Driving assistance system

Abstract

This system provides support for offsetting the vehicle's position when driving in the edge lane on a roadway. [Solution] The driving support device 1 provides driving support for a vehicle traveling on a roadway 20 with multiple lanes on one side (for example, three lanes on one side), and includes a recognition unit S1 that recognizes the lane (21, 22, or 23) in which the vehicle 10 is currently traveling, and support units S3 and S12 that, when the recognition unit S1 recognizes that the vehicle 10 is traveling in an edge lane (21 or 23), offset the driving position of the vehicle 10 in the direction away from the adjacent lane 22 in the width direction of the lane (21 or 23) in which the vehicle 10 is traveling, and set the amount of the offset according to the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10.

Description

Technical Field

[0004]

[0001] The present invention relates to a driving support device that supports steering by a driver of a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 describes "offsetting the driving position of a vehicle after recognizing a structure or vehicle existing ahead."

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003] <000​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​With this configuration, the vehicle's position is always offset when traveling in the edge lane (the driving lane or passing lane in the case of a two-lane road), and the amount of offset increases with higher vehicle speeds. This makes it possible to appropriately offset the vehicle's position even if, for example, the vehicle cannot recognize a structure or vehicle ahead, or if there is a delay in recognition.

[0008] Incidentally, the present invention is a driving support device for a vehicle traveling on a roadway with two lanes on one side, and is characterized by including: a recognition unit (S1 in Figure 2) that recognizes the lane the vehicle is currently traveling in; a first determination unit (S2 in Figure 2) that determines whether or not the recognition result of the recognition unit is the driving lane; a first support unit (S3 in Figure 2) that, if the first determination unit makes a positive determination, offsets the vehicle's driving position in the driving lane away from the passing lane and sets the amount of the offset according to the vehicle's speed; a second determination unit (S11 in Figure 2) that determines whether or not the recognition result of the recognition unit is the passing lane; and a second support unit (S12 in Figure 2) that, if the second determination unit makes a positive determination, offsets the vehicle's driving position in the passing lane away from the driving lane and sets the amount of the offset according to the vehicle's speed.

[0009] This configuration makes it possible to position the vehicle in an appropriate location within each lane according to its speed when traveling in either the driving lane or the passing lane on a two-lane roadway.

[0010] Furthermore, the present invention is a driving support device for a vehicle traveling on a roadway with three lanes in one direction, comprising: a recognition unit (S1 in Figure 2) that recognizes the lane the vehicle is currently traveling in; a first determination unit (S2 in Figure 2) that determines whether the recognition result of the recognition unit is the first driving lane; a first support unit (S3 in Figure 2) that, if the first determination unit makes a positive determination, offsets the vehicle's driving position in the first driving lane in a direction away from the overtaking lane, and sets the amount of the offset according to the vehicle's speed; and whether the recognition result of the recognition unit is the overtaking lane The system is characterized by including: a second determination unit (S11 in Figure 2) that determines whether the vehicle is in the second lane; a second support unit (S12 in Figure 2) that, if the second determination unit makes a positive determination, offsets the vehicle's driving position in the overtaking lane away from the driving lane and sets the amount of the offset according to the vehicle's speed; a third determination unit (S10 in Figure 2) that determines whether the recognition result of the recognition unit is in the second driving lane; and a third support unit (S5 in Figure 2) that, if the third determination unit makes a positive determination, moves the vehicle's driving position to the center of the second driving lane.

[0011] This configuration makes it possible to position a vehicle in the appropriate lane according to its speed when traveling in the first, second, or passing lane on a three-lane roadway.

[0012] Furthermore, the above-mentioned driving support device may be configured to further include a fourth determination unit (S4, S13 in Figure 2) that determines whether or not the driver has made a steering input in the opposite direction to the offset direction after the execution of the first and second support units, and a fourth support unit (S5 in Figure 2) that, if the fourth determination unit makes a positive determination, moves the vehicle's driving position to the center of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling.

[0013] With this configuration, if the driver inputs steering input that rejects the assistance of offsetting the vehicle's position after driving assistance has been performed, the vehicle's position will be centered in the lane it is traveling in, thus enabling driving assistance to be performed in accordance with the driver's intentions. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a driving assistance device that can assist in offsetting the driving position when a vehicle is driving in the edge lane of a roadway. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0015] [Figure 1] This figure shows the configuration of one embodiment of the driving assistance device according to the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart used to explain the operation of the driving assistance system. [Figure 3] This diagram illustrates the driving assistance system when driving in the overtaking lane on a road with three lanes in each direction. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0016] The best embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0017] Figures 1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention. The driving assistance device shown in Figure 1 assists the driver of the vehicle 10 in steering and includes a control unit 1, an external information input unit 2, a vehicle information input unit 3, an electric power steering device (EPS) 4, etc., each of which is connected via an interface (I / F) not shown.

[0018] The control unit 1 consists of an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). Although not shown in detail, this ECU includes a central processing unit (CPU), a non-volatile memory (Read Only Memory: ROM), a temporary memory (Random Access Memory: RAM), a communication interface, and an input / output interface, all of which are connected to each other via a bus for communication.

[0019] The ROM stores various control programs and maps, etc. that are referenced when executing these various control programs. The CPU executes arithmetic processing based on the various control programs and maps stored in the ROM. The RAM is a memory that temporarily stores the arithmetic results in the CPU and data input from each sensor, etc.

[0020] Although not shown, the vehicle 10 equipped with this driving support device is configured to be equipped with elements (engine brake, brake actuator, etc.) that realize deceleration of the vehicle speed.

[0021] The external information input unit 2 acquires external information, that is, information on the presence or absence of a deceleration target that requires deceleration due to the presence of vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. in front of the host vehicle, information on the white line of the driving lane on which the host vehicle is traveling, and information on the relative positional relationship between the white line and the host vehicle, etc., and inputs them to the control unit 1.

[0022] This external information input unit 2 is at least one of, for example, a camera for photographing an image in front of the host vehicle, a millimeter-wave radar, a GPS (Global Positioning System) device, etc., and inputs the photographed image information and the detected information to the control unit 1.

[0023] The camera is an imaging device that photographs an image (still image or moving image) in front of the vehicle 10, and is, for example, a video camera incorporating an image sensor (CCD: Charge-Coupled Device, CMOS: Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor), etc. Other vehicles 11, etc. can be detected by performing analysis processing on the image photographed by this camera. A known method can be adopted as a specific method for this image analysis processing.

[0024] Furthermore, the millimeter-wave radar emits millimeter waves (electromagnetic waves with wavelengths of 1 to 10 millimeters) toward an object and detects the distance to the object by receiving the reflected waves. The GPS device detects positioning information related to the vehicle's location (e.g., latitude, longitude, altitude).

[0025] The vehicle information input unit 3 includes sensors that acquire vehicle information, such as information on the operation of the accelerator pedal (not shown) and brake pedal (not shown), steering information, and shift (gear position) change information, as well as an acceleration sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, etc., and inputs the acquired information to the control unit 1.

[0026] The acceleration sensor detects the acceleration of the vehicle 10 (longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, vertical acceleration, etc.). The vehicle speed sensor detects the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10.

[0027] The electric power steering system 4 steers the vehicle 10, and steering is controlled by the driving support system in response to steering wheel operation information (not shown), and steering assistance is controlled by the driving support system as needed.

[0028] Although not shown, this electric power steering system 4 includes a steering actuator that controls the steering angle of the wheels of the vehicle 10 and a steering reaction actuator that controls the reaction force on the steering wheel.

[0029] Although not shown in detail, the driving support system of this embodiment consists of a known electronic control unit (ECU), and controls the electric power steering system 4 to provide steering assistance (lane tracing assist) necessary to appropriately set the driving position of the vehicle 10 in each lane on a multi-lane roadway 20, based on a predetermined program and information input from the external information input unit 2 and the vehicle information input unit 3.

[0030] Next, the operation of the control unit 1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in Figure 2. In this embodiment, we will take the case where the vehicle 10 is traveling on a roadway 20 with three lanes in each direction as an example. The flowchart shown in Figure 2 is started when the lane tracing assist function equipped in the vehicle 10 is requested to be executed.

[0031] In step S1, the lane the vehicle 10 is currently traveling in (first driving lane 21, second driving lane 22, or overtaking lane 23) is recognized based on various information input from the external information input unit 2 and the vehicle information input unit 3.

[0032] In the subsequent step S2, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 10 is traveling in the first driving lane 21 based on the recognition result from step S1.

[0033] If a positive result is obtained in step S2, the process proceeds to steps S3 to S5. First, in step S3, the driving position of vehicle 10 is offset in the first driving lane 21 in the direction away from the second driving lane 22 (to the left in the direction of travel), and the amount of this offset is set according to the vehicle speed of vehicle 10.

[0034] Subsequently, in step S4, it is determined whether the driver has made a steering input in the opposite direction to the offset direction. In this step S4, it is checked whether the driver rejected the offset assistance in step S3.

[0035] In step S4, if the result is negative, the process returns to step S1; if the result is positive, the process proceeds to step S5.

[0036] In step S5, the process is executed to position vehicle 10 in the center of the lane it is currently traveling in (first driving lane 21, second driving lane 22, or passing lane 23). If the process transitions from step S4 to step S5, in step S5, the process is executed to position vehicle 10 in the center of the first driving lane 21. After that, this flowchart is terminated.

[0037] If a negative result is obtained in step S2, the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 10 is traveling in the second lane 22 based on the recognition result in step S1.

[0038] If a positive result is obtained in step S10, the process proceeds to step S5. When proceeding from step S10 to step S5, step S5 executes a process to position the vehicle 10 in the center of the second lane 22. After that, this flowchart is terminated.

[0039] On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in step S10, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 10 is traveling in the overtaking lane 23 based on the recognition result of step S1.

[0040] In step S11, if the result is negative, the process returns to step S1; if the result is positive, the process proceeds to step S12.

[0041] In step S12, for example as shown in Figure 3, the driving position of vehicle 10 is offset in the passing lane 23 in a direction away from the second driving lane 22 (to the right in the direction of travel, towards the median strip 24), and the amount of this offset is set according to the vehicle speed of vehicle 10.

[0042] Subsequently, in step S13, it is determined whether the driver has made a steering input in the opposite direction to the offset direction. In this step S13, it is checked whether the driver rejected the offset assistance in step S3.

[0043] In step S13, if the result is negative, the process returns to step S1; if the result is positive, the process proceeds to step S5. When moving from step S13 to step S5, step S5 executes a process to position the vehicle 10 in the center of the overtaking lane 23. After that, this flowchart ends.

[0044] As described above, according to embodiments to which the present invention is applied, when traveling in the first driving lane 21, the second driving lane 22, or the passing lane 23 on a roadway 20 with three lanes on one side, it becomes possible to make the vehicle 10 travel in a suitable position in each lane (first driving lane 21, second driving lane 22, or passing lane 23) according to the vehicle speed.

[0045] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the driver inputs steering in the opposite direction to the offset direction (i.e., steering to cancel the driving assistance that offsets the vehicle's driving position) in S4 and S13 of Figure 2, the system is configured in S5 of Figure 2 to move the vehicle 10 to the center of the lane in which it is traveling, thus enabling driving assistance that conforms to the driver's intentions.

[0046] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the claims and equivalents thereof.

[0047] (1) The driving support device according to the present invention can also be applied to providing driving support for a vehicle traveling on a roadway 20 with two lanes in each direction, although this is not shown in the figures.

[0048] In this case, although not shown in the diagram, it is possible to eliminate step S10 in Figure 2, for example, and proceed to step S11 in Figure 2 if a negative result is determined in step S2 in Figure 2.

[0049] In this case, although not shown in the diagram, when traveling in the driving lane or passing lane on a two-lane roadway 20, it becomes possible to move the vehicle 10 in a suitable position in each lane according to its speed.

[0050] (2) In the flowchart shown in Figure 2, for example, although not shown, it is also possible to omit steps S4, S13, and S5, and to end the flowchart after steps S3 and S12 in Figure 2. [Industrial applicability]

[0051] The present invention can be suitably used in a driving assistance device that provides steering assistance to the driver of a vehicle. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0052] 1 Control Unit 2. External Information Input Section 3. Vehicle Information Input Section 4. Electric power steering system 10 vehicles 11 Other vehicles 20 Roadway 21 First lane 22 Second Lane 23 Passing Lane 24 Central median

Claims

[Claim 1] A driving assistance device that provides driving assistance for vehicles traveling on a road with multiple lanes in one direction, A recognition unit that recognizes the lane the vehicle is currently traveling in, A driving support device characterized by including, when the recognition unit recognizes that a vehicle is traveling in the edge lane, a support unit that offsets the vehicle's driving position in the direction away from adjacent lanes in the width direction of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, and sets the amount of the offset according to the vehicle speed of the vehicle.

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