavior predicting unit 6, it is determined that there is no danger between the host vehicle 101 and the notification object 201. Thereby, in the position B, the notification information setting unit 8 performs setting to output the pseudo engine sound 202b from the left speaker 40a.

On the other hand, in FIG. 5B, when the host vehicle 101 is located at the position A, the object detection unit 1 detects the notification object 201, and the object determination unit 5 determines the type of the notification object 201. The notification information setting unit 8 performs classification so that the notification sound 202a corresponding to the type of the notification object 201 is output from the left speaker 40a.

Further, the behavior prediction unit 6 determines the traveling direction 206 of the notification target object 201 using the image analysis result of the target object detection unit 1, and the white line of the road in the captured image obtained by capturing the traveling direction 102 of the host vehicle 101 or The shape of the road is recognized, and the white line of the road or the walking line 207 along the road shape is predicted.

After the own vehicle 101 outputs the notification sound 202a at the position A, the behavior detection unit 7 detects the predicted course 208 of the notification target object 201 after the notification sound 202a is output while the own vehicle 101 moves to the position B. To do. The detected course 208 is determined to deviate from the walking line 207 created by the behavior prediction unit 6. For this reason, at the position B, the notification information setting unit 8 performs the setting to continue the notification from the left speaker 40a or to strengthen the notification and notify the danger. In the example of FIG. 5B, a setting is made to output an announcement 209 that informs the danger that “the car passes.

Since the behavior predicting unit 6 and the behavior detecting unit 7 can predict the traveling

directions

203 and 206 of the notification target 201, the traveling direction 102 of the own vehicle 101 and the traveling

directions

203 and 206 of the notification target 201 are the same. Or vice versa. Therefore, when the notification object 201 and the traveling direction of the own vehicle 101 are opposite, that is, when the notification object 201 moves toward the own vehicle 101 and passes each other, the notification object 201 exists in the presence of the own vehicle 101. The notification information setting unit 8 may be configured not to perform the sound output and light emission output of the announcement information and the notification sound, or to set the output volume of the sound output to be low.

Furthermore, when the behavior prediction unit 6 can determine from the image analysis result of the object detection unit 1 that the notification object 201 is moving on a sidewalk separated from the roadway by a guardrail, a plant, or the like, notification information You may comprise so that the setting part 8 may be set so that sound information of announcement information and a notification sound, and light emission output may not be performed. However, in places such as intersections where there is no separation between the roadway and the sidewalk due to guardrails or trees, announcement information or notification sound is output or light emission is output as usual.

Further, the behavior prediction unit 6 refers to the image analysis result of the object detection unit 1 and the detection result of the distance sensor 30, based on the distance from the current position of the own vehicle 101 to the attention object 201 and the current position of the own vehicle 101. The distance to the detected path (the

paths

205 and 208 in FIG. 5) is calculated, and when the calculated distance is more than the threshold, the notification information is not output so that the announcement information, the sound output of the notification sound, and the light emission output are not performed. When setting is performed in the setting unit 8 and the calculated distance is less than the threshold value and the own vehicle 101 and the attention object 201 approach, the notification information setting unit 8 performs sound output and light emission output of announcement information and notification sound. You may comprise so that it may set to. Note that the threshold of the separation distance between the host vehicle 101 and the notification target 201 may be set for each type of notification target shown in FIG.

In the above description, the case where the host vehicle is running has been described as an example. However, the notification information setting unit 8 refers to the host vehicle information acquired by the host vehicle information acquisition unit 60, and the host vehicle is It is determined whether it is stopped or idling stop, and when it is stopped or idling stop, the announcement information and sound output of the notification sound, the light emission output is stopped and switched to the pseudo engine sound. Alternatively, it may be configured to refrain from outputting pseudo engine sound in consideration of noise.

The above-described object discriminating unit 5 is configured to discriminate whether the notification object applies to a child, an adult, an elderly person, an animal, a bicycle occupant, or a motorcycle occupant. The accuracy is further improved to determine whether the notification target is non-Japanese, and the Japanese announcement information is switched to English announcement information for the non-Japanese notification target. It may be configured. Furthermore, it may be configured to identify visually impaired persons based on more detailed image analysis and switch to announcement information or notification sound output instead of light emission output for visually impaired persons.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the object discriminating unit 5 that discriminates the type of the notification object, and the announcement information or the notification sound output according to the type discriminated by the object discriminating unit 5 are set. Since it is configured to include the notification information setting unit 8 that performs notification, it is possible to output announcement information and notification sound according to the type of the notification target, and appropriately notify the approach of the vehicle.

Moreover, according to this Embodiment 1, the advancing direction of a notification target object is determined, the behavior prediction part 6 which predicts a walking line, and the predicted course of the notification target object after alert | reporting the approach of a vehicle are detected. And a behavior detecting unit 7 for determining whether the detected course departs from the walking line and outputting an instruction to continuously notify the approach of the vehicle when deviating from the walking line. However, when there is a risk that the notification object contacts or collides with the host vehicle, the approach of the vehicle can be notified again.

Further, according to the first embodiment, in addition to the speaker 40 that outputs announcement information or notification sound, the headlight 50 that emits light is provided, and the output control unit 4 that switches the output between the speaker 40 and the headlight 50. Therefore, it is possible to let the notification object know the approach of the vehicle only by passing using the headlight in consideration of the traveling time zone and noise in traveling in a residential area, and to the surrounding environment It is possible to make a notification in consideration of consideration.

In the block diagram of the vehicle approach notification device illustrated in FIG. 2, an example in which the own vehicle information acquisition unit 60 and the surrounding information acquisition unit 70 are external configurations of the vehicle approach notification device 10 is illustrated. The vehicle information acquisition unit 60 and the surrounding information acquisition unit 70 may be provided.

In the invention of the present application, any component of the embodiment can be modified or any component of the embodiment can be omitted within the scope of the invention.

As described above, the vehicle approach notification device according to the present invention can be used for a vehicle control device that realizes an appropriate vehicle approach notification function in accordance with the type of the mobile body located around the vehicle.

1 object detection unit, 2 memory unit, 3 control unit, 4 output control unit, 5 object discrimination unit, 6 behavior prediction unit, 7 behavior detection unit, 8 notification information setting unit, 10 vehicle approach notification device, 20 camera, 30 distance sensor, 40 speaker, 40a left speaker, 40b right speaker, 50 headlight, 50a left headlight, 50b right headlight, 60 vehicle information acquisition unit, 70 surrounding information acquisition unit, 71 navigation system, 72 illumination sensor, 73 sound collection microphone, 101 own vehicle, 102, 203, 206 traveling direction, 201 notification object, 202a notification sound, 202b notification sound (pseudo engine sound), 204, 207 walking line, 205, 208 course, 209 announcement.

Claims

In a vehicle approach notification device that is mounted on a vehicle and outputs alert information to a moving body that moves around the vehicle and alerts it,
A moving body detection unit that detects the moving body from an image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle;
A type discriminating unit for discriminating the type of the mobile unit based on the detection result of the mobile unit detection unit;
A memory unit for storing the notification information determined according to the type of the mobile body;
A notification information setting unit for acquiring notification information corresponding to the type of the moving object determined by the type determination unit from the memory unit;
A vehicle approach notification device comprising: an output control unit that controls output of notification information acquired by the notification information setting unit.
A behavior prediction unit that predicts the behavior of the moving body from the captured image of the camera and the detection result of the moving body detection unit;
From the detection result of the mobile body detection unit, comprising a behavior detection unit for detecting the behavior of the mobile body after the notification information output,
The notification information setting unit performs setting to continue outputting the notification information when the behavior detected by the behavior detection unit deviates from the behavior predicted by the behavior prediction unit. The vehicle approach notification device as described.
The vehicle approach notification device according to claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores announcement information, notification sound and output volume information determined according to the type of the moving body as the notification information.
The type determination unit ranks each moving body based on the risk set in advance for each type of moving body when there are a plurality of types of the determined moving body,
2. The vehicle approach notification according to claim 1, wherein the notification information setting unit obtains notification information corresponding to a type having the highest degree of risk from the memory unit with reference to the ranking given by the type determination unit. apparatus.
The notification information setting unit sets whether to output the notification information by voice or to emit light based on vehicle information of the vehicle and surrounding information of the vehicle,
2. The vehicle approach notification device according to claim 1, wherein the output control unit switches an output signal of the notification information as an audio signal or a light emission signal in accordance with the setting of the notification information setting unit.
The vehicle approach notification device according to claim 1, wherein the type determination unit discriminates a pedestrian including an adult or a child, a light vehicle with an occupant exposed to the outside, and an animal as a type of the moving body. .