WO2023100469A1

WO2023100469A1 - Vehicle control device

Info

Publication number: WO2023100469A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/037235
Authority: WO
Inventors: 忠嗣大町; 真浩横井; 光紀諏訪部; 雄貴手塚; 晨宇王
Original assignee: 株式会社デンソー; トヨタ自動車株式会社
Priority date: 2021-11-30
Filing date: 2022-10-05
Publication date: 2023-06-08

Abstract

A vehicle control device (110) comprises: a lateral acceleration calculation unit (113) that calculates, on the basis of the curvature of a curve and the vehicle speed of a vehicle (10), a future lateral acceleration to be generated in the vehicle; a notification unit (114) that makes notification of, through a notification device (150), a hands-on request for requesting switching from a hands-off state to a hands-on state; and a control determination unit (115) that determines the details of control of the vehicle in accordance with a calculation result of the lateral acceleration calculation unit. When the vehicle travels on a curve in the hands-off state, in a case where the lateral acceleration is greater than a preset threshold value, the control determination unit determines control for making notification of the hands-on request through the notification unit, and in a case where the lateral acceleration is not greater than the threshold value, the control determination unit determines control for continuing the hands-off state.

Description

vehicle controller

Cross-reference to related applications

This application is based on Japanese Application No. 2021-193738 filed on November 30, 2021, and the contents thereof are incorporated herein.

The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control device.

For example, as described in Patent Document 1, a vehicle information processing device capable of automatic driving and manual driving is known. In this information processing device, the point at which the automatic operation was switched to the manual operation is stored in advance in the map information as the point where the automatic operation is unsatisfactory. Then, the driver is notified that the vehicle has approached the point of failure. When such a notification is received, a configuration is assumed in which a hands-on request for switching from a hands-off state in which the driver does not hold the steering wheel to a hands-on state in which the driver holds the steering wheel is issued.

JP 2018-32333 A

However, in the above configuration, hands-on requests are uniformly issued based on pre-stored map information, so unnecessary hands-on requests may be issued depending on the actual driving conditions of the vehicle. For example, when driving on a curve that has been registered as a trouble spot in advance, even if the driver's safety and comfort are not impaired even in the hands-off state because the lateral acceleration that occurs in the vehicle is small, such as when driving at low speed in traffic jams, the hands-on system can be used. Making a request can happen. In this case, the driver is forced to perform useless operations. Therefore, there is a demand for a vehicle control device that can issue a hands-on request when necessary while avoiding issuing a hands-on request when the vehicle is traveling on a curve.

The present disclosure can be realized as the following forms.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a vehicle control device is provided. This vehicle control device is provided in a vehicle capable of automatic operation and manual operation, and includes a travel route setting unit that sets a target travel route of the vehicle, and a curve in the direction in which the vehicle travels. A lateral acceleration calculator that calculates a future lateral acceleration occurring in the vehicle based on the curvature and the vehicle speed of the vehicle; and a state in which the driver of the vehicle does not hold the steering wheel during the execution of the automatic driving a notification unit for notifying a hands-on request requesting switching from a hands-off state to a hands-on state in which the driver holds the steering wheel by a notification device; and a control determination unit that determines the content of control. When the lateral acceleration calculated by the lateral acceleration calculator is greater than a predetermined threshold value when the vehicle travels on the curve in the hands-off state, the control determination unit determines the control details as the A notification unit determines control to notify the hands-on request, and when the lateral acceleration is equal to or less than the threshold value, determines control to continue the hands-off state as the control content.

According to this configuration, when the vehicle travels on a curve in the hands-off state, the control determination unit notifies the hands-on request if the lateral acceleration calculated by the lateral acceleration calculation unit is greater than a predetermined threshold value. Control is determined, and if the lateral acceleration is equal to or less than the threshold, control to continue the hands-off state is determined. For example, when the lateral acceleration generated in the vehicle is small, such as when the vehicle is traveling at low speed in a traffic jam, the driver's safety and comfort are not impaired even in the hands-off state, and there is no problem in continuing the hands-off state. In such a case, according to the above configuration, the hands-off state can be continued without issuing a hands-on request. That is, when traveling on a curve, it is possible to issue a hands-on request when necessary, while avoiding issuing a hands-on request when unnecessary.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing is
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle control device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of informing a hands-on request executed by the vehicle control device; FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining calculation of lateral acceleration.

A plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

A. First embodiment:
A1. Configuration of vehicle control device 110:
As shown in FIG. 1 , the vehicle 10 has an automatic driving control system 100 . The vehicle 10 can be driven automatically and manually. In automatic driving, the vehicle 10 is automatically steered and driven even if the steering wheel for operating the driving of the vehicle 10 is not operated by the driver. In automatic driving, there is also a mode in which steering is performed by the driver and acceleration/deceleration is automatically controlled. In manual driving, the vehicle 10 is steered and driven by the driver operating the steering wheel.

In this embodiment, the automatic driving control system 100 includes a vehicle control device 110, a peripheral sensor 120, an internal sensor 130, a road information storage unit 140, an automatic driving control unit 210, and a driving force control ECU (Electronic Control Unit). ) 220, a braking force control ECU 230, and a steering control ECU 240. Vehicle control device 110 , automatic driving control unit 210 , driving force control ECU 220 , braking force control ECU 230 , and steering control ECU 240 are connected via in-vehicle network 250 .

The peripheral sensor 120 acquires peripheral information outside the vehicle necessary for automatic driving. Perimeter sensor 120 includes camera 121 and object sensor 122 . The camera 121 acquires an image by imaging the surroundings of the own vehicle 10 . The object sensor 122 detects the circumstances around the vehicle 10 . Examples of the object sensor 122 include object sensors using reflected waves such as laser radar, millimeter wave radar, and ultrasonic sensors.

The internal sensor 130 includes an own vehicle position sensor 131 , an acceleration sensor 132 , a vehicle speed sensor 133 and a yaw rate sensor 134 . The own vehicle position sensor 131 detects the current position of the vehicle 10 . Examples of the vehicle position sensor 131 include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), a gyro sensor, and the like.

The acceleration sensor 132 is a detector that detects acceleration of the vehicle 10 . The acceleration sensor 132 includes, for example, a longitudinal acceleration sensor that detects longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle 10 in the longitudinal direction and a lateral acceleration sensor that detects lateral acceleration of the vehicle 10 . A vehicle speed sensor 133 measures the current running speed of the vehicle 10 . The yaw rate sensor 134 is a detector that detects a yaw rate (rotational angular velocity) around the vertical axis of the center of gravity of the vehicle 10 . A gyro sensor, for example, can be used as the yaw rate sensor 134 . Peripheral sensor 120 and internal sensor 130 transmit various acquired data to vehicle control device 110 .

The road information storage unit 140 stores detailed road information and the like regarding roads on which the vehicle 10 is scheduled to travel. Road information includes, for example, the number of lanes, lane width, center coordinates of each lane, stop line position, traffic light position, guardrail position, road gradient, road type of curves and straight sections, curvature radius of curves, length of curve sections, etc. contains information about

The notification device 150 is a device that uses images and sounds to notify the passengers (mainly the driver) of the vehicle 10 of various types of information. Notification device 150 includes a display device and a speaker. As the display device, for example, a HUD (Head-Up Display) or a display device provided on an instrument panel can be used. Note that the “image” includes moving images and character strings.

The vehicle control device 110 includes a travel route setting unit 111, a peripheral information recognition unit 112, a lateral acceleration calculation unit 113, a notification unit 114, a control determination unit 115, and a communication unit 116. The vehicle control device 110 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a microcomputer configured with a RAM and a ROM, and the like. The microcomputer executes pre-installed programs to realize the functions of these units. However, some or all of the functions of these units may be realized by hardware circuits.

The travel route setting unit 111 sets the route along which the vehicle 10 travels. More specifically, the travel route setting unit 111 uses road information stored in the road information storage unit 140 to set a target travel route to a predetermined destination. The "target travel route" in this embodiment indicates a detailed route such as a travel lane and a travel position on the road, rather than a mere route to the destination.

The peripheral information recognition unit 112 recognizes peripheral information of the vehicle 10 using the detection signal of the peripheral sensor 120 . More specifically, the peripheral information recognition unit 112 recognizes the presence of left and right lane markings (hereinafter referred to as “lane markers”) on the road on which the vehicle is traveling, based on the image captured by the camera 121 and the output signal of the object sensor 122 . Its position, the existence of a traffic light, its position and instruction content, the existence, position, size, distance, direction of travel of other vehicles, the existence and behavior of drivers of other vehicles, the existence and position of people around other vehicles, etc. are recognized as peripheral information. Note that the peripheral information recognition unit 112 may acquire and recognize part or all of this information through wireless communication with a traffic light, an external server, or the like.

The lateral acceleration calculation unit 113 calculates the future lateral acceleration that will occur in the vehicle 10 when the vehicle 10 travels along a curve in the direction in which the vehicle 10 is traveling. Specifically, the lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates the future lateral acceleration during curve travel based on the curvature of the curve and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10 . The details of lateral acceleration calculation will be described later.

The notification unit 114 uses the notification device 150 capable of image display and voice output to notify the occupants of various information such as travel route and vehicle position information. Notification unit 114 notifies the information of the hands-on request according to the processing of control determination unit 115 according to the running condition of vehicle 10 . A hands-on request is a request to switch from a hands-off state in which the driver does not hold the steering wheel during execution of automatic driving to a hands-on state in which the driver holds the steering wheel.

The control determination unit 115 determines the control details of the vehicle 10 according to the calculation result of the lateral acceleration calculation unit 113, and outputs to the automatic driving control unit 210 via the in-vehicle network 250 to control the vehicle 10. For example, the communication unit 116 acquires traffic information, weather information, accident information, obstacle information, traffic regulation information, etc. from an information center (not shown) through an antenna (not shown). The communication unit 116 may acquire various information from other vehicles through inter-vehicle communication. Moreover, the communication part 116 may acquire various information from the roadside unit provided in each place of the road by road-to-vehicle communication.

The automatic driving control unit 210 consists of a central processing unit (CPU), a microcomputer configured with a RAM and a ROM, etc. The microcomputer executes pre-installed programs to realize automatic driving functions. The automatic driving control unit 210 controls the driving force control ECU 220, the braking force control ECU 230, and the steering control ECU 240 so that the vehicle travels along the route determined by the travel route setting unit 111, for example. For example, when the vehicle 10 changes lanes to the next lane, the automatic driving control unit 210 performs merging support so that the vehicle 10 travels from the reference line of the lane in which the vehicle 10 is traveling to the reference line of the next lane. good.

The driving force control ECU 220 is an electronic control unit that controls actuators that generate driving force for the vehicle 10, such as the engine. When the driver manually drives the vehicle, the driving force control ECU 220 controls the power source such as the engine or the electric motor according to the amount of operation of the accelerator pedal. On the other hand, when performing automatic driving, the driving force control ECU 220 controls the power source according to the required driving force calculated by the automatic driving control section 210 .

The braking force control ECU 230 is an electronic control device that controls the brake actuator that generates the braking force of the vehicle 10 . When the driver manually drives the vehicle, the braking force control ECU 230 controls the brake actuator according to the amount of operation of the brake pedal. On the other hand, when performing automatic operation, the braking force control ECU 230 controls the brake actuator according to the required braking force calculated by the automatic operation control section 210 .

The steering control ECU 240 is an electronic control unit that controls a motor that generates steering torque for the vehicle 10 . When the driver manually drives the vehicle, the steering control ECU 240 controls the motor according to the operation of the steering wheel to generate an assist torque for the steering operation. As a result, the driver can operate the steering with a small amount of force, and steering of the vehicle 10 is realized. On the other hand, when performing automatic driving, the steering control ECU 240 performs steering by controlling the motor according to the required steering angle calculated by the automatic driving control section 210 .

A2. Processing by vehicle control device 110:
In automatic driving, the travel route setting unit 111 determines whether the vehicle 10 will travel for several seconds based on the current position detected by the own vehicle position sensor 131 and the positions and speeds of other vehicles around the vehicle 10. Create a plan. This driving plan includes a steering plan and an acceleration/deceleration plan for the vehicle 10 up to several seconds later.

The process shown in FIG. 2 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals while the vehicle 10 is running. As shown in FIG. 2, at step 11 (hereinafter step is abbreviated as "S"), it is determined whether or not the current driving state of the vehicle 10 is the hands-off state. For example, based on a control signal from the automatic driving control unit 210, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is in a hands-off state during execution of automatic driving.

If it is determined that the hands-off state is established (S11: YES), the process proceeds to S12, where it is determined whether or not the vehicle 10 will drive around a curve. "After that, the vehicle 10 travels around a curve" includes before the curve when the vehicle 10 is approaching the curve and while the vehicle 10 is traveling around the curve. Further, hereinafter, "when driving on a curve" similarly includes before the curve approaching the curve and during driving on the curve, and is hereinafter simply referred to as "when driving on a curve".

When it is determined that the vehicle 10 will travel on a curve (S12: YES), the process proceeds to S13, where the lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates the lateral acceleration An. Then, in S14, it is determined whether or not the lateral acceleration An is greater than a predetermined threshold value A0. The threshold value A0 is determined in advance through experiments and the like as the upper limit value of the lateral acceleration at which the driver is assumed to be able to maintain a certain degree of safety and comfort with a sense of security when driving on a curve.

When it is determined that the lateral acceleration An is greater than the predetermined threshold value A0 (S14: YES), the process proceeds to S15, where the notification device 150 issues a hands-on request. Specifically, an image representing the hands-on request may be displayed on the display, or a sound indicating the hands-on request may be emitted from a speaker.

On the other hand, if the lateral acceleration An is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value Ao (S14: NO), the process proceeds to S16, the hands-off state continues, and no hands-on request is made. After the processing of S15 and S16, this processing routine ends. Note that if it is determined in S11 that the hands are not in the off state (S11: NO) and if it is determined in S12 that the car is not traveling on a curve (S12: NO), the subsequent control is not performed and the processing of FIG. 2 is performed. exit.

A3. Details of lateral acceleration calculation (S13) and hands-on request determination (S14):
Next, the details of the processing of S13 and S14 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates a lateral acceleration An (n is a positive integer) for each section obtained by dividing the curve recognition distance D into a plurality of sections. The curve recognition distance D is the total length of the portion in front of the vehicle 10 that is recognized as a curve. The sections are parts obtained by dividing the curve recognition distance D into equal intervals of several meters (for example, 5 m). Sections 1, 2, . . . The future lateral acceleration An when traveling on a curve is calculated by the following equation (1) based on the curvature Rn of the curve and the current vehicle speed V of the vehicle 10 .
Lateral acceleration An=(vehicle speed V) ² ×curvature Rn (1)

For example, when the vehicle 10 is at the first point P1, which is the starting point of Section 1 shown in FIG. 3, the lateral acceleration A1 of Section 1 is calculated by the following equation (2).
Lateral acceleration A1=(vehicle speed V1) ² ×curvature R1 (2)
In the formula (2), the vehicle speed V1 is the vehicle speed at the first point P1, and the curvature R1 is the curvature at the first point P1. A current vehicle speed V of the vehicle 10 can be obtained from the vehicle speed sensor 133 . The curvature R1 at the first point P1 can be obtained from the road information storage unit 140. FIG. The lateral accelerations A2 to An in the section 2 to section n can also be obtained in the same manner, the vehicle speed V is the vehicle speed V1 at the first point P1, and the curvature Rn is calculated at the starting point P2 to Pn of each section. Each curvature can be used. As the curvature Rn, the curvature of the curve of the map information stored in the road information storage unit 140 is used.

Similarly, when the vehicle 10 advances and the processing routine shown in FIG. Lateral acceleration is calculated for each section divided into equal intervals. When determining whether the calculated lateral acceleration An is greater than the threshold Ao (S14), if any of the calculated lateral accelerations An is greater than the threshold Ao, a hands-on request is issued (S15). Note that the timing of announcing the hands-on request may be set as appropriate as long as it is several seconds before approaching the curve section exceeding the threshold Ao.

[effect]
(1) According to the vehicle control device 110 of the first embodiment, when the vehicle 10 travels a curve recognition distance in the future and the lateral acceleration An generated in the vehicle 10 exceeds the threshold value Ao when traveling on a curve in the hands-off state, a hands-on request is made. is issued (S15). Then, when the lateral acceleration An is equal to or less than the threshold Ao, the hands-off state is continued (S16). That is, since the driving situation such as the vehicle speed when traveling on a curve is taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to adopt a hands-on request, unnecessary hands-on requests are suppressed compared to a configuration in which a hands-on request is uniformly issued based on pre-stored map information. can.

For example, even if the vehicle 10 is traveling at a normal speed on a curve where a hands-on request should be issued, if the lateral acceleration An generated in the vehicle 10 is small when the vehicle 10 is traveling at a low speed in a traffic jam, the safety and comfort of the driver are impaired even in the hands-off state. There is no problem even if the hands-off state is continued. In such a case, since the hands-off state can be continued without issuing a hands-on request, the accuracy of the hands-on request during curve travel can be improved.

(2) According to the vehicle control device 110 of the first embodiment, the lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates the lateral acceleration An for each section obtained by dividing the curve recognition distance D into equal intervals. Therefore, compared to a configuration in which the lateral acceleration is calculated using the curvature, which is the representative value of the entire curve recognition distance D, more precise control can be performed, and the vehicle 10 can travel on a curve in the vicinity more safely.

(3) According to the vehicle control device 110 of the first embodiment, the timing of announcing the hands-on request is set several seconds before approaching the curve section exceeding the threshold value Ao. , safety and comfort are maintained.

B. Second embodiment:
Next, a second embodiment will be described. Note that the overall configuration (FIG. 2) and processing (FIG. 3) of the vehicle control device in the second embodiment and in a third embodiment described later are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, so description thereof will be omitted. In the first embodiment, the curvature of the curve in the map information stored in the road information storage unit 140 is used as the curvature of the curve Rn when calculating the lateral acceleration An. Instead of this, in the second embodiment, the curvature estimated from the actual traveling road information read from the peripheral sensor 120 is used as the curvature Rn.

"Actual road information" is information obtained while the vehicle 10 is actually traveling. Specifically, for example, it is information related to the lane marker 21 (see FIG. 3) estimated by the peripheral information recognition unit 112 based on the forward image captured by the camera 121 . The curvature is estimated from the estimated shape of the lane marker 21 and the like. The lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates the lateral acceleration An for each of the sections 1, 2, . . .

According to the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, since the curvature estimated from the actual traveling road information is used, the lateral acceleration An can be calculated even without map information, and the calculation accuracy of the lateral acceleration An can be improved.

C. Third embodiment:
Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the third embodiment, the curvature of the target travel route T set by the travel route setting unit 111 is used as the curvature Rn. As shown in FIG. 3, the target travel route T on the curve draws a line such that, for example, the vehicle enters from the outside side of the road at the beginning of the curve and travels on the inside side of the road at the end of the curve. Since the target travel route T draws a line for smooth curve travel, it does not completely match the map information and the actual travel route information. Therefore, the curvature of the target travel route T is information more suited to actual travel than the curvature based on map information or actual travel route information.

According to the third embodiment, the same effects as those of the second embodiment can be obtained. It is possible to improve the calculation accuracy of the acceleration An.

Furthermore, even if the curve curvature cannot be read because the distant lane marker 21 is hidden by the preceding vehicle 22 and cannot be seen, the lateral acceleration An can be calculated and a hands-on request can be issued accurately.

D. Other embodiments:
(D1) In each of the above embodiments, the current vehicle speed V of the vehicle 10 is used for all sections when calculating the future lateral acceleration An, as shown in the above equation (1). The vehicle speed at that time may be read in advance and used. In this case, the lateral acceleration An is calculated by the following formula (3).
Lateral acceleration An=(predicted vehicle speed Vn) ² ×curvature Rn (3)

Here, the look-ahead vehicle speed Vn is calculated by the following formula (4).
Look-ahead vehicle speed Vn = Current vehicle speed V + Target longitudinal acceleration x Look-ahead time (4)
The target longitudinal acceleration can be obtained, for example, by measuring the inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle 22 and the own vehicle 10 with a sensor, and automatically adjusting the inter-vehicle distance control system (ACC: Adaptive Cruise Control).

(D2) In each of the above embodiments, the hands-on request is notified in the curve section where the lateral acceleration An exceeds the threshold value Ao. In this case, the notification may be made after reaching the corresponding curve section.

(D3) In each of the above embodiments, if only one section out of the curve recognition distance D exceeds the threshold value Ao, the hands-on request is reset after traveling the section, and the hands-off state becomes possible. You may make it alert|report that.

(D4) In each of the above embodiments, the lateral acceleration calculator 113 calculates the lateral acceleration An for each interval obtained by dividing the curve recognition distance D into equal intervals. good. For example, a section whose curvature is constant to some extent may not be divided.
It should be noted that the vehicle controller 110 and techniques described in this disclosure are provided by configuring a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions embodied by a computer program. It may be implemented by a computer. Alternatively, the vehicle controller 110 and techniques described in this disclosure may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring the processor with one or more dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, the vehicle controller 110 and techniques described in this disclosure are a combination of a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions and a processor configured by one or more hardware logic circuits. It may also be implemented by one or more dedicated computers configured in combination. The computer program may also be stored as computer-executable instructions on a computer-readable non-transitional tangible recording medium.

Claims

A vehicle control device provided in a vehicle (10) capable of automatic operation and manual operation,
a travel route setting unit (111) for setting a target travel route of the vehicle;
a lateral acceleration calculation unit (113) for calculating a future lateral acceleration occurring in the vehicle based on the curvature of a curve in the traveling direction of the vehicle and the vehicle speed of the vehicle;
Notification of a hands-on request requesting switching from a hands-off state in which the driver of the vehicle does not hold the steering wheel to a hands-on state in which the driver holds the steering wheel during the execution of the automatic driving. A notification unit (114) that notifies by the device (150);
a control determination unit (115) that determines the details of control of the vehicle according to the calculation result of the lateral acceleration calculation unit;
with
The control determination unit
When the vehicle travels on the curve in the hands-off state,
When the lateral acceleration calculated by the lateral acceleration calculator is greater than a predetermined threshold, the controller determines, as the control content, control to notify the hands-on request by the notification unit, and the lateral acceleration is equal to or less than the threshold. , the vehicle control device determines control for continuing the hands-off state as the content of control.
The lateral acceleration calculation unit calculates the lateral acceleration for each section obtained by dividing the curve into a plurality of sections,
2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control determination unit determines, as the control content, control to notify the hands-on request before the vehicle enters the section in which the lateral acceleration is greater than the threshold value.
The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lateral acceleration calculator uses a curvature of map information as the curvature of the curve.
The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lateral acceleration calculation unit uses a curvature estimated from the actual traveling road information in the traveling direction as the curvature of the curve.
The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lateral acceleration calculator uses the curvature of the target travel route set by the travel route setting unit as the curvature of the curve.