Lighting control device for vehicle, lighting control method for vehicle, and recording medium storing lighting control program

Abstract

A lighting control device for a vehicle according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle that has a traveling mode with autonomous driving control, and performs control for an autonomous driving indicator lamp which indicates to the outside that the vehicle is traveling under autonomous driving control, and lighting control which includes at least on / off control and light color switching control for lamps. Said lighting control device comprises at least one processor including hardware, wherein the processor, when a driving mode with autonomous driving control is set, performs control for turning on the autonomous driving indicator lamp and simultaneously performs mode switching notification control through the light color switching control for the lamps.

Description

Vehicle light control device, vehicle light control method, and recording medium recording a light control program

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle light control device for controlling lights mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, a vehicle light control method, and a recording medium on which a light control program is recorded.

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, vehicles such as automobiles are equipped with various types of lamps. These various lamps are appropriately controlled by a lamp control device in response to, for example, changes in the surrounding environment of the vehicle.

[0003] One example of various types of lighting mounted on a vehicle is a fog lamp, also known as a fog light. Fog lamps are used as auxiliary lighting for headlights and other lights when forward visibility is poor due to bad weather, such as fog, rain, snow, or a blizzard, and also serve as auxiliary lighting to alert surrounding vehicles to the presence of the vehicle. Fog lamps are illuminated in white or yellow, for example. Fog lamps used as auxiliary lighting for headlights are specifically referred to as front fog lamps.

[0004] Generally, when the fog lamps are illuminated in yellow, there are advantages in that they are more visible to the outside (other vehicles, etc.) and also make it easier to check the road conditions in the vicinity of the vehicle in bad weather conditions such as fog, rain, snow, blizzard, etc. Therefore, it has been found that in bad weather, it is more desirable to set the fog lamp illumination color to yellow rather than white.

[0005] On the other hand, white fog lamps have the advantage of being able to emit a large amount of light, so it is considered desirable to set the fog lamp color to white in bad weather when relatively good long-distance visibility can be ensured.

[0006] In this way, by turning on the fog lamps, for example, in bad weather, the fog lamps not only ensure visibility but also have the function of notifying surrounding vehicles, such as preceding vehicles, following vehicles, and oncoming vehicles, of the presence of the vehicle.

[0007] Generally, fog lamps are designed to illuminate a wider area than headlights. For this reason, for example, driving with the fog lamps on during clear nighttime weather may have a negative impact on other vehicles in the vicinity. Furthermore, for example, if the fog lamps are too bright, they may also have a negative impact on other vehicles in the vicinity depending on weather conditions such as fog, rain, or snow.

[0008] Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-125372 discloses a vehicle lighting control device that controls the switching of fog lamps on and off depending on the surrounding environment (for example, weather conditions, etc.) Therefore, by controlling the fog lamps to be turned off on sunny days, it is possible to reduce the adverse effects of the fog lamps on other vehicles.

[0009] Meanwhile, in recent years, various lamps mounted on vehicles, for example, those using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as light source elements, have been put into practical use and are beginning to become widespread. Lamps using this type of LED have the advantage that the lighting color can be switched and controlled.

[0010] Therefore, for example, the vehicle lighting control device disclosed in Patent Publication No. 2021-114463 performs lighting control such as switching the headlight color from white to yellow depending on weather conditions, etc., to turn on the headlights as fog lights.

[0011] On the other hand, in recent years, automatic driving control technologies have been developed for vehicles such as automobiles, which allow vehicles to travel automatically without the need for driver operation. Also, various driving control devices that can execute various driving controls to assist the driver's driving operation by utilizing this type of automatic driving control technology have been proposed and are being put into practical use.

[0012] Therefore, in recent years, in vehicles equipped with an autonomous driving mode that allows the vehicle to travel under autonomous driving control, it has been considered to install an autonomous driving marker light as a marker light to indicate to the outside that the vehicle is traveling under autonomous driving control. For example, it has been proposed to use a blue-based color as the light color of this autonomous driving marker light.

[0013] Incidentally, various driving modes have been proposed for automatic driving when a vehicle is driven under automatic driving control, which are set assuming various situations around the vehicle.

[0014] These various automatic driving modes are appropriately selected according to the surrounding environment in which the vehicle is traveling, and the selected driving mode is switched over.

[0015] However, for example, in a situation where vehicles that operate under automatic driving control (hereinafter referred to as automatic vehicles) and conventional vehicles (vehicles that are operated manually by a driver; hereinafter referred to as manually driven vehicles) are traveling together on the road, depending on the automatic driving mode selected and executed by the automatic vehicle, the automatic vehicle may unintentionally disrupt traffic flow.

[0016] Therefore, in autonomous vehicles, if a display indicating that the autonomous driving mode has been switched to could be displayed externally to notify other vehicles in the vicinity, it may be possible to ensure smooth traffic flow.

[0017] The present invention aims to provide a vehicle lighting control device, a vehicle lighting control method, and a recording medium having a lighting control program recorded thereon that can contribute to improving vehicle driving safety while ensuring smooth traffic flow when a vehicle is driven under automatic driving control.

[0018] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one embodiment of the vehicle lighting control device of the present invention is a vehicle lighting control device that is mounted on a vehicle having a driving mode under automatic driving control, and executes lighting control that includes at least control of automatic driving marker lights that indicate to the outside that the vehicle is driving under automatic driving control, on / off control of lights, and light color switching control that switches the lighting color of the lights, and is equipped with one or more processors including hardware, and when a driving mode under automatic driving control is set, the processor controls the on-state of the automatic driving marker lights and simultaneously executes mode switching notification control by light color switching control of the lights.

[0019] One embodiment of the present invention provides a vehicle lighting control method that executes lighting control including at least control of automatic driving marker lights that indicate to the outside that the vehicle is traveling under automatic driving control, on / off control of lights mounted on the vehicle, and light color switching control that switches the lighting color of the lights.When a driving mode under automatic driving control is set, the method controls on the automatic driving marker lights and simultaneously executes mode switching notification control by light color switching control of the lights.

[0020] A recording medium having a lighting control program recorded thereon according to one embodiment of the present invention has a lighting control program that causes a computer to simultaneously execute a process for controlling the on-state of an automatic driving marker light when a driving mode using automatic driving control is set, and a mode switching notification control by controlling the light color switching of the lights.

[0021] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle lighting control device, a vehicle lighting control method, and a recording medium having a lighting control program recorded thereon, which can contribute to improving vehicle driving safety while ensuring smooth traffic flow when a vehicle is driven using automatic driving control.

[0022] A block diagram showing the schematic configuration of a vehicle control device including a vehicle light control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A flowchart showing part of the operation of a vehicle control device including a vehicle light control device according to an embodiment of the present invention (during autonomous driving). A subroutine of the process of step S52 in FIG. 2. A subroutine of the process of step S57 in FIG. 2.

[0023] The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The drawings used in the following description are schematic, and the dimensional relationships and scales of the components may be different for each component in order to show each component at a size that allows it to be recognized on the drawing. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments in terms of the number of components shown in the drawings, the shapes of the components, the size ratios of the components, the relative positional relationships of the components, and so on.

[0024] First, the schematic configuration of a vehicle control device including a vehicle light control device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described below with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of a vehicle control device including a vehicle light control device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] In order to avoid cluttering the drawing, only components directly related to the present invention are shown in Fig. 1, and other components are omitted. In the following description, only the main components directly related to the present invention will be described in detail.

[0026] The configuration of the vehicle control device including the vehicle lighting control device of this embodiment is basically similar to that of a conventional vehicle control device of the same type.

[0027] The vehicle control device 1 includes a camera unit 10, a control unit 20, various sensors (described in detail below; 14, 15), various control units (described in detail below; 21, 22), and the like.

[0028] The camera unit 10 is an in-vehicle camera device fixed to the upper center portion of the front interior of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the host vehicle; not shown) equipped with the vehicle control device 1. The camera unit 10 is configured to include a stereo camera 11, an image processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as IPU) 12, an image recognition unit (image recognition ECU; Electronic Control Unit) 13, etc.

[0029] The stereo camera 11 is formed with two cameras, a main camera 11a and a sub-camera 11b. The main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b are arranged, for example, in symmetrical positions with respect to the center of the vehicle width direction in the cabin of the vehicle, facing forward (in the direction of travel) of the vehicle. Each of the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b is composed of, for example, an imaging optical system, an imaging element such as a CMOS image sensor, and a processing circuit for processing imaging signals, etc.

[0030] With this configuration, the stereo camera 11 acquires two image data from two different viewpoints of the surrounding environment in a predetermined range ahead of the vehicle using the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b at a predetermined imaging period that is synchronized with each other. Then, stereo image data is generated based on the two image data acquired in this manner. This stereo image data is surrounding environment information that represents the surrounding environment while the vehicle is traveling. The surrounding environment information (image data) generated by the stereo camera 11 is output to the IPU 12.

[0031] The IPU 12 is a circuit unit that performs predetermined image processing on the surrounding environment information (image data) acquired by the stereo camera 11. The IPU 12 performs processing to detect the edges of various objects, such as objects depicted in the image, road markings, or boundary lines (hereinafter abbreviated as "marking lines") marked on the road surface or parking lot premises. Through this processing, the IPU 12 recognizes three-dimensional objects and marking lines around the vehicle. Furthermore, the IPU 12 acquires distance information from the positional deviation of corresponding edges in the left and right images based on the stereo image data, and generates image information (distance image information) including the distance information. The distance image information generated by the IPU 12 is output to the image recognition unit 13.

[0032] The image recognition unit 13 calculates the road curvature [1 / m] of the left and right dividing lines of the road on which the vehicle is traveling (the vehicle's traveling path) and the width between the left and right dividing lines (lane width), etc., based on the distance image information, etc., input from the IPU 12. Various well-known methods are used to calculate the road curvature and lane width.

[0033] In addition, the image recognition unit 13 performs predetermined pattern matching on the distance image information to recognize three-dimensional objects such as guardrails and curbs extending along the road and other vehicles in the vicinity, as well as the condition of the road surface (hereinafter referred to as road surface conditions, etc.).

[0034] Here, the recognition of three-dimensional objects by the image recognition unit 13 includes, for example, the type of three-dimensional object, the height of the three-dimensional object, the width of the three-dimensional object, the distance to the three-dimensional object, the speed of the three-dimensional object, the relative speed between the three-dimensional object and the vehicle, the relative distance between three-dimensional objects (for example, the lateral distance between a curb on the road edge and a nearby dividing line), etc. In addition, the road surface conditions, etc., are recognized, for example, whether the road surface is wet due to rain or melting snow, rainfall, snow accumulation, packed snow, or frozen road surface.

[0035] The various types of information recognized by the image recognition unit 13 are output as first surrounding environment information to the control unit 20. Therefore, the camera unit 10 functions as a surrounding environment recognition device that recognizes the surrounding environment around the vehicle.

[0036] The control unit 20 is a configuration unit or circuit unit that comprehensively controls the entire vehicle control device 1. Various control units, such as a light control unit 21 and an operation input control unit 22, are connected to the control unit 20 via an in-vehicle communication line such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0037] Note that various control units other than the light control unit 21 and the operation input control unit 22 shown in FIG. 1 are also connected to the control unit 20, but since these control units are not directly related to the present invention, they will not be shown or described here.

[0038] The light control unit 21 is a circuit unit and a light control device that performs various controls on various lights 31 mounted on the vehicle. For this purpose, the light control unit 21 is connected to the various lights 31.

[0039] The various types of lights 31 include, for example, illuminating lights, signal marker lights, and indicator lights. Among these, illuminating lights include, for example, headlights, front and rear fog lights, side lights, license plate lights, back-up lights, and interior lights. Furthermore, signal marker lights include, for example, turn signals (blinkers or turn lamps), brake lights, tail lights, parking lights, side lights (low beam lights), and automatic driving indicator lights. Furthermore, indicator lights include, for example, indicator lights for meters, switches, air conditioning, audio equipment, and the like.

[0040] For example, the lighting control unit 21 performs various lighting controls, such as switching fog lamps and the like on or off (on or off) depending on the surrounding environment of the vehicle (such as the weather and the surrounding conditions of other vehicles nearby), changing the timing of lighting, and switching the lighting color, as well as on / off control or light intensity adjustment control of automatic driving marker lights.

[0041] Here, among the light controls performed by the light control unit 21, the light color switching control is, for example, a control to switch the lighting color of the front fog lamps between white and yellow at any timing. Note that, here, white among the lighting colors of the fog lamps is referred to as the first lighting color. Similarly, yellow among the lighting colors of the fog lamps is referred to as the second lighting color.

[0042] For this purpose, for example, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used as the front fog lamps included in the lamps 31. The front fog lamps can be controlled by the light control unit 21 to switch their illumination color between white and yellow.

[0043] The operation input control unit 22 is a component or circuit unit that receives instruction signals from a plurality of various operation input members 32 arranged inside the vehicle and transmits them to the control unit 20. In response to these signals, the control unit 20 outputs appropriate control instructions to the component units corresponding to the received instruction signals. To this end, the operation input control unit 22 is connected to a plurality of various operation input members 32 arranged inside the vehicle.

[0044] The operation input member 32 may be, for example, a plurality of switches for issuing instructions to execute various driving assistance controls, mode selector switches for switching driving modes (manual driving mode, automatic driving mode, etc.), etc. Other examples of the operation input member 32 include a steering touch sensor that detects the driver's steering state, a driver monitoring system (DMS) that detects the driver's face authentication and line of sight, etc., an in-vehicle monitor system including an in-vehicle camera that recognizes the riding status of passengers including the driver, a touch panel display input device, various meters, etc.

[0045] The operation input control unit 22 outputs input information such as various operation instructions (on / off instructions, etc.) input by the driver using the operation input member 32 to the control unit 20 .

[0046] In addition, the control unit 20 is connected to various sensors such as an on-board radar device 14 and a locator unit 15 .

[0047] The onboard radar device 14 is composed of multiple sensors, such as multiple millimeter-wave radars. The multiple millimeter-wave radars detect three-dimensional objects, primarily pedestrians and vehicles traveling alongside, as well as structures (e.g., curbs, guardrails, building walls, plants, and other three-dimensional objects) located on the edge of the road (e.g., the edge of the shoulder) by receiving and analyzing reflected waves from objects in response to output radio waves. Furthermore, the multiple millimeter-wave radars also detect three-dimensional obstacles on the road. In this case, the multiple millimeter-wave radars detect specific information about the three-dimensional object, such as the width of the three-dimensional object, the position of a representative point of the three-dimensional object (relative position and distance to the vehicle), and the relative speed.

[0048] The onboard radar device 14 includes a plurality of sensors (such as a plurality of millimeter-wave radars) disposed, for example, on the left and right sides of the front bumper (referred to as front left and right side sensors) and on the left and right sides of the rear bumper (referred to as rear left and right side sensors). The front left and right side sensors detect, as second surrounding environment information, three-dimensional objects present in areas diagonally forward and to the left and right of the vehicle, which are difficult to recognize in images from the stereo camera 11. The rear left and right side sensors detect, as second surrounding environment information, three-dimensional objects present in areas diagonally forward and to the left and right of the vehicle, which are difficult to recognize with the front left and right side sensors.

[0049] In this way, the on-board radar device 14 functions as a surrounding environment recognition device that recognizes the surrounding environment of the vehicle. Information acquired by each sensor of the on-board radar device 14 is sent to the control unit 20.

[0050] The locator unit 15 includes a GNSS sensor 15a and a high-precision road map database (road map DB) 15b.

[0051] The GNSS sensor 15a receives positioning signals transmitted from a plurality of positioning satellites to determine the position (latitude, longitude, altitude, etc.) of the vehicle.

[0052] The road map DB 15b is a large-capacity storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and stores high-precision road map information (dynamic map). This road map DB 15b stores lane data required for autonomous driving, such as lane width data, lane center position coordinate data, lane heading angle data, and speed limits. This lane data is stored at intervals of several meters for each lane on the road map.

[0053] Locator unit 15 can also acquire real-time information about the surrounding environment at the vehicle position measured by GNSS sensor 15 a (e.g., traffic congestion information, weather information, etc.) by communicating with an external system (not shown). In this case, the weather information includes, for example, information about the occurrence of snowfall in the area including the vehicle position, rainfall information, snowfall information, snow accumulation information, temperature and humidity information, etc.

[0054] Then, for example, based on a request signal from the control unit 20, the road map DB 15b outputs road map information of a set range based on the vehicle position measured by the GNSS sensor 15a as third surrounding environment information to the control unit 20. In this way, the locator unit 15 has a function as a surrounding environment recognition device that recognizes the surrounding environment around the vehicle.

[0055] The control unit 20 controls the vehicle's running based on the information acquired by the various sensors. The control unit 20 also controls the lighting of the lights 31 as needed based on the surrounding environment information recognized by the camera unit 10, the on-board radar device 14, the locator unit 15, etc.

[0056] All or part of the image recognition unit 13, the control unit 20, the locator unit 15, the light control unit 21, the operation input control unit 22, etc. are configured by a processor including hardware.

[0057] Here, the processor is composed of a well-known configuration including, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a non-volatile memory, a non-volatile storage, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and peripheral devices thereof.

[0058] Software programs to be executed by the CPU and fixed data such as data tables are stored in advance in ROM, nonvolatile memory, nonvolatile storage devices, etc. The CPU reads out the software programs stored in ROM, etc., expands them into RAM, and executes them. The software programs also refer to various data, etc. as appropriate, thereby realizing the functions of the above-mentioned components and components units (13, 14, 15, 21, 22), etc.

[0059] The processor may be configured with a semiconductor chip such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc. The above-mentioned components and units (13, 14, 15, 21, 22) may be configured with an electronic circuit.

[0060] Furthermore, the software program may be in a form in which it is recorded in whole or in part as a computer program product on a portable disk medium such as a flexible disk, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM, or on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a card-type memory, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) device, or SSD (Solid State Drive) device.

[0061] The operation of the vehicle control device 1 including the vehicle light control device of this embodiment configured as described above will be described below with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Figures 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing part of the operation of the vehicle control device including the vehicle light control device of this embodiment.

[0062] In detail, Fig. 2 shows a fog lamp light control process that is performed in response to the surrounding environment while a vehicle equipped with a vehicle control device 1 including the light control device (light control unit 21) of this embodiment is traveling on a road or the like mainly under automatic driving control. Fig. 3 shows a subroutine of the process of step S52 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows a subroutine of the process of step S57 in Fig. 2.

[0063] First, it is assumed that a vehicle equipped with the vehicle control device 1 including the light control unit 21 of this embodiment is traveling on a road or the like (not shown).

[0064] 2, the control unit 20 checks an input signal from the operation input member 32 via the operation input control unit 22. Then, it checks whether an instruction signal (ON signal) for activating the autonomous driving mode has been generated from the operation input member 32. The autonomous driving mode refers to an operating mode in which the vehicle is driven by autonomous driving control.

[0065] If it is confirmed that an automatic driving mode ON signal has been generated, the process proceeds to step S52. If an automatic driving mode ON signal has not been generated (or an automatic driving OFF signal or manual driving ON signal has been generated), the process proceeds to step S53.

[0066] In step S53, the control unit 20 checks whether the automatic driving marker light among the lights 31 is on or not through the light control unit 21. If it is confirmed that the automatic driving marker light is on, the process proceeds to step S54. If it is not confirmed that the automatic driving marker light is on (it is off), the process proceeds to step S70.

[0067] In step S54, the control unit 20 executes a light control process to turn off the automatic driving marker light among the lights 31 through the light control unit 21. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S70.

[0068] In step S70, the control unit 20 executes lighting control during manual driving. This lighting control process during manual driving is not directly related to the present invention, and a well-known processing sequence can be applied, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0069] On the other hand, in step S52, the control unit 20 executes a light control process to turn on the automatic driving marker light among the lights 31 via the light control unit 21. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S55.

[0070] Here, the details of the process of step S52 in FIG. 2 (processing for turning on the automatic driving marker light) will be explained with reference to FIG.

[0071] In step S81 of FIG. 3, the control unit 20 turns on the automatic driving marker light among the lights 31 via the light control unit 21.

[0072] Subsequently, in step S82, the control unit 20 executes a predetermined light control for the fog lamps among the lamps 31 through the light control unit 21.

[0073] Specifically, for example, the fog lamps are illuminated in yellow for a predetermined time (e.g., several seconds), and then in white for a predetermined time (e.g., several seconds). This alternating illumination of yellow and white is repeated several times. That is, the fog lamps are illuminated in yellow and white alternately for a predetermined time each several times.

[0074] At the same time, in step S83, the control unit 20 executes predetermined light control for the automatic driving marker lights among the lights 31 through the light control unit 21.

[0075] Specifically, for example, the automatic driving marker light is turned off or dimmed by a predetermined amount during the period when the fog lamp is lit in yellow, and the automatic driving marker light is turned on at a normal light level during the period when the fog lamp is lit in white.

[0076] Next, in step S84, the control unit 20 checks whether the process of alternately lighting the fog lamps, among the lamps 31, in yellow and white has been executed a predetermined number of times through the light control unit 21. If it is confirmed that the process has been executed the predetermined number of times, the series of processes ends and the process proceeds to the next process (the process of step S55 in FIG. 2) (return). If it is not confirmed that the process has been executed the predetermined number of times, the process returns to step S82 and the subsequent processes are repeated.

[0077] 3 is a mode switch notification control process that notifies the outside of the vehicle that the automatic driving mode will be started, for example, in response to an instruction to switch from the manual driving mode to the automatic driving mode.

[0078] 2, in step S55, the control unit 20 checks via the light control unit 21 whether the fog lamps among the lamps 31 are on. If it is confirmed that the fog lamps are on, the process proceeds to step S56. If it is not confirmed that the fog lamps are on (they are off), the process proceeds to step S61.

[0079] In step S56, the control unit 20 checks via the light control unit 21 whether the lighting color of the fog lamps that are turned on among the lamps 31 is yellow. If it is confirmed that the lighting color of the fog lamps is yellow, the process proceeds to step S57. If it is confirmed that the lighting color of the fog lamps is not yellow (is white), the process proceeds to step S61.

[0080] In step S57, the control unit 20 executes a light control process to change the lighting color of the fog lamps, among the lamps 31, from yellow to white via the light control unit 21. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S61.

[0081] Here, the details of the process of step S57 in FIG. 2 (fog lamp lighting switching process (yellow to white)) will be described with reference to FIG.

[0082] 4, the control unit 20 executes predetermined light control for the fog lamps among the lamps 31 through the light control unit 21. The predetermined light control executed here is the same process as that executed in step S82 described above.

[0083] At the same time, in step S92, the control unit 20 executes predetermined light control for the automatic driving marker lights among the lights 31 through the light control unit 21. The predetermined light control executed here is the same processing as that in step S83 described above.

[0084] Next, in step S93, the control unit 20 checks via the light control unit 21 whether the process of alternately lighting the fog lamps, among the lamps 31, in yellow and white has been performed a predetermined number of times. If it is confirmed that the process has been performed the predetermined number of times, the process proceeds to the next step S94. If it is not confirmed that the process has been performed the predetermined number of times, the process returns to step S91 and the subsequent steps are repeated. The count confirmation process performed here is the same as the process in step S84 described above.

[0085] In step S94, the control unit 20 executes a predetermined lighting control for the fog lamps among the lamps 31 through the light control unit 21. In this case, this is a control process for continuing and maintaining the white lighting of the fog lamps. After that, the series of processes ends, and the process proceeds to the next process (the process of step S61 in FIG. 2) (return).

[0086] 4 is a process for informing the outside of the vehicle that a light color change control will be initiated in response to a command to change the light color of a fog lamp, for example. Therefore, the process of steps S91 to S93 in FIG. 4 is a light color change notification control process for informing the outside of the vehicle that a light color change will be initiated, for example, of a fog lamp.

[0087] 2, in step S61, the control unit 20 continues traveling while recognizing the surrounding environment of the vehicle based on surrounding environment information acquired from time to time using the surrounding environment recognition device (10, 14, 15, etc.). The surrounding environment recognition process executed here is a well-known process that is generally performed in conventional vehicle control devices.

[0088] In step S62, the control unit 20 checks the weather conditions around the vehicle while it is traveling. Here, bad weather conditions are assumed to be, for example, foggy conditions, rainy conditions, or snowy conditions accompanied by a snowstorm. In other words, bad weather conditions are assumed to be conditions in which it is appropriate to drive with the vehicle's lights 31, for example, the fog lamps, turned on.

[0089] Specifically, for example, in step S62, the control unit 20 measures the visibility ahead of the host vehicle based on the image information acquired by the camera unit 10.

[0090] Here, visibility refers to the distance to a clearly visible object ahead of the vehicle (e.g., another preceding vehicle, etc.) Visibility is calculated, for example, by measuring the distance to a clearly visible object ahead of the vehicle based on stereo image information acquired by camera unit 10.

[0091] If it is confirmed in the processing of step S62 that the measured visibility is less than the first visibility (for example, 200 meters (m)), it is determined that the weather conditions are bad, and the processing proceeds to step S63. On the other hand, if it is confirmed that the measured visibility is equal to or greater than the first visibility, it is determined that the weather conditions are good (or that the weather conditions have improved), and the processing proceeds to step S64. In the processing of step S62, it is confirmed whether the visibility has decreased below a predetermined threshold (first visibility).

[0092] Next, in step S64, the control unit 20 checks whether the fog lamps among the lamps 31 are on or not through the light control unit 21. If it is confirmed that the fog lamps are on, the process proceeds to step S65. If it is not confirmed that the fog lamps are on (they are off), the process returns to step S51.

[0093] In step S65, the control unit 20 executes a light control process to turn off the fog lamps among the lamps 31 via the light control unit 21. Thereafter, the process returns to step S51.

[0094] On the other hand, in step S63, the control unit 20 checks whether the fog lamps are on, as in the process of step S64 described above. If it is confirmed that the fog lamps are on (ON state), the process returns to step S51. If it is not confirmed that the fog lamps are on (OFF state), the process proceeds to step S67.

[0095] In step S67, the control unit 20 executes a light control process to turn on the fog lamps among the lamps 31 in white lighting color via the light control unit 21. Thereafter, the process returns to step S51.

[0096] Furthermore, when an instruction to switch to the autonomous driving mode is issued while a vehicle equipped with a vehicle control device 1 including the lighting control unit 21 of this embodiment is traveling on a road or the like, the control unit 20 will receive this instruction and execute driving control in the corresponding autonomous driving mode.

[0097] Examples of autonomous driving modes include settings that suppress the vehicle's acceleration while driving, and settings that maintain a longer distance between vehicles than usual while driving, and are intended to prioritize safe driving of the vehicle.

[0098] Furthermore, when performing autonomous driving control, there are various driving modes (autonomous driving control based on lane markings) in which left and right lane markings such as white lines marked on the road surface are recognized using camera images or the like and the vehicle is driven along the recognized left and right lane markings, and driving modes (autonomous driving control based on preceding vehicle following) in which other preceding vehicles are recognized using camera images or the like and the vehicle is driven by following the recognized other preceding vehicles. Note that the driving mode that performs autonomous driving control based on preceding vehicle following is used, for example, when left and right lane markings cannot be recognized due to bad weather such as snowfall.

[0099] When one of these various autonomous driving mode switching instruction signals is generated, the mode switching notification control process described in the process of steps S82 to S84 in Fig. 3 may be executed. In this case, by using the lighting control of the lights 31, information that the autonomous driving mode has been switched can be easily and appropriately notified to other vehicles around the vehicle while it is traveling.

[0100] As described above, according to the embodiment, when the automatic driving signal lights are turned on while the vehicle is being driven under automatic driving control, the fog lamps are alternately lit in yellow and white at a fixed interval, and at the same time, the automatic driving signal lights are alternately turned on and off or in a blinking state (a state in which only the light intensity changes and there is no period in which the lights are completely off).

[0101] By executing such lighting control, the driver's vehicle can be temporarily attracted to the attention of other vehicles in the vicinity, making it easier for other vehicles to recognize the state of the driver's vehicle while autonomous driving control is being executed.

[0102] Furthermore, during the period when the fog lamps are lit in yellow, lighting control is performed to turn off or dim the blue-based color of the automatic driving marker lights. This control prevents the fog lamps (yellow) and the automatic driving marker lights (blue-based) from being lit simultaneously. This prevents color mixing, which occurs when lights of different colors are lit simultaneously, and thus prevents other vehicles in the vicinity from misinterpreting the color of the marker lights of the vehicle.

[0103] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining the disclosed multiple constituent elements. For example, if the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved and the effects of the invention can be obtained even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in one embodiment, the configuration from which these constituent elements are deleted can be extracted as the invention. Furthermore, constituent elements from different embodiments may be appropriately combined. The present invention is not limited by specific embodiments other than as limited by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A vehicle lighting control device that is mounted on a vehicle equipped with a driving mode under automatic driving control and that executes lighting control that includes at least control of automatic driving marker lights that indicate to the outside that the vehicle is driving under automatic driving control, on / off control of lights, and light color change control that changes the lighting color of the lights, and that is equipped with one or more processors including hardware, characterized in that when a driving mode under automatic driving control is set, the processor controls the on-state of the automatic driving marker lights and simultaneously executes mode change notification control by light color change control of the lights.

2. The vehicle lighting control device according to claim 1, wherein the lighting devices mounted on the vehicle include at least fog lamps.

3. A vehicle lighting control device as described in claim 1, characterized in that the light color switching control performs lighting control to switch the lights between lighting a first light color and lighting a second light color.

4. The vehicle lighting control device described in claim 1, characterized in that the mode switching notification control alternately switches the lights between a first light color and a second light color, lighting each light color multiple times for a predetermined period of time, and at the same time, turns off or dims the automatic driving marker lights to a predetermined light level during the lighting period of the first light color of the lights, and lights them at a normal light level during the lighting period of the second light color.

5. A vehicle lighting control device as described in claim 4, characterized in that the lighting colors of the lights are a first lighting color that is white and a second lighting color that is yellow, and the lighting color of the automatic driving signal light is a blue-based color.

6. The vehicle lighting control device according to claim 1, characterized in that the mode change notification control is further executed when the driving mode setting is changed based on an instruction to switch the automatic driving driving mode.

7. A vehicle lighting control method that executes lighting control including at least control of automatic driving marker lights that indicate to the outside that the vehicle is being driven under automatic driving control, on / off control of lights mounted on the vehicle, and light color switching control that switches the lighting color of the lights, characterized in that when a driving mode under automatic driving control is set, the method controls the on-control of the automatic driving marker lights and simultaneously executes mode switching notification control by light color switching control of the lights.

8. A recording medium having recorded thereon a lighting control program that causes a computer to simultaneously execute a process for controlling the on-state of automatic driving marker lights when a driving mode under automatic driving control is set, and a mode switching notification control by controlling the light color of the lights.

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