Patent Application
20190359209
The present invention relates to a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a storage medium.
In recent years, research on autonomous vehicles which automatedly perform acceleration/deceleration and steering has been conducted. In this regard, a traveling control device for a vehicle which obtains a target trajectory of the vehicle on the basis of white lines as objects for specifying a traveling route which are included in information on a road ahead of the vehicle and performs traveling trajectory control such that the vehicle travels along the target trajectory has been disclosed. This traveling control device obtains a tentative target trajectory on the basis of white lines of a zone adjacent to a particular zone and a traveling route along which the vehicle should travel after having traveled through the particular zone, and performs tentative traveling trajectory control such that the vehicle travels along the tentative target trajectory when the vehicle is traveling in a zone where the traveling route branches into multiple traveling routes and a target trajectory cannot be obtained on the basis of the white lines, such as intersections (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).
WO 2014/006759
However, the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1 may not allow a vehicle to smoothly travel in response to the shape of a traveling route.
An object of the present invention devised in view of the aforementioned circumstances is to provide a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program which can allow a vehicle to travel more smoothly in response to the shape of a traveling route.
(1): A vehicle control device 1 including: a recommended lane determiner which determines a recommended lane in which a vehicle will travel; an acquirer which acquires road information including a road shape; and an automated driving controller which causes the vehicle to travel along the recommended lane determined by the recommended lane determiner, and determines details of control of automated driving on the basis of the road information acquired by the acquirer when the recommended lane determined by the recommended lane determiner is switched from a first recommended lane to a second recommended lane.
(2): The vehicle control device according to (1), the automated driving controller determines the details of control as lane keep control for keeping a virtual lane which connects the first recommended lane and the second recommended lane and causing the vehicle to travel when the road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road.
(3): The vehicle control device according to (1), the automated driving controller determines the details of control as lane change control for changing lanes from the first recommended lane to the second recommended lane when the road shape is not a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road.
(4): The vehicle control device according to (2), the automated driving controller determines that the road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road when the road shape is a shape in which the number of lanes increases between before and after the recommended lane determined by the recommended lane determiner is switched from the first recommended lane to the second recommended lane.
(5): The vehicle control device according to (1), the automated driving controller determines that the road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road when the road shape is a shape in which the second recommended lane does not extend in front of a point at which the first recommended lane switches to the second recommended lane.
(6): A vehicle control method in which a computer determines a recommended lane in which a vehicle will travel, acquires road information including a road shape when the recommended lane is switched from a first recommended lane to a second recommended lane, and determines details of control of automated driving on the basis of the acquired road information.
(7): A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing a vehicle control program causing a computer: to determine a recommended lane in which a vehicle will travel; to acquire road information including a road shape when the recommended lane is switched from a first recommended lane to a second recommended lane; and to determine details of control of automated driving on the basis of the acquired road information.
According to (1), (6) or (7) described above, it is possible to change details of control of automated driving in response to the road shape because the details of control of automated driving are determined on the basis of the road information acquired by the acquirer when the recommended lane is switched from the first recommended lane to the second recommended lane.
According to (2) described above, it is possible to cause the vehicle to smoothly travel according to vehicle keep control when the road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road.
According to (3) described above, it is possible to change recommended lanes according to lane change control when the road shape is not a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road.
According to (4) or (5) described above, it is possible to appropriately determine whether the road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road.
Hereinafter, embodiments of a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
For example, the vehicle system 1 may include a camera 10, a radar device 12, a finder 14, an object recognition device 16, a communication device 20, a human machine interface (HMI) 30, a navigation device 50, a micro-processing unit (MPU) 60, a vehicle sensor 70, a driving operator 80, an automated driving controller 100, a travel driving power output device 200, a brake device 210, and a steering device 220. These devices and apparatuses are connected through a multiplex communication line such as a controller area network (CAN) communication line, and a serial communication line, a wireless communication network, and the like. The configuration shown in
For example, the camera 10 may be a digital camera using a solid state imaging device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). One or a plurality of cameras 10 are attached to any portion of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a host vehicle M) in which the vehicle system 1 is mounted. When a front view image is captured, the camera 10 is attached to the upper part of the front windshield, the rear side of a rear-view mirror, or the like. For example, the camera 10 may periodically repeatedly capture images of the surroundings of the host vehicle M. The camera 10 may be a stereo camera.
The radar device 12 radiates electromagnetic waves such as millimeter waves to the surroundings of the host vehicle M and detects electric waves (reflected waves) reflected by an object to detect at least the position (distance and direction) of the object. One or a plurality of radar devices 12 are attached to any portion of the host vehicle M. The radar device 12 may detect the position and speed of an object according to a frequency modulated continuous wave (FM-CW) method.
The finder 14 is a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) (or laser imaging detection and ranging) device which measures scattering light with respect to radiated light and detects a distance to a target. One or a plurality of finders 14 are attached to any portion of the host vehicle M.
The object recognition device 16 performs a sensor fusion process on detection results of some or all of the camera 10, the radar device 12 and the finder 14 to recognize the position, type, speed and the like of an object. The object recognition device 16 outputs a recognition result to the automated driving controller 100.
The communication device 20 communicates with other vehicles around the host vehicle M using a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), dedicated short range communication (DSRC) and the like, for example, or communicates with various server devices through a wireless base station such as VICS (registered trademark).
The HMI 30 presents various types of information to an occupant of the host vehicle M and receives an input operation from the occupant. The HMI 30 includes various display devices, speakers, buzzers, touch panels, switches, keys, etc. Operating parts such as touch panels, switches and keys in the HMI 30 serve as receivers which receive an operation of switching a driving mode of the host vehicle M to an automated driving mode. For example, the automated driving mode may be a driving mode for causing the host vehicle M to automatedly travel along a path to a destination by controlling at least one of steering and acceleration/deceleration of the host vehicle M.
The navigation device 50 may include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 51, a navigation HMI 52 and a route search unit 53, for example, and stores first map information 54 in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory. The GNSS receiver 51 identifies the position of the host vehicle M on the basis of signals received from GNSS satellites. The position of the host vehicle M may be identified or complemented by an inertial navigation system (INS) using the output of the vehicle sensor 70.
The navigation HMI 52 includes a display device, a speaker, a touch panel, keys, etc. A part or all of the navigation HMI 52 and the aforementioned HMI 30 may be made to be common. The navigation HMI 52 receives information such as a destination on the basis of an operation of an occupant.
The route search unit 53 determines a route to a destination input by an occupant using the navigation HMI 52 from the position of the host vehicle M identified by the GNSS receiver 51 (or any input position) with reference to the first map information 54, for example. The route search unit 53 recalculates the route when the current position of the host vehicle M deviates from the searched route by a predetermined distance or longer. The route determined by the route search unit 53 is output to the MPU 60. In addition, the navigation device 50 may perform route guidance using the navigation HMI 52 on the basis of the route determined by the route search unit 53.
The first map information 54 is information representing road shapes according to links indicating roads and nodes connected by links, for example. The first map information 54 may include the curvatures of roads, point-of-interest (POI) information, and the like.
Further, the navigation device 50 may be realized by functions of a terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal possessed by an occupant, for example. In addition, the navigation device 50 may transmit a current position and a destination to a navigation server through the communication device 20 and acquire a route returned from the navigation server.
The MPU 60 serves as a recommended lane determiner 61, for example, and stores second map information 62 in a storage device such as an HDD or a flash memory. The recommended lane determiner 61 divides a route provided from the navigation device 50 into a plurality of blocks (divides the route into intervals of 100 m in a vehicle traveling direction, for example) and determines a recommended lane for each block with reference to the second map information 62. The recommended lane determiner 61 performs determination on which lane from the left the vehicle will travel. When a route includes a branch point, a merging point, or the like, the recommended lane determiner 61 determines recommended lanes such that the host vehicle M can travel on a reasonable traveling route for traveling to a branch destination.
The second map information 62 is map information with higher-accuracy than the first map information 54 in the navigation device 50. For example, the second map information 62 may include information on the centers of lanes or information on the boundaries of lanes. In addition, the second map information 62 may include road information, traffic regulations information, address information (addresses and zip codes), facility information, telephone number information, etc. Road information includes information representing types of roads such as a highway, a toll road, a national highway and a prefectural road and information such as the number of lanes of roads, the width of each lane, slopes of roads, locations of roads (three-dimensional coordinates including longitudes, latitudes and heights), curvatures of curves of lanes, the positions of merging points and branch points of lanes, and signs provided on roads. Further, road information includes shapes of roads at points where a recommended lane is switched. A point at which recommended lanes are switched is a position at which a main line is connected to branch roads, for example. In addition, a point at which recommended lanes are switched includes a point at which a main line is connected to a road parallel to the main line. The second map information 62 may be updated at any time by accessing other devices using the communication device 20.
The vehicle sensor 70 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the host vehicle M, an acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration, a yaw rate sensor that detects an angular velocity around a vertical axis, a heading sensor that detects the direction of the host vehicle M, etc.
The driving operator 80 includes an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, a shift lever, a steering wheel, and other operators, for example. A sensor that detects an operation amount or presence or absence of an operation is attached to the driving operator 80 and a detection result thereof is output to the automated driving controller 100 or some or all of the travel driving power output device 200, the brake device 210 and the steering device 220.
The automated driving controller 100 includes a first controller 120 and a second controller 140, for example. The first controller 120 and the second controller 140 are realized by processors such as central processing units (CPUs) executing programs (software). Some or all of functional units of the first controller 120 and the second controller 140 which will be described below may be realized by hardware such as a large scale integration (LSI) circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or realized by software and hardware in cooperation.
For example, the first controller 120 may include an outside recognizer 121, a host vehicle position recognizer 122, and an action plan generator 130.
The outside recognizer 121 recognizes states such as the position, speed and acceleration of a neighboring vehicle on the basis of information input from the camera 10, the radar device 12 and the finder 14 through the object recognition device 16. The position of the neighboring vehicle may be represented as a representative point on the neighboring vehicle, such as the center of gravity or a corner of the neighboring vehicle, or may be represented as a region defined as the outline of the neighboring vehicle. “States” of a neighboring vehicle may include the acceleration and jerk of the neighboring vehicle or an “action state” (e.g., whether lane change is being performed or is intended to be performed). In addition, the outside recognizer 121 may recognize positions of guardrails, electricity poles, parked vehicles, pedestrians and other objects in addition to a neighboring vehicle.
The host vehicle position recognizer 122 recognizes a lane in which the host vehicle M is traveling and a relative position and an attitude of the host vehicle M with respect to the lane, for example. For example, the host vehicle position recognizer 122 may recognize a lane by comparing a lane marking pattern (e.g., arrangement of solid lines and dashed lines) obtained from the second map information 62 with a lane marking pattern around the host vehicle M recognized from an image captured by the camera 10. In such recognition, the position of the host vehicle M acquired from the navigation device 50 and a processing result of the INS may be additionally taken into account.
The host vehicle position recognizer 122 recognizes a relative position and attitude of the host vehicle M with respect to a lane, for example.
The action plan generator 130 includes an information acquirer 132, a lane switching controller 134, and a target trajectory generator 136. The action plan generator 130 determines events sequentially executed in automated driving such that the host vehicle M travels along recommended lanes determined by the recommended lane determiner 61 and surrounding situations of the host vehicle M can be handled. For example, events may include a constant-speed travel event of traveling along the same lane at a constant speed, a following travel event of following a preceding vehicle, a lane change event, a merging event, a branch event, an emergency stop event, a handover event for ending automated driving and switching automated driving to manual driving, and the like. Further, there is a case in which an action for avoidance is planned on the basis of surrounding situations of the host vehicle M (presence of neighboring vehicles or pedestrians, narrowing of lanes due to road construction, and the like) during execution of the aforementioned events.
The information acquirer 132 acquires road information corresponding to a point at which recommended lanes are switched. The lane switching controller 134 determines details of control of automated driving on the basis of road information when recommended lanes are switched. Specifically, the lane switching controller 134 determines details of control as lane keep control or lane change control on the basis of road information when recommended lanes are switched.
The target trajectory generator 136 generates a target trajectory along which the host vehicle M will travel in the future. The target trajectory is represented as a sequential arrangement of points (trajectory points) at which the host vehicle M will arrive. A trajectory point is a point at which the host vehicle M will arrive for each predetermined traveling distance, and a target speed and a target acceleration for each predetermined sampling time (e.g., approximately every several tens of a second [sec]) are generated as a part of a target trajectory apart from trajectory points. Further, a trajectory point may be a position at which the host vehicle M will arrive at a sampling time for each predetermined sampling time. In this case, information on a target speed and a target acceleration are represented by a spacing between trajectory points.
The automated driving controller 100 performs automated driving of the host vehicle M by executing control including lane keep control and lane change control.
The second controller 140 includes a traveling controller 141. The traveling controller 141 controls the travel driving power output device 200, the brake device 210 and the steering device 220 such that the host vehicle M passes along a target trajectory generated by the action plan generator 130 at scheduled times.
The travel driving power output device 200 outputs a travel driving power (torque) for traveling of a vehicle to driving wheels. For example, the travel driving power output device 200 may include a combination of an internal combustion engine, a motor, a transmission and the like, and an electronic controller (ECU) which controls these components. The ECU controls the aforementioned components according to information input from the traveling controller 141 or information input from the driving operator 80.
The brake device 210 includes a brake caliper, a cylinder which transfers a hydraulic pressure to the brake caliper, an electric motor which generates a hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and a brake ECU, for example. The brake ECU controls the electric motor according to information input from the traveling controller 141 such that a brake torque according to a braking operation is output to each vehicle wheel. The brake device 210 may include a mechanism for transferring a hydraulic pressure generated by an operation of the brake pedal included in the driving operator 80 to the cylinder through a master cylinder as a backup. Meanwhile, the brake device 210 is not limited to the above-described configuration and may be an electronically controlled hydraulic brake device which controls an actuator according to information input from the traveling controller 141 and transfers a hydraulic pressure of a master cylinder to a cylinder.
The steering device 220 includes a steering ECU and an electric motor, for example. For example, the electric motor may change the direction of the steering wheel by applying a force to a rack-and-pinion mechanism. The steering ECU drives the electric motor according to information input from the traveling controller 141 or information input from the driving operator 80 to change the direction of the steering wheel.
Hereinafter, a control example of selecting details of control of automated driving from details of a plurality of controls on the basis of road information when recommended lanes determined by the recommended lane determiner 61 are switched will be described.
The lane switching controller 134 sets the virtual lane L1# connecting from the main line to the branch road on the basis of a virtual line VL that connects lane markings (WL1 and WL2 of
Then, the target trajectory generator 136 generates a target trajectory on the basis of a line connecting center positions of the virtual lane L1# in the road width direction. Accordingly, the automated driving controller 100 can perform automated driving while maintaining the position of the host vehicle M within the virtual lane L1#. In addition, the automated driving controller 100 can start steering angle control of the host vehicle M from the vicinity of the point P3 at which the virtual line VL intersects the central lane marking WL1.
A comparative example with respect to entry of the host vehicle M into the branch road from the main line according to lane keep control will be described.
Hereinafter, a flow of control described with reference to
When the road shape of the point at which recommended lanes are switched is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road, the lane switching controller 134 determines that the host vehicle M will be caused to travel according to lane keep control (step S106). When the road shape of the point at which recommended lanes are switched is not a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road, the lane switching controller 134 determines that the host vehicle M is caused to travel according to lane change control (step S108). Next, the target trajectory generator 136 generates a target trajectory (step S110). Subsequently, the automated driving controller 100 performs vehicle control on the basis of the generated target trajectory (step S112).
As described above, the vehicle system 1 can select lane keep control as control of automated driving for entering a branch road from a main line when the road shape at a point at which recommended lanes are switched is a shape of branching from the main line to the branch road.
Hereinafter, a case in which a road shape is not a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road when recommended lanes are switched will be described.
In the case of following recommended lane switching according to lane change control, the target trajectory generator 136 sets trajectory points K1 at the center position of the lane L1 on the main line in the road width direction, sets trajectory points K2 at the center position of the lane L3 on a traveling road that meets the main line and then separates therefrom in the road width direction and further sets trajectory points K3 on a curve that connects the trajectory points K1 and the trajectory points K2. In addition, the target trajectory generator 136 may adjust spacings of the trajectory points and the positions of the trajectory points on the basis of the relationship between the position of the host vehicle M and the position of another vehicle M1. The automated driving controller 100 causes the host vehicle M to travel along the target trajectory such that the host vehicle M passes through a boundary line WL10 from the lane L1 on the main line and enters the lane L3.
As described above, the vehicle system 1 can select lane change control as control of automated driving for entering a branch road from a main line when a road shape is not a shape of branching from the main line to the branch road. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce a control load and prevent occurrence of an unnecessary lateral acceleration. Furthermore, a timing at which the host vehicle M starts steering control may be advanced.
Meanwhile, although a case in which the vehicle system 1 selects and executes one of lane change control and lane keep control has been described as an example of changing details of control of automated driving at a switching point of recommended lanes, the present invention is not limited thereto. The vehicle system 1 may switch details of control such that a vehicle speed when a road shape is a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road at a switching point of recommended lanes becomes higher than a vehicle speed in other cases. Accordingly, the vehicle system 1 can switch between passing through a switching point of recommended lanes at a high speed and passing through the switching point at a low speed safely depending on a road shape.
As described above, according to the vehicle system 1, it is possible to cause the host vehicle M to travel more smoothly depending on road shapes because recommended lanes in which the host vehicle M will travel are determined, road information including road shapes is acquired when recommended lanes are switched, and details of control of automated driving are determined on the basis of the acquired road information.
Furthermore, according to the vehicle system 1, since lane change control is executed when a road shape is not a shape of branching from a main line to a branch road, it is possible to realize traveling that prioritizes stability depending on road shapes.
While forms for embodying the present invention have been described using embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2017/002302 | 1/24/2017 | WO | 00 |
