Vehicle control system

Abstract

To improve the technology related to switching the driving mode of a vehicle. [Solution] A vehicle control device 10 for a vehicle 1 that can switch between an automatic driving mode in which automatic driving can be performed and a manual driving mode in which manual driving can be performed when a manual controller is connected to the vehicle. When a general-purpose controller 20 is connected to the vehicle 1 as a manual controller, the device receives a command from the general-purpose controller 20, determines that there is an abnormality in the command if the requested value of the command is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and causes the vehicle 1 to execute the command if the requested value is less than the predetermined value.

Description

Technical Field

[0006]

[0001] This disclosure relates to a vehicle control device.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, technologies related to switching of driving modes of vehicles are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an autonomous vehicle that sets the upper speed limit in the manual driving mode lower than that in the autonomous driving mode when switching from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] A vehicle capable of switching the driving mode may be driven by a general-purpose controller (such as a game controller), which is less expensive than a dedicated operating device (such as a steering wheel or a brake pedal), as a manual controller of the vehicle. However, when the general-purpose controller fails, the driver may not be able to drive the vehicle as intended and may perform dangerous driving.

[0005] In view of such circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to improve the technology related to the technology of switching the driving mode of a vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] A vehicle control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a control device of a vehicle capable of switching between an autonomous driving mode in which autonomous driving can be executed and a manual driving mode in which manual driving can be executed when a manual controller is connected to the vehicle, When a general-purpose controller is connected to the vehicle as the manual controller, the system receives commands from the general-purpose controller. If the required value of the command is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it is determined that there is an abnormality in the command. If the required value is less than the predetermined value, the vehicle is instructed to execute the command. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the technology for switching the driving mode of a vehicle is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the operation of a vehicle control device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] (Summary of this embodiment) Referring to Figure 1, an overview of a vehicle 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. The vehicle 1 comprises a vehicle control device 10, a general-purpose controller 20, a sensor 30, and an emergency stop switch 40. The vehicle control device 10, the general-purpose controller 20, the sensor 30, and the emergency stop switch 40 can communicate with each other via a cable or a network such as CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0010] Vehicle 1 includes any vehicle such as automobiles, buses, and trucks. Vehicle 1 may also include automobiles such as gasoline automobiles, electric vehicles (BEV; Battery Electric Vehicle), hybrid automobiles (HEV; Hybrid Electric Vehicle), plug-in hybrid automobiles (PHEV; Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or fuel cell automobiles (FCEV; Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). Vehicle 1 can switch between an automated driving mode that performs automated driving at a level of 1 to 5 as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and a manual driving mode that performs manual driving at a level of 0.

[0011] The vehicle control device 10 is an electronic device, such as a computer, mounted on the vehicle 1. The vehicle control device 10 controls the operation of the vehicle 1.

[0012] The general-purpose controller 20 includes any controller that can be used for purposes other than driving the vehicle. In this embodiment, the general-purpose controller 20 is a game controller. The general-purpose controller 20 may be a joystick or a mobile device such as a smartphone. The user can manually drive the vehicle 1 by connecting the general-purpose controller 20 to the vehicle 1 via a wired or wireless connection. The general-purpose controller 20 includes an operation unit 200 that accepts user input, for example, operation buttons, etc., although not limited to these.

[0013] Sensor 30 can detect information related to the operation of vehicle 1. In this embodiment, sensor 30 includes a gyro sensor, a speed sensor, and an acceleration sensor. In this embodiment, the gyro sensor can detect the angular velocity when vehicle 1 turns. In this embodiment, the speed sensor and acceleration sensor can detect the speed and acceleration of vehicle 1 in the forward direction, respectively. Sensor 30 may also include a 3-axis gyro sensor, a 3-axis speed sensor, and a 3-axis acceleration sensor.

[0014] The emergency stop switch 40 is a device for inputting an emergency stop instruction to the vehicle 1. The emergency stop switch 40 may be, for example, a button that is operated by pressing, or a button displayed on a touch panel.

[0015] First, an overview of this embodiment will be described, and details will be described later. The vehicle control device 10 according to this embodiment is a control device for vehicle 1 that can switch between an automatic driving mode in which automatic driving can be performed and a manual driving mode in which manual driving can be performed when a manual controller is connected to vehicle 1. When a general-purpose controller 20 is connected to vehicle 1 as a manual controller, the vehicle control device 10 receives a command from the general-purpose controller 20. If the requested value of the command is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the vehicle control device 10 determines that there is an abnormality in the command, and if the requested value is less than the predetermined value, it causes vehicle 1 to execute the command.

[0016] The vehicle control device 10 according to this embodiment monitors the command request values ​​from the general-purpose controller 20 and stops the vehicle if an abnormality occurs. This makes it possible to prevent dangerous driving of the vehicle even if the general-purpose controller 20 fails.

[0017] (Configuration of the vehicle control device 10) As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle control device 10 comprises a control unit 100, a communication unit 101, and a storage unit 102.

[0018] The control unit 100 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for specific processing, but is not limited thereto. The programmable circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), but is not limited thereto. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), but is not limited thereto. The control unit 100 executes processes related to the operation of the vehicle control device 10 while controlling each part of the vehicle control device 10.

[0019] The communication unit 101 includes at least one communication interface for connecting to a network. The communication interface corresponds to, for example, a mobile communication standard such as 4G (4th generation) or 5G (5th generation), or a wired LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard or a wireless LAN communication standard, but is not limited thereto and may correspond to any communication standard.

[0020] The storage unit 102 includes one or more memories. Each memory included in the storage unit 102 may function as, for example, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 102 stores any information used for the operation of the vehicle control device 10. For example, the storage unit 102 may store, for example, a system program, an application program, and embedded software. The information stored in the storage unit 102 may be updated based on information acquired from a network via the communication unit 101, for example.

[0021] In this embodiment, the storage unit 102 stores the correspondence between the operation unit 200 of the general-purpose controller 20 and the control commands of the vehicle 1. The control commands include, for example, instructions such as fixing, starting, accelerating, decelerating, stopping, moving forward, shifting to neutral, moving backward, turning right, and turning left of the vehicle 1. For example, moving forward of the vehicle 1 may correspond to the upper button of the cross button of the operation unit 200. The correspondence is set according to the type of the general-purpose controller 20.

[0022] (Operation flow of the vehicle control device 10) Referring to FIG. 1, the operation of the driving device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. Hereinafter, the communication between the vehicle control device 10, the general-purpose controller 20, the sensor 30, and the emergency stop switch 40 is performed via the communication unit 101.

[0023] S101: The control unit 100 of the vehicle control device 10 determines whether the general-purpose controller 20 is connected to the vehicle 1 as a manual controller. If connected, the process proceeds to S102. If not connected, the process ends.

[0024] S102: The control unit 100 receives a command from the general-purpose controller 20.

[0025] The command includes an operation request for the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, the command includes a request for acceleration / deceleration or turning. The requests for acceleration / deceleration and turning include their respective request values. The request value of the acceleration / deceleration request is, for example, an acceleration depending on the duration of the acceleration / deceleration operation (e.g., button press). The request value of the turning request is, for example, an angular velocity depending on the duration of the turning operation (e.g., button press).

[0026] S103: The control unit 100 determines whether the request value of the command is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. If the request value is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (S103 - YES), the process proceeds to S104. If the request value is less than the predetermined value (S103 - NO), the process proceeds to S106.

[0027] S104: The control unit 100 determines that there is an abnormality in the command.

[0028] The vehicle control device 10 determines whether there is an abnormality in the command based on the command's required values. This allows the vehicle control device 10 to respond promptly if the command's required values, such as acceleration or angular velocity, are excessively high due to problems such as a malfunction of the general-purpose controller 20.

[0029] S105: The control unit 100 stops vehicle 1 without allowing vehicle 1 to execute a command.

[0030] This makes it possible to prevent an accident involving vehicle 1. Alternatively, the control unit 100 may decelerate vehicle 1 without having vehicle 1 execute a command.

[0031] S106: The control unit 100 causes the vehicle 1 to execute a command.

[0032] S107: When the emergency stop switch 40 is turned ON, the control unit 100 receives sensor information from the vehicle 1's sensor 30 indicating the actual behavior of the vehicle 1.

[0033] In this embodiment, the sensor information includes the angular velocity when the vehicle 1 turns, and the velocity and acceleration in the forward direction of the vehicle 1.

[0034] S108: The control unit 100 determines, based on the sensor information, whether the content of the command from the general-purpose controller 20 differs from the actual behavior of the vehicle 1. If the content of the command differs from the actual behavior (S108-YES), the process proceeds to S109. If the content of the command and the actual behavior are the same (S108-NO), the process terminates.

[0035] Cases where the content of a command differs from the actual behavior include, for example, cases where the content of a command from the general-purpose controller 20 is an action such as starting, accelerating / decelerating, stopping, fixing, or turning left or right for the vehicle 1, but the actual behavior is different from these actions.

[0036] S109: The control unit 100 permits the application of the emergency stop switch 40.

[0037] When the emergency stop switch 40 is applied, vehicle 1 slows down, stops, and then locks in place.

[0038] If the actual behavior of vehicle 1 is that of stopping or being immobilized, there is no need to apply the emergency stop switch 40. In this case, the control unit 100 does not need to permit such application.

[0039] While this disclosure has been described based on the drawings and embodiments, it should be noted that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions included in each component or step can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple components or steps can be combined into one or separated. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an embodiment is also possible in which the configuration and operation of the vehicle control device 10 are distributed among multiple computers that can communicate with each other.

[0040] In the above-described embodiment, two general-purpose controllers may be used as manual controllers. For example, if a first general-purpose controller and a second general-purpose controller are connected to the vehicle 1 as manual controllers, the control unit 100 may receive commands from the first general-purpose controller and the second general-purpose controller. The control unit 100 may determine that there is an abnormality in the command if, for example, at least one of the requested values ​​of the commands from the first general-purpose controller and the second general-purpose controller is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, both of these requested values ​​are greater than or equal to a predetermined value, or both of these requested values ​​are greater than or equal to a predetermined value and are different from each other. This allows the vehicle 1 to be safely stopped, for example, when one or both general-purpose controllers fail.

[0041] The vehicle control device 10 may also be used to provide Mobility as a Service (MaaS), which is a service that utilizes mobility. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1 Vehicle, 10 Vehicle control device, 100 Control unit, 101 Communication unit, 102 Memory unit, 20 General-purpose controller, 200 Operation unit, 30 Sensor, 40 Emergency stop switch

Claims

1. A vehicle control device for a vehicle that can switch between an automated driving mode capable of performing automated driving and a manual driving mode capable of performing manual driving when a manual controller is connected to the vehicle, When a general-purpose controller is connected to the vehicle as the manual controller, the system receives commands from the general-purpose controller. Determine whether the required value of the command is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. A vehicle control device that determines that there is an abnormality in the command if the requested value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and causes the vehicle to execute the command if the requested value is less than a predetermined value.

2. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the correspondence between an operation unit of the general-purpose controller that accepts user operations and a control command of the vehicle is set according to the type of general-purpose controller.

3. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the command includes an acceleration / deceleration request or a turning request.

4. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein if it is determined that there is an abnormality in the command, the vehicle control device stops the vehicle without allowing the vehicle to execute the command.

5. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, When the emergency stop switch of the vehicle is turned ON, based on sensor information indicating the actual behavior of the vehicle received from the vehicle's sensors, it is determined whether the content of the command from the general-purpose controller differs from the actual behavior of the vehicle. A vehicle control device that permits the application of the emergency stop switch if the content of the command differs from the actual behavior.

6. A method for providing MaaS (Mobility as a Service) using the vehicle control device described in claim 1.

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