Operation management device

Abstract

To provide an operation management device capable of suppressing deterioration of operation efficiency while securing safety of a pedestrian.SOLUTION: An operation management device 10 includes: a walking route generation section 12 for generating a walking route Rh of a pedestrian who gets off a small pickup truck 20A based on peripheral environment information Ic which expresses a peripheral environment acquired from the small pickup truck 20A being one vehicle 20 which arrives at a predetermined point Pp among a plurality of vehicles 20; and an operation route determination section 15 for determining an operation route Rt for an operation to allow a large dump truck 20B being the other vehicle 20 different from the small pickup truck 20A among the vehicles 20 to travel without crossing with the pedestrian route Rh.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an operation management device. [Background technology]

[0002] A conventional vehicle control device is known, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1. When a person is detected on the path of the vehicle, the conventional vehicle control device predicts the evacuation time required for the person to evacuate from the path, and also predicts the time required to travel a detour route that bypasses the path to the destination, and determines whether to wait until the person has evacuated from the path or to change the path to the detour route. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2023-87293 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventional vehicle control systems are based on the assumption that a person is on the path of the vehicle, and ensure the safety of the person by determining whether to have the vehicle wait or take a detour route.

[0005] On the other hand, in an environment where automated heavy machinery and vehicles are operating under traffic control, the safe operation of each vehicle is achieved based on knowing the location information of each vehicle. In this case, when a person gets off a vehicle that has stopped at a certain point and approaches a building or base station, the person's location information cannot be obtained, so the safety of pedestrians is ensured by, for example, setting up a no-entry area within a circle centered on the stopped vehicle where other vehicles cannot enter.

[0006] However, if other vehicles are forced to wait or detour, or if an excessively wide no-entry area is set for the walking route, the operating efficiency of other vehicles will decrease.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a traffic management device that can prevent a decrease in traffic efficiency while ensuring the safety of pedestrians. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The traffic management device of the present invention manages the traffic of a plurality of vehicles, and includes a walking route generation unit that generates a walking route for a pedestrian who gets off one of the plurality of vehicles based on surrounding environment information indicating the surrounding environment obtained from one of the plurality of vehicles that has reached a predetermined point, and a travel route determination unit that determines a travel route for other vehicles of the plurality of vehicles that are different from the one vehicle so as not to intersect with the walking route. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] The traffic management device of the present invention generates a walking route for a pedestrian who has disembarked from one vehicle based on surrounding environment information acquired from the vehicle, and determines a travel route for other vehicles so that the other vehicles do not intersect with the walking route. This ensures the safety of pedestrians walking along the walking route, and also prevents a decrease in the operational efficiency of other vehicles by having the other vehicles travel along the travel route. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a traffic management device. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining processing by the traffic management device and the vehicle. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing a traffic management program. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, a traffic management device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition to the embodiment described below, the present invention can be embodied in various forms with various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0012] The traffic management device 10 of this embodiment is, for example, a computer-based server built on the Web. As shown in Fig. 1, the traffic management device 10 determines and provides a walking route Rh or a travel route Rt (described later) to manage the operation of each of a plurality of vehicles 20.

[0013] In the following description, an example is given in which the traffic management device 10 manages the traffic of a plurality of vehicles 20, for example, a small pickup truck 20A and a large dump truck 20B traveling in a mining area of ​​a mine. The small pickup truck 20A travels, for example, to support the operation of the large dump truck 20B, or to pick up and drop off passengers heading to a destination point Pt, such as a building or base station, to a predetermined point Pp (see FIG. 2). The large dump truck 20B travels, for example, loaded with minerals excavated in the mining area of ​​the mine.

[0014] The operation management device 10 mainly includes a surrounding environment information acquisition unit 11, a walking route generation unit 12, a walking route information transmission unit 13, a position information acquisition unit 14, a travel route determination unit 15, and a travel route information transmission unit 16. As will be described later, the surrounding environment information acquisition unit 11 acquires surrounding environment information Ic that is detected by a surrounding environment detection unit 21 of the small pickup truck 20A and that indicates the environment around the small pickup truck 20A that has arrived at and stopped at a predetermined point Pp, as shown in FIG.

[0015] The walking route generation unit 12 generates a walking route Rh for a pedestrian, shown by the bold dashed line in FIG. 2 , based on the environment surrounding the predetermined point Pp represented by the surrounding environment information Ic and a plurality of checkpoints Pc1, Pc2, ..., which are preset to allow a passenger, i.e., a pedestrian, who disembarks from the pickup truck 20A at the predetermined point Pp, to walk to the destination point Pt. Note that the area including at least the predetermined point Pp, the walking route Rh, and the destination point Pt—in other words, the area where a pedestrian can walk—is the no-entry area. The walking route generation unit 12 then outputs walking route information Irh representing the generated walking route Rh to the walking route information transmission unit 13, as shown in FIG. 1 . The walking route information transmission unit 13 transmits the walking route information Irh, particularly to the communication unit 24 of the pickup truck 20A, as described below.

[0016] As will be described later, the position information acquisition unit 14 acquires position information Iph indicating the position of the small pickup truck 20A and position information Ipt indicating the position of the large dump truck 20B detected by the position detection units 22 of the small pickup truck 20A and the large dump truck 20B, respectively. The travel route determination unit 15 determines a travel route Rt along which the large dump truck 20B, which is a vehicle different from the small pickup truck 20A, which is one vehicle, will travel, as shown in Fig. 2, based on the position information Ipt of the large dump truck 20B and map data including the position indicated by the position information Ipt.

[0017] In this case, the travel route determination unit 15 determines the travel route Rt based on the map data and the walking route Rh generated by the walking route generation unit 12 so that the travel route Rt does not intersect with the walking route Rh, more specifically, so that the travel route Rt is away from obstacles such as rocks and the walking route Rh. This reduces the danger to pedestrians from the traveling large dump truck 20B when the pedestrian walks along the walking route Rh to the destination point Pt. Furthermore, when the large dump truck 20B travels along the travel route Rt, its travel is not obstructed by pedestrians, and it can transport its load efficiently without reducing its travel efficiency.

[0018] Then, the travel route determination unit 15 outputs travel route information Irt representing the determined travel route Rt to the travel route information transmission unit 16. The travel route information transmission unit 16 transmits the travel route information Irt, particularly to the communication unit 24 of the large dump truck 20B, as will be described later.

[0019] Vehicle 20 can be driven automatically or manually, and as shown in Fig. 1, is mainly equipped with a surrounding environment detection unit 21, a position detection unit 22, an ECU 23, a communication unit 24, and a display unit 25. Vehicle 20 of this embodiment also includes a controller 26, an inverter 27, a battery 28, a drive unit 29, and wheels W. Although a steering device is omitted in Fig. 1, for example, controller 26 can steer the front wheels of vehicle 20 as steered wheels.

[0020] The surrounding environment detection unit 21 mainly includes a monocular camera, a stereo camera, an infrared camera, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, or Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging), a millimeter-wave radar, etc. The surrounding environment detection unit 21 captures an image of the environment around a predetermined point Pp where the vehicle 20 (particularly the small pickup truck 20A) is stopped, such as the presence or absence of obstacles such as rocks and roughness of the road surface in the fan-shaped area shown in Fig. 2. The surrounding environment detection unit 21 outputs the captured image to the ECU 23 as surrounding environment information Ic.

[0021] The position detection unit 22 includes a receiver for RTK (Real Time Kinematic) or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and detects the position of the traveling vehicle 20. The position detection unit 22 outputs position information Iph or Ipt indicating the detected position to the ECU 23.

[0022] The ECU 23 is an electronic control unit that includes, as its main component, a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, and various interfaces. The CPU sequentially executes predetermined programs to read data, perform numerical calculations, and output the calculation results. The ROM stores programs and maps to be executed by the CPU. The RAM temporarily stores data, etc. The various interfaces are connected to the surrounding environment detection unit 21, position detection unit 22, communication unit 24, display unit 25, and controller 26.

[0023] The communication unit 24 transmits the surrounding environment information Ic supplied from the ECU 23 to the surrounding environment information acquisition unit 11 of the traffic management device 10. In addition, the communication unit 24 transmits the position information Iph or the position information Ipt supplied from the ECU 23 to the position information acquisition unit 14 of the traffic management device 10. In addition, the communication unit 24 receives the walking route information Irh transmitted from the walking route information transmission unit 13 of the traffic management device 10 and the traveling route information Irt transmitted from the traveling route information transmission unit 16, and outputs them to the ECU 23.

[0024] The display unit 25 has, for example, a liquid crystal display, acquires walking route information Irh or travel route information Irt supplied from the ECU 23, and displays a walking route Rh based on the walking route information Irh, or a travel route Rt based on the travel route information Irt. The display unit 25 displays, for example, a route from a predetermined point Pp where the occupant disembarks from the vehicle 20 to a destination point Pt such as a building, and presents the walking route Rh to the occupant, i.e., a pedestrian.

[0025] The controller 26 is an electronic control unit including, as its main component, a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, and various interfaces. The controller 26 controls the operation of the inverter 27 in accordance with a driving instruction command output from the ECU 23, thereby driving the vehicle 20. The inverter 27 drives the wheels W via the drive device 29, for example, by controlling the power supplied from the battery 28 to the drive device 29.

[0026] Next, the operation management process by the operation management device 10 will be described using the flowcharts of Figures 2 and 3. In the operation management device 10, execution of the operation management program begins in step S10, as shown in Figure 3. Subsequently, in step S11, the position information acquisition unit 14 of the operation management device 10 acquires information indicating that the small pickup truck 20A has stopped at a predetermined point Pp, i.e., position information Iph detected by the position detection unit 22 of the small pickup truck 20A.

[0027] In the next step S12, the surrounding environment information acquisition unit 11 of the traffic management device 10 acquires the surrounding environment information Ic detected by the surrounding environment detection unit 21 of the small pickup truck 20A. Then, after acquiring the surrounding environment information Ic, the traffic management device 10 executes step processing of step S13.

[0028] In step S13, as shown in Fig. 2, the walking route generation unit 12 of the traffic management device 10 generates a walking route Rh to the destination point Pt based on the environment surrounding the predetermined point Pp represented by the surrounding environment information Ic and the checkpoints Pc1, Pc2, .... Then, in step S14, after the walking route generation unit 12 of the traffic management device 10 generates the walking route Rh, the walking route information transmission unit 13 transmits walking route information Irh representing the walking route Rh to the small pickup truck 20A.

[0029] In this way, when the walking route information Irh is transmitted from the traffic management device 10 to the small pickup truck 20A, the ECU 23 in the small pickup truck 20A supplies the walking route information Irh to the display unit 25. Based on the supplied walking route information Irh, the display unit 25 notifies the pedestrian of the walking route Rh, which travels from the pedestrian's current location, which is the predetermined point Pp, to the destination point Pt by passing through checkpoints Pc1 and Pc2, for example, by displaying it as an image. This allows the pedestrian to confirm the walking route Rh that will allow them to travel safely to the destination point Pt.

[0030] Furthermore, when the traffic management device 10 transmits the walking route information Irh in step S14, the traffic route determination unit 15 determines the traffic route Rt so as not to intersect with the walking route Rh in the following step S15. Then, when the traffic management device 10 has the traffic route determination unit 15 determine the traffic route Rt, in step S16, the traffic route information transmission unit 16 transmits the traffic route information Irt representing the traffic route Rt to the large dump truck 20B.

[0031] In this way, when the travel route information Irt is transmitted from the traffic management device 10 to the large dump truck 20B, the ECU 23 of the large dump truck 20B supplies the travel route information Irt to the controller 26. Based on the supplied travel route information Irt, the controller 26 can safely and efficiently travel the large dump truck 20B by automatic driving along the travel route Rt while acquiring position information Ipt of the large dump truck 20B detected by the position detection unit 22. Furthermore, in the large dump truck 20B, the ECU 23 supplies the travel route information Irt to the display unit 25. Based on the supplied travel route information Irt, the display unit 25 notifies the driver manually driving the large dump truck 20B of the travel route Rt that does not intersect with the walking route Rh, for example, by displaying it as an image. This allows the driver to travel the large dump truck 20B safely and efficiently.

[0032] Then, after transmitting the operation route information Irt in step S16, the operation management device 10 temporarily terminates the execution of the operation management program in step S17. After a predetermined short time has elapsed, the operation management device 10 starts the execution of the operation management program again in step S10.

[0033] As can be understood from the above explanation, the traffic management device 10 manages the operations of a plurality of vehicles 20. The traffic management device 10 includes a walking route generation unit 12 that generates a walking route Rh for a pedestrian who gets off the small pickup truck 20A based on surrounding environment information Ic that indicates the surrounding environment obtained from the small pickup truck 20A, which is one of the plurality of vehicles 20 that has reached a predetermined point Pp, and a travel route determination unit 15 that determines a travel route Rt for a large dump truck 20B, which is another vehicle 20 different from the small pickup truck 20A, among the plurality of vehicles 20, to travel along such a route so as not to intersect with the walking route Rh.

[0034] As a result, the traffic management device 10 can generate a walking route Rh for the pedestrian who has disembarked from the small pickup truck 20A based on the surrounding environment information Ic acquired from the small pickup truck 20A, and determine a travel route Rt along which the large dump truck 20B should travel so as not to intersect with the walking route Rh. This ensures the safety of pedestrians walking on the walking route Rh, and also prevents a decrease in the operational efficiency of the large dump truck 20B by having the large dump truck 20B travel along the travel route Rt. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 10...operation management device, 11...surrounding environment information acquisition unit, 12...walking route generation unit, 13...walking route information transmission unit, 14...position information acquisition unit, 15...operation route determination unit, 16...operation route information transmission unit, 20...vehicle, 20A...small pickup truck, 20B...large dump truck, Ic...surrounding environment information, Rh...walking route, Irh...walking route information, Rt...operation route, Irt...operation route information.

Claims

[Claim 1] A traffic management device that manages the operation of multiple vehicles, a walking route generation unit that generates a walking route for a pedestrian who has gotten off one of the plurality of vehicles based on surrounding environment information indicating a surrounding environment acquired from one of the plurality of vehicles that has arrived at a predetermined point; a travel route determination unit that determines a travel route along which the other vehicles, which are different from one of the plurality of vehicles, travel so as not to intersect with the walking route; An operation management device equipped with the above.

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