WO2019216386A1 - Vehicle control device and vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A vehicle control device (1) is provided with a road type determining unit (50) which determines the type of road (expressway/ordinary road) along which a host vehicle is traveling, on the basis of a plurality of items of information obtained at a plurality of timings by way of an external environment recognition sensor (2), a vehicle traveling state sensor (3), and a navigation device (4), for example. The road type determining unit (50) stores information obtained from the external environment recognition sensor (2), the vehicle traveling state sensor (3) and the navigation device (4), and increase/decrease points corresponding to the information, in an increase/decrease point data storage unit (55), and upon detecting that the information stored in the increase/decrease point data storage unit (55) has been acquired by means of the external environment recognition sensor (2), the vehicle traveling state sensor (3) or the navigation device (4) while the vehicle is traveling, adds the increase/decrease points to road type evaluation points, and if the road type evaluation points exceed a prescribed threshold, determines that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway. An accurate determination is thus made to ascertain whether the vehicle is traveling on an expressway or is traveling on an ordinary road.

Description

Vehicle control device and vehicle

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device capable of recognizing that the vehicle is traveling on a highway and a vehicle equipped with the vehicle control device.

In recent years, an autonomous vehicle capable of traveling on a road without a driver has been put into practical use, and the technology that is the previous stage of the autonomous vehicle has already been put into practical use. An example of this is a technique called adaptive cruise control (ACC). ACC is a technology that automatically accelerates and decelerates the vehicle following the acceleration and deceleration of the preceding vehicle while maintaining an appropriate inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle. The driving load on the driver is reduced. However, ACC is difficult to apply to traveling on general roads with many intersections and traffic lights, and can be said to be a technology premised on being applied to traveling on highways.

In general, the traveling control technology for realizing an automatic traveling vehicle, or the traveling control technology in the previous stage, can be applied to traveling on a highway, but is difficult to apply to traveling on a general road. . Therefore, the vehicle control device is required to have a function of accurately recognizing whether the road on which the vehicle is traveling is a highway or a general road.

By the way, if the vehicle is equipped with a navigation device, the vehicle position information can be acquired by GPS (Global Positioning System). Therefore, by matching the position information with the road position of the map information, it is possible to easily recognize whether the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway or a general road.

However, it is said that the position information obtained from GPS has an error of several meters to several tens of meters. Further, depending on the state of the received radio wave, accurate position information may not be obtained. Therefore, when the expressway and the general road are close to each other, or when the highway and the general road are running side by side, the vehicle travels on the highway only with the position information obtained from GPS. The problem arises that it is impossible to identify whether the vehicle is traveling or traveling on a general road.

Various techniques have been disclosed for the purpose of solving this problem. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for determining whether or not a vehicle is passing through a highway based on whether or not a vehicle has a ramp shape. The ramp-shaped road refers to a road having a difference in height, a gradient, a curvature, etc. according to each entrance / exit of the expressway.

Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for determining whether or not the vehicle is passing through a highway based on the behavior of the vehicle when traveling, in particular, the behavior of a traffic light installation location (such as an intersection) or the vicinity of a toll gate. Has been. For example, when the traveling at a certain speed (30 km / h) or more is stopped for a certain time or within a certain distance after continuing for a certain time or a certain distance, the operation is stopped once or more, and the stopped position is near the place where the traffic light is installed Determines that the vehicle is traveling on a general road. In addition, if the vehicle speed on a road traveling to a toll gate drops below a certain speed near the toll gate and the vehicle window opens, or if the vehicle traveling on a regular road near the toll gate is within a certain time Or when it becomes more than a fixed vehicle speed within a fixed distance, it determines with the switching from a general road to a highway.

Further, Patent Document 3 describes whether the vehicle is traveling on a highway or traveling on a general road based on the length of the white line drawn on the road and its interval to indicate the boundary of the lane. A technique for determining whether or not is is disclosed. In this case, the length of the white line and the interval between the white lines are determined from images captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle.

JP 2000-146608 A JP 2001-349734 A JP 2005-114535 A

However, in the technology disclosed in Patent Documents 1-3, it may be difficult for the control device mounted on the vehicle to accurately determine whether the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway. Should. For example, even in the case of a general road, a high-standard automobile road is often provided with a ramp-shaped road at the entrance. In addition, the toll gate is not limited to a highway, but is provided if it is a toll road. Even in the case of a highway, in the case of one lane on one side, there is no white line indicating the boundary of the lane except for the overtaking section.

In view of the above-described problems of the conventional technology, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device capable of accurately determining whether the vehicle is traveling on a highway or a general road, and the vehicle control thereof. The object is to provide a vehicle equipped with the device.

A vehicle control device according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle traveling on a road, and travel state information acquisition means for acquiring travel state information of the vehicle, position information acquisition means for acquiring a position of the vehicle on a map, The vehicle is traveling based on a plurality of pieces of information obtained at a plurality of timings from outside recognition means for acquiring outside world information around the vehicle, the position information acquisition means, the outside world recognition means, and the traveling state information acquisition means. Road type determining means for determining the type of road.

According to the present invention, a vehicle control device and its vehicle control device capable of accurately determining whether the vehicle is traveling on a highway or a general road are provided.

It is the figure which showed the example of the structure of the vehicle control apparatus mounted in the vehicle which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing an example of composition of information acquisition situation data memorized by an information acquisition situation data storage part. It is the figure which showed the example of the structure of the increase / decrease point data memorize | stored in an increase / decrease point data storage part. It is the figure which showed typically the specific example of the increase / decrease in the road classification evaluation point in a road classification evaluation point calculation part. It is the figure which showed the example of the processing flow of the process which a road classification evaluation point calculation part performs. It is the figure which showed the example of the specific process flow which acquires an increase / decrease point according to the value of the bits b1, b0 of information acquisition condition data. It is the figure which showed the example of the specific processing flow which acquires an increase / decrease point according to the value of the bits b7 and b2 of information acquisition status data, and the value of a road classification evaluation point. It is the figure which showed the example of the specific processing flow which acquires an increase / decrease point according to the value of the bits b4 and b3 of information acquisition condition data. It is the figure which showed typically the specific example of the increase / decrease in the road classification evaluation point which concerns on the modification of embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, in each drawing, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to a common component and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a vehicle control device 1 mounted on a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle mentioned here includes a passenger car traveling on a road, a bus, a truck, a two-wheeled motorcycle, and the like, but is not necessarily limited thereto. The vehicle control device 1 is assumed to be a control device included in a so-called electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 1, an external recognition sensor 2, a vehicle travel state sensor 3, a navigation device 4, a drive device 5, a steering device 6, a braking device 7, and the like are connected to the vehicle control device 1. The vehicle control device 1 includes an automatic driving control unit 10, an external environment recognition unit 20, a vehicle travel state information acquisition unit 30, a host vehicle position information acquisition unit 40, a road type determination unit 50, and the like. The vehicle control device 1 is realized by one or a plurality of computers including at least an arithmetic processing device and a storage device.

Here, the external recognition sensor 2 refers to an optical camera, a millimeter wave radar, a lidar (LIDAR: Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) attached to the front, rear, and side of the vehicle body. The vehicle running state sensor 3 refers to a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a direction sensor, a yaw rate sensor, and the like. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the vehicle travel state sensor 3 includes a throttle opening sensor, an engine speed sensor, and the like related to engine control and the like.

The external environment recognition unit 20 recognizes and detects various targets existing around the host vehicle based on various information (captured images and the like) obtained from the external environment recognition sensor 2. In the present embodiment, pedestrians (including bicycles), vehicles (hereinafter referred to as other vehicles), traffic lights, and toll gates are included as targets that can be recognized and detected by the external recognition unit 20. Furthermore, it is assumed that the external environment recognition unit 20 can also detect the vehicle speeds of other nearby vehicles based on information obtained from a millimeter wave radar or the like.

The vehicle travel state information acquisition unit 30 acquires various data detected by the various sensors collectively referred to as the vehicle travel state sensor 3, and uses the acquired data to obtain road flatness (road surface unevenness degree). ) And secondary data such as gradient are also calculated.

The navigation device 4 receives radio waves from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite or a quasi-zenith satellite via a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, and obtains own vehicle position information. It is often the case that a direction sensor or a vehicle speed sensor is used to acquire the vehicle position information with high accuracy or to acquire the vehicle position information in tunnels where radio waves from GPS satellites or quasi-zenith satellites do not reach. Inertial navigation technology using detection information such as an acceleration sensor is used.

The navigation device 4 also specifies the road on which the vehicle is located on the navigation map based on the vehicle position information obtained as described above, and determines whether the road is an expressway. However, when a general road is running in the vicinity of the expressway, it is assumed that an error may occur in the determination as in the conventional case. Furthermore, the navigation device 4 uses the same navigation map to identify a road that is connected in front of the traveling direction of the road where the vehicle is located, and determines the road type of the road.

The own vehicle position information acquisition unit 40 acquires information such as the own vehicle position information, the road on which the own vehicle is located, and the road type of the road leading ahead in the traveling direction of the own vehicle from the navigation device 13.

The road type determination unit 50 integrates a plurality of pieces of information having different dimensions obtained at different timings from the outside world recognition unit 20, the vehicle travel state information acquisition unit 30, and the vehicle position information acquisition unit 40, respectively. The road type of the road where the car is located is determined. In this embodiment, a point evaluation method is adopted as a method for integrating information, that is, a method for unifying information. In this point evaluation method, the road type determination unit 50 gives a predetermined point (increase / decrease point) when a pedestrian is detected by the outside recognition unit 20 or when a toll gate is detected. When the total number of points (evaluation points) exceeds a predetermined point, it is determined that the road on which the vehicle is located (running) is an expressway.

The automatic driving control unit 10 controls the automatic driving of the vehicle (own vehicle) based on various information obtained from the external environment recognition sensor 2, the vehicle driving state sensor 3, the navigation device 4, and the like. The vehicle's automatic driving technology includes a level that simply supports the driving of the driver (driver), such as automatic braking, a level that allows automatic driving based on the driver's monitoring, and a complete automatic that eliminates the need for driver monitoring Multiple technical levels are envisioned, including the level at which operation is possible. The automatic driving control unit 10 according to the present embodiment may be one that controls driving of an automatic traveling vehicle of any technical level. However, in this specification, the description thereof is omitted.

By the way, at any technical level of automatic driving, operation control technology premised on driving on a highway is mixed, such as the ACC technology described above. Therefore, in this embodiment, the road type determination unit 50 notifies the automatic driving control unit 10 of the determination result, that is, information indicating whether or not the vehicle is “running on a highway”. The automatic driving control unit 10 does not execute the driving control on the premise of automatic driving on the highway unless it receives information “traveling on the highway” from the road type determination unit 50.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the operation control technology premised on traveling on an expressway from being applied accidentally when traveling on a general road, thereby eliminating traffic disruption that may be caused by erroneous application.

Subsequently, the configuration of the road type determination unit 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and subsequent drawings, and details of a method for determining whether or not the vehicle is traveling on an expressway will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the road type determination unit 50 includes an information acquisition status data creation unit 51, a road type evaluation point calculation unit 52, an expressway travel determination unit 53, an information acquisition status data storage unit 54, and increase / decrease points. A data storage unit 55, a road type evaluation point storage unit 56, and the like are included.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information acquisition situation data 541 stored in the information acquisition situation data storage unit 54. As shown in FIG. The information acquisition status data creation unit 51 is configured as shown in FIG. 2 based on various information obtained through the external environment recognition unit 20, the vehicle travel state information acquisition unit 30, and the vehicle position information acquisition unit 40. Acquisition status data 541 is created and stored in the information acquisition status data storage unit 54.

The information acquisition status data 541 is composed of, for example, 8-bit data, and is obtained from the external recognition sensor 2, the vehicle travel state sensor 3, the navigation device 4 and the like based on the value of “1” or “0” of each bit. Indicates the acquisition status of. For example, bit b0 = “1” indicates that “pedestrian” has been detected by the external recognition sensor 2 such as an optical camera, and bit b0 = “0” indicates that “pedestrian” has not been detected. To express.

Similarly, the bit b1 = "1" / "0" indicates the presence or absence of "signal detection" by the external recognition sensor 2 such as an optical camera, and the bit b2 = "1" / "0" Indicates the presence or absence of “detection”. Bit b3 = “1” / “0” indicates whether or not “the vehicle speed of the host vehicle is 80 km / h or more” detected by the vehicle running state sensor 3 such as a vehicle speed sensor. Bit b4 = “1” / “0” indicates whether “the vehicle speed of the vehicle surrounding the host vehicle is 80 km / h or higher” detected via the external recognition sensor 2 such as a millimeter wave radar.

Further, bit b5 = "1" / "0" indicates whether or not the "road surface unevenness degree" obtained by calculating data obtained from the vehicle running state sensor 3 such as an acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold S. Represents Generally, the degree of unevenness (flatness) of the road surface of an expressway is designed to be sufficiently smaller than that of a general road. Therefore, there is a difference in the vibration amplitude of the vehicle when the vehicle travels on a highway and when traveling on a general road. Therefore, the vehicle control device 1 can obtain the degree of unevenness of the road surface based on the acceleration of the vehicle obtained through the vehicle running state sensor 3 and the like.

Also, bit b6 = “1” / “0” indicates whether or not the vehicle position obtained from the navigation device 4 “matches the highway” on the navigation map. Bit b7 = “1” / “0” indicates whether or not “the road ahead in the traveling direction of the host vehicle is a general road” connected to the road on the navigation map where the host vehicle is located.

Note that the information acquisition status data 541 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. For example, the bit length may be 9 bits or more, or 7 bits or less. For example, information indicating whether or not the road gradient exceeds a predetermined threshold may be added as bit 9. Generally, the maximum value of the gradient of the expressway is sufficiently smaller than the maximum value of the gradient of the general road. Furthermore, the length and interval of the white line for distinguishing the lane as the bit 10 and the road width may be added.

In FIG. 2, the meaning of the information acquisition status assigned to each 1 bit of the information acquisition status data 541 may be assigned to 1 byte or 1 word.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the increase / decrease point data 551 stored in the increase / decrease point data storage unit 55. As shown in FIG. 3, the increase / decrease point data 551 is configured such that increase / decrease points are associated with each point grant condition. The point granting condition is data that defines conditions for updating road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56.

In the present embodiment, the point granting condition is configured by 9-bit data (c0, b7, b6, b5, b4, b3, b2, b1, b0) that is one bit more than the information acquisition status data 541 in FIG. Shall. Here, the bit c0 represents the road type of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, which is determined by the highway travel determination unit 53. That is, bit c0 = "1" means that it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a highway, and bit c0 = "0" means that it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road. The meanings represented by the bits b7 to b0 are the same as the bits b7 to b0 of the 8-bit data of the information acquisition status data 541.
In the bit pattern representing the point granting condition in FIG. 3, x represents that either “1” or “0” may be used.

Note that the point assignment conditions of the information acquisition status data 541 in FIG. 3 do not include detecting road signs by the external recognition sensor 2 such as an optical camera. This is because highway traffic signs may be recognized even when driving on general roads, and general road traffic signs may be recognized even when driving on highways. This is because the road type is not determined by the traffic sign in the present embodiment.

The road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 monitors whether the information acquisition status data 541 created by the information acquisition status data creation unit 51 matches the point granting conditions of the increase / decrease point data 551 in FIG. If there is a matching point grant condition, the road type evaluation point stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56 is updated using the increase / decrease points associated with the point grant condition.

For example, when the bit pattern of the information acquisition situation data 541 matches “xxxxx xx01”, that is, when a traffic light is not detected and a pedestrian is detected, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 performs the road type evaluation. “−2” points are added to the road type evaluation points stored in the point storage unit 56. Similarly, when the bit pattern of the information acquisition status data 541 is “xxxxx xx10”, that is, when a traffic light is detected and no pedestrian is detected, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 determines the road type. “−2” points are added to the road type evaluation points stored in the evaluation point storage unit 56. Furthermore, when the bit pattern of the information acquisition status data 541 is “xxxxx xx11”, that is, when both a pedestrian and a traffic light are detected, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 stores the road type evaluation point memory. “−10” points are added to the road type evaluation points stored in the unit 56.

The details of the relationship between the other point grant conditions shown in FIG. 3 and the increase / decrease points with respect to the point grant conditions will be described below in the specific example of the increase / decrease of road type evaluation points using FIG. To do.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a specific example of increase / decrease of road type evaluation points in the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52. That is, FIG. 4 schematically shows how the road type evaluation points are increased / decreased when a vehicle traveling on a general road travels on a highway and then travels back to the general road again. In this example, the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56 have an initial value of “0”, a lower limit value of “−2”, and an upper limit value of “+10”. Then, when the road type evaluation point is equal to or higher than the threshold “+8”, the highway travel determination unit 53 determines “traveling on the highway”, and when the road type evaluation point is less than the threshold “+8” It is determined as “medium”.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle starts to travel on a general road and the vehicle control device 1 detects “signal” via the external recognition sensor 2 at the timing of T1, the information acquisition situation data 541 indicates that the point grant condition Matches “xxxxx xx10”. At this time, an increase / decrease point “−2” corresponding to the point provision condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is “−2”, but is less than the threshold value “+8”, so it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 detects the “toll gate” via the external recognition sensor 2 at the timing T2 when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road, the information acquisition status data 541 is displayed as a point grant condition. Matches “0xxxx x1xxx”. At this time, an increase / decrease point “+4” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is “+2”, but is less than the threshold value “+8”, so it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 detects that “the vehicle position matches the highway on the navigation map” via the own vehicle position information acquisition unit 40 at the timing of T3, the information acquisition status data 541 is: It matches the point grant condition “x x1xxx xxx”. At this time, an increase / decrease point “+5” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is “+7”, but is less than the threshold value “+8”.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 detects “the vehicle speed of the host vehicle is 80 km / h or more” via the vehicle running state information acquisition unit 30 or the like at the timing of T4, the information acquisition status data 541 indicates that the point acquisition condition “ Matches “xxxx0 1xxx”. At this time, an increase / decrease point “+2” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is “+9”, which is equal to or greater than the threshold value “+8”. Based on the determination result, for example, a function assumed to be applied on a highway such as ACC or automatic driving control may be activated.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 detects “the vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicle is 80 km / h or more” via the external recognition sensor 2 or the like at the timing of T5, the information acquisition status data 541 indicates that the point granting condition “xxxx1 0xxx "". At this time, an increase / decrease point “+2” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point exceeds “+10”, but the value is limited to the upper limit value “+10”.

As described above, the increase / decrease point when the vehicle speed of the host vehicle or the surrounding vehicle is 80 km / h or more is set to a small value of “+2”. This is because a road can be considered. In this case, the determination threshold may be set to 100 km / h.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 detects that the “road surface unevenness is equal to or less than the threshold value S” over a predetermined distance via the vehicle running state information acquisition unit 30 or the like at the timing of T6, the information acquisition situation data 541 is The point granting condition “x xxx1x xxx” is met. As a result, the increase / decrease point “+2” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation point stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. At this time, since the road type evaluation point has already reached the upper limit value “+10”, the value remains the upper limit value “+10”.

Next, at timing T7 when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the highway, the vehicle control device 1 detects the “toll gate” via the external recognition sensor 2, and the vehicle position information acquisition unit 40 is If it is detected that “the road leading in the direction of travel of the road on which the vehicle is located is a general road”, the information acquisition status data 541 matches the point grant condition “x 1xxx x1xx”. At this time, the increase / decrease point “−10” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is “0”, which is less than the threshold value “+8”, and it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road. Based on the determination result, for example, when a function assumed to be applied on a highway such as ACC or automatic driving control is operated, the operation is stopped.

Next, when the vehicle control device 1 simultaneously detects “pedestrian” and “traffic light” via the external recognition sensor 2 at the timing of T8, the information acquisition status data 541 is set to the point grant condition “x xxx xx11”. Match. At this time, the increase / decrease point “−10” corresponding to the point granting condition is added to the road type evaluation points stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56. As a result, the road type evaluation point is below the lower limit value “−2”, but the value is limited to the lower limit value “−2” point.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow of processing executed by the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52. This process is executed every time a predetermined time interval (for example, 1 second) elapses or every time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance (for example, 10 m).

As shown in FIG. 5, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 first reads the information acquisition situation data 541 from the information acquisition situation data storage unit 54 (step S11). Next, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the increase / decrease point data 551 in the increase / decrease point data storage unit 55 and acquires an increase / decrease point corresponding to (matching) the information acquisition status data 541 (step S12). . At this time, if there is no increase / decrease point corresponding to the information acquisition status data 541, the increase / decrease point to be acquired = “0”.

Next, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 reads the road type evaluation point stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56 (step S13). Next, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 adds the increase / decrease points acquired in step S12 to the read road type evaluation point, and updates the road type evaluation point (step S14). It is assumed that the road type evaluation point has an upper limit value and a lower limit value, and the updated road type evaluation point does not exceed the upper limit value at the maximum and does not fall below the lower limit value at the minimum. Then, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 stores the updated road type evaluation point in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56 (step S15).

5 shows the process executed by the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 as an example of a general processing flow. Specific examples of each bit of the information acquisition status data 541 are shown in FIGS. An example of a processing flow according to various situations is shown. These correspond to the process of step S12 in the process shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a specific processing flow for acquiring increase / decrease points according to the values of bits b1 and b0 of the information acquisition status data 541. In this case, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to only the bits b1 and b0 in the information acquisition situation data 541.

First, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bit b0 of the information acquisition status data 541 and determines whether or not “pedestrian” has been detected by the external recognition sensor 2 (step S21). If “pedestrian” has been detected as a result of the determination (Yes in step S21), it is further determined with reference to bit b1 whether or not “traffic light” has been detected by the external recognition sensor 2. (Step S22). As a result of the determination, if “traffic light” is detected (Yes in step S22), “−10” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point (step S23), and the process is terminated. . If “signal” is not detected in the determination in step S22 (No in step S22), “−2” is set as the increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point (step S24), and the process Exit.

Furthermore, when “pedestrian” is not detected in the determination in step S21 (No in step S21), the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bit b1 and performs “ "Is detected or not (step S25). As a result of the determination, if “traffic light” has been detected (Yes in step S25), “−2” is set as the increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point (step S26), and the process is terminated. . If “signal” is not detected in the determination in step S25 (No in step S25), the process ends without setting a value for the increase / decrease point. In this case, the increase / decrease point is regarded as “0”.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a specific processing flow for acquiring increase / decrease points according to the values of bits b7 and b2 of the information acquisition status data 541 and the value of the road type evaluation point. In this case, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bits b7 and b2 in the information acquisition status data 541 and also refers to the value of the road type evaluation point stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56.

First, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bit b2 of the information acquisition status data 541 and determines whether or not the “toll gate” has been detected by the external recognition sensor 2 (step S31). Here, the external recognition sensor 2 that detects the “toll gate” may be an optical camera mounted on a vehicle and an image processing apparatus thereof, or may be an on-board device of ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System). Good. In this case, the “toll gate” can be easily detected from the traffic history of the ETC gate.

As a result of the determination in step S31, if “toll gate” is detected (Yes in step S31), based on the value of the road type evaluation point stored in the road type evaluation point storage unit 56, It is determined whether or not the own vehicle is traveling on a highway (step S32). In this embodiment, when the value of the road type evaluation point at this time is “+8” or more, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the expressway.

Next, as a result of the determination in step S32, when it is determined that the host vehicle is traveling on an expressway (Yes in step S32), the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 further includes information acquisition situation data 541. Referring to bit b7, it is determined whether or not the road ahead of the road in which the vehicle is located is a general road (step S33). As a result of the determination, if the road ahead of the road in which the vehicle is located is a general road (Yes in step S33), “−10” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point. (Step S34), and the process ends.

Further, if it is determined in step S33 that the road ahead of the road in which the vehicle is located is not a general road (No in step S33), the increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point is “− 1 ″ is set (step S35), and the process is terminated. If it is determined in step S32 that the vehicle is not traveling on the highway (No in step S32), “+4” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point ( Step S36), the process is terminated. Further, if “toll gate” has not been detected in the determination in step S31, the process ends without setting a value for the increase / decrease point. In this case, the increase / decrease point is regarded as “0”.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a specific processing flow for acquiring increase / decrease points according to the values of bits b4 and b3 of the information acquisition status data 541. In this case, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to only the bits b4 and b3 in the information acquisition situation data 541.

First, the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bit b3 of the information acquisition status data 541 and determines whether or not “vehicle speed of the host vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” has been detected (step S41). As a result of the determination, if “the vehicle speed of the own vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” is detected (Yes in step S41), referring to the bit b4, “the vehicle speed of the other vehicle” It is determined whether or not “≧ 80 km / h” has been detected (step S42). As a result of the determination, if “vehicle speed of other vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” is detected (Yes in step S42), “+4” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point (step S43). ), The process is terminated. Furthermore, if “vehicle speed of other vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” is not detected in the determination in step S42 (No in step S42), “+2” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point. (Step S44), the process ends.

Furthermore, when “vehicle speed ≧ 80 km / h” is not detected in the determination in step S41 (No in step S41), the road type evaluation point calculation unit 52 refers to the bit b4 and It is determined whether or not “vehicle speed of other vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” around the vehicle has been detected (step S45). As a result of the determination, when “vehicle speed of other vehicle ≧ 80 km / h” is detected (Yes in step S45), “+2” is set as an increase / decrease point used for updating the road type evaluation point (step S46). ), The process is terminated. If “other vehicle speed ≧ 80 km / h” is not detected in the determination in step S45 (No in step S45), the process ends without setting a value for the increase / decrease point. In this case, the increase / decrease point is regarded as “0”.

Note that a description of a specific processing flow example of acquiring increase / decrease points according to the values of bits b5 and b6 of the information acquisition status data 541 is omitted.

As described above, as can be seen from the description of FIGS. 2 to 8, the road type determination performed by the road type determination unit 50 according to the present embodiment has the following features (1) to (5).

(1) The threshold value for determining that “the vehicle is traveling on the highway” is not set between the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the road type evaluation point, but is higher than the intermediate value. (The side judged to be an expressway). Incidentally, in the case of this embodiment, the threshold value for determining that “the vehicle is traveling on the highway” is “+8”, the upper limit value is “+10”, and the lower limit value is “−2”. .

For this reason, in the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the probability of erroneously determining that the vehicle is traveling on a general road while traveling on a highway. That is, in this embodiment, the road type determination unit 50 of the vehicle control device 1 can accurately determine that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway. As a result, in the vehicle control device 1, it is possible to prevent automatic operation control, etc., on the premise of traveling on an expressway from being erroneously applied when traveling on a general road. The fear of an accident can be eliminated.

(2) When “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are recognized separately through the external recognition sensor 2, the road type evaluation point is increased when both “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are recognized simultaneously. Decrease.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, when “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are detected separately, the increase / decrease points are both “−2”. When both “person” and “traffic light” are detected simultaneously, the increase / decrease point is “−10”. In fact, on highways, “pedestrians” and “traffic lights” can rarely be detected separately, but it is almost impossible for both “pedestrians” and “traffic lights” to be detected at the same time. Absent. Therefore, in this embodiment, when both “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are detected at the same time, it is determined that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is almost certainly a general road. Thereby, the road type determination accuracy by the road type determination unit 50 can be improved.

Note that both “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are detected at the same time, basically, “walking” in one frame image captured by an optical camera (external world recognition sensor 2) mounted on the vehicle. "Person" and "traffic light" are included. However, even if “pedestrian” and “traffic light” are included independently in a plurality of frames of images taken with the same optical camera, for example, with a time difference of about 1 second, “pedestrian” And “signal” may be regarded as being detected at the same time.

(3) After “determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road” and after the “toll gate” is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2, When the “toll gate” is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2, the road type evaluation points are greatly reduced.

By the way, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the increase / decrease point when “toll gate” is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2 after being determined as “traveling on a general road” is “+4”. It has become. On the other hand, the increase / decrease point is “−6” when “toll gate” is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2 after it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway.

This is because the toll gate is provided even if it is a toll road even if it is a general road, so just because the toll gate is detected (passed) while driving on a general road, then it will shift to highway driving Not always. On the other hand, in the case of an expressway, the toll gate is provided only at the entrance / exit of the expressway except for the toll gate at the transit point of a different highway. Therefore, when a toll gate is detected (passed) while traveling on a highway, most of the roads ahead are ordinary roads.

(4) Furthermore, when “toll gate” is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2 after it is determined that the vehicle is “running on the highway”, the toll gate through the vehicle position information acquisition unit 40 Information indicating whether or not the road ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle is a general road is obtained from the gate. In this case, the information that "the road ahead in the direction of travel of the vehicle is a general road" compared to the case where the information that "the road ahead in the direction of travel of the vehicle is a general road" could not be obtained. When it is possible to acquire the road type evaluation point, the road type evaluation point is greatly reduced.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, after it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a highway, the toll gate is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2, but the road leading to the toll gate is a general road. If this cannot be recognized, the increase / decrease point is “−1”. On the other hand, when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway, if the toll gate is recognized through the external recognition sensor 2 and the road leading in front of the toll gate is recognized as a general road, the increase / decrease point is “−10”. Therefore, in the latter case, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on a general road even before actually leaving the general road. It is prevented from being applied when traveling on a general road.

(5) When the vehicle speed of the own vehicle and the vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicles are both higher than a predetermined vehicle speed (for example, 80 km / h), compared to when the vehicle speed of the own vehicle is a predetermined vehicle speed (for example, 80 km / h) or higher, Increase type evaluation points.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the increase / decrease point when the vehicle speed of the own vehicle is 80 km / h or more is “+2”, but both the vehicle speed of the own vehicle and the vehicle speed of the surrounding vehicles are both The increase / decrease point at 80 km / h or higher is “+4”. If not only the vehicle speed of the host vehicle but also the speed of surrounding vehicles is 80 km / h or higher, the probability that the current road is a highway is greater than when the vehicle speed of the host vehicle is only 80 km / h or higher. Become. Thus, in this embodiment, since the road type evaluation points are increased or decreased by combining detection of a plurality of information, the road type determination unit 50 can improve the road type determination accuracy.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, various types of information obtained from the external world recognition sensor 2, the vehicle running state sensor 3, the navigation device 4 and the like while the vehicle is running are converted into a unified numerical value called a road type evaluation point. It is converted and it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling on a highway based on the numerical value. Therefore, in the present embodiment, it can be accurately determined that the vehicle is traveling on a highway. Further, by appropriately setting the point granting conditions and the increase / decrease points, it is possible to reduce the probability of erroneously determining that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway while traveling on a general road. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent, for example, automatic operation control premised on traveling on a highway from being erroneously applied when traveling on a general road, and to prevent traffic disruption caused by the erroneous application. be able to.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing a specific example of increase / decrease in road type evaluation points according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention. In this modification, it is considered that the same vehicle (own vehicle) travels on a route from point A to point D and then passes through point B. When this vehicle travels from point A to point D for the first time, how to increase or decrease the road type evaluation points is the same as that described in FIG.

However, the vehicle control apparatus 1 according to the present modification example acquires a road peripheral image via the external recognition sensor 2 (such as an optical camera) at the point B at the time of the first travel. That is, a road peripheral image is acquired at the timing T3 when the navigation device 4 determines that the vehicle position matches the highway on the navigation map. After that, when the road type evaluation point exceeds a predetermined threshold (“+8”) at the point C, the peripheral image of the road at the point B is registered in the storage device as an image during traveling on the expressway.

Thereafter, when the host vehicle passes through the point B, the vehicle control device 1 monitors a road peripheral image obtained through the external recognition sensor 2 and the point B where the image is registered in the storage device. It is determined whether the image is the same as the image around the road. If it is determined that the image is the same as the image around the road at the point B, the road type determination unit 50 determines that the host vehicle is traveling on the highway and increases the road type evaluation point by, for example, “+10”. Let me.

Therefore, in this modification, it is possible to determine “on highway” when the vehicle passes the point B. Therefore, in this modification, since “highway driving” can be detected earlier than in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the range of the highway determined to be “highway driving” is widened. Can do. In FIG. 9, the transition of the first road type evaluation point is represented by a thick solid line, and the transition of the road type evaluation point for the second time and thereafter is represented by a thick broken line.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, when the road type evaluation point exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the traveling road is an expressway. However, the road type evaluation point falls below the predetermined threshold. In this case, the traveling road may be determined to be an expressway. However, the threshold for determination in that case is set on the side closer to the lower limit value among the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the road type evaluation points.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle control apparatus 2 Outside world recognition sensor 3 Vehicle travel state sensor 4 Navigation apparatus 5 Drive apparatus 6 Steering apparatus 7 Braking apparatus 10 Automatic driving control part 13 Navigation apparatus 20 Outside world recognition part 30 Vehicle travel state information acquisition part 40 Own vehicle position information acquisition Unit 50 Road type determination unit 51 Information acquisition status data creation unit 52 Road type evaluation point calculation unit 53 Expressway travel determination unit 54 Information acquisition status data storage unit 55 Increase / decrease point data storage unit 56 Road type evaluation point storage unit 541 Information acquisition status Data 551 Increase / decrease point data

Claims (7)

Mounted on vehicles traveling on the road,
Driving state information acquisition means for acquiring the driving state information of the vehicle;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring a position on a map of the vehicle;
An external recognition means for acquiring external information around the vehicle;
Road type determination means for determining the type of road on which the vehicle is traveling based on a plurality of information obtained at a plurality of timings from the position information acquisition means, the external environment recognition means, and the travel state information acquisition means;
A vehicle control device comprising: The vehicle control device according to claim 1,
The road type determining means is
According to the increase / decrease points determined in advance according to the information acquired via each of the position information acquisition means, the external environment recognition means and the traveling state information acquisition means, increase / decrease the road type evaluation points held in the storage device,
When the road type evaluation point increases across a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway. The vehicle control device according to claim 2,
The outside world recognition means includes
Recognizable targets around the road on which the vehicle is running, including pedestrians and traffic lights as the recognizable targets;
The road type determining means is
The road type evaluation point is greatly reduced when both the pedestrian and the traffic light are recognized at the same time as compared to when the pedestrian or the traffic light are recognized separately via the external environment recognition means, respectively. Vehicle control device. The vehicle control device according to claim 2,
The outside world recognition means includes
The vehicle can recognize a target around the road on which the vehicle is running, and includes a toll gate as the recognizable target,
The road type determining means is
After determining that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is a general road, compared to when the toll gate is recognized by the outside world recognition means,
After recognizing the toll gate by the outside recognition means after determining that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway,
The vehicle control apparatus characterized by significantly reducing the road type evaluation points. The vehicle control device according to claim 2,
The outside world recognition means includes
The vehicle can recognize a target around the road on which the vehicle is running, and includes a toll gate as the recognizable target,
The road type determining means is
After determining that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway, the outside recognition unit recognizes the toll gate, and the position information acquisition unit is ahead of the toll gate in the traveling direction of the vehicle. Compared to when we could n’t get information that the side road is a regular road,
After determining that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is an expressway, the outside recognition unit recognizes the toll gate, and the position information acquisition unit is ahead of the toll gate in the traveling direction of the vehicle. When you can get information that the side road is a regular road,
The vehicle control apparatus characterized by significantly reducing the road type evaluation points. The vehicle control device according to claim 2,
The road type determining means is
Compared to when the vehicle speed of the vehicle acquired by the traveling state information acquisition means is equal to or higher than a predetermined vehicle speed,
Both the vehicle speed acquired by the driving state information acquisition means and the other vehicle speed, which is the traveling speed of the other vehicle traveling around the vehicle, acquired via the external environment recognition means, are equal to or higher than the predetermined vehicle speed. Sometimes
The vehicle control apparatus characterized by increasing the road type evaluation points. A vehicle equipped with the vehicle control device according to claim 1.

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