JP2020079082A - Vehicle control system, vehicle control method, and vehicle control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle control system capable of continuing automatic driving as much as possible and leaving a collision point by using automatic driving even when a vehicle collides with an object. A vehicle control system controls the speed of a vehicle based on a recognition unit that recognizes the relative positional relationship between an object around the vehicle and the vehicle, and an object whose positional relationship is recognized by the recognition unit. And an automatic driving control unit that executes an automatic driving mode that automatically performs at least one of the steering control, and when the automatic driving control unit is executing the automatic driving mode, the object and the said After the collision with the vehicle occurs, it is determined whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed, and when it is determined that the automatic driving mode can be executed, the automatic driving mode is continuously executed. .. [Selection diagram] Fig. 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control system, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program.

  In recent years, research has been advanced on a technique (hereinafter, automatic driving) for automatically controlling at least one of acceleration and deceleration and steering of a host vehicle. On the other hand, a occupant protection device that includes a plurality of airbag modules and that deploys the airbag modules at the time of a vehicle collision, a position calculation unit that calculates relative position information between the vehicle and a collision object, Based on the transition of the position information, a speed difference calculation unit that calculates a moving speed difference between the vehicle and the collision object, and based on the transition of the position information, a contact portion of the vehicle with respect to the collision object. A contact part predicting part that predicts, a rotational behavior predicting part that predicts the rotational behavior of the vehicle due to a collision based on the moving speed difference and the contact part, and the deployment of the airbag module based on the rotational behavior. An occupant protection device having an airbag control unit that sets a mode is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP, 2016-37153, A

  In the related art, although the actuation of the airbag at the time of the collision has been studied, the movement from the collision point by the automatic driving after the collision has not been sufficiently studied.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to continue automatic driving as much as possible and to leave the collision point by using automatic driving even if the vehicle collides with an object. One

  (1) One aspect of the present invention is based on a recognition unit that recognizes a relative positional relationship between an object around a vehicle and the vehicle, and an object whose positional relationship is recognized by the recognition unit. An automatic driving control unit that executes an automatic driving mode for automatically performing at least one of speed control and steering control, wherein the automatic driving control unit is executing the automatic driving mode, the object After the collision with the vehicle, it is determined whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed, and when it is determined that the automatic driving mode can be executed, the automatic driving mode is continued. It is a vehicle control system to execute.

  The aspect of (2) is the vehicle control system according to the aspect of (1), in which the recognition unit and the vehicle around the vehicle are based on a detection result of a detection device that detects an object around the vehicle. The automatic operation control unit determines whether or not the automatic operation mode can be executed based on the state of the detection device used by the recognition unit. .

  Aspect (3) is the vehicle control system according to aspect (1) or (2), in which the automatic driving control unit continuously executes the automatic driving mode when the automatic driving control section can execute the automatic driving mode. In, the control for avoiding the secondary collision is performed.

  (4) In another aspect of the present invention, an in-vehicle computer recognizes a relative positional relationship between an object around the vehicle and the vehicle, and controls the speed of the vehicle based on the object that recognizes the positional relationship. When an automatic driving mode for automatically performing at least one of steering control is executed and the automatic driving mode is executed, the automatic driving mode can be executed after a collision between the object and the vehicle occurs. It is a vehicle control method for continuously executing the automatic driving mode when it is determined that the automatic driving mode can be executed.

  (5) According to another aspect of the present invention, the vehicle-mounted computer recognizes a relative positional relationship between an object around the vehicle and the vehicle, and the speed of the vehicle based on the object that recognizes the positional relationship. A process of executing an automatic driving mode for automatically performing at least one of control and steering control; and in the case of executing the automatic driving mode, the automatic driving is performed after a collision between the object and the vehicle occurs. In the vehicle control program for determining whether or not the mode can be executed, and a process of continuously executing the automatic operation mode when it is determined that the automatic operation mode can be executed, is there.

  According to each aspect, even if the vehicle collides with the object, the vehicle continues to drive as much as possible and leaves the collision point by using the automatic driving.

It is a figure which shows the component of the own vehicle M. It is a functional block diagram centering on vehicle control system 100. It is a functional block diagram of the own vehicle M. It is a block diagram of HMI70. It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement|positioning of the airbag apparatus 95. It is a figure which shows a mode that the own vehicle position recognition part 140 recognizes the relative position of the own vehicle M with respect to the driving lane L1. It is a figure which shows an example of the action plan produced|generated about a certain area. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the trajectory generation part 146. It is a figure which shows an example of the candidate of the trajectory produced|generated by the trajectory candidate production|generation part 146B. FIG. 7 is a diagram in which a trajectory candidate generated by a trajectory candidate generating unit 146B is represented by a trajectory point K. It is a figure which shows the lane change target position TA. It is a figure which shows a speed production|generation model when the speed of three peripheral vehicles is assumed to be constant. It is a figure which shows an example of the abnormality determination information 194. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation propriety information 195 according to mode. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an airbag operation control unit 180. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of airbag operation reference information 196. It is a figure which shows an example of the alerting|reporting timing of collision risk prediction information for every operation mode, and the operation timing of an airbag. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing performed by the vehicle control system 100. It is a figure which shows an example of the orbit for avoiding a secondary collision.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle control system, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing components of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a host vehicle M) in which a vehicle control system 100 of the embodiment is mounted. The vehicle on which the vehicle control system 100 is mounted is, for example, a two-wheeled vehicle, a three-wheeled vehicle, a four-wheeled vehicle, or the like, and a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine or a gasoline engine or an electric vehicle powered by an electric motor. , A hybrid vehicle having both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. Electric vehicles are driven using electric power discharged by batteries such as secondary batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, metal fuel cells, alcohol fuel cells, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle M includes sensors such as viewfinders 20-1 to 20-7, radars 30-1 to 30-6, a camera 40, a navigation device 50, and a vehicle control system 100. It will be installed.

  The viewfinders 20-1 to 20-7 are, for example, LIDARs (Light Detection and Ranging, or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) that measure scattered light with respect to irradiation light and measure a distance to a target. For example, the finder 20-1 is attached to the front grill or the like, and the finder 20-2 or 20-3 is attached to the side surface of the vehicle body, the door mirror, the inside of the headlight, the vicinity of the side light, or the like. The finder 20-4 is attached to a trunk lid or the like, and the finder 20-5 or 20-6 is attached to a side surface of a vehicle body or inside a taillight. The viewfinders 20-1 to 20-6 described above have, for example, a detection area of about 150 degrees in the horizontal direction. The finder 20-7 is attached to the roof or the like. The finder 20-7 has a detection area of 360 degrees in the horizontal direction, for example.

  The radars 30-1 and 30-4 are, for example, long-range millimeter-wave radars whose detection area in the depth direction is wider than other radars. The radars 30-2, 30-3, 30-5, and 30-6 are medium-range millimeter-wave radars having a narrower detection area in the depth direction than the radars 30-1 and 30-4.

  Hereinafter, the finder 20-1 to 20-7 will be simply referred to as "finder 20" unless specifically distinguished, and the radar 30-1 to 30-6 will be simply described as "radar 30". The radar 30 detects an object by, for example, an FM-CW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) method.

  The camera 40 is, for example, a digital camera using a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The camera 40 is attached to the upper portion of the front window shield, the rear surface of the room mirror, or the like. The camera 40, for example, periodically and repeatedly captures an image in front of the host vehicle M. The camera 40 may be a stereo camera including a plurality of cameras.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is merely an example, and a part of the configuration may be omitted, or another configuration may be added.

  FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram centering on the vehicle control system 100 according to the embodiment. The vehicle M includes a detection device DD including a finder 20, a radar 30, and a camera 40, a navigation device 50, a communication device 55, a vehicle sensor 60, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 70, and an airbag device. 95, a vehicle control system 100, a traveling driving force output device 200, a steering device 210, and a brake device 220 are mounted. These devices and devices are connected to each other via multiple communication lines such as CAN (Controller Area Network) communication lines, serial communication lines, and wireless communication networks. It should be noted that the vehicle control system in the claims does not indicate only the “vehicle control system 100”, but may include a configuration other than the vehicle control system 100 (such as the detection device DD or the HMI 70).

  The navigation device 50 includes a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, map information (navigation map), a touch panel display device that functions as a user interface, a speaker, a microphone, and the like. The navigation device 50 identifies the position of the host vehicle M by the GNSS receiver and derives the route from the position to the destination specified by the user. The route derived by the navigation device 50 is provided to the target lane determination unit 110 of the vehicle control system 100. The position of the host vehicle M may be specified or supplemented by an INS (Inertial Navigation System) using the output of the vehicle sensor 60. Further, the navigation device 50 guides the route to the destination by voice or navigation display while the vehicle control system 100 is executing the manual operation mode. The configuration for specifying the position of the host vehicle M may be provided independently of the navigation device 50. Further, the navigation device 50 may be realized by the function of a terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal owned by the user. In this case, information is transmitted and received between the terminal device and the vehicle control system 100 by wireless or wired communication.

  The communication device 55 performs wireless communication using, for example, a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication), or the like. The communication device 55 wirelessly communicates with an information providing server of a system for monitoring traffic conditions on the road such as VICS (registered trademark) (Vehicle Information and Communication System), for example. Information (hereinafter, referred to as traffic information) indicating the traffic condition of the road scheduled to travel is acquired. Traffic information includes traffic congestion information in front, time required for traffic congestion, accident/broken vehicle/construction information, speed regulation/lane regulation information, parking location, parking lot/service area/parking area full/empty information, etc. Information is included. Further, the communication device 55 obtains the traffic information by communicating with a wireless beacon provided on a side band of a road or by performing inter-vehicle communication with other vehicles traveling around the own vehicle M. You may.

  The vehicle sensor 60 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the vehicle speed, an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration, a yaw rate sensor that detects the angular velocity around the vertical axis, a direction sensor that detects the direction of the host vehicle M, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the HMI 70. The HMI 70 has, for example, a configuration of a driving operation system and a configuration of a non-driving operation system. These boundaries are not clear, and the configuration of the driving operation system may have the function of the non-driving operation system (or vice versa).

  The HMI 70 has, for example, an accelerator pedal 71, an accelerator opening sensor 72, an accelerator pedal reaction force output device 73, a brake pedal 74, a brake pedal amount sensor (or a master pressure sensor) 75, and a shift mechanism as a driving operation system. It includes a lever 76 and a shift position sensor 77, a steering wheel 78, a steering angle sensor 79a and a steering torque sensor 79b, a steering position detector 79c, and another driving operation device 81.

  The accelerator pedal 71 is an operator for receiving an acceleration instruction (or a deceleration instruction by a returning operation) by a vehicle occupant. The accelerator opening sensor 72 detects the depression amount of the accelerator pedal 71 and outputs an accelerator opening signal indicating the depression amount to the vehicle control system 100. Instead of outputting to the vehicle control system 100, the driving force output device 200, the steering device 210, or the brake device 220 may be directly output. The same applies to the configurations of other driving operation systems described below. The accelerator pedal reaction force output device 73 outputs a force (operation reaction force) in the opposite direction to the operation direction to the accelerator pedal 71 in response to an instruction from the vehicle control system 100, for example.

  The brake pedal 74 is an operator for receiving a deceleration instruction from a vehicle occupant. The brake depression amount sensor 75 detects the depression amount (or depression force) of the brake pedal 74 and outputs a brake signal indicating the detection result to the vehicle control system 100.

  The shift lever 76 is an operator for receiving a shift stage change instruction from a vehicle occupant. The shift position sensor 77 detects the shift stage designated by the vehicle occupant and outputs a shift position signal indicating the detection result to the vehicle control system 100.

  The steering wheel 78 is an operator for receiving a turning instruction from a vehicle occupant. For example, the steering wheel 78 has a tilt steering mechanism and a telescopic steering mechanism, and is installed so that its position can be adjusted in the front-rear direction or the up-down direction. Further, the steering wheel 78 may be arranged so that it can be taken in and out from the inside of the garnish (dashboard).

  The steering steering angle sensor 79a detects the operation angle of the steering wheel 78 and outputs a steering steering angle signal indicating the detection result to the vehicle control system 100. The steering torque sensor 79b detects the torque applied to the steering wheel 78 and outputs a steering torque signal indicating the detection result to the vehicle control system 100.

  The steering position detector 79c detects the drive amounts of the tilt steering mechanism and the telescopic steering mechanism to detect the position of the steering wheel 78, for example. The steering position detector 79c outputs information about the detected position of the steering wheel 78 to the vehicle control system 100.

  The other operation device 81 is, for example, a joystick, a button, a dial switch, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) switch, or the like. The other driving operation device 81 receives an acceleration instruction, a deceleration instruction, a turning instruction, etc., and outputs them to the vehicle control system 100.

  The HMI 70 has, for example, a display device 82, a speaker 83, a contact operation detection device 84, a content reproduction device 85, various operation switches 86, a seat 88, a seat drive device 89, and a window glass 90 as a non-driving operation system configuration. And a window driving device 91 and a vehicle interior camera 92.

  The display device 82 is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display device that is attached to each part of the instrument panel, an arbitrary position facing the front passenger seat or the rear seat, and the like. Further, the display device 82 may be a HUD (Head Up Display) that projects an image on a front window shield or another window. The speaker 83 outputs sound. When the display device 82 is a touch panel, the contact operation detection device 84 detects the contact position (touch position) on the display screen of the display device 82, and outputs it to the vehicle control system 100. If the display device 82 is not a touch panel, the contact operation detection device 84 may be omitted.

  The content playback device 85 includes, for example, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) playback device, a CD (Compact Disc) playback device, a television receiver, and various guide image generation devices. The display device 82, the speaker 83, the contact operation detection device 84, and the content reproduction device 85 may be partly or wholly common to the navigation device 50.

  The various operation switches 86 are arranged at arbitrary points in the vehicle interior. The various operation switches 86 include an automatic driving changeover switch 86a and a seat drive switch 86b. The automatic operation changeover switch 86a is a switch for instructing start (or future start) and stop of automatic operation. The seat drive switch 86b is a switch for instructing start and stop of driving of the seat drive device 89. These switches may be either GUI (Graphical User Interface) switches or mechanical switches. Further, the various operation switches 86 may include switches for driving the window driving device 91.

  The seat 88 is a seat on which a vehicle occupant is seated. The seat drive device 89 freely drives the reclining angle, the front-rear vertical position, the yaw angle, etc. of the seat 88 according to the operation of the seat drive switch 86b. The seat drive device 89 also includes a seat position detection unit 89a that detects a reclining angle, a front-rear vertical position, a yaw angle, and the like of the driven seat 88. The seat drive device 89 outputs information indicating the detection result of the seat position detection unit 89a to the vehicle control system 100.

  The window glass 90 is provided in each door, for example. The window driving device 91 drives the window glass 90 to open and close.

  The vehicle interior camera 92 is a digital camera using a solid-state image sensor such as CCD or CMOS. The vehicle interior camera 92 is attached to a position such as a rearview mirror, a steering boss portion, an instrument panel, or the like where at least the head of a vehicle occupant who performs a driving operation can be captured. The camera 40, for example, periodically and repeatedly images a vehicle occupant.

  For example, when the host vehicle M receives an impact due to a collision with an object (another vehicle or the like), the airbag device 95 operates the airbag to absorb or mitigate the impact on the occupant to protect the occupant. It is an example of a safety device to protect. For example, the airbag device 95 refers to the detection signal output from the vehicle sensor 60 and, for example, due to a collision or the like, the acceleration in which the traveling direction of the own vehicle M is positive or the traveling direction of the own vehicle M is opposite. When the acceleration (deceleration) in which the direction is negative exceeds a threshold value, the airbag is activated. Further, the airbag device 95 may activate the airbag when the angular acceleration of the host vehicle M exceeds a threshold value due to a collision from the side surface of the vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of the airbag device 95. As shown, the airbag device 95 includes, for example, a steering airbag _{AB ST,} passenger airbag _{AB PS,} side airbag _{AB SD,} curtain shield airbag _{AB CT,} the seat belt airbags _{AB SB.}

The steering airbag _ABST is installed, for example, inside the steering wheel 78, and deploys by pushing the upper part of the steering wheel 78 and swelling between the steering wheel 78 and the driver's seat. The passenger airbag AB _PS is installed, for example, inside the garnish located in front of the seat 88 of the passenger seat, and deploys by crushing the upper part of the garnish and inflating it between the garnish and the passenger seat. Side airbag AB _SD, for example, the driver's seat or the passenger seat, both side surfaces of each of the sheets 88 of the rear seat is installed in pairs (vehicle surface in the width direction), vertical (vehicle width direction of the setting surface ) To expand by expanding. The curtain shield airbag _ABCT is installed, for example, in the vicinity of a front window, a side window, and a rear window, and is deployed so as to cover each window from the lower part of the window frame or the upper part of the window frame. The seatbelt airbag AB _SB is installed, for example, inside the seatbelt and is deployed by inflating a part or all of the belt. The airbag device 95 is further provided below the seat surface of each seat 88, and is a seat cushion airbag that is deployed by inflating a part of the seat 88, and seat surfaces of the driver and passenger seats 88. A rear seat airbag that is installed on the back of the (backrest) and pushes through the back of the seat 88 to deploy between the seat 88 and the rear seats, and vehicle occupants who deploy in the center of the rear seats and sit on the rear seats. A rear seat center airbag or the like for preventing a collision may be included. The various airbags described above are provided with, for example, an inflator that fills the inside of the bag with gas by igniting explosives. The inflator operates under the control of the airbag operation control unit 180 described later to deploy the airbag.

  Prior to the description of the vehicle control system 100, the traveling driving force output device 200, the steering device 210, and the brake device 220 will be described.

  The traveling drive force output device 200 outputs traveling drive force (torque) for traveling of the vehicle to the drive wheels. For example, when the host vehicle M is an automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, the traveling driving force output device 200 includes an engine, a transmission, and an engine ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls the engine. An electric vehicle that uses an electric motor as a power source includes a traveling motor and a motor ECU that controls the traveling motor. When the host vehicle M is a hybrid vehicle, an engine, a transmission, an engine ECU and a traveling motor, and And a motor ECU. When the traveling driving force output device 200 includes only the engine, the engine ECU adjusts the throttle opening degree and the shift stage of the engine according to the information input from the traveling control unit 160 described later. When the traveling driving force output device 200 includes only the traveling motor, the motor ECU adjusts the duty ratio of the PWM signal given to the traveling motor according to the information input from the traveling control unit 160. When the traveling drive force output device 200 includes an engine and a traveling motor, the engine ECU and the motor ECU cooperatively control the traveling drive force according to the information input from the traveling control unit 160.

  The steering device 210 includes, for example, a steering ECU and an electric motor. The electric motor changes the direction of the steered wheels by exerting a force on the rack and pinion mechanism, for example. The steering ECU drives the electric motor according to the information input from the vehicle control system 100 or the input steering steering angle or steering torque to change the direction of the steered wheels.

  The brake device 220 is, for example, an electric servo brake device including a brake caliper, a cylinder that transmits hydraulic pressure to the brake caliper, an electric motor that generates hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and a braking control unit. The braking control unit of the electric servo brake device controls the electric motor according to the information input from the traveling control unit 160 so that the braking torque according to the braking operation is output to each wheel. The electric servo brake device may include, as a backup, a mechanism that transmits the hydraulic pressure generated by operating the brake pedal to the cylinder via the master cylinder. The brake device 220 is not limited to the electric servo brake device described above, and may be an electronically controlled hydraulic brake device. The electronically controlled hydraulic brake device controls the actuator according to the information input from the travel control unit 160, and transmits the hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder to the cylinder. Further, the brake device 220 may include a regenerative brake by a traveling motor that may be included in the traveling driving force output device 200.

[Vehicle control system]
Hereinafter, the vehicle control system 100 will be described. The vehicle control system 100 is realized by, for example, one or more processors or hardware having equivalent functions. The vehicle control system 100 is configured by combining a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) in which a communication interface is connected by an internal bus, or an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit). May be

  Returning to FIG. 2, the vehicle control system 100 includes, for example, a target lane determination unit 110, an automatic driving control unit 120, a travel control unit 160, an HMI control unit 170, an airbag operation control unit 180, and a storage unit 190. With. The automatic driving control unit 120, for example, the automatic driving mode control unit 130, the vehicle position recognition unit 140, the external world recognition unit 142, the action plan generation unit 144, the trajectory generation unit 146, the switching control unit 150, The abnormality detection unit 152 is provided. The display device 82 and the speaker 83 of the HMI 70 described above are an example of an “output unit”, and the HMI control unit 170 is an example of an “output control unit”.

  A part or all of the target lane determination unit 110, each unit of the automatic driving control unit 120, the traveling control unit 160, the HMI control unit, and the airbag operation control unit 180 is realized by the processor executing a program (software). To be done. Further, some or all of them may be realized by hardware such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

  The storage unit 190 stores, for example, information such as high-precision map information 191, target lane information 192, action plan information 193, abnormality determination information 194, mode-specific operation availability information 195, airbag operation reference information 196, and the like. The storage unit 190 is realized by a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or the like. The program executed by the processor may be stored in the storage unit 190 in advance, or may be downloaded from an external device via an in-vehicle Internet facility or the like. The program may be installed in the storage unit 190 by mounting a portable storage medium storing the program on a drive device (not shown). The vehicle control system 100 may be distributed by a plurality of computer devices.

  The target lane determining unit 110 is realized by, for example, an MPU. The target lane determination unit 110 divides the route provided by the navigation device 50 into a plurality of blocks (for example, every 100 [m] in the vehicle traveling direction), and with reference to the high-precision map information 191, each block To determine the target lane. The target lane determining unit 110 determines, for example, which lane to drive from the left. The target lane determination unit 110 determines the target lane so that the host vehicle M can travel on a reasonable travel route for traveling to a branch destination, for example, when a branch point or a merge point exists on the route. .. The target lane determined by the target lane determination unit 110 is stored in the storage unit 190 as target lane information 192.

  The high-precision map information 191 is map information with higher precision than the navigation map included in the navigation device 50. The high-precision map information 191 includes, for example, information about the center of the lane or information about the boundary of the lane. The high-precision map information 191 may include road information, traffic regulation information, address information (address/postal code), facility information, telephone number information, and the like. The road information includes information indicating the types of roads such as highways, toll roads, national roads, and prefectural roads, the number of lanes on the road, the width of each lane, the slope of the road, and the position of the road (longitude, latitude, and height). (Including three-dimensional coordinates), the curvature of the lane curve, the position of the merging and branching points of the lane, and the signs provided on the road. The traffic regulation information includes information that the lane is blocked due to construction, traffic accident, traffic jam, or the like.

  The automatic driving mode control unit 130 determines the mode of automatic driving performed by the automatic driving control unit 120. The modes of automatic operation in the present embodiment include the following modes. Note that the following is merely an example, and the number of modes of automatic operation may be arbitrarily determined.

[Mode A]
Mode A is the mode with the highest degree of automatic operation. When the mode A is executed, all vehicle controls such as complicated merging control are automatically performed, so that the vehicle occupant does not need to monitor the surroundings or the state of the own vehicle M (there is no obligation to monitor the surroundings). ).

  Here, as an example of the traveling mode selected in the mode A, there is a low-speed following traveling (TJP; Traffic Jam Pilot) that follows a preceding vehicle during a traffic jam. In low-speed following driving, safe autonomous driving can be realized by following a preceding vehicle on a busy highway. The low speed follow-up traveling is released, for example, when the traveling speed of the host vehicle M becomes a predetermined speed or more (for example, 40 km/h or more). Further, the mode A may be switched to another traveling mode at the timing when the low-speed following traveling is finished, but the mode A may be switched to another traveling mode selectable.

[Mode B]
Mode B is a mode in which the degree of automatic operation is the highest after Mode A. When the mode B is executed, in principle, all vehicle controls are automatically performed, but the driving operation of the own vehicle M is entrusted to the vehicle occupant depending on the scene. For this reason, the vehicle occupant needs to monitor the surroundings and the state of the host vehicle M (the duty to monitor the surroundings is increased as compared with the mode A).

[Mode C]
Mode C is a mode in which the degree of automatic operation is the highest after Mode B. When the mode C is performed, the vehicle occupant needs to perform a confirmation operation according to the scene on the HMI 70. In mode C, for example, when the vehicle occupant is notified of the timing of the lane change and the vehicle occupant performs an operation of instructing the HMI 70 to change the lane, the automatic lane change is performed. Therefore, the vehicle occupant needs to monitor the surroundings and state of the host vehicle M.

  The automatic driving mode control unit 130 sets the automatic driving mode to any one of the above based on the operation of the vehicle occupant on the HMI 70, the event determined by the action plan generation unit 144, the traveling mode determined by the trajectory generation unit 146, and the like. Determine the mode. The HMI control unit 170 is notified of the automatic driving mode. Further, in the automatic driving mode, a limit may be set according to the performance of the detection device DD of the own vehicle M and the like. For example, when the performance of the detection device DD is low, the mode A may not be executed.

  In any of the automatic operation modes, it is possible to switch (override) to the manual operation mode by operating the configuration of the operation system in the HMI 70. For example, when the vehicle occupant of the host vehicle M has a state in which the operating force applied to the driving operation system of the HMI 70 exceeds a threshold value for a predetermined time or more, the override is performed by a predetermined operation change amount (for example, the accelerator opening degree of the accelerator pedal 71, the brake pedal 74). Is equal to or greater than the brake pedal depression amount, the steering angle of the steering wheel 78), or when the operation of the driving operation system is performed a predetermined number of times or more.

  The vehicle position recognition unit 140 of the automatic driving control unit 120 receives the high-precision map information 191 stored in the storage unit 190 and information input from the finder 20, the radar 30, the camera 40, the navigation device 50, or the vehicle sensor 60. Based on and, the lane in which the vehicle M is traveling (travel lane) and the relative position of the vehicle M with respect to the traveling lane are recognized.

  The own vehicle position recognizing unit 140, for example, the pattern of road marking lines (for example, an array of solid lines and broken lines) recognized from the high-precision map information 191, and the periphery of the own vehicle M recognized from the image captured by the camera 40. The traveling lane is recognized by comparing with the pattern of the road marking line. In this recognition, the position of the host vehicle M acquired from the navigation device 50 and the processing result by the INS may be taken into consideration.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how the host vehicle position recognizing unit 140 recognizes the relative position of the host vehicle M with respect to the traveling lane L1. The host vehicle position recognizing unit 140 makes, for example, a deviation OS of a reference point (for example, the center of gravity) of the host vehicle M from the center lane CL of the host vehicle M and a line connecting the center lane center CL of the host vehicle M in the traveling direction. The angle θ is recognized as the relative position of the host vehicle M with respect to the traveling lane L1. Instead of this, the own vehicle position recognizing unit 140 recognizes the position of the reference point of the own vehicle M with respect to one of the side ends of the own lane L1 as the relative position of the own vehicle M with respect to the traveling lane. Good. The relative position of the host vehicle M recognized by the host vehicle position recognizing unit 140 is provided to the target lane determining unit 110.

  The outside world recognition unit 142 recognizes the states such as the position, speed, and acceleration of the surrounding vehicles based on the information input from the finder 20, the radar 30, the camera 40, and the like. The peripheral vehicle is, for example, a vehicle traveling around the host vehicle M and traveling in the same direction as the host vehicle M. The position of the surrounding vehicle may be represented by a representative point such as the center of gravity or a corner of the other vehicle, or may be represented by an area represented by the contour of the other vehicle. The “state” of the peripheral vehicle may include the acceleration of the peripheral vehicle and whether or not the lane is changed (or whether or not to change the lane), which is grasped based on the information of the above-described various devices. Further, the outside world recognition unit 142 may recognize the positions of guardrails, electric poles, parked vehicles, pedestrians, wild animals (such as deer and bears), and other objects in addition to the surrounding vehicles.

  The action plan generation unit 144 sets a start point of automatic driving and/or a destination of automatic driving. The starting point of the automatic driving may be the current position of the host vehicle M or a point where an operation for instructing the automatic driving is performed. The action plan generation unit 144 generates an action plan in the section between the start point and the destination of automatic driving. The action plan generation unit 144 is not limited to this, and may generate the action plan for any section.

  The action plan is composed of, for example, a plurality of events that are sequentially executed. The event includes, for example, a deceleration event for decelerating the host vehicle M, an acceleration event for accelerating the host vehicle M, a lane keep event for driving the host vehicle M so as not to deviate from the traveling lane, and a lane change event for changing the traveling lane. , An overtaking event in which the host vehicle M overtakes a preceding vehicle, a branch event in which the host vehicle M is changed to a desired lane at a branch point, or the host vehicle M is driven so as not to deviate from the current lane, in order to join the main line In the merging lane, the vehicle M is accelerated and decelerated to change the driving lane, the manual driving mode is changed to the automatic driving mode at the start point of the automatic driving, or the automatic driving mode is manually changed at the planned ending point of the automatic driving. A handover event or the like for shifting to the operation mode is included. The action plan generation unit 144 sets a lane change event, a branch event, or a merging event at the location where the target lane determined by the target lane determination unit 110 is switched. The information indicating the action plan generated by the action plan generation unit 144 is stored in the storage unit 190 as the action plan information 193.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an action plan generated for a certain section. As illustrated, the action plan generation unit 144 generates an action plan required for the vehicle M to travel on the target lane indicated by the target lane information 192. In addition, the action plan generation unit 144 may dynamically change the action plan according to the situation change of the host vehicle M regardless of the target lane information 192. For example, the action plan generation unit 144 may determine that the speed of the peripheral vehicle recognized by the outside world recognition unit 142 while the vehicle is traveling exceeds a threshold value or that the traveling direction of the peripheral vehicle traveling in the lane adjacent to the own lane is the same as the own lane direction. When the vehicle turns, the event set in the driving section where the vehicle M is scheduled to travel is changed. For example, when the event is set such that the lane change event is executed after the lane keep event, the vehicle is equal to or more than the threshold value from the lane behind the lane change destination during the lane keep event according to the recognition result of the outside world recognition unit 142. When it is determined that the vehicle has proceeded at the speed of, the action plan generation unit 144 may change the event following the lane keep event from the lane change event to the deceleration event, the lane keep event, or the like. As a result, the vehicle control system 100 can safely and automatically drive the host vehicle M even when the external state changes.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the trajectory generation unit 146. The track generation unit 146 includes, for example, a running mode determination unit 146A, a track candidate generation unit 146B, and an evaluation/selection unit 146C.

  When carrying out the lane keep event, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines one of traveling modes such as constant speed traveling, following traveling, low speed following traveling, deceleration traveling, curve traveling, and obstacle avoidance traveling. For example, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode to be constant speed traveling when no other vehicle is present in front of the host vehicle M. In addition, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode to be the following traveling when the traveling vehicle follows the preceding vehicle. In addition, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode to be low-speed following traveling in a traffic jam scene or the like. In addition, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode as deceleration traveling when the outside world recognition unit 142 recognizes deceleration of the preceding vehicle or when an event such as stopping or parking is performed. In addition, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode to be curve traveling when the outside world recognition unit 142 recognizes that the host vehicle M is approaching a curved road. In addition, when the external environment recognition unit 142 recognizes an obstacle in front of the host vehicle M, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode to be obstacle avoidance traveling. In addition, when the lane change event, the overtaking event, the branch event, the merging event, the handover event, or the like is performed, the traveling mode determination unit 146A determines the traveling mode according to each event.

  Further, the traveling mode determination unit 146A, for example, if the speed of the peripheral vehicle (for example, the vehicle in front) recognized by the external world recognition unit 142 is a certain speed or less and the inter-vehicle distance to the peripheral vehicle is a certain value or less, In the above-described mode A, for example, the traveling mode is determined to be low-speed following traveling. In addition, for example, when the speed of the surrounding vehicle (for example, the vehicle in front) is a certain speed or more and the inter-vehicle distance to the surrounding vehicle is a certain value or more, the traveling mode determination unit 146A uses The traveling mode is determined to be constant speed traveling.

  The trajectory candidate generation unit 146B generates trajectory candidates based on the traveling mode determined by the traveling mode determination unit 146A. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of trajectory candidates generated by the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B. The illustrated example shows a candidate for a trajectory generated when the own vehicle M changes lanes from the lane L1 to the lane L2.

  The trajectory candidate generation unit 146B, for example, the trajectory shown in FIG. 8, the target position (track point K) that the reference position of the host vehicle M (for example, the center of gravity or the center of the rear wheel axis) should reach, for example, every predetermined time in the future. Decided as a group of. FIG. 9 is a diagram in which trajectory candidates generated by the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B are represented by trajectory points K. The wider the distance between the track points K, the higher the speed of the host vehicle M, and the narrower the interval between the track points K, the lower the speed of the host vehicle M. Therefore, the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B gradually widens the interval between the orbit points K when it is desired to accelerate, and gradually narrows the interval between the orbit points when it wants to decelerate.

  As described above, since the trajectory point K includes the velocity component, the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B needs to give the target velocity to each of the trajectory points K. The target speed is determined according to the traveling mode determined by the traveling mode determination unit 146A.

  Here, a method of determining a target speed when changing lanes (including branching) will be described. The trajectory candidate generation unit 146B first sets a lane change target position (or a merging target position). The lane change target position is set as a relative position with respect to surrounding vehicles, and determines "which lane to change lanes between". The trajectory candidate generation unit 146B focuses on the three surrounding vehicles with the lane change target position as a reference, and determines the target speed when the lane is changed. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the lane change target position TA. In the figure, L1 represents the own lane and L2 represents the adjacent lane. Here, in the same lane as the host vehicle M, a peripheral vehicle traveling immediately in front of the host vehicle M is a preceding vehicle mA, a peripheral vehicle traveling immediately in front of the lane change target position TA is a front reference vehicle mB, and a lane change target position TA. A peripheral vehicle traveling immediately after is defined as a rear reference vehicle mC. The host vehicle M needs to accelerate or decelerate to move to the side of the lane change target position TA, but at this time, it is necessary to avoid catching up with the preceding vehicle mA. Therefore, the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B predicts the future states of the three surrounding vehicles and determines the target speed so as not to interfere with the surrounding vehicles.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a speed generation model when the speeds of three peripheral vehicles are assumed to be constant. In the figure, straight lines extending from mA, mB, and mC indicate displacements in the traveling direction when it is assumed that the peripheral vehicles travel at constant speeds. The own vehicle M must be between the front reference vehicle mB and the rear reference vehicle mC at the point CP where the lane change is completed, and must be behind the preceding vehicle mA before that. Under such restrictions, the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B derives a plurality of time-series patterns of the target speed until the lane change is completed. Then, by applying the time-series pattern of the target speed to a model such as a spline curve, a plurality of trajectory candidates as shown in FIG. 9 are derived. The motion patterns of the three peripheral vehicles are not limited to the constant speed as shown in FIG. 11, and may be predicted on the assumption of constant acceleration and constant jerk (jerk).

  The evaluation/selection unit 146C evaluates the trajectory candidates generated by the trajectory candidate generation unit 146B from, for example, two points of planning and safety, and selects a trajectory to be output to the travel control unit 160. .. From the viewpoint of planning, for example, the trajectory is highly evaluated when it has a high followability with respect to a plan (for example, an action plan) that has already been generated, and the total length of the trajectory is short. For example, when it is desired to change the lane to the right, the trajectory of changing the lane to the left and returning to the left is a low evaluation. From the viewpoint of safety, for example, the higher the distance between the host vehicle M and the object (peripheral vehicle or the like) at each track point, and the smaller the amount of change in acceleration/deceleration or the steering angle, the higher the evaluation.

  The switching control unit 150 switches between the automatic operation mode and the manual operation mode based on a signal input from the automatic operation changeover switch 86a, information output by the abnormality detection unit 152 described later, and the like. For example, the switching control unit 150 switches the automatic operation mode to the manual operation mode when the abnormal state detected by the abnormality detection unit 152 is a specific abnormal state, and continues the automatic operation mode in other cases.

  Further, the switching control unit 150 switches from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode based on an operation for instructing acceleration, deceleration, or steering with respect to the configuration of the driving operation system in the HMI 70. For example, the switching control unit 150 switches from the automatic operation mode to the manual operation mode when the state in which the operation amount indicated by the signal input from the configuration of the operation system in the HMI 70 exceeds the threshold value continues for a reference time or longer ( override). In addition, the switching control unit 150 may return to the automatic operation mode when an operation for the configuration of the operation system of the HMI 70 is not detected for a predetermined time after switching to the manual operation mode by the override. .. Further, the switching control unit 150 notifies the vehicle occupant of the handover request in advance, for example, when performing the handover control for shifting from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode at the scheduled end point of the automatic driving. The information is output to the HMI control unit 170.

  The abnormality detection unit 152 detects an abnormal state in the vehicle control system 100. The abnormal state is, for example, a state in which an abnormality has occurred in devices such as the finder 20, the radar 30, and the camera 40, a state in which communication between these devices and the vehicle control system 100 has an abnormality, and an action plan. It also includes a state in which an abnormality has occurred in communication between the functional units (elements) such as the generation unit 144 and the trajectory generation unit 146. These abnormal states can be caused by an impact from the outside of the host vehicle M.

  For example, the abnormality detection unit 152 detects the abnormality of the device by comparing the detection results of different types of devices, or detects the abnormality of the device based on the history of the detection results of the same device. More specifically, when the position of the object detected by the finder 20 and the radar 30 is significantly different from the position of the object detected by the camera 40, the abnormality detection unit 152 indicates that the camera 40 has an abnormality. To detect. Further, the abnormality detection unit 152, for example, monitors a signal (information) transmitted via an internal bus connecting the functional units, and detects that an abnormality has occurred in communication.

  When detecting the various abnormal states, the abnormality detecting unit 152 refers to the abnormality determination information 194 and determines whether the abnormal state is a specific abnormal state. The specific abnormal state is a state that affects the result of vehicle control based on the action plan (or trajectory) under the automatic driving mode.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the abnormality determination information 194. As shown in the figure, the abnormality determination information 194 includes devices and information necessary for controlling the control target by transiting to each event. For example, in order to transit to a lane keep event, one or both of the radar 30-1 and the finder 20-1 and the camera 40 are required. Therefore, when there is an abnormality in both the radar 30-1 and the finder 20-1 or the finder 20-1, the abnormality detection unit 152 determines that the abnormal state is the result of vehicle control based on the action plan. Determined to affect That is, the abnormality detection unit 152 determines that the abnormal state is a specific abnormal state.

  Further, when the detection range of the device having an abnormality due to a failure or the like can be covered by the detection ranges of the other devices, the abnormality detection unit 152 does not determine that it is a specific abnormal state affecting the control result, and initially Continue with the planned action plan unchanged. For example, when there is an abnormality in only one of the radar 30-1 or the finder 20-1, the abnormality detection unit 152 detects the abnormality of the device (the radar 30-1 or the finder 20-1) having an abnormality depending on the detection range of the other device. It is determined that the detection range can be covered, and it is determined that the abnormality of the device does not affect the result of vehicle control based on the action plan. That is, the abnormality detection unit 152 determines that the abnormal state is not a specific abnormal state.

  It should be noted that the abnormality detection unit 152 is not limited to using the abnormality determination information 194 when determining a specific abnormality state, but may execute a program in which information equivalent to the abnormality determination information 194 is embedded to execute a specific abnormality. You may determine a state. Further, the abnormality detection unit 152 may use map data including information equivalent to the abnormality determination information 194.

  When it is determined that the detected abnormal state is the specific abnormal state, the abnormality detection unit 152 outputs information indicating the determination result to the switching control unit 150.

  The traveling control unit 160 controls the traveling driving force output device 200, the steering device 210, and the braking device 220 so that the host vehicle M passes the trajectory generated by the trajectory generation unit 146 at the scheduled time.

  When notified of the information on the automatic driving mode by the automatic driving control unit 120, the HMI control unit 170 refers to the mode-specific operation propriety information 195 to control the HMI 70 according to the type of the automatic driving mode.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of mode-specific operation propriety information 195. The operation-specific propriety information 195 shown in FIG. 13 has “manual driving mode” and “automatic driving mode” as items of the driving mode. Further, the “automatic operation mode” includes the above-mentioned “mode A”, “mode B”, “mode C”, and the like. Further, the mode-specific operation propriety information 195 includes, as non-driving operation items, “navigation operation” which is an operation on the navigation device 50, “content reproduction operation” which is an operation on the content reproduction device 85, and operation on the display device 82. It has some "instrument panel operation". In the example of the mode-specific operation propriety information 195 shown in FIG. 13, the propriety of operation of the vehicle occupant with respect to the non-driving operation system is set for each of the driving modes described above, but the target interface device is limited to this. is not.

  The HMI control unit 170 refers to the mode-specific operation propriety information 195 based on the mode information acquired from the automatic driving control unit 120, so that the device (the navigation device 50 and the HMI 70 that is partially or wholly) permitted to use. And a device that is not permitted to be used. Further, the HMI control unit 170 controls whether or not the operation of the non-driving operation system HMI 70 or the navigation device 50 by the vehicle occupant can be accepted based on the determined result.

  For example, when the driving mode executed by the vehicle control system 100 is the manual driving mode, the vehicle occupant operates the driving operation system of the HMI 70 (for example, the accelerator pedal 71, the brake pedal 74, the shift lever 76, and the steering wheel 78). To do. Further, when the driving mode executed by the vehicle control system 100 is the automatic driving mode such as the mode B or the mode C, the vehicle occupant is obliged to monitor the surroundings of the own vehicle M. In such a case, in order to prevent the driver's distraction from being distracted by an action other than the driving of the vehicle occupant (for example, the operation of the HMI 70), the HMI control unit 170 controls the non-driving operation system of the HMI 70. Control is performed so that operations on all or all parts are not accepted. At this time, the HMI control unit 170 displays the presence of the surrounding vehicle of the own vehicle M and the state of the surrounding vehicle recognized by the outside world recognition unit 142 in order to allow the vehicle occupant to monitor the surrounding of the own vehicle M. The HMI 70 may be caused to display an image or the like on the screen 82 and allow the HMI 70 to accept a confirmation operation according to the scene of the vehicle M running.

  Further, when the driving mode is the mode A, the HMI control unit 170 relaxes the regulation of the driver distraction and performs the control of accepting the operation of the vehicle occupant for the non-driving operation system that has not accepted the operation. For example, the HMI control unit 170 causes the display device 82 to display a video, causes the speaker 83 to output sound, and causes the content reproduction device 85 to reproduce content from a DVD or the like. The content reproduced by the content reproduction apparatus 85 may include various contents related to entertainment and entertainment such as television programs, in addition to the contents stored in the DVD and the like. Further, the above-mentioned "content reproduction operation" shown in FIG. 13 may mean such a content operation related to entertainment and entertainment.

  In addition, when the mode A is changed to the mode B or the mode C, that is, when the mode of the automatic driving in which the vehicle occupant's peripheral monitoring duty increases, the HMI control unit 170 causes the navigation device 50 or the non-driving operation. The system HMI 70 is caused to output predetermined information. The predetermined information is information indicating that the peripheral monitoring duty increases, or information indicating that the operation allowance for the HMI 70 of the navigation device 50 or the non-driving operation system decreases (operation is limited). Note that the predetermined information is not limited to these, and may be information that prompts preparation for handover control, for example.

  As described above, the HMI control unit 170, for example, warns the vehicle occupant a predetermined time before the driving mode transitions from the above-described mode A to the mode B or the mode C or before the host vehicle M reaches a predetermined speed. By informing, the vehicle occupant can be notified at appropriate timing that the vehicle occupant is required to monitor the surroundings of the host vehicle M. As a result, it is possible to give the vehicle occupant a preparation period for switching the automatic driving.

  Further, the HMI control unit 170, when the timing at which an object such as a peripheral vehicle and the own vehicle M collide with each other is predicted by the airbag operation control unit 180 described later, the HMI control unit 170 causes the display device 82, the speaker 83, and the like to appear before this timing. The HMI 70 may be used to notify the vehicle occupant that the danger is imminent (hereinafter referred to as collision risk prediction information). This makes it possible for the vehicle occupant to recognize that there is a risk of collision and prevent an unexpected collision.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the airbag operation control unit 180. The airbag operation control unit 180 includes, for example, a collision prediction unit 180A, an airbag selection unit 180B, and an airbag operation unit 180C.

  The collision predicting unit 180A determines the time from the recognized objects based on the relative positional relationship between an object such as a peripheral vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as a recognized object) recognized by the external world recognition unit 142 and the own vehicle M. An approaching object that relatively approaches the host vehicle M is extracted according to the elapsed time or the traveled distance. For example, when the recognition object is traveling at a lower speed than the host vehicle M or the recognition object is stopped, the recognition object is relatively close to the host vehicle M and is therefore extracted as an approaching object. To be done. Also, when this relationship is reversed, the recognized object is relatively close to the own vehicle M and is therefore extracted as an approaching object. For example, a peripheral vehicle whose traveling direction is a direction intersecting with the traveling direction of the own vehicle M at an intersection or the like may approach the own vehicle M at a certain timing and thus may be extracted as an approaching object.

  The collision prediction unit 180A, based on the moving direction of the approaching object extracted from the recognized objects and the moving direction of the own vehicle M, assumes a collision timing when the own vehicle M collides with the approaching object (hereinafter, (Referred to as collision prediction timing). For example, the collision prediction unit 180A assumes that the velocity (or acceleration or the like) and the moving direction of the approaching object when approaching the host vehicle M are constant, and the collision predictor 180A determines one of the future arrival points (track points) of the host vehicle M. When the approaching object interferes, the time at which the vehicle M arrives at the arrival point where the approaching object interferes is derived as the collision prediction timing. It should be noted that even in a situation where the approaching object is included in a range of a constant distance centered on the orbit point indicating the arrival point, the approach point and the approaching object may be treated as interference.

  Then, the collision prediction unit 180A predicts the collision direction when it is assumed that the approaching object collides with the host vehicle M at the predicted collision prediction timing.

  The airbag selection unit 180B refers to the airbag operation reference information 196 and selects an airbag to be activated based on the collision direction predicted by the collision prediction unit 180A.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the airbag operation reference information 196. The airbag actuation reference information 196 shown in FIG. 15 indicates the type of airbag actuated for each direction in which the azimuth direction of the host vehicle M is equally divided into eight divisions AD1 to AD8. It should be noted that the azimuth direction may be divided into less than or equal to eight, or may be equally divided, or may be equally divided.

For example, the airbag selection unit 180B determines whether the collision direction predicted by the collision prediction unit 180A corresponds to one of the divided directions AD1 to AD8. For example, when the collision direction corresponds to the direction of AD7, the airbag which protects the vehicle occupant from the side receiving the collision is selected as the airbag to be operated. This air bag, for example, the front passenger seat installed in the side air bag AB SD to seat 88 of the (in the left-hand driver's seat _side), passenger side of the side curtain shield has been installed near the window air bag AB _CT, etc. Is included. Further, the collision direction may correspond to the direction of AD1 or AD8, selects a curtain shield airbags AB _CT installed near the front window as an air bag actuation target. As a result, for example, while protecting vehicle occupants, it is possible to prevent peripheral vehicles such as motorcycles and wild animals such as deers from breaking through various windows such as front windows and side windows to enter the vehicle interior during a collision. You can

Further, the airbag selection unit 180B selects, as an airbag to be actuated, an airbag that protects a vehicle occupant thrown into the vehicle compartment by inertial force due to the impact force received by the host vehicle M due to the collision. Good. For example, when the collision direction corresponds to the direction of AD7, the airbag selection unit 180B treats the combined vector of these directions as the direction in which the vehicle occupant is thrown, based on the direction of AD7 and the moving direction of the host vehicle M. , The airbag installed on the side indicated by the composite vector is selected as the airbag to be operated. The airbag includes, for example, a steering airbag AB _ST , a passenger airbag AB _PS , a curtain shield airbag AB _CT installed near the front window, a seat belt airbag AB _{SB of} each seat 88, a driver seat side airbag. It is included, such as the installed curtain shield air bag AB _CT in the vicinity of the side window.

  In the manual operation mode, the airbag operating unit 180C refers to the detection signal output from the vehicle sensor 60, and when the acceleration or angular acceleration of the host vehicle M exceeds a threshold value, the airbag device 95 operates as follows. At least the airbag selected by the airbag selection unit 180B among the plurality of airbags provided is operated. That is, the airbag actuation unit 180C actuates the airbag when an approaching object collides with an impact force that is equal to or greater than the prescribed value.

  On the other hand, the airbag operating section 180C activates at least the airbag selected by the airbag selecting section 180B among the plurality of airbags included in the airbag apparatus 95 at a predetermined timing in the automatic operation mode. The predetermined timing is, for example, timing before the collision prediction timing predicted by the collision prediction unit 180A. This increases the possibility that the airbag selected by the airbag selection unit 180B can be activated at a timing before the actual collision timing. Even in the manual operation mode, the airbag operating unit 180C may operate the airbag selected by the airbag selecting unit 180B based on the collision prediction timing.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the notification timing of the collision risk prediction information and the airbag operation timing for each operation mode. In the figure, T1 is the time when the prediction of the collision prediction timing is completed by the collision prediction unit 180A, T2 is the operation time of the airbag in the automatic driving mode, and T3 is the time of the airbag in the manual driving mode. It is an operation time, and T4 is a time indicating a collision prediction timing. Note that the predicted collision prediction timing and the actual collision prediction timing (timing at which acceleration or the like exceeds a threshold) may be the same time, or may include an error.

For example, in the automatic driving mode, the HMI control unit 170 uses the HMI 70 to notify the collision risk prediction information after the time T1, and the airbag operating unit 180C has the same time as the time when the collision risk prediction information was notified. Alternatively, the airbag is operated at a certain time T2 within a period from the time when the collision risk prediction information is notified to the time T4. For example, if the curtain shield airbag AB _CT covering the front window is selected as an air bag operation target, but the forward field of view of a vehicle occupant for the air bag is deployed is shielded before the collision prediction time The autonomous vehicle can continue traveling of the host vehicle M.

  Further, in the manual operation mode, the HMI control unit 170 notifies the collision risk prediction information by using the HMI 70 after the time T1 as in the automatic operation mode, and the airbag operating unit 180C slightly moves from the time T4. The airbag is activated at time T3 which is an early timing. As a result, even when a time later than the actual collision time is derived as time T4 due to a calculation error when deriving the collision prediction timing, the airbag can be operated at a timing earlier than the actual collision time.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing performed by the vehicle control system 100. First, the collision prediction unit 180A waits until an approaching object can be extracted from the recognized objects recognized by the external world recognition unit 142 (step S100), and when the approaching object is extracted, the moving direction of the approaching object and the own vehicle. The collision prediction timing is predicted based on the moving direction of M and the collision direction in which the approaching object collides with the host vehicle M at the predicted collision prediction timing (step S102).

  Next, the airbag selection unit 180B refers to the airbag operation reference information 196 and selects an airbag to be activated based on the collision direction predicted by the collision prediction unit 180A (step S104). Next, the HMI control unit 170 notifies the collision risk prediction information using the HMI 70 before the collision prediction timing (step S106).

  Next, the airbag operating unit 180C determines whether or not the driving mode being executed is the automatic driving mode (step S108). When the driving mode being executed is not the automatic driving mode, the airbag operating unit 180C waits until the host vehicle M collides with an object (another vehicle or the like) (step S110), and when the host vehicle M collides with the object, At least the airbag selected by the airbag selection unit 180B is operated (step S112). For example, the airbag operating unit 180C determines that the vehicle has been impacted by a collision when the acceleration of the host vehicle M exceeds a threshold value. Note that the airbag operating unit 180C may operate the airbag, for example, at a time several ms earlier than the collision prediction timing even during the manual operation mode as the process of S112.

  On the other hand, when the driving mode being executed is the automatic driving mode, the airbag operating unit 180C operates at least the airbag selected by the airbag selecting unit 180B at the timing before the collision prediction timing (step S114). In the process of S114, it is not always necessary to immediately activate the airbag, and the airbag may be activated at any timing before the time indicating the collision prediction timing arrives. As a result, since the airbag has already been deployed at the time of a collision, it is possible to more reliably protect the occupant.

  Next, when the own vehicle M collides with an object by deploying the airbag, the switching control unit 150 refers to the information output by the abnormality detection unit 152 and determines whether or not the automatic driving mode can be continued. Is determined (step S116). For example, if the abnormality detection unit 152 outputs information that the abnormal state is not detected or the abnormal state is not a specific abnormal state, the switching control unit 150 determines that the automatic operation mode can be continued, and the automatic operation mode is determined. The mode is continued (step S118). At this time, the trajectory generation unit 146 generates a trajectory for avoiding the secondary collision.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a trajectory for avoiding a secondary collision. For example, the track generation unit 146 generates a track that brings the own vehicle M closer to the road shoulder and stops after traveling a predetermined distance, as illustrated. As a result, the vehicle control system 100 can prevent damage such as a secondary collision.

  On the other hand, when the abnormality detection unit 152 outputs the information that the abnormal state is the specific abnormal state, the switching control unit 150 determines that the automatic operation mode cannot be continued and switches the automatic operation mode to the manual operation mode. (Step S120). This completes the processing of this flowchart.

  According to the embodiment described above, the relative positional relationship between the object around the own vehicle M and the own vehicle M is recognized, and the speed control and the steering control of the own vehicle M are performed based on the object whose positional relationship is recognized. One of the automatic driving mode that automatically performs at least one of the above and the manual driving mode that performs both speed control and steering control based on the operation of the vehicle occupant, and is used when the driving mode is executed. Based on the recognition result obtained when recognizing the relative positional relationship with the vehicle M, an approaching object that relatively approaches the own vehicle M is extracted from the objects whose positional relationship is recognized, and an approaching object. Predicts a collision direction when it is assumed that the vehicle collides with the host vehicle M, and selects an airbag to be actuated from a plurality of airbags provided in the vehicle compartment based on the predicted collision direction. The high performance sensing device DD used for autonomous driving can be used to effectively activate the airbag.

  Although the embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above using the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions are made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

  20... Finder, 30... Radar, 40... Camera, DD... Detecting device, 50... Navigation device, 55... Communication device, 60... Vehicle sensor, 70... HMI, 95... Airbag device, 100... Vehicle control system, 110... Target lane determination unit, 120... Automatic driving control unit, 130... Automatic driving mode control unit, 140... Own vehicle position recognition unit, 142... Outside world recognition unit, 144... Action plan generation unit, 146... Trajectory generation unit, 146A... Traveling Aspect determination unit, 146B... Trajectory candidate generation unit, 146C... Evaluation/selection unit, 150... Switching control unit, 152... Abnormality detection unit, 160... Travel control unit, 170... HMI control unit, 180... Airbag operation control unit, 180A... Collision predicting unit, 180B... Airbag selecting unit, 180C... Airbag operating unit, 190... Storage unit, 200... Traveling driving force output device, 210... Steering device, 220... Brake device, M... Own vehicle

Claims (5)

A recognition unit that recognizes a relative positional relationship between an object around the vehicle and the vehicle,
An automatic driving control unit that executes an automatic driving mode that automatically performs at least one of speed control and steering control of the vehicle based on an object whose positional relationship is recognized by the recognition unit,
The automatic driving control unit, when executing the automatic driving mode, determines whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed after a collision between the object and the vehicle, and executes the automatic driving. When it is determined that the mode can be executed, the automatic operation mode is continuously executed,
Vehicle control system. The recognition unit, based on a detection result of a detection device that detects an object around the vehicle, recognizes a relative positional relationship between the object around the vehicle and the vehicle,
The automatic driving control unit determines, based on the state of the detection device used by the recognition unit, whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed.
The vehicle control system according to claim 1. The automatic driving control unit performs control to avoid a secondary collision in the continuously executed automatic driving mode when the automatic driving mode can be executed,
The vehicle control system according to claim 1. In-vehicle computer
Recognizing the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and objects around the vehicle,
Performing an automatic driving mode that automatically performs at least one of speed control and steering control of the vehicle based on the object that has recognized the positional relationship,
When the automatic driving mode is executed, it is determined whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed after a collision between the object and the vehicle, and the automatic driving mode can be executed. If determined, continue to execute the automatic operation mode,
Vehicle control method. For in-vehicle computer,
A process of recognizing a relative positional relationship between an object around the vehicle and the vehicle;
A process of executing an automatic driving mode for automatically performing at least one of speed control and steering control of the vehicle based on an object that has recognized the positional relationship;
When the automatic driving mode is being executed, it is determined whether or not the automatic driving mode can be executed after a collision between the object and the vehicle, and the automatic driving mode can be executed. If determined, a process of continuously executing the automatic operation mode,
A vehicle control program for executing.

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