Vehicle control device, vehicle, vehicle control method and program

Abstract

To enable an operation support without impeding an operation.SOLUTION: A haptic pedal control ECU 20 functions as a second control part. The second control part performs: acquiring a relative speed produced by subtracting a speed of a preceding vehicle V2 from a speed of a vehicle itself V1; and causing, in a case where the acquired relative speed is less than a given value, a reactive force exertion part 18 to limit reactive force exerted to an accelerator pedal 16 of the vehicle itself V1. This limits reactive force exerted to the accelerator pedal 16 in a situation where the relative speed is less than the given value, that is, a driver of the vehicle itself V1 wants to accelerate the vehicle itself.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control device, a vehicle, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that detects the vehicle state and the driving environment around the vehicle, calculates the risk level of the host vehicle or its surroundings, and monotonically increases the accelerator pedal reaction force increase amount as the calculated risk level increases. The technology described in Patent Document 1 calculates the risk level based on the margin time indicating the time until the host vehicle catches up with the preceding vehicle and the inter-vehicle time indicating the time until the host vehicle reaches the current position of the preceding vehicle. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2003-205760 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the technology described in Patent Document 1, even in a situation where the driver of the vehicle wants to accelerate the vehicle, such as when the relative speed obtained by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle from the speed of the vehicle itself is less than a predetermined value, a reaction force may be applied to the accelerator pedal. Therefore, there is room for improvement in order to provide driving assistance without interfering with driving.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned facts, and aims to provide a vehicle control device, a vehicle, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program that are capable of providing driving assistance without interfering with driving. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A vehicle control device according to a first aspect includes a reaction force control unit that acquires a relative speed by subtracting the speed of a preceding vehicle from the speed of the host vehicle, and limits the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by the reaction force application unit when the acquired relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

[0007] In the first aspect, when the relative speed obtained by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle from the speed of the own vehicle is less than a predetermined value, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the own vehicle is limited. As a result, in a situation where the relative speed is less than the predetermined value, that is, in a situation where the driver of the own vehicle wishes to accelerate the own vehicle, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal is limited, making it possible to perform driving assistance without interfering with driving.

[0008] In a second aspect, in the first aspect, the reaction force control unit reduces the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value to be less than the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle when the relative speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0009] In the second aspect, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle is limited by the following process. That is, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value is reduced to be less than the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle when the relative speed is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. This makes it possible to perform driving assistance while more reliably preventing interference with driving.

[0010] A third aspect is the first or second aspect, wherein the predetermined value is a value at which the relative velocity is greater than zero.

[0011] In a situation where the vehicle is traveling behind a leading vehicle, the driver of the vehicle drives the vehicle by predicting the relative speed with respect to the leading vehicle, and performs a driving operation of depressing the accelerator pedal of the vehicle when predicting acceleration of the leading vehicle even if the relative speed is greater than 0. Based on this, in the third aspect, the predetermined value is set to a value where the relative speed is greater than 0, so that it is possible to more reliably suppress interference with driving.

[0012] In a fourth aspect, in the first aspect, the reaction force control unit determines a limit value of the reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle based on the relative speed.

[0013] In a situation where the relative speed is less than a predetermined value, the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle desires to accelerate the host vehicle changes according to the relative speed. Based on this, in a fourth aspect, a limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle is determined based on the relative speed. This makes it possible to change the limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle according to the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle desires to accelerate the host vehicle.

[0014] In a fifth aspect, in the fourth aspect, the reaction force control unit determines a limit value of the reaction force such that the reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle decreases as the relative speed decreases.

[0015] In a situation where the relative speed is less than a predetermined value, the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle desires to accelerate the host vehicle increases as the relative speed decreases. Based on this, in a fifth aspect, the limit value of the reaction force is determined so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle decreases as the relative speed decreases. This makes it possible to change the limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle according to the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle desires to accelerate the host vehicle.

[0016] A vehicle according to a sixth aspect includes the reaction force application section and the vehicle control device according to the first aspect.

[0017] The sixth aspect includes the vehicle control device of the first aspect, and therefore, like the first aspect, it is possible to perform driving assistance without interfering with driving.

[0018] A seventh aspect of a vehicle control method includes a computer that executes a process that includes obtaining a relative speed by subtracting the speed of a preceding vehicle from the speed of the host vehicle, and limiting the reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by a reaction force application unit when the obtained relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

[0019] According to the seventh aspect, like the first aspect, it is possible to perform driving assistance without interfering with driving.

[0020] A vehicle control program according to an eighth aspect causes a computer to execute processing that includes obtaining a relative speed by subtracting the speed of a preceding vehicle from the speed of the host vehicle, and limiting the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by a reaction force application unit when the obtained relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

[0021] According to the eighth aspect, like the first aspect, it is possible to perform driving assistance without interfering with driving. Effect of the Invention

[0022] The present disclosure has an effect of enabling driving assistance to be performed without interfering with driving. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle system according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a haptic pedal control ECU. [Diagram 3] 4 is a functional block diagram showing the relationship between a first control unit and a second control unit. FIG. [Figure 4] 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between a relative velocity and a reaction force instruction gain in the first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 5] 13 is a flowchart showing a haptic pedal control process. [Figure 6] 11A and 11B are conceptual diagrams illustrating an example of a result of control by the haptic pedal control process. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the relationship between a relative velocity and a reaction force instruction gain in the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0025] [First embodiment] 1 shows an in-vehicle system 10 according to an embodiment. The in-vehicle system 10 is mounted on a vehicle V1 (see FIG. 5) and includes a forward sensor 12, a host vehicle sensor 14, an accelerator pedal 16 provided with a reaction force adding unit 18, and a haptic pedal control ECU 20. The forward sensor 12, the host vehicle sensor 14, the accelerator pedal 16, and the haptic pedal control ECU 20 are each connected to a system bus 22 and are capable of communicating with each other.

[0026] In the following description, the vehicle V1 equipped with the in-vehicle system 10 is referred to as the "own vehicle V1." The own vehicle V1 is an example of a vehicle according to the present disclosure. The haptic pedal control ECU 20 is an example of a vehicle control device according to the present disclosure.

[0027] The forward sensor 12 is a sensor capable of detecting an obstacle present in front of the host vehicle V1, and includes at least one of a camera, a radar, and a lidar (Light Detection and Ranging or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging). In this embodiment, the forward sensor 12 detects the presence or absence of a preceding vehicle V2 (see FIG. 5) traveling in front of the host vehicle V1, and detects the speed, acceleration, and distance between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 when the preceding vehicle V2 is detected. The presence or absence of the preceding vehicle V2 detected by the forward sensor 12, and the speed, acceleration, and distance between the preceding vehicle V2 when the preceding vehicle V2 is present, are output to the haptic pedal control ECU 20.

[0028] The host vehicle sensor 14 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the host vehicle V1 and an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of the host vehicle V1. The vehicle speed and acceleration of the host vehicle V1 detected by the host vehicle sensor 14 are output to the haptic pedal control ECU 20.

[0029] The accelerator pedal 16 is disposed below the driver's seat of the host vehicle V1. When the driver depresses the accelerator pedal 16, the host vehicle V1 generates a propulsive force for propelling the host vehicle V1 in accordance with the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 16.

[0030] The reaction force application unit 18 provided on the accelerator pedal 16 is a mechanism capable of applying a reaction force to the accelerator pedal 16, and includes, for example, a servo motor connected to the accelerator pedal 16. In this embodiment, the haptic pedal control ECU 20 outputs a reaction force instruction signal according to the magnitude of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 by the reaction force application unit 18. The reaction force application unit 18 applies a reaction force according to the input reaction force instruction signal to the accelerator pedal 16 by causing the servo motor to generate a torque according to the magnitude of the reaction force represented by the reaction force instruction signal input from the haptic pedal control ECU 20.

[0031] The reaction force adding unit 18 also includes a stroke sensor that is incorporated in a servo motor and detects the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 16. The amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 16 detected by the stroke sensor of the reaction force adding unit 18 is output to the haptic pedal control ECU 20.

[0032] The haptic pedal control ECU 20 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 24, a memory 26 such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a non-volatile storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive). Storage section 28 and an I / F (InterFace) unit 30. The CPU 24, the memory 26, the storage unit 28, and the I / F unit 30 are each connected to an internal bus 32 and are capable of communicating with each other. The I / F unit 30 is also connected to the system bus 22.

[0033] A haptic pedal control program 34 is stored in the storage unit 28 of the haptic pedal control ECU 20. The haptic pedal control program 34 is read from the storage unit 28 and loaded into the memory 26, and the haptic pedal control ECU 20 functions as an information acquisition unit 36, a first control unit 38, and a second control unit 40 shown in Fig. 2 by the CPU 24 executing the haptic pedal control program 34 loaded into the memory 26, and performs a haptic pedal control process (Fig. 4) described below. The haptic pedal control program 34 is an example of a vehicle control program according to the present disclosure.

[0034] The information acquisition unit 36 ​​acquires from the forward sensor 12 the presence or absence of a preceding vehicle V2, and the speed, acceleration, and distance therebetween of the preceding vehicle V2, and also acquires from the host vehicle sensor 14 the vehicle speed and acceleration of the host vehicle V1. The information acquisition unit 36 ​​also acquires from the reaction force addition unit 18 the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 16.

[0035] When the preceding vehicle V2 is present and the accelerator pedal 16 is depressed, the first control unit 38 performs haptic pedal control to control the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 by the reaction force application unit 18. That is, the first control unit 38 calculates the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2, the relative acceleration between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2, and the like, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 36. Note that in this embodiment, the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 means the relative speed obtained by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle V2 from the speed of the host vehicle V1.

[0036] In addition, the first control unit 38 calculates a risk value representing the possibility that the host vehicle V1 will collide with the preceding vehicle V2 based on information such as the speed of the host vehicle V1, the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2, the relative acceleration, and the vehicle distance (see also the following equation (1)). Risk value = f (vehicle speed, relative speed, relative acceleration, vehicle distance, ...) ... (1) The first control unit 38 then generates and outputs a reaction force instruction that instructs the magnitude of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 increases as the calculated risk value increases.

[0037] The second control unit 40 acquires the relative speed by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle V2 from the speed of the host vehicle V1 based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 36, and performs reaction force limiting control to limit the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 by the reaction force application unit 18 when the acquired relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

[0038] 3, in this embodiment, the second control unit 40 outputs a reaction force instruction gain to be multiplied by the reaction force instruction output from the first control unit 38, and the multiplication result of the reaction force instruction and the reaction force instruction gain is output as a reaction force instruction signal from the haptic pedal control ECU 20 to the reaction force adding unit 18. The second control unit 40 limits (reduces) the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 by setting the reaction force instruction gain to be output to a value smaller than 1.

[0039] Furthermore, the second control unit 40 reduces the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value, compared to the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 when the relative speed is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. As an example, in the first embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, the second control unit 40 sets the reaction force command gain to 1 when the relative speed is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, and sets the reaction force command gain to 0 when the relative speed is less than the predetermined value. Note that the above-mentioned predetermined value is a value when the relative speed is greater than 0, and can be, for example, a value of about 0.2 [m / s].

[0040] Furthermore, if the reaction force command gain is changed in a stepwise manner as shown in FIG. 4 when the relative speed changes from a predetermined value or more to less than the predetermined value, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 will decrease suddenly, which is undesirable as it may induce a sudden depression of the accelerator pedal 16. For this reason, when the relative speed changes from a predetermined value or more to less than the predetermined value, the second control unit 40 actually gradually decreases the reaction force command gain so that the reaction force command gain becomes 0 after a predetermined time. Note that the above-mentioned predetermined time is, for example, a value of about several seconds. The second control unit 40 is an example of a reaction force control unit in the present disclosure.

[0041] Next, as an operation of this embodiment, a haptic pedal control process executed by the haptic pedal control ECU 20 while the ignition switch of the host vehicle V1 is on will be described with reference to FIG.

[0042] In step 100 of the haptic pedal control processing, the information acquisition unit 36 ​​acquires from the forward sensor 12 the presence or absence of a preceding vehicle V2, the speed, acceleration, and distance between the preceding vehicle V2, acquires from the host vehicle sensor 14 the vehicle speed and acceleration of the host vehicle V1, and acquires from the reaction force addition unit 18 the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal 16.

[0043] In step 102, the first control unit 38 determines whether or not there is a preceding vehicle V2 traveling ahead of the host vehicle V1, based on information indicating the presence or absence of the preceding vehicle V2 acquired by the information acquisition unit 36 ​​from the forward sensor 12. If the determination in step 102 is negative, the process proceeds to step 106. In step 106, the first control unit 38 returns to step 100 without executing haptic pedal control.

[0044] If the determination in step 102 is positive, the process proceeds to step 104. In step 104, the first control unit 38 determines whether or not the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 is depressed, based on the depression amount of the accelerator pedal 16 acquired by the information acquisition unit 36 ​​from the reaction force addition unit 18. If the determination in step 104 is negative, the process proceeds to step 106. In step 106, the first control unit 38 returns to step 100 without executing haptic pedal control.

[0045] On the other hand, if the determination in step 104 is positive, the process proceeds to step 106. In step 108, the first control unit 38 starts executing haptic pedal control. That is, the first control unit 38 calculates a risk value according to the above formula (1) based on information such as the speed of the host vehicle V1, the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2, the relative acceleration, and the inter-vehicle distance. Then, the first control unit 38 generates and outputs a reaction force instruction so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 increases as the calculated risk value increases.

[0046] Note that the second control unit 40 outputs a reaction force instruction gain of 1 while the determination in step 110 described next is negative. Therefore, during this time, "the reaction force indicated by the reaction force instruction = the reaction force indicated by the reaction force instruction signal" holds, and the reaction force according to the risk value calculated by the first control unit 38 is applied to the accelerator pedal 16 by the reaction force application unit 18.

[0047] In the next step 110, the second control unit 40 determines whether or not the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 is less than a predetermined value. If the determination in step 110 is negative, the process returns to step 100, and the processes from step 100 onwards are repeated.

[0048] On the other hand, if the determination in step 110 is positive, the process proceeds to step 112. In step 112, the second control unit 40 gradually reduces the reaction force instruction gain to be output so that the reaction force instruction gain becomes 0 after a predetermined time. As a result, the reaction force represented by the reaction force instruction signal output to the reaction force adding unit 18 is also gradually reduced so that it becomes 0 after a predetermined time.

[0049] When the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 decreases, the risk value calculated by the first control unit 38 also gradually decreases. However, as is clear from the above formula (1), the first control unit 38 calculates the risk value using parameters other than the relative speed, so it takes time for the risk value and the reaction force instruction to decrease after the relative speed decreases, and a situation occurs in which a reaction force is being applied to the accelerator pedal 16 even though the driver of the host vehicle V1 wants to accelerate the host vehicle V1.

[0050] In contrast, in the first embodiment, when the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 falls below a predetermined value, the second control unit 40 performs reaction force limiting control, immediately starts reducing the reaction force command gain, and takes a predetermined time to set the reaction force command gain to 0. As a result, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 is reduced early in a situation in which the driver of the host vehicle V1 wishes to accelerate the host vehicle V1, i.e., in a situation in which the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 falls below a predetermined value.

[0051] In the next step 114, the second control unit 40 determines whether or not the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 has reached a predetermined value or more. If the determination in step 114 is negative, the process returns to step 112, and steps 112 and 114 are repeated until the determination in step 114 is positive. If the determination in step 114 is positive, the process returns to step 100, and steps 100 and after are repeated.

[0052] The above-described haptic pedal control process realizes, for example, the control shown in FIG. 6 (note that in FIG. 6, the length of the white arrows represents the speed of each vehicle (host vehicle V1 and preceding vehicle V2)). That is, as shown in the upper part of FIG. 6, when the host vehicle V1 is catching up with the preceding vehicle V2 and the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the first control unit 38 performs haptic pedal control, while the second control unit 40 does not perform reaction force limiting control. As a result, a reaction force according to the risk value is applied to the accelerator pedal 16, and the driver of the host vehicle V1 is prevented from depressing the accelerator pedal 16 too hard.

[0053] 6, when the preceding vehicle V2 accelerates after the host vehicle V1 catches up with the preceding vehicle V2, the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 becomes less than a predetermined value. In this situation, the first control unit 38 performs haptic pedal control, and the second control unit 40 performs reaction force limiting control, so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 is reduced from the reaction force corresponding to the risk value and set to 0 after a predetermined time. This prevents the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 from interfering with the driver's operation of depressing the accelerator pedal 16, and enables the driver to accelerate as intended.

[0054] Thereafter, as shown in the lower part of Figure 6, if the situation in which the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 remains below a predetermined value, the haptic pedal control by the first control unit 38 and the reaction force limitation control by the second control unit 40 are continued, and the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 is maintained at 0.

[0055] In this way, in the first embodiment, the second control unit 40 of the haptic pedal control ECU 20 acquires the relative speed obtained by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle V2 from the speed of the host vehicle V1. When the acquired relative speed is less than a predetermined value, the second control unit 40 limits the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 by the reaction force application unit 18. As a result, in a situation where the relative speed is less than the predetermined value, that is, in a situation where the driver of the host vehicle V1 wishes to accelerate the host vehicle, the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 is limited, making it possible to perform driving assistance without interfering with driving.

[0056] In the first embodiment, the second control unit 40 reduces the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value to be less than the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 when the relative speed is equal to or greater than the predetermined value. This makes it possible to perform driving assistance while more reliably preventing interference with driving.

[0057] Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the second control unit 40 sets the predetermined value to a value at which the relative speed is greater than 0. This makes it possible to more reliably prevent the driving from being disturbed.

[0058] Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. Note that since the second embodiment has the same configuration as the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the respective parts and the description of the configuration will be omitted.

[0059] In the second embodiment, the second control unit 40 determines a limit value (reaction force command gain) of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 based on the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2. More specifically, in the second embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7 as an example, the second control unit 40 determines a limit value (reaction force command gain) of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 decreases as the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 decreases.

[0060] In the relationship between the relative speed and the reaction force addition gain shown in Fig. 7, the reaction force command gain is 1 in an area where the relative speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, while the reaction force command gain is smaller than 1 in an area where the relative speed is less than the predetermined value. The predetermined value in the second embodiment is also a value where the relative speed is greater than 0, and can be, for example, a value of about 0.2 [m / s]. In the second embodiment, the relationship between the relative speed and the reaction force addition gain shown in Fig. 7 is stored in advance in the storage unit 28 in the form of, for example, a map.

[0061] Hereinafter, only the parts of the haptic pedal control process according to the second embodiment that are different from the first embodiment will be described. In step 112 of the haptic pedal control process according to the second embodiment, the second control unit 40 reads out from the storage unit 28 the relationship between the relative speed and the reaction force addition gain that is stored in advance in the storage unit 28 in the form of a map or the like. Then, the second control unit 40 specifies the value of the reaction force addition gain that corresponds to the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 from the read-out relationship between the relative speed and the reaction force addition gain, and outputs the specified value of the reaction force addition gain.

[0062] Therefore, also in the second embodiment, when the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 falls below a predetermined value, the second control unit 40 performs reaction force limiting control and reduces the reaction force command gain in accordance with the decrease in the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2. This allows the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 to be reduced quickly in a situation where the driver of the host vehicle V1 wishes to accelerate the host vehicle V1, i.e., when the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 falls below a predetermined value.

[0063] Thus, in the second embodiment, the second control unit 40 determines the limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 based on the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2. This makes it possible to change the limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 depending on the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle V1 desires to accelerate the host vehicle V1.

[0064] In the second embodiment, the second control unit 40 determines the limit value of the reaction force so that the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 decreases as the relative speed between the host vehicle V1 and the preceding vehicle V2 decreases. This makes it possible to change the limit value of the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal 16 of the host vehicle V1 depending on the degree to which the driver of the host vehicle V1 desires to accelerate the host vehicle V1.

[0065] In the above embodiment, the reaction force application unit 18 is configured to apply a desired reaction force to the accelerator pedal 16 by generating a predetermined torque using a servo motor, but the present invention is not limited to this. The reaction force application unit 18 may be configured to apply a reaction force to the accelerator pedal 16 using a mechanism that utilizes a cylinder, hydraulic pressure, or the like, for example.

[0066] In the above embodiment, the CPU 24 executes the haptic pedal control program 34 to realize the haptic pedal control process. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the haptic pedal control process may be executed by a processor other than the CPU 24. In this case, examples of the processor include a dedicated electric circuit that is a processor having a circuit configuration designed specifically for executing a specific process, such as a programmable logic device (PLD) such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) whose circuit configuration can be changed after manufacture, and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The haptic pedal control process may be executed by one of these various processors, or by a combination of two or more processors of the same or different types, for example, by a combination of a plurality of FPGAs and a CPU and an FPGA.

[0067] In the above embodiment, the haptic pedal control program 34, which is an example of the vehicle control program according to the present disclosure, is pre-stored (installed) in the storage unit 28. However, the vehicle control program according to the present disclosure may be provided in a form recorded on a non-transitory recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory), or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. The vehicle control program according to the present disclosure may be provided in a form downloaded from an external device via a network. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 10. In-vehicle systems 16 Accelerator pedal 18 Reaction force application part 20 Haptic pedal control ECU 34 Haptic pedal control program (vehicle control program) 36 Information Acquisition Department 38 First Control Section 40 Second control section (reaction force control section) V1 Vehicle (own vehicle) V2 Preceding vehicle

Claims

1. a first control unit that calculates a risk value representing a possibility that the host vehicle will collide with the preceding vehicle from a plurality of parameters including a relative speed obtained by subtracting a speed of the preceding vehicle from a speed of the host vehicle, and changes a reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by a reaction force application unit in accordance with the calculated risk value; a second control unit that limits a reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by the reaction force application unit when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value; A vehicle control device comprising:

2. 2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the second control unit limits the reaction force applied to the accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by setting a gain by which the reaction force command output from the first control unit and input to the reaction force application unit is multiplied to a value smaller than 1 when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

3. The reaction force application portion, The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , Vehicles including.

4. A risk value representing the possibility of the host vehicle colliding with the preceding vehicle is calculated from a plurality of parameters including a relative speed obtained by subtracting the speed of the preceding vehicle from the speed of the host vehicle, and a reaction force adding unit changes a reaction force to be applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle in accordance with the calculated risk value, A vehicle control method that causes a computer to execute a process including limiting a reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by the reaction force application unit when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

5. A computer comprising: a risk value indicating a possibility that the host vehicle will collide with the preceding vehicle from a plurality of parameters including a relative speed obtained by subtracting a speed of the preceding vehicle from a speed of the host vehicle; and a reaction force adding unit changing a reaction force to be added to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle in accordance with the calculated risk value; A vehicle control program for executing a process including limiting a reaction force applied to an accelerator pedal of the host vehicle by the reaction force application unit when the relative speed is less than a predetermined value.

Images