Driving assistance device and driving assistance method

Abstract

The present invention comprises: a captured image acquisition unit (11) that acquires a captured image obtained by imaging the face of a driver of a moving body; an age estimation unit (12) that estimates the age of the driver on the basis of the captured image; a first determination unit (13) that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver on the basis of the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit (12); a driving capability information acquisition unit (14) that, when the first determination unit (13) has determined that the driver is not an elderly driver, acquires driving capability information pertaining to the driver on the basis of moving-body-related information or the captured image; a second determination unit (15) that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver on the basis of the driving capability information pertaining to the driver; and an assistance condition setting unit (16) that, when the first determination unit (13) has determined that the driver is an elderly driver, or when the second determination unit (15) has determined that the driver is an elderly driver, outputs driving assistance information for setting conditions for assisting in driving of the moving body as conditions adapted for elderly drivers.

Description

Driving assistance device and driving assistance method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a driving assistance device and a driving assistance method.

[0002] In recent years, due to factors such as the aging of society, the number of elderly drivers of mobile vehicles is increasing. Hereinafter, elderly drivers of mobile vehicles will be referred to as "elderly drivers." In light of this background, technologies for providing driving assistance for elderly drivers have been known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that estimates the driver's age based on a facial image of the vehicle driver, and sets relaxed conditions for inattentive driving detection so that inattentive driving is more likely to be detected as the driver gets older, thereby improving the safety of elderly drivers driving.

[0003] JP 2009-15548 A

[0004] In the conventional technology described above, the age of a driver of a moving object is determined only based on a facial image. However, a person's face may appear younger than their actual age. Therefore, in the conventional technology, for example, a driver who should be considered an elderly driver may not be estimated as an elderly driver based on the image, which may result in a problem that driving assistance for elderly drivers may not be provided to the elderly driver.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a driving assistance device that prevents an elderly driver from not being provided with driving assistance for elderly drivers because the elderly driver is not identified as an elderly driver on an image.

[0006] The driving assistance device according to the present disclosure includes an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the face of a driver of a mobile body; an age estimation unit that estimates the age of the driver based on the image acquired by the image acquisition unit; a first determination unit that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit; a driving ability information acquisition unit that acquires driving ability information indicating the driver's driving ability based on mobile body-related information about the mobile body or the image when the first determination unit determines that the driver is not an elderly driver; a second determination unit that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driver's driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit; and an assistance condition setting unit that outputs driving assistance information for setting the conditions for providing driving assistance to an elderly driver when the first determination unit determines that the driver is an elderly driver or when the second determination unit determines that the driver is an elderly driver.

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to prevent an elderly driver from not being judged to be an elderly driver on an image, and therefore prevent the elderly driver from not being provided with driving assistance for elderly drivers.

[0008] 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of a configuration of a driving assistance device according to embodiment 1. It is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the driving assistance device according to embodiment 1. Figures 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the driving assistance device according to embodiment 1.

[0009] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of a driving assistance device 1 according to embodiment 1. The driving assistance device 1 according to embodiment 1 provides driving assistance to a driver of a moving object. The driving assistance device 1 according to embodiment 1 is connected to an imaging device 2 and a sensor 3, and determines whether the driver of the moving object to be the target of driving assistance is an elderly driver (hereinafter referred to as an "elderly driver") based on an image captured by the imaging device 2 or information related to the moving object detected by the sensor 3 (hereinafter referred to as "moving object-related information"). If the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver of the moving object is an elderly driver, it sets the conditions for providing driving assistance to the moving object (hereinafter referred to as "driving assistance conditions") to conditions for elderly drivers. Note that if the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver of the moving object is not an elderly driver, it sets the driving assistance conditions for the moving object to normal driving assistance conditions. In embodiment 1, the normal driving assistance conditions are preset conditions that serve as a standard for providing driving assistance to a driver, and are set assuming that the driver is not elderly. When the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, it changes the preset normal driving assistance conditions to driving assistance conditions for elderly drivers. In the first embodiment, the driving assistance provided to the driver of the mobile body is, for example, inattentiveness detection or drowsiness detection. Note that inattentiveness detection as driving assistance in the first embodiment includes issuing a warning to the driver when inattentiveness is detected. Also, drowsiness detection as driving assistance in the first embodiment includes issuing a warning to the driver when drowsiness is detected. The warning issued to the driver includes, for example, outputting an alarm, outputting a warning message by voice, or vibrating the seat.

[0010] In the first embodiment, the term "elderly driver" refers to an elderly driver whose driving ability is estimated to be declining, and specifically refers to a driver aged 70 or older. In the first embodiment, the term "driving ability" refers to the judgment or motor skills required to drive or operate a mobile vehicle.

[0011] It is generally assumed that the older a driver is, the more their driving ability declines. For example, Reference 1 below states that with age, motor function, perception such as vision or hearing, and cognitive function such as attention or situational judgment decline, leading to many accidents due to overlooking signs, accidentally stepping on the accelerator or brake, and misreading the speed of the vehicle ahead. Furthermore, Reference 2 below, for example, conducts cognitive and reaction time tests for driving a car on participants aged 21 to 87, and shows that the test results show that elderly people aged 70 and over have particularly noticeable delayed reactions. <Reference 1> Shinya Iida, Noriaki Kato, Kenji Hachisuka, Satoru Saeki, "4. Assessment of driving ability of elderly people", Journal of Geriatrics 2018; 55: 22-207 <Reference 2> Hiroaki Shigematsu, Hiroshi Komori (Ill Motor School), "Reaction time and following distance by age", [Retrieved November 27, 2023], Internet <URL: https: / / www.ill-ms.com / moji / wp-content / themes / custom / pdf / paper11.pdf>

[0012] In the first embodiment, as described above, an elderly driver is assumed to be a driver aged 70 or older, but this is merely an example, and an elderly driver may be, for example, a driver aged 65 or older, who is considered to be in the early elderly stage. The driving assistance device 1 may determine that a driver whose estimated age belongs to an age group whose driving ability is estimated to be declining is an elderly driver.

[0013] In the following first embodiment, the driver is assumed to be a driver of a vehicle (not shown). It is also assumed that the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment is mounted on the vehicle. In the following first embodiment, the driver of the vehicle is also simply referred to as the "driver."

[0014] The imaging device 2 is mounted on a vehicle. The imaging device 2 is installed in the center of the vehicle's dashboard, on an A-pillar, on an instrument panel, or the like so as to be able to capture an image of at least the driver's face. The imaging device 2 may be a device commonly used with a so-called "driver monitoring system (DMS)." The imaging device 2 is a visible light camera or an infrared camera. If the imaging device 2 is an infrared camera, the infrared camera is provided with a light source (not shown) that irradiates an area including the driver's face with infrared light for imaging. This light source is, for example, configured by an LED (Light Emitting Diode). The imaging device 2 outputs the captured image (hereinafter referred to as the "captured image") to the driving assistance device 1.

[0015] The sensor 3 is mounted on the vehicle. The sensor 3 detects moving object-related information. In the first embodiment, the moving object-related information detected by the sensor 3 is used by the driving assistance device 1 to acquire information indicating the driver's driving ability (hereinafter referred to as "driving ability information"). The sensor 3 includes a position sensor that detects the vehicle's traveling position using a GPS (Global Positioning System) or the like, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the vehicle's speed, an accelerator sensor that detects the driver's accelerator depression amount, a brake sensor that detects the driver's brake depression amount, a steering angle sensor that detects steering wheel operation, a shift lever sensor that detects shift lever operation, a side gear sensor that detects side gear operation, a turn signal sensor that detects turn signal operation, a wiper sensor that detects windshield wiper operation, and the like. Note that while only one sensor 3 is illustrated in FIG. 1 , this is merely an example. Multiple sensors 3 may be connected to the driving assistance device 1. The sensor 3 outputs the detected moving object-related information to the driving assistance device 1. The mobile object-related information includes position information indicating the vehicle's traveling position, speed information indicating the vehicle's speed, accelerator operation information indicating accelerator operation such as the amount of accelerator depression, brake operation information indicating brake operation such as the amount of brake depression, steering operation information indicating steering operation such as the steering angle, shift operation information indicating the shift position, side gear operation information indicating whether or not side gear operation has been performed, turn signal operation information indicating whether or not turn signal operation has been performed and the operation content, wiper operation information indicating whether or not wiper operation has been performed, etc.

[0016] The driving assistance device 1 includes an image acquisition unit 11 , an age estimation unit 12 , a first determination unit 13 , a driving ability information acquisition unit 14 , a second determination unit 15 , an assistance condition setting unit 16 , and an assistance execution unit 17 .

[0017] The captured image acquisition unit 11 acquires a captured image of the driver's face from the imaging device 2. The captured image acquisition unit 11 acquires the captured image frame by frame from the imaging device 2. The captured image acquisition unit 11 outputs the acquired captured image to the age estimation unit 12 and the driving ability information acquisition unit 14.

[0018] The age estimation unit 12 estimates the driver's age based on the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 11. Specifically, the age estimation unit 12 estimates the driver's age based on, for example, the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 11 and a trained model in machine learning (hereinafter referred to as the "machine learning model"). In the first embodiment, the machine learning model used by the age estimation unit 12 to estimate the driver's age is referred to as the "first machine learning model." The first machine learning model is a machine learning model that receives a frame of captured image as input and outputs information indicating the age of a person whose face is captured in the captured image (hereinafter referred to as the "age information"). The first machine learning model has been trained in advance, for example, by supervised learning, and is stored in a location accessible by the age estimation unit 12. The age information output by the first machine learning model may be a numerical value indicating an age or a numerical range indicating an age group. However, if the age information is a numerical range indicating an age group, the range includes at least the range of the older age group. The older age group will be described later. Here, it is assumed that the age information output by the first machine learning model is a numerical value indicating an age. The age estimation unit 12 inputs the latest frame of the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11 into the first machine learning model to obtain age information, thereby estimating the driver's age. Note that the above-mentioned age estimation method is merely an example, and the age estimation unit 12 may estimate the driver's age using other known methods. The age estimation unit 12 outputs information indicating the estimated driver's age (hereinafter referred to as "estimated age information") to the first determination unit 13.

[0019] The first determination unit 13 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12. The first determination unit 13 can determine the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 from the estimated age information output from the age estimation unit 12. The first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver if the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 belongs to the elderly age group. Multiple age groups are set in advance for the driver's age, and information regarding the set age groups is stored in the first determination unit 13. The multiple age groups include at least an elderly age group. In the first embodiment, the elderly age group refers to the age group to which elderly drivers belong. That is, in this example, 70 years or older is the elderly age group. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that three age groups are set: an elderly age group of 70 years or older, an age group of 60 years or older but younger than 70 years (hereinafter referred to as the "semi-elderly age group"), and an age group of younger than 60 years (hereinafter referred to as the "young age group"). If the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 does not belong to the elderly age group, i.e., if the driver's age belongs to the semi-elderly age group or the young age group, the first judgment unit 13 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver.

[0020] The first determination unit 13 outputs a determination result of whether or not the driver has been determined to be an elderly driver (hereinafter referred to as the "first determination result") to the assistance condition setting unit 16 or the driving ability information acquisition unit 14. In detail, if the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, it outputs the first determination result to the assistance condition setting unit 16. If the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, it outputs the first determination result to the driving ability information acquisition unit 14. The first determination result includes information indicating whether or not the driver has been determined to be an elderly driver and information indicating the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12. The first determination result may further include information indicating the age group of the driver determined by the first determination unit 13.

[0021] When the first determination unit 13 outputs the first determination result, i.e., when the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, and the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 belongs to the semi-elderly age group, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires driving ability information indicating the driver's driving ability based on the moving object-related information output from the sensor 3 or the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11. As described above, the semi-elderly age group is an age group between 60 and 70 years old. In other words, the semi-elderly age group is an age group younger than the elderly age group and closer to the elderly age group. Based on the first determination result, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can determine whether the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 belongs to the semi-elderly age group.

[0022] Here, the acquisition of the driver's driving ability information by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 will be described with some examples.

[0023] For example, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 detects the driver's eye movement or facial movement as the driver's driving ability, and acquires information indicating the driver's eye movement or facial movement as the driver's driving ability information. Eye movement or facial movement is closely related to the driver's driving ability. For example, a driver who exhibits large eye movement or large facial movement is said to be able to check his or her surroundings well, is presumed to have unimpaired cognitive function, and has high driving ability. Based on the time-series captured images acquired from the captured image acquisition unit 11 for a set period (hereinafter referred to as the "first driving ability determination period"), the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can detect the amount of the driver's eye movement or the speed of the eye movement as the driver's eye movement. Furthermore, based on the time-series captured images for the first driving ability assessment period acquired from the captured image acquisition unit 11, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can detect how much the driver's face has moved, in other words, how much the driver's facial direction has changed, or the speed of the facial movement, as the movement of the driver's face.

[0024] In the above example, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 detects the driver's eye movement or facial movement based on a time series of captured images for the first driving ability assessment period, but this is just one example, and the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 may also detect the driver's eye movement or facial movement based on a time series of captured images for a predetermined number of frames (hereinafter referred to as ``driving ability assessment frames'').

[0025] The driving ability information acquiring unit 14 stores the captured images output from the captured image acquiring unit 11 in a chronological order in an internal buffer or the like. The captured images stored in the internal buffer or the like may be deleted at a predetermined timing.

[0026] The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires information indicating the detected eye movement or facial movement of the driver as driving ability information of the driver.

[0027] Furthermore, for example, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 may determine the driver's brake operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering operation, and detect the driver's driving ability based on the determined brake operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering operation. In particular, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 detects, as driving ability, the amount of brake application or the time until the brake is applied when stopping at an intersection, the amount of accelerator application or the time until the accelerator is applied when starting from a stop, the amount of deceleration (brake application amount) or the time until the steering operation when turning right, and the amount of deceleration (brake application amount) or the time until the steering operation when turning left (hereinafter simply referred to as "brake application amount, etc. when stopping at an intersection"). The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires information indicating the amount of brake application, etc. when stopping at an intersection as the driver's driving ability information. Characteristics of driving behavior, such as the amount of brake application, when stopping at an intersection are closely related to the driver's driving ability. For example, a driver who applies the brakes quickly when stopping at an intersection is presumed to have good driving ability and not have deteriorated motor functions.

[0028] The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can determine the driver's brake operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering operation based on the time-series mobile-object-related information acquired from the sensor 3 for a set period (hereinafter referred to as the "second driving ability determination period"). The mobile-object-related information also includes vehicle position information. The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can also acquire map information by referring to a map information database (not shown). The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can detect the amount of braking when stopping at an intersection, etc., from the driver's brake operation, accelerator pedal operation, steering operation, vehicle position information, map information, etc. during the second driving ability determination period, and can detect the amount of braking when stopping at an intersection, etc., as the driver's driving ability.

[0029] In the above example, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 judges the driver's braking operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering operation based on time-series mobile-related information for the second driving ability judgment period, and detects driving ability such as the amount of brake application when stopping at an intersection.However, this is just one example, and the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 may also judge the driver's braking operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering operation based on time-series mobile-related information for a predetermined distance (hereinafter referred to as the ``driving ability judgment distance''), and detect driving ability such as the amount of brake application when stopping at an intersection.

[0030] The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 stores the mobile object-related information output from the sensor 3 in a time series in an internal buffer or the like. The mobile object-related information stored in the internal buffer or the like may be deleted at a predetermined timing.

[0031] The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires, as the driver's driving ability information, information indicating the amount of braking when stopping at the detected intersection.

[0032] The driving ability information acquisition unit 14 can acquire the driving ability information of the driver based on either the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11 or the mobile object-related information output from the sensor 3. When the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires the driving ability information of the driver based on the captured image, the driving assistance device 1 does not necessarily have to be connected to the sensor 3. Also, when the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires the driving ability information of the driver based on the mobile object-related information, the captured image acquisition unit 11 in the driving assistance device 1 does not necessarily have to output the captured image acquired from the imaging device 2 to the driving ability information acquisition unit 14. For convenience, FIG. 1 illustrates both an arrow from the captured image acquisition unit 11 to the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 and an arrow from the sensor 3 to the driving ability information acquisition unit 14.

[0033] When the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires the driving ability information of the driver, it outputs the acquired driving ability information of the driver to the second determination unit 15 .

[0034] The second determination unit 15 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14.

[0035] The second determination unit 15 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver, for example, based on the driver's driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 and a machine learning model. In the first embodiment, the machine learning model used by the second determination unit 15 to determine whether the driver is an elderly driver is referred to as a "second machine learning model." The second machine learning model is a machine learning model that receives the driver's driving ability information as input and outputs information indicating an age group corresponding to the driving ability indicated by the driving ability information (hereinafter referred to as "age group information"). The second machine learning model has been trained in advance, for example, by supervised learning, and is stored in a location that can be referenced by the second determination unit 15. Note that the age group indicated by the age group information output by the second machine learning model is one of a plurality of pre-set age groups, i.e., one of three age groups: an elderly age group aged 70 or over, a semi-elderly age group aged 60 to under 70, and a young age group aged under 60. The second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver when the age group obtained by inputting the driver's driving ability information into the second machine learning model is an elderly age group. The second judgment unit 15 judges that the driver is not an elderly driver if the age group obtained by inputting the driver's driving ability information into the second machine learning model is not the elderly age group, i.e., if the age group belongs to the semi-elderly age group or the young age group.

[0036] The determination method is not limited to the above-described one. The second determination unit 15 may determine whether a driver is an elderly driver, for example, based on the driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 and ability-age correspondence information that is generated in advance and stored in a location accessible to the second determination unit 15. The ability-age correspondence information is information in which information indicating driving ability statistically calculated for each age group is associated with each other, and is stored in advance in a location accessible to the second determination unit 15. The ability-age correspondence information is generated for each type of driving ability. For example, if the driving ability is the amount of braking when stopping at an intersection and the amount of accelerator pedal depression when starting from a stop, ability-age correspondence information for the amount of braking when stopping at an intersection and ability-age correspondence information for the amount of accelerator pedal depression when starting from a stop are generated in advance and stored in a location accessible to the second determination unit 15.

[0037] The second determination unit 15 compares the driver's driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 with the ability-age correspondence information, and determines the age group to which the information indicating driving ability with the smallest error from the driver's driving ability corresponds as the age group to which the driver belongs. If the determined age group to which the driver belongs is the older age group, the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver. On the other hand, if the determined age group to which the driver belongs is not the older age group, that is, if the determined age group to which the driver belongs is the mid-elderly age group or the young age group, the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver.

[0038] In addition, when multiple driving abilities are set in the driver's driving ability information, the second determination unit 15 compares each driving ability with the ability-age correspondence information and determines the age group to which the driver belongs (i.e., whether the driver belongs to the elderly age group, the semi-elderly age group, or the young age group). In this case, when the determined age group differs depending on the driving ability, the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver if, for example, even one of the age groups is determined to be the elderly age group.

[0039] The second determination unit 15 outputs a determination result (hereinafter referred to as the "second determination result") of whether or not the driver has been determined to be an elderly driver to the assistance condition setting unit 16. The second determination result includes information indicating whether or not the driver has been determined to be an elderly driver and information indicating the age group of the driver determined by the second determination unit 15. The second determination result may further include the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, or may include information indicating the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12. Note that the second determination unit 15 may simply acquire information indicating the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12 from the driving ability information acquisition unit 14. The first determination result acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 from the first determination unit 13 includes information indicating the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12.

[0040] When the first determination result is output from the first determination unit 13, that is, when the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 outputs information (hereinafter referred to as "driving assistance information") for setting conditions for providing driving assistance to conditions for elderly drivers, to the assistance execution unit 17. When the second determination result is output from the second determination unit 15, if the assistance condition setting unit 16 determines based on the second determination result that the second determination unit 15 has determined that the driver is an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 outputs driving assistance information for setting conditions for providing driving assistance to conditions for elderly drivers, to the assistance execution unit 17. When the second determination result is output from the second determination unit 15, if the assistance condition setting unit 16 determines based on the second determination result that the second determination unit 15 has determined that the driver is not an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 outputs driving assistance information for setting conditions for providing driving assistance to standard conditions, to the assistance execution unit 17.

[0041] For example, suppose the driving assistance is to detect a driver's inattentiveness. In this case, a condition such as the following (Condition 1) is set in advance as a driving assistance condition for detecting inattentiveness. Note that the pre-set driving assistance condition (Condition 1) is a standard condition. (Condition 1) When the direction of the driver's line of sight or the range of the driver's face direction remains within a pre-set angle range (hereinafter referred to as the "inattentiveness determination range") for a pre-set time (hereinafter referred to as the "inattentiveness determination duration time"), it is detected that the driver is looking aside.

[0042] The inattentiveness determination range and inattentiveness determination duration are preset. The inattentiveness determination range is, for example, +30 degrees or more or -30 degrees or less. The inattentiveness determination duration is, for example, 3 seconds. The driver's line of sight and facial orientation are expressed as angles, with 0 degrees representing the driver facing forward relative to the vehicle's traveling direction, and the angle increases as the driver faces to the right and decreases as the driver faces to the left. According to the standard driving assistance condition such as (Condition 1), if the driver's line of sight or facial orientation remains at +30 degrees or more or -30 degrees or less for the inattentiveness determination duration (i.e., 3 seconds in this case), the driver is deemed to be inattentive and driving assistance is provided. The driving assistance is performed by the assistance execution unit 17. Details of the assistance execution unit 17 will be described later.

[0043] When the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, or when the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 generates driving assistance information for changing the standard driving assistance conditions, such as the above-described (Condition 1), to conditions for an elderly driver. Specifically, the assistance condition setting unit 16 changes the standard driving assistance conditions so that driving assistance is more easily performed, in other words, so that inattentive behavior is more easily detected, and generates the changed driving assistance conditions as driving assistance information. In the above example, the assistance condition setting unit 16, for example, widens the inattentive behavior determination range (for example, +20 degrees or more or -20 degrees or less). Furthermore, the assistance condition setting unit 16 may, for example, shorten the inattentive behavior determination duration (for example, 2.7 seconds). The assistance condition setting unit 16 may widen the inattentive behavior determination range and shorten the inattentive behavior determination duration.

[0044] When the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 does not change the standard driving assistance conditions as described above, and generates the standard driving assistance conditions as they are as driving assistance information.

[0045] Furthermore, for example, suppose the driving assistance is drowsiness detection. In this case, a condition such as the following (Condition 2) is set in advance as a driving assistance condition for detecting drowsiness. Note that the pre-set driving assistance condition (Condition 2) is a standard condition. (Condition 2) If the driver's eye opening degree remains below a pre-set threshold (hereinafter referred to as the "drowsiness determination threshold") for a pre-set time (hereinafter referred to as the "drowsiness determination duration"), the driver is detected as dozing.

[0046] The drowsiness determination threshold and the drowsiness determination duration are set in advance. The drowsiness determination threshold is, for example, 25%. The drowsiness determination duration is, for example, 3 seconds. According to the standard driving assistance condition such as (Condition 2), if the driver's eye opening degree remains at or below 25% for 3 seconds, the driver is determined to be dozing, and driving assistance is provided.

[0047] When the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, or when the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 generates driving assistance information for changing the standard driving assistance conditions to conditions for an elderly driver, as described above. Specifically, the assistance condition setting unit 16 changes the standard driving assistance conditions so that driving assistance is more easily performed, in other words, so that drowsiness is more easily detected, and generates the changed driving assistance conditions as driving assistance information. In the above example, the assistance condition setting unit 16 may, for example, increase the drowsiness determination threshold (for example, 30%). Furthermore, the assistance condition setting unit 16 may, for example, shorten the drowsiness determination duration (for example, 2.7 seconds). The assistance condition setting unit 16 may increase the drowsiness determination threshold and shorten the drowsiness determination duration.

[0048] When the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, the assistance condition setting unit 16 does not change the standard driving assistance conditions as described above, and generates the standard driving assistance conditions as they are as driving assistance information.

[0049] The assistance execution unit 17 performs driving assistance under driving assistance conditions based on the driving assistance information output from the assistance condition setting unit 16. For example, the assistance execution unit 17 detects that the driver is looking aside when the driver's line of sight or facial direction remains within the inattentiveness determination range for a duration for inattentiveness determination. The assistance execution unit 17 then issues a warning to the driver. Specifically, for example, the assistance execution unit 17 outputs an alarm or a warning message from an alarm device (not shown). The assistance execution unit 17 may, for example, vibrate a vibration sensor (not shown) provided on the seat. The assistance execution unit 17 may detect the driver's line of sight or facial direction using a known method based on the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11. Furthermore, for example, the assistance execution unit 17 detects that the driver is dozing off when the driver's eye opening degree remains below the drowsiness determination threshold for a duration for inattentiveness determination. The assistance execution unit 17 then issues a warning to the driver. In detail, for example, the assistance execution unit 17 outputs an alarm or a warning message from an alarm device (not shown). The assistance execution unit 17 may vibrate a vibration sensor (not shown) provided on the seat. Note that the assistance execution unit 17 may detect the degree of eye opening of the driver based on the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11.

[0050] When the assistance condition setting unit 16 has changed the driving assistance conditions to driving assistance conditions for elderly drivers, the assistance execution unit 17 will provide driving assistance for elderly drivers. It is assumed that elderly drivers take longer to react to, for example, an alarm for looking away or falling asleep at the wheel than drivers who are not elderly. The assistance condition setting unit 16 changes the driving assistance conditions to make it easier to provide driving assistance than standard, and the assistance execution unit 17 performs driving assistance in accordance with the changed driving assistance conditions. This makes it possible to output an alarm with sufficient time to ensure that it is not too late when the elderly driver reacts to an alarm for looking away or falling asleep at the wheel.

[0051] The operation of the driving assistance device 1 according to the embodiment 1 will now be described. Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the driving assistance device 1 according to the embodiment 1. For example, when the power supply of the vehicle is turned on, the driving assistance device 1 starts the operation shown in the flowchart of Fig. 2, and repeats the operation shown in the flowchart of Fig. 2 until the power supply of the vehicle is turned off.

[0052] The captured image acquisition unit 11 acquires a captured image of the driver's face from the imaging device 2 (step ST1). The captured image acquisition unit 11 outputs the acquired captured image to the age estimation unit 12 and the driving ability information acquisition unit 14.

[0053] The age estimation unit 12 estimates the age of the driver based on the captured image acquired by the captured image acquisition unit 11 in step ST1 (step ST2). The age estimation unit 12 outputs estimated age information to the first determination unit 13.

[0054] The first determination unit 13 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 in step ST2 (step ST3). If the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver in step ST3 (if "YES" in step ST3), the first determination unit 13 outputs the first determination result to the assistance condition setting unit 16. Then, the operation of the driving assistance device 1 proceeds to the processing of step ST7. If the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 belongs to the elderly age group, the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver.

[0055] On the other hand, if it is determined in step ST3 that the driver is not an elderly driver ("NO" in step ST3), the first determination unit 13 outputs the first determination result to the driving ability information acquisition unit 14. Then, the operation of the driving assistance device 1 proceeds to the processing of step ST4, and the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 determines whether the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12 in step ST2 belongs to the semi-elderly age group (step ST4).

[0056] In step ST4, if it is determined that the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12 in step ST2 belongs to the semi-elderly age group (if "YES" in step ST4), the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 acquires driving ability information indicating the driving ability of the driver based on the moving object-related information output from the sensor 3 or the captured image output from the captured image acquisition unit 11 (step ST5). Upon acquiring the driving ability information of the driver, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 outputs the acquired driving ability information of the driver to the second determination unit 15.

[0057] The second determination unit 15 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 in step ST5 (step ST6). The second determination unit 15 outputs the second determination result to the assistance condition setting unit 16.

[0058] If the first judgment unit 13 judges in step ST3 that the driver is an elderly driver (if "YES" in step ST3), or if the second judgment unit 15 judges in step ST6 that the driver is an elderly driver (if "YES" in step ST6), the assistance condition setting unit 16 outputs driving assistance information to the assistance execution unit 17 to set the conditions for providing driving assistance to conditions for elderly drivers (step ST7).

[0059] In step ST4, if the driving ability information acquisition unit 14 determines that the driver's age estimated by the age estimation unit 12 in step ST2 does not belong to the semi-elderly age group (if "NO" in step ST4), or if the second judgment unit 15 determines in step ST6 that the driver is not an elderly driver (if "NO" in step ST6), the assistance condition setting unit 16 outputs driving assistance information to the assistance execution unit 17 to set the conditions for providing driving assistance to the standard conditions (step ST8).

[0060] The assistance execution unit 17 performs driving assistance under the driving assistance conditions based on the driving assistance information output from the assistance condition setting unit 16 in step ST7 or step ST8 (step ST9).

[0061] In this way, the driving assistance device 1 acquires a captured image of the driver's face and estimates the driver's age based on the acquired captured image. The driving assistance device 1 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image. If the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, it sets the driving assistance conditions to conditions for elderly drivers, in other words, conditions that make driving assistance more likely to be performed, and performs driving assistance according to the driving assistance conditions that are conditions for elderly drivers. If the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image, it determines whether the driver's age estimated from the captured image belongs to the semi-elderly age group. If the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver's age estimated from the captured image belongs to the semi-elderly age group, it acquires moving object-related information from the sensor 3 and acquires driving ability information indicating the driver's driving ability based on the acquired moving object-related information or the captured image. Then, the driving assistance device 1 determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the acquired driving ability information of the driver. When the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information, it sets the driving assistance conditions to conditions for elderly drivers, in other words, conditions that make it easier to provide driving assistance, and performs driving assistance in accordance with the driving assistance conditions that are conditions for elderly drivers.When the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image, and also determines that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driving ability information, it sets the driving assistance conditions to standard conditions that have been set in advance.

[0062] As described above, a person's face may appear younger than their actual age. Therefore, if the driver's age is determined solely based on a captured image of the driver's face, for example, a driver who should be considered an elderly driver may not be estimated as an elderly driver in the image, which may result in failure to provide elderly driver-specific driving assistance to the elderly driver. In response to this, the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment acquires driving ability information of the driver when it is determined that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image, and then determines again whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the acquired driving ability information. Then, when the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information, it provides elderly driver-specific driving assistance. As a result, the driving assistance device 1 can prevent an event from occurring in which elderly driver who should be considered an elderly driver is not estimated as an elderly driver in the image, resulting in failure to provide elderly driver-specific driving assistance to the elderly driver.

[0063] Here, instead of determining whether a driver is an elderly driver based on an age estimated based on a captured image, it is also possible to uniformly acquire the driver's driving ability information and determine whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the acquired driving ability information. However, while estimating the age based on a captured image requires only one frame of captured image, acquiring the driving ability information requires multiple frames of captured image captured over a certain period of time. In other words, estimating the age based on captured images requires less processing load than acquiring driving ability information. Furthermore, estimating the age based on captured images can be performed in a shorter time than acquiring driving ability information. In other words, the process of determining whether a driver is an elderly driver based on an age estimated based on captured images requires less processing load and can be completed in a shorter time than the process of determining whether a driver is an elderly driver based on driving ability information. The driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment first determines whether a driver is an elderly driver based on an age estimated based on a captured image, thereby determining a driver who is estimated to be elderly based on appearance as an elderly driver, and does not perform a determination based on driving ability information. The driving assistance device 1 targets a driver who is not estimated to be elderly based on appearance and determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information. This prevents the driving assistance device 1 from wasting time and effort in determining whether the driver is elderly, and can prevent an elderly driver from not receiving driving assistance for elderly drivers because the driver appears younger than their actual age.

[0064] In the first embodiment, when the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image, it determines whether the estimated driver's age belongs to the semi-elderly age group, and when it determines that the estimated driver's age belongs to the semi-elderly age group, it acquires driving ability information of the driver and determines again whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the acquired driving ability information. When the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver's age estimated from the captured image belongs to the young age group, it does not acquire driving ability information or determine whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information. When it is determined that the driver's age estimated from the captured image belongs to the young age group, it is estimated that the driver does not look obviously elderly and that there is little possibility that the driver is suspected of being an elderly driver. When it is assumed that there is little doubt that a driver was not determined to be an elderly driver because they look younger than their actual age, the driving assistance device 1 does not make a judgment based on driving ability information and determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, thereby preventing the occurrence of an incident in which driving assistance for elderly drivers is not provided to an elderly driver because they look younger than their actual age, without wasting unnecessary time and effort in determining whether or not the driver is an elderly driver.

[0065] In the first embodiment described above, three age groups other than the elderly age group are set: a semi-elderly age group (60 to 70 years old) and a young age group (young people under 60 years old). However, this is merely an example. The age ranges of the semi-elderly age group and the young age group can be set as appropriate. Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, two age groups other than the elderly age group are set; however, this is merely an example, and the number of pre-set age groups other than the elderly age group can be set as appropriate. For example, the age groups other than the elderly age group may be set as a semi-elderly age group (60 to 70 years old), a middle-aged age group (55 to 60 years old), and a young age group (young people under 55 years old). In this case, for example, when the driver's age estimated from the captured image belongs to the semi-elderly age group or the middle-aged age group, the driving assistance device 1 may acquire driving ability information and determine whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information. If the driver is not determined to be an elderly driver based on the age estimated from the captured image, it is possible to appropriately set which age group the age estimated from the captured image should belong to in order to obtain driving ability information and determine whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the driving ability information.

[0066] Furthermore, for example, when the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver based on the driver's age estimated from the captured image, the driving assistance device 1 may always acquire driving ability information of the driver and determine again whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the acquired driving ability information. In this case, the processing of step ST4 can be omitted from the operation of the driving assistance device 1 described using the flowchart in FIG.

[0067] 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the functions of the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 are realized by a processing circuit 101. That is, the driving assistance device 1 includes the processing circuit 101 for determining whether or not a driver is an elderly driver based on an image acquired from the imaging device 2 or moving object-related information acquired from the sensor 3, and for controlling the execution of driving assistance for elderly drivers if the driver is an elderly driver. The processing circuit 101 may be dedicated hardware as shown in FIG. 3A or a processor 104 that executes a program stored in a memory as shown in FIG. 3B.

[0068] When processing circuitry 101 is dedicated hardware, processing circuitry 101 may be, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof.

[0069] When the processing circuit is the processor 104, the functions of the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in the memory 105. The processor 104 reads and executes the program stored in the memory 105 to execute the functions of the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17. In other words, the driving assistance device 1 includes the memory 105 for storing a program that, when executed by the processor 104, results in the execution of steps ST1 to ST7 of FIG. 2 described above. In addition, the program stored in memory 105 can also be said to cause the computer to execute the processing procedures or methods of the image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first judgment unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second judgment unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17. Here, the memory 105 may be, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as a RAM, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), or an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), or a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc).

[0070] Note that the functions of the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 may be partially implemented by dedicated hardware and partially implemented by software or firmware. For example, the functions of the captured image acquisition unit 11 may be implemented by a processing circuit 101 as dedicated hardware, and the functions of the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 may be implemented by the processor 104 reading and executing programs stored in the memory 105. The driving assistance device 1 also includes an input interface device 102 and an output interface device 103 that communicate with devices such as the imaging device 2 or the sensor 3 via wired or wireless communication.

[0071] In the first embodiment described above, the driving assistance provided by the driving assistance device 1 to the driver of the mobile vehicle is, for example, inattentiveness detection or drowsiness detection, but this is merely an example. For example, the driving assistance provided by the driving assistance device 1 to the driver of the mobile vehicle may be adjusting the set temperature of the air conditioner. For example, when the driving assistance device 1 determines that the driver is an elderly driver, it outputs driving assistance information for setting the set temperature of the air conditioner in the vehicle cabin to a temperature that is higher by a preset value than the normal temperature, i.e., the temperature set under standard driving assistance conditions.

[0072] Furthermore, in the above-described first embodiment, the driving assistance device 1 is described as including the assistance execution unit 17, but this is merely an example, and the function of the assistance execution unit 17 may be provided by a device external to the driving assistance device 1 and connected to the driving assistance device 1, and the driving assistance device 1 may be configured not to include the assistance execution unit 17. For example, a warning device (not shown) may have the function of the assistance execution unit 17. In this case, the processing of step ST9 can be omitted from the operation of the driving assistance device 1 described using the flowchart of FIG. 2 .

[0073] In the first embodiment described above, the driving assistance device 1 is an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle, and the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 are provided in the in-vehicle device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Some of the captured image acquisition unit 11, the age estimation unit 12, the first determination unit 13, the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, the second determination unit 15, the assistance condition setting unit 16, and the assistance execution unit 17 may be mounted in the in-vehicle device of the vehicle, and the rest may be provided in a server connected to the in-vehicle device via a network, and a driving assistance system may be configured by the in-vehicle device and the server. In addition, the image acquisition unit 11, age estimation unit 12, first judgment unit 13, driving ability information acquisition unit 14, second judgment unit 15, assistance condition setting unit 16, and assistance execution unit 17 may all be provided on the server.

[0074] In addition, in the above-described first embodiment, the subject is a vehicle driver as an example, but this is merely an example. The subject may be a driver of a moving body other than a vehicle, such as a bus, a train, or an airplane. The driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment can be applied to a driving assistance device that provides driving assistance to a driver of a moving body other than a vehicle.

[0075] As described above, according to the first embodiment, the driving assistance device 1 is configured to include an image acquisition unit 11 that acquires an image of the face of the driver of the mobile body, an age estimation unit 12 that estimates the age of the driver based on the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 11, a first determination unit 13 that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver or not based on the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit 12, a driving ability information acquisition unit 14 that acquires driving ability information indicating the driving ability of the driver based on mobile body-related information about the mobile body or the image when the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is not an elderly driver, a second determination unit 15 that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver or not based on the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit 14, and an assistance condition setting unit 16 that outputs driving assistance information for setting the conditions for providing driving assistance to the mobile body to conditions for an elderly driver when the first determination unit 13 determines that the driver is an elderly driver or when the second determination unit 15 determines that the driver is an elderly driver. Therefore, the driving assistance device 1 can prevent an event from occurring in which driving assistance for elderly drivers is not provided to an elderly driver because the elderly driver is not estimated to be an elderly driver on the image.

[0076] Any of the components of the embodiments may be modified or omitted.

[0077] The driving assistance device of the present disclosure can be applied to driving assistance devices that provide driving assistance to drivers of moving vehicles, as it prevents an elderly driver from not being judged to be an elderly driver on an image and therefore prevents driving assistance for elderly drivers from being provided to the elderly driver.

[0078] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Driving assistance device, 2 Imaging device, 3 Sensor, 11 Image acquisition unit, 12 Age estimation unit, 13 First determination unit, 14 Driving ability information acquisition unit, 15 Second determination unit, 16 Assistance condition setting unit, 17 Assistance execution unit, 101 Processing circuit, 102 Input interface device, 103 Output interface device, 104 Processor, 105 Memory.

Claims

1. An imaging image acquisition unit that acquires an imaging image obtained by imaging the face of a driver of a moving body; an age estimation unit that estimates the age of the driver based on the imaging image acquired by the imaging image acquisition unit; a first determination unit that determines whether the driver is an elderly driver based on the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit; a driving ability information acquisition unit that, when the first determination unit determines that the driver is not the elderly driver, acquires driving ability information indicating the driving ability of the driver based on moving body related information about the moving body or the imaging image; a second determination unit that determines whether the driver is the elderly driver based on the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit; and a support condition setting unit that outputs driving support information for setting conditions for performing driving support of the moving body as the conditions for elderly drivers when the first determination unit determines that the driver is the elderly driver, or when the second determination unit determines that the driver is the elderly driver. A driving support device comprising:

2. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the first determination unit determines that the driver is the elderly driver when the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit belongs to an elderly age group, and the driving ability information acquisition unit, when the first determination unit determines that the driver is not the elderly driver, and the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit belongs to a pre-elderly age group that is younger than the elderly age group and close to the elderly age group, acquires the driving ability information indicating the driving ability of the driver based on the moving body related information or the imaging image.

3. The driving support device according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the age estimation unit estimates the age of the driver based on the imaging image acquired by the imaging image acquisition unit and a first machine learning model that takes the imaging image as an input and outputs age information indicating the age.

4. The second determination unit determines that the driver is an elderly driver when the age group to which the driver belongs, estimated based on the driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit and a second machine learning model that takes the driving ability information as input and outputs age group information indicating the age group corresponding to the driving ability indicated by the driving ability information, is an elderly age group. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that.

5. The second determination unit determines the age group to which the driver belongs based on the driving ability information acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit and the ability-age correspondence information in which the driving ability is associated with each age group, and determines that the driver is an elderly driver when the age group to which the driver belongs is an elderly age group. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that.

6. The mobile body-related information includes brake operation information of the mobile body, accelerator operation information of the mobile body, or steering wheel operation information of the mobile body, and the driving ability information acquisition unit acquires the driving ability information based on any one of the driver's brake operation, accelerator pedal operation, or steering wheel operation determined from the mobile body-related information, or the movement of the driver's line of sight or the movement of the driver's face determined from the captured image. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that.

7. The driving support is side glance detection of the driver, and the support condition setting unit outputs driving support information for setting, as the range of the driver's line of sight direction or face direction, which is set as the condition for detecting a side glance, a side glance determination range, or the duration of the state in which the driver's line of sight direction or face direction is within the side glance determination range, as the side glance determination range or the side glance determination duration for the elderly driver. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that.

8. The driving support is drowsiness detection of the driver, and the support condition setting unit outputs driving support information for setting, as the condition for detecting drowsiness, a drowsiness determination threshold that is a threshold of the driver's eye opening degree or a drowsiness determination duration that is a duration of a state in which the driver's eye opening degree is equal to or less than the drowsiness determination threshold, as the drowsiness determination threshold or the drowsiness determination duration for the elderly driver. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that.

9. The mobile body is a vehicle. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that.

10. A step in which an imaging image acquisition unit acquires an imaging image obtained by imaging the face of a driver of a mobile body; a step in which an age estimation unit estimates the age of the driver based on the imaging image acquired by the imaging image acquisition unit; a step in which a first determination unit determines whether or not the driver is an elderly driver based on the age of the driver estimated by the age estimation unit; a step in which a driving ability information acquisition unit acquires driving ability information indicating the driving ability of the driver based on mobile body-related information regarding the mobile body or the imaging image when the first determination unit determines that the driver is not the elderly driver; a step in which a second determination unit determines whether or not the driver is the elderly driver based on the driving ability information of the driver acquired by the driving ability information acquisition unit; and a step in which a support condition setting unit outputs driving support information for setting conditions for performing driving support of the mobile body as the conditions for the elderly driver when the first determination unit determines that the driver is the elderly driver or when the second determination unit determines that the driver is the elderly driver. A driving support method comprising the steps of.