Vehicle control device

Abstract

The invention provides a vehicle control device capable of appropriately adjusting the speed of a vehicle. A vehicle control device includes a sensor and a control device in a vehicle. The control device records signal states of light content of a first traffic light in the vicinity of a vehicle and light content of a second traffic light to be passed after passing through the first traffic light, and records driving content including passing through the first traffic light to passing through the second traffic light in sensor-based driving control. And is reflected in speed control during the next travel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device, and in particular to a vehicle control device for controlling vehicle speed. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, efforts have been actively made to provide access to sustainable transportation systems that also take into account the disadvantaged positions of traffic participants such as the elderly, the disabled or children. In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, research and development efforts are being made to further improve the safety and convenience of traffic through developments related to vehicle behavior stability technology.

[0003] Patent document 1 discloses a traffic light information providing system, which includes a vehicle and a server configured to be able to communicate with the vehicle. The server provides information about the light color change of a traffic light to the vehicle. The server uses a stored switching cycle to send information indicating the time when the traffic light turns green to a vehicle approaching an intersection. During the driving process of the vehicle, the speed at which the vehicle can pass the next traffic light in the green light state is prompted, and the acceleration and deceleration caused by the red light stop can be suppressed.

[0004] Patent document 2 discloses a vehicle parking judgment notification system, which includes: a position information acquisition device for acquiring the position information of the vehicle; a speed information acquisition device for acquiring the speed information of the vehicle; a shooting device for acquiring images around the vehicle; a stop position determination device for determining the parking position of the vehicle based on the position information, speed information, surrounding images and map information; and a parking reason determination device for determining the reason for stopping the vehicle (vehicle failure, accident, traffic congestion, etc.) based on predetermined conditions.

[0005] However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose a technique for preventing excessive acceleration, and Patent Document 2 does not disclose a situation where the parking position is at an intersection, or how to determine an irregular scene that is not applicable.

[0006] [Prior art literature]

[0007] [Patent Document]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2019-075054

[0009] [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-128589 Summary of the invention

[0010] In the vehicle behavior stability technology, how to properly adjust the vehicle speed is a subject for designers in this field.

[0011] This project aims to solve the above problems and achieve driving control based on the vehicle's own sensors without using vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In addition, it will contribute to the development of sustainable transportation systems.

[0012] To achieve the above object, the present invention is a vehicle control device, which includes a sensor and a control device in a vehicle. The control device records the light content of a first traffic light near the vehicle and the signal state of the light content of a second traffic light to be passed after passing the first traffic light, and records the driving content from passing the first traffic light to passing the second traffic light, and reflects it in the speed control during the next driving.

[0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, the control device determines the deceleration amount for the intersection of the second traffic light, and reduces the average passing speed from the first traffic light to the second traffic light in the next driving content.

[0014] In one embodiment of the present invention, the control device records the travel date and time of the vehicle, and for past records, reflects the recorded information of past travel close to the current time on the speed control.

[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, when there are multiple past records, the information with a higher matching rate with the current driving environment is reflected in the speed control.

[0016] In one embodiment of the present invention, when there are multiple past records, the reliability is evaluated based on the quantity or similarity of the recorded information.

[0017] In one embodiment of the present invention, when there are multiple past records, if there are cases where the vehicle passes through at the same average passing speed and cases where the vehicle fails to pass through, the reliability of the recorded information is reduced.

[0018] In one embodiment of the present invention, the records of the control device are recorded together with the map information.

[0019] In one embodiment of the present invention, when reflecting speed control, if the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle or the following vehicle is greater than or equal to a threshold, vehicle control is performed based on past records.

[0020] Based on the above, the vehicle control device of the present invention estimates the time when the light at the next intersection turns red based on the log of the Global Positioning System (GPS), and can reflect the estimated time in advance in the vehicle speed control without using information from vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and other vehicle networks.

[0021] In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following embodiments are specifically cited and described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 A schematic block diagram showing a vehicle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 A flow chart showing a vehicle control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing links between intersections according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the vehicle position and the vehicle driving control according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 5 A schematic diagram showing vehicle driving control according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Description of Reference Numerals

[0028] 100: Vehicle control device

[0029] 110: Sensor

[0030] 120: Control device

[0031] 300, 400: Map

[0032] 410: Vehicle speed graph

[0033] A, B, S1~S6: intersection

[0034] S202~S210: Steps

[0035] t1~t4: time point

[0036] T: Time DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0038] At intersections that are used daily and familiar, even if you know that the traffic light will soon turn red, the vehicle's autonomous driving (AD) system / advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) will not decelerate unless the current color changes, but will accelerate to the specified speed. Therefore, in the case of deceleration when the current traffic light turns yellow or red, a larger deceleration acceleration (G) is required.

[0039] Based on past driving experience, people usually know the cycles of traffic lights on familiar roads, and control the speed of the vehicle in advance before reaching each traffic light to avoid unnecessary acceleration or deceleration. Based on this principle, the embodiment of the present invention identifies the time point when the own vehicle stops at each intersection from the Global Positioning System (GPS) log of the own vehicle on the map, and uses it when driving next time. By combining the recognition results of other vehicles, the influence of accuracy and time and errors can be tolerated. Among them, from the "Standard Definitionmap (SD map)" and the "GPS log", it can be identified "which intersection" the own vehicle stops at, and the current state and cycle can be identified from the stop time in the GPS log.

[0040] Figure 1 A schematic block diagram showing a vehicle control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 The vehicle control device 100 of this embodiment is, for example, configured in the own vehicle to control the driving of the own vehicle. In this embodiment, the own vehicle includes, for example, a car using an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine or a gasoline engine as a power source, an electric car using an electric motor as a power source, or a hybrid car having both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor.

[0041] The vehicle control device 100 includes a sensor 110 and a control device 120 which are arranged in the vehicle.

[0042] The sensor 110 includes a radar, a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), a sonar, an ultrasonic wave, an infrared ray, a camera, a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) transceiver, or other sensing devices that transmit data that can be processed by the control device 120, to detect the surrounding conditions of the own vehicle, including people, cars, traffic lights, intersections, or other obstacles in front of or around the vehicle. In some embodiments, the sensor 110 includes a positioning device such as a global positioning system (GPS) to detect the position of the own vehicle.

[0043] The control device 120 is implemented, for example, by executing a program through a processor, or by hardware such as a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. It can also be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. This embodiment does not limit its implementation method.

[0044] In some embodiments, the control device 120 is, for example, an autonomous driving (AD) system or an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided in the own vehicle, and can control the driving of the own vehicle based on the sensing data of the sensor 110 .

[0045] In some embodiments, the control device 120 can periodically record the driving content of the vehicle passing through each intersection, learn the change cycle of the traffic light, and reflect it in the speed control during the next driving, thereby reducing the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle when passing through the intersection.

[0046] In some embodiments, the vehicle control device 100 further includes a storage device (not shown). The storage device is, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM) or / and an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (E2PROM) and the like, which is used to store the GPS log obtained by the control device 120 through the sensor 110 to locate the own vehicle and an electronic map for identifying the location of the own vehicle. The electronic map is, for example, a standard map (SD map) or a high-precision map (HD map) that records information required for autonomous driving, such as road boundaries, traffic signs, road slopes, and road surface objects, but the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

[0047] Figure 2 A flow chart showing a vehicle control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The vehicle control method of this embodiment is applicable to Figure 1 The vehicle control device 100 of the embodiment is described below with reference to the various components in the vehicle control device 100 to describe the detailed steps of the vehicle control method of this embodiment.

[0048] In step S202 , while the vehicle is traveling, the control device 120 obtains the location of the vehicle on the map (eg, GPS log) through the sensor 110 , and determines whether the vehicle has a past passing record on the road section.

[0049] In some embodiments, the control device 120, when performing driving control based on the sensor 110, for example, records the light content of the first traffic light near the vehicle, and the signal state of the light content of the second traffic light to be passed after passing the first traffic light. The control device 120 will also record the driving content from passing the first traffic light to passing the second traffic light. The above-mentioned light content includes the light color and time of the traffic light, and the above-mentioned driving content includes the average passing speed of the vehicle, the amount or time of acceleration and deceleration, the time or position of the vehicle stopping, etc., but the present embodiment is not limited to this. Therefore, when the vehicle travels on the same road section next time, the control device 120 can reflect the past driving content in the current driving speed control based on the past records.

[0050] In some embodiments, the control device 120 may determine the deceleration amount for the intersection of the second traffic light, thereby reducing the average passing speed from the first traffic light to the second traffic light in the next driving content.

[0051] In some embodiments, the control device 120 records the date and time of vehicle travel, so that the next time the vehicle travels, the past records can be reflected in the speed control of the vehicle based on the recorded information of past travel close to the current time.

[0052] For example, Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing the links between intersections according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 In this embodiment, the driving route of the vehicle itself is drawn on a map 300, which includes passing through multiple intersections S1 to S6 with traffic lights in sequence. For each link section between intersections S1 to S6, the vehicle control device of the embodiment of the present invention will, for example, record the color and time of the first traffic light, the color and time of the second traffic light, the average passing speed of the vehicle in the link, and the date and time of the vehicle's travel. The vehicle control device restores the speed control of the vehicle based on this information and the driving record results. For example, for a certain road section, if the average passing speed of the vehicle during the previous passage was 30 kilometers per hour (km / hr), the vehicle control device can control the speed of the vehicle to 30 kilometers per hour the next time it passes the same road section.

[0053] Back to Figure 2 In the process, in step S202, if the control device 120 determines that the vehicle has no past passing record on the road section, then in step S210, the learning start phase is entered to record the light content of the traffic lights passed by the vehicle when passing through the road section and the driving content between the two traffic lights. In some embodiments, when recording the light content and driving content, the control device 120 records them together with the map information.

[0054] Otherwise, in step S204, the control device 120 determines whether the current signal mode is the same as the previous signal mode. The signal mode includes the light signal mode of the traffic light near the vehicle, the detection signal mode of the driving environment around the vehicle, the detection signal mode of the driving content of the vehicle, etc., which are not limited here.

[0055] In some embodiments, when there are multiple past records, the control device 120 may reflect the information with a higher matching rate with the current driving environment in controlling the speed of the vehicle. The driving environment includes the average passing speed of the vehicle on the road section, the amount of acceleration and deceleration, time or frequency, etc., but the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

[0056] In some embodiments, when there are multiple past records, the control device 120 can evaluate the reliability based on the number or similarity of the recorded information. However, if there are situations where the vehicle passes and fails to pass at the same average passing speed, the control device 120 will reduce the reliability of the recorded information. In detail, if there are more identical recorded information or the similarity of the recorded information is higher, it means that the situation recorded by the recorded information occurs more often and is therefore more reliable. However, if the results are different when the recorded information is the same (for example, the vehicle may pass or fail to pass at the same average passing speed), it means that the situation recorded by the recorded information is inconsistent and is therefore less reliable. At this time, the reliability of the recorded information can be lowered as a basis for the subsequent speed control by the control device 120.

[0057] Back to Figure 2 In the process, in step S204, if the control device 120 determines that the signal mode is different from the past signal mode, then in step S210, it enters the learning start stage to record the light content of the traffic lights passed by the vehicle when passing through the section and the driving content between the two traffic lights.

[0058] On the contrary, in step S206, the control device 120 determines whether the distance between the own vehicle and the front and rear vehicles is ensured to be above the specified threshold. In detail, in order to avoid danger caused by being too close to the neighboring vehicle during speed control, the control device 120 will first use the sensor 110 to detect the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the front or rear vehicle when reflecting speed control, and only when the inter-vehicle distance is greater than or equal to the threshold, the control device 120 will perform learning loading in step S208, thereby controlling the vehicle based on past records. On the contrary, if the inter-vehicle distance is less than the threshold, in step S210, the learning start stage is entered, and the control device 120 records the light content of the traffic lights near the current vehicle and the driving content of the vehicle.

[0059] In some embodiments, the size of the threshold is determined based on the speed of the vehicle. If the vehicle speed is faster, the reaction time is shorter, and a larger threshold can be set to ensure that the vehicle maintains a safe distance from the front and rear vehicles required for speed control. Conversely, if the vehicle speed is slower, the reaction time is longer, and a smaller threshold can be set.

[0060] Through the above method, the vehicle control device of this embodiment performs driving control only based on the sensors on its own vehicle, without using vehicle network information, and grasps signal information through sensors such as cameras, and records past passing times, which are reflected in the speed profile during the next driving. The vehicle speed can be adjusted in advance before reaching the next intersection, and the acceleration and deceleration caused by the change of traffic lights can be suppressed.

[0061] Figure 4 The relationship between the vehicle position and the vehicle driving control according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. Figure 4 In this embodiment, the position of the vehicle at regular intervals is marked on the map 400, and the vehicle speed curve 410 marks the speed of the vehicle at regular intervals. Referring to the records of the vehicle passing through intersections A and B, it can be seen that the vehicle will decelerate until it stops completely when approaching intersections A and B, and start to accelerate after waiting for a predetermined time. By recording the light content of the traffic lights when the vehicle passes through intersections A and B and the driving content of the vehicle, the recorded driving content can be reflected in the speed control of the vehicle when the vehicle travels between intersections A and B next time.

[0062] Figure 5 A schematic diagram showing a vehicle driving control according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 When the vehicle passes through intersection A, it decelerates from time t1 until the vehicle stops completely, and accelerates from time t2. When passing through intersection B, it decelerates from time t3 until the vehicle stops completely, and accelerates from time t4.

[0063] Before implementing vehicle control (no previous passing record), the vehicle control device starts from intersection A (time point t2), accelerates the vehicle (acceleration is positive) to a predetermined speed, and then maintains the vehicle at the predetermined speed (acceleration is zero) until it is about to reach intersection B (time point t3), then begins to decelerate (acceleration is negative) so as to stop when it reaches intersection B.

[0064] After the vehicle control is implemented, starting from intersection A (time point t2), the vehicle is accelerated (acceleration is positive) to a predetermined speed and then maintained at the predetermined speed (acceleration is zero). Before reaching intersection B, since it is known that the traffic light at intersection B will turn red, the vehicle is controlled to decelerate in advance (acceleration is negative) until it is about to reach intersection B (time point t3) and then the deceleration amplitude is increased (acceleration is negative) so as to stop when it reaches intersection B.

[0065] Among them, the time when the traffic light turns red can be estimated through the acceleration and deceleration information of the vehicle in the time interval T from time point t2 to time point t3. Since it is known in advance that the traffic light will turn red, the vehicle control device will not control the vehicle to accelerate before reaching intersection B, but control the vehicle to decelerate in advance, thereby avoiding unnecessary acceleration and deceleration without relying on vehicle network information.

[0066] In some embodiments, the vehicle control device can combine the recognition results of the vehicle's stop time at intersection B with other vehicle control devices and use them for speed control when its own vehicle travels next time, so it can withstand the influence and errors of accuracy and time.

[0067] In summary, the vehicle control device of the present invention records the signal status of the traffic lights when the vehicle passes through each intersection and the driving content of the vehicle between the traffic lights, so that when the vehicle passes through the same intersection next time, the driving content of the previous pass can be reflected in the speed control of the current pass. Therefore, the vehicle speed can be appropriately adjusted without using the vehicle network information to avoid unnecessary acceleration or deceleration, thereby increasing the stability and comfort of vehicle driving.

[0068] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vehicle control device, characterized in that: include: Sensors in vehicles; as well as A control device, in performing driving control based on the sensor, Recording the light content of a first traffic light near the vehicle and the signal state of the light content of a second traffic light to be passed after passing the first traffic light, and The record includes the driving content from passing the first traffic light to passing the second traffic light, and is reflected in the speed control during the next driving.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device determines the deceleration amount for the intersection of the second traffic light, and In the next driving situation, the average passing speed from the first traffic light to the second traffic light is reduced.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device records the driving date and time of the vehicle, and For the past record, the recorded information of the past travel close to the current time is reflected in the speed control.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, characterized in that: When there are a plurality of past records, the information with a higher matching rate with the current driving environment is reflected in the speed control.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, characterized in that: When there are a plurality of past records, the reliability is evaluated based on the number or similarity of the record information.

6. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, characterized in that: When there are a plurality of past records, if there are cases where the vehicle passes through at the same average passing speed and cases where the vehicle fails to pass through, the reliability of the recorded information is reduced.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The records of the control device are recorded together with the map information.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: When reflecting the speed control, if the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle or the following vehicle is greater than or equal to a threshold, vehicle control is performed based on past records.

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