Method and apparatus for controlling acceleration and deceleration characteristics of a vehicle

Abstract

To optimize the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of a vehicle with respect to an operation input of a driver, according to a terrain, a traffic environment, etc.SOLUTION: A vehicle has an information acquisition device 2, such as a camera and a radar, and a GPS system 3, and an acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 acquires information such as terrain, traffic environment, signal, sign, weather, and surrounding building. The acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 calculates an optimum acceleration / deceleration, based on these pieces of information and corrects the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of the vehicle with respect to an operation input of a driver via an accelerator pedal 9 and a brake pedal 10. A target acceleration / deceleration is achieved via an internal combustion engine 1 and the brake device 7.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control that automatically changes the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of a vehicle in response to an operational input by a driver via, for example, an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, or the like. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a control device for an electric vehicle in which a plurality of functions defining the correspondence relationship between accelerator pedal position and vehicle acceleration are stored in advance in a storage means, and the driver can select one of them. Patent Document 1 further discloses that the motor torque is corrected according to the road gradient so that the same acceleration and deceleration can be obtained on uphill and downhill roads as on flat roads. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-331604 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] For example, if the vehicle's acceleration / deceleration response to the driver's operation input of the accelerator pedal or brake pedal is high, the vehicle's behavior may become difficult to handle on winding roads, mountain passes, etc. Patent Document 1 corrects the motor torque according to the road gradient, but this merely prevents the functional relationship between the accelerator pedal position and the vehicle acceleration from changing regardless of the road gradient (the influence of the vehicle weight), and does not disclose changing the acceleration / deceleration characteristics according to the road conditions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] This invention is a vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic in response to an operation input by a driver. , in accordance with at least one piece of information among terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, and surrounding buildings, A method for controlling acceleration / deceleration characteristics of a vehicle that is automatically changed, comprising: learn by associating the tendency of the driver's operation input with each piece of information, and correct the acceleration / deceleration characteristics using this learning result, determine whether there are few corrective operations by the driver with respect to the behavior actually occurring in the vehicle due to this automatically changed acceleration / deceleration characteristic, if there are many corrective operations, perform relearning assuming that the learning was inappropriate.

Advantages of the Invention

[0006] According to this invention, After appropriately learning the tendency of the driver's operation input, it is possible to obtain optimal acceleration and deceleration characteristics according to the situation such as the terrain on which the vehicle travels, and the driving of the vehicle becomes more comfortable.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

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Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle control device according to this invention. The vehicle is, for example, an automobile having an internal combustion engine 1 as a driving source for traveling, and basically, it is driven by a driver. And, as a so-called driving support system, it has several functions including the acceleration and deceleration characteristic control of this invention.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the vehicle is provided with a plurality of information acquisition devices 2 in order to acquire various information necessary for the driving support system, such as information regarding other vehicles, obstacles, etc. in front of the host vehicle, identification of signals and signs, and the situation on the side and even behind. The information acquisition device 2 is, for example, a front recognition camera for recognizing the situation ahead, a side recognition camera for recognizing the side, a millimeter-wave radar or a lidar (LiDAR) for detecting an object ahead, etc., and generally these are used in an appropriate combination. Note that the information acquisition device 2 may be one.

[0011] Further, the vehicle is provided with a GPS system 3 including high-precision map information in order to obtain information on the road on which the host vehicle is traveling. In addition, it may have a connected system that constantly exchanges various information with the outside using an information communication function as a so-called connected car. Also, in order to detect the driving information of the host vehicle, for example, a vehicle speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed, an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration (including deceleration) of the vehicle, a rotational speed sensor for detecting the rotational speed of the internal combustion engine 1, etc., several sensors (not shown) are also provided.

[0012] The information output by these information acquisition sensors 2, sensors for host vehicle information (not shown), the GPS system 3, etc. is input to an acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 including a driving support controller 4. The acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 is configured to include an engine controller 6 that controls the output or torque of the internal combustion engine 1 and a brake controller 8 that controls the brake device 7 of the vehicle. Information on the opening or depression amount of the accelerator pedal 9 and the brake pedal 10, which are input members operated by the driver, is input to the acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5. The driving support controller 4 has a plurality of driving support functions for assisting the driving operation by the driver. For example, an auto cruise control function for automatically controlling the vehicle speed without depending on the accelerator operation, a lane departure prevention function for detecting the lane and warning or avoiding lane departure, an automatic brake control function for avoiding or reducing a possible collision, etc. are realized by the driving support controller 4.

[0013] The acceleration / deceleration unit 11 that realizes the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle is configured to include the internal combustion engine 1 and the brake device 7 described above. During the execution of the acceleration / deceleration characteristic control that automatically changes the acceleration / deceleration characteristics according to the situation, the acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 gives an instruction value of the target acceleration (that is, driving force) or deceleration (that is, braking force) to the acceleration / deceleration unit 11 so that appropriate acceleration / deceleration characteristics can be obtained for the operation input of the driver's accelerator pedal 9 or brake pedal 10. That is, the internal combustion engine 1 and the brake device 7 are controlled via the engine controller 6 and the brake controller 8, and the target acceleration or deceleration is realized. Note that the deceleration can also be obtained by the so-called engine braking action of the internal combustion engine 1.

[0014] FIG. 2 shows an example of the information acquisition device 2 mounted on the vehicle. As the information acquisition device 2, a front recognition camera 22 directed forward of the vehicle body 21, a wide-angle side recognition camera 23 that is also directed forward of the vehicle body 21 and has a wide viewing angle, a pair of side recognition cameras 24 provided toward the side of the vehicle body 21, a radar 25 directed forward of the vehicle body 21, etc. are provided. The front recognition camera 22 and the wide-angle side recognition camera 23 are integrated as one module. In addition, FIG. 2 also exemplifies the positions of the acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 and the controller of the GPS system 3.

[0015] Based on the detection information of the above information acquisition device 2, the information of the GPS system 3, and further the information from the connected system, etc., the acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 5 can obtain information regarding the terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, surrounding buildings, etc. According to these information, the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of the vehicle with respect to the operation input of the driver are changed. The information on the terrain includes whether it is a straight road or a curved road, the curvature of the road, and the gradient of the road. The information on the traffic environment includes intersections, traffic volume, whether it is an urban area or not, whether it is a mountainous area or not, whether it is a highway or not, whether there is a traffic jam or not, whether it is one-way or not, the presence or absence of obstacles, the inter-vehicle distance from other vehicles, the relative vehicle speed with other vehicles, the acceleration of other vehicles, the average speed of the traffic flow in front of the own vehicle, the congestion situation of the vehicle, the number of lanes, etc. Note that the present invention is not necessarily limited to using all of these information.

[0016] When determining terrain information, signal information, road sign information, traffic environment information, and weather on the host vehicle side, for example, the above-described camera, image processing technology, and machine learning can be combined for determination. When using a connected system, these information can also be determined by receiving surrounding information from the outside. In addition, by combining the detection information of the above-described camera, radar or lidar (LiDAR) with three-dimensional map information and using a so-called SLAM technology, it is also possible to determine the surrounding terrain.

[0017] As sign information, mainly, information on speed limits related to vehicle behavior and signs for temporary stops are acquired. As weather information, it is mainly preferable to acquire information on the presence or absence of snow or rain and further the amount thereof. Examples of building information include hospitals, schools, museums, fire departments, police stations, and the like. This building information can be obtained, for example, from the map information of the GPS system 3.

[0018] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of state transition of the first embodiment. When the driver turns off the function of automatically correcting acceleration / deceleration characteristics, the vehicle is driven in a correction control non-operation mode M1. At this time, the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle occurs with reference characteristics (reference correlation) in response to the driver's operation input by the accelerator pedal 9 or the like. When the driver turns on the function of automatically correcting acceleration / deceleration characteristics, a transition is made to a correction control operation mode M2, and a control operation phase M21 is entered. If the function of automatically correcting acceleration / deceleration characteristics is turned off, the correction control non-operation mode M1 is entered again. Note that an appropriate switch or the like can be provided for the above on / off selection.

[0019] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing flow during the control operation phase M21 in this first embodiment. In step 1, information such as the above-described terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, and surrounding buildings is acquired or detected. Next, in step 2, an optimal acceleration / deceleration is calculated based on the acquired information. Then, in step 3, the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of the vehicle with respect to the driver's operation input to the accelerator pedal 9 or the like are corrected in consideration of this optimal acceleration / deceleration.

[0020] For example, when a vehicle generally enters a curved road, the driver tries to decelerate the vehicle. However, if the actual deceleration of the vehicle is insufficient with respect to the curvature of the curved road, it becomes necessary to step on the brake pedal 10 in the middle of the curved road. Conversely, if the actual deceleration of the vehicle is excessive, it becomes necessary to step on the accelerator pedal 9 in the middle of the curved road, and thus a smooth vehicle behavior cannot be obtained. In the above embodiment, the deceleration of the vehicle is corrected based on the curvature of the curved road that the vehicle is about to enter, and smooth driving becomes possible.

[0021] Regarding weather information, for example, when snow is detected, in order to suppress slipping, the response of acceleration and deceleration to the driver's operation input is reduced so that sudden acceleration and sudden deceleration do not occur. The amount of snowfall may be further considered.

[0022] Regarding the traffic environment including other vehicles, for example, when the relative speed with the preceding vehicle is large (the speed of the host vehicle is high with respect to the speed of the preceding vehicle), correction is made so that the vehicle deceleration becomes large when the accelerator pedal 9 is released or returned. Conversely, when the acceleration of the preceding vehicle is large, correction is made so that the responsiveness of the acceleration to the driver's accelerator operation becomes high, and the followability with respect to the preceding vehicle can be enhanced.

[0023] Also, when it is determined from the congestion situation around the vehicle that the vehicles are crowded, since a high deceleration such as an emergency stop may be required, correction is made so that the vehicle deceleration becomes large when the accelerator pedal 9 is released or returned.

[0024] Regarding buildings, for example, when a school or a hospital is detected, since the passage of children and hospital users is predicted, the responsiveness to the operation input is corrected so that sudden acceleration does not occur.

[0025] Next, a second embodiment will be described based on FIGS. 5 to 7. The second embodiment learns the tendency of the driver's operation input in association with each piece of information, and corrects the acceleration / deceleration characteristics using the learning result.

[0026] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the state transition of the second embodiment. When the driver turns off the function of automatically correcting the acceleration / deceleration characteristics, the vehicle is operated in the correction control non-operation mode M1. At this time, the acceleration / deceleration of the vehicle occurs according to the reference characteristics (reference correlation) in response to the driver's operation input by the accelerator pedal 9 or the like. When the driver turns on the function of automatically correcting the acceleration / deceleration characteristics, the vehicle transitions to the correction control operation mode M2. In the second embodiment, the correction control operation mode M2 includes a learning phase M22 for learning the tendency of the driver's operation input and a control operation phase M21 that utilizes the learning result. When the learning is completed in the learning phase M22, the vehicle transitions to the control operation phase M21. If re-learning is required during the control operation phase M21, the vehicle transitions to the learning phase M22.

[0027] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing flow during the learning phase M22 of the second embodiment. In step 11, it is determined whether the driver is operating the accelerator pedal 9 or the like. If YES, the process proceeds to step 12 to create records of the operation amounts of the accelerator pedal 9 and the brake pedal 10, the vehicle speed, the acceleration, etc. by the driver. At this time, each record is created in association with information such as the terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, surrounding buildings, etc. described above. In step 13, it is determined whether the record amount has been sufficiently accumulated, and steps 11 and 12 are repeated until sufficient records are collected. When a sufficient amount of records is accumulated, the process proceeds to step 14 to determine the driver's characteristics in association with information such as the terrain.

[0028] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing flow during the control operation phase M21 of the second embodiment. First, it is determined at step 21 whether learning has been completed. If learning is not complete, it waits until learning is completed. If learning has been completed, it proceeds to step 22 to obtain or detect information such as the terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, surrounding buildings, etc. described above. Next, at step 23, based on the acquired information and the learning result (the tendency of the driver's operation), the optimal acceleration and deceleration are calculated. Then, at step 24, considering this optimal acceleration and deceleration, the acceleration and deceleration characteristics of the vehicle with respect to the driver's operation input such as the accelerator pedal 9 are corrected.

[0029] For example, in a certain situation, if it is shown from the learning result that the driver prefers a high response to the operation input, the acceleration and deceleration characteristics of the vehicle are corrected so that a relatively high response can be obtained.

[0030] In the next step 25, it is determined whether there are few correction operations by the driver with respect to the behavior (acceleration and deceleration) actually occurring in the vehicle. If there are many correction operations, it proceeds to step 26 to perform re-learning. That is, if the actual acceleration based on the acceleration and deceleration characteristics automatically corrected using information such as the terrain and the learning result is too small with respect to the initial driver's operation input, for example, stepping on the accelerator pedal 9, the driver further increases the opening degree of the accelerator pedal 9. Conversely, if the actual acceleration is too large, the driver performs a correction operation such as stepping on the brake pedal 10. If there are many such correction operations, there may be a possibility that the learning was inappropriate, so re-learning is performed.

[0031] As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

[0032] For example, the vehicle in the above embodiment uses the internal combustion engine 1 as the driving source for running, but the acceleration and deceleration characteristic control of the present invention can be similarly applied to hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. In hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, deceleration can also be obtained by regenerative braking.

[0033] Further, it may be configured such that an acceleration operation and a deceleration operation can be performed with a single pedal without separately providing an accelerator pedal 9 and a brake pedal 10.

[0034] In the above-described embodiments, a number of information acquisition devices 2 and information have been exemplified. However, the present invention does not necessarily require all devices and information, and it is sufficient to acquire at least one piece of information related to acceleration / deceleration characteristics.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0035] 1... Internal combustion engine 2... Information acquisition device 3... GPS system 4... Driving support controller 5... Acceleration / deceleration calculation unit 6... Engine controller 7... Brake device 8... Brake controller 9... Accelerator pedal 10... Brake pedal

Claims

1. A vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method that automatically changes the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of a vehicle according to at least one piece of information among terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, and surrounding buildings in response to an operation input by a driver, comprising: learning the tendency of the driver's operation input in association with each piece of information, and correcting the acceleration / deceleration characteristics using the learning result; determining whether there are few corrective operations by the driver with respect to the behavior actually occurring in the vehicle due to the automatically changed acceleration / deceleration characteristics; when there are many corrective operations, performing re-learning assuming that the learning was inappropriate; A vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method.

2. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration / deceleration characteristics are changed according to terrain information.

3. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration / deceleration characteristics are changed according to terrain and traffic environment information.

4. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration / deceleration characteristics are changed according to terrain, traffic environment, signal, and sign information.

5. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration / deceleration characteristics are changed according to terrain, traffic environment, signal, sign, weather, and surrounding building information.

6. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the terrain information includes at least one of whether it is a straight road or a curved road, the curvature of the road, and the gradient of the road.

7. The vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control method according to any one of claims 1, 3 to 5, wherein the traffic environment information includes at least one of traffic volume, whether it is an urban area, whether it is a mountainous area, whether it is a highway, whether it is one-way, the presence or absence of obstacles, the distance between the vehicle and other vehicles, the relative vehicle speed with other vehicles, the acceleration of other vehicles, the average speed of the traffic flow in front of the own vehicle, the congestion situation of the vehicle, and the number of lanes.

8. An input device operated by a driver for vehicle acceleration and deceleration; A drive device for driving the vehicle; An information acquisition device that acquires at least one piece of information among terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, and surrounding buildings; A controller that automatically changes the acceleration / deceleration characteristics of the vehicle with respect to the operation input by the driver according to at least one piece of information among the acquired terrain, traffic environment, signals, signs, weather, and surrounding buildings; Comprising: The controller: learns the tendency of the driver's operation input in association with each piece of information, and corrects the acceleration / deceleration characteristics using the learning result; Determine whether there are few driver's corrective operations on the actual vehicle behavior due to this automatically changed acceleration / deceleration characteristic, If there are many corrective operations, relearning is performed assuming that the learning was inappropriate. A vehicle acceleration / deceleration characteristic control device.

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