Driving diagnosis system

Abstract

To materialize a driving diagnosis system capable of diagnosing the contents of driving, on which a driver's driving characteristic is reflected, by removing an adverse effect of a surrounding traffic situation.SOLUTION: A driving diagnosis system includes a relative distance acquisition unit 18 that acquires a relative distance dependent on an inter-vehicle distance between an own vehicle 10 and preceding vehicle and an own vehicle speed, a mode acquisition unit 20 that acquires a mode from among the relative distances, a mode group determination unit 22 that sorts the relative distances by a magnitude of a relative distance, and determines a group including a mode from among the resultant groups, and a diagnosis unit 24 that diagnosis the contents of driving of the own vehicle 10 on the basis of the mode or the group including the mode.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a driving diagnosis system.

Background Art

[0002] There is a technology for diagnosing the driving content of a host vehicle based on the relative relationship between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle. For example, there is a system that determines that the driving content of the driver of the host vehicle has a high risk when the inter-vehicle time or the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as "both vehicles") is less than a predetermined value.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a driving diagnosis device having a function of determining whether or not a driver of a host vehicle is performing a high-risk driving based on the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and a preceding vehicle or a following vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as "other vehicle"). When the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the other vehicle is less than a predetermined distance and the host vehicle performs a driving that meets certain conditions, this driving diagnosis device determines that the driver of the host vehicle is performing a risky driving and the risk level becomes high. With such a configuration, it is said that this driving diagnosis device can determine a risk level commensurate with the actual driving of the driver.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, there are systems and methods for diagnosing the driving behavior of the driver of a host vehicle based on, for example, the average value of the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and the number of times the inter-vehicle distance becomes smaller than a threshold value. If such a system or method can correctly capture the driving characteristics such as the way the driver maintains the inter-vehicle distance, by feeding back the result of the driving diagnosis to the driver, it is possible to support the continuation of the driver's safe driving or the improvement of driving. However, regardless of the driving characteristics of the driver, that is, regardless of the driving operation of the driver of the host vehicle, the distance between the two vehicles may approach. For example, when the preceding vehicle suddenly decelerates or stops suddenly, or when a vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane cuts in front of the host vehicle and becomes a new preceding vehicle, the distance between the two vehicles approaches due to the preceding vehicle. Also, when the two vehicles are caught in a traffic jam, the distance between the two vehicles approaches. In this way, it is not desirable for the driving behavior to be determined as the driving characteristics of the driver and the driving behavior to be diagnosed until the desired inter-vehicle distance cannot be ensured due to the surrounding traffic conditions including the behavior of the preceding vehicle.

[0006] Therefore, in this specification, a driving diagnosis system is realized that can diagnose the driving behavior that more reflects the driving characteristics of the driver by removing the influence of the surrounding traffic conditions including the behavior of the preceding vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0007] The driving diagnosis system disclosed in this specification includes a relative distance acquisition unit that acquires a relative distance corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle speed, a mode value acquisition unit that acquires a mode value from among the relative distances, a mode category determination unit that divides the relative distances into categories according to the magnitude of the relative distances and determines the most frequent category among the categories, and a diagnosis unit that diagnoses the driving behavior in the host vehicle based on the mode value or the most frequent category.

[0008] According to the above configuration, in order to diagnose the driving behavior of the driver based on the mode value or the modal class of the relative distance, it is possible to eliminate the influence of the surrounding traffic conditions that was included when diagnosing based on the number of times exceeding a predetermined threshold value or the average value, and it is possible to more reflect the characteristics of the driver's driving in the diagnosis.

[0009] Further, in the driving diagnosis system, when the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle are in a stopped state, the relative distance is the inter-vehicle distance, which is characterized.

[0010] According to the above configuration, it is possible to diagnose the driving behavior based on the inter-vehicle distance taken when the driver of the host vehicle stops.

[0011] Further, in the driving diagnosis system, when the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle are in a traveling state, the relative distance is the time headway between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, which is characterized.

[0012] According to the above configuration, by using the time headway as a diagnosis condition, that is, in consideration of the host vehicle speed, it is possible to eliminate the influence of situations not suitable for determination such as a situation of being involved in traffic congestion in the diagnosis of the driving behavior.

Advantages of the Invention

[0013] According to the driving diagnosis system disclosed in this specification, in order to diagnose the driving behavior based on the mode value or the modal class of the relative distance, it is possible to eliminate the influence of the surrounding traffic conditions that was included when diagnosing based on the number of times exceeding a predetermined threshold value or the average value, and it is possible to more reflect the characteristics of the driver in the diagnosis.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0014]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0015] Hereinafter, the driving diagnosis system will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the driving diagnosis system. As shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment, a vehicle 10 (hereinafter referred to as "own vehicle 10") whose driving content is to be diagnosed is equipped with a driving diagnosis system 12 and various sensors 14. The driving diagnosis system 12 is a system that receives various information about the own vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle acquired by the various sensors 14 and diagnoses the driving content of the own vehicle 10 based on that information. Although details will be described later, the driving diagnosis system 12 can also be used to support the continuation of safe driving or the improvement of driving by feeding back the diagnosis result of the driving content to the driver of the own vehicle 10 or the like. Note that the "preceding vehicle" is the nearest other vehicle traveling in the lane in which the own vehicle 10 is currently traveling in front of the own vehicle 10.

[0017] The various sensors 14 are devices that detect specific numerical values related to the own vehicle 10 and their change amounts in order to acquire the driving state of the own vehicle 10. In FIG. 1, as an example of the various sensors 14, a vehicle speed sensor 14a that detects the speed of the own vehicle 10 (hereinafter also referred to as "own vehicle speed") and an inter-vehicle distance sensor 14b for obtaining the inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle are shown. The various sensors 14 are not limited to the sensors 14a and 14b described above. For example, a camera that captures the surrounding situation of the own vehicle 10, a sensor that detects the depression state of the accelerator of the own vehicle 10, or a steering angle sensor of the steering wheel may be included. Further, the various sensors 14 are not limited to the sensors mounted on the own vehicle 10.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1, the driving diagnosis system 12 includes a control unit 16, a relative distance acquisition unit 18, a mode value acquisition unit 20, a mode classification determination unit 22, a diagnosis unit 24, and a communication unit 26.

[0019] The control unit 16 is an electronic control unit having at least a CPU that performs various arithmetic processes and a memory that stores control programs and data. The functions of the relative distance acquisition unit 18, the mode value acquisition unit 20, the mode category determination unit 22, the diagnosis unit 24, and the communication unit 26 are each realized by the control unit 16.

[0020] The relative distance acquisition unit 18 acquires the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle and the relative distance corresponding to the speed of the host vehicle 10. In this example, the inter-vehicle distance is the absolute distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle. On the other hand, the relative distance is a relative distance obtained according to the inter-vehicle distance and the speed of the host vehicle 10. Specifically, it is obtained by dividing the inter-vehicle distance by the speed of the host vehicle 10. That is, the relative distance is a distance considering the speed of the host vehicle 10. Therefore, when the host vehicle 10 is in a stopped state, since the host vehicle speed is 0, it does not affect the relative distance, and the relationship relative distance = inter-vehicle distance holds.

[0021] The mode value acquisition unit 20 acquires the mode value from among the relative distances. For example, the mode value acquisition unit 20 acquires the relative distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle at predetermined time intervals and obtains the mode value from among the acquired relative distances.

[0022] While the above-described mode value acquisition unit 20 obtains a limited value called the mode value, the mode category determination unit 22 performs determination by classifying the relative distances into ranges having a certain width. That is, the mode category determination unit 22 first divides the relative distances into categories according to their magnitudes and determines the most frequent category among the categories. For example, the mode category determination unit 22 acquires the relative distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle at predetermined time intervals. Then, the mode category determination unit 22 classifies the acquired plurality of relative distances into the corresponding categories among the categories that have been pre-divided (for example, categories such as 0 m or more and less than 1 m, 1 m or more and less than 2 m,..., 10 m or more). Then, the mode category determination unit 22 determines the category (that is, the most frequent category) into which the relative distance is most frequently classified among the pre-divided categories.

[0023] The diagnosis unit 24 diagnoses the driving content of the host vehicle 10 based on the mode value obtained by the mode value acquisition unit 20 or the most frequent category determined by the most frequent category determination unit 22. For example, the diagnosis unit 24 compares the mode value of the relative distance or the most frequent category of the relative distance with a relative distance appropriate for safe driving (hereinafter referred to as "safe relative distance") determined in advance. Then, the diagnosis unit 24 determines whether the relative distance of the host vehicle 10 is included in the range of the safe relative distance (that is, whether the relative distance taken by the driver of the host vehicle 10 in normal driving is the safe relative distance).

[0024] The communication unit 26 is a communication interface and performs data transmission and reception between the driving diagnosis system 12 and an external device via a communication network (not shown). For example, when the various sensors 14 are outside the host vehicle 10 or when the information detected by the various sensors 14 is stored in a device outside the host vehicle 10, the information is provided to the driving diagnosis system 12 via the communication unit 26. Further, although the diagnosis content by the diagnosis unit 24 is transmitted to the terminal device 28 described later, the transmission of the diagnosis content is also performed via the communication unit 26.

[0025] The terminal device 28 shown in FIG. 1 is a device carried by the driver of the host vehicle 10 and is, for example, a commonly used smartphone or the like. An application for providing the driving diagnosis content of the host vehicle 10 is installed in this terminal device 28. In the embodiment, by using the application, the driving diagnosis content of the host vehicle 10 is fed back to the driver.

[0026] Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the processing according to the embodiment will be further described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the driving diagnosis system according to the embodiment. In the embodiment, as described above, the control unit 16 controls the operations of the respective units of the driving diagnosis system 12 and performs a series of processes related to driving diagnosis.

[0027] First, the control unit 16 determines whether the host vehicle 10 is in a stopped state (S10). If the host vehicle 10 is in a stopped state (Yes in S10), the control unit 16 determines whether the distance between the host vehicle 10 and a vehicle stopped ahead of the host vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the "preceding vehicle") is less than D [m] (S12). In this example, the preceding vehicle is also in a stopped state. Here, D [m] is a predetermined conditional value used to determine whether the preceding vehicle satisfies the conditions as a leading vehicle. For example, when stopping the host vehicle 10, generally, the driver stops while being conscious of the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle. However, there may be a case where the distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is large enough that the preceding vehicle does not affect the driver's stop operation. In such a case, from the perspective of the relative distance, it is appropriate to determine that the preceding vehicle is not recognized as a leading vehicle and that there is no leading vehicle for the host vehicle 10. Therefore, if the distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is not less than D [m] (No in S12), the control unit 16 does not perform a diagnosis of the driving content based on the relative distance (S28) and ends the series of processes. On the other hand, if the distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is less than D [m] (Yes in S12), the process proceeds to S14.

[0028] Next, when the distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle (since it can be said to be the relationship between the host vehicle 10 and the leading vehicle after S14, it is referred to as the "two vehicles") is less than D [m], the control unit 16 obtains the inter-vehicle distance between the two vehicles (S14). Then, the control unit 16 obtains the mode value or the mode category of the inter-vehicle distance between the two vehicles (S16). For example, when the host vehicle 10 stops 10 times in a state where there is a leading vehicle during one driving, the control unit 16 acquires the inter-vehicle distances for those 10 times and obtains the mode inter-vehicle distance among them. When obtaining the mode category, the control unit 16 first divides the inter-vehicle distance into categories such as 0 m or more and less than 1 m, 1 m or more and less than 2 m, etc., and determines which category the above-mentioned 10 inter-vehicle distances belong to the most. Note that "one driving" refers to, for example, the driving from when the engine switch or power switch is pressed and the vehicle starts until the engine switch or power switch is pressed again and the engine or vehicle system stops.

[0029] Based on the mode value or the modal class of the inter-vehicle distance between the two vehicles obtained above, the control unit 16 diagnoses the driving state of the host vehicle 10 (S26). As described above, in this example, since the mode value or the modal class of the inter-vehicle distance between the two vehicles is used as the diagnosis data, for example, when the host vehicle 10 has to suddenly stop because the preceding vehicle suddenly stops and cannot maintain a sufficient inter-vehicle distance, exceptional events such as this can be removed from the data for diagnosis. As a result, the driving characteristics of the driver can be more accurately reflected in the diagnosis.

[0030] Next, returning to S10, the process when it is determined that the host vehicle 10 is not in a stopped state (No in S10) will be described. First, the control unit 16 determines whether the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10 is greater than V [km / h] (S18). In this example, the preceding vehicle is also assumed to be in a driving state. Here, V [km / h] is a preset conditional value used for determination to exclude cases where the desired inter-vehicle distance of the driver cannot be ensured due to the surrounding traffic conditions including the behavior of the preceding vehicle. For example, when the host vehicle 10 is caught in traffic congestion, or immediately after starting or immediately before stopping, the driving speed of the host vehicle 10 is low. Therefore, V [km / h] is set to a value recognized as low-speed driving as described above. When the host vehicle 10 is at V [km / h] or less (No in S18), the control unit 16 does not diagnose the driving state based on the relative distance (S28) and ends the series of processes. On the other hand, when the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10 is greater than V [km / h] (Yes in S18), the process proceeds to S20.

[0031] Next, when the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10 is greater than V [km / h], the control unit 16 determines whether the time difference between the host vehicle 10 and a vehicle traveling ahead of the host vehicle 10 (hereinafter referred to as the "preceding vehicle") is less than t [s] (S20). Here, the "time difference" specifically refers to the relative time. The relative time is a value calculated by dividing the distance between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle by the difference in speed (i.e., the relative speed), and indicates the time until the host vehicle 10 reaches the current position of the preceding vehicle. t [s] is a predetermined conditional value and is used to determine whether the preceding vehicle satisfies the conditions as a leading vehicle. Similar to D [m] described in S12 above, when the relative time between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is too large, from the perspective of the relative distance, it is appropriate to determine that the preceding vehicle is not recognized as a leading vehicle and that there is no leading vehicle for the host vehicle 10. Therefore, when the time difference between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is not less than t [s] (No in S20), the control unit 16 does not perform diagnosis of the driving content based on the relative distance (S28) and ends the series of processes. On the other hand, when the time difference between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle is less than t [s] (Yes in S20), the process proceeds to S22.

[0032] Next, when the time difference between the host vehicle 10 and the preceding vehicle (since it can be said to be the relationship between the host vehicle 10 and the leading vehicle after S22, it is referred to as the "two vehicles") is less than t [s], the control unit 16 obtains the inter-vehicle time of the two vehicles (S22). In this example, the inter-vehicle time is synonymous with the relative distance described above, is calculated based on the inter-vehicle distance and the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10, and specifically is obtained by dividing the inter-vehicle distance by the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10. For example, when the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle 10 and the leading vehicle is 22.2 m and the vehicle speed of the host vehicle 10 is 40 km / h, the inter-vehicle time is 1.98 seconds, which is approximately the value of 2 seconds, which is the standard for the inter-vehicle time on ordinary roads.

[0033] Subsequently, the control unit 16 obtains the mode value or the modal category of the inter-vehicle time between the two vehicles (S24), and diagnoses the driving content of the host vehicle 10 based on the obtained mode value or the modal category of the inter-vehicle time (S26). Since the mode value or the modal category of the inter-vehicle time between the two vehicles is used as diagnostic data in the same way as the above-described inter-vehicle distance, by executing the processes in S18 to S24, the driving characteristics of the driver can be more reflected in the diagnosis.

[0034] The content of the above-described driving diagnosis can be provided as effective information for the driver to continue safe driving in the future or to improve driving. A specific example of the information provision will be described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen when the content of the driving diagnosis is fed back to the driver. Specifically, the screen 30 shown in FIG. 3 is an example of the screen of an application installed in the terminal device 28 carried by the driver of the host vehicle 10. On the screen 30, an evaluation of the method of taking the inter-vehicle distance during the running of the host vehicle 10 and other information are presented. Specifically, from the content of the screen 30, the driver can grasp which rank his / her method of taking the inter-vehicle distance belongs to in the driving during a certain month. Also, as an example, the evaluation criteria, reference information, and the average of the methods of taking the inter-vehicle distance of other participants are shown, so that the driver can grasp what kind of method of taking the inter-vehicle distance leads to safe driving. In this example, "Inter-vehicle distance S" is displayed at the top of the screen 30. Therefore, by obtaining this feedback, the driver can know that the method of taking the inter-vehicle distance during his / her driving has a low accident rate, and it is expected that the driver will continue to drive safely more consciously. Also, if the rank is not S but a low rank such as C or D, providing that feedback to the driver will lead to support for the driver to improve driving willingly with a sense of safe driving.

[0035] Note that the above description is just an example. The driving diagnosis system disclosed in this specification may be configured to obtain the most frequent value or the most frequent category from the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the relative distance according to the host vehicle speed, and diagnose the driving content of the host vehicle based on the most frequent value or the most frequent category. Therefore, other configurations of the driving diagnosis system may be appropriately changed. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in the embodiment, since the diagnosis unit 24 is a part of the driving diagnosis system 12 mounted on the host vehicle 10, it is mounted on the host vehicle 10, but is not limited thereto. For example, the diagnosis unit 24 may be in a data center outside the host vehicle 10 or in a data server on the cloud. In such a configuration, the control unit 16 of the driving diagnosis system 12 transmits and receives information and diagnosis results used for driving diagnosis to and from the data center and the like via the communication unit 26.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0036] 10 Vehicle (host vehicle), 12 Driving diagnosis system, 14 Various sensors, 16 Control unit, 18 Relative distance acquisition unit, 20 Most frequent value acquisition unit, 22 Most frequent category determination unit, 24 Diagnosis unit, 26 Communication unit, 28 Terminal device.

Claims

1. A relative distance acquisition unit that acquires a relative distance corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle speed; A mode value acquisition unit that acquires a mode value from among the relative distances; A mode section determination unit that divides the relative distances into sections according to the magnitude of the relative distances and determines the most frequent section among the sections; A diagnosis unit that diagnoses the driving content of the host vehicle based on the mode value or the most frequent section; A driving diagnosis system comprising the same.

2. The relative distance when the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle are in a stopped state is the inter-vehicle distance, The driving diagnosis system according to Claim 1, characterized in that.

3. The relative distance when the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle are in a traveling state is the inter-vehicle time between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, The driving diagnosis system according to Claim 1, characterized in that.

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