Vehicle positioning device, vehicle positioning method, and vehicle

Abstract

To provide a technology which can detect a position of a vehicle with high accuracy even when the feature of the shape of the vehicle is small, in a vehicle positioning device.SOLUTION: A vehicle positioning device comprises: a wheel information acquisition unit which acquires wheel information from a wheel detector which acquires the wheel information which is at least either of an image of at least one wheel among a plurality of wheels owned by a vehicle which can travel through unmanned driving and three-dimensional point group data of at least one wheel; a wheel position acquisition unit which acquires a position of at least one wheel, by using the acquired wheel information; and a position estimation unit which estimates the position and direction of the vehicle, by using the acquired position of at least one wheel.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a vehicle positioning system that measures the position of a vehicle within an imaging area based on the overall shape of the vehicle in image data obtained by imaging with an external camera (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-171172 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the conventional technology, for example, when the characteristics of the overall shape of the vehicle are small, or when the overall shape of the vehicle changes, such as when the vehicle is being manufactured, the position of the vehicle may be detected using a different detection method for each vehicle shape. Therefore, there is a demand for a technology that can detect the position of the vehicle using a common detection method regardless of the shape of the vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present disclosure can be realized in the following forms.

[0006] (1) According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vehicle positioning device, comprising: a wheel information acquisition unit that acquires wheel information, the wheel information being at least one of an image of at least one wheel of a plurality of wheels of a vehicle capable of traveling in an unmanned driving manner and three-dimensional point cloud data of the at least one wheel, from a wheel detector that measures the wheel information, a wheel position acquisition unit that acquires a position of the at least one wheel using the acquired wheel information, and a position estimation unit that estimates a position and orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the at least one wheel. According to the vehicle positioning device of this embodiment, the position and orientation of the vehicle can be estimated using the positions of the wheels, and therefore the position of the vehicle can be detected regardless of the shape of the vehicle. (2) The vehicle positioning device of the above aspect may further include a steering angle acquisition unit that acquires a steering angle of a front wheel from a steering angle sensor of the vehicle. When the wheel information acquisition unit acquires wheel information of the front wheels from the wheel detector, the wheel position acquisition unit may acquire a position and orientation of the front wheels using the acquired wheel information of the front wheels. The position estimation unit may estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position and orientation of the front wheels and the steering angle. According to the vehicle positioning device of this embodiment, the position and orientation of the vehicle can be estimated using wheel information from only one wheel. (3) In the vehicle positioning device of the above aspect, when the wheel information acquisition unit acquires wheel information including a diagonal combination of either a left front wheel and a right rear wheel or a right front wheel and a left rear wheel among the two left and right front wheels and two left and right rear wheels of the vehicle, the wheel position acquisition unit may acquire a position of the diagonal wheel using the acquired wheel information including the diagonal combination. The position estimation unit may estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the diagonal wheel. According to this embodiment of the vehicle positioning device, by using wheel information of wheels whose positional relationship is a diagonal combination, it is possible to suppress a decrease in detection accuracy of the vehicle position and orientation compared to a case where diagonal combinations are not included. (4) In the vehicle positioning device of the above aspect, when the wheel information acquisition unit acquires the wheel information of two or more wheels of the vehicle, the wheel position acquisition unit may acquire positions of the two or more wheels. The position estimation unit may estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle using predetermined reference data indicating the relationship between the acquired positional relationship of the two or more wheels and the position and orientation of the vehicle. According to the vehicle positioning device of this aspect, by using the reference data, the processing cost required for estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle can be reduced compared to the case where calculations are performed using the positions of the wheels. (5) The vehicle positioning device of the above aspect may further include an identification information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of the vehicle. The position estimation unit may estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle using reference data indicating a relationship between the acquired positional relationship of the two or more wheels and the position and orientation of the vehicle corresponding to the identification information, among the reference data. According to this type of vehicle positioning device, even if the wheel position relationship differs depending on the vehicle model and specifications, it is possible to use reference data that is suitable for each vehicle model and specifications, thereby improving the estimation accuracy of the vehicle's position and orientation. (6) In the vehicle positioning device of the above aspect, the wheel information acquiring unit may acquire, together with the wheel information, at least one of positional relationship information between the vehicle and the at least one wheel and a positional relationship between the front wheel detector and the at least one wheel. The wheel position acquiring unit may acquire whether the at least one wheel is a front wheel or a rear wheel, using the acquired positional relationship information together with the acquired wheel information. (7) According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a vehicle capable of traveling in an unmanned driving manner, the vehicle including: a plurality of wheels; a wheel information acquisition unit that acquires wheel information from a wheel detector that acquires wheel information, the wheel information being at least one of an image of at least one wheel among the plurality of wheels and three-dimensional point cloud data of the at least one wheel; a wheel position acquisition unit that acquires a position of the at least one wheel using the acquired wheel information; and a position estimation unit that estimates a position and orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the at least one wheel. According to the vehicle of this embodiment, the position and orientation of the vehicle can be estimated by the vehicle alone using the positions of the wheels. The present disclosure may be realized in various forms other than a vehicle positioning device or a vehicle, for example, a remote control device, a remote control system, a vehicle positioning method, a vehicle manufacturing method, a control method for a remote control device, a control method for a remote control system, a computer program for implementing these control methods, a non-transitory recording medium on which the computer program is recorded, etc. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a remote control system. [Diagram 2] 4 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of the vehicle positioning method according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for estimating the position and orientation of a vehicle by the remote control device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] 4 is a flowchart showing a vehicle driving method implemented by the remote control device. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of driving a vehicle by remote control. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the internal functional configuration of a remote control device according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a vehicle positioning method according to a second embodiment. [Figure 8]FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating the position and orientation of a vehicle when the positions of the rear wheels are acquired. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating the position and orientation of a vehicle when the positions of the front wheels are acquired. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a vehicle according to a third embodiment. [Figure 11] 3 is a flowchart showing a vehicle driving method according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] A. First embodiment: 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a remote control system 500 including a remote control device 300 as a vehicle positioning device according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The remote control system 500 can remotely control a vehicle 100 to travel along a predetermined travel route. The remote control system 500 is used, for example, in a factory that manufactures vehicles 100 that can travel by remote control. However, the remote control system 500 may be applied not only to factories but also to any place where the vehicle 100 can travel.

[0009] The vehicle 100 may be, for example, a passenger car, a truck, a bus, or a construction vehicle. In this embodiment, the vehicle 100 is an electric vehicle (BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle) that can run by unmanned driving. "Unmanned driving" means driving without the driving operation of a passenger. Driving operation means at least one of the operations of "running", "turning", and "stopping" of the vehicle. Unmanned driving is realized by automatic or manual remote control using a device provided outside the vehicle. A passenger who does not perform driving operation may be on board a vehicle that runs by unmanned driving. The passenger who does not perform driving operation includes, for example, a person who simply sits in the seat of the vehicle, and a person who performs work other than driving operation, such as assembly, inspection, and operation of switches, while riding in the vehicle. Note that driving by a passenger's driving operation is sometimes called "manned driving". The vehicle 100 includes a vehicle communication device 190, an actuator 140, a sensor 180, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 200.

[0010] The ECU 200 is mounted on the vehicle 100 and executes various controls of the vehicle 100. The ECU 200 includes a storage device 240 such as an HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state drive), an optical recording medium, or a semiconductor memory, a CPU 210 as a central processing unit, and an interface circuit 250. The CPU 210, the storage device 240, and the interface circuit 250 are connected via an internal bus so as to be able to communicate bidirectionally. The interface circuit 250 is connected to the actuator 140, the sensor 180, and the vehicle communication device 190. The vehicle communication device 190 performs wireless communication with devices outside the vehicle 100 connected to a network, such as a remote control device 300, via an access point in a factory or the like.

[0011] Computer programs for implementing at least some of the functions provided in this embodiment are stored in a readable / writable area of ​​the storage device 240. The CPU 210 executes various computer programs stored in the storage device 240 to implement functions such as the driving control unit 212.

[0012] The driving control unit 212 executes driving control of the vehicle 100. The "driving control" refers to various controls for driving each actuator 140 that performs the functions of "running", "turning" and "stopping" of the vehicle 100, such as adjusting acceleration, speed and steering angle. In this embodiment, the actuators 140 include an actuator of a driving device for accelerating the vehicle 100, an actuator of a steering device for changing the traveling direction of the vehicle 100, and an actuator of a braking device for decelerating the vehicle 100. The driving device includes a battery, a driving motor driven by the power of the battery, and wheels 142 including driving wheels rotated by the driving motor. In this embodiment, the vehicle 100 includes four wheels 142 including two front wheels on the left and right and two rear wheels on the left and right, but is not limited to four, and may include two or more wheels 142 including front wheels and rear wheels. The actuator of the driving device includes a driving motor. The actuator 140 may further include an actuator for swinging wipers of the vehicle 100, an actuator for opening and closing power windows of the vehicle 100, etc. When a driver is on board the vehicle 100, the traveling control unit 212 can drive the vehicle 100 by controlling the actuator 140 in response to an operation by the driver. The traveling control unit 212 can also drive the vehicle 100 by controlling the actuator 140 in response to a control command transmitted from the remote control device 300, regardless of whether a driver is on board the vehicle 100 or not.

[0013] The sensor 180 is a general sensor used for driving control of the vehicle 100. The sensor 180 includes, for example, a steering angle sensor 182 that measures the steering angle of each wheel 142. In this specification, the "steering angle" means the steering angle of one of the two front wheels 142 of the vehicle 100. However, when the positions and directions of two or more front wheels are used in estimating the position and direction of the vehicle 100, the steering angle may be the average steering angle of the two or more front wheels. The sensor 180 may further include an acceleration sensor that detects an impact to the vehicle 100, a wheel speed sensor that measures the rotation speed of the wheel 142, and the like. The measurement results by the sensor 180 are transmitted to the ECU 200.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 1, the remote control system 500 includes a remote control device 300 and one or more wheel detectors 80. The wheel detector 80 is a device for measuring wheel information. The "wheel information" is information used to estimate the position of the wheel 142, such as an image of the wheel 142 of the vehicle 100 or three-dimensional point cloud data of the wheel 142. The "three-dimensional point cloud data" is data indicating the three-dimensional position of a point cloud. Using the wheel information, not only the position of the wheel 142 but also the orientation of the wheel 142, the width and height of the wheel 142, the type of the wheel 142, and the like may be measured or estimated. The image and three-dimensional point cloud data of the wheel 142 are not limited to the entire wheel 142, and may be a part of the wheel 142, such as the side of the wheel 142, or only the tire or rim of the wheel 142.

[0015] The wheel detector 80 is, for example, an external camera provided at a location different from the vehicle 100. The wheel detector 80 acquires an image of the wheel 142 as the wheel information. The wheel detector 80 is communicably connected to the remote control device 300 and the vehicle 100. This allows the remote control device 300 to acquire the wheel information from the wheel detector 80.

[0016] The remote control device 300 generates a control command for automatically driving the vehicle 100 by remote control, transmits the control command to the vehicle 100, and executes the driving control of the vehicle 100 by remote control. The remote control device 300 can be configured, for example, by an information processing device provided outside the vehicle 100. The remote control device 300 transports the vehicle 100 in a predetermined transport section in a factory by automatically driving the vehicle 100 by remote control.

[0017] The remote control device 300 includes a CPU 310 as a central processing unit, a storage device 340, an interface circuit 350, and a remote communication device 390. The CPU 310, the storage device 340, and the interface circuit 350 are connected to each other via an internal bus so as to be able to communicate in both directions. The interface circuit 350 is connected to the remote communication device 390. The remote communication device 390 communicates with the vehicle 100, etc., via a network, etc.

[0018] The storage device 340 is, for example, a RAM, a ROM, a HDD, or an SSD. A target route RT, reference data RD, and a trained model LM are stored in a readable / writable area of ​​the storage device 340. The target route RT is a predetermined travel path on a road SR of the vehicle 100. The trained model LM is a detection model that utilizes artificial intelligence, as described below, and is a machine learning model trained to detect the wheels 142.

[0019] The reference data RD is data for estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100. The reference data RD indicates the correspondence between the position of the wheels 142 and the position and orientation of the vehicle 100. The reference data RD is, for example, a bounding box surrounding the four wheels 142 arranged on the vehicle 100. The bounding box indicates the relationship between the positional relationship of the two or more wheels 142 of the vehicle 100 and the position and orientation of the vehicle 100. The position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be estimated by fitting the bounding box to the positions of two or more of the wheels 142. Note that the reference data RD may include information such as the orientation of the wheels 142, not limited to the position of the wheels 142. Note that when wheel information of only one wheel 142 is used, the bounding box can estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by using the position and orientation of any one of the wheels 142 and the steering angle, as described later.

[0020] In this embodiment, the reference data RD is stored for each vehicle identification information. The "vehicle identification information" refers to various information that can individually identify the vehicle 100. The vehicle identification information includes, for example, ID information given to each vehicle 100, such as a vehicle identification number (VIN: Vehicle Identification Number), a serial number of the vehicle 100 used for production management, and a vehicle model and type of the vehicle 100. For the vehicle identification information, a group of units in which at least the positional relationship of the wheels 142 coincides, such as a lot number or a vehicle model, can be used. By configuring in this way, the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be estimated with high accuracy even if the positional relationship of the wheels 142 differs for each vehicle 100. Note that, when the position and orientation of the wheels 142 can be estimated, the reference data RD may include the identification information of the wheels 142 instead of or together with the vehicle identification information. The "identification information of the wheels 142" includes the shape of the wheels 142, the size, aspect ratio, year of manufacture, and width of the tires, and the shape and size of the rims. In this case, the identification information of the wheels 142 can be used instead of the vehicle identification information, so that the device for acquiring the vehicle identification information can be omitted and an appropriate bounding box can be extracted using only the existing wheel detector 80.

[0021] A computer program for realizing at least a part of the functions provided in this embodiment is stored in the storage device 340. When the computer program stored in the storage device 340 is executed by the CPU 310, the CPU 310 functions as a remote control unit 312, a wheel information acquisition unit 314, a wheel position acquisition unit 316, an identification information acquisition unit 318, and a position estimation unit 320. However, some or all of these functions may be configured by hardware circuits.

[0022] The wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires image data of the wheels 142 as wheel information from the wheel detector 80. The wheel position acquisition unit 316 analyzes the acquired wheel information and acquires the position of the wheels 142 included in the wheel information. The position of the wheels 142 may be acquired by distinguishing between the front wheels and the rear wheels, by distinguishing between the left and right wheels, or by distinguishing between the front, rear, left and right wheels. In these cases, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires at least one of the positional relationship between the vehicle 100 and the wheels 142 and the positional relationship between the wheels 142 and the wheel detector 80 by acquiring image data of at least a part of the vehicle 100 together with the wheels 142. At least one of the information on the positional relationship between the vehicle 100 and the wheels 142 and the positional relationship between the wheels 142 and the wheel detector 80 is also called "positional relationship information". The wheel position acquisition unit 316 can acquire whether the wheel 142 whose position has been acquired is a front wheel or a rear wheel, or a right wheel or a left wheel, by using the positional relationship information together with the wheel information. For example, if a part of the vehicle 100 arranged at a predetermined position is acquired together with the wheel 142, it is possible to identify whether the wheel 142 is in the front, rear, left or right direction by using the relative position of the wheel 142 with respect to the part of the vehicle 100. In addition, the wheel detector 80 may acquire wheel information of the wheel 142 in advance by setting the position of the wheel detector 80 with respect to the travel route of the vehicle 100 and the angle of view, for example, by arranging the vehicle detector 80 to acquire the right front wheel of the vehicle 100. The identification information acquisition unit 318 acquires vehicle identification information of the vehicle 100. The position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the acquired position of the wheel 142. In this embodiment, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by fitting the reference data RD to the detected positions of the two wheels 142, the left front wheel and the right rear wheel.

[0023] The remote control unit 312 functions as a command generating unit that generates control commands for causing the vehicle 100 to perform various operations and outputs the control commands to the vehicle 100. Using the estimated position and orientation of the vehicle 100, the remote control unit 312 generates a control command for causing the vehicle 100 to automatically travel by remote control and transmits the control command to the vehicle 100. This control command is, for example, a command for causing the vehicle 100 to travel according to a target route RT stored in the storage device 340. The control command can be generated as a command including a driving force or braking force and a steering angle. When the vehicle 100 receives a request for remote control, the travel control unit 212 of the ECU 200 realizes travel control, and as a result, the vehicle 100 travels automatically.

[0024] 2 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of the vehicle positioning method by the remote control device 300 according to the first embodiment. This flow is started, for example, when the vehicle 100 starts traveling by remote control. This flow can be repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals, for example, at 0.1 seconds.

[0025] In step S10, the identification information acquisition unit 318 acquires vehicle identification information of the vehicle 100 to be remotely controlled. The vehicle identification information can be acquired, for example, from a reader or the like that acquires the information via short-range wireless communication from a radio frequency identification (RF-ID) tag attached to the vehicle 100 that has arrived at the travel start position. The vehicle identification information may be acquired by reading a two-dimensional code attached to the vehicle 100 with a camera or the like. The identification information acquisition unit 318 may acquire the vehicle identification information of the vehicle 100 to be remotely controlled from a process management device or a production management device, and compare it with the vehicle identification information acquired from the RF-ID tag or the like. In step S20, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires image data of the wheels 142 as wheel information from the wheel detector 80.

[0026] Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by the remote control device 300 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the vehicle 100 in a planar view, a bounding box BB included in the reference data RD corresponding to the vehicle identification information of the vehicle 100, and the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100 associated with the bounding box BB. The following description will be made with reference to Fig. 3 as appropriate along with Fig. 2.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires image data of two wheels 142, the left front wheel 142FL and the right rear wheel 142RR, which are diagonally positioned among the four wheels 142 of the vehicle 100, from the external camera as the wheel detector 80. In addition, to facilitate understanding of the technology, the wheels 142 to be detected are hatched. By detecting two wheels 142, the amount of data of the wheel information can be reduced compared to the case where wheel information of four wheels 142 is obtained, and the calculation cost of the process of estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be reduced. In addition, by detecting the two wheels 142 as a diagonal combination, the estimation accuracy of the position of the vehicle 100 in both the vehicle width direction and the traveling direction can be improved, and the decrease in the detection accuracy of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 caused by reducing the number of detected wheels 142 to two can be suppressed. In addition, the wheel information acquisition unit 314, which is in a diagonal position relationship, may acquire wheel information for two wheels 142, the front right wheel 142FR and the rear left wheel 142RL, or may acquire wheel information for three or more wheels 142 including a diagonal combination of these wheels 142.

[0028] In step S30, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 performs image analysis of the image data of the wheel 142 to acquire the position of the wheel 142 in the image data. Specifically, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 calculates the coordinates of the positioning point of the wheel 142 in the local coordinate system using the outer shape of the wheel 142 detected from the image data, and converts the calculated coordinates into coordinates in the global coordinate system, thereby acquiring the position of the wheel 142. The acquired position of the wheel 142 may be set for the entire wheel 142, or may be set for a part included in the wheel 142, such as the center of the side of the wheel 142, the center of gravity, center, or end of the wheel 142 or a member included in the wheel 142. The orientation of the wheel 142 can be estimated, for example, from the outer shape of the wheel 142. The orientation of the wheel 142 may be estimated based on the orientation of the movement vector of the wheel 142 calculated from the position change of the feature point of the wheel 142 between frames of the captured image using an optical flow method.

[0029] The outer shape of the wheel 142 included in the image data can be detected by inputting the image data into a trained model LM. The trained model LM is, for example, a trained machine learning model trained to realize either semantic segmentation or instance segmentation. As this machine learning model, for example, a convolutional neural network (hereinafter, CNN) trained by supervised learning using a training data set can be used. The training data set has, for example, a plurality of training images including the wheel 142, and a correct answer label indicating whether each region in the training image is a region indicating the wheel 142 or a region indicating something other than the wheel 142. During training of the CNN, it is preferable that the parameters of the CNN are updated by backpropagation (error backpropagation method) so as to reduce an error between the output result by the detection model and the correct answer label.

[0030] In step S40, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100 using the positions of the wheels 142 acquired by the wheel position acquisition unit 316. As shown in FIG. 3, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100 by fitting a bounding box BB to the positions of the two wheels 142, the left front wheel 142FL and the right rear wheel 142RR, which are detected. In the example of FIG. 3, the bounding box BB is fitted to the outer shape of the wheels 142. By using the bounding box BB, the processing cost required for estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be reduced compared to the case of calculating the position of the vehicle 100. In this embodiment, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the reference data RD corresponding to the acquired vehicle identification information. By configuring in this manner, even if the positional relationship of the wheels 142 differs depending on the vehicle model and specification, the reference data RD suitable for each vehicle model and specification can be used, and the estimation accuracy of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be improved.

[0031] 4 is a flowchart showing a method for driving the vehicle 100 realized by the remote control device 300. The remote control unit 312 acquires the estimation results of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by the position estimation unit 320 (step S110). In this embodiment, the position of the vehicle 100 includes X, Y, and Z coordinates in the global coordinate system of the factory. The position of the wheel detector 80 is adjusted in advance. The remote control unit 312 detects the position of the vehicle 100 from the vehicle information acquired from the wheel detector 80, and acquires the position of the vehicle 100 in the factory from the detected position of the vehicle 100.

[0032] The remote control unit 312 determines a target position to which the vehicle 100 should next head (step S120). In this embodiment, the target position is represented by X, Y, and Z coordinates in the global coordinate system of the factory. A target route RT, which is a route along which the vehicle 100 should travel, is stored in advance in the storage device 340 of the remote control device 300. The target route RT is represented by nodes indicating the starting point, nodes indicating passing points, nodes indicating the destination, and links connecting the nodes. The remote control unit 312 uses the position of the vehicle 100 and the target route RT to determine a target position to which the vehicle 100 should next head. The remote control unit 312 determines a target position on the target route RT that is ahead of the current position of the vehicle 100.

[0033] The remote control unit 312 generates a travel control signal for driving the vehicle 100 toward the determined target position (step S130). In this embodiment, the travel control signal includes the acceleration and steering angle of the vehicle 100 as parameters. The remote control unit 312 calculates the travel speed of the vehicle 100 from the change in the position of the vehicle 100, and compares the calculated travel speed with a predetermined target speed of the vehicle 100. When the travel speed is lower than the target speed, the remote control unit 312 determines the acceleration so that the vehicle 100 accelerates, and when the travel speed is higher than the target speed, the remote control unit 312 determines the acceleration so that the vehicle 100 decelerates. When the vehicle 100 is located on the target route RT, the remote control unit 312 determines the steering angle so that the vehicle 100 does not deviate from the target route RT, and when the vehicle 100 is not located on the target route RT, in other words, when the vehicle 100 deviates from the target route RT, the remote control unit 312 determines the steering angle so that the vehicle 100 returns to the target route RT.

[0034] The remote control unit 312 transmits the generated driving control signal to the vehicle 100 (step S140). The remote control unit 312 repeats, at a predetermined cycle, obtaining the position of the vehicle 100, determining the target position, generating the driving control signal, and transmitting the driving control signal.

[0035] The traveling control unit 212 of the vehicle 100 receives the traveling control signal from the remote control unit 312 (step S150) and controls the actuator 140 using the received traveling control signal to make the vehicle 100 travel at the acceleration and steering angle represented in the traveling control signal (step S160). The traveling control unit 212 repeats receiving the traveling control signal and controlling the actuator 140 at a predetermined cycle. As described above, by making the vehicle 100 travel by remote control, it is possible to move the vehicle 100 without using transportation equipment such as a crane or a conveyor.

[0036] Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of a method of traveling of the vehicle 100 by remote control. Fig. 5 shows a method of traveling of the vehicle 100 realized by remote control using a remote control device 300 in a factory FC where the vehicle 100 is manufactured. The factory FC includes, for example, a first process 50 as a pre-process and a second process 60 as a post-process. The first process 50 and the second process 60 are connected by a road SR on which the vehicle 100 can travel.

[0037] The remote control device 300 causes the vehicle 100 to travel along the target route RT while estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 at predetermined time intervals using the wheel information acquired by the wheel detector 80. In the example of Fig. 3, the target route RT set on the road SR includes target routes RT1, RT2, and RT3 that are consecutive to each other. A plurality of wheel detectors 80 including wheel detectors 80A, 80B, and 80C corresponding to the target routes RT1, RT2, and RT3, respectively, are installed around the road SR.

[0038] The remote control device 300 appropriately switches the wheel detector 80 according to the position of the vehicle 100 to estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle 100, and makes the vehicle 100 travel along the target route RT. In the example of FIG. 5, the vehicle 100 that departs from the first step 50 travels along the target route RT1 by remote control using image data acquired by the wheel detector 80A. When the vehicle 100 reaches the target route RT2, the wheel detector 80A is switched to the wheel detector 80B suitable for detecting the vehicle 100 traveling along the target route RT2. When the vehicle 100 reaches the target route RT3, the wheel detector 80B is similarly switched to the wheel detector 80C suitable for detecting the vehicle 100, and the vehicle 100 arrives at the second step 60 as the destination.

[0039] As described above, according to the remote control device 300 of this embodiment, the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be estimated using the positions of the wheels 142. Therefore, the position of the vehicle 100 can be obtained regardless of the shape of the vehicle 100, for example, when the shape features of the vehicle 100 are small, when the shape of the vehicle 100 changes such as when the vehicle 100 is under manufacturing, or when the vehicle 100 is in the form of a platform.

[0040] According to the remote control device 300 of this embodiment, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires wheel information including a diagonal combination of the two left and right front wheels and the two left and right rear wheels of the vehicle 100. The wheel position acquisition unit 316 acquires the position of the diagonal wheel 142 using the acquired wheel information including the diagonal combination. The position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the acquired positions of the diagonal wheels 142. By using the positions of the wheels 142 whose positional relationship is a diagonal combination, it is possible to improve the estimation accuracy of the position of the vehicle 100 in both the vehicle width direction and the traveling direction, and to suppress a decrease in the detection accuracy of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 caused by limiting the number of detected wheels 142 to two, one on the left and one on the right.

[0041] According to the remote control device 300 of this embodiment, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by using a bounding box BB as predetermined reference data RD indicating the relationship between the acquired positional relationship of two or more wheels 142 and the position and orientation of the vehicle 100. By using the bounding box BB, the processing cost required for estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be reduced compared to the case where the position of the vehicle 100 is calculated using the positions of the wheels 142.

[0042] The remote control device 300 of this embodiment further includes an identification information acquisition unit 318 that acquires identification information of the vehicle 100. The position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the acquired positional relationship of the two or more wheels 142 and the reference data RD indicating the relationship between the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 corresponding to the identification information, among the reference data RD. By using the reference data RD corresponding to the vehicle identification information of the vehicle 100, even if the positional relationship of the wheels 142 differs depending on the vehicle model or specification, it is possible to use the reference data RD suitable for each vehicle model or specification, and the estimation accuracy of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be improved.

[0043] B. Second embodiment: 6 is a block diagram showing an internal functional configuration of a remote control device 300b according to the second embodiment. The remote control device 300b is different from the remote control device 300 of the first embodiment in that a CPU 310b further functions as a steering angle acquisition unit 322, and the other configurations are similar. The steering angle acquisition unit 322 acquires the steering angle of the front wheels from the steering angle sensor 182. In the remote control device 300b of this embodiment, the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 are estimated using wheel information of any one of the four wheels 142 of the vehicle 100.

[0044] 7 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a vehicle positioning method by the remote control device 300b according to the second embodiment. This flow differs from the processing routine by the remote control device 300 shown in the first embodiment in that it includes step S30b instead of step S30, that it includes step S32 between step S30b and step S40, and that it includes steps S60 to S64.

[0045] In step S30b, the wheel information acquisition unit 314 performs image analysis of the image data of the wheels 142, and acquires the position of one of the four wheels 142 of the vehicle 100 from the image data. The wheel information acquisition unit 314 acquires the position of the wheel 142 that is estimated to have the highest detection accuracy of the wheel 142 or the highest probability of being the wheel 142 in object recognition. In step S32, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 checks whether the wheel 142 whose position has been acquired by the wheel information acquisition unit 314 is a front wheel or not. If the wheel 142 whose position has been acquired is a rear wheel (S32: NO), the wheel position acquisition unit 316 proceeds to step S40. Note that in step S30b, the wheel 142 whose position is to be acquired may be set to only one of the front wheels. In this case, steps S32 and S40 can be omitted.

[0046] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 when the position of the rear wheel is acquired. When one rear wheel is used, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 acquires the position and orientation of the rear wheel. In the example of FIG. 8, the position RLP and orientation RLD of the left rear wheel 142RL are acquired. As shown in FIG. 8, the position estimation unit 320 arranges a bounding box BB so as to correspond to the position RLP and orientation RLD of the left rear wheel 142RL. Note that in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 described later, the bounding box BB is fitted to the center position of the wheel 142. For example, the position estimation unit 320 arranges one corner of the bounding box BB at the position RLP, and estimates the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100 by matching the orientation VD of the vehicle 100 indicated by the bounding box BB with the orientation RLD of the left rear wheel 142RL. Note that in this case, the steering angle is not used to estimate the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100.

[0047] In step S32, if the wheel 142 whose position has been acquired is a front wheel (S32: YES), the wheel position acquisition unit 316 proceeds to step S60. In step S60, the steering angle acquisition unit 322 acquires the steering angle of the front wheel from the steering angle sensor 182. In step S62, the position estimation unit 320 fits a bounding box to the position of the front wheel and corrects the orientation of the bounding box. In step S64, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 from the corrected bounding box BB.

[0048] FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of estimating the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 when the position of the front wheel is acquired. When one front wheel is used, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 acquires the position and orientation of the front wheel. In the example of FIG. 9, the position FLP and orientation FLD of the left front wheel 142FL are acquired. In addition, the steering angle θ1 is acquired from the steering angle sensor 182. As shown by the dashed line BBb in FIG. 9, the position estimation unit 320 arranges a bounding box so as to correspond to the position RLP and orientation RLD of the left rear wheel 142RL. For example, the position estimation unit 320 arranges one corner of the bounding box at the position FLP, and matches the orientation of the vehicle 100 indicated by the bounding box with the orientation RLD of the left front wheel 142FL. The position estimation unit 320 performs a correction to rotate the bounding box by the acquired steering angle θ1 as shown by the arrow AG, and estimates the position VP and orientation VD of the vehicle 100 using the corrected bounding box BB.

[0049] As described above, according to the remote control device 300b of this embodiment, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the acquired position, orientation, and steering angle of the front wheels. Therefore, the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 can be estimated using wheel information of only one wheel 142.

[0050] C. Third embodiment: Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a vehicle 100 according to the third embodiment. In this embodiment, a remote control system 500 differs from the first embodiment in that it does not include a remote control device 300. Specifically, it differs from the first embodiment in that an ECU 200c provided in the vehicle 100 shown in Fig. 10 has a function as a vehicle positioning device instead of the remote control device 300. The other configurations of the remote control system 500 are the same as those of the first embodiment unless otherwise described.

[0051] The ECU 200c differs from the ECU 200 shown in the first embodiment in that it includes a CPU 210c instead of the CPU 210 and a storage device 240c instead of the storage device 240. The storage device 240c stores a program for implementing functions corresponding to the wheel information acquisition unit 314, the wheel position acquisition unit 316, the identification information acquisition unit 318, and the position estimation unit 320 included in the remote control device 300 according to the first embodiment, in addition to the functions of the driving control unit 212 shown in the first embodiment. As a result, the CPU 210c further functions as the wheel information acquisition unit 214, the wheel position acquisition unit 216, the identification information acquisition unit 218, and the position estimation unit 220 corresponding to these functions. The storage device 240c also stores the target route RT, the reference data RD, and the learned model LM stored in the storage device 340 of the remote control device 300 shown in the first embodiment. According to the vehicle 100 configured in this manner, by providing the vehicle 100 with a vehicle positioning device, it is possible to obtain the same effects as in the first embodiment using the vehicle 100 alone, without using a device separate from the vehicle 100, such as the remote control device 300.

[0052] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a driving method of the vehicle 100 according to the present embodiment. The position estimation unit 220 acquires the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the wheel information output from the wheel detector 80 (step S210). The driving control unit 212 determines a target position to which the vehicle 100 should next move (step S220). In this embodiment, the target route RT is stored in advance in the storage device 240c of the ECU 200c. The driving control unit 212 generates a driving control signal for driving the vehicle 100 toward the determined target position (step S230). The driving control unit 212 controls the actuator 140 using the generated driving control signal to drive the vehicle 100 at the acceleration and steering angle represented by the driving control signal (step S240). The driving control unit 212 repeats the acquisition of the position and orientation of the vehicle 100, the determination of the target position, the generation of the driving control signal, and the control of the actuator 140 at a predetermined cycle. According to the vehicle 100 of this embodiment, the vehicle 100 can be caused to run under autonomous control without remotely controlling the vehicle 100 using the remote control device 300.

[0053] D. Other embodiments: (D1) In the above embodiment, an example in which the wheel detector 80 is an external camera has been shown. In contrast, a radar device such as LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) may be used for the wheel detector 80 instead of or together with the external camera. The LiDAR measures three-dimensional point cloud data of the vehicle 100 as wheel information. By using the LiDAR, high-precision three-dimensional point cloud data can be acquired. In this case, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 estimates the position and orientation of the wheel 142 in the acquired three-dimensional point cloud data. Specifically, the wheel position acquisition unit 316 executes template matching using wheel point cloud data stored in advance in the storage device 340 for the three-dimensional point cloud data, and can estimate the position and orientation of the wheel 142 in the three-dimensional point cloud data with high precision. For example, three-dimensional CAD data of the wheel 142 can be used as the template for the wheel point cloud data. The wheel point cloud data may include information for identifying the orientation of the wheel 142. Template matching of the wheel point cloud data to the 3D point cloud data can be performed using, for example, an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm, a Normal Distribution Transform (NDT) algorithm, etc. Note that, when the position of the wheel 142 can be estimated with high accuracy from the 3D point cloud data, template matching does not need to be performed.

[0054] (D2) In the above-described first embodiment, the position estimation unit 320 estimates the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 by fitting the reference data RD to the detected positions of the two wheels 142, the left front wheel and the right rear wheel. In contrast, the position estimation unit 320 may estimate the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 using the positions of the wheels 142 that are a combination other than a diagonal positional relationship, such as the right front wheel and the right rear wheel. The position and orientation of the vehicle 100 may also be estimated using the positions of three or more wheels 142. In this case, the estimation accuracy of the position of the vehicle 100 can be further improved. The position estimation unit 320 may estimate the position of the vehicle 100 using the detected positions of two or more wheels 142 without using the reference data RD. For example, the center between the position of the left front wheel and the position of the right rear wheel can be estimated as the position of the vehicle 100. The position estimation unit 320 may also estimate the orientation of the vehicle 100 from the positional relationship of the detected two or more wheels 142. For example, the direction of the vehicle 100 can be estimated as a straight line connecting the right front wheel and the right rear wheel.

[0055] (D3) In the above embodiments, examples have been shown in which the vehicle 100 is a passenger car, a truck, a bus, a construction vehicle, etc. However, the vehicle 100 is not limited to these, and may be a vehicle that runs on wheels or a vehicle that runs on caterpillar tracks, for example, a two-wheeled vehicle, a four-wheeled vehicle, a tank, etc. Vehicles include electric vehicles (BEVs: Battery Electric Vehicles), gasoline-powered vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles.

[0056] (D4) The vehicle 100 may have a configuration capable of moving by remote control. For example, the vehicle 100 may be in the form of a platform having the configuration described below. Specifically, the vehicle 100 may have a configuration for performing the functions of "running," "turning," and "stopping" by remote control. That is, the "vehicle 100 capable of moving by remote control" may not have at least some of the interior parts such as the driver's seat and the dashboard, may not have at least some of the exterior parts such as the bumper and the fenders, and may not have a body shell. In this case, the remaining parts such as the body shell may be attached to the vehicle 100 before the vehicle 100 is shipped from the factory, or the remaining parts such as the body shell may be attached to the vehicle 100 after the vehicle 100 is shipped from the factory in a state in which the remaining parts such as the body shell are not attached to the vehicle 100. Each part may be attached from any direction such as the upper side, lower side, front side, rear side, right side, or left side of the vehicle 100, and may be attached from the same direction or from different directions. It should be noted that for the platform configuration as well, position determination can be performed in the same manner as for the vehicle 100 in the first embodiment.

[0057] (D5) The vehicle 100 may be manufactured by any manufacturing method. For example, the vehicle 100 may be manufactured by combining a plurality of modules. A module means a unit composed of a plurality of parts grouped according to the location or function of the vehicle 100. For example, the platform of the vehicle 100 may be manufactured by combining a front module that constitutes the front part of the platform, a central module that constitutes the central part of the platform, and a rear module that constitutes the rear part of the platform. The number of modules that constitute the platform is not limited to three, and may be two or less, or four or more. In addition to or instead of the parts that constitute the platform, parts that constitute parts of the vehicle 100 that are different from the platform may be modularized. The various modules may include any exterior parts such as a bumper or a grille, or any interior parts such as a seat or a console. In addition, not limited to the vehicle 100, any type of moving body may be manufactured by combining a plurality of modules. Such a module may be manufactured, for example, by joining a plurality of parts by welding or a fastener, or may be manufactured by integrally molding at least a part of the parts that constitute the module as one part by casting. The molding method for integrally molding a single component, particularly a relatively large component, is also called gigacast or megacast. For example, the front module, the center module, and the rear module may be manufactured using gigacast.

[0058] (D6) In the above first embodiment, an example was shown in which the remote control device 300 executes the processes from acquiring the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 to generating the driving control signal. However, at least a part of the processes from acquiring the position and orientation of the vehicle 100 to generating the driving control signal may be executed by the vehicle 100. For example, the following forms (1) to (3) may be used.

[0059] (1) The remote control device 300 may acquire the position and orientation of the vehicle 100, determine a target position to which the vehicle 100 should next head, and generate a route from the current location of the vehicle 100, which is indicated in the acquired position, to the target position. The remote control device 300 may generate a route to a target position between the current location and the destination, or may generate a route to the destination. The remote control device 300 may transmit the generated route to the vehicle 100. The vehicle 100 may generate a travel control signal so that the vehicle 100 travels on the route received from the remote control device 300, and control the actuator 140 using the generated travel control signal.

[0060] (2) The remote control device 300 may acquire the position and orientation of the vehicle 100, and transmit the acquired position and orientation to the vehicle 100. The vehicle 100 may determine a target position to which the vehicle 100 should next head, generate a route from the current location of the vehicle 100 indicated in the received position to the target position, generate a driving control signal so that the vehicle 100 travels along the generated route, and control the actuator 140 using the generated driving control signal.

[0061] (3) In the above embodiments (1) to (2), the vehicle 100 may be equipped with an internal sensor, and a detection result output from the internal sensor may be used for at least one of generating a route and generating a driving control signal. The internal sensor may include, for example, a camera, a LiDAR, a millimeter wave radar, an ultrasonic sensor, a GPS sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a gyro sensor. For example, in the above embodiment (1), the remote control device 300 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a route, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the route. In the above embodiment (1), the vehicle 100 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a driving control signal, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the driving control signal. In the above embodiment (2), the vehicle 100 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a route, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the route. In the above embodiment (2), the vehicle 100 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a route, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the driving control signal.

[0062] (D7) In the above third embodiment, an internal sensor may be mounted on the vehicle 100, and a detection result output from the internal sensor may be used for at least one of generating a route and generating a driving control signal. For example, the vehicle 100 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a route, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the route. The vehicle 100 may acquire the detection result of the internal sensor, and when generating a driving control signal, may reflect the detection result of the internal sensor in the driving control signal.

[0063] (D8) In the above first embodiment, the remote control device 300 automatically generates a driving control signal to be transmitted to the vehicle 100. In contrast, the remote control device 300 may generate a driving control signal to be transmitted to the vehicle 100 in accordance with the operation of an operator located outside the vehicle 100. For example, the operator may operate a control device including a display for displaying an image output from the wheel detector 80, a steering wheel for remotely controlling the vehicle 100, an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and a communication device for communicating with the remote control device 300 by wired communication or wireless communication, and the remote control device 300 may generate a driving control signal in accordance with the operation applied to the control device.

[0064] (D9) Transporting a vehicle using unmanned vehicle driving is also called "self-propelled transport." Also, a configuration for realizing self-propelled transport is also called a "vehicle remote-controlled autonomous driving transport system." Also, a production method for producing vehicles using self-propelled transport is also called "self-propelled production." In self-propelled production, for example, at a factory where vehicles are manufactured, at least a part of the transportation of the vehicles is realized by self-propelled transport.

[0065] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be realized in various configurations without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the technical features in the embodiments corresponding to the technical features in each aspect described in the Summary of the Invention column can be appropriately replaced or combined to solve some or all of the above-mentioned problems or to achieve some or all of the above-mentioned effects. Furthermore, if the technical feature is not described as essential in this specification, it can be appropriately deleted. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 50...first process, 60...second process, 80, 80A, 80B, 80C...wheel detector, 100...vehicle, 140...actuator, 142...wheel, 142FL...left front wheel, 142FR...right front wheel, 142RL...left rear wheel, 142RR...right rear wheel, 180...sensor, 182...steering angle sensor, 190...vehicle communication device, 200, 200c...ECU, 210, 210c...CPU, 212...driving control unit, 214...wheel information acquisition unit, 216...wheel position acquisition unit, 218...identification information acquisition unit, 220...position estimation unit, 240, 240c...storage device, 250...interface circuit, 300, 300b...remote control device, 310, 310b...CPU, 312...remote control unit, 314...wheel information acquisition unit, 316...wheel position acquisition unit, 318...identification information acquisition unit, 320...position estimation unit, 322...steering angle acquisition unit, 340...storage device, 350...interface circuit, 390...remote communication device, 500...remote control system, BB...bounding box, FC...factory, LM...trained model, RD...reference data

Claims

1. A vehicle positioning device, a wheel information acquisition unit that acquires wheel information from a wheel detector that measures wheel information, the wheel information being at least one of an image of at least one wheel among a plurality of wheels of a vehicle that can travel by unmanned driving and three-dimensional point cloud data of the at least one wheel; a wheel position acquisition unit that acquires a position of the at least one wheel by using the acquired wheel information; and a position estimator that estimates a position and an orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the at least one wheel. Vehicle positioning device.

2. 2. The vehicle positioning device according to claim 1, a steering angle acquisition unit that acquires a steering angle of a front wheel among the plurality of wheels from a steering angle sensor of the vehicle; When the wheel information acquisition unit acquires the wheel information of the front wheel from the wheel detector, the wheel position acquisition unit acquires a position and an orientation of the front wheel using the acquired wheel information of the front wheel; the position estimation unit estimates a position and a direction of the vehicle by using the acquired positions and directions of the front wheels and the steering angle; Vehicle positioning device.

3. 2. The vehicle positioning device according to claim 1, When the wheel information acquisition unit acquires wheel information including a diagonal combination of a left front wheel and a right rear wheel, or a diagonal combination of a right front wheel and a left rear wheel, among the two left and right front wheels and the two left and right rear wheels of the vehicle, the wheel position acquisition unit acquires positions of the wheels of the diagonal corners by using wheel information including the acquired combination of the diagonal corners; The position estimation unit estimates a position and an orientation of the vehicle using the acquired positions of the diagonal wheels. Vehicle positioning device.

4. 2. The vehicle positioning device according to claim 1, When the wheel information acquisition unit acquires the wheel information of two or more wheels of the vehicle, the wheel position acquisition unit acquires positions of the two or more wheels, the position estimation unit estimates a position and an orientation of the vehicle by using predetermined reference data indicating a relationship between the acquired positional relationship of the two or more wheels and a position and an orientation of the vehicle; Vehicle positioning device.

5. 5. The vehicle positioning device according to claim 4, The vehicle identification information acquisition unit acquires identification information of the vehicle. the position estimation unit estimates a position and an orientation of the vehicle by using reference data indicating a relationship between the acquired positional relationship of the two or more wheels and a position and an orientation of the vehicle corresponding to the identification information, among the reference data; Vehicle positioning device.

6. 2. The vehicle positioning device according to claim 1, The wheel information acquisition unit acquires, together with the wheel information, at least one of positional relationship information between the vehicle and the at least one wheel and a positional relationship between the wheel detector and the at least one wheel, the wheel position acquisition unit acquires whether the at least one wheel is a front wheel or a rear wheel by using the acquired wheel information and the acquired positional relationship information. Vehicle positioning device.

7. A vehicle positioning method, comprising: Obtaining wheel information, which is at least one of an image of at least one wheel among a plurality of wheels of a vehicle capable of traveling by unmanned driving and three-dimensional point cloud data of the at least one wheel; obtaining a position of the at least one wheel using the obtained wheel information; estimating a position and orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the at least one wheel; Vehicle positioning method.

8. A vehicle capable of traveling by unmanned driving, Multiple wheels and a wheel information acquisition unit that acquires wheel information from a wheel detector that acquires wheel information, the wheel information being at least one of an image of at least one wheel among the plurality of wheels and three-dimensional point cloud data of the at least one wheel; a wheel position acquisition unit that acquires a position of the at least one wheel by using the acquired wheel information; and a position estimator that estimates a position and an orientation of the vehicle using the acquired position of the at least one wheel. vehicle.

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