Driving support information distribution device, traffic system, driving support information distribution method, and computer program

Abstract

To contribute to realization of safer automatic driving and driving assistance using information for determining whether restrictions on an automatic driving or driving assistance function are necessary.SOLUTION: A driving assistance information distribution device is provided, comprising: an information acquisition unit 11 configured to acquire information from a plurality of information provision devices; a requirement items extraction unit 13 configured to extract information for determining whether restrictions on an automatic driving or driving assistance function are necessary or not from information acquired by the information acquisition unit 11; and an information distribution unit 14 for distributing the information extracted by the requirement item extraction unit 13 as driving assistance information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a driving support information distribution device, a traffic system, a vehicle, a vehicle control device, and a computer program that distribute information to a vehicle in which at least some of the driving operations are automated.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, studies and developments have been carried out towards the practical application of automated driving of automobiles (hereinafter referred to as vehicles). Regarding automated driving, generally, the degree of automation is indicated using the levels defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the United States. The levels defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the United States are defined in six levels from level 0 which is manual driving to level 5 which is fully automated driving. Generally, levels 3 and above are called automated driving, and levels 1 and 2 are called driving support.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses an automated driving technology using dynamic map data. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, an automated driving support device mounted on a vehicle stores in advance the usage conditions of the dynamic map data, and determines the availability of automated driving based on whether the usage conditions are satisfied.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In the automation of driving including autonomous driving and driving support, in order to realize safe vehicle operation, it may be considered to restrict the execution of autonomous driving and driving support in an environment where conditions such as road environment and weather are not suitable for driving automation. For example, in the safety technology guidelines for autonomous vehicles of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, driving environment conditions such as road conditions, geographical conditions, environmental conditions, and other conditions are defined as ODD (Operational Design Domain), and it is required to perform autonomous driving within the range of ODD. In addition, in the future, it is also assumed that restrictions according to driving environment conditions will be defined not only for autonomous driving at level 3 and above, but also for the above-mentioned driving support at levels 1 and 2.

[0006] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, the determination of whether autonomous driving is possible is only made based on the usage conditions regarding the contract for using dynamic map data, such as the identification information, password, and version information of the contractor of the dynamic map data. As described above, the determination of the necessity of restrictions on the autonomous driving or driving support function based on driving environment conditions has not been made. In addition, Patent Document 1 discloses that information such as obstacles is included in the dynamic map data and distributed to the vehicle, but this information is not for determining the necessity of restrictions on the autonomous driving or driving support function.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above, and aims to contribute to the realization of safer autonomous driving and driving support by using information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the autonomous driving or driving support function.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0008] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a driving support information distribution device according to the present disclosure is a driving support information distribution device that distributes driving support information to an autonomous vehicle traveling in a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, the driving support information distribution device including an information acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of information among information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving situation of a vehicle, a requirement item storage unit that stores requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving, and based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and the requirement items , uniform for each vehicle type or uniformly regardless of vehicle type an information distribution unit that distributes an autonomous driving prohibition regulation to the autonomous vehicle, and is provided with , The automatic driving prohibition indicates that automatic driving is not possible .

[0009] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a traffic system according to the present disclosure is a traffic system including an information providing device and a driving support information distribution device that distributes driving support information to an autonomous vehicle traveling in a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, the driving support information distribution device including an information acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of information among information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving situation of a vehicle from the information providing device, a requirement item storage unit that stores requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving, and based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and the requirement items , uniform for each vehicle type or uniformly regardless of vehicle type an information distribution unit that distributes an autonomous driving prohibition regulation to the autonomous vehicle, and is provided with , The automatic driving prohibition indicates that automatic driving is not possible .

[0010] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a driving support information distribution method according to the present disclosure is a driving support information distribution method that distributes driving support information to an autonomous vehicle traveling in a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, the driving support information distribution method including a step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of information among information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving situation of a vehicle, and based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving , uniform for each vehicle type or uniformly regardless of vehicle type a step of distributing an autonomous driving prohibition regulation to the autonomous vehicle, and is provided with , The automatic driving prohibition indicates that automatic driving is not possible .

[0011] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a vehicle according to the present disclosure includes a communication unit that receives, as driving support information, information for determining the necessity of restrictions on an automatic driving or driving support function extracted from information acquired from a plurality of information providing devices, a determination condition storage unit that stores determination conditions indicating conditions for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function, and a vehicle control unit that determines the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function using the driving support information received by the communication unit and the determination conditions stored in the determination condition storage unit.

[0012] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a vehicle control device according to the present disclosure is a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle and controlling vehicle component parts of the vehicle, which receives driving support information for determining the necessity of restrictions on an automatic driving or driving support function extracted from information acquired from a plurality of information providing devices via a communication unit of the vehicle, and determines the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function using the received driving support information.

[0013] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a computer program according to the present disclosure is a computer program for distributing driving support information to an autonomous vehicle traveling in a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, which causes a computer to perform a step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of information among information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating a traveling state of the vehicle, and a step of distributing non-autonomous driving restrictions to the autonomous vehicle based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving , uniform for each vehicle type or uniformly regardless of vehicle type and causing the autonomous vehicle to execute the step. , The automatic driving prohibition indicates that automatic driving is not possible 。

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] According to the present disclosure, there is an effect that it is possible to contribute to the realization of safer automatic driving and driving support.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0015]

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0016] Hereinafter, a driving support information distribution device, a traffic system, a vehicle, a vehicle control device, and a computer program according to the embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0017] Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic system including a driving support information distribution device according to Embodiment 1. The traffic system of this embodiment includes a driving support information distribution device 1 and vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. n is an integer of 2 or more. The driving support information distribution device 1 of this embodiment acquires various information from each of a traffic control system 2, a geographical information providing system 3, a road information providing system 4, a weather information providing system 5, a network 6, and a vehicle transmission information providing device 7, extracts information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function from the acquired information, and distributes the extracted information as driving support information to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. The necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function is, for example, whether the automatic driving or driving support function can operate safely, but may also be, for example, the necessity of speed restrictions.

[0018] Vehicles 8-1 to 8-n are vehicles capable of autonomous driving or vehicles having a driving assistance function. That is, at least some of the driving operations of vehicles 8-1 to 8-n are automated. Vehicles 8-1 to 8-n are, for example, automobiles that travel on highways, IR (Integrated Resort) facilities, large commercial facilities, etc., but are not limited thereto, and may be automobiles that travel on general roads, or may be work vehicles such as towing cars that travel at airports. The driving assistance information for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving or driving assistance functions is, for example, information indicating the driving environment conditions defined as the ODD (Operational Design Domain), which is the operating design area. Hereinafter, first, an example will be described in which vehicles 8-1 to 8-n are autonomous vehicles and the driving assistance information is information indicating the driving environment conditions defined as the ODD. As described above, vehicles 8-1 to 8-n may be vehicles having a driving assistance function. In this case, the driving assistance information is information used to determine the necessity of restrictions on the driving assistance function. Also, at least some of vehicles 8-1 to 8-n may be vehicles called connected cars that can be connected to a communication network such as the Internet. Hereinafter, when showing vehicles 8-1 to 8-n without individually distinguishing each of them, they will be described as vehicle 8.

[0019] The driving assistance information distribution device 1 may distribute the driving assistance information to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n via, for example, an antenna provided on a highway, or may distribute the driving assistance information to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n via a communication device provided beside the road such as a roadside unit. The driving assistance information may also be distributed to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n via an Internet line, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), etc., or may be distributed to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n via another communication line including a mobile phone network. The driving assistance information may also be distributed to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n by vehicle-to-vehicle communication from a vehicle that has received the distribution of the driving assistance information by any of these communication means to another vehicle. The distribution path of the driving assistance information from the driving assistance information distribution device 1 to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n is not limited to these, and any line may be used.

[0020] The traffic control system 2 is a system that provides traffic-related information such as traffic jam information, traffic volume, road closures, and regulatory information such as speed limits. The geographic information providing system 3 is a system that provides geographic attributes of each section, such as school zones of the ground is a system that provides geographic information. The road information providing system 4 is a system that provides road shape information such as width, gradient, and curvature, and road design information such as the presence or absence of sidewalks. The weather information providing system 5 is a system that provides weather information such as current weather, weather forecasts, weather-related warnings, and weather-related advisories. The network 6 is, for example, the Internet, and here, it is assumed to include devices such as various servers connected to the Internet. The network 6 includes, for example, devices that provide social media, SNS (Social Networking Service). Here, assuming that SNS is also an example of social media, the network 6 includes a system that distributes information publicly available through social media.

[0021] The vehicle transmission information providing device 7 is a system that provides information indicating the driving status of each vehicle 8 collected from vehicles 8 that can be connected to a network such as the Internet among vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. The information indicating the driving status includes, for example, the measurement results of vibrations detected by the vehicle 8 and the operating status of devices of the vehicle 8 such as the windshield wipers of the vehicle 8.

[0022] The traffic control system 2, the geographic information providing system 3, the road information providing system 4, the weather information providing system 5, the network 6, and the vehicle transmission information providing device 7 are examples of one or more information providing devices that are sources of information acquired by the driving support information distribution device 1. The one or more information providing devices are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1, and may be one or more of the traffic control system 2, the geographic information providing system 3, the road information providing system 4, the weather information providing system 5, the network 6, and the vehicle transmission information providing device 7, or may include others. Also, the one or more information providing devices may be operated by different business owners.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, the driving support information distribution device 1 includes an information acquisition unit 11, a requirement item storage unit 12, a requirement item extraction unit 13, and an information distribution unit 14. The information acquisition unit 11 acquires information from each of the traffic control system 2, the geographic information providing system 3, the road information providing system 4, the weather information providing system 5, the network 6, and the vehicle transmission information providing device 7, and passes the acquired information to the requirement item extraction unit 13.

[0024] The requirement item storage unit 12 stores the requirement items defined by the ODD. For example, in the safety technology guidelines for automated driving vehicles of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, road conditions, geographic conditions, environmental conditions, and other conditions are exemplified as driving environment conditions, and it is stipulated that the ODD should be set regarding these conditions. Road conditions include the type of road, the number of lanes, the presence or absence of an exclusive automated driving road, etc. Geographic conditions include geographical attributes such as mountainous areas and urban areas. Environmental conditions include weather, time zones, etc. Other conditions include speed limits, the necessity of infrastructure cooperation, etc. Infrastructure cooperation is a method of automated driving that uses information obtained from devices other than the vehicle 8, such as a communication device that distributes signal information.

[0025] Note that the ODD is not limited to the above safety technology guidelines and may be defined in other standardized documents or the like. The requirement items defined by the ODD described in this embodiment may be any defined requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on automated driving, not limited to the above safety technology guidelines. The criteria for determining the necessity of restrictions on automated driving using the information of these requirement items may be determined according to the performance of each vehicle, etc., but there may be common defined items for the requirement items themselves used in the determination. In this embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1 acquires the requirement items for which setting the ODD is stipulated by being input from an operator or received from another device (not shown), and stores them in the requirement item storage unit 12. Note that the requirement items stored in the requirement item storage unit 12 are not limited to the requirement items stipulated as the ODD, and may be any requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on automated driving similar to the ODD. The details of the requirement items will be described later.

[0026] The requirement item extraction unit 13 extracts information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function from the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Specifically, the requirement item extraction unit 13 uses the requirement items stored in the requirement item storage unit 12 to extract information corresponding to the requirement items from the information received from the information acquisition unit 11, and outputs the extracted information to the information distribution unit 14 as driving support information. The information distribution unit 14 distributes the received driving support information to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. That is, the information distribution unit 14 distributes the information extracted by the requirement item extraction unit 13 as driving support information. The requirement items include information that varies depending on the location, such as the weather and the type of road. When the driving support information distribution device 1 is pre-associated with a device through which the driving support information is transmitted to vehicles 8-1 to 8-n, such as an antenna or a wireless communication device installed on a highway, an IR facility, etc., and the area corresponding to the device, for each such device, information regarding the corresponding area is extracted and transmitted as driving support information.

[0027] Also, when the communication path between the driving support information distribution device 1 and vehicles 8-1 to 8-n is a path where the area is not limited, such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication or a mobile phone network, the distributable range may be divided into a plurality of areas, information corresponding to the requirement items may be extracted for each of the divided areas, and the information of the plurality of areas may be included in the driving support information. In this case, the driving support information stores information indicating the location of the area and information corresponding to the requirement items of the area for each area. Also, the corresponding area may be determined according to the location of the device that relays the communication between the driving support information distribution device 1 and vehicles 8-1 to 8-n, and the information of the determined area may be included in the driving support information distributed to the relay device, or the driving support information distribution device 1 may acquire the position of vehicle 8 from vehicle 8, and distribute information on the area around vehicle 8 corresponding to the position of vehicle 8 as driving support information. For example, information regarding an area where the distance from the position of vehicle 8 is equal to or less than a threshold value may be distributed to the vehicle 8 as driving support information.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 8-1 includes a communication unit 81, a vehicle control unit 82, vehicle components 83, an in-vehicle sensor 84, a determination condition storage unit 85, a display unit 86, and an input reception unit 87. As described above, the communication unit 81 receives the driving support information transmitted from the driving support information distribution device 1 via an arbitrary communication path such as a highway antenna or vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and outputs the received driving support information to the vehicle control unit 82. Further, when the vehicle 8-1 is a vehicle that can be connected to the vehicle transmission information providing device 7 via a network, the communication unit 81 transmits at least a part of the measurement result measured by the in-vehicle sensor 84 and the information managed by the vehicle control unit 82 to the vehicle transmission information providing device 7 as vehicle transmission information via the network. The in-vehicle sensor 84 is, for example, at least one of a radar, a lidar, and a camera. The in-vehicle sensor 84 may include a vibration sensor that detects vibration.

[0029] The vehicle components 83 are various devices mounted on the vehicle 8-1 such as an engine, a brake, and a transmission. The vehicle control unit 82, which is a vehicle control device, can control the vehicle components 83 without requiring an operation by a driver, that is, a person, using the measurement result by the in-vehicle sensor 84. That is, the vehicle control unit 82 can perform autonomous driving. Further, the vehicle control unit 82 can switch between autonomous driving and manual driving in which driving operations are manually performed by the driver according to an instruction from the driver or the like. When receiving the driving support information from the communication unit 81, the vehicle control unit 82 determines whether or not restrictions on autonomous driving are required using the driving support information and the determination conditions stored in the determination condition storage unit 85. The determination conditions are information indicating conditions for determining whether or not restrictions on autonomous driving or driving support functions are required using information corresponding to the above-described requirement items, respectively. Further, the vehicle control unit 82 causes the display unit 86 to display information to be presented to the driver. For example, when the vehicle control unit 82 determines that restrictions on autonomous driving are required, the vehicle control unit 82 causes the display unit 86 to display the determination result.

[0030] Note that the automated driving is at level 3 or higher as defined by, for example, the Society of Automotive Engineers of the United States. As described above, the vehicle 8-1 may have driving assistance functions at levels 1 and 2. In this case, the vehicle control unit 82 performs some of the controls of the vehicle components 83 without requiring the driver's operation. When receiving the driving assistance information, the vehicle control unit 82 uses the driving assistance information and the determination conditions to determine whether or not to impose restrictions on the driving assistance function.

[0031] The determination condition storage unit 85 stores determination conditions. The determination conditions are, for example, conditions set as ODD. The vehicle 8-1 acquires the determination conditions through input from an operator at the time of initial setting or inspection of the vehicle 8-1, or reception from another device (not shown), and stores them in the determination condition storage unit 85. Details of the determination conditions will be described later.

[0032] The display unit 86 presents various types of information to the driver by performing screen display. The input reception unit 87 receives an input from the driver and notifies the received input to the vehicle control unit 82. For example, when the input reception unit 87 receives an input for instructing a switch from automated driving to manual driving and a switch from manual driving to automated driving, the input reception unit 87 notifies the received instruction to the vehicle control unit 82. Although not shown, the vehicles 8-2 to 8-n also have the same configuration as the vehicle 8-1. However, the specific devices of the vehicle components 83 and the in-vehicle sensors 84 do not have to be the same for all the vehicles 8, and the specific devices of the vehicle components 83 and the in-vehicle sensors 84 of at least some of the vehicles 8 may be different from each other.

[0033] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the driving support information distribution processing procedure in the driving support information distribution apparatus 1 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the driving support information distribution apparatus 1 acquires information from each information providing apparatus (step S1). Each information providing apparatus is, for example, each of the traffic control system 2, the geographic information providing system 3, the road information providing system 4, the weather information providing system 5, the network 6, and the vehicle transmission information providing apparatus 7 described above, but may be a part of these, or may include apparatuses other than these.

[0034] In step S1, specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires traffic jam information, regulation information, etc. from the traffic control system 2, acquires the geographical attributes of each section, school zones, etc. from the geographic information providing system 3, acquires the road design information from the road information providing system 4, acquires weather-related information from the weather information providing system 5, acquires information publicly available through social media, SNS, etc. from the network 6, and acquires vehicle issued transmission information from the vehicle transmission information providing apparatus 7. The information acquisition unit 11 outputs the acquired information to the requirement item extraction unit 13.

[0035] Next, the driving support information distribution device 1 extracts information corresponding to the requirement items defined by the ODD from the acquired information (step S2). Specifically, the requirement item extraction unit 13 refers to the requirement items stored in the requirement item storage unit 12 and extracts information corresponding to the requirement items from the information received from the information acquisition unit 11. The requirement items are items corresponding to at least one of the above-described geographical conditions, road conditions, environmental conditions, traffic conditions, and infrastructure cooperation conditions, for example. Note that the requirement items include information dependent on the position, such as geographical attributes and weather-related information. When the device through which the driving support information is distributed to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n and the area corresponding to the device are associated in advance, the requirement item extraction unit 13 extracts information regarding the corresponding area for each such device. There may be a plurality of areas corresponding to each device. Also, when the communication path between the driving support information distribution device 1 and the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n is a path where the area is not limited, such as vehicle-to-vehicle communication or a mobile phone network, the range corresponding to each relaying device is divided into a plurality of areas, and information corresponding to the requirement items is extracted for each divided area. When the requirement item extraction unit 13 extracts information for each of a plurality of areas, the extracted information is notified to the information distribution unit 14 together with information indicating the position of the corresponding area. Also, when the information distributed by the relaying device, which is the device through which communication occurs between the driving support information distribution device 1 and the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n, is different, that is, when the corresponding area is different for each relaying device, information is extracted for each relaying device, and the extracted information is notified to the information distribution unit 14 together with the identification information indicating the relaying device.

[0036] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the divided areas in the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, each of the areas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H is shown. The requirement item extraction unit 13 extracts, for example, information corresponding to the requirement items defined by the ODD for each of the areas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, and notifies the information distribution unit 14 of the extracted information together with information indicating the position of each area.

[0037] Regarding information published on social media, SNS, etc., although it is highly up-to-date, some of it has low reliability. Therefore, when the requirement item extraction unit 13 determines the reliability of information published on social media, SNS, etc., if it does not match the information provided by other information providing devices, it will not be used. When the information is determined to be reliable, it will be used, or information with flag information indicating the level of reliability added will be used.

[0038] Return to the description of FIG. 2. The driving support information distribution device 1 distributes the extracted information (step S3) and ends the process. Specifically, the information distribution unit 14 distributes the information notified from the requirement item extraction unit 13 to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n as driving support information. When the corresponding areas are different depending on the relay device, the information distribution unit 14 distributes the driving support information corresponding to each relay device to the relay device, so that the driving support information is distributed from each relay device to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. At this time, it is desirable that each relay device includes information on the area where the vehicle 8 that has received the information distributed from the relay device is expected to pass in the future. For example, the driving support information distributed to the relay device installed in area C shown in FIG. 3 includes information on area C and information on adjacent areas A, B, D, etc. That is, the driving support information includes information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function in the area adjacent to the area where the driving support information is received by the vehicle 8.

[0039] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the travel route of the vehicle 8-1 of the present embodiment and the area. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the vehicle 8-1 travels on the road 9 and moves from area C to area A. Assume that the vehicle 8-1 receives driving support information at point #1 within area C, and this driving support information includes information on area A. For example, assume that in area A, the snow accumulation amount exceeds the range where automatic driving is possible as determined by the ODD determination condition. In this case, by receiving the driving support information at point #1, the vehicle 8-1 can grasp that automatic driving will become impossible in area A before reaching area A and notify the driver. The vehicle can also determine whether it is necessary to restrict the automatic driving or driving support function using the information detected by the in-vehicle sensor 84. However, the in-vehicle sensor 84 cannot acquire medium- and long-distance information. For example, the in-vehicle sensor 84 detects the surrounding information, detects the snow accumulation amount by the in-vehicle sensor 84, and it can also be determined that automatic driving is impossible when the vehicle 8-1 reaches point #2, which is the boundary between area C and area A. In this case, however, for the driver, it will suddenly be necessary to start manual driving. On the other hand, if the driver is notified at point #1 that automatic driving will become impossible in area A, the driver can switch from automatic driving to manual driving at any time before reaching area A. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driver from suddenly starting manual driving and to switch to manual driving at a time according to the driver's preference before reaching area A.

[0040] Note that the periods at which the driving support information distribution device 1 acquires information from each information providing device may be the same or different. When the periods at which the driving support information distribution device 1 acquires information from each information providing device are not the same, the driving support information distribution device 1 holds the acquired information in a buffer memory (not shown) or the like, and reads out these information for each period at which the driving support information distribution device 1 distributes the driving support information to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n, and then executes the steps after step S2 above.

[0041] In addition, when the driving support information distribution device 1 distributes driving support information according to the position of the vehicle 8, the position of the vehicle 8 is acquired from the vehicle 8, and for each vehicle 8, the information of the corresponding area is extracted and distributed as driving support information. Also, in FIG. 2, an example of extracting the requirement items defined in the ODD is shown. However, as described above, the requirement items may be any items for determining whether or not automatic driving restrictions are necessary or whether or not the functions of driving support can be used, not limited to the ODD.

[0042] Next, the operation in the vehicle 8 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure at the time of receiving driving support information in the vehicle 8 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle 8 determines whether or not it has received driving support information (step S11). If it has not received driving support information (step S11 No), step S11 is repeated. Specifically, in step S11, the vehicle control unit 82 determines whether or not it has received driving support information via the communication unit 81.

[0043] When the vehicle 8 has received driving support information (step S11 Yes), it determines whether or not automatic driving restrictions are necessary based on the driving support information and the determination conditions (step S12). The determination conditions are, as described above, for example, the conditions defined as the ODD and are conditions for determining whether or not automatic driving restrictions are necessary, and are stored in the determination condition storage unit 85. Specifically, in step S12, the vehicle control unit 82 uses the determination conditions stored in the determination condition storage unit 85 and the driving support information received from the communication unit 81 to determine whether or not automatic driving restrictions are necessary.

[0044] vehicle When the determination result in step S12 indicates that there are constraints on autonomous driving (step S13 Yes), both control units 82 notify the driver, i.e., the operator (step S14), and repeat the processing from step S11. In step S14, for example, the vehicle control unit 82 notifies the driver that there are constraints on autonomous driving by causing the display unit 86 to display the content of the constraints on autonomous driving. Alternatively, the vehicle control unit 82 may notify the driver by voice using a speaker (not shown in FIG. 1) that there are constraints on autonomous driving. Further, in step S14, the vehicle control unit 82 causes the display unit 86 to display the content of the constraints on autonomous driving and also causes the display unit 86 to display another route without constraints on autonomous driving, and may accept a selection from the driver as to whether to select the other route.

[0045] When the determination result in step S12 indicates that there are no constraints on autonomous driving (step S13 No) , vehicle Both control units 82 repeat the processing from step S11. When the driving support information includes information on the area where the current vehicle 8 is located, the current determination result is displayed in step S14. When the driving support information includes information on the area where the vehicle 8 is scheduled to travel next, in step S14, a notice is given to forewarn that constraints on autonomous driving will occur, together with the distance to the area or the time expected to be required to reach the area. The vehicle control unit 82 grasps the current position using a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver (not shown in FIG. 1) and also grasps the driving route. Therefore, the vehicle control unit 82 determines whether the driving support information is information on the area where the vehicle is scheduled to travel using this information.

[0046] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the display unit 86 of the present embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an example of a screen displayed in step S14 when it is determined in step S12 described above that automatic driving restrictions are necessary in the area where the vehicle 8 is scheduled to travel next. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the vehicle control unit 82 causes the display unit 86 to display a screen such as "Automatic driving is not possible in Area A, 10 km ahead." to enable the driver to grasp the distance until automatic driving becomes impossible. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a button for selecting a switch to manual driving may be displayed on the display unit 86. In this example, an example is shown in which the display unit 86 is realized by a touch panel or the like integrated with the input reception unit 87. However, the method of switching to manual driving is not limited to this example, and the switching may be performed using other operation means. Further, the arrangement of the specific screen displayed by the display unit 86 and the displayed content are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 6.

[0047] Here, examples of automatic driving restrictions will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of requirements defined in the ODD and content regulated in the present embodiment. FIG. 7 illustrates the identification number of each definition, the information used, that is, the requirement items, the determination conditions, and the corresponding regulated content. Here, as driving environment conditions for setting the ODD, geographical conditions, road conditions, environmental conditions, traffic conditions, and infrastructure cooperation conditions are considered. The traffic conditions and infrastructure cooperation conditions are included in the other conditions described above.

[0048] For example, in Definition #1, as the information (requirement items) used for determination, information indicating the communication environment, which corresponds to the infrastructure cooperation conditions, is used. When the communication environment is poor or partially poor, it is defined that constraints are required to be determined. Further, in Definition #1, the content of the constraints, that is, the regulation content, when it is determined that constraints are required, is defined as not allowing autonomous driving using infrastructure cooperation. Also, in Definition #2, a geographical attribute, which is an example of geographical conditions, and the presence or absence of a sidewalk, which is an example of road conditions, are used as requirement items. When the geographical attribute is a school zone and the information indicating the presence or absence of a sidewalk indicates that there is no sidewalk, it is defined that constraints on autonomous driving are required to be determined. Further, in Definition #2, the content of the constraints, that is, the regulation content, when it is determined that constraints are required, is defined as not allowing autonomous driving. Such examples are not for determining the feasibility of autonomous driving on the vehicle 8 side, but may be transmitted as a uniform regulation of not allowing autonomous driving regardless of the vehicle type (light vehicle, four-wheel drive vehicle, large vehicle, etc.) of the vehicle 8 from the driving support information distribution device 1 as a legal regulation.

[0049] Also, in Definition #3, the snow accumulation amount, which is an example of environmental conditions, and the presence or absence of chain regulations, which is an example of traffic conditions, are used as requirement items. When the snow accumulation amount is H cm or more and there are chain regulations, it is defined that constraints on autonomous driving are required to be determined. Further, in Definition #3, the content of the constraints, that is, the regulation content, when it is determined that constraints are required, is defined as prohibiting autonomous driving when there is no chain attachment or snow tire attachment, and allowing autonomous driving at XX km / h or less when there is no chain attachment or snow tire attachment.

[0050] Also, in Definition #4, the number of lanes, which is an example of road conditions, and the traffic volume, which is an example of traffic conditions, are used as requirement items. When the traffic volume per lane is M vehicles / km or more, it is defined that constraints on autonomous driving are required to be determined. Further, in Definition #4, the content of the constraints, that is, the regulation content, when it is determined that constraints are required, is defined as only allowing autonomous driving by following the vehicle in front at YY km / h or less.

[0051] Also, in Definition #5, as requirement items, a communication environment which is an example of infrastructure cooperation conditions and the presence or absence of an exclusive lane for autonomous driving which is an example of road conditions are defined. When there is poor communication or part when the communication is poor, it is defined that it is necessary to impose restrictions on autonomous driving. Further, in Definition #5, the content of the restrictions, that is, the regulation content when it is determined that restrictions are necessary, is defined as allowing autonomous driving only on the exclusive lane for autonomous driving. Therefore, in Definition #5, when there is poor communication or part when the communication is poor, if there is an exclusive lane for autonomous driving, drive on the exclusive lane for autonomous driving, and if there is no exclusive lane for autonomous driving, autonomous driving is not allowed. Such an example is not a determination of whether autonomous driving is possible on the vehicle 8 side, but may be transmitted as a uniform regulation that autonomous driving is not allowed regardless of what type of vehicle (light vehicle, four-wheel drive vehicle, large vehicle, etc.) the vehicle 8 is, from the driving support information distribution device 1 as a legal regulation.

[0052] The above-described Definitions #1 to #5 are examples, and the definition of the ODD is not limited to these. Also, two or more of the above-described Definitions #1 to #5 may be used. The requirement items stipulated by the definition of the ODD are generally determined by a standard document or the like. On the other hand, since the determination conditions also vary depending on the vehicle type and the like, they may be determined by the manufacturer of the vehicle 8 or the like. In the present embodiment, as described above, the requirement items are stored by the driving support information distribution device 1, and the driving support information distribution device 1 extracts information corresponding to the requirement items from the information received from various information providing devices and transmits it to the vehicle 8 as driving support information. However, in examples such as Definitions #1, #2, and #5, it is not that the vehicle 8 side determines whether autonomous driving is possible depending on its respective vehicle performance and the like, but it may be transmitted as a uniform regulation that autonomous driving is not allowed regardless of what type of vehicle (light vehicle, four-wheel drive vehicle, large vehicle, etc.) the vehicle 8 is, from the driving support information distribution device as a legal regulation.

[0053] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of information corresponding to geographical conditions among the driving support information of the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of information corresponding to infrastructure cooperation conditions among the driving support information of the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information corresponding to road conditions among the driving support information of the present embodiment. As described above, the information corresponding to the requirement items for each condition is stored in the driving support information for each area. Although not shown, the environmental conditions and traffic conditions are also stored in the driving support information for each area in the same manner. The information corresponding to each of these pieces of information is stored in the driving support information together with the information indicating the location of each area. When there is only one area to be distributed, the driving support information may not include the information indicating the location of the area. Note that there is no restriction on the specific format of the driving support information.

[0054] In the above example, the restrictions on autonomous driving were used as an example for explanation. As described above, the driving support information may be used to determine whether driving support is possible. In this case, the driving support information distribution device 1 extracts the information on the requirement items for determining whether the driving support function is possible and distributes it as the driving support information. The vehicle 8 has a driving support function and stores the determination conditions for determining whether the driving support function is possible. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure when receiving the driving support information in the vehicle 8 of the present embodiment having a driving support function.

[0055] Step S21 is the same as step S11. In step S22, the vehicle control unit 82 determines whether the driving support function needs to be restricted based on the driving support information and the determination conditions. . Vehicle When the determination result in step S22 indicates that the driving support function cannot be used (No in step S23), the vehicle control unit 82 notifies the driver, that is, the driver (step S24), and repeats the processing from step S21. In step S24, for example, the vehicle control unit 82 notifies the driver by causing the display unit 86 to display that the driving support function cannot be used. Alternatively, the vehicle control unit 82 may notify by voice using a speaker (not shown in FIG. 1) or the like that the driving support function cannot be used.

[0056] When the determination result in step S22 indicates that the driving support function can be used (step S23 Yes) , vehicle Both control units 82 repeat the process from step S21. If the driving support information includes information on the area where the current vehicle 8 is located, the current determination result is displayed in step S24 in the same manner as in the case of automatic driving restrictions. Also, if the driving support information includes information on the area where the vehicle 8 is scheduled to travel next, in step S24, a notice is issued to announce that the driving support function will become unavailable, together with the distance to that area or the time expected to be required to reach that area.

[0057] In the example shown in FIG. 11, the availability of the driving support function was determined. Instead of this, a determination may be made as to whether or not the driving support function needs to be restricted. That is, an example of the determination as to whether or not the driving support function needs to be restricted is the determination of the availability of the driving support function.

[0058] Next, the hardware configuration of the driving support information distribution device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. The driving support information distribution device 1 according to the present embodiment is a computer system on which a driving support information distribution program, which is a computer program describing the processing in the driving support information distribution device 1, is executed, so that the computer system functions as the driving support information distribution device 1. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a computer system that realizes the driving support information distribution device 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12, this computer system includes a control unit 101, an input unit 102, a storage unit 103, a display unit 104, a communication unit 105, and an output unit 106, which are connected via a system bus 107.

[0059] In FIG. 12, the control unit 101 is a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes an operation support information distribution program in which the processing in the operation support information distribution device 1 of the present embodiment is described. The input unit 102 is composed of, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and is used by the user of the computer system to input various information. The storage unit 103 includes various memories such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory), and storage devices such as hard disks, and stores programs that the control unit 101 should execute, necessary data obtained during the processing, etc. Further, the storage unit 103 is also used as a temporary storage area for programs. The display unit 104 is composed of a display, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display Panel), etc., and displays various screens to the user of the computer system. The communication unit 105 is a receiver and a transmitter that perform communication processing. The output unit 106 is a speaker or the like. Note that FIG. 12 is an example, and the configuration of the computer system is not limited to the example of FIG. 12.

[0060] Here, an operation example of the computer system until the operation support information distribution program of the present embodiment becomes executable will be described. In a computer system having the above-described configuration, for example, the operation support information distribution program is installed in the storage unit 103 from a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM set in a CD (Compact Disc)-ROM drive or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM drive (not shown). Then, when the operation support information distribution program is executed, the operation support information distribution program read from the storage unit 103 is stored in the storage unit 103. In this state, the control unit 101 executes the processing as the operation support information distribution device 1 of the present embodiment according to the program stored in the storage unit 103.

[0061] In the above description, a program that describes the processing in the driving support information distribution device 1 is provided using a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM as a recording medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and depending on the configuration of the computer system, the capacity of the program to be provided, etc., for example, a program provided via a transmission medium such as the Internet via the communication unit 105 may be used instead.

[0062] The requirement item extraction unit 13 shown in FIG. 1 is realized by the driving support information distribution program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12 being executed by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 12. The requirement item storage unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 is a part of the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12. The information acquisition unit 11 and the information distribution unit 14 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 12. The driving support information distribution device 1 may be realized by a plurality of computer systems.

[0063] For example, the driving support information distribution program of the present embodiment causes the driving support information distribution device 1 to execute steps of acquiring information from one or more information providing devices, extracting information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function from the acquired information, and distributing the extracted information as driving support information.

[0064] Also, the vehicle control unit 82 in the vehicle 8 of the present embodiment is realized by a vehicle control program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12 being executed by a control unit similar to the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 12. The determination condition storage unit 85 is realized by a storage unit similar to the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12. The display unit 86 is realized by a display, a monitor, etc. in the same manner as the display unit 104 shown in FIG. 12, and the input reception unit 87 is realized by an operation button or the like. As described above, the display unit 104 and the input reception unit 87 may be integrated and realized by a touch panel or the like.

[0065] As described above, the driving support information distribution device 1 of the present embodiment obtains information from the information providing device from the acquired information Extract information corresponding to a requirement item that is information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function, and distribute the extracted information to the vehicle 8 as driving support information. Thereby, it is possible to provide the vehicle 8 with information indicating the driving environment conditions for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function. Further, by including information on areas other than the area where the vehicle 8 receives the driving support information in the driving support information, it is possible to notify the driver in advance of the restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function in the area where the vehicle 8 will travel next, and it is possible to avoid the start of a sudden manual operation for the driver.

[0066] Embodiment 2. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic system according to Embodiment 2. In the present embodiment, the traffic system includes the same driving support information distribution device 1 as in Embodiment 1, the same vehicles 8-1 to 8-n as in Embodiment 1, and a traffic control system 2a. However, the driving support information distribution device 1 distributes the driving support information not only to the vehicle 8 but also to the traffic control system 2a. Components having the same functions as those in Embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in Embodiment 1, and redundant descriptions are omitted. Hereinafter, the differences from Embodiment 1 will be mainly described.

[0067] The traffic control system 2a has the functions of the traffic control system 2 in Embodiment 1, receives the driving support information transmitted from the driving support information distribution device 1, and uses the received driving support information to distribute control information indicating the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function to the vehicle 8. As shown in FIG. 13, the traffic control system 2a includes a driving support information receiving unit 21, a requirement storage unit 22, a control information distribution unit 23, a display unit 24, and a determination unit 25.

[0068] The driving support information receiving unit 21 receives driving support information from the driving support information distribution device 1 and outputs the received driving support information to the display unit 24 and the determination unit 25. The requirement storage unit 22 stores regulation requirements that are conditions for determining whether to perform traffic control. The regulation requirements may be common regardless of the vehicle 8 among the determination conditions for the necessity of restrictions on automated driving based on the ODD, or may be conditions according to the type of the vehicle 8 or the like. Further, the regulation requirements may be conditions for determining whether to regulate automated driving or driving support, which are commonly defined separately from the ODD. That is, instead of the vehicle 8 side determining the feasibility of automated driving depending on each vehicle performance and the like, as a legal regulation traffic control system 2a yo vehicle regardless of what vehicle types (light automobiles, four-wheel drive vehicles, large vehicles, etc.) the vehicle 8 is, it includes transmitting a uniform regulation of non-feasibility of automated driving, or specifying the vehicle type of the vehicle 8 and performing information distribution as a legal regulation.

[0069] The display unit 24 displays the received driving support information. Thereby, the operator of the traffic control system 2a can grasp the state of each current area and implement necessary additional responses for traffic control. Further, the display unit 24 may display the driving support information in a graph, or may display the result of statistical processing such as calculating the time average.

[0070] The determination unit 25 determines the necessity of restrictions on the automated driving or driving support function using the information acquired by the driving support information receiving unit 21. Specifically, the determination unit 25 determines whether to perform regulation for each area using the driving support information received from the driving support information receiving unit 21 and the regulation requirements stored in the requirement storage unit 22. If there is an area where regulation is to be performed, the determination unit 25 notifies the control information distribution unit 23 of information indicating the content of the regulation as control information.

[0071] The control information distribution unit 23 distributes the control information to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n. That is, the control information distribution unit 23 distributes the determination result by the determination unit 25 to the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n as control information. Any communication path can be used as the communication path between the traffic control system 2a and the vehicles 8-1 to 8-n.

[0072] In the example shown in FIG. 13, the driving support information described in the first embodiment is used. However, the information used by the traffic control system 2a to determine whether to regulate the automatic driving or the driving support function is not limited to the driving support information described in the first embodiment, and any similar information may be used. For example, in FIG. 1, information received from another device (not shown) may be used to determine whether to regulate the automatic driving or the driving support function, or whether to regulate the automatic driving or the driving support function may be determined based on the weather conditions and traffic conditions for each area input by the operator of the traffic control system 2a. The driving support information receiving unit 21 is an example of an acquisition unit that acquires information for determining whether or not to restrict the automatic driving or the driving support function.

[0073] FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the control processing procedure in the traffic control system 2a of the present embodiment. In FIG. 14, an example of determining the feasibility of automatic driving is shown, but the same control processing can be performed for determining the availability of the driving support function. As shown in FIG. 14, the driving support information receiving unit 21 acquires information (step S31). This information is information for determining whether to regulate the automatic driving or the driving support function, and is, for example, the driving support information described in the first embodiment. The driving support information receiving unit 21 outputs the received information to the display unit 24 and the determination unit 25.

[0074] Next, the traffic control system 2a determines the feasibility of autonomous driving for each area based on the acquired information and regulatory requirements (step S32), and distributes control information indicating areas where autonomous driving is not permitted (step S33). This control information also includes the autonomous driving level, vehicle type, etc. Specifically, in step S32, the determination unit 25 determines the feasibility of autonomous driving for each area based on the acquired information and regulatory requirements, generates control information indicating areas where autonomous driving is not permitted, the autonomous driving level, vehicle type, etc., and distributes it to the vehicle 8 via the control information distribution unit 23. The control information may be information indicating areas where autonomous driving is not permitted, the autonomous driving level, vehicle type, or information indicating the feasibility of autonomous driving for each area. Also, similar to the driving support information in Embodiment 1, the corresponding area is determined according to the position of the relay device that relays communication between the traffic control system 2a and the vehicle 8, and information on the area corresponding to each relay device may be stored in the control information. When the vehicle 8 receives the control information, it displays the control information and notifies the driver. Also, the vehicle 8 can determine whether it is necessary to restrict the autonomous driving or driving support function using the control information.

[0075] The traffic control system 2a is not limited to distributing the control information to the vehicle 8, and may also distribute it to the road information board 90 installed along the road. The road information board 90 is, for example, a variable display board installed for the purpose of providing information such as traffic jams, traffic accidents, and weather on the road to the driver of the vehicle 8. By displaying the control information distributed from the traffic control system 2a, the road information board 90 can notify the driver of information indicating areas where autonomous driving is not permitted, the autonomous driving level, vehicle type, or information indicating the feasibility of autonomous driving for each area.

[0076] Note that in the above example, similar to Embodiment 1, an example where the driving support information distribution device 1 distributes driving support information to the vehicle 8 has been described. However, the driving support information distribution device 1 may not distribute the driving support information to the vehicle 8 and may distribute the driving support information only to the traffic control system 2a. Also in this case, since the control information is distributed from the traffic control system 2a to the vehicle 8, the vehicle 8 can receive the control information as information for determining whether it is necessary to restrict the autonomous driving or driving support function.

[0077] The traffic control system 2a is realized by a computer system illustrated in FIG. 12, similar to the driving support information distribution device of the first embodiment. The determination unit 25 shown in FIG. 13 is realized by the control program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12 being executed by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 12. The requirement storage unit 22 shown in FIG. 13 is a part of the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12. The driving support information reception unit 21 and the control information distribution unit 23 shown in FIG. 13 are realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 12. The display unit 24 shown in FIG. 13 is realized by the display unit 104 shown in FIG. 12. When the driving support information is displayed after being processed, the control unit 101 and the storage unit 103 are further used for the realization of the display unit 24. The traffic control system 2a may be realized by a plurality of computer systems.

[0078] As described above, in the present embodiment, the traffic control system 2a determines whether to regulate the automatic driving or the driving support function, and transmits control information indicating the presence or absence of the regulation to the vehicle 8. Thereby, information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or the driving support function can be provided to the vehicle 8.

[0079] Embodiment 3. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic system including the driving support information distribution device according to Embodiment 3. In the present embodiment, the traffic system includes a driving support information distribution device 1a and vehicles 8a-1 to 8a-n. Components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and redundant descriptions are omitted. Hereinafter, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. Hereinafter, when the vehicles 8a-1 to 8a-n are shown without being individually distinguished, they are described as the vehicle 8a.

[0080] In this embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1a determines the content of the driving support information to be transmitted to the vehicle 8a according to the characteristics such as the size and role of the vehicle 8a. As a result, it is possible to suppress the distribution of unnecessary information, suppress the radio resources to be used, and reduce the processing load on the vehicle 8a.

[0081] The driving support information distribution device 1a of this embodiment has a characteristic correspondence information storage unit 15 added to the driving support information distribution device 1 of Embodiment 1, and includes a requirement item extraction unit 13a and an information distribution unit 14a instead of the requirement item extraction unit 13 and the information distribution unit 14. The characteristic correspondence information storage unit 15 stores characteristic correspondence information indicating the correspondence between the characteristics of the vehicle 8a and the requirement items to be distributed. The requirement item extraction unit 13a extracts information corresponding to the characteristics of the vehicle 8a using the characteristic information of the vehicle 8a for each vehicle 8a and passes it to the information distribution unit 14a. The information distribution unit 14a receives characteristic information from the vehicle 8a. Also, the information distribution unit 14a distributes driving support information corresponding to the vehicle 8a for each vehicle 8a.

[0082] The vehicle 8a-1 has a characteristic information storage unit 88 added to the vehicle 8 of Embodiment 1, and includes a vehicle control unit 82a instead of the vehicle control unit 82. The characteristic information includes at least one of static characteristic information that does not change and dynamic characteristic information that may change depending on the driving situation. The static characteristic information is, for example, at least one of information indicating the vehicle type, information indicating the size of the own vehicle, and information indicating the role such as whether it is for private use, for business use carrying people, or for business use carrying goods. The dynamic characteristic information is, for example, information indicating whether a chain or snow tires are being installed. The static characteristic information is set by the manufacturer, seller, driver, etc. of the vehicle 8a-1 before the start of use of the vehicle 8a-1 and stored in the characteristic information storage unit 88. Regarding the dynamic characteristic information, the information stored in the characteristic information storage unit 88 may be updated by an input from the driver each time there is a change, or the vehicle control unit 82a may detect the state and automatically update the information in the characteristic information storage unit 88.

[0083] The vehicle control unit 82a reads the characteristic information from the characteristic information storage unit 88 and transmits it to the driving support information distribution device 1a via the communication unit 81. Although not shown, the vehicles 8a-2 to 8a-n also have the same configuration as the vehicle 8a-1.

[0084] FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the driving support information distribution processing procedure in the driving support information distribution device 1a of the present embodiment. Step S1 is the same as in the first embodiment. After step S1, the driving support information distribution device 1a acquires the characteristic information of each vehicle 8a (step S4). Specifically, the information distribution unit 14a receives the characteristic information from the vehicle 8a and passes the received characteristic information to the requirement item extraction unit 13a.

[0085] Step S2 is the same as in the first embodiment. After step S2, the requirement item extraction unit 13a extracts the vehicle-specific information to be distributed from the extracted information using the acquired characteristic information and the characteristic correspondence information for each vehicle 8a (step S5). Specifically, the requirement item extraction unit 13a determines the requirement items corresponding to the characteristics of the vehicle 8a for each vehicle 8a using the acquired characteristic information and the characteristic correspondence information stored in the characteristic correspondence information storage unit 15. Then, the requirement item extraction unit 13a extracts the information corresponding to the determined requirement items from the information extracted in step S2 for each vehicle 8a, and outputs the extracted information to the information distribution unit 14a as vehicle-specific information. For example, the width or gradient of a road that is not suitable for a large vehicle to travel may not be a problem for a light vehicle or a PMV (Personal Mobility Vehicle). Thus, when the vehicle type of the vehicle 8a is a light vehicle, the information indicating the width and gradient of the road is not important, but when the vehicle type of the vehicle 8a is a large vehicle, the information indicating the width and gradient of the road is important. Therefore, for example, as the characteristic correspondence information, for the vehicle types of large vehicles and ordinary vehicles, the information indicating the width and gradient of the road is included in the corresponding requirement items, and for the vehicle types of light vehicles and PMVs, the information indicating the width and gradient of the road is not included in the corresponding requirement items. Note that the characteristic correspondence information is not limited to this example.

[0086] Next, the information distribution unit 14a distributes vehicle-specific information to each vehicle 8a (step S3a). Note that this vehicle-specific information is also an example of driving support information. As described above, the requirement item extraction unit 13a extracts, as vehicle-specific information, information on items selected according to the characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the vehicle 8a for each vehicle 8a from the information extracted in step S2, and the information distribution unit 14a distributes the corresponding vehicle-specific information as driving support information for each vehicle. The operations of the present embodiment other than those described above are the same as those of the first embodiment.

[0087] Similar to the driving support information distribution device 1 of the first embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1a of the present embodiment is also realized by the exemplified computer system shown in FIG. 12. The characteristic correspondence information storage unit 15 is a part of the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 12, and the requirement item extraction unit 13a is realized by the control unit 101 executing the driving support information distribution program of the present embodiment stored in the storage unit 103. The information distribution unit 14a is realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 12.

[0088] Note that the driving support information distribution device 1a may be combined with the first and second embodiments so that the driving support information distribution device 1a also generates the same driving support information as that of the first embodiment and transmits it to the traffic control system 2a of the second embodiment.

[0089] As described above, in the present embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1a extracts information corresponding to requirement items, which are information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function, from the information providing device. from the acquired information Then, information corresponding to the characteristic information of the vehicle 8a is extracted from the extracted information and transmitted to the vehicle 8a as driving support information. Thereby, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the radio resources used for transmitting the driving support information can be suppressed.

[0090] Embodiment 4. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a traffic system including a driving support information distribution device according to Embodiment 4. In the present embodiment, the traffic system includes a driving support information distribution device 1b and vehicles 8b-1 to 8b-n. Components having the same functions as those in Embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in Embodiment 1, and redundant descriptions are omitted. Hereinafter, differences from Embodiment 1 will be mainly described. Hereinafter, when the vehicles 8b-1 to 8b-n are shown without being individually distinguished, they are referred to as vehicle 8b.

[0091] In the present embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1b determines the content of the driving support information to be transmitted to the vehicle 8b according to the route on which the vehicle 8b travels. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the distribution of unnecessary information and suppress the radio resources to be used.

[0092] The driving support information distribution device 1b of the present embodiment includes a requirement item extraction unit 13b and an information distribution unit 14a instead of the requirement item extraction unit 13 and the information distribution unit 14. Since the information distribution unit 14a is common to Embodiment 3 in that it receives information from the vehicle 8b and distributes driving support information for each vehicle 8b, it is denoted by the same reference numeral as that in Embodiment 3.

[0093] Vehicle 8b-1 includes a vehicle control unit 82b instead of the vehicle control unit 82. The vehicle control unit 82b holds route information indicating the route on which the vehicle 8b-1 travels, and transmits the route information to the driving support information distribution device 1b via the communication unit 81.

[0094] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the route along which each vehicle 8b of the present embodiment travels. In the example shown in FIG. 18, vehicle 8b-1 is scheduled to travel in the order of area C, area A, and area E via route 201, vehicle 8b-2 is scheduled to travel in the order of area D, area G, area F, and area E via route 202, and vehicle 8b-3 is scheduled to travel in the direction opposite to area A from area C via route 203. Also, it is assumed that vehicles 8b-1 to 8b-3 are located at the points indicated by the circles in the figure. In this case, the information regarding area A is necessary for vehicle 8b-1 but unnecessary for vehicles 8b-2 and 8b-3. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1b uses the route information of each vehicle 8b to extract information regarding the area where vehicle 8b is scheduled to travel and distributes it to vehicle 8b.

[0095] FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the driving support information distribution processing procedure in the driving support information distribution device 1b of the present embodiment. Step S1 is the same as in Embodiment 1. After step S1, the driving support information distribution device 1b acquires the route information of each vehicle 8b (step S6). Specifically, the information distribution unit 14a receives the route information from vehicle 8a and passes the received route information to the requirement item extraction unit 13b.

[0096] Step S2 is the same as in Embodiment 1. After step S2, the requirement item extraction unit 13 b is , for each vehicle 8b, uses the acquired route information to extract vehicle-specific information to be distributed from the extracted information (step S7). Specifically, the requirement item extraction unit 13b extracts, for each vehicle 8b, information regarding the area where vehicle 8b is scheduled to travel from the information extracted in step S2 using the route information, and outputs the extracted information to the information distribution unit 14a as vehicle-specific information. The information distribution unit 14a distributes the vehicle-specific information to each vehicle 8b (step S3a). As described above, the requirement item extraction unit 13b extracts, as vehicle-specific information, information on the items selected according to the route scheduled for each vehicle 8b from the information extracted in step S2 for each vehicle 8b, and the information distribution unit 14a distributes the corresponding vehicle-specific information as driving support information for each vehicle 8b.

[0097] The driving support information distribution device 1b of the present embodiment is also realized by the exemplified computer system shown in FIG. 12, similar to the driving support information distribution device 1 of the first embodiment. The requirement item extraction unit 13b is realized by the control unit 101 executing the driving support information distribution program of the present embodiment stored in the storage unit 103. The information distribution unit 14a is realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 12, similar to the third embodiment.

[0098] Note that the present embodiment and the second embodiment may be combined so that the driving support information distribution device 1b also generates the same driving support information as in the first embodiment and transmits it to the traffic control system 2a of the second embodiment. Further, the present embodiment and the third embodiment may be combined so that the driving support information distribution device 1b extracts information for each vehicle 8b based on not only the route information but also the characteristic information and distributes it as vehicle-specific information. Furthermore, the present embodiment may be combined with the third embodiment and also with the second embodiment so that the driving support information distribution device 1b generates the same driving support information as in the first embodiment and transmits it to the traffic control system 2a of the second embodiment.

[0099] As described above, in the present embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the driving support information distribution device 1b extracts information corresponding to requirement items, which are information for determining the necessity of restrictions on the automatic driving or driving support function, from the information providing device. from the acquired information Then, information corresponding to the route information of the vehicle 8b is extracted from the extracted information and transmitted to the vehicle 8b as driving support information. Thereby, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the radio resources used for transmitting the driving support information can be suppressed.

[0100] The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and it is possible to combine them with other known technologies, combine the embodiments with each other, or omit or change a part of the configuration without departing from the gist.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0101] 1, 1a, 1b Driving support information distribution device, 2, 2a Traffic control system, 3 Geographic information providing system, 4 Road information providing system, 5 Weather information providing system, 6 Network, 7 Vehicle transmission information providing device, 8-1 to 8-n, 8a-1 to 8a-n, 8b-1 to 8b-n Vehicles, 11 Information acquisition unit, 12 Requirement item memory unit, 13, 13a, 13b Requirement item extraction unit, 14, 14a Information distribution unit, 15 Characteristic correspondence information memory unit, 21 Driving support information reception unit, 22 Requirement memory unit, 23 Control information distribution unit, 24, 86 Display unit, 25 Determination unit, 81 Communication unit, 82, 82a, 82b Vehicle control unit, 83 Vehicle component parts, 84 In-vehicle sensor, 85 Determination condition memory unit, 87 Input reception unit, 88 Characteristic information memory unit, 90 Road information board.

Claims

1. A driving support information distribution device that distributes driving support information to an autonomous vehicle traveling in a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of information among traffic-related information, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving status of the vehicle; a requirement item storage unit that stores requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving; an information distribution unit that distributes, to the autonomous vehicle, a uniform or vehicle-type-independent restriction on autonomous driving based on the acquired plurality of information and the requirement items; and wherein the restriction on autonomous driving indicates that autonomous driving is impossible. A driving support information distribution device characterized by this.

2. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires the information from a plurality of information providing devices.

3. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of information providing devices are each operated by a different business owner.

4. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of information providing devices are two or more of a traffic control system, a geographic information providing system, a road information providing system, a weather information providing system, a network, and a vehicle-transmitted information providing device.

5. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the traffic-related information includes at least one of traffic jam information, traffic volume, road closure, regulation information, and geographical attributes of each section.

6. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the road design information includes at least one of road shape and road design information.

7. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the weather information includes at least one of current weather, weather forecast, weather-related warnings, and weather-related advisories.

8. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the driving status of the vehicle includes at least one of the measurement result of vibration and the operating status of the vehicle equipment.

9. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the necessity of the restriction on autonomous driving is whether autonomous driving can be safely operated.

10. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the requirement item corresponds to at least one condition among geographical conditions, road conditions, environmental conditions, traffic conditions, and infrastructure coordination conditions.

11. The driving support information distribution device according to claim 10, wherein a determination of non - availability of autonomous driving is made using a plurality of the above - mentioned conditions as the requirement items.

12. The driving support information distribution device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the autonomous driving vehicle traveling at the airport is a towing vehicle.

13. An information providing device, A driving support information distribution device that distributes driving support information to an autonomous driving vehicle traveling at a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, A traffic system comprising: The driving support information distribution device includes: An information acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of information from the information providing device, including information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving status of the vehicle; A requirement item storage unit that stores requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving; An information distribution unit that distributes, to the autonomous driving vehicle, a uniform non - availability regulation for autonomous driving for each vehicle type or regardless of vehicle type, based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and the requirement items; And is provided with: The traffic system, wherein the non - availability regulation for autonomous driving indicates that autonomous driving is not possible.

14. A driving support information distribution method for distributing driving support information to an autonomous driving vehicle traveling at a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, comprising: A step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of information including information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving status of the vehicle; A step of distributing, to the autonomous driving vehicle, a uniform non - availability regulation for autonomous driving for each vehicle type or regardless of vehicle type, based on the acquired plurality of pieces of information and requirement items used for determining the necessity of restrictions on autonomous driving; And is provided with: The driving support information distribution method, wherein the non - availability regulation for autonomous driving indicates that autonomous driving is not possible.

15. A computer program for distributing driving support information to an autonomous driving vehicle traveling at a resort facility, a commercial facility, or an airport, causing a computer to: perform: A step of acquiring a plurality of pieces of information including information related to traffic, road design information, weather information, and information indicating the driving status of the vehicle; Based on the obtained plurality of information and the requirement items used for determining the necessity of the constraints on autonomous driving, a step of distributing to the autonomous vehicle a uniform non-autonomous driving restriction for each vehicle type or a uniform non-autonomous driving restriction regardless of the vehicle type; causing the execution of; A computer program, wherein the non-autonomous driving restriction indicates that autonomous driving is not possible.

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