Vehicle operation management device

Abstract

To provide a vehicle operation management device that can inexpensively create maps for use in operation management.SOLUTION: A vehicle operation management device 10 includes: a driving route determination unit 12 that determines a provisional driving route Ir based on existing map information Dm; a predetermined point setting unit 13 that sets a provisional predetermined point In on the provisional driving route Ir; a correction unit 14 that creates a provisional map Mt including the provisional driving route Ir and the provisional predetermined point In, and corrects the provisional driving route Ir and the provisional predetermined point In based on the distance between the provisional driving route Ir as a target driving route when driving according to the created provisional map Mt and a road edge Ed or a white line etc. L as a reference position of the road where the provisional driving route Ir exists; and an operation management unit 16 that sets a node N representing a feature point of the road in a driving map Mf including a corrected driving route Iar and a corrected predetermined point Ian, and sets a direction of travel at the set node N and manages the operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle operation management device. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, for example, a map generating device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been known. The conventional map generating device is configured to determine whether the total amount of measurement data acquired by a PMV (Personal Mobility Vehicle) which is a measurement vehicle, and the measurement data already stored is sufficient to generate map data for a route along which the PMV is to travel autonomously. If the amount of data is insufficient, the conventional map generating device notifies the PMV, so that the PMV acquires the measurement data and transmits it to the map generating device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-159944 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Meanwhile, conventional map generating devices generate maps from measurement data acquired by a PMV (hereinafter referred to as "mobility") actually traveling. For this reason, conventional map generating devices must use expensive systems such as SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). Furthermore, maps generated by conventional map generating devices are based on the assumption that the mobility will travel independently. In other words, maps generated by conventional map generating devices are not suitable for coordinating the travel of multiple mobility vehicles.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle operation management device that can inexpensively create maps used for operation management. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The vehicle operation management device of the present invention includes a driving route determination unit that determines a tentative driving route based on existing map information, a specified point setting unit that sets tentative specified points that represent intermediate points on the tentative driving route, a correction unit that creates a temporary map including the tentative driving route and the tentative specified points, and corrects the tentative driving route and the tentative specified points based on the distance between a target driving route when driving according to the created temporary map and a reference position of the road on which the target driving route exists, and an operation management unit that sets nodes that represent characteristic points of the road on a driving map including the corrected post-correction driving route and post-correction specified points, and manages operation by setting a direction of travel at the set nodes. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the vehicle operation management device of the present invention, by modifying the provisional driving route and provisional specified points based on the actual driving of the mobility vehicle for the temporary map determined using existing map information, an appropriate driving map including the modified driving route and the modified specified points can be created. Therefore, the driving map can be created inexpensively. Furthermore, according to the vehicle operation management device, it is possible to set nodes and the traveling direction of the nodes in the created driving map. Therefore, the created driving map can be used when coordinating the driving of multiple mobility vehicles, i.e., when managing the operation of multiple mobility vehicles. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle operation management device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 4 is a flowchart showing a travel map creation program. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the processing of the vehicle operation management device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, a vehicle operation management device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition to the embodiment described below, the present invention can be embodied in various forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0010] The vehicle operation management device 10 of this embodiment is, for example, a computer-based server constructed on the Web. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle operation management device 10 manages the operation of a plurality of mobilities 20 by transmitting driving instruction information Dc to the mobilities 20. The vehicle operation management device 10 of this embodiment is capable of communicating with a map database 30 that provides existing map information Dm for the general public, for example, via the Internet. The vehicle operation management device 10 of this embodiment is also capable of communicating with a mobility information database 40 that acquires and accumulates information regarding the driving of each mobility 20, for example, position information Ip, for example, via the Internet. The map database 30 and the mobility information database 40 can also be configured by being incorporated into the vehicle operation management device 10.

[0011] The vehicle operation management device 10 mainly includes a map information acquisition unit 11, a driving route determination unit 12, a predetermined point setting unit 13, a correction unit 14, a position information acquisition unit 15, an operation management unit 16, and a driving instruction transmission unit 17. The map information acquisition unit 11 acquires general map information Dm from a map database 30. The map information Dm is acquired from the map database 30 by being specified to include an area in which the mobility 20 travels. Then, the map information acquisition unit 11 supplies the map information Dm to the driving route determination unit 12.

[0012] The travel route determination unit 12 determines a rough tentative travel route Ir for traveling the mobility 20 on an existing map represented by the map information Dm. Then, the travel route determination unit 12 supplies the tentative travel route Ir to the specified point setting unit 13. The specified point setting unit 13 sets tentative specified points In, which are positions that will be route points, on the tentative travel route Ir, and connects the tentative specified points In according to the order of the route. In this way, a temporary map Mt is created that includes the tentative travel route Ir for traveling the mobility 20 and the tentative specified points In. Then, the specified point setting unit 13 outputs the temporary map Mt that includes the tentative travel route Ir and the tentative specified points In to the correction unit 14.

[0013] When the mobility 20 travels according to the created temporary map Mt, the correction unit 14 corrects the temporary travel route Ir, which is a target travel route, and the temporary specified point In, based on the distance between the mobility 20 traveling on the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In and a reference position of the road on which the temporary travel route Ir exists, for example, a road edge Ed (see FIG. 3) or a white line L drawn on the road (see FIG. 3). In other words, the correction unit 14 corrects the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In so that the travel route and the specified point on which the mobility 20 is desired to travel are the ones on which the mobility 20 is desired to travel. Note that the correction unit 14 corrects the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In in the first correction, and further corrects the corrected travel route Iar and the corrected specified point Ian in the second and subsequent corrections.

[0014] For this reason, the correction unit 14 acquires image information Ic, which will be described later, from the map information acquisition unit 11. The correction unit 14 also acquires position information Ip, which will be described later, of the mobility 20 from the position information acquisition unit 15. The position information acquisition unit 15 acquires the position information Ip from the mobility information database 40. Then, the correction unit 14 completes a driving map Mf including a revised driving route Iar and a revised specified point Ian (see FIG. 3) along which the mobility 20 is ultimately desired to travel, and outputs the map to the operation management unit 16.

[0015] The operation management unit 16 sets a node N (see FIG. 3) representing a characteristic point of a road in the driving map Mf created by the correction unit 14. Here, in this embodiment, examples of the node N include an intersection where driving routes from multiple directions overlap, and a point representing the shape of the road (straight line or curve). In addition, the operation management unit 16 sets the traveling direction of the mobility 20 at the set node N.

[0016] In other words, in a situation where multiple mobility vehicles 20 are traveling, the operation management unit 16 sets no-entry areas E (see FIG. 3) to prevent multiple mobility vehicles 20 from entering each intersection from different directions at the same time, so that the mobility vehicles 20 do not collide with each other or smooth traveling is not hindered. In this way, the vehicle operation management device 10 manages the operation so that the multiple mobility vehicles 20 can travel smoothly.

[0017] The driving instruction transmission unit 17 outputs driving instruction information Dc based on the driving map Mf and the no-entry areas E from the operation management unit 16 to each mobility 20. As a result, the mobility 20 travels on the revised driving route Iar, which is the target driving route, in accordance with the driving instruction information Dc, passing through (passing through) the revised specified point Ian.

[0018] As shown in Fig. 1, the mobility 20 mainly includes an imaging unit 21, a position information acquisition unit 22, an ECU 23, and a communication unit 24. The mobility 20 mainly includes a controller 25, an inverter 26, a battery 27, a drive unit 28, and wheels 29 in order to travel by, for example, autonomous driving. Although a steering device is omitted in Fig. 1, for example, the front wheels of the mobility 20 can be steered as steered wheels.

[0019] The imaging unit 21 mainly includes a camera, for example, a Web camera, an infrared camera, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), etc. The imaging unit 21 outputs image information Ic representing the captured image to the ECU 23.

[0020] The position information acquisition unit 22 includes a receiver for RTK (Real Time Kinematic) or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and acquires position information Ip of the mobility 20 traveling by autonomous driving. The position information acquisition unit 22 outputs the acquired position information Ip to the ECU 23.

[0021] The ECU 23 is an electronic control unit including, as a main element, a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and various interfaces. The CPU sequentially executes a predetermined program to read data, perform numerical calculations, and output the calculation results. The ROM stores programs and maps executed by the CPU. The RAM temporarily stores data, etc. The various interfaces are connected to the imaging unit 21, the position information acquisition unit 22, the communication unit 24, and the controller 25.

[0022] The communication unit 24 transmits the image information Ic supplied from the ECU 23 to the map database 30. In addition, the communication unit 24 transmits the position information Ip supplied from the ECU 23 to the mobility information database 40. Furthermore, the communication unit 24 receives the driving instruction information Dc transmitted from the vehicle operation management device 10, and outputs it to the ECU 23.

[0023] The controller 25 is an electronic control unit including, as a main element, a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and various interfaces. The controller 25 controls the operation of the inverter 26 in accordance with the driving instruction information Dc acquired from the ECU 23, and drives the mobility 20. The inverter 26 drives the wheels 29 via the driving device 28, for example, by controlling the power supplied from the battery 27 to the driving device 28.

[0024] Next, the process executed to create the driving map Mf in the vehicle operation management device 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 2 and (A)-(F) in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 2, the vehicle operation management device 10 starts execution of a driving map creation program in step S10.

[0025] In step S11, the travel route determination unit 12 acquires map information Dm, which is generally provided, from the map database 30 via the map information acquisition unit 11. Then, the travel route determination unit 12 roughly determines a tentative travel route Ir based on a general map represented by the acquired map information Dm.

[0026] In step S12, the predetermined point setting unit 13 sets a temporary predetermined point In on the temporary travel route Ir. Then, in the following step S13, the predetermined point setting unit 13 connects the set temporary predetermined points In to each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3(A), a temporary map Mt including the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary predetermined point In is created.

[0027] In step S14, when the mobility 20 is driven according to the temporary map Mt, i.e., according to the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In included in the temporary map Mt, the correction unit 14 measures the distance between the road edge Ed or white line L, which is the reference position, and the mobility 20, i.e., the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In, as shown in FIG. 3(B). Specifically, in the mobility 20, the ECU 23 transmits image information Ic representing an image captured by the imaging unit 21 to the map database 30 via the communication unit 24. The map database 30 outputs the image information Ic acquired via the map information acquisition unit 11 to the correction unit 14. The correction unit 14 measures the distance between the mobility 20, i.e., the temporary travel route Ir and the temporary specified point In, and the road edge Ed or white line L, by performing image recognition on the image represented by the image information Ic.

[0028] Next, in step S15, the correction unit 14 offsets and corrects the tentative travel route Ir and the tentative specified point In (or the corrected travel route Iar and the corrected specified point Ian) so that the distance between the mobility 20 and the road edge Ed or white line L becomes a predetermined distance, i.e., the travel route and the specified point on which the mobility 20 is desired to travel. That is, the correction unit 14 executes the correction process so that the tentative travel route Ir shown by the thick solid line overlaps with the corrected travel route Iar shown by the thick dashed line, as shown in FIG. 3(B).

[0029] Then, in step S16, the correction unit 14 judges whether the mobility 20 is traveling as expected according to the corrected traveling route Iar and the corrected specified point Ian. That is, the correction unit 14 judges "Yes" if the mobility 20 is traveling as expected based on the position information Ip of the mobility 20 acquired by the position information acquisition unit 15. Then, the correction unit 14 completes the traveling map Mf including the corrected traveling route Iar and the corrected specified point Ian and executes the processing of step S17. On the other hand, if the mobility 20 is not traveling as expected based on the position information Ip, the correction unit 14 judges "No" and repeatedly executes each step processing from step S14 onwards until the mobility 20 travels as expected.

[0030] In step S17, the traffic management unit 16 sets intersections on the corrected driving route Iar as nodes N on the driving map Mf, as shown by black circles in Fig. 3D. Also, the traffic management unit 16 sets nodes N on the driving map Mf at points that represent road shapes (points that represent straight lines in Fig. 3), as shown by white circles in Fig. 3E.

[0031] Then, in the next step S18, the operation management unit 16 specifies the traveling direction of the mobility 20 at the node N set in step S17, as shown by the arrow in (E) of Fig. 3. As a result, the operation management unit 16 sets a no-entry area E, as shown by the dotted area in (F) of Fig. 3, for the intersection set as the node N, so that multiple mobility vehicles 20 cannot enter from different directions at the same time.

[0032] In this way, by setting the no-entry area E, the mobility 20 traveling on the high priority travel route Irp1 and the mobility 20 traveling on the similarly high priority travel route Irp2 do not enter the same intersection at the same time, and can travel smoothly. Then, after setting the travel map Mf and the no-entry area E, the vehicle operation management device 10 ends the execution of the program in step S19.

[0033] As can be understood from the above explanation, the vehicle operation management device 10 includes a driving route determination unit 12 that determines a tentative driving route Ir based on existing map information Dm, a specified point setting unit 13 that sets a tentative specified point In that represents a waypoint on the tentative driving route Ir, a correction unit 14 that creates a temporary map Mt including the tentative driving route Ir and the tentative specified point In, and corrects the tentative driving route Ir and the tentative specified point In based on the distance between the tentative driving route Ir as a target driving route when driving according to the created temporary map Mt and the road edge Ed or white line L as a reference position of the road on which the tentative driving route Ir exists, and an operation management unit 16 that sets a node N that represents a characteristic point of the road in a driving map Mf including the corrected corrected driving route Iar and the corrected specified point Ian, and sets the direction of travel at the set node N to manage operation.

[0034] As a result, the vehicle operation management device 10 can create an appropriate driving map Mf including a revised driving route Iar and a revised specified point Ian by revising the temporary map Mt determined using the existing map information Dm based on the actual driving of the mobility 20. Therefore, the driving map Mf can be created at low cost. In addition, the vehicle operation management device 10 can set a node N in the created driving map Mf and set the traveling direction of the node N. Therefore, the driving map Mf created when coordinating the driving of multiple mobility vehicles 20, i.e., when managing the driving of multiple mobility vehicles 20, can be used. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 10...vehicle operation management device, 11...map information acquisition unit, 12...driving route determination unit, 13...predetermined point setting unit, 14...correction unit, 15...location information acquisition unit, 16...driving management unit, 17...driving instruction transmission unit, 20...mobility, 21...imaging unit, 22...location information acquisition unit, 23...ECU, 24...communication unit, 25...controller, 26...inverter, 27...battery, 28...drive unit, 29...wheels, 30...map database, 40...mobility information database, Dm...map information, Dc...driving instruction information, Ir...temporary driving route, In...temporary specified point, Mt...temporary map, Iar...corrected driving route, Ian...corrected specified point, Mf...driving map, N...node, Ic...image information, Ip...location information, Ed...road edge (reference position), L...white line etc. (reference position), E...no entry area.

Claims

[Claim 1] a travel route determination unit that determines a tentative travel route based on existing map information; a predetermined point setting unit that sets a provisional predetermined point representing a route along the provisional travel route; a correction unit that creates a temporary map including the temporary travel route and the temporary specified points, and corrects the temporary travel route and the temporary specified points based on a distance between a target travel route when traveling according to the created temporary map and a reference position of a road on which the target travel route exists; a driving management unit that sets nodes representing characteristic points of roads on a driving map including the revised driving route and the revised predetermined points, and sets a traveling direction at the set nodes to manage driving; A vehicle operation management device comprising:

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