Manager, control method, control program, and vehicle

Abstract

To provide a manager, etc. that output information necessary to generate information indicating a lateral motion of a vehicle, to an ADAS application.SOLUTION: A manager mounted on a vehicle includes: a reception unit that receives, from a plurality of ADAS applications, a plurality of action plans including first information that is information indicating a lateral motion of the vehicle; an adjustment unit that makes adjustments to the plurality of action plans; a calculation unit that calculates a motion request, based on an adjustment result by the adjustment unit; a first output unit that distributes the motion request to at least one of a plurality of actuator systems; a second output unit that outputs second information used to generate the first information, to at least one of the plurality of ADAS applications; and a storage unit that stores the second information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a manager and the like installed in a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, multiple applications that realize driving assistance functions (such as autonomous driving, autonomous parking, and advanced driving assistance) have been implemented in vehicles. When multiple applications are implemented, multiple requests may be made to a single actuator system (such as a steering device) installed in the vehicle.

[0003] Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a control device (manager) that accepts multiple requests output from multiple applications to an actuator system, arbitrates the accepted multiple requests, and outputs a request to drive the actuator system based on the arbitration result. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-032894 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-032893 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] An ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) application that realizes an advanced driver assistance function outputs a request to a manager to control the vehicle's motion, which includes information representing the lateral motion of the vehicle. However, no specific consideration has been given to how to generate information representing the lateral motion of the vehicle in an ADAS application.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a manager or the like that outputs information necessary to generate information representing the lateral movement of a vehicle to an ADAS application. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one aspect of the disclosed technology is a manager mounted on a vehicle, the manager including: a reception unit that receives a plurality of action plans from a plurality of ADAS applications, the action plans including first information that is information representing the lateral movement of the vehicle; an arbitration unit that arbitrates the plurality of action plans; a calculation unit that calculates a movement request based on the arbitration result by the arbitration unit; a first output unit that distributes the movement request to at least one of a plurality of actuator systems; a second output unit that outputs second information used to generate the first information to at least one of the plurality of ADAS applications; and a memory unit that stores the second information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present disclosure, the manager outputs the second information necessary to generate the first information representing the lateral movement of the vehicle to the ADAS application, so that the ADAS application can easily generate the first information representing the lateral movement of the vehicle based on this second information. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] The functional block diagram of the manager shown in Figure 1 [Figure 3] Diagram for explaining the equations of motion of a motorcycle model [Figure 4] Diagram to explain the relationship between curvature and acceleration DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] In the vehicle system of the present disclosure, the manager outputs information required to generate a steering angle, curvature, etc., that represent the lateral movement of the vehicle to the ADAS application, which allows the ADAS application to easily generate a steering angle, curvature, etc., that represent the lateral movement of the vehicle based on the information acquired from the manager. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0011] <Embodiment> [composition] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example configuration of a system mounted on a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle system 1 shown in Fig. 1 includes a manager 10, a driving assistance system 20, and a plurality of actuator systems 31 to 33. Each component included in the vehicle system 1 is connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other via an in-vehicle network such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) or Ethernet (registered trademark).

[0012] The driving assistance system 20 is configured to implement various functions for assisting vehicle driving, including at least vehicle drive control and braking control, by executing one or more implemented applications 21 to 23. Examples of the applications 21 to 23 implemented by the driving assistance system 20 include an autonomous driving application that implements an autonomous driving function, an autonomous parking application that implements an autonomous parking function, and an ADAS application that implements an advanced driving assistance function. Examples of ADAS applications include an application that implements a collision avoidance assistance function (such as PCS), an application that implements a forward vehicle following driving function (such as ACC) that keeps the vehicle at a constant distance from the vehicle in front, an application that implements a lane keeping assistance function (such as LKA or LTA) that keeps the vehicle in its lane, an application that implements a collision mitigation braking function (such as AEB) that automatically applies the brakes to mitigate collision damage, and an application that implements a lane departure warning function (such as LDW or LDA) that warns the vehicle of departure from its lane.

[0013] Each of the applications 21 to 23 of the driving assistance system 20 outputs to the manager 10, as an application request, a request for an action plan that ensures the functionality (marketability) of the application alone, based on vehicle information (such as recognition sensor information) acquired (input) from various sensors (not shown). This action plan includes requests for longitudinal acceleration and deceleration as information representing the vehicle's longitudinal (longitudinal) motion. The action plan also includes requests for steering angle and curvature (or curvature radius) as information representing the vehicle's lateral motion (hereinafter referred to as "first information"). Each of the applications 21 to 23 can also output, together with the action plan, identification information (application ID) that can uniquely identify the application to the manager 10. This application ID is uniquely determined in advance for each application.

[0014] The driving assistance system 20 is realized by a computer such as an electronic control unit (ECU) having a processor such as a CPU, a memory, and an input / output interface. The number of ECUs constituting the driving assistance system 20 and the number of applications implemented by the ECUs are not particularly limited. The driving assistance system 20 may also be provided with an ECU for each application. For example, the driving assistance system 20 may be configured by an autonomous driving ECU in which an autonomous driving application is implemented, an autonomous parking ECU in which an autonomous parking application is implemented, and an ADAS-ECU in which an advanced driving assistance application is implemented. Furthermore, multiple ADAS applications may be implemented in multiple ECUs, such as an ECU in which an ADAS application that realizes the ACC function is implemented, an ECU in which an ADAS application that realizes the LKA function is implemented, and an ECU in which an ADAS application that realizes the AEB function is implemented.

[0015] The multiple actuator systems 31-33 are one of the realization systems for realizing the requirements of the action plan output by each application 21-23 of the driving assistance system 20. One example of the actuator systems 31-33 is an electric power steering (EPS) system that includes a steering actuator (such as an EPS motor) capable of generating torque on a steering shaft to assist steering of the steering wheel, and realizes some or all of the requirements of the action plan by controlling the operation of the steering actuator. Another example of the actuator systems 31-33 is an electronic brake system (EBS) that includes a brake actuator (such as a hydraulic brake) capable of generating braking force on the vehicle, and realizes some or all of the requirements of the action plan by controlling the operation of the brake actuator. Another example of the actuator systems 31-33 is a powertrain system that includes a powertrain actuator (such as an engine or transmission) capable of generating braking / driving force on the vehicle, and realizes some or all of the requirements of the action plan by controlling the operation of the powertrain actuator. Note that the number of actuator systems installed in the vehicle is not limited to three as shown in the figure.

[0016] The manager 10 determines control content related to the vehicle motion based on the action plan requests received from the multiple applications 21 to 23 of the driving assistance system 20, and outputs a necessary request based on the determined control content to at least one of the multiple actuator systems 31 to 33. In other words, the manager 10 distributes motion requests to one or more of the actuator systems 31 to 33.

[0017] This manager 10 functions as an ADAS-MGR or Vehicle-MGR related to the movement of the vehicle, or as a part of the ADAS-MGR or Vehicle-MGR, and controls the movement of the vehicle. FIG. 2 shows an example of a functional block diagram of the manager 10. The manager 10 shown in FIG. 2 includes a reception unit 11, an arbitration unit 12, a first output unit 13, a second output unit 14, and a storage unit 15.

[0018] The reception unit 11 receives one or more requests for action plans output by the applications 21 to 23 of the driving assistance system 20. The action plan in this embodiment includes a steering angle or a curvature (or a curvature radius) as first information representing the lateral movement of the vehicle output by the ADAS application. The request for the action plan received by the reception unit 11 is output to the arbitration unit 12.

[0019] The arbitration unit 12 arbitrates one or more action plan requests received by the reception unit 11 from the applications 21 to 23 of the driving assistance system 20. An example of this arbitration process is to select one action plan from multiple action plans based on a predetermined selection criterion (e.g., Min selection). Another arbitration process may be to set a new action plan based on multiple action plans. If there is only one action plan request, that action plan is adopted as the arbitration result.

[0020] The first output unit 13 outputs a motion request based on the result of arbitration of the action plan requests in the arbitration unit 12 to at least one of the actuator systems 31 to 33. This motion request is a physical quantity that requests the vehicle movement to realize the arbitrated action plan, and is a physical quantity suitable for the actuator system to which the motion request is output. This physical quantity is converted as necessary. For example, if the actuator system to which the motion request is output is an EPS system, the steering angle of the wheels (steering angle) is output as the motion request.

[0021] The second output unit 14 outputs information and data (hereinafter referred to as "second information") used by the applications 21 to 23 of the driving assistance system 20 to generate first information representing the lateral movement of the vehicle to be included in the action plan, to at least one of the applications 21 to 23. The second information includes, for example, one or more of the following information on vehicle specifications (constants): the distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the front wheels, the distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the rear wheels, the cornering stiffness generated by the front tires, and the cornering stiffness generated by the rear tires; and information on vehicle state quantities (variables): the vehicle mass, the vehicle running speed, the side slip angle (or vehicle body slip angle) of the center of gravity of the vehicle, and the yaw rate. The information on the vehicle specifications (constants) is stored in the storage unit 15, which will be described later. The information on the vehicle state quantities (variables) can be acquired from various in-vehicle devices (not shown).

[0022] More specifically, when the first information received by the receiving unit 11 from the applications 21 to 23 is a steering angle, the second output unit 14 outputs the distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the front and rear wheels, the cornering stiffness generated by the front and rear tire wheels, the mass of the vehicle, the speed, the sideslip angle, and the yaw rate as the second information to the application that generates the first information. Furthermore, when the first information received by the receiving unit 11 from the applications 21 to 23 is a curvature or a curvature radius, the second output unit 14 outputs the speed, the sideslip angle, and the yaw rate of the vehicle as the second information to the application that generates the first information.

[0023] The memory unit 15 stores information relating to vehicle specifications (constants), such as the distance from the vehicle's center of gravity to the front wheels, the distance from the vehicle's center of gravity to the rear wheels, the cornering stiffness generated by the front tires, and the cornering stiffness generated by the rear tires, which is the second information output by the second output unit 14 to the applications 21 to 23.

[0024] The above-described configurations of the manager 10, the driving assistance system 20, and the multiple actuator systems 31 to 33 mounted on the vehicle are merely examples, and additions, substitutions, changes, omissions, etc. are possible as appropriate. Furthermore, the functions of each device can be implemented by being integrated into one device or distributed across multiple devices as appropriate.

[0025] [Method for generating first information] 3 and 4, a method for generating the first information based on the second information, which is performed in the applications 21 to 23, will be described.

[0026] (1) Example 1 The first example describes a method for generating a steering angle as the first information. Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining the equation of motion of a two-wheeled vehicle model.

[0027] Assuming that cornering force acts in the y-axis direction, the equation of motion for a vehicle with mass m traveling at a constant speed V can be calculated using the following equation [1] in terms of the side slip angle (or vehicle body slip angle) β at the center of gravity of the vehicle and the yaw rate γ of the vehicle. Here, I is the moment of inertia, lf is the distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the front wheels, lr is the distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the rear wheels, CFf is the cornering force of the front wheels, and CFr is the cornering force of the rear wheels.

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[0028] The above equation [1] can be expressed by the following equation "3" by substituting the linear model of cornering force shown in the following equation [2]. Kf is the cornering stiffness generated by the front tire. Kr is the cornering stiffness generated by the rear tire.

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[0029] Furthermore, by substituting the tire slip angle relationship shown in the following equation [4] into the above equation [3], it can be expressed as the following equation "5". Here, βf is the slip angle of the front tire, βr is the slip angle of the rear tire, and δ is the steering angle of the front wheel.

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[0030] If the above-mentioned equation [5] is rearranged with a focus on the steering angle δ of the front wheels, it can be expressed as the following equation [6].

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[0031] In this way, the applications 21 to 23 can easily generate the steering angle δ of the front wheels (first information) based on the distance lf from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the front wheels, the distance lr from the center of gravity of the vehicle to the rear wheels, the cornering stiffness Kf generated from the front tires, the cornering stiffness Kr generated from the rear tires, the mass m of the vehicle, the speed V, the sideslip angle β, and the yaw rate γ, which are obtained from the manager 10 as second information.

[0032] (2) Second Example The second example describes a method for generating curvature as the second information. Fig. 4 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between curvature and acceleration.

[0033] In FIG. 4, the tangential velocity V can be expressed by the following equation [7] based on the radius of curvature ρ and the angular velocity ω.

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[0034] The above-mentioned equation [7] can be transformed into the following equation [8], where the radius of curvature ρ and the reciprocal of the radius of curvature, 1 / ρ, can be expressed using the vehicle speed V, the side slip angle (or vehicle body slip angle) β at the center of gravity, and the vehicle yaw rate γ.

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[0035] Therefore, the normal acceleration can be calculated using the following equation [9].

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[0036] In this way, the applications 21 to 23 can easily generate the curvature 1 / ρ or the curvature radius ρ (first information) based on the vehicle speed V, sideslip angle β, and yaw rate γ acquired from the manager 10 as the second information.

[0037] <Actions and Effects> As described above, according to the vehicle system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the manager outputs information (second information) necessary for generating information (first information) representing the lateral movement of the vehicle to at least one of the ADAS applications. As a result, the ADAS application that acquires the second information can calculate information (such as steering angle or curvature) representing the lateral movement of the vehicle at the time of acquisition based on the vehicle specifications, state quantities, etc. as the second information acquired as feedback from the manager, and can appropriately correct the requested action plan based on this calculated value.

[0038] In addition, in a vehicle system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, information (second information) required to generate information (first information) representing the lateral movement of the vehicle is held or generated by the manager. This improves the accuracy of the second information. Furthermore, the ADAS application does not need to set and hold information such as vehicle specifications in advance, which simplifies the application specifications.

[0039] Furthermore, in a vehicle system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, when curvature or radius of curvature is used as information (first information) representing the lateral movement of the vehicle, less information (data) is required for its calculation, thereby making it possible to reduce the processing load of an electronic control unit (ECU) that implements an ADAS application and the communication load between the manager and the ADAS application.

[0040] The above describes one embodiment of the disclosed technology, but the present disclosure can be understood as not only a manager installed in a vehicle, but also an electronic control unit, a system including an electronic control unit and a manager, a control method executed by a manager equipped with a processor, memory, and storage device, a control program, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing a control program, or a vehicle equipped with a manager. [Industrial Applicability]

[0041] The present disclosure is useful for a manager mounted on a vehicle or the like. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1 Vehicle System 10. Manager 11 Reception 12 Mediation Department 13 First output section 14 Second output section 15 Storage section 20 Driving assistance systems 21~23 Application 31~33 Actuator System

Claims

1. A manager mounted on a vehicle, a reception unit that receives, from a plurality of ADAS applications, a plurality of action plans including first information that is information representing lateral movement of the vehicle; a mediation unit that mediates the plurality of action plans; a first output unit that distributes a motion request based on a result of arbitration by the arbitration unit to at least one of a plurality of actuator systems; a second output unit that outputs second information used to generate the first information to at least one of the plurality of ADAS applications; a storage unit that stores the second information.

2. 2. The manager of claim 1, wherein the second information includes one or more of a distance from a center of gravity of the vehicle to a front wheel, a distance from a center of gravity of the vehicle to a rear wheel, a cornering stiffness generated by a tire, a mass of the vehicle, a speed, a sideslip angle, and a yaw rate.

3. the first information representing the lateral movement is a steering angle, 3. The manager according to claim 2, wherein the second output unit outputs, as the second information, a distance from a center of gravity of the vehicle to a front wheel, a distance from the center of gravity of the vehicle to a rear wheel, a cornering stiffness generated by a front tire, a cornering stiffness generated by a rear tire, a mass of the vehicle, a speed, a sideslip angle, and a yaw rate.

4. the first information representing the lateral movement is a curvature or a radius of curvature, The manager according to claim 2 , wherein the second output unit outputs a speed, a sideslip angle, and a yaw rate as the second information.

5. A control method executed by a manager computer mounted on a vehicle, the manager computer comprising a processor, a memory, and a storage device, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of action plans from a plurality of ADAS applications, the first information being information representative of lateral movement of the vehicle; reconciling the plurality of action plans; distributing a motion request based on a result of the arbitration to at least one of a plurality of actuator systems; and outputting second information used to generate the first information, which is pre-stored in the storage device, to at least one of the plurality of ADAS applications.

6. A control program to be executed by a manager computer mounted on a vehicle, the manager computer including a processor, a memory, and a storage device, receiving a plurality of action plans from a plurality of ADAS applications, the first information being information representative of lateral movement of the vehicle; reconciling the plurality of action plans; distributing a motion request based on a result of the arbitration to at least one of a plurality of actuator systems; and outputting second information used to generate the first information, which is pre-stored in the storage device, to at least one of the plurality of ADAS applications.

7. A vehicle equipped with the manager according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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