Automatic driving device

Abstract

To provide an automatic driving device capable of improving power generation efficiency of a photovoltaic power generation system while avoiding temporary stop of automatic driving due to backlight.SOLUTION: An automatic driving device comprises: a solar panel 2 constituted of a plurality of cells and is mounted on a top surface of a vehicle 1; a power generation amount measurement unit 41 that measures a power generation amount of each cell of the solar panel 2 and creates a power generation amount distribution diagram of the solar panel 2; and a control unit 42 that controls automatic driving by recognizing a lane of a road, a road shape, and a road state from an image captured by a camera 3, determines that backlight may possibly occur in the camera 3 when the power generation amount in the vicinity of the camera 3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value from the power generation amount distribution diagram, and, upon determining that backlight may possibly occur in the camera 3, controls behavior of the vehicle 1 so as to shift a direction of the camera 3 with respect to the sun.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic driving device.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes an automatic driving device that identifies a lane determination impossible point where at least one of the correct lane, road shape, and road condition cannot be determined due to backlight from the passing time on the route, latitude and longitude, and the altitude of the sun, and adjusts the route and speed so as not to pass through the lane determination impossible point at the time of backlight.

Prior Art Document

Patent Document

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Consider applying this technology to an autonomous vehicle equipped with a solar power generation system. The solar power generation system has better power generation efficiency at locations with more solar radiation. Locations where backlight occurs are also considered to be locations with more solar radiation.

[0005] Therefore, when this technology is applied to an autonomous vehicle equipped with a solar power generation system, there is a problem that the power generation amount by the solar power generation system decreases by avoiding being in backlight.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic driving device that can improve the power generation efficiency of a solar power generation system while avoiding the temporary stop of automatic driving due to backlight.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] To solve the above problems, the present invention provides an automatic driving device for a vehicle that is equipped with a solar power generation system for generating electricity by a solar panel, and that recognizes a road lane, a road shape, and a road condition from an image captured by a camera and performs automatic driving. The solar panel is composed of a plurality of cells and is mounted on the top surface of the vehicle. The automatic driving device includes a power generation amount measurement unit that measures the power generation amount of each cell and creates a power generation amount distribution map of the solar panel, and a control unit that determines that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera when the power generation amount in the vicinity of the camera is equal to or greater than a predetermined value from the power generation amount distribution map, and controls the behavior of the vehicle so as to shift the direction of the camera with respect to the sun when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera.

Advantages of the Invention

[0008] Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid the automatic driving from temporarily stopping due to backlight and to improve the power generation efficiency of the solar power generation system.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] An automatic driving device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a solar power generation system that generates electricity using a solar panel, and recognizes a road lane, a road shape, and a road condition from an image captured by a camera to perform automatic driving. The solar panel is composed of a plurality of cells and is mounted on the top surface of the vehicle. The solar panel includes a power generation amount measurement unit that measures the power generation amount of each cell and creates a power generation amount distribution map of the solar panel, and a control unit that determines that there is a possibility of backlight occurring in the camera when the power generation amount near the camera in the power generation amount distribution map is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and controls the behavior of the vehicle so as to shift the direction of the camera with respect to the sun when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring in the camera.

[0011] Thereby, the automatic driving device according to an embodiment of the present invention can improve the power generation efficiency of the solar power generation system while avoiding the temporary suspension of automatic driving due to backlight.

Examples

[0012] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, an automatic driving device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In FIG. 1, a vehicle 1 equipped with an automatic driving device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a solar panel 2, a camera 3, and an automatic driving device 4. The vehicle 1 is equipped with a solar power generation system that generates electricity using sunlight that hits the solar panel 2.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 2, the solar panel 2 is composed of a plurality of cells 2a and is mounted on the top surface of the vehicle 1. The plurality of cells 2a generate electricity for each cell 2a. The top plate of the vehicle 1 has a curved surface shape. The curvature of the edge of the top plate of the vehicle 1 is greater than that of the central part.

[0014] In FIG. 1, the camera 3 is provided, for example, above the center of the front glass of the vehicle 1 as shown in FIG. 2, and captures the front of the vehicle 1.

[0015] In FIG. 1, the automatic driving device 4 is composed of a computer unit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory for storing backup data and the like, an input port, and an output port.

[0016] In the ROM of the computer unit, a program for causing the computer unit to function as the automatic driving device 4 is stored together with various constants, various maps, and the like. That is, when the CPU executes the program stored in the ROM using the RAM as a work area, the computer unit functions as the automatic driving device 4 in the present embodiment.

[0017] The automatic driving device 4 includes a power generation amount measurement unit 41 and a control unit 42. The power generation amount measurement unit 41 measures the power generation amount of each cell 2a of the solar panel 2 and creates a power generation amount distribution map of the solar panel 2.

[0018] For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the power generation amount measurement unit 41 creates a power generation amount distribution map in which the power generation amount of each cell 2a is recorded when the vehicle 1 is viewed from above. The power generation amounts are marked as "excessive", "high", "medium", and "low" in descending order of the power generation amount. When the power generation amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is marked as "excessive".

[0019] The control unit 42 recognizes the road lanes, road shape, road conditions, etc. from the image captured by the camera 3 and controls the automatic driving.

[0020] When the control unit 42 determines from the power generation amount distribution map that there is a possibility that backlight will occur in the camera 3 when the power generation amount of the cell 2a near the camera 3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and when it is determined that there is a possibility that backlight will occur, the control unit 42 controls the behavior of the vehicle 1 so as to shift the direction of the camera 3 with respect to the sun. The predetermined value is the power generation amount that occurs immediately before light at a level that inhibits lane and road recognition of the camera 3 hits.

[0021] The control unit 42 shifts the direction of the camera 3 with respect to the sun, for example, by moving the vehicle 1 so that the elevation angle of the sun increases.

[0022] The control unit 42 estimates the direction and elevation angle of the sun from the power generation amount distribution map. Since the part with a large power generation amount is the part where the sunlight hits strongly, it can be estimated that the sun is in that direction. Furthermore, the elevation angle of the sun can be estimated from the distribution range of the power generation amount. Note that the angle between the solar panel 2 and the sunlight may be estimated from the distribution range of the power generation amount and this angle may be used instead of the elevation angle.

[0023] The power generation amount of the cell 2a increases as it gets closer to being perpendicular to the sunlight. The center part of the top plate of the vehicle 1 is close to horizontal. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when cells 2a with a power generation amount of "excessive" or "high" are distributed in the center part of the top plate, it can be estimated that the elevation angle of the sun is large.

[0024] The edge part of the top plate of the vehicle 1 is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when cells 2a with a power generation amount of "excessive" or "high" are distributed at the edge part of the top plate, it can be estimated that the elevation angle of the sun is small.

[0025] The control unit 42 determines, for example, from an image captured by the camera 3 or the like, whether there is space in front, behind, left, or right of the vehicle 1 and whether the elevation angle of the sun can be increased by changing lanes or adjusting the speed.

[0026] The control unit 42 increases the elevation angle of the sun, for example, by changing the lane or speed and moving in the direction of the sun, or by changing lanes to a lane with a larger downward slope when it is determined that the downward slope of the adjacent lane is larger than the downward slope of the current lane. The downward slope of the lane is obtained from, for example, an image captured by the camera 3 or map information of the navigation system.

[0027] When the control unit 42 adjusts the speed or lane of the vehicle 1 and moves to a position where the camera 3 does not receive backlight, it ensures that the power generation amount of the cells 2a near the camera 3 does not exceed a predetermined value while preventing the total power generation amount from decreasing.

[0028] When the control unit 42 determines that the elevation angle of the sun cannot be increased, it switches from automatic driving to manual driving.

[0029] The backlight avoidance control process by the automatic driving device 4 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 5. Note that the backlight avoidance control process described below is started when the control unit 42 starts the control of automatic driving, is executed at a preset time interval, and is stopped when the control of automatic driving ends.

[0030] In step S1, the power generation amount measurement unit 41 creates a power generation amount distribution diagram based on the power generation amount of each cell 2a. After executing the process of step S1, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S2.

[0031] In step S2, the control unit 42 determines whether the power generation amount of the cell 2a near the camera 3 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0032] If it is determined that the power generation amount of the cell 2a near the camera 3 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S3. If it is determined that the power generation amount of the cell 2a near the camera 3 is not equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the control unit 42 ends the backlight avoidance control process.

[0033] In step S3, the control unit 42 determines that the camera 3 may be exposed to backlight. After executing the process of step S3, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S4.

[0034] In step S4, the control unit 42 adjusts the lane and vehicle speed so that the solar power generation amount does not decrease. After executing the process of step S4, the control unit 42 ends the backlight avoidance control process.

[0035] Here, the process of adjusting the lane and vehicle speed so that the solar power generation amount in step S4 does not decrease will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

[0036] In step S11, the control unit 42 infers the direction and elevation angle of the sun from the power generation amount distribution map. After executing the process of step S11, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S12.

[0037] In step S12, the control unit 42 determines whether it is possible to increase the elevation angle of the sun.

[0038] If it is determined that the elevation angle of the sun can be increased, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S13. If it is determined that the elevation angle of the sun cannot be increased, the control unit 42 executes the process of step S14.

[0039] In step S13, the control unit 42 moves the vehicle 1 so that the elevation angle of the sun increases. After executing the process of step S13, the control unit 42 ends the process.

[0040] In step S14, the control unit 42 switches to manual driving. After executing the process of step S14, the control unit 42 ends the process.

[0041] In this way, in this embodiment, when the power generation amount of the cell 2a near the camera 3 in the power generation amount distribution map is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the control unit 42 determines that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera 3, and when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring, the control unit 42 controls the behavior of the vehicle 1 so as to shift the direction of the camera 3 with respect to the sun.

[0042] Thereby, when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera 3, the behavior of the vehicle 1 is controlled so as to shift the direction of the camera 3 with respect to the sun, so that it is possible to avoid the automatic driving from being temporarily stopped due to backlight, and to improve the power generation efficiency of the solar power generation system.

[0043] Further, when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera 3, the control unit 42 changes lanes so that the elevation angle of the sun increases.

[0044] Accordingly, when it is determined that backlighting may occur in the camera 3, the vehicle changes lanes so that the elevation angle of the sun increases, thereby avoiding a temporary stop of the automatic driving due to the backlighting and enabling the power generation efficiency of the solar power generation system to be good.

[0045] In addition, when the control unit 42 determines that the elevation angle of the sun cannot be increased, the control unit 42 switches from automatic driving to manual driving.

[0046] Accordingly, when the elevation angle of the sun cannot be increased, it can be switched from automatic driving to manual driving, so that the power generation efficiency of the solar power generation system can be good.

[0047] In this embodiment, an example in which the control unit 42 makes various determinations and calculations based on various sensor information has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The vehicle 1 includes a communication unit capable of communicating with an external device such as an external server. Various determinations and calculations are performed by the external device based on the detection information of various sensors transmitted from the communication unit, and the determination result and calculation result are received by the communication unit, and various controls are performed using the received determination result and calculation result.

[0048] Although embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it is obvious that those skilled in the art can make changes without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is intended that all such modifications and equivalents be included in the following claims.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0049] 1 Vehicle 2 Solar panel 2a Cell 3 Camera 4 Automatic driving device 41 Power generation amount measurement unit 42 Control unit

Claims

1. A solar power generation system that generates electricity using a solar panel, An automatic driving device for a vehicle that recognizes a road lane, road shape, and road condition from an image taken by a camera and performs automatic driving, The solar panel is composed of a plurality of cells and is mounted on the top surface of the vehicle, A power generation amount measurement unit that measures the power generation amount of each cell and creates a power generation amount distribution map of the solar panel, When it is determined from the power generation amount distribution map that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera when the power generation amount near the camera is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera, a control unit that controls the behavior of the vehicle so as to shift the direction of the camera with respect to the sun. An automatic driving device comprising.

2. The control unit is the automatic driving device according to claim 1, which changes lanes so that the elevation angle of the sun increases when it is determined that there is a possibility of backlight occurring on the camera.

3. The control unit is the automatic driving device according to claim 2, which switches from automatic driving to manual driving when the elevation angle of the sun cannot be increased.

Images