JP2017030748A - Driving assistance device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize advantage by automatic drive even in a case where automatic drive vehicles and manual drive vehicles travel on the same road.SOLUTION: Manual drive vehicles are detected by communication with surrounding vehicles. In a case where the manual drive vehicles are present, mode of automatic drive is changed so that the alert to a driver of the present vehicle is executed more frequently than a case where the manual drive vehicles are absent. Thereby, the alert to the driver who currently uses automatic drive may be executed at a pertinent frequency according to whether the manual drive vehicles travel around or not, thus advantage in automatic drive vehicle that drive load on the driver is reduced may be ensured.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and that supports driving by a driver during automatic driving.

  Various driving support technologies have been developed for the purpose of reducing the driving load on the driver. Furthermore, a technique for automatically driving a vehicle has been proposed today for the purpose of further reducing the driving load on the driver (Patent Document 1).

In general, in an automatic driving of a vehicle, a safe driving that avoids a large steering wheel operation, sudden acceleration, or sudden deceleration is performed. For this reason, although the driver cannot enjoy the pleasure of driving as in manual driving, there is an advantage that the probability of occurrence of a traffic accident can be lowered and the fuel consumption can be improved.
On the other hand, when the vehicle is driven manually, a large steering wheel operation and acceleration / deceleration that are not performed in automatic driving are possible, so there is an advantage that the driver can enjoy the pleasure of driving. .

JP 2008-18872 A

However, there is a problem that the advantage of automatic driving cannot always be sufficiently obtained when a vehicle that is automatically driven (automatically driven vehicle) and a vehicle that is manually driven (manually driven vehicle) run together.
For example, when a manually driven vehicle traveling ahead suddenly decelerates or suddenly interrupts, the autonomously driven vehicle is also forced to decelerate suddenly or operate the steering wheel in order to avoid danger. As a result, even during automatic driving, the driver is forced to pay attention to vehicles traveling around, and the advantage of automatic driving that reduces the driving burden on the driver cannot be obtained.
Thus, when an autonomous driving vehicle and a manually driven vehicle run together, there is a possibility that the advantage of automatic driving cannot be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a driving support technology capable of ensuring the advantages of automatic driving even when an autonomous driving vehicle and a manually driven vehicle run together. .

In order to solve the above-described problem, the driving support device according to the present invention provides that when the manually driven vehicle is present in the surrounding vehicles that run around the own vehicle, the own vehicle is more than the case where the manually driven vehicle is not present. The mode of automatic driving is changed so that the frequency of alerting the driver is increased.
In this way, it is possible to alert the driver who is driving automatically at an appropriate frequency depending on whether or not the manually driven vehicle is traveling around, thus reducing the driver's driving load. It is possible to secure the advantages of the autonomous driving vehicle.
When a manually operated vehicle is detected from surrounding vehicles, a signal indicating whether or not automatic driving is being performed is transmitted from the surrounding vehicle wirelessly, and this signal is received by the own vehicle. Can be detected. Signals from surrounding vehicles may be received directly by the host vehicle or indirectly via a server or the like. In addition, the surrounding vehicle may transmit a signal in response to an inquiry from the own vehicle, or may transmit a signal to an unspecified number of people at regular time intervals regardless of the inquiry from the own vehicle. Also good.
Alternatively, a display (lamp or the like) for identifying whether automatic driving or manual driving is mounted on the vehicle, and a manually driven vehicle may be detected by analyzing an image of a vehicle-mounted camera mounted on the host vehicle. .

It is explanatory drawing which showed the rough structure of the driving assistance apparatus 1 of a present Example. It is a flowchart of the automatic driving | operation process of a present Example. It is a flowchart of the first half part of the automatic operation mode setting process of a present Example. It is a flowchart of the second half part of the automatic operation mode setting process of a present Example. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the test | inspection area | region for detecting a surrounding vehicle. It is explanatory drawing about the limit number of platooning. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that the inter-vehicle distance was set with respect to each of an automatic driving vehicle and a manual driving vehicle. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that a driving | running | working position is moved so that it may become out of the blind spot range of a manual driving vehicle. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that it tracks following after moving to an adjacent lane. It is explanatory drawing which illustrated a mode that several autonomous driving vehicles and several manual driving vehicles exist in a surrounding vehicle.

Hereinafter, examples will be described in order to clarify the contents of the present invention described above.
A. Device configuration :
FIG. 1 shows a rough configuration of the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the driving support apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a surrounding state detection unit 10, a consciousness state value detection unit 20, an automatic driving execution unit 30, a notification unit 40, a storage unit 50, and the like. .
These five “parts” are abstract concepts in which the driving support apparatus 1 is classified for convenience, mainly focusing on functions, and the entity includes various devices constituting the driving support apparatus 1, It is composed of electronic parts, computers, computer programs, or combinations thereof.

  The surrounding state detection unit 10 includes an in-vehicle camera 11 that captures an image around the host vehicle, a radar 12 that detects an obstacle or the like around the host vehicle, a GPS device 13 that detects the current position of the host vehicle, The navigation system 14 reads out map information based on the current position detected by the GPS device 13 or the destination set by the driver and presents it to the driver, or the external database 2 or the surrounding vehicle 3 traveling around the vehicle. An external communication device 15 that communicates wirelessly with each other is provided. Further, the external communication device 15 can also acquire information on the position of the surrounding vehicle 3 and whether or not the surrounding vehicle 3 is running automatically.

  The consciousness state value detection unit 20 includes a near-infrared LED 21 that irradiates near-infrared light toward the driver of the vehicle, a near-infrared light camera 22 that captures a driver's face image using near-infrared light, ECU23 is provided. The ECU 23 controls the operation in which the near-infrared light LED 21 irradiates the driver with near-infrared light and shoots the driver's face image with the near-infrared light camera 22, and displays the obtained face image. By analyzing, the arousal level is detected as the driver's consciousness state value. Various well-known methods can be used as a method for the ECU 23 to detect the driver's arousal level. In the driving assistance apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the driver's arousal level may be detected using these methods.

During automatic driving, the driver may be immersed in things other than driving (for example, reading a newspaper, reading documents, operating a personal computer). In such a case, the situation is the same as when the driver is driving aside, so even if the driver's consciousness is clear, it is determined that the arousal level has decreased.
In addition, the driver's consciousness state can detect not only whether or not he / she is awake, but also vagueness, fatigue, instability, and feeling impatience. The detection unit 20 can also detect an index value representing the degree of these states as a consciousness state value. Therefore, a system in which an electrocardiogram sensor, an electroencephalogram sensor, a body motion sensor, or a respiratory sensor and the ECU 23 are combined can be used as the consciousness state value detection unit 20.

  The automatic driving execution unit 30 is based on various surrounding situations detected by the surrounding situation detection unit 10 and controls a steering actuator 32 that steers a steering handle (not shown) of the host vehicle or an accelerator that drives an accelerator pedal (not shown) of the host vehicle. Automatic driving is performed by driving the actuator 34 and a brake actuator 36 that drives a brake pedal (not shown) of the host vehicle.

For example, when the destination is set in the navigation system 14 by the driver, the driving route indicated by the navigation system 14, the presence / absence and position of the surrounding vehicle 3 detected by the in-vehicle camera 11 and the radar 12, and the surrounding conditions such as the driving lane And operate the steering wheel, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, etc. Alternatively, when the driver is instructed to follow the vehicle ahead, the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal is set so that the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle traveling ahead detected by the in-vehicle camera 11 or the radar 12 is constant. While operating, automatic driving is performed by steering the steering wheel to follow the vehicle to be followed. Various known methods can be used as a method of determining the operation amount of the steering wheel, the accelerator pedal, the brake pedal, and the like based on the surrounding situation.
Furthermore, when the consciousness state value detection unit 20 detects that the driver's consciousness state (for example, arousal level) has decreased below a predetermined threshold, the automatic driving execution unit 30 uses the notification unit 40 described later to drive. Notify the person to call attention.

  The notification unit 40 includes a display device 41, a speaker 42 that outputs sound, and the like. The display device 41 may be a multi-function display provided in the center cluster, a head-up display that projects an image on a windshield or a combiner, or the like. When the notification unit 40 receives a command from the automatic driving execution unit 30, the notification unit 40 reads out image data and audio data from the memory 51 of the storage unit 50, and outputs it from the display device 41 or the speaker 42 to notify the driver of attention. I do. Note that the notification unit 40 is not limited to notification by sound or image, and may perform notification by other modes (for example, blowing by rotation of a blowing fan or vibration by a vibrator).

The driving support apparatus 1 of the present embodiment as described above can reduce the driving load on the driver by the automatic driving execution unit 30 performing automatic driving of the vehicle. In addition, during automatic driving, large steering wheel operations and acceleration / deceleration are not performed, so the probability of causing a traffic accident is suppressed and further improvement in fuel consumption can be expected. However, if a vehicle that is automatically driving (automatically driven vehicle) and a vehicle that is manually driven (manually driven vehicle) are mixed, the original operation of the autonomously driven vehicle is affected by the driving of the manually driven vehicle. It becomes difficult to obtain the advantages of automatic driving. In addition, even for a manually operated vehicle, the automatic operation vehicle becomes in the way and the original operation of the manually operated vehicle cannot be performed, so that it is difficult to obtain the advantage of manual operation.
Therefore, in the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment, when automatic driving is performed, it is determined whether or not a manually driven vehicle exists around the own vehicle, and the automatic driving mode is switched according to the result. In this way, even if an autonomous driving vehicle and a manually driven vehicle are mixed, the autonomous driving vehicle can enjoy the advantages of automatic driving, and the manually driven vehicles can enjoy the advantages of manual driving. It becomes. Below, the automatic driving | operation process performed with the driving assistance apparatus 1 of a present Example is demonstrated.

B. Automatic operation processing:
FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the automatic driving process performed by the driving support device 1 of the present embodiment. This process is mainly executed by the automatic driving execution unit 30 of the driving support device 1.
In the automatic driving process, first, the surrounding situation of the host vehicle is acquired (S100). Here, the “peripheral situation” of the host vehicle is various information acquired from the peripheral situation detection unit 10 for automatic driving. For example, the presence or position of a surrounding vehicle detected by the vehicle-mounted camera 11, the radar 12, or a sonar (not shown), the position of the traveling lane detected by the vehicle-mounted camera 11, ambient brightness, clear rain, or the current position detected by the GPS device 13 The route information presented by the navigation system 14, the traveling environment of the host vehicle, various information acquired from the external database 2 and the surrounding vehicle 3 via the external communication device 15, and the like.
Further, in the automatic driving process of the present embodiment, by communicating with the surrounding vehicles 3 by radio, the position of each surrounding vehicle 3 and whether each surrounding vehicle 3 is an automatic driving vehicle or a manual driving vehicle. Information is also acquired as the surrounding situation.

  Subsequently, the automatic driving execution unit 30 sets an automatic driving mode according to whether or not a manually driven vehicle is present in the surrounding vehicles 3 (S200). Here, the automatic driving mode refers to various distances for automatic driving, such as the inter-vehicle distance during automatic driving, the timing to turn on the direction indicator prior to steering the steering wheel, and the timing to turn on the brake pedal prior to brake operation. This is the data in which the item is set. As will be described in detail later, when a manually driven vehicle does not exist in the surrounding vehicle 3, a standard automatic driving mode is set. However, when a manually driven vehicle exists in the surrounding vehicle 3, the standard driving mode is set. A different automatic operation mode is set.

Then, the automatic driving execution unit 30 performs automatic driving according to the set automatic driving mode (S102), and then determines whether or not the automatic driving has been terminated by the driver (S104). For example, when the driver switches the automatic driving to the manual driving or when the driving is finished, it is determined that the automatic driving is finished (S104: yes), and the automatic driving process of FIG. 2 is finished.
On the other hand, when it is determined that the automatic operation has not ended (S104: no), the process returns to the top of the process, acquires the surrounding situation (S100), and then repeats the series of processes described above. As a result, during the automatic operation, the automatic operation is performed while switching between the standard automatic operation mode and the non-standard automatic operation mode depending on whether or not the manually operated vehicle exists in the surrounding vehicle 3.

C. Automatic operation mode setting process:
3 and 4 show a flowchart of the automatic operation mode setting process (S200) for setting the automatic operation mode during the automatic operation process. This process is also a process executed by the automatic driving execution unit 30.
When the automatic operation mode setting process (S200) is started, first, a standard automatic operation mode is read (S202). As described above, the automatic operation mode is data in which various items for automatic operation are set. The standard automatic driving mode is an automatic driving mode that is used when there is no surrounding vehicle 3 or when there is no surrounding driving vehicle 3 and there is no manually driving vehicle. Data of the standard automatic operation mode is stored in advance in the memory 51 of the storage unit 50, and this data is read in S202.

Next, it is determined whether or not a manually operated vehicle exists in the inspection area (S204). Here, the inspection area is an area set in advance around the own vehicle in order to inspect whether or not a manually operated vehicle exists when setting the automatic operation mode. That is, the surrounding state detection unit 10 detects the surrounding vehicle 3 using the external communication device 15 and can detect the vehicle as long as wireless communication is possible. However, if all the vehicles in the wireless communicable range are detected as the surrounding vehicles 3, not only the range becomes too wide, but also the range changes depending on the radio wave condition, so that stable automatic driving is possible. The mode cannot be set.
Therefore, in this embodiment, an inspection area narrower than the wireless communication range is set around the own vehicle, and when the automatic operation mode is set, the traveling vehicle in the inspection area is handled as the surrounding vehicle 3.

  FIG. 5 illustrates an inspection area used in this embodiment. As illustrated, the inspection area is set so as to surround the host vehicle. The width in the left-right direction relative to the traveling direction of the host vehicle is about one lane each (about three lanes as a whole), and is formed into an elongated rectangular shape that is equidistant toward the front and rear in the traveling direction. Is set. In addition, you may make it the length of a test | inspection area | region become long ahead and back of the advancing direction of a vehicle, so that the traveling speed of the own vehicle becomes high.

In the illustrated example, there are four vehicles A to D within a range where wireless communication with the host vehicle is possible. However, two vehicles, vehicle B and vehicle C, exist in the inspection area surrounded by the broken line in the figure, and these vehicles are the surrounding vehicles 3. Of these two peripheral vehicles 3, vehicle B is an automatically driven vehicle, but vehicle C is a manually driven vehicle. Therefore, in this case, it is determined that there is a manually operated vehicle in the inspection area (S204 in FIG. 3: yes).
If there is no surrounding vehicle 3 in the inspection area or if all of the surrounding vehicles 3 are autonomous driving vehicles, it is determined as “no” in S204 of FIG. The automatic operation mode setting process is terminated. As a result, in this case, the data of the standard automatic operation mode read in S202 is used as it is for automatic operation.

  If a manually operated vehicle exists in the inspection area (S204 in FIG. 3: yes), the threshold data for alerting the driver is changed to a higher value in the data of the standard automatic driving mode. (S206). That is, the consciousness state value detection unit 20 detects the driver's consciousness state (for example, arousal level), and the automatic driving execution unit 30 notifies when the driver's consciousness state falls below a predetermined threshold during automatic driving. The driver is alerted using the unit 40. If a manually operated vehicle exists in the inspection area, the driver's consciousness state is kept at a high level in preparation for a sudden steering operation or sudden deceleration of the manually operated vehicle. It is desirable to keep it. Therefore, the threshold value for alerting the driver is changed to a higher value. In this way, since the driver is alerted when the driver's consciousness state falls below the threshold, the driver's consciousness state can be kept at a high level.

  Next, the timing for lighting the direction indicator prior to steering the steering wheel, the timing for lighting the brake pedal prior to the brake operation, and the like are changed to an earlier timing (S208). In this way, it is possible to alert the driver of a manually operated vehicle that is traveling around the vehicle early and alert the driver that the vehicle is about to steer the steering wheel or that the brake is applied. It becomes possible.

  Thereafter, the automatic driving execution unit 30 determines whether or not a manually driven vehicle is present in the inspection area of the lane (adjacent lane) next to the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling (S210). As a result, when a manually operated vehicle exists in the inspection area of the adjacent lane (S210: yes), the limited number of platooning is set to a predetermined number (for example, four) (S212). This is the following process.

  First, a self-driving vehicle has a function of running in a row while maintaining a certain inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle in a state where a plurality of vehicles are connected in a row. In platooning, information on steering wheel operation, brake operation, accelerator operation, etc. is received from not only the vehicle that runs directly in front of the vehicle but also the vehicle that runs in front of it, and multiple vehicles travel together. To do. By doing so, in all the vehicles following the leading vehicle, the wind pressure applied with traveling decreases, so that the fuel consumption can be improved.

  As is clear from the above explanation, there is no limit on the number of vehicles traveling in a row. Therefore, in the standard automatic operation mode, an extremely large value such as 0 or 1000 is set in the data indicating the limited number of platooning. However, when a manually operated vehicle exists in the inspection area of the adjacent lane, the data indicating the limited number of platooning is changed to a predetermined number (for example, four). This is because of the following consideration.

FIG. 6A shows a state in which the platooning is performed when there is no manually operated vehicle in the adjacent lane. In the illustrated example, the vehicle B follows the leading vehicle A, the vehicle C follows the vehicle B, the vehicle D follows the vehicle C, and the host vehicle follows the vehicle D. . The vehicle E follows the host vehicle. Further, the vehicle A replies that it is the first vehicle (leading vehicle) in response to an inquiry from the vehicle B when the vehicle B follows the vehicle. The vehicle B replies that it is the second vehicle in response to an inquiry from the vehicle C when the vehicle C follows the vehicle. Similar processing is performed for each of the vehicles C to E.
In this way, when the following vehicle travels following the preceding vehicle, it acquires information on how many vehicles the platoon travels. In the example shown in FIG. 6A, the host vehicle recognizes that it is running in a row as the fifth vehicle, and the vehicle E recognizes that it is running in a row as the sixth vehicle. ing.

However, if a lot of vehicles are traveling in a row, even if a manually operated vehicle traveling in the overtaking lane tries to return to the normal lane, will it reach the beginning of the row or drop to the rear end of the row? Otherwise, you will not be able to return to the normal driving lane. This is particularly a problem when the lane is decreasing ahead of the traveling direction.
Therefore, when a manually operated vehicle is detected in the adjacent lane, a limit is imposed on the number of platoons. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 6 (a), the host vehicle is running in a row as the fifth vehicle, and when a manually operated vehicle is detected in the adjacent lane in this state, it exceeds the limit number of four. So the platooning ends. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle D and the host vehicle increases, so that the vehicle F, which is a manually operated vehicle, can be interrupted between the vehicles and return to the normal travel lane. Become.
In this way, if manually operated vehicles are detected in the adjacent lane, if a limited number of platoons are provided, manually operated vehicles can be interrupted between vehicles traveling in platoons as needed. Is possible.
In the above, the case where the manually operated vehicle is present in the inspection area of the adjacent lane (S210: yes in FIG. 3) has been described. However, when the manually operated vehicle is not present (S210: no), the platoon The process (S212) for changing the limited number of traveling is omitted.

Subsequently, the automatic driving execution unit 30 determines whether the vehicle traveling in front of the currently traveling lane (current lane) is a manually operated vehicle (S214). As a result, if the vehicle is a manually operated vehicle (S214: yes), the setting of the inter-vehicle distance is changed to a setting larger than the inter-vehicle distance set in the standard automatic operation mode (S216).
FIG. 7 illustrates a state in which the inter-vehicle distance d is set for each of the automatic driving vehicle and the manual driving vehicle. Thus, if the inter-vehicle distance d of the manually driven vehicle is set to be larger than the inter-vehicle distance d of the automatically driven vehicle, it is possible to suppress the possibility of a rear-end collision even when the manually operated vehicle decelerates rapidly. .
If there is no vehicle traveling in front of the current lane, or if the vehicle traveling in front of the current lane is not a manually operated vehicle (S214: no), a process of changing the inter-vehicle distance to a larger setting ( S216) is omitted.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the vehicle (side vehicle) traveling on the side of the host vehicle is a manually operated vehicle (S218). As a result, if the side vehicle is a manually operated vehicle (S218: yes), it means that the vehicle travels further behind the blind spot range so as not to enter the blind spot range that exists diagonally behind the side vehicle. Set (S220). That is, as shown in FIG. 8, if the host vehicle is traveling at the position indicated by the broken line, the vehicle A enters the blind spot range during manual operation. Therefore, the vehicle is decelerated to the position indicated by the solid line so as not to enter the blind spot range of the vehicle A. If it carries out like this, the danger that the vehicle A will change a lane without noticing the own vehicle, and a contact accident etc. will be suppressed can be suppressed.

Here, the description has been made assuming that the host vehicle decelerates in order to get out of the blind spot range of the side vehicle. However, when the host vehicle accelerates, the vehicle may exit the blind spot range of the side vehicle.
Alternatively, either “deceleration” or “acceleration” may be selected by detecting the inter-vehicle distance from the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance to the rear vehicle. For example, when there is no rear vehicle or there is a sufficient inter-vehicle distance to the rear vehicle, “decelerate” is selected. If the inter-vehicle distance to the rear vehicle is not sufficient, but there is no front vehicle or the inter-vehicle distance to the front vehicle is sufficient, “acceleration” is selected. If both the rear vehicle and the front vehicle exist, compare the inter-vehicle distance to the rear vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance to the front vehicle, and select “Decelerate” if the inter-vehicle distance to the rear vehicle is larger. Otherwise, “acceleration” may be selected.
Furthermore, instead of immediately decelerating (or accelerating) when entering the blind spot range of the side vehicle, the vehicle may be decelerating (or accelerating) when it has entered the blind spot range for a certain time or more. In this way, every time the own vehicle enters the blind spot of the side vehicle, it is possible to avoid decelerating (or accelerating) regardless of the driver's intention and avoid making the driver feel bothersome.

  In the above, the process (S220) of setting the traveling position of the host vehicle when the side vehicle is a manually operated vehicle (S218: yes) has been described. On the other hand, when there is no side vehicle or when the side vehicle is not a manually operated vehicle (S218: no), the process of setting the travel position (S220) is omitted.

  Next, the automatic driving execution unit 30 determines whether or not the driver is set to follow the vehicle (S222 in FIG. 4). If it is set to follow the vehicle (S222: yes), it is determined whether the vehicle ahead of the current lane (first vehicle ahead) is a manually operated vehicle (S224). As a result, when the vehicle ahead of the current lane is a manually operated vehicle (S224: yes), it is determined whether or not the vehicle traveling in front of the adjacent lane (second forward vehicle) is an automatically driven vehicle. (S226). As a result, when the vehicle ahead of the adjacent lane is an autonomous driving vehicle (S226: yes), it is set to follow the vehicle after moving to the adjacent lane (S228).

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the vehicle A that travels forward in the same lane as the host vehicle is a manually operated vehicle, but the vehicle B that travels forward in the adjacent lane is an autonomously driven vehicle. When it is set to travel, the vehicle B starts to follow the vehicle B after moving to the adjacent lane. Alternatively, even when the state shown in FIG. 9 occurs, for example, when the preceding vehicle is switched from automatic driving to manual driving during the follow-up running, the vehicle moves to the adjacent lane and starts following the vehicle B.
Since the automatic driving vehicle does not perform a sudden steering operation, a brake operation, or an accelerator operation, the automatic driving vehicle can follow the vehicle more easily.
It should be noted that the following driving is not set (S222: no), the vehicle in front of the current lane is not a manually operated vehicle (S224: no), or the vehicle in front of the adjacent lane is not an autonomous driving vehicle. In the case (S226: no), the process (S228) for setting that the vehicle moves to the adjacent lane and follows the vehicle is omitted. Therefore, in these cases, the vehicle follows the current lane.

  Subsequently, the automatic driving execution unit 30 determines whether or not there are surrounding vehicles 3 of a predetermined threshold number (for example, four) or more (S230). As a result, when the number of surrounding vehicles 3 exceeding the threshold number exists (S230: yes), it is determined whether or not the ratio of manually operated vehicles among the surrounding vehicles 3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined ratio (for example, 50%) ( S232).

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 10, there are five surrounding vehicles 3 in the inspection area, and three of them are manually operated vehicles, so the ratio of manually operated vehicles is 60%. Therefore, in such a case, it is determined that the ratio of the manually operated vehicle is equal to or greater than the predetermined ratio (S232: yes), and the driver is suggested to switch from automatic driving to manual driving (S234). That is, in the state where there are more manually driven vehicles than automatically driven vehicles as illustrated in FIG. 10, even if automatic driving is performed, original automatic driving cannot be performed due to the influence of the manually driven vehicle. Can't get enough. Therefore, the driver is suggested to enjoy the advantages of manual driving by switching to manual driving instead of forcibly driving automatically.
In the proposal, voice data and image data for suggesting switching to manual operation are stored in the memory 51 of the storage unit 50, and these data are read out and output from the notification unit 40.

If the number of surrounding vehicles 3 is less than the threshold number (S230: no), and the ratio of manually operated vehicles is less than the predetermined ratio (S232: no), a process for proposing switching to manual operation (S232: no) S234) is omitted.
Further, here, the peripheral vehicle 3 existing in the inspection area has been described as detecting the ratio of the manually operated vehicle. However, when detecting the ratio of the manually operated vehicle, the vehicle travels in a wider range than the inspection area. Vehicles may be detected, and the ratio of manually operated vehicles among the traveling vehicles may be detected.

When the data of the automatic operation mode is changed as described above, the automatic operation mode setting process shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is terminated, and the process returns to the automatic operation process of FIG.
In this way, in the automatic driving process, automatic driving can be performed in an automatic driving mode according to the presence or absence of a manually driven vehicle that travels around the host vehicle. As a result, even if an autonomous driving vehicle and a manually driven vehicle co-run, it is possible to suppress the mutual elimination of the advantages of each other, so that the autonomous driving vehicle benefits from automatic driving, and the manually driven vehicle benefits from manual driving. Each can be enjoyed.

  As mentioned above, although the present Example was described, this invention is not limited to said Example and modification, It can implement in a various aspect in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driving assistance device, 3 ... Surrounding vehicle, 10 ... Surrounding condition detection part,
11 ... In-vehicle camera, 12 ... Radar, 14 ... Navigation system,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... External communication apparatus, 20 ... Consciousness state value detection part, 21 ... Near infrared light LED,
22 ... Near-infrared light camera, 23 ... ECU, 30 ... Automatic operation execution part,
40 ... notification unit, 41 ... display device, 42 ... speaker, 50 ... storage unit.

Claims (3)

A driving support device that is mounted on a vehicle that performs automatic driving and supports driving of the driver,
A surrounding situation detection unit that detects the surrounding situation of the host vehicle, including the presence of surrounding vehicles that travel around the host vehicle;
An automatic driving execution unit that automatically drives the host vehicle based on the surrounding situation detected by the surrounding situation detection unit;
The surrounding state detection unit is a detection unit that detects a manually driven vehicle that is not in automatic driving from the surrounding vehicles,
The automatic driving execution unit increases the frequency of alerting the driver of the own vehicle when the manually driven vehicle is detected, compared to a case where the manually driven vehicle is not detected. A driving support device that is an execution unit. The driving support device according to claim 1,
A consciousness state detection unit for detecting a consciousness state of the driver of the host vehicle;
A notification unit that alerts the driver of the host vehicle,
The automatic driving execution unit is an execution unit that causes the notification unit to perform the alert when the consciousness state falls below a threshold value. The driving support device according to claim 2,
The automatic driving execution unit is an executing unit that increases the frequency of alerting by increasing the threshold value when the manually driven vehicle is detected, compared to when the manually driven vehicle is not detected. There is a driving assistance device.

Images