JP7225664B2 - vehicle controller - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to vehicle control devices.

Conventionally, in order to prevent the vehicle from suddenly starting against the driver's will, when there is an obstacle in the direction of travel of the vehicle and the accelerator pedal is suddenly depressed, the acceleration of the vehicle is suppressed. ) is known (see Patent Literature 1).

Japanese Patent No. 5819509

When there is an abnormality in the vehicle control device or the like, there is a possibility that the vehicle may erroneously shift to the acceleration suppression state when it should not shift to the acceleration suppression state. One aspect of the present disclosure provides a vehicle control device that can suppress erroneous transition to an acceleration suppression state due to an abnormality.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle, comprising: a first accelerator opening acquisition unit configured to acquire a first accelerator opening from an accelerator pedal sensor; an output unit configured to output an output signal representing an accelerator opening to a driving force control unit for controlling the driving force of the vehicle; and an obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the vehicle. a vehicle speed detection unit configured to detect the vehicle speed of the vehicle; and (A) when the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the first accelerator opening, the following (B) performing a first switching process of switching the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal to a second accelerator opening smaller than the first accelerator opening, on the condition that the first to third conditions are satisfied; Second switching processing for switching the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal to the first accelerator opening when a predetermined return condition is satisfied when the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal is the second accelerator opening. is configured to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in at least a part of an accelerator opening setting unit, the vehicle control device, and a device electrically connected to the vehicle control device. and an abnormality determination unit that determines that there is an abnormality, the accelerator opening setting unit determines whether or not the first to third conditions are satisfied. The vehicle control device does not perform the first switching process.

First condition: the obstacle detection unit has detected the obstacle.
Second condition: the first accelerator opening is greater than or equal to a preset reference opening.
Third condition: the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit is equal to or lower than a preset reference vehicle speed.

A vehicle control device, which is one aspect of the present disclosure, determines whether or not first to third conditions are satisfied when at least a part of the vehicle control device and a device electrically connected to the vehicle control device has an abnormality. Regardless, the first switching process is not performed.

Therefore, the vehicle control device, which is one aspect of the present disclosure, can prevent an erroneous transition from the normal state to the acceleration suppression state due to an abnormality.

2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle control device 1 and the like; FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a control unit 13; FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the vehicle control device 1;

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the drawings.
<First embodiment>
1. Configuration of Vehicle Control Device 1 and Others The configuration of the vehicle control device 1 and the configuration of other members provided in the vehicle will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle includes a vehicle control device 1, an accelerator pedal sensor 3, a forward monitoring sensor 5, a rearward monitoring sensor 7, a vehicle speed sensor 9, a shift sensor 10, and a driving force control section 11. , and an interface unit 12 .

The vehicle control device 1 includes a control unit 13 , a relay switch 15 , a second signal generation unit 17 and a coil power supply 19 .
The control unit 13 includes a microcomputer having a CPU 21 and a semiconductor memory such as RAM or ROM (hereinafter referred to as memory 23). Each function of the control unit 13 is implemented by the CPU 21 executing a program stored in a non-transitional substantive recording medium. In this example, the memory 23 corresponds to a non-transitional substantive recording medium storing programs. Also, by executing this program, a method corresponding to the program is executed. The control unit 13 may have one microcomputer or may have a plurality of microcomputers.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 13 includes a first accelerator opening acquisition unit 24, an obstacle detection unit 25, a vehicle speed detection unit 26, an accelerator opening setting unit 27, a shift detection unit 28, an abnormal A determination unit 29 and a notification unit 30 are provided.

The method of realizing the functions of each part included in the control unit 13 is not limited to software, and some or all of the functions may be realized using one or more pieces of hardware. For example, when the above functions are realized by an electronic circuit that is hardware, the electronic circuit may be realized by a digital circuit, an analog circuit, or a combination thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the relay switch 15 includes a first contact 31 , a second contact 33 , an output contact 35 , a movable piece 37 and a coil 39 . The first contact 31 is connected to the signal line 41 . A signal line 41 transmits a first signal from the accelerator pedal sensor 3 to the first contact 31 . The first signal is a signal representing the accelerator opening detected by the accelerator pedal sensor 3 (hereinafter referred to as the first accelerator opening). The unit of accelerator opening is %. The accelerator opening is 0% when the driver does not step on the accelerator at all. The accelerator opening is 100% when the driver depresses the accelerator to the upper limit.

The second contact 33 is connected to the signal line 43 . A signal line 43 conveys a second signal from the second signal generating unit 17 to the second contact 33 . The second signal is a signal generated by the second signal generation unit 17 . The second signal is a signal representing the second accelerator opening. The second accelerator opening is 0%.

The output side contact 35 is connected to the signal line 45 . The signal line 45 is connected to the driving force control section 11 . The signal line 45 transmits an output signal from the output side contact 35 to the driving force control section 11 . The output signal is a signal representing the accelerator opening.

One end of the movable piece 37 is always connected to the output side contact 35 . The opposite end of the movable piece 37 connects with one of the first contact 31 and the second contact 33 . That is, the movable piece 37 can move to a position (hereinafter referred to as a first position) to connect the first contact 31 and the output side contact 35, or to connect the second contact 33 and the output side contact 35. It is also possible to move to a position (hereinafter referred to as a second position).

The current flowing through the coil 39 causes the coil 39 to generate magnetic force. The magnetic force generated by the coil 39 causes the movable piece 37 to move. By controlling the current flowing through the coil 39, the position of the movable piece 37 can be switched from the first position to the second position or from the second position to the first position.

A second signal generating unit 17 generates a second signal. The second signal reaches the second contact 33 via the signal line 43 . The coil power supply 19 applies current to the coil 39 in accordance with an instruction from the accelerator opening setting unit 27 in the control unit 13 .

An accelerator pedal sensor 3 detects a first accelerator opening. The forward monitoring sensor 5 detects obstacles present in front of the vehicle. The rearward monitoring sensor 7 detects an obstacle present behind the vehicle. A vehicle speed sensor 9 detects the vehicle speed. A shift sensor 10 detects the state of the shift.

The driving force control unit 11 controls the driving force of the vehicle according to the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal. The driving force control unit 11, for example, sets the throttle opening according to the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal. Examples of the driving force control unit 11 include a power management controller and the like.

The interface unit 12 is installed inside the vehicle. The interface unit 12 includes a display capable of displaying images and a speaker capable of outputting audio. The interface unit 12 also includes an input unit that receives user's input operations. Examples of the input unit include a touch panel, keyboard, various switches, and the like. Incidentally, the relay switch 15 and the signal line 45 correspond to the output unit.

The interface unit 12 displays images and outputs audio according to instructions from the control unit 13 . The interface section 12 also sends a signal corresponding to the input operation received by the input section to the control unit 13 .

2. Processing Executed by Vehicle Control Device 1 Processing that is repeatedly executed by the vehicle control device 1 at predetermined time intervals will be described with reference to FIG. At step 1 in FIG. 3, the accelerator opening setting unit 27 determines whether or not the vehicle is currently in a normal state. The normal state is a state in which the movable piece 37 is at the first position and the first contact 31 and the output side contact 35 are connected. In the normal state, the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the first accelerator opening.

In the normal state, the driving force control section 11 controls the driving force of the vehicle according to the first accelerator opening. In this case, the vehicle can start and accelerate when the first accelerator opening increases. If it is in the normal state, the process proceeds to step 2 . If not in the normal state, the process proceeds to step 11 . If the vehicle is not in the normal state, the vehicle is in the acceleration suppression state.

In step 2, the abnormality determination unit 29 determines whether or not the abnormality flag is ON. The abnormality flag is a flag that is turned on in step 4 or step 14, which will be described later. If the anomaly flag is on, the process ends, and if the anomaly flag is off, the process proceeds to step 3.

In step 3, the abnormality determination unit 29 performs abnormality detection processing. The anomaly detection process is a process of detecting an anomaly from a detection target. A detection target is the vehicle control device 1 or a device electrically connected to the vehicle control device 1 .

Devices electrically connected to the vehicle control device 1 include, for example, a device that outputs some kind of signal to the vehicle control device 1, a device that receives some kind of signal from the vehicle control device 1, and the like. The form of signal transmission/reception may be wired or wireless. A device electrically connected to the vehicle control device 1 is, for example, a device involved in at least part of the processing in steps 3 to 10 or the processing in steps 12 to 21, which will be described later. Devices electrically connected to the vehicle control device 1 include, for example, an accelerator pedal sensor 3, a forward monitoring sensor 5, a rearward monitoring sensor 7, a vehicle speed sensor 9, a shift sensor 10, a driving force control section 11, and an interface section 12. One or more selected from the group can be mentioned.

The abnormality detected by the abnormality determination unit 29 is, for example, an abnormality that influences the determination in step 9 or step 13, which will be described later. Moreover, the abnormality detected by the abnormality determination unit 29 is, for example, an abnormality that affects the function of the interface section 12 .

The method by which the abnormality determination unit 29 detects an abnormality is, for example, a method of determining that an abnormality exists if the value of the voltage or current generated by the detection target is out of a preset normal range.

In step 4, the abnormality determination unit 29 determines whether or not an abnormality has been detected as a result of the processing in step 3 above. If an abnormality is detected, the process proceeds to step 5, and if no abnormality is detected, the process proceeds to step 6.

In step 5, the abnormality determination unit 29 turns on the abnormality flag.
In step 6 , the first accelerator opening acquisition unit 24 acquires the first accelerator opening from the accelerator pedal sensor 3 .

In step 7, the obstacle detection unit 25 uses the forward monitoring sensor 5 or the rearward monitoring sensor 7 to perform processing for detecting an obstacle present in the traveling direction of the vehicle. An obstacle that exists in the traveling direction of the vehicle is an obstacle that exists in front of the vehicle when the vehicle is moving forward. The obstacle detection unit 25 can detect obstacles in front of the vehicle using the forward monitoring sensor 5 . An obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the vehicle is an obstacle existing behind the vehicle when the vehicle is moving backward. The obstacle detection unit 25 can detect obstacles existing behind the vehicle using the rear monitoring sensor 7 .

In step 8, the vehicle speed detection unit 26 uses the vehicle speed sensor 9 to detect the vehicle speed.
In step 9, the accelerator opening setting unit 27 determines whether or not the following first to third conditions are satisfied based on the results of the processing in steps 6 to 8.

1st condition: The obstacle detection unit 25 has detected an obstacle existing in the traveling direction of the vehicle.
Second condition: the first accelerator opening is 55% or more.
Third condition: The vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit 26 using the vehicle speed sensor 9 is 10 km/hr or less.

The first condition can be, for example, that the obstacle detection unit 25 detects an obstacle present in the traveling direction of the vehicle, and that the distance between the detected obstacle and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined value.

If all of the first to third conditions are met, the driver does not intend to start the vehicle suddenly, but it corresponds to the case where the accelerator is suddenly depressed by mistake. 55% in the second condition corresponds to the preset reference accelerator opening. 55% in the second condition corresponds to the accelerator opening at which the stopped vehicle suddenly starts. 10 Km/hr in the third condition corresponds to a preset reference vehicle speed.

If all of the first to third conditions are met, the process proceeds to step 10. If even one of the first to third conditions is not met, this process ends.
In step 10, the accelerator opening setting unit 27 executes processing (hereinafter referred to as first switching processing) for shifting the state of the vehicle from the normal state to the acceleration suppression state. The acceleration suppression state is a state in which the movable piece 37 is at the second position and the second contact 33 and the output side contact 35 are connected. The first switching process is a process of moving the position of the movable piece 37 from the first position to the second position. In the acceleration suppression state, the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal is the second accelerator opening.

In the acceleration suppression state, the driving force control unit 11 controls the driving force of the vehicle according to the second accelerator opening. It is 0% at the second accelerator opening. Therefore, in the acceleration suppression state, the vehicle does not accelerate.

At step 11, the abnormality determination unit 29 determines whether or not the abnormality flag is ON. If the abnormality flag is on, the process proceeds to step 15, and if the abnormality flag is off, the process proceeds to step 12.

In step 12, the abnormality determination unit 29 performs the same abnormality detection processing as in step 3 above.
At step 13, the abnormality determination unit 29 determines whether or not an abnormality has been detected as a result of the processing at step 12 above. If an abnormality is detected, the process proceeds to step 14, and if no abnormality is detected, the process proceeds to step 16.

At step 14, the abnormality determination unit 29 turns on the abnormality flag.
At step 15 , the notification unit 30 uses the interface section 12 to give notification. The content of the notification is a process of displaying a predetermined image on the display or a process of emitting a predetermined sound from the speaker.

The processing of steps 16-18 is the same as the processing of steps 6-8.
At step 19, the shift detection unit 28 uses the shift sensor 10 to detect a shift of the vehicle.

At step 20, the accelerator opening setting unit 27 determines whether or not the return condition is satisfied based on the results of the processing at steps 16-19. The satisfaction of the return condition means that the following fourth condition is satisfied and at least one of the following 5A to 5C conditions is satisfied.

Fourth condition: the first accelerator opening is 10% or less.
5A condition: The obstacle detection unit 25 does not detect any obstacle in the traveling direction of the vehicle.
5B condition: The vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit 26 using the vehicle speed sensor 9 is 0 km/hr.

5C condition: The shift detected by the shift detection unit 28 in step 19 immediately before has changed from the shift detected immediately before shifting to the acceleration suppression state.
If the return condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step 21 . If the return condition is not met, this process ends.

In step 21, the accelerator opening setting unit 27 performs processing (hereinafter referred to as second switching processing) for returning the state of the vehicle from the acceleration suppression state to the normal state. The second switching process is a process of moving the position of the movable piece 37 from the second position to the first position.

3. Effects of Vehicle Control Device 1 (1A) The vehicle control device 1 determines whether or not the first to third conditions are satisfied when there is an abnormality in the vehicle control device 1 or in a device electrically connected to the vehicle control device 1. Regardless, the first switching process is not performed.

Therefore, the vehicle control device 1 can prevent an erroneous transition from the normal state to the acceleration suppression state due to an abnormality.
(1B) If an abnormality is detected in the acceleration suppression state, the vehicle control device 1 turns on the abnormality flag in step 14 . After returning to the normal state, even if the first to third conditions are met, the determination in step 2 is affirmative, and the process ends, so the acceleration suppression state is not entered.

Therefore, when detecting an abnormality in the acceleration suppression state, the vehicle control device 1 can prevent an erroneous transition to the acceleration suppression state due to the abnormality after returning to the normal state.

(1C) The vehicle control device 1 notifies when an abnormality is detected in the acceleration suppression state. Therefore, the user can easily know that an abnormality has occurred. Further, the user can easily know that the acceleration suppression state will not occur even if the first to third conditions are satisfied after returning to the normal state.

(1D) When the vehicle control device 1 detects an abnormality and turns on the abnormality flag, it does not make the determination in step 9 above. Therefore, the processing load on the vehicle control device 1 can be reduced.
<Other embodiments>
Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made.

(1) The reference accelerator opening may be a value other than 55%. The reference vehicle speed may be a value other than 10 Km/hr. The threshold for the first accelerator opening degree in the fourth condition may be a value other than 10%. The vehicle speed threshold in the 5B condition may be a value other than 0 km/hr. For example, the vehicle speed threshold in the 5B condition may be 5 Km/hr. In this case, the 5B condition is "the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit 26 using the vehicle speed sensor 9 is 5 km/hr or less".

(2) Instead of the relay switch 15, another known switch may be used.
(3) After making an affirmative determination in step 9, it may be determined whether or not the abnormality flag is on. In this case, if the anomaly flag is on, this process is terminated, and if the anomaly flag is off, the process proceeds to step 10 .

(4) The second accelerator opening may be a value other than 0%. For example, the second accelerator opening may be 1%, 3%, or the like.
(5) A plurality of functions possessed by one component in the above embodiment may be realized by a plurality of components, or a function possessed by one component may be realized by a plurality of components. . Also, a plurality of functions possessed by a plurality of components may be realized by a single component, or a function realized by a plurality of components may be realized by a single component. Also, part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be omitted. Moreover, at least part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be added or replaced with respect to the configuration of the other above embodiment.

(6) In addition to the vehicle control device described above, a system having the vehicle control device as a component, a program for causing a computer to function as a control unit of the vehicle control device, and a non-transitional device such as a semiconductor memory in which the program is recorded The present disclosure can also be implemented in various forms such as a physical recording medium and a vehicle control method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Vehicle control apparatus 3... Accelerator pedal sensor 5... Front monitoring sensor 7... Rear monitoring sensor 9... Vehicle speed sensor 10... Shift sensor 11... Driving force control part 12... Interface part 13... Control unit , 15... Relay switch, 17... Second signal generation unit, 19... Coil power supply, 21... CPU, 23... Memory, 24... First accelerator opening acquisition unit, 25... Obstacle detection unit, 26... Vehicle speed detection unit, 27 Accelerator opening setting unit 28 Shift detection unit 29 Abnormality determination unit 30 Notification unit 31 First contact 33 Second contact 35 Output contact 37 Movable piece 39 Coils, 41, 43, 45... signal lines

Claims (3)

A vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle,
a first accelerator opening acquisition unit configured to acquire a first accelerator opening from an accelerator pedal sensor;
an output unit configured to output an output signal representing an accelerator opening to a driving force control unit that controls the driving force of the vehicle according to the accelerator opening;
an obstacle detection unit configured to detect an obstacle present in the traveling direction of the vehicle;
a vehicle speed detection unit configured to detect a vehicle speed of the vehicle;
(A) When the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the first accelerator opening, the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is set to the above-mentioned (B) when the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the second accelerator opening, a predetermined return condition is met; an accelerator opening setting unit configured to perform a second switching process of switching the accelerator opening indicated by the output signal to the first accelerator opening;
an abnormality determination unit configured to determine whether or not at least a part of the vehicle control device and devices electrically connected to the vehicle control device has an abnormality;
with
When the abnormality determination unit determines that there is an abnormality, the accelerator opening setting unit does not perform the first switching process regardless of whether the first to third conditions are satisfied,
When the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the second accelerator opening, if the abnormality determination unit determines that there is an abnormality, the accelerator opening setting unit outputs the output until the return condition is satisfied. The accelerator opening indicated by the signal is defined as the second accelerator opening, the second switching process is performed when the return condition is satisfied, and the first to third conditions are satisfied after the second switching process is performed. A vehicle control device that does not perform the first switching process even if the
First condition: the obstacle detection unit has detected the obstacle.
Second condition: the first accelerator opening is greater than or equal to a preset reference opening.
Third condition: the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection unit is equal to or lower than a preset reference vehicle speed. The vehicle control device according to claim 1,
Further comprising a notification unit capable of notification,
When the accelerator opening represented by the output signal is the second accelerator opening and the abnormality determination unit determines that the abnormality exists, the notification unit notifies the vehicle. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle control device wherein, when the abnormality determination unit determines that the abnormality exists, the accelerator opening setting unit does not determine whether or not the first to third conditions are satisfied.

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