Lane determination device, lane change determination program, and data structure

Abstract

The lane maintenance control device (1) of the present application includes a first acquisition unit (2a) that acquires a continuation distance, the continuation distance indicating a distance in each lane that can maintain continuation of travel in the lane; a first determination unit (2b) that determines a travel road and a travel lane in which a host vehicle is traveling; a first determination unit (2c) that compares a travel lane continuation distance indicating the continuation distance of the travel lane with an other lane continuation distance indicating the continuation distance of another lane that is traveling in parallel with the travel lane, and determines whether or not it is appropriate to change lanes from the travel lane to the other lane; and an output unit (2i) that outputs the determination result of the appropriateness of the lane change.

Claims

1. A lane determination device, comprising: The first acquisition unit acquires the continuing distance, which represents the distance that each lane can maintain its continued operation in. The first determining part determines the driving road and driving lane of the vehicle; The first determination unit compares a driving lane continuing distance, which indicates the continuing distance of the driving lane, and a other lane continuing distance, which indicates the continuing distance of other lanes traveling parallel to the driving lane, to determine whether it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes. as well as The output unit outputs the result determining whether the lane change was appropriate. The aforementioned continuing distance is a fixed length pre-defined for each lane in a pre-divided road segment, based on the road shape and the number of lanes.

2. The lane determination device according to claim 1, wherein have: The second determination unit determines the vehicle's location; The second acquisition unit acquires road identification information that can identify the road corresponding to the aforementioned vehicle location; as well as The third acquisition unit acquires lane recognition information that can identify the lane corresponding to the aforementioned vehicle position. The third determination section determines the external condition of the vehicle. The first determining unit uses the road identification information, the lane identification information, and the vehicle's external conditions to determine the driving road and the driving lane. The first acquisition unit acquires the aforementioned continuing distance, which is defined in a correspondence with the aforementioned road recognition information and lane recognition information.

3. The lane determination device according to claim 2, wherein, The first acquisition unit acquires the aforementioned continuing distance, which, together with the aforementioned road identification information and the aforementioned lane identification information, is defined as a constituent element of lane data.

4. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Equipped with a second determination unit, the aforementioned second determination unit determines whether there is a road change or a lane change. The first determination unit uses the condition that the second determination unit determines that there is a road change or lane change as a condition to compare the continuing distance of the driving lane with the continuing distance of the other lanes.

5. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, If the distance to the other lane is longer than the distance to the driving lane, and the difference between the distance to the other lane and the distance to the driving lane is longer than a specified distance, the first determination unit determines that it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lane.

6. The lane determination device according to claim 5, wherein, The first determination unit uses at least one of the road type of the driving road and the lane type of the driving lane to determine whether it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes.

7. The lane determination device according to claim 5, wherein, When there are multiple other lanes whose difference distance is longer than the specified distance, the first determination unit will determine whether it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes by taking the other lane whose distance difference with the longest continuing distance is less than the reference distance.

8. The lane determination device according to claim 5, wherein, If there are multiple other lanes with a differential distance longer than the specified distance, the first determination unit will determine whether it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes by taking the other lane with the longest corrected continuing distance (obtained by subtracting the lane movement cost distance from the continuing distance).

9. The lane determination device according to claim 5, wherein, Even if the distance to the other lanes is longer than the distance to the driving lane, if the difference distance is not longer than the specified distance, the first determination unit will still determine that it is not appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes.

10. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, Collaborate with reporting systems that report information to users. The output unit outputs the above-mentioned determination results to the above-mentioned reporting system.

11. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, It works in conjunction with the driving control system that controls the vehicle's movement. The aforementioned output unit outputs the aforementioned determination result to the aforementioned driving control system.

12. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first acquisition unit mentioned above acquires the continuing distance as static information.

13. The lane determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first acquisition unit mentioned above acquires the continuing distance as dynamic information.

14. A computer program product comprising a lane change determination program that causes a control unit of a lane determination device to execute: The first step is to obtain the continuing distance, which represents the distance that each lane can maintain for continued travel. The first step is to determine the road and lane in which the vehicle is traveling. The first determination step involves comparing the continuing distance of the driving lane, which represents the continuing distance of the driving lane, with the continuing distance of other lanes, which represents the continuing distance of other lanes traveling parallel to the driving lane, to determine whether it is appropriate to change lanes from the driving lane to the other lanes. The continuing distance is a fixed length predetermined for each lane in a pre-divided road segment based on the road shape and the number of lanes. as well as The output step is to output the result of whether the above lane change is suitable or not.

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