Vehicle

Abstract

To facilitate notification using sound to the outside of a vehicle in an emergency.SOLUTION: The vehicle includes a footrest for placing a left foot of a driver, a notification device for performing notification using sound to the outside of the vehicle, and a control device for controlling the notification device so as to perform the notification using the sound to the outside of the vehicle when a treading force for treading the footrest is a predetermined treading force or more.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to vehicles. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, a vehicle has been known in which a horn switch is installed to the left of the brake pedal in the driver's seat, allowing the driver to easily sound a short honk by lightly kicking up the switch with the toe of their left foot (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Utility Model Registration No. 3099093 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the operation of the driver kicking up the switch with the toe of the left foot as in Patent Document 1 is difficult to perform in an emergency such as sudden braking, and there was a problem in that it was difficult to alert the outside of the vehicle using sound in an emergency.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and its main purpose is to make it easier to use sound to notify the outside of the vehicle in an emergency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present disclosure employs the following means to achieve the above-mentioned main object.

[0007] The vehicle of the present disclosure includes: A footrest for the driver's left foot; an alarm device that issues a sound alert to an outside of the vehicle; a control device that controls the notification device to issue the notification to an outside of the vehicle when the footrest is depressed with a predetermined depression force or more; It is equipped with the following.

[0008] In the vehicle of the present disclosure, the control device controls the alarm device to issue an audible alarm to the outside of the vehicle when the footrest on which the driver places his / her left foot is depressed with a predetermined depression force or more. Since the driver's act of depressing the footrest with his / her left foot is easier to execute in an emergency than the act of kicking up a switch with the toe of the left foot, this vehicle makes it easier to issue an audible alarm to the outside of the vehicle in an emergency. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle 20. FIG. [Figure 2] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a horn activation processing routine. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a horn stop processing routine. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] A mode (embodiment) for carrying out the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the figure, the vehicle 20 according to the embodiment includes drive wheels 30, a vehicle speed sensor 32, a brake pedal 40, a stop lamp switch (stop lamp SW) 42, a footrest 50, a pedal force sensor 52, a horn 60, a horn switch (horn SW) 62, and a horn electronic control unit (horn ECU) 70. The vehicle 20 includes a drive device (not shown), such as an internal combustion engine and / or a motor, and travels by rotating the drive wheels 30 with the driving force from the drive device. The vehicle 20 also includes a vehicle electronic control unit (vehicle ECU) (not shown) that controls the entire vehicle 20.

[0011] The vehicle speed sensor 32 detects the vehicle speed V of the vehicle 20. The brake pedal 40 is located to the left of an accelerator pedal (not shown) as seen by a driver 90 of the vehicle 20, and is operated by the driver 90 pressing his / her right foot. The stop lamp SW42 is a switch that turns on when the driver 90 presses the brake pedal 40 by a predetermined amount or more and turns off when the amount of pressing falls below the predetermined amount. When the stop lamp SW42 is turned on, the vehicle ECU turns on a stop lamp (not shown) disposed at the rear of the vehicle 20, and turns off the stop lamp when the stop lamp SW42 is turned off. The vehicle ECU also decelerates the vehicle 20 by applying a braking force to the drive wheels 30 using a hydraulic brake device (not shown) in accordance with the amount of pressing of the brake pedal 40.

[0012] The footrest 50 is for placing the left foot of the driver 90, and is disposed to the left of the brake pedal 40 as seen from the driver 90. The pedal force sensor 52 detects the pedal force Pf applied to the footrest 50 by the left foot of the driver 90. The pedal force sensor 52 is configured as, for example, a pressure sensor that generates a voltage corresponding to the pedal force Pf. The pedal force sensor 52 may be disposed inside the footrest 50, or may be disposed on the surface of the footrest 50 (the surface on which the left foot of the driver 90 is placed).

[0013] Horn 60 is a device that uses sound to alert the outside of vehicle 20. Horn switch 62 is disposed on steering wheel 64, and is a switch that turns on when driver 90 presses horn switch 62 to a predetermined amount or more, and turns off when the amount of pressing falls below the predetermined amount. When horn switch 62 is turned on, horn 60 is activated (alerts) and outputs a sound such as a warning sound (horn), thereby alerting the outside.

[0014] The horn ECU 70 includes a microcomputer having a CPU, ROM, RAM, rewritable non-volatile memory, input / output ports, etc. (not shown). The horn ECU 70 receives inputs such as the vehicle speed V from the vehicle speed sensor 32, the switch signal from the stop lamp switch 42, and the pedal force Pf from the pedal force sensor 52. The horn ECU 70 outputs a control signal to the horn 60. The horn ECU 70 can operate the horn 60 even when the horn switch 62 is in the off state. The horn ECU 70 communicates with the vehicle ECU.

[0015] Next, the operation of the vehicle 20 of this embodiment, particularly the operation when the driver 90 steps on the footrest 50, will be described. Figure 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a horn activation processing routine executed by the horn ECU 70. This routine is repeatedly executed while the horn 60 is stopped.

[0016] When this routine is executed, the horn ECU 70 first determines whether the pedal force Pf from the pedal force sensor 52 is equal to or greater than a threshold value Pfref1 (step S100). The threshold value Pfref1 is predetermined as a lower limit value of the pedal force Pf at which the horn 60 is activated. The threshold value Pfref1 may be a fixed value, or may be set to a value desired by a user, such as the driver 90, based on an operation input by the user. For example, the horn ECU 70 may set the threshold value Pfref1 by inputting an operation by the user via at least one of an operation panel (not shown) provided on the vehicle 20, a mobile terminal (not shown) connected to the horn ECU 70 via wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and an operation unit (such as a button or a selector switch) (not shown) provided on the horn ECU 70.

[0017] When the horn ECU 70 determines in step S100 that the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1, it determines whether or not brake interlocking is enabled (step S110). Whether or not brake interlocking is enabled is set in advance based on a user operation, for example, in the same manner as the setting of the threshold value Pfref1 described above. When the horn ECU 70 determines in step S110 that brake interlocking is enabled, it determines whether or not the stop lamp switch 42 is on (step S120).

[0018] When the horn ECU 70 determines in step S110 that the brake interlock is not set to ON (is set to OFF) or when the horn ECU 70 determines in step S120 that the stop lamp SW 42 is ON, the horn ECU 70 activates the horn 60 (step S130) and ends this routine. In this way, the vehicle 20 can issue an audible alert to the outside of the vehicle. Furthermore, since the driver 90 is more likely to depress the footrest 50 with his / her left foot in an emergency than to kick up a switch with the toe of his / her left foot, the vehicle 20 of this embodiment can easily issue an audible alert to the outside of the vehicle 20 with the horn 60 in an emergency. On the other hand, when the horn ECU 70 determines in step S100 that the pedal force Pf is not equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1 or when the horn ECU 70 determines in step S120 that the stop lamp SW 42 is not ON (is OFF), the horn ECU 70 ends this routine without activating the horn 60. When the horn 60 is not in operation, that is, when the horn 60 is stopped, the horn ECU 70 executes this routine again.

[0019] Next, an operation of the horn ECU 70 when stopping the horn 60 that is in operation will be described. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a horn stop processing routine executed by the horn ECU 70. This routine is repeatedly executed after the horn 60 is activated in step S130 described above (i.e., while the horn 60 is in operation) until the horn 60 is stopped.

[0020] When this routine is executed, the horn ECU 70 first determines whether the brake interlock is set to ON (step S200), similar to step S110. If the horn ECU 70 determines in step S200 that the brake interlock is set to ON, the horn ECU 70 determines whether the stop lamp SW 42 is OFF (step S210). If the horn ECU 70 determines in step S200 that the brake interlock is set to OFF or if the horn ECU 70 determines in step S210 that the stop lamp SW 42 is not OFF, the horn ECU 70 determines whether the pedal force Pf from the pedal force sensor 52 is less than a threshold value Pfref2 that is equal to or less than the threshold value Pfref1 (step S220). The threshold value Pfref2 is predetermined as a lower limit value of the pedal force Pf at which the horn 60 continues to operate. The threshold value Pfref2 may be a fixed value or may be set to a value desired by the user based on the user's operation, for example, in the same manner as the setting of the threshold value Pfref1 described above. The threshold value Pfref2 may be set by the horn ECU 70 based on the threshold value Pfref1 as a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined hysteresis (margin) from the threshold value Pfref1.

[0021] When the horn ECU 70 determines in step S210 that the stop lamp switch 42 is off, or when it determines in step S220 that the pedal force Pf is less than the threshold value Pfref2, it stops the horn 60 (step S230) and ends this routine. On the other hand, when the horn ECU 70 determines in step S220 that the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref2, it ends this routine without stopping the horn 60. When the horn ECU 70 ends this routine without stopping the horn 60, it executes this routine again.

[0022] In the vehicle 20 of the embodiment described above, the horn ECU 70 controls the horn 60 to issue an audible alert to the outside of the vehicle 20 when the pedaling force Pf applied to the footrest 50 on which the driver 90 places his / her left foot is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1. Because the operation of the driver 90 stepping on the footrest 50 with his / her left foot is easier to perform in an emergency than the operation of kicking up a switch with the toe of his / her left foot, the vehicle 20 of the embodiment can easily issue an audible alert to the outside of the vehicle 20 using the horn 60 in an emergency. Furthermore, during sudden braking, which is one example of an emergency, the driver 90 can use deceleration acceleration (deceleration G) to step on the footrest 50 with his / her left foot, so the driver 90 can easily issue an alert using the horn 60 with less force. Furthermore, when brake interlocking is set to ON, the horn ECU 70 activates the horn 60 not only when the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1 but also when the stop lamp SW42 is on, thereby preventing the horn 60 from being activated when the amount of depression of the brake pedal 40 is zero or small, i.e., when there is little possibility of an emergency.

[0023] In the above-described embodiment, when brake interlocking is set to ON, one of the conditions for activating the horn 60 is that the stop lamp SW42 is on. However, any condition may be used as long as it prevents the horn 60 from operating when the possibility of an emergency is low based on the brake state of the vehicle 20, and for example, the condition may be that the depression force Pb of the brake pedal 40 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value Pbref.

[0024] In the above-described embodiment, the pedal force sensor 52 detects the pedal force Pf of the footrest 50. However, instead of this, a switch that turns on when the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than a predetermined pedal force may be used.

[0025] In the above-described embodiment, the conditions for activating and deactivating the horn 60 can be set based on whether or not the brake is interlocked. Alternatively, the conditions for activating and deactivating the horn 60 can be set based on whether or not the vehicle speed is interlocked. For example, the horn ECU 70 may perform the following process instead of steps S110 and S120 of FIG. 2. That is, when the horn ECU 70 determines in step S100 of FIG. 2 that the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1, if the vehicle speed interlock is set to "off," the process proceeds to step S130, activates the horn 60, and terminates the horn activation processing routine. On the other hand, if the vehicle speed interlock is set to "on," the process proceeds to step S130, activates the horn 60, and terminates the horn activation processing routine if the vehicle speed V satisfies the vehicle speed condition. However, if the vehicle speed V does not satisfy the vehicle speed condition, the horn 60 is not activated and the horn activation processing routine terminates. The vehicle speed condition may be, for example, when the deceleration derived based on the time change in the vehicle speed V is equal to or greater than a threshold value defined as the lower limit of a range in which deceleration is considered to be large. This prevents the horn 60 from being activated when the deceleration of the vehicle 20 is small, i.e., when the possibility of an emergency is low. The vehicle speed condition (for example, the above-mentioned deceleration threshold) may be a constant value, or may be set to a value desired by the user based on the user's operation, similar to the setting of the above-mentioned threshold Pfref1. The vehicle speed condition may be when the vehicle speed V is within a predetermined high-speed range or a predetermined low-speed range (excluding zero speed).

[0026] If it is possible to set whether or not to enable vehicle speed interlocking instead of whether or not to enable brake interlocking, the horn ECU 70 may perform the following processing instead of steps S200 and S210 of Fig. 3. That is, when the horn stop processing routine of Fig. 3 is executed, if the vehicle speed interlocking is set to OFF, or if the vehicle speed interlocking is set to ON and the above-mentioned vehicle speed condition is satisfied, the horn ECU 70 proceeds to step S220 and makes a determination based on the pedal force Pf. Also, if the vehicle speed interlocking is set to ON and the above-mentioned vehicle speed condition is not satisfied, the horn ECU 70 proceeds to step S230, stops the horn 60, and ends this routine. In the horn stop processing routine, instead of the vehicle speed condition of the above-mentioned horn activation processing routine, a condition that provides a predetermined hysteresis to this vehicle speed condition may be used.

[0027] In addition to whether or not to enable brake interlocking, whether or not to enable vehicle speed interlocking may also be set. For example, if both brake interlocking and vehicle speed interlocking are set to enable, the horn ECU 70 may proceed to step S130 to activate the horn when, in the horn activation processing routine, it determines that the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1, it determines that the stop lamp SW 42 is on, and it determines that the vehicle speed condition is satisfied. Also, in the horn stop processing routine, the horn ECU 70 may proceed to step S230 to stop the horn 60 when it determines that the stop lamp SW 42 is off, it determines that the vehicle speed condition is not satisfied, or it determines that the pedal force Pf is less than the threshold value Pfref2.

[0028] In the above-described embodiment, brake interlocking itself may not be required. In this case, the horn ECU 70 may omit steps S110 and S120 in FIG. 2, and proceed to step S130 to activate the horn 60 when it determines in step S100 that the pedal force Pf is equal to or greater than the threshold value Pfref1. Alternatively, the horn ECU 70 may omit steps S200 and S210 in FIG. 3, and proceed to step S230 to stop the horn 60 when it determines in step S220 that the pedal force Pf is less than the threshold value Pfref2.

[0029] In the above-described embodiment, it is possible to set whether or not to have the brakes interlocked, but this is not limiting. For example, the brakes may be always interlocked. In this case, the process of step S110 can be removed from the routine in FIG. 2. The same can be said about whether or not to have the vehicle speed interlocked.

[0030] In the above-described embodiment, the horn ECU 70 controls the horn 60 by performing the processing shown in Figures 2 and 3. However, instead of a microcomputer such as the horn ECU 70, a hardware circuit that does not use a program may function as the control device for the horn 60.

[0031] The correspondence between the main elements of the embodiment and the main elements of the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section will be explained below. In the embodiment, the footrest 50 corresponds to the "footrest," the horn 60 corresponds to the "alarm device," and the horn ECU 70 corresponds to the "control device."

[0032] The correspondence between the main elements of the embodiments and the main elements of the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section does not limit the elements of the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section, since the embodiments are examples for specifically explaining the mode for implementing the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section. In other words, the interpretation of the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section should be based on the description in that section, and the embodiments are merely specific examples of the invention described in the "Means for Solving the Problem" section.

[0033] The above describes the forms for implementing the present disclosure using embodiments, but the present disclosure is not limited to these embodiments in any way, and it goes without saying that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present disclosure. [Industrial Applicability]

[0034] The present disclosure is applicable to the vehicle manufacturing industry and the like. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 20 vehicle, 30 drive wheel, 32 vehicle speed sensor, 40 brake pedal, 42 stop lamp switch, 50 footrest, 52 pedal force sensor, 60 horn, 62 horn switch, 64 steering, 70 horn ECU, 90 driver.

Claims

[Claim 1] A footrest for the driver's left foot; an alarm device that issues a sound alert to an outside of the vehicle; a control device that controls the notification device to issue the notification to an outside of the vehicle when the footrest is depressed with a predetermined depression force or more; A vehicle equipped with.

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