Vehicle control device and vehicle control method

Abstract

To provide a high-quality service while suppressing unnecessary control in a service vehicle that conveys objects to be conveyed as a service by means of automated driving.SOLUTION: An automated driving ECU (10) that can be used in a service vehicle for conveying objects to be conveyed, as a service, by means of automated driving, comprises: a conveying target object identifying unit (104) for identifying whether an object to be conveyed, being at least either an occupant or a load, is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing unit (122) for changing a travel tolerance, which is a range of travel control of the service vehicle permitted in the automated driving, in accordance with the result of the identification performed by the conveying target object identifying unit (104).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an autonomous driving control unit that has autonomous driving functions from level 1 to level 5 in addition to a manual driving function of level 0. As an autonomous driving vehicle, a service vehicle that transports objects such as passengers or luggage as a service is considered. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2019-101453 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In order to provide high-quality service, it is considered that automatic driving control is required for the service vehicle to prevent abnormalities from occurring in the transported object. However, the transported object is not always present in the service vehicle. Therefore, if the same automatic driving control is performed regardless of whether the transported object is present or not, there is a risk that unnecessary control will increase.

[0005] One objective of this disclosure is to provide a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that enable the provision of high-quality service while reducing unnecessary control in a service vehicle that transports objects as a service using autonomous driving. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The above object is achieved by the combination of features recited in the independent claims, and the subclaims define further advantageous embodiments of the disclosure. The reference characters in parentheses in the claims indicate a correspondence with specific means described in the following embodiment as one aspect, and do not limit the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the vehicle control device disclosed herein is a vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports transport objects as a service by autonomous driving, and is equipped with a transport object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of transport objects, such as an occupant or luggage, is present in the service vehicle, and a tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes the driving tolerance, which is the range of driving control of the service vehicle that is permitted under autonomous driving, depending on the identification result by the transport object identification unit.

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the vehicle control method disclosed herein is a vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports transport objects as a service by autonomous driving, and includes a transport object identification process executed by at least one processor for identifying whether or not at least one of transport objects, such as an occupant or luggage, is present in the service vehicle, and a tolerance change process for changing a driving tolerance, which is the range of driving control of the service vehicle that is permitted under autonomous driving, depending on the identification result in the transport object identification process.

[0009] According to the above configuration, it is possible to change the range of driving control of the service vehicle allowed in the automatic driving depending on whether or not there is a transport object in the service vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to allow driving control to a range that matches the presence or absence of the transport object depending on the presence or absence of the transport object. As a result, in a service vehicle that transports the transport object as a service by automatic driving, it is possible to provide a high-quality service while suppressing unnecessary control. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1]1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] 10A to 10C are diagrams for explaining an example of a mode of driving permissibility, in-vehicle notification, and outside-vehicle notification according to the presence or absence of an occupant. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a second embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU according to a second embodiment. [Figure 6] 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of a mode of driving tolerance and outside notification according to the presence or absence of luggage. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU according to a third embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 11] 10A to 10C are diagrams for explaining an example of a mode of driving permissibility and outside notification according to the presence or absence of passengers and luggage, respectively. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a fifth embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU in a fifth embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a sixth embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU in a sixth embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a seventh embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU in a seventh embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to an eighth embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU in an eighth embodiment. [Figure 20] FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system according to a ninth embodiment. [Figure 21] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of an autonomous driving ECU in a ninth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] A number of embodiments for disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. For convenience of description, in a number of embodiments, parts having the same functions as parts shown in the drawings used in the previous description may be given the same reference numerals and their description may be omitted. For parts given the same reference numerals, the description in other embodiments may be referred to.

[0012] (Embodiment 1) <Overall configuration of vehicle system 1> A first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. A vehicle system 1 shown in FIG. 1 can be used in a vehicle that transports transport objects as a service by autonomous driving (hereinafter, service vehicle). Service vehicles include passenger transport vehicles for transporting passengers as transport objects, and baggage transport vehicles for transporting baggage as transport objects. Passenger transport vehicles include taxis and buses. Baggage transport vehicles include trucks, delivery vehicles, and postal vehicles. In the following, a case where the service vehicle is a passenger transport vehicle will be described as an example.

[0013] 1, the vehicle system 1 includes an automatic driving ECU 10, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map database (hereinafter, map DB) 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surroundings monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU (Human Machine Interface Control Unit) 20. For example, the automatic driving ECU 10, the communication module 11, the locator 12, the map DB 13, the vehicle state sensor 14, the surroundings monitoring sensor 15, the vehicle control ECU 16, and the HCU 20 may be configured to be connected to an in-vehicle LAN (see LAN in FIG. 1). The vehicle using the vehicle system 1 is not necessarily limited to an automobile, but the following description will be given taking the case of using the vehicle system 1 in an automobile as an example.

[0014] There can be multiple levels of autonomous driving for autonomous vehicles (hereinafter referred to as "automation levels"), as defined by, for example, the SAE. The automation levels are classified into LV0 to 5, for example, as follows:

[0015] LV0 is the level at which the driver performs all driving tasks without the system intervening. The driving task may be rephrased as a dynamic driving task. The driving task may be, for example, steering, acceleration / deceleration, and surrounding monitoring. LV0 corresponds to so-called manual driving. LV1 is the level at which the system assists with either steering or acceleration / deceleration. LV1 corresponds to so-called driving assistance. LV2 is the level at which the system assists with both steering and acceleration / deceleration. LV2 corresponds to so-called partial driving automation. Note that LV1-2 are also considered to be part of autonomous driving.

[0016] For example, LV1-2 autonomous driving is autonomous driving in which the driver has a duty to monitor safe driving (hereinafter, simply referred to as the duty to monitor). In other words, it corresponds to autonomous driving with a duty to monitor. Driving at LV0-LV2 corresponds to driving with a duty to monitor. The duty to monitor includes visual monitoring of the surroundings. Autonomous driving at LV1-2 can be rephrased as autonomous driving in which a second task is not permitted. A second task is an act other than driving that is permitted for the driver, and is a specific act that is specified in advance. A second task can also be rephrased as a secondary activity, other activity, etc. It is considered that a second task must not prevent the driver from responding to a request from the autonomous driving system to take over driving operations. As an example, actions such as watching content such as videos, operating a smartphone, reading, and eating are assumed to be second tasks.

[0017] LV3 autonomous driving is a level where the system can perform all driving tasks under certain conditions, and the driver takes over driving operations in an emergency. In LV3 autonomous driving, the driver is required to be able to respond quickly when the system requests a handover of driving. This handover of driving can also be said to be the transfer of the responsibility of monitoring the surroundings from the vehicle's system to the driver. LV3 corresponds to so-called conditional driving automation. LV4 autonomous driving is a level where the system can perform all driving tasks except under certain circumstances such as incompatible roads and extreme environments. LV4 corresponds to so-called high-level driving automation. LV5 autonomous driving is a level where the system can perform all driving tasks in any environment. LV5 corresponds to so-called full driving automation. LV4 and LV5 autonomous driving can be performed, for example, on driving sections where high-precision map data is available. High-precision map data will be described later.

[0018] For example, autonomous driving of LV3 or higher is autonomous driving in which the driver has no monitoring obligation. In other words, it corresponds to autonomous driving without monitoring obligation. Autonomous driving of LV3 or higher can be rephrased as autonomous driving in which a second task is permitted. For example, autonomous driving of LV4 or higher is autonomous driving in which the driver is permitted to sleep. In other words, it corresponds to sleep-permitted autonomous driving. Autonomous driving of LV4 or higher corresponds to autonomous driving capable of unmanned operation. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which an occupant transport vehicle performs autonomous driving of LV4 or higher. Note that in the case where an occupant transport vehicle is a vehicle that requires a driver to monitor the operation (hereinafter, a monitoring driver) to be on board, the occupant transport vehicle may be configured to perform autonomous driving of LV3 or higher.

[0019] The communication module 11 transmits and receives information to and from a center outside the vehicle via wireless communication. That is, it performs wide-area communication. The communication module 11 receives congestion information and the like from the center via wide-area communication. The communication module 11 may transmit and receive information to and from other vehicles via wireless communication. That is, it may perform vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The communication module 11 may transmit and receive information to and from a roadside device installed on the roadside via wireless communication. That is, it may perform road-to-vehicle communication. When performing road-to-vehicle communication, the communication module 11 may receive information on surrounding vehicles transmitted from surrounding vehicles of the vehicle via the roadside device. Also, the communication module 11 may receive information on surrounding vehicles transmitted from surrounding vehicles of the vehicle via the center via wide-area communication.

[0020] Locator 12 includes a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver and an inertial sensor. The GNSS receiver receives positioning signals from a plurality of positioning satellites. The inertial sensor includes, for example, a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor. Locator 12 sequentially determines the vehicle position of the vehicle (hereinafter, the vehicle position) by combining the positioning signals received by the GNSS receiver with the measurement results of the inertial sensor. The vehicle position may be expressed, for example, in latitude and longitude coordinates. Note that the vehicle position may also be determined using a travel distance calculated from a signal sequentially output from a vehicle speed sensor mounted on the vehicle.

[0021] The map DB 13 is a non-volatile memory and stores high-precision map data. The high-precision map data is map data with higher precision than map data used for route guidance in the navigation function. The high-precision map data includes information that can be used for automatic driving, such as three-dimensional shape information of roads, information on the number of lanes, and information indicating the travel direction permitted for each lane. In addition, the high-precision map data may include node point information indicating the positions of both ends of road markings such as dividing lines. The map DB 13 may also store map data used for route guidance. Note that the locator 12 may be configured not to use a GNSS receiver by using the three-dimensional shape information of the road. For example, the locator 12 may be configured to specify the vehicle position using the three-dimensional shape information of the road and the detection result of the periphery monitoring sensor 15. The three-dimensional shape information of the road may be generated based on a captured image by REM (Road Experience Management).

[0022] Map data distributed from an external server may be received by wide area communication via the communication module 11 and stored in the map DB 13. In this case, the map DB 13 may be a volatile memory, and the communication module 11 may successively acquire map data of an area corresponding to the vehicle position.

[0023] The vehicle state sensor 14 is a group of sensors for detecting various states of the vehicle. The vehicle state sensor 14 includes a vehicle speed sensor, a seating sensor, and the like. The vehicle speed sensor detects the speed of the vehicle. The seating sensor is a sensor for detecting the seating state of an occupant in a seat of the vehicle. As an example, a pressure-sensitive element may be used as the seating sensor. The vehicle state sensor 14 outputs the detected sensing information to an in-vehicle LAN. The sensing information detected by the vehicle state sensor 14 may be configured to be output to the in-vehicle LAN via an ECU mounted in the vehicle.

[0024] The perimeter monitoring sensor 15 monitors the environment surrounding the vehicle. As an example, the perimeter monitoring sensor 15 detects obstacles around the vehicle, such as moving objects such as pedestrians and other vehicles, and stationary objects such as objects fallen on the road. In addition, the perimeter monitoring sensor 15 detects road markings such as lane markings around the vehicle. The perimeter monitoring sensor 15 is, for example, a perimeter monitoring camera that captures an image of a predetermined range around the vehicle, and a search wave sensor that transmits a search wave to a predetermined range around the vehicle. Examples of the search wave sensor include millimeter wave radar, sonar, and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging / Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging). The predetermined range may be a range that includes at least partially the front, rear, left, and right of the vehicle. The perimeter monitoring camera sequentially outputs the captured images as sensing information to the automatic driving ECU 10. The search wave sensor sequentially outputs a scan result based on a received signal obtained when receiving a reflected wave reflected by an obstacle to the automatic driving ECU 10 as sensing information.

[0025] The vehicle control ECU 16 is an electronic control device that performs driving control of the vehicle. Examples of driving control include acceleration / deceleration control and / or steering control. The vehicle control ECU 16 includes a steering ECU that performs steering control, a power unit control ECU that performs acceleration / deceleration control, and a brake ECU. The vehicle control ECU 16 performs driving control by outputting control signals to each driving control device mounted on the vehicle. Examples of the driving control devices include an electronically controlled throttle, a brake actuator, and an EPS (Electric Power Steering) motor.

[0026] The in-vehicle notification device 17 is provided in the vehicle and issues a notification to the interior of the vehicle. That is, the in-vehicle notification device 17 issues a notification to the occupants of the vehicle. The in-vehicle notification device 17 issues a notification according to an instruction from the HCU 20. The in-vehicle notification device 17 includes at least one of an in-vehicle display device and an in-vehicle audio output device.

[0027] The in-vehicle display device notifies by displaying information. For example, a meter MID (Multi Information Display), a CID (Center Information Display), a HUD (Head-Up Display), etc. can be used as the in-vehicle display device. The meter MID is a display device provided in front of the driver's seat inside the vehicle. As an example, the meter MID may be configured to be provided in a meter panel. The CID is a display device arranged in the center of the instrument panel of the vehicle. The HUD is provided in the vehicle interior, for example, on the instrument panel. The HUD projects a display image formed by a projector onto a projection area that is predefined on the front windshield as a projection member. The HUD may be configured to project a display image onto a combiner instead of the front windshield. The in-vehicle audio output device notifies by outputting audio. An example of the in-vehicle audio output device is a speaker provided inside the vehicle.

[0028] The vehicle exterior alarm device 18 issues an alarm outside the vehicle. The vehicle exterior alarm device 18 includes at least one of an exterior display device and an exterior audio output device. The exterior display device is provided outside the vehicle and displays information outside the vehicle. The exterior display device may be, for example, a device that displays information by emitting light from a lamp without displaying text or images. The exterior display device may be a display that displays text, images, etc. The exterior audio output device issues an alarm by outputting audio. An example of the exterior audio output device is a speaker provided outside the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0029] The interior camera 19 is an imaging device that captures an image of a predetermined range within the interior of the vehicle. The interior camera 19 is composed of, for example, a near-infrared light source, a near-infrared camera, and a control unit that controls them. The interior camera 19 captures an image of an occupant of the vehicle irradiated with near-infrared light by the near-infrared light source using the near-infrared camera.

[0030] The HCU 20 is mainly composed of a computer equipped with a processor, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, an I / O, and a bus connecting these. The HCU 20 executes various processes related to the interaction between the occupants and the vehicle's system by executing a control program stored in the non-volatile memory. The HCU 20 acquires images captured by the indoor camera 19. The HCU 20 identifies the number of occupants of the vehicle from the images captured by the indoor camera 19. The HCU 20 causes the in-vehicle alarm device 17 and the outside-vehicle alarm device 18 to issue an alarm.

[0031] The autonomous driving ECU 10 is mainly configured with a computer including, for example, a processor, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, an I / O, and a bus connecting these. The autonomous driving ECU 10 executes a control program stored in the non-volatile memory to execute processes related to autonomous driving. This autonomous driving ECU 10 corresponds to a vehicle control device. The configuration of the autonomous driving ECU 10 will be described in detail below.

[0032] <Outline of Autonomous Driving ECU 10> Next, a schematic configuration of the autonomous driving ECU 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the autonomous driving ECU 10 includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, an action determination unit 102, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, and an HCU communication unit 105 as functional blocks. The execution of the processing of each functional block of the autonomous driving ECU 10 by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method. Note that some or all of the functions executed by the autonomous driving ECU 10 may be configured as hardware using one or more ICs or the like. Also, some or all of the functional blocks included in the autonomous driving ECU 10 may be realized by a combination of software execution by a processor and hardware members.

[0033] The driving environment recognition unit 101 recognizes the driving environment of the vehicle from the vehicle position, map data, and sensing information acquired from the surrounding monitoring sensor 15. The vehicle position may be acquired from the locator 12. The map data may be acquired from the map DB 13. As an example, the driving environment recognition unit 101 recognizes the position, shape, and moving state of objects around the vehicle using these pieces of information, and generates a virtual space that reproduces the actual driving environment. The driving environment recognition unit 101 may recognize the presence, relative position, and relative speed of surrounding vehicles as the driving environment from the sensing information. The driving environment recognition unit 101 may recognize the vehicle position on the map from the vehicle position and map data. When the driving environment recognition unit 101 can acquire position information, speed information, and the like of surrounding vehicles via the communication module 11, it may recognize the driving environment using these pieces of information as well.

[0034] The behavior determination unit 102 switches the control entity of the driving operation between the driver and the system of the host vehicle. When the control right of the driving operation is on the system side, the behavior determination unit 102 determines a driving plan for driving the host vehicle based on the recognition result of the driving environment by the driving environment recognition unit 101. The behavior determination unit 102 includes a driving plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122 as sub-functional blocks.

[0035] The driving plan unit 121 determines a driving plan for driving the vehicle in an automatic driving mode. The driving plan unit 121 determines a long-term to mid-term driving plan and a short-term driving plan as driving plans. In the long-term to mid-term driving plan, a planned route for driving the vehicle to a set destination is determined. The driving plan unit 121 may determine this planned route in the same manner as route search of the navigation function. The driving plan unit 121 may also determine a set vehicle speed when driving the planned route. The set vehicle speed may be determined according to the speed limit of each driving section. The driving plan unit 121 determines a short-term driving plan for realizing driving according to the long-term to mid-term driving plan by using a virtual space around the vehicle generated by the driving environment recognition unit 101. Specifically, as the short-term driving plan, the driving plan unit 121 determines the execution of steering for lane change, acceleration / deceleration for speed adjustment, steering and braking for obstacle avoidance, and the like. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122 will be described later.

[0036] When the control right of driving operation is on the side of the system of the own vehicle, the control execution unit 103 executes driving control in cooperation with the vehicle control ECU 16. The control execution unit 103 executes driving control such as acceleration / deceleration control and steering control of the own vehicle according to the driving plan determined by the action determination unit 102.

[0037] The transportation target identification unit 104 identifies whether or not a transportation target is present in the service vehicle. The processing in the transportation target identification unit 104 corresponds to a transportation target identification step. In the example of this embodiment, it is identified whether or not an occupant is present in the passenger transport vehicle. The transportation target identification unit 104 may identify whether or not an occupant is present in the passenger transport vehicle from the number of occupants of the host vehicle identified by the HCU 20 from the captured image captured by the interior camera 19. The transportation target identification unit 104 may identify that no occupant is present when the number of occupants of the host vehicle is 0. The transportation target identification unit 104 may identify whether or not an occupant is present in the passenger transport vehicle from the sensing result of the seating sensor. In this case, the seating sensor may be provided in all the seats of the host vehicle.

[0038] It is preferable that the transportation target identification unit 104 distinguishes between the presence or absence of a monitoring driver and passengers as occupants of the passenger transport vehicle and identifies them. The monitoring driver and passengers may be distinguished based on the riding position. For example, the monitoring driver may be located in the driver's seat of the vehicle. In addition, the monitoring driver and passengers may be distinguished based on whether or not an attachment specific to the monitoring driver can be extracted by image recognition in the HCU 20.

[0039] The transportation target identification unit 104 may be capable of identifying whether or not a transportation target exists in the service vehicle in response to a selection input of whether or not a transportation target exists in the service vehicle. This selection input may be received via a user input device that receives input from a user. The user input device may be an operation device that receives operation input from a user. The operation device may be a mechanical switch or a touch switch integrated with a display. Note that the user input device is not limited to an operation device that receives operation input as long as it is a device that receives input from a user. For example, it may be a voice input device that receives input of a command by voice from a user. The user input device may be provided in the service vehicle or may be provided outside the service vehicle. For example, it may be a user input device included in a mobile terminal. When the user input device is provided in the service vehicle, the transportation target identification unit 104 may acquire an input from the user input device connected to the HCU 20 via the HCU communication unit 105. When the user input device is provided in a mobile terminal, the transportation target identification unit 104 may acquire an input from the user input device via a wireless communication unit provided in the service vehicle.

[0040] The tolerance change unit 122 changes the range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving (hereinafter, driving tolerance). The processing in the tolerance change unit 122 corresponds to a tolerance change step. For example, the driving tolerance may be a range of the behavior of the vehicle permitted in the automatic driving. The wider the driving tolerance, the greater the acceleration (hereinafter, G) due to the behavior of the vehicle is permitted. As an example, the driving tolerance may be a range of permitted acceleration / deceleration, a range of permitted speed, and a range of permitted yaw rate. Other examples include permitted behavior, permitted deceleration start timing, permitted emergency brake operation conditions, and the like. The action determination unit 102 determines a short-term driving plan so as to fall within the range of the driving tolerance set by the tolerance change unit 122. That is, the control execution unit 103 controls the driving of the vehicle so as not to exceed the range of the driving tolerance set by the tolerance change unit 122.

[0041] The tolerance change unit 122 changes the driving tolerance depending on the identification result by the transportation target identification unit 104. That is, the driving tolerance is changed depending on whether or not an occupant is present. This makes it possible to change the range of driving control of the passenger transport vehicle permitted in autonomous driving depending on whether or not an occupant is present in the passenger transport vehicle as a transportation target. Therefore, it becomes possible to permit driving control up to a range appropriate for the presence or absence of an occupant depending on the presence or absence of an occupant. As a result, in a passenger transport vehicle that transports passengers as a service by autonomous driving, it becomes possible to provide a high-quality service while suppressing unnecessary control.

[0042] When the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that no occupant is present, the tolerance changing unit 122 preferably widens the travel tolerance compared to when the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that an occupant is present. Examples of widening the travel tolerance include permission to travel at a higher speed, permission to travel at a larger yaw rate, permission to travel at a larger acceleration / deceleration, etc. Other examples include starting deceleration at a later timing, increasing the types of permitted behaviors, and relaxing the operating conditions of the emergency brake. According to the above configuration, in a situation where it is not necessary to consider the burden on the occupant caused by the travel control of the vehicle, travel control that prioritizes efficient travel of the vehicle is possible. For example, it is sufficient to permit travel at a high speed, travel at a large acceleration / deceleration, and travel at a large yaw rate, and prioritize shortening the travel time to the destination.

[0043] When it is determined that a supervisory driver is present but no passenger is present, the tolerance change unit 122 preferably narrows the driving tolerance compared to when it is determined that neither is present. The presence or absence of a supervisory driver and a passenger is determined by the transportation target determination unit 104. This makes it possible to reduce the burden on the supervisory driver caused by the driving control of the vehicle when a supervisory driver is present, even if no passenger is present.

[0044] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122 makes it easier to apply emergency braking when it is determined that neither a monitoring driver nor a passenger is present, compared to when it is determined that either one is present. When neither a monitoring driver nor a passenger is present, it is not necessary to consider the burden on the occupants caused by the driving control of the vehicle, compared to when either one is present. Therefore, stronger emergency braking is possible only in a situation where it is not necessary to consider the burden on the occupants caused by sudden braking. As a result, it is possible to provide a higher quality service. Emergency braking is sudden braking by AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) control for obstacle avoidance. Making it easier to apply emergency braking includes, for example, accelerating the start timing.

[0045] When it is determined that an occupant is present, the tolerance change unit 122 preferably does not permit the passenger transport vehicle to change lanes by overtaking. A lane change by overtaking is hereinafter referred to as an overtaking lane change. Herein, "not permitting" means not permitting the lane change except when there is no other means of passage to reach the destination other than the overtaking lane change. On the other hand, when it is determined that an occupant is not present, the tolerance change unit 122 may permit the passenger transport vehicle to change lanes by overtaking. Overtaking means overtaking a vehicle ahead. A lane change by overtaking is less necessary than a lane change for turning right or left. According to the above configuration, when an occupant is present, it is possible to prevent a lane change that is less necessary but puts a burden on the occupant. As a result, it is possible to provide a high-quality service. On the other hand, when an occupant is not present, the lane change by overtaking is permitted, so that the destination can be reached more quickly. Note that the tolerance change unit 122 may be configured not to permit the passenger transport vehicle to change lanes by overtaking when it is determined that a passenger is present. On the other hand, when the tolerance change unit 122 identifies the presence of a monitoring driver, it may permit the passenger transport vehicle to change to an overtaking lane.

[0046] When it is determined that no occupant is present, the tolerance change unit 122 preferably drives the vehicle at a slower speed than when it is determined that an occupant is present. This makes it easier for passengers who want to use the passenger transport vehicle to find the passenger transport vehicle. As a result, when no occupant is present, it becomes easier to secure a new occupant. Note that the tolerance change unit 122 may be configured to drive the vehicle at a slower speed when it is determined that no passenger is present than when it is determined that a passenger is present. In this case, the transportation target identification unit 104 may be configured to distinguish and identify whether or not a monitoring driver and a passenger are present.

[0047] The HCU communication unit 105 performs processing for outputting information to the HCU 20 and processing for acquiring information from the HCU 20. The HCU communication unit 105 acquires information on images captured by the indoor camera 19, etc. The HCU communication unit 105 includes an in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 and an outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152 as sub-functional blocks. The in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 indirectly controls the notification by the in-vehicle notification device 17 by sending instructions to the HCU 20. That is, the in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 causes a notification to be made to the occupants of the vehicle. The notification to the occupants of the vehicle is called an in-vehicle notification. The outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152 indirectly controls the notification by the outside-vehicle notification device 18 by sending instructions to the HCU 20. That is, the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152 causes a notification to be made to the outside of the vehicle. The notification to the outside of the vehicle is called an outside-vehicle notification.

[0048] It is preferable that the in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 issues a prompt notification as an in-vehicle notification when the transportation object identification unit 104 identifies that the monitoring driver is present but that no passengers are present. The prompt notification is a notification that prompts the monitoring driver to drive and inspect the passenger transport vehicle. For example, the notification that prompts inspection may be a notification that prompts the driver to move by driving to a location where inspection is possible and to inspect the passenger transport vehicle at that location. The inspection may be an inspection of the accelerator and brake function. With the above configuration, it is possible to complete the inspection before there are passengers. Also, when passengers are present, the monitoring driver is not prompted to drive, thereby making it possible to prevent the passenger transport vehicle from being mistaken for having a defect. The prompt notification may be issued by display or by audio output.

[0049] When the transportation target specification unit 104 specifies that no occupant is present, the vehicle exterior notification processing unit 152 preferably performs an unmanned notification as the vehicle exterior notification. The unmanned notification is a notification indicating that the passenger transport vehicle is autonomously driving without an occupant. This makes it possible to notify the surroundings of the vehicle that the vehicle may behave abruptly compared to when an occupant is present.

[0050] Here, an example of the mode of driving tolerance, in-vehicle notification, and outside-vehicle notification according to the presence or absence of an occupant will be described with reference to the table of FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the wider the range of permitted driving control, the larger the numerical value. Specifically, the driving tolerance is shown in order of widest to narrowest as 3, 2, 1, and 0. As shown in FIG. 3, when there is a monitoring driver and passengers, the driving tolerance is set to the narrowest "0". When there is no monitoring driver but passengers, the next narrowest driving tolerance is set to "1". When there is a monitoring driver but no passengers, the driving tolerance is set to the wider "2". When there is no monitoring driver and no passengers, the driving tolerance is set to the widest "3". In addition, when there is no monitoring driver and no passengers, overtaking lane change is permitted. On the other hand, when at least one of the monitoring driver and passengers is present, overtaking lane change is not permitted. In addition, emergency braking may be made easier to occur as the driving tolerance becomes wider. For example, the vehicle may be driven at a higher speed as the driving tolerance becomes wider. As shown in Fig. 3, when there is a monitoring driver but no passengers, a prompting notification is made as an in-vehicle notification. Also, when there is neither a monitoring driver nor a passenger, an unmanned notification is made as an outside-vehicle notification.

[0051] (Embodiment 2) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 2. An example of the configuration of embodiment 2 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0052] <Schematic configuration of vehicle system 1a> The vehicle system 1a shown in FIG. 4 can be used in a baggage transport vehicle among service vehicles. As described above, the baggage transport vehicle is a truck, a delivery vehicle, a postal vehicle, etc. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the baggage transport vehicle performs automatic driving of LV4 or higher. Note that if the baggage transport vehicle is a vehicle that requires a driver to ride in, it may be configured to perform automatic driving of LV1 or higher. Also, if the baggage transport vehicle is a vehicle that requires a monitoring driver to ride in, it may be configured to perform automatic driving of LV3 or higher.

[0053] 4, the vehicle system 1a includes an automatic driving ECU 10a, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14a, a surroundings monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1a includes the automatic driving ECU 10a instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The vehicle system 1a includes a vehicle state sensor 14a instead of the vehicle state sensor 14. Except for these points, the vehicle system 1a is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment.

[0054] The communication module 11a is similar to the communication module 11 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The following describes these differences. The communication module 11a receives package information (described later) from a center that manages the collection and delivery of packages (hereinafter, a collection and delivery management center) via wide-area communication.

[0055] The vehicle condition sensor 14a is similar to the vehicle condition sensor 14 of the first embodiment, except for some different sensors. The differences will be described below. The vehicle condition sensor 14a may include a pressure sensor provided in a space in the vehicle where luggage is placed (hereinafter, the luggage space). This pressure sensor may detect whether luggage is present in the luggage space.

[0056] <Outline of the Autonomous Driving ECU 10a> Next, the schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10a will be described with reference to FIG. 5. The automatic driving ECU 10a is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10a includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102a, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104a, an HCU communication unit 105a, and a baggage information acquisition unit 106 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10a includes the behavior determination unit 102a instead of the behavior determination unit 102. The automatic driving ECU 10a includes the transportation target identification unit 104a instead of the transportation target identification unit 104. The automatic driving ECU 10a includes the HCU communication unit 105a instead of the HCU communication unit 105. The automatic driving ECU 10a includes the baggage information acquisition unit 106. The automatic driving ECU 10a is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for these points. The autonomous driving ECU 10a also corresponds to a vehicle control device. Execution of the processing of each functional block of the autonomous driving ECU 10a by a computer corresponds to execution of a vehicle control method.

[0057] The luggage information acquisition unit 106 acquires information regarding precautions for transporting luggage by luggage transport vehicles (hereinafter, luggage information). The luggage information may include information on the luggage type that can at least distinguish whether the luggage is fragile or not. The luggage information may also include information such as the desired delivery date and time of the luggage and whether it is express delivery or not. The luggage information acquisition unit 106 may acquire the luggage information from a luggage collection and delivery center via the communication module 11a. The luggage collection and delivery center manages luggage information input by the person requesting delivery of the luggage via a terminal or the like, for example.

[0058] The transport object identification unit 104a identifies whether or not there is baggage in the baggage transport vehicle. The processing in the transport object identification unit 104a also corresponds to a transport object identification step. The transport object identification unit 104a may identify whether or not there is baggage in the baggage transport vehicle from the sensing result of the pressure sensor. The transport object identification unit 104a may identify the presence or absence of baggage from an image captured by the indoor camera 19. In this case, the HCU 20 may perform image recognition of the baggage in the baggage space from the image captured by the indoor camera 19.

[0059] The behavior determination unit 102a includes a travel plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122a as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122a changes the travel tolerance. The process in the tolerance change unit 122a also corresponds to a tolerance change step.

[0060] The tolerance change unit 122a changes the driving tolerance according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit 104a. That is, the driving tolerance is changed according to whether or not there is luggage. This makes it possible to change the range of driving control of the luggage transport vehicle permitted in the autonomous driving depending on whether or not there is luggage as a transportation target in the luggage transport vehicle. Therefore, it becomes possible to allow driving control up to a range appropriate for the presence or absence of luggage depending on the presence or absence of luggage. As a result, in a luggage transport vehicle that transports luggage as a service by autonomous driving, it is possible to provide a high-quality service while suppressing unnecessary control.

[0061] When the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that no baggage is present, the tolerance changing unit 122a preferably widens the driving tolerance compared to when the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that baggage is present. Examples of widening the driving tolerance may be similar to those described in the first embodiment. According to the above configuration, in a situation where the burden on the baggage caused by the driving control of the vehicle does not need to be considered, driving control that prioritizes efficient driving of the vehicle is possible. For example, it is possible to permit driving at high speeds, driving with large acceleration / deceleration, and driving with a large yaw rate, and prioritize shortening the driving time to the destination.

[0062] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122a does not permit the luggage transport vehicle to change to an overtaking lane when it is determined that luggage is present. The "not permitting" here may be the same as that described in the first embodiment. On the other hand, the tolerance change unit 122a may permit the luggage transport vehicle to change to an overtaking lane when it is determined that luggage is not present. With the above configuration, when luggage is present, it is possible to prevent a lane change that is unlikely but puts a burden on the luggage from being performed. As a result, it is possible to provide a high quality service. On the other hand, when luggage is not present, permitting a lane change to be allowed to overtake allows the destination to be reached more quickly.

[0063] When it is determined that no baggage is present, the tolerance change unit 122a preferably drives the vehicle at a higher speed than when it is determined that baggage is present. The higher the speed at which the vehicle drives, the more likely it is that sudden braking will be required. In contrast, according to the above configuration, when there is no baggage and no burden is placed on the baggage, the vehicle can be driven with priority given to quickly reaching the destination.

[0064] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122a changes the driving tolerance according to the luggage information acquired by the luggage information acquisition unit 106. This makes it possible to change the range of driving control of the luggage transport vehicle permitted in the automatic driving in accordance with the precautions for transporting each luggage. As a result, it becomes possible to provide a higher quality service. For example, the tolerance change unit 122a may narrow the driving tolerance when the luggage is fragile, compared to when the luggage is not fragile. The tolerance change unit 122a may determine whether the luggage is fragile from the luggage information. When there is little time left for the delivery date and time, the tolerance change unit 122a may widen the driving tolerance compared to when there is not little time left. The tolerance change unit 122a may determine whether there is little time left for the delivery date and time from the luggage information. As an example, it may be determined whether there is little time left for the delivery date and time based on whether the remaining time until the delivery date and time is equal to or less than a threshold value.

[0065] The HCU communication unit 105a includes an in-vehicle notification processing unit 151a and an outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152a as sub-functional blocks. The in-vehicle notification processing unit 151a is similar to the in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 of the first embodiment, except that the in-vehicle notification processing unit 151a does not perform a prompt notification. The outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152 performs a no-load notification as an outside-vehicle notification when the transportation object identification unit 104a identifies that no baggage is present. The no-load notification is a notification indicating that the baggage transport vehicle is autonomously driving without baggage. This makes it possible to notify the surroundings of the vehicle that the vehicle may behave more abruptly than when there is baggage.

[0066] Here, an example of the driving tolerance and the vehicle exterior notification according to the presence or absence of luggage will be described with reference to the table in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, the driving tolerance is indicated by a larger value as the range of permitted driving control becomes wider. Specifically, the driving tolerance is indicated by 1, 0, in descending order. Note that these values ​​do not necessarily represent the same range as that described with reference to FIG. 3 in the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, when there is luggage, the driving tolerance is set to the narrowest "0". When there is no luggage, the driving tolerance is set to the wider "1". For example, as the driving tolerance becomes wider, emergency braking may be made more likely. As shown in FIG. 6, when there is no luggage, a no-loading notification is made as the vehicle exterior notification.

[0067] (Embodiment 3) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 3. An example of the configuration of embodiment 3 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0068] <Schematic configuration of vehicle system 1b> 7 can be used in passenger transport vehicles and baggage transport vehicles among service vehicles. Here, the case of use in a passenger transport vehicle will be described as an example.

[0069] 7, the vehicle system 1b includes an automatic driving ECU 10b, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1b is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment, except that the vehicle system 1b includes the automatic driving ECU 10b instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. When the vehicle system 1b is used in a luggage transport vehicle, the following may be performed. The vehicle system 1b is similar to the vehicle system 1a of the second embodiment, except that the vehicle system 1b includes the automatic driving ECU 10b instead of the automatic driving ECU 10a.

[0070] <Outline of the configuration of the autonomous driving ECU 10b> Next, the schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10b will be described with reference to FIG. 8. The automatic driving ECU 10b is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10b includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102b, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, and an HCU communication unit 105 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10b is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for the behavior determination unit 102b instead of the behavior determination unit 102. This automatic driving ECU 10b also corresponds to a vehicle control device. In addition, the execution of processing of each functional block of the automatic driving ECU 10b by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method. In addition, when the vehicle system 1b is used in a luggage transport vehicle, the following may be performed. The autonomous driving ECU 10b is similar to the autonomous driving ECU 10a of the second embodiment, except that the autonomous driving ECU 10b includes a behavior determining unit 102b instead of the behavior determining unit 102a.

[0071] The behavior determination unit 102b includes a driving plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122b as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122b changes the driving tolerance. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122b also corresponds to a tolerance change step. The tolerance change unit 122b is similar to the tolerance change unit 122 except for some different processing. The different processing will be described below.

[0072] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122b increases the number of times the passenger transport vehicle is permitted to change lanes when it is determined that the transportation target does not exist, compared to when it is determined that the transportation target exists. When the vehicle system 1b is used in a passenger transport vehicle, the following may be performed. When it is determined that the passenger transport vehicle is not present, the tolerance change unit 122b increases the number of times the passenger transport vehicle is permitted to change lanes when it is determined that the passenger transport vehicle does not exist, compared to when it is determined that the passenger transport vehicle exists. When the vehicle system 1b is used in a baggage transport vehicle, the following may be performed. When it is determined that the baggage transport vehicle is not present, the tolerance change unit 122b increases the number of times the baggage transport vehicle is permitted to change lanes when it is determined that the baggage transport vehicle does not exist, compared to when it is determined that the baggage exists. According to the above configuration, when a transportation target exists, the number of lane changes that are less necessary but impose a burden on the transportation target can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to provide high quality service. On the other hand, when a transportation target does not exist, the number of times the passenger transport vehicle is permitted to change lanes can be increased, making it possible to reach the destination more quickly. When the vehicle system 1b is used in a baggage transport vehicle, the following may be performed. The tolerance changing unit 122b may be similar to the tolerance changing unit 122a of the second embodiment, except for some of the above-mentioned different processing.

[0073] (Embodiment 4) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 4. An example of the configuration of embodiment 4 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0074] <Schematic configuration of vehicle system 1c> The vehicle system 1c shown in FIG. 9 can be used in a service vehicle that transports both passengers and luggage. Such a service vehicle is called a passenger and cargo mixed vehicle. A passenger and cargo mixed vehicle may transport only passengers, only luggage, or both passengers and luggage. A luggage transport vehicle in which a monitoring driver rides may be included in a service vehicle that transports both passengers and luggage. In this embodiment, a passenger and cargo mixed vehicle is described as an example in which automatic driving of LV4 or higher is performed. In addition, if a passenger and cargo mixed vehicle is a vehicle that requires a monitoring driver to ride, it may be configured to perform automatic driving of LV3 or higher.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 9, the vehicle system 1c includes an automatic driving ECU 10c, a communication module 11a, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14a, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle alarm device 17, an outside-vehicle alarm device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1c includes the automatic driving ECU 10c instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The vehicle system 1c includes a communication module 11a instead of the communication module 11. The vehicle system 1c includes a vehicle state sensor 14a instead of the vehicle state sensor 14. Except for these points, the vehicle system 1c is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment. The communication module 11a is similar to the communication module 11a of the second embodiment. The vehicle state sensor 14a is similar to the vehicle state sensor 14a of the second embodiment.

[0076] <Outline of the autonomous driving ECU 10c> Next, a schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10c will be described with reference to FIG. 10. The automatic driving ECU 10c is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10c includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102c, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104c, an HCU communication unit 105c, and a baggage information acquisition unit 106 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10c includes the behavior determination unit 102c instead of the behavior determination unit 102. The automatic driving ECU 10c includes the transportation target identification unit 104c instead of the transportation target identification unit 104. The automatic driving ECU 10c includes the HCU communication unit 105c instead of the HCU communication unit 105. The automatic driving ECU 10c includes the baggage information acquisition unit 106. The automatic driving ECU 10c is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for these points. The autonomous driving ECU 10c also corresponds to a vehicle control device. Execution of the processes of the functional blocks of the autonomous driving ECU 10c by a computer corresponds to execution of a vehicle control method.

[0077] The baggage information acquisition unit 106 is similar to the baggage information acquisition unit 106 of the second embodiment. The transport target identification unit 104c distinguishes and identifies whether or not there are crew members and baggage in the mixed passenger and cargo vehicle. The processing in the transport target identification unit 104c also corresponds to the transport target identification process. The transport target identification unit 104c may identify whether or not there are crew members in the mixed passenger and cargo vehicle in the same manner as the transport target identification unit 104 of the first embodiment. The transport target identification unit 104c may identify whether or not there are baggage in the mixed passenger and cargo vehicle in the same manner as the transport target identification unit 104a of the second embodiment.

[0078] The behavior determination unit 102c includes a travel plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122c as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122c may be the same as the tolerance change unit 122, except for some differences in processing. The differences will be described below. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122c also corresponds to a tolerance change step.

[0079] The tolerance change unit 122c changes the driving tolerance depending on the identification result by the transportation object identification unit 104c. The tolerance change unit 122c changes the driving tolerance depending on whether at least one of an occupant or baggage is present. This makes it possible to change the range of driving control of the passenger and freight mixed vehicle permitted in automatic driving depending on whether a transportation object is present in the passenger and freight mixed vehicle. Therefore, it becomes possible to allow driving control up to a range that matches the presence or absence of a transportation object depending on the presence or absence of a transportation object. As a result, in a passenger and freight mixed vehicle that transports baggage as a service by automatic driving, it is possible to provide high-quality service while suppressing unnecessary control.

[0080] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122c changes the driving tolerance according to the combination of the results of identifying whether or not each of the occupants and the baggage is present. This makes it possible to allow driving control within a range that matches the combination of whether or not each of the occupants and the baggage is present. As a result, in a passenger and freight mixed vehicle that transports baggage as a service by automatic driving, it is possible to provide a higher quality service while suppressing unnecessary control.

[0081] When it is determined that no occupant or baggage is present, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably widens the driving tolerance compared to when it is determined that the occupant and baggage are present. When it is determined that the occupant or baggage is present, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably widens the driving tolerance compared to when it is determined that the occupant and baggage are present. The presence of an occupant or baggage indicates that only either an occupant or baggage is present. When it is determined that no occupant or baggage is present, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably widens the driving tolerance compared to when it is determined that the occupant or baggage is present. Examples of widening the driving tolerance may be the same as those described in the first embodiment. According to the above configuration, the fewer the objects for which the burden caused by the driving control should be considered, the more driving control that prioritizes efficient driving of the vehicle is possible. On the other hand, the more the objects for which the burden caused by the driving control should be considered, the more driving control that suppresses the burden caused by the driving control is possible. As a result, in a passenger and freight mixed vehicle that transports baggage as a service by automatic driving, it is possible to provide a higher quality service while suppressing more unnecessary control.

[0082] The tolerance change unit 122c may make it easier to apply emergency braking when it is determined that no passengers or luggage are present, compared to when it is determined that either of them is present. This allows stronger emergency braking only in situations where it is not necessary to consider the burden on passengers and luggage caused by sudden braking. As a result, it becomes possible to provide higher quality service.

[0083] The tolerance change unit 122c may change the number of permitted overtaking lane changes according to the combination of the results of identifying whether or not there is an occupant and baggage. When it is identified that there is no occupant and baggage, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably increases the number of permitted times compared to when it is identified that there is an occupant and baggage. When it is identified that there is no occupant or baggage, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably increases the number of permitted times compared to when it is identified that there is an occupant and baggage. When it is identified that there is no occupant and baggage, the tolerance change unit 122c preferably increases the number of permitted times compared to when it is identified that there is an occupant or baggage. According to the above configuration, the more objects that should be considered for the burden caused by the driving control, the more the number of lane changes that are less necessary but impose a burden on the transport object can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to provide a high quality service. On the other hand, the fewer objects that should be considered for the burden caused by the driving control, the more quickly the destination can be reached by increasing the number of permitted overtaking lane changes.

[0084] The HCU communication unit 105c includes an in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 and an outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152c as sub-functional blocks. The HCU communication unit 105c is similar to the HCU communication unit 105 of the first embodiment, except that the HCU communication unit 105c includes the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152c instead of the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152. When the transportation target identification unit 104c identifies that there are no occupants or luggage, the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152c issues an unmanned / unloaded notification as an outside-vehicle notification. The unmanned / unloaded notification is a notification indicating that the passenger / freight mixed vehicle is automatically traveling without occupants or luggage. This makes it possible to notify the surroundings of the vehicle that the vehicle may behave more abruptly than when there are occupants or luggage.

[0085] Here, an example of the driving tolerance and the mode of the outside notification according to the presence or absence of each of the passenger and the baggage will be described with reference to the table of FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the width of the driving tolerance is indicated by a larger value as the range of the permitted driving control becomes wider. Specifically, the driving tolerance is indicated in order of 2, 1, and 0 from widest to narrowest. Note that these values ​​do not necessarily represent the same range as that described with reference to FIG. 3 in the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, when there is a passenger and baggage, the driving tolerance is set to the narrowest "0". In addition, the number of permitted times of changing lanes to pass is set to "0", for example. When there is no passenger or baggage, the next narrowest driving tolerance is set to "1". In addition, the number of permitted times of changing lanes to pass is set to a smaller number than 0. In this case, "smaller" may be set to a smaller number than when there is no passenger or baggage. When there is no passenger or baggage, the driving tolerance is set to "2", which is wider. In addition, the number of permitted times of changing lanes to pass is set to a larger number than when there is no passenger or baggage. In addition, the vehicle may be made to more easily apply emergency brakes as the driving tolerance increases. For example, the vehicle may be made to drive at a higher speed as the driving tolerance increases. As shown in FIG. 11, when there are no passengers or luggage, an unmanned / unloaded vehicle notification is issued as an outside notification.

[0086] (Embodiment 5) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 5. An example of the configuration of embodiment 5 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0087] <Schematic configuration of vehicle system 1d> The vehicle system 1d shown in FIG. 12 can be used in a service vehicle. The service vehicle may be any of a passenger transport vehicle, a baggage transport vehicle, and a mixed passenger and cargo vehicle. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the service vehicle performs automatic driving of LV4 or higher. Note that the service vehicle may be configured to perform automatic driving of LV3 or higher if the vehicle requires a monitoring driver to ride in the vehicle.

[0088] 12, the vehicle system 1d includes an automatic driving ECU 10d, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16d, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, an HCU 20, and an air conditioner ECU 21. The vehicle system 1d includes the automatic driving ECU 10d instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The vehicle system 1d includes the air conditioner ECU 21. Except for these points, the vehicle system 1d is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment.

[0089] The vehicle control ECU 16d is similar to the vehicle control ECU 16 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The following describes this difference. During automatic driving, the vehicle control ECU 16d preferably operates the steering wheel in accordance with the steering caused by automatic driving as a default steering control. Hereinafter, the operation of the steering wheel in accordance with the steering caused by automatic driving is called a simulated operation. In addition, the vehicle control ECU 16d is also capable of limiting the simulated operation during automatic driving. An example of limiting the simulated operation is not to perform the simulated operation. In other words, the steering wheel is fixed regardless of the steering caused by automatic driving. An example of limiting the simulated operation is to reduce the simulated operation.

[0090] The air conditioner ECU 21 is an electronic control device that controls the operation of an air conditioner of the service vehicle. The air conditioner generates conditioned air to be blown into the passenger compartment of the service vehicle. The conditioned air includes hot air and cold air.

[0091] <Outline of the autonomous driving ECU 10d> Next, the schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10d will be described with reference to FIG. 13. The automatic driving ECU 10d is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10d includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102d, a control execution unit 103d, a transportation object identification unit 104, an HCU communication unit 105d, an air conditioner ECU communication unit 107, and a transportation object prediction unit 108 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10d includes the behavior determination unit 102d instead of the behavior determination unit 102. The automatic driving ECU 10d includes the control execution unit 103d instead of the control execution unit 103. The automatic driving ECU 10d includes the HCU communication unit 105d instead of the HCU communication unit 105. The automatic driving ECU 10d includes the air conditioner ECU communication unit 107 and the transportation object prediction unit 108. Except for these points, the autonomous driving ECU 10d is similar to the autonomous driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment. The autonomous driving ECU 10d also corresponds to a vehicle control device. In addition, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the autonomous driving ECU 10d by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method.

[0092] The control execution unit 103d is similar to the control execution unit 103 of the first embodiment, except for some differences in processing. The following describes these differences. It is preferable that the control execution unit 103d is capable of switching whether or not to limit the simulated operation described above.

[0093] The air conditioner ECU communication unit 107 outputs information to the air conditioner HCU21 and acquires information from the air conditioner HCU21. The air conditioner ECU communication unit 107 acquires information about the air conditioner from the air conditioner HCU21. This information about the air conditioner includes the on / off status of the air conditioner, settings of the air conditioner, etc. The air conditioner ECU communication unit 107 indirectly controls the air conditioner by sending instructions to the air conditioner HCU21. The air conditioner ECU communication unit 107 switches the air conditioner on and off by sending instructions to the air conditioner HCU21.

[0094] The transportation object prediction unit 108 predicts a change in the presence or absence of a transportation object of the vehicle. It is preferable that the transportation object prediction unit 108 predicts the timing when there will be a change in the presence or absence of the transportation object. The transportation object prediction unit 108 may acquire information on the boarding and alighting schedule from a center that manages the boarding and alighting schedule of the transportation object via the communication module 11. Then, based on the acquired information on the boarding and alighting schedule, it may predict the timing when there will be a change in the presence or absence of the transportation object. Note that the transportation object prediction unit 108 may acquire information on the boarding and alighting schedule of the transportation object from the above-mentioned user input device and predict the timing when there will be a change in the presence or absence of the transportation object.

[0095] The behavior determination unit 102d includes a travel plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122d as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122d may be the same as the tolerance change unit 122, except for some differences in processing. The differences will be described below. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122d also corresponds to a tolerance change step.

[0096] When the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that there is no transportation target, the tolerance changing unit 122d may do the following. The tolerance changing unit 122d performs vehicle control to improve the fuel efficiency of the host vehicle, compared to when it specifies that there is a transportation target. Vehicle control to improve the fuel efficiency of the host vehicle is hereinafter referred to as fuel efficiency improvement control. In other words, the tolerance changing unit 122d changes the presence or absence of fuel efficiency improvement control as the driving tolerance. This makes it possible to perform fuel efficiency improvement control only when there is no transportation target in the host vehicle and there is no need for vehicle control suitable for transporting the transportation target. It is therefore possible to provide high quality services while suppressing fuel consumption.

[0097] Examples of the fuel efficiency improvement control include the following. An example of the fuel efficiency improvement control is a control to make the vehicle follow a vehicle ahead. Following refers to driving the vehicle ahead while maintaining a target inter-vehicle distance according to the vehicle speed of the vehicle. This control may be performed by the control execution unit 103d. This control improves fuel efficiency by reducing the air resistance of the vehicle ahead due to the presence of the vehicle ahead. An example of the fuel efficiency improvement control is a control to make the vehicle run at a low and constant speed. The low speed may be equal to or lower than a predetermined speed. The predetermined speed may be set to any value that can be set to a degree that reduces fuel efficiency. This control may be performed by the control execution unit 103d. This control also improves fuel efficiency. An example of the fuel efficiency improvement control is a control to turn off the air conditioner. This control may be performed by an instruction from the air conditioner ECU communication unit 107. This control also improves fuel efficiency.

[0098] When it is estimated that the state will transition to a state in which a transportation object is present within a predetermined time in a situation in which the air conditioner is turned off as fuel efficiency improvement control, the tolerance change unit 122d preferably performs the following. The tolerance change unit 122d preferably performs control to turn on the air conditioner or control to open the windows of the vehicle. The transition to a state in which a transportation object is present within a predetermined time may be estimated by the transportation object prediction unit 108. Within a predetermined time refers to within a predetermined time from the current time. The predetermined time may be a time estimated to be required to adjust the air conditioning in the vehicle cabin to a temperature suitable for transporting the transportation object by controlling the air conditioner to be turned on or the windows of the vehicle to be opened. The predetermined time may be a value that can be set arbitrarily. The control to turn on the air conditioner may be performed by an instruction from the air conditioner ECU communication unit 107. The control to open the windows may be performed by sending an instruction from the automatic driving ECU 10d to an ECU that controls the opening and closing of the windows.

[0099] According to the above configuration, when a transition from a state where a transport object is not present to a state where a transport object is present is predicted, the air conditioning in the vehicle can be adjusted to a temperature suitable for transporting the transport object before the transition. As a result, it is possible to provide a higher quality service while reducing fuel consumption.

[0100] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122d performs the following fuel efficiency improvement control when the vehicle behind the host vehicle does not exist within the predetermined range. It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122d reduces the amount of change in deceleration when the host vehicle is stopped compared to when the vehicle behind the host vehicle exists within the predetermined range. Examples of situations in which the host vehicle is stopped include stopping at a red light and stopping at a stop line. The predetermined range referred to here may be set arbitrarily. The predetermined range may be, for example, the sensing range of the periphery monitoring sensor 15. In other words, when the vehicle behind the host vehicle does not exist within the predetermined range, it may be rephrased as when the vehicle behind the host vehicle cannot be detected by the periphery monitoring sensor 15. It is sufficient that the traveling environment recognition unit 101 recognizes that the vehicle behind the host vehicle does not exist within the predetermined range. The control execution unit 103d may control the amount of change in deceleration. Reducing the amount of change in deceleration when the host vehicle is stopped may be rephrased as allowing a margin of error in the distance to stop the host vehicle. Reducing the amount of change in deceleration when stopping the host vehicle can also be said to mean stopping the host vehicle more slowly than when a vehicle behind the host vehicle is present within a predetermined range.

[0101] According to the above configuration, it is possible to improve fuel efficiency by stopping the host vehicle slowly in a limited situation where the host vehicle is unlikely to affect the running of the rear vehicle even if the host vehicle stops slowly. When stopping the host vehicle in front of an obstacle, the tolerance change unit 122d may set the range in which the amount of change in the deceleration is reduced to a range in which the host vehicle can be stopped with a certain distance from the obstacle.

[0102] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122d limits the above-mentioned simulated operation as fuel efficiency improvement control. As described above, the limit of the simulated operation may be to reduce the size of the simulated operation or to not perform the simulated operation. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of fuel consumed by the simulated operation when there is no transport object and no occupant who sees the simulated operation. As a result, it is possible to realize improvement in fuel efficiency. When limiting the simulated operation, the transport object to be targeted may be at least the occupant of the luggage and the occupant.

[0103] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122d restricts the display on the display device provided in the vehicle as the fuel efficiency improvement control. Examples of the display device include the above-mentioned in-vehicle display device and the outside display device. This makes it possible to reduce the fuel consumption caused by the display on the display device and improve the fuel efficiency performance. Examples of the display restriction include turning off the display and reducing the display brightness. The tolerance change unit 122d may restrict the display on the display device via the HCU communication unit 105d. The tolerance change unit 122d may be configured to restrict only the display on the in-vehicle display device among the in-vehicle display device and the outside display device as the fuel efficiency improvement control. This makes it possible to restrict the display by focusing on the in-vehicle display device among the in-vehicle display device and the outside display device, which is useless when there is no transportation object.

[0104] When fuel efficiency improvement control is performed, the tolerance change unit 122d preferably performs the fuel efficiency improvement control at the following timing. The tolerance change unit 122d preferably performs the fuel efficiency improvement control at the timing when the vehicle transitions from a state in which it is determined that a transportation target is present to a state in which it is determined that a transportation target is not present, and when the vehicle starts traveling in the state in which it is determined that a transportation target is not present. The transportation target identification unit 104 may identify whether or not a transportation target is present. With the above configuration, it is possible to suppress unnecessary processing that occurs when fuel efficiency improvement control is performed from a state in which the vehicle is not traveling.

[0105] (Embodiment 6) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 6. An example of the configuration of embodiment 6 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0106] <Outline of the configuration of the vehicle system 1e> 14, the vehicle system 1e includes an automatic driving ECU 10e, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1e is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment, except that the vehicle system 1e includes an automatic driving ECU 10e instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. A service vehicle using the vehicle system 1e may be any of a passenger transport vehicle, a baggage transport vehicle, and a passenger / freight mixed vehicle.

[0107] <Outline of Autonomous Driving ECU 10e> Next, a schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10e will be described with reference to FIG. 15. The automatic driving ECU 10e is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10e includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102e, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, and an HCU communication unit 105 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10e is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for the behavior determination unit 102e instead of the behavior determination unit 102. This automatic driving ECU 10e also corresponds to a vehicle control device. In addition, the execution of processing of each functional block of the automatic driving ECU 10e by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method.

[0108] The behavior determination unit 102e includes a travel plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122e as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122e may be the same as the tolerance change unit 122 except for some differences in processing. The differences will be described below. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122e also corresponds to a tolerance change step.

[0109] When the transportation object specifying unit 104 specifies that there is no transportation object, the tolerance changing unit 122e permits travel on a narrower road than when the transportation object specifying unit 104 specifies that there is no transportation object. That is, the tolerance changing unit 122e changes the road on which travel is permitted as the travel tolerance. When there is no transportation object and no passenger, the passenger will not feel uneasy even if the vehicle travels on a narrower road. Therefore, according to the above configuration, when there is no risk of making the passenger feel uneasy, it is possible to travel on a narrower road. As a result, it is possible to shorten the time until the destination is reached. When travel on a narrower road is permitted, the transportation object to be transported may be at least the passenger of the baggage and the passenger.

[0110] It is preferable that the tolerance change unit 122e also adds to the conditions for permitting travel that the road is drivable on the host vehicle. A road on which the host vehicle is drivable may be a road on which the difference between the vehicle width and the road width is equal to or greater than a threshold value. This makes it possible to suppress the problem of permitting travel on a road on which the host vehicle is not drivable. The threshold value referred to here may be an arbitrarily settable value. The tolerance change unit 122e may obtain and use the vehicle width of the host vehicle that has been stored in advance in the non-volatile memory of the autonomous driving ECU 10e. The tolerance change unit 122e may determine the road width from high-precision map data obtained from the map DB 13.

[0111] (Embodiment 7) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 7. An example of the configuration of embodiment 7 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0112] <Outline of the configuration of the vehicle system 1f> As shown in FIG. 16, the vehicle system 1f includes an automatic driving ECU 10f, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14f, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle alarm device 17, an outside-vehicle alarm device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20f. The vehicle system 1f includes the automatic driving ECU 10f instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The vehicle system 1f includes a vehicle state sensor 14f instead of the vehicle state sensor 14. The vehicle system 1f includes an HCU 20f instead of the HCU 20. Except for these points, the vehicle system 1f is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment. The service vehicle using the vehicle system 1f may be any of a passenger transport vehicle, a baggage transport vehicle, and a passenger / freight mixed vehicle.

[0113] The vehicle condition sensor 14f is similar to the vehicle condition sensor 14 of the first embodiment, except for some differences. The differences will be described below. It is preferable to include a sensor that detects information related to an abnormality in the interior of the service vehicle (hereinafter, an abnormality-related sensor). As an example, the abnormality-related sensor may be configured to include an acoustic sensor that detects sound in the vehicle interior.

[0114] The HCU 20f is similar to the HCU 20 of the first embodiment, except for some differences. The differences will be described below. The HCU 20f preferably detects an abnormality of an occupant from an image captured by the interior camera 19. An example of an abnormality of an occupant is poor physical condition. The abnormality of an occupant may be detected from the facial expression, posture, etc. of the occupant.

[0115] <Outline of Autonomous Driving ECU 10f> Next, a schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10f will be described with reference to FIG. 17. The automatic driving ECU 10f is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10f includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, an HCU communication unit 105, an abnormality detection unit 109, and a center communication instruction unit 110 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10f is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for the abnormality detection unit 109 and the center communication instruction unit 110. This automatic driving ECU 10f also corresponds to a vehicle control device. In addition, the execution of processing of each functional block of the automatic driving ECU 10f by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method.

[0116] The abnormality detection unit 109 detects the presence or absence of an abnormality in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle itself. The abnormality detection unit 109 may detect the presence or absence of an abnormality from the detection result of the abnormality of the occupant acquired from the HCU 20f via the HCU communication unit 105. Specifically, when an abnormality of the occupant is detected, the abnormality may be detected. In the present embodiment, the configuration in which the HCU 20f detects the abnormality of the occupant is shown, but this is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the abnormality detection unit 109 may detect the abnormality of the occupant from an image captured by the interior camera 19 acquired via the HCU communication unit 105. The abnormality detection unit 109 may detect the presence or absence of an abnormality from a detection result of an abnormality-related sensor among the vehicle state sensors 14f. For example, when a sound that is estimated to indicate that an abnormality has occurred in the occupant or luggage is detected by an acoustic sensor, the abnormality may be detected. Examples of such sounds include a falling sound caused by the occupant fainting, and a bursting sound caused by the explosion of luggage.

[0117] When the abnormality detection unit 109 detects that there is an abnormality, the center communication instruction unit 110 notifies a center outside the vehicle that there is an abnormality inside the vehicle cabin. The notification that there is an abnormality inside the vehicle cabin is hereinafter referred to as an abnormality notification. In this case, the center may be a center that manages the operation of the service vehicle. This center is hereinafter referred to as the operation management center. The center communication instruction unit 110 may notify the operation management center of the abnormality via the communication module 11. The operation management center that receives the abnormality notification may perform processing to deal with the abnormality inside the vehicle cabin.

[0118] Furthermore, even if the abnormality detection unit 109 detects that there is an abnormality, if the transportation target identification unit 104 identifies that there is no transportation target, the center communication instruction unit 110 notifies the traffic management center of the abnormality as a false positive. Even if the abnormality detection unit 109 detects that there is an abnormality, if there is no transportation target for the vehicle, there is a high possibility that the abnormality is a false positive. Therefore, according to the above configuration, when there is a high possibility of a false positive, it is possible to notify the traffic management center that the abnormality detection was a false positive. As a result, it is possible to suppress unnecessary processing at the traffic management center in response to a false positive.

[0119] (Embodiment 8) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 8. An example of the configuration of embodiment 8 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0120] <Outline of the configuration of the vehicle system 1g> 18, the vehicle system 1g includes an automatic driving ECU 10g, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1g is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment, except that the vehicle system 1g includes an automatic driving ECU 10g instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The service vehicle using the vehicle system 1g may be any of a passenger transport vehicle, a baggage transport vehicle, and a passenger / freight mixed vehicle.

[0121] <Outline of Autonomous Driving ECU 10g> Next, a schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10g will be described with reference to FIG. 19. The automatic driving ECU 10g is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10g includes a driving environment recognition unit 101g, a behavior determination unit 102g, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, an HCU communication unit 105, and a light color prediction unit 111 as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10g includes the driving environment recognition unit 101g instead of the driving environment recognition unit 101. The automatic driving ECU 10g includes the behavior determination unit 102g instead of the behavior determination unit 102. The automatic driving ECU 10g includes the light color prediction unit 111. The automatic driving ECU 10g is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for these points. This automatic driving ECU 10g also corresponds to a vehicle control device. Furthermore, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the autonomous driving ECU 10g by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method.

[0122] The driving environment recognition unit 101g is the same as the driving environment recognition unit 101 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The following describes the differences. The driving environment recognition unit 101g may also recognize the light color and blinking state of pedestrian traffic lights from images captured by a surrounding monitoring camera using image recognition technology.

[0123] The light color prediction unit 111 predicts the light color (hereinafter, target light color) of the vehicle traffic light at the intersection in the traveling direction of the vehicle when the vehicle enters the intersection. For example, when the light color prediction unit 111 can acquire information on the signal cycle of the vehicle traffic light via road-to-vehicle communication, the light color prediction unit 111 predicts the target light color from the information on the signal cycle. In addition, the light color prediction unit 111 may predict the target light color from the light color and blinking state of the pedestrian traffic light in the traveling direction of the vehicle recognized by the driving environment recognition unit 101g. As an example, when the light color of the vehicle traffic light in the traveling direction of the vehicle is green but the light color of the pedestrian traffic light is red, the target light color may be predicted as yellow. In addition, when the pedestrian traffic light in the traveling direction of the vehicle is blinking green, the target light color may be predicted as yellow.

[0124] The behavior determination unit 102g includes a driving plan unit 121 and a tolerance change unit 122g as sub-functional blocks. The tolerance change unit 122g may be the same as the tolerance change unit 122 except for some differences in processing. The differences will be described below. The processing in the tolerance change unit 122g also corresponds to a tolerance change step.

[0125] When the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that a transportation target exists, the tolerance changing unit 122g stops the vehicle at an intersection where the light color predicted by the light color predicting unit 111 is yellow. On the other hand, when the transportation target specifying unit 104 specifies that a transportation target does not exist, the tolerance changing unit 122g passes through an intersection where the light color predicted by the light color predicting unit 111 is yellow. When a transportation target exists in the service vehicle, careful driving that stops the vehicle when entering an intersection where the light color is yellow is preferable. On the other hand, when the transportation target does not exist in the service vehicle, the need for this careful driving is lower. According to the above configuration, when the need for careful driving is lower, the vehicle passes through an intersection where the light color is predicted to be yellow when entering, and priority is given to passing through the intersection quickly. The tolerance changing unit 122g may accelerate the vehicle to pass through an intersection where the light color predicted by the light color predicting unit 111 is yellow.

[0126] (Embodiment 9) The configuration is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and may be that of the following embodiment 9. An example of the configuration of embodiment 9 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0127] <Outline of the Vehicle System 1h> As shown in Fig. 20, the vehicle system 1h includes an automatic driving ECU 10h, a communication module 11, a locator 12, a map DB 13, a vehicle state sensor 14, a surrounding monitoring sensor 15, a vehicle control ECU 16, an in-vehicle notification device 17, an outside-vehicle notification device 18h, an interior camera 19, and an HCU 20. The vehicle system 1h includes the automatic driving ECU 10h instead of the automatic driving ECU 10. The vehicle system 1h includes the outside-vehicle notification device 18h instead of the outside-vehicle notification device 18. Except for these points, the vehicle system 1h is similar to the vehicle system 1 of the first embodiment. The service vehicle using the vehicle system 1h may be any of a passenger transport vehicle, a baggage transport vehicle, and a passenger / freight mixed vehicle.

[0128] The vehicle exterior notification device 18h is similar to the vehicle exterior notification device 18 of the first embodiment, except for some differences. The vehicle exterior notification device 18h includes at least a transmissive display 181. For example, a liquid crystal display may be used as the transmissive display 181. The transmissive display 181 may be an organic EL display, an inorganic EL display, or the like. The transmissive display 181 is provided on a window of the vehicle. The transmissive display 181 may be configured to be provided on all windows of the vehicle. The transmissive display 181 is substantially transparent when not displaying, and performs the same function as a window.

[0129] <Outline of Autonomous Driving ECU 10h> Next, the schematic configuration of the automatic driving ECU 10h will be described with reference to FIG. 21. The automatic driving ECU 10h is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for some different processing. The automatic driving ECU 10h includes a driving environment recognition unit 101, a behavior determination unit 102, a control execution unit 103, a transportation target identification unit 104, and an HCU communication unit 105h as functional blocks. The automatic driving ECU 10h is similar to the automatic driving ECU 10 of the first embodiment, except for the fact that the automatic driving ECU 10h includes the HCU communication unit 105h instead of the HCU communication unit 105. This automatic driving ECU 10h also corresponds to a vehicle control device. In addition, the execution of processing of each functional block of the automatic driving ECU 10h by a computer corresponds to the execution of a vehicle control method.

[0130] The HCU communication unit 105h includes an in-vehicle notification processing unit 151 and an outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152h as sub-functional blocks. The HCU communication unit 105h is similar to the HCU communication unit 105 of the first embodiment, except that the HCU communication unit 105h includes the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152h instead of the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152. The outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152h is similar to the outside-vehicle notification processing unit 152 of the first embodiment, except that some processing is different. The following describes these differences.

[0131] When the transportation object specification unit 104 specifies that there is no transportation object, the vehicle exterior notification processing unit 152h causes the transparent display 181 to display an advertisement. The transportation object in this case may be at least the passenger among the baggage and the passenger. When there is no transportation object and no passenger, there is no need for the passenger to look outside through the window from inside the vehicle. On the other hand, when there is a passenger, if an advertisement is displayed on the window, it becomes difficult for the passenger to look outside through the window. In contrast, according to the above configuration, it is possible to display advertisements on the window only when it is not necessary to use the window for the purpose of looking outside from inside the vehicle. The windows on which advertisements are displayed may be all windows on which the transparent display 181 is provided. This allows more advertisements to be displayed. In addition, the transparent display 181 may be provided on all windows of the vehicle. This also allows more advertisements to be displayed.

[0132] (Embodiment 10) In the above embodiment, the autonomous driving ECUs 10, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f, 10g, and 10h are shown as being equivalent to the vehicle control device, but this is not necessarily limited to this. For example, an ECU other than the autonomous driving ECUs 10, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f, 10g, and 10h may be shown as being equivalent to the vehicle control device.

[0133] (Disclosed technical idea) This specification discloses multiple technical ideas described in the following multiple dependent claims. Some of the claims may be described in a multiple dependent form, where the subsequent claim alternatively refers to the preceding claim. Furthermore, some of the claims may be described in a multiple dependent form, where the subsequent claim alternatively refers to the preceding claim. The claims described in these multiple dependent forms define multiple technical ideas.

[0134] (Technical thought 1) A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A vehicle control device comprising: a tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is the range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, depending on the identification result by the transportation target identification unit.

[0135] (Technical thought 2) A vehicle control device according to Technical Concept 1, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit identifies that the transportation object does not exist, makes the driving tolerance wider than when the transportation object is identified as existing.

[0136] (Technical Thought 3) The vehicle control device according to Technical Concept 1 or 2, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies, as the occupant, whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, The tolerance change unit (122, 122c) is a vehicle control device that narrows the driving tolerance when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not present, compared to when the transportation object identification unit determines that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present.

[0137] (Technical Thought 4) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 3, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies, as the occupant, whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, an interior notification processing unit (151a) for controlling an interior notification device (17) for making a notification toward a room inside the service vehicle; The in-vehicle notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not, issues a prompting notification to encourage the monitoring driver to operate and inspect the service vehicle.

[0138] (Technical Thought 5) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 4, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies, as the occupant, whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, The tolerance change unit (122, 122c) is a vehicle control device that makes it easier to cause emergency braking when the transportation object identification unit determines that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present, compared to when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver or the passenger is present.

[0139] (Technical Thought 6) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 5, The tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122c) is a vehicle control device that does not allow the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object exists, but allows the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist.

[0140] (Technical Thought 7) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 5, The tolerance change unit (122b, 122c) is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist, allows the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake more frequently than when the transportation object is determined to exist.

[0141] (Technical Thought 8) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 7, an exterior notification processing unit (152, 152a, 152c) for controlling an exterior notification device (18) for making a notification toward the exterior of the service vehicle; The outside vehicle notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist, issues a notification indicating that the service vehicle is traveling autonomously without the transportation object.

[0142] (Technical Thought 9) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 8, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting occupants as the transport object, causes the vehicle to travel at a slower speed than when the transport object is determined to exist, and, when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting luggage as the transport object, causes the vehicle to travel at a faster speed than when the transport object is determined to exist.

[0143] (Technical Thought 10) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 9, The vehicle can be used in a service vehicle for transporting luggage as the transportation object, A luggage information acquisition unit (106) is provided for acquiring luggage information, which is information regarding precautions for transporting luggage to be transported, The tolerance changing unit (122a, 122c) is a vehicle control device that changes the traveling tolerance in accordance with the baggage information acquired by the baggage information acquiring unit.

[0144] (Technical Thought 11) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 10, The transportation object identification unit (104c) identifies whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object, and The tolerance change unit (122c) is a vehicle control device that changes the driving tolerance depending on the combination of results of the transportation object identification unit identifying whether or not each of the occupant and the baggage is present.

[0145] (Technical Thought 12) A vehicle control device according to Technical Concept 11, The transportation object identification unit distinguishes and identifies whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that changes the number of times that lane changes are permitted to occur to overtake the service vehicle depending on the combination of results determined by the transportation object identification unit as to whether or not the occupant and luggage are present.

[0146] (Technical Thought 13) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 12, The tolerance change unit (122d) is a vehicle control device that performs fuel efficiency improvement control, which is vehicle control for improving the fuel efficiency performance of the service vehicle, when the transportation object identification unit identifies that the transportation object does not exist, compared to when the transportation object is identified as existing.

[0147] (Technical Thought 14) A vehicle control device according to Technical Concept 13, The tolerance change unit at least turns off the air conditioning unit of the service vehicle as the fuel efficiency improvement control, and when it is estimated that a state in which the object to be transported is present will be transitioned to within a predetermined time while the air conditioning unit is turned off as the fuel efficiency improvement control, the vehicle control device controls to turn on the air conditioning unit or to open the windows of the service vehicle.

[0148] (Technical Thought 15) A vehicle control device according to Technical Idea 13 or 14, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, as the fuel efficiency improvement control, reduces the amount of change in deceleration when stopping the service vehicle when a vehicle behind the service vehicle is not within a specified range compared to when a vehicle behind the service vehicle is within a specified range.

[0149] (Technical Thought 16) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 13 to 15, The vehicle is configured to operate a steering wheel in accordance with steering caused by the automatic driving during the automatic driving, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that limits the operation of a steering wheel in accordance with steering caused by automatic driving as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

[0150] (Technical Thought 17) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 13 to 16, The tolerance changing unit is a vehicle control device that limits a display on a display device provided in the service vehicle as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

[0151] (Technical Thought 18) A vehicle control device according to Technical Concept 17, The service vehicle is provided with, as the display devices, an interior display device that displays information toward an interior of the service vehicle, and an exterior display device that displays information toward an exterior of the service vehicle, The tolerance changing unit is a vehicle control device that limits only a display on the interior display device out of the interior display device and the exterior display device as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

[0152] (Technical Thought 19) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 14 to 18, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that performs the fuel efficiency improvement control when the transportation object identification unit transitions from a state in which it identifies the transportation object as existing to a state in which it identifies the transportation object as not existing, and when the service vehicle starts traveling in a state in which the transportation object identification unit identifies the transportation object as not existing.

[0153] (Technical Thought 20) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 19, The tolerance change unit (122e) is a vehicle control device that allows the vehicle to travel on a narrower road when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist, compared to when the transport object is determined to exist.

[0154] (Technical Thought 21) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 20, an abnormality detection unit (109) that detects the presence or absence of an abnormality in the interior of the service vehicle; a center communication instruction unit (110) for notifying a center outside the service vehicle of the presence of an abnormality in the cabin of the service vehicle when the abnormality detection unit detects the presence of an abnormality, The center communication instruction unit is a vehicle control device that notifies the center of the abnormality as a false positive even if the abnormality detection unit detects the presence of an abnormality, if the transport object identification unit identifies that the transport object does not exist.

[0155] (Technical Thought 22) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 21, The transportation object identification unit is a vehicle control device that is capable of identifying whether or not the transportation object is present in the service vehicle in accordance with a selection input of whether or not the transportation object is present in the service vehicle, received via a user input device that accepts input from a user.

[0156] (Technical Thought 23) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 22, a light color prediction unit (111) for predicting the light color of a vehicle traffic signal at an intersection in the direction in which the service vehicle is traveling when the service vehicle enters the intersection; The tolerance change unit (122g) is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation target identification unit identifies that the transportation target exists, stops the service vehicle at an intersection where the light color predicted by the light color prediction unit is yellow, and, when the transportation target identification unit identifies that the transportation target does not exist, causes the service vehicle to pass through the intersection where the light color predicted by the light color prediction unit is yellow.

[0157] (Technical Thought 24) A vehicle control device according to any one of Technical Ideas 1 to 23, The service vehicle has a transparent display (181) on a window as at least a part of an exterior notification device (18h) that notifies the exterior of the service vehicle, A vehicle exterior notification processing unit (152h) for controlling the vehicle exterior notification device, The vehicle exterior notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that causes the transmissive display to display an advertisement when the transportation object identification unit identifies that the transportation object does not exist.

[0158] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. The embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the different embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present disclosure. The control unit and the method described in the present disclosure may be realized by a dedicated computer constituting a processor programmed to execute one or more functions embodied by a computer program. Alternatively, the device and the method described in the present disclosure may be realized by a dedicated hardware logic circuit. Alternatively, the device and the method described in the present disclosure may be realized by one or more dedicated computers configured by a combination of a processor that executes a computer program and one or more hardware logic circuits. The computer program may be stored in a computer-readable non-transient tangible recording medium as instructions executed by the computer. [Explanation of symbols]

[0159] 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1g, 1h Vehicle system, 10, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f, 10g, 10h Autonomous driving ECU (vehicle control device), 17 Vehicle interior notification device, 18, 18h Vehicle exterior notification device, 104, 104a, 104c Transportation object identification unit, 106 Baggage information acquisition unit, 109 Abnormality detection unit, 110 Center communication instruction unit, 111 Light color prediction unit, 122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g Tolerance change unit, 151a Vehicle interior notification processing unit, 152, 152a, 152c, 152h Vehicle exterior notification processing unit, 181 Transmissive display

Claims

1. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, The tolerance change unit (122, 122c) is a vehicle control device that narrows the driving tolerance when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not present, compared to when it determines that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present.

2. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, an interior notification processing unit (151a) for controlling an interior notification device (17) for making a notification toward the interior of the service vehicle; The in-vehicle notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not, issues a prompting notification to encourage the monitoring driver to operate and inspect the service vehicle.

3. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The transportation target identification unit (104, 104c) identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and identifies the transportation target by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, The tolerance change unit (122, 122c) is a vehicle control device that makes it easier to cause emergency braking when the transportation object identification unit determines that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present, compared to when the transportation object identification unit determines that the monitoring driver or the passenger is present.

4. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122c) is a vehicle control device that does not allow the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object exists, but allows the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist.

5. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The tolerance change unit (122b, 122c) is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist, allows the service vehicle to change lanes to overtake more frequently than when the transportation object is determined to exist.

6. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting occupants as the transport object, causes the vehicle to travel at a slower speed than when the transport object is determined to exist, and, when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting luggage as the transport object, causes the vehicle to travel at a faster speed than when the transport object is determined to exist.

7. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The transportation object identification unit (104c) identifies whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object, The tolerance change unit (122c) is a vehicle control device that changes the driving tolerance depending on the combination of results determined by the transportation object identification unit as to whether or not the occupant and the luggage are present.

8. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The transportation object identification unit (104c) identifies whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object, The tolerance change unit (122c) is a vehicle control device that changes the number of times that lane changes are permitted to cause the service vehicle to overtake, as the driving tolerance, depending on the combination of results of the transportation object identification unit determining whether or not the occupant and luggage are present.

9. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The tolerance change unit (122d) is a vehicle control device that performs fuel efficiency improvement control, which is vehicle control for improving the fuel efficiency performance of the service vehicle, when the transportation target identification unit identifies that the transportation target does not exist, compared to when the transportation target is identified as existing.

10. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle allowed in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit; an abnormality detection unit (109) that detects the presence or absence of an abnormality in the interior of the service vehicle; a center communication instruction unit (110) for notifying a center outside the service vehicle that there is an abnormality in the vehicle cabin when the abnormality detection unit detects the presence of an abnormality, The center communication instruction unit is a vehicle control device that notifies the center of the abnormality as a false positive even if the abnormality detection unit detects the presence of an abnormality, if the transport object identification unit identifies that the transport object does not exist.

11. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle allowed in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit; a light color prediction unit (111) for predicting the light color of a vehicle traffic signal at an intersection in a direction in which the service vehicle is traveling when the service vehicle enters the intersection; The tolerance change unit (122g) is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation target identification unit identifies that the transportation target exists, stops the service vehicle at an intersection where the light color predicted by the light color prediction unit is yellow, and, when the transportation target identification unit identifies that the transportation target does not exist, causes the service vehicle to pass through the intersection where the light color predicted by the light color prediction unit is yellow.

12. A vehicle control device that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, a transportation object identification unit (104, 104a, 104c) that identifies whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance change unit (122, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d, 122e, 122g) that changes a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result by the transportation target identification unit, The service vehicle has a transparent display (181) on a window as at least a part of an exterior notification device (18h) that notifies the exterior of the service vehicle, An outside alarm processing unit (152h) for controlling the outside alarm device, The vehicle exterior notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that causes the transmissive display to display an advertisement when the transportation object identification unit identifies that the transportation object does not exist.

13. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit identifies that the transportation object does not exist, makes the driving tolerance wider than when the transportation object is identified as existing.

14. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, an exterior notification processing unit (152, 152a, 152c) for controlling an exterior notification device (18) for making a notification toward the exterior of the service vehicle; The outside vehicle notification processing unit is a vehicle control device that, when the transportation object identification unit determines that the transportation object does not exist, issues a notification indicating that the service vehicle is traveling autonomously without the transportation object.

15. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, The vehicle can be used in a service vehicle for transporting luggage as the transportation object, A luggage information acquisition unit (106) is provided for acquiring luggage information, which is information regarding precautions for transporting luggage to be transported, The tolerance changing unit (122a, 122c) is a vehicle control device that changes the driving tolerance in accordance with the baggage information acquired by the baggage information acquiring unit.

16. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, The tolerance change unit at least turns off the air conditioning unit of the service vehicle as the fuel efficiency improvement control, and when it is estimated that a state in which the object to be transported is present will be transitioned to within a predetermined time while the air conditioning unit is turned off as the fuel efficiency improvement control, the vehicle control device controls to turn on the air conditioning unit or to open the windows of the service vehicle.

17. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that, as the fuel efficiency improvement control, reduces the amount of change in deceleration when stopping the service vehicle when a vehicle behind the service vehicle is not within a specified range compared to when a vehicle behind the service vehicle is within a specified range.

18. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, The service vehicle operates the steering wheel in accordance with the steering caused by the automatic driving during the automatic driving, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that limits the operation of a steering wheel in accordance with steering caused by automatic driving as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

19. The vehicle control device according to claim 9, The tolerance changing unit is a vehicle control device that limits a display on a display device provided in the service vehicle as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

20. 20. The vehicle control device according to claim 19, The service vehicle is provided with, as the display devices, an interior display device that displays information toward an interior of the service vehicle, and an exterior display device that displays information toward an exterior of the service vehicle, The tolerance changing unit is a vehicle control device that limits only a display on the interior display device out of the interior display device and the exterior display device as the fuel efficiency improvement control.

21. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 16 to 20, The tolerance change unit is a vehicle control device that performs the fuel efficiency improvement control when the transportation object identification unit transitions from a state in which it identifies the transportation object as existing to a state in which it identifies the transportation object as not existing, and when the service vehicle starts traveling in a state in which the transportation object identification unit identifies the transportation object as not existing.

22. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, The tolerance change unit (122e) is a vehicle control device that allows driving on a narrower road when the transport object identification unit determines that the transport object does not exist, compared to when the transport object is determined to exist.

23. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, The transportation object identification unit is a vehicle control device that is capable of identifying whether or not the transportation object is present in the service vehicle in accordance with a selection input of whether or not the transportation object is present in the service vehicle, received via a user input device that accepts input from a user.

24. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the transportation target identification step, the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, In the tolerance change process, when the transportation object identification process determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not, the vehicle control method narrows the driving tolerance more than when it is determined that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present.

25. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the transportation target identification step, the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, An in-vehicle notification processing step of controlling an in-vehicle notification device (17) that issues a notification to a passenger compartment of the service vehicle, In the in-vehicle notification processing process, when the transportation object identification process determines that the monitoring driver is present but the passenger is not, a prompting notification is issued to encourage the monitoring driver to operate and inspect the service vehicle.

26. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the transportation target identification step, the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not at least an occupant is present, and the transportation target is identified by distinguishing whether or not a monitoring driver of the service vehicle and a passenger of the service vehicle are present, The vehicle control method includes a step of changing the tolerance level, which makes it easier to apply emergency braking when the transportation object identification step determines that neither the monitoring driver nor the passenger is present, compared to when the transportation object identification step determines that the monitoring driver or the passenger is present.

27. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; The vehicle control method includes a step of changing the tolerance, which does not allow the service vehicle to change lanes by overtaking if the transportation target identification step determines that the transportation target exists, and which allows the service vehicle to change lanes by overtaking if the transportation target identification step determines that the transportation target does not exist.

28. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the tolerance change process, when the transportation object identification process determines that the transportation object does not exist, the number of times lane changes to allow the service vehicle to overtake is increased compared to when the transportation object is determined to exist.

29. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the tolerance change process, when it is determined in the transport object identification process that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting passengers as the transport object, the vehicle is caused to travel at a slower speed than when it is determined that the transport object exists, whereas when it is determined in the transport object identification process that the transport object does not exist and the service vehicle is a service vehicle for transporting luggage as the transport object, the vehicle is caused to travel at a faster speed than when it is determined that the transport object exists.

30. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the transportation object identification step, whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object is identified by distinguishing between the passenger and / or baggage, In the tolerance changing step, the vehicle control method changes the driving tolerance depending on the combination of results of identifying whether or not each of the occupants and the luggage is present in the transportation object identification step.

31. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the transportation object identification step, whether or not a passenger and / or baggage is present as the transportation object is identified by distinguishing between the passenger and / or baggage, In the tolerance changing process, the vehicle control method changes the number of times that lane changes are permitted to allow the service vehicle to overtake, as the driving tolerance, depending on the combination of results of identifying whether or not each of the occupants and the luggage is present in the transportation object identification process.

32. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; In the tolerance change process, when the transportation target identification process determines that the transportation target does not exist, the vehicle control method performs fuel efficiency improvement control, which is vehicle control for improving the fuel efficiency performance of the service vehicle, compared to when the transportation target is determined to exist.

33. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result in the transportation target identification step; an abnormality detection step of detecting the presence or absence of an abnormality in the interior of the service vehicle; a center communication instruction step of notifying a center outside the service vehicle that there is an abnormality in the vehicle cabin of the service vehicle when the abnormality detection step detects that there is an abnormality; In the center communication instruction process, even if the abnormality detection process detects the presence of an abnormality, if the transportation object identification process identifies that the transportation object does not exist, the vehicle control method notifies the center of the abnormality as a false positive.

34. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; A tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to the identification result in the transportation target identification step; a light color prediction step of predicting the light color of a vehicle traffic signal at an intersection in a direction in which the service vehicle will travel when the service vehicle enters the intersection, In the tolerance change process, if the transportation target identification process determines that the transportation target exists, the service vehicle is stopped at an intersection where the light color predicted in the light color prediction process is yellow, whereas if the transportation target identification process determines that the transportation target does not exist, the vehicle is allowed to pass through the intersection where the light color predicted in the light color prediction process is yellow.

35. A vehicle control method that can be used in a service vehicle that transports a transportation object as a service by automatic driving, Executed by at least one processor, a transportation object identification step of identifying whether or not at least one of a passenger and a baggage is present in the service vehicle; and a tolerance changing step of changing a driving tolerance, which is a range of driving control of the service vehicle permitted in the automatic driving, according to a result of the identification step in the transportation target identification step; The service vehicle has a transparent display (181) on a window as at least a part of an exterior notification device (18h) that notifies the exterior of the service vehicle, a vehicle exterior notification processing step for controlling the vehicle exterior notification device, In the vehicle exterior notification processing step, when it is determined in the transport object identification step that the transport object does not exist, an advertisement is displayed on the transmissive display.

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