Information processing system

Abstract

To provide an information processing system which provides information for improving efficiency in planning countermeasures capable of contributing to traffic safety.SOLUTION: Based on information on a change pattern of acceleration / deceleration of an own vehicle included in travel state information transmitted from each of on-vehicle systems 20 mounted on vehicles to a server 30 and positional information of a point or a zone where the information is acquired, it is determined whether or not the point or the zone is a point or a zone which should be defined as a display target and correspondingly to the point or the zone which should be defined as the display target, attribute information corresponding to specific information in the point or the zone and the change pattern of the acceleration / deceleration is displayed on a display section 36. Thus, efficiency in planning countermeasures capable of contributing to traffic safety can be improved.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is known an information processing system that receives information from a plurality of vehicles capable of external communication at a server of a base station and aggregates each information at the server. The information processing system disclosed in Patent Document 1 acquires vehicle behavior after the timing when a sudden deceleration occurs in a vehicle traveling on a road and a correspondence result in which the point where the sudden deceleration occurs is associated with map information, determines a factor causing the sudden deceleration in the vehicle based on the acquired information, and performs guidance or vehicle control using the factor causing the sudden deceleration in the vehicle.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] By the way, regarding the effective use of an information processing system in which various information is transmitted from a plurality of vehicles as described above to a server of a base station, the inventors of the present invention considered statistically processing the information received by the server and using the statistical information for formulating countermeasures that can contribute to traffic safety. And the inventors of the present invention have already proposed an information processing system that displays information on probe data for each road on a map in order to identify the cause of sudden deceleration.

[0005] However, while it was possible to understand the tendency towards stable driving at locations where sudden deceleration frequently occurred, it was difficult to identify the specific factors behind each sudden deceleration. Therefore, there was a need for an information processing system that could accurately identify whether or not sudden deceleration at a given location correlated with danger, and that could then formulate countermeasures only at locations where it did correlate with danger.

[0006] This invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to realize an information processing system that provides information to improve the efficiency of planning measures that can contribute to traffic safety. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention provides a solution for achieving the above objective, which is based on an information processing system in which a server installed at a base station receives vehicle status information transmitted from each of several vehicles capable of external communication, and the server performs statistical processing on each of the above information. This information processing system is further based on the fact that each vehicle is equipped with a vehicle-side communication unit that transmits driving status information, which associates at least information on the vehicle's acceleration / deceleration change pattern with location information of the point or section where the change pattern information was acquired. Furthermore, the server comprises a server-side communication unit that receives the driving status information transmitted from each of the vehicles, a target determination unit that determines whether a point or section is a point or section that should be made available for display for the purpose of contributing to traffic safety, based on specific information about a point or section related to the location information and information about the acceleration / deceleration change pattern included in each of the driving status information from each of the vehicles received by the server-side communication unit, a road attribute information generation unit that generates attribute information corresponding to the specific information and the acceleration / deceleration change pattern in relation to the point or section when the target determination unit determines that the point or section is a point or section that should be made available for display, and a display unit capable of displaying the attribute information generated by the road attribute information generation unit. Furthermore, even if a vehicle decelerates suddenly, the target determination unit determines that if the location is an intersection with traffic lights, it is a location or section that should not be included in the display target. When it is determined that the location or section should be included in the display target and the attribute information is generated by the road attribute information generation unit, the acceleration / deceleration change patterns in the attribute information include at least Pattern 1, which is a pattern from low speed to 0 speed, and Pattern 2, which is a pattern from medium speed to 0 speed. In Pattern 1, if there is an intersection on the road traveled, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is an intersection with poor visibility, and if there is no intersection, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is a place where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during traffic congestion. In Pattern 2, if it is an intersection with traffic lights, the attribute information is not included in the display target, and if it is an intersection without traffic lights, the attribute information is set to be the same as in Pattern 1. It is characterized by the following:

[0008] Based on these specific details, when each vehicle travels on the road, the vehicle's communication unit transmits driving status information to the server's server-side communication unit. This information associates the vehicle's acceleration / deceleration change pattern with the location information of the point or section where the change pattern information was obtained. When the server-side communication unit receives driving status information from multiple vehicles, the target determination unit determines, based on the information, whether the point or section should be designated as a display target for contributing to traffic safety. If the road attribute information generation unit determines that the point or section should be designated as a display target, it generates specific information (such as whether it is an intersection or whether there are shops nearby) and attribute information corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration change pattern for that point or section. The attribute information generated by the road attribute information generation unit is then displayed on the server's display unit. This allows for accurate display (for example, on a map) of the attributes (such as the type of traffic safety hazard) of the point or section displayed on the display unit, making it possible to efficiently plan measures that can contribute to traffic safety for each road (point or section). [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] In this invention, the display unit displays specific information and attribute information corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration change pattern for the location or section that should be displayed. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of planning measures that can contribute to traffic safety. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2(a) shows an example of a change pattern in vehicle acceleration and deceleration, and Figures 2(b) to 2(f) show examples of a change pattern in steering angle during vehicle deceleration. [Figure 3]Figures 3(a) to 3(c) show examples of the map display state for each pattern in the server's display unit. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the case in which vehicle speed information and vehicle deceleration information (information on the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle) are handled as statistically processed information among the various types of information (probe data) transmitted from each of several vehicles capable of external communication to a data center server installed in a data center (base station) will be described as an example. In addition to this information, other types of probe data that the information processing system actually handles include steering operation information, accelerator pedal operation information, brake pedal operation information, etc.

[0012] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating the schematic configuration of the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes an in-vehicle system 20 mounted on a vehicle and a data center server 30 (hereinafter simply referred to as server 30) installed in a data center. The in-vehicle system 20 and server 30 can communicate with each other via a network 40. Although only one in-vehicle system 20 is shown in Figure 1, multiple in-vehicle systems 20 are mounted on different vehicles. For example, information can be sent and received via the network 40 between the in-vehicle system 20 mounted on each vehicle traveling within a predetermined area (wide-area jurisdiction) managed by server 30 and the server 30.

[0013] The in-vehicle system 20 is equipped with an ECU 21. The ECU 21 is connected to an in-vehicle sensor group 22, a camera 23, a navigation system 24, a display unit 25, and a communication unit (vehicle-side communication unit) 26 that is responsible for communication with the server 30, etc.

[0014] The vehicle sensor group 22 includes a GNSS sensor 22a that receives positioning signals from GNSS satellites and acquires GNSS positioning information, an acceleration sensor 22b that detects the vehicle's acceleration (including deceleration), and a vehicle speed sensor 22c that detects the vehicle's speed. The vehicle sensor group 22 also includes an accelerator pedal sensor 22d that detects the amount the accelerator pedal is pressed, a brake pedal sensor 22e that detects the amount the brake pedal is pressed, and a steering angle sensor 22f that detects the steering angle. Sensor data (also called CAN data) detected by each sensor in the vehicle sensor group 22 is transmitted to the server 30 as needed, or whenever a predetermined amount of data has been accumulated. In particular, in this embodiment, while the vehicle's ignition switch is ON, driving status information, which associates vehicle status information such as vehicle speed (vehicle speed data), vehicle deceleration (vehicle deceleration data), and steering angle (steering angle data) with location information of the point or section (point or section on the road) where this vehicle status information was acquired, is transmitted to the server 30 via the network 40.

[0015] Camera 23 photographs the area in front of the vehicle. Image data captured by camera 23 is also transmitted to server 30 as it occurs, or whenever a predetermined amount of image data has been accumulated. The navigation system 24 includes a storage unit (not shown) that stores map information, and based on the GNSS positioning information output from the GNSS sensor 22a and the map information stored in the storage unit, it displays the vehicle's position on the map displayed on the display unit 25 and provides directions to the destination. The display unit 25 includes a meter display 25a and a HUD (Head-Up Display) 25b.

[0016] Next, the server 30 will be described. The server 30 includes a CPU 31, memory 32 including ROM and RAM, and a non-volatile storage unit 33 such as an HDD or SSD. The server 30 also includes a communication unit (server-side communication unit) 34 that manages communication with the in-vehicle system 20, an input unit 35 such as a keyboard, and a display unit 36 ​​such as a display. Each element 31 to 36 constituting the server 30 is connected to each other via an internal bus 37 so that they can communicate with one another.

[0017] The memory unit 33 stores a safety support program 50 and is also provided with a sensor data storage area 60. The sensor data storage area 60 stores time-series driving data related to vehicle operation, including data on the vehicle's driving history, acquired from each vehicle. The sensor data storage area 60 also stores information about each road within the predetermined area (jurisdiction area). This information includes, for example, the location of intersections, the speed limit for each road, the presence or absence of traffic lights, the presence or absence of stop lines, and the presence or absence of one-way streets, and can be obtained from organizations such as JARTIC. The sensor data storage area 60 also stores information such as store entrances and exits and road merging points. This information is updated whenever regulatory conditions are changed (for example, changes in speed limits).

[0018] In the server 30, the safety support program 50 is read from the storage unit 33 and loaded into the memory 32, and the safety support program 50 loaded into the memory 32 is executed by the CPU 31. This safety support program 50 includes, as its functional units, a target determination unit 51, a road attribute information generation unit 52, a request data extraction unit 53, a display image switching unit 54, and an output unit 55. The general functions of each of these units will be described below.

[0019] The target determination unit 51 acquires driving status information (driving status information that associates vehicle status information such as vehicle speed, vehicle deceleration, and steering angle with location information of the point or section where this vehicle status information was acquired) from each vehicle's in-vehicle system 20 received by the communication unit 34, and determines whether the point or section should be designated as a display target (display target on the display unit 36) for the purpose of contributing to traffic safety based on this driving status information. For example, if it is assumed that a vehicle has decelerated suddenly (suddenly braked) to avoid a collision with a preceding vehicle, the point or section is determined to be a point or section that should be designated as a display target. On the other hand, even if a vehicle decelerates suddenly, if that point is an intersection with traffic lights, it is assumed that the sudden deceleration was due to the traffic light turning red, and not to avoid contact with a preceding vehicle, so in this case, it is determined that the point or section should not be designated as a display target.

[0020] When the target determination unit 51 determines that the point or section is a point or section to be displayed, the road attribute information generation unit 52 generates specific information (information such as whether it is an intersection or whether there are stores in the vicinity) corresponding to the point or section and attribute information according to the change pattern of acceleration and deceleration. Specifically, based on the vehicle deceleration information received from each in-vehicle system 20 of each vehicle and the position information associated with the information, the road attribute information generation unit 52 determines that the point specified by the position information is the moment when the longitudinal acceleration before and after passing through the point becomes -0.4G or less as the sudden deceleration occurrence time, and acquires information related to the behavior of the vehicle such as longitudinal and lateral accelerations, vehicle speed, and yaw rate in the period from 3 seconds before to 5 seconds after, for example. In addition, time-series data of vehicle operations such as information on the operation amount of the steering wheel and information on the depression amount of various pedals are acquired. Then, the similarity of all the sudden deceleration data is calculated using methods such as the known dynamic time warping method, t-SNE, and UMAP. Further, the similarity obtained in this way is clustered by known methods such as the k-means method and HDBSCAN and classified into patterns. This processing operation corresponds to the operation of "generating specific information and attribute information according to the change pattern of acceleration and deceleration corresponding to the point or section when it is determined that the point or section is a point or section to be displayed" in the present invention.

[0021] This attribute information will be classified into patterns 1 to 5, for example. Figure 2(a) shows an example of a vehicle acceleration / deceleration change pattern. Here, we will explain the case where the vehicle acceleration / deceleration change pattern is classified into five patterns, from pattern 1 to pattern 5. In this embodiment, pattern 1 (see the thin solid line in Figure 2(a)) is a pattern from low speed to 0 speed. In this case, if there is an intersection on the road traveled with this change pattern, the attribute information will be set to indicate that it is an intersection with poor visibility (an intersection where head-on collisions are likely to occur). If there is no intersection, the attribute information will be set to indicate that it is an intersection where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during traffic congestion. Pattern 2 (see the dashed line in Figure 2(a)) is a pattern from medium speed to 0 speed. In this case, if it is an intersection with traffic lights, it will not be displayed as described above (because it is assumed to be a sudden deceleration due to the traffic light turning red, and therefore it will not be displayed), but at other locations, the attribute information will be set to be the same as in the case of pattern 1. Pattern 3 (see the dashed line in Figure 2(a)) is a pattern where the vehicle accelerates after going from medium speed to low speed. In this case, if there are store entrances or road merging points on the road traveled in this change pattern, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is a location where head-on collisions are likely to occur. Pattern 4 (see the double dashed line in Figure 2(d)) is a pattern where the vehicle accelerates after going from medium speed. In this case as well, if there are store entrances or road merging points on the road traveled in this change pattern, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is a location where head-on collisions are likely to occur. Pattern 5 (see the thick solid line in Figure 2(a)) is a pattern where the vehicle accelerates after going from high speed to medium speed. In this case, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is a location where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during high-speed driving. The patterns for setting these attribute information are not limited to these and may be set as appropriate. The attribute information for each section and each point set in this manner is temporarily stored in the sensor data storage area 60, and, if necessary, is extracted from the sensor data storage area 60 by the request data extraction unit 53, which will be described later.

[0022] The required data extraction unit 53 extracts, from the data stored (memorized) in the sensor data storage area 60, the data necessary for display in the selected pattern, by the administrator of the data center selecting, through an operation of the input unit 35, the pattern to be displayed on the display unit 36. Fig. 3(a) shows an example of the map display state of Pattern 1. In this Fig. 3(a), intersections with poor visibility are indicated by black circles, and intersections where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during traffic jams are indicated by white circles. These display forms are not limited to this, and colors and symbols may be made different. In addition, even in the case of Pattern 2 described above, if it is a location where no traffic signal is installed, the display state is the same as that in Fig. 3(a). Fig. 3(b) shows an example of the map display state of Pattern 3 and Pattern 4 (a state in which locations where head-on accidents are likely to occur, such as store entrances and exits and road merging points, are displayed). Fig. 3(c) shows an example of the map display state of Pattern 5 (locations where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during high-speed driving).

[0023] In this way, by the administrator of the data center selecting, through an operation of the input unit 35, the pattern to be displayed on the display unit 36, the data extracted by the required data extraction unit 53 from the data stored in the sensor data storage area 60 is determined.

[0024] The display image switching unit 54 is for switching the image (display pattern) displayed on the display unit 36. When the administrator performs a switching operation on the image displayed on the display unit 36 through an operation of the input unit 35, it transmits a switching signal of the displayed pattern to the required data extraction unit 53, and switches (changes the data to be extracted) the data extracted by the required data extraction unit 53 from the sensor data storage area 60 to the data necessary for the display of the required pattern.

[0025] The output unit 55 receives the output from the request data extraction unit 53 and the display image switching unit 54, and outputs the information of the selected image (the image of the requested pattern) to the display unit 36. As a result, the image of the pattern requested by the administrator is displayed on the display unit 36.

[0026] As described above, in this embodiment, based on the information on the acceleration / deceleration change pattern of the vehicle included in the driving status information transmitted from each vehicle to the server 30 and the location information of the point or section where the information was acquired, it is determined whether or not the point or section is a point or section that should be displayed. In accordance with the point or section that should be displayed, specific information and attribute information corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration change pattern for that point or section are displayed on the display unit 36. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of planning measures that can contribute to traffic safety.

[0027] In the embodiments described above, each pattern was classified based on the change pattern of the vehicle's acceleration and deceleration. However, steering angle may also be added as a condition for classifying each pattern. Figures 2(b) to 2(f) show examples of steering angle change patterns during vehicle deceleration (braking) corresponding to each pattern (conditions for setting the vehicle as one of the patterns). Figure 2(b) shows the steering angle change pattern when classified as pattern 1. The solid line in the figure shows the case where the steering angle does not change, the dashed line shows the case when the vehicle is steered to the left, and the dashed line shows the case when the vehicle is steered to the right. Also, t0 in the figure is the point when the longitudinal acceleration becomes -0.4G or less. Similarly, Figure 2(c) shows the steering angle change pattern when classified as pattern 2, Figure 2(d) shows the steering angle change pattern when classified as pattern 3, Figure 2(e) shows the steering angle change pattern when classified as pattern 4, and Figure 2(f) shows the steering angle change pattern when classified as pattern 5. By adding steering angle as a condition for classifying each pattern in this way, the accuracy of the classification of each pattern can be improved.

[0028] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and all modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims and equivalents thereof.

[0029] For example, in the above embodiment, the cases in which vehicle speed information and vehicle deceleration information are handled as information to be statistically processed in the server 30, and in which steering operation information is also handled, were described as examples. The present invention is not limited to these, and at least one of the following information, such as accelerator pedal operation information, brake pedal operation information, and shift lever operation information, may be handled as information to be statistically processed in the server 30. [Industrial applicability]

[0030] This invention is applicable to information processing systems that enable the efficient planning of measures that can contribute to traffic safety. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0031] 10…Information processing system 26…Communication unit (vehicle-side communication unit) 30...Data center server (server) 34...Communication unit (server-side communication unit) 36...Display unit 51...Target determination unit 52...Road attribute information generation unit

Claims

[Claim 1] In an information processing system in which a server installed at a base station receives vehicle status information transmitted from each of several vehicles capable of external communication, and the server statistically processes the said information, Each of the aforementioned vehicles is equipped with a vehicle-side communication unit that transmits driving state information, which associates at least information on the vehicle's acceleration / deceleration change pattern with location information of the point or section where the change pattern information was acquired. The aforementioned server, A server-side communication unit that receives the driving status information transmitted from each of the aforementioned vehicles, A target determination unit determines whether a point or section is a point or section that should be designated as a display target for contributing to traffic safety, based on the specific information of a point or section related to the location information contained in each of the driving status information from each of the vehicles received by the server-side communication unit, and the information of the acceleration / deceleration change pattern. When the target determination unit determines that the point or section is a point or section that should be displayed, the road attribute information generation unit generates the specific information and attribute information corresponding to the acceleration / deceleration change pattern in relation to the point or section, The system includes a display unit capable of displaying the attribute information generated by the road attribute information generation unit, The aforementioned target determination unit determines that even if a vehicle decelerates suddenly, if that point is an intersection with traffic lights, it is a point or section that should not be included in the display target. When attribute information is generated by the road attribute information generation unit after it has been determined that a point or section should be displayed, the acceleration / deceleration change patterns in said attribute information include at least Pattern 1, which is a pattern from low speed to 0 speed, and Pattern 2, which is a pattern from medium speed to 0 speed. In Pattern 1, if an intersection exists on the road traveled, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is an intersection with poor visibility; if no intersection exists, the attribute information is set to indicate that it is a place where rear-end collisions are likely to occur during traffic congestion. An information processing system characterized in that, in Pattern 2, if the intersection has traffic lights installed, the attribute information is not to be displayed, and if the intersection does not have traffic lights installed, the attribute information is set to be the same as in Pattern 1.

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