Vehicle control system, vehicle control device, and automatic driving system

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control system, a vehicle control device, and an automatic driving system for automatic driving capable of securing safety even when a vehicle is urgently stopped at the time of communication failure.SOLUTION: An automatic driving system includes a vehicle control system 10 for performing vehicle control in a control target area set in a site, and an automatic driving vehicle controlled by the vehicle control system 10. A vehicle command unit 15 of the vehicle control system 10 transmits an emergency stop instruction for urgently stopping another vehicle as an operation instruction to the other vehicle when a communication abnormality vehicle is retreating toward an evacuation area. When the communication abnormality vehicle completes evacuation to the evacuation area, a driving restart instruction for releasing emergency stop of the other vehicle is transmitted as an operation instruction to the other vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control system for autonomous driving, a vehicle control device, and an autonomous driving system. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, various efforts have been made to popularize autonomous driving, one of which is autonomous driving in limited areas, where the vehicle's operating method and driving range are limited. Since it is easier to ensure safety in such autonomous driving in limited areas compared to autonomous driving in unrestricted areas such as on general roads, it is expected that it will be promoted first.

[0003] Generally, in autonomous driving in limited areas such as the above, autonomous vehicles can safely drive within a specific area by transmitting driving instructions based on information from infrastructure sensors from the control system to the autonomous vehicles via wireless communication. Therefore, if a communication abnormality occurs, it is necessary to perform an emergency stop of the system to ensure safety. However, if there are multiple autonomous vehicles within the area, or if there are vehicles other than autonomous vehicles engaged in main tasks (for example, loading and unloading ships at a port), there is a risk that an autonomous vehicle making an emergency stop within the area may interfere with the driving of other vehicles or their main tasks.

[0004] As a technology for solving the above problem, Patent Document 1 is known. The vehicle control system described in Patent Document 1 includes an evacuation position estimation unit that determines an evacuation position for the vehicle based on the communication state of the communication unit and the driving environment, and generates a target trajectory for driving the vehicle to the evacuation position determined by the evacuation position estimation unit when it is determined that there is a communication abnormality in the communication unit. As a result, in the event of a communication failure, the autonomous vehicle with the communication failure is not immediately brought to an emergency stop so as not to interfere with the main business, but is instead evacuated to an evacuation area that does not interfere with the main business. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-24900 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In the vehicle control system described in Patent Document 1, after the evacuation position of the autonomous vehicle is determined, there is a possibility that a vehicle not under the control of the vehicle control system will stop at the evacuation position. In this case, the autonomous vehicle experiencing a communication failure may collide with a vehicle stopped at the evacuation position, since the vehicle control system cannot grasp the position of the vehicle not under its control. Thus, in the conventional vehicle control system, there is a risk of reducing safety when making an emergency stop of the vehicle.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and its main objective is to provide a vehicle control system, a vehicle control device, and an autonomous driving system for autonomous driving that can ensure safety even when making an emergency stop of the vehicle in the event of a communication failure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The vehicle control system according to the present invention controls a plurality of vehicles traveling within a controlled area, the controlled area having a road with an evacuation area including a plurality of driving sections set by dividing the driving area of ​​the vehicle and a plurality of evacuation areas provided corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sections, and the system includes a communication unit that communicates with the vehicle, an evacuation area management unit that determines whether the evacuation area is vacant, an exclusive area management unit that selects, for the vehicle traveling on the road with an evacuation area, an vacant evacuation area located ahead of the vehicle in the driving direction of the vehicle and a driving section from the plurality of driving sections that is between the position of the vehicle and the evacuation area, and sets the combination of the selected driving section and the evacuation area as an exclusive area that can be exclusively occupied by the vehicle, and a communication unit that controls the vehicle to communicate with the vehicle in preparation for the occurrence of a communication abnormality with the vehicle, and a vehicle command unit that, when a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit and any of the plurality of vehicles, sets the vehicle as a vehicle with a communication abnormality and transmits operation instructions to other vehicles excluding the vehicle with the communication abnormality via the communication unit. When the vehicle with the communication abnormality is retreating toward the retreat area, the vehicle command unit transmits an emergency stop instruction to bring the other vehicle to an emergency stop as the operation instruction to the other vehicles, and when the vehicle with the communication abnormality has completed retreating to the retreat area, transmits a resume driving instruction to release the emergency stop of the other vehicle as the operation instruction to the other vehicles. The vehicle control device according to the present invention is mounted on an autonomous vehicle controlled by a vehicle control system and controls the operation of the autonomous vehicle, and comprises a vehicle-side communication unit that communicates with the vehicle control system, a vehicle-side status management unit that manages the status of the autonomous vehicle, a normal operation control unit that causes the autonomous vehicle to autonomously drive toward a specified destination when communication by the vehicle-side communication unit is normal, and an evacuation operation control unit that controls the autonomous vehicle to evacuate toward the evacuation area based on information of an evacuation route to the evacuation area in the exclusive area of ​​the autonomous vehicle that is transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system when communication by the vehicle-side communication unit is abnormal. The autonomous driving system according to the present invention includes a plurality of autonomous vehicles traveling within a controlled area, and a vehicle control system that controls the plurality of autonomous vehicles. The controlled area includes a road with an evacuation area, which includes a plurality of driving sections that are set by dividing the driving area of ​​the autonomous vehicles, and a plurality of evacuation areas that are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sections. The vehicle control system includes a communication unit that communicates with the autonomous vehicles, an evacuation area management unit that determines whether the evacuation area is vacant, and a control unit that controls the autonomous vehicles traveling on the road with evacuation areas. an exclusive area management unit that selects an empty evacuation area located ahead in a driving direction of the autonomous vehicle and a driving section from the plurality of driving sections that is between the position of the autonomous vehicle and the evacuation area, and sets a combination of the selected driving section and the evacuation area as an exclusive area that can be exclusively used by the autonomous vehicle; and and a vehicle command unit that, when a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit and any one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, sets the autonomous vehicle as a vehicle with a communication abnormality and transmits an operation instruction to the other autonomous vehicles excluding the vehicle with the communication abnormality via the communication unit. When the vehicle with the communication abnormality is evacuating to the evacuation area, the vehicle command unit transmits an emergency stop instruction to cause the other autonomous vehicles to make an emergency stop as the operation instruction to the other autonomous vehicles, and when the vehicle with the communication abnormality completes evacuation to the evacuation area, transmits a driving resume instruction to cancel the emergency stop of the other autonomous vehicles as the operation instruction to the other autonomous vehicles. When communication with the vehicle control system is normal, the autonomous vehicle autonomously travels toward a predetermined destination, and when communication with the vehicle control system is abnormal, the autonomous vehicle evacuates to the evacuation area based on information on the evacuation route transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system, and when the emergency stop instruction is received from the vehicle control system, performs an emergency stop.When the vehicle control system receives the driving restart instruction from the vehicle control system in the emergency stop state, the vehicle control system releases the emergency stop state and restarts autonomous driving. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle control system, a vehicle control device, and an autonomous driving system for autonomous driving that can ensure safety even when an emergency stop of a vehicle occurs in the event of a communication failure. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an automated driving system including a vehicle control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating examples of the configuration of a road with an evacuation area and a road without an evacuation area. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle control system. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle control device. [Diagram 5] 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure and data contents of vehicle management information stored in a private area storage unit; FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating transition conditions between vehicle states. [Figure 7] 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of a data structure and data contents of save area information stored in a save area storage unit in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 3 is a diagram illustrating rules for setting an exclusive area for an autonomously driving vehicle by an exclusive area management unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 9] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an exclusive area and an evacuation operation when a communication failure occurs in an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road with an evacuation area. [Figure 10] 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing performed in the vehicle control system when communication is performed between the vehicle control system and a vehicle control device installed in each autonomous driving vehicle. [Figure 11]11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing carried out in the vehicle control system in response to receiving vehicle information from each automatically driven vehicle. [Figure 12] 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of a vehicle state estimation process. [Figure 13] 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed in a vehicle control device. [Figure 14] 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed in a vehicle control device. [Figure 15] 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed in a vehicle control device. [Figure 16] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of updating the vehicle management information and the escape area information stored in the exclusive area storage unit and the escape area storage unit, respectively, according to the vehicle state. [Figure 17] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of a data structure and data contents of save area information stored in a save area storage unit in a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 18] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating rules for setting an exclusive area for an autonomously driving vehicle by an exclusive area management unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] (First embodiment) Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an autonomous driving system including a vehicle control system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The autonomous driving system 1 according to this embodiment shown in Fig. 1 is mainly operated in places where a large number of materials are transported frequently, such as in a factory or at a port facility, and aims to automate and streamline transport work in such places. In the following, the place where the autonomous driving system 1 is operated is referred to as a "site," and the autonomous driving system 1 will be described in detail.

[0012] The autonomous driving system 1 includes a vehicle control system 10 that performs vehicle control in a control target area set in a site, and autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 that are controlled by the vehicle control system 10. The autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 are vehicles that can autonomously drive in the control target area by the vehicle control system 10, and automatically perform a predetermined task (e.g., transportation task). Note that, in the example of FIG. 1, an example is shown in which two autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 are driving in the control target area, but the number of autonomous vehicles is not limited to this. In addition, in the example of FIG. 1, a manned vehicle 70, a work vehicle 80, and a field worker 90 that are not included in the control target by the vehicle control system 10 are mixed in the control target area as vehicles other than the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2, but these do not necessarily have to be present in the control target area.

[0013] Within the site, a road with an evacuation area 40 and a road without an evacuation area 41 are set as roads on which the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 can travel. The road with an evacuation area 40 is a road in which a plurality of driving sections 50 (see FIG. 2) are set by dividing the area in which the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 travel, and an evacuation area 60 (see FIG. 2) for temporarily evacuating the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 is provided for each of the plurality of driving sections 50. When the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 stop temporarily for loading or unloading work on the road with an evacuation area 40, they are evacuated to the evacuation area 60 before stopping, so as not to get in the way of other vehicles. That is, the road with an evacuation area 40 is set so as to include at least the range in which the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 perform loading or unloading work. On the other hand, the road without an evacuation area 41 is a road on which the autonomously driven vehicles 20-1, 20-2 do not load or unload cargo, and therefore no evacuation area 60 is provided.

[0014] The ratio of roads with evacuation areas 40 and roads without evacuation areas 41 within the site can be set arbitrarily depending on the actual work situation, etc. In an extreme case, all roads within the range where various vehicles including the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 can travel within the site may be set as roads with evacuation areas 40, and no roads without evacuation areas 41 may be set. Alternatively, the ranges of the roads with evacuation areas 40 and the roads without evacuation areas 41 may each be dynamically changed.

[0015] An infrastructure sensor 30 is installed near the road with an evacuation area 40 within the site to determine whether the evacuation area is vacant or not. The infrastructure sensor 30 is composed of a sensor capable of detecting the presence or absence of an object within a predetermined range in space, such as a camera or radar, and uses these sensors to collect sensor information indicating the detection results for the evacuation area within the road with an evacuation area 40, and outputs it to the vehicle control system 10. Note that the number and installation positions of the infrastructure sensors 30 within the site are preferably adjusted so that at least all of the evacuation areas of the road with an evacuation area 40 can be monitored.

[0016] The vehicle control system 10 is connected to a wireless communication facility 102 via a network 101, and uses the wireless communication facility 102 to perform wireless communication with the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 and the manned vehicles 70 traveling in the controlled area. The vehicle control system 10 can also perform wireless communication with an information terminal (not shown) carried by a field worker 90 and an infrastructure sensor 30. For example, in wireless communication with the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 and the manned vehicles 70, the vehicle control system 10 grasps the position and status of each vehicle based on vehicle information transmitted from each of these vehicles, and issues movement instructions and work instructions to the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2. In wireless communication with the infrastructure sensor 30, the vehicle control system 10 determines whether each evacuation area in the road with evacuation areas 40 is vacant based on sensor information transmitted from the infrastructure sensor 30.

[0017] The vehicle control system 10 is also connected to a management terminal 100 via a network 101. The management terminal 100 is operated by an administrator 110 who manages the autonomous driving system 1, to provide the administrator 110 with a user interface for the vehicle control system 10. For example, the vehicle control system 10 displays the positions and states of autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 and manned vehicles 70 currently under control within a control target area, the work status of field workers 90, and the like, to present this information to the administrator 110. Furthermore, when the administrator 110 issues work instructions or emergency stop instructions to the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2, the management terminal 100 accepts these inputs and notifies the vehicle control system 10.

[0018] In the autonomous driving system 1, the vehicle control system 10 may be constructed by physically installing a server on the site or in its vicinity, or the vehicle control system 10 may be constructed on a cloud environment.

[0019] The autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 travel along roads with evacuation areas 40 and roads without evacuation areas 41 designated within the site in accordance with work instructions from the vehicle control system 10 to transport materials. The manned vehicles 70 travel within the site in accordance with the driving operations of the driver and perform various tasks such as transportation work. The work vehicles 80 work in cooperation with the on-site workers 90 to load and unload materials onto the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 on the roads with evacuation areas 40.

[0020] The autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 acquire their own position information using, for example, a GNSS system or the like, and periodically transmit the acquired position information and vehicle state information (such as vehicle speed) to the vehicle control system 10 as vehicle information. The autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 also manage their own load status, and transmit the load status information to the vehicle control system 10 together with the vehicle information. As a means for the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 to grasp the load status, for example, a detection method using sensing with a load sensor or the like can be used. Alternatively, when the field worker 90 completes loading or unloading work on the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2, the field worker 90 may transmit a report of the same to the vehicle control system 10 via an information terminal, so that the vehicle control system 10 can indirectly grasp the presence or absence of a load on the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2.

[0021] To improve safety within the site, the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 can not only move to their destinations but also make emergency stops in response to commands from the vehicle control system 10. Furthermore, the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 may be equipped with devices such as LIDAR and cameras capable of detecting the surrounding conditions, and the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 may use these devices to detect surrounding collision risks and perform control operations such as avoidance and deceleration as necessary.

[0022] Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the road with an escape area 40 and the road without an escape area 41 shown in Fig. 1. Note that Fig. 2 shows the autonomous vehicle 20-1 of the autonomous vehicles 20-1 and 20-2 shown in Fig. 1 as a representative example of a vehicle traveling on the road with an escape area 40 or the road without an escape area 41.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 2, the road with turn-away areas 40 includes a plurality of travel sections 50 that are set by dividing the travel area of ​​the autonomous vehicle 20-1, and a plurality of turn-away areas 60 that are provided corresponding to each travel section 50. An index number X is assigned to each travel section 50 and each turn-away area 60 to distinguish them from each other. In the example of FIG. 2, the travel sections 50-1, 50-2, 50-3, and 50-4 represent the travel sections 50 with index numbers X of 1 to 4, respectively. Similarly, the turn-away areas 60-1, 60-2, 60-3, and 60-4 represent the turn-away areas 60 with index numbers X of 1 to 4, respectively. In this way, it is preferable to assign a common index number X to the travel sections 50 and turn-away areas 60 that correspond to each other.

[0024] The vehicle control system 10 can identify any combination of a driving section 50 and an evacuation area 60 within the site from the index numbers respectively assigned to each driving section 50 and each evacuation area 60. Map information indicating the positions of each driving section 50 and each evacuation area 60 may also be stored in the vehicle control system 10 in association with the index numbers. It is preferable that the infrastructure sensor 30 is installed in a position and orientation that allows monitoring of any object (such as a vehicle or an obstacle) present in each evacuation area 60.

[0025] On the other hand, the road without an escape area 41 is configured to include a plurality of driving sections 51 that are set by dividing the driving area of ​​the autonomously driven vehicle 20-1, but not to include an escape area, as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

[0026] Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle control system 10. As shown in Fig. 3, the vehicle control system 10 includes functional blocks of an exclusive area management unit 11, an evacuation area management unit 12, an exclusive area storage unit 13, an evacuation area storage unit 14, a vehicle command unit 15, a communication status management unit 16, a communication unit 17, a driving route planning unit 18, and an evacuation position estimation unit 19. In the vehicle control system 10, these functional blocks are realized, for example, by a CPU executing a predetermined program or by using a recording medium such as an HDD or SSD.

[0027] In Fig. 3, the vehicle control device for autonomous driving mounted on each of the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 shown in Fig. 1 is shown as a vehicle control device 20. That is, the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 are each mounted with a common vehicle control device 20, and by using this vehicle control device 20 to perform wireless communication with the vehicle control system 10, the autonomous vehicles 20 can be controlled by the vehicle control system 10 to perform predetermined operations. The vehicle control device 20 will be described in detail later.

[0028] The exclusive area management unit 11 manages the state and exclusive area of ​​each autonomous vehicle in real time. Specifically, for example, the exclusive area management unit 11 identifies the current position of each autonomous vehicle based on the position information of each autonomous vehicle included in the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle control device 20 and the sensor information transmitted from the infrastructure sensor 30. Then, based on the identified current position of each autonomous vehicle and the map information of the road with an evacuation area 40 and the road without an evacuation area 41 stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13, it identifies the point on the road with an evacuation area 40 or the road without an evacuation area 41 where each autonomous vehicle is traveling. As a result, for an autonomous vehicle traveling on the road with an evacuation area 40, an empty evacuation area 60 located ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle and a traveling section 50 between the position of the vehicle and the evacuation area 60 are selected, and the combination of these is set as an exclusive area that can be occupied by the vehicle. On the other hand, for an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41, a predetermined number of travel sections 51 located ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle are selected and set as the exclusive area of ​​the vehicle. The method of setting these exclusive areas will be described in detail later.

[0029] The evacuation area management unit 12 determines and manages the vacant status (whether or not vehicles or workers are inside the evacuation area 60) of each evacuation area 60 installed on the evacuation area road 40 based on sensor information transmitted from the infrastructure sensor 30.

[0030] The exclusive area storage unit 13 stores map information of roads with evacuation areas 40 and roads without evacuation areas 41, and vehicle management information for the exclusive area management unit 11 to manage the state of each autonomous vehicle and the setting of the exclusive area. This vehicle management information includes, for example, information indicating the state, current position, exclusive area being set, data update time, business status, etc. of each autonomous vehicle managed by the exclusive area management unit 11. The information stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13 is read out by the exclusive area management unit 11, the vehicle command unit 15, and the evacuation position estimation unit 19, and is used in the processing performed by these functional blocks.

[0031] The save area storage unit 14 stores save area information that allows the save area management unit 12 to manage the free state of each save area 60. For example, information indicating whether each save area 60 is free or not is stored as save area information in the save area storage unit 14. The information stored in the save area storage unit 14 is read by the exclusive area management unit 11 and the save position estimation unit 19, and is used in the processing performed by these functional blocks.

[0032] The vehicle command unit 15 issues instructions to each autonomous vehicle based on the communication state between the communication unit 17 and each autonomous vehicle managed by the communication state management unit 16 and the information on the state of each autonomous vehicle stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13. For example, if a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit 17 and the vehicle control device 20 mounted on one of the autonomous vehicles, the vehicle is set as a vehicle with a communication abnormality and an emergency stop instruction is issued to the other autonomous vehicles. In addition, when the vehicle with the communication abnormality completes evacuation to the evacuation area, an instruction to resume driving is issued to the other autonomous vehicles that have made an emergency stop in order to release the emergency stop. These instructions are transmitted from the vehicle command unit 15 to the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle via the communication unit 17. Specific examples of instructions by the vehicle command unit 15 will be described later.

[0033] The communication status management unit 16 manages whether the communication status between the communication unit 17 and each autonomously driven vehicle is normal or not.

[0034] The communication unit 17 communicates with the infrastructure sensor 30 and each autonomous vehicle within the site via the network 101 and the wireless communication equipment 102. Information received by the communication unit 17 from the infrastructure sensor 30 and the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle is output to the exclusive area management unit 11 and the evacuation area management unit 12.

[0035] The driving route planning unit 18 transmits information on the driving route to the destination of each autonomous vehicle to each autonomous vehicle via the communication unit 17. In addition, in preparation for the occurrence of a communication abnormality with each autonomous vehicle, an evacuation route is generated in advance for each autonomous vehicle traveling on the road with evacuation area 40 to move toward the evacuation area 60 in the exclusive area set by the exclusive area management unit 11, and information on the generated evacuation route is transmitted to each autonomous vehicle via the communication unit 17. The vehicle control device 20 mounted on the autonomous vehicle in which the communication abnormality has occurred can use the information on the evacuation route to cause the vehicle to evacuate to the nearest evacuation area 60.

[0036] The evacuation position estimation unit 19 estimates the evacuation area 60 to which the autonomous vehicle in which the communication abnormality occurs will retreat as the evacuation position of the vehicle. For example, based on the vehicle management information of the vehicle stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13, the evacuation route that has already been transmitted to the vehicle from the travel route planning unit 18 is identified, and the vehicle control device 20 mounted on the vehicle determines to which evacuation area 60 within the road with evacuation areas 40 the vehicle is being evacuated. This makes it possible to estimate the evacuation position of the autonomous vehicle in which the communication abnormality occurs.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle control device 20. As shown in FIG. 4, the vehicle control device 20 includes functional blocks of a vehicle-side communication unit 21, a normal operation control unit 22, an evacuation operation control unit 23, a vehicle-side exclusive area storage unit 24, a travel route storage unit 25, and a vehicle-side state management unit 26. In the vehicle control device 20, these functional blocks are realized, for example, by a CPU executing a predetermined program or by using a recording medium such as an HDD or SSD. In the following, an autonomous vehicle equipped with the vehicle control device 20 and controlled by the vehicle control device 20 is referred to as a "vehicle".

[0038] The vehicle-side communication unit 21 communicates with the vehicle control system 10 via the network 101 and the wireless communication equipment 102. The vehicle-side communication unit 21 receives information on the exclusive area of ​​the vehicle, the driving route to the destination of the vehicle, and an evacuation route in the event of a communication abnormality, transmitted from the vehicle control system 10. The information received by the vehicle-side communication unit 21 is stored in the vehicle-side exclusive area storage unit 24 and the driving route storage unit 25. Furthermore, when an emergency stop instruction or a driving restart instruction for the vehicle is received from the vehicle control system 10, the vehicle-side communication unit 21 notifies the vehicle-side status management unit 26 of the contents of these instructions.

[0039] When the communication state between the vehicle control system 10 and the vehicle side communication unit 21 is normal, the normal operation control unit 22 causes the vehicle to autonomously travel toward a predetermined destination based on the information on the travel route stored in the travel route storage unit 25. For example, the normal operation control unit 22 controls the autonomous travel of the vehicle by controlling the operation of various actuators of the vehicle and adjusting the steering angle, brakes, speed, etc. of the vehicle according to the travel route.

[0040] When the communication state between the vehicle-side communication unit 21 and the vehicle control system 10 is abnormal, the evacuation operation control unit 23 causes the host vehicle to perform an evacuation operation to the evacuation area 60 or performs an emergency stop of the host vehicle. Specifically, when the host vehicle is traveling on the road 40 with an evacuation area, the evacuation operation control unit 23 causes the host vehicle to perform an evacuation operation toward the nearest evacuation area 60 based on information on the evacuation route transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system 10 and stored in the travel route storage unit 25. This allows the host vehicle to safely travel to the evacuation area 60 without stopping within the travel section 50. On the other hand, when the host vehicle is traveling on the road 41 without an evacuation area, the host vehicle is brought to an emergency stop because the evacuation operation to the evacuation area 60 is impossible.

[0041] The vehicle-side exclusive region storage unit 24 stores information on the exclusive region of the vehicle itself that is transmitted from the vehicle control system 10 and received by the vehicle-side communication unit 21 .

[0042] The driving route storage unit 25 stores information on the driving route to the destination of the vehicle and the evacuation route, which are transmitted from the vehicle control system 10 and received by the vehicle-side communication unit 21 .

[0043] The vehicle-side state management unit 26 manages the state of the vehicle and issues an operation instruction corresponding to the state to the normal operation control unit 22 and the evacuation operation control unit 23. Specifically, if the communication state between the vehicle-side communication unit 21 and the vehicle control system 10 is normal, the normal operation control unit 22 is operated to cause the vehicle to autonomously travel, and if the communication state is abnormal, the evacuation operation control unit 23 is operated to cause the vehicle to evacuate to the evacuation area 60 or to make an emergency stop. In addition, when the vehicle-side communication unit 21 receives an emergency stop instruction or a driving restart instruction transmitted from the vehicle control system 10 to the vehicle, the evacuation operation control unit 23 or the normal operation control unit 22 is operated to make an emergency stop of the vehicle or to restart the autonomous travel of the vehicle. Details of the state of the vehicle managed by the vehicle-side state management unit 26 will be described later.

[0044] Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure and data contents of vehicle management information 130 stored in exclusive area storage unit 13 of vehicle control system 10. In order to manage the state of each autonomously driven vehicle and the exclusive area settings, for example, vehicle management information 130 shown in Fig. 5 is stored in exclusive area storage unit 13. Vehicle management information 130 has a record set for each autonomously driven vehicle, and each record has data such as vehicle number 131, state 132, current location 133, exclusive area 134, update time 135, and business state 136.

[0045] The vehicle number 131 stores a number for identifying each autonomously driven vehicle.

[0046] The state of each autonomous vehicle is stored in the state 132. Specifically, the state 132 stores any one of the following information: "driving (S1)" indicating that the vehicle is autonomously driving, "stopped (S2)" indicating that the vehicle is in a stopped state due to autonomous driving control, "evacuating (S3)" indicating that the vehicle is evacuating to the evacuation area 60 due to a communication abnormality occurring in the vehicle, "evacuation completed (S4)" indicating that the vehicle has completed evacuation to the evacuation area 60, "recovered from communication failure (S5)" indicating that the vehicle has recovered from a communication failure, "emergency stop (S6)" indicating that the vehicle is in an emergency stop state due to an emergency stop command from the vehicle control system 10, and "operation completed (S7)" indicating that the vehicle has completed an operation.

[0047] The vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle continuously manages the state of the vehicle and transmits the latest state of the vehicle as vehicle information to the vehicle control system 10. Based on the vehicle information received from each autonomous vehicle, the vehicle control system 10 determines which of the above states the state of each vehicle corresponds to, and stores the determination result in the exclusive region storage unit 13 as state 132 of vehicle management information 130. The transition conditions between these states will be described later with reference to FIG. 6.

[0048] Information indicating the driving section or the evacuation area corresponding to the current position of each autonomous vehicle is stored in the current position 133. Specifically, among each driving section 50 or each evacuation area 60 of the road with evacuation area 40, or each driving section 51 of the road without evacuation area 41, the number of the driving section or the evacuation area corresponding to the current position of the vehicle is stored in the current position 133 together with the index number X. In the following, in order to distinguish each driving section 50, 51 and each evacuation area 60 from each other, the individual driving sections and evacuation areas may be described as the driving sections 50-X, 51-X and the evacuation area 60-X, respectively, using the symbols with the index number X.

[0049] Information indicating the driving section and / or the evacuation area of ​​the exclusive area currently set for each autonomous vehicle is stored in the exclusive area 134. Specifically, in a format similar to that of the current position 133, a combination of a driving section 50 and an evacuation area 60 included in the exclusive area set for a vehicle traveling on a road with an evacuation area 40, or the number of a driving section 51 included in the exclusive area set for a vehicle traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41, is stored in the exclusive area 134 together with an index number X.

[0050] The time when the contents of each record were last updated is stored in the update time 135. Each record of the vehicle management information 130 is updated based on the vehicle information received by the communication unit 17 in the vehicle control system 10 from each autonomously driven vehicle.

[0051] The task contents set for each autonomous vehicle are stored in the task state 136. For example, the location where loading and unloading work is performed when the vehicle transports luggage, the location where the vehicle should stop last, and the like are stored as the task state 136.

[0052] FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the transition conditions between the above-mentioned vehicle states.

[0053] When the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle confirms that the vehicle has been started, it sets the state of the vehicle to the "initial state (START)". After that, when the vehicle starts autonomous driving in response to a start command from the vehicle control system 10, the state of the vehicle transitions from the "initial state (START)" to "driving (S1)".

[0054] When each autonomous vehicle receives an emergency stop instruction from the vehicle control system 10 while in the "driving (S1)" state, it makes an emergency stop near its current position. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of its own vehicle from "driving (S1)" to "emergency stop (S6)". After that, when each autonomous vehicle receives an instruction to resume driving from the vehicle control system 10, it checks the surrounding safety conditions, etc., and resumes autonomous driving if driving can be resumed. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of its own vehicle from "emergency stop (S6)" to "driving (S1)". On the other hand, if it receives an instruction to resume driving but determines that driving cannot be resumed, each autonomous vehicle waits until it can resume autonomous driving. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 maintains the state of its own vehicle in "emergency stop (S6)".

[0055] In addition, when a communication failure occurs between each autonomous vehicle and the vehicle control system 10 in the "driving (S1)" state, the autonomous vehicle performs either an evacuation operation to the evacuation area 60 or an emergency stop depending on whether the autonomous vehicle was traveling on the road with the evacuation area 40 or the road without the evacuation area 41. That is, in the case of an autonomous vehicle traveling on the road with the evacuation area 40, the autonomous vehicle starts evacuation toward the evacuation area 60 in the exclusive area. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "driving (S1)" to "evacuating (S3)". On the other hand, in the case of an autonomous vehicle traveling on the road without the evacuation area 41, the autonomous vehicle makes an emergency stop near the current position, similar to when an emergency stop instruction is received. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "driving (S1)" to "emergency stop (S6)".

[0056] Each autonomous vehicle may stop during autonomous driving if there is no communication failure in the "driving (S1)" state and no emergency stop instruction has been received from the vehicle control system 10. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "driving (S1)" to "stopped (S2)". For example, in order for a field worker 90 or a work vehicle 80 to perform loading work on the autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle may stop at a location for the loading work at the instruction of the vehicle control system 10. In addition, when all operations of the autonomous vehicle are completed, it may stop at a location specified by the instruction of the vehicle control system 10.

[0057] When each autonomous vehicle recovers from a communication failure in the "evacuating (S3)" state, it stops the evacuation operation and resumes autonomous driving within the current exclusive area. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "evacuating (S3)" to "recovered from communication failure (S5)". After that, when it is confirmed that a normal communication state continues for a period of time equal to or longer than a predetermined period (for example, three periods during which each autonomous vehicle communicates with the vehicle control system 10), the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "recovered from communication failure (S5)" to "driving (S1)". On the other hand, when communication is interrupted again, each autonomous vehicle resumes the evacuation operation. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "recovered from communication failure (S5)" to "evacuating (S3)".

[0058] Furthermore, when each autonomous vehicle reaches an evacuation position in the "evacuating (S3)" state, it stops at the evacuation position. At this time, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle from "evacuating (S3)" to "evacuation completed (S4)". After that, when a predetermined time has elapsed, the vehicle control device 20 ends monitoring the state of the host vehicle.

[0059] When each autonomous vehicle has completed all of the predetermined tasks, the vehicle control device 20 transitions the state of the host vehicle to "task completed (S7)". After that, when a predetermined time has elapsed, the vehicle control device 20 ends the state monitoring of the host vehicle.

[0060] The status of each autonomous vehicle as described above is transmitted from the vehicle control device 20 to the vehicle control system 10 as vehicle information for each autonomous vehicle, and is recorded in status 132 of vehicle management information 130 in the exclusive area storage unit 13. The vehicle control system 10 can grasp the status of each autonomous vehicle from the information recorded in status 132 of the vehicle management information 130.

[0061] However, since vehicle information is not transmitted for a vehicle in which a communication failure occurs, the vehicle control system 10 cannot grasp the latest vehicle status. In this case, the vehicle control system 10 can determine whether the vehicle is in "evacuating (S3)", "evacuating completed (S4)", or "emergency stop (S6)" based on the exclusive area previously set for the vehicle and the information on the availability of the evacuation area stored in the evacuation area storage unit 14. Specifically, if a combination of any of the driving sections 50 and the evacuation area 60 in the road with evacuation area 40 is set as an exclusive area, the system determines that the vehicle is in "evacuating (S3)" when a communication failure occurs, and then determines that the vehicle is in "evacuating completed (S4)" when the evacuation area storage unit 14 records that the evacuation area 60 is not available. On the other hand, if any of the driving sections 51 in the road without evacuation area 41 is set as an exclusive area, the system determines that the vehicle is in "emergency stop (S6)" when a communication failure occurs. In addition, for vehicles in which a communication failure has occurred and for which the vehicle status has not yet been determined using the above method, for example, “Undetermined (S8)” may be recorded in the status 132 of the vehicle management information 130 to indicate that the vehicle status is undetermined.

[0062] 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure and data contents of the evacuation area information 140 stored in the evacuation area storage unit 14 of the vehicle control system 10 in the first embodiment of the present invention. In order to manage the vacancy status of each evacuation area 60, the evacuation area storage unit 14 stores, for example, the evacuation area information 140 shown in FIG. 7. The evacuation area information 140 has a record set for each evacuation area 60, and each record has data such as evacuation area number 141, vacancy status 142, and update time 143.

[0063] The save area number 141 stores a number for identifying each save area.

[0064] The free state 142 stores information indicating whether each save area is free (YES) or not (NO).

[0065] The update time 143 stores the time when the contents of each record were last updated. Each record of the vehicle management information 130 is updated based on the sensor information received from the infrastructure sensor 30 by the communication unit 17 in the vehicle control system 10. From this update time 143, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time or more has passed since each record was last updated, and if the predetermined time or more has passed, it is determined that some kind of failure has occurred in the infrastructure sensor 30. In this case, it is preferable to determine that the evacuation area information 140 stored in the evacuation area storage unit 14 is unreliable and to reflect the result of this determination in the exclusive area setting performed by the exclusive area management unit 11.

[0066] 8 is a diagram illustrating rules for setting exclusive areas for autonomous vehicles by the exclusive area management unit 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 according to this embodiment can set exclusive areas for autonomous vehicles traveling on roads 40 with evacuation areas or roads 41 without evacuation areas, for example, as follows, based on the current position of each vehicle indicated by vehicle information received from the vehicle control device 20 mounted in each autonomous vehicle and the vacancy status of each evacuation area 60 managed by the evacuation area management unit 12:

[0067] 8(a) and (b) show an example of setting an exclusive area when autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling on road with turnaround area 40. When autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling on road with turnaround area 40, exclusive area management unit 11 sets the nearest empty turnaround area 60 located ahead in the traveling direction (to the right in the figure) of autonomous vehicle 20-1 and the traveling section 50 between the current position of autonomous vehicle 20-1 and turnaround area 60 as the exclusive area of ​​autonomous vehicle 20-1.

[0068] 8(a), when autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling in travel section 50-1 of road with evacuation areas 40, exclusive area management unit 11 sets vacant evacuation area 60-2 adjacent to the next travel section 50-2 as the evacuation destination for autonomous vehicle 20-1 in case an evacuation operation becomes necessary at that time. Then, the combination of travel sections 50-1, 50-2 and evacuation area 60-2 is set as the exclusive area of ​​autonomous vehicle 20-1.

[0069] 8(b), when autonomous vehicle 20-1 enters travel section 50-2, exclusive region management unit 11 sets vacant evacuation region 60-3 adjacent to the next travel section 50-3 as the evacuation destination for autonomous vehicle 20-1 in the event that an evacuation operation becomes necessary at that time. Then, the combination of travel sections 50-2, 50-3 and evacuation region 60-3 is set as the new exclusive region for autonomous vehicle 20-1, thereby updating the exclusive region for autonomous vehicle 20-1.

[0070] 8(c) and (d) show examples of setting an exclusive area when autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41. When autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41, exclusive area management unit 11 sets a driving section 51 that exists within a predetermined range ahead in the driving direction of autonomous vehicle 20-1 (to the right in the figure) as the exclusive area of ​​autonomous vehicle 20-1.

[0071] For example, as shown in FIG. 8(c), when the autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling in a travel section 51-1 of the road 41 without an evacuation area, the exclusive area management unit 11 sets the combination of the travel section 51-1 and the next travel section 51-2 as the exclusive area of ​​the autonomous vehicle 20-1. Next, as shown in FIG. 8(d), when the autonomous vehicle 20-1 enters the travel section 51-2, the exclusive area management unit 11 similarly sets the combination of the travel section 51-2 and the next travel section 51-3 as the exclusive area of ​​the autonomous vehicle 20-1, thereby updating the exclusive area of ​​the autonomous vehicle 20-1. Note that, in FIG. 8(c) and (d), an example is shown in which two travel sections 51 located ahead in the travel direction of the autonomous vehicle 20-1 are set as the exclusive area, but the range of the travel section 51 set as the exclusive area is not limited to this.

[0072] FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining an example of an exclusive area and an evacuation operation when a communication failure occurs in an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road 40 with an evacuation area.

[0073] The exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 sets an exclusive area for an autonomous vehicle traveling on the road with an escape area 40 according to the setting rules described in Fig. 8. As a result, for example, in the situation shown in Fig. 9(a), the combination of driving sections 50-1, 50-2 and escape area 60-2 is set as an exclusive area for the autonomous vehicle 20-1 traveling on the driving section 50-1 of the road with an escape area 40. Similarly, in the situation shown in Fig. 9(b), the combination of driving sections 50-2, 50-3 and escape area 60-3 is set as an exclusive area for the autonomous vehicle 20-1 traveling on the driving section 50-2 of the road with an escape area 40.

[0074] Here, assume that a communication failure occurs between the vehicle control device 20 mounted on the autonomous vehicle 20-1 and the vehicle control system 10 while the autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling in the travel section 50-2. In this case, the evacuation operation control unit 23 in the vehicle control device 20 causes the autonomous vehicle 20-1 to evacuate toward the evacuation area 60-3 based on the evacuation route information stored in the travel route storage unit 25 at that time. As a result, the autonomous vehicle 20-1 enters the next travel section 50-3, as shown in FIG. 9(c), and then moves toward the evacuation area 60-3 adjacent to the travel section 50-3.

[0075] 9(d), when autonomous vehicle 20-1 completes evacuation to evacuation area 60-3, exclusive area management unit 11 cancels the exclusive area setting that was set for autonomous vehicle 20-1. At this time, evacuation area 60-3 where autonomous vehicle 20-1 is stopped is determined to be not vacant based on sensor information transmitted from infrastructure sensor 30, and therefore will not be set as an exclusive area for other autonomous vehicles. As a result, the exclusive area setting for travel sections 50-2, 50-3 is cancelled, and other vehicles can travel through travel sections 50-2, 50-3.

[0076] Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing performed by the vehicle control system 10 when the vehicle control system 10 and the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle communicate with each other. The vehicle control system 10 periodically executes the processing shown in Fig. 10 to communicate with the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle and set an exclusive area for each autonomous vehicle.

[0077] First, the communication unit 17 of the vehicle control system 10 receives vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle control device 20 (step S101). This vehicle information includes information on the position, speed, acceleration, angular acceleration, etc. of the vehicle on which the vehicle control device 20 is mounted, and information indicating the state of the vehicle.

[0078] Next, the exclusive region management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 updates the vehicle state of each autonomous vehicle based on the vehicle information received in step S101 (step S102). Here, the exclusive region management unit 11 updates the contents of the state 132 in the vehicle management information 130 stored in the exclusive region storage unit 13 based on the vehicle state information included in the received vehicle information.

[0079] Next, the exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 confirms the driving section around the vehicle and the evacuation area corresponding to the vehicle's evacuation destination based on the current position of the vehicle included in the vehicle information received in step S101 (step S103). Here, if the current position of the vehicle is on the road with evacuation area 40, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the road with evacuation area 40, and the nearest vacant evacuation area 60 located ahead in the vehicle's traveling direction and the driving section 50 existing between the current position of the vehicle and the evacuation area 60 are confirmed as the driving section and evacuation area corresponding to the current position of the vehicle. On the other hand, if the current position of the vehicle is on the road without an evacuation area 41, it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the road without an evacuation area 41, and the driving section 51 existing within a predetermined range along the traveling direction from the current position of the vehicle is confirmed as the driving section corresponding to the current position of the vehicle.

[0080] Next, the exclusive area management unit 11 judges whether the travel section corresponding to the current position of the vehicle has been updated based on the travel section confirmed in step S103 (step S104). Specifically, the exclusive area management unit 11 compares the current travel section confirmed in step S103 with the travel section of the exclusive area stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13, and checks whether they match. If they do not match, it is judged that the travel section has been updated (YES), and the process proceeds to step S105. On the other hand, if they do not match, it is judged that the travel section has not been updated (NO), and the process proceeds to step S108.

[0081] When proceeding to step S105, the exclusive area management unit 11 judges whether or not the exclusive area can be updated based on the current travel section confirmed in step S103. Specifically, it checks whether or not the current travel section confirmed in step S103 is set as the exclusive area of ​​another vehicle. As a result, if it is set as the exclusive area of ​​another vehicle, it is judged that the exclusive area cannot be updated (NO), and proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, if it is not set as the exclusive area of ​​another vehicle, it is judged that the exclusive area can be updated (YES), and proceeds to step S107.

[0082] When the process proceeds to step S106, the vehicle command unit 15 transmits a stop instruction to the vehicle for which it has been determined in step S105 that the exclusive area cannot be updated, via the communication unit 17. This stop instruction is received by the vehicle control device 20 mounted on the vehicle, and the vehicle control device 20 performs a stop operation of the vehicle. This prevents the vehicle from entering a traveling section already occupied by another vehicle. After step S106 is performed, the vehicle control system 10 ends the process shown in FIG.

[0083] When proceeding to step S107, the exclusive area management unit 11 updates the exclusive area 134 representing the information of the exclusive area set for the vehicle in the vehicle management information 130 stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13, by the driving section and the evacuation area corresponding to the current position of the vehicle confirmed in step S103. As a result, the combination of the nearest vacant evacuation area 60 located ahead in the driving direction of the vehicle and the driving section 50 existing between the current position of the vehicle and the evacuation area 60 (when the vehicle is traveling on a road 40 with an evacuation area), or the driving section 51 existing within a predetermined range along the driving direction from the current position of the vehicle (when the vehicle is traveling on a road 41 without an evacuation area) is set as the exclusive area that the vehicle can monopolize.

[0084] Next, the exclusive area management unit 11 and the driving route planning unit 18 transmit the information of the exclusive area 134 updated in step S107 and the route information of the vehicle in the exclusive area represented by the information to each automatically driven vehicle using the communication unit 17 (step S108). The route information transmitted here includes information such as a driving route to a destination for each vehicle to perform a task and an evacuation route from the current position of each vehicle to an evacuation area, and is generated in advance by the driving route planning unit 18. Note that if it is determined in step S104 that the driving section corresponding to the current position of the vehicle has not been updated, the process of step S107 is not executed, and therefore the information of the exclusive area 134 is not updated. Therefore, in this case, the information of the exclusive area 134 last updated is transmitted. After performing step S108, the vehicle control system 10 ends the process shown in FIG. 10.

[0085] Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing carried out in the vehicle control system 10 in response to receiving vehicle information from each autonomously driven vehicle. The vehicle control system 10 periodically executes the processing shown in Fig. 11 following the processing in Fig. 10 to check the vehicle status of each autonomously driven vehicle and carry out processing according to the check results.

[0086] First, the exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 refers to the vehicle management information 130 of each vehicle stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13 to determine whether all the vehicles are in a normal state (step S111). Specifically, if the status 132 of the vehicle management information 130 of all the vehicles stores "running (S1)", "stopped (S2)", or "operation completed (S7)", it is determined that all the vehicles are in a normal state (YES), and the process shown in FIG. 11 is terminated. On the other hand, if the status 132 of the vehicle management information 130 of at least one of the vehicles stores "evacuating (S3)", "evacuating completed (S4)", "recovered from communication failure (S5)", or "emergency stop (S6)", it is determined that the vehicle is not in a normal state (NO), and the process proceeds to step S112.

[0087] Next, the exclusive region management unit 11 judges whether or not there is a vehicle whose vehicle state is undetermined among the vehicles judged to be abnormal in step S111 (step S112). Specifically, if there is a vehicle whose status 132 in the vehicle management information 130 stores "undetermined (S8)", it judges that the vehicle state of that vehicle is undetermined (YES) and proceeds to step S113, and if not (NO), it proceeds to step S114.

[0088] When the process proceeds to step S113, the exclusive region management unit 11 performs a vehicle state estimation process for estimating the vehicle state of the vehicle determined in step S112 to be undetermined. Here, for a vehicle whose vehicle information is not transmitted due to a communication failure, the exclusive region management unit 11 determines whether the vehicle state corresponds to "evacuating (S3)", "evacuating completed (S4)", or "emergency stop (S6)" by the method described above. Details of the vehicle state estimation process performed in step S113 will be described later with reference to FIG. 12.

[0089] Next, the exclusive region management unit 11 judges whether or not there is a vehicle in a communication recovery state or an evacuation complete state among the vehicles judged to be not in a normal state in step S111 (step S114). Specifically, if there is a vehicle for which "recovered from communication failure (S5)" or "evacuation complete (S4)" is stored in the status 132 of the vehicle management information 130 (YES), the process proceeds to step S117, and if not (NO), the process proceeds to step S115.

[0090] When the process proceeds to step S115, the exclusive region management unit 11 judges whether or not there is a vehicle being evacuated or in an emergency stop among the vehicles that were judged to be not in a normal state in step S111. Specifically, if there is a vehicle for which "evacuating (S3)" or "emergency stop (S6)" is stored in the status 132 of the vehicle management information 130 (YES), the process proceeds to step S116. On the other hand, if there is no vehicle that meets these conditions (NO), the process shown in FIG. 10 ends.

[0091] In step S116, the vehicle command unit 15 sets the vehicle that is determined by the exclusive region management unit 11 in step S111 to be not in a normal state and that is determined to be in evacuation or emergency stop in step S115 as a vehicle with a communication abnormality. Then, an emergency stop instruction is transmitted to all other vehicles except for the vehicle with the communication abnormality. The vehicle control device 20 that has received the emergency stop instruction causes the evacuation operation control unit 23 to immediately bring the host vehicle to an emergency stop.

[0092] In step S117, the vehicle command unit 15 transmits a driving restart instruction to all other vehicles except for vehicles that are determined by the exclusive area management unit 11 in step S111 to be not in a normal state and that are determined in step S114 to be in a communication restored state or evacuation completed state (vehicles with communication abnormalities whose communication failure has been resolved or that have been evacuated to the evacuation area 60). Having received the emergency stop instruction, the vehicle control device 20 causes the normal operation control unit 22 to resume the autonomous driving of its own vehicle.

[0093] After performing the process of step S116 or S117, the vehicle control system 10 ends the process shown in FIG.

[0094] Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the vehicle state estimation process performed in step S113 of Fig. 11. The vehicle control system 10 executes the process shown in Fig. 12 for a vehicle whose vehicle state is determined to be undetermined in step S112 of Fig. 11.

[0095] First, the exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 refers to the vehicle management information 130 of the vehicle stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13 to determine whether the exclusive area of ​​the vehicle is the road with an evacuation area 40 (step S121). Here, if information representing a combination of any one of the driving sections 50 and the evacuation area 60 on the road with an evacuation area 40 is stored in the exclusive area 134 of the vehicle management information 130 for the vehicle, it is determined that the exclusive area of ​​the vehicle is the road with an evacuation area 40 (YES), and the process proceeds to step S122. On the other hand, if information representing any one of the driving sections 51 on the road without an evacuation area 41 is stored in the exclusive area 134 of the vehicle management information 130, it is determined that the exclusive area of ​​the vehicle is not the road with an evacuation area 40 (NO), and the process proceeds to step S123.

[0096] When the process proceeds to step S122, the evacuation position estimation unit 19 estimates the evacuation position of the vehicle by referring to the vehicle management information 130 of the vehicle stored in the exclusive area storage unit 13. Specifically, the evacuation area 60 set as the exclusive area for the vehicle is identified from the information stored in the exclusive area 134 of the vehicle management information 130 for the vehicle, and the evacuation area 60 is estimated as the evacuation position of the vehicle.

[0097] When the process proceeds to step S123, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state of the vehicle to be "emergency stop (S6)". As a result, when a communication failure occurs in an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41 and the vehicle control system 10 is unable to receive vehicle information from the vehicle, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state to be "emergency stop (S6)".

[0098] After step S122 is performed, the exclusive area management unit 11 refers to the save area information 140 stored in the save area storage unit 14 and determines whether the save area 60 identified as the save location in step S122 is vacant (step S124). If the save area 60 is vacant (YES), the process proceeds to step S125, and if the save area 60 is not vacant (NO), the process proceeds to step S126.

[0099] When the process proceeds to step S125, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state of the vehicle to be "evacuating (S3)". As a result, when a communication failure occurs in an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road with an evacuation area 40 and the vehicle control system 10 is unable to receive vehicle information from the vehicle, if the vehicle is evacuating to a designated evacuation area 60 through processing by the vehicle control device 20, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state to be "evacuating (S3)".

[0100] When the process proceeds to step S126, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state of the vehicle to be "evacuation completed (S4)". As a result, when a communication failure occurs in an autonomous vehicle traveling on a road with an evacuation area 40 and the vehicle control system 10 is no longer able to receive vehicle information from the vehicle, if the vehicle has been evacuated to the designated evacuation area 60 by the processing of the vehicle control device 20, the exclusive area management unit 11 estimates the vehicle state to be "evacuation completed (S4)".

[0101] After step S123, S125 or S126 is performed, vehicle management information 130 in exclusive area storage unit 13 is updated based on the obtained vehicle state estimation result, and the process shown in Fig. 12 is terminated. Thereafter, the process from step S114 onwards in Fig. 11 described above is performed, and based on the determination result of step S124 by exclusive area management unit 11, it is determined in step S117 in Fig. 11 whether or not vehicle command unit 15 will transmit a driving restart instruction.

[0102] 13, 14 and 15 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing performed in the vehicle control device 20. The vehicle control device 20 periodically executes the processing shown in Figs. 13, 14 and 15 to check the vehicle state of the vehicle itself, communicate with the vehicle control system 10 and perform processing based on the results.

[0103] 13, the vehicle-side communication unit 21 of the vehicle control device 20 communicates with the communication unit 17 of the vehicle control system 10, transmits vehicle information of the vehicle to the vehicle control system 10, and receives exclusive area information and route information for the vehicle when the information is transmitted from the vehicle control system 10. The received information is stored in the vehicle-side exclusive area storage unit 24 and the driving route storage unit 25.

[0104] Next, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 checks the current state of the host vehicle (step S202). Here, it is determined whether the vehicle state of the host vehicle managed by the vehicle-side state management unit 26 corresponds to any one of the various vehicle states shown in FIG. 6 according to the transition conditions described in FIG.

[0105] Next, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 judges whether the state of the host vehicle confirmed in step S202 is "evacuating (S3)" (step S203). If the state of the host vehicle is "evacuating (S3)" (YES), the process proceeds to step S211 in FIG. 14, and if the state is other than the above (NO), the process proceeds to step S204.

[0106] When the process proceeds to step S204, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 determines whether or not communication with the vehicle control system 10 was successful in step S201. If communication with the vehicle control system 10 was successful and the vehicle information of the vehicle itself could be transmitted from the vehicle-side communication unit 21 to the vehicle control system 10 (YES), the process proceeds to step S205. On the other hand, if communication with the vehicle control system 10 failed and the vehicle information of the vehicle itself could not be transmitted from the vehicle-side communication unit 21 to the vehicle control system 10 (NO), the process proceeds to step S221 in FIG.

[0107] In step S205, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 determines whether or not an emergency stop instruction for the vehicle itself has been received in step S201 from the vehicle control system 10. If an emergency stop instruction transmitted from the vehicle control system 10 to each vehicle including the vehicle itself has been received (YES), the process proceeds to step S206, and if not (NO), the process proceeds to step S207.

[0108] When the process proceeds to step S206, the evacuation operation control unit 23 brings the host vehicle to an emergency stop. When the host vehicle makes an emergency stop, the vehicle side state management unit 26 changes the vehicle state of the host vehicle to "emergency stop (S6)". After performing the process of step S206, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in FIGS. 13, 14, and 15.

[0109] When the process proceeds to step S207, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 determines whether or not a driving restart instruction for the vehicle itself has been received in step S201 from the vehicle control system 10. When a driving restart instruction transmitted from the vehicle control system 10 to each vehicle including the vehicle itself has been received (YES), the process proceeds to step S208, and when not received (NO), the process proceeds to step S210.

[0110] When the process proceeds to step S208, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 judges whether the host vehicle, which is in a stopped state, is in a state in which driving can be resumed. Here, if the vehicle state of the host vehicle is "stopped (S2)" or "emergency stop (S6)" and the surroundings of the host vehicle are in a safe state, it is judged that driving can be resumed (YES) and the process proceeds to step S209, otherwise (NO) the process proceeds to step S210.

[0111] When the process proceeds to step S209, the normal operation control unit 22 resumes driving the host vehicle and causes the host vehicle to execute autonomous driving again. When the host vehicle resumes driving, the vehicle side state management unit 26 changes the vehicle state of the host vehicle to "driving (S1)". After performing the process of step S209, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in Figs. 13, 14, and 15.

[0112] When the process proceeds to step S210, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 maintains the vehicle state of the host vehicle in the current state. After performing the process of step S210, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in FIGS.

[0113] 14, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 determines whether or not communication with the vehicle control system 10 was successful in step S201. If communication with the vehicle control system 10 was successful and the vehicle information of the vehicle itself could be transmitted from the vehicle-side communication unit 21 to the vehicle control system 10 (YES), the process proceeds to step S212. On the other hand, if communication with the vehicle control system 10 failed and the vehicle information of the vehicle itself could not be transmitted from the vehicle-side communication unit 21 to the vehicle control system 10 (NO), the process proceeds to step S213.

[0114] When the process proceeds to step S212, the normal operation control unit 22 determines that the communication failure that occurred between the host vehicle and the vehicle control system 10 has been resolved during the evacuation operation to the evacuation area 60, and causes the host vehicle to resume traveling along the normal traveling route. When the host vehicle resumes traveling, the vehicle side status management unit 26 changes the vehicle status of the host vehicle from "evacuating (S3)" to "recovered from communication failure (S5)". After performing the process of step S212, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in FIGS. 13, 14, and 15.

[0115] When the process proceeds to step S213, the vehicle-side status management unit 26 determines whether or not the host vehicle has reached the evacuation area 60. When the host vehicle has reached the evacuation area 60, which is the end point of the evacuation route, as a result of moving the host vehicle along the evacuation route due to the occurrence of a communication failure (YES), the process proceeds to step S214. On the other hand, when the host vehicle has not yet reached the evacuation area 60, which is the end point of the evacuation route (NO), the process proceeds to step S210 in FIG.

[0116] When the process proceeds to step S214, the evacuation operation control unit 23 stops the host vehicle in the evacuation area 60 to which the host vehicle has been moved. When the host vehicle stops, the vehicle side state management unit 26 changes the vehicle state of the host vehicle from "evacuating (S3)" to "evacuation completed (S4)". After performing the process of step S214, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in FIGS. 13, 14, and 15.

[0117] 15, the vehicle-side status management unit 26 counts up the number of times of no reception, which is internal information, and increments it by 1. The initial value of this number of times of no reception is 0, and it is incremented by 1 each time the process of step S221 is executed.

[0118] Next, the vehicle-side status management unit 26 judges whether the current value of the number of times of no reception is greater than a predetermined threshold value Th (e.g., 3) (step S222). If the number of times of no reception is greater than the threshold value Th (YES), the process proceeds to step S223, and if it is equal to or less than the threshold value Th (NO), the process proceeds to step S210 in FIG.

[0119] When the process proceeds to step S223, the vehicle-side status management unit 26 judges whether or not the host vehicle is traveling on the road with an escape area 40. If the current position of the host vehicle is on the road with an escape area 40, it is determined that the host vehicle is traveling on the road with an escape area 40 (YES), and the process proceeds to step S224. On the other hand, if the current position of the host vehicle is on a road without an escape area 41, it is determined that the host vehicle is not traveling on the road with an escape area 40 (NO), and the process proceeds to step S226.

[0120] When the process proceeds to step S224, the evacuation operation control unit 23 reads out information about the evacuation route stored in the travel route storage unit 25, and causes the host vehicle to start evacuation operation along the evacuation route based on this information. As a result, when a communication failure occurs between the host vehicle and the vehicle control system 10 while the host vehicle is traveling on the road with evacuation area 40, the host vehicle is caused to start evacuation operation along the evacuation route toward the evacuation area 60 within the exclusive area set at that time.

[0121] Next, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 changes the vehicle state of the host vehicle to "evacuating (S3)" (step S225).

[0122] When the process proceeds to step S226, the evacuation operation control unit 23 brings the host vehicle to an emergency stop. As a result, when a communication failure occurs between the host vehicle and the vehicle control system 10 while the host vehicle is traveling on the road without an evacuation area 41, the host vehicle is brought to an emergency stop.

[0123] Next, the vehicle-side state management unit 26 changes the vehicle state of the host vehicle to "emergency stop (S6)" (step S227).

[0124] After performing the process of step S225 or S227, the vehicle control device 20 ends the processes shown in FIGS.

[0125] Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of updating vehicle management information 130 and evacuation area information 140 stored in exclusive area storage unit 13 and evacuation area storage unit 14, respectively, in vehicle control system 10, according to the vehicle state. Fig. 16(a) shows how vehicle management information 130 related to autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 changes, and Fig. 16(b) shows how evacuation area information 140 related to evacuation area 60-3 changes. These figures show an example in which autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 traveling on road with evacuation areas 40 experiences a communication failure while traveling on travel section 50-2, and retreats to evacuation area 60-3.

[0126] 16(a) and 16(b), the first row (updated at 14:00:00) shows vehicle management information 130 and evacuation area information 140 when autonomous vehicle 20-1 was traveling in travel section 50-1 before a communication failure occurred. In this case, the state of autonomous vehicle 20-1 is “traveling (S1)”, and evacuation area 60-3 is vacant.

[0127] 16(a) and 16(b), the second row (updated at 14:02:00) shows vehicle management information 130 and evacuation area information 140 when autonomous vehicle 20-1 was traveling in travel section 50-2 before a communication failure occurred. In this case, as in the first row, the state of autonomous vehicle 20-1 is "traveling (S1)" and evacuation area 60-3 is empty.

[0128] The third row (updated at 14:04:00) of the tables in Figures 16(a) and (b) shows vehicle management information 130 and evacuation area information 140 when a communication failure occurs while autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling in travel section 50-2. In this case, the state of autonomous vehicle 20-1 has been updated from "traveling (S1)" to "evacuating (S3)" in vehicle management information 130. This vehicle state update is performed by vehicle control system 10 by executing the vehicle state estimation process described in Figure 12. Note that in this case, as in the first and second rows, evacuation area information 140 shows that evacuation area 60-3 is vacant.

[0129] The fourth row (updated at 14:10:00) of the tables in Figures 16(a) and (b) shows vehicle management information 130 and evacuation area information 140 when autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 has completed evacuation to evacuation area 60-3. In this case, the state of autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 has been updated from "evacuating (S3)" to "evacuation completed (S4)" in vehicle management information 130. This vehicle state update, like the third row, is performed by vehicle control system 10 by executing the vehicle state estimation process described in Figure 12. Note that at this time, in the evacuation area information 140, evacuation area 60-3 is no longer vacant.

[0130] As described above, when a communication abnormality occurs in the host vehicle, the evacuation operation control unit 23 of the vehicle control device 20 mounted on the autonomously driven vehicles 20-1, 20-2 evacuates the host vehicle based on information about an evacuation route to the evacuation area 60 transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system 10 without stopping the host vehicle. The vehicle control system 10 resumes the autonomously driven system 1 after confirming that the autonomously driven vehicle in which the communication abnormality occurred has completed evacuation to the evacuation area 60. As a result, even if a communication failure occurs in one of the autonomously driven vehicles, the impact on the main business caused by an emergency stop of that autonomously driven vehicle is reduced, and a decrease in productivity can be suppressed.

[0131] Furthermore, the exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 sets an exclusive area for each autonomous vehicle based on the availability of each driving section 50 and each evacuation area 60 of the road with evacuation area 40 and the position of each autonomous vehicle. The exclusive area set in this way is an area that only the assigned autonomous vehicle can enter. This ensures the safety of each autonomous vehicle.

[0132] Furthermore, the exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 assigns an empty evacuation area 60 ahead of each autonomous vehicle in the driving direction as the exclusive area. This allows each autonomous vehicle to evacuate to the evacuation area 60 in the same driving direction when a communication failure occurs, without having to perform complex operations such as backing up.

[0133] According to the first embodiment of the present invention described above, the following advantageous effects are achieved.

[0134] (1) The vehicle control system 10 controls a plurality of vehicles traveling within a controlled area. The controlled area includes a road with an evacuation area 40, which includes a plurality of travel sections 50 that are set by dividing the vehicle's travel area, and a plurality of evacuation areas 60 that are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of travel sections 50. The vehicle control system 10 includes a communication unit 17 that communicates with the vehicle, an evacuation area management unit 12 that determines whether the evacuation area 60 is vacant or not, an exclusive area management unit 11, a travel route planning unit 18, and a vehicle command unit 15. For a vehicle traveling on the road with an evacuation area 40, the exclusive area management unit 11 selects an empty evacuation area 60 located ahead of the vehicle in the travel direction, and a travel section 50 from the vehicle's position to the evacuation area 60 among the plurality of travel sections 50 (step S103), and sets a combination of the selected travel section 50 and the evacuation area 60 as an exclusive area that can be exclusively used by the vehicle (step S107). In preparation for the occurrence of a communication abnormality with the vehicle, the travel route planning unit 18 generates in advance an evacuation route for the vehicle to move toward the evacuation area 60 in the exclusive area set for the vehicle, and transmits the generated evacuation route to the vehicle via the communication unit 17 (step S108). When a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit 17 and any of the multiple vehicles, the vehicle command unit 15 sets the vehicle as a vehicle with a communication abnormality, and transmits an operation instruction to the other vehicles excluding the vehicle with the communication abnormality via the communication unit 17. Specifically, when the vehicle with the communication abnormality is evacuation toward the evacuation area 60 (step S115: YES), the vehicle command unit 15 transmits an emergency stop instruction to make the other vehicle make an emergency stop as an operation instruction to the other vehicles (step S116). In addition, when the vehicle with the communication abnormality completes evacuation to the evacuation area 60 (step S114: YES), the vehicle command unit 15 transmits a driving restart instruction to release the emergency stop of the other vehicles as an operation instruction to the other vehicles (step S117). As a result, it is possible to provide a vehicle control system 10 for autonomous driving that can ensure safety even when bringing the vehicle to an emergency stop in the event of a communication failure.

[0135] (2) When the vehicle with the communication abnormality completes evacuation to the evacuation area 60, the exclusive area management unit 11 cancels the setting of the exclusive area for the vehicle with the communication abnormality ( FIG. 9 ). As a result, when the vehicle with the communication abnormality has safely evacuated to the evacuation area 60, it is possible to ensure the availability of the autonomous driving system 1 without interfering with the driving of other vehicles.

[0136] (3) The vehicle control system 10 includes an evacuation position estimation unit 19 that estimates the evacuation area 60 to which the vehicle with a communication abnormality will evacuate based on the exclusive area set for the vehicle with a communication abnormality by the exclusive area management unit 11. The exclusive area management unit 11 judges whether the vehicle with a communication abnormality has completed evacuation to the evacuation area 60 based on the judgment result of the evacuation area management unit 12 for the evacuation area 60 estimated by the evacuation position estimation unit 19 (step S124). The vehicle command unit 15 determines whether to transmit a driving restart instruction in step S117 based on the judgment result of the exclusive area management unit 11 (step S114). Since this is done, the driving restart instruction is transmitted to other vehicles after the vehicle with a communication abnormality has reliably completed evacuation to the evacuation area 60, so that safety can be ensured when driving is restarted.

[0137] (4) The exclusive area management unit 11 manages which of a plurality of preset vehicle states each vehicle falls under, based on the vehicle information transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles. The plurality of vehicle states include a first vehicle state (driving (S1)) indicating that the vehicle is driving by automatic driving, a second vehicle state (evacuating (S3)) indicating that the vehicle is evacuating to the evacuation area 60, a third vehicle state (evacuation completed (S4)) indicating that the vehicle has completed evacuation to the evacuation area 60, and a fourth vehicle state (emergency stop (S6)) indicating that the vehicle is making an emergency stop in response to an emergency stop instruction. This allows the exclusive area management unit 11 to appropriately manage the state of each vehicle.

[0138] (5) The vehicle control device 20 is mounted on the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 controlled by the vehicle control system 10, and controls the operation of the autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2. The vehicle control device 20 includes a vehicle-side communication unit 21 that communicates with the vehicle control system 10, a vehicle-side state management unit 26 that manages the state of the host vehicle, a normal operation control unit 22 that causes the host vehicle to autonomously drive toward a predetermined destination when the communication by the vehicle-side communication unit 21 is normal, and an evacuation operation control unit 23 that controls the host vehicle to evacuate toward the evacuation area 60 based on information on an evacuation route to the evacuation area 60 in an exclusive area of ​​the host vehicle transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system 10 when the communication by the vehicle-side communication unit 21 is abnormal. As a result, it is possible to provide a vehicle control device 20 for autonomous driving that can ensure safety even when the vehicle is stopped in an emergency in the event of a communication failure.

[0139] (6) The autonomous driving system 1 includes a plurality of autonomous vehicles equipped with the above-described vehicle control device 20, and the vehicle control system 10. As a result, it is possible to provide an autonomous driving system 1 that can ensure safety even when an emergency stop is made to the vehicle in the event of a communication failure.

[0140] Second embodiment An autonomous driving system including a vehicle control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 17 and 18. As in the first embodiment, the autonomous driving system according to this embodiment has a vehicle control system 10 that controls vehicles in a control target area set within a site, and autonomous vehicles 20-1, 20-2 controlled by the vehicle control system 10. In this embodiment, the evacuation area information stored in the evacuation area storage unit 14 in the vehicle control system 10 and the method of setting the exclusive area of ​​each autonomous vehicle by the exclusive area management unit 11 are different from those in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described using the configuration of the vehicle control system 10 described in the first embodiment.

[0141] 17 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure and data contents of the evacuation area information 140 stored in the evacuation area storage unit 14 of the vehicle control system 10 in the second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, each record of the evacuation area information 140 further has data of usage schedule 144 in addition to the evacuation area number 141, availability state 142, and update time 143 in FIG. 7 described in the first embodiment.

[0142] The use schedule 144 stores the planned use time of an evacuation area that is scheduled to be used by any vehicle to perform operations such as loading and unloading. The planned time stored in the use schedule 144 can be input by, for example, the manager 110 from the management terminal 100. The evacuation area management unit 12 can manage the planned use time of each evacuation area based on the information stored in this use schedule 144.

[0143] 18 is a diagram illustrating rules for setting an exclusive area for an autonomous vehicle by the exclusive area management unit 11 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The exclusive area management unit 11 of the vehicle control system 10 according to this embodiment can set an exclusive area for each autonomous vehicle traveling on a road with an evacuation area 40, for example, as follows, based on the current position of each vehicle represented by vehicle information received from the vehicle control device 20 mounted on each autonomous vehicle and the vacancy status of each evacuation area 60 managed by the evacuation area management unit 12. Note that the method for setting an exclusive area for each autonomous vehicle traveling on a road without an evacuation area 41 is the same as in the first embodiment, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0144] Fig. 18 shows an example of setting an exclusive area when autonomous vehicle 20-1 is traveling on road with escape areas 40, autonomous vehicle 20-2 is stopped in escape area 60-2, and escape area information 140 shown in Fig. 17 is stored in escape area storage unit 14. At this time, use schedule 144 in escape area information 140 in Fig. 17 stores information indicating that escape area 60-3 is scheduled to be used between 14:00 and 15:00. In such a case, exclusive area management unit 11 sets an exclusive area for autonomous vehicle 20-1 by excluding escape area 60-2 occupied by autonomous vehicle 20-2 and excluding escape area 60-3 during the time period that overlaps with the scheduled use time. Therefore, for autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 traveling in driving section 50-1, empty evacuation area 60-4 and driving sections 50-1 to 50-4 between the current position of autonomously driven vehicle 20-1 and evacuation area 60-4 are set as exclusive areas for autonomously driven vehicle 20-1.

[0145] In the above example, the evacuation area 60-3 is excluded from the exclusive area setting target during the time period overlapping the use time of the evacuation area 60-3. However, the evacuation area 60 scheduled for use may be excluded from the exclusive area setting target not only during the time period overlapping the use time, but also before and after the use time. For example, the evacuation area 60 scheduled for use may be excluded from the exclusive area setting target during a time period including a predetermined time (e.g., 10 minutes) before and after the use time, or the time period to be excluded from the exclusive area setting target may be determined taking into account the time required to move to the evacuation area 60 at the time of evacuation. Furthermore, a work plan for each vehicle may be formulated so that each vehicle can pass through the evacuation area 60 scheduled for use before the use time.

[0146] According to the second embodiment of the present invention described above, the evacuation area management unit 12 manages the result of the determination as to whether the evacuation area 60 is vacant or not, and the scheduled use time of the evacuation area 60 (FIG. 17). The exclusive area management unit 11 selects an evacuation area 60 to be set as the exclusive area of ​​each vehicle, excluding the evacuation area 60 during a time period that overlaps with the scheduled use time. As a result, when the use schedule of the evacuation area 60 is determined in advance, the evacuation area 60 can be prevented from being set as the exclusive area of ​​another vehicle, ensuring safety.

[0147] The present invention is not limited to the various embodiments described above, and includes various modified examples. For example, the above-described embodiments have been specifically described in order to easily explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. Also, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with a part of the configuration of another embodiment. Also, a configuration of another embodiment can be added to a configuration of one embodiment. Also, a part of the configuration of each embodiment can be deleted, a part of another configuration can be added, and a part of another configuration can be replaced with a part of another configuration.

[0148] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0149] 1: Autonomous driving system 10: Vehicle control system 11: Exclusive Area Management Department 12:Evacuation area management department 13: Private area storage section 14:Evacuation area storage section 15: Vehicle Control Department 16: Communication status management unit 17: Communications Department 18: Route planning unit 19: Evacuation position estimation section 20: Vehicle control device 20-1, 20-2 Autonomous Vehicles 21: Vehicle side communication unit 22: Normal operation control section 23: Evacuation operation control section 24: Vehicle-side exclusive area memory unit 25: Travel route memory unit 26: Vehicle status management unit 30 Infrastructure Sensors 40 Roads with evacuation areas 41 Roads without evacuation areas 50,51 Travel section 60 Evacuation area

Claims

1. A vehicle control system that controls a plurality of vehicles traveling within a control target area, the control target area has a road with an evacuation area including a plurality of travel sections set by dividing a travel area of ​​the vehicle, and a plurality of evacuation areas provided corresponding to each of the plurality of travel sections, a communication unit that communicates with the vehicle; a save area management unit that determines whether the save area is empty; an exclusive area management unit that selects, for the vehicle traveling on the road with the evacuation area, an empty evacuation area located ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle and a traveling section from the plurality of traveling sections that is located between the position of the vehicle and the evacuation area, and sets the combination of the selected traveling section and the evacuation area as an exclusive area that can be exclusively occupied by the vehicle; a travel route planning unit that generates in advance an evacuation route for the vehicle to move toward the evacuation area in the exclusive area set for the vehicle in preparation for the occurrence of a communication abnormality with the vehicle, and transmits the generated evacuation route to the vehicle via the communication unit; a vehicle command unit that, when a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit and any one of the plurality of vehicles, sets the vehicle as a vehicle with a communication abnormality and transmits operation instructions to other vehicles excluding the vehicle with the communication abnormality via the communication unit; an evacuation position estimation unit that estimates the evacuation area to which the vehicle having the communication abnormality will evacuate, based on the exclusive area set for the vehicle having the communication abnormality by the exclusive area management unit, the exclusive area management unit determines whether the vehicle with the communication abnormality has completed evacuation to the evacuation area based on a determination result by the evacuation area management unit for the evacuation area estimated by the evacuation position estimation unit; The vehicle command unit When the vehicle having the communication abnormality is retreating to the retreat area, an emergency stop instruction is transmitted as the operation instruction to the other vehicle to make an emergency stop of the other vehicle, Based on the determination result of the exclusive region management unit, it is determined whether or not to transmit, as the operation instruction to the other vehicle, a driving restart instruction for canceling the emergency stop of the other vehicle; A vehicle control system that transmits the driving restart instruction when it determines to transmit the driving restart instruction.

2. 2. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, The exclusive area management unit cancels the setting of the exclusive area for the vehicle with the communication abnormality when the vehicle with the communication abnormality completes evacuation to the evacuation area.

3. 3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, the save area management unit manages a determination result as to whether the save area is free or not and a planned usage time of the save area; The exclusive area management unit selects an evacuation area to be set as the exclusive area, excluding the evacuation area during a time period that overlaps with the scheduled use time.

4. 3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1, the exclusive region management unit manages which of a plurality of preset vehicle states each vehicle falls into based on vehicle information transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles; The vehicle control system, wherein the plurality of vehicle states include a first vehicle state indicating that the vehicle is traveling by automatic driving, a second vehicle state indicating that the vehicle is retreating toward the retreat area, a third vehicle state indicating that the vehicle has completed retreating to the retreat area, and a fourth vehicle state indicating that the vehicle is making an emergency stop in response to the emergency stop instruction.

5. A vehicle control device that is mounted on an autonomous vehicle controlled by a vehicle control system and controls the operation of the autonomous vehicle, a vehicle-side communication unit that communicates with the vehicle control system; a vehicle-side state management unit that manages the state of the autonomous driving vehicle; a normal operation control unit that causes the autonomously driven vehicle to autonomously drive toward a predetermined destination when communication by the vehicle-side communication unit is normal; an evacuation operation control unit that, when communication by the vehicle-side communication unit is abnormal, controls the autonomously driven vehicle to evacuate toward the evacuation area based on information about an evacuation route to the evacuation area in an exclusive area of ​​the autonomously driven vehicle that is transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system; the evacuation operation control unit brings the autonomously driven vehicle to an emergency stop when the vehicle-side communication unit receives an emergency stop instruction for the autonomously driven vehicle from the vehicle control system, the vehicle-side state management unit determines whether the autonomous vehicle is in a state in which it can resume driving when the vehicle-side communication unit receives a driving resumption instruction for the autonomous vehicle from the vehicle control system while the autonomous vehicle is in an emergency stop state; The normal operation control unit causes the autonomous vehicle to resume autonomous driving when the vehicle-side state management unit determines that the autonomous vehicle is in a state where driving can be resumed.

6. A plurality of autonomous vehicles traveling within a control area; a vehicle control system that controls the plurality of autonomously driven vehicles, the control target area includes a road with an evacuation area, the road including a plurality of driving sections set by dividing the driving area of ​​the autonomously driven vehicle, and a plurality of evacuation areas provided corresponding to each of the plurality of driving sections; The vehicle control system includes: a communication unit that communicates with the autonomous driving vehicle; a save area management unit that determines whether the save area is empty; an exclusive area management unit that selects, for the autonomous vehicle traveling on the road with an evacuation area, an empty evacuation area located ahead in the traveling direction of the autonomous vehicle and a traveling section from the plurality of traveling sections that is located between the position of the autonomous vehicle and the evacuation area, and sets the combination of the selected traveling section and the evacuation area as an exclusive area that can be exclusively used by the autonomous vehicle; a travel route planning unit that generates in advance an evacuation route for the autonomous vehicle to move toward the evacuation area in the exclusive area set for the autonomous vehicle in preparation for the occurrence of a communication abnormality with the autonomous vehicle, and transmits the generated evacuation route to the autonomous vehicle via the communication unit; a vehicle command unit that, when a communication abnormality occurs between the communication unit and one of the plurality of automatically driven vehicles, sets the automatically driven vehicle as a vehicle with a communication abnormality and transmits operation instructions to other automatically driven vehicles excluding the vehicle with the communication abnormality via the communication unit; an evacuation position estimation unit that estimates the evacuation area to which the vehicle having the communication abnormality will evacuate, based on the exclusive area set for the vehicle having the communication abnormality by the exclusive area management unit, the exclusive area management unit determines whether the vehicle with the communication abnormality has completed evacuation to the evacuation area based on a determination result by the evacuation area management unit for the evacuation area estimated by the evacuation position estimation unit; The vehicle command unit When the vehicle with the abnormal communication condition is retreating toward the retreat area, an emergency stop instruction is transmitted as the operation instruction to the other automatically driven vehicle to make an emergency stop of the other automatically driven vehicle, determining whether to transmit, as the operation instruction to the other autonomously driven vehicle, a driving restart instruction for canceling an emergency stop of the other autonomously driven vehicle, based on a determination result of the exclusive region management unit; When it is determined that the operation restart instruction is to be transmitted, the operation restart instruction is transmitted; The autonomous driving vehicle is When communication with the vehicle control system is normal, the vehicle autonomously travels toward a predetermined destination, When communication with the vehicle control system is abnormal, the autonomously driven vehicle is evacuated toward the evacuation area based on information about the evacuation route transmitted in advance from the vehicle control system; When the emergency stop instruction is received from the vehicle control system, the vehicle makes an emergency stop; An autonomous driving system that, when receiving the driving resumption instruction from the vehicle control system while in an emergency stop state, cancels the emergency stop state and resumes autonomous driving.

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