vehicle

Abstract

To improve the technology related to the control of autonomous vehicles. [Solution] A vehicle having two driving modes, an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode, wherein the vehicle comprises a control unit capable of switching the driving modes, a monitoring unit that monitors the interior of the vehicle, and an output unit capable of notifying the driver, and when a control device capable of operating the vehicle is attached to the vehicle, the control unit switches the driving mode of the vehicle from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode, causes the monitoring unit to monitor the interior of the vehicle, determines whether there are passengers in the vehicle based on the data acquired by the monitoring unit, and if there are passengers in the vehicle, causes the output unit to notify the driver of a safety warning.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, technologies related to the control of autonomous vehicles are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that supports both autonomous driving and manual driving and includes an operation unit for controlling the vehicle during manual driving.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] There has been room for improvement in technologies related to the control of autonomous vehicles.

[0005] In view of such circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to improve technologies related to the control of autonomous vehicles.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] A vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a vehicle having two driving modes: an autonomous driving mode and a manual driving mode, wherein the vehicle includes a control unit capable of switching the driving mode, a monitoring unit for monitoring the interior of the vehicle cabin, and an output unit capable of notifying the driver, and when a steering device capable of operating the vehicle is attached to the vehicle, the control unit switches the driving mode of the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode, The monitoring unit is instructed to monitor the interior of the vehicle. Based on the data acquired by the monitoring unit, it is determined whether there are passengers inside the vehicle. If there are passengers inside the vehicle, the output unit will be instructed to notify the driver of safety precautions. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the technology relating to the control of autonomous vehicles is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This block diagram shows a schematic configuration of a vehicle and a control device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle. [Figure 3] This is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The embodiments of this disclosure will be described below. In this disclosure, "passenger" refers to a person riding in vehicle 1, excluding the driver.

[0010] Referring to Figure 1, an overview of the vehicle 1 and the control device 2 according to the embodiment of this disclosure will be described.

[0011] Vehicle 1 is, for example, an automobile, but is not limited to that and may be any vehicle. The automobile may be, but is not limited to, a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). In this embodiment, Vehicle 1 is equipped with an autonomous driving function.

[0012] The control device 2 is a portable device that can be detached from and attached to the vehicle 1 and can manually control the vehicle 1.

[0013] First, the outline of this embodiment will be described, and the details will be described later. The vehicle 1 has two driving modes: an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode. When the control device 2 is attached to the vehicle 1, the vehicle 1 switches from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode. At this time, the vehicle 1 determines whether there is a passenger in the vehicle interior, and if there is a passenger, notifies the driver.

[0014] As described above, according to this embodiment, in the vehicle 1 without a control device, when there is a passenger in the vehicle interior, a notification is made to the driver. As a result, compared with visual confirmation by the driver, the oversight of passengers in the vehicle interior of the vehicle 1 is reduced, and the safety is improved, thus improving the technology related to the control of autonomous vehicles.

[0015] Next, each component of the vehicle 1 will be described in detail.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 includes a control unit 10, a memory unit 11, a monitoring unit 12, and an output unit 13.

[0017] The control unit 10 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 10 controls the operation of the entire vehicle 1.

[0018] The storage unit 11 includes one or more memories. The memory is, for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, an optical memory, or the like, but is not limited thereto. Each memory included in the storage unit 11 may function as, for example, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 11 stores any information used for the operation of the vehicle 1. For example, the storage unit 11 may store a system program, an application program, embedded software, and the like.

[0019] The monitoring unit 12 includes one or more cameras capable of capturing a subject and generating an image. The camera is, for example, a front camera, a side camera, or a rear camera. The image generated by the camera may be one or more still images or one or more moving images. The monitoring unit 12 may include a distance measuring device such as a millimeter wave sensor or LiDAR, or a sensor capable of determining whether a person is present in the vehicle interior, such as a piezoelectric mat.

[0020] The output unit 13 includes one or more output interfaces. The output interface is, for example, an external or built-in display that outputs information as an image / video, a speaker that outputs information as sound, or a connection interface to an external output device. The display is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display. The output unit 13 outputs information obtained by the operation of the vehicle 1.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 2, the operation of the vehicle 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

[0022] S101: The control unit 10 switches the driving mode of the vehicle 1 from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode.

[0023] The switching of the driving mode may be performed based on an instruction from the driver, or may be automatically performed when any condition is satisfied. For example, the control unit 10 may switch the driving mode of the vehicle 1 from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode due to the fact that the steering device 2 is attached to the vehicle 1.

[0024] S102: The control unit 10 acquires monitoring data from the monitoring unit 12 regarding the interior of the vehicle 1. The monitoring data may be any data that the monitoring unit 12 can acquire. For example, if the monitoring unit 12 is a camera, the monitoring data may be image data. If the monitoring unit 12 is a millimeter-wave sensor, the monitoring data may be the reception time of the reflected millimeter wave. If the monitoring unit 12 is a LiDAR, the monitoring data may be the reception time of the reflected light.

[0025] S103: The control unit 10 analyzes the monitoring data acquired in S102. In S103, the monitoring data may be processed into an analyzable format. For example, if the monitoring unit 12 is a camera, the control unit 10 may perform image processing on the image acquired via the monitoring unit 12 before performing the analysis.

[0026] S104: The control unit 10 determines whether there are passengers inside the vehicle 1 based on the monitoring data analyzed in S103.

[0027] S105: When the control unit 10 determines that there are no passengers inside the vehicle 1 (S104: No), it determines that safety is ensured.

[0028] S106: The control unit 10 sends a notification via the output unit 13 indicating that safety is ensured and prompting the start of manual operation, and the process ends. Note that if the control unit 10 determines that safety is ensured, S106 may be omitted.

[0029] S107: If the control unit 10 determines that there are passengers inside the vehicle 1 (S104: Yes), it determines that safety cannot be ensured.

[0030] S108: The control unit 10 sends a safety warning notification to the driver via the output unit 13, and the process ends. The safety warning notification can be any notification that warns the driver about safety. For example, it could be, "There are passengers in the vehicle. Please drive manually with full consideration for safety."

[0031] As described above, Vehicle 1 has two driving modes: an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode. When the control device 2 is installed on Vehicle 1, Vehicle 1 switches from automatic driving mode to manual driving mode. At this time, Vehicle 1 determines whether there are passengers in the passenger compartment and, if there are, notifies the driver.

[0032] With this configuration, in a vehicle 1 that is not equipped with a control device, the driver is notified if there are passengers inside the vehicle. This reduces the chance of the driver overlooking passengers inside the vehicle 1 compared to visual confirmation by the driver, thereby improving safety and thus improving the technology related to the control of autonomous vehicles.

[0033] 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, etc., 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 divided into two.

[0034] Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the control unit 10 may add "whether passengers are seated" to the criteria for determining whether safety is ensured. This will be explained in detail with reference to Figure 3. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of vehicle 1 when "whether passengers are seated" is added to the criteria for determining whether safety is ensured. Note that in Figure 3, S201 to S204 are the same processing as S101 to S104, S207 is the same as S106, and S209 is the same as S108, so their explanations will be omitted.

[0035] S205: When the control unit 10 determines that there are passengers inside the vehicle 1 (S204: Yes), it determines whether all of those passengers are seated in their seats.

[0036] S206: The control unit 10 determines that safety is ensured if it determines that there are no passengers inside the vehicle 1 (S204: No) or that all passengers inside the vehicle are seated (S205: Yes).

[0037] S208: If the control unit 10 determines that there are passengers in the vehicle who are not seated (S205: No), it determines that safety cannot be ensured.

[0038] With this configuration, even if there are passengers inside the vehicle 1, if the passengers are seated, a notification can be issued indicating that safety is ensured. This allows the driver to pay close attention to a notification indicating that safety is not ensured. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 1: Vehicle, 2: Control device, 10: Control unit, 11: Memory unit, 12: Monitoring unit, 13: Output unit

Claims

1. A vehicle equipped with two driving modes: an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode. The aforementioned vehicle is A control unit capable of switching the aforementioned operating modes, A monitoring unit for monitoring the interior of the vehicle, An output unit that can notify the driver, Equipped with, When a control device capable of operating the vehicle is attached to the vehicle, the control unit will Switch the driving mode of the vehicle from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode. The monitoring unit is instructed to monitor the interior of the vehicle. Based on the data acquired by the monitoring unit, it is determined whether there are passengers inside the vehicle. If there are passengers inside the vehicle, the output unit will issue a safety warning to the driver. vehicle.

2. The control unit, when there are no passengers in the vehicle compartment, causes the output unit to notify the driver that safety has been ensured. The vehicle according to claim 1.

3. If there is a passenger inside the vehicle, the monitoring unit further monitors whether the passenger is seated, The control unit, Based on the data acquired by the monitoring unit, it is determined whether the passenger is seated. If all passengers are seated, the output unit will notify the driver that safety has been ensured. If any of the aforementioned passengers are not seated, the output unit will cause the driver to receive a safety warning. The vehicle according to claim 1.

4. The aforementioned monitoring unit is equipped with a camera, The control unit determines whether there are passengers inside the vehicle based on the image captured by the camera. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The monitoring unit is equipped with a millimeter-wave sensor, The control unit determines whether there is a passenger inside the vehicle based on the reception time of the reflected millimeter waves emitted from the millimeter-wave sensor. A vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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