Vehicle control device and vehicle control method

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control apparatus and a vehicle control method for controlling vehicles in maintenance so as to be supplied in accordance with demand-supply balance.SOLUTION: A vehicle control apparatus is configured to: determine, based on demand and supply about usage of vehicles, current or future excess or deficiency of the vehicles; acquire maintenance information regarding each maintenance that the vehicles in maintenance are to receive; determine whether a degree of necessity of each of maintenance items is equal to or lower than a threshold, for each vehicle, on the basis of the maintenance information; select, when deficiency of vehicle is determined, at least some of the vehicles to be subjected to maintenance for which degrees of necessity are determined to be equal to or lower than the threshold; inhibit executing maintenance items equal to or lower than the threshold on the vehicles; and sets the vehicles, as vehicles to be supplied, after executing maintenance items that exceed the threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method.

Background Art

[0002] In order to systematically realize power supply by a battery, when the remaining battery level of an autonomously movable battery becomes lower than a predetermined threshold value, a battery control system that performs maintenance such as charging by instructing the battery to move to a charging station is known (see Patent Document 1).

[0003] Also, a vehicle maintenance management system that instructs the implementation of maintenance at an appropriate timing according to the supply and demand situation of the vehicle is disclosed (see Patent Document 2).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, in the conventional system, it is difficult to make a vehicle that has once entered maintenance a vehicle available for supply such as a car-sharing service. There is a problem that it is difficult to meet customer needs when the on-demand supply and demand balance is greatly different from the assumption and the number of car-sharing requests increases.

[0006] The present invention has been conceived under the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that can control a vehicle being maintained to a state where it can be supplied according to the supply and demand balance.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0007] One aspect of the present invention includes a first determination unit that determines the surplus or deficiency of the vehicle at present or in the future based on the demand and supply of vehicle use, a maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance information regarding each maintenance that the vehicle being maintained will perform in the future, a second determination unit that determines whether the necessity degree of each maintenance for each vehicle is below a threshold based on the maintenance information, and when the first determination unit determines a shortage of the vehicle, a vehicle control unit that selects at least some of the vehicles for which the second determination unit determines that the necessity degree is below the threshold, prohibits the execution of the maintenance below the threshold for the vehicle, and sets the vehicle as a vehicle that can be supplied after the maintenance exceeding the threshold. The vehicle control device is provided with this.

Advantages of the Invention

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, even for a vehicle undergoing maintenance, it can be controlled to a state where it can be supplied according to the supply-demand balance.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle maintenance management system S according to the present embodiment. The vehicle maintenance management system S of the present embodiment is a system that uses the vehicle control method according to the present embodiment. The vehicle maintenance management system S of the present embodiment is a system that can be applied when at least one vehicle 2 is used by one or more users, and services in the form of carsharing, such as a user going to pick up a reserved vehicle and driving it himself / herself, or a service in the form of transporting one or more users to a destination using a vehicle driven by a driver, or a service in the form of transporting one or more users to a destination using a driverless vehicle without a driver on board.

[0011] In addition to such commercial vehicles, it can also be applied to services that provide regular cleaning, replenishment of driving energy (fuel replenishment or charging), replacement of parts (such as tires, batteries, various oils, etc.), and software update of in-vehicle computers (such as version upgrade) for vehicles owned by individuals (so-called private cars) or companies (so-called company cars). In short, it is a system equipped with a function of notifying the timing of these maintenances or actually performing the maintenances for various vehicles. In the embodiments described below, there may be a case where an example applied to a service in the form of transporting one or more users to a destination using a driverless vehicle without a driver on board is shown. The vehicle maintenance management system S of the present embodiment includes a server 1 as a vehicle control device, a vehicle 2, and a user terminal 3. Each configuration will be described below. Note that, since the present embodiment relates to returning a vehicle being maintained to a supplyable state in a vehicle maintenance management system regarding the implementation of maintenance according to the supply and demand situation of vehicles, a part of the description of the embodiment of Patent Document 2 may be referred to.

[0012] (Server 1) Server 1 is composed of one or more computers (hardware equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc. with software for realizing functions described later installed thereon), and is a programmable server that receives a signal input from the outside and performs various processes.

[0013] Here, all vehicles 2 according to this embodiment can transition through three states (service statuses). Here, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the three states that can be transitioned.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, when the vehicle is in the running state U, it is in the standby state T or the pick-up / drop-off state S, and when it is not in the running state U, it is in the maintenance state M such as charging. Server 1 as the vehicle control device of this embodiment manages these three transition states and controls the state according to the supply and demand of the vehicle. In this embodiment, in particular, mainly described is that Server 1 controls the vehicle in the maintenance state M to transition to the standby state T.

[0015] The details of the configuration method of Server 1 are not particularly limited, and a general server may be used. Server 1 includes a vehicle information database 101, a map database 102, a vehicle request management unit 103, a vehicle planning unit 104, a vehicle reservation unit 105, a usage information acquisition unit 106, a maintenance necessity estimation unit 107, a first determination unit 108, a maintenance information acquisition unit 112, a second determination unit 113, a vehicle control unit 109, a supply and demand information acquisition unit 110, and a threshold setting unit 111. Among these units, the vehicle information database 101 and the map database 102 are composed of a storage device, and the functions of the other units are realized by software installed on Server 1.

[0016] The vehicle information database 101 is a database that stores dynamic vehicle information that can be transmitted at predetermined time intervals from the vehicle information transmission unit 23 of vehicle 2, in addition to vehicle types, vehicle registration dates, and other static information that are known in advance. In the present embodiment, the dynamic vehicle information may be maintenance information. Since there are a plurality of vehicle 2s, all the vehicle information existing within a predetermined service area can be stored in the vehicle information database 101.

[0017] The vehicle information includes various states (service statuses) such as whether the vehicle can receive a vehicle request (standby state), whether it is in autonomous driving (pick-up and drop-off state), whether it is being cleaned or under other maintenance, and if it is under maintenance, maintenance information (such as maintenance progress) regarding each maintenance that the vehicle will perform next, etc., which is stored in the vehicle information database 101 in association with the vehicle ID.

[0018] Also, as will be described later, the vehicle information database 101 may be classified into a vehicle past information database that accumulates past vehicle information, a vehicle state quantity database that stores vehicle states (service statuses) such as maintenance progress, and a demand database that accumulates information regarding vehicle allocation demand, according to the nature of the information to be stored.

[0019] In addition, the vehicle information may include the position information and vehicle orientation of vehicle 2, vehicle speed, door lock and door opening / closing state, seat belt sensor value, usage period of vehicle 2, number of uses of vehicle 2, riding distance of vehicle 2, remaining driving energy of vehicle 2 (fuel remaining amount in the case of an engine vehicle, battery remaining amount in the case of an electric vehicle, fuel remaining amount and / or battery remaining amount in the case of a hybrid vehicle), lifespan of various parts of vehicle 2, software update information of the computer (such as ECU) installed in vehicle 2, cumulative number of passengers in vehicle 2 for each maintenance, characteristics of the user of vehicle 2 (such as whether they like things to be clean), driving area of vehicle 2, weather conditions during use of vehicle 2, presence and number of passengers, whether the vehicle has arrived at the destination of the transportation instruction, etc., information related to remote monitoring of driverless autonomous driving.

[0020] The map database 102 includes, in addition to a so-called navigation map containing at least road link information on which the vehicle 2 can travel, information such as locations where the user can board and alight, refueling and / or charging locations, standby locations of the vehicle 2, and departure and arrival locations for pick-up and drop-off. Additionally, it may include pedestrian road link information for calculating a route on which the user walks.

[0021] The vehicle request management unit 103 receives vehicle usage request information from the user terminal 3 and outputs the vehicle usage request information to the vehicle planning unit 104. Also, it inputs usage request result information for the usage request information from the vehicle planning unit 104 and transmits the usage request result information to the user terminal 3.

[0022] The vehicle planning unit 104 uses the vehicle usage request information of the vehicle 2 output from the vehicle request management unit 103 and the vehicle information stored in the vehicle information database 101 to calculate vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2, and outputs the calculated vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 to the vehicle request management unit 103 and the vehicle reservation unit 105. Here, a method for calculating the vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 will be described. First, using the location information of the departure point and the destination point included in the vehicle usage request information of the vehicle 2 and the location information of the boarding and alighting locations included in the map database 102, the nearest boarding and alighting locations are determined as the boarding location and the alighting location, respectively. Next, among all the vehicles 2 capable of receiving the vehicle usage request information of the vehicle 2, the vehicle 2 closest to the boarding location is determined as the assigned vehicle. Note that the method for calculating the vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 is not particularly limited, and other methods may be used.

[0023] The vehicle reservation unit 105 uses the vehicle allocation plan information of the vehicle 2 output from the vehicle planning unit 104 and the vehicle information included in the vehicle information database 101 to calculate a driving route to the point where the user is to be picked up and a driving route to the point where the user is to be dropped off. This information can be transmitted to the server information receiving unit 24 of the vehicle 2 in consideration of information necessary for operating other driverless vehicles.

[0024] The usage information acquisition unit 106 acquires, with respect to vehicle 2 assigned to the user's usage request information, maintenance information associated with the vehicle ID of the vehicle 2 from the vehicle information of vehicle 2 stored in the vehicle information database 101.

[0025] The maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 estimates the necessity of maintenance for vehicle 2 based on the maintenance information of the vehicle.

[0026] In addition, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires the supply and demand information of the demand and supply of vehicle usage. For example, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires, for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area (for example, within a radius of 500 m of the area where the service is deployed), the situation of how much demand is generated for the provided service. More specifically, the number of reservations in the most recent one hour and the maximum number of reservations in the past one hour are acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent one hour by the maximum number of reservations in the past one hour may be quantified as the demand situation.

[0027] In addition, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires, for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area (for example, within a radius of 500 m of the area where the service is deployed), the situation of how much the supply of the provided service has been achieved. For example, the current number of service supply vehicles and the maximum number of service supply vehicles in the past of vehicle 2 in the area where the service is deployed are acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the value obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the maximum number of service supply vehicles in the past may be quantified as the supply situation.

[0028] Furthermore, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires, for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area (for example, within a radius of 500 m of the area where the service is deployed), the situation of how much the supply is relative to the demand for the provided service. For example, the current reserved number of vehicles and the current number of service supply vehicles of vehicle 2 in the area where the service is deployed are acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the value obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the current number of reserved vehicles (so-called supply and demand ratio) may be quantified as the supply and demand situation.

[0029] The determination unit makes a determination to transition the service status of the vehicle from the standby state to the maintenance state, or from the maintenance state to the standby state, according to the supply-demand balance and the maintenance necessity. For the details of the control for the determination unit to transition the service status of the vehicle from the standby state to the maintenance state according to the supply-demand balance acquired by the supply-demand information acquisition unit 110 and the maintenance necessity estimated by the maintenance necessity estimation unit 107, refer to Patent Document 2 (in summary, for the maintenance necessity estimated by the maintenance necessity estimation unit 107, if it exceeds the threshold value set by the threshold value setting unit 111, the determination unit determines that the vehicle requires maintenance; if it does not exceed, the determination unit determines that the vehicle does not require maintenance).

[0030] On the other hand, in the present embodiment, in particular, the control for the determination unit to transition the service status of the vehicle from the maintenance state to the standby state according to the supply-demand balance and the maintenance necessity will be described. For this control, in the present embodiment, the determination unit is particularly composed of a first determination unit 108, a maintenance information acquisition unit 112, and a second determination unit 113.

[0031] Among these, the first determination unit 108 determines the surplus or shortage of the current or future vehicle based on the demand for vehicle use and the supply-demand information of the supply acquired by the supply-demand information acquisition unit 110. Here, the first determination unit 108 may determine the number of surplus or shortage vehicles of the current or future vehicle. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, since the service status of each vehicle is stored in the vehicle information database 101, the current shortage number of vehicles may be calculated, for example, by subtracting the number of vehicle allocation requests from the number of standby vehicles.

[0032] In addition, when calculating the surplus or deficit number of future vehicles, the first determination unit 108 may calculate using the following formula. Here, the predicted demand number may be a planned value obtained based on the past demand situation or supply-demand situation by the supply-demand information acquisition unit 110. The number of vehicles in pick-up / drop-off and the number of vehicles in standby (i.e., the number of vehicles in operation) are on-demand values acquired in real time. Therefore, by subtracting the number of vehicles in operation from the predicted demand number, the difference from the prediction can be calculated as the surplus or deficit number. Predicted demand number - (Number of vehicles in pick-up / drop-off + Number of vehicles in standby) = Surplus or deficit number In this embodiment, in order to prevent the supply from falling short of the demand, control is performed so that this surplus or deficit number is not less than a predetermined value and does not become negative. For example, the predetermined value may be a surplus supply planned value. When the hysteresis is 0, there is a possibility that the vehicles will be insufficient when the demand exceeds the plan, so it is desirable that the hysteresis is a positive number. Number of vehicle allocation requests = Surplus supply planned value - Current surplus supply number (-hysteresis) In the state transition shown in FIG. 2, the number of vehicles in operation is obtained by the following formula. Number of vehicles in operation = Total number of vehicles (owned number) - Number of vehicles in maintenance Note that when considering in more detail the number of vehicles during the transition between each state, the following formula may be used. Number of vehicles in maintenance = Past number of vehicles in maintenance + Number of vehicles in maintenance transition - Number of vehicles in operation resumption Number of vehicles in maintenance transition = Planned number of vehicles in transition + Number of vehicles in previous transition - Number of vehicles in transition standby Number of vehicles in operation resumption = Planned number of vehicles in resumption + Number of vehicle allocation requests - Number of vehicles in resumption standby In addition, the maintenance information acquisition unit 112 acquires maintenance information (such as maintenance progress) regarding each maintenance that the vehicle being maintained will perform in the future. The maintenance information acquisition unit 112 may acquire the maintenance information transmitted from the vehicle information transmission unit 23 and stored in the vehicle information database 101. Note that the maintenance information may be manually transmitted by the maintenance implementer via the vehicle information transmission unit 23, or may be automatically transmitted in response to the detection by the vehicle state detection unit 22.

[0033] Further, the second determination unit 113 determines, for each vehicle, whether the necessity degree of each maintenance is equal to or lower than a threshold value based on the maintenance information acquired by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112. As an example, setting examples of the necessity degree (importance) of each maintenance such as charging, cleaning, replacement of regularly replaced parts, and system update are shown below. In this example, must has the highest necessity degree, want has a medium degree, and hope has a low degree.

[0034] <Charging> must: Charging until the SOC (State Of Charge) consumed per vehicle dispatch + the charging start SOC threshold value (used in the maintenance plan) (since vehicles without enough SOC to withstand one vehicle dispatch cannot be supplied (returned)) want: SOC not exceeding the input current limit value hope: Higher SOC (since charging after the input current limit is applied has poor time efficiency and low priority) <Cleaning> must: Passenger compartment want: Exterior appearance hope: Driver's seat <Replacement of regularly replaced parts> must: Repair of the failed part want: Years / distance elapsed hope: Years / distance approaching <System update (timing)> must: After the update due date has passed want: During the set update period hope: During the update software delivery period Note that there may be a priority order of necessity degrees among the maintenance items. For example, the priority order may be charging > cleaning >> replacement of regularly replaced parts = system update. This is because charging is necessary for service continuation and thus has a high necessity degree (importance), and its lead time is in minutes, while cleaning is necessary for maintenance and has a high necessity degree (importance), but its lead time is in hours. Furthermore, the necessity degrees (importance) of replacement of regularly replaced parts and system update are low, and their lead times are in days, weeks, or months.

[0035] Here, the threshold value of the necessity level by the second determination unit 113 may be fixed or variable. For example, the threshold value of the necessity level by the second determination unit may be set by the threshold value setting unit 111 according to the excess or deficiency of the vehicle based on the demand and supply of vehicle use. More specifically, the threshold value setting unit 111 may set a higher threshold value of the necessity level by the second determination unit 113 as the demand for vehicle use is relatively high and / or the supply relative to the demand for vehicle use is relatively low, or the larger the number of shortage vehicles.

[0036] That is, the threshold value setting unit 111 sets the threshold value in the second determination unit 113 using the quantified demand situation, supply situation, or supply-demand situation acquired by the supply-demand information acquisition unit 110. The threshold value setting unit 111 may determine whether to maintain the threshold value as it is or increase it relatively by considering the demand situation, supply situation, or supply-demand situation acquired by the supply-demand information acquisition unit 110 with respect to the initial value, and set the final threshold value. For example, regarding the demand situation for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area, if the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent one hour by the maximum number of reservations in the past one hour is less than, for example, 50%, it is determined that the demand is low and the threshold value is maintained at the initial value. On the other hand, if the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent one hour by the maximum number of reservations in the past one hour is 50% or more, for example, it is determined that the demand is high and the threshold value is changed to a value higher than the initial value, that is, in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state.

[0037] Also, regarding the supply situation for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area, if the value obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the maximum number of service supply vehicles in the past is 80% or more, for example, it is determined that the supply is sufficient and the threshold value is maintained at the initial value. On the other hand, if the value obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the maximum number of service supply vehicles in the past is less than 80%, for example, it is determined that the supply is not sufficient and the threshold value is changed to a value higher than the initial value, that is, in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state.

[0038] Furthermore, regarding the supply and demand situation for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a predetermined area, when the value obtained by dividing the current number of service providers by the current number of reservations (supply-demand ratio) is, for example, 90% or more, it is determined that the supply for demand is sufficient and the threshold value is maintained at the initial value. On the other hand, when the value obtained by dividing the current number of service providers by the current number of reservations (supply-demand ratio) is, for example, less than 90%, it is determined that the supply for demand is not sufficient and the threshold value is changed to a value higher than the initial value, that is, changed in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state. Note that the specific numerical values 50%, 80%, and 90% described above are merely examples, and can be arbitrarily set by the administrator or the like of the vehicle maintenance management system S according to empirical rules, service provision policies, and the like.

[0039] Returning to FIG. 1, when the determination unit determines that the service status of the vehicle should be transitioned from the standby state to the maintenance state, or from the maintenance state to the standby state, the vehicle control unit 109 instructs or notifies to that effect. Although not particularly limited, examples of the instruction destination or notification destination of the vehicle control unit 109 include the transportation service providing company or its person in charge, the company performing maintenance or its person in charge, and robots. Examples of the instruction or notification method by the vehicle control unit 109 include methods that can be recognized visually or auditorily, such as display on a display, lighting of a display provided at a predetermined position of the vehicle 2, and instruction or notification by sound including voice. When it is determined that the transition from the maintenance state to the standby state is to be made, the maintenance of the vehicle 2 may be automatically released. Specifically, the vehicle control unit 109 refers to the map database 102 to calculate a driving route from the maintenance location to the standby location or the vehicle allocation location, and transmits the driving route to the vehicle 2 with the unmanned automatic driving function. The vehicle 2 inputs the driving route transmitted from the vehicle control unit 109 to the driving control unit 25 via the server information receiving unit 24, and may travel to the standby location or the vehicle allocation location using the automatic driving function to automatically become a supplyable state.

[0040] In this embodiment, in particular, when the first determination unit 108 determines a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 selects at least some of the vehicles that require maintenance, which are determined by the second determination unit 113 to have a requirement level below the threshold, prohibits the execution of maintenance below the threshold for the selected vehicles, and sets them as available vehicles after the maintenance exceeding the threshold. Note that the vehicle control unit 109 may select (i.e., interrupt maintenance) the number of vehicles determined to be insufficient by the first determination unit 108 and determined by the second determination unit 113 to have a requirement level below the threshold. Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing that the number of available vehicles increases due to the interruption of maintenance by the vehicle control unit 109. #1 to #4 represent vehicle IDs, and the supply item indicates the number of available vehicles. Also, the vertical item indicates time. The maintenance progress status (standby, maintenance 1 to 4) is shown by hash partitioning.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, for example, at 15:40, although the number of available vehicles should originally be zero, as a result of the first determination unit 108 determining a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 interrupts the maintenance of vehicle #1 that is performing maintenance 2 with a low maintenance requirement, making it available (since it has transitioned from maintenance 1 to the standby state). Therefore, the number of available vehicles increases by one at 15:40 (refer to the thick-framed rectangular area at 15:40). Similarly, in the lower part of FIG. 3, by setting it to the standby state without performing maintenance 4 with a low requirement, the number of available vehicles is increased (refer to the thick-framed rectangular areas at 12:00, 12:30, and 13:00). In this way, when the number of vehicle dispatch requests increases compared to the assumption (plan), the vehicle control unit 109 can perform only the minimum necessary maintenance on the vehicles in maintenance and change them to the standby state by interrupting subsequent maintenance.

[0042] Here, the vehicle control unit 109 may select the vehicle to be selected according to the following priorities (time, maintenance importance, etc.). That is, when it is determined by the first determination unit 108 that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 preferentially selects a vehicle from among the vehicles determined by the second determination unit 113 to have a necessity level equal to or lower than the threshold value according to the time until maintenance exceeding the threshold value is completed and the vehicle becomes available for supply. Here, the time until maintenance exceeding the threshold value is completed and the vehicle becomes available for supply may be the time until maintenance exceeding the threshold value is completed, or may be the time until the vehicle becomes available for supply considering the distance and travel time to the waiting location and the vehicle allocation location. More specifically, it may be the sum of the following times. (1) Time until the mandatory (must) items of maintenance are completed (2) Time required to shift to a step where maintenance can be interrupted (3) Time for maintenance completion processing (4) System standby preparation time (5) Travel time to the vehicle allocation request area For example, as shown in the following table, a case will be described where there are steps 1 and 2 where maintenance is a mandatory (must) item, followed by step 3 where the maintenance necessity level is low. As an example, in step 3.2 (Step3.2: Front tire replacement), when replacing the front right tire (FR) in Step3.2.1, the above (1) to (5) are calculated as follows. (1) 0 (Since up to step 2 is a mandatory (must) item) (2) Time until Step3.2.2 (front left tire replacement) is completed (3) Time for tidying up tools (4) System startup time (5) Travel time from the maintenance area to the service area

[0043]

Table 1

[0044] As another example, when charging is performed for maintenance and Step2 = 60% (SOC), Step3 = 90% (SOC), in the case of a normal EV / charging facility, since it can be interrupted anywhere during Step3, the above (1) to (5) may be calculated as follows. As an example, when the current SOC is 50%, it may be the sum of (1) the time to reach 60%, (2) 0, (3) the time to remove the charging cable, (4) the startup time, and (5) the time to move from the charger. Also, when the current SOC is 70%, it may be the sum of (1) 0, (2) 0, (3) the time to remove the charging cable, (4) the startup time, and (5) the time to move from the charger.

[0045] Note that the vehicle control unit 109 may select a vehicle according to the maintenance importance. That is, when it is determined by the first determination unit 108 that the vehicle is insufficient, the vehicle control unit 109 may preferentially select a vehicle from those vehicles whose necessity is determined to be below the threshold by the second determination unit 113 and whose maintenance necessity exceeds the threshold.

[0046] As described above, the vehicle control unit 109 can determine whether maintenance needs to be interrupted based on the difference between the current demand and the planned value. Also, the vehicle control unit 109 can determine whether maintenance can be interrupted based on the progress of maintenance. Further, the vehicle control unit 109 can compare the time until returning to the service and extract an effective vehicle to be controlled.

[0047] 《Vehicle》 Vehicle 2 is a service vehicle provided in response to a usage request (request) from a user. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a plurality of vehicles are arranged in the area where the service is deployed. However, as described above, it is not intended to exclude non-service vehicles such as private cars and company cars. As an example, Vehicle 2 may include a vehicle position calculation unit 21, a vehicle state detection unit 22, a vehicle information transmission unit 23, a server information reception unit 24, and a travel control unit 25.

[0048] The vehicle position calculation unit 21 calculates the position of the vehicle 2 and outputs it to the vehicle information transmission unit 23. The vehicle position calculation unit 21 is, for example, an ECU connected to a GPS / INS sensor, and outputs the latitude and longitude position information output from the GPS / INS sensor every fixed time (for example, 100 msec). The method for calculating the position information is not particularly limited, and other methods capable of specifying the position, such as map matching based on map data, may be used.

[0049] The vehicle state detection unit 22 detects various vehicle states such as vehicle speed, door lock and door opening / closing state, seat belt sensor value, whether it is in autonomous driving or not, etc., and also detects information related to remote monitoring of driverless autonomous driving, such as whether it is possible to receive utilization request information for the vehicle 2, whether it is in maintenance such as cleaning, maintenance progress, presence and number of passengers, whether it has arrived at the destination of the movement instruction, etc., and outputs it to the vehicle information transmission unit 23.

[0050] The vehicle information transmission unit 23 is, for example, an in-vehicle device equipped with a 4G / LTE mobile communication function, and transmits the information output from the vehicle position calculation unit 21 and the vehicle state detection unit 22 via CAN, LAN, etc. to the vehicle information database 101 of the server 1 every fixed time (for example, 100 msec). In this embodiment, in particular, the vehicle information transmission unit 23 may transmit maintenance information to the server 1 according to the maintenance progress detected by the vehicle state detection unit 22. Note that the vehicle information transmission unit 23 may be provided in the terminal possessed by the maintenance performer, and the maintenance information may be transmitted to the server 1 according to the input of the maintenance performer.

[0051] The server information receiving unit 24 is, for example, an in-vehicle device equipped with a 4G / LTE mobile communication function, and receives various driving routes such as the route to the waiting location, the driving route to the point where the user is picked up (the starting point of the vehicle dispatching location), and the driving route to the maintenance location, which are transmitted from the vehicle reservation unit 105 and the vehicle control unit 109 of the server 1, as well as other information necessary for operating an unmanned autonomous vehicle. In particular, in this embodiment, the server information receiving unit 24 may receive information instructing the interruption of maintenance. Note that the server information receiving unit 24 may be provided in a terminal possessed by a maintenance operator, and the information instructing the interruption of maintenance may be output in a recognizable manner to the maintenance operator. Also, when the vehicle 2 is an autonomous vehicle, when the server information receiving unit 24 receives information instructing the interruption of maintenance, the interruption of maintenance may be automatically controlled, such as moving away from the charging location.

[0052] The driving control unit 25 is a controller that automatically controls the driving power source (engine and / or motor), steering mechanism, braking mechanism, and various electrical equipment including turn indicators and wipers of the vehicle 2, and is transmitted from the vehicle reservation unit 105 and the vehicle control unit 109 of the server 1. Based on various driving routes such as the route to the waiting location, the driving route to the point where the user is picked up (the starting point of the vehicle dispatching location), and the driving route to the maintenance location, as well as other information necessary for operating an unmanned autonomous vehicle, the driving power source, steering mechanism, braking mechanism, and various electrical equipment of the vehicle 2 are automatically controlled.

[0053] 《User Terminal》 The user terminal 3 is a terminal device used by a user who wishes to use a transportation service to make a usage request. It is, for example, a portable terminal device such as a smartphone, and executes application software for making a usage request to access the server 1 via a telecommunication network such as 4G / LTE or WiFi (registered trademark). Note that the user terminal 3 is not particularly limited, and other implementation methods may be used, such as making a usage request via the Internet from a personal computer implemented as web application software in addition to the above means.

[0054] Based on the input by the user, the vehicle usage request information of vehicle 2 described below is transmitted to the vehicle request management unit 103. Also, the vehicle request management unit 103 receives the usage request result information for the usage request information and presents it to the user via a display or the like.

[0055] The vehicle usage request information transmitted to the vehicle request management unit 103 includes the departure location and the destination. The destination is obtained from the user's input, and the departure location may be obtained from the user's location information or the user's input. Additionally, it may further include additional information such as the designation of waypoints, the designation of boarding and alighting points, the number of passengers, the reservation time, and the possibility of sharing a ride.

[0056] Regarding the usage request result information transmitted from the vehicle request management unit 103, it includes the user's boarding location and alighting location, the current location of the reserved vehicle 2, and information for identifying the reserved vehicle. Based on the information calculated by the vehicle reservation unit 105, it may also include additional information such as the time when the vehicle arrives at the boarding location, the travel time from the boarding location to the alighting location, and the recommended walking route for the user to move to the boarding location.

[0057] <Process> Next, a specific processing flow will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is an information transition flowchart showing an example of the processing flow by the server 1 of the present embodiment. Note that each configuration is a functional concept and is not limited to being arranged as shown in the figure. Also, this processing flow is preferably executed periodically, such as at predetermined time intervals.

[0058] As described above, as shown in this example (FIG. 4), the vehicle information database 101 is classified into a vehicle past information database 101A that accumulates past vehicle information, a vehicle state quantity database 101B that stores vehicle states (service statuses) such as maintenance progress, and a demand database 101C that accumulates information regarding past vehicle allocation demands.

[0059] First, the first determination unit 108 determines the future shortage or surplus of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage. In this example, the first determination unit 108 acquires a power consumption prediction value from the vehicle past information database 101A that accumulates past vehicle information, and is a maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 that predicts maintenance needs, and a vehicle planning unit 105 as a vehicle allocation management unit that acquires a service demand prediction (predicted number of demand vehicles) from the demand database 101C that accumulates information on past vehicle allocation demands. Based on these maintenance demand predictions and service demand predictions, it includes a vehicle allocation demand increase determination unit 111 as a threshold setting unit that determines the vehicle allocation supply-demand balance. The predicted future shortage or surplus number of vehicles is used by the vehicle control unit 109.

[0060] On the other hand, the second determination unit 113 determines whether the necessity of each maintenance for each vehicle is below the threshold based on the maintenance information (such as maintenance progress) acquired from the vehicle state quantity database by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112. The determination result for each vehicle is used by the vehicle control unit 109.

[0061] And when the first determination unit determines the shortage of the vehicle, the vehicle control unit 109 selects (extracts) the target vehicle whose service to be performed hereafter is below the threshold in order to interrupt the maintenance and restore the service.

[0062] And in order to extract the number of vehicles determined to be in shortage by the first determination unit, first, for the target vehicle, the vehicle control unit 109 calculates the time until service restoration (for example, the sum of the above (1) to (5)).

[0063] Then, the vehicle control unit 109 preferentially determines the service restoration vehicles by the number of vehicles determined to be in shortage by the first determination unit 108 from the vehicles with a shorter time until service restoration.

[0064] And the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) maintenance end command information to the service restoration vehicles.

[0065] Note that the state of return from the maintenance state is reflected in the vehicle state quantity database, and the above processing is repeated by the server 1.

[0066] The above is an example of the processing flow of the server 1 in this embodiment. Here, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a more specific example of the processing of the server 1.

[0067] The vehicle request management unit 103 acquires the vehicle allocation demand based on the demand database that accumulates past vehicle allocation requests from the user terminal 3 (S1). For example, it acquires the predicted value (such as the past average) of the number of vehicle allocation requests for each time period based on past vehicle allocation data.

[0068] Then, the maintenance planning unit 107 calculates the planned maintenance timing based on the predicted power consumption value, etc. (S2), and repeats the processing until the maintenance timing. The calculation of the planned maintenance (charging in this example) timing calculates the required number of vehicles for each time period based on the predicted value of the vehicle allocation demand and the number of spare vehicles (hysteresis) for coping with the prediction error. For example, the maintenance planning unit 107 plans the maintenance start / end timing of each vehicle based on the required number of vehicles and the required execution frequency for each maintenance item. When the maintenance is charging, it predicts the SOC (State of Charge) based on past data and calculates the timing when charging is required.

[0069] When it is determined as the planned maintenance start timing (S3), the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) information instructing maintenance to the target vehicle (S4).

[0070] Then, when the planned maintenance end timing (for example, a predetermined charge rate) is reached (S5), the first determination unit 108 determines whether the vehicle allocation demand is more or less than the plan (S6, S9).

[0071] When the vehicle allocation demand is smaller than the plan (S6), the vehicle control unit 119 outputs (sends) an instruction to add and execute maintenance items (S7). The determination of whether maintenance can be added is triggered by the fact that the demand is less than the plan. For normal demand, when there is an oversupply of vehicles, additional vehicles are not required. It is also possible to perform the previously scheduled maintenance earlier.

[0072] Then, the maintenance planning unit 107 changes the maintenance plan and returns the process to S4 (S8). As an example of adding / modifying the maintenance items, in the case of charging, when the charging was scheduled to end at SOC 80% or after 30 minutes (min), although the necessity decreases, a 30-minute charging maintenance may be performed. In addition, since the time until the next SOC crosses the predetermined value will increase, the maintenance plan is readjusted accordingly. In the case of charging, the additional part is only a want item with a lower necessity than the must item, so it can be interrupted at any time. In the case of maintenance other than charging, based on the normal vehicle allocation demand prediction value and the maintenance plan, the upper limit value of the extended maintenance time of the vehicle is recalculated. It is also possible to predict the change in the number of standby vehicles based on the assumed time (planned value) of one vehicle allocation, the difference between the demand prediction and the actual demand. Based on the upper limit time, the maintenance that can be performed among them may be extracted. In this way, the maintenance scheduled to be performed at the next maintenance timing can be carried out according to the maintenance plan.

[0073] On the one hand, when the vehicle allocation demand increases more than planned (S9), the vehicle control unit 109 calculates the number of vehicles to be requested to return using the following formula or the like based on the supply-demand balance and the degree of maintenance necessity (S10). Thereby, it is possible to determine whether to cut off charging earlier than planned. That is, by instructing the end of maintenance when there is a shortage of vehicles, the shortage of the number of operating vehicles can be eliminated. The vehicle control unit 109 determines that the vehicle allocation demand has increased more than expected. Although a reserve number of vehicles (hysteresis number of vehicles) is planned for the expected demand, considering the business aspect, it is desirable that the reserve number of vehicles be minimal, but there is also a possibility that the demand cannot be met. In any case, since the number of vehicles to return from maintenance is determined based on the deviation from the planned value of the number of vehicle allocation requests, it is possible to prevent more vehicles than necessary from ending maintenance, and it is possible to suppress an increase in the maintenance frequency. Number of supply vehicles = Number of service vehicles + Number of standby vehicles = Expected demand number of vehicles + Reserve number of vehicles Number of vehicles to be requested to return = Planned value of the number of reserve vehicles - Current number of standby vehicles (- Hysteresis number of vehicles) Then, the vehicle control unit 109 extracts the maintenance interruption point based on the maintenance information (such as the progress of maintenance) acquired from the vehicle state quantity database by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112 (S11). The extraction of the point where maintenance can be interrupted divides the maintenance into steps as described above and extracts the points where interruption is possible. When the maintenance is charging, it is divided at a predetermined SOC, such as every 5%. Technically, it can be interrupted anywhere. On the other hand, when the maintenance is tire replacement, as described above, the replacement of each tire of FL / FR / RL / RR becomes each step. However, the timing of completion of the replacement of the front tires is interruptible, but the timing of completion of the replacement of the left and right single wheels is not interruptible.

[0074] Then, the vehicle control unit 109 sets the necessity (importance) of the maintenance subject to interruption (S12). By making the necessity (importance) or threshold value of maintenance variable according to the situation, the influence on the subsequent plan due to the maintenance return can be suppressed. Note that as the setting of the maintenance importance (necessity), the importance of the maintenance at each step is judged. In the case of charging, the importance of subsequent charging continuation is determined based on the current SOC.

[0075] High: SOC consumed per vehicle allocation (used in the maintenance plan) + charging start SOC threshold (used in the maintenance plan) Medium: Not exceeding the input current limit value. For battery protection, mainly based on SOC and battery temperature, limit requirements for input / output power from the battery to the charger are made.

[0076] Low: Further (charging after being restricted has poor time efficiency and low priority) Then, the vehicle control unit 109 calculates the time until service return (for example, the sum of the above (1) to (5)) for the target vehicles in order to extract the number of vehicles determined to be insufficient by the first determination unit 108 (S13). Since an appropriate vehicle is selected based on the time required for return, the shortage of the number of vehicles can be quickly improved.

[0077] Then, the vehicle control unit 109 preferentially determines the service return vehicles by the number of vehicles determined to be insufficient by the first determination unit 108 from the vehicles with a short time until service return (S14). For example, depending on the work location, the time considering the travel time to the service area is used. Note that since the time required from vehicle startup to standby varies depending on the vehicle type, it may be considered. In this example, since the purpose is to secure the number of vehicles, comparison is made based on the return time. In addition, if the purpose is vehicle rearrangement, it may be determined by the travel time to the moving destination or the total travel distance including the waiting vehicles.

[0078] Then, the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) maintenance end command information to the service return vehicles (S15).

[0079] As described above, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage, it determines the surplus or shortage of the current or future vehicle, obtains maintenance information regarding each maintenance that the vehicle being maintained will perform, and based on the maintenance information, determines for each vehicle whether the necessity of each maintenance is below a threshold value. When determining a shortage of vehicles, it selects at least some of the vehicles that will perform maintenance determined to have a necessity below the threshold value, prohibits the execution of the maintenance below the threshold value for the vehicle, and after the maintenance exceeding the threshold value, sets it as a vehicle that can be supplied. Therefore, according to the supply-demand balance, it is possible to control the vehicle being maintained to a state where it can be supplied.

[0080] Also, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, since it selects the vehicles determined to have a necessity below the threshold value by the number of vehicles determined to be in short supply, it can determine whether it is necessary to interrupt the maintenance based on the difference between the current demand and the planned value, and prevent a decrease in the maintenance rate due to excessively interrupting the maintenance.

[0081] Also, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, since the necessity threshold value is set according to the surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage, it is possible to appropriately increase or decrease the vehicles that can be supplied according to the supply-demand balance.

[0082] Also, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, when it is determined that there is a shortage of vehicles, it preferentially selects vehicles from among the vehicles determined to have a necessity below the threshold value according to the time until the maintenance exceeding the threshold value is completed and the vehicle becomes available for supply. Therefore, it is possible to compare the time until returning to service and extract effective control target vehicles.

[0083] Also, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, when it is determined that there is a shortage of vehicles, it preferentially selects vehicles from among the vehicles determined to have a necessity below the threshold value and having a lower necessity for maintenance exceeding the threshold value. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately determine whether to interrupt the maintenance based on the progress and importance of the maintenance.

[0084] Moreover, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of the present embodiment, when the demand for vehicle use is relatively high and / or when the supply relative to the demand for vehicle use is relatively low or the greater the shortage of vehicles, the threshold value of the necessity is set higher, so that it is possible to appropriately increase the number of vehicles for which maintenance is interrupted as the available vehicles become insufficient.

Explanation of Signs

[0085] S Vehicle Maintenance Management System 1 Server 101 Vehicle Information Database 101A Vehicle Past Information Database 101B Vehicle State Quantity Database 101C Demand Database 102 Map Database 103 Vehicle Request Management Unit 104 Vehicle Planning Unit 105 Vehicle Reservation Unit 106 Usage Information Acquisition Unit 107 Maintenance Necessity Estimation Unit 108 First Judgment Unit 109 Vehicle Control Unit 110 Supply-Demand Information Acquisition Unit 111 Threshold Setting Unit 112 Maintenance Information Acquisition Unit 113 Second Judgment Unit 2…Vehicle 21…Vehicle Position Calculation Unit 22…Vehicle State Detection Unit 23…Vehicle Information Transmission Unit 24…Server Information Reception Unit 25…Travel Control Unit 3…User Terminal

Claims

1. a first determination unit that determines the surplus or shortage of the vehicle at present or in the future based on the demand and supply of vehicle use; a maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance information regarding each maintenance that the vehicle being maintained will perform in the future; a second determination unit that determines, based on the maintenance information, whether the necessity degree of each maintenance for each vehicle is below a threshold value; when the first determination unit determines a shortage of the vehicle, a vehicle control unit that selects at least some of the vehicles for which the second determination unit determines that the necessity degree is below the threshold value, prohibits execution of the maintenance below the threshold value for the vehicle, and sets the vehicle as a vehicle that can be supplied after the maintenance exceeding the threshold value; A vehicle control device comprising the above.

2. The vehicle control unit selects the vehicles for which the second determination unit determines that the necessity degree is below the threshold value by the number of vehicles determined to be in shortage by the first determination unit. The vehicle control device according to claim 1.

3. The threshold value of the necessity degree by the second determination unit is set according to the surplus or shortage of the vehicle based on the demand and supply of vehicle use. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The vehicle control unit when the first determination unit determines that the vehicle is in shortage, preferentially selects the vehicle according to the time until the maintenance exceeding the threshold value is completed and the vehicle becomes available for supply from among the vehicles for which the second determination unit determines that the necessity degree is below the threshold value. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The vehicle control unit when the first determination unit determines that the vehicle is in shortage, preferentially selects the vehicle from among the vehicles for which the second determination unit determines that the necessity degree is below the threshold value and for which the necessity degree of the maintenance exceeding the threshold value is low. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

6. when the demand for vehicle use is relatively high and / or when the supply relative to the demand for vehicle use is relatively low or the larger the number of shortage vehicles, the threshold value of the necessity degree by the second determination unit is set higher. The vehicle control device according to claim 3.

7. a first determination step of determining the surplus or shortage of the vehicle at present or in the future based on the demand and supply of vehicle use; A maintenance information acquisition step of acquiring maintenance information regarding each maintenance that the vehicle during maintenance will perform in the future; A second determination step of determining, for each vehicle, whether or not the necessity of each maintenance is equal to or less than a threshold value based on the maintenance information; When a shortage of the vehicle is determined in the first determination step, at least some of the vehicles for which the necessity is determined to be equal to or less than the threshold value by the second determination step are selected, execution of the maintenance of the vehicle that is equal to or less than the threshold value is prohibited, and after maintenance exceeding the threshold value, the vehicle is set as a vehicle that can be supplied; a vehicle control step; A vehicle control method for causing a computer to execute.

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