Vehicle control apparatus, control method, and program

Abstract

To effectively prevent frustration of a driver by setting appropriate operation conditions for collision avoidance assistance.SOLUTION: A control apparatus 10 for a vehicle prevents a contact of an own vehicle WH with a target by issuing a warning and / or operating an automatic brake when the distance between the target detected by a sensor 41 that detects a target existing near the own vehicle VH and the own vehicle VH is at a predetermined threshold value or less. The control apparatus for the vehicle determines whether a specific condition holds that the current location of the own vehicle VH is at a predetermined registered position registered in advance, and changes the threshold value so that the warning and / or the automatic brake becomes less likely to be activated if the specific condition holds.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a device that estimates whether or not there is a high possibility that the vehicle will come into contact with an obstacle in the near future based on the change in the distance between the vehicle and a nearby obstacle, and issues a warning to the driver of the vehicle if it estimates that there is a high possibility of contact. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2002-120679 A Summary of the Invention

[0004] In general, warnings and automatic braking (so-called collision avoidance assistance) for avoiding a collision between the vehicle and an obstacle or reducing damage caused by the collision are activated when the distance from the vehicle to the obstacle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. However, even when the driver parks the vehicle relatively close to the obstacle, such as when parking the vehicle in a parking lot at home, if the warnings and automatic braking are activated without changing the threshold, the warnings and automatic braking will be activated before the vehicle reaches the parking position desired by the driver. In this case, the driver must wait for the automatic braking to be released before parking the vehicle again, which causes inconvenience to the driver.

[0005] The technology disclosed herein aims to effectively prevent the driver from being annoyed by optimizing the operating conditions of collision avoidance assistance.

[0006] The vehicle control device of the present disclosure includes: A control device for a vehicle that, when a distance between a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around a vehicle and the vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, activates a warning and / or an automatic brake to prevent the vehicle from contacting the target, It is determined whether a specific condition is satisfied that the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and when the specific condition is satisfied, the threshold value is changed so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. It is characterized by:

[0007] The vehicle control method of the present disclosure includes: A vehicle control method for preventing contact of the host vehicle with a target by issuing a warning and / or automatically braking when a distance between the host vehicle and a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around the host vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, comprising: It is determined whether a specific condition is satisfied that the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and when the specific condition is satisfied, the threshold value is changed so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. It is characterized by:

[0008] The program of the present disclosure is A vehicle control device that, when a distance between a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around the vehicle and the vehicle becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, activates a warning and / or an automatic brake to prevent the vehicle from contacting the target, A process is performed to determine whether a specific condition is satisfied, that is, the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and if the specific condition is satisfied, to change the threshold value so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. It is characterized by: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a hardware configuration of a vehicle to which a control device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of installation of a sonar sensor. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a software configuration of the control device according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] 1A is a schematic overhead view illustrating the present embodiment in which the threshold value changing process is executed, and FIG. 1B is a schematic overhead view illustrating a comparative example in which the threshold value changing process is not executed. [Diagram 5] 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of collision avoidance assistance control and a threshold value changing process according to the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, a vehicle control device, a control method, and a program according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] [Hardware configuration] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a hardware configuration of a vehicle VH to which a control device according to this embodiment is applied. In the following, the vehicle VH may be referred to as a host vehicle when it is necessary to distinguish the vehicle VH from obstacles and the like.

[0012] The vehicle VH has an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 10. The ECU 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and an interface device 14. The CPU 11 is a processor that executes various programs stored in the ROM 12. The ROM 12 is a non-volatile memory that stores data and the like required for the CPU 11 to execute the various programs. The RAM 13 is a volatile memory that provides a working area in which the various programs are expanded when the CPU 11 executes them. The interface device 14 is a communication device for communicating with an external device.

[0013] The ECU 10 is a central device that performs driving assistance control such as collision avoidance assistance control, which will be described later. Driving assistance control is a concept that includes automatic driving control. The ECU 10 is communicably connected to a drive unit 20, a steering unit 21, a braking unit 22, an internal sensor unit 30, an external sensor unit 40, a position information acquisition unit 50, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 60, and the like.

[0014] The drive device 20 generates a drive force to be transmitted to drive wheels of the vehicle VH. Examples of the drive device 20 include an electric motor and an engine. In this embodiment, the vehicle VH may be any of a hybrid vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), a fuel cell vehicle (FCEV), an electric vehicle (BEV), and an engine vehicle. The steering device 21 applies a steering force to the wheels of the vehicle VH. The braking device 22 applies a braking force to the wheels of the vehicle VH.

[0015] The internal sensor device 30 is a group of sensors that detect the state of the vehicle VH. Specifically, the internal sensor device 30 includes a vehicle speed sensor 31, an accelerator sensor 32, a brake sensor 33, a steering angle sensor 34, and the like.

[0016] The vehicle speed sensor 31 detects the traveling speed of the vehicle VH (hereinafter, vehicle speed V). The accelerator sensor 32 detects the amount of operation of an accelerator pedal (not shown) by the driver. The brake sensor 33 detects the amount of operation of a brake pedal (not shown) by the driver. The steering angle sensor 34 detects the rotation angle of a steering wheel or steering shaft (not shown) of the vehicle VH, i.e., the steering angle. The internal sensor device 30 transmits the state of the vehicle VH detected by each of the sensors 31-34 to the ECU 10 at a predetermined cycle.

[0017] The external sensor device 40 is a sensor that recognizes target information related to targets around the vehicle VH. Specifically, the external sensor device 40 includes a sonar sensor 41. Here, examples of the target information include stationary objects such as walls, and moving objects such as surrounding vehicles and pedestrians. The sonar sensor 41 emits ultrasonic waves and receives reflected waves reflected by targets present within the emission range, thereby acquiring the distance between the vehicle VH and the target, etc. The number of sonar sensors 41 is not particularly limited, but as an example, as shown in FIG. 2, the sonar sensors 41 are provided in a total of eight, including two sonar sensors 41 provided at a predetermined interval in the vehicle width direction in front of the front bumper of the vehicle VH, one each at the left and right ends of the front bumper, two sonar sensors 41 provided at a predetermined interval in the vehicle width direction in front of the rear bumper, and one each at the left and right ends of the rear bumper.

[0018] The external sensor device 40 repeatedly transmits the target information acquired by the sonar sensor 41 to the ECU 10 every time a predetermined time has elapsed. Note that the external sensor device 40 is not limited to the sonar sensor 41, and may include a millimeter wave radar, a lidar, a camera sensor, or the like.

[0019] The position information acquisition device 50 acquires current position information of the vehicle VH. For example, a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) provided in a navigation device (not shown) can be used as the position information acquisition device 50. The position information acquisition device 50 transmits the acquired current position information of the vehicle VH to the ECU 10 at a predetermined period.

[0020] The HMI 60 is an interface for inputting and outputting information between the ECU 10 and the driver, and includes an input device and an output device. Examples of the input device include a touch panel, a switch, and a voice pickup microphone. Examples of the output device include a display device 61 and a speaker 62. The display device 61 is, for example, a center display, a multi-information display, a head-up display, a display of a navigation system, or the like, which are installed on an instrument panel or the like. The speaker 62 is, for example, a speaker of an audio system or a navigation system.

[0021] [Software configuration] Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a software configuration of the ECU 10 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 3, the ECU 10 includes a collision avoidance assistance control unit 100, a registered location storage unit 110, a registered location determination unit 120, a threshold change processing unit 130, and the like as functional elements. Each of these functional elements 100 to 130 is realized by the CPU 11 of the ECU 10 reading a program stored in the ROM 12 into the RAM 13 and executing it. Note that all or a part of each of the functional elements 100 to 130 may be provided in another ECU separate from the ECU 10, or in an information processing device in a facility (such as a management center) capable of communicating with the vehicle VH.

[0022] When an obstacle is detected in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VH by the external sensor device 40, the collision avoidance support control unit 100 causes the speaker 62 to output a warning sound according to the distance to the obstacle. Specifically, when the distance to the obstacle is equal to or less than a predetermined reference warning threshold Dv1, the collision avoidance support control unit 100 causes the speaker 62 to emit a warning sound. Furthermore, the shorter the distance to the obstacle, the shorter the intermittent cycle of the warning sound or the louder the volume of the warning sound. The distance D from the host vehicle VH to the obstacle may be obtained based on the detection result of the sonar sensor 41.

[0023] Further, when the distance to an obstacle detected in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VH becomes equal to or less than a predetermined reference automatic brake threshold value Dv2, the collision avoidance support control unit 100 determines that the host vehicle VH may collide with the obstacle. When the collision avoidance support control unit 100 determines that there is a possibility of collision with the obstacle, it transmits an activation signal to the braking device 22 to activate an automatic brake that automatically applies a braking force to the host vehicle VH.

[0024] Here, the reference automatic brake threshold value Dv2 is set to a value smaller than the reference warning threshold value Dv1 (Dv2 < Dv1). That is, in the case where the host vehicle VH approaches the obstacle further despite giving a warning (attention call) to the driver, the automatic brake is configured to be activated. Thereby, contact or collision of the host vehicle VH with the obstacle can be effectively prevented.

[0025] The registered location storage unit 110 stores the location information of a place where the driver desires a decrease in the operation of the collision avoidance support as the registered location. Examples of places where the driver desires a decrease in the operation of the collision avoidance support include places where the vehicle VH has to be parked at a relatively short distance from an obstacle, such as a home parking lot with a narrow parking area. When the registered location storage unit 110 receives a registration request from the driver, it stores the location information of the vehicle VH acquired by the location information acquisition device 50 at that time as the location information of the registered location. The driver's registration request may be obtained, for example, by operating a touch-type switch image displayed on the display device 61, or by operating a physical switch provided separately from the display device 61, or by voice recognition using a sound collector.

[0026] The registration location determination unit 120 determines whether the vehicle VH is present at the registration location stored by the registration location storage unit 110. Specifically, the registration location determination unit 120 determines whether the current position of the vehicle VH is within a predetermined distance range (for example, several meters) from the registration location. When the current position of the vehicle VH is within the predetermined distance range from the registration location, the registration location determination unit 120 determines that the vehicle VH is present at the registration location. The current position information of the vehicle VH may be acquired based on the detection result of the position information acquisition device 50. The predetermined distance range is not particularly limited and may be set to an appropriate value according to the detection accuracy of GPS or GNSS. When the registration location determination unit 120 determines that the vehicle VH is present at the registration location, it transmits the determination result to the threshold change processing unit 130.

[0027] When an obstacle is detected in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VH and it is determined that the host vehicle VH is present at the registration location, the threshold change processing unit 130 executes a threshold change process that makes it difficult to activate warnings and automatic braking by decreasing the reference warning threshold Dv1 and the reference automatic braking threshold Dv2. Hereinafter, the changed warning threshold is referred to as "changed warning threshold Dv1'", and the changed automatic braking threshold is referred to as "changed automatic braking threshold Dv2'". The changed warning threshold Dv1' is a value smaller than the reference warning threshold Dv1 (Dv1' < Dv1), and the changed automatic braking threshold Dv2' is a value smaller than the reference automatic braking threshold Dv2 (Dv2' < Dv2).

[0028] FIG. 4 is a schematic overhead view for explaining the device of the present embodiment that executes the threshold change process and the device of a comparative example that does not execute the threshold change process when the driver parks the vehicle VH in a narrow parking lot (for example, a home parking lot or the like). First, an explanation will be given starting from the comparative example shown in FIG. 4(B) that does not execute the threshold change process.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 4B, in the comparative device that does not execute the threshold change process, when the distance between the host vehicle VH and an obstacle OJ such as a wall in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VH becomes equal to or less than the reference warning threshold Dv1, a warning sound is activated (see the upper part of FIG. 4B). As the host vehicle VH approaches the obstacle OJ, the intermittent period of the warning sound becomes shorter or the volume of the warning sound gradually increases. When the host vehicle VH approaches the obstacle OJ further and the distance between the host vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ becomes equal to or less than the reference automatic brake threshold Dv2, the comparative device activates the automatic brake even before the host vehicle VH reaches the parking position desired by the driver (the car stopper B in the illustrated example) (see the lower part of FIG. 4B). In such a case, the driver needs to wait for the automatic brake to be released and then park again. That is, the comparative device causes annoyance to the driver.

[0030] In contrast, as shown in Fig. 4(A), in the device of this embodiment, even if the distance between the vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ becomes equal to or less than the reference warning threshold Dv1, the warning threshold is changed to a smaller value, the changed warning threshold Dv1', by the threshold change process, so that a warning sound is not sounded (see the upper part of Fig. 4(A)). Also, in the device of this embodiment, even if the distance between the vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ becomes equal to or less than the reference automatic braking threshold Dv2, the automatic braking threshold is changed to a smaller value, the changed automatic braking threshold Dv2', by the threshold change process, so that the automatic braking sound is not sounded (see the lower part of Fig. 4(A)).

[0031] That is, the system is configured to effectively prevent the automatic brake from being activated before the vehicle VH reaches the parking position desired by the driver. In this way, when the driver parks the vehicle VH in a parking lot at a pre-registered location, the warning and automatic brake are not activated until the distance between the vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ becomes closer than usual, thereby reducing the frequency of these activations and effectively reducing the inconvenience to the driver.

[0032] Next, a flow of control processing by the CPU 11 of the ECU 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 5. This routine is started, for example, when the vehicle speed V decreases to a predetermined vehicle speed while the host vehicle VH is traveling.

[0033] In step S100, the ECU 10 determines whether or not an obstacle is detected in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VH. If an obstacle is detected (Yes), the ECU 10 proceeds to processing of step S110. On the other hand, if an obstacle is not detected (No), the ECU 10 repeats the determination of step S100.

[0034] In step S110, the ECU 10 determines whether or not a registered location for reducing the operation of the collision avoidance support is stored. If a registered location is stored (Yes), the ECU 10 proceeds to processing of step S120. On the other hand, if a registered location is not stored (No), the ECU 10 proceeds to processing of step S140.

[0035] In step S120, the ECU 10 determines whether the current location of the vehicle VH is within a predetermined distance range from the registered location, i.e., whether the vehicle VH is present in the registered location. If the vehicle VH is present in the registered location (Yes), the ECU 10 proceeds to processing of step S130. On the other hand, if the vehicle VH is not present in the registered location (No), the ECU 10 proceeds to processing of step S140.

[0036] In step S130, the ECU 10 executes a threshold value changing process to change the warning threshold value and the automatic brake threshold value to smaller values.

[0037] Next, in step S140, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the warning activation condition is satisfied. Specifically, if the process proceeds to step S140 without going through the threshold change process of step S130, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the distance D between the host vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ is equal to or less than the reference warning threshold Dv1. On the other hand, if the process proceeds to step S140 via the threshold change process of step S130, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the distance D between the host vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ is equal to or less than the changed warning threshold Dv1'. If the warning activation condition is satisfied (Yes), the ECU 10 proceeds to the process of step S150. On the other hand, if the warning activation condition is not satisfied (No), the ECU 10 proceeds to the process of step S145.

[0038] In step S145, the ECU 10 determines whether the vehicle VH has stopped. If the vehicle VH has not stopped (No), the ECU 10 returns to the determination process of step S140. On the other hand, if the vehicle VH has stopped (Yes), the ECU 10 ends this routine.

[0039] In step S150, the ECU 10 activates a warning. Next, in step S160, the ECU 10 judges whether or not the automatic brake activation condition is satisfied, that is, whether or not there is a possibility that the host vehicle VH will collide with an obstacle. Specifically, if the process proceeds to step S160 without going through the threshold change process of step S130, the ECU 10 judges whether or not the distance D between the host vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ is equal to or less than the reference automatic brake threshold Dv2. On the other hand, if the process proceeds to step S160 via the threshold change process of step S130, the ECU 10 judges whether or not the distance D between the host vehicle VH and the obstacle OJ is equal to or less than the changed automatic brake threshold Dv2'. If the automatic brake activation condition is satisfied (Yes), the ECU 10 proceeds to the process of step S170. On the other hand, if the automatic brake activation condition is not satisfied (No), the ECU 10 proceeds to the process of step S165.

[0040] In step S170, the ECU 10 activates the automatic brake and then ends this routine. When the process proceeds from step S160 to step S165, the ECU 10 determines whether the vehicle VH has stopped in step S165. If the vehicle VH has not stopped (No), the ECU 10 returns to the determination process of step S160. On the other hand, if the vehicle VH has stopped (Yes), the ECU 10 ends this routine.

[0041] The above describes the vehicle control device, control method, and program according to the present embodiment, but the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the purpose of the present disclosure.

[0042] For example, in the above embodiment, both the reference warning threshold Dv1 and the reference automatic braking threshold Dv2 are changed when it is determined that the vehicle VH is in a registered location, but it may be configured to change only one of the reference warning threshold Dv1 or the reference automatic braking threshold Dv2. In this case, too, when the driver attempts to park the vehicle VH in a parking lot in a registered location, it becomes difficult for either the warning or the automatic braking to be activated, making it possible to effectively suppress annoyance to the driver.

Claims

1. A control device for a vehicle that, when a distance between a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around a vehicle and the vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, activates a warning and / or an automatic brake to prevent the vehicle from contacting the target, It is determined whether a specific condition is satisfied that the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and when the specific condition is satisfied, the threshold value is changed so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. A vehicle control device comprising:

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, When the specific condition is not satisfied, the warning is activated when the distance between the target and the host vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined first threshold, and the automatic brake is activated when the distance between the target and the host vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined second threshold which is smaller than the first threshold. When the specific condition is satisfied, the first threshold value and the second threshold value are both decreased to make it more difficult to issue the warning and to activate the automatic brake. Vehicle control device.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2, The predetermined registration location is a parking lot with a small parking area, and is registered by receiving a registration request from the user of the vehicle. Vehicle control device.

4. A vehicle control method for preventing contact of the host vehicle with a target by issuing a warning and / or automatically braking when a distance between the host vehicle and a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around the host vehicle becomes equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, comprising: It is determined whether a specific condition is satisfied that the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and when the specific condition is satisfied, the threshold value is changed so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. A vehicle control method comprising:

5. A vehicle control device that, when a distance between a target detected by a sensor that detects a target existing around the vehicle and the vehicle becomes equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold, activates a warning and / or an automatic brake to prevent the vehicle from contacting the target, A process is performed to determine whether a specific condition is satisfied, that is, the current position of the vehicle is located in a predetermined registered location, and if the specific condition is satisfied, to change the threshold value so that the warning and / or the automatic brake is less likely to be activated. A program characterized by:

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