In-car notification device

Abstract

To provide an on-vehicle notification device which suppresses an influence applied to a subsequent vehicle by an object to be bumped, flied at a rear side of an own vehicle.SOLUTION: An on-vehicle notification device that is mounted onto an own vehicle, and notifies a subsequence vehicle of the own vehicle of information, comprises: a bumped object recognition unit that recognizes an object to be bumped on a road where an own vehicle travels on the basis of a detection result by a front sensor of the own vehicle; a flying determination unit that determines whether or not the object to be bumped is flying in the rear side of the own vehicle on the basis of a detection result by the rear sensor of the own vehicle in the case where the object to be bumped is recognized by the bumped object recognition unit; and a notification unit that notifies the subsequence vehicle of flying object information corresponded to the flying of the object to be bumped in the case where the flying determination unit determines that the object to be bumped is flied to the rear side of the own vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an in-vehicle notification device. [Background technology]

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-191876 is known as a technical document related to an in-vehicle notification device. This publication describes a device that determines whether a fallen object in front of a vehicle detected by an in-vehicle radar is an object that the vehicle can run over or needs to avoid. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-191876 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, even if it is determined that the fallen object in front of the host vehicle is an object that the host vehicle can straddle and drive over, there is a risk that the fallen object will be thrown backward when the host vehicle passes over the fallen object. In this case, sufficient consideration has not been given to the effect that the fallen object flying backward of the host vehicle has on the driving of the following vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] One aspect of the present invention is an in-vehicle notification device that is mounted on a vehicle and notifies information to vehicles following the vehicle, and includes: a target object to be overcome recognition unit that recognizes a target object to be overcome on a road along which the vehicle is traveling based on detection results from a front sensor of the vehicle; a flight determination unit that, when a target object to be overcome is recognized by the target object to be overcome recognition unit, determines whether the target object to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle based on detection results from a rear sensor of the vehicle; and a notification unit that, when the flight determination unit determines that the target object to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle, notifies the following vehicle of flight response information corresponding to the flight of the target object to be overcome.

[0006] According to one embodiment of the present invention, an in-vehicle notification device recognizes an object to be overcome on the road along which the vehicle is traveling, and if it determines that the object to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle due to being knocked away by the vehicle overtaking the object, the device notifies the following vehicle of flight response information corresponding to the flight of the object to be overcome, thereby reducing the impact on the following vehicle of an object to be overcome that has flown behind the vehicle.

[0007] In one embodiment of the in-vehicle notification device of the present invention, the device further includes a passing detection unit that detects passing over the object to be passed by the host vehicle based on the vertical acceleration detected by the host vehicle's acceleration sensor when a passing over object is recognized by the passing over object recognition unit, and the flight determination unit determines whether the object to be passed over has flown behind the host vehicle when the passing over detection unit detects that the host vehicle has passed over the object to be passed over, and does not need to determine whether the object to be passed over has flown behind the host vehicle when the passing over detection unit does not detect that the host vehicle has passed over the object to be passed over. According to this in-vehicle notification device, if the passing detection unit does not detect that the vehicle has passed over an object to be passed over, it does not determine whether the object has flown behind the vehicle. This makes it possible to avoid making a flying determination even when the vehicle has not stepped over the object, and to avoid mistakenly determining that a plastic bag flying in the wind behind the vehicle is a flying object to be passed over.

[0008] In one aspect of the in-vehicle notification device of the present invention, the notification unit may notify a following vehicle of detailed warning information including the recognition result of the over-passing object by the over-passing object recognition unit as the flying response information. This in-vehicle notification device notifies following vehicles of detailed warning information including the recognition results of the object to be overcome, enabling the following vehicles to decide to avoid the object or slow down based on the recognition results of the object to be overcome, thereby reducing the impact that the object to be overcome has on the following vehicles.

[0009] In the in-vehicle notification device according to one aspect of the present invention, the notification unit may notify a following vehicle of deceleration instruction information as the flying response information. According to this in-vehicle notification device, by notifying the following vehicle of deceleration instruction information as flying object response information, the possibility of the object being overtaken coming into contact with the following vehicle can be reduced by the following vehicle quickly decelerating. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the impact that an object to be overcome that flies behind the host vehicle has on a following vehicle. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle notification device according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which an object to be crossed is present ahead of the host vehicle; [Diagram 3] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of a situation in which a front wheel of a host vehicle passes over an object to be overcome, respectively. [Figure 4] 10 is a graph showing an example of a change over time in vertical acceleration of the host vehicle when the host vehicle is passing over an obstacle. [Diagram 5] 1A is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which an object to be overtaken flies behind a host vehicle, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which information about the object to be overtaken is notified to a following vehicle. [Figure 6]13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of notifying information of an object to be overcome; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013] The vehicle-mounted notification device 100 shown in Fig. 1 is a device mounted on a vehicle (own vehicle) such as a passenger car, and notifies information to vehicles following the own vehicle. When an object flies backward due to the own vehicle running over it, the vehicle-mounted notification device 100 notifies the following vehicle of flight-related information corresponding to the flight of the object. The flight-related information will be described in detail later.

[0014] The following vehicle is a vehicle traveling following the host vehicle on the same road as the host vehicle. The following vehicle may be a vehicle traveling in the same lane as the host vehicle, or a vehicle traveling in a lane adjacent to the lane in which the host vehicle is traveling. The following vehicle may be a vehicle under the control of the host vehicle's platooning. In this case, the host vehicle does not need to be the leading vehicle in the platooning. The following vehicle may be a vehicle that performs CACC [Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control] using vehicle-to-vehicle communication with the host vehicle.

[0015] [Configuration of the vehicle-mounted notification device] The configuration of the in-vehicle notification device 100 will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle notification device 100 includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 10 that performs overall management of the device. The ECU 10 is an electronic control unit having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The ECU 10 realizes various functions by, for example, executing a program stored in the ROM with the CPU. The ECU 10 may be composed of multiple electronic units.

[0016] The ECU 10 is connected to a front sensor 1, a rear sensor 2, an acceleration sensor 3, and a communication device 4. The front sensor 1 is a sensor for detecting an object in front of the host vehicle. The rear sensor 2 is a sensor for detecting an object behind the host vehicle.

[0017] The front sensor 1 and the rear sensor 2 are each configured to include at least one of a camera and a radar sensor. The camera is an imaging device that captures an image of the outside of the vehicle. The camera transmits information about the captured image to the ECU 10. Objects around the vehicle are detected by image recognition processing of the image captured by the camera. The camera may be a monocular camera or a stereo camera.

[0018] A radar sensor is a detection device that detects objects around the vehicle using radio waves (e.g., millimeter waves) or light. Radar sensors include millimeter wave radars and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). A radar sensor detects objects by transmitting radio waves or light to the surroundings of the vehicle and receiving the radio waves or light reflected by the objects. The radar sensor transmits information about the detected objects to the ECU 10.

[0019] The acceleration sensor 3 is a detector that detects the acceleration of the host vehicle. The acceleration sensor includes a longitudinal acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the host vehicle, as well as a vertical acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration in the vertical direction of the host vehicle. The acceleration sensor transmits acceleration information of the host vehicle to the ECU 10.

[0020] The communication device 4 is a device that communicates with other vehicles. The communication device 4 has a function of performing inter-vehicle communication with a following vehicle. The communication device 4 does not need to have the inter-vehicle communication function, and may be capable of communicating with the following vehicle via a roadside device installed on the road side or various communication servers.

[0021] Next, a description will be given of the functional configuration of the ECU 10. As shown in Fig. 1, the ECU 10 has a jump-over object recognition unit 11, a jump-over detection unit 12, a flight determination unit 13, and a notification unit .

[0022] The object-to-be-surmounted recognition unit 11 recognizes objects to be overcome on the road on which the vehicle is traveling, based on the detection results (images captured by a camera or detection results from a radar sensor) by the vehicle's forward sensor 1. An object to be overcome is an object that the vehicle can overcome. An object to be overcome is, for example, an object that has fallen on the road. Examples of objects to be overcome include bottles, cans, lumber, and automobile parts. Objects to be overcome may be limited to objects that are less than a certain height. The certain height may be 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, or 20 cm or more. Structures that are fixed to the road do not need to be included in the objects to be overcome.

[0023] The over-riding object recognition unit 11 judges whether or not an object ahead of the host vehicle is an object to be over-ridden by image recognition processing such as pattern matching or deep learning for an image captured by a camera. The over-riding object recognition unit 11 may judge whether or not an object ahead of the host vehicle is an object to be over-ridden based on the detection result of a radar sensor from grouping of radar reflection points and the object shape obtained by grouping.

[0024] Here, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a situation where an object to be crossed is present ahead of the host vehicle. Fig. 2 shows a road R, the host vehicle M, a following vehicle N, and an object F on the road R ahead of the host vehicle M. In the situation shown in Fig. 2, the object to be crossed recognition unit 11 detects the object F on the road R ahead of the host vehicle M using the forward sensor 1. Based on the detection result of the forward sensor 1, the object to be crossed recognition unit 11 recognizes the object to be crossed on the road R on which the host vehicle M is traveling by determining that the object F is an object to be crossed.

[0025] In addition, if an object on the road is a lightweight object such as a plastic bag, the object to be crossed recognition unit 11 does not need to recognize it as an object to be crossed. A lightweight object is an object that is considered to have little effect on the traveling of the following vehicle N even if it flies toward the following vehicle N after the host vehicle M crosses it.

[0026] When the object to be crossed F is recognized by the object to be crossed recognition unit 11, the crossing detection unit 12 detects whether the vehicle M has crossed the object to be crossed F based on the vertical acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 3 of the vehicle M.

[0027] Here, Fig. 3(a) is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which the front wheels of the host vehicle M go over the object F to be overcome. Fig. 3(b) is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which the rear wheels of the host vehicle M go over the object F to be overcome. As shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b), when the front and rear wheels of the host vehicle M go over the object F to be overcome, vertical movement of the host vehicle M occurs.

[0028] Fig. 4 is a graph showing an example of a time change in the vertical acceleration of the host vehicle M when the host vehicle M is climbing over an obstacle. The vertical axis of Fig. 4 represents the vertical acceleration of the host vehicle M, and the horizontal axis represents time. Fig. 4 shows a reference acceleration G (e.g., vertical acceleration when traveling on a flat surface) serving as a reference for the vertical acceleration, a maximum vertical acceleration gmax1 when the front wheels climb over an obstacle, a minimum vertical acceleration gmin1 when the front wheels climb over an obstacle, a difference a1 between the reference acceleration G and the maximum vertical acceleration gmax1, and a difference a2 between the reference acceleration G and the minimum vertical acceleration gmin1. Fig. 4 also shows a maximum vertical acceleration gmax2 when the rear wheels climb over an obstacle, a minimum vertical acceleration gmin2 when the rear wheels climb over an obstacle, a difference b1 between the reference acceleration G and the maximum vertical acceleration gmax2, and a difference b2 between the reference acceleration G and the minimum vertical acceleration gmin2.

[0029] 4, the jumping detection unit 12 detects the jumping over of the object F by the host vehicle M. As an example, the jumping detection unit 12 detects peaks of vertical acceleration corresponding to a maximum vertical acceleration gmax1 and a minimum vertical acceleration gmin1 within a certain time, and determines that the front wheels of the host vehicle M have jumped over the object F if the sum of the difference a1 and the difference a2 is equal to or greater than a certain threshold. Similarly, when the jumping detection unit 12 determines that the rear wheels have jumped over the object F, it detects the jumping over of the object F by the host vehicle M.

[0030] The method of detecting the passing over object F using the vertical acceleration is not limited to the above method. The passing over detection unit 12 may detect the passing over of the object F by the host vehicle M when detecting peaks of vertical acceleration corresponding to the front wheel passing over and the rear wheel passing over within a certain time after the object F is recognized by the object recognition unit 11.

[0031] When the passing detection unit 12 detects that the vehicle M has passed over the passing object F, the flying determination unit 13 determines whether the passing object F has flown behind the vehicle M based on the detection result by the rear sensor 2 of the vehicle M (the image captured by the camera or the detection result by the radar sensor).

[0032] Fig. 5(a) is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which an object to be crossed has flown behind the host vehicle M. The flight determination unit 13 determines that the object to be crossed F has flown behind the host vehicle M in the situation shown in Fig. 5(a). The flight determination unit 13 determines that the object to be crossed F has flown behind the host vehicle M when it determines that the object to be crossed F existing in the air behind the host vehicle M is moving at a certain speed or higher based on, for example, an image captured by a camera or a detection result from a radar sensor.

[0033] When the flying determination unit 13 determines that the over-passing object F has flown behind the host vehicle M, the notification unit 14 notifies the following vehicle N of flying correspondence information corresponding to the flying of the over-passing object F. The notification unit 14 notifies the following vehicle N of the flying correspondence information by vehicle-to-vehicle communication using, for example, the communication device 4. Fig. 5(b) is a diagram showing an example of a situation in which the over-passing object information is notified to the following vehicle.

[0034] The flying response information includes, for example, warning information regarding the flying of an object backward. Based on the warning information, the following vehicle N executes at least one of warning the driver, automatic deceleration, and automatic steering avoidance.

[0035] The flying response information may include detailed warning information including the recognition result of the object F to be jumped over by the object to be jumped over recognition unit 11. The recognition result of the object F to be jumped over may include information on the type of the object F to be jumped over (e.g., a can, a bottle, a plate, etc.) and may include information on the size of the object F to be jumped over. The flying response information may include information on the flying speed of the object F to be jumped over.

[0036] The flying object response information may be deceleration instruction information for the following vehicle N. In this case, the following vehicle N does not need to receive information regarding the flying object. In addition, the following vehicle N does not need to make a judgment regarding the object. The deceleration instruction information may include information instructing the occupants of the following vehicle to retract their seat belts, turn on or flash their brake lights, and turn on their hazard lights.

[0037] The notification unit 14 may calculate the deceleration to be instructed to the following vehicle N based on the vehicle distance between the host vehicle M and the following vehicle N and the vehicle speed of the following vehicle N. The notification unit 14 may further calculate the deceleration to be instructed to the following vehicle N based on the recognition result of the jumping-over object F by the jumping-over object recognition unit 11 and / or the flying speed of the jumping-over object F.

[0038] The notification unit 14 may calculate a risk level from the recognition result of the object F to be crossed over, and if the risk level is equal to or higher than a certain threshold, notify the following vehicle N of deceleration instruction information. If the risk level is less than a certain threshold, the notification unit 14 notifies the following vehicle N of attention calling information or detailed attention calling information. For example, the risk level is higher as the size of the object F to be crossed over increases. The notification unit 14 may calculate the risk level taking into account the flying direction of the object F to be crossed over as well. If the flying direction of the object F to be crossed over is a direction away from the following vehicle N (for example, a direction off the road), the risk level is a small value.

[0039] The method of notifying the following vehicle N is not limited to vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The notification unit 14 may notify the following vehicle N via a roadside device installed on the road. The notification unit 14 may notify the following vehicle N via a server.

[0040] If the host vehicle M is equipped with an exterior speaker, the notification unit 14 may notify the following vehicle N of the flight compatible information by sound. If the host vehicle M is equipped with a rear display, the notification unit 14 may notify the following vehicle N of the flight compatible information by display control of the rear display. The rear display may be a head-up display using the back window of the host vehicle M.

[0041] [Processing of in-vehicle notification device] Next, the processing of the in-vehicle notification device 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the over-passing object information notification processing. The over-passing object information notification processing is executed, for example, while the host vehicle M is traveling. The over-passing object information notification processing may be executed when there is a following vehicle N connected by vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

[0042] As shown in Fig. 6, the ECU 10 of the in-vehicle notification device 100 determines in S10 whether or not the object to be crossed over recognizing unit 11 has recognized an object to be crossed over on the road R on which the host vehicle M is traveling. The object to be crossed over recognizing unit 11 recognizes the object to be crossed over based on a detection result by the front sensor 1 of the host vehicle (a captured image by a camera or a detection result by a radar sensor). If the ECU 10 determines that the object to be crossed over has been recognized (S10: YES), the process proceeds to S11. If the ECU 10 does not determine that the object to be crossed over has been recognized (S10: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current object to be crossed over information notification process.

[0043] In S11, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the passing over detection unit 12 has detected the passing over of the object F by the host vehicle M. The passing over detection unit 12 detects the passing over of the object F by the host vehicle M based on the vertical acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 3 of the host vehicle M. When the ECU 10 determines that the passing over of the object F by the host vehicle M has been detected (S11: YES), the ECU 10 proceeds to S12. When the ECU 10 does not determine that the passing over of the object F by the host vehicle M has been detected (S11: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current object information notification process.

[0044] In S12, the ECU 10 determines whether or not the overtaking object F has flown behind the host vehicle M using the flight determination unit 13. The flight determination unit 13 determines whether or not the overtaking object F has flown behind the host vehicle M based on the detection result by the rear sensor 2 of the host vehicle M (the image captured by the camera or the detection result of the radar sensor). If the ECU 10 determines that the overtaking object F has flown behind the host vehicle M (S12: YES), the ECU 10 proceeds to S13. If the ECU 10 does not determine that the overtaking object F has flown behind the host vehicle M (S12: NO), the ECU 10 ends the current overtaking object information notification process.

[0045] In S13, the ECU 10 notifies the following vehicle N of the flying correspondence information by the notification unit 14. The notification unit 14 notifies the following vehicle N of the flying correspondence information by vehicle-to-vehicle communication using, for example, the communication device 4. Thereafter, the current overcoming object information notification process is terminated.

[0046] According to the in-vehicle notification device 100 of this embodiment described above, the device recognizes an object F to be overcome on the road R along which the vehicle M is traveling, and when it is determined that the object F to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle M due to being knocked away by the vehicle M overtaking the object, the device notifies the following vehicle N of flight response information corresponding to the flight of the object F to be overcome, thereby suppressing the impact on the following vehicle N of the object F to be overcome that has flown behind the vehicle M.

[0047] Furthermore, according to the in-vehicle notification device 100, if the passing detection unit 12 does not detect that the vehicle M has passed over the object F to be passed over, it does not determine whether the object F has flown behind the vehicle M. This makes it possible to avoid making a flying determination even when the vehicle M has not stepped over the object F to be passed over, and to avoid mistakenly determining that a plastic bag flying in the wind behind the vehicle M is a flying object F to be passed over.

[0048] Furthermore, the in-vehicle notification device 100 notifies the following vehicle N of detailed warning information including the recognition result of the object F to be overcome, enabling the following vehicle N to decide to avoid the object F to be overcome or to slow down based on the recognition result of the object F to be overcome, thereby reducing the impact that the object F to be overcome has on the following vehicle N.

[0049] In addition, according to the in-vehicle notification device 100, by notifying the following vehicle N of deceleration instruction information as flying response information, the possibility of the object F to be overcome coming into contact with the following vehicle N can be reduced by the following vehicle N quickly decelerating.

[0050] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. The present invention can be embodied in various forms including the above-mentioned embodiment and various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0051] The passing detection unit 12 does not necessarily need to detect the passing of the object F to be passed by the host vehicle M using the vertical acceleration of the host vehicle M. The passing detection unit 12 may detect the passing of the object F to be passed by the host vehicle M, for example, by a bottom sensor of the host vehicle M. The bottom sensor is a detector that is provided between the front wheels and the rear wheels at the bottom (lower surface) of the host vehicle M and detects an object below the host vehicle M. The bottom sensor may be a camera, a radar sensor (such as a millimeter wave radar or Lidar), or a sonar sensor. The bottom sensor may be provided behind the front wheels on the left and right sides of the host vehicle M so as to correspond to the left and right tires. The passing detection unit 12 may detect that the host vehicle M has passed over the object F to be passed by the host vehicle M when the bottom sensor detects the object F to be passed below the host vehicle M.

[0052] It should be noted that the in-vehicle notification device 100 does not necessarily have to include the overtaking detection unit 12. When the overtaking object recognition unit 11 recognizes a overtaking object F on the road R on which the host vehicle M is traveling, the flying determination unit 13 may execute a determination as to whether or not the overtaking object F has flown behind the host vehicle M as a result of the host vehicle M overtaking the overtaking object F.

[0053] The in-vehicle notification device 100 may notify the following vehicle N of evasive steering instruction information as the flying response information by the notification unit 14. The evasive steering instruction information includes information instructing the following vehicle N to evasively steer to the left or right. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1...forward sensor, 2...rear sensor, 3...acceleration sensor, 4...communication device, 10...ECU, 11...overcoming object recognition unit, 12...overcoming detection unit, 13...flight determination unit, 14...notification unit, 100...in-vehicle notification device, F...overcoming object, M...own vehicle, N...following vehicle.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle notification device that is mounted on a vehicle and notifies a following vehicle of information, an obstacle recognition unit that recognizes obstacles to be overcome on a road on which the host vehicle is traveling based on a detection result by a front sensor of the host vehicle; a flight determination unit that, when the object to be crossed is recognized by the object to be crossed recognition unit, determines whether or not the object to be crossed has flown behind the vehicle based on a detection result by a rear sensor of the vehicle; a notification unit that notifies the following vehicle of flight response information corresponding to the flight of the object to be overcome when the flight determination unit determines that the object to be overcome has flown behind the host vehicle; An in-vehicle notification device comprising:

2. a vehicle speed sensor that senses whether the vehicle has passed over the obstacle based on a vertical acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor of the vehicle when the obstacle is recognized by the obstacle recognition unit; The vehicle-mounted notification device of claim 1, wherein the flying determination unit determines whether the object to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle when the passing detection unit detects that the vehicle has passed over the object to be overcome, and does not determine whether the object to be overcome has flown behind the vehicle when the passing detection unit does not detect that the vehicle has passed over the object to be overcome.

3. The in-vehicle notification device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the notification unit notifies the following vehicle of detailed attention calling information including a recognition result of the over-passing object by the over-passing object recognition unit as the flying response information.

4. The vehicle-mounted notification device according to claim 1 , wherein the notification unit notifies the following vehicle of a deceleration instruction as the flight response information.

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