Vehicle Control Handover Based on Driver Skill and Road Difficulty
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle control systems struggle to safely transfer operation authority from automatic driving to manual driving, as drivers may make abrupt braking or turning mistakes during the transition, potentially leading to unsafe driving conditions.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control apparatus that determines the difficulty level of the operation authority transfer based on the vehicle's surrounding environment, driver's skill, and experience level, setting a driving-state condition to ensure a safe transition by gradually adjusting control targets from automatic to manual driving.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If operation authority is transferred from automatic driving to manual driving, then the driver can take control of the vehicle, but the driver may make abrupt braking or turning mistakes during the transition
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary simulation of the driver's intended operations before executing them. The simulation traveling course is calculated in advance based on the driver's operations on the steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal, allowing the system to predict and prepare for the driver's actions before they are fully executed
Solution Approach 2:
The system cushions against potential driver errors by implementing a simulation mechanism that tests the feasibility of driver operations before execution. The simulation traveling course acts as a buffer, preventing abrupt or unsafe maneuvers from being directly executed while still allowing the driver to maintain operational authority
2Reliability
If the system simulates and validates driver operations before execution, then driving safety is improved, but the transition time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system skips unnecessary validation steps by directly simulating the driver's intended operation and its consequences. The simulation traveling course is calculated and validated in an optimized manner that rushes through the essential safety checks without excessive delay, allowing quick validation of driver operations
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle control apparatus includes one or more processors. The one or more processors execute determination as to whether a driving state of the vehicle involves difficulty in continuing the automatic driving. In a case where the driving state is determined as involving difficulty in continuing the automatic driving, the one or more processors execute determination on a difficulty level of operation authority transfer from the automatic driving to the manual driving on the basis of information regarding a surrounding environment of the vehicle, information regarding a driving skill of a driver, and information regarding an experience level of the driver of the operation authority transfer. The one or more processors execute setting of a driving-state condition for executing the operation authority transfer in accordance with the difficulty level. The one or more processors execute the operation authority transfer in a case where the driving-state condition is satisfied.