Vehicle charging assistance system, vehicle charging assistance method, and computer program

Abstract

An acquisition unit of this vehicle charging assistance system acquires information relating to a plurality of vehicles 100 that, during delivery, use a charger 102 which is installed at a charging station and which is determined by a distributor. A creation unit of the vehicle charging assistance system creates a vehicle charging plan that includes times at which the plurality of vehicles 100 should each arrive at the charging station, so as to satisfy a constraint condition based on the information relating to the plurality of vehicles 100. An output unit of the vehicle charging assistance system outputs information relating to the vehicle charging plan.

Description

Vehicle charging support system, vehicle charging support method, and computer program

[0001] The present disclosure relates to data processing technology, and more particularly to a vehicle charging plan support system, a vehicle charging plan support method, and a computer program.

[0002] A technology has been proposed in which a plan indicating multiple locations to which a vehicle is scheduled to travel and stay is obtained, candidate charging locations where the battery installed in the vehicle can be charged from the multiple locations indicated in the plan are determined, the reservation status of chargers associated with the candidate charging locations is obtained, and the reservation details are determined based on the reservation status of the chargers (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] International Publication No. 2020 / 105249

[0004] When a first vehicle is using a charger, a second vehicle that wants to use the same charger must wait until the first vehicle finishes charging. The longer a vehicle that delivers goods waits for an available charger, the less efficient the delivery becomes. The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and one objective is to provide a technology that supports efficient charging of multiple vehicles that deliver goods.

[0005] In order to solve the above problem, a vehicle charging support system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes an acquisition unit that acquires information about multiple vehicles that will use chargers installed at predetermined locations determined by a delivery company during delivery, a creation unit that creates a vehicle charging plan including the time that each of the multiple vehicles should arrive at the charger installation location so as to satisfy constraints based on the information about the multiple vehicles, and an output unit that outputs the vehicle charging plan.

[0006] Another aspect of the present disclosure is a vehicle charging assistance method, the method being performed by a computer, including steps of acquiring information about a plurality of vehicles that will use chargers installed at predetermined locations during delivery, as determined by a delivery company, creating a vehicle charging plan including times when each of the plurality of vehicles should arrive at the installation locations of the chargers so as to satisfy constraints based on the information about the plurality of vehicles, and outputting the vehicle charging plan.

[0007] Any combination of the above components, or any expression of the present disclosure converted between an apparatus, a computer program, a recording medium storing a computer program, etc., is also valid as an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] The technology disclosed herein can assist in efficient charging of multiple vehicles delivering packages.

[0009] 10(A) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan before change, and FIG. 10(B) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan after change. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created daily by a rule base. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created daily by an optimization process of an embodiment. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created sequentially by a rule base. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created sequentially by an optimization process of an embodiment. A block diagram showing the functional blocks of a vehicle charging support system of a modified example. A diagram showing an example of vehicle information provided from a delivery company device. A diagram showing examples of vehicle information after shaping. A diagram showing an example of a vehicle charging plan. A diagram showing an example of reservation confirmation information. A flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle charging support system of an embodiment. FIG. 10(A) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan before change, and FIG. 10(B) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan after change. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created daily by an optimization process of an embodiment. A diagram showing the usage status of a charger based on a vehicle charging plan created sequentially by an optimization process of an embodiment. A block diagram showing the functional blocks of a vehicle charging support system of a modified example. A diagram showing an example of vehicle information provided from a delivery company device. A diagram showing examples of travel times from each center to a charging station and from a charging station to each center. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of deriving an estimated arrival time and a departure limit time based on travel time.

[0010] The subject of the device or method of the present disclosure includes a computer. The computer executes a computer program to realize the functions of the subject of the device or method of the present disclosure. The computer includes, as its main hardware configuration, a processor that operates according to the computer program. The type of processor is not important as long as it can realize the functions by executing the computer program. The processor is composed of one or more electronic circuits including semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs, LSIs, etc.). The computer program is recorded on a non-transitory recording medium such as a computer-readable ROM, optical disk, or hard disk drive. The computer program may be pre-stored on the recording medium or may be supplied to the recording medium via a wide area communication network including the Internet.

[0011] An overview of an embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 shows a scene in which a vehicle 100 uses a charger 102 in the embodiment. The vehicle 100 is a freight vehicle (which can also be called a truck) that delivers packages, and is also an electric transport device equipped with a storage battery (for example, an electric vehicle (EV) or a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV)). In the embodiment, multiple vehicles 100 that deliver packages and are owned by a delivery company are charged by chargers 102 installed in charging stations during delivery. A charging station is a location where a charger 102 is installed, and is also called a charging spot or charging stand. The multiple vehicles 100 share one or more chargers 102 installed in the charging station.

[0012] In the example of FIG. 1 , vehicle 100 delivers a package from center A to center B as movement 1, delivers a package from center B to center C as movement 2, and delivers a package from center C to center A as movement 3. Each center may be a store and is also called a delivery destination or a delivery base. When vehicle 100 stops at a charging station to charge on the way from center A to center B, vehicle 100 travels along a route indicated by movement 1' instead of movement 1. When vehicle 100 stops at a charging station to charge on the way from center B to center C, vehicle 100 travels along a route indicated by movement 2' instead of movement 2.

[0013] The plurality of vehicles 100 includes vehicles that deliver packages via various routes other than the route shown in Fig. 1. The plurality of vehicles 100 also includes vehicles that belong to different delivery companies. In the embodiment, a technology is proposed that supports efficient charging of the plurality of vehicles 100 that deliver packages, in other words, a technology is proposed that suppresses a decrease in delivery efficiency when the plurality of vehicles 100 that deliver packages charge during delivery.

[0014] The details of the embodiment will now be described. Fig. 2 shows the configuration of an information processing system 10 according to the embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes a plurality of delivery company devices 12, a plurality of vehicle terminals 14, and a vehicle charging assistance system 16. The devices and systems shown in Fig. 1 are connected via a communication network 18 including a LAN, a WAN, and the Internet.

[0015] The multiple delivery company devices 12 are information processing devices of multiple delivery companies that own vehicles 100. The multiple delivery company devices 12 include a delivery company device 12a of delivery company A, a delivery company device 12b of delivery company B, and a delivery company device 12c of delivery company C.

[0016] The multiple vehicle terminals 14 are information terminals mounted on the multiple vehicles 100. The multiple vehicle terminals 14 include a vehicle terminal 14a of vehicle A, a vehicle terminal 14b of vehicle B, and a vehicle terminal 14c of vehicle C. The vehicle terminals 14 may be information terminals (smartphones, tablet terminals, etc.) carried by the drivers of the vehicles 100.

[0017] Vehicle charging assistance system 16 is an information processing system that creates a vehicle charging plan for charging a plurality of vehicles 100 at chargers 102 during delivery. Vehicle charging assistance system 16 provides the created vehicle charging plan to at least one of delivery company device 12 and vehicle terminal 14. Vehicle charging assistance system 16 may be realized by a single computer (information processing device), or may be realized by multiple computers communicating and coordinating with each other.

[0018] 3 is a block diagram showing functional blocks of a vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to an embodiment. The functional blocks shown in the block diagram in this specification can be configured in terms of hardware using circuit blocks, memory, and other LSIs, and can be realized in terms of software by a computer processor (e.g., a CPU) executing a program loaded into memory. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms using only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof, and are not limited to any of these.

[0019] Vehicle charging assistance system 16 includes a processing unit 20, a storage unit 22, and a communication unit 24. The processing unit 20 executes information processing related to the creation of a vehicle charging plan. The storage unit 22 stores data referenced or updated by the processing unit 20. The communication unit 24 communicates with external devices according to a predetermined communication protocol. The processing unit 20 transmits and receives data to and from the delivery company device 12 and the vehicle terminal 14 via the communication unit 24.

[0020] The storage unit 22 includes a charger information storage unit 26, a vehicle information storage unit 28, a vehicle charging plan storage unit 30, and a reservation confirmation information storage unit 32. The storage unit 22 may be realized by a memory or storage of a computer that constitutes the vehicle charging assistance system 16.

[0021] The processing unit 20 includes a vehicle information acquisition unit 40, a charging plan creation unit 42, a charging plan output unit 44, a vehicle state detection unit 46, and a reservation confirmation information update unit 48. The functions of the multiple functional blocks of the processing unit 20 may be implemented in a computer program (referred to here as a vehicle charging assistance program). The vehicle charging assistance program may be stored on a recording medium and installed in the vehicle charging assistance system 16 via the recording medium, or may be downloaded via a communication network and installed in the vehicle charging assistance system 16. A processor (such as a CPU) of a computer constituting the vehicle charging assistance system 16 may perform the functions of the multiple functional blocks by reading the vehicle charging assistance program into a main memory and executing it.

[0022] The charger information storage unit 26 stores charger information, which is information about the chargers 102 installed in the charging station. Fig. 4 shows an example of the charger information. The charger information includes the number of chargers, and the start and end times when the charger is available for use.

[0023] 3 , the vehicle information acquisition unit 40 acquires vehicle information, which is information about the multiple vehicles 100 that will use the chargers 102 during delivery, determined by the multiple delivery companies, from the multiple delivery company devices 12. The vehicle information acquisition unit 40 formats the vehicle information acquired from the delivery company devices 12 so as to conform to the vehicle charging planning problem described below, and stores the formatted vehicle information in the vehicle information storage unit 28.

[0024] 5 shows an example of vehicle information provided from the delivery company device 12 to the vehicle charging assistance system 16. The vehicle information includes a vehicle ID, a relay candidate number, an estimated arrival time at the charging station, a departure deadline from the charging station, and a charging time. The estimated arrival time is the earliest arrival time at the charging station, and the vehicle 100 can arrive at the charging station after the estimated arrival time. The departure deadline, which can also be called the latest departure time, is the latest time (latest time) at which the vehicle 100 must depart from the charging station in order to meet the deadline for arrival at the next center.

[0025] The relay candidate number is an identification number of the relay candidate. The relay candidate is a pattern (which can also be called a route) of visiting a charging station during delivery. For example, in the example of FIG. 1 , relay candidate number 0 for vehicle v0 may be pattern 1', in which a charging station is visited during the journey from center A to center B. Furthermore, relay candidate number 1 for vehicle v0 may be pattern 2', in which a charging station is visited during the journey from center B to center C. The estimated arrival time, departure limit time, and charging time are determined for each vehicle 100 and each relay candidate.

[0026] The estimated arrival time may be determined based on the time when the vehicle can depart from the source center to the charging station and the distance from the source center to the charging station. The departure limit time may be determined based on the distance from the charging station to the destination center and the time when the vehicle must arrive at the destination center.

[0027] The vehicle information storage unit 28 stores the reshaped vehicle information. Fig. 6 shows an example of the reshaped vehicle information. The reshaped vehicle information includes the number of vehicles, the number of relay candidates for each vehicle, the estimated arrival time for each relay candidate for each vehicle, the departure limit time, and the charging time.

[0028] 3 , the charging plan creation unit 42 uses mathematical programming to create a vehicle charging plan that satisfies constraints based on vehicle information about the multiple vehicles 100 stored in the vehicle information storage unit 28. The vehicle charging plan includes at least the time that each of the multiple vehicles 100 should arrive at a charging station. The charging plan creation unit 42 stores data of the created vehicle charging plan in the vehicle charging plan storage unit 30.

[0029] The vehicle charging plan storage unit 30 stores a vehicle charging plan. Fig. 7 shows an example of the vehicle charging plan. The vehicle charging plan includes information (S v,b,a ), information defining the order of use of the chargers 102 among a plurality of vehicles 100 (x v,u ), the time at which each vehicle should arrive at the charging station (t v ) is included.

[0030] Returning to FIG. 3 , the charging plan output unit 44 outputs information related to the vehicle charging plan created by the charging plan creation unit 42 .

[0031] The storage unit 22 stores a predetermined correspondence relationship between a plurality of vehicles 100 and a plurality of vehicle terminals 14. When the vehicle state detection unit 46 receives information transmitted from the vehicle terminal 14 notifying that the vehicle 100 will arrive at the charging station at the time determined by the vehicle charging plan, the vehicle state detection unit 46 detects that the vehicle 100 associated with the vehicle terminal 14 that transmitted the information will arrive at the charging station at the time determined by the vehicle charging plan.

[0032] When it is detected that a certain vehicle 100 will arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan, the reservation confirmation information update unit 48 stores reservation confirmation information for the vehicle 100 in the reservation confirmation information storage unit 32.

[0033] Fig. 8 shows an example of reservation confirmation information. The reservation confirmation information includes an ID group (CV) indicating the ID of each reserved vehicle, a charger (CB v ), and the relay candidate number (CA) for each reserved vehicle that uses the charger. v ), the time when each reserved vehicle starts using the charger (CST v Each item in the reservation confirmation information corresponds to each item in the vehicle charging plan. CST v In the vehicle charging plan, the time t v may be set.

[0034] Furthermore, when a vehicle is unable to arrive at the charging station at the time (the time when the vehicle should arrive at the charging station) specified in the vehicle charging plan, the vehicle state detection unit 46 detects this. For example, when the vehicle state detection unit 46 receives information transmitted from the vehicle terminal 14 notifying that the vehicle 100 will not be able to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan, the vehicle state detection unit 46 may detect that the vehicle 100 associated with the vehicle terminal 14 that transmitted the information will not be able to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan.

[0035] When a vehicle that cannot arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan is detected, the charging plan creation unit 42 identifies a vehicle 100 (hereinafter also referred to as an "unreserved vehicle") that is not confirmed to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan among the multiple vehicles 100 that are the targets of the vehicle charging plan. The charging plan creation unit 42 may identify a vehicle 100 for which reservation confirmation information is not recorded among the multiple vehicles 100 that are the targets of the vehicle charging plan as an unreserved vehicle. The charging plan creation unit 42 creates a new vehicle charging plan that targets one or more unreserved vehicles and stores the new vehicle charging plan in the vehicle charging plan storage unit 30.

[0036] 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to the embodiment. The operation of the information processing system 10 will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0037] A plurality of delivery company devices 12 corresponding to a plurality of delivery companies transmit vehicle information ( FIG. 5 ) determined by each company to vehicle charging assistance system 16. When vehicle information acquisition unit 40 of vehicle charging assistance system 16 receives the vehicle information determined by each delivery company transmitted from a plurality of delivery company devices 12 (Y in S10), it stores the formatted vehicle information in vehicle information storage unit 28 (S12). When vehicle information transmitted from a delivery company device 12 is not received (N in S10), the processing of S12 is skipped.

[0038] When the predetermined timing for creating a vehicle charging plan has arrived (Y in S14), the charging plan creation unit 42 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 creates a vehicle charging plan for the multiple vehicles 100 indicated by the vehicle information stored in the vehicle information storage unit 28 (S16). For example, the charging plan creation unit 42 creates a vehicle charging plan for the most recent two days for each day. The charging plan output unit 44 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 transmits information related to the vehicle charging plan created in S16 to the multiple delivery company devices 12 (S18).

[0039] For example, the charging plan output unit 44 may transmit, to the delivery company device 12a of delivery company A, data of a vehicle charging plan for one or more vehicles 100 owned by delivery company A. Furthermore, the charging plan output unit 44 may transmit, to the delivery company device 12b of delivery company B, data of a vehicle charging plan for one or more vehicles 100 owned by delivery company B. If the timing for creating a vehicle charging plan has not yet arrived (N in S14), the processes of S16 and S18 are skipped.

[0040] The vehicle charging plan creation process of S16 will be described in detail. The charging plan output unit 44 uses a mathematical programming solver program to solve an integer programming problem for creating a vehicle charging plan (hereinafter referred to as a "vehicle charging plan problem"), thereby deriving values ​​for the vehicle charging plan.

[0041] Given values ​​in the vehicle charging planning problem are the value of the charger information ( FIG. 4 ) stored in the charger information storage unit 26, the value of the vehicle information ( FIG. 6 ) stored in the vehicle information storage unit 28, and the value of the reservation confirmation information ( FIG. 8 ) stored in the reservation confirmation information storage unit 32. Decision variables in the vehicle charging planning problem correspond to the items of the vehicle charging plan shown in FIG. 7.

[0042] The objective function for the vehicle charging planning problem is shown in Equation 1. MinimizeΣ V v=1 t v ... (Equation 1) This objective function minimizes the sum of the arrival times of the multiple vehicles 100 at the charging station. In other words, this objective function minimizes the sum of the time from a predetermined reference time (e.g., midnight) to the time that the multiple vehicles 100 should arrive at the charging station. By providing this objective function, it is possible to create a vehicle charging plan that reduces the waiting time at the charging station equally among the multiple vehicles 100 that are the subject of the plan.

[0043] The constraints in the vehicle charging planning problem are as follows: (1) Disjunction constraint As shown in Equation 2, this constraint requires that vehicles v and u use the same charger consecutively. x v,u + x u,v = 1 ... (Equation 2) where ∀v < u

[0044] (2) Arrival time constraint based on disjunctive relation As shown in Equation 3, this constraint is satisfied if the arrival time of vehicle v is earlier than the arrival time of vehicle u. v - M(1 - x v,u ) <= t u ... (Equation 3) However, M is a very large value, ∀v ≠ u

[0045] (3) Visiting any charger only once. As shown in Equation 4, this constraint requires visiting any charger only once across all relay candidates and all chargers. v,b,a The condition for this to be true is that Σ B b=1 Σ Av a=1 s v,b,a= 1 ... (Equation 4) where ∀v = 1, ..., V

[0046] (4) Arrival time constraint for each vehicle. As shown in Equation 5, this constraint is based on the arrival time t v The condition for this to be true is that the delivery company determines the estimated arrival time specified in the vehicle information and the delivery time is later than this. v,b,a AT start,v,a <= t v ... (Equation 5) where ∀v = 1, ..., V, and b = 1, ..., B, and a = 1, ..., A v

[0047] (5) Departure time constraint for each vehicle This constraint is satisfied if the time when charging by the charger 102 ends is before the departure limit time from the charging station to the next delivery destination (center). Specifically, as shown in Equation 6, the arrival time t v and charging time WT v,a The condition for this to be true is that the sum of t is before the departure limit time specified in the vehicle information determined by the delivery company. v + WT v,a <= s v,b,a AT end,v,a + M(1 - s v,b,a ) ... (Equation 6) where M is a very large value, ∀v = 1, ..., V, and b = 1, ..., B, and a = 1, ..., A v By setting this constraint, a vehicle charging plan can be created that does not deviate from the departure limit time from the charging station determined by the delivery company.

[0048] (6) Constraint on the availability start time of each charger As shown in Equation 7, this constraint is set based on the time t v However, at the time BT when the charger 102 becomes available start,b The condition for this to be true is that the start,b - M(1 - Σ Av a=1 s v,b,a ) <= t v... (Equation 7) where M is a very large value, ∀v = 1, ..., V, and b = 1, ..., B. By setting these constraints, a vehicle charging plan can be created that does not deviate from the start time when the charger 102 is available for use.

[0049] (7) Constraint on the end time of availability of each charger This constraint is satisfied if the time when charging by the charger 102 ends is before the time when the charger 102 becomes unavailable. Specifically, as shown in Equation 8, the arrival time t v and charging time v,b,a WT v,a The sum of these is the time BT when the charger 102 becomes unavailable. end,b The condition for this to be true is that it must be before t. v + s v,b,a WT v,a <= BT end,b + M(1 - Σ Av a=1 s v,b,a ) (Equation 8) where M is a very large value, ∀v = 1, ..., V, and b = 1, ..., B. By setting this constraint, a vehicle charging plan can be created that does not deviate from the end time of use of the charger 102.

[0050] (8) Constraint on Front and Rear in the Same Charger This constraint satisfies the condition that, for a vehicle v that uses the same charger 102 first and a vehicle u that uses it later, the time when charging of the vehicle v is completed is before the time when the vehicle u is to arrive at the charging station. Specifically, as shown in Equation 9, the condition for this constraint is that the sum of the arrival time and charging time of the vehicle v, which are decision variables, is before the arrival time of the vehicle u, which is also a decision variable. v + WT v,a (s v,b,a + (Σ Av a=1 s v,b,a + Σ Au a=1 s u,b,a ) - 2) - M(1 - x v,u ) <= t u... (Equation 9) where M is a very large value, ∀v = 1, ..., V, and b = 1, ..., B, and a = 1, ..., A v

[0051] (9) Fixed Schedule Constraint This constraint stipulates that the reservation confirmation information stored in the reservation confirmation information storage unit 32 is applied to the decision variables in a fixed manner. v,CBv,CAv = 1, t v = CST v ... (Equation 10) where v ∈ CV

[0052] (10) Charging Prohibition Constraint This constraint is a constraint that employs the above-mentioned formula 10 regarding the time periods during which charging is prohibited, assuming that the schedule is fixed.

[0053] Returning to the explanation of Figure 9, the delivery company device 12 transmits a vehicle charging plan for each vehicle to the vehicle terminal 14 of each vehicle 100 owned by the delivery company. For example, the vehicle charging plan provided to a certain vehicle includes information regarding the timing when the vehicle should visit a charging station (e.g., a relay candidate number and an estimated time of arrival at the charging station), a departure limit time from the charging station, and a charging time. The vehicle terminal 14 displays the vehicle charging plan for the vehicle on a display.

[0054] In response to an operation by an occupant (such as a driver) of the vehicle 100, the vehicle terminal 14 transmits information (also referred to here as a "reservation confirmation notice") notifying the vehicle charging assistance system 16 that the vehicle will be able to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan. In addition, in response to an operation by the occupant, the vehicle terminal 14 transmits information (also referred to here as a "delay notice") notifying the vehicle charging assistance system 16 that the vehicle will not be able to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan, in other words, that the arrival at the charging station will be later than planned.

[0055] When the vehicle state detection unit 46 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 receives a reservation confirmation notification transmitted from the vehicle terminal 14 (Y in S20), the reservation confirmation information update unit 48 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 stores the reservation confirmation information for the vehicle 100 associated with the transmission source vehicle terminal 14 in the reservation confirmation information storage unit 32 (S22). When the reservation confirmation notification is not received (N in S20), the processing of S22 is skipped.

[0056] When the vehicle state detection unit 46 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 receives a delay notification transmitted from the vehicle terminal 14 (Y in S24), the process returns to S16, and the charging plan creation unit 42 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 identifies the vehicles 100 for which reservation confirmation information is not recorded in the reservation confirmation information storage unit 32 as unreserved vehicles 100. The charging plan creation unit 42 creates a new vehicle charging plan targeting the identified unreserved vehicles 100. In solving the integer programming problem in creating the new vehicle charging plan, time periods other than the charger usage times allocated to the reserved vehicles 100 are assigned to the unreserved vehicles 100 based on the constraints shown in Equation 10.

[0057] FIG. 10(A) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan before the change, and FIG. 10(B) shows an example of a vehicle charging plan after the change (new vehicle charging plan). b0 to b4 represent five chargers 102 installed at the charging station. v0 is a vehicle 100 that issued a delay notification because it was unable to arrive at the charging station at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan. The black rectangles represent vehicles 100 that had confirmed reservations when the delay of v0 was detected. The charging plan creation unit 42 of the vehicle charging assistance system 16 solves a new vehicle charging plan problem for the vehicle v0 for which a delay was detected and the vehicles v1, v2, v3, and v4 for which reservations were not confirmed when the delay of v0 was detected, and creates a new vehicle charging plan ( FIG. 10(B) ).

[0058] Returning to the explanation of Fig. 9, if the delay notification transmitted from the vehicle terminal 14 is not accepted (N in S24) and a predetermined termination condition is met (for example, an operation to instruct the service to be stopped is input) (Y in S26), the process of Fig. 9 is terminated. If the predetermined termination condition is not met (N in S26), the process returns to S10.

[0059] The vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to the embodiment can create an appropriate vehicle charging plan that satisfies constraints based on information on the plurality of vehicles 100 that deliver packages, as determined by a delivery company. Furthermore, the vehicle charging assistance system 16 can assist the plurality of vehicles 100 in efficient charging and delivery by minimizing the sum of the arrival times of the plurality of vehicles 100 at charging stations.

[0060] FIG. 11 shows the charger usage status based on a vehicle charging plan created daily by a rule base. The rule base in FIG. 11 (as well as FIG. 13 described below) is an algorithm that assigns random priorities to multiple vehicles and allocates charger usage time to each vehicle based on the priorities. Here, it is assumed that there are three chargers, b0, b1, and b2. "No-use" indicates a time when a charger cannot be used. "No-fixed" indicates a charger usage time (reservation not confirmed) allocated to multiple vehicles.

[0061] Fig. 12 shows the usage status of chargers based on a vehicle charging plan created daily by the optimization process of the embodiment. As shown by the objective function in Equation 1, the optimization process of the embodiment determines the arrival time of each vehicle at the charging station so that the charging start time (= arrival time at the charging station) of multiple vehicles is as early as possible while satisfying constraints. Note that the number of vehicles is 100 in both Figs. 11 and 12 .

[0062] In the rule base shown in Fig. 11, the total sum of (arrival time at the charging station - reference time) across multiple vehicles was 84,619 minutes. On the other hand, in the optimization process of the embodiment shown in Fig. 12, the total sum of (arrival time at the charging station - reference time) across multiple vehicles was 81,482 minutes. In other words, the optimization process of the embodiment resulted in an improvement of approximately 3,200 minutes (more than 50 hours) in terms of efficiency.

[0063] Furthermore, according to the vehicle charging assistance system 16, when a vehicle 100 is unable to arrive at a charging station according to the vehicle charging plan, a new vehicle charging plan is created for the unreserved vehicle 100. This makes it possible to suppress a decrease in delivery and charging efficiency caused by a vehicle 100 being unable to arrive at a charging station according to the vehicle charging plan.

[0064] Fig. 13 shows the charger usage status based on a vehicle charging plan sequentially created by the rule base. This vehicle charging plan (as well as the vehicle charging plan in Fig. 14) was created when a delay was detected at midnight on March 16th. "Fixed" indicates the charger usage time assigned to a vehicle with a confirmed reservation.

[0065] FIG. 14 shows the usage status of chargers based on vehicle charging plans sequentially created by the optimization process of the embodiment. In the rule base shown in FIG. 13, the total sum of (arrival time at the charging station - reference time) across multiple vehicles was 84,782 minutes. On the other hand, in the optimization process of the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, the total sum of (arrival time at the charging station - reference time) across multiple vehicles was 84,690 minutes. In other words, the optimization process of the embodiment resulted in an improvement of approximately 90 minutes in terms of efficiency.

[0066] The present disclosure has been described above based on the embodiments. The contents described in the embodiments are merely examples, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of the components and processing steps of the embodiments, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0067] 15 is a block diagram showing functional blocks of a vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to a modified example. The vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to the modified example further includes a derivation unit 50 in addition to the functional blocks included in the vehicle charging assistance system 16 according to the embodiment.

[0068] The vehicle information about the multiple vehicles 100 provided by the delivery company device 12 and acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 40 includes the departure time from the delivery destination or the arrival time at the delivery destination, and the charging time if charging at a charger 102 on the way to the delivery destination. The derivation unit 50 derives the estimated arrival time at the charging station and the deadline for departure from the charging station for each vehicle 100 based on the departure time or arrival time indicated in the vehicle information about each vehicle 100. The derivation unit 50 generates vehicle information about each vehicle 100 that includes the estimated arrival time at the charging station and the deadline for departure from the charging station.

[0069] For example, the derivation unit 50 may calculate the time required to travel from each delivery destination to the charging station by using a map application via its API (Application Programming Interface). Furthermore, the derivation unit 50 may calculate the time required to travel from each delivery destination to the charging station (travel time) based on the distance from each delivery destination to the charging station on the map and the speed (average speed, etc.) of the vehicle 100. The derivation unit 50 may derive the estimated arrival time at the charging station and the departure limit time from the charging station for a certain vehicle 100 based on the departure time from or arrival time at each delivery destination for the vehicle 100 and the travel time from each delivery destination to the charging station.

[0070] FIG. 16 shows an example of vehicle information provided by the delivery company device 12. The vehicle information in this modification includes a status, a delivery plan, and a charging time. The status includes information on the center from which the vehicle 100 departs and the center to which the vehicle arrives, regarding the travel route of the vehicle 100. The delivery plan includes the time to depart from the center and the time by which the vehicle must arrive at the center (arrival deadline). The charging time is the time required for charging if the vehicle is to be charged during travel between centers.

[0071] 17 shows examples of travel times from each center to a charging station and from the charging station to each center. For example, if charging is performed on the way from center A to center B, the travel time from center A to the charging station is 15 minutes, and the travel time from the charging station to center B is 20 minutes. If charging is performed on the way from center B to center C, the travel time from center B to the charging station is 15 minutes, and the travel time from the charging station to center C is 30 minutes. If a charging station is visited on the way from center C to center A, the travel time from center C to the charging station is 40 minutes, and the travel time from the charging station to center A is 40 minutes. As described above, these travel times may be calculated based on data acquired from a map application or the like.

[0072] 18 shows an example of deriving the estimated arrival time and the departure limit time based on the travel time shown in FIG. 17. The derivation unit 50 calculates the estimated arrival time at the charging station by adding the travel time from each center to the charging station to the departure time from each center indicated in the delivery plan. The derivation unit 50 also calculates the departure limit time from the charging station by subtracting the travel time from the charging station to each center from the arrival deadline at each center indicated in the delivery plan.

[0073] The derivation unit 50 stores vehicle information for each vehicle, including the estimated arrival time at the charging station and the departure limit time from the charging station, in the vehicle information storage unit 28, as shown in FIG. 18 . Thereafter, a vehicle charging plan is created using the same process as in the embodiment. The vehicle charging assistance system 16 of this modified example also achieves the same effects as the vehicle charging assistance system 16 of the embodiment. Furthermore, in this modified example, the delivery company only needs to provide the delivery plan shown in FIG. 16 to the vehicle charging assistance system 16, thereby reducing the burden on the delivery company.

[0074] Any combination of the above-described embodiments and modifications is also useful as an embodiment of the present disclosure. A new embodiment resulting from a combination combines the effects of the combined embodiments and modifications. It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the functions to be performed by each component recited in the claims can be realized by each component shown in the embodiments and modifications alone or in combination.

[0075] The technology of the present disclosure can be applied to information processing devices, information processing systems, and the like.

[0076] 10 Information processing system, 12 Delivery company device, 14 Vehicle terminal, 16 Vehicle charging support system, 40 Vehicle information acquisition unit, 42 Charging plan creation unit, 44 Charging plan output unit, 46 Vehicle state detection unit, 48 Reservation confirmation information update unit, 50 Derivation unit, 100 Vehicle, 102 Charger.

Claims

1. A vehicle charging support system comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires information about a plurality of vehicles that will use chargers installed at specific locations determined by a delivery company during delivery; a creation unit that creates a vehicle charging plan including the time that each of the plurality of vehicles should arrive at the installation location of the charger so as to satisfy constraints based on information about the plurality of vehicles; and an output unit that outputs information about the vehicle charging plan.

2. The vehicle charging assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the creation unit creates the vehicle charging plan so as to minimize a total time from a predetermined reference time to a time at which the plurality of vehicles should arrive at an installation location of the charger.

3. The vehicle charging assistance system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the constraint condition includes a time when charging by the charger is completed before a departure deadline for the next delivery destination from a location where the charger is installed.

4. The vehicle charging assistance system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the constraint conditions include that the time of arrival at the installation location of the charger is after the time the charger becomes available, and that the time charging by the charger ends before the time the charger becomes unavailable.

5. A vehicle charging assistance system as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein, when a vehicle is detected that cannot arrive at the charger installation location at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan, the creation unit creates a new vehicle charging plan for vehicles among the plurality of vehicles that are not yet determined to arrive at the charger installation location at the time specified in the vehicle charging plan.

6. A vehicle charging assistance system as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the information regarding the plurality of vehicles acquired by the acquisition unit includes an estimated time of arrival at the installation location of the charger, a departure deadline from the installation location of the charger, and a charging time.

7. A vehicle charging assistance system as described in claim 1 or 2, further comprising a derivation unit, wherein the information regarding the plurality of vehicles acquired by the acquisition unit includes a departure time from a delivery destination or an arrival time at the delivery destination, and a charging time when charging at the charger while traveling to the delivery destination, and the derivation unit derives an estimated arrival time for each vehicle at a location where the charger is installed and a departure limit time from the installation location of the charger based on the departure time or the arrival time for each vehicle.

8. A vehicle charging assistance method executed by a computer, comprising the steps of: acquiring information about a plurality of vehicles that will use chargers installed at specific locations during delivery, as determined by a delivery company; creating a vehicle charging plan including the time that each of the plurality of vehicles should arrive at the installation location of the charger so as to satisfy constraints based on information about the plurality of vehicles; and outputting information about the vehicle charging plan.

9. A computer program for causing a computer to realize the following functions: acquiring information about a plurality of vehicles that will use chargers installed at specific locations during deliveries as determined by a delivery company; creating a vehicle charging plan including the time that each of the plurality of vehicles should arrive at the installation location of the charger so as to satisfy constraints based on information about the plurality of vehicles; and outputting information about the vehicle charging plan.