Determining device

Abstract

To determine whether a measurement section of distance between vehicles provided independently is normal or not.SOLUTION: A determining device 30 includes a calculation section 31 for determining measurement precision of a measurement section 11 for measuring first relative distance between one's own vehicle 10 and another vehicle 20. The calculation section acquires a measurement result as a result of measurement of the first distance, acquires a first detection result of a current position of one's own vehicle and a second detection result of a current position of another vehicle, calculates a second relative distance between one's own vehicle and another vehicle on the basis of the first detection result and the second detection result, compares the first distance and the second distance, and determines that the measurement section is normal when an error between the first distance and the second distance is less than a preset, predetermined value.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a determination device capable of determining whether a sensor mounted on a vehicle is normal or not. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there are cases where a measuring unit is provided to measure the distance between the vehicle and another vehicle for driving assistance. It is desirable that such a measuring unit is inspected periodically to prevent errors from occurring during measurement. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology that includes multiple measuring units and automatically determines whether a measuring unit has a failure by comparing duplicated measurement results among the multiple measurement results. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-104547 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology described in Patent Document 1 requires a plurality of measuring units and overlapping measurement areas of the respective measuring units, and is not capable of determining a failure of a single measuring unit.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a determination device capable of determining whether an independently provided inter-vehicle distance measurement unit is normal or not. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is a determination device that includes a calculation unit that determines the measurement accuracy of a measurement unit that measures a relative first distance between a host vehicle and another vehicle, wherein the calculation unit acquires a measurement result of the first distance, acquires a first detection result of the current position of the host vehicle and a second detection result of the current position of the other vehicle, calculates a relative second distance between the host vehicle and the other vehicle based on the first detection result and the second detection result, compares the first distance with the second distance, and determines that the measurement unit is normal if the error between the first distance and the second distance is less than a predetermined value set in advance. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not a separately provided inter-vehicle distance measuring unit is normal. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a determination device according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method for calculating a distance between a host vehicle and another vehicle. [Diagram 3] 10 is a flowchart showing the process flow of a determination method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] 1, the determination system 1 is composed of a host vehicle 10, other vehicles 20 existing around the host vehicle 10, and a determination device 30 communicatively connected to the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicles 20 via a network W. The host vehicle 10 and the other vehicles 20 communicate wirelessly with the network W via a wireless base station (not shown). The determination device 30 and the network W may be communicatively connected by a wired connection, or may be communicatively connected via a wireless base station.

[0010] The host vehicle 10 is a vehicle capable of running based on a power source. The host vehicle 10 is, for example, a manually driven vehicle driven by a driver. The host vehicle 10 may be an autonomous vehicle capable of running autonomously. The host vehicle 10 is equipped with a measurement unit 11 that measures the distance to a measurement object. The measurement unit 11 is, for example, a distance sensor that irradiates a radar wave to the measurement object and measures the distance to the measurement object based on the phase difference between the reflected wave reflected from the measurement object and the output radar wave. The measurement unit 11 is fixed to a first fixed position where a relative first distance between the host vehicle 10 and another vehicle 20 present in the vicinity can be measured.

[0011] The first distance is the distance between the first fixed position and a reflection position on the body of the other vehicle 20 where the radar wave is reflected. The reflection position may change depending on the relative positional relationship between the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20. The reflection position is, for example, a corner of a metal frame provided inside the rear bumper of the other vehicle 20. The measurement result of measuring the first distance is stored in the memory unit 14. The memory unit 14 is composed of a non-transitory storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state disk (SSD). The memory unit 14 stores computer programs and data necessary for control, and measurement data.

[0012] The host vehicle 10 is equipped with a position detection unit 12 that measures the current position. The position detection unit 12 is a position sensor that detects the coordinates of the host vehicle 10 on the ground, such as the latitude and longitude, and the time. The position detection unit 12 is configured with, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor. The position detection unit 12 is fixed to a predetermined second fixed position on the host vehicle 10. A first detection result of the current position of the host vehicle 10 is stored in the memory unit 14.

[0013] The above-mentioned measuring unit 11 and position detection unit 12 are controlled by a control unit 13. The control unit 13 is configured with at least one hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) provided in a computer device mounted on the vehicle 10. The control unit 13 executes calculation processing based on data and programs stored in the storage unit 14. The control unit 13 is communicatively connected to the determination device 30 via the communication unit 15 and the network W. The communication unit 15 is a wireless communication interface that transmits and receives information. The control unit 13 transmits the measurement result of the first distance and the first detection result of the current position to the determination device 30.

[0014] The vehicle 10 receives a determination result as to whether the measurement unit 11 is normal or not from the determination device 30 as described below. The vehicle 10 is provided with a notification unit 16 that notifies the vehicle 10 of the determination result. The notification unit 16 is configured with a device capable of transmitting information, such as a display capable of displaying images and a speaker capable of outputting sound.

[0015] The other vehicle 20 is a vehicle capable of running based on a power source. The other vehicle 20 is, for example, a manually driven vehicle driven by a driver. The other vehicle 20 may be an automatically driven vehicle capable of running automatically. The other vehicle 20 is any vehicle present around the host vehicle 10. The other vehicle 20 is arbitrarily selected as a judgment target as appropriate while the host vehicle 10 is running. The other vehicle 20 is equipped with a position detection unit 21 that measures a current position. The position detection unit 21 is a position sensor that detects the coordinates of the other vehicle 20 on the ground, such as latitude and longitude, and the time. The position detection unit 21 is, for example, configured with a GPS sensor. The position detection unit 21 is fixed to a predetermined third fixed position in the other vehicle 20. The second detection result of the current position of the other vehicle 20 is stored in the memory unit 23.

[0016] The storage unit 23 is configured with a non-transitory storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state disk (SSD), etc. The storage unit 23 stores computer programs and data necessary for the control of the control unit 22, and measurement data.

[0017] The above-mentioned position detection unit 21 is controlled by a control unit 22. The control unit 22 is configured with at least one hardware processor such as a CPU provided in a computer device mounted on the other vehicle 20. The control unit 22 executes calculation processing based on data and programs stored in a storage unit 23. The control unit 22 is communicatively connected to the determination device 30 via a communication unit 24 and a network W. The control unit 22 transmits a second detection result of the current position to the determination device 30.

[0018] The determination device 30 is a server device communicatively connected to the network W. The determination device 30 transmits and receives information to and from the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 via a communication unit 33 connectable to the network W. The determination device 30 includes a storage unit 32 that stores data transmitted from the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20. The determination device 30 includes a calculation unit 31 that executes calculation processing based on the data transmitted from the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20.

[0019] The calculation unit 31 is composed of at least one hardware processor such as a CPU. The calculation unit 31 executes calculation processing based on data and programs stored in the storage unit 32. The storage unit 32 is composed of a non-transitory storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state disk (SSD). The storage unit 32 stores computer programs and data necessary for the calculations of the calculation unit 31, and measurement data.

[0020] The calculation unit 31 determines, for example, the measurement accuracy of the measurement unit 11 provided in the host vehicle 10. The calculation unit 31 acquires a measurement result of measuring a first distance from the host vehicle 10. The calculation unit 31 acquires a first detection result of the current position from the host vehicle 10. The calculation unit 31 acquires a second detection result of the current position from the other vehicle 20. The calculation unit 31 calculates a second relative distance between the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 based on the first detection result and the second detection result.

[0021] The calculation unit 31 compares the first distance with the second distance and determines whether the measurement unit 11 is normal or not. If the error between the first distance and the second distance is less than a predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that the measurement unit 11 is normal. If the error between the first distance and the second distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the measurement unit 11.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 2, the calculation unit 31 calculates a first distance D1 and a second distance D2. When the first distance D1 and the second distance D2 are compared, and the influence of the vehicle dimensions of the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 exists, the calculation unit 31 calculates a corrected first distance D1A by correcting the first distance D1, if an accurate calculation is required. The calculation unit 31 determines whether the measurement unit is normal or not based on a comparison result of the calculated corrected first distance D1A and the second distance D2. For example, when the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 are close to each other and the distance between them is less than a predetermined distance, the influence of the vehicle dimensions becomes large, and therefore the calculation unit 31 calculates the corrected first distance D1A.

[0023] When the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 are separated by a predetermined distance or more and the influence of the vehicle dimensions can be ignored, the calculation unit 31 may compare the first distance D1 with the second distance D2 as described above. The predetermined distance may be set in advance based on actual measurement data or may be set based on simulation results. The calculation unit 31 calculates the relative positional relationship between the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 based on the first detection result and the second detection result. The calculation unit 31 calculates the coordinates of the relative positional relationship including the direction and distance of the other vehicle 20 with respect to the host vehicle 10. The coordinates are calculated using polar coordinates or three-dimensional coordinates.

[0024] The calculation unit 31 refers to the individual identification (ID) data of the host vehicle 10 stored in the memory unit 32, and acquires first vehicle specification data such as the vehicle dimensions of the host vehicle 10, the first fixed position 10A of the measurement unit of the host vehicle 10, the second fixed position 10B of the position detection unit 12 of the host vehicle 10, etc. The calculation unit 31 refers to the individual identification (ID) data of the other vehicle 20 stored in the memory unit 32, and acquires second vehicle specification data such as the vehicle dimensions of the other vehicle 20, the third fixed position 20A of the position detection unit 21 of the other vehicle 20, etc.

[0025] The calculation unit 31 calculates the reflection position 20B of the radar wave of the other vehicle 20 based on the calculated coordinates of the relative positional relationship of the other vehicle 20 with respect to the host vehicle 10, the first vehicle specification data, and the second vehicle specification data. The calculation unit 31 calculates the relative distance between the first fixed position 10A and the reflection position 20B by applying it to the first distance D1. The calculation unit 31 calculates a corrected first distance D1A by correcting the first distance D1 to the distance between the second fixed position 10B and the third fixed position 20A based on the coordinates of the relative positional relationship of the other vehicle 20 with respect to the host vehicle 10, the first vehicle specification data, and the second vehicle specification data.

[0026] The calculation unit 31 compares the corrected first distance D1A with the second distance D2 and determines whether the measurement unit 11 is normal. If the error between the corrected first distance D1A and the second distance D2 is less than a predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that the measurement unit 11 is normal. If the error between the corrected first distance D1A and the second distance D2 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the measurement unit 11.

[0027] When the calculation unit 31 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the measurement unit 11, it transmits the determination result to the vehicle 10. In the vehicle 10, the control unit 13 causes the notification unit 16 to output a predetermined notification based on the determination result. The determination result may include the numerical value of the error and the nature of the error. If the content of the error can be corrected based on the calculation, the control unit 13 may correct the measurement result of the measurement unit 11 based on the calculation to reduce the error. If the vehicle 10 is an autonomous vehicle, the calculation unit 31 may execute the above calculation process during autonomous driving. The determination device 30 may be a server device that analyzes big data of the detection results of the measurement units 11 in multiple vehicles that are traveling, as well as two vehicles, the vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20.

[0028] 3 shows a process flow of the determination method executed in the determination device 30. The determination method is executed by the calculation unit 31 based on a computer program installed in the determination device 30. The calculation unit 31 acquires a measurement result of a first distance between the host vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 (step S100). The calculation unit 31 acquires a first detection value of the current position of the host vehicle 10 (step S102). The calculation unit 31 acquires a second detection value of the current position of the other vehicle 20 (step S104).

[0029] The calculation unit 31 calculates a second distance between the vehicle 10 and the other vehicle 20 based on the first detection value and the second detection value (step S106). The calculation unit 31 calculates an error between the first distance and the second distance (step S108). The calculation unit 31 determines whether the error is less than a predetermined value (step S110). If the error is less than the predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that the measurement unit 11 is normal (step S112). If the error is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the calculation unit 31 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the measurement unit 11 (step S114). The calculation unit 31 transmits the determination result to the vehicle 10, and the control unit 13 outputs a notification from the notification unit 16 (step S116).

[0030] As described above, the determination device 30 can determine whether the separately provided inter-vehicle distance measurement unit 11 is normal or not by using the measurement results of the first distance and the second distance. The determination device 30 can improve the determination accuracy by arbitrarily selecting another vehicle 20 present around the vehicle 10 and performing calculations.

[0031] In the above-described embodiment, the computer program executed in each component of the determination device 30 may be provided in a form recorded on a computer-readable portable recording medium, such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic recording medium, or an optical recording medium. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1 Determination system, 10 Vehicle, 10A First fixed position, 10B Second fixed position, 11 Measurement unit, 12 Position detection unit, 13 Control unit, 14 Memory unit, 15 Communication unit, 16 Notification unit, 20 Other vehicle, 20A Third fixed position, 20B Reflection position, 21 Position detection unit, 22 Control unit, 23 Memory unit, 24 Communication unit, 30 Determination device, 31 Calculation unit, 32 Memory unit, 33 Communication unit, W Network

Claims

[Claim 1] a calculation unit that determines a measurement accuracy of a measurement unit that measures a relative first distance between the host vehicle and another vehicle, The calculation unit is Obtaining a measurement result of measuring the first distance; acquiring a first detection result of a current position of the host vehicle and a second detection result of a current position of the other vehicle; calculating a second relative distance between the host vehicle and the other vehicle based on the first detection result and the second detection result; comparing the first distance with the second distance, and determining that the measurement unit is normal when an error between the first distance and the second distance is less than a predetermined value set in advance; Judgment device.

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