Operation plan management device, operation plan management system, operation plan management method and program

Abstract

An operation plan management device (1) according to the present disclosure manages an operation plan for vehicles (2) that transport a passenger or a cargo, said operation plan management device (1) comprising: an information acquisition unit (11) that acquires intersection area information including information which indicates the location of an intersection area that is a site where intersecting travel of the vehicles (2) may affect the traveling of the vehicles (2); and an operation plan creation unit (12) that uses vehicle stop information pertaining to a vehicle stop for the vehicles (2) and the intersection area information and creates an operation plan such that the effect of intersecting travel of the vehicles (2) at the intersection area on the traveling of the vehicles (2) is avoided.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an operation plan management device that manages vehicle operation plans, an operation plan management system, a bus stop terminal, a vehicle, an operation plan management method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Vehicles traveling on roads may be affected by the relative positions of other vehicles. For example, when traveling on a narrow road, if there is an oncoming vehicle, it may be necessary to take measures such as waiting in a place where it can evacuate.

[0003] Patent document 1 discloses a base station equipped with a control unit that determines a priority vehicle from among multiple vehicles traveling on a road and controls oncoming vehicles other than the priority vehicle to stop in a bidirectional section (a section where traffic in both the first and second directions is possible at the same time) before the priority vehicle approaches oncoming vehicles other than the priority vehicle. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2020 / 262425 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, while the technology described in Patent Document 1 can reduce delays for priority vehicles, oncoming vehicles are forced to stop or slow down until they pass the priority vehicle, preventing smooth travel. Therefore, when two vehicles with scheduled operations are facing each other, one of the vehicles will have to stop or slow down, and the vehicle that stopped or slowed down will be delayed in arriving at the stop, preventing operation according to the operation plan.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide an operation plan management device that can reduce delays from the operation plan caused by intersections between vehicles traveling according to the operation plan. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, an operation plan management device according to the present disclosure is an operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of vehicles transporting passengers or cargo, and includes: an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; and an operation plan creation unit that uses the intersection area information and stop information, which is information about stops, to create an operation plan such that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles. ,Intersection area includes bottlenecks . [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] An operation plan management device according to the present disclosure has an effect of being able to suppress delays from the operation plan that occur due to intersections between vehicles traveling according to the operation plan. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an operation plan management system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an operation plan creation unit according to the first embodiment; [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in an overlapping point estimation unit according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of overlapping points estimated by an overlapping point estimation unit according to the first embodiment; [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in a determination unit according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of bottleneck information according to the first embodiment; [Figure 7]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of bottlenecks and overlapping points according to the first embodiment; [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of vehicles intersecting at a matching point in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the correction unit according to the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of correcting departure times at bus stops according to the first embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of correcting departure times at bus stops according to the first embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an operation plan management system according to a first embodiment in which bottleneck route information is generated by an operation plan management device. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the extraction unit according to the first embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing in an operation plan management device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a computer system that realizes an operation plan management device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an operation plan management system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an operation plan creation unit according to a second embodiment; [Figure 18] A diagram illustrating the effect of crossing vehicles at an intersection [Figure 19] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in a determination unit according to a third embodiment. [Figure 20] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in a determination unit according to a third embodiment. [Figure 21] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of intersection information according to the third embodiment. [Figure 22] A diagram showing an example of a temporary operation plan when corrections are required [Figure 23] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing in an operation plan management device according to a third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] An operation plan management device, an operation plan management system, a bus stop terminal, a vehicle, an operation plan management method, and a program according to embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an operation plan management system according to a first embodiment. The operation plan management system 100 of this embodiment includes a vehicle 2 that transports passengers or cargo, an operation plan management device 1 that manages the operation plan of the vehicle 2, and a bus stop terminal 3 installed at a bus stop for the vehicle 2. The vehicle 2 may transport at least one of passengers and cargo, or may transport both passengers and cargo. The vehicle 2 of this embodiment is, for example, a community bus, a route bus, or a taxi with a set operation plan, but is not limited to these as long as it runs according to an operation plan. It may also be a drone or a robot with a set operation route and operation plan.

[0012] In Fig. 1, two vehicles 2 are shown, but it is sufficient that there are multiple vehicles 2, and the number of vehicles 2 is not limited to the example shown in Fig. 1. Also, in Fig. 1, two bus stop terminals 3 are shown, but it is sufficient that there is a bus stop terminal 3 provided for each bus stop, and the number of bus stop terminals 3 is not limited to the example shown in Fig. 1.

[0013] The vehicle 2 is, for example, an autonomous vehicle, but is not limited to this and may be a manually driven vehicle driven by a driver. The type (model) of the vehicle 2 is, for example, a bus, a passenger car, a cart, a PMV (Personal Mobility Vehicle), etc., but these may be mixed. The type of the vehicle 2 is not limited to the above-mentioned examples. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the vehicle 2 is an autonomous vehicle.

[0014] The vehicle 2 travels according to the operation plan created by the operation plan management device 1. The vehicle 2 includes a transmission / reception unit 21, a travel control unit 22, and a self-location identification unit 23. The transmission / reception unit 21 communicates with the operation plan management device 1 to transmit and receive information to and from the operation plan management device 1. For example, the transmission / reception unit 21 receives an operation plan from the operation plan management device 1 and outputs the received operation plan to the travel control unit 22. The transmission / reception unit 21 may also receive control information for controlling the travel of the vehicle 2 from the operation plan management device 1 and output the received control information to the travel control unit 22.

[0015] The self-location identifying unit 23 identifies the position of the vehicle 2 and outputs position information indicating the identified position to the traveling control unit 22. As the self-location identifying unit 23, a GPS receiver that performs GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning or the like can be used, but is not limited to this.

[0016] The driving control unit 22 controls the driving of the vehicle 2 by autonomous driving using the position information received from the self-location identification unit 23 and the operation plan received from the transmission / reception unit 21. For example, the driving control unit 22 controls a driving mechanism (not shown) based on information acquired by sensors (not shown) such as a camera for detecting obstacles, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and a millimeter-wave sensor, the position information received from the self-location identification unit 23, and map information (not shown). The driving mechanism is a mechanism for driving the vehicle 2, and includes, for example, a plurality of mechanisms for driving the vehicle 2, such as an accelerator operation device such as an accelerator pedal, a steering device, and a brake, but the configuration of the driving mechanism is not limited to these. When the vehicle 2 is a manually driven vehicle, for example, the vehicle 2 displays an operation plan, and the driver drives the vehicle 2 according to the operation plan, causing the vehicle 2 to drive according to the operation plan.

[0017] The operation plan management device 1 creates an operation plan for the vehicle 2 for a target creation period, which is a period for which the operation plan is created. The target creation period may be, for example, one day (the time period during which the vehicle 2 provides service), or one hour, two hours, etc. The target creation period is not limited to these examples. The operation plan may include, for example, the departure time from each stop for each trip. The operation plan may also include identification information of the vehicle 2 for each trip. Furthermore, if there are multiple routes for which the operation plan is to be created, the operation plan may also include information indicating the routes. Note that, if the routes are defined, information indicating which roads the vehicle 2 will travel on for each route may be included in the operation plan, or may be included in map information stored in the storage unit 13, which will be described later. Alternatively, route information indicating which roads the vehicle 2 will travel on for each route may be stored in the storage unit 13 separately from the map information. Furthermore, if the route of the vehicle 2 is not defined, the operation plan may also include information indicating the route (travel route) between stops, i.e., which roads the vehicle 2 will travel on between stops.

[0018] In the following, an example will be described in which the identification information of vehicle 2 is a vehicle identification number that identifies vehicle 2; however, the identification information of vehicle 2 is not limited to the vehicle identification number. Vehicle information is information related to vehicles 2 that are the subject of an operation plan, and includes at least vehicle width information that indicates the vehicle width of each vehicle 2. Vehicle width information may be information that indicates the vehicle width itself, or information that indicates the vehicle model (vehicle model of vehicle 2). In the latter case, the vehicle information further includes information that indicates the vehicle width for each vehicle model. Furthermore, the vehicle information may include information that indicates the vehicle model and vehicle width for each vehicle 2. For example, the vehicle information is information that associates the vehicle identification number with the vehicle model and vehicle width, but is not limited to this. Stop information is information related to stops for vehicle 2, and stops are locations on the route traveled by vehicle 2 where passengers board and disembark, or where cargo is loaded and unloaded, shipped, and received. The stop information includes at least information that indicates the location of each stop. Map information is information that indicates a map including roads, and includes at least road width information that indicates the width of the roads. The map information may also include information that indicates the terrain.

[0019] The operation plan management device 1 includes an information acquisition unit 11, an operation plan creation unit 12, a storage unit 13, and an output unit 14. The storage unit 13 stores an operation plan, vehicle information, stop information, and map information.

[0020] The information acquisition unit 11 acquires information by at least one of accepting input of information from an administrator of the operation plan management device 1 or receiving information from another device. When receiving information from another device, the information acquisition unit 11 may acquire the information from the other device by transmitting an acquisition request to the other device to request acquisition of the information. The other device may be a server that stores various types of information, or a terminal device operated by the administrator.

[0021] The information acquisition unit 11, for example, acquires bottleneck information and outputs the acquired bottleneck information to the operation plan creation unit 12. The bottleneck information is information about bottlenecks, which are locations where the road width is narrow and makes it difficult for the vehicles 2 to travel. The bottleneck information may be input by an administrator or transmitted from another device (not shown). A bottleneck is an example of an intersection area, which is a location where the intersection of vehicles 2 may affect the travel of the vehicles 2, and the bottleneck information is an example of intersection area information related to the intersection area. The information acquisition unit 11 is an example of an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information. Note that an intersection here means that the paths of multiple vehicles 2 intersect or overlap. The bottleneck information includes at least information indicating the position of the bottleneck. The bottleneck information may be generated for each combination of vehicle widths of the vehicles 2. Details of the bottleneck information will be described later. Note that, as will be described later, the bottleneck information may be generated based on map information and vehicle information stored in the storage unit 13.

[0022] The operation plan creation unit 12 uses the intersection area information and the stop information to create an operation plan so as to avoid the impact on the traveling of the vehicles 2 of intersections between the vehicles 2 in the intersection area. For example, the operation plan creation unit 12 uses bottleneck information, which is an example of intersection area information, to create an operation plan so as to avoid the vehicles 2 of crossing each other at the bottleneck when the vehicles 2 satisfy an intersection restriction condition related to the bottleneck, and outputs the created operation plan to the output unit 14. In other words, when the intersection area is a bottleneck, the operation plan creation unit 12 creates an operation plan so that the vehicles 2 do not have difficulty passing each other at the bottleneck. The intersection restriction condition is a condition under which the intersection between the vehicles 2 affects the traveling of the vehicles 2, in other words, a condition under which an intersection restriction condition is necessary. For example, the intersection restriction condition is a condition under which it is difficult for the vehicles 2 to pass each other at the bottleneck, and more specifically, a condition under which the value obtained by adding the vehicle widths of the oncoming vehicles 2 to a predetermined value (corresponding to the width of the margin for passing each other) is equal to or greater than the road width of the bottleneck. For example, the operation plan creation unit 12 creates an operation plan so that the oncoming vehicles 2 arrive at the bottleneck at different times. The operation plan creation unit 12 may use bottleneck information and vehicle information to determine whether the intersection restriction condition is satisfied, taking into account the vehicle width of the oncoming vehicle 2. Details of the operation plan creation process in the operation plan creation unit 12 will be described later.

[0023] If vehicles 2 collide in a narrow passage where it is difficult for the vehicles 2 to pass each other, at least one of the vehicles 2 will have to stop, which may result in a delay from the operation plan for the vehicle 2 to arrive at the stop. In this embodiment, an operation plan is created so that it is not difficult for the vehicles 2 to pass each other in a narrow passage, so that delays from the operation plan caused by the intersection of vehicles 2 traveling according to the operation plan can be reduced.

[0024] Note that, if the vehicle width is not taken into consideration when the operation plan creation unit 12 determines whether or not the intersection restriction condition is satisfied, the vehicle information does not need to be stored in the storage unit 13. For example, with regard to the vehicles 2 for which the operation plan is created in the operation plan management device 1, if the vehicle widths of all the vehicles 2 are the same or the maximum difference in vehicle width between the vehicles 2 is within a certain value, the vehicle width can be treated as a fixed value, and therefore the vehicle information does not need to be stored in the storage unit 13.

[0025] The output unit 14 outputs the operation plan by transmitting the operation plan received from the operation plan creation unit 12 to the vehicle 2 and the bus stop terminal 3. The output unit 14 also outputs the operation plan received from the operation plan creation unit 12 to the storage unit 13, thereby storing the operation plan in the storage unit 13. Note that while FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which the operation plan is stored in the storage unit 13 by the output unit 14, the present invention is not limited to this, and the operation plan creation unit 12 may store the operation plan in the storage unit 13.

[0026] The bus stop terminal 3 includes a receiving unit 31 and a display unit 32. The receiving unit 31 receives an operation plan from the operation plan management device 1 and outputs the received operation plan to the display unit 32. The display unit 32 displays the operation plan.

[0027] Next, we will explain a specific example of a method for creating an operation plan in the operation plan management device 1. Note that the operation plan creation unit 12 only needs to use bottleneck information to create an operation plan so that vehicles 2 do not have difficulty passing each other at bottlenecks, and the specific method for creating an operation plan is not limited to the example shown below, and any method may be used.

[0028] Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the operation plan creation unit 12 according to the present embodiment. In addition to the operation plan creation unit 12, Fig. 2 also illustrates an information acquisition unit 11, a storage unit 13, and an output unit 14. In the example illustrated in Fig. 2, the operation plan creation unit 12 includes a tentative operation plan creation unit 121, an overlap point estimation unit 122, a determination unit 123, and a correction unit 124.

[0029] The tentative operation plan creation unit 121 creates a tentative operation plan, which is a tentative operation plan for the vehicle 2, using the stop information and outputs the created tentative operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit 122. The tentative operation plan is an operation plan created without considering bottleneck information. The period for which the tentative operation plan is created is the same as the period for which the operation plan is created. For example, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 determines the departure time from the starting stop of each bus based on, for example, route information and the operating intervals of the vehicle 2 in each time period, and also determines identification information for each bus, such as the bus name or number, and assigns the vehicle 2. Alternatively, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 may determine the route from the starting stop of the vehicle 2 to the end stop (which stops to pass through) using passenger prediction information, which will be described later. In this case, the route between adjacent stops may be determined based on, for example, map information. The route between adjacent stops may be the route with the shortest required time or the route with the shortest distance, and any priority criteria may be set when determining the route between adjacent stops without being limited to these. A route search method based on priority criteria, such as Dijkstra's algorithm, may be used to set the route between adjacent stops. The route setting method is not limited to the above-mentioned example. The tentative operation plan creation unit 121 creates a tentative operation plan by determining the departure times of stops on the route for each trip based on the departure time from the starting stop and the positions of each stop indicated by the stop information.

[0030] The required time between adjacent stops may be determined in advance for each time period, or may be determined based on the travel distance between the adjacent stops and a predetermined standard speed (travel speed of the vehicle 2). As the standard speed, the standard speed of each road on the route of the vehicle 2 may be included in the tentative operation plan, or the standard speed of each road may be included in the map information. When the standard speed is included in the tentative operation plan, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 may calculate the standard speed of each road on the route of the vehicle 2 based on the predetermined standard speed of each road. When the standard speed of each road is included in the map information, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 may calculate the standard speed of each road on the route of the vehicle 2 based on the map information. The operation interval may be determined in advance for each day of the week, for example, or may be input by an administrator via the information acquisition unit 11, or may be determined based on passenger forecast information indicating the expected number of passengers.

[0031] The passenger prediction information is acquired by, for example, the information acquisition unit 11 and input from the information acquisition unit 11 to the tentative operation plan creation unit 121. The passenger prediction information is information indicating the expected number of passengers, such as the expected number of passengers using the vehicle 2, and includes, for example, at least one of information indicating event schedules in the surrounding area (such as the start time, end time, and capacity of the event) and performance information indicating past passenger numbers. The past passenger numbers in the performance information are, for example, the past passenger numbers in the vehicle 2 for each time period and each day of the week. The past passenger numbers may be estimated from images captured by a camera installed at a bus stop or on the vehicle 2, or may be based on past reservations for the vehicle 2 used by passengers who have made reservations. The tentative operation plan creation unit 121 may determine the operation intervals based on, for example, the expected number of passengers for each time period and the capacity of the vehicle 2. Note that the method by which the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 creates the tentative operation plan may be any method and is not limited to the above-described example. In addition, when the vehicle 2 transports cargo, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 may similarly create a tentative operation plan using cargo prediction information that indicates the predicted amount of cargo to be transported by the vehicle 2.

[0032] Note that the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 does not necessarily have to be provided. For example, the tentative operation plan may be determined by a manager or the like and input to the operation plan creation unit 12 via the information acquisition unit 11. Alternatively, the tentative operation plan determined by a manager or the like may be stored in the storage unit 13. When the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 is not provided, the overlap point estimation unit 122 may, for example, receive the tentative operation plan from the information acquisition unit 11 or read out the tentative operation plan from the storage unit 13.

[0033] Next, the operation of the overlap point estimation unit 122 will be described. The overlap point estimation unit 122 estimates an overlap point, which is a point where vehicles 2 intersect, using the tentative operation plan and map information. In detail, the overlap point estimation unit 122 estimates an overlap point using the tentative operation plan acquired from the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 and the map information stored in the storage unit 13. An overlap point is a point where the routes of two or more vehicles 2 overlap at the same time, that is, a point where vehicles 2 collide. Note that the overlap point is not limited to a point where the routes of two or more vehicles 2 overlap at the same time, but may also include a point where the routes of two or more vehicles 2 overlap within the same time period having a certain time span, such as two minutes. In the following description, an overlap point is assumed to be a point where the routes of two or more vehicles 2 overlap at the same time.

[0034] 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the overlap point estimation unit 122 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the overlap point estimation unit 122 acquires a tentative operation plan (step S1). For example, the overlap point estimation unit 122 acquires the tentative operation plan by receiving the tentative operation plan from the tentative operation plan creation unit 121. As described above, when the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 is not provided, the overlap point estimation unit 122 may receive the tentative operation plan from the information acquisition unit 11 or may acquire the tentative operation plan by reading out the tentative operation plan from the storage unit 13.

[0035] The overlapping point estimation unit 122 acquires map information (step S2). Specifically, the overlapping point estimation unit 122 acquires map information by reading the map information from the storage unit 13. Note that steps S1 and S2 may be performed in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0036] The overlap point estimation unit 122 estimates overlap points of the vehicles 2 based on the tentative operation plan and map information (step S3). Using the tentative operation plan, the overlap point estimation unit 122 extracts, for each flight, other flights whose routes overlap at least partially with the flight, and estimates overlap points where the flight and the extracted flights are close to each other. For example, when a route is defined, one flight is designated as a target flight, and other flights whose routes overlap at least partially with the target flight are extracted. For both the target flight and the extracted flight, the route information and the standard speeds for each section with the same standard speed are used to represent the positions from the start point to the end point of the overlapping routes as a function of time. Then, by finding a solution that results in the same position at the same time, the overlap point can be estimated. The method for estimating overlap points is not limited to this example, and any method may be used.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an overlap point estimated by the overlap point estimation unit 122 of this embodiment. FIG. 4 shows an example in which buses running in two directions, clockwise and counterclockwise, are set on a circular route including bus stops 4-1 to 4-4. For example, a bus that travels in the order of bus stops 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, and 4-1 is called an inbound bus or simply "inbound," and a bus that travels in the order of bus stops 4-1, 4-4, 4-3, 4-2, and 4-1 is called a outbound bus or simply "outbound." In the example shown in FIG. 4, a point where vehicle 2 of an inbound bus and vehicle 2 of a outbound bus pass each other is estimated as the overlap point. Note that FIG. 4 is just an example, and the route of vehicle 2 is not limited to a circular route and may be any route.

[0038] In the example shown in FIG. 4, it is estimated that a vehicle 2 of one inbound flight will pass a vehicle 2 of another inbound flight at four overlapping points 5-1 to 5-4. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 4, overlapping points 5-1 to 5-4 are estimated as overlapping points. Such estimation of overlapping points is performed sequentially by changing the flight to be processed until estimation is completed for all flights for which operation plans are to be created. Note that, for example, if the flights estimated to have overlapping points are the first and second flights, if estimation has already been performed using the first flight as the flight to be processed, it is not necessary to re-determine the overlapping points between the first flight and the second flight when the second flight is the flight to be processed. Therefore, when estimating overlapping points, it is possible to perform estimation excluding combinations of flights for which estimation has already been performed.

[0039] Returning to the explanation of FIG. 3, after step S3, the overlap point estimation unit 122 outputs overlap point information to the determination unit 123 (step S4). In detail, for each estimated overlap point, the overlap point estimation unit 122 generates information about the overlap point as overlap point information, and outputs the generated overlap point information together with the tentative operation plan to the determination unit 123. The overlap point information includes, for example, at least information indicating the position of the overlap point, identification information of the bus corresponding to the overlap point, and the tentative operation plan. The overlap point information may also include vehicle width information indicating the vehicle width of the vehicle 2 corresponding to each overlap point, a bus stop from which the target bus and the extracted bus depart immediately before arriving at the overlap point, and the departure time of the bus stop.

[0040] Next, the operation of the determination unit 123 will be described. Using the overlap points estimated by the overlap point estimation unit 122 and the bottleneck information (intersection area information) acquired from the information acquisition unit 11, the determination unit 123 determines whether there is a match point among the overlap points that matches the intersection area and whether the condition that an intersection between vehicles 2 intersecting at the match point affects the traveling of the vehicles 2 is satisfied. If the determination unit 123 determines that the above-mentioned condition is not satisfied, it determines the tentative operation plan as the operation plan. The condition that an intersection between vehicles 2 affects the traveling of the vehicles 2 is the above-mentioned intersection restriction condition. Note that the source of bottleneck information is not limited to the information acquisition unit 11, as described above.

[0041] 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the determination unit 123 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the determination unit 123 acquires overlapping point information (step S11). In detail, the determination unit 123 acquires overlapping point information from the overlapping point estimation unit 122.

[0042] The determination unit 123 acquires bottleneck information (intersection area information) (step S12). In detail, the determination unit 123 acquires the bottleneck information from, for example, the information acquisition unit 11. Note that step S11 and step S12 may be performed in reverse order or simultaneously.

[0043] The determination unit 123 compares the overlap point information with the bottleneck information (step S13). In detail, the determination unit 123 compares the positions of the overlap point with the positions of the bottlenecks using information indicating the positions of the overlap point included in the overlap point information and information indicating the positions of the bottlenecks included in the bottleneck information, and extracts points among the overlap points whose positions match those of the bottlenecks.

[0044] The determination unit 123 determines whether or not there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition (step S14). The intersection restriction condition is, for example, a condition that it is estimated that it is difficult for the vehicles 2 to pass each other, and specifically, for example, a condition that the sum of the vehicle widths of the two vehicles 2 that pass each other at the overlap point plus a predetermined value is equal to or greater than the road width of the overlap point. In this case, the bottleneck information may include, for example, information regarding the restriction. The information regarding the restriction may be information indicating whether the two vehicles 2 that pass each other can pass each other at the bottleneck for each combination of vehicle types, information indicating the road width of the bottleneck, or information indicating the value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from the road width.

[0045] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of bottleneck information according to the present embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the bottleneck information includes a number identifying the bottleneck, a location (the location of the bottleneck), and feasibility information indicating, for each combination of vehicle types, whether passing is difficult at the bottleneck, i.e., whether passing is possible at the bottleneck. In the example shown in FIG. 6, there are two vehicle types of vehicle 2, vehicle type A and vehicle type B, and three combinations of vehicle types are listed: "Vehicle type AA" (combination of vehicle type A and vehicle type A), "Vehicle type AB" (combination of vehicle type A and vehicle type B), and "Vehicle type BB" (combination of vehicle type B and vehicle type B). FIG. 6 shows an example in which vehicle type B is wider than vehicle type A, and in the feasibility information, "possible" indicates that passing is possible for the corresponding combination, and "impossible" indicates that passing is not possible for the corresponding combination. In this way, a combination marked "impossible" in the feasibility information makes it difficult for vehicles 2 to pass each other. In this embodiment, if a passing at a bottleneck occurs with a combination for which the feasibility information indicates "not possible," it is determined that there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition.

[0046] Specifically, for example, the determination unit 123 determines that there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition when there is a match point, which is a point among the overlap points whose position coincides with a bottleneck, and the combination of vehicles 2 that pass each other at the match point is a combination that is marked "impossible" in the bottleneck information. While FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which the bottleneck information includes impossibility information, this is not limiting. Bottleneck information may be generated for each combination of vehicle types, such as bottleneck information for "vehicle type AA," bottleneck information for "vehicle type AB," and bottleneck information for "vehicle type BB." In this case, a point where each combination of vehicles cannot pass each other is defined as a bottleneck, and each bottleneck information indicates a bottleneck related to the corresponding combination and does not need to include impossibility information. In this case, the determination unit 123 may select bottleneck information to use depending on the combination of vehicles 2 that will pass each other.

[0047] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of bottlenecks and overlapping points according to this embodiment. Fig. 7 illustrates overlapping points 5-1 to 5-4 shown in Fig. 4, as well as bottlenecks 6-1 to 6-5 indicated by bottleneck information. Bottlenecks 6-1 to 6-5 shown in Fig. 7 correspond to numbers 1 to 5 in the bottleneck information shown in Fig. 6, respectively, and are hatched in different ways depending on the content of the possibility information. Bottlenecks 6-1 and 6-5 do not allow passing for any combination of "vehicle model AA," "vehicle model AB," and "vehicle model BB." Bottlenecks 6-2 and 6-3 allow passing for the combination of "vehicle model AA," but do not allow passing for the combination of "vehicle model AB" and "vehicle model BB." Bottleneck 6-4 allows passing for the combination of "vehicle model AA" and "vehicle model AB," but does not allow passing for the combination of "vehicle model BB."

[0048] In the example shown in Fig. 7, of the overlapping points 5-1 to 5-4, the overlapping points 5-2 and 5-3 match any of the bottlenecks 6-1 to 6-5. In the example shown in Fig. 7, the overlapping points 5-2 and 5-3 are set as matching points 7-1 and 7-2, respectively, with the matching point 7-1 being the bottleneck 6-2 and the matching point 7-2 being the bottleneck 6-4.

[0049] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of vehicles 2 intersecting at a match point in this embodiment. Here, as shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the (combination of) vehicle types of vehicles 2 intersecting at match point 7-1 is AB, and the (combination of) vehicle types of vehicles 2 intersecting at match point 7-2 is AA. In this case, according to the feasibility information shown in FIG. 6, since match point 7-1 is a bottleneck 6-2, the constraint information (combination of vehicle types with constraints) indicating a combination that makes passing difficult is AB and BB. Furthermore, since match point 7-2 is a bottleneck 6-4, the constraint information is BB. Therefore, vehicles 2 cannot pass each other at match point 7-1, but can pass each other at match point 7-2.

[0050] Therefore, the determination unit 123 determines that the match point 7-1 is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition. Therefore, the determination in step S14 is Yes. Hereinafter, the overlap points 5-1 to 5-4, the bottlenecks 6-1 to 6-5, and the match points 7-1 and 7-2 will be referred to as the overlap points, bottlenecks, and match points, respectively, without reference numerals, except when referring to the individual points shown in Figures 4 and 7.

[0051] Furthermore, the intersection restriction condition is not limited to the above example, and may be a condition that the road width at the overlapping point is equal to or greater than a threshold value. In this case, for example, the threshold value may be set to a value obtained by doubling the widest vehicle width of the vehicle 2 and adding a predetermined value to the doubled vehicle width. In this case, by defining a point where the road width is less than the threshold value as a bottleneck and generating bottleneck information, the position of the bottleneck included in the bottleneck information can be considered to be a position where the road width is less than the threshold value. In this case, all of the overlapping points whose positions coincide with the bottlenecks will satisfy the intersection restriction condition. Therefore, if a matching point exists, step S14 will be determined as Yes. In this case, the bottleneck information only needs to include information indicating the position of the bottleneck.

[0052] Furthermore, the bottleneck information may include information indicating the width of the bottleneck instead of the possibility information. In this case, for example, the determination unit 123 extracts vehicle identification information of each vehicle 2 corresponding to the overlapping point from the tentative operation plan using information indicating the location of the overlapping point and the identification information of the flight, which are included in the overlapping point information, and calculates the vehicle width of each vehicle 2 corresponding to the overlapping point using the extracted vehicle identification number and the vehicle information stored in the storage unit 13, and adds the calculated vehicle widths. Then, if there is a matching point among the overlapping points whose position coincides with the bottleneck, the determination unit 123 determines that the matching point satisfies the intersection restriction condition if the width of the bottleneck at the matching point is smaller (narrower) than the value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the result of adding the vehicle widths. Note that the above-mentioned intersection restriction condition and bottleneck information are merely examples, and the contents of the intersection restriction condition and bottleneck information are not limited to these.

[0053] Returning to the description of FIG. 5, if it is determined that there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition (Yes in step S14), the determination unit 123 outputs the determination result to the correction unit 124 (step S15) and terminates the processing. The determination result includes, for example, at least: match point location information indicating the location of the match point determined to satisfy the intersection restriction condition; identification information of the buses corresponding to the match point (two buses that vehicle 2 is estimated to pass at the match point); and a tentative operation plan. Note that, because different combinations of buses may pass each other at the same match point, the match point location information alone cannot identify which buses are involved in the match. In order to correct the tentative operation plan, it is necessary to identify the target bus, and therefore the determination result includes the identification information of the bus. The determination result may also include the vehicle identification number of vehicle 2 that will pass each other at the point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition, the stop from which the target bus and the extracted bus depart immediately before arriving at the overlap point, and the departure time of the stop.

[0054] If it is determined that there is no point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition (No in step S14), the determination unit 123 determines the tentative operation plan as the operation plan (step S16) and ends the processing. In detail, the determination unit 123 outputs the tentative operation plan to the output unit 14 as the operation plan.

[0055] Next, the operation of the modification unit 124 will be described. Upon receiving the determination result from the determination unit 123, the modification unit 124 modifies the tentative operation plan based on the determination result and outputs the modified tentative operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit 122. That is, when the determination unit 123 determines that an intersection between vehicles 2 that are estimated to intersect at the coincidence point will affect the traveling of the vehicles 2, the modification unit 124 modifies the tentative operation plan so that the vehicles 2 that intersect at the coincidence point do not arrive at the coincidence point at the same time.

[0056] 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the correction unit 124 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the correction unit 124 acquires the determination result (step S21). In detail, the correction unit 124 acquires the determination result from the determination unit 123.

[0057] The correction unit 124 sets the matched point to be corrected (step S22). In detail, when the determination result includes information on a plurality of matched points, the correction unit 124 sets the matched point to be corrected by selecting one matched point (a combination of a flight and a matched point) from the plurality of matched points (combinations of flights and matched points) using the matched point position information included in the determination result and the identification information of the flight corresponding to the matched point whose position is indicated by the matched point position information.

[0058] The correction unit 124 determines whether or not there is an alternative route (step S23). Specifically, the correction unit 124 determines whether or not it is possible to change the route of at least one of the two buses corresponding to the matched point to be corrected to an alternative route that does not pass through the matched point to be corrected. The alternative route is, for example, a route that can stop at stops before and after the matched point to be corrected and does not pass through the matched point to be corrected. For example, a route that is not originally desirable as a route for vehicle 2, i.e., has a low priority as a route for vehicle 2, for reasons such as a longer distance and longer travel time, poor fuel economy due to ups and downs, or reduced safety due to many right and left turns, may be set as the alternative route, but is not limited to these.

[0059] Note that if there is a route that allows a bus to stop at a stop before or after the match point to be corrected and that does not pass through the match point to be corrected, and the route is determined to be a candidate for an alternative route, the correction unit 124 may not adopt the route as an alternative route if the candidate does not satisfy a predetermined criterion. For example, the correction unit 124 may not adopt a candidate whose distance is equal to or greater than a certain value as an alternative route. Furthermore, depending on the vehicle 2, it may be necessary to notify the route to be traveled in advance. In such cases, a route that does not pass through the match point to be corrected may also be determined in advance as an alternative route and notified. If it is necessary to notify the route to be traveled in advance and the location is one for which no alternative route has been notified, the correction unit 124 may determine that there is no alternative route.

[0060] If an alternative route exists (step S23: Yes), the correction unit 124 changes the travel path (route) to the alternative route or corrects the departure time of the bus stop (step S24). For example, when changing the route to the alternative route in step S24, the correction unit 124 changes the route of one of the two buses corresponding to the matched point to be corrected to the alternative route. Note that, when there are multiple alternative routes, both routes of the two buses corresponding to the matched point to be corrected may be changed to different alternative routes. For the buses changed to the alternative route, the correction unit 124 corrects the departure time from each stop of the bus in the provisional operation plan based on, for example, the standard speed of the alternative route, thereby correcting the tentative operation plan. Furthermore, when changing the departure time of a bus stop in step S24, the correction unit 124 corrects the departure time from the stop just before the matched point to be corrected for at least one of the two buses corresponding to the matched point to be corrected.

[0061] Here, the correction of bus stop departure times in steps S24 and S27 will be described using specific examples. FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing an example of correcting bus stop departure times in this embodiment. FIGS. 10 and 11 show an example in which bus #101, an inbound bus, and bus #102, a outbound bus, running on the route shown in FIG. 7, intersect at the matching point 7-1 between bus stops 4-2 and 4-3. Bus stops #2 and #3 correspond to bus stops 4-2 and 4-3 shown in FIG. 7, respectively. The tables on the left side of FIGS. 10 and 11 show the departure times at each bus stop in the tentative operation plan before correction, and the tables on the right side of FIGS. 10 and 11 show the departure times at each bus stop in the tentative operation plan after correction. In FIGS. 10 and 11, the times listed in the bottleneck column are the times at which the bus passes through the matching point 7-1.

[0062] As shown in the tables on the left side of Figures 10 and 11, before the correction, the times at which flights #101 and #102 pass through the bottleneck overlap. In the example shown in Figure 10, the correction unit 124 changes the departure time of flight #101 at stop #2, as surrounded by a dashed line. This makes it possible to shift the times at which vehicle 2 passes through match point 7-1 for flights #101 and #102, as shown in the area surrounded by a solid line in Figure 10. This prevents vehicle 2 of flight #101 and vehicle 2 of flight #102 from colliding at the bottleneck, making it possible to reduce delays from the operation plan caused by vehicles 2 crossing each other due to stopping or slowing down at the bottleneck of either flight #101 or #102. In FIG. 10, the correction unit 124 changes the departure time of the bus stop #2 of the flight #101, but may change the departure time of the bus stop #3 of the flight #102 instead.

[0063] In the example shown in FIG. 11, the correction unit 124 changes both the departure time of flight #101 from stop #2 and the departure time of flight #102 from stop #3, as surrounded by a dashed line. This makes it possible to shift the times at which vehicle 2 passes through match point 7-1 between flights #101 and #102, as shown in the area surrounded by a solid line in FIG. 11. Note that when changing both the departure time of flight #101 from stop #2 and the departure time of flight #102 from stop #3, it is necessary to change the departure times so that the times at which vehicle 2 passes through match point 7-1 after the changes are different. For example, by advancing both the departure time of bus #101 from stop #2 and the departure time of bus #102 from stop #3, or by delaying both the departure time of bus #101 from stop #2 and the departure time of bus #102 from stop #3, the time at which the changed vehicle 2 passes through the matching point 7-1 can be made different. The method of changing the departure times of the bus stops is not limited to the above-mentioned example.

[0064] Returning to the explanation of Fig. 9, after step S24, the correction unit 124 determines whether or not the correction for all the matched points has been completed (step S25). In detail, the correction unit 124 determines whether or not all of the matched points whose determination results include information indicating their positions have been set as matched points to be corrected.

[0065] When the correction for all the matching points is completed (Yes in step S25), the correction unit 124 outputs the corrected tentative operation plan, that is, the corrected tentative operation plan, to the overlapping point estimation unit 122 (step S26), and ends the processing. Note that, upon receiving the corrected tentative operation plan, the overlapping point estimation unit 122 performs the processing shown in Fig. 3 again using the corrected tentative operation plan. As a result, the determination unit 123 performs the processing shown in Fig. 5 again, and when the determination in step S14 is Yes, the correction unit 124 performs the processing shown in Fig. 9 again.

[0066] If there is a matched point for which correction has not been completed (No in step S25), the correction unit 124 changes the matched point to be corrected (step S28), and repeats the process from step S23.

[0067] If the answer is No in step S23, the correction unit 124 corrects the departure time of the bus stop (step S27), and the process proceeds to step S25. The correction of the departure time of the bus stop in step S27 is the same as the example described using Figures 10 and 11. Note that the correction unit 124 may only correct the departure time of the bus stop without changing to another route, in which case steps S23 and S24 are not performed, and step S27 is performed after step S22.

[0068] As described above, the operation plan creation unit 12 creates an operation plan using, for example, the road width of the narrow passage and the vehicle width of the vehicle 2, so that vehicles 2 that have difficulty passing each other at the narrow passage arrive at the narrow passage at different times. In this way, the operation plan creation unit 12 can create an operation plan so that vehicles 2 do not have difficulty passing each other at the narrow passage. Note that the configuration of the operation plan creation unit 12 shown in FIG. 2 is an example, and the configuration and operation of the operation plan creation unit 12 are not limited to the above example.

[0069] For example, the operation plan creation unit 12 may determine an operation plan without creating a tentative operation plan. For example, assume that vehicle 2 operates on two routes, one going up and one going down. The operation plan creation unit 12 assigns vehicle 2 to the first route, which is the earliest route in the target period for which the operation plan is to be created, and determines the route of the first route and the departure times from each stop at any time, thereby determining the operation plan for the first route.

[0070] Next, the operation plan creation unit 12 estimates the time when the first bus will pass through the bottleneck using the standard speed, map information, and bottleneck information. When a second bus is operated that travels along a route in the opposite direction to that of the first bus between the time when the first bus departs from the starting stop and the time when the first bus arrives at the end stop, the operation plan creation unit 12 first assigns vehicle 2 to the second bus, and uses the vehicle information to determine the type of vehicle 2 assigned to the first bus and the type of vehicle 2 assigned to the second bus. Using the bottleneck information and the route of the first bus, the operation plan creation unit 12 extracts, from the bottlenecks through which the first bus will pass, bottlenecks that are impossible for the combination of the type of vehicle of the first bus and the type of vehicle of the second bus, and sets the extracted position as an avoidance position and calculates the time when the first bus will pass the avoidance position. The operation plan creation unit 12 uses the avoidance position, the standard speed, and the route of the second bus to determine the departure time of the second bus from the starting stop so that the second bus does not arrive at the avoidance position at the same time as the first bus. Alternatively, the operation plan creation unit 12 may first determine the departure time of the second bus from the starting stop, and delay the departure time of any stop up to the stop immediately preceding the avoidance position, including the starting stop, from the departure time calculated from the standard speed, thereby preventing the second bus from arriving at the avoidance position at the same time as the first bus. Thereafter, by sequentially repeating the same process, operation plans for each bus for the target creation period are determined.

[0071] Furthermore, in the example described above, the operation plan is modified to prevent the vehicles 2 from having difficulty passing each other at the bottleneck. However, the speed of the vehicles 2 may be further adjusted to stagger the arrival times at the bottleneck of two vehicles 2 that are passing each other. In this case, for example, the operation plan creation unit 12 may generate control information that instructs a speed change and transmit the control information to the vehicles 2 via the output unit 14. Alternatively, the operation plan creation unit 12 may control the vehicles 2 to adjust the speed of the vehicles 2 to stagger the arrival times at the bottleneck of two vehicles 2 that are passing each other, without modifying the operation plan.

[0072] In the above example, an example has been described in which bottleneck information is acquired by the information acquisition unit 11, but the bottleneck information may also be generated by the operation plan management device 1. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example configuration of an operation plan management system according to the present embodiment in which bottleneck information is generated by the operation plan management device. The operation plan management system 100a shown in FIG. 12 is similar to the operation plan management device 1 shown in FIG. 1 except that it includes an operation plan management device 1a instead of the operation plan management device 1. Components having the same functions as those in FIG. 1 are assigned the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

[0073] The operation plan management device 1a is obtained by adding an extraction unit 15 to the operation plan management device 1 shown in FIG. 1. The extraction unit 15 is an example of an intersection area information acquisition unit that uses map information including information indicating road width and vehicle information to extract bottlenecks that make it difficult for vehicles 2 to pass each other from the map information and generates bottleneck information that is intersection area information related to the extracted bottlenecks. Specifically, the operation plan management device 1a generates bottleneck information using the map information and vehicle information stored in the storage unit 13 and outputs the generated bottleneck information to the operation plan creation unit 12. The operation of the operation plan creation unit 12 is the same as the example shown in FIG. 1 except that the source of the bottleneck information is different.

[0074] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure in the extraction unit 15 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, the extraction unit 15 acquires road width information included in map information (step S31). In detail, the extraction unit 15 reads out the map information stored in the storage unit 13, and acquires, from the read map information, road width information of each road within the range in which the vehicle 2 travels.

[0075] The extraction unit 15 acquires vehicle width information included in the vehicle information (step S32). Specifically, the extraction unit 15 reads out the vehicle information stored in the storage unit 13, and acquires the vehicle width information from the read out vehicle information. The vehicle width information extracted in step S32 may be information indicating the vehicle width for each vehicle type, or may be information indicating the vehicle width of each vehicle 2. Steps S31 and S32 may be performed in the reverse order, or may be performed simultaneously.

[0076] The extraction unit 15 uses the road width information and vehicle width information to extract bottlenecks with restrictions on vehicle intersections (step S33). In particular, the extraction unit 15 uses the vehicle width information to calculate a total width, which is a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the sum of the vehicle widths of two vehicles 2 when the two vehicles pass each other on a road. If the vehicle widths differ depending on the vehicles 2, the extraction unit 15 calculates the total width of the two vehicles 2 for each combination of vehicles 2 or each combination of vehicle types. The extraction unit 15 compares the total width with the road width indicated by the road width information for each combination of vehicles 2 or each combination of vehicle types, and extracts, for one or more combinations, points where the road width is smaller than the total width, i.e., narrow points, as bottlenecks.

[0077] The extraction unit 15 outputs bottleneck information indicating the extracted bottleneck to the operation plan creation unit 12 (step S34) and ends the processing. Specifically, in step S34, the extraction unit 15 generates bottleneck information including information indicating the position of the extracted bottleneck, and outputs the generated bottleneck information to the operation plan creation unit 12. The bottleneck information may include availability information that indicates whether vehicles 2 can pass each other for each combination of vehicle types, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Alternatively, the bottleneck information may include availability information that indicates whether vehicles 2 can pass each other for each combination of vehicle types. Furthermore, as described above, bottleneck information may be generated for each combination of vehicle types. Furthermore, when the difference in vehicle width between vehicles 2 is small, the vehicle width may be considered to be a fixed value to calculate the total width, and points where the road width is narrower than the calculated total width may be extracted as bottlenecks. In this case, the bottleneck indicates that passing is difficult for all combinations of vehicles 2, so there is no need to include possibility information in the bottleneck information.

[0078] FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of processing in the operation plan management device 1a according to the present embodiment. Note that the processing details are simplified in FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 14, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 acquires passenger prediction information from the information acquisition unit 11 (step S41), acquires bus stop information from the storage unit 13 (step S42), and creates a tentative operation plan using the passenger prediction information and the bus stop information (step S43). The tentative operation plan creation unit 121 outputs the created tentative operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit 122 (step S44). Note that, as described above, passenger prediction information does not necessarily have to be used to generate the tentative operation plan. Alternatively, the tentative operation plan may be acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. In this case, steps S41 to S44 do not have to be performed.

[0079] Steps S44, S45, S46, and S51 in the overlapping point estimation unit 122 correspond to steps S1 to S4 shown in Fig. 3. Steps S47, S48, S49, and S50 in the extraction unit 15 correspond to steps S31 to S34 shown in Fig. 13. Steps S50, S51, S52, S53(Y), and S54 in the determination unit 123 correspond to steps S11 to S15 shown in Fig. 5, and step S53(Y) indicates the case where step S14 is determined as Yes.

[0080] Step S54 in the correction unit 124 is processing equivalent to step S21 shown in FIG. 9, step S55 in the correction unit 124 is processing equivalent to steps S22 to S25 and S27 shown in FIG. 9, and step S56 in the correction unit 124 is processing equivalent to step S26 shown in FIG. 9.

[0081] In step S56, the revised tentative operation plan is output to the overlap point estimation unit 122, and steps S46, S51, and S52 are executed again based on the revised tentative operation plan. In the example shown in Fig. 14, the result of step S53 for the second time is determined to be No, and the operation plan is determined (step S57). Step S57 is a process corresponding to step S16 in Fig. 5.

[0082] 14 illustrates an example in which the extraction unit 15 generates bottleneck information. However, in a case in which bottleneck information is acquired by the information acquisition unit 11 as in the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 1, instead of performing steps S47 to S50 in FIG. 14, the bottleneck information is input from the information acquisition unit 11 to the determination unit 123. Also, in FIG. 14, an example is illustrated in which an operation plan is determined after the tentative operation plan is revised once. However, the revision of the tentative operation plan may result in the occurrence of a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition at a point or a time different from that before the revision. In such a case, the processes of steps S46, S51, S52, and S53 are repeated until it is determined that there is no point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition. That is, when the modification unit 124 modifies the tentative operation plan, the overlap point estimation unit 122 and the determination unit 123 perform processes using the revised tentative operation plan. The processes of the modification unit 124, the overlap point estimation unit 122, and the determination unit 123 are repeated until the determination unit 123 determines that the intersection restriction condition is not satisfied.

[0083] Next, the hardware configuration of the operation plan management device 1, 1a of this embodiment will be described. In the operation plan management device 1, 1a of this embodiment, a computer system executes a computer program that describes the processing of each of the operation plan management devices 1, 1a, causing the computer system to function as the operation plan management device 1, 1a, respectively. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example configuration of a computer system that realizes each of the operation plan management devices 1, 1a of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 15, 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.

[0084] In FIG. 15 , the control unit 101 is a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and executes a program describing the processing of the operation plan management device 1, 1a according to the present embodiment. The input unit 102 is composed of, for example, a keyboard, buttons, a mouse, and the like, and is used by a user of the computer system to input various pieces of information. The memory unit 103 includes various types of memory, such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a storage device, such as a hard disk, and stores programs to be executed by the control unit 101, necessary data obtained during processing, and the like. The memory unit 103 is also used as a temporary storage area for programs. The control unit 101 and the memory unit 103 constitute, for example, a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be a single circuit or multiple circuits. The display unit 104 is composed of a display, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and the like, and displays various screens to a user of the computer system. Note that a touch panel in which the input unit 102 and the display unit 104 are integrated may also be used. 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. 15 is an example, and the configuration of the computer system that realizes each of the operation plan management devices 1, 1a is not limited to the example of FIG. 15. For example, the output unit 106 does not have to be provided.

[0085] Here, an example of the operation of the computer system until the program of this embodiment is ready to be executed will be described. In the computer system having the above configuration, the program is installed in the storage unit 103 from, for example, a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM inserted in a CD (Compact Disc)-ROM drive or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM drive (not shown). Then, when the program is executed, the program read from the storage unit 103 is stored in the main storage area of ​​the storage unit 103. In this state, the control unit 101 executes the processing as each of the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a of this embodiment in accordance with the program stored in the storage unit 103.

[0086] In the above description, a program describing the processing in each of the operation plan management devices 1, 1a is provided using a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM as a recording medium. However, this is not limiting, and depending on the configuration of the computer system, the capacity of the program to be provided, etc., it is also possible to use a program provided via a transmission medium such as the Internet via the communication unit 105.

[0087] The program of this embodiment executes, for example, the steps of acquiring intersection area information including information indicating the location of intersection areas, which are points where intersections between vehicles 2 transporting passengers or cargo may affect the movement of vehicles 2, and using the intersection area information and stop information, creating an operation plan for vehicle 2 so as to avoid the impact on the movement of vehicle 2 of intersections between vehicles 2 in the intersection areas.

[0088] The operation plan creation unit 12 shown in FIGS. 1 and 12 is realized by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 15 executing a program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 15. The storage unit 103 is also used to realize the operation plan creation unit 12. The extraction unit 15 shown in FIG. 12 is also realized by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 15 executing a program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 15. The extraction unit 15 is also used to realize the storage unit 103. The information acquisition unit 11 shown in FIGS. 1 and 12 is realized by at least one of the communication unit 105 and the input unit 102 shown in FIG. 15. Some functions of the information acquisition unit 11 may be realized by the control unit 101. The output unit 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 12 is realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 15. Some functions of the output unit 14 may be realized by the control unit 101. The storage unit 13 shown in FIGS. 1 and 12 is part of the storage unit 103.

[0089] The bus stop terminal 3 shown in Figures 1 and 12 can also be realized by, for example, the computer system shown in Figure 15. The transceiver unit 21 and the running control unit 22 in the vehicle 2 shown in Figures 1 and 12 can also be realized by, for example, the computer system shown in Figure 15.

[0090] The operation plan management devices 1 and 1a may each be realized by a plurality of computer systems. Also, for example, the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a may be realized by a cloud computer system.

[0091] As described above, in the present embodiment, the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a use bottleneck information to create an operation plan so that the vehicles 2 avoid crossing each other at a bottleneck when the vehicles 2 satisfy the intersection restriction condition related to the bottleneck. This makes it possible to reduce delays from the operation plan caused by the crossing of the vehicles 2.

[0092] Embodiment 2 FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an operation plan management system according to the second embodiment. An operation plan management system 100b according to the second embodiment is similar to the operation plan management system 100 according to the first embodiment, except that an operation plan management device 1b is provided instead of the operation plan management device 1. Components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and redundant explanations will be omitted. The following mainly describes the differences from the first embodiment.

[0093] The operation plan management device 1b is similar to the operation plan management device 1 of the first embodiment, except that a demand information acquisition unit 16 is added and an operation plan creation unit 12a is provided instead of the operation plan creation unit 12. The demand information acquisition unit 16 acquires demand information by at least one of accepting input of demand information from the manager of the operation plan management device 1a or the like and receiving demand information from another device, and outputs the acquired demand information to the operation plan creation unit 12a.

[0094] The demand information is information related to a request from a user who will become a passenger to board the vehicle 2. For example, the demand information is information input by the user when reserving the vehicle 2. The demand information may be transmitted from the bus stop terminal 3 or a user terminal (not shown) that can be operated by the user. Alternatively, an administrator, an operator, or the like may input the demand information to the operation plan management device 1b in response to a user request indicated verbally, by telephone, on paper, or in electronic data, and the input information may be accepted by the demand information acquisition unit 16. The demand information includes, for example, the number of passengers, the boarding stop, the disembarking stop, and the desired boarding time.

[0095] 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the operation plan creation unit 12a according to the present embodiment. The operation plan creation unit 12a is similar to the operation plan creation unit 12 according to the first embodiment except that it includes a tentative operation plan creation unit 121a instead of the tentative operation plan creation unit 121.

[0096] The tentative operation plan creation unit 121a creates a tentative operation plan, as in the first embodiment, and outputs the created tentative operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit 122. Note that, if demand information has already been acquired at the time of creating the first tentative operation plan, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a may create the tentative operation plan based on the demand information. For example, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a may create a tentative operation plan based on the demand information so as to operate the vehicle 2 on the reserved route and at the reserved time. The method of creating an operation plan using the tentative operation plan is the same as in the first embodiment.

[0097] After the operation plan is created, if the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a determines, based on demand information, that a change to the operation plan is necessary, such as an increase in the number of flights, a decrease in the number of flights, or a change in the operation route, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a creates a tentative operation plan by increasing the number of flights, decreasing the number of flights, changing the operation route, or the like, based on the operation plan stored in the storage unit 13. That is, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a determines whether to change the operation plan using the demand information, and if it determines that the operation plan should be changed, changes the operation plan and outputs the changed operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit 122 as a tentative operation plan. When increasing the number of flights, the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a may add flights between flights that are already scheduled to operate or may shorten the operation intervals. The same applies to a reduction in the number of flights; the tentative operation plan creation unit 121a may reduce the number of flights that are already scheduled to operate or may lengthen the operation intervals. The criterion for determining whether to increase the number of services may be, for example, that the vehicle is already fully booked and therefore reservations corresponding to the demand information cannot be made, or that the occupancy rate is equal to or greater than a first threshold, or other criteria. The criterion for determining whether to reduce the number of services may be that the occupancy rate is equal to or less than a second threshold, or other criteria. Note that changes to the tentative operation plan are made in order to change the operation plan and are ultimately reflected in the operation plan, so changes to the tentative operation plan based on demand information are equivalent to changes to the operation plan based on demand information. The method for changing the operation plan based on demand information is not limited to the above-mentioned example.

[0098] Note that the operation plan creation unit 12a does not have to create a tentative operation plan, as in the first embodiment. For example, as in the example in which a tentative operation plan is not created described in the first embodiment, the operation plan creation unit 12a may determine an operation plan, and when it determines that a change to the operation plan, such as an increase or decrease in the number of flights or a change in the operation route, based on the demand information, may change the operation plan by increasing or decreasing the number of flights or changing the operation route. In this case, for flights whose operation plans are changed due to an increase or decrease in the number of flights or a change in the operation route, the operation plans for each flight may be determined sequentially based on the operation plans of flights for which operation plans have already been determined so as to avoid intersections between vehicles 2 at bottlenecks.

[0099] Note that, in the example described above, the demand information acquisition unit 16 is added to the operation plan management device 1 and the operation plan creation unit 12a is used instead of the operation plan creation unit 12. However, the demand information acquisition unit 16 may be added to the operation plan management device 1a shown in Fig. 12 and the operation plan creation unit 12a may be used instead of the operation plan creation unit 12. In this case, the operation plan is also changed based on the demand information.

[0100] Like the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a described in the first embodiment, the operation plan management device 1b of this embodiment is also realized by, for example, the computer system illustrated in FIG.

[0101] As described above, in this embodiment, the operation plan is changed based on the demand information. This allows the operation plan management device 1b to create an operation plan that is suitable for the reservation status of the vehicles 2. Furthermore, if the operation plan is changed simply based on the demand information of the vehicles 2, it may be difficult for the vehicles 2 to pass each other at bottlenecks. However, the operation plan management device 1b creates an operation plan based on the bottleneck information to avoid intersections between the vehicles 2 at bottlenecks. Therefore, even if the operation plan is changed, it is possible to suppress delays from the operation plan that occur due to intersections between the vehicles 2.

[0102] Embodiment 3 Next, an operation plan management system 100 according to a third embodiment will be described. The configuration of the operation plan management system 100 according to this embodiment is the same as that of the operation plan management system 100 according to the first embodiment. Note that, although an example in which the operation of this embodiment is performed in the operation plan management system 100 will be described below, the operation of this embodiment may also be performed in the operation plan management systems 100a and 100b. Below, differences from the first and second embodiments will be mainly described.

[0103] In the first embodiment, the intersection area was a bottleneck, but in the present embodiment, the intersection area includes an intersection. That is, the intersection area may include a bottleneck or an intersection. Furthermore, the intersection area may include a bottleneck and an intersection. An intersection is an example of an intersection area where the intersection of vehicles 2 may affect the travel of vehicles 2, and in the present embodiment, the intersection area information includes intersection information, which is information about the intersection. The intersection information includes at least information indicating the location of the intersection. Furthermore, the information about the intersection may further include the presence or absence of traffic lights (traffic signals), the traffic light lighting patterns indicating the lighting status of the traffic lights depending on the time of day, and the like.

[0104] When multiple vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time, this may affect the travel of the vehicles 2. Figure 18 is a diagram illustrating the effect of the intersection of vehicles 2. In the example shown in Figure 18, vehicle 2-1, which is a vehicle 2, and vehicle 2-2, which is another vehicle 2, are both scheduled to enter intersection 8.

[0105] As shown in the upper left of FIG. 18, vehicle 2-1 is planning to enter intersection 8 and go straight, and vehicle 2-2 is traveling on a road that intersects with the road on which vehicle 2-1 is traveling, and is planning to enter intersection 8 and go straight. In this state, if there is no traffic light at intersection 8, or if there is a traffic light at intersection 8 but it is flashing (flashing red or flashing yellow), the traveling of vehicle 2 will be affected if vehicles 2-1 and 2-2 arrive at intersection 8 at the same time. For example, between vehicle 2-1 and vehicle 2-2, vehicle 2 traveling on the road that is not the priority road will have to wait until the other vehicle 2 has passed through the intersection. The priority road is indicated, for example, by a priority road sign, a sign such as a stop sign (roads without stop signs have priority), or a flashing yellow light when the traffic light is flashing.

[0106] On the other hand, as shown in the upper right of FIG. 18 , when vehicle 2-1 turns left and vehicle 2-2 turns right, the arrival of vehicles 2-1 and 2-2 at the intersection 8 at the same time does not affect the traveling of vehicle 2. Also, as shown in the lower right of FIG. 18 , when vehicles 2-1 and 2-2 traveling in opposite directions on the same road both go straight, the arrival of vehicles 2-1 and 2-2 at the intersection 8 at the same time does not affect the traveling of vehicle 2. The same is true when vehicle 2-1 turns left and vehicle 2-2 goes straight. Note that FIG. 18 is an example, and the arrival of multiple vehicles 2 at the intersection 8, i.e., the case where the crossing of vehicles does or does not affect the traveling of vehicle 2, is not limited to the above example. Hereinafter, when referring to a general intersection, not limited to the intersection 8 shown in FIG. 18 , it will be referred to as an intersection without a symbol. The intersection in this embodiment is not limited to the intersection of crossroads illustrated in FIG. 19 , but may be a three-way intersection such as a T-junction or a Y-junction, or an intersection where more roads intersect than a crossroad.

[0107] As described above, the arrival of multiple vehicles 2 at an intersection may or may not affect the traveling of the vehicles 2. However, the operation plan management device 1 may create an operation plan so that multiple vehicles 2 do not intersect at all intersections, that is, so that the arrival times of the vehicles 2 at the same intersection are different. Alternatively, the operation plan management device 1 may distinguish between cases where the arrival of multiple vehicles 2 at an intersection affects the traveling of the vehicles 2 and cases where it does not, and create an operation plan so that the arrival times of the vehicles 2 at the same intersection are different only when the arrival times of the vehicles 2 at the same intersection are different. Furthermore, the operation plan management device 1 may create an operation plan so that the arrival times of the vehicles 2 at the same intersection are different, without distinguishing between intersections with signals and intersections without signals, or may create an operation plan so that the arrival times of the vehicles 2 at the same intersection are different only for intersections without signals. In other words, the operation plan creation unit 12 creates an operation plan so that the arrival times of the target vehicles, which are at least some of the vehicles 2, at the target intersections, are different.

[0108] In this embodiment, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires intersection information as intersection area information. The intersection information may be input by an administrator or the like, similar to the bottleneck information in the first embodiment, or may be transmitted from another device (not shown).

[0109] The operation of this embodiment will be described by taking as an example a case where the operation plan creation unit 12 having the configuration example shown in Fig. 2 is used. The operations of the tentative operation plan creation unit 121 and the overlap point estimation unit 122 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0110] 19 and 20 are flowcharts showing an example of a processing procedure in the determination unit 123 of this embodiment. Fig. 19 shows an example in which the intersection area is an intersection, and Fig. 20 shows an example in which both the bottleneck and the intersection described in Embodiment 1 are set as the intersection area. First, an example in which the intersection area is set as an intersection will be described with reference to Fig. 19.

[0111] 19, step S11 is the same as in embodiment 1. The determination unit 123 acquires intersection information (intersection area information) (step S61).

[0112] The determination unit 123 compares the overlapping point information with the intersection information (step S62). In detail, the determination unit 123 uses information indicating the position of the overlapping point included in the overlapping point information and information indicating the position of the intersection included in the intersection information to compare the position of the overlapping point with the position of the intersection, and extracts a point from the overlapping points whose position matches the position of the intersection.

[0113] The determination unit 123 determines whether there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition (step S14a). In this embodiment, the intersection restriction condition is, for example, a condition that two or more vehicles 2 collide at an intersection, that is, a condition that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time. Note that two or more vehicles 2 collide at an intersection not only when two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at exactly the same time, but also when they arrive at the same intersection within the same time period, such as within a certain time span, such as two minutes. Furthermore, the intersection restriction condition may be a condition that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time at a specific intersection, a condition that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time with a specific combination of traveling directions, or a condition that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time with a specific combination of traveling directions at a specific intersection. In other words, the specific intersection may be the target intersection described above, or vehicles 2 with a specific combination of traveling directions may be the target vehicles described above.

[0114] The specific intersection may be, for example, an intersection without a traffic light, i.e., an intersection without a traffic light, an intersection with a traffic light that is flashing during certain hours, i.e., an intersection with a flashing traffic light, or an intersection without a traffic light and an intersection with a flashing traffic light. A specific combination of travel directions is a combination that affects the travel of one or more of two or more vehicles 2 that collide at the intersection, such as a combination in which one vehicle 2 travels straight and a vehicle 2 traveling on a road that intersects with the road on which the vehicle 2 is traveling continues straight, as illustrated in the upper left of FIG. 18. In this way, the determination unit 123 may determine the target vehicle based on the travel direction of the vehicle 2.

[0115] If the intersection restriction condition is that two or more vehicles 2 collide at an intersection, in step S14a, the determination unit 123 determines that all of the matched points extracted by the comparison in step S62 are points that satisfy the intersection restriction condition. In this case, the intersection information is, for example, information about all intersections (all intersections within the range where vehicle 2 may operate).

[0116] Furthermore, if the intersection restriction condition is that two or more vehicles 2 collide at a specific intersection, the intersection information may be generated as information only related to a specific traffic light, and all of the matching points extracted by the comparison in step S62 may be determined to satisfy the intersection restriction condition. If the lighting pattern of a traffic light changes depending on the time of day, for example, if the lighting pattern of a traffic light changes during the day and flashes only at night, intersection information for each time of day may be generated, and the determination unit 123 may use different intersection information depending on the time of day. Alternatively, as in the above example, the intersection information may be information related to all intersections, and the determination unit 123 may determine in step S14a whether any of the matching points extracted by the comparison in step S62 corresponds to a specific intersection. For example, the intersection information may include information indicating the presence or absence of a traffic light and the lighting pattern of the traffic light for each intersection, and the determination unit 123 may use the intersection information to determine whether the intersection corresponding to the matching point is a specific intersection.

[0117] Fig. 21 is a diagram showing an example of intersection information according to the present embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 21, the intersection information includes a number for identifying the intersection, a location (the location of the intersection), information indicating whether or not there is a traffic light, and a lighting pattern of the traffic light.

[0118] Furthermore, if the intersection restriction condition is a condition that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time with a specific combination of traveling directions, the determination unit 123 determines the traveling directions of each of the vehicles 2 that will collide at the coincident point using the matched point extracted by the comparison in step S62, the map information, and the tentative operation plan. The specific combination of traveling directions is determined in advance for each intersection and may be included in the intersection information or the map information. If the traveling directions of each of the vehicles 2 that will collide at the coincident point match a specific combination, the determination unit 123 determines that the coincident point satisfies the intersection restriction condition.

[0119] If the intersection restriction condition is that two or more vehicles 2 arrive at the same intersection at the same time with a specific combination of traveling directions at a specific intersection, the intersection information may be set as information about the specific intersection, and the determination unit 123 may determine that the matching point satisfies the intersection restriction condition if the traveling directions of the vehicles 2 that will collide at the matching point extracted by the comparison in step S62 match a specific combination. Alternatively, the intersection information may include information indicating the presence or absence of a traffic light and the lighting pattern of the traffic light for each intersection, and the determination unit 123 may use the intersection information to determine whether the intersection corresponding to the matching point is a specific intersection, and determine that the matching point satisfies the intersection restriction condition if the traveling directions of the vehicles 2 that will collide at the matching point determined to be a specific intersection match a specific combination.

[0120] Returning to the description of Fig. 19, if the answer is Yes in step S14a, the determination unit 123 proceeds to the process of step S15, and if the answer is No in step S14a, the determination unit 123 proceeds to the process of step S16. Steps S15 and S16 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0121] FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a tentative operation plan when a correction is required. FIG. 22 shows an example of an operation plan when an upbound flight #101 and an outbound flight #102 collide at an intersection. In the example shown in FIG. 22, the intersection restriction condition is a condition that two or more vehicles 2 collide at a specific intersection, and flights #101 and #102 arrive at the intersection without traffic lights at the same time. Therefore, the result of the determination in step S14a described above is Yes, and the tentative operation plan is corrected. The method of correcting the tentative operation plan is the same as in the first embodiment.

[0122] In the example shown in FIG. 20, in which both bottlenecks and intersections are taken into consideration, steps S11 to S13 are performed as in the first embodiment, and steps S61 and S62 are performed as in FIG. 19. In the example shown in FIG. 20, the intersection area information includes bottleneck information and intersection information. The determination unit 123 determines whether or not there is a point that satisfies the intersection restriction condition (step S14b). In the example shown in FIG. 20, the intersection restriction condition is both the condition described in the first embodiment and the condition explained using FIG. 19, and if either one is satisfied, it is determined that the intersection restriction information is satisfied. If the answer is Yes in step S14b, the determination unit 123 proceeds to step S15, and if the answer is No in step S14b, the determination unit 123 proceeds to step S16. Steps S15 and S16 are the same as in the first embodiment.

[0123] Note that the above-described processing is an example, and similar to the first embodiment, the operation plan creation unit 12 may create an operation plan using bottleneck information and intersection information without creating a tentative operation plan so that the intersection restriction conditions are not satisfied at bottlenecks and intersections. Also, similar to the operation plan management device 1a shown in FIG. 12, the extraction unit 15 may extract intersection information using map information. Note that, if the intersection information includes the presence or absence of traffic lights, their lighting patterns, and the like, it is assumed that this information is included in the map information.

[0124] Fig. 23 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing in the operation plan management device 1a of this embodiment. Fig. 23 also shows an example in which the intersection area is an intersection. Steps S41 to S48 and S51 are the same as those in the first embodiment. After step S48, the extraction unit 15 extracts intersections from the map information (step S71), generates intersection information using the extracted intersections, and outputs the generated intersection information to the determination unit 123 (step S72).

[0125] Steps S72, S73, and S74(Y) in the determination unit 123 correspond to steps S61, S62, and S14a shown in FIG. 19, and step S74(Y) indicates the case where the determination in step S14a is Yes.

[0126] Steps S54 to S56 are the same as in the first embodiment. After the tentative operation plan is modified, steps S46, S51, and S73 are executed again. Step S74 (Y) indicates the case where step S14a is determined to be No, and step S57 is the same as in the first embodiment. FIG. 23 shows an example in which the intersection area is an intersection. However, if the intersection area is a bottleneck and an intersection, the extraction unit 15 generates intersection information and bottleneck information similar to that in the first embodiment, and outputs the intersection information and bottleneck information to the determination unit 123. The determination unit 123 performs processing that takes bottlenecks and intersections into consideration, as shown in FIG. 20.

[0127] In the above-described example, the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a of the first embodiment perform the operation of this embodiment, but the operation plan management device 1b of the second embodiment may similarly perform the operation of this embodiment by using intersection information as intersection area information. In addition, in the above-described example, bottlenecks and intersections are given as examples of intersection areas, but the intersection area is not limited to bottlenecks and intersections, and may be any location where there is a possibility of restrictions on the intersection of the vehicle 2.

[0128] As described above, in the present embodiment, the operation plan management devices 1 and 1a use intersection information to create an operation plan that avoids intersections between the vehicles 2 at an intersection when the vehicles 2 satisfy the intersection restriction condition. This makes it possible to reduce delays from the operation plan that occur due to intersections between the vehicles 2.

[0129] The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and may be combined with other known technologies, or different embodiments may be combined with each other. It is also possible to omit or modify parts of the configurations as long as they do not deviate from the gist of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0130] 1, 1a, 1b Operation plan management device, 2, 2-1, 2-2 Vehicle, 3 Stop terminal, 4-1 to 4-4 Stop, 5-1 to 5-4 Overlap point, 6-1 to 6-5 Bottleneck, 7-1, 7-2 Matching point, 8 Intersection, 11 Information acquisition unit, 12, 12a Operation plan creation unit, 13 Memory unit, 14 Output unit, 15 Extraction unit, 16 Demand information acquisition unit, 21 Transmitting / receiving unit, 22 Travel control unit, 23 Self-position identification unit, 31 Receiving unit, 32 Display unit, 100, 100a, 100b Operation plan management system, 121, 121a Provisional operation plan creation unit, 122 Overlap point estimation unit, 123 Determination unit, 124 Correction unit.

Claims

1. An operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of vehicles transporting passengers or cargo, an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between the vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; an operation plan creation unit that creates the operation plan by using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about the stops so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Equipped with The operation plan management device is characterized in that the intersection area includes a bottleneck.

2. 2. The operation plan management device according to claim 1, wherein the operation plan creation unit creates the operation plan using the road width of the narrow passage and the vehicle width so that the vehicles that have difficulty passing each other at the narrow passage arrive at the narrow passage at different times.

3. The operation plan management device according to claim 2, characterized in that the intersection area information acquisition unit uses map information including information indicating road width and vehicle information including information indicating the vehicle width to extract, from the map information, bottlenecks where it is difficult for the vehicles to pass each other, and generates bottleneck information, which is the intersection area information related to the extracted bottlenecks.

4. The vehicle information includes information indicating a vehicle width for each vehicle type, 4. The operation plan management device according to claim 3, wherein the bottleneck information includes information indicating whether passing is difficult at the bottleneck for each combination of vehicle types.

5. The operation plan management device according to claim 1 , wherein the intersection area includes an intersection.

6. The operation plan management device according to claim 5, wherein the operation plan creation unit creates the operation plan for target intersections that are at least some of the intersections such that arrival times at the target intersections differ between target vehicles that are at least some of the vehicles.

7. The operation plan management device according to claim 6 , wherein the target intersections include intersections that are not equipped with traffic lights.

8. An operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of vehicles transporting passengers or cargo, an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between the vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; an operation plan creation unit that creates the operation plan by using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about the stops so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Equipped with the intersection area includes an intersection; the operation plan creation unit creates the operation plan for target intersections that are at least some of the intersections such that arrival times at the target intersections differ among target vehicles that are at least some of the vehicles; The operation plan management device is characterized in that the target intersection includes an intersection where a traffic light is installed and the traffic light is flashing during a time period.

9. The operation plan management device according to claim 6 , wherein the operation plan creation unit determines the target vehicle based on a traveling direction of the vehicle.

10. An operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of vehicles transporting passengers or cargo, an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between the vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; an operation plan creation unit that creates the operation plan by using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about the stops so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Equipped with a temporary operation plan creation unit that creates a temporary operation plan, which is a temporary operation plan for the vehicle, using the stop information; an overlap point estimation unit that estimates an overlap point, which is a point where the vehicles intersect, by using the tentative operation plan and map information; a determination unit that determines whether a condition is satisfied that a matching point that matches the intersection area exists among the overlapping points and that the intersection between the vehicles that are estimated to intersect at the matching point has an impact on the traveling of the vehicles, using the overlapping point estimated by the overlapping point estimation unit and the intersection area information, and that determines the tentative operation plan as the operation plan when it is determined that the condition is not satisfied; An operation plan management device comprising:

11. a correction unit that corrects the tentative operation plan when it is determined by the determination unit that the intersection between the vehicles estimated to intersect at the match point will have an effect on the traveling of the vehicles, so that the vehicles that intersect at the match point do not arrive at the match point at the same time; Equipped with The operation plan management device according to claim 10, characterized in that the overlap point estimation unit and the determination unit perform processing using the tentative operation plan modified by the modification unit, and the processing of the modification unit, the overlap point estimation unit, and the determination unit is repeated until the determination unit determines that the condition is not satisfied.

12. The operation plan management device according to claim 10, characterized in that the tentative operation plan creation unit determines whether to change the operation plan using demand information, which is information regarding boarding requests for the vehicle, and changes the operation plan when it is determined that the operation plan should be changed, and outputs the changed operation plan to the overlap point estimation unit as the tentative operation plan.

13. a vehicle for transporting passengers or cargo; an operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of the vehicle; Equipped with The operation plan management device an intersection area information acquisition unit that acquires intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between the vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; an operation plan creation unit that creates the operation plan by using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about the stops so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Equipped with An operation plan management system, wherein the intersection area includes a bottleneck.

14. a bus stop terminal installed at a bus stop of the vehicle and displaying the operation plan; The operation plan management system according to claim 13, further comprising:

15. An operation plan management method in an operation plan management device that manages an operation plan including departure times from stops of vehicles transporting passengers or cargo, acquiring intersection area information including information indicating the position of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between the vehicles may affect the running of the vehicles; creating the operation plan using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about the stops so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Including, The operation plan management method is characterized in that the intersection area includes a bottleneck.

16. In the computer system, acquiring intersection area information including information indicating the location of an intersection area, which is a point where an intersection between vehicles transporting passengers or cargo may affect the travel of the vehicles; creating an operation plan including departure times of the vehicles from the stops using the intersection area information and stop information that is information about stops of the vehicles so that arrival times at the intersection area differ between at least some of the vehicles; Execute The program, wherein the intersection area includes a bottleneck.

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