Automatic operation vehicle

Abstract

To reliably and safely travel an emergency vehicle when the emergency vehicle approaches on a straight road or at an intersection during traveling or stopping of an automatic operation vehicle.SOLUTION: An automatic operation vehicle includes: a microphone for acquiring peripheral sound; a siren detection section for detecting a siren of an emergency vehicle from the sound acquired by the microphone; an emergency vehicle detection section for detecting that the emergency vehicle is present within a predetermined range from a self vehicle based on the sound volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection section; and a control section for stopping the self vehicle not to clog an approach port to a road communicating to a road on which the self vehicle currently travels when the emergency vehicle detection section detects the emergency vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an autonomous vehicle equipped with an autonomous driving function that does not require human operation, and in particular to a driving technique for an autonomous vehicle that encounters an emergency vehicle while traveling. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, the development of autonomous driving technology for automobiles has accelerated, and the technology has been combined with car navigation technology, communication technology, AI technology, etc. to reach a level where human operation is almost unnecessary. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for quickly evacuating an autonomous vehicle when the driver is unable to operate the vehicle appropriately. Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for autonomous driving in which a voice recognition unit detects the siren of an emergency vehicle, thereby allowing the vehicle to travel without violating traffic laws.

[0003] In detail, the technology described in the above Patent Document 1 quantifies and maps each risk item such as the risk of changing course and the risk of stopping in principle on a map that divides the road in the vehicle's traveling direction vertically and horizontally, based on map information and information from the image center, when the driver is in a situation where he / she cannot drive appropriately, and automatically drives the vehicle to evacuate according to the map. Also, the technology described in the above Patent Document 2 uses the approach of an emergency vehicle as a factor for determining whether to cancel the forced automatic driving mode. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-228090 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2015-118438 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, these technologies do not ensure the safety of the vehicle itself by giving priority to emergency vehicles on straight roads and at intersections during autonomous driving. An object of the present invention is to allow an emergency vehicle to pass through safely and reliably with priority when an emergency vehicle approaches on a straight road or at an intersection while an autonomous vehicle is traveling or stopped. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In claim 1 of the present invention, an autonomous vehicle having an autonomous driving function comprises a microphone unit that acquires surrounding sounds, a siren detection unit that detects the siren of an emergency vehicle from the sounds acquired by the microphone unit, an emergency vehicle detection unit that detects that the emergency vehicle is present within a predetermined range of the vehicle based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit, and a control unit that, when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects the emergency vehicle, stops the vehicle so as not to block the entrance to a road connecting to the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling.

[0007] With this configuration, the self-driving vehicle can reliably allow emergency vehicles to pass without impeding the passage of emergency vehicles attempting to enter a road that connects to the road the self-driving vehicle is currently traveling in. Furthermore, the self-driving vehicle can also travel safely by allowing emergency vehicles to pass safely and reliably.

[0008] In addition, in claim 2 of the present invention, the self-driving vehicle described in claim 1 further has a camera unit that captures images of the surroundings of the vehicle, and if the camera unit detects that another vehicle immediately preceding the vehicle is blocking the entrance before the control unit stops the vehicle, the control unit stops the vehicle so that the distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle is greater than or equal to the road width of the entrance.

[0009] With this configuration, when the self-driving vehicle is traveling, the camera unit detects that another vehicle has already partially blocked the entrance, and the control unit stops the vehicle so that the distance between the other vehicle and the self-driving vehicle is equal to or greater than the road width of the entrance, allowing the emergency vehicle to reliably enter the road that connects to the road the self-driving vehicle is traveling on. Furthermore, the self-driving vehicle can also travel safely by allowing the emergency vehicle to pass safely and reliably.

[0010] In addition, in claim 3 of the present invention, an autonomous vehicle having an autonomous driving function comprises a microphone unit which acquires surrounding sounds, a camera unit which acquires surrounding images, a siren detection unit which detects the siren of an emergency vehicle from the sounds acquired by the microphone unit, an emergency vehicle detection unit which detects that the emergency vehicle is present within a predetermined range of the vehicle based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit, and a control unit which, when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects the emergency vehicle while the vehicle is stopped blocking an entrance to a road connecting to the road the vehicle is currently traveling on, controls the vehicle to travel at least one of forward or backward based on the image from the camera unit so as not to block the opening.

[0011] With this configuration, when an emergency vehicle approaches while the self-driving vehicle is stopped, the self-driving vehicle can move forward or backward at least in one direction based on the image from the camera unit, allowing the emergency vehicle to pass without impeding the vehicle's movement when the vehicle is attempting to enter a road that connects to the road the self-driving vehicle is traveling on. Furthermore, the self-driving vehicle can also travel safely by allowing the emergency vehicle to pass safely and reliably.

[0012] In addition, in claim 4 of the present invention, an autonomous vehicle having an autonomous driving function comprises a microphone unit that acquires surrounding sounds, a siren detection unit that detects the siren of an emergency vehicle from the sounds acquired by the microphone unit, an emergency vehicle detection unit that detects that the emergency vehicle is present within a predetermined range of the vehicle based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit, and a control unit that, when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects the emergency vehicle while the vehicle is stopped blocking an entrance to a road connecting to the road the vehicle is currently traveling on, moves the vehicle to a lane adjacent to the lane the vehicle is currently traveling on.

[0013] With this configuration, if a stopped self-driving vehicle is blocking the entry of an emergency vehicle onto a road that connects to the road the self-driving vehicle is traveling on, the self-driving vehicle can change lanes to allow the emergency vehicle to pass safely without blocking the vehicle's movement. Furthermore, the self-driving vehicle can also travel safely by allowing the emergency vehicle to pass safely and reliably. Effect of the Invention

[0014] The present invention detects the approach of an emergency vehicle while an autonomous vehicle is driving or stopped, and ensures the safe driving of both the emergency vehicle and the autonomous vehicle without impeding the emergency vehicle's travel by stopping the vehicle or retreating from its current stopping position so as not to block the entrance to a road leading to the road on which the autonomous vehicle is traveling. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a functional configuration block diagram of an embodiment of an autonomous vehicle according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an autonomous vehicle of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an autonomous vehicle of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an autonomous vehicle of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating driving in an autonomous vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of an autonomous vehicle according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, a functional circuit configuration and the like in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. The self-driving car A of this embodiment has a manual driving function, an automatic driving function, a car navigation function, and the like. Therefore, for the automatic driving function of this self-driving car, a control unit 20 consisting of a CPU, etc. automatically controls the operation of an accelerator unit 1A, a brake unit 4A, a handle unit (steering unit) 3A, a direction indicator unit 19, etc. In addition, a driving route is set by a car navigation function unit 5, and this self-driving car can automatically travel along the route by camera units 10, 12, 14 and radar units 11, 13, 15 described later. In addition, the front camera unit 10 captures an image of the front including the area immediately in front of the vehicle, the rear camera unit 12 captures an image of the rear including the area immediately behind the vehicle, and the side camera unit 14 captures an image of the side of the vehicle. In addition, the radar units 11, 13, 15 measure the presence or absence of an object outside the vehicle and the distance therebetween, and the front radar unit 11 covers the front of the vehicle, the rear radar unit 13 covers the rear of the vehicle, and the side radar unit 15 covers the side of the vehicle.

[0017] When the driver, who is the user, operates the accelerator unit 1A, the accelerator control unit 1B controls the engine unit 2 to increase or decrease the rotation speed of the engine unit 2 in accordance with the operation. When the driver operates the brake unit 4A, the brake control unit 4B applies the brakes (braking) in accordance with the operation. Furthermore, when the driver operates the steering unit 3A, the steering control unit 3B steers the vehicle in accordance with the operation. Also, in the automatic driving mode, unlike the manual driving mode, the above-mentioned driving operations are automatically performed along the route set by the car navigation function. The car navigation function unit 5 has a built-in vehicle position detection unit 5A, detects the vehicle position using a GPS (Global Positioning System), sets a driving route from the departure point to the destination set by the user based on map information, road information, traffic regulation information, facility information, etc. stored in the memory unit 18, displays the route on the display unit 6, and announces it through the speaker unit 20 to provide route guidance.

[0018] Next, microphone unit 7 acquires sounds around the vehicle, siren detection unit 8 detects the siren of an emergency vehicle from the sounds acquired by the microphone unit, and emergency vehicle detection unit 9 detects whether the detected siren is traveling toward or away from the vehicle, and further detects whether the emergency vehicle is present within a predetermined range from the vehicle. Specifically, siren detection unit 8 of the self-driving vehicle detects the siren of an emergency vehicle by comparing sounds such as "woosh, woosh" and "beep, beep" of emergency vehicles such as police patrol cars, ambulances, and fire engines stored in memory unit 18 with the siren detected by the siren detection unit.

[0019] The receiving unit 17 mainly functions as a car navigation system, obtaining the latest road information and using it to search for the optimal route, but it can also obtain communication information such as road information from emergency vehicles or communication facilities installed near intersections, and if information such as the destination of a nearby emergency vehicle can be obtained, it can also reflect that information when searching for a new route. The transmission unit 16 can transmit the vehicle position and the like to other nearby vehicles, communication facilities, emergency vehicles, etc. The road position detection unit 21 can detect the width of the road near the vehicle and the positions of both ends of the road based on the image captured by the camera unit or the map information. The car navigation function unit 5 also has a built-in voice recognition unit 5A, which has a voice recognition function. The voice recognition unit 5A recognizes voice received from the microphone unit 7 and distinguishes it as a sentence. Furthermore, the control unit 22 controls each of the above-mentioned functional units.

[0020] Next, the operation of an example of driving the autonomous vehicle configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart.

[0021] Example 1 2 and 5, the driver, who is the user, sets a destination using the car navigation function of the vehicle A1, and a driving route is determined. After that, the driver sets the automatic driving and starts the automatic driving (step 11). In step 2, the host vehicle A1 detects a siren S by the siren detection unit 8 while traveling (step 2), and detects that the siren S has reached a predetermined range (predetermined distance) from the host vehicle by the emergency vehicle detection unit 9 based on the volume of the siren S (step 3). At this time, the detection by the emergency vehicle detection unit 9 may be a detection that an emergency vehicle U is heading toward the host vehicle based on a change in the volume or frequency of the siren S.

[0022] In step 4, the vehicle U, which is traveling, detects the distance to the immediately preceding vehicle B by the forward radar unit 11, and sets the rear of the immediately preceding vehicle U as a temporary stopping location. Next, in step 5, the positions H of both ends of the entrance of the road R that is connected to the road (lane) on which the vehicle A1 is traveling, that is, that is connected to the road R, are detected. This detection is performed based on position information based on the image captured by the front camera unit 10 or position information of the road acquired by the receiving unit 17. In step 6, the camera unit detects whether or not the entrance H of the connecting road R is blocked by another vehicle B immediately preceding the vehicle. This blocked state includes a full or partial state. Furthermore, the vehicle B may be stopped or moving.

[0023] If it is determined in step 6 that the road is not blocked, the process proceeds to step 7, and the control unit 22 stops the vehicle at position L not exceeding the position of the near end of the two ends H of the entrance to the connecting road R. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 6 that another vehicle immediately preceding the vehicle is partially blocking the entrance to road R, the width of road R is detected using information based on the image from the forward camera unit 10 or road width information acquired by the receiving unit 17 (step 8). 2 and 6, in step 9, the car navigation function and forward radar unit 11 of the vehicle set a distance D2 between the vehicle and another vehicle B immediately in front of the vehicle to be longer than the width D1 of the road R. For example, the distance D2 is set to 1.5 times the distance D1. Next, in step 10, the host vehicle stops so as to be separated from vehicle B by the distance set above to the immediately preceding other vehicle. The host vehicle after stopping is illustrated as 2A.

[0024] Example 2 The configuration of the autonomous vehicle of the present invention in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment. Therefore, the operation of the autonomous vehicle of the second embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1, the flowcharts of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 to FIG. The driver, who is the user, sets a driving route and starts driving by automatic driving (step 11) in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Next, the host vehicle A1 stops temporarily because another vehicle B immediately before the host vehicle stops (step 12).

[0025] 7, in step 13, the control unit 22 of the vehicle A1 determines whether or not the siren detection unit 8 has detected the siren S while the vehicle is stopped. Although the siren detection unit 8 is always in operation, for convenience, it is assumed that the detection operation is started while the vehicle is stopped. When the siren detection unit 8 detects the siren S, the emergency vehicle detection unit 9 detects whether or not the emergency vehicle U is within a predetermined range of the vehicle A1 (whether or not it has reached the range) in step 14. Note that, similarly to the first embodiment, it may be possible to detect that the emergency vehicle U is heading toward the vehicle A1.

[0026] If it is determined that the vehicle has reached the road (step 14: YES), the vehicle detects whether the road R connected to the road (lane) on which the vehicle is traveling is blocked. This detection is performed by the road position detection unit 21 based on information from the image of the front camera unit 10 (step 15). If it is determined in step 15 that the road is not blocked (NO), the process proceeds to step 16, where the host vehicle maintains the temporary stop at the current position (step 16). On the other hand, if the road is blocked (YES) in step 15, the process proceeds to step 17 to detect whether another vehicle B immediately preceding the vehicle is blocking the road R. This detection is similarly performed by the road position detection unit 21 based on the image information from the front camera unit 10.

[0027] If the entrance is blocked (YES) in step 17, the host vehicle is moved backward and positioned behind the entrance of road R (step 22). At this time, the host vehicle (A2) is moved backward based on the detection results of the rear camera unit 14 and rear radar unit 15 of the host vehicle, and is stopped at a predetermined distance from the vehicle immediately behind (step 23). Here, A2 indicates the host vehicle after it has moved. On the other hand, if the entrance is not blocked (NO) in step 17, the process proceeds to step 19 to detect whether the vehicle can be moved forward to open the entrance (see FIG. 8). This detection is performed using the front camera unit 10 and the front radar unit 11 of the vehicle. If the vehicle can move forward and open the gap (YES) in step 19, the vehicle moves forward (step 20) and stops temporarily at a predetermined distance from the vehicle immediately ahead of the vehicle (step 21). Here, A2 indicates the vehicle after it has stopped.

[0028] Furthermore, if it is determined in step 18 that the entrance cannot be opened by moving the vehicle backward (NO), and if it is determined in step 19 that the entrance cannot be opened by moving the vehicle forward (NO), refer to Figure 4 and proceed to step 24. In step 24, the side camera unit 14 and the side radar unit 15 detect whether or not there is another vehicle on the side of the vehicle A1 in a lane adjacent to the lane in which the vehicle A1 is traveling. At the same time, the front camera unit 10 and the front radar unit 11 detect whether or not there will be a collision with the other vehicle if the vehicle A1 changes lanes to the adjacent lane.

[0029] In step 24, if there is no vehicle on the side of the host vehicle in the adjacent lane and there is no vehicle in front of the host vehicle (NO), the process proceeds to step 25. In step 25, when the vehicle changes lanes into an adjacent lane, the forward camera unit 10, the forward radar unit 11, the side camera unit 14 and the side radar unit 15 detect whether the vehicle will block the entry of the preceding vehicle U into the entrance to the road R. If it is determined in step 25 that the passage to the entrance is not blocked, the process proceeds to step 26, in which the host vehicle changes lanes and stops at a predetermined distance from the other vehicle B immediately in front of the host vehicle.

[0030] On the other hand, if it is determined in step 25 that the passage is blocked, the vehicle remains stopped in the current lane (step 27). In this state, the vehicle waits for the situation around the vehicle to change due to the movement of other vehicles, and the movement of the surrounding vehicles changes the results of each determination (detection) of the vehicle, allowing the emergency vehicle U to enter the road R.

[0031] On the other hand, in this case, when emergency vehicle U is scheduled to enter road R and the vehicle is able to enter from the entrance of road R, if an audio announcement from emergency vehicle U instructs the vehicle to enter, the vehicle will enter road R before emergency vehicle U and travel ahead of the emergency vehicle, thereby not interfering with the emergency vehicle. In this case, the emergency vehicle U will receive a voice announcement such as "Blue sedan, please pull into the side road," via its own vehicle's microphone unit 7, and after the voice is recognized by the voice recognition unit 5B, the vehicle will drive according to the instructions while obtaining information from the camera unit, radar unit, etc.

[0032] Here, several kinds of character patterns representing the vehicle are stored in the memory unit 18, and the voice recognition unit compares the patterns with the character strings obtained after the recognition of the voice, and can determine that the vehicle is the target of the movement. After the vehicle A enters the road R, and the siren S of the emergency vehicle deviates from a predetermined range, the vehicle A starts traveling along the previous traveling route. [Industrial Applicability]

[0033] The present invention relates to an automatic driving function and provides a driving technology that allows a car to run automatically without requiring driver operation and without interfering with the driving of emergency vehicles, and therefore has high industrial applicability. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 5 Vehicle position detection unit 8 Siren detector 9 Emergency vehicle detection section 10 Front camera unit 11 Forward radar section 14 Side camera unit 15 Side radar section 21 Road position detection unit

Claims

1. In autonomous vehicles with autonomous driving functions, A microphone unit for capturing surrounding sounds; a siren detection unit that detects a siren of an emergency vehicle from the sound acquired by the microphone unit; an emergency vehicle detection unit that detects the presence of the emergency vehicle within a predetermined range from the vehicle itself based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit; a control unit that stops the vehicle when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects the emergency vehicle so as not to block an entrance to a road that is connected to the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling; An autonomous vehicle with

2. 2. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 1, A camera unit is provided for capturing images of the surroundings of the vehicle. In an autonomous vehicle, if the camera unit detects that the entrance is blocked by another vehicle immediately preceding the vehicle before the control unit stops the vehicle, the control unit stops the vehicle so that the distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle is greater than or equal to the road width of the entrance.

3. In autonomous vehicles with autonomous driving functions, A microphone unit for capturing surrounding sounds; A camera unit for acquiring surrounding images; a siren detection unit that detects a siren of an emergency vehicle from the sound acquired by the microphone unit; an emergency vehicle detection unit that detects the presence of the emergency vehicle within a predetermined range from the vehicle itself based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit; a control unit that, when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects an emergency vehicle while the vehicle is stopped and blocking an entrance to a road connecting to the road currently being traveled, controls the vehicle to travel at least one of forward and backward based on an image from the camera unit so as not to block the opening; An autonomous vehicle with

4. In autonomous vehicles with autonomous driving functions, A microphone unit for capturing surrounding sounds; a siren detection unit that detects a siren of an emergency vehicle from the sound acquired by the microphone unit; an emergency vehicle detection unit that detects the presence of the emergency vehicle within a predetermined range from the vehicle itself based on the volume of the siren acquired by the siren detection unit; a control unit that, when the emergency vehicle detection unit detects an emergency vehicle while the vehicle is stopped and blocking an entrance to a road that is connected to the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, moves the vehicle to a lane adjacent to the lane on which the vehicle is currently traveling; An autonomous vehicle with

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