Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and recording medium

Abstract

A vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a recording medium are provided. In a vehicle control device of an autonomous driving vehicle that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, a gesture image of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is obtained, and a stored reference gesture image and the obtained gesture image are compared. At this time, when it is determined that the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, it is determined whether a disaster has occurred, and when it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] A control device for an autonomous vehicle is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-121865), which is configured to allow a user of a vehicle outside the vehicle to stop the moving autonomous vehicle by gesture when the autonomous vehicle is parked in a parking space or when the autonomous vehicle is pulled out of the parking space by remote operation. In this case, a gesture for requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop is predetermined, and when the gesture of the user of the vehicle is recognized as the predetermined gesture, the autonomous vehicle is stopped. Summary of the invention

[0003] On the other hand, for example, when a disaster occurs while an autonomous vehicle is autonomously driving based on an operation command, the autonomous vehicle may be used to rescue victims. In this case, the victims may not be able to request rescue using the autonomous vehicle through the network due to reasons such as the lack of communication tools or inability to secure power. In such a case, when an autonomous vehicle autonomously driving based on an operation command is driving nearby, it is preferable to be able to stop the autonomous vehicle with a gesture in order to get on the autonomous vehicle.

[0004] However, when building a system that allows an autonomous vehicle to be stopped with gestures, there is a problem: even in normal times when there is no disaster, the autonomous vehicle will be frequently stopped between pre-set stops, and in normal times, the autonomous vehicle will not be able to operate normally according to the pre-set time schedule.

[0005] Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle control device, which is a vehicle control device for an automatic driving vehicle that performs autonomous driving based on an operation command, comprising:

[0006] A reference data storage unit that stores in advance data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop;

[0007] a recognition unit that recognizes that a person is present around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle;

[0008] A running data storage unit for storing data related to a gesture image of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle when the recognition unit recognizes that there is a person around the autonomous driving vehicle;

[0009] a determination unit that determines whether a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop by comparing data related to the reference gesture image stored in the reference data storage unit with data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit; and

[0010] a disaster occurrence determination unit that determines whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle has occurred,

[0011] When the judgment unit determines that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, and when the disaster occurrence judgment unit determines that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

[0012] In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle control device, which is a vehicle control device for an automatic driving vehicle that performs autonomous driving based on an operation command, comprising:

[0013] A reference data storage unit that stores in advance data on a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop and data on reference words when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop;

[0014] a disaster occurrence determination unit that determines whether a disaster related to a driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle has occurred;

[0015] a recognition unit that recognizes that a person is present around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred;

[0016] a running data storage unit that stores data on gesture images of people around the autonomous driving vehicle and data on words of people around the autonomous driving vehicle when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred and the recognition unit recognizes that there are people around the autonomous driving vehicle; and

[0017] a determination unit that determines whether a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop or whether the words of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop by performing at least one of a comparison operation of comparing data related to a reference gesture image stored in a reference data storage unit with data related to the gesture image stored in a traveling data storage unit and a comparison operation of comparing data related to reference words stored in a reference data storage unit with data related to words stored in a traveling data storage unit when a disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred,

[0018] When the determination unit determines that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, or when the words of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

[0019] Furthermore, according to the present invention, a vehicle control method is provided, which is a vehicle control method of an automatic driving vehicle that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, comprising:

[0020] storing in advance data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop;

[0021] When a person is recognized to be around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle, data related to a hand gesture image of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is stored, and by comparing the stored data related to the reference hand gesture image with the stored data related to the hand gesture image, it is determined whether the hand gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a hand gesture for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop;

[0022] Determining whether a disaster has occurred that is related to the area where the autonomous vehicle is traveling; and

[0023] When it is determined that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, if it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

[0024] Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium having a program recorded thereon, the program being used to cause a computer to function so that:

[0025] Controlling autonomous vehicles that drive autonomously based on operating instructions,

[0026] Data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is stored in advance,

[0027] When a person is recognized around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle, data related to a gesture image of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is stored, and by comparing the stored data related to the reference gesture image with the stored data related to the gesture image, it is determined whether the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

[0028] Determine whether a disaster related to the area where the autonomous vehicle is traveling has occurred.

[0029] When it is determined that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, if it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

[0030] In the first, third, and fourth inventions, the autonomous driving vehicle can be stopped by hand gestures only in the event of a disaster, so that the autonomous driving vehicle can operate normally according to a preset schedule in normal times.

[0031] In the second invention, in addition to the effects of the first invention, the autonomous driving vehicle can be stopped by words. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals represent like elements, and wherein:

[0033] Figure 1 is a diagram showing a vehicle and a server shown in a diagrammatic manner.

[0034] Figure 2 This is a functional configuration diagram for enabling a vehicle to drive autonomously.

[0035] Figure 3 This is a flowchart for performing driving control of a vehicle.

[0036] Figure 4A A diagram that graphically represents a gesture image.

[0037] Figure 4B A diagram that graphically represents a gesture image.

[0038] Figure 4C A diagram that graphically represents a gesture image.

[0039] Figure 5 is a flowchart for performing a reference data storage process.

[0040] Figure 6 is a flowchart for performing data storage processing.

[0041] Figure 7 This is a flowchart for executing vehicle stop determination processing.

[0042] Figure 8 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0043] Fig. 9 This is a functional configuration diagram of an embodiment of a vehicle control device according to the present invention.

[0044] Fig.10 is a flowchart for performing data storage processing.

[0045] Fig.11 is a flowchart for performing voice data storage processing.

[0046] Fig.12 This is a flowchart for executing vehicle stop determination processing.

[0047] Fig.13 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0048] Fig.14 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0049] Fig.15 This is a functional configuration diagram of another embodiment of the vehicle control device according to the present invention.

[0050] Fig.16 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0051] Fig.17 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0052] Fig.18 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process.

[0053] Fig.19 This is a flowchart for executing a vehicle stop request process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] Reference Figure 1 , “1” represents a vehicle in a diagrammatic manner. In the embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle 1 comprises a circulating bus that is made to autonomously travel along a preset travel path within a preset area. Figure 1 In the figure, "2" indicates a vehicle driving unit for providing driving force to the driving wheels of the vehicle 1, "3" indicates a braking device for braking the vehicle 1, "4" indicates a steering device for steering the vehicle 1, and "5" indicates an electronic control unit mounted in the vehicle 1. Figure 1 As shown, the electronic control unit 5 is constituted by a digital computer and includes a CPU (microprocessor) 7 , a memory 8 including a ROM and a RAM, and an input / output port 9 , which are interconnected via a bidirectional bus 6 .

[0055] On the other hand, Figure 1As shown, the vehicle 1 is provided with a position information sensor 10, an environment information sensor 11, a map data storage device 12, and a detection unit 13. The position information sensor 10 is a sensor for detecting the current position of the vehicle 1, and the position information sensor 10 includes, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver that receives radio waves from an artificial satellite to detect the current position of the vehicle 1. In addition, the environment information sensor 11 includes a sensor for detecting the state of the vehicle 1 in order to make the vehicle 1 drive autonomously and a sensor for detecting the surroundings of the vehicle 1. In this case, as a sensor for detecting the state of the vehicle 1, an acceleration sensor, a speed sensor, and an azimuth sensor can be used, and as a sensor for detecting the surroundings of the vehicle 1, a camera for photographing the front of the vehicle 1, a laser radar (LIDAR), a radar, etc. can be used. Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, as a sensor for detecting the surroundings of the vehicle 1, a sound collector for capturing words uttered by people located around the vehicle 1 is used.

[0056] On the other hand, the map data storage device 12 stores map data and the like required for the vehicle 1 to autonomously drive, and the detection unit 13 includes, for example, various sensors for detecting the getting on and off of the bus by passengers. The position information sensor 10, the environment information sensor 11, the map data storage device 12, and the detection unit 13 are connected to the electronic control unit 5.

[0057] On the other hand, Figure 1 In the example, "20" indicates the server. Figure 1 As shown, an electronic control unit 21 is provided in the server 20. The electronic control unit 21 is composed of a digital computer, and has a CPU (microprocessor) 23, a memory 24 including a ROM and a RAM, and an input / output port 25, which are interconnected via a bidirectional bus 22. Furthermore, a communication device 26 for communicating with the vehicle 1 is provided in the server 20. On the other hand, the vehicle 1 is equipped with a communication device 14 for communicating with the server 20.

[0058] In the embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle driving unit 2 is composed of an electric motor driven by a secondary battery or an electric motor driven by a fuel cell, and the driving wheels are driven and controlled by these electric motors according to the output signal of the electronic control unit 5. In addition, the braking control of the vehicle 1 is performed by the braking device 3 according to the output signal of the electronic control unit 5, and the steering control of the vehicle 1 is performed by the steering device 4 according to the output signal of the electronic control unit 5.

[0059] Figure 21 is a functional block diagram for enabling the vehicle 1 to drive autonomously. Figure 2 As shown, in the embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle 1 includes an operation plan generating unit 30, an environment information detecting unit 31, a driving control unit 32, and a position information sending unit 33. In the operation plan generating unit 30, when an operation instruction is received from the server 20, an operation plan of the driving path, driving speed, parking position, etc. of the vehicle 1 is generated based on the operation instruction. In the environment information detecting unit 31, the environment information required for the autonomous driving of the vehicle 1 is detected by the environment information sensor 11. For example, in the environment information detecting unit 31, the number and position of lanes, the number and position of other moving bodies existing around the own vehicle 1, the number and position of obstacles (such as pedestrians, bicycles, structures, buildings, etc.) existing around the own vehicle 1, the structure of the road, and road signs are detected.

[0060] In the driving control unit 32, based on the operation plan generated in the operation plan generation unit 30, the environmental information detected in the environmental information detection unit 31, the map data stored in the map data storage device 12, and the current position of the vehicle 1 detected by the position information sensor 10, the driving control for making the vehicle 1 drive autonomously is performed. As a result, the vehicle 1 is made to drive autonomously while avoiding contact with other moving bodies and obstacles along the set driving path. On the other hand, in the position information sending unit 33, information related to the current position of the vehicle 1 detected by the position information sensor 10 is sent to the server 20 via the communication device 14. In addition, these operation plan generation unit 30, environmental information detection unit 31, driving control unit 32 and position information sending unit 33 are formed in the electronic control unit 5 of the vehicle 1.

[0061] Figure 3 1 shows a driving control routine of the vehicle 1 that is executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 in order to make the vehicle 1 autonomously travel. This routine is executed by interruption at regular time intervals.

[0062] Reference Figure 3 First, in step 40, it is determined whether an operation instruction is received from the server 20. When it is determined that an operation instruction is not received from the server 20, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that an operation instruction is received from the server 20, the process proceeds to step 41 to obtain the operation instruction. Next, in step 42, an operation plan of the driving route, driving speed, parking position, etc. of the vehicle 1 is generated based on the operation instruction.

[0063] Next, in step 43, the environmental information required for the autonomous driving of the vehicle 1 is detected. Next, in step 44, the driving control for making the vehicle 1 autonomously drive is performed, thereby making the vehicle 1 autonomously drive while avoiding contact with other moving bodies and obstacles along the set driving path. Next, in step 45, information related to the current position of the vehicle 1 is sent to the server 20. Next, in step 46, it is determined whether the vehicle 1 has arrived at the destination set by the operation instruction. In this case, in the embodiment of the present invention, after the circular bus has circulated the set number of times, it is determined whether the set destination has been reached. When it is determined that the vehicle 1 has not arrived at the destination, in the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that the circular bus has not arrived at the destination after circulating the set number of times, the process returns to step 43 and the autonomous driving control of the vehicle 1 is continued. When it is determined that the vehicle 1 has arrived at the destination, in the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that the circular bus has arrived at the destination after circulating the set number of times, the process loop is terminated.

[0064] In the embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle 1 includes a circulating bus that is made to autonomously travel along a preset travel path in a preset area. The circulating bus that is made to autonomously travel can be used as an ambulance for disaster victims to take refuge when certain disasters occur. However, in this case, the victims may not be able to request rescue from the circulating bus through the network because the communication tools are not at hand or the power supply cannot be ensured. In such a case, when the circulating bus that autonomously travels based on the operation command is traveling nearby, it is preferable to be able to stop the circulating bus with a gesture in order to board the circulating bus.

[0065] On the other hand, the self-driving vehicle such as the loop bus is equipped with various sensors that can detect the surrounding conditions, so these sensors can be used to detect gestures. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is set to use these sensors to detect gestures, and when the gesture is determined to be a gesture requesting the self-driving vehicle to stop, the self-driving vehicle is stopped.

[0066] However, when constructing a system that enables the autonomous vehicle to be stopped by gestures, the following problem arises: even in normal times when there is no disaster, the autonomous vehicle is frequently stopped between pre-set stops, and in normal times, the autonomous vehicle cannot operate normally according to the pre-set schedule. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the system is constructed so that the autonomous vehicle can be stopped by gestures only when a disaster occurs, thereby enabling the autonomous vehicle to operate normally according to the pre-set schedule in normal times.

[0067] Next, refer to Figure 4A to Figure 9 The first embodiment of the present invention is described. There are various gestures required when an autonomous driving vehicle stops, which vary depending on the person, region, and country. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, a large number of representative gestures among these gestures are pre-selected as reference gestures, and the selected reference gestures are photographed by a camera, for example, images of the gestures are obtained at regular intervals. The obtained images are converted into image data from which the morphological features of the gestures are extracted by an image processing device (not shown), and are stored in the image processing device. In this way, image data related to the reference gestures are stored in the image processing device.

[0068] In this image processing device, a case where a well-known R-CNN (regions with CNN features) using a convolutional neural network is used will be briefly described as an example. A bounding box surrounding a person is displayed on a screen captured by a camera. Figure 4A to Figure 4C An example of a reference gesture and a bounding box 50 surrounding a person are shown. Figure 4A , Figure 4B , Figure 4C , a reference gesture image at regular intervals when a person swings one arm up and down is shown in a diagram. In this case, of course, Fast R-CNN, Faster R-CNN, YOLO or SSD, which are developments of the R-CNN, can also be used. In addition, the electronic control unit 5 mounted on the vehicle 1 is adjusted to be able to execute the same image processing routine as the image processing routine in the image processing device.

[0069] Next, refer to Figure 5 The reference data storage processing routine executed in the image processing device is described. Figure 4A to Figure 4C The bounding box 50 surrounding the person is shown, and based on the display of the bounding box 50, the existence of the person is recognized in step 60. Next, in step 61, a reference gesture image is obtained from the image captured by the camera, and the obtained reference gesture image is transformed into image data with morphological features extracted from the gesture, that is, a vector called CNN feature for the image. Next, in step 62, the image data related to the reference gesture is stored. Such processing of steps 60 to 62 is performed on images of all selected reference gestures at regular intervals. In this way, the image data related to the reference gesture is stored in the image processing device. The image data related to the reference gesture stored in the image processing device is previously stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5.

[0070] Figure 62 shows a data storage processing routine executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. This routine is executed by interruption at regular time intervals.

[0071] Reference Figure 6 First, in step 100, an image of the surroundings of the vehicle 1 during driving is obtained, which is continuously captured by a camera that is one of the environmental information sensors 11 mounted on the vehicle 1. Next, in step 101, a recognition process of the presence of a person is performed from the image captured by the camera. In this case, when there is a person around the vehicle 1, a boundary box surrounding the person is displayed on the image captured by the camera, thereby enabling the presence of the person to be recognized. Next, in step 102, based on the image captured by the camera, it is determined whether there is a person around the vehicle 1. When it is determined that there is no person around the vehicle 1, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is a person around the vehicle 1, the process proceeds to step 103.

[0072] In step 103, a gesture image of a person located around the vehicle 1 is obtained from the image captured by the camera, and the obtained gesture image is converted into image data with morphological features extracted from the gesture. Next, in step 104, the obtained image data related to the gesture is stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5.

[0073] Figure 7 The vehicle stop determination processing routine is shown in FIG. 1 and is executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. Figure 6 The data storage processing routine shown is executed by interruption of a certain period of time.

[0074] Reference Figure 7 First, in step 120, image data related to the reference gesture stored in advance in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5 is read. Next, in step 121, image data related to the gesture of a person located around the vehicle 1 acquired during driving and stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5 is read. Next, in step 122, the image data related to the gesture of a person located around the vehicle 1 acquired during driving is compared with the image data related to the reference gesture, and it is determined whether the image data related to the gesture of a person located around the vehicle 1 acquired during driving is a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop.

[0075] When it is determined that the image data related to the gesture of the person located around the vehicle 1 acquired during the driving is a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, it is determined in step 123 that there is a request for the vehicle 1 to stop, and the process proceeds to step 124, where the count value K is incremented by 1, and the process proceeds to step 125. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 123 that there is no request for the vehicle 1 to stop, the process jumps to step 125. In step 125, it is determined whether the gesture image comparison and discrimination operation has been performed a certain number of times. When the gesture image comparison and discrimination operation has been performed less than a certain number of times, it is determined that the discrimination is not completed, and the process returns to step 121. On the other hand, when the gesture image comparison and discrimination operation has been performed a certain number of times, it is determined that the discrimination is completed, and the process proceeds to step 126.

[0076] In step 126, it is determined whether the count value K exceeds a certain value KX. When the count value K exceeds the certain value KX, step 127 is entered, and the stop request flag A requesting the vehicle 1 to stop is set, and then the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when the count value K does not exceed the certain value KX, the processing loop ends. That is, when the image data related to the gestures of the person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving is compared with the image data about the reference gesture, when the proportion of the image data related to the gestures of the person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop is greater than a certain proportion, it is determined that the image data related to the gestures of the person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving is a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, and the stop request flag A is set. In addition, the above-mentioned judgment criterion for setting the stop request flag A is a judgment criterion representing an example, and various other judgment criteria can be used.

[0077] Figure 8 2 shows a vehicle stop request routine executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. This routine is executed by interruption at regular time intervals.

[0078] Reference Figure 8First, in step 140, it is determined whether the stop request flag A is set. When the stop request flag A is not set, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when the stop request flag A is set, the process proceeds to step 141 to obtain information on the occurrence of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, water damage, and heavy rains related to the driving area of ​​the vehicle 1. As the information on the occurrence of the disaster, for example, external information related to the occurrence of the disaster obtained from the server 20 can be used, and information related to the occurrence of the disaster obtained by the environmental information sensor 11 mounted on the vehicle 1 can also be used. For example, a vibration sensor can be mounted on the vehicle 1 as the environmental information sensor 11, and information on whether an earthquake has occurred can be obtained through the vibration sensor. In addition, a flood sensor can be mounted on the vehicle 1 as the environmental information sensor 11, and information on whether a tsunami, flood, heavy rain, etc. can be obtained through the flood sensor. In addition, information on whether an earthquake has occurred can be obtained based on images of damage to buildings and roads captured by the vehicle-mounted camera, and information on whether a fire has occurred can be obtained based on images of flames and smoke captured by the vehicle-mounted camera.

[0079] Next, in step 142, based on the disaster occurrence information obtained in step 141, it is determined whether a disaster has occurred. When it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the process proceeds to step 143, and a vehicle stop process is performed to stop vehicle 1 around the person who requested vehicle 1 to stop. Next, the process proceeds to step 144, and the stop request flag A is reset. Then, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 142 that no disaster has occurred, the process jumps to step 144. Therefore, even when image data related to the gesture of a person located around vehicle 1 obtained during driving is determined to be a gesture requesting vehicle 1 to stop, if it is determined that no disaster has occurred, the vehicle stop process to stop vehicle 1 is not performed. That is, at this time, vehicle 1 travels according to a pre-set time schedule.

[0080] That is, in the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 9As shown in the functional structure diagram of the automatic driving vehicle, the vehicle control device of the automatic driving vehicle comprises: a reference data storage unit 70, which stores in advance data related to a reference gesture image of a person when requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop; a recognition unit 71, which recognizes that there are people around the automatic driving vehicle 1 during the autonomous driving of the automatic driving vehicle 1; a driving data storage unit 72, which stores data related to the gesture image of the person located around the automatic driving vehicle 1 when the recognition unit 71 recognizes that there are people around the automatic driving vehicle 1; a judgment unit 73, which performs a comparison with the reference gesture image stored in the reference data storage unit 70. A comparison operation is performed between the data related to the image and the data related to the gesture image stored in the driving data storage unit 72 to determine whether the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop; and a disaster occurrence determination unit 74 determines whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle 1 has occurred. When the determination unit 73 determines that the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, when the disaster occurrence determination unit 74 determines that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop. In addition, from another perspective, the first embodiment of the present invention provides a vehicle control method, which is a vehicle control method for an autonomous driving vehicle 1 that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, including: pre-storing data related to a baseline gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, storing data related to the gesture image of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 when it is recognized that there is a person around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 during the autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle 1, and by comparing the stored data related to the baseline gesture image with the stored data related to the gesture image, determining whether the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, determining whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle 1 has occurred, and when it is determined that the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, if it is determined that the above-mentioned disaster has occurred, causing the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop around the person who requested the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop.

[0081] Furthermore, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a program for causing a computer to function so as to execute the vehicle control method, and a computer-readable recording medium recording the program.

[0082] In the event of a disaster, depending on the victims, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 may be requested to stop by words instead of gestures. In this case, it is preferable to construct a vehicle driving system so that the autonomous driving vehicle 1 can be stopped regardless of whether the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is made by gestures or words. Therefore, in a variation of the first embodiment of the present invention, a vehicle driving system is constructed so that the autonomous driving vehicle 1 can be stopped when it is determined that a disaster has occurred regardless of whether the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is made by gestures or words.

[0083] Figure 10 to Figure 13 Various routines used in the modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention are shown. In addition, in this modified example, directly using Figure 5 The benchmark data storage processing routine shown and Figure 7 In addition, in this modified example, instead of Figure 6 The data storage processing routine shown in Fig.10 The data storage processing routine shown, Fig.11 The voice data storage processing routine shown and Fig.12 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown is replaced by Figure 8 The vehicle stop request routine shown, while using Fig.13 Vehicle stop request routine shown.

[0084] Next, refer to Figure 10 to Figure 13 A modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0085] Fig.10 2 shows a data storage processing routine executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. This routine is executed by interruption at regular time intervals.

[0086] Reference Fig.10 First, in step 200, images of the surroundings of the vehicle 1 during driving are obtained, which are continuously captured by a camera that is one of the environmental information sensors 11 mounted on the vehicle 1. Next, in step 201, a recognition process of the presence of a person is performed from the image captured by the camera. In this case, when there is a person around the vehicle 1, a boundary box surrounding the person is displayed on the image captured by the camera, thereby enabling the presence of the person to be recognized. Next, in step 202, it is determined from the image captured by the camera whether there is a person around the vehicle 1. When it is determined that there is no person around the vehicle 1, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is a person around the vehicle 1, the process proceeds to step 203.

[0087] In step 203, a gesture image of a person located around the vehicle 1 is obtained from the image captured by the camera, and the obtained gesture image is converted into image data with morphological features extracted from the gesture. Next, in step 204, the obtained image data related to the gesture is stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5. Next, in step 205, a command to obtain the speech of the person located around the vehicle 1 is issued. When the command to obtain the speech of the person located around the vehicle 1 is issued, the execution Fig.11 The voice data storage processing routine shown.

[0088] Reference Fig.11 First, in step 220, the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 is obtained at a certain time. In this case, the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 is obtained by a sound collector mounted as one of the environmental information sensors 11. Next, in step 221, a feature quantity is extracted from the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 using a speech recognition technology, and the extracted feature quantity is converted into text, and the text-converted data, that is, the data related to the speech, is stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5.

[0089] Fig.12 The vehicle stop determination processing routine is shown in FIG. 1 and is executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. Fig.10 The data storage processing routine shown is executed by interruption of a certain period of time.

[0090] Reference Fig.12 First, in step 240, data related to the reference words pre-stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5 are read. The reference words are explained. There are various words that are used when requesting the automatic driving vehicle to stop, which vary depending on the person, region, and country. Examples of such words include "let me get in the car" or "help me". Therefore, in this variant, a large number of representative words among these words are pre-selected as reference words, and the reference words are obtained by the sound collector by asking a person to say the selected reference words. When the reference words are obtained, feature quantities are extracted from the reference words using speech recognition technology, and text is performed based on the extracted feature quantities. The text-based data, that is, the data related to the words, is stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5. In step 240, data related to the reference words pre-stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5 are read.

[0091] Next, in step 241, data on the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 obtained during the driving and stored in the memory 8 of the electronic control unit 5 are read. Next, in step 242, the data on the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 obtained during the driving and the data on the reference speech are compared to determine whether the data on the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 obtained during the driving is a speech requesting the vehicle 1 to stop. If it is determined that the data on the speech of the person around the vehicle 1 obtained during the driving is a speech requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, in step 243, it is determined that there is a stop request for the vehicle 1, and the process proceeds to step 244, where the stop request flag B requesting the vehicle 1 to stop is set, and then the processing loop ends. On the other hand, in step 243, if it is determined that there is no stop request for the vehicle 1, the processing loop ends.

[0092] Fig.13 2 shows a vehicle stop request routine executed in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is running. This routine is executed by interruption at regular time intervals.

[0093] Reference Fig.13 First, in step 260, determine Figure 7 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in FIG. 2 is used to determine whether the stop request flag A set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine has been set. If the stop request flag A has been set, the process jumps to step 262. On the other hand, if the stop request flag A has not been set, the process proceeds to step 261 to determine whether the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in FIG. Fig.12 The stop request flag B set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown is set. If the stop request flag B is set, the process proceeds to step 262. On the other hand, if the stop request flag B is not set, the process loop ends.

[0094] Therefore, the process proceeds to step 262 when the stop request flag A is set or the stop request flag B is set, that is, when the gesture of the person around the vehicle 1 is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop or when the words of the person around the vehicle 1 are determined to be words requesting the vehicle 1 to stop. In step 262, the occurrence information of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fires, and heavy rains related to the driving area of ​​the vehicle 1 is obtained. Next, in step 263, it is determined whether a disaster has occurred based on the disaster occurrence information obtained in step 262. When it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the process proceeds to step 264, and a vehicle stop process is performed to stop the vehicle around the person who requested the vehicle 1 to stop. Next, the process proceeds to step 265, and the stop request flag A is reset, and then the process proceeds to step 266, and the stop request flag B is reset. Then, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that no disaster has occurred in step 263, the process jumps to step 265. Therefore, even when a gesture of a person around the vehicle 1 is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, or when a speech of a person around the vehicle 1 is determined to be a speech requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, if it is determined that no disaster has occurred, the vehicle stop process for stopping the vehicle 1 is not performed. That is, at this time, the vehicle 1 travels according to the pre-set time schedule.

[0095] That is, in a modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 9 In the functional structure diagram, in the reference data storage unit 70, data related to reference words for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop are stored in advance instead of data related to the reference gesture image of the person for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, and in the traveling data storage unit 72, data related to words of the person around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 are stored in addition to data related to the gesture image of the person around the autonomous driving vehicle 1, and in the determination unit 73, by performing at least one of a comparison operation of the data related to the reference gesture image stored in the reference data storage unit 70 and the data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit 72 and a comparison operation of the data related to the reference words stored in the reference data storage unit 70 and the data related to the words stored in the traveling data storage unit 72, it is determined whether the gesture of the person around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, or whether the words of the person around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 are words for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop. In this case, when the judgment unit 73 judges that the gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, or when the judgment unit 73 judges that the words of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, if the disaster occurrence judgment unit 74 judges that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is stopped around the person who requested the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop.

[0096] Next, refer to Fig.14 and Fig.15 The second embodiment of the present invention is described. In the second embodiment, directly using Figure 5 The benchmark data storage processing routine shown, Figure 7 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown, Fig.10 The data storage processing routine shown, Fig.11 The voice data storage processing routine shown and Fig.12 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown is replaced by Figure 8 and Fig.13 The vehicle stop request routine shown is used Fig.14 Vehicle stop request routine shown.

[0097] Fig.14 The vehicle stop request routine shown is executed by interruption at regular time intervals in the electronic control unit 5 mounted in the vehicle 1 while the vehicle 1 is traveling.

[0098] Reference Fig.14 First, in step 300, information on the occurrence of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, water damage, and heavy rains related to the driving area of ​​the vehicle 1 is obtained. Next, in step 301, it is determined whether a disaster has occurred based on the disaster occurrence information obtained in step 300. When it is determined that no disaster has occurred, the processing loop ends. On the other hand, when it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the process proceeds to step 302 to execute various processing routines.

[0099] That is, in step 302, execute Fig.10 In the data storage processing routine shown, in step 303, execution Figure 7 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in FIG. 1 is executed in step 304 according to the requirements. Fig.11 The voice data storage processing routine shown in FIG. 10 includes executing, in step 305, Fig.12 Thus, in the second embodiment, only when it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the vehicle stop determination processing routine is executed. Fig.10 The data storage processing routine shown, Figure 7 The vehicle stop determination processing routine shown, Fig.11 The voice data storage processing routine shown and Fig.12 The vehicle stop determination processing routine is shown.

[0100] Next, in step 306, it is determined that Figure 7The vehicle stops and determines whether the stop request flag A set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in the figure has been set. If the stop request flag A has been set, the process jumps to step 308. On the other hand, if the stop request flag A has not been set, the process proceeds to step 307 to determine whether the vehicle stops and determines whether the stop request flag A has been set. Fig.12 The stop request flag B set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown is set. If the stop request flag B is set, the process proceeds to step 308. On the other hand, if the stop request flag B is not set, the process loop ends.

[0101] Therefore, the process of entering step 308 is when the stop request flag A is set or the stop request flag B is set, that is, when the gesture of the person around the vehicle 1 is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop or the words of the person around the vehicle 1 are determined to be words requesting the vehicle 1 to stop. In step 308, a vehicle stop process is performed to stop the vehicle 1 around the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop. Then, the process enters step 309, and the stop request flag A and the stop request flag B are reset. Then, the processing loop ends. Therefore, when it is determined that no disaster has occurred, even if the gesture of the person around the vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop or even if the words of the person around the vehicle 1 are words requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, the vehicle stop process to stop the vehicle 1 is not performed. That is, at this time, the vehicle 1 travels according to the pre-set time schedule.

[0102] That is, in the second embodiment of the present invention, Fig.15As shown in the functional structure diagram of , the vehicle control device of the autonomous driving vehicle comprises: a reference data storage unit 80, which stores in advance data related to a reference gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop and data related to a reference word when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop; a disaster occurrence determination unit 81, which determines whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle 1 has occurred; a recognition unit 82, which recognizes that there are people around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle 1 when the disaster occurrence determination unit 81 determines that a disaster has occurred; a driving data storage unit 83, which stores data related to gesture images of people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 and data related to words of people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 when the disaster occurrence determination unit 81 determines that a disaster has occurred and the recognition unit 82 recognizes that there are people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1; a judgment unit 84, which, when the disaster occurrence determination unit 81 determines that a disaster has occurred and the recognition unit 82 recognizes that there are people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1, stores data related to gesture images of people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 and data related to words of people around the autonomous driving vehicle 1; When it is determined that a disaster has occurred, the automatic driving vehicle 1 is judged whether the gesture of the person around the automatic driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop, or the words of the person around the automatic driving vehicle 1 are words requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop by performing at least one of a comparison operation of comparing the data related to the baseline gesture image stored in the baseline data storage unit 80 and the data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit 83, and a comparison operation of comparing the data related to the baseline words stored in the baseline data storage unit 80 and the data related to the words stored in the traveling data storage unit 83. When the judgment unit 84 judges that the gesture of the person around the automatic driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop, or when the judgment unit 84 judges that the words of the person around the automatic driving vehicle 1 are words requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop, the automatic driving vehicle 1 is stopped around the person requesting the automatic driving vehicle 1 to stop.

[0103] So far, referring to the first embodiment, the modification of the first embodiment, and the second embodiment, the method of stopping the vehicle 1 when a person around the vehicle 1 requests the vehicle 1 to stop by gesture or words in the event of a disaster has been described. However, for example, in the case where the vehicle 1 is already full, even if there is a person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop, it is necessary to refuse the person from boarding the vehicle 1. That is, when considering such a situation, it can be said that it is preferable to determine whether to allow the person to board the vehicle 1 when there is a person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop. This can also be applied to any of the first embodiment, the modification of the first embodiment, and the second embodiment.

[0104] Therefore, the following will sequentially describe the case where the boarding permission determination process for determining whether to allow a person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop to board the vehicle 1 is performed in the first embodiment, the modified example of the first embodiment, and the second embodiment. Figure 8 The vehicle stop request routine shown, while using Fig.16 Vehicle stop request routine shown. Fig.16 The vehicle stop request routine shown is similar to Figure 8 The vehicle stop request routine shown differs only in that Fig.16 The vehicle stop request routine shown is in Figure 8 The vehicle stop request routine shown in FIG. 1 has steps 142a and 142b added between steps 142 and 143, and the remaining steps 140 to 144 are the same as those in FIG. 141 . Figure 8 The steps 140 to 144 shown in FIG. 1 are the same. Therefore, the following Fig.16 The vehicle stop request routine shown will be described with respect to only the portion related to step 142a and step 142b.

[0105] Reference Fig.16 , when it is determined in step 142 that a disaster has occurred, the process proceeds to step 142a, and a determination process is performed to determine whether a person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is permitted to board. Next, in step 142b, based on the result of the determination process of the permission of boarding in step 142a, it is determined whether a person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is permitted to board. When it is determined that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is permitted to board, the process proceeds to step 143, and a vehicle stop process is performed to stop the vehicle 1 around the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop. Next, the process proceeds to step 144, and the stop request flag A is reset. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 142b that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is not permitted to board, the process jumps to step 144. Therefore, even if the image data related to the gesture of the person located around the vehicle 1 acquired during the driving is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, when it is determined that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is not permitted to board, the vehicle stop process to stop the vehicle 1 is not performed.

[0106] Next, a case where the boarding permission determination process for determining whether to allow a person who has requested the vehicle 1 to stop to board the vehicle 1 is applied to a modified example of the first embodiment will be described. Fig.13 The vehicle stop request routine shown, while using Fig.17 Vehicle stop request routine shown. Fig.17 The vehicle stop request routine shown is similar to Fig.13 The vehicle stop request routine shown differs only in that Fig.17 The vehicle stop request routine shown is in Fig.13The vehicle stop request routine shown in FIG. 1 has steps 263a and 263b added between steps 263 and 264, and the remaining steps 260 to 266 are the same as those in FIG. Fig.13 The steps 260 to 266 shown in FIG. 1 are the same. Therefore, the following Fig.17 The vehicle stop request routine shown will be described with respect to only the portion related to step 263a and step 263b.

[0107] Reference Fig.17 , when it is determined in step 263 that a disaster has occurred, the process proceeds to step 263a, and a determination process is performed to determine whether the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board. Next, in step 263b, based on the result of the boarding permission determination process in step 263a, it is determined whether the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board. When it is determined that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board, the process proceeds to step 264, and a vehicle stop process is performed to stop the vehicle 1 around the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop. Next, the process proceeds to step 265, and the stop request flag A is reset. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 263b that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board, the process jumps to step 265. Therefore, even if image data related to a gesture of a person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, or even if words of a person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving are determined to be words requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, when it is determined that the person requesting the vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board, the vehicle stop process to stop the vehicle 1 is not performed.

[0108] Next, a case where the boarding permission determination process for determining whether to allow a person who has requested the vehicle 1 to stop to board the vehicle 1 is applied to the second embodiment will be described. Fig.14 The vehicle stop request routine shown, while using Fig.18 and Fig.19 Vehicle stop request routine shown. Fig.14 The vehicle stop request routine shown is similar to Fig.18 and Fig.19 The vehicle stop request routine shown differs only in that Fig.18 and Fig.19 The vehicle stop request routine shown is in Fig.14 The vehicle stop request routine shown in FIG. 1 has steps 307a and 307b added between steps 307 and 308, and the remaining steps 300 to 309 are the same as those in FIG. Fig.14 The steps 300 to 309 shown in FIG. 1 are the same. Fig.18 and Fig.19 The vehicle stop request routine shown will be described with respect to only the portion related to step 307a and step 307b.

[0109] Reference Fig.18 and Fig.19 , in step 306, it is determined that Figure 7 When the stop request flag A set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in FIG. 1 is set, or when it is determined in step 307 that the vehicle is in a state of Fig.12 When the stop request flag B that is set in the vehicle stop determination processing routine shown in FIG. 1 is set, the process proceeds to step 307a to perform a determination process of whether or not the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board. Next, in step 307b, based on the result of the boarding permission determination process in step 307a, it is determined whether or not the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board. When it is determined that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board, the process proceeds to step 308 to perform a vehicle stop process of stopping the vehicle 1 around the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop. Next, the process proceeds to step 309, and the stop request flag A and the stop request flag B are reset. On the other hand, when it is determined in step 307b that the person who requests the vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board, the process jumps to step 309. Therefore, even if image data related to a gesture of a person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving is determined to be a gesture requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, or even if words of a person located around the vehicle 1 obtained during driving are determined to be words requesting the vehicle 1 to stop, when it is determined that the person requesting the vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board, the vehicle stop process to stop the vehicle 1 is not performed.

[0110] In the case where a boarding permission determination process is performed in the first embodiment, a variation of the first embodiment, and the second embodiment to determine whether a person who has requested the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board the vehicle 1, a boarding permission determination unit for determining whether a person who has requested the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board the vehicle 1 is provided in the electronic control unit 5, and in the boarding permission determination unit, it is determined whether a person who has requested the vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board the vehicle 1.

[0111] That is, in the embodiment involved in the present invention, there is provided a boarding permission determination unit for determining whether a person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle 1 when a disaster is determined to have occurred by the disaster occurrence determination unit 74, 81. Even if the determination units 73, 84 determine that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, or determine that words of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle 1 are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, when the boarding permission determination unit determines that the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle 1, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 will not stop around the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop.

[0112] In addition, as a case where a person who requested the vehicle 1 to stop is refused to board the vehicle 1 in the boarding permission determination process, in addition to the case where the vehicle 1 is full, that is, the number of people already boarding the vehicle 1 reaches the permitted number of people, there is also a case where a person who requested the vehicle 1 to stop is refused to board the vehicle 1 due to the request of the person already boarding. In this case, whether the vehicle 1 is full is determined based on, for example, a picture taken by a camera installed in the vehicle 1, and whether there is a person who refused the person who requested the vehicle 1 to stop to board the vehicle 1 among the people already boarding the vehicle can be determined by constructing a button or touch panel installed in the vehicle 1 in advance, or by a confirmation system such as confirmation by a portable terminal owned by the person already boarding the vehicle.

[0113] That is, in this case, in the embodiment of the present invention, the boarding permission determination unit provided in the electronic control unit 5 detects the number of people who have boarded the autonomous driving vehicle 1 or the request of the people who have boarded the vehicle, and when the number of people who have boarded the autonomous driving vehicle 1 reaches the permissible number of people, or when the people who have boarded the autonomous driving vehicle 1 request to board the person who refuses to request the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, it is determined that the person who requested the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle 1. In this case, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 does not stop.

[0114] On the other hand, if it is determined that the vehicle 1 is requested to stop as a prank, the vehicle 1 should not be stopped. In this case, it can be determined whether it is a prank based on the image of the external camera mounted on the vehicle 1, based on the expression of the person who requested the vehicle 1 to stop, such as laughing or grinning.

[0115] That is, in this case, in the embodiment of the present invention, the boarding permission determination unit determines whether the request for the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is a prank based on the expression of the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop, and when it is determined that the request for the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is a prank, it is determined that the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle 1 to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle 1. Therefore, at this time, the autonomous driving vehicle 1 does not stop.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device is a vehicle control device for an autonomous driving vehicle that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, comprising: A reference data storage unit storing data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the automatic driving vehicle to stop in advance; a recognition unit that recognizes that a person is present around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle; A running data storage unit for storing data related to a gesture image of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle when the recognition unit recognizes that a person is located around the autonomous driving vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop by comparing data related to the reference gesture image stored in the reference data storage unit with data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit; as well as a disaster occurrence determination unit that determines whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle has occurred, When the determination unit determines that the gesture of the person around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, and when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop. When the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that no disaster has occurred, even if a gesture from a person around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, The reference data storage unit stores in advance data on reference words for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, in addition to data on a reference hand gesture image of a person for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop. The traveling data storage unit stores data related to speech of people around the autonomous driving vehicle in addition to data related to gesture images of people around the autonomous driving vehicle. The discrimination unit discriminates whether a gesture of a person located around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, or whether a word of a person located around the autonomous vehicle is a word requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, by performing at least one of a comparison operation of comparing data related to a benchmark gesture image stored in the benchmark data storage unit with data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit, and a comparison operation of comparing data related to benchmark words stored in the benchmark data storage unit with data related to words stored in the traveling data storage unit. When the determination unit determines that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop or when the words of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, and when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred, the autonomous driving vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, A boarding permission determination unit is provided for determining whether to allow a person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle to stop to board the autonomous driving vehicle when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred, Even when the judgment unit determines that the gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, when the riding permission judgment unit determines that the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not allowed to ride the autonomous driving vehicle, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, The boarding permission determination unit detects the number of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle or the requests of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle, and when the number of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle reaches the permitted number or when a person already on the autonomous driving vehicle requests to board a person who refuses to request the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, it is determined that the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not permitted to board the autonomous driving vehicle.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, The boarding permission determination unit determines whether the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle is a prank based on the expression of the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop. When it is determined that the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle is a prank, it is determined that the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle.

6. A vehicle control device is a vehicle control device for an autonomous driving vehicle that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, comprising: A reference data storage unit storing in advance data on a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop and data on reference words when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop; a disaster occurrence determination unit that determines whether a disaster related to a driving area of ​​the autonomous driving vehicle has occurred; a recognition unit that recognizes that a person is present around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred; a running data storage unit that stores data on gesture images of people around the autonomous vehicle and data on words of people around the autonomous vehicle when the disaster occurrence determination unit determines that a disaster has occurred and the recognition unit recognizes that people are around the autonomous vehicle; and a discrimination unit which, when it is determined by the disaster occurrence discrimination unit that a disaster has occurred, discriminates whether a gesture of a person located around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, or whether a word of a person located around the autonomous vehicle is a word requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, by performing at least one of a comparison operation of comparing data related to a benchmark gesture image stored in the benchmark data storage unit with data related to the gesture image stored in the traveling data storage unit and a comparison operation of comparing data related to a benchmark word stored in the benchmark data storage unit with data related to the word stored in the traveling data storage unit, When the determination unit determines that a gesture of a person around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, or when a word of a person around the autonomous vehicle is a word requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, the autonomous vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop. When it is determined by the disaster occurrence determination unit that no disaster has occurred, even if a person around the autonomous driving vehicle makes a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop or speaks words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 6, A boarding permission determination unit is provided for determining whether a person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle. Even when the determination unit determines that a gesture of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop or the words of a person located around the autonomous driving vehicle are words requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, when the boarding permission determination unit determines that the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 7, The boarding permission determination unit detects the number of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle or the requests of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle, and when the number of people already on the autonomous driving vehicle reaches the permitted number or when a person already on the autonomous driving vehicle requests to board a person who refuses to request the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, it is determined that the person who requests the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not permitted to board the autonomous driving vehicle.

9. The vehicle control device according to claim 7, The boarding permission determination unit determines whether the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle is a prank based on the expression of the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop. When it is determined that the request to stop the autonomous driving vehicle is a prank, it is determined that the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop is not allowed to board the autonomous driving vehicle.

10. A vehicle control method is a vehicle control method for an autonomous driving vehicle that drives autonomously based on an operation instruction, comprising: storing in advance data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person when requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop; When a person is recognized to be around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving of the autonomous driving vehicle, data related to a hand gesture image of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is stored, and by comparing the stored data related to the reference hand gesture image with the stored data related to the hand gesture image, it is determined whether the hand gesture of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is a hand gesture for requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop; Determining whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous vehicle has occurred; as well as When it is determined that the gesture of the person around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, if it is determined that the disaster has occurred, the autonomous vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop. When it is determined that no disaster has occurred, even if a gesture from a person around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

11. A recording medium having a program recorded thereon, the program being used to cause a computer to function so as to: Controlling autonomous vehicles that drive autonomously based on operating instructions, storing in advance data related to a reference hand gesture image of a person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, When a person is recognized to be around the autonomous driving vehicle during autonomous driving, data related to gesture images of the person located around the autonomous driving vehicle is stored. By comparing the stored data related to the reference gesture image with the stored data related to the gesture image, it is determined whether the gesture of the person around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop. Determine whether a disaster related to the driving area of ​​the autonomous vehicle has occurred, When it is determined that the gesture of the person around the autonomous vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop, if it is determined that the disaster has occurred, the autonomous vehicle is stopped around the person requesting the autonomous vehicle to stop. When it is determined that no disaster has occurred, even if a gesture from a person around the autonomous driving vehicle is a gesture requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop, the autonomous driving vehicle is not stopped around the person requesting the autonomous driving vehicle to stop.

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