Safety device and control method

Abstract

To improve a technique for braking a vehicle in a standing posture.SOLUTION: A safety device 20 comprises a control unit 24 that measures, using a distance sensor 221, a distance between a manual driving device 10 and a driver operating the manual driving device 10 during travel of a vehicle 1, and transmits a deceleration and stop request to the manual driving device 10 when the measured distance exceeds a threshold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a safety device and a control method.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a technique for driving a vehicle in a standing posture has been known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a brake pedal device that brakes a vehicle by stepping on a brake pedal while maintaining a standing posture.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, a driver who drives a vehicle in a standing posture may fall due to the rocking of the running vehicle. In such a case, there is a concern that the vehicle may become inoperable. Therefore, there has been room for improvement in the technique of driving a vehicle in a standing posture.

[0005] In view of such circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to improve the technique of driving a vehicle in a standing posture.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] A safety device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a safety device mounted on a manual driving device, which measures, by a distance sensor, a distance between the manual driving device and a driver who operates the manual driving device during running of the vehicle, and when the measured distance exceeds a threshold value, transmits a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device.

[0007] A control method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a control method performed by a safety device mounted on a manual driving device, which includes measuring the distance between the manual driving device and the driver operating the manual driving device using a distance sensor while the vehicle is in motion, and transmitting a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device when the measured distance exceeds a threshold. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the technology for driving a vehicle in an upright position is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the operation of the safety device. [Figure 3] This diagram illustrates a control method using a distance sensor. [Figure 4] This is a diagram illustrating a control method using ropes and slings. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] The embodiments of this disclosure will be described below.

[0011] (Summary of the embodiment) Referring to Figure 1, an overview of a vehicle 1 according to an embodiment of this disclosure will be described. The vehicle 1 comprises a braking device 2, a manual driving device 10, and a safety device 20. The safety device 20 is mounted on the manual driving device 10.

[0012] Vehicle 1 is, for example, an automobile, but is not limited to any other vehicle. An automobile is, but is not limited to, a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). In this disclosure, Vehicle 1 is described as an autonomous vehicle corresponding to LV4 (Level 4 Autonomous Driving). LV4 is an autonomous driving level in which all driving operations are automated by the system under limited conditions such as location, weather, and speed. However, Vehicle 1 is not limited to an autonomous vehicle corresponding to LV4.

[0013] Braking device 2 is a device that slows down or stops a moving vehicle 1, or maintains the stopped state of a vehicle 1 that is already stopped.

[0014] The manual driving device 10 is a portable driving device that can be installed in a vehicle 1 without a driver's seat (for example, an automated driving vehicle corresponding to LV4). The manual driving device 10 receives a deceleration stop request from the communication unit 21 of the safety device 20 via a communication unit 11 that is wired to it by CAN or the like. However, the communication unit 11 and the communication unit 21 may be wirelessly connected. In response to receiving the deceleration stop request, the manual driving device 10 transmits the vehicle 1's deceleration stop request to the braking device 2 via the transmission unit 13.

[0015] The safety device 20 is a computer mounted on the manual driving device 10. The safety device 20 is connected to the communication unit 11 of the manual driving device 10 via a communication unit 21, and is able to communicate via a wired connection such as CAN. However, the communication unit 21 and the communication unit 11 may be connected wirelessly.

[0016] First, the outline of this embodiment will be described, and the details will be described later. While the vehicle 1 is in motion, the safety device 20 measures the distance between the manual driving device 10 and the driver operating the manual driving device 10 by means of the distance sensor 221, and when the measured distance exceeds the threshold value, a deceleration stop request is transmitted to the manual driving device 10.

[0017] As described above, according to this embodiment, when the distance measured by the distance sensor 221 exceeds the threshold value, the safety device 20 transmits a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device 10. Therefore, even if the driver operating the manual driving device 10 falls due to vehicle sway during driving, the safety device 20 can decelerate and stop the vehicle 1 by its operation. Therefore, the technology of braking the vehicle 1 in a standing posture is improved in terms of improving the probability of avoiding an accident due to the inoperability of the manual driving device 10.

[0018] Next, each component of the manual driving device 10 will be described in detail.

[0019] (Configuration of the manual driving device) As shown in FIG. 1, the manual driving device 10 includes a communication unit 11, an operation unit 12, a transmission unit 13, a storage unit 14, a control unit 15, and a safety device 20. The details of the safety device 20 will be described later.

[0020] The communication unit 11 includes one or more communication interfaces for wired or wireless connection with the communication unit 21 of the safety device 20. The communication interface corresponds to, for example, the communication standard of an in-vehicle network such as CAN, the wired LAN (Local Area Network) standard, or the wireless LAN standard, but is not limited thereto and may correspond to any communication standard. The communication unit 11 receives a deceleration stop request for the vehicle 1 from the safety device 20.

[0021] The operation unit 12 includes components that can be directly operated by the driver, such as a steering wheel for turning the vehicle 1, a brake pedal for braking (decelerating / stopping) the vehicle 1, and an emergency stop switch 121.

[0022] When the transmission unit 13 receives a deceleration stop request for the vehicle 1 from the brake pedal or the emergency stop switch 121 of the operation unit 12 or from the safety device 20 via the communication unit 11, the received deceleration stop request is transmitted to the braking device 2.

[0023] The storage unit 14 includes one or more memories. The memory is, for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, an optical memory, etc., but is not limited thereto. Each memory included in the storage unit 14 may function as, for example, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 14 stores any information used for the operation of the manual driving device 10. For example, the storage unit 14 may store a system program, an application program, embedded software, etc.

[0024] The control unit 15 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for specific processing, but is not limited thereto. The programmable circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), but is not limited thereto. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), but is not limited thereto. The control unit 15 controls the operation of the entire manual driving device 10.

[0025] (Configuration of the safety device) As shown in FIG. 1, the safety device 20 includes a communication unit 21, a measurement unit 22, a storage unit 23, a control unit 24, and a rope 25.

[0026] The communication unit 21 includes one or more communication interfaces that connect to the communication unit 11 of the manual driving device 10 via wired or wireless connection. The communication interface may support, but is not limited to, an in-vehicle network communication standard such as CAN, a wired LAN standard, or a wireless LAN standard, and may support any communication standard.

[0027] The measurement unit 22 includes a distance sensor 221, a pair of touch sensors 222, and a microphone 223. The measurement unit 22 transmits the data measured by the distance sensor 221, the pair of touch sensors 222, and the microphone 223 to the control unit 24.

[0028] The storage unit 23 includes one or more memories. Each memory included in the storage unit 23 may function as, for example, a main memory, an auxiliary memory, or a cache memory. The storage unit 23 stores any information used for the operation of the safety device 20. For example, the storage unit 23 may store a system program, an application program, a database, and data measured by the measurement unit 22.

[0029] The control unit 24 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. Based on the data measured by the measurement unit 22, the control unit 24 transmits a request to the manual driving device 10 to decelerate and stop the vehicle 1 via the communication unit 21. The control unit 24 controls the operation of the entire safety device 20.

[0030] The rope 25 is a rope. In this disclosure, the rope 25 connects the driver's 3 clothing to the emergency stop switch 121. The rope 25 is made of any material, such as polyester rope, cotton rope, nylon rope, vinylon rope, or stainless steel wire rope. The rope 25 only needs to have sufficient strength to withstand human movement such as walking, running, or falling.

[0031] (Operation flow of safety device) Referring to Figure 2, the operation of the safety device 20 according to this embodiment will be described. This operation relates to the transmission of a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device 10.

[0032] Figure 3 illustrates the control method using the distance sensor 221. As shown in Figure 3, the safety device 20 includes a communication unit 21, a measurement unit 22 (equipped with a distance sensor 221, a pair of touch sensors 222, and a microphone 223), a storage unit 23, a control unit 24, and a rope 25. The manual driving device 10 also includes an emergency stop switch 121. In this disclosure, a deceleration stop request refers to a request to decelerate or temporarily stop the speed of the vehicle 1 while it is in motion.

[0033] S101: The control unit 24 activates a pair of touch sensors 222.

[0034] The safety device 20 is mounted on the steering wheel of the manual driving device 10 and includes a pair of touch sensors 222 that detect contact between the driver's palms 3. When the vehicle 1 starts moving, the control unit 24 activates the pair of touch sensors 222 in the measurement unit 22.

[0035] S102: The control unit 24 determines that the driver's palm touches at least one of the pair of touch sensors 222. The system detects whether or not there is contact. If there is contact, proceed to S106; if there is no contact, proceed to S103. This determination is referred to as determination 1.

[0036] S103: While the vehicle 1 is in motion, the control unit 24 measures the distance between the manual driving device 10 and the driver 3 operating the manual driving device 10 using the distance sensor 221.

[0037] The measurement unit 22 detects whether the driver's palm is in contact with at least one of the pair of touch sensors 222 and transmits the detection result to the control unit 24. Upon receiving the detection result, the control unit 24 determines that if the driver's palm is in contact with at least one of the pair of touch sensors 222, the driver 3 is in a state where they can operate the manual driving device 10. On the other hand, if the driver's palm has not been in contact with at least one of the pair of touch sensors 222 for a predetermined time or longer, the control unit 24 needs to determine whether the driver 3 is within operating distance of the manual driving device 10.

[0038] The distance sensor 221 is mounted in a position facing the driver 3 who is driving the vehicle 1 in a standing position. The mounting position is, for example, the center of the steering wheel, as shown in Figure 3, but the mounting position is not limited to this. The distance sensor 221 is, for example, a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), but is not limited to this. The distance sensor 221 may also be a millimeter-wave sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or a stereo camera.

[0039] If at least one of the pair of touch sensors 222 does not detect contact by the driver's palm, the control unit 24 causes the measurement unit 22 to activate the distance sensor 221 and measure the distance between the manual driving device 10 and the driver 3.

[0040] The control unit 24 may also be configured to keep the distance sensor 221 constantly activated while the vehicle 1 is in motion, without activating the pair of touch sensors 222, or regardless of the detection results of the pair of touch sensors 222, in order to measure the distance between the manual driving device 10 and the driver 3.

[0041] S104: The control unit 24 determines whether the measured distance exceeds the threshold α. If it exceeds the threshold α, proceed to S105; if it does not exceed the threshold α, proceed to S106. This determination is referred to as determination 2.

[0042] Threshold α is the upper limit of the distance between driver 3 and the manual driving device 10 required for driver 3 to operate the manual driving device 10. More specifically, threshold α is the shorter of the upper limit of the distance required for driver 3 to grip the steering wheel equipped with a pair of touch sensors 222, and the upper limit of the distance required for driver 3 to activate the emergency stop switch 121.

[0043] S105: The control unit 24 transmits a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device 10.

[0044] The manual driving device 10, having received a deceleration / stop request from the control unit 24 via the communication unit 11, further transmits the vehicle 1's deceleration / stop request to the braking device 2 via the operation unit 12 and the transmission unit 13. When the braking device 2 receives a deceleration / stop request from the manual driving device 10, it decelerates or stops the vehicle 1.

[0045] Figure 4 illustrates the control method using the rope 25. The difference from Figure 3 is that the driver's 3 clothing and the emergency stop switch 121 provided on the manual driving device 10 are connected by the rope 25.

[0046] As shown in Figure 4, the manual driving device 10 is equipped with an emergency stop switch 121. As shown in Figure 4, the emergency stop switch 121 and the driver's 3 clothing are connected by a rope 25. The length of the rope 25 may be equivalent to the threshold α mentioned above. The rope 25 may be configured to activate the emergency stop switch 121 when the driver 3 moves away from the manual driving device 10 by a distance exceeding the threshold α due to a fall or the like, by the resulting tensile force. When the emergency stop switch 121 is activated, the vehicle 1 slows down and comes to a stop. With this configuration, the economic burden of introducing an expensive distance sensor 221 is reduced.

[0047] S106: The control unit 24 checks whether vehicle 1 is parked or stopped. If vehicle 1 is parked or stopped, it terminates information processing. If it is not parked or stopped, it returns to S102 and continues information processing.

[0048] Parking of Vehicle 1 means that the ignition switch or power switch is turned off and Vehicle 1 is parked in a parking space or parking area.

[0049] As described above, the safety device 20 according to this embodiment measures the distance between the manual driving device 10 and the driver 3 operating the manual driving device 10 using the distance sensor 221 while the vehicle 1 is in motion, and when the measured distance exceeds the threshold α, it sends a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device 10.

[0050] With this configuration, the safety device 20 transmits a deceleration / stop request to the manual driving device 10 when the distance measured by the distance sensor 221 exceeds the threshold α. Therefore, even if the driver 3 operating the manual driving device 10 falls over due to vehicle rocking while driving, the safety device 20 can activate to decelerate and stop the vehicle 1. Thus, the probability of avoiding accidents due to the inability to operate the manual driving device 10 is improved, thus improving the technique of driving the vehicle 1 in a standing position.

[0051] While this disclosure has been described based on the drawings and embodiments, it should be noted that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions, etc., included in each component or step can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple components or steps can be combined into one or divided into two.

[0052] In the embodiments described above, the control unit 24 slows down and stops the vehicle 1 when the distance measured by the distance sensor 221 exceeds a threshold α, or when the emergency stop switch 121 is activated by the pulling of the rope 25. However, the method of slowing down and stopping the vehicle 1 is not limited to these. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the measurement unit 22 of the safety device 20 further includes a microphone 223. The safety device 20 may be configured such that, for example, when the microphone 223 picks up voices such as "slow down" or "stop" uttered by the fallen driver 3, the control unit 24 transmits a slow-down and stop request to the manual driving device 10. By pre-registering the driver 3's voice in the storage unit 23 of the safety device 20, it is possible to make the safety device 20 respond only to the driver 3's voice.

[0053] Furthermore, it is also possible to implement an embodiment in which a general-purpose computer functions as the safety device 20 according to the above embodiment. Specifically, a program describing the processing content that realizes each function of the safety device 20 according to the above embodiment is stored in the memory of the general-purpose computer, and the processor reads and executes the program. Therefore, this disclosure can also be implemented as a program that can be executed by a processor, or as a non-temporary computer-readable medium that stores the program. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1 vehicle (an autonomous vehicle compatible with LV4) 2 Braking device 3. Driver 10 Manual operation device 11 Communications Department 12 Control section 121 Emergency Stop Button 13. Communication Department 14 Storage section 15 Control Unit 20 Safety equipment 21 Communications Department 22 Input section 221 Distance Sensor 222 Pair of touch sensors 223 Mike 23 Memory section 24 Control Unit 25. Rope

Claims

1. A safety device installed in a manual driving system, A control unit that, while the vehicle is in motion, measures the distance between the manual driving device and the driver operating the manual driving device in a standing position using a distance sensor, and when the measured distance exceeds a threshold, transmits a deceleration and stop request to the manual driving device. A microphone for capturing the driver's voice, It comprises a storage unit for registering the driver's voice, The control unit is a safety device that transmits a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device when a predetermined voice indicating a deceleration stop request made by the driver when he falls over is picked up by the microphone and the control unit authenticates that the predetermined voice is the voice of the driver registered in the storage unit.

2. A safety device according to claim 1, The threshold is the threshold required for the driver to operate the manual driving device. A safety device that is the upper limit of the distance between the person and the manual driving device.

3. A safety device according to claim 1, The safety device is further attached to the steering wheel of the manual driving device, Equipped with a pair of touch sensors that detect contact between the driver's palms, The control unit detects when at least one of the pair of touch sensors makes contact with the driver's palm. If no contact is detected, the distance sensor is activated, and the manual driving device and the driver A safety device for measuring distance.

4. A safety device according to claim 2, The manual operation device is equipped with an emergency stop switch, The safety device further comprises a rope of a length corresponding to the threshold, The driver's clothing and the emergency stop switch are connected by the rope. The rope is removed when the driver is a distance exceeding the threshold from the manual driving device. A safety device that activates the emergency stop switch based on the tensile force generated at that time.

5. A control method performed by a safety device installed in a manual driving device, While the vehicle is in motion, a distance sensor measures the distance between the manual driving device and the driver operating the manual driving device in a standing position. When the measured distance exceeds the threshold, a deceleration stop request is sent to the manual driving device. To do, The driver's voice is recorded using a microphone, The driver's voice is registered in a storage medium, Includes, The control method further includes transmitting a deceleration stop request to the manual driving device when a predetermined voice indicating a deceleration stop request made by the driver when he falls over is picked up by the microphone and the predetermined voice is authenticated as the driver's voice registered in the storage medium.

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