Abnormal notification device

Abstract

To improve safety at the time when an abnormality occurs.SOLUTION: An abnormality reporting device (10) guides a passenger of a vehicle in question to an evacuation route when an abnormal situation occurs in the vehicle in question (1) or in the vicinity of the vehicle in question. The abnormality reporting device includes presentation means (12) for presenting a recommended behavior calculated based on the evacuation route to other vehicles (2, 3) in the vicinity of the vehicle in question when the abnormal situation occurs.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of abnormal notification devices.

Background Art

[0002] As this type of device, for example, a device that outputs evacuation guidance information to a mobile phone carried by a vehicle occupant or other pre-registered vehicles when a disaster occurs in a closed section such as a tunnel, a bridge, or a highway has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] For example, when an abnormality such as a disaster occurs, a vehicle occupant may get out of the vehicle and evacuate on foot. At this time, it is difficult for the driver of another vehicle to immediately grasp the evacuation situation of the occupant of the above vehicle, so there is a possibility that the driver cannot drive another vehicle appropriately. This point is not considered in the technology described in Patent Document 1.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an abnormal notification device that can provide information to other vehicles existing around the host vehicle, thereby improving safety when an abnormality occurs.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] An abnormality notification device according to an aspect of the present invention is an abnormality notification device that guides an evacuation route to an occupant of the host vehicle when an abnormal situation occurs inside or around the host vehicle, and when the abnormal situation occurs, presents a recommended behavior calculated based on the evacuation route to other vehicles around the host vehicle.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Embodiments related to the abnormality notification device will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In FIG. 1, the abnormality notification device 10 is mounted on the vehicle 1. The abnormality notification device 10 is configured to include a danger detection device 11 and a danger notification device 12.

[0009] The danger detection device 11 is configured to determine whether an abnormal situation has occurred in at least one of the inside and the periphery of the vehicle 1 based on, for example, an image captured by an in-vehicle camera (not shown) of the vehicle 1, outputs of various sensors such as an acceleration sensor and a speed sensor mounted on the vehicle 1, and the like. Note that, since various existing modes can be applied to the method for determining whether an abnormal situation has occurred, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

[0010] When the danger detection device 11 determines that an abnormal situation has occurred in at least one of the interior and the periphery of the vehicle 1, the danger notification device 12 is configured to notify predetermined information to the passengers of the vehicle 1 and other vehicles (for example, vehicles 2 and 3 in FIG. 1, etc.) in the periphery of the vehicle 1.

[0011] Examples of the predetermined information notified from the danger notification device 12 to the passengers of the vehicle 1 include evacuation route information indicating an evacuation route. When it is difficult for the passengers to stay inside the vehicle 1 or to move the vehicle 1 due to the occurrence of an abnormal situation, the above evacuation route information may be information indicating an evacuation route for the passengers to evacuate on foot. On the other hand, when an abnormal situation has occurred but the vehicle 1 can be safely moved, the above evacuation route information may be information indicating an evacuation route for the passengers to evacuate using the vehicle 1.

[0012] Here, the danger notification device 12 is configured to be able to receive information (for example, an image obtained by imaging a road to be monitored, etc.) indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 acquired by the road monitoring device 20 that monitors the road where the vehicle 1 is located via a server 30 on a network such as the Internet. Note that the information acquired by the road monitoring device 20 may be sequentially stored in the server 30. The danger notification device 12 may generate the above evacuation route information by specifying a place where the passengers of the vehicle 1 can evacuate from, for example, position information related to the vehicle 1, map information, information acquired by the road monitoring device 20, etc., and calculating an evacuation route from the current location of the vehicle 1 to the specified place.

[0013] Examples of the predetermined information notified from the danger notification device 12 to other vehicles include information for alerting the driver of other vehicles and information for guiding other vehicles. The "information for guiding other vehicles" may be information indicating the recommended behavior of other vehicles. Here, the "recommended behavior of other vehicles" may be, for example, behavior that allows other vehicles to avoid the currently occurring abnormal situation, behavior that other vehicles should take to prevent the currently occurring abnormal situation from expanding, etc.

[0014] The danger notification device 12 may calculate the recommended behavior from, for example, the position information related to the vehicle 1, the map information, the information acquired by the road monitoring device 20, the evacuation route shown by the evacuation route information, etc. At this time, the danger notification device 12 may calculate the recommended behavior so that the evacuation route shown by the evacuation route information does not intersect with the routes of other vehicles when the recommended behavior is taken.

[0015] The danger notification device 12 may notify the passengers of the vehicle 1 of predetermined information by displaying the predetermined information such as the evacuation route information on, for example, a display device provided in the passenger compartment of the vehicle 1 (for example, the display of a car navigation device) or the display screen of a mobile terminal possessed by the passengers of the vehicle 1. Further, the danger notification device 12 may notify other vehicles of predetermined information by displaying the predetermined information such as the recommended behavior of other vehicles on a display device such as an electric bulletin board whose display surface faces the outside of the vehicle 1.

[0016] The operation of the abnormality notification device 10 will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 depicts, as an example, a scene where the vehicle 1 collides with another vehicle. At this time, the danger detection device 11 of the abnormality notification device 10 determines that an abnormal situation has occurred based on, for example, the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor of the vehicle 1 at the time of the collision.

[0017] The danger notification device 12 of the abnormality notification device 10 identifies, for example, the area A in FIG. 2 as a place where the passengers of the vehicle 1 can evacuate from, for example, the position information related to the vehicle 1, the map information, the information acquired by the road monitoring device 20, etc. Then, the danger notification device 12 calculates, for example, an evacuation route from the left side of the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 toward the area A. The danger notification device 12 notifies the passengers of the vehicle 1 of the evacuation route information indicating the calculated evacuation route.

[0018] The danger notification device 12 calculates the recommended behavior of other vehicles based on, for example, the position information related to the vehicle 1, map information, information acquired by the road monitoring device 20, the evacuation route indicated by the evacuation route information, etc. Here, as the recommended behavior of other vehicles, a lane change to the lane on the right side of the lane where the vehicle 1 is present is cited. The danger notification device 12 notifies the other vehicles 2 and 3 approaching the vehicle 1 from behind the vehicle 1 of the calculated recommended behavior. Due to the operation of this danger notification device 12, in the example shown in FIG. 2, a character prompting an alert of "Accident occurred, in evacuation" and an arrow indicating a course change to the right (corresponding to the calculated recommended behavior) are displayed. Note that the danger notification device 12 may emit audio information such as a warning sound in addition to visual information.

[0019] Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3, the operation of the abnormality notification device 10 will be further described. In FIG. 3, when it is determined by the danger detection device 11 of the abnormality notification device 10 that an abnormal situation has occurred in at least one of the inside and the periphery of the vehicle 1 (step S101), the abnormality notification device 10 performs self-diagnosis and vehicle state determination (step S102). Note that since various existing modes can be applied to the self-diagnosis and vehicle state determination, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

[0020] After the process of step S102, the danger notification device 12 of the abnormality notification device 10 requests the server 30 for information indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 acquired by the road monitoring device 20 that monitors the road where the vehicle 1 is present (step S103). Then, the danger notification device 12 calculates the predetermined information to be notified to the passengers of the vehicle 1 and other vehicles around the vehicle 1. Thereafter, the danger notification device 12 notifies the passengers of the vehicle 1 of the evacuation route information to guide the passengers to evacuate, and notifies other vehicles of the predetermined information such as the recommended behavior to present the evacuation situation to other vehicles (step S104).

[0021] After a sufficient amount of time (e.g., the time for the passengers of Vehicle 1 to evacuate with ease, etc.) has elapsed since the process of Step S104 started, the danger notification device 12 continues to notify other vehicles of predetermined information such as recommended actions, thereby alerting other vehicles (Step S105).

[0022] (Technical Effect) For example, in an autonomous vehicle without crew members such as a driver, when an abnormality such as an accident occurs while there are passengers, it is necessary to appropriately evacuate the passengers. In this case, information such as an evacuation route is often notified to the passengers by the function of the autonomous vehicle (the function corresponding to the abnormality notification device 10 described above). On the other hand, there is often insufficient alert to other vehicles around the autonomous vehicle. Then, the safety of the passengers who have gotten off the autonomous vehicle to evacuate may be threatened. Note that, as the above autonomous vehicle, for example, a bus-type autonomous vehicle can be cited.

[0023] In contrast, in the abnormality notification device 10, the danger notification device 12 notifies other vehicles around Vehicle 1 of predetermined information such as recommended actions. Therefore, according to the abnormality notification device 10, in addition to guiding the evacuation of the passengers of Vehicle 1, it is also possible to guide other vehicles around Vehicle 1. As a result, the passengers who have gotten off Vehicle 1 to evacuate can be safely evacuated. In this way, according to the abnormality notification device 10, it is possible to provide information to other vehicles existing around Vehicle 1, thereby improving the safety at the time of abnormality occurrence.

[0024] <Modification Example> A modification example of the above-described abnormality notification device 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, after the process of step S103, the danger notification device 12 of the abnormality notification device 10 determines whether the information acquired from the server 30 (that is, the information indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 acquired by the road monitoring device 20) is valid (step S201). Here, the danger notification device 12 may determine that the information acquired from the server 30 is valid, for example, when the error of the information acquired from the server 30 is within the allowable range, or when the time indicated by the time information attached to the information acquired from the server 30 is within a predetermined range from the current time.

[0025] In the process of step S201, if it is determined that the information acquired from the server 30 is valid (step S201: Yes), the process of step S204 described later is performed. On the other hand, in the process of step S201, if it is determined that the information acquired from the server 30 is not valid (step S201: No), the danger notification device 12 determines the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 from the sensor information acquired by a camera or the like mounted on the vehicle 1 (step S202). This is because the information indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 acquired by the road monitoring device 20 cannot be used.

[0026] After the process of step S202, the danger notification device 12 determines whether the sensor information used in the process of step S202 is valid (step S203). Here, the danger notification device 12 may determine that the sensor information is valid, for example, when the error of the sensor information is within the allowable range.

[0027] In the process of step S203, if it is determined that the sensor information is not valid (step S203: No), the operation shown in FIG. 4 is terminated. This is because neither the information indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle 1 acquired by the road monitoring device 20 nor the sensor information can be used. After that, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the processes after step S101 may be performed again.

[0028] In the process of the process of step S203, when it is determined that the sensor information is valid (step S203: Yes), the danger notification device 12 performs a danger determination around the vehicle 1 based on the information acquired from the server 30 or the sensor information, and calculates an evacuation route or the like for evacuating the occupants of the vehicle 1 (step S204). Thereafter, the danger notification device 12 notifies the occupant of the vehicle 1 of the evacuation route information, thereby guiding the occupant to evacuate (step S205), and notifies other vehicles of predetermined information such as recommended behavior, thereby alerting other vehicles (step S206).

[0029] Aspects of the invention derived from the embodiments and modifications described above will be described below.

[0030] An abnormality notification device according to an aspect of the invention is an abnormality notification device that guides an evacuation route for an occupant of the host vehicle when an abnormal situation occurs inside or around the host vehicle, and when the abnormal situation occurs, it has a presenting means for presenting a recommended behavior calculated based on the evacuation route to other vehicles around the host vehicle. In the above-described embodiment, the danger notification device 12 corresponds to an example of the presenting means.

[0031] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or idea of the invention read from the claims and the entire specification, and an abnormality notification device accompanied by such a change is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0032] 1, 2, 3... vehicles, 10... abnormality notification device, 11... danger detection device, 12... danger notification device, 20... road monitoring device, 30... server

Claims

**Claim 1** An abnormality notification device that guides an evacuation route to an occupant of the host vehicle when an abnormal situation occurs inside the host vehicle or around the host vehicle, comprising presentation means for presenting recommended behavior calculated based on the evacuation route to other vehicles around the host vehicle when the abnormal situation occurs. An abnormality notification device characterized by the above.

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