Driving support control device and driving support method

Abstract

To determine the possibility that a vehicle may be impaired by flying objects and support driving so that the vehicle can travel safely.SOLUTION: A driving support control device 20 includes: a video acquisition unit 21 for acquiring video images; a moving vehicle recognition unit 23 for recognizing, from the video images, a preceding moving vehicle that may move in front of a vehicle; a determination unit 25 for determining whether or not the vehicle is likely to be impaired due to the preceding moving vehicle recognized by the moving vehicle recognition unit 23; and a warning control unit 29 for controlling the output of warning information when the determination unit 25 determines that the vehicle is likely to be impaired. When recognizing a flying object that may fly from the preceding moving vehicle to the vehicle based on the image taken when the vehicle and the preceding moving vehicle are at a speed lower than a speed threshold, the determination unit 25 determines that the vehicle is likely to be impaired. The warning control unit 29 controls the output of warning information in a manner that depends on the speed of the vehicle and the preceding moving vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a driving assistance control device and a driving assistance method. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known a technique for identifying accidents that occur when nearby vehicles deviate from normal driving, determining avoidance measures, and presenting a warning and the avoidance measures (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2005-115484 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] While a vehicle is traveling, the body of the vehicle may be damaged by flying stones. Conventional technology did not take such obstacles into consideration, making it difficult to predict the possibility of a small object such as a flying stone coming into contact with the vehicle.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to determine the possibility of a flying object causing damage to a vehicle and assist driving so that the vehicle can travel safely. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the driving assistance control device of the present disclosure comprises an image acquisition unit that acquires image captured around the vehicle, a moving object recognition unit that recognizes a preceding moving object that may be moving in front of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit, a judgment unit that determines whether or not there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle due to the preceding moving object recognized by the moving object recognition unit, and a warning control unit that controls to output warning information when the judgment unit determines that there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle, wherein the judgment unit determines that there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle when a flying object that may fly from the preceding moving object to the vehicle is recognized based on the image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, and the warning control unit controls to output warning information in a manner corresponding to the speeds of the vehicle and the preceding moving object.

[0007] The driving assistance method according to the present disclosure includes an image acquisition step of acquiring an image of the surroundings of the vehicle, a moving object recognition step of recognizing a preceding moving object that may be moving in front of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition step, a determination step of determining whether or not there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle due to the preceding moving object recognized by the moving object recognition step, and a warning control step of controlling to output warning information if it is determined by the determination step that there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle, wherein the determination step determines that there is a possibility of an injury to the vehicle when a flying object that may fly from the preceding moving object to the vehicle is recognized based on the image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, and the warning control step controls to output warning information in a manner corresponding to the speeds of the vehicle and the preceding moving object. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to determine the possibility of a flying object causing damage to a vehicle and to assist driving so that the vehicle can travel safely. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a driving assistance device including a driving assistance control device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flight path of a flying object. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing in the driving assistance control device according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a driving assistance control device and a driving assistance method according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0011] [Embodiment] <Driving assistance device> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a driving assistance device including a driving assistance control device according to an embodiment. The driving assistance device 10 outputs a warning when a flying object is recognized from a preceding moving body. The driving assistance device 10 may be implemented as one of the functions of a so-called drive recorder, for example. The driving assistance device 10 may be a device that is portable and usable in a vehicle, in addition to being mounted on the vehicle. The driving assistance device 10 includes a camera 11, a sensor 12, a warning unit 19, and a driving assistance control device 20.

[0012] The flying object is, for example, about the size of a pebble that can get stuck in a tire groove. The flying object is, for example, of such a size that it is difficult to recognize from the image when it is actually flying toward the vehicle being driven by the user from a preceding moving body, which is a vehicle traveling ahead at a distance. In this description, the flying object is not limited to a state in which it is actually flying, but also includes a state in which it may fly.

[0013] The camera 11 is a camera that captures moving objects around the vehicle. In this embodiment, the camera 11 is described as a camera that can capture the entire 360° sky, but is not limited thereto, and may be a single camera facing one direction, or a group of multiple cameras that capture each direction. The camera 11 is disposed, for example, in a position that can capture the surroundings of the vehicle. In this embodiment, the camera 11 captures images all the time while the accessory power of the vehicle is ON. The camera 11 outputs the captured images to the image acquisition unit 21.

[0014] The sensor 12 measures the distance between the vehicle and a moving object around the vehicle. The sensor 12 is, for example, a sensor that outputs electromagnetic waves other than visible light toward the periphery of the vehicle and detects an object by the reflected waves of the electromagnetic waves. The sensor 12 is, for example, a sensor including an infrared laser sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a millimeter wave radar, etc. The sensor 12 is not limited to this, and may realize distance measurement by a known method using images from a stereo camera, etc. In addition, by handling image information, the relative positional relationship with the target moving object can be detected with high accuracy. The sensor 12 outputs sensor data to the sensor data acquisition unit 122.

[0015] The warning unit 19 outputs a warning when it is determined that a failure may occur. The warning unit 19 outputs the warning based on a control signal from a warning control unit 29. The warning unit 19 includes a display unit 191 and a speaker 192.

[0016] The display unit 191 is, for example, a display device specific to the driving assistance device 10, or a display device shared with other systems including a navigation system. The display unit 240 is, for example, a display including a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, or a head-up display that displays an image on the windshield of the vehicle. The display unit 191 issues a warning by displaying, for example, text or an icon image on a monitor. The display unit 191 displays an image based on a video signal output from the display control unit 291. The display unit 191 displays information to notify the driver of the vehicle that a fault may occur.

[0017] The speaker 192 is, for example, an audio output device specific to the driving assistance device 10, or an audio output device shared with other systems including a navigation system. The speaker 192 outputs audio based on an audio signal output from the audio output control unit 292. The speaker 192 outputs audio to notify the driver of the vehicle that a fault may occur.

[0018] <Driver assistance control device> The driving assistance control device 20 is an arithmetic processing device (control device) constituted by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like. The driving assistance control device 20 loads a program stored in a storage unit (not shown) into a memory and executes instructions contained in the program. The driving assistance control device 20 includes an internal memory (not shown) that is used for temporarily storing data in the driving assistance control device 20. The driving assistance control device 20 includes an image acquisition unit 21, a sensor data acquisition unit 22, a moving object recognition unit 23, a vehicle information acquisition unit 24, a determination unit 25, and a warning control unit 29.

[0019] The image acquisition unit 21 acquires the image output by the camera 11 .

[0020] The sensor data acquiring unit 22 acquires sensor data acquired by the sensor 12. More specifically, the sensor data acquiring unit 22 acquires, from the sensor data, a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the other moving body, including a distance between the vehicle and the other moving body.

[0021] Here, the other moving body is, for example, another vehicle located around the vehicle. Also, another moving body that is in front of the driver's vehicle in the traveling direction or that may move forward by overtaking or changing lanes is called a preceding moving body. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, the moving body will be described assuming that the moving body is another vehicle.

[0022] As described above, the flying object may be, for example, a pebble, or a part that is about to come off the body of the preceding moving body, or baggage loaded on the platform.

[0023] The moving object recognition unit 23 recognizes a preceding moving object that may move in front of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 21. More specifically, the moving object recognition unit 23 recognizes a preceding moving object traveling in the same lane as the vehicle or an adjacent lane by image processing from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 21. In this embodiment, the moving object recognition unit 23 recognizes another vehicle that is a preceding moving object by performing image processing on the image using a vehicle recognition dictionary stored in a vehicle recognition dictionary storage unit (not shown). The moving object recognition unit 23 detects the relationship between the preceding moving object and the traveling lane. The method of recognizing a vehicle may be any known method and is not limited.

[0024] The moving object recognition unit 23 may identify the preceding moving object by recognizing characters displayed on an identification tag such as a license plate attached to the preceding moving object, for example. The moving object recognition unit 23 may recognize the driving lane of the preceding moving object from the video.

[0025] The moving object recognition unit 23 tracks the detected preceding moving object based on the shape of the preceding moving object, characters displayed on the identification tag, etc. The moving object recognition unit 23 may stop tracking the preceding moving object when the detected preceding moving object changes lanes and continues not traveling in the same lane as the vehicle for a predetermined period of time. The moving object recognition unit 23 may resume and continue tracking based on the fact that it is the same preceding moving object when the vehicle changes lanes or when the preceding moving object temporarily moves away and then moves close again.

[0026] The vehicle information acquisition unit 24 acquires vehicle information from the vehicle via a controller area network (CAN) etc. The vehicle information acquisition unit 24 acquires vehicle information indicating, for example, the speed of the vehicle.

[0027] The determination unit 25 determines whether or not there is a possibility that an obstacle will occur to the vehicle due to the preceding moving object recognized by the moving object recognition unit 23. The determination unit 25 determines that there is a possibility that an obstacle will occur to the vehicle when a flying object that may fly toward the vehicle from the preceding moving object is recognized based on an image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold.

[0028] The speed threshold is, for example, 10 km / h.

[0029] In this embodiment, the determination unit 25 recognizes an object that is positioned so as to be able to separate from the vehicle body of the preceding moving body as a flying object. For example, the determination unit 25 recognizes an object that is unstably attached to the vehicle body of the preceding moving body as a flying object. For example, the determination unit 25 recognizes a pebble that is stuck in the tire grooves of the rear wheels of the vehicle body of the preceding moving body or between the twin tires as a flying object. For example, the determination unit 25 recognizes a part that is about to come off the vehicle body of the preceding moving body, luggage loaded on the loading platform, etc. as a flying object.

[0030] The judgment unit 25 may recognize a pebble stuck in the groove of the rear tire of another vehicle from images intermittently captured when the other vehicle in front of the vehicle slows down or stops, for example, while waiting at a traffic light.

[0031] The determination unit 25 may, for example, recognize the tires of another vehicle from continuously captured images, and recognize a pebble stuck in the groove of the rear tire of the other vehicle from the periodicity of the disturbance between frames of the tire part in the images and the estimated speed of the other vehicle.

[0032] In this embodiment, the determination unit 25 estimates the flight path of the flying object according to the distance between the preceding moving body where the flying object is recognized and the vehicle, and determines the possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle based on the flight path. For example, when it is predicted that the vehicle is located on the estimated flight path, the determination unit 25 determines that an obstacle may occur to the vehicle.

[0033] In this embodiment, the determination unit 25 determines the possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle based on the shape of the preceding moving body recognized by the moving body recognition unit 23 and the estimated flight path. More specifically, when the estimated flight path of the flying object overlaps with the shape of the preceding moving body, the flying object is less likely to hit the preceding moving body and fly toward the vehicle. For example, when a pebble stuck in the rear wheel tire is considered as the flying object, the determination unit 25 determines that there is no possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle when the shape of the part of the vehicle body rear of the rear wheel of the preceding moving body overlaps with the flight path, and determines that there is a possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle when the flight paths do not overlap.

[0034] For example, the rear wheel mudguard, the trunk or the protruding part of the loading platform at the rear of the vehicle may correspond to the shape of the preceding moving body and may overlap with the flight path.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flight path of a flying object. Using FIG. 2, the flight path will be described using a pebble thrown directly behind the rear tire of another vehicle B traveling in front of vehicle A as an example of a flying object. The speed of the other vehicle B is VB, and the initial speed of the flying object thrown backward from the rear wheel of the other vehicle B at an upward angle θ is V. The speed VB of the other vehicle B can be estimated and calculated from the running speed of vehicle A and the fluctuation of the distance to vehicle B. The thrown flying object gradually falls due to the influence of the gravitational acceleration g, but if the influence of air resistance and the like is ignored, it draws a parabola. In the figure, x and y are the components of the flight path decomposed into the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively, and h is the initial height of the flying object relative to the ground when it is thrown. In this case, the flight path L of the flying object, which is a parabolic object, is expressed by the following formulas 1 and 2 at the positions x and y, assuming that the elapsed time from the throw is t.

[0036]

number

[0037]

number

[0038] Since the initial speed V of the flying object is approximately the same as the rotational speed of the outer circumferential surface of the tire, it may be considered that V ≒ VB. Considering that the flying object will be released from near the contact surface of the rear wheel of vehicle B, the initial height h ≒ 0 may be used to simplify the calculation. In addition, when actually judging the possibility of an injury due to contact with a flying object, it is necessary to judge the approach due to the movement of vehicle A during the elapsed time t, as well as the shape of vehicle A. For example, a projectile reaches the farthest when released at an angle of θ = 45°, but the illustrated example using the above formula does not take into account the shape of the body of the preceding vehicle B. If the shape of the preceding vehicle overlaps with the flight path, the range of θ in which the flying object will reach vehicle A is limited.

[0039] In the above description, the flight path is calculated using a formula. However, in consideration of the processing load due to real-time calculations, the flight path may be selected using a data table in which flight paths have been calculated in advance.

[0040] The warning control unit 29 performs control to output warning information when the determination unit 25 determines that there is a possibility of an obstacle occurring. The warning control unit 29 performs control to output warning information indicating, for example, that there is a possibility of an object flying from a preceding moving object.

[0041] The warning control unit 29 controls to output warning information in a manner according to the speed of the vehicle and the preceding moving object. For example, when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at less than a predetermined speed, the warning control unit 29 controls to output warning information indicating to increase the distance, to reduce the speed, or to move to a lane so as to deviate from the flight path. For example, when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a predetermined speed or higher, the warning control unit 29 controls to output warning information indicating to reduce the speed. For example, when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a predetermined speed or higher, the warning control unit 29 controls to output warning information by voice. When the speed of the vehicle and the preceding moving object is high, the warning control unit 29 outputs a message to reduce the speed so as to easily and safely deviate from the flight path. When the speed of the vehicle and the preceding moving object is high, it is difficult to confirm the warning information by text or image, so the warning information is output by voice.

[0042] The predetermined speed may be, for example, 0 km / h. The predetermined speed may be set in advance based on, for example, a speed threshold value adopted for recognizing a flying object.

[0043] In this embodiment, the warning control unit 29 performs control to output warning information according to the approach route. For example, when there is a possibility that a vehicle is located on the approach route, the warning control unit 29 performs control to output warning information indicating to keep a distance, to reduce speed, to move to a different lane, or the like.

[0044] The display control unit 291 controls the display of the image on the display unit 191. The display control unit 291 outputs a video signal that causes the display unit 191 to output the image.

[0045] The audio output control unit 292 controls the output of audio from the speaker 192. The audio output control unit 292 outputs an audio signal that outputs audio from the speaker 192.

[0046] <Processing in the driving assistance control device> Next, information processing in the driving assistance device 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the driving assistance control device according to the embodiment.

[0047] The driving assistance control device 20 recognizes a moving object (step S101). More specifically, the driving assistance control device 20 recognizes a preceding moving object that may be moving in front of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 21, using the moving object recognition unit 23. The driving assistance control device 20 proceeds to step S102.

[0048] The driving assistance control device 20 determines whether or not there is a possibility of an obstacle (step S102). When the determination unit 25 recognizes an object that may fly from the preceding moving object to the vehicle based on the video captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than the speed threshold, the driving assistance control device 20 determines that an obstacle may occur to the vehicle. When the driving assistance control device 20 determines that there is a possibility of an obstacle (Yes in step S102), it proceeds to step S103. When the driving assistance control device 20 does not determine that there is a possibility of an obstacle (No in step S102), it executes the process of step S101 again.

[0049] The driving assistance control device 20 issues a warning (step S103). More specifically, the driving assistance control device 20 controls the warning control unit 29 to output warning information in a manner according to the speeds of the vehicle and the preceding moving object. The driving assistance control device 20 proceeds to step S104.

[0050] The driving assistance control device 20 determines whether or not to end this process (step S104). More specifically, the driving assistance control device 20 determines to end this process when, for example, a user operation to end this process is received. When the driving assistance control device 20 determines to end this process (Yes in step S104), it ends this process. When the driving assistance control device 20 does not determine to end this process (No in step S104), it executes the process of step S101 again.

[0051] <Effects> As described above, in this embodiment, when a flying object that may fly from the preceding moving body to the vehicle is recognized based on an image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving body are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, it is determined that an obstacle may occur to the vehicle. In this embodiment, warning information is output in a manner according to the speed of the vehicle and the preceding moving body. According to this embodiment, the possibility of an obstacle caused by an object flying from the preceding moving body can be determined in advance before the flying object actually arrives. According to this embodiment, the driver of the vehicle can know the possibility of an obstacle caused by an object flying in advance in a suitable manner, and can take an avoidance action at a sufficient timing. In this way, this embodiment can determine the possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle due to a flying object, and can assist driving so that the vehicle can travel safely.

[0052] In this embodiment, a pebble stuck in the groove of the rear tire of another vehicle is recognized from an image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving body are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, for example, when another vehicle in front of the vehicle slows down or stops, such as when waiting at a traffic light. According to this embodiment, the recognition is performed from an image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving body are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, rather than from an image in which image recognition would be difficult, such as when a flying object is actually flying or when traveling at high speed, so that the flying object can be properly recognized.

[0053] In this embodiment, an object that is located so as to be able to move away from the vehicle body of the preceding moving body is recognized as an incoming object. According to this embodiment, it is possible to appropriately recognize an incoming object that may cause an obstacle to the vehicle.

[0054] In this embodiment, the flight path of the flying object is estimated according to the distance between the preceding moving body where the flying object is recognized and the vehicle, and the possibility of an injury to the vehicle is determined based on the flight path. In this embodiment, warning information according to the flight path can be output. According to this embodiment, unnecessary warning information can be suppressed and appropriate warning information can be provided to the driver of the vehicle.

[0055] In this embodiment, the possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle is determined based on the shape of the preceding moving object and the flight path of the preceding moving object. According to this embodiment, the possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle can be appropriately determined.

[0056] The driving assistance device according to the present disclosure may be embodied in various different forms other than the embodiment described above.

[0057] Each component of the illustrated driving support device is a functional concept, and does not necessarily have to be physically configured as illustrated. In other words, the specific form of each device is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or part of the device may be functionally or physically distributed or integrated in any unit depending on the processing load and usage status of each device.

[0058] The configuration of the driving assistance device is realized, for example, as software by a program loaded into a memory. In the above embodiment, the configuration has been described as a functional block realized by cooperation of these hardware and software. In other words, these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by only hardware, only software, or a combination of both.

[0059] The above-mentioned components include those that a person skilled in the art can easily imagine and those that are substantially the same. Furthermore, the above-mentioned configurations can be appropriately combined. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions, or modifications of the configurations are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0060] 10 Driving assistance devices 11 Camera 12 Sensors 19 Warning section 191 Display section 192 Speaker 20 Driving assistance control device 21 Video Acquisition Unit 22 Sensor data acquisition unit 23 Mobile object recognition unit 24 Vehicle Information Acquisition Department 25 Judgment section 29 Warning control section 291 Display control section 292 Audio output control unit

Claims

1. An image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the surroundings of the vehicle; a moving object recognition unit that recognizes a preceding moving object that may be moving in front of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition unit; a determination unit that determines whether or not there is a possibility that an obstacle will occur to the vehicle due to the preceding moving object recognized by the moving object recognition unit; a warning control unit that controls to output warning information when the determination unit determines that a fault may occur; Equipped with the determination unit determines, based on the image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold, that an obstacle may occur to the vehicle when a flying object that may fly toward the vehicle from the preceding moving object is recognized; The warning control unit controls to output warning information in a manner corresponding to the speeds of the vehicle and the preceding moving object. Driver assistance control device.

2. the determination unit recognizes an object that is positioned so as to be separable from a vehicle body of the preceding moving body as the flying object; The driving assistance control device according to claim 1 .

3. the determination unit estimates a flight path of the flying object according to a distance between the preceding moving body in which the flying object is recognized and the vehicle, and determines a possibility of an obstacle occurring to the vehicle based on the flight path; The warning control unit controls to output the warning information according to the flight path. The driving assistance control device according to claim 2 .

4. the determination unit determines a possibility that an obstacle will occur to the vehicle based on a shape of the preceding moving object and the flight path of the preceding moving object. The driving assistance control device according to claim 3 .

5. An image acquisition step of acquiring an image of the periphery of the vehicle; a moving object recognition step of recognizing a preceding moving object that may move ahead of the vehicle from the image acquired by the image acquisition step; a determination step of determining whether or not there is a possibility that an obstacle will occur to the vehicle due to the preceding moving object recognized in the moving object recognition step; a warning control step of controlling to output warning information when it is determined in the determination step that a failure may occur; Including, The determining step determines that an obstacle may occur to the vehicle when a flying object that may fly toward the vehicle from the preceding moving object is recognized based on the image captured when the vehicle and the preceding moving object are traveling at a speed lower than a speed threshold value, The warning control step includes controlling to output warning information in a manner corresponding to the speeds of the vehicle and the preceding moving object. Driving assistance methods.

Images