Vehicle controller, vehicle control method, and computer program for vehicle control

Abstract

To reduce damage due to light-sensitive epileptic seizures experienced by a driver of a vehicle.SOLUTION: A vehicle controller 5 determines whether or not an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a driver of a vehicle, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that can induce light-sensitive epileptic seizures. When determining that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle controller 5 controls the vehicle so that the actual luminance change no longer satisfies the luminance change condition, or supports an operation by the driver in at least one control of the vehicle that requires the operation by the driver.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a computer program for vehicle control that control the running of a vehicle or assist the operation of a driver of the vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Depending on the environment in which a vehicle is traveling, for example, when approaching the exit from a tunnel, the surrounding illuminance may change suddenly. A sudden change in illuminance may impair the visibility of the driver of the vehicle and may be an obstacle to safe driving. Patent Document 1 describes a driving assistance device that, when it estimates a sudden change in illuminance around the vehicle, determines that the driver's visibility has become poor and switches the vehicle's driving from manual driving to automatic driving. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2020 / 059076 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Repeated rapid changes in the amount of ambient light can cause changes in the luminance in the driver's field of vision, which can induce photosensitive epileptic seizures. If a driver experiences a photosensitive epileptic seizure while driving a vehicle, it can make it difficult to drive the vehicle safely, which can cause harm. There is a demand to reduce the damage caused by photosensitive epileptic seizures while driving.

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a vehicle control device that can reduce damage caused by photosensitive epileptic seizures in vehicle drivers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The gist of the present disclosure is as follows.

[0007] (1) a determination unit that determines whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a vehicle driver, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; a vehicle control unit that, when it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, controls the vehicle so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or assists the driver in an operation of at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver; A vehicle control device comprising:

[0008] (2) The vehicle control device according to (1) above, wherein the vehicle control unit controls the vehicle by reducing the transmittance of a window provided on at least a side of a passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0009] (3) The vehicle control device according to (1) or (2) above, wherein the vehicle control unit assists the driver in controlling at least one of steering, acceleration, and deceleration as assistance for the driver's operation.

[0010] (4) A vehicle control device that controls the running of a vehicle or assists the operation of a driver of the vehicle, determining whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a driver of the vehicle, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; When it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or an operation of the driver is supported for at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver. A vehicle control method comprising:

[0011] (5) determining whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a vehicle driver, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; When it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or an operation of the driver is supported for at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver. A computer program for vehicle control that causes a computer to execute a process including the steps of:

[0012] According to the vehicle control device according to the present disclosure, damage caused by photosensitive epileptic seizures in vehicle drivers can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle in which a vehicle device is implemented; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a hardware schematic diagram of the vehicle control device. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a processor included in the vehicle control device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a surrounding situation ahead of a vehicle. [Diagram 5] 4 is a flowchart of a vehicle control process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Hereinafter, a vehicle control device capable of reducing damage caused by photosensitive epileptic seizures in a vehicle driver will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The vehicle control device determines whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of the vehicle driver, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure. If it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle control device controls the vehicle so that the actual luminance change no longer satisfies the luminance change condition, or assists the driver in at least one control of the vehicle that requires the driver to operate it.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle in which a vehicle control device is implemented.

[0016] The vehicle 1 has a surrounding camera 2, an illuminance sensor 3, a side window 4, and a vehicle control device 5.

[0017] The surrounding camera 2, the illuminance sensor 3, the side window 4, and the vehicle control device 5 are communicatively connected via an in-vehicle network conforming to a standard such as a controller area network.

[0018] The surrounding camera 2 is an example of a sensor that generates surrounding images in time series that represent the surrounding conditions in front of the vehicle 1. The surrounding camera 2 has a two-dimensional detector that is composed of an array of photoelectric conversion elements that are sensitive to visible light, such as a CCD or C-MOS, and an imaging optical system that forms an image of the area to be photographed on the two-dimensional detector. The surrounding camera 2 is attached, for example, to the upper front part of the vehicle interior, facing the traveling direction of the vehicle 1. The surrounding camera 2 photographs the surrounding conditions in front of the vehicle 1 through the windshield at a predetermined photographing period (for example, 1 / 30 second to 1 / 10 second), and outputs the surrounding images that represent the surrounding conditions as data.

[0019] The illuminance sensor 3 is an example of a sensor that detects the amount of light in the vehicle interior of the vehicle 1. The illuminance sensor 3 has a light receiving element including a photodiode, and outputs a light amount signal representing the amount of received light as data. The illuminance sensor 3 is disposed inside the vehicle interior (for example, at an upper part of the vehicle interior) so that the light in the vehicle interior is incident on the light receiving element.

[0020] The side windows 4 are windows provided on the sides of the vehicle 1 so as to be able to introduce light from outside the vehicle 1 into the vehicle interior. The side windows 4 include a right side window 4-1 and a left side window 4-2. The side windows 4 have a window controller (not shown) connected to the in-vehicle network, and light-control glass whose transmittance changes according to a voltage applied in accordance with a light-controlling signal received by the window controller.

[0021] 2 is a hardware schematic diagram of the vehicle control device 5. The vehicle control device 5 is an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) including a communication interface 51, a memory 52, and a processor 53. The vehicle control device 5 determines whether or not an actual luminance change, which indicates a change in luminance in the field of view of the driver of the vehicle 1, satisfies a predetermined luminance change condition. When it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle control device 5 executes a predetermined control of the vehicle 1 or assists the driver in a predetermined operation.

[0022] The communication interface 51 is an example of a communication unit, and has a communication interface circuit for connecting the vehicle control device 5 to an in-vehicle network. The communication interface 51 supplies, for example, a peripheral image received from the peripheral camera 2 and a light amount signal received from the illuminance sensor 3 to the processor 53. In addition, the communication interface 51 outputs a control signal supplied from the processor 53 to, for example, a window controller that controls the transmittance of the light control glass of the side window 4.

[0023] The memory 52 has a volatile semiconductor memory and a non-volatile semiconductor memory. The memory 52 stores various data used in processing by the processor 53, such as a luminance change condition including a ratio or difference of luminance in each of a light area and a dark area in a change in luminance, and a period of the change in luminance. The memory 52 also stores a control signal representing the control content of the vehicle 1 or the support content of the driver's operation when it is determined that the luminance change condition is satisfied. The memory 52 also stores various application programs, such as a vehicle control computer program that causes the vehicle control device 5 to execute a vehicle control method.

[0024] The processor 53 is an example of a control unit, and includes one or more processors and their peripheral circuits. The processor 53 may further include other arithmetic circuits, such as a logic arithmetic unit, a numerical arithmetic unit, or a graphics processing unit.

[0025] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the processor 53 included in the vehicle control device 5. As shown in FIG.

[0026] The processor 53 of the vehicle control device 5 has, as functional blocks, a determination unit 531 and a vehicle control unit 532. Each of these units in the processor 53 is a functional module implemented by a program executed on the processor 53. A computer program that realizes the functions of each unit in the processor 53 may be provided in a form recorded on a computer-readable portable recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic recording medium, or an optical recording medium. Alternatively, each of these units in the processor 53 may be implemented in the vehicle control device 5 as an independent integrated circuit, a microprocessor, or firmware.

[0027] The determination unit 531 determines whether or not an actual luminance change in the field of view of the driver of the vehicle 1 satisfies a luminance change condition stored in the memory 52. ​​The luminance change condition corresponds to a luminance change that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure.

[0028] 4 is a diagram showing an example of a surrounding situation ahead of the vehicle 1. The surrounding camera 2 outputs a surrounding image SP showing the surrounding situation ahead of the vehicle 1.

[0029] The vehicle 1 is traveling on the lane L2 on the road R1 having lanes L1 and L2. A number of trees T are present along the road R1 in front of the vehicle 1. The shadows of the trees T are reflected on the lane L2. The area A in the peripheral image SP includes a dark area Ad corresponding to the shadows of the trees T and a bright area Ab that is not shaded and is illuminated by sunlight. In FIG. 4, for the sake of explanation, a trajectory that is assumed to be passed by the driver's head when the vehicle 1 travels straight is represented as a virtual line HL. The dashed line and the virtual line HL representing the area A may not be included in the peripheral image SP. The position of the virtual line HL is determined in advance according to, for example, the installation position of the peripheral camera 2 on the vehicle 1, the focal length of the imaging optical system, the shooting direction, and other shooting parameters stored in the memory 52, and the standard position of the driver's head on the vehicle 1.

[0030] When vehicle 1 travels through a section of lane L12 corresponding to area A, the driver's head alternates between a section corresponding to bright area Ab and a section corresponding to dark area Ad. The luminance of the driver's field of vision becomes high in the section corresponding to bright area Ab and becomes low in the section corresponding to dark area Ad. The repeated changes in luminance of the field of vision at this time may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure in the driver.

[0031] Conditions corresponding to changes in luminance that may induce photosensitive epileptic seizures are stored in advance in the memory 52 as luminance change conditions. The luminance change conditions are expressed, for example, by a luminance ratio when the luminance changes in the driver's field of vision being equal to or greater than a predetermined luminance threshold, and a period during which the luminance changes being within a predetermined range (e.g., 0.05 seconds to 0.10 seconds). The luminance threshold may be a value corresponding to a difference in luminance when the luminance changes in the driver's field of vision. The period during which the luminance changes may be expressed by a frequency.

[0032] The determination unit 531 detects, as the actual luminance change in the field of vision of the driver, the luminance ratio or luminance difference and the change period when the luminance around the head of the driver changes due to the vehicle 1 traveling.

[0033] The determination unit 531 detects bright areas having a brightness higher than a predetermined bright area brightness stored in the memory 52 and dark areas having a brightness lower than a predetermined dark area brightness stored in the memory 52 based on the brightness values ​​of each pixel included in the peripheral image SP acquired from the peripheral camera 2.

[0034] The determination unit 531 calculates a statistical representative value such as the average, median, or mode of the luminance of the pixels included in each of the bright and dark areas in the surrounding image SP. The determination unit 531 calculates the ratio or difference between the representative value of the luminance of the bright area and the representative value of the luminance of the dark area adjacent to the bright area as the luminance ratio or luminance difference when the luminance around the driver's head changes due to the traveling of the vehicle 1.

[0035] The determination unit 531 estimates the distance from the driver's head to each of the bright and dark areas based on the position on the peripheral image SP where the virtual line HL passes through the bright and dark areas and the shooting parameters stored in the memory. The determination unit 531 estimates the time required for the driver's head to reach each of the bright and dark areas based on the distance from the vehicle 1 to each of the bright and dark areas and the vehicle speed acquired from a vehicle speed sensor (not shown). The determination unit 531 calculates the difference in the time required for the driver's head to reach each of the bright and dark areas as a change period when the luminance around the driver's head changes due to the traveling of the vehicle 1.

[0036] The determination unit 531 determines whether the actual luminance change detected from the peripheral image SP satisfies the luminance change condition. For example, the determination unit 531 determines whether the luminance ratio or luminance difference between the bright area and the dark area in the peripheral image SP is greater than the luminance ratio or luminance difference stored in the memory 52 as the luminance change condition. The determination unit 531 also determines whether the change period of the luminance around the driver's head due to the traveling of the vehicle 1 is within the range of the change period stored in the memory 52 as the luminance change condition. If the detected luminance ratio or luminance difference is greater than the luminance ratio or luminance difference stored as the luminance change condition and the change period of the luminance around the driver's head due to the traveling of the vehicle 1 is within the range of the change period stored as the luminance change condition, the determination unit 531 determines that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition.

[0037] The determination unit 531 may input the peripheral image SP to a pre-trained classifier to determine whether the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition. The classifier may be a convolutional neural network (CNN) having multiple convolution layers connected in series from the input side to the output side, such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) or SSD (Single Shot MultiBox Detector). The CNN operates as a classifier that detects luminance changes that may induce photosensitive epileptic seizures by learning in advance using as teacher data a large number of forward images in which annotated regions corresponding to luminance changes that may induce photosensitive epileptic seizures are annotated.

[0038] As described above, the determination unit 531 detects a change in luminance that may occur in the driver's field of vision in the future as the actual luminance change. The determination unit 531 may detect a change in luminance that is currently occurring in the driver's field of vision as the actual luminance change. For example, the determination unit 531 may determine whether or not the luminance change condition is satisfied based on whether or not the period of the change in illuminance represented in the light amount signal output in time series by the illuminance sensor 3 falls within a predetermined range set as the luminance change condition.

[0039] When it is determined that the actual luminance change in the driver's field of vision satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle control unit 532 controls the vehicle 1 so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition. For example, the vehicle control unit 532 outputs a dimming signal to the window controller to reduce the transmittance of the light control glass of the side window 4. This reduces the luminance ratio of the field of vision in the sections corresponding to the bright area and the dark area, and the vehicle 1 is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition. By operating the vehicle control unit 532 in this manner, the vehicle control device 5 can suppress photosensitive epileptic seizures in the driver and reduce damage.

[0040] Furthermore, the vehicle control unit 532 may output a vehicle speed change signal for accelerating or decelerating the vehicle 1 to an acceleration / deceleration mechanism that controls the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle 1 in response to the driver's operation of an acceleration / deceleration operation receiving member such as an accelerator pedal or a brake pedal. As a result, the luminance change period is changed to fall outside the range of the change period stored as the luminance change condition, and the vehicle 1 is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition.

[0041] When it is determined that the actual luminance change in the driver's field of vision satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle control unit 532 may assist the driver in controlling the vehicle 1 instead of or in addition to the above-mentioned control of the vehicle 1. The vehicle control unit 532 assists the driver in, for example, acceleration / deceleration control of the vehicle 1, or steering control in response to the driver's operation of a steering operation receiving member such as a steering wheel. The vehicle control unit 532 assists the driver in operating the vehicle 1 based on the positions of surrounding objects such as lane markings or other vehicles detected from the surrounding image SP. Assisting the driver in operating the vehicle 1 includes performing control on behalf of the driver to eliminate the need for the driver to operate the vehicle 1. By the vehicle control unit 532 assisting the driver in operating the vehicle 1 in this way, the vehicle control device 5 can perform control to avoid danger, such as stopping the vehicle 1 in a safe place such as a road shoulder, and reduce damage, even if the driver has an epileptic seizure.

[0042] 5 is a flowchart of the vehicle control process. The processor 53 of the vehicle control device 5 executes the vehicle control process described below at predetermined time intervals (for example, every second) while the vehicle 1 is traveling.

[0043] First, the determination unit 531 of the processor 53 of the vehicle control device 5 detects an actual luminance change in the field of view of the driver of the vehicle 1 (step S1). Next, the determination unit 531 determines whether the detected actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition stored in the memory 52 (step S2).

[0044] If the detected actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition (step S2: Y), the vehicle control unit 532 of the processor 53 controls the vehicle 1 so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or assists the driver in controlling the vehicle 1 (step S3), and ends the vehicle control process. If the detected actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition (step S2: N), the vehicle control unit 532 ends the vehicle control process without executing the above-mentioned step S3.

[0045] By executing the vehicle control process in this manner, the vehicle control device 5 can reduce accidents caused by photosensitive epileptic seizures in vehicle drivers.

[0046] It should be understood that those skilled in the art can make various changes, substitutions, and alterations thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0047] 1 vehicle 5 Vehicle control device 531 Judgment section 532 Vehicle control unit

Claims

1. a determination unit that determines whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a driver of the vehicle, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; a vehicle control unit that, when it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, controls the vehicle so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or assists the driver in operation of at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver; A vehicle control device comprising:

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle control unit controls the vehicle by reducing a transmittance of a window provided on at least a side surface of a passenger compartment of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle control unit assists the driver in controlling at least one of steering, acceleration, and deceleration as the assistance to the driver's operation.

4. A vehicle control device that controls driving of a vehicle or assists an operation of a driver of the vehicle, determining whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a driver of the vehicle, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; When it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or an operation of the driver is supported for at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver. A vehicle control method comprising:

5. determining whether an actual luminance change, which represents a change in luminance in the field of vision of a driver of the vehicle, satisfies a luminance change condition corresponding to a change in luminance that may induce a photosensitive epileptic seizure; When it is determined that the actual luminance change satisfies the luminance change condition, the vehicle is controlled so that the actual luminance change does not satisfy the luminance change condition, or an operation of the driver is supported for at least one control of the vehicle that is required to be operated by the driver. A computer program for vehicle control that causes a computer to execute a process including the steps of:

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