Driver assistance control device, driver assistance method, and computer program

Abstract

This prevents excessive notifications about distracted driving from being sent to the driver. [Solution] The vehicle 100 is configured to allow the driver to select one of several driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads. The control device 6 of the vehicle 100 monitors the driver of the vehicle 100 and notifies the driver of distracted driving. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the control device 6 is configured to suppress notifications regarding distracted driving compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a driving support control device, a driving support method, and a computer program.

Background Art

[0002] In Patent Document 1, as a conventional vehicle control device, a boundary that divides a safe range and an unsafe range in the driver's line of sight is changed according to a driving environment such as a road surface condition, and if the driver's line of sight stays in the unsafe range, it is determined as dangerous driving and a warning is given.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] When driving on a rough road such as a sandy area, a gravel road, an icy or snowy road, a muddy road, a rocky area, or an off-road area, it may be necessary to drive the vehicle while checking the surroundings. However, the conventional vehicle control device described above was configured to relatively narrow the safe range as the road surface condition deteriorated. Therefore, there is a risk of giving the driver an excessive side glance warning when driving on a rough road.

[0005] The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object thereof is to suppress giving the driver an excessive notice regarding side glances.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] To solve the above problems, a vehicle according to one aspect of the present invention is configured to allow the driver to select one driving mode from a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads. The driver assistance control device of the vehicle monitors the driver of the vehicle and notifies the driver of distracted driving, and is configured to suppress notifications regarding distracted driving when the driving mode is the second driving mode compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode.

[0007] Furthermore, a driver assistance method according to one aspect of the present invention is a driver assistance method for a vehicle in which one driving mode can be selected from a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads, the method monitors the driver of the vehicle and notifies the driver of distraction, and when the driving mode is the second driving mode, the notifications regarding distraction are suppressed compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode.

[0008] Furthermore, a computer program according to one aspect of the present invention monitors the driver of a vehicle that can select one driving mode from a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads, and notifies the driver of distracted driving. The computer is then instructed to perform a process that suppresses the notifications regarding distracted driving when the driving mode is the second driving mode, compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to these aspects of the present invention, it is possible to suppress excessive notifications to the driver regarding distracted driving. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram of a vehicle according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating the distraction notification process according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This figure shows the permissible range of distracted viewing according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This is a flowchart illustrating the distraction notification process according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] This figure shows the permissible range of distracted viewing according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, similar components will be given the same reference numerals.

[0012] (First Embodiment) Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Vehicle 100 includes a driver sensor 1, an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 2, a driving mode select switch 3, and a control device 4. The driver sensor 1, HMI 2, driving mode select switch 3, and control device 4 are each connected to communicate via an in-vehicle network 9 that conforms to standards such as a controller area network.

[0014] The driver sensor 1 is a sensor for generating data representing the state of the driver (hereinafter referred to as "driver data"). In this embodiment, the driver sensor 1 includes a driver monitor camera 11 for capturing the driver's appearance, including the driver's face. The driver monitor camera 11 captures the driver's appearance at a predetermined frame rate (for example, 10[Hz] to 40[Hz]) and generates an appearance image showing the driver's appearance. Each time the driver monitor camera 11 generates an appearance image of the driver, it transmits the generated appearance image to the control device 4 as driver data.

[0015] HMI2 is a user interface for exchanging information between the vehicle 100 and its occupants. HMI2 includes output devices 21 for notifying the vehicle occupants through their bodily senses (e.g., sight, hearing, and touch) and input devices 22 for the vehicle occupants to perform input and response operations. Output devices 21 include, for example, displays (e.g., meter displays, center displays, head-up displays, etc.) and speakers. Input devices 22 include, for example, touch panels and microphones.

[0016] The HMI2 notifies the vehicle occupant of information corresponding to the output signal received from the control device 4 via the output device 21, and also transmits data entered by the vehicle occupant to the control device 4 via the input device 22.

[0017] The HMI2 may be pre-installed in the vehicle 100, or it may be a terminal such as a smartphone owned by the vehicle occupants (driver and passengers). In the latter case, for example, information may be exchanged by communicating between the vehicle 100 and the vehicle occupants' terminals via short-range wireless communication, or information may be exchanged indirectly through communication between the vehicle occupants' terminals and an external server (not shown).

[0018] The driving mode select switch 3 is a switch for switching the driving mode of the vehicle 100 to any desired driving mode. The driving mode select switch 3 is configured to allow switching between at least a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for off-road driving. The driving mode select switch 3 transmits information about the selected driving mode to the control device 4 as driving mode data. The first driving mode is a driving mode suitable for driving the vehicle 100 in general driving environments, such as paved roads (normal driving). The second driving mode is a driving mode suitable for off-road driving, such as on sandy or gravel roads, icy or snowy roads, muddy roads, rocky areas, or off-road, where particularly large driving force is required compared to normal driving.

[0019] The transfer switch 3 for the driving mode selection according to the present embodiment is a transfer switch for switching the operating state of the drive system of the vehicle 100, and can switch the driving mode between an H4 mode for normal driving and an L4 mode for driving on rough roads in which the transmission inside the transfer is switched to a low range gear so that each wheel (all wheels) can be driven with higher torque than in the H4 mode.

[0020] The control device 4 is an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) including a communication unit 41, a storage unit 42, and a processing unit 43.

[0021] The communication unit 41 includes an interface circuit for connecting the control device 4 to the in-vehicle network 9. The communication unit 41 supplies various data received from the driver sensor 1, the HMI 2, the driving mode selection switch 3, etc. to the processing unit 43. Also, the communication unit 41 outputs various signals output from the processing unit 43 to the HMI 2.

[0022] The storage unit 42 has a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid Disk Drive), or a semiconductor memory, and stores various computer programs and data used in the processing by the processing unit 43.

[0023] The processing unit 43 has one or more CPUs (Central Processing Unit) and its peripheral circuits, and executes various computer programs stored in the storage unit 42. The processing unit 43 is, for example, a processor. The processing unit 43 may further have other arithmetic circuits such as a logical arithmetic unit, a numerical arithmetic unit, or a graphic processing unit. As an example of the processing performed by the processing unit 43, for example, the processing unit 43 monitors the driver to detect whether the driver is distracted, and when it can be determined that the driver is distracted, performs a distraction notification process of notifying the driver of a distraction such as a warning via the output device 21.

[0024] When driving on rough terrain such as sandy areas, gravel roads, icy or snowy roads, muddy roads, rocky areas, or off-road surfaces, it is sometimes necessary to drive the vehicle while checking the surroundings for safety. Therefore, if the system monitors the driver and notifies them of distracted driving, there is a risk of excessive notifications being sent to the driver when driving on rough terrain. As a result, the driver may find the distracted driving notifications annoying.

[0025] Therefore, in this embodiment, the notification of distracted driving to the driver is suppressed when driving on rough roads. The contents of the distracted driving notification process performed by the processing unit 43, and by extension the control device 4, will be explained below with reference to Figure 2 and other figures.

[0026] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating the details of the distraction notification process according to this embodiment. The control device 4 performs this routine, for example, each time it receives a driver appearance image from the driver monitor camera 11.

[0027] In step S1, the control device 4 determines whether the driving mode is the second driving mode. If the driving mode is the second driving mode, the control device 4 proceeds to the process in step S2. On the other hand, if the driving mode is not the second driving mode, the control device 4 proceeds to the process in step S3.

[0028] In step S2, the control device 4 stops issuing notifications to the driver regarding distracted driving. In this embodiment, the control device 4 issues a distracted driving warning via the output device 21 as a notification to the driver regarding distracted driving, so it stops issuing the distracted driving warning.

[0029] In step S3, the control device 4 detects the driver's face orientation and the driver's gaze direction based on the driver appearance image received from the driver monitor camera 11.

[0030] While these detection methods are not particularly limited, the control device 4 can, for example, analyze an image of the driver's appearance to detect individual facial feature points such as the driver's eyes, nose, and mouth, and compare their positions with a standard 3D face model stored in the memory unit 42. By doing so, it can detect the face orientation of the 3D model that best matches the positions of the facial feature points as the driver's face orientation. The control device 4 can also, for example, analyze an image of the driver's appearance to detect the position of the pupil center, which is a moving point (i.e., the driver's viewpoint), and the position of the Purkinje image (corneal reflection image), which is a reference point, and detect the driver's line of sight direction based on the positional relationship between the Purkinje image and the pupil center (the position of the moving point relative to the reference point).

[0031] In step S4, the control device 4 determines whether or not it was able to detect the driver's face orientation. If the control device 4 was able to detect the driver's face orientation, it proceeds to step S5. On the other hand, if the control device 4 was unable to detect the driver's face orientation, it proceeds to step S14.

[0032] In step S5, the control device 4 determines whether or not it was able to detect the driver's gaze direction. If the control device 4 was able to detect the driver's gaze direction, it proceeds to step S6. On the other hand, if the control device 4 was unable to detect the driver's gaze direction, it proceeds to step S7.

[0033] In step S6, the control device 4 sets the line of sight vector based on the driver's gaze direction. In this embodiment, the control device 4 sets the line of sight vector to a vector extending from the driver's eye position (viewpoint position) toward the direction of gaze.

[0034] In step S7, the control device 4 sets the gaze vector based on the driver's face orientation. In this embodiment, the control device 4 sets the gaze vector to a vector extending in the direction of the driver's face orientation.

[0035] In step S8, the control device 4 determines whether the line of sight vector passes through an allowable range that is set at a predetermined position in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel and has a predetermined height and width, as shown in Figure 3. If the line of sight vector passes through the allowable range, the control device 4 determines that the driver is not distracted and proceeds to step S14. On the other hand, if the line of sight vector does not pass through the allowable range, the control device 4 determines that the driver is distracted and proceeds to step S9.

[0036] In step S9, the control device 4 determines whether the distraction continuation flag F is set to 1. The distraction continuation flag F is a flag that is set to 1 when distraction begins. The initial value of the distraction continuation flag F is set to 0. If the distraction continuation flag F is set to 1 (i.e., distraction has continued from the previous process), the control device 4 proceeds to the process in step S11. On the other hand, if the distraction continuation flag F is set to 0 (i.e., distraction is detected for the first time in this process), the control device 4 proceeds to the process in step S10.

[0037] In step S10, the control device 4 sets the distraction continuation flag F to 1.

[0038] In step S11, the control device 4 increases the distraction duration T by a predetermined time ΔT. In this embodiment, the predetermined time ΔT corresponds to the reception period of the driver appearance image.

[0039] In step S12, the control device 4 determines whether the duration of distraction T is equal to or greater than the distraction detection time Tthr. The distraction detection time Tthr can be any value, and in this embodiment it is set to 5 seconds. If the duration of distraction T is equal to or greater than the distraction detection time Tthr, the control device 4 proceeds to the process in step S13. On the other hand, if the duration of distraction T is less than the distraction detection time Tthr, the control device 4 terminates the current process.

[0040] In step S13, the control device 4 issues a distraction warning to the driver via the output device 21. The method and content of the distraction warning are not particularly limited; for example, the warning may be issued by making an audio announcement that the driver is distracted, by emitting a warning sound, by displaying image information or text information on the display, or by a combination of these.

[0041] In step S14, the control device 4 sets the distracted driving flag F to 0.

[0042] In step S15, the control device 4 issues a warning to the driver via the output device 21 that face recognition has not been achieved. The method and content of this warning are not particularly limited and can be, for example, similar to the warning method used for distracted driving.

[0043] The vehicle 100 according to this embodiment, as described above, is configured to allow the driver to select one driving mode from a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads. The control device 6 (driver assistance control device) of the vehicle 100 monitors the driver of the vehicle 100 and notifies the driver of distracted driving, and is configured to suppress the notifications regarding distracted driving when the driving mode is the second driving mode compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode. Specifically, the control device 6 is configured to suppress notifications regarding distracted driving when the driving mode is the second driving mode by stopping the notifications regarding distracted driving compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode.

[0044] As a result, when the driving mode is set to the second driving mode for off-road driving, notifications regarding distracted driving are suppressed. This prevents excessive notifications to the driver when they need to drive slowly and check their surroundings for safety reasons. Therefore, it can prevent the driver from feeling annoyed by distracted driving notifications.

[0045] (Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that it suppresses the implementation of notifications regarding distracted driving when driving on rough roads by changing at least one of the size of the allowable range when performing distracted driving judgment and the length of the distracted driving judgment time Tthr. The following will focus on explaining these differences.

[0046] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating the details of the distraction notification process according to this embodiment. In Figure 4, the content of the process in step S is the same as in the first embodiment, so the explanation is omitted here.

[0047] In step S21, the control device 4 increases the permissible range for the driver's face orientation or gaze direction compared to when the vehicle is not in the second driving mode. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 5, the control device 4 sets the permissible range to a second range that is larger than the first range set when the vehicle is not in the second driving mode.

[0048] In this embodiment, the notification regarding distracted driving during rough road driving is suppressed by changing the size of the permissible range in this way. However, for example, the distracted driving detection time Tthr may be made longer in the second driving mode than in other driving modes, or both the permissible range and the distracted driving detection time Tthr may be changed.

[0049] In step S22, the control device 4 sets the allowable range to a first range, as shown in Figure 5.

[0050] The control device 4 of the vehicle 100 according to this embodiment, as described above, detects the driver's face orientation or gaze direction based on an image of the driver's appearance, and determines that the driver is distracted when the driver's face orientation or gaze direction is maintained outside the permissible range for the driver's face orientation or gaze direction for a predetermined time or longer. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the control device 4 is configured to either increase the permissible range, increase the predetermined time, or increase the permissible range and increase the predetermined time, compared to the first driving mode.

[0051] As a result, similar to the first embodiment, when the driving mode is set to the second driving mode for driving on rough roads, notifications regarding distracted driving are suppressed. This prevents excessive notifications to the driver regarding distracted driving when it is necessary to drive at a low speed and check the surroundings for safety reasons. In addition, if the driver's face or gaze direction remains in an unnatural direction for a long period of time, a notification regarding distracted driving can be given to the driver. Therefore, unnecessary notifications regarding distracted driving are suppressed, and the driver is less likely to feel annoyed by these notifications.

[0052] Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments only represent a part of the application examples of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to the specific configurations of the above embodiments.

[0053] For example, in the above embodiment, the computer program executed in the control device 6 may be provided in the form of a computer-readable portable recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a magnetic recording medium, or an optical recording medium, or it may be provided as a computer program product. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 6. Control Device (Driving Assistance Control Device) 100 vehicles

Claims

1. A vehicle driver assistance control device that allows the user to select one driving mode from among a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads, The system monitors the driver of the vehicle and notifies the driver of any distracted driving. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the system is configured to suppress notifications related to distracted driving compared to when it is the first driving mode. Driver assistance control system.

2. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the system is configured to suppress notifications related to distracted driving compared to the first driving mode by stopping the notifications related to distracted driving. The driver assistance control device according to claim 1.

3. Based on the external image of the driver, the driver's face orientation or gaze direction is detected. When the driver's face orientation or gaze direction is maintained outside the permissible range for the driver's face orientation or gaze direction for a predetermined period of time or longer, it is determined that the driver is distracted. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the allowable range is increased, the predetermined time is extended, or the allowable range is increased and the predetermined time is extended, compared to when the driving mode is the first driving mode. The driver assistance control device according to claim 1.

4. A vehicle driver assistance method that allows the driver to select one driving mode from among a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads, The system monitors the driver of the vehicle and notifies the driver of any distracted driving. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the notification regarding distracted driving is suppressed compared to when it is the first driving mode. Driving assistance methods.

5. The system monitors the driver of a vehicle that can select one driving mode from a plurality of driving modes, including a first driving mode for normal driving and a second driving mode for driving on rough roads, and notifies the driver of any distractions. When the driving mode is the second driving mode, the notification regarding distracted driving is suppressed compared to when it is the first driving mode. A computer program that instructs a computer to perform a process.

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