Vehicle headlamp control device, vehicle headlamp control method, and vehicle headlamp control program

Abstract

To provide a vehicle headlamp control device that can perform dimming control for pedestrians who are highly affected by glare risk from headlamps.SOLUTION: A vehicle headlamp control device 1 includes: an image acquisition part 11 that acquires forward situation information of an own vehicle A; a pedestrian recognition part 12 that recognizes pedestrians present in front of the own vehicle A based on forward situation information of the own vehicle A; a headlamp control part 14 that controls a headlamp 2 to perform partial dimming for a pedestrian recognized to be present in front of the own vehicle A; and a priority setting part 13 that sets priorities to multiple pedestrians based on a positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the own vehicle A when the multiple pedestrians are recognized in front of the own vehicle A. The headlamp control part 14 controls the headlamp 2 to perform partial dimming for the multiple pedestrians according to the priorities set by the priority setting part 13.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] Known as a conventional vehicle headlamp control device is, for example, the technology described in Patent Document 1. In the vehicle headlamp control device described in Patent Document 1, when a pedestrian in front of the vehicle is detected by a camera, if the pedestrian is moving toward the vehicle, the light distribution of the headlamps is controlled so that only the pedestrian's head is shaded out of the light distribution required for the vehicle to travel autonomously, and if the pedestrian is not moving toward the vehicle, the light distribution of the headlamps is controlled so that light is irradiated over the entire illumination range required for the vehicle to travel autonomously. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7053409 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the above conventional technology has the following problems. That is, in a scene where there are multiple pedestrians in front of the vehicle, pedestrian shading control is performed in the order in which the pedestrians in front of the vehicle are detected by the camera, so the pedestrians for whom shading control is performed do not necessarily match the pedestrians who are greatly affected by the glare risk from headlamps (headlights). Specifically, there are cases where shading control is not performed for pedestrians who are greatly affected by the glare risk from the high beams of the headlights, and shading control is performed for pedestrians who are not greatly affected by the glare risk from the high beams of the headlights.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle headlamp control device, a vehicle headlamp control method, and a vehicle headlamp control program that can implement dimming control for pedestrians who are highly affected by the glare risk caused by headlights. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is a vehicle headlight control device that controls headlights with adjustable light distribution, and includes an acquisition unit that acquires information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle, a recognition unit that recognizes pedestrians in front of the host vehicle based on the information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle acquired by the acquisition unit, a control unit that controls the headlights to partially dim the light for a pedestrian recognized by the recognition unit to be in front of the host vehicle, and a priority setting unit that, when multiple pedestrians in front of the host vehicle are recognized by the recognition unit, sets priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on the pedestrians' positional relationships with respect to the host vehicle, and the control unit controls the headlights to partially dim the light for the multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting unit.

[0007] The recognition unit recognizes pedestrians present within a predetermined specified azimuth angle range and specified lateral position range in front of the host vehicle, and the priority setting unit, when multiple pedestrians present within a predetermined azimuth angle range and specified lateral position range in front of the host vehicle, may set priorities to the multiple pedestrians based on the distance from the host vehicle to the pedestrians and the angle of the pedestrians relative to the host vehicle.

[0008] The vehicle headlight control device further includes a detection unit that detects the driving environment of the vehicle, and a judgment unit that determines whether or not partial dimming is necessary for pedestrians based on the driving environment of the vehicle detected by the detection unit, and when the judgment unit determines that partial dimming is necessary for pedestrians, the control unit may control the headlights to perform partial dimming for multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting unit.

[0009] Another aspect of the present invention is a vehicular headlamp control method for controlling a headlamp with adjustable light distribution, the method including an acquisition step of acquiring information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle, a recognition step of recognizing a pedestrian ahead of the host vehicle based on the information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle acquired by the acquisition step, a control step of controlling the headlamp to partially dim the headlamp for the pedestrian recognized as being ahead of the host vehicle by the recognition step, and a priority setting step of setting priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on their positional relationships with respect to the host vehicle when multiple pedestrians ahead of the host vehicle are recognized by the recognition step, and in the control step, partial dimming is performed for the multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting step.

[0010] Yet another aspect of the present invention is a vehicular headlight control program for controlling headlights with adjustable light distribution, which causes a computer to execute an acquisition step of acquiring information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle, a recognition step of recognizing a pedestrian in front of the host vehicle based on the information about the situation ahead of the host vehicle acquired by the acquisition step, a control step of controlling the headlights to partially dim the headlights for the pedestrian recognized as being in front of the host vehicle by the recognition step, and a priority setting step of setting priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on their positional relationships with respect to the host vehicle when multiple pedestrians in front of the host vehicle are recognized by the recognition step, and in the control step, the headlights are controlled to partially dim the headlights for the multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting step. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, dimming control can be implemented for pedestrians who are highly affected by the glare risk caused by headlights. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle headlamp control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a headlamp control process executed by a headlamp control ECU shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing how priorities are set for pedestrian targets extracted from image data. [Figure 4] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle headlamp control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a headlamp control process executed by a headlamp control ECU shown in FIG. 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or equivalent elements are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0014] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle headlamp control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 1, the vehicle headlamp control device 1 of this embodiment is mounted on a vehicle capable of autonomous driving. The vehicle headlamp control device 1 is a device that controls a headlamp 2 that can variably adjust light distribution.

[0015] The headlamp 2 can be switched between low beam, full high beam, and glare-free high beam. The glare-free high beam is a light distribution that aims to reduce glare for pedestrians by slightly reducing the amount of light compared to the full high beam.

[0016] The headlamp 2 has a headlamp 3 and a lamp control unit 4 that controls the headlamp 3. The headlamp 3 is composed of multiple LEDs (light emitting diodes). The lamp control unit 4 can partially control the light amount of the headlamp 3 by independently controlling the light amount of each LED.

[0017] The vehicle headlamp control device 1 includes a camera 5 and a headlamp control ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 10. The camera 5 captures an image of the area ahead of the vehicle A (see FIG. 3) and outputs the captured image.

[0018] The headlamp control ECU 10 is an electronic control unit having a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an input / output interface, etc. The headlamp control ECU 10 performs various functions including a headlamp control function by, for example, loading a program recorded in the ROM into the RAM and executing the program loaded into the RAM by the CPU. The headlamp control ECU 10 may be composed of multiple electronic units.

[0019] The headlamp control ECU 10 includes an image acquisition unit 11, a pedestrian recognition unit 12, a priority setting unit 13, and a headlamp control unit 14.

[0020] The image acquisition unit 11 acquires image data from the camera 5 as forward situation information. The image data from the camera 5 is captured image data of the area forward of the vehicle A and output from the camera 5. The image acquisition unit 11 constitutes an acquisition unit that acquires forward situation information for the vehicle A.

[0021] The pedestrian recognition unit 12 recognizes pedestrians present in front of the host vehicle A based on image data of the camera 5 acquired by the image acquisition unit 11. The pedestrian recognition unit 12 constitutes a recognition unit that recognizes pedestrians present in front of the host vehicle A based on forward situation information of the host vehicle A acquired by the image acquisition unit 11. The pedestrian recognition unit 12 recognizes pedestrians present in front of the host vehicle A within a predetermined specified azimuth angle range θ (see FIG. 3) and a predetermined lateral position range D (see FIG. 3).

[0022] When the pedestrian recognition unit 12 recognizes multiple pedestrians in front of the host vehicle A, the priority setting unit 13 sets priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on the positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the host vehicle A. When the priority setting unit 13 recognizes multiple pedestrians in front of the host vehicle A within a specified azimuth angle range θ and a specified lateral position range D, the priority setting unit 13 sets priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on the distance from the host vehicle A to the pedestrians and the angle of the pedestrian with respect to the host vehicle A.

[0023] The headlamp control unit 14 controls the headlamp 2 to perform partial dimming for multiple pedestrians according to the priorities set by the priority setting unit 13. The headlamp control unit 14 configures a control unit that controls the headlamp 2 to perform partial dimming for a pedestrian recognized by the pedestrian recognition unit 12 as being in front of the host vehicle A. Note that dimming here also includes blocking the amount of light.

[0024] 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a headlamp control process executed by the headlamp control ECU 10. This process is executed, for example, when a command is given to emit full high beams from the headlamp 2.

[0025] 2, the headlamp control ECU 10 first acquires image data from the camera 5 (step S101). Next, the headlamp control ECU 10 extracts a pedestrian target W from the image data (step S102). The pedestrian target W is a target detected as a candidate for a pedestrian, as shown in FIG.

[0026] Next, the headlamp control ECU 10 judges whether the extracted pedestrian object W is present within a predetermined azimuth angle range θ (step S103). The predetermined azimuth angle range θ is an angle range [deg] centered on the central position G of the host vehicle A in the vehicle width direction, as shown in FIG. 3(a).

[0027] When the headlamp control ECU 10 determines that the extracted pedestrian object W is present within the specified azimuth angle range θ, it then determines whether the extracted pedestrian object W is present within a predetermined specified lateral position range D (step S104). The specified lateral position range D is a position range [m] in the vehicle width direction (lateral direction) centered on the center position G of the host vehicle A in the vehicle width direction, as shown in FIG. 3(a).

[0028] When the headlamp control ECU 10 determines that the extracted pedestrian object W is present within the specified lateral position range D, it determines whether the number of pedestrian objects W present within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D is equal to or greater than a specified number X (step S105). The specified number X is a number determined in advance.

[0029] When the headlamp control ECU 10 determines that the number of pedestrian targets W existing within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D is equal to or greater than a specified number, it assigns target numbers that indicate priorities (priorities) to all pedestrian targets W existing within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D (step S106). The target numbers are assigned in the order of 1, 2, 3, ... starting from the pedestrian target W with the highest priority.

[0030] In this case, as shown in Fig. 3(b), if the straight-line distance from the center position G of the host vehicle A in the vehicle width direction to the pedestrian target W is L, the priority of the pedestrian target W with the closer straight-line distance L is higher. If the straight-line distances L are equal, if the angle with respect to the center position G of the host vehicle A in the vehicle width direction is α, the priority of the pedestrian target W with the angle α closer to 0 degrees is higher. The angle α is the angle with respect to an imaginary line J that extends straight in the fore-and-aft direction of the host vehicle A and passes through the center position G of the host vehicle A in the vehicle width direction.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 3(a), a target number is assigned to a pedestrian target W (called pedestrian target W1) that exists within a specified azimuth angle range θ and a specified lateral position range D, and a target number is not assigned to a pedestrian target W (called pedestrian target W2) that exists outside the specified azimuth angle range θ or outside the specified lateral position range D.

[0032] Next, the headlamp control ECU 10 outputs a command signal to the lamp control unit 4 of the headlamp 2 to partially dim the lights of the pedestrians corresponding to the pedestrian targets W with target numbers from 1 to X (step S107). At this time, the headlamp control ECU 10 outputs a command signal to the lamp control unit 4 to dim the lights of the heads of the pedestrians corresponding to the pedestrian targets W with target numbers from 1 to X while irradiating the full high beam. Then, with the full high beam being irradiated from the headlamp 2, the lights of the heads of the X number of pedestrians close to the host vehicle A are dimmed.

[0033] In the example shown in Fig. 3(a), X (here, eight) pedestrian targets W1 that are close to the vehicle A are selected from the pedestrian targets W1 to which target numbers are assigned (see black circles in the figure). Then, the heads of the eight pedestrians corresponding to the pedestrian targets W1 are dimmed.

[0034] If the headlamp control ECU 10 determines in step S105 that the number of pedestrian objects W present within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D is not equal to or greater than the specified number X, it outputs a command signal to the lamp control unit 4 of the headlamp 2 to irradiate full high beam while partially dimming the light for pedestrians corresponding to all pedestrian objects W (step S108). Then, with the full high beam being irradiated from the headlamp 2, the light for the heads of all pedestrians present within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D is dimmed.

[0035] When the headlamp control ECU 10 determines in step S103 that the pedestrian object W is not within the specified azimuth angle range θ, or when the headlamp control ECU 10 determines in step S104 that the pedestrian object W is not within the specified lateral position range D, it outputs a command signal to the lamp control unit 4 of the headlamp 2 to irradiate a normal full high beam (step S109). Then, the headlamp 2 irradiates a normal full high beam.

[0036] Here, the image acquisition unit 11 executes step S101. The pedestrian recognition unit 12 executes steps S102 to S105. The priority setting unit 13 executes step S106. The headlamp control unit 14 executes steps S107 to S109.

[0037] Step S101 corresponds to an acquisition step of acquiring forward situation information of the host vehicle A. Steps S102 to S105 correspond to a recognition step of recognizing a pedestrian present in front of the host vehicle A based on the forward situation information of the host vehicle A acquired in the acquisition step. Steps S107 to S109 correspond to a control step of controlling the headlights 2 to perform partial dimming for a pedestrian recognized as present in front of the host vehicle A in the recognition step. Step S106 corresponds to a priority setting step of setting priorities for the multiple pedestrians based on the positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the host vehicle A when multiple pedestrians present in front of the host vehicle A are recognized in the recognition step. In the control step, partial dimming is performed for the multiple pedestrians according to the priorities set in the priority setting step.

[0038] The vehicle headlamp control method of this embodiment, which includes the above-described acquisition step, recognition step, control step, and priority setting step, is implemented by the vehicle headlamp control device 1.

[0039] The vehicle headlamp control program of the present embodiment causes a headlamp control ECU 10, which is a computer, to execute the acquisition step, the recognition step, the control step, and the priority setting step. The vehicle headlamp control program is provided by a non-transitory recording medium such as a ROM (described above) or a semiconductor memory. The vehicle headlamp control program may be provided via communication such as a network.

[0040] As described above, in this embodiment, a pedestrian present in front of the vehicle A is recognized based on the forward situation information of the vehicle A. When multiple pedestrians present in front of the vehicle A are recognized, priorities are set for the multiple pedestrians based on the positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the vehicle A. Then, the headlights 2 are controlled to perform partial dimming for the multiple pedestrians according to the set priorities. Here, a pedestrian closer to the vehicle A is more likely to be affected by the glare risk caused by the headlights 2. For this reason, for example, the priority is set higher for a pedestrian closer to the vehicle A, and partial dimming control is performed with priority given to a pedestrian with a higher priority. As a result, dimming control is performed for a pedestrian who is more affected by the glare risk caused by the headlights 2. In addition, since priorities are set for multiple pedestrians, the load of communication from the headlight control ECU 10 to the headlights 2 can be reduced by, for example, not performing dimming control for a pedestrian with a lower priority.

[0041] In addition, in this embodiment, when multiple pedestrians are recognized in front of the host vehicle A within the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D, for example, the priority is set higher for pedestrians who are closer to the host vehicle A, and the priority is set higher for pedestrians whose angle with respect to the host vehicle A is closer to 0 degrees, thereby ensuring that dimming control is performed for pedestrians who are highly affected by the glare risk due to the headlights 2.

[0042] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the number of pedestrians present in front of the vehicle A within a specified azimuth angle range θ and a specified lateral position range D is equal to or greater than a specified number X, priorities are set for the multiple pedestrians, and the headlights 2 are controlled to partially dim the lights of the specified number X of pedestrians according to the priorities. Since an upper limit on the number of pedestrians for which dimming control is performed is determined in this manner, the communication load from the headlight control ECU 10 to the headlights 2 can be further reduced.

[0043] In addition, in this embodiment, while full high beam is being emitted from the headlights 2, partial dimming is performed on pedestrians, so that it is possible to maintain visibility for the driver of vehicle A while also protecting pedestrians from glare.

[0044] Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle headlamp control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 4, the vehicle headlamp control device 1A of the present embodiment includes the above-mentioned camera 5, a GPS sensor 7, a vehicle speed sensor 8, and a headlamp control ECU 10A.

[0045] The GPS sensor 7 receives radio signals from a plurality of GPS satellites and measures the current position of the host vehicle A. The vehicle speed sensor 8 detects the traveling speed (vehicle speed) of the host vehicle A.

[0046] The headlight control ECU 10A has the above-mentioned image acquisition unit 11, the above-mentioned pedestrian recognition unit 12, the above-mentioned priority setting unit 13, a data acquisition unit 16, a driving environment judgment unit 17, a dimming necessity determination unit 18, and a headlight control unit 14A.

[0047] The data acquisition unit 16 acquires image data from the camera 5, GPS data from the GPS sensor 7, and detection data from the vehicle speed sensor 8. The GPS data from the GPS sensor 7 is current position data of the host vehicle A measured by the GPS sensor 7. The detection data from the vehicle speed sensor 8 is vehicle speed data of the host vehicle A detected by the vehicle speed sensor 8.

[0048] The driving environment determination unit 17 determines the driving environment of the host vehicle A based on the image data, current position data, and vehicle speed data acquired by the data acquisition unit 16. The driving environment determination unit 17 cooperates with the camera 5, the GPS sensor 7, the vehicle speed sensor 8, and the data acquisition unit 16 to configure a detection unit that detects the driving environment of the host vehicle A.

[0049] The dimming necessity determination unit 18 determines whether or not partial dimming is necessary for pedestrians, based on the driving environment of the host vehicle A determined by the driving environment determination unit 17. The dimming necessity determination unit 18 constitutes a determination unit that determines whether or not partial dimming is necessary for pedestrians, based on the driving environment of the host vehicle A detected by the detection unit.

[0050] When the dimming necessity determination unit 18 determines that partial dimming is necessary for pedestrians, the headlamp control unit 14A controls the headlamp 2 to perform partial dimming for multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting unit 13.

[0051] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the headlamp control process executed by the headlamp control ECU 10A.

[0052] 5, the headlamp control ECU 10A first acquires GPS data from the GPS sensor 7, detection data from the vehicle speed sensor 8, and image data from the camera 5 (step S111). Next, the headlamp control ECU 10A determines whether the host vehicle A is traveling in a residential area or an urban area based on the GPS data from the GPS sensor 7 (step S112).

[0053] When the headlamp control ECU 10A determines that the vehicle A is traveling in a residential area or an urban area, the headlamp control ECU 10A determines whether the surrounding illuminance of the vehicle A is equal to or higher than a specified illuminance based on the image data of the camera 5 (step S113). The specified illuminance is a predetermined illuminance [lx]. The method of determining the surrounding illuminance of the vehicle A is not limited to the method of determining the surrounding illuminance based on the image data of the camera 5, and may be detected by a dedicated illuminance sensor, for example.

[0054] When the headlamp control ECU 10A determines that the ambient illuminance of the host vehicle A is equal to or greater than the specified illuminance, the headlamp control ECU 10A determines that the vehicle speed of the host vehicle A is equal to or less than a specified speed based on the detection data of the vehicle speed sensor 8 (step S114). The specified speed is a predetermined speed [km / h].

[0055] When the headlamp control ECU 10A determines that the vehicle speed of the host vehicle A is equal to or lower than a specified speed, the headlamp control ECU 10A extracts pedestrian targets W from the image data (step S115). Then, the headlamp control ECU 10A determines whether the number of pedestrian targets W included in the image data is equal to or greater than a specified number Y (step S116). The specified number Y is a number determined in advance. The specified number Y is, for example, a value larger than the specified number X in the above-mentioned step S105.

[0056] When the headlamp control ECU 10A determines that the number of pedestrian objects included in the image data is equal to or greater than the specified number Y, it determines that partial dimming of the light for pedestrians is unnecessary (step S117).Then, the headlamp control ECU 10A outputs a command signal to the lamp control unit 4 of the headlamp 2 to irradiate the above-mentioned glare-free high beam (step S118).

[0057] When the headlamp control ECU 10A determines in step S112 that vehicle A is not traveling in a residential or urban area, when it determines in step S113 that the ambient illuminance of vehicle A is not equal to or greater than a specified illuminance, when it determines in step S114 that the speed of vehicle A is not equal to or less than a specified speed, or when it determines in step S116 that the number of pedestrian objects W included in the image data is not equal to or greater than a specified number Y, it determines that partial dimming of the lights for pedestrians is necessary (step S119).

[0058] Then, the headlamp control ECU 10A executes partial dimming control processing according to the positional relationship of the pedestrian with respect to the host vehicle A (step S120). The partial dimming control processing according to the positional relationship of the pedestrian with respect to the host vehicle A is the processing shown in FIG.

[0059] Here, the data acquisition unit 16 executes step S111. The driving environment judgment unit 17 executes steps S112 to S116. The dimming necessity determination unit 18 executes steps S117 and S119. The headlamp control unit 14A executes step S118 and part of step S120 (the above steps S107 to S109).

[0060] When host vehicle A is traveling in an area where it encounters pedestrians infrequently, partial dimming control for pedestrians is necessary. When the illuminance of the traveling environment of host vehicle A is lower than a certain value, it encounters pedestrians infrequently, so partial dimming control for pedestrians is necessary. When the vehicle speed of host vehicle A is higher than a certain vehicle speed, it is expected that host vehicle A will travel with full high beams, so partial dimming control for pedestrians is necessary.

[0061] On the other hand, when the vehicle A is traveling at a low speed in a bright residential or urban area and there are a certain number of pedestrians, partial dimming control for pedestrians is not necessary. In this case, glare-free high beams are emitted from the headlights 2, reducing the glare for pedestrians.

[0062] In the present embodiment as described above, the necessity of partial dimming for pedestrians is determined based on the driving environment of the vehicle A, and when it is determined that partial dimming for pedestrians is necessary, partial dimming control is performed for multiple pedestrians according to the set priority. Therefore, when it is determined that partial dimming for pedestrians is not necessary, partial dimming control for pedestrians is not performed. Therefore, unnecessary switching of the light distribution of the headlights 2 is suppressed, so that the inconvenience to the driver of the vehicle A and pedestrians can be reduced.

[0063] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, when the number of pedestrians recognized to be present in the specified azimuth angle range θ and the specified lateral position range D in front of the vehicle A is equal to or greater than the specified number X, a priority is set for each pedestrian, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, when it is recognized that there are multiple pedestrians in front of the vehicle A, a priority may be set for each pedestrian.

[0064] In the above embodiment, the camera 5 captures an image of the area ahead of the vehicle A, and the image data of the camera 5 is acquired as forward situation information of the vehicle A. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, a radar sensor that detects the forward situation of the vehicle A using radio waves or light may be used, and the detection data of the radar sensor may be acquired as forward situation information of the vehicle A. Examples of the radar sensor include a millimeter wave radar and a LiDAR. [Explanation of symbols]

[0065] 1,1A...vehicle headlamp control device, 2...headlamp, 5...camera (detection unit), 7...GPS sensor (detection unit), 8...vehicle speed sensor (detection unit), 10,10A...headlamp control ECU (computer), 11...image acquisition unit (acquisition unit), 12...pedestrian recognition unit (recognition unit), 13...priority setting unit, 14...headlamp control unit (control unit), 16...data acquisition unit (detection unit), 17...driving environment judgment unit (detection unit), 18...dimming necessity judgment unit (judgment unit), A...own vehicle, θ...specified azimuth angle range, D...specified lateral position range.

Claims

1. A headlamp control device for a vehicle that controls a headlamp capable of adjusting and varying light distribution, An acquisition unit that acquires forward situation information of the host vehicle; a recognition unit that recognizes a pedestrian present in front of the host vehicle based on the forward situation information of the host vehicle acquired by the acquisition unit; a control unit that controls the headlights to partially dim the headlights when the headlights are detected by the recognition unit as being in front of the vehicle; a priority setting unit that sets priorities to the multiple pedestrians based on a positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the vehicle when the recognition unit recognizes multiple pedestrians in front of the vehicle, The control unit controls the headlights to partially dim the headlights for the multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting unit.

2. the recognition unit recognizes a pedestrian present in a predetermined azimuth angle range and a predetermined lateral position range in front of the vehicle, 2. The vehicle headlamp control device according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of pedestrians are recognized in front of the host vehicle within the specified azimuth angle range and the specified lateral position range, the priority setting unit sets the priorities to the plurality of pedestrians based on a distance from the host vehicle to the pedestrian and an angle of the pedestrian relative to the host vehicle.

3. A detection unit that detects a driving environment of the vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether or not partial dimming of light for the pedestrian is necessary based on the driving environment of the vehicle detected by the detection unit, 3. The vehicle headlamp control device according to claim 1, wherein when the determination unit determines that partial dimming is necessary for the pedestrian, the control unit controls the headlamp to perform partial dimming for the multiple pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set by the priority setting unit.

4. A vehicle headlamp control method for controlling a headlamp capable of adjusting a light distribution, comprising: An acquisition step of acquiring forward situation information of the host vehicle; a recognition step of recognizing a pedestrian present in front of the host vehicle based on the forward situation information of the host vehicle acquired in the acquisition step; a control step of controlling the headlights so as to partially dim the headlights with respect to a pedestrian that is recognized as being in front of the host vehicle in the recognition step; a priority setting step of setting priorities for the plurality of pedestrians based on a positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the vehicle when the plurality of pedestrians present in front of the vehicle are recognized by the recognition step, In the control step, the headlights are controlled to perform partial dimming for the plurality of pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set in the priority setting step.

5. A vehicle headlamp control program for controlling a headlamp capable of adjusting a light distribution, comprising: An acquisition step of acquiring forward situation information of the host vehicle; a recognition step of recognizing a pedestrian present in front of the host vehicle based on the forward situation information of the host vehicle acquired in the acquisition step; a control step of controlling the headlights so as to partially dim the headlights with respect to a pedestrian that is recognized as being in front of the host vehicle in the recognition step; a priority setting step of setting priorities for the plurality of pedestrians based on a positional relationship of the pedestrians with respect to the vehicle when the plurality of pedestrians present in front of the vehicle are recognized by the recognition step; In the control step, the headlights are controlled so as to partially dim the headlights for the plurality of pedestrians in accordance with the priorities set in the priority setting step.

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