Map information correction device and map information correction system

Abstract

To make it possible to determine a difference on a map, using an external recognition sensor of a driving vehicle and own-vehicle location estimation information on the basis of existing map information, and transmit the determined difference to a map server.SOLUTION: An on-vehicle map information correction device corrects map information. The map information correction device comprises: a map holding unit (102) that holds map information; a location estimation unit (104) that estimates location information on a vehicle; at least one of a lane change information acquisition unit (106) acquiring lane change information on whether the vehicle changes a lane and a segment line information acquisition unit (105) acquiring category information on a segment line of a road on which the vehicle drives; and a difference determination unit (103) that generates correction information for correcting the map information on the basis of at least one of the location information, the lane change information and the category information on the segment line.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a map information correction device and a map information correction system. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 states that "When map data is corrected on the map database side based on the transmitted map data correction information, the transmitted map data correction information is limited to voice data, and even for the same map data correction information for the same location, different users may have different subjective opinions, viewpoints, and operational actions. Therefore, someone on the map database site that corrects the map data must go to the site to investigate and confirm the actual situation, which often requires a lot of man-hours, resulting in the problem of this." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-341182 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention aims to provide a map information correction device that determines differences between existing map information and map information using an external recognition sensor of a traveling vehicle and vehicle position estimation information, and is able to transmit the differences to a map server, and a map information correction system that corrects the map information based on the differences in the map information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The map information correction device of the present invention, which solves the above problem, is characterized by comprising a map storage unit that stores map information including lane information of a road, a position estimation unit that estimates position information of the vehicle, at least one of a lane change information acquisition unit that acquires lane change information indicating whether the vehicle has changed lanes and a lane line information acquisition unit that acquires information on the type of lane lines on the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and a generation unit that generates correction information for correcting the map information based on the position information and at least one of the lane change information and the lane line type information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present invention, map correction can be performed with fewer steps, and highly reliable map information can be used more easily.

[0007] Further features related to the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings. In addition, problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an in-vehicle terminal. [Figure 2] A diagram of the map server configuration. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart of a difference determination unit. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart of a difference determination unit. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart of a difference determination unit. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart of a difference determination unit. [Figure 7a] Example of map correction information. [Figure 7b] Example of map correction information. [Figure 7c] Example of map correction information. [Figure 8a] Example of map correction information. [Figure 8b] Example of map correction information. [Figure 8c] Example of map correction information. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart of a map correction unit. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart of a map correction unit. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart of a map correction unit. [Figure 12a] An example of corrected map information. [Figure 12b] An example of corrected map information. [Figure 13a] An example of corrected map information. [Figure 13b] An example of corrected map information. [Figure 14a] An example of corrected map information. [Figure 14b] An example of corrected map information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Next, an embodiment of the map information correction device and map information correction system of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a configuration in which the map information correction device and map information correction system of the present invention are applied to a system in which map information is transmitted and received between an in-vehicle terminal and a map server will be described.

[0010] The map information correction system is composed of a plurality of on-board terminals 100 mounted on a plurality of vehicles, respectively, and a map server 200 that transmits and receives map information between the on-board terminals 100. Information communication between the on-board terminals 100 and the map server 200 is carried out via wireless communication lines.

[0011] FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 100. The in-vehicle terminal 100 is configured with hardware such as an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) having a storage device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), and a hard disk, and a software program stored in the storage device and executable by the CPU. Execution of the software program embodies the following internal functions in the in-vehicle terminal 100: a communication unit 101, a map storage unit 102, a difference determination unit 103, a position estimation unit 104, a lane marking information acquisition unit 105, and a lane change information acquisition unit 106. The in-vehicle terminal 100 corresponds to the map information correction device in the claims of the present invention.

[0012] The communication unit 101 communicates with the map server 200 and has the function of acquiring correction information for updating the map information stored in the map storage unit 102 and transmitting the correction information from the difference determination unit 103 to the map server 200. The communication unit 101 corresponds to the in-vehicle transmitter and in-vehicle receiver in the claims of the present invention. The map storage unit 102 stores map information such as a road map on which the vehicle is traveling and has the function of providing the stored map information to other functions of the in-vehicle terminal 100. The map information stored in the map storage unit 102 is, for example, a map used in an automatic driving device, and includes information on branch points and road IDs based on nodes and links. The position estimation unit 104 estimates the road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the map information stored in the map storage unit 102, vehicle state information such as the vehicle tire rotation speed and steering angle (not shown), and IMU and GNSS position information stored in the position estimation unit 104.

[0013] An external environment recognition unit 107 is connected to the in-vehicle terminal 100. The external environment recognition unit 107 is provided inside a measurement device such as a camera or radar mounted on the vehicle. The external environment recognition unit 107 can recognize the state of the external environment, such as road conditions around the vehicle, based on measured information. The external environment recognition unit 107 may be provided in the in-vehicle terminal 100 instead of in the measurement device.

[0014] The lane change information acquisition unit 106 determines whether the vehicle has changed lanes based on the recognition result of the external environment recognition unit 107. For example, if the camera recognizes that the vehicle has crossed the left and right lane markings, it can determine that the vehicle has changed lanes. Note that operation information of the vehicle's turn signal and steering angle may also be added to the factors for determining whether the vehicle has changed lanes.

[0015] The lane marking information acquisition unit 105 acquires information on the types of lane marks on the left and right sides of the vehicle based on the recognition results of the external environment recognition unit 107. A prerequisite is that lane markings that separate the lane markings on the left and right sides of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling are displayed on the road. The lane markings include various types, such as solid, dotted, and long-dashed lines, and colors, such as white and yellow, and various types are indicated by the legal systems of each country. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which a road is driven on the left side, the lane markings indicating the left road edge and the right center line are solid white lines, and the lane markings between the left road edge and the right center line are solid white lines.

[0016] The difference determination unit 103 generates correction information for correcting the map information. The difference determination unit 103 corresponds to the generation unit in the claims of the present invention. The difference determination unit 103 is equipped with multiple difference determination processes and determines whether or not there is a lane change before and after a branch, whether or not there is a change in line type, and the start point of a branching lane. The difference determination unit 103 determines whether or not there is an error in the map information of the map storage unit 102 based on the road on which the vehicle is traveling (which is the vehicle's position estimated by the position estimation unit 104), the type of lane line acquired by the lane line information acquisition unit 105, lane change information acquired by the lane change information acquisition unit 106, and the map information of the map storage unit 102. If there is an error, the difference determination unit 103 transmits information related to the error as correction information from the communication unit 101 to the map server 200. The map server 200 communicates via the communication unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100, and transmits and receives map information and information related to the error to and from the in-vehicle terminal 100. The map server 200 transmits and receives information to and from each of the multiple vehicle-mounted terminals 100 .

[0017] FIG. 3 shows an example of an operation flowchart of the difference determining unit 103. The operation of this flowchart is executed periodically. When the difference determination starts, multiple transmission determinations are performed: transmission determination 1 (S301), transmission determination 2 (S302), and transmission determination 3 (S303). Thereafter, if a "transmit" determination is made in any of transmission determinations 1 to 3 (YES in S304), information is transmitted to the map server 200 (S305). If a "transmit" determination is not made in all of transmission determinations 1 to 3 (NO in S304), no transmission is performed. Note that in this embodiment, an example will be described in which three types of transmission determinations are performed, but one or more types may be used.

[0018] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart relating to the generation and transmission of information for determining the shape of a branching portion as an example of the logic of transmission decision 1 (S301).

[0019] In transmission determination 1, it is determined whether the vehicle is currently traveling at a branching point on the road (S401). The branching point on the road is a location that includes the branch start position of a branch road that branches off from the main road, and is set over a predetermined length in the longitudinal direction of the road using the branch start position as a reference.

[0020] If it is determined in S401 that the vehicle is not traveling at a junction (NO in S401), it is determined whether the current vehicle position is within a predetermined distance X meters (m) from the junction (S402). If the distance from the vehicle to the junction is within the predetermined distance X meters (m), information on the road ID of the road before the junction (before the junction) is saved (S403). Thereafter, the current traveling state of the vehicle is set to traveling at a junction (S404). Then, it is determined that information will not be transmitted (S405), and the determination flow ends. If it is determined that the distance from the vehicle to the junction is farther than the predetermined distance X meters (m) (NO in S402), it is determined that information will not be transmitted (S405), and the determination flow ends.

[0021] If it is determined that the current traveling state of the vehicle is traveling at a junction (YES in S401), it is determined whether the position of the vehicle on the road on which it is currently traveling is a predetermined distance Y meters (m) or more after passing the junction (S406). If it is determined in S406 that the position is not the predetermined distance Y meters (m) or more (NO in S406), that is, if the position of the vehicle is within the predetermined distance Y meters (m) after passing the junction, it is determined whether the vehicle has changed lanes at the junction (S407).

[0022] If the vehicle has not changed lanes (NO in S407), it is determined that information will not be transmitted (S405), and the determination flow ends. If the vehicle has changed lanes (YES in S407), lane change implementation information is saved (S408), it is determined that information will not be transmitted (S405), and the determination flow ends. If the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance Y meters (m) after passing the fork (S406), information after the fork is saved (S409), the current state is set to the state before traveling on the fork (S410), it is determined that information will be transmitted (S411), and the determination flow ends.

[0023] Fig. 7a shows an example of information transmitted in the determination flow of Fig. 4. The transmitted information includes the road ID of the travel road that can identify the road that was traveled before the branch (travel road ID before the branch), the road ID of the travel road after the branch (travel road ID after the branch), and a flag that indicates the lane change status (lane change flag).

[0024] A flowchart relating to the generation and transmission of lane information discrepancy information is shown as an example of the logic of transmission decision 2 (S302) in Fig. 5. Fig. 7b shows an example of information transmitted in the decision flow in Fig. 5.

[0025] In transmission decision 2, it is determined whether the road information for the currently traveling road contains a pattern for the type of lane markings on the left and right sides of the vehicle that are currently recognized (S501). If the traveling road contains the lane marking type, that is, if there is a matching pattern (NO in S501), the pre-mismatch lane marking type information is saved (S502), a decision is made not to send the information (S503), and the decision flow ends. Here, an overwrite process is performed to use the information acquired in the previous program cycle. On the other hand, if the traveling road does not contain the lane marking type, that is, if there is no matching pattern (YES in S501), the post-mismatch lane marking type information and position information are saved (S504), a decision is made to send the information (S505), and the decision flow ends. Here, if it is determined that the patterns are different, a process is performed to rewrite the lane marking type and position information.

[0026] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart relating to the generation and transmission of lane increase position determination information as an example of the logic of transmission determination 3 (S303).

[0027] In transmission decision 3, it is determined whether the previous information on the left and right lane marking types was a road edge (S601). For example, in this embodiment, if the information on the lane marking type for the line on the left side of the lane in which the vehicle is traveling is a solid white line, it is determined that the lane is a road edge (YES in S601).

[0028] Thereafter, it is determined whether a lane change has been performed (S602). For example, if it is determined based on an image captured by a camera that the vehicle is crossing a lane marking, it is determined that a lane change has been performed. Then, it is determined whether the information on the lane marking type this time is other than the road edge (S603). Then, based on the map information stored in the map storage unit 102, it is determined whether there is lane increase information in the map information for the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling (S604). If all the determinations in S601 to S604 are YES, it is determined that information should be transmitted (S605). If any one of the determinations in S601 to S604 is NO, it is determined that information should not be transmitted (S606).

[0029] FIG. 7c shows an example of information to be transmitted in the flowchart of FIG. The information sent includes information on the changes in the type of lane markings on the left and right sides, as well as the road ID and latitude / longitude where the change was detected.

[0030] Next, the configuration of the map server 200 is shown in FIG. The map server 200 is composed of hardware and software programs, and its internal functions include a communication unit 201, a map correction information storage unit 202, a map correction unit 203, and a map memory unit 204. The communication unit 201 communicates with multiple in-vehicle terminals 100, for example, via a wireless communication network, and transmits map information from the map storage unit 204 to the in-vehicle terminals 100 and receives map correction information from the in-vehicle terminals 100. The communication unit 201 corresponds to the server-side receiving unit and server-side transmitting unit in the claims of the present invention. The map correction information storage unit 202 stores map correction information transmitted from the in-vehicle terminals 100 and outputs it to the map correction unit 203. The map correction information storage unit 202 collects map correction information transmitted from the in-vehicle terminals 100 of multiple vehicles. The map correction unit 203 corrects map information using the correction information from the map correction information storage unit 202 and the map information from the map memory unit 204, and stores the corrected map information in the map memory unit 204. The map storage unit 204 stores map information and transmits the map information to the in-vehicle terminal 100 via the map correction unit 203 and the communication unit 201 .

[0031] 9, 10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the map correction operation of the map correction unit 203. FIG. 9 shows the determination of the correction of the branch shape of the road.

[0032] In the road correction determination, map correction information including the roads before and after the branch to be evaluated is extracted (S901), as shown in FIG. 8A. Then, a determination process (S902) is performed to determine whether the road IDs before and after the branch, where the vehicle is traveling without changing lanes, are connected by a main road, and whether the connection between the road IDs is a main road or a branch. Then, a determination is made based on the map information to see if the shape of the roads connected by the main road matches (S903). Then, a determination is made as to whether the evaluation data matches the map shape (S904). If they match, the process ends without correction, but if they do not match, the map is corrected (S905).

[0033] FIG. 8a shows the acquired map correction information, FIG. 12a shows an image of the map before correction, and FIG. 12b shows an image of the map after correction. The information for Cases 1 to 3 shown in FIG. 8a is information extracted for the same location from map correction information transmitted by multiple vehicles and stored in the map correction information storage unit 202. According to the map correction information in FIG. 8a, in Case 1, since the lane change flag is not present, it is determined that road ID: AAAA and road ID: BBBB are connected by a main line. In Case 2, since the lane change flag is set to right, it is determined that road ID: AAAA and road ID: CCCC are not connected by a main line. For example, if the map information stored in the map storage unit 204 at that time indicates that road ID: BBBB is a branch lane from road ID: AAAA as shown in FIG. 12a, it is corrected to indicate that road ID: BBBB is a main line and is connected to road ID: AAAA, as shown in FIG. 12b.

[0034] FIG. 10 shows the correction determination of the position where a road branch lane occurs. First, the system extracts lane type mismatch locations (S1001), and determines whether the extracted mismatch locations have changed from a road edge type to a road center type (S1002). Here, it determines whether the type of lane marking has changed, for example, from a solid line indicating a road edge to a dashed line indicating a lane marking in the road center. Then, it reads map information from the map storage unit 204 and determines whether there is a branch point ahead of the vehicle position (S1003). If both the determinations in S1002 and S1003 are YES, the system corrects the map information (S1004); if at least one of them is NO, the system does not correct the map information. This process allows the road shape to be corrected to the correct road shape, for example, when the location where the road branch lane stored in the map storage unit 204 actually occurs is further forward.

[0035] FIG. 8b shows the acquired map correction information, FIG. 13a shows an image of the map before the location of the road branching lane is corrected, and FIG. 13b shows an image of the map after the location of the road branching lane is corrected. From the lane type information in FIG. 8b and the map information in FIG. 13a, it is determined that the addition of a branching lane begins at the position of road ID: DDDD. As a result, the location of the road branching lane is corrected from the position shown in FIG. 13a to the position of road ID: DDDD shown in FIG. 13b.

[0036] FIG. 11 shows the determination of correction of lane type information. When the determination starts, the lane type mismatch points are extracted (S1101). Then, the map information is corrected (S1102). This allows the road shape information to be corrected to the correct road shape information.

[0037] Fig. 8c shows the acquired map correction information, Fig. 14a shows an image of the map before correction, and Fig. 14b shows an image of the map after correction. Based on the change points in the lane type information in Fig. 8c and the map information in Fig. 14a, it is determined that the lane marking type information has changed to a solid line from the position of road ID: AAAA, and the map information is corrected as shown in Fig. 14b.

[0038] According to the present invention, map accuracy can be improved using simple information such as vehicle position information and lane change information or lane marking type information. Furthermore, even if construction work is carried out that changes the road connection configuration or lane marking type without changing the road connection relationships, highly reliable map information can be provided by obtaining and correcting the differences between the real world and the map information using the above method. Furthermore, corrections can be made even if there are errors in the created map information itself.

[0039] In this embodiment, an example has been described in which the difference determination unit 103 determines the difference from the map information using information acquired by the lane marking information acquisition unit 105 and the lane change information acquisition unit 106 in the in-vehicle terminal 100, but the difference may be determined using only one of the pieces of information. Also, in this embodiment, correction is performed if there is at least one piece of difference information, but in consideration of the possibility of an abnormality in the external sensor, the threshold for performing correction may be changed, such as performing correction when the difference determination result exceeds a certain amount.

[0040] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention as defined in the claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 100: In-vehicle terminal, 102: Map storage unit, 103: Difference determination unit (generation unit), 104: Position estimation unit, 105: Lane line information acquisition unit, 106: Lane change information acquisition unit, 107: External environment recognition unit, 200: Map server, 202: Map correction information storage unit, 203: Map correction unit, 204: Map storage unit

Claims

1. An in-vehicle map information correction device that corrects map information, a map storage unit that stores the map information; a position estimation unit that estimates position information of a vehicle; a lane change information acquisition unit that acquires lane change information indicating whether the vehicle has changed lanes, and a demarcation line information acquisition unit that acquires type information of demarcation lines that demarcate the lane in which the vehicle is traveling on the road; a generation unit that generates correction information for correcting the map information based on the position information, the lane change information, and the lane marking type information; Equipped with The generation unit generates the correction information to correct the position where a road branching lane from the road occurs to a point where the type of the dividing line indicates a point other than the road edge when the type of the dividing line of the road determined last time indicates a road edge, the vehicle has not changed lanes, the type of the dividing line of the road determined this time indicates a point other than the road edge, and there is no information about an increase in lanes on the road.

2. A map information correction system including a map information correction device mounted on a vehicle to correct map information, and a map server that transmits and receives map information to and from the map information correction device, The map information correction device a map storage unit that stores the map information; a position estimation unit that estimates position information of the vehicle; a lane change information acquisition unit that acquires lane change information indicating whether the vehicle has changed lanes, and a demarcation line information acquisition unit that acquires type information of demarcation lines that demarcate the lane in which the vehicle is traveling on the road; a generation unit that generates correction information for correcting the map information based on the position information, the lane change information, and the lane marking type information; an in-vehicle transmitter that transmits the correction information to the map server, the generation unit generates the correction information for correcting the position where a road branching lane occurs from the road to a point where the type of the dividing line indicates a point other than the road edge, when the type of the dividing line of the road determined last time indicates a road edge, the vehicle has not changed lanes, the type of the dividing line of the road determined currently indicates a point other than the road edge, and there is no information about an increase in lanes on the road; The map server a map storage unit that stores the map information; a server-side receiving unit that receives the correction information from the map information correction device; a map correction unit that corrects the map information based on the correction information, the map correction unit determines whether the road branching lane is located ahead of the position of the vehicle on the road in the map information, and if the road branching lane is located, corrects the occurrence position of the road branching lane to a position where the type of the dividing line indicates something other than the road edge.

3. the map server includes a server-side transmitting unit that transmits the map information corrected by the map correction unit to the map information correction device; 3. The map information correction system according to claim 2, wherein the map information correction device includes an in-vehicle receiving unit that receives the corrected map information from the map server, and updates the map information stored in the map storage unit based on the corrected map information received by the in-vehicle receiving unit.

4. The map information correction device is mounted on a plurality of vehicles, a map correction information storage unit of the map server collecting the plurality of pieces of correction information transmitted from the map information correction devices of the plurality of vehicles; 3. The map information correction system according to claim 2, wherein the map correction unit corrects the map information using correction information for the same location from the plurality of pieces of correction information collected in the map correction information storage unit.

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