Vehicle and method for controlling a vehicle

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vehicle and a method for controlling the vehicle. The vehicle may include: a communicator configured to receive driver status information from surrounding vehicles; a detector configured to obtain driving information related to the surrounding vehicles; a driving assistance module configured to control at least one of a driving speed or a driving direction; and a controller configured to determine whether the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver status information satisfies a predetermined condition, and if the driver of the surrounding vehicle is determined to be in a drowsy state, control the driving assistance module to avoid the surrounding vehicle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle and a control method thereof, which communicate with surrounding vehicles to provide convenience for a driver. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, in order to reduce the burden on drivers and increase convenience, research on vehicles equipped with Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) that actively provides information on vehicle status, driver status, and surrounding environment is being actively conducted.

[0003] Examples of advanced driver assistance systems in vehicles include: smart cruise control, lane keeping assist, lane following assist and lane departure warning systems, forward collision avoidance (FCA) and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). A driver state warning system that monitors the driver for forward gaze inattention or drowsiness is also an example.

[0004] Meanwhile, in addition to the driver's condition, the driver's condition of surrounding vehicles may also have a significant impact on the driving environment, because the driver's condition of surrounding vehicles is an important factor in determining the driving condition of surrounding vehicles. Therefore, a driver assistance system is needed, which is configured to actively provide a driving strategy according to the driver's condition of surrounding vehicles.

[0005] The information contained in this Background of the Invention section is only intended to enhance understanding of the overall background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information constitutes the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. Summary of the invention

[0006] Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing a vehicle configured for communication with surrounding vehicles and a control method thereof.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, a vehicle includes: a communicator configured to receive driver status information from surrounding vehicles; a detector configured to obtain driving information related to the surrounding vehicles; a driving assistance module configured to control at least one of the driving speed or driving direction of the vehicle; and a controller configured to determine whether the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver status information meets predetermined conditions, and if the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are determined to be in a drowsy state, control the driving assistance module to avoid the surrounding vehicles.

[0008] The controller may be configured to determine that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state when the driver status information is received continuously for more than a predetermined time or the driver status information is received more than a predetermined number of times during a predetermined unit time.

[0009] The controller may be configured to determine whether the surrounding vehicle deviates based on driving information related to the surrounding vehicle when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, and based on the deflection of the surrounding vehicle, control the driving assistance module to avoid the surrounding vehicle.

[0010] The controller may be configured to determine the deflection of the surrounding vehicle based on the speed information about the vehicle and at least one of the speed information, the distance information, and the lane information about the surrounding vehicle included in the driving information about the surrounding vehicle.

[0011] The controller may be configured to, when determining that the surrounding vehicles are deflected, control the driving assistance module so that the driving direction is opposite to the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0012] The vehicle also includes a display and a speaker, and the controller can be configured to control the display or the speaker to inform the user of the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0013] The controller can be configured to: when no control instructions related to the driving of the vehicle are received from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, control the driving assistance module so that the driving direction is opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0014] The controller may be configured to control the driving assistance module so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value when the driving lane of the vehicle does not change during a predetermined second reference time from the time when the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles is notified to the user.

[0015] The controller may be configured to, when it is determined that the surrounding vehicles are not deflected, control the driving assistance module so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value based on the positions of the surrounding vehicles.

[0016] The controller may be configured to control the driving assistance module to change the driving lane of the vehicle or may request the user to change the driving lane when the surrounding vehicle is a rear vehicle and driving information related to the rear vehicle satisfies a predetermined condition.

[0017] The controller may be configured to control the driving assistance module so that the distance to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value when the driving lane is not changed during a predetermined third reference time from the time of the request to change the driving lane.

[0018] The vehicle further includes a display and a speaker, and the controller may be configured to, when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, control the display or the speaker to output an alarm.

[0019] The controller may be configured to, when it is determined that the driver of the leading vehicle and the driver of the trailing vehicle are in a drowsy state, control the driving assistance module to avoid the trailing vehicle.

[0020] According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling a vehicle includes: receiving driver status information from surrounding vehicles; obtaining driving information related to the surrounding vehicles; determining whether the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver status information meets a predetermined condition; when it is determined that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid the surrounding vehicles.

[0021] The step of controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid surrounding vehicles may include: when it is determined that the drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, determining whether the surrounding vehicles are deflected based on driving information related to the surrounding vehicles, and controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid the surrounding vehicles based on the deflection of the surrounding vehicles.

[0022] The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and the driving direction of the vehicle to avoid the surrounding vehicles may include: when it is determined that the surrounding vehicles are deflected, controlling the driving direction so that the driving direction is opposite to the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0023] The step of controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid surrounding vehicles may include: notifying the surrounding vehicles of the turning direction; when no control instructions related to the driving of the vehicle are received from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time of notifying the user of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving direction so that the driving direction is opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0024] The step of controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid surrounding vehicles may include: when the vehicle's driving lane does not change during a predetermined second reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving assistance module so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value.

[0025] The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles may include: when it is determined that the surrounding vehicles have not deflected, based on the positions of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving speed so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value.

[0026] According to one aspect of the present invention, in combination with a computing device, a computing program stored in a recording medium is processed, and the steps include: receiving driver status information from surrounding vehicles; obtaining driving information related to surrounding vehicles; determining whether the drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver status information meets predetermined conditions; when it is determined that the drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, controlling at least one of the vehicle's driving speed and driving direction to avoid surrounding vehicles.

[0027] The methods and apparatus of the present invention have other features and advantages, which will be apparent from, or will be described in detail in, the accompanying drawings and subsequent detailed descriptions incorporated herein, which together serve to explain the specific principles of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 is a control block diagram of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 2 2 is an example of a road on which a vehicle travels according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 3 is a flowchart of a control method of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a vehicle in a rear vehicle avoidance mode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a vehicle in a leading vehicle avoidance mode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] It is to be understood that the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale, but are merely appropriately simplified representations of various features for illustrating the basic principles of the present invention. The specific design features of the present invention included herein (including, for example, specific size, orientation, position and shape) will be determined in part by the specific environment to be applied and used.

[0034] In the figures, the same or equivalent parts of the present invention are labeled with the same reference numerals throughout the several figures of the drawing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Now will be shown in detail to various embodiments of the present invention, examples of these embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings and described as follows. Although the present invention will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that this specification is not intended to limit the present invention to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the present invention is intended to not only cover the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, but also cover various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments that may be included in the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0036] In the following description, throughout the entire specification, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements. This specification does not describe all elements of the embodiment, and in the technical field to which the exemplary embodiment of the present invention belongs, there is no overlap between the general content or the embodiment. Terms such as "unit", "module", "component" and "block" can be implemented as hardware or software. According to the embodiment, multiple "units", "modules", "components" and "blocks" can be implemented as single components, or single "units", "modules", "components" and "blocks" can include multiple components.

[0037] It should be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected to” another element, it may be directly or indirectly connected to the other element, wherein the indirect connection includes “connection via a wireless communication network”.

[0038] In addition, when a component “includes” or “comprises” an element, unless there is a specific description contrary thereto, the component may further include other elements, not excluding the other elements.

[0039] The terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one component from another component, and the component is not limited by the above terms.

[0040] Unless there is an obviously different meaning in the context, an expression used in the singular includes the expression in the plural form.

[0041] The reference numerals used in the operations are for convenience of description and are not intended to describe the order of the operations, and unless otherwise specified, the operations may be performed in a different order.

[0042] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] Figure 1 is a control block diagram of a driving system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 2 is an example of a road on which a vehicle travels according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 2, a vehicle 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a communicator 110 , a detector 120 , a controller 130 , a driving assistance module 140 , a display 160 , and a speaker 170 .

[0045] The communicator 110 may receive driver status information from surrounding vehicles located near the vehicle 100 .

[0046] The driver state information is information indicating the drowsiness state of the driver, and may represent a signal output from a driver state warning system (DSW).

[0047] For example, the driver state information may include a driver drowsiness detection signal. To this end, the surrounding vehicle may be a vehicle provided with a driver state warning system (DSW), and may include a communication module for transmitting the driver state information to the vehicle 100 .

[0048] The communication module included in the communicator 110 and surrounding vehicles may perform vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) real-time communication, and may include one or more components that enable communication with external devices such as surrounding vehicles.

[0049] For example, the communicator 110 may include at least one of a short-range communication module and a wireless communication module.

[0050] The short-range communication module may include various short-range communication modules configured to send and receive signals within a short distance using a wireless communication module, such as a Bluetooth module, an infrared communication module, a radio frequency identification (RFID) communication module, a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication module, an NFC communication module, and a ZigBee communication module.

[0051] The wireless communication module may include a wireless communication module supporting various wireless communication methods, for example, a Wifi module, a wireless broadband module, a global system for mobile (GSM) communication, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), long term evolution (LTE), 4G and 5G.

[0052] The wireless communication module may include a wireless communication interface including an antenna and a transmitter for transmitting a driver status information signal. The wireless communication module may further include a signal conversion module configured to modulate a digital control signal output from the control unit into an analog type wireless signal through the wireless communication interface under the control of the controller.

[0053] The wireless communication module may include a wireless communication interface including an antenna and a receiver for receiving the driver status information signal. The wireless communication module may further include a signal conversion module for demodulating an analog signal received through the wireless communication interface into a digital control signal.

[0054] Meanwhile, the communicator 110 may transmit signals between various components inside the vehicle 100 , and to this end, the communicator 110 may include a wired communication module.

[0055] The wired communication module can be various wired devices, such as a controller area network (CAN) module, a local area network (LAN) module, a wide area network (WAN) module, or a value-added network (VAN) module. In addition to the communication module, it can also include various cable communication modules, such as a universal serial bus (USB), a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a digital video interface (DVI), RS-232 (recommended standard 232), power line communication, or a plain old telephone service (POTS).

[0056] The detector 120 can obtain driving information related to the vehicle 100 and surrounding vehicles. This can include a first sensor 121 and a second sensor 122, the first sensor 121 is configured to have a sensing field of view in front of the vehicle 100, and the second sensor 122 is configured to have a sensing field of view behind the vehicle 200.

[0057] The detector 120 may acquire various driving information related to surrounding vehicles including at least one of a leading vehicle and a trailing vehicle, and driving information related to the vehicle 100. The driving information acquired by the detector 120 may include: speed and acceleration of surrounding vehicles, speed information including a relative speed and a relative acceleration relative to the vehicle 100, distance information between the vehicle 100 and the surrounding vehicles, and information related to lanes in which the surrounding vehicles are traveling.

[0058] Reference Figure 2 , the first sensor 121 can obtain information related to the behavior of the preceding vehicle 200a located in front of the vehicle 100. Not only can the information such as the longitudinal relative speed, relative acceleration and relative distance of the preceding vehicle 200a be obtained, but also the information such as the lateral relative speed, relative acceleration, lateral distance A, lane information, lane deviation, etc. can be obtained.

[0059] The second sensor 122 can obtain information related to the behavior of the rear vehicle 200b located behind the vehicle 100. Not only can the information such as the longitudinal relative speed, relative acceleration and relative distance of the rear vehicle 200b be obtained, but also the information such as the lateral relative speed, relative acceleration, lateral distance A, lane information, lane deviation, etc. can be obtained.

[0060] The driving information related to the surrounding vehicles can be obtained through image data or radar data. For this purpose, the detector 120 can be implemented as a camera sensor or a radar sensor. In addition, it can be implemented with various sensors.

[0061] At the same time, Figure 2 , both the front vehicle 200a and the rear vehicle 200b are traveling on the same lane as the vehicle 100. In contrast, the front vehicle 200a may be a vehicle located at the front side of the vehicle 100, and the rear vehicle 200b may be a vehicle located at the rear side of the vehicle 100.

[0062] The driving assistance module 140 may provide various functions for driving assistance to the user of the vehicle 100. The driving assistance module 140 may include a speed control module 141 for controlling a driving speed and a steering control module 142 for controlling a driving direction thereof.

[0063] The speed control module 141 may include various devices for driving an accelerator or a brake, and may be a smart cruise control (SCC) module.

[0064] The steering control module 142 may include various devices for adjusting the driving direction of the vehicle 100 from one side to another, and may be a current lane keeping assistance (LKA) module.

[0065] In addition, the driving assistance module 140 includes at least one device, which is configured to provide various driving assistance functions, such as lane departure warning (Lane Departure Warning, LDW), lane keeping assist (LKA), high beam assist (High Beam Assist, HBA), automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic sign recognition (Traffic Sign Recognition, TSR) and blind spot detection (Blind Spot Detection, BSD).

[0066] The display 160 may visually provide the user with various information related to the vehicle 100 or surrounding vehicles. The display 160 may be implemented using a commonly used navigation device.

[0067] Meanwhile, the display 160 includes a cathode ray tube (CRT), a digital light processing (DLP) panel, a plasma display panel, a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, an electroluminescent (EL) panel, an electrophoretic display (EPD) panel, an electrochromic display (ECD) panel, a light emitting diode (LED) panel or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel, etc., but is not limited thereto.

[0068] The speaker 170 may provide the user with various information related to the vehicle 100 or surrounding vehicles. The speaker 170 may be installed inside the vehicle 100 to provide information to the user inside the vehicle 100. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be installed outside the vehicle 100.

[0069] The controller 130 may control various components of the interior of the vehicle 100 as a whole.

[0070] The controller 130 may determine whether the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state based on whether the driver state information received by the communicator 110 satisfies a predetermined condition. When it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, the driving assistance module 140 may be controlled to avoid the surrounding vehicle.

[0071] Specifically, if the driver status information is continuously received for more than a predetermined time or the driver status information is received more than a predetermined number of times during a predetermined unit time, the controller 130 may determine that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state.

[0072] For example, when the driver status information is a driver's drowsiness detection signal, the controller 130 may determine that the driver's drowsiness detection signal is received continuously for more than two seconds, or the driver's drowsiness detection signal is received more than twice during 10 seconds. Accordingly, the controller 130 may determine that the driver is in a drowsy state.

[0073] In addition, when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, the controller 130 may control the driving assistance module 140 to avoid the surrounding vehicle based on whether the surrounding vehicle is a front vehicle or a rear vehicle.

[0074] In this case, if the driver of the surrounding vehicle determined to be in a drowsy state is the driver of the rear vehicle, the controller 130 operates in the rear vehicle avoidance mode, and if the driver of the surrounding vehicle determined to be in a drowsy state is the driver of the front vehicle, the controller 130 operates in the front vehicle avoidance mode, so that the driving assistance module 140 can be controlled differently.

[0075] The detailed description of the rear vehicle avoiding mode and the front vehicle avoiding mode will be described below.

[0076] In addition, when it is determined that the driver of the front vehicle and the driver of the rear vehicle are both in a sleepy state, the controller 130 can control the driving assistance module 140 to avoid the rear vehicle first. Specifically, the controller 130 can start the rear vehicle avoidance mode before the front vehicle avoidance mode.

[0077] When it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, the controller 130 may control the display 160 or the speaker 170 to provide a warning to the user of the vehicle 100 .

[0078] Furthermore, when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, the controller 130 determines whether the surrounding vehicle deflects based on driving information about the surrounding vehicle, and the controller 130 determines driving assistance to avoid the surrounding vehicle based on the deflection of the surrounding vehicle.

[0079] Specifically, the controller 130 may determine whether the surrounding vehicle deflects based on the speed information about the vehicle and at least one of the speed information, distance information, or lane information about the surrounding vehicle included in the driving information about the surrounding vehicles.

[0080] In this case, the controller 130 may determine that the surrounding vehicle is deflected when the speed information about the vehicle and at least one of the speed information, distance information, or lane information about the surrounding vehicle included in the driving information about the surrounding vehicles satisfies a predetermined deflection condition.

[0081] At least one of the speed information or the lane information related to the vehicle 100 and at least one of the speed information related to the vehicle, the speed information, the distance information or the lane information related to the vehicle included in the driving information related to the surrounding vehicles are further combined and a predetermined deflection condition is determined.

[0082] In this case, the predetermined deflection condition may be different depending on the case where the surrounding vehicle is the leading vehicle and the case where the surrounding vehicle is the trailing vehicle, but may be the same.

[0083] For example, if the vehicle has a speed of more than 60kph, the longitudinal distance between the surrounding vehicles and the vehicle 100 is within 50m, the lateral distance between the surrounding vehicles and the vehicle 100 is more than 1 meter, the lateral speed of the surrounding vehicles relative to the lateral speed of the vehicle 100 is more than 0.3m / s and the vehicle 100 is driving normally along the lane, the controller 130 can determine that the surrounding vehicles are deflected.

[0084] When it is determined that the surrounding vehicles are deflected, the controller 130 may control the steering control module 142 to make the driving direction of the vehicle 100 opposite to the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles.

[0085] In this case, the controller 130 may visually or auditorily notify the user of the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles, and the user may directly adjust the steering based on the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles. When the user inputs a control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle (such as directly changing the driving direction or reducing the speed through the steering wheel, etc.), the controller 130 may not control the steering control module 142.

[0086] However, when the user does not directly adjust the steering despite noticing the yaw direction of the surrounding vehicles, the controller 130 may control the steering control module 142 to adjust the steering direction.

[0087] In this case, when the controller 130 does not receive a control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, the controller 130 may control the steering control module 142 to move in a direction opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles. The user may issue a control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle through operations such as manipulating the steering wheel or stepping on the brake pedal.

[0088] In addition, when the driving lane is not changed during the second reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, the controller 130 may control the speed control module to adjust the distance to the surrounding vehicles to become a predetermined maximum value.

[0089] At this time, the second reference time may be greater than the first reference time, and when the second reference time is greater than the first reference time, the speed control module 141 may be controlled later than the steering control module 142 .

[0090] Alternatively, if it is not determined that the surrounding vehicle is deflected, the controller 130 may adjust the speed control module 141 so that the distance to the surrounding vehicle becomes a predetermined maximum value based on the position of the surrounding vehicle.

[0091] In this case, when the surrounding vehicle is a rear vehicle and driving information about the rear vehicle satisfies a predetermined condition, the controller 130 may control the steering control module 142 to change the driving lane or request the user to change the driving lane.

[0092] When the user requests to change the driving lane, if the driving lane is not changed during a third predetermined time from the time when the driving lane change is requested, the controller 130 may adjust the speed control module 141 so that the distance to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value.

[0093] As described above, the controller 130 can determine whether the drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, and can avoid the surrounding vehicles in stages based on this, thereby greatly improving driving safety.

[0094] Meanwhile, the controller 130 performs the above operations using a memory that stores data about an algorithm for controlling the operation of components in the vehicle 100 or a program for processing the algorithm and data stored in the memory. The present embodiment may be implemented as a processor. In this case, the memory and the processor may be implemented as separate chips. Alternatively, the memory and the processor may be implemented as a single chip.

[0095] Corresponds to Figure 1 The performance of the components of the vehicle 100 shown in FIG. 1 may include at least one component added or deleted. In addition, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the mutual positions of the components may be changed according to the performance or structure of the system.

[0096] at the same time, Figure 1 Each component shown in the refers to a software and / or hardware component, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0097] Figure 3 is a flowchart of a control method of a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0098] Reference Figure 3 , the controller 130 of the vehicle 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may receive driver status information (step 401), and determine whether the driver of the following vehicle is in a drowsy state based on the received driver status information (step 402).

[0099] When the driver of the following vehicle is in a drowsy state (“Yes” in step 402 ), the controller 130 may operate in the following vehicle avoidance mode (step 403 ).

[0100] If the driver of the rear vehicle is not drowsy ("No" in step 402), the controller 130 can determine whether the driver of the front vehicle is drowsy (step 404), and if the driver of the front vehicle is drowsy ("Yes" in step 404), the controller 130 can operate in the front vehicle avoidance mode (step 405).

[0101] If the driver of the preceding vehicle is not in a drowsy state ("No" in step 404), the controller 130 may operate in a normal driving mode (step 406). In the normal driving mode, the controller 130 may generate a control instruction for the configuration of the vehicle 100 according to a control instruction related to driving from the user rather than the control of the driving assistance module 140.

[0102] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a vehicle in a following vehicle avoidance mode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0103] Reference Figure 4 , the controller 130 of the vehicle 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may determine whether the following vehicle deviates (step 501). The controller 130 may determine the deflection of the following vehicle based on at least one of the speed information about the vehicle 100, the speed information about the following vehicle, the distance information, or the lane information included in the driving information about the following vehicle.

[0104] If it is determined that the rear vehicle is deflected ("yes" in step 501), the user may be warned of the rear vehicle deflection (step 502). In this case, the controller 130 may use the deflection direction of the rear vehicle to notify the driver of the rear vehicle that he is in a sleepy state.

[0105] The controller 130 may check whether a control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle is received from the user during a predetermined time from the time of warning the rear vehicle deflection (step 503). In this case, the control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle may be received by operating the steering wheel or stepping on the brake pedal.

[0106] When a control instruction related to driving of the vehicle is received from the user (“Yes” in step 503 ), the controller 130 may operate in a normal driving mode (step 504 ).

[0107] As an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, if no control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle is received from the user ("No" in step 503), the controller 130 may change the lane to a lane opposite to the turning direction of the rear vehicle, or may request the user to change the lane (step 505).

[0108] Specifically, when the deflection direction of the rear vehicle is to the left, the controller 130 may request the user to change the lane to the right lane or to the right lane. Alternatively, when the deflection direction of the rear vehicle is to the right, the controller 130 may request the user to change the lane to the left lane or to the left lane.

[0109] Furthermore, the controller 130 may check whether the lane change is completed during a predetermined time (step 506 ), and when the lane change is completed (“yes” in step 506 ), the controller 130 may operate in the normal driving mode (step 504 ).

[0110] Alternatively, when the lane change is not completed (“No” in step 506 ), the controller 130 may control the speed control module 141 so that the distance between the vehicle 100 and the following vehicle reaches a predetermined maximum value (step 507 ).

[0111] As an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that the rear vehicle has not deviated ("No" in step 501), the controller 130 can warn the user that the driver of the rear vehicle is in a drowsy state (step 508). In this case, the controller 130 can notify the position information related to the rear vehicle together.

[0112] The controller 130 may check whether a control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle can be received from the user during a predetermined time from the time when the controller 130 warns the driver of the following vehicle that he is in a drowsy state (step 509).

[0113] When a control instruction related to driving of the vehicle is received from the user (“Yes” in step 509 ), the controller 130 may operate in the normal driving mode (step 504 ).

[0114] Alternatively, if no control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle is received from the user ("No" in step 509), the controller 130 may determine whether a predetermined rear vehicle avoidance condition is satisfied based on the driving information related to the rear vehicle (step 510). Specifically, the controller 130 may determine whether a predetermined rear vehicle avoidance condition is satisfied based on at least one of the inter-vehicle distance between the rear vehicle and the vehicle 100 or the speed difference between the rear vehicle and the vehicle 100.

[0115] If the rear vehicle avoidance condition is satisfied (“Yes” in step 510 ), the controller 130 may change the lane to the right lane or the left lane, or may request the user to change the lane (step 511 ).

[0116] Thereafter, the controller 130 may check whether the lane change is completed during a predetermined time (step 512 ), and when the lane change is completed (“yes” in step 512 ), the controller 130 may operate in the normal driving mode (step 504 ).

[0117] Alternatively, when the lane change is not completed (“No” in step 512 ), the controller 130 may control the speed control module 141 so that the distance between the vehicle 100 and the following vehicle reaches a predetermined maximum value (step 513 ).

[0118] Therefore, the vehicle 100 can avoid surrounding vehicles in stages based on the drowsiness states of the drivers of the surrounding vehicles, so that driving safety can be greatly improved.

[0119] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method of controlling a vehicle in an avoidance mode of a preceding vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0120] Reference Figure 5Each of steps 601 to 609 in the preceding vehicle avoidance mode executed by the controller 130 of the vehicle 100 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be performed in the same manner as Figure 4 The following vehicle avoidance mode is applied in the same manner as in the preceding example, so the explanation is omitted.

[0121] Unlike the rear vehicle avoidance mode, if no control instruction related to the driving of the vehicle is received from the user (“No” in step 609 ), the controller 130 controls the speed control module 141 to immediately increase the distance between the vehicle 100 and the rear vehicle to a predetermined maximum value.

[0122] This is because the drowsy driving of the driver of the rear vehicle may have a greater impact on driving safety than the drowsy driving of the driver of the front vehicle, so the lane change is attempted first. When the driver of the rear vehicle is in a drowsy state, the controller 130 first attempts to change the lane to substantially improve driving safety.

[0123] As described above, the disclosed exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be implemented in a form different from the disclosed exemplary embodiments without changing the technical spirit or basic features of the present invention. The disclosed exemplary embodiments are exemplary and should not be interpreted as limiting.

[0124] On the other hand, the disclosed exemplary embodiments can be implemented in the form of a recording medium for storing instructions that can be executed by a computer. The instructions can be stored in the form of program code, and when executed by a processor, a program module can be generated to perform the operations of the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The recording medium can be implemented as a computer-readable recording medium.

[0125] Computer-readable recording media include all types of recording media that contain instructions that can be decoded by a computer. For example, the recording medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a flash memory, an optical data storage device, etc.

[0126] As described above, the disclosed exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0127] According to a vehicle and a control method thereof according to one aspect, since surrounding vehicles can be gradually avoided based on whether the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, driving safety can be greatly improved.

[0128] For ease of interpretation and precise definition in the appended claims, the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "upward", "downward", "upwardly", "downwardly", "front", "rear", "backside", "inner side", "outer side", "inwardly", "outwardly", "inner", "outer", "inner", "external", "forward" and "rearward" are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments shown in the figures with reference to their positions. It will be further understood that the term "connected" or its derivatives refer to both direct and indirect connections.

[0129] For the purpose of illustration and description, specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above. The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise form disclosed, and it is apparent that many modifications and variations can be made in accordance with the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments are selected and described to explain the specific principles of the present invention and its practical application, so that other technicians in the field can realize and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their alternatives and modifications. The scope of the present invention is intended to be limited by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising: a communicator configured to receive driver status information from surrounding vehicles; a detector configured to obtain driving information related to surrounding vehicles; a driving assistance module configured to control at least one of a driving speed or a driving direction of the vehicle; as well as a controller connected to the communicator, the detector, and the driving assistance module, and configured to: determine whether the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver state information satisfies a predetermined condition, and when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, control the driving assistance module to avoid the surrounding vehicle; Wherein, the controller is further configured as follows: Notify surrounding vehicles of the deflection direction; When no control instruction related to driving of the vehicle is received from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving assistance module so that the driving direction is opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles; When the driving lane of the vehicle does not change during a predetermined second reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicle, the driving assistance module is controlled so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicle becomes a predetermined maximum value.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: The controller is configured to determine that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state when it is determined that the driver status information is received continuously for more than a predetermined time or the driver status information is received more than a predetermined number of times during a predetermined unit time.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: The controller is configured to: when it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, determine whether the surrounding vehicle deviates based on driving information related to the surrounding vehicle, and is configured to: control the driving assistance module to avoid the surrounding vehicle based on the deflection of the surrounding vehicle.

4. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: The controller is configured to determine a deflection of the surrounding vehicle based on speed information about the vehicle and at least one of speed information, distance information, and lane information about the surrounding vehicle included in driving information about the surrounding vehicle.

5. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: The controller is configured to, when determining that the surrounding vehicles are deflected, control the driving assistance module so that the driving direction is opposite to the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicles.

6. The vehicle of claim 5, further comprising: monitor; as well as speaker; The controller is connected to at least one of the display and the speaker, and is configured to control the display or the speaker to inform the user of the turning direction of surrounding vehicles.

7. The vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: The controller is configured to, when it is determined that the surrounding vehicles have not deflected, control the driving assistance module based on the positions of the surrounding vehicles so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value.

8. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein: The controller is configured to control the driving assistance module to change the driving lane of the vehicle or request the user to change the driving lane when it is determined that the surrounding vehicle is a rear vehicle and the driving information related to the rear vehicle meets a predetermined condition.

9. The vehicle according to claim 8, wherein: The controller is configured to, when determining that the driving lane is not changed during a predetermined third reference time from a time when the driving lane change is requested, control the driving assistance module so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicles becomes a predetermined maximum value.

10. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: monitor; as well as speaker; The controller is connected to at least one of the display and the speaker, and is configured to control the display or the speaker to output an alarm when it is determined that the drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein: The controller is configured to control the driving assistance module to avoid the rear vehicle when it is determined that the driver of the front vehicle and the driver of the rear vehicle are in a drowsy state.

12. A method of controlling a vehicle, the method comprising: receiving driver status information from surrounding vehicles via the controller; Acquire driving information related to surrounding vehicles through the controller; determining, by a controller, whether drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver status information satisfies a predetermined condition; When it is determined that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a sleepy state, at least one of the driving speed and the driving direction of the vehicle is controlled by the controller to avoid the surrounding vehicles. The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles further comprises: Notify surrounding vehicles of the deflection direction; When no control instruction related to driving of the vehicle is received from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving direction so that the driving direction is opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles; When the driving lane of the vehicle does not change during a predetermined second reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicle, the driving assistance module is controlled so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicle becomes a predetermined maximum value.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and the driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles comprises: When it is determined that the driver of the surrounding vehicle is in a drowsy state, whether the surrounding vehicle deviates is determined based on driving information about the surrounding vehicle, and based on the deflection of the surrounding vehicle, at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle is controlled to avoid the surrounding vehicle.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles further comprises: When it is determined that the surrounding vehicle is deflected, the traveling direction is controlled so that the traveling direction is opposite to the deflection direction of the surrounding vehicle.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein: The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles further comprises: When it is determined that the surrounding vehicle has not deviated, based on the position of the surrounding vehicle, the travel speed is controlled so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicle becomes a predetermined maximum value.

16. An apparatus comprising a computing device that processes a computing program stored in a recording medium, wherein: The calculation procedure comprises the following steps: receiving driver status information from surrounding vehicles; Obtain driving information related to surrounding vehicles; determining whether drivers of surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state based on whether the received driver state information satisfies a predetermined condition; When it is determined that the drivers of the surrounding vehicles are in a drowsy state, controlling at least one of the driving speed and the driving direction of the vehicle to avoid the surrounding vehicles, The step of controlling at least one of the driving speed and driving direction of the vehicle to avoid surrounding vehicles further comprises: Notify surrounding vehicles of the deflection direction; When no control instruction related to driving of the vehicle is received from the user during a predetermined first reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles, controlling the driving direction so that the driving direction is opposite to the turning direction of the surrounding vehicles; When the driving lane of the vehicle does not change during a predetermined second reference time from the time when the user is notified of the turning direction of the surrounding vehicle, the driving assistance module is controlled so that the distance from the vehicle to the surrounding vehicle becomes a predetermined maximum value.

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