Information notification device and information notification method

Abstract

This information notification device is for outputting notification information to a vehicle having an autonomous driving function for causing the vehicle to automatically travel in accordance with a planned travel route, and comprises: an information acquisition unit that acquires danger information related to a dangerous event present around the planned travel route and a scheduled passage time of the vehicle at a point where the dangerous event is present; a danger degree determination unit that, on the basis of the danger information and the scheduled passage time, determines a danger degree of the dangerous event on the basis of a match between an occurrence time zone of the dangerous event and the scheduled passage time; and a driver notification output unit that generates, on the basis of the determination result of the danger degree, notification information for notifying an occupant of the vehicle of the possibility of operation of emergency avoidance control during the autonomous driving, and outputs the notification information to a driver notification device. The driver notification output unit outputs the notification information at least at the start of the autonomous driving function.

Description

Information notification device and information notification method

[0001] The present invention relates to an information notification device and an information notification method.

[0002] Recently, development is underway on commercially available vehicles equipped with hands-off functions that allow drivers to drive without using their hands even on public roads, and autonomous driving functions (eyes-off) that allow drivers to take their eyes off the wheel without having to monitor their surroundings.

[0003] Furthermore, Patent Document 1 discloses a risk level display device that notifies a driver of the presence of a dangerous event by visualizing risk levels of danger near the vehicle using different colors. Specifically, Patent Document 1 describes a risk level display device that includes a display unit that corresponds to a road along which the vehicle is scheduled to travel and has different display positions depending on the distance or required time from the vehicle to each point on the road, a risk level acquisition means that acquires the risk level at each of the points, and a display control means that controls the color of each display position on the display unit to a color corresponding to the risk level at each of the points acquired by the risk level acquisition means.

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-139204

[0005] When automated driving that allows hands-off and eyes-off driving is applied on expressways and public roads, it is expected that emergency avoidance control, a function of automated driving, will be activated. In such cases, there is a concern that occupants who are unable to recognize their surroundings due to their eyes-off driving will be surprised by the vehicle's actions due to emergency avoidance control. On the other hand, if it is necessary for occupants to monitor the area ahead of the vehicle in situations where emergency avoidance control may be activated, this will result in a transition from eyes-off to eyes-on driving assistance, which will lower the level of automated driving.

[0006] The technology described in Patent Document 1 visualizes dangerous events near the vehicle using different colors. However, the technology in Patent Document 1 does not take into account dangerous events that are far away, and does not clearly indicate the specific details of the dangerous events, which makes it difficult for occupants who have their eyes off for a long time to recognize the dangerous events.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to reduce the surprise of occupants caused by the vehicle's emergency avoidance control operation by notifying occupants in advance of the possibility of a dangerous event occurring during autonomous driving.

[0008] The present application includes multiple means for solving at least part of the above-described problems, examples of which are as follows: An information notification device according to one aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problems is an information notification device that outputs notification information to a vehicle having an autonomous driving function that automatically drives the vehicle along a planned driving route to a destination, the information notification device including: a computing device that executes predetermined processing; and a storage device connected to the computing device, and includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires hazard information regarding hazardous events present in the vicinity of the planned driving route and a planned passage time of the vehicle at a point where the hazardous event exists; a risk determination unit that determines a risk level of the hazardous event based on the hazard information and the planned passage time, based on a match between a time zone in which the hazardous event occurs and the planned passage time; and a driver notification output unit that generates notification information for notifying an occupant of the vehicle of a possibility of activation of emergency avoidance control during autonomous driving based on a result of the risk determination, and outputs the notification information to a driver notification device, wherein the driver notification output unit outputs the notification information at least when the autonomous driving function starts.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, by notifying occupants in advance of the possibility of a dangerous event occurring during autonomous driving, it is possible to reduce the surprise of occupants due to vehicle operation during emergency avoidance control.

[0010] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

[0011] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a vehicle system including an information notification device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a situation in which a hazardous event exists in the vicinity of a route to be traveled by an autonomous driving function. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of an information notification process executed when autonomous driving is started. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of hazard information. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of displayed notification information. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a vehicle system including an information notification device according to a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of an information notification process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a state in which a host vehicle position is approaching a hazardous event existing in the vicinity of a route to be traveled by an autonomous driving function. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which a host vehicle position is approaching a hazardous event existing in the vicinity of a route to be traveled by an autonomous driving function. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of notification information displayed in accordance with the level of a standard hazard level when a vehicle approaches a hazardous event. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of notification information displayed in accordance with the level of a standard hazard level when a vehicle approaches a hazardous event.

[0012] Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing for explaining each embodiment, the same components and functions are generally designated by the same reference numerals, and repeated description will be omitted.

[0013] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a vehicle system including an information notification device according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the vehicle system 100 includes an external sensor 121, a car navigation system 122, an information notification device 110, and a driver notification device 140. The information notification device 110 is communicably connected to a cloud server 130 via a predetermined network N such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN).

[0014] The external sensor 121 recognizes the environment around the vehicle and outputs the recognition result to the information notification device 110. The external sensor 121 includes, for example, an in-vehicle camera capable of capturing images around the vehicle, and a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor capable of measuring the distance and direction to objects around the vehicle using radar light.

[0015] The car navigation system 122 is a system that provides various navigation functions such as searching for recommended routes, calculating destinations and estimated times of passage at various points, and providing route guidance.

[0016] The cloud server 130 is a server device that has a danger information database 131. When the cloud server 130 receives an information acquisition request from the information notification device 110, it transmits the danger information stored in the danger information database 131 to the information notification device 110.

[0017] The information notification device 110 is a device that notifies the vehicle occupants of dangerous events that occur during autonomous driving around the planned driving route. Note that the autonomous driving referred to here refers to autonomous driving at level 3 or higher, which allows eyes-off. Therefore, when referring to autonomous driving hereinafter, it also includes the hands-off function realized by autonomous driving level 2.

[0018] The information notification device 110 uses information acquired from the external sensor 121, the car navigation system 122, and the cloud server 130 to identify dangerous events that may occur on the planned route during autonomous driving, and generates information to notify the occupants in advance of the possibility that emergency avoidance control will be activated. Note that emergency avoidance control refers to vehicle operation control that automatically avoids contact with objects around the vehicle. It is assumed that the autonomous driving function of the vehicle in which the information notification device 110 is installed includes such an emergency avoidance control function.

[0019] The information notification device 110 has an information acquisition unit 111, a risk determination unit 112, and a driver notification output unit 114 as functional units that execute processes related to the generation and output of notification information.

[0020] The information acquisition unit 111 is a functional unit that acquires various types of information from an external sensor 121, a car navigation system 122, and a cloud server 130.

[0021] The risk determination unit 112 is a functional unit that determines the risk of a dangerous event that exists around the planned driving route of the vehicle during autonomous driving. Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 determines the risk of a dangerous event using risk information acquired from the cloud server 130, the planned driving route of the vehicle acquired from the car navigation system 122 (a recommended route searched by the car navigation system 122), and the planned passage times at each point.

[0022] The driver notification output unit 114 is a functional unit that generates and outputs notification information to the occupants according to the result of the risk assessment of the hazardous event. Specifically, the driver notification output unit 114 maps an icon indicating the hazardous event at a position on the schematic driving route corresponding to the distance from the vehicle's position during autonomous driving to the location where the hazardous event exists, and generates notification information including text information (message information) to alert the driver that emergency avoidance control may be activated due to the occurrence of the hazardous event. The driver notification output unit 114 also outputs the generated notification information to the driver notification device 140. The notification information also includes audio information that reads out the text information.

[0023] Such an information notification device 110 is implemented in a vehicle as, for example, a dedicated ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that notifies information to the occupants.

[0024] Specifically, the information notification device 110 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs calculation processing, a main memory device (main storage device) consisting of memory devices such as RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores calculation results and various information and ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs executed by the CPU, an auxiliary memory device (auxiliary storage device) that is a non-volatile memory device such as a flash memory that can store digital information, a communication device that communicates information with external devices (e.g., an external sensor 121, a car navigation system 122, a cloud server 130, etc.), and a bus that connects these devices so that they can communicate with each other.

[0025] Each functional unit of the information communication device is realized by a program that causes the CPU to perform processing. These programs are stored in, for example, a main memory or an auxiliary memory, and are loaded into the main memory and executed by the CPU.

[0026] The driver notification device 140 is a device that notifies the vehicle occupants of information. The driver notification device 140 has a display unit 141 that notifies the occupants of information by image and an audio output unit 142 that notifies the occupants of information by audio.

[0027] The display unit 141 is realized, for example, by the display of the car navigation system 122, a meter display (an in-vehicle liquid crystal display that displays vehicle speed, etc.), or the display of a smartphone or tablet terminal connected to an in-vehicle device such as the car navigation system 122.

[0028] The audio output unit 142 is realized by, for example, a speaker built into the car navigation system 122, an in-car speaker, or a speaker of a smartphone or tablet terminal connected to these in-car devices.

[0029] The display unit 141 and the audio output unit 142 output the notification information acquired from the driver notification output unit 114 to the occupant.

[0030] 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a situation in which dangerous events exist around a route planned to be traveled by the autonomous driving function. The illustrated example shows that dangerous events such as a school 24 and a road construction site 25 exist around a planned travel route 22 from the position of the vehicle 21 to a destination 23 under autonomous driving. Note that the school 24 and the road construction site 25 are just examples, but these dangerous events may cause the autonomous driving function to activate emergency avoidance control. Therefore, the information notification device 110 performs a process of determining the degree of danger of these dangerous events and outputting notification information corresponding to the determination result to the vehicle occupants in advance.

[0031] 3 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of an information notification process executed when autonomous driving starts. The information notification process is started, for example, when the vehicle system 100 is started.

[0032] When the process starts, the information acquisition unit 111 determines whether autonomous driving has started (step S100). Specifically, the information acquisition unit 111 determines whether autonomous driving has started, for example, based on whether a signal indicating the start of autonomous driving control has been acquired. Note that the signal indicating the start of autonomous driving control is broadcast, for example, from a corresponding autonomous driving ECU to other ECUs, and the information acquisition unit 111 can acquire the signal, for example, via a CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0033] In addition, the information acquisition unit 111 may determine the start of automatic driving control based on the acquisition of a signal indicating that the system has transitioned from driving assistance control, such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control), in which the occupants are required to monitor the surroundings of the vehicle, to automatic driving control.

[0034] Next, the information acquisition unit 111 acquires route information (step S101). Specifically, the information acquisition unit 111 acquires a planned driving route (searched recommended route) to a destination set in advance by the occupant from the car navigation system 122. The route information includes the planned times of passing through each point (for example, points every several tens of meters or important intersections, schools, and other facilities).

[0035] The route information is not limited to a route searched by the car navigation system 122 based on the set destination, but may also be, for example, a planned driving route to a destination set using a mobility service (e.g., an unmanned taxi or an unmanned bus) in which a server device on the cloud manages the vehicle's travel route.

[0036] Next, the information acquisition unit 111 acquires risk information on the route from the cloud server 130 (step S102).

[0037] 4 is a diagram showing an example of danger information. The danger information includes various categories, such as a dangerous event 41, a dangerous event location 42, an occurrence time period 43, a reference danger level 44, a danger level change condition 45, and a dangerous event range 46, and parameters indicating the content of each category, which are registered in association with each other.

[0038] The dangerous event 41 is information indicating the details of a dangerous event that may trigger emergency avoidance control of the vehicle during autonomous driving, and corresponds to, for example, an elementary school, a road construction site, etc. In addition to these, dangerous events include large facilities such as shopping malls where many people gather, large events, weather information, etc.

[0039] The dangerous event location 42 is latitude and longitude information indicating the location where the dangerous event occurs. The occurrence time period 43 is information indicating the time period during which the dangerous event occurs. The reference danger level 44 is information indicating the danger level of the dangerous event as a level. For example, if the dangerous event is a school, level 2 (Lv2) is associated with the reference danger level. The danger level change condition 45 is information indicating the conditions for changing the danger level. For example, if the dangerous event is an elementary school, if children on their way to or from school are detected, the possibility of emergency avoidance control being activated increases, so detection of children on their way to or from school is registered as a danger level change condition. Note that processing using the danger level change condition 45 will be described in the second embodiment below. The dangerous event range 46 is information indicating the range from the vehicle to the dangerous event.

[0040] Returning to FIG. 3 , the risk determination unit 112 next determines whether or not there is a relevant hazardous event in the vicinity of the planned driving route (step S103). Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 determines whether or not there is a relevant hazardous event using the hazard information and the planned driving route. More specifically, the risk determination unit 112 determines that a hazardous event has occurred if a hazardous event point exists within a predetermined range (for example, within a radius of 500 m) from the planned driving route. Note that the predetermined range may be a range (distance) corresponding to each type of hazardous event, which is stored in advance in a main storage device or an auxiliary storage device.

[0041] If it is determined that a dangerous event has occurred (Yes in step S103), the danger level determination unit 112 proceeds to step S104. On the other hand, if it is determined that no dangerous event has occurred (No in step S103), the danger level determination unit 112 ends the information notification process.

[0042] Next, in step S104, the risk determination unit 112 determines the risk level of the hazardous event based on whether the time zone in which the hazardous event occurs matches the scheduled time of passing through the hazardous event location. Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 identifies the latitude and longitude of the hazardous event location that exists around the scheduled driving route from the hazard information. The risk determination unit 112 also uses the route information to identify the scheduled time of passing through the identified hazardous event location. The risk determination unit 112 also uses the identified information to determine whether the time zone in which the hazardous event occurs matches the scheduled time of passing through the hazardous event location.

[0043] If it is determined that there is a match (Yes in step S104), the risk level determination unit 112 temporarily stores the corresponding dangerous event in RAM or the like (step S105), and proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, if it is determined that the time zone in which the dangerous event occurred and the scheduled time of passing the dangerous event location do not match (No in step S104), the risk level determination unit 112 proceeds to step S106.

[0044] In step S106, the risk determination unit 112 determines whether or not there are other dangerous events. Note that the determination of whether or not there are other dangerous events is similar to the processing in step S103, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Then, when it is determined that there are other dangerous events in the vicinity of the planned travel route (Yes in step S106), the risk determination unit 112 shifts the processing to step S104. On the other hand, when it is determined that there are no other dangerous events (No in step S106), the risk determination unit 112 shifts the processing to step S107.

[0045] In step S107, the driver notification output unit 114 generates notification information. Specifically, the driver notification output unit 114 identifies the dangerous event location of the dangerous event temporarily stored in step S105 from the dangerous event information. The driver notification output unit 114 also generates notification information in which a predetermined graphic (including an icon) for indicating the corresponding dangerous event is mapped to a position on the schematic driving route according to the distance from the vehicle position to the location of the dangerous event (or each of the dangerous events, if there are multiple dangerous events).

[0046] The driver notification output unit 114 also includes text information (message information) in the notification information to alert the driver to the possibility that emergency avoidance control may be activated due to the occurrence of a dangerous event. The content of the notification information may consist of graphics only, or may consist of text information only. The driver notification output unit 114 also generates audio information that reads out the text information. It is preferable that predetermined pieces of the graphic, text information, and audio information are stored in advance in the main storage device or the auxiliary storage device.

[0047] Next, the driver notification output unit 114 displays the generated notification information via the display unit 141 of the driver notification device 140 (step S108). The driver notification output unit 114 also outputs the generated audio information via the audio output unit 142 of the driver notification device 140 (step S109). After outputting the audio information, the driver notification output unit 114 ends the information notification process.

[0048] 5A and 5B are diagrams showing examples of displayed notification information. Notification information 510 shown in Fig. 5A indicates the presence of two hazardous events, an elementary school and a road construction site, on planned driving route 513 between vehicle position 511 and destination 512, using icons 516 and 517 mapped to positions 514 and 515 calculated based on the distance from vehicle position 511. Notification information 530 shown in Fig. 5B indicates the presence of one hazardous event, the road construction site, on planned driving route 513 between vehicle position 511 and destination 512, using icon 519 mapped to position 518 calculated based on the distance from vehicle position. As shown in the figures, the notification information also includes text information (message information) 520 for alerting the driver to the possibility that emergency avoidance control may be activated due to the occurrence of a hazardous event.

[0049] The information notification process has been described above.

[0050] Such an information notification device can notify occupants in advance of the possibility of a dangerous event occurring during autonomous driving, thereby reducing the surprise of occupants caused by the vehicle's emergency avoidance control operation.

[0051] Furthermore, the information notification device outputs notification information when the time zone in which the hazardous event occurs and the estimated time of passing the vicinity of the hazardous event coincide, and does not output notification information when the estimated time of passing does not coincide with the time zone in which the hazardous event occurs. By performing such processing, the information notification device 110 can alert the occupants only when there is a high possibility that emergency avoidance control will be activated.

[0052] In addition, the notification information is displayed on the display of the car navigation system, the meter display (a liquid crystal display that shows vehicle speed, etc.), or the display of a smartphone or tablet device connected to an in-vehicle device such as a car navigation system, making it easier for occupants to notice the notification information.

[0053] In addition, the notification information is output as audio from a speaker built into the car navigation system, an in-vehicle speaker, or the speaker of a smartphone or tablet device connected to these in-vehicle devices, making the notification information more noticeable to occupants.

[0054] Furthermore, the information notification device displays easy-to-read notification information made up of text information and graphic information, so that the occupant can easily grasp and understand the content of the notification information.

[0055] Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, when autonomous driving starts, hazardous events around the planned driving route are identified, and notification information for notifying the occupants in advance is generated and displayed. That is, in the first embodiment, the notification information is output when autonomous driving starts. In contrast, an information notification device 110 according to a second embodiment performs processing for outputting notification information to the occupants when the vehicle position approaches the location of a hazardous event during autonomous driving.

[0056] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a vehicle system 100 including an information notification device 110 according to the second embodiment. Note that the vehicle system 100 of this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the driver notification device 140 includes a vibration unit 143. The vibration unit 143 is realized, for example, by a vibration mechanism mounted on a seat (seat) or a seat belt. When the vehicle position approaches the location of a hazardous event during autonomous driving, the vibration unit 143 vibrates the seat or the seat belt to notify the occupant that the location of the hazardous event is approaching.

[0057] 7 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the information notification process according to the second embodiment. Note that the information notification process is started, for example, after the information notification process according to the first embodiment is executed.

[0058] When the process starts, the risk determination unit 112 determines whether the vehicle is in autonomous driving or not (step S200). Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 determines that the vehicle is in autonomous driving when, for example, the information acquisition unit 111 acquires a signal indicating that autonomous driving control is being performed via the CAN.

[0059] If the risk determination unit 112 determines that the vehicle is in autonomous driving (Yes in step S200), the process proceeds to step S201. On the other hand, if the risk determination unit 112 determines that the vehicle is not in autonomous driving (No in step S200), the process returns to step S200.

[0060] Next, in step S201, the risk determination unit 112 determines whether the vehicle is approaching the location of the dangerous event. Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 calculates the distance from the vehicle position to the location of the dangerous event stored in the process of step S105, and determines that the vehicle is approaching the location of the dangerous event if the calculated distance is less than a predetermined distance (e.g., less than 500 m), and determines that the vehicle is not approaching the location of the dangerous event if the calculated distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance.

[0061] If it is determined that the object is approaching (Yes in step S201), the risk determination unit 112 proceeds to step S202. On the other hand, if it is determined that the object is not approaching (No in step S201), the risk determination unit 112 returns the process to step S200.

[0062] Next, in step S202, the risk determination unit 112 uses the risk information to determine whether the current time coincides with the time period in which the risk event occurred. If it is determined that the current time coincides with the time period in which the risk event occurred (Yes in step S202), the risk determination unit 112 proceeds to step S203. On the other hand, if it is determined that the current time does not coincide with the time period in which the risk event occurred (No in step S202), the risk determination unit 112 returns the process to step S200.

[0063] Next, in step S203, the risk determination unit 112 acquires information about the surrounding situation of the vehicle via the information acquisition unit 111. Specifically, the risk determination unit 112 acquires information about the surrounding situation of the vehicle from the external sensor 121, which is an on-board camera or LiDAR, via the information acquisition unit 111. Note that when the dangerous event is an elementary school, the information about the surrounding situation of the vehicle corresponds to information indicating whether or not a child has been detected based on the captured image, and information indicating the distance to the child detected based on radar light.

[0064] Next, the risk determination unit 112 determines whether the vehicle's surrounding situation information satisfies a risk level change condition for the risk information (step S204). For example, if the risk event is an elementary school, and the surrounding situation information indicates that a child has been detected and that the distance to the child, which is the risk event range, is less than 500 m, the risk determination unit 112 determines that the risk level change condition is met.

[0065] If it is determined that the risk level change condition is met (Yes in step S204), the risk level determination unit 112 proceeds to step S205. On the other hand, if it is determined that the risk level change condition is not met (No in step S204), the risk level determination unit 112 proceeds to step S206.

[0066] In step S205, the risk determination unit 112 changes the reference risk to increase the level of risk (for example, increasing the level of the reference risk from Lv2 to Lv3), and proceeds to step S206. In step S206, the driver notification output unit 114 displays notification information according to the level of the reference risk.

[0067] 8A and 8B are diagrams showing a state in which the vehicle is approaching a dangerous event that exists around a route that is planned to be traveled by the autonomous driving function. Figures 9A, 9B, and 9C are diagrams showing an example of notification information that is displayed according to the level of the reference danger level when the vehicle approaches a dangerous event.

[0068] As shown in Fig. 8A, when a vehicle approaches an elementary school, which is a hazardous event, the display unit 141 of the driver notification device 140 displays notification information 910 of Fig. 9A. When the vehicle approaches an elementary school, which is a hazardous event, and surrounding situation information that satisfies a hazard level change condition is detected (when a child is detected within the hazardous event range), the display unit 141 of the driver notification device 140 displays notification information 920 of Fig. 9B according to the changed level of the reference hazard level.

[0069] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the vehicle approaches a road construction site, which is a dangerous event, the display unit 141 of the driver notification device 140 displays the notification information shown at 930 in FIG. 9C.

[0070] 9A to 9C, the notification information is composed of graphics (icons) 911, 921, 931 of types corresponding to the dangerous event, and text information (message information) 912, 922, 932 informing the driver that a dangerous event is nearby and calling attention to the behavior of the automated driving. These graphics and text information may be stored in advance in the main storage device or the auxiliary storage device in predetermined correspondence with the level of the reference danger level.

[0071] In addition to the text information shown in the figures, the notification information 910, 920, and 930 may also display specific message information such as "Please look around" or "Please keep your hands on the steering wheel" to encourage eyes-on or automatic driving override.

[0072] In step S207, the driver notification output unit 114 outputs audio information according to the level of danger. In step S208, the vibration unit 143 of the driver notification device 140 outputs a vibration notification by vibrating the seat, the seat belt, etc. Specifically, when the vibration unit 143 receives an instruction to output a vibration notification from the driver notification output unit 114, it vibrates the seat, the seat belt, etc.

[0073] Furthermore, when step S208 is executed, the driver notification output unit 114 ends the information notification process.

[0074] The information notification process according to the second embodiment has been described above.

[0075] With this information notification device, it is possible to warn the occupants again that there is a possibility that emergency avoidance control will be activated during autonomous driving when the location of a dangerous event approaches. As a result, even if the occupants have forgotten about the possibility of emergency avoidance control being activated as time has passed since the start of autonomous driving, the warning can be issued again.

[0076] Furthermore, the information notification device changes the level of danger according to the situation around the vehicle and outputs notification information according to the level, allowing the occupants to receive notification information with more appropriate content according to the danger level of the dangerous event.

[0077] The information notification device can also vibrate the seat or seat belt to notify the occupant of the approaching dangerous event location, allowing the occupant to become aware of the approaching dangerous event location through a method that is easy to perceive other than visually, namely vibration.

[0078] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications and equivalent configurations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to configurations including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, part of the configuration of one embodiment may be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. Furthermore, the configuration of another embodiment may be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, part of the configuration of each embodiment may be added, deleted, or replaced with other configurations.

[0079] Furthermore, the aforementioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in part or in whole in hardware, for example by designing them as integrated circuits, or may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function.

[0080] Information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each function can be stored in a storage device such as a memory, hard disk, or SSD, or in a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0081] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines that are necessary for implementation. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are interconnected.

Claims

1. An information notification device that outputs notification information to a vehicle having an autonomous driving function that causes the vehicle to automatically drive along a planned driving route to a destination, comprising: a calculation device that executes predetermined processing; and a storage device connected to the calculation device; an information acquisition unit that acquires hazard information regarding hazardous events present in the vicinity of the planned driving route and the planned passage time of the vehicle at a point where the hazardous event exists; a danger level determination unit that determines the hazard level of the hazardous event based on the hazard information and the planned passage time and based on a match between a time zone in which the hazardous event occurs and the planned passage time; and a driver notification output unit that generates notification information to notify occupants of the vehicle of the possibility of emergency avoidance control being activated during autonomous driving based on the result of the risk determination, and outputs the notification information to a driver notification device; and the driver notification output unit outputs the notification information at least when the autonomous driving function is started.

2. An information notification device as described in claim 1, characterized in that the driver notification output unit generates the notification information regarding the existence of a dangerous event and outputs it to the driver notification device when the distance from the vehicle to the location of the dangerous event becomes less than a predetermined value while the autonomous driving function is being executed.

3. An information notification device as described in claim 2, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires surrounding situation information indicating the surrounding situation of the vehicle, the danger level determination unit identifies the conditions for a change in the danger level from the danger information and determines whether the surrounding situation of the vehicle meets the conditions for a change in the danger level, and the driver notification output unit generates the notification information having content corresponding to a higher level of danger when the surrounding situation of the vehicle meets the conditions for a change in the danger level.

4. An information notification device as described in claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle has an autonomous driving function including a function of executing emergency avoidance control for objects around the vehicle without requiring supervision by a driver of the vehicle.

5. An information notification device as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the driver notification device is a display provided in the vehicle or an in-vehicle device of the vehicle, and the driver notification output unit outputs the notification information for displaying information on the driver notification device.

6. An information notification device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the driver notification device is a speaker provided in the vehicle or an in-vehicle device, and the driver notification output unit outputs the notification information for outputting audio by the driver notification device.

7. An information notification device as described in claim 2, wherein the driver notification device is a vibration mechanism mounted on a seat or a seat belt of the vehicle, and the driver notification output unit outputs the notification information for outputting vibration in the driver notification device.

8. An information notification device according to claim 5, wherein the information displayed on the driver notification device is composed of at least one of characters and graphics.

9. An information notification method in which an information notification device outputs notification information to a vehicle having an autonomous driving function that causes the vehicle to automatically drive along a planned driving route to a destination, the information notification device having a calculation device that executes predetermined processing and a storage device connected to the calculation device, the information notification method comprising: an information acquisition step in which the calculation device acquires hazard information regarding hazardous events present in the vicinity of the planned driving route and the planned passage time of the vehicle at a point where the hazardous event exists; a risk determination step in which the calculation device determines the risk level of the hazardous event based on the hazard information and the planned passage time and based on a match between a time zone in which the hazardous event occurs and the planned passage time; and a driver notification output step in which the calculation device generates notification information for notifying occupants of the vehicle of the possibility of emergency avoidance control being activated during autonomous driving based on a result of the risk determination, and outputs the notification information to a driver notification device, wherein in the driver notification output step, the calculation device outputs the notification information at least when the autonomous driving function is started.

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