JP2019079126A - vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to appropriately run an unmanned and automatically forwarding vehicle in an emergency running mode. A camera (71) captures an image of the surroundings of a vehicle (2) and outputs image information. The radar 72 and the lidar 73 irradiate electromagnetic waves to the outside of the vehicle 2 and output peripheral information acquired by detecting reflected waves or scattered waves of the radiated electromagnetic waves. The notification device 50 notifies the surroundings of the presence of the vehicle 2 when the vehicle 2 is running in the emergency running mode. The ECU 100 acquires traffic light information indicating the position and color of the traffic light on the travel route of the vehicle 2 by image analysis of the imaging information of the camera 71, and uses the acquired traffic light information and the peripheral information of the rider 73 to control the vehicle 2. Control autonomous driving. When the vehicle 2 is running in the emergency running mode, the ECU 100 does not perform image analysis for acquiring traffic light information, and controls automatic driving of the vehicle 2 according to the peripheral information acquired by the radar 72 and the rider 73. do. [Selection drawing] Fig. 4

Description

  The present disclosure relates to a vehicle, and more particularly, to a vehicle configured to be capable of unattended driving.

  BACKGROUND ART In recent years, development of a vehicle configured to be capable of autonomous driving (hereinafter, also referred to as “autonomously driven vehicle”) has been advanced. It has been proposed to use autonomous driving vehicles other than the user's normal mobile applications.

  For example, JP 2012-230523 A (patent document 1) makes a business trip to a point where a gas car is stuck due to a gas shortage to supply gasoline, tow a car that has a gas shortage to a gas station, etc. Disclose relief services. Patent Document 1 describes that a rescue vehicle providing this rescue service may have an automatic driving function (see, for example, paragraph [0150] of Patent Document 1).

JP, 2012-230523, A Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2017-010313 JP, 2014-154128, A Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2012-038088 JP, 2012-128587, A

  It is conceivable to run a vehicle capable of automatic driving unmanned (in other words, to perform "automatic forwarding") and to distribute the "automatic forwarding vehicle" under the user according to a request from the user. In order to perform such allocation, it is desirable to make the unmanned travel section as short as possible from the viewpoint of increasing the utilization efficiency of the automatic transfer vehicle. However, depending on the region or time zone, the demand and the supply may not always be balanced, and a situation may occur in which the automatic transport vehicle is oversupplied. Therefore, it is desirable to utilize an unmanned automatic transfer vehicle and improve its utilization efficiency.

  In view of such circumstances, the present inventors have made it possible to set an emergency travel mode in an automatic transfer vehicle. For example, when there is a possibility that it will take time for the rescue vehicle to arrive under the rescue person when there is a transport request from the rescue person (emergency patient), instead of the rescue vehicle, an automatic delivery vehicle may be required. Distribute under the rescuer. When moving under the rescuer, or when transporting the rescuer to a facility such as a hospital, the automatic delivery vehicle, for example, lights up a red light, sounds a siren, etc. It travels in emergency travel mode while notifying to. By enabling the automatic delivery vehicle to travel in the emergency travel mode, it is possible to rapidly deliver the rescuer while utilizing the automatic delivery vehicle. However, when the automatic transfer vehicle travels in the emergency travel mode, what kind of travel control is appropriate is not particularly considered in Patent Documents 1 to 5.

  The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a technology capable of appropriately running in an emergency running mode of a vehicle being unattended and being automatically forwarded. .

  A vehicle according to one aspect of the present disclosure is configured to be capable of unattended driving. The vehicle includes an imaging device, a detection device, a notification device, and a control device. The imaging device captures an image of the surroundings of the vehicle and outputs imaging information. The detection device emits an electromagnetic wave to the outside of the vehicle, and outputs surrounding information acquired by detecting a reflected wave or a scattered wave of the irradiated electromagnetic wave. The notification device is configured to notify the surroundings of the presence of the vehicle when traveling in the emergency travel mode of the vehicle. The control device acquires traffic signal information indicating the position and color of the traffic light in the traveling route of the vehicle by image analysis of imaging information of the imaging device, and uses the acquired traffic signal information and peripheral information of the detection device to automatically Control the operation. When the vehicle travels in the emergency travel mode, the control device controls the automatic driving of the vehicle in accordance with the surrounding information acquired by the detection device without performing image analysis for acquiring the traffic signal information.

  According to the above configuration, in the emergency travel mode, unlike in normal travel, even if the traffic light is red, the travel of the vehicle is continued without performing various image analysis (described later) for acquiring the traffic light information. Ru. As a result, the calculation load of the control device can be reduced, so that traveling in the emergency travel mode can be appropriately performed.

  According to the present disclosure, an autonomous driving vehicle can appropriately perform emergency travel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a view schematically showing an overall configuration of a vehicle allocation system for an electrically powered vehicle according to a present embodiment. FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of an electrically powered vehicle. It is a figure showing typically an example of a run in emergency run mode in this embodiment. It is a flow chart for explaining emergency run control in this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference characters and description thereof will not be repeated.

Embodiment
<Overall Configuration of Dispatch System>
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an entire configuration of a dispatch system of an electric vehicle according to the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, a dispatch system 9 includes an emergency vehicle 1, a plurality of vehicles 2, and a dispatch center 3.

  Although the emergency vehicle 1 is described as an example of an emergency vehicle in the present embodiment, the emergency vehicle is not limited to the emergency vehicle, and may be another vehicle that travels in an emergency for life saving or disaster response. Examples of such vehicles include transport vehicles, accident handling vehicles and the like.

  Each of the plurality of vehicles 2 is an electric vehicle configured to be capable of autonomous driving. However, each vehicle 2 may be another vehicle (hybrid vehicle, fuel cell vehicle, so-called combination vehicle).

  Note that the automatic driving means control in which driving operations such as acceleration, deceleration and steering of the vehicle 2 are executed regardless of the driving operation of the driver of the vehicle 2. Automated driving includes, for example, lane keeping control and navigation control. In the lane keeping control, a steering wheel (not shown) is automatically steered so that the vehicle 2 travels along the traveling lane without departing from the traveling lane. In navigation control, for example, when there is no preceding vehicle ahead of the vehicle 2, constant speed control is performed to make the vehicle 2 travel at a constant speed at a preset speed, while the preceding vehicle is ahead of the vehicle 2 If it exists, follow-up control is performed to adjust the vehicle speed of the vehicle 2 in accordance with the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle.

  For example, when the vehicle 2 is a user's own car, after the user's family is delivered to the destination, there is a case where the user travels unattended (automatic forwarding) to get the user in another place on board. Alternatively, if each vehicle 2 is a sales vehicle (taxi, hire, etc.), after unloading a user, automatic forwarding is performed to return to the dispatch station, or automatic forwarding is carried out until the next user is loaded. May be As described above, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that each vehicle 2 is in automatic forwarding. In addition, not only during driving | running | working but during the automatic transfer, the vehicle may stop (for example, park for waiting).

  The dispatch center 3 is configured to enable two-way communication with a large number of vehicles including the emergency vehicle 1 and the plurality of vehicles 2. The dispatch center 3 manages the traveling condition of each vehicle 2 and transmits necessary information or command according to the request from each vehicle. The dispatch center 3 includes a server 31, a position information database 32, a map information database 33, and a communication device (not shown).

  The position information database 32 collects position information indicating the current position of a vehicle including the emergency vehicle 1 and the plurality of vehicles 2 and stores the collected position information. The map information database 33 stores road map data. The server 31 manages various information for distributing each vehicle 2 under the user in response to a request from the user. Details of control by the server 31 will be described later.

<Vehicle configuration>
FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing the configuration of the vehicle 2. Referring to FIG. 2, vehicle 2 includes a power storage device 10, a power control unit (PCU) 20, a motor generator (MG: motor generator) 30, a navigation device 40, and a notification device 50. A communication module 60, a sensor group 70, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 100 are provided.

  Power storage device 10 is a rechargeable DC power supply, and is configured to include a secondary battery such as a lithium ion secondary battery or a nickel hydrogen battery, for example. An electric double layer capacitor or the like can also be adopted as the storage device 10. Power storage device 10 stores power supplied from an external power supply via an inlet (not shown). Then, power storage device 10 supplies the stored power to PCU 20.

  PCU 20 is controlled by ECU 100 to perform power conversion between power storage device 10 and motor generator 30. PCU 20 is configured to include an inverter that receives electric power from power storage device 10 and drives motor generator 30, a converter that adjusts the level of the DC voltage supplied to the inverter, and the like.

  Motor generator 30 is an AC motor, and is, for example, a permanent magnet synchronous motor including a rotor in which permanent magnets are embedded. Motor generator 30 is driven by an inverter included in PCU 20 to drive a drive shaft (not shown). Further, at the time of braking of the vehicle, motor generator 30 receives the rotational force of the drive wheels to generate electric power. The electric power generated by motor generator 30 is stored in power storage device 10 through PCU 20.

  The navigation device 40 includes a GPS receiver 41 that specifies the position of the vehicle 2 based on radio waves from a satellite (not shown). The navigation device 40 executes various navigation processing of the vehicle 2 using the position information (GPS information, map information) of the vehicle 2 specified by the GPS receiver 41. More specifically, based on the GPS information of the vehicle 2 and the road map data stored in the memory (not shown), the navigation device 40 travels from the current location of the vehicle 2 to the destination (scheduled travel route Alternatively, the target route is calculated, and information on the target route is output to the ECU 100.

  The notification device 50 includes, for example, a red light 51, a siren 52, and a speaker 53, and notifies the surroundings of the vehicle 2 that it is traveling in the emergency travel mode of the vehicle 2. During emergency travel, the red light 51 blinks, the siren 52 is sounded, and an audio indicating that emergency travel is in progress is output from the speaker 53. However, the notification device 50 is not particularly limited as long as the notification device 50 can notify the presence of the vehicle 2 to the surroundings, and may be a hazard lamp (not shown). Alternatively, in the case where a display (not shown) that can be displayed toward the outside of the vehicle is mounted on the vehicle 2, the display may display a message "during emergency travel".

  The communication module 60 is a vehicle-mounted DCM (DCM: Data Communication Module), and is configured to enable two-way data communication between the ECU 100 and the server 31 in the dispatch center 3.

  The sensor group 70 detects an external condition of the vehicle 2 and detects information according to the traveling condition of the vehicle 2 and an operation of the vehicle 2 (steering operation, accelerator operation, and braking operation). The ECU 100 is configured to be capable of unmanned operation (completely automatic operation) based on various information detected (or acquired) by the sensor group 70. In automatic driving using the sensor group 70, neither driver's riding nor driver's operation is required under all circumstances.

  The sensor group 70 includes a camera 71, a radar (Radar) 72, a rider (LIDAR: Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) 73, a vehicle speed sensor 74, an acceleration sensor 75, and a gyro sensor 76.

  The camera 71 captures an external situation of the vehicle 2 and outputs imaging information regarding the external situation of the vehicle 2 to the ECU 100. For example, the camera 71 is used by the ECU 100 to determine whether the traffic light is red, yellow or blue (green) based on the luminance information in the imaging information.

  More specifically, first, the ECU 100 determines whether the current location of the vehicle 2 identified using the navigation device 40 is close to the position of the traffic signal identified in advance on the map information. When it is determined that the current position of the vehicle 2 is close to the position of the traffic light, the luminance distribution of the imaging information (image) that is highly likely to be captured by the traffic light and the traffic light stored in advance in the memory 102 of the ECU 100 Are compared with the typical luminance distribution (template) of Thus, the traffic light can be identified and the color of the traffic light can be determined. When the map information is detailed, it is also possible to narrow down to a part of the imaging information acquired by the camera 71 to perform the image analysis. Also, such image analysis can be realized by applying a technique of machine learning (for example, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)) by accumulating a large amount of analysis results.

  The radar 72 transmits a radio wave (for example, a millimeter wave) around the vehicle 2 and receives the radio wave reflected by the obstacle to detect the obstacle. The radar outputs, for example, the distance to the obstacle and the direction of the obstacle to the ECU 100 as obstacle information on the obstacle.

  The rider 73 transmits light (typically ultraviolet light, visible light or near infrared light) to the surroundings of the vehicle 2 and measures the distance to the reflection point by receiving the light reflected by the obstacle. To detect The rider 73 outputs, for example, the distance to the obstacle and the direction of the obstacle to the ECU 100 as obstacle information.

  The camera 71 corresponds to the “imaging device” according to the present disclosure. The radar 72 and the rider 73 both correspond to the “detection device” according to the present disclosure. However, both of the radar 72 and the rider 73 are not essential but may be only one of them.

  The vehicle speed sensor 74 is provided on a wheel or a drive shaft of the vehicle 2 or the like. The vehicle speed sensor 74 detects the rotational speed of the wheels and outputs vehicle speed information including the speed of the vehicle 2 to the ECU 100.

  The acceleration sensor 75 includes, for example, a longitudinal acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle 2 and a lateral acceleration sensor that detects a lateral acceleration of the vehicle 2. The acceleration sensor 75 outputs acceleration information including both accelerations to the ECU 100.

  The gyro sensor 76 detects the inclination of the vehicle 2 from the horizontal direction. More specifically, the gyro sensor 76 detects both the longitudinal inclination of the vehicle 2 with respect to the horizontal direction and the lateral inclination of the vehicle 2 with respect to the horizontal direction. The gyro sensor 76 outputs the detection result to the ECU 100 as gradient information of the travel route of the vehicle 2.

  The ECU 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a memory 102, an input / output port (not shown) for inputting / outputting various signals, and the like. The ECU 100 executes various controls (lane maintenance control, navigation control, stop control, and the like) for realizing the automatic driving (including automatic transfer) of the vehicle 2 based on the input from the sensor group 70. Further, the ECU 100 transmits various information (such as position information of the vehicle 2) to the server 31 through the communication module 60, and receives a command or a notification from the server 31.

<Emergency driving mode of automatic delivery vehicle>
In order to provide the vehicle allocation service using the vehicle 2 configured as described above, from the viewpoint of enhancing the utilization efficiency of the vehicle 2, it is desirable to shorten the unmanned travel section (automatic transfer section) as much as possible. However, depending on the area or time zone, the demand (the number of users) and the supply (the number of automatic forwarding vehicles) may not always be balanced, and a situation may occur in which the automatic forwarding vehicles are excessively supplied. Therefore, it is desirable to utilize an unmanned automatic transfer vehicle and improve its utilization efficiency.

  In view of such circumstances, the present inventors have made it possible to set the emergency travel mode for the vehicle 2. For example, when there is a possibility that it will take time for the rescue vehicle 1 to arrive under the rescue person when there is a transport request from the rescue person, the emergency vehicle 1 may be replaced (or As a backup for the delay), the vehicle 2 is allocated under the rescue person. When moving under the rescuer, or when transporting the rescuer to a facility such as a hospital, the vehicle 2 lights up the red light 51, sounds the siren 52, etc. It travels in the emergency travel mode while informing the surroundings. By enabling the vehicle 2 to travel in the emergency travel mode, it is possible to quickly transport the rescue person while using the vehicle 2.

  FIG. 3 is a view schematically showing an example of travel in the emergency travel mode in the present embodiment. Here, the situation when the vehicle 2 traveling in the emergency travel mode passes an intersection will be described in order to move below the rescuer or transport the rescuer. A traffic signal (indicated by SIG) is provided at the intersection. It is assumed that the red light 51 and the siren 52 of the vehicle 2 are noticed and the other vehicle 4 is stopped in front of the intersection.

  In the vehicle 2 at the time of normal traveling, the ECU 100 compares the current position of the vehicle 2 with the position of the traffic light, and performs image analysis of the imaging information of the camera 71 to identify the traffic light and discriminate the color of the traffic light . Furthermore, in addition to the imaging information of the camera 71, the ECU 100 uses the information acquired by other sensors (the radar 72 and the rider 73) to determine the situation around the vehicle 2. Then, when the traffic light is red (R), the ECU 100 stops the vehicle 2, and when the traffic light is green (G), the ECU 100 determines the situation around the vehicle 2 and causes the vehicle 2 to travel. However, identification of such a traffic light and image analysis for determining the color of the traffic light require a relatively large amount of computing resources, and an operation load may be applied to the ECU 100.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, when the vehicle 2 in automatic forwarding travels in the emergency travel mode, unlike in normal travel, image analysis for identifying a traffic light and discriminating a color of the traffic light is not performed. Adopt the configuration.

<Emergency travel control flow>
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the emergency travel control in the present embodiment. Each step (hereinafter abbreviated as “S”) included in this flowchart is basically realized by software processing by server 31 of dispatch center 3 or ECU 10 of vehicles 2 and 2, but in server 31 or ECU 10 It may be realized by dedicated hardware (electric circuit) manufactured.

  In FIG. 4, the left side of the figure shows a series of processes executed by the server 31 of the dispatch center 3, and the right side of the figure shows a series of processes executed by the ECU 100 of the vehicle 2. The processing by the server 31 is called from a main routine (not shown) and executed, for example, when requested by an emergency center (not shown) that has received a request for dispatch of the emergency vehicle 1 from the main routine (not shown). It is assumed that the server 31 receives the information on the location of the rescue requester (that is, the destinations of the emergency vehicle 1 and the vehicle 2) together with the above request. The processing by the ECU 100 is called from the main routine and executed, for example, each time a predetermined cycle elapses.

  Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, in S <b> 110, server 31 acquires location information of the current location of emergency vehicle 1. The position information of the emergency vehicle 1 may be acquired via the emergency center or may be acquired directly from the emergency vehicle 1.

  In S120, the server 31 calculates the estimated arrival time of the emergency vehicle 1 to the destination based on the location information of the current location of the emergency vehicle 1 and the destination (the location of the rescue requester). This calculation can be realized by the technology of recommended route guidance of a general navigation system, but at the time of emergency traveling, it is estimated that the estimated arrival time is taken into consideration that the emergency vehicle 1 can travel faster than general vehicles. Coefficients for correction may be used. The server 31 may acquire the time calculated by the emergency vehicle 1 as the estimated arrival time of the emergency vehicle 1 to the destination.

  In S <b> 210, the ECUs 100 of the plurality of vehicles 2 transmit the position information of the current location of the vehicles 2 to the server 31 of the dispatch center 3.

  When the server 31 receives the location information of the current locations of the plurality of vehicles 2, the second and third vehicles 2 (not just one) but the locations of the rescuers required are the closest to the location (destination) of the rescuer. While transmitting the emergency travel instruction to the lower part of the rescuer necessary to a plurality of vehicles including close vehicles etc., the position information of the rescuer's location is transmitted (S130).

  In S220, the ECU 100 of each vehicle 2 determines whether or not the position information of the location (destination) of the rescue requester's location is received from the server 31. If the location information of the rescuer's location is not received (NO at S220), the process is returned to the main routine. In this case, the position information of each vehicle 2 is periodically transmitted to the position information database 32 and updated by the ECU 100 repeatedly executing a series of processes shown on the right side in the figure at predetermined intervals. (See S210).

  When positional information on the location of the rescuer's location is received (YES in S220), the ECU 100 advances the process to S230, and calculates a planned traveling route of the vehicle 2 to the location of the rescuer's location. Further, the ECU 100 calculates an estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 to the location of the rescuer. The estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 is transmitted to the server 31.

  In addition, prior to going directly to the location of the rescuer, the vehicle 2 first goes under a specific assistant (for example, a medical worker such as a doctor, paramedic, nurse, etc.) and board the assistant. You may go to the location of the rescuer after you In this case, the estimated time of arrival at the location of the rescuer is calculated, taking into consideration the increase in time due to the pickup of the helper.

  In S140, the server 31 compares the estimated arrival time of the emergency vehicle 1 to the rescuer's location with the estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 to the rescuer's location, and the estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 is It is determined whether or not it is early. If the estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 is earlier than the estimated arrival time of the emergency vehicle 1 (YES in S140), the server 31 can arrive at a vehicle 2 (a plurality of vehicles may arrive earlier than the emergency vehicle 1) The emergency driving command is transmitted to the (S150). On the other hand, when the estimated arrival time of the vehicle 2 is later than the estimated arrival time of the emergency vehicle 1 (NO in S140), the server 31 transmits the emergency response to the vehicle 2 whose arrival time is later than that of the emergency vehicle 1. It notifies that it can not arrive earlier than the vehicle 1, and does not transmit an emergency travel instruction (S160).

  In S240, the ECU 100 determines whether or not an emergency travel instruction has been received from the server 31. When the emergency travel instruction is received (YES in S240), the ECU 100 causes the vehicle 2 to travel in the emergency travel mode. When passing through an intersection in the emergency travel mode, it is preferable to limit the speed of the vehicle 2 (travel the vehicle 2 slowly) compared to when traveling on a normal route. In addition, when passing through the intersection in the emergency travel mode, traveling may be performed in consideration of surroundings, such as, for example, traveling slowly, as compared with the case of passing the intersection in normal traveling.

  At this time, the ECU 100 does not execute image analysis for identifying a traffic light on the traveling route and determining the color of the traffic light. More specifically, although the ECU 100 acquires imaging information of the camera 71, it does not perform image processing regarding a traffic signal, and uses the information acquired by the radar 72 and the rider 73 to determine the situation around the vehicle 2. Alternatively, the camera 71 of the ECU 100 may be stopped to acquire no imaging information.

  It should be noted that instead of not executing image processing for traffic lights provided at all intersections on the traveling route of the vehicle 2, only image processing for specific traffic lights is not performed, and image processing for the remaining traffic lights is executed You may

  For example, depending on the information acquired by the radar 72 and the rider 73, execution / non-execution of the traffic signal may be switched. Specifically, when the peripheral information can be acquired favorably by the radar 72 and the rider 73, the image processing regarding the traffic signal is not executed, but the peripheral information can be acquired very well by the radar 72 and the rider 73. If not, image processing relating to the traffic signal can be performed. In the case of radar and rider, in general, when the object to be detected is shielded by another object (when occlusion occurs), it is difficult to properly acquire information on the object to be detected. Therefore, when such an occlusion occurs, it is preferable to execute image processing related to a traffic light in order to use imaging information from the camera 71 in combination. Conversely, image processing relating to a traffic signal can be disabled, for example, when no other vehicle is traveling and no occlusion has occurred.

  Further, for example, image processing can be performed for traffic lights provided at intersections with relatively high traffic volumes, and image processing can not be performed for traffic lights provided at intersections with relatively low traffic volumes. Switching of execution / non-execution of such image processing is performed on the map information of the navigation device 40, the position information of the signal to be subjected to the image processing, and the position information of the signal to which the image processing can not be executed. This can be realized by tying and.

  Further, execution / non-execution of the image processing may be switched according to the reliability of the imaging information of the camera 71. The reliability of the imaging information of the camera 71 can be determined based on weather information such as rain and fog, as an example. The presence or absence (or the degree) of rain or fog can be determined from weather information (information provided from a weather information center or the like) at the traveling position of the vehicle 2. The ECU 100 may also determine that it is raining when a predetermined amount of raindrops is detected by a sensor (wiper sensor) that detects raindrops. When it is raining or fogging, the reliability of the imaging information of the camera 71 becomes relatively low. Therefore, in such a case, the image processing related to the traffic signal can be not performed.

  In addition, when the calculation load of the ECU 100 falls below a predetermined amount in a situation where the vehicle 2 travels near the traffic light (more specifically, in front of the traffic light), image processing relating to the traffic light is executed, and the calculation load of the ECU 100 is a predetermined amount If it exceeds, the image processing may be not performed.

  In addition, when the CNN technique is applied to image analysis of imaging information acquired by the camera 71, the time change of each color (or ratio of colors) recognized by CNN such as red / blue / yellow is processed. It may be used for the setting of execution / non-execution of First, the vehicle 2 travels in the vicinity of the traffic light a plurality of times, and the situation in the vicinity of the traffic light is recognized using the CNN technique. And each color (or ratio of color) in the recognition result of multiple times is compared. When each color (or ratio of colors) is almost the same, the ECU 100 does not execute image processing related to a traffic signal using the camera 71, assuming that the traffic of other vehicles, passersby, etc. is small near the intersection. it can.

  In addition, the rider 73 may be used to detect other vehicles around the vehicle 2, passers-by, etc. (acquire speed information of objects around them). The ECU 100 relates to a traffic signal using the camera 71 when it is determined that no other vehicle, passerby, etc. exist around the vehicle 2 or that the environment around the vehicle 2 is stopped (mostly not moving). Image processing can be disabled.

  Although not shown, the vehicle 2 that has arrived at the location of the rescuer may output a voice from the speaker 53 for asking the rescuer's transportation (boarding on the vehicle 2) for assistance.

  If the server 31 does not give an emergency travel instruction, but receives a notification that it can not arrive earlier than the emergency vehicle 1 (NO in S240), the ECU 100 causes the vehicle 2 to continue the automatic forwarding as usual. , And travel the vehicle 2 according to the traffic light (S260).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when there is a transport request from the rescuer, the vehicle 2 that can arrive under the rescuer prior to the rescue vehicle 1 can be under the rescuer. Allocate to Then, when moving under the rescuer, or when transporting the rescuer to a facility such as a hospital, the vehicle 2 lights up the red light 51, sounds the siren 52, etc. It travels in emergency travel mode while reporting the existence to the surroundings. The vehicle 2 in the emergency travel mode does not execute image analysis for specifying the position or determining the color of at least a part of the traffic light on the travel route. As a result, the calculation load on the ECU 100 can be reduced, so that the vehicle 2 can appropriately travel in the emergency travel mode.

  It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative and non-restrictive in every respect. The scope of the present disclosure is indicated not by the description of the embodiments described above but by the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims.

  Reference Signs List 1 emergency vehicle, 2, 4 vehicle, 3 dispatch center, 31 server, 32 position information database, 33 map information database, 9 dispatch system, 10 power storage device, 20 PCU, 30 motor generator, 40 navigation device, 41 GPS receiver, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 50 alerting | reporting apparatus, 51 red light, 52 sirens, 53 speakers, 60 communication modules, 70 sensors, 71 cameras, 72 radars, 73 lidars, 74 vehicle speed sensors, 75 acceleration sensors, 76 gyro sensors, 100 ECU, 101 CPU, 102 memory.

Claims (1)

It is a vehicle configured to be capable of autonomous driving without driving,
An imaging device for imaging the surroundings of the vehicle and outputting imaging information;
A detection device which irradiates an electromagnetic wave to the outside of the vehicle and outputs peripheral information acquired by detecting a reflected wave or a scattered wave of the irradiated electromagnetic wave;
A notification device configured to notify the presence of the vehicle to the surroundings when the vehicle travels in an emergency travel mode;
The signal information indicating the position and color of the signal on the traveling route of the vehicle is acquired by image analysis of the imaging information of the imaging device, and the acquired signal information and the peripheral information of the detection device are used to automatically perform the vehicle. And a controller for controlling the operation,
When the vehicle is traveling in the emergency travel mode, the control device does not perform image analysis for acquiring the traffic signal information, and the automatic driving of the vehicle is performed according to the surrounding information acquired by the detection device. Control the vehicle.

Images