Vehicle operation management device, vehicle operation management system, vehicle operation management method, vehicle operation management program, and vehicle operation management device

Abstract

The system is characterized by comprising a memory unit (20) that stores an operation plan (22) of a vehicle (83), a communication unit (30) that acquires travel demand (21) of users, and a processing unit (40) that determines whether or not the vehicle (83) will stop at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan (22) and the travel demand (21), determines a departure time from the stop at which the vehicle (83) will stop based on the arrival time corresponding to the determined whether or not the vehicle (83) will stop and the travel demand (21), and updates the operation plan (22) in the memory unit (20) based on the determination result.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle operation management device that manages the operation of a moving body such as a vehicle, a vehicle operation management system, a vehicle, a vehicle operation management method, a vehicle operation management program, and a vehicle operation management device. [Background technology]

[0002] There are services in which a moving object travels around multiple locations to transport a transportation target, such as a route bus that travels around multiple stops to transport passengers. Conventional route buses run along a predetermined route and stop at predetermined stops to allow passengers to board and disembark. If there are no passengers to disembark and there are no passengers at a stop, the bus driver may pass through the stop without stopping. In addition, buses may be delayed due to traffic congestion, etc. For this reason, passengers who wish to board a bus must continue to wait at the stop so that the bus will stop at the stop, and in anticipation of the possibility that the bus will be delayed even if the departure time has passed.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a control device for smoothly operating an autonomous bus by determining whether or not to stop the bus and the departure time, even if the autonomous bus does not have a driver on board. The control device disclosed in Patent Document 1 stops the bus regardless of whether there are passengers if the expected arrival time of the bus is before the scheduled departure time. Furthermore, the control device of Patent Document 1 calculates the expected arrival time of the passenger at the bus stop using a boarding request signal indicating a desire to board the bus and the origin of the boarding request signal, and determines the departure time to be the scheduled departure time if the passenger's expected arrival time is before the scheduled departure time of the bus. Also, even if the passenger's expected arrival time is later than the scheduled departure time of the bus, if the difference is within a threshold value, the departure time is delayed from the scheduled departure time, and if the difference exceeds the threshold value, the departure time is set to the scheduled departure time. This makes it possible to reduce the number of passengers who miss the bus in an autonomous bus, just as in a bus with a driver on board. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-018578 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, according to the above conventional technology, although it is possible to reduce the number of users who miss a bus that is operating according to a fixed operation plan, it is not assumed that the operation plan will be advanced, and even if the travel time between bus stops can be shortened by passing through the bus without stopping at the bus stop, the bus cannot depart by the scheduled departure time. In addition, if the departure time is advanced depending on whether or not the bus will stop at a bus stop, there is a problem that it is not possible to reduce the number of users who miss the bus.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide a vehicle operation management device that can reduce the occurrence of users missing their trains even when the departure time is advanced depending on whether or not the bus stops at bus stops. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the vehicle operation management device of the present disclosure includes a storage unit that stores a vehicle operation plan, and a user Includes the desired boarding stop, desired alighting stop, and desired departure time at the boarding stop A communications department that acquires travel demand and a traffic plan , desired boarding stop and Desired stop for getting off Based on the above, it is determined whether or not the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops, and an arrival time according to the determined whether or not the vehicle will stop is calculated. A desired departure time that is earlier than the departure time in the operation plan, with the desired boarding stop being a stop where the vehicle is stopped and 、 Based on this, the departure time of the bus stop where the vehicle will stop is calculated. Earlier than the scheduled departure time and a processing unit that updates the operation plan in the storage unit based on the determination result. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of users missing their buses even when the departure time is advanced depending on whether or not the bus stops at bus stops. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system according to a first embodiment; [Diagram 2] Diagram showing specific examples of travel demand [Diagram 3] A diagram showing a specific example of an operation plan [Figure 4] A flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation management device according to the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a comparative example for explaining the effect of the vehicle operation management device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an effect of the vehicle operation management device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] A flowchart for explaining an additional function of the vehicle operation management device shown in FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system according to a second embodiment; [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen that the vehicle operation management device shown in FIG. 8 displays on a mobile terminal of a user. [Figure 10] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of a display screen that the vehicle operation management device shown in FIG. 8 displays on the mobile terminal of a user. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 12] A flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation management system shown in FIG. [Figure 13] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed by the display device shown in FIG. 11; [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 15] A diagram showing an example of a flight schedule at the time of reservation [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a method for allocating travel demands in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 17] A flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation management device according to the fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] A vehicle traffic management device, a vehicle traffic management system, a vehicle, a vehicle traffic management method, a vehicle traffic management program, and a traffic management device according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0011] Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle traffic management system 100 according to a first embodiment. The vehicle traffic management system 100 has a function of managing the traffic of a vehicle 83. The vehicle traffic management system 100 is an example of a traffic management system that manages the traffic of a mobile body, and the vehicle 83 is an example of a mobile body. A person who uses a service that uses a mobile body for transportation is called a user. The object transported by the mobile body may be either an object or a person, and when the object transported is a person, the user is the object of transportation.

[0012] The vehicle operation management system 100 includes a vehicle operation management device 10, a demand collection terminal 81, and a vehicle control terminal 82 or a vehicle 83. The vehicle operation management system 100 has a function of managing the operation of one or more vehicles 83.

[0013] The vehicle operation management device 10 manages the operation of a mobile object such as a vehicle 83. The vehicle 83 is, for example, an autonomous vehicle, but is not limited to this, and may be a manually operated vehicle that is driven by a driver.

[0014] The vehicle 83 includes a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-location identification unit 833, and a display unit 834, and drives according to the operation plan 22 or driving instructions received from the traffic management device 10. The vehicle control terminal 82 is mounted on a moving body such as the vehicle 83. The vehicle control terminal 82 includes a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-location identification unit 833, and a display unit 834 (not shown), and has a function of controlling the vehicle 83. That is, even if a moving body does not originally include functions such as the transmission / reception unit 831, the driving control unit 832, the self-location identification unit 833, and the display unit 834, the vehicle control terminal 82 can be installed to control the moving body. The vehicles 83 to be controlled by the vehicle operation management system 100 may be only vehicles 83 that are originally equipped with functions such as a transceiver unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-location determination unit 833 and a display unit 834, or only vehicles 83 equipped with a vehicle control terminal 82, or may be a mixture of vehicles 83 that are originally equipped with functions such as a transceiver unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-location determination unit 833 and a display unit 834 and vehicles 83 equipped with a vehicle control terminal 82.

[0015] The transmitting / receiving unit 831 communicates with the vehicle operation management device 10 to transmit and receive information to and from the vehicle operation management device 10. For example, the transmitting / receiving unit 831 receives an operation plan 22 from the vehicle operation management device 10, and outputs the received operation plan 22 to the driving control unit 832. The transmitting / receiving unit 831 also receives a driving instruction from the vehicle operation management device 10, and outputs the received driving instruction to the driving control unit 832. The driving instruction indicates a driving start timing, a destination, and the like. Then, the transmitting / receiving unit 831 transmits position information of the vehicle 83, status information of the vehicle 83, and the like to the vehicle operation management device 10. The status information of the vehicle 83 indicates the status of the vehicle 83, such as a state in which the vehicle 83 is running, a state in which the vehicle 83 is stopped, a state in which an abnormality has occurred, and the like.

[0016] The self-location identifying unit 833 identifies the location of the vehicle 83, and outputs location information indicating the identified location to each of the transmission / reception unit 831 and the driving control unit 832. The self-location identifying unit 833 can be, for example, a GPS receiver that performs GPS (Global Postioning System) positioning, a magnetic sensor, or the like, but is not limited to these.

[0017] The driving control unit 832 performs driving control of the vehicle 83 by automatic driving using the position information received from the self-location identification unit 833 and the operation plan 22 and driving instructions received from the transmission / reception unit 831. For example, although not shown, the driving control unit 832 can use information acquired by a sensor that detects obstacles, such as a camera, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), or a millimeter wave sensor, and map information. The driving control unit 832 controls a driving mechanism, not shown, based on information from the sensor that detects obstacles, the position information received from the self-location identification unit 833, and the map information. The driving mechanism is a mechanism for driving the vehicle 83, and is, for example, a plurality of mechanisms for driving the vehicle 83, such as an accelerator operation device such as an accelerator pedal, a steering device, and a brake, but the configuration of the driving mechanism is not limited to these. For example, when the vehicle 83 is a manually driven vehicle, the operation plan 22 is displayed on a display device provided in the vehicle 83, and the driver of the manually driven vehicle can drive the vehicle 83 according to the operation plan 22 by driving according to the displayed operation plan 22.

[0018] The demand collection terminal 81 is a terminal that accepts a reservation operation in which a user makes a reservation for use of the vehicle 83. The demand collection terminal 81 may be a mobile terminal carried by the user, such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal, or may be a reservation terminal fixed to a bus stop or the like where the vehicle 83 stops.

[0019] The vehicle operation management device 10 includes a storage unit 20, a communication unit 30, and a processing unit 40.

[0020] The memory unit 20 stores travel demands 21 and operation plans 22 .

[0021] The travel demand 21 is information that is dynamically updated in response to the user of the vehicle 83 performing a reservation registration operation or a reservation change operation. The travel demand 21 includes the user's desired boarding stop and desired alighting stop. The travel demand 21 can also include a desired departure time, which is the time at which the user desires to board the vehicle 83. The desired departure time may be a designated time input by the user on the reservation screen, or the reservation time, which is the time at which the operation to register the reservation is performed, may be treated as the desired departure time. Alternatively, the travel demand 21 may include a reservation location expressed by, for example, latitude and longitude, and the time that is the required time required to move from the reservation location to the desired boarding stop may be treated as the desired departure time from the reservation time. The reservation location is location information of the demand collection terminal 81 at the time of making the reservation, and may be an identifier of the demand collection terminal 81 if the demand collection terminal 81 is a fixed reservation terminal. In this case, the vehicle operation management device 10 can acquire location information associated with the identifier of the demand collection terminal 81 and set the acquired location information as the reservation location.

[0022] Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of travel demand 21. The travel demand 21 shown in Fig. 2 includes a travel demand ID (IDentifier) ​​assigned to each reservation, a user ID assigned to the user, a reservation time indicating the time when the reservation was registered, a desired boarding stop which is information for specifying a stop at which the user wishes to board, a desired alighting stop which is information for specifying a stop at which the user wishes to alight, and a desired departure time. Note that the desired departure time is set to a time later than the reservation time.

[0023] The operation plan 22 is generated for each service, and includes stops where the vehicle 83 used in the service is scheduled to stop, the arrival time at each stop, and the departure time from each stop. Every time a new travel demand 21 is registered or the contents registered in the travel demand 21 are changed, the operation plan 22 stored in the memory unit 20 is updated by the processing unit 40.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the operation plan 22. FIG. 3 shows an example of the operation plan 22 at the time of reservation of the travel demand 21 represented by the travel demand ID "c", an example of the operation plan 22 before the vehicle 83 of the flight to which the travel demand 21 represented by the travel demand ID "c" is assigned arrives at the stop [3] which is the boarding stop of the travel demand 21 represented by the travel demand ID "c", and an example of the operation plan 22 after the vehicle 83 arrives at the stop [3]. These operation plans 22 include a flight ID assigned to each flight to be operated, a stop ID assigned to each stop, whether or not the flight indicated by the flight ID passes through the stop indicated by the stop ID, the arrival time at the stop indicated by the stop ID of the flight indicated by the flight ID, the departure time of the stop indicated by the stop ID of the flight indicated by the flight ID, and a boarding travel demand ID indicating the travel demand ID of the travel demand 21 that wishes to board from the stop indicated by the stop ID on the flight indicated by the flight ID.

[0025] Returning to the explanation of Fig. 1, the communication unit 30 has a function of communicating with devices external to the vehicle operation management device 10. Specifically, the communication unit 30 can communicate with each of the demand collection terminal 81 and the vehicle control terminal 82 or the vehicle 83. The communication unit 30 receives travel demand 21 from the demand collection terminal 81. The communication unit 30 transmits an operation plan 22 or a driving instruction to the vehicle control terminal 82 or the vehicle 83, and receives position information and status information of the vehicle 83 from the vehicle 83 that drives according to the operation plan 22 or the driving instruction.

[0026] The processing unit 40 controls the operation of the vehicle operation management device 10. The processing unit 40 includes a travel demand management unit 41, an operation plan update unit 42, and an operation plan implementation unit 43.

[0027] The travel demand management unit 41 stores the travel demand 21 received by the communication unit 30 in the storage unit 20. The travel demand management unit 41 may store the travel demand 21 received by the communication unit 30 in the storage unit 20 as is, or may process the travel demand 21 received by the communication unit 30 into a format for storage in the storage unit 20 and then store it in the storage unit 20. The travel demand management unit 41 stores the received travel demand 21 in the storage unit 20 every time the communication unit 30 receives the travel demand 21 from the demand collection terminal 81.

[0028] The operation plan update unit 42 updates the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20 based on the travel demand 21 and the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20. Specifically, the operation plan update unit 42 determines whether the vehicle 83 will stop at each of the multiple stops based on the operation plan 22 and the travel demand 21. Then, the operation plan update unit 42 calculates the arrival time at each stop according to the determined whether the vehicle 83 will stop, and determines the departure time of the stop at which the vehicle 83 will stop based on the departure time determined from the calculated arrival time and the travel demand 21. When the operation plan update unit 42 determines whether the vehicle 83 will stop at the stop and the departure time, it can update the operation plan 22 in the storage unit 20 based on the determination result.

[0029] The timing at which the operation plan update unit 42 determines whether the vehicle 83 is stopping at a bus stop may be, for example, the scheduled arrival time at a bus stop one upstream from the target bus stop, the scheduled departure time, 5 minutes before the scheduled arrival time, 5 minutes before the scheduled departure time, etc. The operation plan update unit 42 may also determine whether the vehicle 83 is stopping at a bus stop every time the travel demand 21 is updated. The operation plan update unit 42 determines whether the vehicle 83 is stopping at the target bus stop at least after terminating the allocation of reservations to get on and off at the target bus stop.

[0030] For example, if the vehicle 83 is an autonomous vehicle and cannot change its destination during travel, it is necessary to determine which stop to stop at after a certain stop. For this reason, if the traveling vehicle 83 is scheduled to travel to stops [1], [2], [3], [4], and [5] in this order and is determined to stop at stop [2] next, it is necessary to determine which stop to stop at after stop [2] before departing from stop [2]. In this case, the operation plan update unit 42 determines whether to stop at stop [3] before departing from stop [2], and if it does not stop at stop [3], it determines whether to stop at stop [4] next, and determines whether to stop in order until a stop to stop is found. For example, if it is determined that vehicle 83 will not stop at stops [3] and [4], but will stop at stop [5] after stop [2], and the next destination of vehicle 83 is set to stop [5], it is desirable to close the allocation of travel demand 21 for stops [3] and [4] for that flight.

[0031] Alternatively, if the vehicle 83 can change the destination during travel, the presence or absence of a stop at each stop may be determined sequentially for each stop. For example, the operation plan update unit 42 can determine whether or not the next stop will be stopped for each of a plurality of stops on the travel route, each time the vehicle stops at or passes through each stop. In this case, it becomes possible to respond to sudden travel demand 21, but the travel route cannot be changed significantly, so the effect of shortening the travel time is small. Even if the vehicle 83 can change the destination during travel, a method of determining the next stop at the time of departure from the stop may be adopted. When the next stop is determined at the time of departure from the stop, if the vehicle does not stop at multiple consecutive stops, it becomes possible to change the travel route to adopt a route that does not pass through the stops at which the vehicle does not stop, and the effect of shortening the travel time can be increased.

[0032] The operation plan update unit 42 can determine the departure time from a bus stop each time it is determined whether the vehicle 83 stops at the bus stop. In addition, the operation plan update unit 42 may determine whether the vehicle 83 stops at the bus stop each time the travel demand 21 is updated, for example, to update the "presence of stop" in the operation plan 22, and the departure time may be determined at the timing when the vehicle stops at the target bus stop.

[0033] An example of FIG. 3 will be described. When a reservation for a travel demand 21 indicated by a boarding travel demand ID "c" is executed, the operation plan 22 is set so that a travel indicated by a travel ID "001" will pass through stops indicated by stop IDs [1], [2], and [3]. In addition, the arrival time at stop [1] is set to "10:00", the departure time from stop [1] is set to "10:01", the arrival time at stop [2] is set to "10:03", the departure time from stop [2] is set to "10:04", the arrival time at stop [3] is set to "10:06", and the departure time from stop [3] is set to "10:07". 2, and the reservation time of this travel demand 21 is "10:00", the desired boarding stop is [3], the desired disembarking stop is [6], and the desired departure time is "10:06". The travel demand 21 with travel demand ID "c" is assigned to flight ID "001", and the desired boarding stop is stop [3], so the travel demand 21 with travel demand ID "c" is assigned to the travel schedule 22 in the boarding travel demand ID field for stop [3].

[0034] In this case, in the operation plan before arriving at the bus stop [3], if it is determined that there are no passengers getting on or off at the bus stop [2] and the vehicle 83 will not stop at the bus stop [2], the operation plan 22 is updated so that the stop [2] stop status is "no" and the arrival time and departure time are blank. In addition, the operation plan update unit 42 recalculates the travel time from the bus stop [1] to the bus stop [3] by not stopping at the bus stop [2], and calculates the shortened travel time. Here, the shortened time is assumed to be 2 minutes. In this case, the arrival time at the bus stop [3] is updated to "10:04". The shortened time is also held as (-2). When the arrival time at the bus stop [3], "10:04", arrives, the operation plan update unit 42 determines the departure time from the bus stop [3].

[0035] At this time, the operation plan update unit 42 determines the latest time "10:06" among the departure time of the stop [3] calculated from the arrival time of the stop [3] "10:04" depending on whether or not there is a stop at a stop upstream from the stop [3] and the desired departure time of the travel demand 21 assigned to the stop [3], "10:06". Note that, although an example in which one user boards at the stop [3] is shown here, even if there are multiple users boarding at the stop [3], the operation plan update unit 42 determines the latest time among the departure time of the stop [3] calculated from the arrival time of the stop [3] depending on whether or not there is a stop at a stop upstream from the stop [3] and the multiple desired departure times of the multiple travel demands 21 assigned to the stop [3] as the departure time of the stop [3]. In addition, the operation plan update unit 42 can calculate the departure time from stop [3], calculated from the arrival time at stop [3] depending on whether or not there are stops at stops upstream of stop [3], by subtracting the shortened time of the arrival time at stop [3] from the initial value of the departure time from stop [3].

[0036] As described in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the operation plan 22 is dynamically updated. That is, if there is a stop that is not passed through during operation, the travel time may be shortened by the amount of deceleration for stopping, the time spent in a stopped state, and the like. Also, as described above, if there are consecutive stops that are not passed through, it may be possible to shorten the travel time between the stops by changing the travel route. Therefore, the operation of the vehicle 83 is brought forward. When the operation is brought forward, it is important to prevent users from missing their trains. In the vehicle operation management device 10, by determining the departure time based on the desired departure time set for each travel demand 21, it is possible to bring forward the operation plan and prevent users from missing their trains while shortening the travel time of the users.

[0037] Returning to the description of Fig. 1, the operation plan implementation unit 43 generates driving instructions for the vehicle control terminal 82 or the vehicle 83 based on the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20 and updated by the operation plan update unit 42, and transmits the generated driving instructions to the vehicle control terminal 82 or the vehicle 83 via the communication unit 30. Since the operation plan implementation unit 43 generates driving instructions based on the latest operation plan 22, the vehicle control terminal 82 controls the vehicle 83 based on the latest operation plan 22. Similarly, the vehicle 83, which is equipped with a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-location identification unit 833, and a display unit 834, drives based on the latest operation plan 22.

[0038] The operation of the vehicle operation management device 10 described above will be explained using a flowchart. Fig. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment. In the vehicle operation management device 10, the travel demand management unit 41 manages the travel demand 21 while the vehicle 83 is in operation (steps S11, S13). Specifically, the travel demand management unit 41 acquires the travel demand 21 indicating the reservation details from the demand collection terminal 81, and registers and changes the travel demand 21 in the storage unit 20 (step S12).

[0039] In the vehicle operation management device 10, the operation plan update unit 42 updates the operation plan while the vehicle 83 is operating (steps S21, S24). Specifically, the operation plan update unit 42 acquires information used to update the operation plan (step S22). Here, the information acquired by the operation plan update unit 42 is the travel demand 21 and the operation plan 22. Next, based on the acquired information, the operation plan update unit 42 determines whether or not to stop at each stop and the departure time (step S23), and updates the operation plan 22 based on the determined content.

[0040] In the vehicle operation management device 10, the operation plan implementation unit 43 executes the operation plan 22 while the vehicle 83 is operating, and controls the operation of the vehicle 83 (steps S31, S33). Specifically, the operation plan implementation unit 43 determines a driving route of the vehicle 83 based on the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20 (step S32), and controls the operation of the vehicle 83.

[0041] Next, the hardware configuration of the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment will be described. In the vehicle operation management device 10, the storage unit 20 is a memory. The processing unit 40 is realized by a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be a memory that stores a program and a processor that executes the program stored in the memory, or may be dedicated hardware. The processing circuit is also called a control circuit. The communication unit 30 is realized by using a communication device. When the processing circuit is configured by a processor and a memory, each function of the processing unit 40 is realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in the memory. In the processing circuit, each function is realized by the processor reading and executing the program stored in the memory. The program may be provided by a storage medium in which the program is stored, or may be provided by other means such as a communication medium.

[0042] Here, the processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a processing device, an arithmetic device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), etc. Furthermore, the memory is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically EPROM), or other non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), etc.

[0043] When the processing circuitry is dedicated hardware, it may be, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof.

[0044] Next, the effect of the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a comparative example for explaining the effect of the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 shows an example of reservation contents, operation status, updated departure time, whether or not a user can board, and an operation image expressing the movement of the user and the vehicle 83 in the comparative example. The comparative example is an example in which the departure time is advanced by the shortened time due to the advancement of the arrival time without considering the desired departure time of the travel demand 21. That is, in the comparative example, the departure time after the update is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time from the departure time before the update. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the effect of the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 shows the updated departure time, whether or not a user can board, and an operation image in a case where the reservation contents and operation status are the same as those in the comparative example shown in FIG. 5.

[0045] For example, when a user makes a reservation while already available to board, the possibility of missing the bus is low, so Figures 5 and 6 show a case where a desired departure time Td after the reservation time Tr is specified, and a case where a desired boarding stop P0 far from the reservation position Pr is specified, which inevitably requires time to travel from the reservation position Pr to the desired boarding stop P0. In either case, in the comparative example, the updated departure time Tm is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update.

[0046] First, when a desired departure time Td after the reservation time Tr is specified and the waiting time Sw at the time of reservation is equal to or longer than the shortened time Sa at the time when the vehicle 83 arrives at the boarding stop P0, the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, is equal to or later than the desired departure time Td. In this case, in both the comparative example and the first embodiment, the departure time Tm is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, and is a time before the scheduled departure time Tp and a time after the desired departure time Td, as shown in the operation image. Therefore, the user can board the bus in both the comparative example and the first embodiment. Note that in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the desired departure time Td is the time at which the user can board the bus, and boarding is indicated as being impossible before the desired departure time Td even if the user is at the boarding stop P0.

[0047] Next, when a desired departure time Td after the reservation time Tr is specified and the waiting time Sw at the time of reservation is shorter than the shortened time Sa at the time when the vehicle 83 arrives at the boarding desired stop P0, the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, is earlier than the desired departure time Td. In this case, the departure time Tm is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, in the comparative example, and is the desired departure time Td in the first embodiment. In this case, in the comparative example, the departure time Tm advanced from the scheduled departure time Tp is earlier than the desired departure time Td, so the user cannot board the bus, whereas in the first embodiment, the departure time Tm advanced from the scheduled departure time Tp is equal to the desired departure time Td, so the user can board the bus.

[0048] In addition, when a desired boarding stop P0 away from the reservation position Pr is specified, and the waiting time Sw at the time of reservation is equal to or longer than the shortened time Sa at the time when the vehicle 83 arrives at the desired boarding stop P0, the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, is equal to or later than the desired departure time Td. In this case, in both the comparative example and the first embodiment, the departure time Tm is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, and is a time earlier than the scheduled departure time Tp and later than the desired departure time Td, which is the time after the user moves from the reservation position Pr, where the user was at the reservation time Tr, to the specified desired boarding stop P0. Therefore, in both the comparative example and the first embodiment, the user can board the bus.

[0049] Next, when a desired boarding stop P0 away from the reservation position Pr is specified, and the waiting time Sw at the time of reservation is shorter than the shortened time Sa at the time when the vehicle 83 arrives at the desired boarding stop P0, the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, is earlier than the desired departure time Td. In this case, the departure time Tm is the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp, which is the departure time before the update, in the comparative example, and is the desired departure time Td in the first embodiment. In this case, as shown in the operation image, in the comparative example, the departure time Tm advanced from the scheduled departure time Tp is earlier than the desired departure time Td, which is the time after the user moves from the reservation position Pr at the reservation time Tr to the specified desired boarding stop P0, so the user cannot board the bus, whereas in the first embodiment, the departure time Tm advanced from the scheduled departure time Tp is equal to the desired departure time Td, so the user can board the bus.

[0050] As shown in Figures 5 and 6, according to the vehicle operation management device 10 of the first embodiment, in accordance with the travel demand 21, the travel time between stops is shortened by skipping stops at which there are no passengers getting on or off, and the departure time Tm is brought forward according to the shortened time Sa, and if the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the scheduled departure time Tp is earlier than the desired departure time Td, the departure time Tm is set to the desired departure time Td, thereby preventing passengers from missing their trains.

[0051] Here, an additional function of the processing unit 40 will be described. Fig. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an additional function of the vehicle operation management device 10 shown in Fig. 1. The operation shown in Fig. 7 is executed by the processing unit 40 for each stop where the vehicle 83 stops while the vehicle 83 is operating, for example, in parallel with step S32 in Fig. 4.

[0052] The operation plan implementation unit 43 of the vehicle operation management device 10 judges whether the departure time of the operation plan 22 has arrived (step S34). If the departure time has not yet arrived (step S34: No), the operation plan implementation unit 43 acquires information for judging whether departure is possible (step S35). The information for judging whether departure is possible acquired here is, for example, information for confirming that all users who plan to board from the target bus stop have boarded. For example, the information for confirming that all users who plan to board from the target bus stop have boarded may be a result of matching the user who boards the vehicle 83 with the travel demand 21 when the user boards the vehicle 83. The matching is performed using at least one user identifier of a two-dimensional code, biometric authentication, an application installed on a mobile terminal owned by the user, and electronic money, for example. In addition, the information for confirming that all users who plan to board from the target bus stop have boarded may be information indicating that the user has performed an operation to permit departure. The operation to permit departure by the user may be performed, for example, by a mobile terminal owned by the user, or may be performed by a terminal installed at the bus stop or the vehicle 83.

[0053] Based on the information acquired in step S35, the operation plan implementation unit 43 determines whether all users who are scheduled to board at the target bus stop have boarded (step S36). If all users have not boarded (step S36: No), the operation plan implementation unit 43 repeats the process from step S34. If all users have boarded (step S36: Yes), the operation plan implementation unit 43 updates the departure time based on the current time and issues a driving instruction to the vehicle control terminal 82 (step S37). If the departure time has arrived (step S34: Yes), the operation plan implementation unit 43 ends the process for the target bus stop.

[0054] As described above, the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment is characterized by including a storage unit 20 that stores the operation plan 22 of the vehicle 83, a communication unit 30 that acquires the travel demand 21 of the user, and a processing unit 40 that determines whether the vehicle 83 stops at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan 22 and the travel demand 21, determines the departure time of the stop at which the vehicle 83 stops based on the arrival time according to the determined whether the vehicle 83 stops and the travel demand 21, and updates the operation plan 22 in the storage unit 20 based on the determination result. In this way, according to the vehicle operation management device 10, the departure time is determined based on the arrival time according to whether the vehicle 83 stops at the stop, that is, the arrival time that becomes earlier the more stops there are that the vehicle does not stop at, and the travel demand 21, so that it is possible to reduce users' missed boarding even if the departure time is advanced depending on whether the vehicle stops at the stop.

[0055] When there is a bus stop at which the vehicle 83 is determined not to stop, the processing unit 40 calculates the time required for travel between the bus stops at which the vehicle 83 stops before and after the bus stop at which the vehicle 83 does not stop, and determines the departure time of the bus stop at which the vehicle 83 stops based on the calculation result and the travel demand 21. Usually, when there is a bus stop at which the vehicle 83 does not stop, the travel time is shorter than if the vehicle stops at all bus stops. For this reason, the processing unit 40 can determine the departure time by taking into consideration the time at which the user can board the bus by using the travel demand 21 while taking into consideration the upper limit value to which the departure time can be advanced. Specifically, the travel demand 21 includes the desired departure time at the user's desired boarding stop, and the processing unit 40 can determine the departure time calculated based on the above calculation result, that is, the later of the upper limit value to which the departure time can be advanced and the desired departure time of the travel demand 21 for which the bus stop is the desired boarding stop, as the departure time. When there are multiple travel demands 21 with the target bus stop as the desired boarding stop, the processing unit 40 can determine the latest of the desired departure times of the multiple travel demands 21 and the departure time calculated based on the calculation result as the departure time. The desired departure time may be a time set by the user, the reservation time may be treated as the desired departure time, or the travel time from the current location of the boarding user to the desired boarding stop may be calculated and the desired departure time may be the time that the travel time has elapsed from the reservation time. The upper limit value by which the departure time can be advanced corresponds to the time obtained by subtracting the shortened time Sa from the above-mentioned scheduled departure time Tp.

[0056] The processing unit 40 further has a function of transmitting a travel instruction to the vehicle 83 based on the operation plan 22, and can depart the vehicle 83 even before the departure time of the operation plan 22 and update the operation plan 22 based on the departure time. When it is determined that there is no problem in depart- ing the vehicle 83 even before the departure time of the operation plan 22, for example, when it is confirmed that all users who plan to board from the target bus stop have boarded, the processing unit 40 can depart the vehicle 83 even before the departure time of the operation plan 22. The user can set the desired departure time in consideration of the time it takes to travel to the desired boarding stop, but when the user sets the desired departure time, the user may set the desired departure time with plenty of time to spare, and may actually be able to depart before the desired departure time. In such a case, the travel time of the user can be further shortened by depart- ing the vehicle 83 before the departure time of the operation plan 22. Specifically, the determination of whether all users who plan to board from the bus stop have boarded may be made using the result of matching the users who board the vehicle 83 with the travel demand 21 when the user boards the vehicle 83. This matching is performed using at least one user identifier, such as a two-dimensional code, biometric authentication, an application installed on a mobile terminal carried by the user, and electronic money. In addition, the determination of whether all users who plan to board from the bus stop have boarded may be performed based on an operation by the user to permit departure. When all users who plan to board from the bus stop have performed an operation to permit departure, the processing unit 40 can determine that all users who plan to board from the bus stop have boarded. The operation to permit departure may be performed using a mobile terminal carried by the user, a terminal installed at the bus stop, or a terminal installed in the vehicle 83.

[0057] Also, according to the first embodiment, a vehicle operation management system 100 can be provided. The vehicle operation management system 100 includes a demand collection terminal 81 that collects travel demand including a desired departure time at which a user desires to board a vehicle, a storage unit 20 that stores an operation plan 22 for a vehicle 83, and a vehicle operation management device 10 that determines whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop at a plurality of stops at which the demand collection terminal 81 is installed based on the operation plan 22 and the travel demand 21, determines a departure time for the stop at which the vehicle 83 will stop based on the arrival time and the desired departure time according to the determined whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop, and updates the stored operation plan 22 based on the determination result, and a vehicle control terminal 82 that controls the vehicle 83 based on the operation plan 22 updated by the vehicle operation management device 10.

[0058] In addition, the vehicle operation management system 100 may be provided with a vehicle 83 that runs based on an operation plan 22 updated by the operation management device 10 or driving instructions generated based on the updated operation plan 22, instead of or in addition to the vehicle control terminal 82.

[0059] According to the first embodiment, in the vehicle 83 operating according to the operation plan 22, whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop at a plurality of stops is determined based on the operation plan 22 and the travel demand 21 of the user, and the departure time of the stop at which the vehicle 83 will stop is determined based on the arrival time and the travel demand 21 according to the determined whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop, and the operation plan 22 is updated based on the determination result. The vehicle 83 also includes a transmission / reception unit 831 that receives the updated operation plan 22 or a travel instruction generated based on the updated operation plan 22, and a travel control unit 832 that controls the travel of the vehicle 83 based on the operation plan 22 received by the transmission / reception unit 831 or the above travel instruction. The vehicle 83 may also include a display unit 834 that displays the operation plan 22 received by the transmission / reception unit 831 instead of or in addition to the travel control unit 832.

[0060] Also, according to the first embodiment, a vehicle operation management method can be provided. This vehicle operation management method includes a storage step of storing an operation plan 22 of the vehicle 83, a travel demand acquisition step of acquiring a travel demand 21 including a desired departure time at a stop where a user desires to board the vehicle 83, a stop determination step of determining whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan 22 and the travel demand 21, a departure time determination step of determining a departure time from the stop where the vehicle 83 will stop based on the arrival time and the desired departure time according to the determined whether or not the vehicle 83 will stop, and an operation plan update step of updating the stored operation plan 22 based on the determination result.

[0061] Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, it is also possible to provide a vehicle operation management program that causes a computer to execute the above-mentioned storing step, travel demand obtaining step, stop determination step, departure time determination step, and operation plan updating step.

[0062] Embodiment 2 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system 100A according to the second embodiment. The vehicle operation management system 100A includes a vehicle operation management device 10A, a demand collection terminal 81, a vehicle control terminal 82, and a display device 84. The vehicle operation management system 100A includes the vehicle control terminal 82 installed in the vehicle 83, but the vehicle operation management system 100A may include a vehicle 83 that originally includes functions such as a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-position identification unit 833, and a display unit 834, as in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, a description of the same parts as in the first embodiment will be omitted, and a description will be mainly given of the parts that are different from the first embodiment.

[0063] The vehicle operation management device 10A has a processing unit 40A having a function of an operation plan display control unit 44A that displays an operation plan on a display device 84, in addition to the functions of the vehicle operation management device 10. The display device 84 is shown in FIG. 8 as a device different from the demand collection terminal 81, but the demand collection terminal 81 may have the function of the display device 84. The display device 84 is the same device as the demand collection terminal 81 used by the user for reservations, and may be a mobile terminal carried by the user, such as a smartphone or tablet terminal, or may be a reservation terminal fixed to a bus stop or the like. Alternatively, the display device 84 may be a device different from the demand collection terminal 81, and may be a monitor fixed to a bus stop or the like.

[0064] The operation plan display control unit 44A displays the departure times of bus stops on the display screen of the display device 84 based on the operation plan 22 stored in the memory unit 20, and can update the contents of the display screen each time the operation plan is updated.

[0065] Furthermore, the operation plan display control unit 44A can display the operation plan on the display screen of the mobile terminal carried by the user corresponding to the travel demand 21, and update the contents of the display screen every time the operation plan is updated. At this time, the operation plan display control unit 44A may display a display screen customized for each user.

[0066] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen that the vehicle operation management device 10A shown in FIG. 8 displays on the mobile terminal of the user. The operation plan display control unit 44A can display the reservation contents of the user, that is, the contents of the travel demand 21 associated with the user, on the display screen. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the user's desired departure time, the flight ID of the reserved flight, and the desired boarding stop and desired disembarking stop are displayed. In addition, the operation plan display control unit 44A can display the arrival time and departure time for each stop on the display screen. At this time, the operation plan display control unit 44A displays an operation plan including at least the departure time of the boarding stop of the user's travel demand 21 on the display screen.

[0067] Also, as shown in the example of FIG. 9, the operation plan display control unit 44A may display the arrival time and departure time of the target stop in an expected time range. For example, the operation plan display control unit 44A can display the departure time of the target stop in a range using the shortest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus does not stop at all stops between the last stop at the current time and the target stop where there are no passengers scheduled to get on or off, and the longest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus stops at all stops. The arrival time can also be calculated in a similar manner. The operation plan display control unit 44A repeatedly calculates the shortest departure time and the longest departure time, so that this time range gradually narrows. By displaying the arrival time and departure time in a time range, the user can understand that the arrival time and departure time may change and to what extent the time may change.

[0068] Furthermore, when the display device 84 is a monitor installed at a bus stop, the operation plan display control unit 44A may display information customized for each installation location of the display device 84 on the display screen. In this case, the display device 84 displays at least the departure time of the bus stop where the display device 84 is installed. In this case, the departure time is preferably expressed in a time range as shown in FIG. 9.

[0069] In the example shown in Figure 9, the arrival time and departure time are displayed in the order of travel for multiple stops, including the stop where the user wishes to board and disembark, but it is also possible to display only the departure time for the stop where the user wishes to board and the arrival time for the stop where the user wishes to disembark.

[0070] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a display screen that the vehicle operation management device 10A shown in FIG. 8 displays on the mobile terminal of the user. As shown in FIG. 10, the display screen displayed on the mobile terminal of the user may display only the departure time of the boarding stop reserved by the target user as the "scheduled departure time", and may not display the departure times of other stops. In this case, the scheduled departure time is displayed as a time range, and the time range becomes narrower as the vehicle 83 approaches the target stop. In the example of FIG. 10, the scheduled departure time is in the time range of "10:00 to 10:08" at the time of the left diagram, the scheduled departure time is in the time range of "10:02 to 10:06" at the time of the center diagram, which is later than the left diagram, and the scheduled departure time is "10:04" at the time of the right diagram, which is later than the center diagram. When the time range is within one minute, the scheduled departure time can be expressed as one time, instead of the shortest departure time and the longest departure time, as shown in the right diagram.

[0071] As described above, the vehicle operation management device 10A according to the second embodiment has the following functions in addition to the functions of the vehicle operation management device 10 according to the first embodiment. The processing unit 40A can display the departure time of the bus stop on the display screen based on the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20, and update the contents of the display screen every time the operation plan 22 is updated. According to the vehicle operation management device 10A, the departure time of the vehicle 83 changes over time. In addition, the change in the departure time includes an advance, and may be earlier than the departure time at the time of reservation. For this reason, it is important to inform the user of the departure time in real time in order to avoid missing the bus. If the departure time can be informed to the user in real time using the display screen, the user can change his / her behavior according to the situation, such as hurrying to the desired boarding stop according to the current departure time, or getting on the bus after completing other errands such as shopping if the departure time is delayed.

[0072] In addition, the departure time information that is updated from moment to moment may be provided on a customized display screen for users who have made a reservation, as described in the above embodiment, or it may be provided on a display device 84 installed at the bus stop so that people who arrive at the bus stop can at least know the departure time for that bus stop, or it may be provided by displaying it on the screen of an application with a reservation function provided for a mobile terminal, for example, regardless of whether a reservation has been made or not.

[0073] For example, the processing unit 40A can display the departure time of a bus stop desired by a user corresponding to the travel demand 21 on the display screen of the mobile terminal carried by the user, and update the contents of the display screen every time the operation plan 22 is updated. The processing unit 40A can also display the departure time of the bus stop on the display screen of the display device 84 installed at the bus stop, and update the contents of the display screen every time the operation plan is updated.

[0074] In addition, when displaying the departure time and the arrival time, it is preferable to express them as a range using an expected upper limit value and a lower limit value. For example, the processing unit 40A can express the departure time of the target stop as a range using the shortest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus does not stop at all stops between the last stop at the current time and the target stop where there are no passengers planning to get on or off, and the longest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus stops at all stops.

[0075] Embodiment 3 FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle operation management system 100B according to the third embodiment. The vehicle operation management system 100B includes a vehicle operation management device 10B, a demand collection terminal 81, a vehicle control terminal 82, a display device 84, and an artificial intelligence 85. The vehicle operation management device 10B includes a processing unit 40B having a function of an operation plan display control unit 44B that displays a predicted value of the probability that the vehicle 83 will not stop at each stop on a display screen. The vehicle operation management system 100B includes a vehicle control terminal 82 installed in the vehicle 83, but the vehicle operation management system 100B may include a vehicle 83 that originally includes functions such as a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-position identification unit 833, and a display unit 834, as in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the same parts as those in the first and second embodiments will be omitted, and the parts different from those in the first and second embodiments will be mainly described.

[0076] The vehicle operation management system 100B has a function of generating information indicating a predicted value of the probability that the vehicle 83 will not stop at each bus stop. This predicted value can also be obtained by general statistical processing based on accumulated performance data. For example, the vehicle operation management system 100B can calculate the average occurrence number of travel demands 21 in the same time period as the target time period from the performance data for a certain period of time in the past, predict the occurrence probability P of the travel demand 21, and calculate the probability that the vehicle 83 will not stop at the target bus stop as 1-P.

[0077] FIG. 11 shows the configuration of a vehicle operation management system 100B having a function of generating information indicating a predicted value of the probability that the vehicle 83 does not stop at each stop using an artificial intelligence 85. The artificial intelligence 85 stores a learned model 86, and has an inference unit 87 that generates information indicating a predicted value of the probability that the vehicle 83 does not stop at a stop using the learned model 86. The artificial intelligence 85 accepts information for identifying at least a stop from the vehicle operation management device 10B as input data, and outputs a predicted value of the skip occurrence probability, which is the probability that the vehicle 83 does not stop at a target stop. Here, the input data includes at least information for identifying the stop, and may include information for identifying the route when there are multiple routes that pass through the target stop. The input data may also include information indicating the time period to be predicted.

[0078] FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation management system 100B shown in FIG. 11. The vehicle operation management system 100B can perform the operation described with reference to FIG. 4, similar to the first embodiment. The operation shown in FIG. 12 is performed in parallel with the operation shown in FIG. 4. The operation plan display control unit 44B first acquires data used to predict the skip occurrence probability (step S41). The operation plan display control unit 44B inputs the data acquired in step S41 to the artificial intelligence 85 via the communication unit 30 (step S42).

[0079] The artificial intelligence 85 outputs the skip occurrence probability from the input data to the vehicle operation management device 10B using the trained model 86 (step S43). In the vehicle operation management device 10B, the operation plan display control unit 44B causes the display device 84 to display the skip occurrence probability output by the artificial intelligence 85 on the display screen (step S44).

[0080] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed by the display device 84 shown in FIG. 11. In addition to the information shown in FIG. 9, this display screen includes a skip occurrence probability, which is a probability that the vehicle 83 will not stop at each stop, in the second embodiment. When the artificial intelligence 85 outputs a predicted value based on past performance in the same time period without considering the travel demand 21 associated with the target flight at the current time, the operation plan display control unit 44B may display the skip occurrence probability output by the artificial intelligence 85 on the display screen as is, or may display the skip occurrence probability output by the artificial intelligence 85 on the display screen after correcting it based on the travel demand 21 associated with the target flight at the current time. For example, when based on past performance data that does not include information on a flight currently in operation, the skip occurrence probability rarely becomes 0% or 100%, but the operation plan display control unit 44B may correct the skip occurrence probability of the stop to 100% when a stop that is already confirmed not to stop exists in the flight currently in operation, and may display the skip occurrence probability of the stop to 0% when a stop that is confirmed to stop exists. In addition, when the artificial intelligence 85 outputs the skip occurrence probability while taking into consideration the travel demand 21 associated with the currently operating flight, the operation plan display control unit 44B displays the skip occurrence probability output by the artificial intelligence 85 as it is on the display screen.

[0081] Although FIG. 11 shows a method of predicting the skip occurrence probability using artificial intelligence 85 external to the vehicle operation management device 10B, the vehicle operation management device 10B may have the trained model 86 and the inference unit 87. The trained model 86 is generated by machine learning. For example, the trained model 86 may be configured as a large-scale language model (LLM) that outputs the skip occurrence probability of each stop included in the operation plan 22 when the operation plan 22 is input. Examples of algorithms used by the artificial intelligence 85 include Transformer, BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), GPT (Generative Pre-Training), and the like, and the trained model 86 may be configured by combining a plurality of algorithms including these.

[0082] As described above, according to the vehicle operation management device 10B according to the third embodiment, in addition to the functions described in the first and second embodiments, the processing unit 40B can generate information indicating a predicted value of the probability that the vehicle 83 does not stop at a bus stop and display it on the display screen. The "probability that the vehicle 83 does not stop at a bus stop" is also called a skip occurrence probability. The processing unit 40B may obtain the skip occurrence probability from a general statistical process based on the accumulated performance data, or may obtain the skip occurrence probability using a technology called so-called AI (Artificial Intelligence), generation AI, or the like. The processing unit 40 can generate information indicating a predicted value of the skip occurrence probability by inputting the information of the bus stops in the operation plan 22 stored in the storage unit 20 to the artificial intelligence 85.

[0083] Embodiment 4 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle operation management system 100C according to the fourth embodiment. The vehicle operation management system 100C includes a vehicle operation management device 10C, a demand collection terminal 81, and a vehicle control terminal 82. The vehicle operation management system 100C includes the vehicle control terminal 82 installed in the vehicle 83, but the vehicle operation management system 100C may include a vehicle 83 that originally includes functions such as a transmission / reception unit 831, a driving control unit 832, a self-position identification unit 833, and a display unit 834, as in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as those in the first to third embodiments, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0084] The vehicle operation management device 10C has a memory unit 20C, a communication unit 30, and a processing unit 40C. The memory unit 20C stores a travel demand 21, an operation plan 22, an allocation range 23, and an allocation condition 24. The processing unit 40C has a travel demand management unit 41, an operation plan update unit 42C, and an operation plan implementation unit 43.

[0085] The communication unit 30 acquires the travel demand 21, the allocation range 23, and the allocation conditions 24. The travel demand 21, the allocation range 23, and the allocation conditions 24 acquired by the communication unit 30 are stored by the travel demand management unit 41 in the storage unit 20C.

[0086] The operation plan update unit 42C has a function of allocating the travel demand 21 to a flight that matches the allocation condition 24 from among a plurality of flights included in the allocation range 23 based on the travel demand 21, the allocation range 23, the allocation condition 24, and the operation plan 22. The operation plan update unit 42C updates the operation plan based on the allocation result. The allocation range 23 is information indicating the range of flights to which the travel demand 21 is to be allocated, and may be, for example, information indicating the time range to be allocated or information indicating the number of flights. For example, the allocation range 23 may be "1 hour". The allocation condition 24 is information indicating the condition for evaluating the appropriateness of allocating the travel demand 21. The allocation condition 24 may be, for example, "the flight with the smallest evaluation value according to the evaluation formula". The evaluation formula may be based on at least one of the number of travel demands 21 already allocated to the flight, the amount of reduction in travel time of the travel demand 21 already allocated to the flight, and the waiting time of the travel demand 21 to be allocated. For example, the evaluation formula is "sum of reduction amounts of the allocated travel demand 21 + sum of reduction amounts of the unknown travel demand 21 × occurrence probability of the unknown travel demand 21 + 0.002 × (waiting time of the allocated travel demand 21)" 2 ".

[0087] The operation of the vehicle operation management system 100C according to the fourth embodiment will be described using a specific example. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an operation plan 22 at the time of reservation. Here, an example will be described in which ten travel demands 21, a to j, have already been assigned, and a bus on which a user boards is assigned to a new travel demand 21 indicated by a travel demand ID "x". The desired boarding stop of the new travel demand 21 indicated by the travel demand ID "x" is stop [1], the desired disembarking stop is stop [2], and the desired departure time is "10:01".

[0088] 15 at the time of reservation, the operation plan update unit 42C of the vehicle operation management device 10C calculates an evaluation value in the case where the new travel demand 21 with the travel demand ID "x" is not assigned to each bus. Here, it is confirmed that each of the bus IDs "001", "002", "003", and "004" will stop at the bus stop [1], and when the new travel demand 21 with the travel demand ID "x" is assigned to each bus, the bus will stop at the bus stop [2], and when the new travel demand 21 with the travel demand ID "x" is not assigned, the bus will not stop at the bus stop [2].

[0089] FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a method of allocating travel demands 21 in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 16 shows an operation plan 22 in the case where stop [2] is skipped in each bus, and an evaluation value corresponding to each operation plan. The operation plan update unit 42 calculates an evaluation value using the operation plan 22 in the case where stop [2] is skipped in each bus. For the bus ID "001", the sum of the reduction in travel time of the existing travel demands 21 is 2 minutes x 4 people, and the waiting time of the new travel demand 21 is 0 minutes, so the evaluation value is "8.00". For the bus ID "002", the sum of the reduction in travel time of the existing travel demands 21 is 2 minutes x 3 people, and the waiting time of the new travel demand 21 is 15 minutes, so the evaluation value is "6.45".

[0090] For flight ID "003", the sum of the travel time reductions of the existing travel demands 21 is 2 minutes x 2 people, and the waiting time of the new travel demand 21 is 30 minutes, so the evaluation value is "5.80". For flight ID "004", the sum of the travel time reductions of the existing travel demands 21 is 2 minutes x 1 person, and the waiting time of the new travel demand 21 is 45 minutes, so the evaluation value is "6.05".

[0091] In the example shown in FIG. 16, the evaluation value of the flight ID "003" is the smallest, so the new travel demand 21 is allocated to the flight with the flight ID "003".

[0092] Fig. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle operation control device 10C according to the embodiment 4. In Fig. 17, steps S11 to S13 and steps S31 to S33 are the same as those in Fig. 4, and therefore the explanation thereof will be omitted.

[0093] In the vehicle operation management device 10C, the operation plan update unit 42C updates the operation plan while the vehicle 83 is operating (steps S51 and S56). Specifically, the operation plan update unit 42C acquires information used to update the operation plan (step S52). Here, the information acquired by the operation plan update unit 42C is the travel demand 21, the operation plan 22, the allocation range 23, and the allocation conditions 24. Next, the operation plan update unit 42C extracts allocation candidates from among the multiple flights included in the operation plan 22 based on the acquired information (step S53), and evaluates the appropriateness of the allocation for the extracted allocation candidates (step S54). Specifically, the operation plan update unit 42C evaluates the appropriateness of the allocation by, for example, calculating an evaluation value indicated by the allocation conditions 24. The operation plan update unit 42C determines the flight to be allocated based on the calculated evaluation value (step S55).

[0094] As described above, the vehicle operation management device 10C according to the fourth embodiment is characterized by including a storage unit 20C that stores the operation plan 22 of the vehicle 83 in which the arrival times and departure times of a plurality of stops are set, a communication unit 30 that acquires the travel demand 21 of the user, the allocation range 23 indicating the range of flights to which the travel demand 21 is to be allocated, and the allocation conditions 24 indicating the conditions for evaluating the suitability of allocating the travel demand 21, and a processing unit 40C that allocates the travel demand 21 to a flight that matches the allocation conditions 24 from among a plurality of flights included in the allocation range 23 based on the travel demand 21, the allocation range 23, the allocation conditions 24, and the operation plan 22. With this configuration, it is possible to evaluate flights within a certain period from among a plurality of flights included in the allocation range 23 and allocate the travel demand 21 to an optimal flight. Therefore, it is possible to allocate the travel demand 21 to a flight that is more appropriate from the viewpoint of operation efficiency and user convenience. Here, the flights included in the allocation range 23 may include flights that have not yet been operated.

[0095] In addition, the allocation condition 24 may be based on at least one of the number of travel demands 21 already allocated to the flight, the amount of reduction in travel time of the travel demands 21 already allocated to the flight, and the waiting time of the travel demands 21 to be allocated.

[0096] The processing unit 40C can also evaluate the allocation conditions 24 based on the predicted unknown travel demand, and allocate the travel demand 21 based on the evaluation result. Such allocation can be realized by adding a term that takes into account the unknown travel demand 21 to the evaluation formula for the allocation conditions 24. In addition, when allocating, a more optimal flight can be allocated by providing a time lag from the registration of the travel demand 21.

[0097] The processing unit 40C may also have the functions of the operation plan update unit 42 according to the first to third embodiments.

[0098] The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and may be combined with other known technologies, or the embodiments may be combined with each other. Also, parts of the configurations may be omitted or modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0099] For example, in the above embodiment, a service in which a vehicle 83 such as a bus transports users has been described, but the technology described above can be applied to a service in which a moving body transports people or goods. In this case, the moving body is not limited to a vehicle 83 such as a car, but may be any moving body capable of transporting people or goods, such as a ship, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, or a vehicle capable of moving in the air called a flying car. In this case, in the above embodiment, "stop" should be read as "stop position" where the moving body stops, "stop" should be read as "stop", and if the object of transportation is a person, "boarding, disembarking" should be read as "boarding, disembarking, boarding, disembarking" depending on the type of moving body, and if the object of transportation is an object, "boarding, disembarking" should be read as "loading, unloading", etc. In addition, if the object of transportation is a person, the "user" itself can be the object of transportation, and if the object of transportation is an object, the person who arranges the transportation of the object is the "user".

[0100] For example, a traffic management device for managing the traffic of a mobile object may be provided. The traffic management device may include, for example, a storage unit for storing a traffic plan of the mobile object, a communication unit for acquiring a user's travel demand, and a processing unit for determining whether or not the mobile object will stop at a plurality of stop positions based on the traffic plan and the travel demand, determining a departure time for the stop position where the mobile object will stop based on the arrival time and the travel demand according to the determined whether or not the mobile object will stop, and updating the traffic plan in the storage unit based on the determination result. [Explanation of symbols]

[0101] 10,10A,10B,10C vehicle operation management device, 20,20C memory unit, 21 travel demand, 22 operation plan, 23 allocation range, 24 allocation conditions, 30 communication unit, 40,40A,40B,40C processing unit, 41 travel demand management unit, 42,42C operation plan update unit, 43 operation plan implementation unit, 44A,44B operation plan display control unit, 81 demand collection terminal, 82 vehicle control terminal, 83 vehicle, 84 display device, 85 artificial intelligence, 86 learned model, 87 inference unit, 100,100A,100B,100C vehicle operation management system, 831 transmission / reception unit, 832 driving control unit, 833 self-location determination unit, 834 display unit.

Claims

1. A storage unit that stores an operation plan of a vehicle; A communication unit that acquires travel demand including a user's desired boarding stop, a desired disembarking stop, and a desired departure time at the desired boarding stop; a processing unit that determines whether the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan, the desired boarding stop, and the desired disembarking stop, determines a departure time for the stop at which the vehicle will stop to be earlier than the departure time in the operation plan based on an arrival time according to the determined whether the vehicle will stop and a desired departure time that is earlier than the departure time in the operation plan among the desired departure times for which the stop at which the vehicle will stop is the desired boarding stop, and updates the operation plan in the storage unit based on a determination result; A vehicle operation management device comprising:

2. When there is a stop at which it is determined that the vehicle will not stop, the processing unit calculates a time required for travel between the stops at which the vehicle will stop before and after the stop at which the vehicle will not stop, and determines the departure time of the stop at which the vehicle will stop based on the calculation result and the travel demand.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

3. The processing unit determines, as the departure time, the later of the departure time calculated based on the calculation result and the desired departure time of the travel demand for which the bus stop is the desired boarding stop.

3. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 2.

4. The processing unit further has a function of transmitting a driving instruction to the vehicle based on the operation plan, causing the vehicle to depart even before the departure time of the operation plan, and updating the operation plan based on the departure time.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

5. The processing unit uses a result of matching the users who board the vehicle with the travel demand when the vehicle is to depart to determine whether all the users who plan to board the vehicle from the bus stop have boarded the vehicle.

5. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 4.

6. The verification is performed using at least one user identifier selected from a two-dimensional code, biometric authentication, an application installed on a mobile device held by the user, and electronic money.

6. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 5.

7. The processing unit determines that all of the users who plan to board the bus from the bus stop have boarded the bus when all of the users who plan to board the bus from the bus stop have performed an operation to permit departure.

5. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 4.

8. The operation for permitting the departure is performed using a mobile terminal carried by the user, a terminal installed at the bus stop, or a terminal installed in the vehicle.

8. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 7.

9. The processing unit displays the departure times of the bus stops on a display screen based on the operation plan stored in the storage unit, and updates the contents of the display screen every time the operation plan is updated.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

10. The processing unit displays the departure time of the boarding stop of the travel demand on the display screen of the mobile terminal carried by the user corresponding to the travel demand, and updates the content of the display screen every time the operation plan is updated. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 9 .

11. The processing unit displays the departure time of the bus stop on the display screen of a display device installed at the bus stop, and updates the content of the display screen every time the operation plan is updated. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 9 .

12. The processing unit expresses the departure time of the target bus stop as a range using a shortest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus does not stop at any of the bus stops between the bus stop where the bus last stopped at the current time and the target bus stop and when there are no passengers scheduled to board or alight, and a longest departure time, which is the departure time when the bus stops at all of the bus stops. The vehicle operation management device according to any one of claims 9 to 11.

13. The processing unit generates information indicating a predicted value of a probability that the vehicle will not stop at the bus stop, and displays the information on a display screen.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

14. The processing unit generates information indicating a predicted value of a probability that the vehicle will not stop at the bus stop by inputting information on the bus stop in the operation plan stored in the storage unit into an artificial intelligence.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

15. The communication unit further acquires an allocation range and an allocation condition of the travel demand, The processing unit allocates the travel demand to the flight that meets the allocation condition from among a plurality of flights included in the allocation range based on the travel demand, the allocation range, the allocation condition, and the operation plan, and updates the operation plan.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

16. The allocation conditions are: The number of travel demands assigned to the flight; and A reduction in travel time of the travel demand already assigned to the flight; and The waiting time of the travel demand to be allocated; Based on at least one of The vehicle operation management device according to claim 15.

17. The processing unit evaluates the allocation conditions based on the predicted unknown travel demand, and allocates the travel demand based on the evaluation result. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 15.

18. The vehicle is an automobile.

2. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1 .

19. a demand collection terminal that collects travel demand including a user's desired boarding stop, a desired disembarking stop, and a desired departure time at the desired boarding stop; a vehicle operation management device having a storage unit that stores an operation plan of a vehicle, and determining whether or not the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops at which the demand collection terminal is installed based on the boarding desired stop and the alighting desired stop of the travel demand acquired from the demand collection terminal and the operation plan, determining a departure time for the stop at which the vehicle will stop to be earlier than the departure time of the operation plan based on an arrival time according to the determined whether or not the vehicle will stop and a desired departure time that is earlier than the departure time of the operation plan among the desired departure times that have the stop at which the vehicle is stopped as the boarding desired stop, and updating the stored operation plan based on a result of the determination; a vehicle control terminal that controls the vehicle based on the operation plan updated by the vehicle operation management device; A vehicle operation management system comprising:

20. a demand collection terminal that collects travel demand including a user's desired boarding stop, a desired disembarking stop, and a desired departure time at the desired boarding stop; a vehicle operation management device having a storage unit that stores an operation plan of a vehicle, and determining whether or not the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops at which the demand collection terminal is installed based on the boarding desired stop and the alighting desired stop of the travel demand acquired from the demand collection terminal and the operation plan, determining a departure time for the stop at which the vehicle will stop to be earlier than the departure time of the operation plan based on an arrival time according to the determined whether or not the vehicle will stop and a desired departure time that is earlier than the departure time of the operation plan among the desired departure times that have the stop at which the vehicle is stopped as the boarding desired stop, and updating the stored operation plan based on a result of the determination; The vehicle travels based on the operation plan updated by the vehicle operation management device or a travel instruction for the vehicle generated based on the updated operation plan; A vehicle operation management system comprising:

21. A vehicle operation management method executed by a computer, comprising: storing a vehicle operation plan; A travel demand acquisition step of acquiring a travel demand including a bus stop where a user wishes to board, a bus stop where a user wishes to disembark, and a desired departure time at the bus stop where a user wishes to board; a stop determination step of determining whether or not the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan, the desired boarding stop, and the desired disembarking stop; a departure time determination step of determining a departure time from the stop where the vehicle stops to be earlier than a departure time in the operation plan, based on the determined arrival time according to whether or not the vehicle stops and the desired departure time, which has the stop where the vehicle stops as the desired boarding stop, and which is earlier than a departure time in the operation plan among the desired departure times. an operation plan updating step of updating the stored operation plan based on a result of the determination; A vehicle operation management method comprising:

22. On the computer, storing a vehicle operation plan; A travel demand acquisition step of acquiring a travel demand including a bus stop where a user wishes to board, a bus stop where a user wishes to disembark, and a desired departure time at the bus stop where a user wishes to board; a stop determination step of determining whether or not the vehicle will stop at a plurality of stops based on the operation plan, the desired boarding stop, and the desired disembarking stop; a departure time determination step of determining a departure time from the stop where the vehicle stops to be earlier than a departure time in the operation plan, based on the determined arrival time according to whether or not the vehicle stops and the desired departure time, which has the stop where the vehicle stops as the desired boarding stop, and which is earlier than a departure time in the operation plan among the desired departure times. an operation plan updating step of updating the stored operation plan based on a result of the determination; A vehicle operation management program that causes the vehicle operator to execute the above steps.

23. A storage unit that stores an operation plan of a moving object; A communication unit that acquires travel demand including a desired boarding stop position, a desired alighting stop position, and a desired departure time at the desired boarding stop position; a processing unit that determines whether or not the moving body will stop at a plurality of stop positions based on the operation plan, the desired boarding stop positions, and the desired disembarking stop positions, determines a departure time for the stop positions at which the moving body will stop to be earlier than the departure time of the operation plan based on an arrival time according to the determined whether or not the moving body will stop and a desired departure time among the desired departure times for which the stop positions at which the moving body will stop are the desired boarding stop positions that is earlier than the departure time of the operation plan, and updates the operation plan in the storage unit based on a determination result; An operation management device comprising:

Images