Vehicle control device

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control apparatus configured to select an appropriate inter-vehicle gap from among multiple inter-vehicle gaps appearing in an intersection, in turning to the right or left at the intersection.SOLUTION: A vehicle control apparatus includes: vehicle outside detection means 1 which detects an inter-vehicle gap G formed between a preceding oncoming vehicle VP and a following oncoming vehicle VF at an intersection I; total candidate calculation means 31 which calculates the total number of candidates of inter-vehicle gap into which a vehicle VE is to turn right / left; prescribed skip calculation means 32 which calculates the number of prescribed skips from the total number of candidates; safety calculation means 33 which calculates a degree of safety of the detected inter-vehicle gaps; safety threshold setting means 34 which sets the maximum value of degree of safety of inter-vehicle gaps of candidate numbers equal to or less than the number of prescribed skips, as a safety threshold; and inter-vehicle gap selection means 35 which selects, as an inter-vehicle gap into which the vehicle is to turn right / left, an inter-vehicle gap having a degree of safety equal to or higher than the safety threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that controls the operation of a vehicle such as an automobile. [Background technology]

[0002] In the automated driving of vehicles such as automobiles, it is necessary to control the vehicle to turn right or left at an intersection. As an example of such automated driving technology, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2020-160878 (Patent Document 1) discloses a driving assistance method that executes a right turn at an intersection when the distance or inter-vehicle time between the vehicle and an oncoming vehicle is equal to or exceeds a reference value. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2019-160113 (Patent Document 2) discloses an invention that, when attempting to turn right at an intersection, acquires signal information for the intersection from a roadside device and changes the criteria for determining whether to pass through the intersection depending on the signal information. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-160878 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-160113 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When manually turning right or left at an intersection, the driver observes the distance between oncoming vehicles while waiting at the intersection, and when a relatively large distance appears, performs a right or left turn at a speed that allows the vehicle to complete the turn. Even in automated driving, smooth and flexible right or left turns are desirable, but no such technology has existed in the past. For example, with the technology of Patent Document 1, if a vehicle distance that meets a reference value is found, it is not possible to select a more suitable vehicle distance even if a more suitable vehicle distance exists. Furthermore, the technology of Patent Document 2 presupposes the presence of a roadside unit, and therefore is not effective at intersections without roadside units.

[0005] The present invention has been made taking into consideration the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a vehicle control device that can select an appropriate inter-vehicle gap from among multiple inter-vehicle gaps that appear at an intersection when making a right or left turn at the intersection. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following solution: That is, as described in claim 1, a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle to turn right or left through a vehicle-to-vehicle gap formed between a preceding oncoming vehicle and a following oncoming vehicle at an intersection includes: a vehicle-to-vehicle gap detection means that detects the vehicle-to-vehicle gaps that appear sequentially at the intersection; a safety degree calculation means that calculates a safety degree of the vehicle-to-vehicle gaps detected by the vehicle-to-vehicle gap detection means; a total candidate number calculation means that calculates a total candidate number that is an estimated value of the total number of vehicle-to-vehicle gaps that will appear at the intersection while the vehicle is waiting at the intersection; and an integer obtained by rounding down the decimal point of the square root of the total candidate number or a safety degree calculation means that calculates a safety degree of the total candidate number that is an estimated value of the total number of vehicle-to-vehicle gaps that will appear at the intersection while the vehicle is waiting at the intersection. The system includes a specified skip number calculation means for setting the specified skip number to an integer obtained by rounding up the square root of the number of candidates, a safety threshold setting means for assigning candidate numbers, which are consecutive numbers in the order of appearance, to vehicle gaps that appear at the intersection, and setting the maximum safety level among the safety levels of vehicle gaps whose candidate numbers are less than the specified skip number as a safety threshold, and a vehicle gap selection means for comparing the safety levels of vehicle gaps that appear at the intersection after the safety threshold has been set with the safety threshold, and selecting a vehicle gap having a safety level equal to or greater than the safety threshold as a vehicle gap for making a right or left turn.

[0007] According to the above solution method, it is possible to select the vehicle gap that maximizes the expected safety level from among multiple candidate vehicle gaps for turning right or left, thereby enabling safe and smooth right or left turns to be made without delay.

[0008] A preferred embodiment based on the above solution is as set forth in claim 2 and subsequent claims. That is, an information acquisition means for acquiring information on traffic flow is provided, and the total candidate number calculation means calculates the total candidate number based on the information acquired by the information acquisition means (corresponding to claim 2). In this case, the total candidate number appropriately reflects the traffic flow at that time, and can therefore be considered to be an accurate estimate.

[0009] Furthermore, if the traffic light in the traveling direction at the intersection has started to show a green signal before the vehicle arrives at the intersection, the total candidate number calculation means sets the total candidate number to a value obtained by subtracting the number of oncoming vehicles that the vehicle has passed before arriving at the intersection from the total candidate number calculated based on the information acquired by the information acquisition means (corresponding to claim 3). In this case, even if the traffic light has started to show a green signal when the vehicle arrives at the intersection, the total candidate number can be estimated with sufficient accuracy with the minimum necessary detection and calculation without complicating the configuration.

[0010] Furthermore, the safety level calculation means calculates the safety level of the inter-vehicle gap based on the time from when the preceding oncoming vehicle passes the intersection until when the following oncoming vehicle passes the intersection, and the time required for the host vehicle to turn right or left to pass the intersection (corresponding to claim 4). In this case, the safety level of the inter-vehicle gap can be set accurately because it appropriately reflects the distance between the preceding oncoming vehicle and the following oncoming vehicle, and the speed and acceleration of the following oncoming vehicle.

[0011] Furthermore, when a vehicle gap having a safety level equal to or higher than a predetermined sufficient threshold is found, the vehicle gap selection means selects the vehicle gap as the vehicle gap for making a right or left turn, even if the candidate number is equal to or lower than the specified skip number (corresponding to claim 5). In this case, a right or left turn can be made as quickly as possible at a vehicle gap that is sufficiently safe.

[0012] Furthermore, the vehicle gap selection means does not select a vehicle gap whose safety level is less than a predetermined required threshold as a vehicle gap for making a right or left turn, even if the safety level is equal to or greater than the safety level threshold (corresponding to claim 6). In this case, a vehicle gap whose safety is insufficient can be prevented from being selected as a vehicle gap for making a right or left turn.

[0013] The system further includes an automatic driving control means for controlling the automatic driving of the vehicle, and the automatic driving control means controls the vehicle to make a right or left turn at the inter-vehicle gap selected by the inter-vehicle gap selection means (corresponding to claim 7). In this case, in automatic driving, right or left turns can be made more quickly and safely than when a right or left turn is determined based only on a simple threshold value. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention, when turning right or left at an intersection, the vehicle gap that maximizes the expected safety level can be selected from the vehicle gaps that appear one after another at the intersection, allowing a safe right or left turn to be made without delay. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a control system according to the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a control system according to the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of the present invention. [Figure 4] A graph showing the safety of turning right or left at an intersection. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a method for calculating the total number of candidates. [Figure 6] 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of an example of control according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of an example of a control system of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the control system includes an electronic control unit (ECU) U. The electronic control unit U is a control device configured, for example, by a microcomputer. The control system includes vehicle exterior detection means (inter-vehicle gap detection means) 1, vehicle state detection means 2, and information acquisition means 3, and signals (information) are input to the electronic control unit U from each of the means 1 to 4. Furthermore, a control signal is transmitted from the electronic control unit U to a vehicle control system 5.

[0017] The vehicle exterior detection means 1 is a means for detecting the external conditions of the vehicle, such as the condition of the road on which the vehicle is traveling and other vehicles in the vicinity, and is equipped with an exterior camera 10 and a radar detector 11. In the present invention, the vehicle exterior detection means 1 functions as an inter-vehicle gap detection means for detecting an inter-vehicle gap formed between a leading vehicle and a following vehicle at an intersection.

[0018] The vehicle state detection means 3 is a means for detecting the running state of the host vehicle, and includes a vehicle speed sensor 12, an acceleration sensor 13, a gyro sensor 14, a steering angle sensor 15, an accelerator sensor 16, and a brake sensor 17.

[0019] The information acquisition means 3 is a means for acquiring various information required for control, and includes a positioning sensor 18 consisting of a GPS, and a traffic information acquisition means 19 for acquiring traffic information (information on traffic flow such as traffic density at that time) from an external traffic information system (for example, probe data or road traffic census). The vehicle control system 5 is a means for controlling the driving of the vehicle, and is composed of a steering control means 21, an engine control means 22, and a brake control system 23.

[0020] 2, the electronic control unit U includes, as functions for executing right / left turn control, a total candidate number calculation means 31, a specified skip number calculation means 32, a safety level calculation means 33, a safety level threshold detection means 34, an inter-vehicle gap selection means 35, and an automatic driving control means 36. These means are provided as programs within the electronic control unit U.

[0021] With the above-described configuration, when the host vehicle makes a right or left turn at an intersection, the vehicle control device of the present invention selects a suitable inter-vehicle gap from among the inter-vehicle gaps (distance between vehicles) formed between oncoming vehicles passing through the intersection, and performs right or left turn control to cause the host vehicle to travel through that inter-vehicle gap. The right or left turn control by the vehicle control device of the present invention will be described in detail below.

[0022] 3 shows an outline of a situation in which the right / left turn control of this embodiment is executed. As shown in the figure, when a host vehicle VE traveling on a host lane L1 of a road R makes a right or left turn (a right turn in this example) at an intersection I, an oncoming vehicle B traveling on an oncoming lane L2 enters the intersection I and continues straight beyond the intersection I. Therefore, in the direction in which the host vehicle VE is turning right at the intersection I, inter-vehicle gaps G formed between a preceding oncoming vehicle VP and a following oncoming vehicle VF appear one after another. These inter-vehicle gaps G are detected by a detection means 1 external to the vehicle.

[0023] This control selects an inter-vehicle gap G that offers high safety when making a right or left turn from among the inter-vehicle gaps G that appear and disappear in this order, and makes the host vehicle VE turn right or left by passing through the selected inter-vehicle gap G. That is, this control selects an appropriate inter-vehicle gap from the sequence of inter-vehicle gaps G1, G2, ... that appear in order at the intersection I, in view of the evaluation value assigned to each inter-vehicle gap, under the condition that an inter-vehicle gap that has already been passed cannot be selected retroactively, and then makes a right or left turn. Here, the evaluation value is a value that serves as an index indicating the suitability of the inter-vehicle gap as an inter-vehicle gap for making a right or left turn, and in this embodiment, a safety level S that indicates the degree of safety when making a right or left turn is used as the evaluation value.

[0024] In order to achieve such a selection of inter-vehicle gaps, the present invention utilizes knowledge of the basic reward problem. Here, the basic reward problem is a type of optimal stopping problem (a variation of the secretary problem), and when selecting one candidate from multiple candidates that appear sequentially, an optimal policy is adopted to maximize the expected value of the reward of the selected candidate. In the optimal policy for the basic reward problem, there is an integer threshold for the number of candidates for which selection should be skipped, and this threshold is expressed as floor(N), where N is the total number of candidates. 1 / 2 ) or ceil(N 1 / 2 ) where floor(x) is the floor function (a function that rounds down to the nearest integer) and ceil(x) is the ceiling function (a function that rounds up to the nearest integer). The basic compensation problem itself is well known, so further explanation will be omitted.

[0025] In order to utilize knowledge of the basic reward problem, in this right / left turn control, the total candidate number calculation means 31 calculates the total candidate number N, which is an estimate of the total number of candidates for inter-vehicle gaps G for which a right turn is attempted. That is, the total candidate number calculation means 31 estimates the traffic density at the intersection I based on traffic information etc. acquired from the traffic information acquisition means 19, and calculates the total candidate number N as an estimate of the number of inter-vehicle gaps that will appear at the intersection I under this traffic density while the host vehicle VE is waiting at the intersection I (i.e., while the signal F ahead of the host vehicle VE is showing a green light). Details of the calculation (estimation) of the total candidate number N will be described later.

[0026] Next, the prescribed skip number calculation means 32 calculates the prescribed skip number C from the total number of candidates N. Here, the prescribed skip number C is a threshold in the optimal policy (cutoff rule) for the basic reward problem, and is the number of candidates to be skipped in order to select the candidate with the maximum expected value. In this embodiment, in accordance with the basic reward problem, the floor function or ceiling function of the square root of the total number of candidates N is set as the prescribed skip number C. That is, the prescribed skip number C is calculated using the following formula (1). C=floor(N 1 / 2 )…(1) C=ceil(N 1 / 2 ) …(2) Once the total number of candidates N and the specified number of skips C have been determined in this manner, the evaluation value detection means 33 detects the safety level S of the vehicle gaps G that appear in order at the intersection I based on the detection results from the vehicle external detection means 1.

[0027] Here, the safety level S is set so that the safer it is to turn right at the intersection I, the higher the value becomes, by comprehensively evaluating the relative relationship between the two oncoming vehicles VP and VF that form the vehicle gap, and the time required to turn right at the intersection I (required time t for turning right or left). The details of the safety level S will be described later.

[0028] A candidate number i is assigned to each inter-vehicle gap G that appears at the intersection I as a serial number in the order of appearance. Then, while the candidate number i is equal to or less than the specified skip number C, the inter-vehicle gap Gi (the inter-vehicle gap G of candidate number i) is passed over without making a right turn, and only the safety level Si of each inter-vehicle gap Gi is detected.

[0029] Note that even while the candidate number i is below the specified skip number C, if the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi is equal to or greater than a predetermined sufficient threshold SE, a right or left turn is executed at that inter-vehicle gap Gi. Here, the sufficient threshold is a safety level threshold at which it is considered that if the inter-vehicle gap has a safety level equal to or greater than this level, a very safe right or left turn can be executed, and it is determined that there is no problem with turning right or left immediately. If an inter-vehicle gap G with a safety level S equal to or greater than the sufficient threshold SE is found, there is no problem with turning right or left at that inter-vehicle gap G, so that inter-vehicle gap G is selected and a right or left turn is executed in order to complete the right or left turn as quickly as possible.

[0030] In this way, when the candidate number i of the vehicle gap Gi reaches the specified skip number C, the safety threshold calculation means 34 sets the maximum value Smax of the safety Si (i≦C) of the vehicle gap detected up to that point as the safety threshold ST.

[0031] However, when the maximum value Smax of the detected safety level Si is less than the required threshold SN which is the minimum necessary safety level for executing a right turn, the required threshold SN is set as the safety level threshold ST. This ensures that the safety level threshold ST does not become smaller than the required threshold SN. Here, the required threshold SN is the threshold of the safety level S that is minimally necessary for safely making a right or left turn.

[0032] Even after the inter-vehicle gap Gi of candidate number i exceeds the specified skip number C, the safety level calculation means 33 continues to detect the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi (C < i). Then, the inter-vehicle gap selection means 35 compares the detected safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi with the safety level threshold ST. If, as a result of this comparison, an inter-vehicle gap Gi with a safety level Si greater than or equal to the safety level threshold ST appears, the inter-vehicle gap selection means 35 selects that inter-vehicle gap Gi as the inter-vehicle gap Gr for executing a right or left turn.

[0033] If the inter-vehicle gap Gr is selected by the inter-vehicle gap selection means 33, the automatic driving control means 36 controls the vehicle control system 35 to perform a right or left turn of the host vehicle VE in the inter-vehicle gap Gr while referring to the detection signal from the vehicle state detection means 2, and completes the right or left turn. As a result, a right or left turn can be executed in the inter-vehicle gap Gr where the expected value of the safety level S is maximized.

[0034] Note that, as described above, when the maximum value Smax of the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi less than or equal to the specified skip number C is less than the required threshold SN, the required threshold SN is set as the safety level threshold ST. Therefore, the safety level Sr of the selected inter-vehicle gap Gr will not be less than the required threshold SN. Thus, an inter-vehicle gap that does not ensure a minimum level of safety will not be selected, and the safety of right and left turns can be appropriately ensured.

[0035] Next, the calculation of the safety level S of the inter-vehicle gap in this embodiment will be described. As described above, the safety level S is an evaluation value that indicates the degree of safety (suitability) of turning right or left using that inter-vehicle gap, and is set by comprehensively evaluating the relative relationship between the two oncoming vehicles VP and VF that form the inter-vehicle gap and the time required to turn right at the intersection I (required time t for turning right or left), and the higher the value, the safer it is to turn right at the intersection I.

[0036] In this embodiment, the security level S is set by the following equation (3) using a sigmoid function.

[0037]

number

[0038] 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the inter-vehicle time x and the safety level S when the required time t for turning right or left is 4 seconds. As can be seen from this graph, the longer the inter-vehicle time x, the higher the safety level S.

[0039] If the safety level S expressed by the above formula (3) is 0.5 or more, the inter-vehicle time x is equal to or greater than the required time t for turning right or left, and therefore, theoretically, it is considered possible to turn right or left. Therefore, the necessary threshold value SN can be set to, for example, 0.5. Furthermore, if the safety level is 0.99 or more, it is considered possible to ensure a sufficient safety margin. Therefore, the sufficient threshold value SE can be set to, for example, 0.99.

[0040] Next, the estimation of the total number of candidates N in this embodiment will be described. In estimating the total number of candidates N, first, the average number W of oncoming vehicles predicted to pass through intersection I during the green phase time TF of signal F (the time from when signal F starts to show the green phase until it ends) is calculated based on traffic information (information related to traffic flow such as traffic density at that time) acquired by traffic information acquisition means 19. The number of inter-vehicle gaps formed between oncoming vehicles is calculated by subtracting 1 from the average number W.

[0041] The average number W of passing oncoming vehicles may be calculated without using external information. For example, the number of oncoming vehicles traveling in the oncoming lane L2 while the host vehicle VE is traveling may be detected in advance by the vehicle external detection means 1, and the average number W of passing oncoming vehicles may be calculated based on the traffic density estimated from the detected number.

[0042] When the host vehicle VE arrives at the intersection I and starts waiting, if the signal F in the traveling direction of the host vehicle VE has not yet shown a green signal, and the host vehicle VE waits for the signal F to start showing a green signal before starting to turn right or left, the entire signal time TF can be used, and therefore, the vehicle gaps formed between all oncoming vehicles passing through the intersection I during the signal time TF can be set as candidates for turning right or left. Therefore, the total number of candidates N can be calculated by subtracting 1 from the average number of vehicles W. That is, the total number of candidates N in this case is calculated (estimated) using the following formula (4): N=W-1 …(4) On the other hand, as shown in Figure 5, if signal F begins to show a green phase before the host vehicle VE arrives at intersection I, the number of oncoming vehicles passing through intersection I during the remaining time of signal F will be smaller than in the above case. In this case, it can be assumed that the oncoming vehicle VX that the host vehicle VE has passed before arriving at intersection I is an oncoming vehicle that passed through intersection I after the green phase began. In other words, when the light is red before the green phase, it can be assumed that there are no oncoming vehicles traveling straight across intersection I toward the host vehicle VE, and this assumption holds true if we ignore the small number of vehicles turning left into oncoming lane L2 at intersection I.

[0043] Therefore, if the number WP of oncoming vehicles VX that the host vehicle VE has passed is detected before the host vehicle VE arrives at the intersection I, this number WP of oncoming vehicles will be the reduction in the number of oncoming vehicles passing through the intersection I while the host vehicle VE is waiting at the intersection I (during the remaining time of the current time TF). Therefore, the total number of candidates N in this case is calculated (estimated) using the following equation (5). N=W-WP-1 …(5) By employing the estimation method of the above formula (5), the total number of candidates N can be estimated with sufficient accuracy with the minimum necessary detection and calculation, without complicating the configuration.

[0044] In order to eliminate the influence of oncoming vehicles VX before the current green phase from the estimation of the total number of candidates N using equation (5), for example, the time period for counting the oncoming vehicles VX that have passed by may be limited to a predetermined time period. This predetermined time period may be set based on the green phase duration TF, for example.

[0045] Next, an example of a control procedure for right / left turn control by the vehicle control device of the present invention will be described based on the flowchart of Fig. 6. In right / left turn control, first, in step S1, the total number of candidates N is determined (calculated).

[0046] In the next step S2, it is determined whether the total number of candidates N is 1 or less, and if the total number of candidates is 1 or less, the process proceeds to step S8, where the vehicle is turned right or left, and the right or left turn control is terminated. In other words, if the total number of candidates is 1 or less, it is assumed that the intersection I where the right or left turn is to be made has very low traffic density and there are almost no oncoming vehicles (so the distance between oncoming vehicles is 1 or less), and therefore the process immediately executes a right or left turn of the host vehicle VE without performing the processing in step S3 and thereafter.

[0047] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S2 that the total number of candidates N is not equal to or less than 1, the process proceeds to step S3, where the candidate number i and the safety threshold ST are initialized. That is, the candidate number i is set to 1, and the safety threshold ST is set to minus infinity.

[0048] In step S4, the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi of candidate number i that appears at the intersection I is detected (calculated). In the following step S5, it is determined whether the calculated safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi is equal to or greater than a sufficient threshold value SE (e.g., 0.99). If the safety level Si is equal to or greater than the sufficient threshold value SE, the process proceeds to step S8, where a right or left turn is executed at that inter-vehicle gap Gi, and the control ends. In other words, if the inter-vehicle gap Gi has a safety level Si equal to or greater than the sufficient threshold value SE, it is extremely safe to turn right or left at the inter-vehicle gap Gi, and it is advantageous to execute the turn as soon as possible, so the turn is executed without performing the processing in step S6 and subsequent steps.

[0049] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S5 that the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi is less than the sufficient threshold SE, the process proceeds to step S6, where it is determined whether the candidate number i of the inter-vehicle gap Gi has exceeded the specified skip number C. If it is determined in step S6 that the candidate number i has not exceeded the specified skip number C, the process proceeds to step S11, where the safety level threshold ST is updated. That is, the safety level threshold ST is set to the larger of the maximum value Smax of the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi that has appeared up to that point and the necessary threshold SN. In the following step S12, the candidate number i is updated (that is, 1 is added to the candidate number i), and the process returns to step S4.

[0050] In this way, the safety threshold ST is updated by repeating the loop of steps S4 to S6, S10, and S11 until the number of candidates i for the detected inter-vehicle gap Gi exceeds the specified skip number C. In other words, while the number of candidates i is equal to or less than the specified skip number C, the vehicle passes through the inter-vehicle gap Gi that has appeared without making a right or left turn, and the safety threshold ST continues to be updated.

[0051] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S6 that the candidate number i has exceeded the specified skip count C, the process proceeds to step S7, where it is determined whether or not the safety level Si of the vehicle gap Gi is equal to or greater than the safety level threshold ST. If it is determined in this determination that the safety level Si is not equal to or greater than the safety level threshold ST, the process proceeds to step S12, where it is determined whether or not the candidate number i has reached the total number of candidates N. If the total number of candidates N has not been reached, the candidate number is updated in step S11, and the process returns to step S4.

[0052] In this way, after candidate number i exceeds the specified skip count C, unless candidate number i reaches the total number of candidates N, the loop of steps S4 to S7, S12, and S11 is repeated to compare the safety levels Si of inter-vehicle gaps Gi that successively appear at intersection I with the safety level threshold ST until an inter-vehicle gap Gi whose safety level Si is equal to or greater than the safety level threshold ST is found. Note that the safety level threshold ST is not updated in this loop. In other words, the safety level threshold ST is determined based on the safety level Si of inter-vehicle gaps Gi whose candidate number i is equal to or less than the specified skip count C, and is not changed after being determined.

[0053] If it is determined in step S12 that candidate number i has reached the total number of candidates N, the process proceeds to step S13, where a right or left turn is made after waiting for all oncoming vehicles to pass. That is, when candidate number i reaches the total number of candidates N, it means that an oncoming vehicle that is assumed to be the last oncoming vehicle to pass through intersection I on that green light has been reached (the green light current duration TF has ended), so a right or left turn is made after waiting for the last oncoming vehicle to pass the intersection, and the series of controls ends.

[0054] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the safety level Si of the inter-vehicle gap Gi is equal to or greater than the safety level threshold ST, the process proceeds to step S8, where a right or left turn is executed at that inter-vehicle gap Gi. That is, if the safety level S is equal to or greater than the safety level threshold ST at the inter-vehicle gap Gi of candidate number i that exceeds the specified skip count C, the inter-vehicle gap Gi is the one that maximizes the expected value of the safety level S (reward in the basic reward problem), so a right or left turn is executed at that inter-vehicle gap Gi, and the series of controls is terminated.

[0055] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the claims. For example, in the above embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to automatic driving control has been described, but the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to automatic driving and broadly includes driving assistance in general. [Industrial Applicability]

[0056] The present invention can be used for automatic driving control of vehicles such as automobiles. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] U Electronic Control Unit 1. Vehicle external detection means 2. Vehicle state detection means 3 Information acquisition means 5. Vehicle Control System 10. Exterior camera 11 Radar detector 12 Vehicle speed sensor 13 Acceleration sensor 14 Gyro sensor 15 Steering angle sensor 16 Accelerator sensor 17 Brake sensor 18 Positioning Sensor 19 Means of obtaining traffic information 21 Steering control means 22 Engine control means 23 Brake control means 31 Total number of candidates calculation method 32. Means for calculating the specified skip number 33 Safety degree calculation method 34 Safety threshold calculation method 35 Vehicle gap selection means 36 Automatic driving control means VE Vehicle VP Oncoming vehicle ahead VF Oncoming vehicle behind R road L1 own lane L2 Oncoming lane I intersection F signal G Gap between vehicles

Claims

1. A vehicle control device performs control to turn a vehicle right or left through a gap formed between a preceding oncoming vehicle and a following oncoming vehicle at an intersection, a vehicle gap detection means for detecting the vehicle gaps that successively appear at the intersection; a safety level calculation means for calculating a safety level of the inter-vehicle gap detected by the inter-vehicle gap detection means; a total candidate number calculation means for calculating a total candidate number, which is an estimate of the total number of vehicle gaps that will appear at the intersection while the vehicle is waiting at the intersection; a predetermined skip number calculation means for setting an integer obtained by rounding down the square root of the total number of candidates or an integer obtained by rounding up the square root of the total number of candidates as the predetermined skip number; a safety threshold setting means for assigning candidate numbers, which are consecutive numbers in the order of appearance, to inter-vehicle gaps that appear at the intersection, and for setting the maximum safety level among the safety levels of inter-vehicle gaps whose candidate numbers are equal to or less than the specified skip number as a safety threshold; a vehicle gap selection means for comparing a safety level of a vehicle gap that appears at the intersection after the safety level threshold is set with the safety level threshold, and selecting a vehicle gap having a safety level equal to or higher than the safety level threshold as a vehicle gap for making a right or left turn; A vehicle control device comprising:

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, an information acquisition means for acquiring information about traffic flow; The vehicle control device, wherein the total candidate number calculation means calculates the total candidate number based on the information acquired by the information acquisition means.

3. In the vehicle control device according to claim 2, The vehicle control device, when the traffic light in the direction of travel at the intersection has started to show a green signal before the vehicle arrives at the intersection, sets the total number of candidates to a value obtained by subtracting the number of oncoming vehicles that the vehicle has passed before arriving at the intersection from the total number of candidates calculated based on the information acquired by the information acquisition means.

4. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The safety level calculation means is a vehicle control device that calculates the safety level of the gap between vehicles based on the time from when the preceding oncoming vehicle passes the intersection until when the following oncoming vehicle passes the intersection, and the time required for the vehicle to turn right or left to pass through the intersection.

5. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The vehicle control device, in which the vehicle gap selection means, when a vehicle gap having a safety level equal to or higher than a predetermined sufficient threshold is found, selects that vehicle gap as the vehicle gap for making a right or left turn, even if the candidate number is less than the specified skip number.

6. The vehicle control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, A vehicle control device in which the vehicle gap selection means does not select a vehicle gap for making a right or left turn when the vehicle gap has a safety level below a predetermined required threshold, even if the safety level is above the safety level threshold.

7. 7. The vehicle control device according to claim 1, an automatic driving control means for controlling automatic driving of the vehicle; The automatic driving control means controls the vehicle so that the vehicle makes a right or left turn at the vehicle gap selected by the vehicle gap selection means.

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