Vehicle control devices

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle control device that can effectively request a changeover from automatic driving to manual driving even when the driver is performing a second task. The vehicle control device (1) includes: a driver state monitoring unit (41) that monitors the line of sight and state of the driver D; and a control unit (22) that controls the steering and drive systems in the automatic driving control mode. When requesting the driver D to change from the automatic driving control mode to the manual driving mode, the control unit (22) stops the function of the device (17, 19, 51) if the driver state monitoring unit (41) detects that the driver D's line of sight is directed toward a device (17, 19, 51) operated by the driver D as the second task.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device capable of freely switching between automatic driving and manual driving of a vehicle. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, various technologies have been developed to achieve both driving assistance and autonomous driving. Driving assistance assists with steering and / or acceleration / deceleration while the driver is holding the steering wheel. Autonomous driving, on the other hand, involves recognizing traffic conditions in specific locations and performing driving-related operations even when the driver is free of the steering wheel.

[0003] It should be noted that the automatic driving of a vehicle includes limiting the location to a specific place where the driver will respond in an emergency where the system is difficult to operate, or the system will respond even in an emergency, and the system will perform operations related to the driving of the vehicle without limiting the location.

[0004] Among vehicles capable of such driving assistance and autonomous driving, there is a vehicle equipped with a state measurement device that analyzes the face and body of a subject using a camera to estimate the state of the subject, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.

[0005] Furthermore, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, for example, a vehicle system is known in which a driving assistance device guides the driver D to grip the steering wheel when requesting to switch from automatic driving to manual driving in order to effectively recognize the situation of switching from automatic driving to manual driving in advance.

[0006] Prior art literature

[0007] Patent Literature

[0008] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-217472

[0009] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-10929 Summary of the Invention

[0010] Technical issues

[0011] However, in autonomous driving limited to specific locations, when the vehicle's system is performing an autonomous driving task, the driver sometimes performs actions other than driving, such as smartphone operations, navigation operations, and audio operations, while the driver releases the steering wheel, i.e., a second task (also called other activities, secondary activities, etc.).

[0012] Therefore, if the vehicle system needs to request the driver to take over from automatic driving to manual driving due to being out of the designed operating area (ODD) or having a system failure, the driver may be focused on the second task and may not be able to take over manual driving smoothly.

[0013] Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device that can efficiently request a shift from automatic driving to manual driving even when the driver is performing a second task.

[0014] Technical Solution

[0015] A vehicle control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a vehicle control device that can switch freely between an automatic driving control mode and a manual driving mode. The vehicle control device comprises: a driver status monitoring unit that monitors the driver's line of sight and state; and a vehicle control unit that controls the steering and drive systems in the automatic driving control mode. When the vehicle control unit requests the driver to take over from the automatic driving control mode to the manual driving mode, if the driver status monitoring unit detects that the driver's line of sight is directed toward a device operated by the driver as a second task, the function of the device is stopped.

[0016] Effects of the Invention

[0017] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle control device that can effectively request a driver to take over from automatic driving to manual driving even when the driver is performing a second task. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the vehicle control device.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a vehicle in which a plurality of passengers including a driver D are riding, viewed from above.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a control flow chart (one) executed by the vehicle control device when a request is made to take over from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode.

[0021] Figure 4 This is a control flow chart (part 2) executed by the vehicle control device when a request is made to take over from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode.

[0022] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the functions of the car navigation and audio system are stopped when the driver D's line of sight is directed toward the car navigation screen, the front panel of the audio system, and the like.

[0023] Figure 6This is a schematic diagram showing a state where the functions of the smartphone are stopped when the driver D's line of sight is directed toward the smartphone screen.

[0024] Figure 7 This diagram shows a state where the car navigation, audio system, and smartphone functions are stopped.

[0025] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an alarm is notified to a passenger's smartphone.

[0026] Explanation of symbols

[0027] 1: Driving assistance device

[0028] 10: In-vehicle communication lines

[0029] 11: Positioner unit

[0030] 12: Positioner calculation unit

[0031] 12a: Vehicle position estimation unit

[0032] 12b: Map information acquisition unit

[0033] 13: Longitudinal acceleration sensor

[0034] 14: Wheel speed sensor

[0035] 15: Gyroscope sensor

[0036] 16: GNSS receiver

[0037] 17: Car navigation system

[0038] 18: High-precision road map database

[0039] 19: Audio System

[0040] 21: Camera unit

[0041] 21a: Main camera

[0042] 21b: Secondary camera

[0043] 21c, 41c: IPU

[0044] 21d: Driving environment recognition unit

[0045] 21l, 21r: Side rear camera

[0046] 22: Main control unit

[0047] 23: Engine control unit

[0048] 24: Power steering control unit

[0049] 25: Brake control unit

[0050] 26: Transceiver

[0051] 27: Throttle valve actuator

[0052] 28: Electric power steering motor

[0053] 29: Brake actuator

[0054] 33: Autopilot switch

[0055] 34: Steering wheel touch sensor

[0056] 35: Steering torque sensor

[0057] 36: Brake sensor

[0058] 37: Acceleration sensor

[0059] 38: Steering wheel

[0060] 41: Driver Monitoring System

[0061] 41a: Driver recognition camera

[0062] 41d: Driver direction recognition unit

[0063] 51-54: Smartphones

[0064] D: Driver

[0065] A, B, C: Crew

[0066] M: This vehicle DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0067] An embodiment of one aspect of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in the drawings used in the following description, the components are sized to a degree that allows for identification in the drawings, and therefore the scales of the components are different. The present invention is not limited to the number of components, the shapes of the components, the size ratios of the components, and the relative positional relationships of the components depicted in these drawings.

[0068] Figure 1The driving assistance device 1 shown, which includes the vehicle control device of this embodiment, is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile (the present vehicle). The driving assistance device 1 includes a positioner unit 11 and a camera unit 21 as sensor units (driving environment recognition means) for recognizing the driving environment outside the vehicle. These two units 11 and 21 constitute a completely independent multi-system that is not interdependent. Furthermore, the driving assistance device 1 includes a main control unit (hereinafter referred to as "main_ECU") 22, an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as "E / G_ECU") 23, a power steering control unit (hereinafter referred to as "PS_ECU") 24, and a brake control unit (hereinafter referred to as "BK_ECU") 25, serving as the vehicle control unit. These control units 22-25 are connected to the positioner unit 11 and the camera unit 21 via an in-vehicle communication line 10, such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0069] Furthermore, a car navigation system (hereinafter referred to as car navigation) 17 and an audio system (hereinafter referred to as audio) 19, serving as secondary task devices, are connected to the in-vehicle communication line 10. Furthermore, a transceiver 26 is connected to the main ECU 22. Secondary tasks refer to activities other than driving performed while the driver is released from the steering wheel. Examples of these activities include operating a smartphone, the navigation system, or the audio system.

[0070] The transceiver 26 can communicate with the driver D (see FIG. 1 ) as a driver by using a Bluetooth (registered trademark) system, wireless communication with a telecommunications operator, or the like. Figure 2 ) including the mobile phones of multiple passengers A to D of the vehicle M, and the terminals such as smart phones as the second task devices, that is, wireless communication devices (here, such as Figures 5 to 7 The example shows information transmission and reception between smartphones 51 to 54. It should be noted that the number of transceivers 26 provided corresponds to the number of passengers of the vehicle M, or multiple wireless connections (multi-channel connections) are possible.

[0071] The locator unit 11 is a device that estimates the vehicle's position on a road map and includes a locator calculation unit 12 for estimating the vehicle's position. Connected to the input side of the locator calculation unit 12 are sensors necessary for estimating the vehicle's position (host vehicle position), including a longitudinal acceleration sensor 13 for detecting the vehicle's longitudinal acceleration, wheel speed sensors 14 for detecting the rotational speeds of the front, rear, and left and right wheels, a gyro sensor 15 for detecting the vehicle's angular velocity or acceleration, and a GNSS receiver 16 for receiving positioning signals from multiple positioning satellites.

[0072] Furthermore, the locator calculation unit 12 is connected to a high-precision road map database 18 as a storage device. The high-precision road map database 18 is a large-capacity storage medium such as an HDD, and stores high-precision road map information (dynamic map). This high-precision road map information includes lane width data, lane center position coordinate data, lane heading angle data, speed limits, and other lane data required for autonomous driving. This lane data is stored at intervals of several meters for each lane on the road map.

[0073] The locator calculation unit 12 includes a vehicle position estimation unit 12a for estimating the vehicle's position and a map information acquisition unit 12b. The map information acquisition unit 12b acquires route map information from the current position to the destination from the map information stored in the high-precision road map database 18, based on, for example, a destination set by the driver D during autonomous driving.

[0074] The map information acquisition unit 12b also transmits the acquired route map information (lane data on the route map) to the vehicle position estimation unit 12a. The vehicle position estimation unit 12a acquires the vehicle's position coordinates based on the positioning signal received by the GNSS receiver 16. Furthermore, the vehicle position estimation unit 12a performs map matching on the acquired position coordinates with the route map information to estimate the vehicle's position on the road map, determine the driving lane, and acquire the road curvature at the center of the driving lane stored in the high-precision road map database 18.

[0075] In addition, in an environment such as driving in a tunnel where the sensitivity of the GNSS receiver 16 is reduced and it is impossible to receive effective positioning signals from the positioning satellite, the vehicle position estimation unit 12a switches to autonomous navigation that estimates the vehicle position based on the vehicle speed calculated from the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor 14, the angular velocity detected by the gyro sensor 15, and the longitudinal acceleration detected by the longitudinal acceleration sensor 13, thereby estimating the vehicle position on the road map.

[0076] The camera unit 21 is fixed at the upper center of the front part of the vehicle interior, and has a vehicle-mounted camera (stereo camera) consisting of a main camera 21a and a sub-camera 21b arranged in left-right symmetrical positions across the center of the vehicle width direction, an image processing unit (IPU) 21c, and a driving environment recognition unit 21d.

[0077] The IPU 21c performs image processing on the front driving environment image information in front of the vehicle captured by the two cameras 21a and 21b in a predetermined manner, and generates front driving environment image information (distance image information) including distance information calculated based on the position offset of the corresponding object.

[0078] The driving environment recognition unit 21d calculates the road curvature (1 / m) of the left and right dividing lines that demarcate the road on which the vehicle is traveling (the vehicle's road), and the width between the left and right dividing lines (the vehicle width), based on the distance image information received from the IPU 21c. There are various known methods for calculating the road curvature and vehicle width. For example, the driving environment recognition unit 21d identifies the left and right dividing lines by binarizing the forward driving environment image information based on brightness differences, and calculates the curvature of the left and right dividing lines for each predetermined interval using a curve approximation formula based on the least squares method. Furthermore, the vehicle width is calculated based on the difference in curvature between the two dividing lines.

[0079] Then, the driving environment recognition unit 21d calculates the road curvature of the center of the lane based on the curvature of the left and right dividing lines and the lane width, and further calculates the lateral position deviation of the vehicle based on the center of the lane. More precisely, it calculates the distance from the center of the lane to the center of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction, that is, the lateral position deviation Xdiff of the vehicle.

[0080] The driving environment recognition unit 21d also performs predetermined pattern matching on the distance image information to identify guardrails, curbstones, and other three-dimensional objects along the road. The three-dimensional object recognition performed by the driving environment recognition unit 21d includes, for example, the type of the three-dimensional object, the distance to the three-dimensional object, the speed of the three-dimensional object, and the relative speed between the three-dimensional object and the vehicle.

[0081] The camera unit 21 also includes side rear cameras 211 and 21r for capturing images of the left and right rear sides of the vehicle. Image information of the vehicle's lateral driving environment captured by these side rear cameras 211 and 21r is input to the IPU 21c, which then performs predetermined image processing such as edge detection. Furthermore, the driving environment recognition unit 21d performs predetermined pattern matching and other methods on the edge information detected by the IPU 21c to identify three-dimensional objects such as vehicles passing parallel to the side of the vehicle and vehicles following behind it.

[0082] The vehicle position estimated by the vehicle position estimation unit 12a of the positioner calculation unit 12, the vehicle lateral position deviation Xdiff and three-dimensional object information obtained by the driving environment recognition unit 21d of the camera unit 21 are read by the main ECU 22. In addition, the automatic driving switch 33 for the driver D to switch the automatic driving (driving assistance control) on / off is connected to the input side of the main ECU 22, and the driver D's steering wheel 38 (see Figure 2) is steered (held), a steering wheel touch sensor 34 that is turned on (ON) when the driver D steers (holds), a steering torque sensor 35 that detects the steering torque as the driving operation amount performed by the driver D, a brake sensor 36 that detects the amount of depression of the brake pedal as the driving operation amount performed by the driver D, and an acceleration sensor 37 that detects the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal as the driving operation amount performed by the driver D are various switches / sensors.

[0083] In addition, the driver monitoring system 41 serving as a driver status monitoring unit includes a driver recognition camera 41a arranged in front of the driver's seat (for example, an instrument panel, an dashboard, a rearview mirror, etc.), an IPU 41c that performs image processing on the image captured by the driver recognition camera 41a, and a driver pointing recognition unit 41d that detects, for each acquired image, the situation in which the driver D is not looking forward due to looking elsewhere or dozing off, based on the facial image of the driver D obtained by the processing by the IPU 41c.

[0084] The driver orientation recognition unit 41 d monitors the state of the driver D's open eyes, the driver D's gaze direction, the driver D's posture, and the like based on the acquired facial image of the driver D.

[0085] When the current driving mode is the second driving assistance mode described later, the main ECU 22 determines whether to shift to the automatic avoidance mode if the system condition is not satisfied, assuming that the automatic driving switch 33 is maintained in the on state.

[0086] A throttle actuator 27 is connected to the output side of the E / G_ECU 23. The throttle actuator 27 opens and closes the throttle valve of the electronically controlled throttle valve provided in the engine's throttle body. By opening and closing the throttle valve in response to a drive signal from the E / G_ECU 23, the intake air flow rate is adjusted to produce a desired engine output.

[0087] An electric power steering motor 28 is connected to the output side of the PS_ECU 24. The electric power steering motor 28 uses its rotational force to apply steering torque to the steering mechanism. During autonomous driving, the electric power steering motor 28 is controlled and operated based on a drive signal from the PS_ECU 24 to execute lane keeping control for maintaining the vehicle in its current lane and lane change control for moving the vehicle to an adjacent lane (for example, lane change control for overtaking maneuvers).

[0088] The output side of the BK_ECU 25 is connected to a brake actuator 29. This brake actuator 29 regulates the brake oil pressure supplied to the wheel cylinders provided at each wheel. When the brake actuator 29 is driven in response to a drive signal from the BK_ECU 25, a brake caliper presses the brake pads against a brake wheel (not shown), generating a braking force on each wheel and forcibly decelerating the vehicle.

[0089] However, the main ECU 22 has a manual driving mode, a first driving assistance mode, a second driving assistance mode, and an avoidance mode set as driving modes.

[0090] Here, the manual driving mode refers to a driving mode requiring steering by the driver D, for example, a driving mode in which the vehicle travels according to driving operations performed by the driver D, such as steering, acceleration, and braking.

[0091] The first driving assistance mode is also a steering-required driving mode that requires the driver D to steer. Specifically, the first driving assistance mode reflects the driver D's driving operations and, through controls such as the E / G_ECU 23, PS_ECU 24, and BK_ECU 25, primarily combines preceding vehicle following control (Adaptive Cruise Control), lane keeping control (Active Lane Keep), and lane departure prevention control, thereby ensuring the vehicle follows the target driving path. This is a so-called semi-automatic driving control mode.

[0092] In addition, the second driving assistance mode refers to an automatic driving control mode in which the driver D does not need to perform steering, acceleration and braking operations, but through the control of, for example, E / G_ECU23, PS_ECU24, BK_ECU25, etc., the main combination of preceding vehicle following control, lane keeping control and lane departure prevention control is performed, so that the vehicle can travel along the target driving path.

[0093] The avoidance mode refers to a mode for automatically stopping the vehicle on the roadside when, for example, driving in the second driving assistance mode cannot be continued and the driver D cannot take over the driving operation (that is, when it is impossible to switch to manual driving mode or the first driving assistance mode).

[0094] Each driving mode set in this manner is selectively and freely switched in the main ECU 22 , and the main ECU 22 constitutes a driving mode switching unit.

[0095] Here, an example of control executed when requesting driver D to take over the manual driving mode under control in the second driving assistance mode of autonomous driving will be described below. It should be noted that while a smartphone is used as an example of a wireless communication device, a feature phone, PHS, PDA, tablet computer, etc. may also be used.

[0096] The driving assistance device 1 is not limited to the second driving assistance mode, but always monitors the line of sight of the driver D by the driver gesture recognition unit 41 d based on the facial image and posture of the driver D captured by the driver recognition camera 41 a ( S1 ).

[0097] If the vehicle reaches the designed operating range (ODD) or a system failure occurs, the main ECU 22 of the driving assistance device 1 notifies the driver D of the switch from the second driving assistance mode to the manual driving mode (S2). The notification of the switch to the manual driving mode is provided by a display on the instrument panel, a warning sound, a voice, or the like.

[0098] Next, the main ECU 22 determines whether the driver D is looking forward based on the monitoring information of the driver's direction recognition unit 41d (S3). In this case, it is determined whether the driver D is not looking forward (looking elsewhere, dozing off, or closing his eyes even when facing forward) while his eyes are open.

[0099] When the driver D faces forward, the main ECU 22 notifies the driver of a steering request for the steering wheel 38 (S4). Note that the notification here may also be made through a display on the instrument panel, a warning sound, a voice, or the like.

[0100] The main_ECU 22 determines whether the steering wheel 38 is being steered by the driver D based on the detection signal of the steering wheel touch sensor 34 ( S5 ).

[0101] When the steering wheel 38 is steered by the driver D, the main_ECU 22 cancels the control of the second driving assistance mode ( S6 ) and notifies the driver D of the end of the second driving assistance mode ( S7 ).

[0102] It should be noted that the termination of the second driving assistance mode is also notified by a display on the instrument panel, a warning sound, a voice, etc. That is, the steering wheel touch sensor 34 constitutes a manual driving takeover determination unit.

[0103] In step S3 , if the driver D is not facing forward, the main ECU 22 determines whether the driver D's line of sight is directed toward the car navigation 17 and audio 19 based on monitoring information from the driver direction recognition unit 41 d ( S8 ).

[0104] like Figure 5As shown, when the driver D's line of sight is directed toward the car navigation 17 and audio 19 , the main ECU 22 stops the functions of the car navigation 17 and audio 19 ( S9 ).

[0105] Here, for example, the screen of the car navigation 17 is blacked out, or the audio 19 is muted. Alternatively, an alarm may be issued by sound or the like.

[0106] In step S8 , when the driver D is not facing the car navigation 17 and audio 19 , the main ECU 22 determines whether the driver D's line of sight is facing the smartphone 51 based on monitoring information from the driver direction recognition unit 41 d ( S10 ).

[0107] like Figure 6 As shown, when the driver D's line of sight is directed toward the smartphone 51 , the main_ECU 22 outputs a wireless control signal from the transceiver 26 to the driver D's smartphone 51 to stop the function of the smartphone 51 ( S11 ).

[0108] Here, for example, the screen of the smartphone 51 is also blacked out. Alternatively, an alarm may be sounded, etc. It should be noted that a dedicated application is pre-installed in the smartphone 51 and connected to the transceiver 26 via the Bluetooth (registered trademark) system. Furthermore, the wireless control signal for remotely operating the smartphone 51 may also utilize the wireless communication line of a telecommunications operator.

[0109] The main ECU 22 executes the control of step S9 and step S11 again. Figure 4 In step S12, if the driver D is not looking forward, Figure 7 As shown, the main ECU 22 stops the functions of the devices used for the second task of the car navigation 17, the audio 19, and the smartphone 51 (S13).

[0110] It should be noted that, here, the car navigation 17, audio 19, or smartphone 51, whose functions have been stopped, continues to be in a state of continuous function stop.

[0111] On the other hand, when the driver D faces forward, the main ECU 22 executes steps S4 to S5 again. If the driver D steers the steering wheel 38 , the main ECU 22 cancels the functions of the car navigation 17 , the audio system 19 , and the smartphone 51 .

[0112] In step S10, if the driver D is not facing the smartphone 51, there is a high possibility that the driver D has a sudden illness or has fallen asleep, so the main ECU 22 Figure 8As shown, an alarm is issued to all smartphones 51 to 54 of passengers A to D (S14). Note that this example shows four passengers A to D, including driver D. The alarm issued to smartphones 51 to 54 may include textual warnings such as the need to change drivers, as well as audible warnings.

[0113] It should be noted that, in addition to the driver D, the smartphones 52 to 54 of fellow passengers A to C are also assumed to have dedicated applications pre-installed and are connected to the transceiver 26 via the Bluetooth (registered trademark) system. Furthermore, similar to the smartphone 51 of the driver D, the wireless control signals for remotely operating the smartphones 52 to 54 of the passengers A to C can also use the wireless communication lines of telecommunications carriers.

[0114] Furthermore, in step S5 , when the main_ECU 22 determines that the steering wheel 38 is not being steered by the driver D based on the detection signal of the steering wheel touch sensor 34 , the process also proceeds to step S14 and executes control to issue an alarm instruction to all the smartphones 51 to 54 of the passengers A to D.

[0115] Then, the main_ECU 22 switches from the second driving assistance mode to the avoidance mode ( S15 ). That is, the main_ECU 22 determines that the driver D cannot take over the driving operation and automatically stops the host vehicle M at a roadside strip or the like.

[0116] As described above, the driving assistance device 1, serving as a vehicle control device according to this embodiment, when the vehicle system is executing the autonomous driving task (second driving assistance mode), and the driver D, while releasing the steering wheel 38, performs an action other than driving, i.e., the second task, in this case, operating the car navigation system 17, audio system 19, or smartphone 51, stops the functions of the car navigation system 17, audio system 19, or smartphone 51 and promptly requests the driver D to switch from autonomous driving to manual driving. It should be noted that the functions of some of the devices used for the second task of the car navigation system 17, audio system 19, or smartphone 51 may also be restricted.

[0117] As a result, the driver D cannot operate the car navigation 17 , the audio system 19 , or the smartphone 51 , and therefore can quickly notice the request to take over from the automatic driving mode (the second driving assistance mode) to the manual driving mode.

[0118] Thus, when taking over the automatic driving task, the driving assistance device 1 can effectively request the driver D to take over from automatic driving to manual driving according to the driver's line of sight (state) and the situation in which the driver D performs the second task.

[0119] In addition, even if the functions of the car navigation 17, audio 19 or smartphone 51 are stopped, and the driver D is unable to hold (steer) the steering wheel 38 due to sudden illness, drowsiness, etc., the driving assistance device 1 issues a warning to all passengers A~D including the driver D, and switches to the avoidance mode to automatically stop the vehicle M in a safe place.

[0120] It should be noted that driving-related operations such as wipers and headlights, which are devices operated by driver D in the automatic driving mode, are treated as external objects, and operations such as car navigation 17, audio 19, smartphone 51, etc., which are used as second tasks unrelated to driving, are treated as objects of restricted (function-stopped) devices.

[0121] It should be noted that the driving assistance device 1, which includes the ECUs 22 to 25, includes a processor comprising a central processing unit (CPU), ROM, RAM, and other storage devices. Furthermore, all or part of the various circuits in the processor can be implemented using software. For example, the CPU can read and execute various programs corresponding to various functions stored in the ROM.

[0122] Furthermore, all or part of the functions of the processor may be implemented by a logic circuit or an analog circuit. Alternatively, the processing of various programs may be implemented by an electronic circuit such as an FPGA.

[0123] The invention described in the above embodiments is not limited to these modes, and various modifications can be implemented in the implementation stage without departing from the scope of its purpose. In addition, the above-mentioned modes include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriate combinations of the disclosed multiple constituent elements.

[0124] For example, when the aforementioned problems can be solved and the aforementioned effects can be achieved even if some of the aforementioned components are deleted from all the components shown in each embodiment, the configuration from which the aforementioned components are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device, characterized in that: The vehicle control device can switch freely between the automatic driving control mode and the manual driving mode, and has: a driver status monitoring unit that monitors the driver's line of sight and status; a vehicle control unit that controls the steering and drive systems in the automatic driving control mode; as well as a transceiver that transmits wireless control signals to a wireless communication device capable of being remotely operated by the vehicle control unit, After requesting the driver to switch from the automatic driving control mode to the manual driving mode, the vehicle control unit outputs the wireless control signal from the transceiver to the wireless communication device to stop the function of the wireless communication device if the driver state monitoring unit detects that the driver's gaze is directed toward the wireless communication device operated by the driver as a second task. After the control, the vehicle control unit releases the stop of the function of the wireless communication device if the driver state monitoring unit detects that the driver's gaze is directed forward and the driver is steering the vehicle.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein: The vehicle control device includes a manual driving takeover determination unit configured to determine whether the driver has completed takeover to the manual driving mode.

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