Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and vehicle control system

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle control device for stabilizing the vehicle motion when switching from automatic driving to manual driving. The vehicle control device comprises: a motion instability acquisition unit (202) for acquiring the motion instability of the vehicle; an automatic driving possibility determination unit (220) for determining whether automatic driving can be continued when automatic driving is being performed; and a switching time setting unit (270) for determining the switching time from automatic driving to manual driving based on the motion instability when it is determined that automatic driving cannot be continued.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method and a vehicle control system. Background Art

[0002] In the past, for example, in the following patent document 1, the following technology is described: it is envisioned that when the driver steers during automatic steering control or under driving conditions such as when driving on a road with a low friction coefficient, the disadvantages of steering discomfort and / or unstable vehicle movement caused by maintaining automatic steering control are eliminated, and the automatic steering control guides the vehicle to the target driving lane.

[0003] Prior art literature

[0004] Patent Literature

[0005] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2016-115356 Summary of the invention

[0006] Technical issues

[0007] As cars capable of autonomous driving become more popular, it is assumed that there will be a large number of scenes where the car switches from autonomous driving to manual driving. At this time, if the car switches from autonomous driving to manual driving instantly, there may be a situation where the passengers cannot cope with manual driving, and the vehicle movement may become unstable when the driver performs an emergency operation. Moreover, even in the processing on the vehicle side, when switching from autonomous driving to manual driving, a preparation period is required from the start of the switch to the end of the switch. The technology described in the above patent document does not take into account the transition time when switching from autonomous driving to manual driving.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved vehicle control device, vehicle control method and vehicle control system that can stabilize the vehicle's behavior when switching from automatic driving to manual driving.

[0009] Technical Solution

[0010] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle control device, wherein the vehicle control device comprises: a motion instability acquisition unit, which acquires the motion instability of the vehicle; an automatic driving possibility determination unit, which determines whether the automatic driving can be continued when the automatic driving is being performed; and a switching time setting unit, which determines the switching time from the automatic driving to manual driving based on the motion instability when it is determined that the automatic driving cannot be continued.

[0011] Furthermore, the switching time setting unit may extend the switching time as the degree of operational instability increases.

[0012] In addition, the motion instability acquisition unit may further include a current surrounding environment information acquisition unit, which acquires information related to the surrounding environment of the vehicle including the road surface condition on which the vehicle is traveling, and the motion instability is determined based on the road surface condition on which the vehicle is traveling.

[0013] Furthermore, the motion instability acquisition unit may further include a calculation unit that calculates a friction coefficient of a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling, and the motion instability may be the friction coefficient calculated by the calculation unit.

[0014] In addition, the control device of the vehicle may also include a historical information acquisition unit for acquiring the environment of the planned route of the vehicle from a server, and the automatic driving possibility judgment unit may judge whether the automatic driving can continue based on the environment around the vehicle acquired by the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit and the environment of the planned route of the vehicle acquired by the historical information acquisition unit.

[0015] Furthermore, when the environment of the planned route along which the vehicle is traveling is worse than the environment around the vehicle, the automatic driving possibility determination unit may determine that the automatic driving cannot be continued.

[0016] In addition, when the automatic driving determination unit determines that the automatic driving cannot be continued, a warning message indicating the intention to switch to manual driving may be notified to the vehicle occupant. In addition, the switching time may be the time from the start of switching from automatic driving to manual driving to the end of switching to manual driving.

[0017] In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle control method is provided, which includes the steps of obtaining the vehicle's movement instability, judging whether the automatic driving can be continued when the automatic driving is being performed, and determining the switching time from the automatic driving to manual driving based on the movement instability when it is judged that the automatic driving cannot be continued.

[0018] In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle control system is provided, which comprises: a vehicle control device, which has a motion instability acquisition unit for acquiring the motion instability of the vehicle, an automatic driving possibility determination unit for determining whether the automatic driving can be continued based on the environment around the vehicle and the environment of a planned route for the vehicle to travel in the case of automatic driving, and a switching time setting unit for determining the switching time from the automatic driving to manual driving based on the motion instability when it is determined that the automatic driving cannot be continued; and a server, which stores information related to the environment of the planned route and sends the information to the vehicle control device.

[0019] Technical Effects

[0020] According to the present invention, the vehicle behavior can be stabilized when switching from automatic driving to manual driving. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 2A Schematic diagram showing a map used when the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit determines the road surface state.

[0023] Figure 2B It is shown Figure 2A Schematic diagram of the coordinate system for three-dimensional mapping.

[0024] Figure 2C Yes Figure 2A A schematic diagram showing the decomposition of a three-dimensional map into a two-dimensional map.

[0025] Figure 2D Yes Figure 2A A schematic diagram showing the decomposition of a three-dimensional map into a two-dimensional map.

[0026] Figure 2E Yes Figure 2A A schematic diagram showing the decomposition of a three-dimensional map into a two-dimensional map.

[0027] Figure 3 Schematic diagram showing an example of a database that predefines the relationship between the road surface state and the friction coefficient.

[0028] Figure 4 Schematic diagram showing information acquired by the motion instability acquisition unit.

[0029] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram showing the information obtained by fractionalization.

[0030] Figure 6 It is shown in Figure 4 The information shown is Figure 5 This is a diagram of a table that is referenced when the information shown is fractionalized.

[0031] Figure 7 Schematic diagram showing the value of the switching time coefficient corresponding to the road surface friction coefficient.

[0032] Figure 8 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the switching time T. FIG.

[0033] Fig. 9 This is a flowchart showing the processing performed by the vehicle system according to the present embodiment.

[0034] Explanation of symbols

[0035] 200 Control device

[0036] 202 Motion instability acquisition unit

[0037] 210 Road Friction Coefficient Calculation Unit

[0038] 212 Current surrounding environment information acquisition department

[0039] 214 Historical Information Acquisition Department

[0040] 220 Automatic Driving Permission Judgment Department

[0041] 270 Switching time setting unit

[0042] 2000 Server DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in this specification and the accompanying drawings, components having substantially the same functional structure are denoted by the same reference numerals to omit repeated descriptions.

[0044] First, refer to Figure 1 , the configuration of a vehicle system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention is described. The vehicle system 1000 is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile. In this embodiment, the vehicle equipped with the vehicle system 1000 is a vehicle capable of automatic driving and manual driving. Figure 1 As shown, the vehicle system 1000 of the present embodiment is configured to include an external sensor 150, a vehicle speed sensor 170, a control device 200, a vehicle brake drive device 300, a steering device 400, an information display device 500, a navigation device 700, a communication device 800, and a database 950. The vehicle system 1000 is configured to be able to communicate with an external server 2000.

[0045] The control device 200 controls the entire vehicle system 1000. The control device 200 includes a motion instability acquisition unit 202, an automatic driving possibility determination unit 220, a vehicle control unit 230, an information prompt processing unit 250, a driving switching unit 260, and a switching time setting unit 270. Figure 1 The components of the control device 200 shown can be constituted by a circuit (hardware) or a central processing unit such as a CPU, and a program (software) for making them function.

[0046] The vehicle exterior sensor 150 is composed of a camera that takes a picture of the front of the vehicle, a temperature sensor (external air temperature sensor, road surface temperature sensor), a near infrared sensor, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar (LiDAR), a laser sensor (TOF (Time of Flight) sensor), a wind sensor, etc., and detects environmental information such as the image, temperature, and road surface conditions in front of the vehicle. It should be noted that when the vehicle exterior sensor 150 is used to determine the road surface conditions, the method described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-46936 may also be used.

[0047] The vehicle brake drive device 300 is a device for braking and driving the vehicle. Specifically, the vehicle brake drive device 300 is a device such as a motor, an engine (internal combustion engine), a friction brake, etc. that drives the wheels of the vehicle and generates electricity through regeneration. The steering device 400 is a device that mainly steers the front wheels of the vehicle through steering operation. The steering device 400 can steer the front wheels through the driving force of the actuator.

[0048] The information presentation device 500 is composed of a display screen and a speaker installed in the vehicle, and based on the instruction of the information presentation processing unit 250, provides information presentation to the vehicle occupants regarding switching from automatic driving to manual driving.

[0049] The communication device 800 communicates with the server 2000 outside the vehicle and sends and receives various information. The navigation device 700 retrieves the predicted route from the current position to the destination based on the map information. Therefore, the navigation device 700 can obtain the current position of the vehicle using the global positioning system (GPS: Global0Positioning System) or the like. In addition, the navigation device 700 stores the route that the vehicle has traveled to the current position.

[0050] The motion instability acquisition unit 202 of the control device 200 includes a current surrounding environment information acquisition unit 212 for acquiring information about the current surrounding environment of the vehicle, and a history information acquisition unit 214 for acquiring past surrounding environments from the server 2000. In addition, the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit 212 includes a road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 for calculating a road friction coefficient as motion instability.

[0051] The current surrounding environment information acquisition unit 212 acquires information such as weather, temperature, wind speed, and road surface conditions (dry, wet, frozen, etc.) around the vehicle based on the information detected by the off-vehicle sensor 150. It should be noted that the weather around the vehicle can be acquired based on an image of the sky captured by the off-vehicle sensor 150. The information acquired by the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit 212 is sent to the server 2000 via the communication device 800 together with the vehicle's position information, and is stored in the database 2010 of the server 2000. As a result, other vehicles logged in to the server 2000 can acquire and use this information.

[0052] If the image, temperature and other information in front of the vehicle are detected by the off-vehicle sensor 150, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 calculates the friction coefficient of the road surface in real time based on the information. Specifically, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 uses the image of the camera of the off-vehicle sensor 150 to obtain the color of the road surface in front of the vehicle, the roughness of the road surface, etc. In addition, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 uses the non-contact thermometer of the off-vehicle sensor 150 to obtain the external air temperature and the road surface temperature.

[0053] In addition, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 obtains the moisture content of the road surface based on the detection value of the near infrared sensor of the vehicle exterior sensor 150. When near infrared rays are irradiated to the road surface, if there is more moisture on the road surface, the amount of reflection of the near infrared rays decreases, and if there is less moisture on the road surface, the amount of reflection of the near infrared rays increases. Therefore, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 can obtain the moisture content of the road surface based on the detection value of the near infrared sensor.

[0054] In addition, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 obtains the roughness of the road surface based on the laser sensor of the vehicle exterior sensor 150. More specifically, the roughness (concavity) of the road surface in front of the vehicle can be obtained based on the time from the start of laser irradiation to the detection of the reflected light. It should be noted that the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 considers the movement of the road surface as the vehicle travels based on the vehicle speed, thereby obtaining the roughness of the road surface in the area in front of the vehicle.

[0055] The road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 determines whether the state of the road surface is dry (D), wet (W), snow (S), or ice (I) based on the information acquired by the vehicle exterior sensor 150 . Figure 2ASchematic diagram showing a map used when the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 determines the road surface state. Figure 2A The map shown is a three-dimensional map having normalized values ​​of the road surface temperature, road surface irregularities, and road surface moisture content as parameters. Figure 2B to Figure 2E Yes Figure 2A A schematic diagram showing the decomposition of a three-dimensional map into a two-dimensional map. Figure 2B A coordinate system showing the road surface temperature (Z axis), road surface unevenness (X axis), and road surface moisture content (Y axis). Figure 2C Show Figure 2B The two-dimensional mapping of (1) surface, Figure 2D Show Figure 2B The two-dimensional mapping of (2) faces, Figure 2E Show Figure 2B The road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 applies the road surface temperature, road surface unevenness, and road surface moisture content obtained by using the detection value of the vehicle external sensor 150 to the road surface temperature, road surface unevenness, and road surface moisture content. Figure 2A mapping to determine the road surface condition.

[0056] Furthermore, the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 calculates the road surface friction coefficient by using Figure 2A The road surface condition determined by the mapping is reflected in a database that predefines the relationship between the road surface condition and the road surface friction coefficient, thereby calculating the road surface friction coefficient μN. Figure 3 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database that predefines the relationship between road surface conditions and friction coefficients. Figure 3 In the database shown, friction coefficients corresponding to "asphalt", "concrete", "gravel", "ice", and "snow" as road conditions are shown in the vertical direction. In addition, friction coefficients corresponding to "dry (D))" and "wet (W)" as road conditions are shown in the horizontal direction.

[0057] The road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 will calculate the road friction coefficient from Figure 2A The road surface condition determined by the mapping is applied to Figure 3 database, thereby calculating the road friction coefficient μN. At this time, for the determination of "asphalt", "concrete", "gravel", "ice", and "snow", the similarity between the image of the road surface acquired by the camera of the vehicle-external sensor 150 and the images of "asphalt", "concrete", "gravel", "ice", and "snow" acquired in advance is determined, and based on the determination result, it is determined whether the road surface in front of the vehicle is "asphalt", "concrete", "gravel", "ice", or "snow".

[0058] Furthermore, when the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 determines that the road surface in front of the vehicle is "asphalt", it determines the similarity between the image of the road surface acquired by the camera of the vehicle-external sensor 150 and the previously acquired images of "newly paved", "normally paved", "paved worn", and "asphalt excess", and determines that the road surface in front of the vehicle is "asphalt" based on the determination result, and determines which state it is among "newly paved", "normally paved", "paved worn", and "asphalt excess". When the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 determines that the road surface in front of the vehicle is "concrete", "gravel", "ice", or "snow", it can also make a more detailed determination in the same way.

[0059] As described above, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 calculates the road friction coefficient based on the road condition and the vehicle speed. Figure 3 For example, when the road surface is determined to be "newly paved" of "asphalt" based on the image of the camera of the vehicle exterior sensor 150, the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 170 is 40 km / h, and the vehicle speed is 40 km / h based on the image of the camera of the vehicle exterior sensor 150 ... Figure 2A When the map determines that the road surface condition is dry (Dry (D)), the value of the road surface friction coefficient μf is calculated to be 0.82 to 1.02.

[0060] The historical information acquisition unit 214 communicates with the server 2000 via the communication device 800 to acquire various information. The historical information acquisition unit 214 acquires the predicted route from the navigation device 700 and acquires various information on the predicted route from the server 2000. As the information acquired by the historical information acquisition unit 214 from the server 2000, information such as weather, temperature, wind force, and road surface conditions on the predicted route are listed. The server 2000 communicates with a plurality of vehicles, thereby pre-storing information such as weather, temperature, wind force, and road surface conditions corresponding to the positions of each vehicle of the communication object, and saves it in the database 2010.

[0061] Figure 4 Schematic diagram showing information acquired by the motion instability acquisition unit 202 . Figure 4 Among the information shown, the current surrounding data 10 is obtained by the current surrounding environment acquisition unit 210. In addition, the cloud information history data 12 is obtained by the history information acquisition unit 214. Figure 4 In the figure, the value of the road surface friction coefficient calculated by the road surface friction coefficient calculation unit 210 is omitted from the figure. Figure 4 As shown, as the cloud information history data 12 , data at the point where the vehicle has traveled 1.0 km, 5.0 km, and 10.0 km ahead along the predicted route is acquired from the server 2000 .

[0062] The automatic driving possibility determination unit 220 determines whether the automatic driving is possible based on the information acquired by the motion instability acquisition unit 202. Figure 4 If the vehicle behavior is expected to become unstable on the route the vehicle is traveling on based on the current surrounding data 10 and the cloud information history data 12, it is determined that automatic driving is not possible. For example, if the current wind is weak from the current surrounding data 10 and the wind is strong 5.0 km ahead from the cloud information history data 12, it is expected that the crosswind and other winds will become strong on the predicted route ahead. In such a case, it is determined that automatic driving is not possible and the switch to manual driving is performed.

[0063] The automatic driving possibility determination unit 220 compares the current surrounding data 10 with the cloud information history data 12. Figure 4 The information shown is fractionalized. Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram showing the information obtained by fractionalization. Figure 5 The current surrounding data 20 and cloud information history data 22 shown are Figure 4 The current surrounding data 10 and the cloud information history data 12 are shown as fractional data.

[0064] Figure 6 It is shown in Figure 4 The information shown is Figure 5 A diagram of the table used to refer to when the information shown is fractionalized. Figure 6 As shown in FIG. 1 , for example, regarding the weather, scores of 0 to 3 are specified for “sunny,” “cloudy,” “rainy,” and “snowy.” The same applies to wind speed, temperature, and road conditions. Figure 6 The scores are specified in the table.

[0065] Figure 5 The difference between the present and the past shown in 24 is shown Figure 5 The difference between the current surrounding data 20 and the cloud information history data 22 after fractionalization is shown. Figure 5 The automatic driving possibility 26 shown shows the result of judging whether the automatic driving is possible or not based on the difference 24 between the current surrounding data 20 and the cloud information history data 22 after being converted into scores, where 0 indicates that the automatic driving is possible and x indicates that the automatic driving is not possible. If even one of the difference values ​​obtained by subtracting the past score from the current score is less than "-2", it is judged that the automatic driving is not possible.

[0066] exist Figure 5In the example shown, the difference 24 between the current surrounding data 20 and the cloud information history data 22 at 1.0 km ahead of the vehicle is "0" in all items. Therefore, it is judged that automatic driving is possible for the driving up to 1.0 km. In addition, the difference 24 between the current surrounding data 20 and the cloud information history data 22 at 5.0 km ahead of the vehicle is "-3" in the road surface condition item. Therefore, it is judged that automatic driving is not possible for the driving up to 5.0 km. Similarly, the difference 24 between the current surrounding data 20 and the cloud information history data 22 at 10.0 km ahead of the vehicle is "-3" in the road surface condition item. Therefore, it is also judged that automatic driving is not possible for the driving up to 10.0 km.

[0067] The vehicle control unit 230 controls the vehicle brake drive device 300 and the steering device 400. When it is determined that the automatic driving is not possible, the information prompting processing unit 250 controls the information prompting device 500 to prompt the passengers in the vehicle to switch to manual driving. When it is determined that the automatic driving is not possible, the driving switching unit 260 switches the driving mode from the automatic driving to the manual driving.

[0068] When it is determined that automatic driving is not possible, the switching time setting unit 270 sets the switching time when switching from automatic driving to manual driving. It is assumed that when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, if the switch is performed instantly, the passengers will not be able to cope with manual driving. In addition, even in the processing on the vehicle side, when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, a preparation period from the start of the switch to the end of the switch is required. For example, it is assumed that when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, on the one hand, a process is performed to gradually reduce the ratio of automatic driving, and on the other hand, a process is performed to gradually increase the ratio of manual driving. The switching time setting unit 270 sets the time from the time point when the switch from automatic driving to manual driving is started to the time point when the switch is completely switched to manual driving as the switching time T. For example, the switching time T can also be set as the transition time from the state where automatic driving is 100% to the state where manual driving is 100%.

[0069] In the present embodiment, the switching time T is set according to the road surface friction coefficient of the road surface. The lower the road surface friction coefficient is, the longer the switching time T is set. Figure 7 Schematic diagram showing the value of the switching time coefficient corresponding to the road surface friction coefficient. Figure 7 The switching time coefficient shown is a value to be multiplied by a predetermined reference time, and the switching time T is calculated by multiplying the reference time by the switching time coefficient.

[0070] When switching from automatic driving to manual driving, some vehicle actions corresponding to the switch may occur, such as changes in the driving torque of the wheels. Therefore, it is also assumed that if the switch from automatic driving to manual driving is performed when the road friction coefficient is low, the vehicle action will temporarily become unstable. In this embodiment, since the switching time T is longer as the road friction coefficient is lower, the lower the road friction coefficient is, the longer it takes, so that various control quantities can be changed from automatic driving to manual driving. As a result, when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, the vehicle action can be reliably stabilized. In addition, when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, it is possible to suppress discomfort to passengers.

[0071] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining the switching time T. If it is decided to switch from automatic driving to manual driving, the switch to manual driving is performed during the driving of a predetermined distance. As an example, the switch to manual driving is performed before the vehicle travels 5 km. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 1 , it is determined that the driving up to 1.0 km can be performed automatically, but the driving up to 5.0 km cannot be performed automatically. Therefore, the switch to manual driving is completed before the vehicle travels 5 km.

[0072] Figure 8 The horizontal axis of represents time, and the estimated time to pass the point 5 km from the current position is t 10 In this case, in order to ensure safety, it is necessary to 10 The switch to manual driving was completed at time t2 one minute ago.

[0073] Therefore, at the time point of time t0 which is the switching time T before the time t2, the switching from the automatic driving to the manual driving is started. Thus, at the switching time T, various processes when switching from the automatic driving to the manual driving can be performed. When the switching time T is changed according to the road friction coefficient, the time t2 is unchanged, and the time t0 at which the switching from the automatic driving to the manual driving is started is changed according to the switching time T. Thus, the switching to the manual driving can be reliably completed before the vehicle travels 5 km.

[0074] It should be noted that Figure 8 In the example shown, the switch to manual driving is performed before the vehicle travels 5 km based on the vehicle's travel distance, but the switch to manual driving may be performed before the vehicle travels for a predetermined time (eg, 3 minutes).

[0075] Next, based on Fig. 9 The processing performed by the vehicle system 1000 of this embodiment is described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Fig. 9The processing shown is mainly performed by the control device 200 in a predetermined cycle. First, in step 10, the vehicle equipped with the vehicle system 1000 performs automatic driving. The automatic driving is performed by the vehicle control unit 230 controlling the vehicle brake drive device 300 and the steering device 400 based on the information detected by the vehicle external sensor 150 and the information obtained from the navigation device 700.

[0076] In the next step S12, the vehicle exterior sensor 150 grasps the surrounding environment and detects environmental information for calculating the road friction coefficient. In the next step S14, the history information acquisition unit 214 acquires the cloud information history data 12 from the server 2000. In the next step S16, the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 calculates the road friction coefficient around the vehicle.

[0077] In the next step S18, the automatic driving possibility determination unit 220 determines whether automatic driving is possible. If automatic driving is not possible, the process proceeds to step S20, and a warning prompt to switch to manual driving (non-automatic driving) is notified to the vehicle passengers. The warning prompt is performed by the information prompt processing unit 250 issuing a command to the information prompt device 500. When the warning prompt is performed, the information of the switching time T can also be prompted to the passengers. Thereby, the vehicle passengers can confirm the time until the switch to manual driving is completed. On the other hand, if automatic driving is possible in step S18, the process proceeds to step S19 and automatic driving is continued. After step S19, the process returns to step S12.

[0078] After step S20, the process proceeds to step S22. In step S22, it is determined whether the road friction coefficient calculated by the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 is less than a predetermined threshold value. If the road friction coefficient is less than the predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, a switching time T corresponding to the road friction coefficient is set.

[0079] On the other hand, in step S22, when the road surface friction coefficient is greater than the predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step S26. In step S26, the switching time T is set to a normal time (reference time).

[0080] After step S24 and step S26, the process proceeds to step S28. In step S28, the automatic driving is switched to the manual driving based on the switching time set in step S24 and step S26.

[0081] It should be noted that in the above process, an example of setting the switching time T based on the road friction coefficient calculated by the road friction coefficient calculation unit 210 is shown, but the setting of the switching time T can also be performed using a coefficient other than the road friction coefficient, and can be set based on information indicating the instability of the vehicle's motion. That is, the setting of the switching time can be performed in many ways based on the information acquired by the motion instability acquisition unit 202, and can be performed based on the current surrounding data 10 and / or the cloud information history data 12. In this case, since the switching time T is longer when the motion instability is higher, the vehicle motion can be stabilized when switching from automatic driving to manual driving, and it can prevent discomfort to the passengers.

[0082] In the above processing, the switching time from the automatic driving to the manual driving is described. Similarly, in the switching from the manual driving to the automatic driving, the switching time can also be set according to the degree of motion instability.

[0083] According to the present embodiment as described above, since the switching time from automatic driving to manual driving is set according to the instability of the vehicle behavior, the vehicle behavior can be stabilized when switching from automatic driving to manual driving.

[0084] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such examples. Those skilled in the art of the present invention should understand that various variations or modifications can be thought of within the scope of the technical concept described in the claims, and understand that these variations or modifications also obviously fall within the technical scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device, characterized in that: have: a motion instability acquisition unit that acquires the motion instability of the vehicle; a history information acquisition unit that acquires from a server past circumstances of a planned route traveled by the vehicle; an automatic driving possibility determination unit that determines whether automatic driving can continue when automatic driving is being performed; and a switching time setting unit that determines a switching time from the automatic driving to the manual driving based on the motion instability when it is determined that the automatic driving cannot be continued, The motion instability acquisition unit includes a current surrounding environment information acquisition unit that acquires information related to the surrounding environment of the vehicle including the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The motion instability is determined according to the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The automatic driving possibility determination unit determines whether the automatic driving can be continued based on the current surrounding environment information of the vehicle acquired by the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit and the past environment information of the planned route of the vehicle acquired by the history information acquisition unit, The autonomous driving feasibility determination unit scores the current surrounding environmental information and the past environmental information, and displays a result of determining the feasibility of autonomous driving based on a difference between a value obtained by scoring the current surrounding environmental information and a value obtained by scoring the past environmental information.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The switching time setting unit extends the switching time as the degree of operational instability increases.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The motion instability acquisition unit further includes a calculation unit for calculating a friction coefficient of a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The motion instability is a friction coefficient calculated by the calculation unit.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The automatic driving possibility determination unit determines that the automatic driving cannot be continued when the past environment of the planned route on which the vehicle travels is worse than the environment around the vehicle.

5. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: When the automatic driving possibility determination unit determines that the automatic driving cannot be continued, a warning message to switch to manual driving is notified to the vehicle occupant.

6. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The switching time is the time from the start of switching from automatic driving to manual driving to the completion of switching to manual driving.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The switching time is the time from the start of switching from automatic driving to manual driving to the completion of switching to manual driving.

8. A vehicle control method, characterized in that: include: Steps for obtaining the motion instability of the vehicle; The step of acquiring from a server past circumstances of a predetermined route traveled by the vehicle; In the case of autonomous driving, a step of determining whether autonomous driving can continue; as well as When it is determined that the automatic driving cannot be continued, determining a switching time from the automatic driving to the manual driving based on the motion instability, In the step of acquiring the motion instability, a step of acquiring information related to the surrounding environment of the vehicle including the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling is performed. The motion instability is determined according to the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. In the step of judging whether the automatic driving can be continued, based on the current surrounding environment information of the vehicle acquired by the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit and the past environment information of the planned route of the vehicle acquired by the historical information acquisition unit, it is judged whether the automatic driving can be continued, the current surrounding environment information and the past environment information are scored, and the result of judging whether the automatic driving can be continued is shown based on the difference between the value obtained by scoring the current surrounding environment information and the value obtained by scoring the past environment information.

9. A vehicle control system, characterized in that: have: A control device for a vehicle, comprising a motion instability acquisition unit for acquiring motion instability of the vehicle, a history information acquisition unit for acquiring, from a server, past environmental information of a planned route traveled by the vehicle when autonomous driving is performed, an autonomous driving possibility determination unit for determining whether the autonomous driving can be continued based on the surrounding environmental information of the vehicle and the past environmental information of the planned route traveled by the vehicle, and a switching time setting unit for determining a switching time from the autonomous driving to manual driving based on the motion instability when it is determined that the autonomous driving cannot be continued; as well as a server storing information related to past circumstances of the predetermined route and transmitting the information to a control device of the vehicle, The motion instability acquisition unit includes a current surrounding environment information acquisition unit that acquires information related to the surrounding environment of the vehicle including the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The motion instability is determined according to the state of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The automatic driving possibility determination unit determines whether the automatic driving can be continued based on the current surrounding environment information of the vehicle acquired by the current surrounding environment information acquisition unit and the past environment information of the planned route of the vehicle acquired by the history information acquisition unit, The autonomous driving feasibility determination unit scores the current surrounding environmental information and the past environmental information, and displays a result of determining the feasibility of autonomous driving based on a difference between a value obtained by scoring the current surrounding environmental information and a value obtained by scoring the past environmental information.

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