JP7618291B2 - Communication system, automobile, mobile terminal, automobile program, and mobile terminal program - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a communication system having a mobile terminal and an automobile, and to the automobile and mobile terminal that constitute the communication system. This invention also relates to a program for the automobile and a program for the mobile terminal.

In recent years, automobiles equipped with an autonomous driving mode that allows autonomous driving without driver operation have been appearing (for example, see Patent Document 1 (JP 2012-48563 A)). In addition to automobiles that can switch between manual and autonomous driving modes, it is expected that autonomous vehicles with only an autonomous driving mode and autonomous vehicles that can drive autonomously without a driver will also appear.

Currently, autonomous driving of this type of vehicle in self-driving mode is often restricted, such as only being permitted in places and environments where safety can be easily ensured, but it is expected that in the near future it will be possible for these vehicles to be driven freely on public roads.

When cars with autonomous driving modes are allowed to drive freely on public roads, cars that can only be driven manually (manual vehicles) and cars with autonomous driving modes (for convenience, in the following explanation, cars with autonomous driving modes will be referred to as autonomous cars) will be able to drive on the same roads at the same time.

In the case of manual vehicles, it is inevitable that drivers will not strictly adhere to traffic laws or will behave in unpredictable ways, but in autonomous driving mode, autonomous vehicles are expected to strictly adhere to traffic laws and always avoid obstacles. In other words, manual vehicles and autonomous vehicles are expected to drive in different ways.

Therefore, if people could know whether a car driving nearby was a manual or autonomous vehicle, pedestrians, drivers, and cars (autonomous cars) themselves would be more likely to be able to predict the movements and behavior of those cars and ensure safety and be careful with their own behavior and driving, which is expected to contribute to road safety, such as preventing accidents from occurring. In other words, if people could know whether a car they are driving is a manual or autonomous vehicle, they would be able to use that information as a reference when deciding their own actions and behavior, which is desirable in terms of road safety.

For example, Patent Document 2 (JP Patent Publication 2015-228152 A) proposes a system in which vehicles communicate with each other to determine whether their own vehicle is in an autonomous driving mode or a manual driving mode, thereby ascertaining the operating modes of other vehicles around the vehicle. This technology in Patent Document 2 is convenient because it makes it possible to pay more or less attention to other vehicles around the vehicle depending on the detected operating mode.

JP 2012-48563 A JP 2015-228152 A

The technology in Patent Document 2 involves vehicles communicating with each other while in motion to learn each other's operating modes and then driving safely by referring to the learned operating modes, but does not propose any technology that can contribute to road safety by communicating between pedestrians and vehicles.

For example, when pedestrians wish to cross the crosswalk, they generally wait until all cars have stopped in front of the crosswalk before proceeding to cross. Traffic laws require cars to stop in front of the crosswalk when there are pedestrians attempting to cross the crosswalk, but in reality, many cars do not stop. As a result, some pedestrians cannot wait for cars to stop and try to cross the crosswalk forcefully, which often makes it difficult to ensure road safety.

If a car has an autonomous driving mode that allows it to drive autonomously without driver input, as mentioned above, it will drive on the road in compliance with traffic laws, so it can be expected that it will always stop in front of a pedestrian crossing if there are pedestrians. Therefore, if you can determine which car is operating in autonomous mode, you can wait for that car to stop in front of the crosswalk and cross safely.

However, pedestrians cannot tell from the outside which vehicles are operating in autonomous mode. This can lead to pedestrians becoming frustrated and making dangerous crossings.

Furthermore, in places where there are no crosswalks, even cars operating in autonomous driving mode will not necessarily stop to give priority to pedestrians who are trying to cross the street. This is because the car cannot determine whether a pedestrian is trying to cross the street or is simply standing there.

The same rule applies not only to pedestrians, but also to those in wheelchairs and on bicycles.

In view of the above, the purpose of this invention is to ensure that pedestrians, wheelchair users, cyclists, etc. can safely perform actions such as crossing the street.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention of claim 1 comprises:
A communication system having a mobile terminal and an automobile having a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The mobile terminal includes:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, by broadcast or multicast, to the vehicle, a wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information about a behavior schedule of a user of the terminal;
Equipped with
The vehicle is
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to the wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier based on location information of a current location of the mobile terminal and information on the behavior schedule of the carrier, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the user, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
Equipped with
Furthermore, the mobile terminal
Equipped with a display screen,
The present invention provides a communication system which displays on the display screen the positions of the respective vehicles and the identification information based on the reply information from all of the vehicles which have sent the reply information.

In the invention of claim 1 configured as described above, the mobile terminal transmits a wireless communication request by broadcast or multicast, including location information of the mobile terminal's current location and information about the behavior schedule of the user of the mobile terminal. The vehicle that receives the wireless communication request determines whether or not the vehicle is involved in the user's behavior schedule based on the location information of the mobile terminal's current location and the information about the user's behavior schedule contained in the received wireless communication request, and if it determines that the vehicle is involved in the user's behavior schedule, it transmits reply information including location information of the vehicle's current location and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path. Based on the reply information from all the vehicles that have sent reply information, the mobile terminal displays on the display screen based on the vehicle's respective locations and identification information. Therefore, the user of the mobile terminal can see the vehicles involved in the user's behavior schedule on the display screen.

In the communication system of this invention, the person carrying the mobile device can see on the display screen the cars involved in his or her planned behavior, which has the remarkable effect of allowing pedestrians, wheelchair users, cyclists, and other people carrying the mobile device to safely perform actions such as crossing the street.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of an example of an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an embodiment of a mobile terminal constituting an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention; 3 is a functional block diagram of a main part of the mobile terminal of the example of FIG. 2. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an electronic control circuit section of an embodiment of a vehicle constituting an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention; 5 is a functional block diagram of a main part of an electronic control circuit unit of the automobile shown in FIG. 4 . 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining an example of a processing operation of the mobile terminal of the example of FIG. 2; FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a detailed flow of a part of the processing in the flowchart of FIG. 6 . FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a detailed flow of a part of the processing in the flowchart of FIG. 6 . FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a detailed flow of a part of the processing in the flowchart of FIG. 6 . 5 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a processing operation of an electronic control circuit unit of the automobile in the example of FIG. 4; 5 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a processing operation of an electronic control circuit unit of the automobile in the example of FIG. 4; 5 is a diagram showing a part of a flowchart for explaining an example of a processing operation of an electronic control circuit unit of the automobile in the example of FIG. 4; 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of vehicle behavior based on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request in response to a carrier's behavior schedule. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of vehicle behavior based on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request in response to a carrier's behavior schedule. FIG.

The following describes an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows an overview of an example of the configuration of a communication system according to this embodiment.

The communication system of this embodiment comprises a mobile terminal 1 and an automobile 2. The mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2 have the function of wirelessly communicating with each other. The automobile 2 also has an automatic driving mode that allows autonomous driving.

Wireless communication between the mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2 is performed by directly exchanging radio waves, light, and the like. This of course also includes the involvement of a base station, such as an access point in the case of Wi-Fi (registered trademark) communication, to generate a communication path. The range in which wireless communication is possible may be limited, for example to a range of several hundred meters, as long as the mobile terminal 1 carrier 3, such as a pedestrian, wheelchair user, or bicycle rider, can transmit a planned behavior (hereinafter referred to as a behavior plan), such as crossing a road or turning right or left, from the mobile terminal 1 to the automobile 2 via wireless communication prior to actually executing the behavior, and the automobile 2 can transmit a behavior corresponding to the behavior plan, such as a temporary stop, to the mobile terminal 1 side and execute the behavior.

In this example, the mobile terminal 1 is configured as a high-function mobile phone terminal called a smartphone. In this example, the mobile terminal 1 can be connected to a navigation support server device 5 via a communication network 4 including the Internet and a mobile phone network, and the user 3 can receive so-called pedestrian navigation or bicycle navigation services with the support of the navigation support server device 5. In addition, a wheelchair navigation service exclusively for wheelchair users can be received. In the wheelchair navigation service, guidance services are provided such as warnings before a step, not only for able-bodied pedestrians and cyclists crossing roads or turning right or left on roads, but also for behaviors specific to wheelchair users, such as driving over a step (which takes time), so that the user can safely perform the behavior.

Then, the mobile terminal 1 sends a request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication to the automobile 2 in response to an instruction operation from the carrier 3. In this embodiment, the pedestrian navigation, bicycle navigation, and wheelchair navigation services provided by the navigation assistance server device 5 are configured to execute a route guidance service so that, in order to ensure traffic safety for the carrier 3, when the carrier 3 must perform a dangerous action in relation to the automobile 2, such as crossing a road, turning right or left, or driving over a step, a request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication is sent to the automobile 2 prior to the action.

That is, when the navigation assistance server device 5 receives a service request for pedestrian navigation over the communication network 4 from the mobile terminal 1, it generates information on a recommended route based on the departure point, destination, and any intermediate stops included in the service request, and provides a route guidance service along the recommended route to the carrier 3 via the mobile terminal 1. In this case, the navigation assistance server device 5 of this embodiment includes information on the position and area where a request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication should be sent to the automobile 2 in the information on the recommended route. In the case of an area, the request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication is set to be sent when entering or just before entering the area. The mobile terminal 1 executes the process of sending the request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication in accordance with the processing control of the route guidance service.

Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the automobile 2 has a manual driving mode and an automatic driving mode capable of autonomous driving as described above. In this embodiment, the automobile 2 has two automatic driving modes: a normal automatic driving mode in which the automobile can be switched to the manual driving mode by the driver operating the steering wheel, stepping on the accelerator pedal, stepping on the brake pedal, etc., and a forced automatic driving mode in which the automobile cannot be switched to the manual driving mode even if the driver performs the above operations and the automatic driving mode continues.

When the automobile 2 of this embodiment receives a request for automobile communication from the mobile terminal 1, it determines whether the automobile is traveling in automatic driving mode or manual driving mode, and if it is traveling in automatic driving mode, it responds to the automobile communication request from the mobile terminal 1 and creates a wireless communication path. If it is traveling in manual driving mode, it determines whether the driver has set the mode not to allow switching to automatic driving mode, and if it is allowed, it responds to the automobile communication request from the mobile terminal 1 and creates a wireless communication path.

Then, automobile 2 receives information about the behavioral plans of carrier 3 sent from mobile terminal 1 through the generated wireless communication channel, determines whether its own vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans, and if it determines that it is not involved, replies to that effect to mobile terminal 1 and disconnects the wireless communication channel. Mobile terminal 1 receives and analyzes the reply information from automobile 2, confirms that its own vehicle is not involved in the behavioral plans of carrier 3, and disconnects the wireless communication channel.

When the automobile 2 determines that it is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier 3, it switches the automobile 2 to a forced automatic driving mode, determines that the automobile will take a behavior that prioritizes the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 of the mobile terminal 1, and controls the automobile 2 to execute the behavior. The automobile 2 then sends the mobile terminal 1 information on the current location of the automobile 2 and information for visually recognizing the automobile, and sends back a notification to the mobile terminal 1 that the automobile will take a behavior that prioritizes the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 in automatic driving mode.

The mobile terminal 1 receives the reply information from the automobile 2, analyzes it, and displays the analysis results on the display screen while notifying the carrier 3 by voice. That is, based on the current location information from the automobile 2 and the identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle, the mobile terminal 1 displays on the display screen the location of the automobile 2 that is behaving in a way that prioritizes the carrier 3's behavior plan, and an indication based on the identification information, to notify the carrier 3, and notifies the carrier 3 of the behavior that the automobile 2 will perform in automatic driving mode by the display screen and/or voice. Note that it may be possible to provide notifications by vibration for persons with visual or hearing impairments. In this case, it is necessary to set up in advance so that the identification information, etc. can be identified by the vibration pattern.

Therefore, the user 3 of the mobile terminal 1 can confirm on the display screen the presence of a car 2 that will stop for the planned behavior, such as crossing a road, that the user is about to execute, and can also recognize that the car 2 will execute the planned behavior in automatic driving mode. Therefore, the user 3 can predict when the car 2 will stop, wait for it, and execute the planned behavior safely.

In addition, in this embodiment, when automobile 2 receives a request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication from mobile terminal 1, if it determines that the vehicle is traveling in manual driving mode and that the driver has set the mode to not allow switching to automatic driving mode, it first creates a wireless communication path with mobile terminal 1, receives information about the behavioral plans of user 3 sent from mobile terminal 1, and determines whether the vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans. If it determines that the vehicle is not involved, it replies to mobile terminal 1 to that effect and disconnects the wireless communication path.

When the automobile 2 determines that it is involved in the behavior schedule of the user 3, it sends to the mobile terminal 1 its current location information, its traveling speed and direction information, and identification information for visually identifying the automobile, and also sends a message to the mobile terminal 1 that it cannot behave according to the behavior schedule, and then disconnects the wireless communication path. In this embodiment, the identification information for the automobile 2 includes the driver's attribute information (gender, age, nationality, driving history, etc.) that is pre-stored in the automobile 2.

The mobile terminal 1 receives the reply information from the automobile 2, analyzes it, and displays the analysis results on the display screen while notifying the carrier 3 by voice. That is, based on the current location information from the automobile 2 and the identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle, the mobile terminal 1 displays on the display screen the location of the automobile 2 that is behaving in a way that prioritizes the carrier 3's behavior plan, and an indication based on the identification information, to notify the carrier 3, and notifies the carrier 3 of the behavior that the automobile 2 will perform in autonomous driving mode by the display screen and/or voice.

As described above, in this embodiment, even if the driver of the vehicle 2 does not permit switching from manual driving mode to automatic driving mode, when the vehicle 2 is involved in the behavioral plans of the user 3, the user 3 can confirm the vehicle in manual driving mode by the display screen or voice, and can also know the attributes of the driver, so that the user 3 can conveniently pay attention to the vehicle 2 in manual driving mode with a level of attention that corresponds to the information obtained from the vehicle 2. For example, if the driver's attributes are elderly or he or she has little driving experience, safety can be improved by increasing the level of attention to the vehicle 2 in manual driving mode.

In addition, the vehicle 2 may not have a manual driving mode and may only have an automatic driving mode (including a forced automatic driving mode).

The configuration and operation of the mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2 in the communication system of this embodiment will be described in more detail below.

[Configuration example of mobile terminal 1]
2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 1 of this embodiment. The mobile terminal 1 of this embodiment has a configuration in which each unit described below is controlled by a control unit 101 having, for example, a computer.

Connected to the control unit 101 via the system bus 100 are a mobile phone communication unit 102, a voice input/output unit 103, a display control unit 104, an operation input unit interface 105, a current position detection unit 106, a carrier attribute memory unit 107, a vehicle-related wireless communication unit 108, a vehicle-related communication control processing unit 109, a map data storage unit 110, a route search and guidance unit 111, and a voice recognition unit 112.

The mobile phone communication unit 102 communicates through base stations of a mobile phone network, and is capable of performing the telephone communication functions of a normal mobile phone terminal and accessing the cloud via the Internet.

The audio input/output unit 103 is connected to a microphone 121 and a speaker 122. Under the control of the control unit 101, the audio input/output unit 103 operates so that the microphone 121 functions as a transmitter and the speaker 122 functions as a receiver when telephone communication is performed through the mobile phone communication unit 102. Under the control of the control unit 101, the audio input/output unit 103 also sends audio information of the voice picked up from the microphone 121 to the voice recognition unit 112 for voice recognition. Under the control of the control unit 101, the audio input/output unit 103 also performs a process of emitting a predetermined voice message generated as described below through the speaker 122.

The display control unit 104 is connected to a display unit 123 consisting of, for example, an LCD. The operation input unit interface 105 is connected to an operation input unit 124 consisting of a touch sensor arranged on top of the display screen of the LCD constituting the display unit 123. The display screen of the LCD constituting the display unit 123 displays input screens for the wearer to start a pedestrian navigation application or a bicycle navigation application, as well as input screens for the starting point, destination, and intermediate points, and operations on software buttons included in these input screens are detected by the operation input unit 124 consisting of a touch sensor and transmitted to the control unit 101 via the operation input unit interface 105. The control unit 101 performs processing according to the operation input at the operation input unit 124.

The current position detection unit 106 receives radio waves from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites and information from mobile phone base stations to detect the current position of the mobile terminal 1, and transfers the detected current position data (latitude, longitude, and altitude data) to the control unit 101. The current position detection unit 106 uses a gyro, geomagnetic sensor, etc. to assist in detecting the current position of the mobile terminal 1.

The user attribute storage unit 107 stores attribute information input by the user in advance. The user's nationality, sex, age, chronic illness, etc. are registered and stored as this attribute information. The user attribute storage unit 107 may store the user's stride length and walking speed (average value), the moving speed (average value) when in a wheelchair, and the running speed (average value) when riding a bicycle. The walking speed, wheelchair moving speed, and running speed when riding a bicycle can be calculated by calculating the distance from the change in the current position detected by the current position detection unit 106 every predetermined time, and dividing the distance by the predetermined time, and can be stored in the user attribute storage unit 107. Since the wheelchair differs not only in the moving speed but also in the performance depending on whether it is a manual wheelchair or an electric wheelchair, the type (manual or electric), the average manual speed, and the average electric speed may be stored in the user attribute storage unit 107. The presence or absence of a caregiver or attendant can also be stored in the user attribute storage unit 107.

The vehicle wireless communication unit 108 is a communication unit for wireless communication with the vehicle 2. The vehicle communication control processing unit 109 controls wireless communication with the vehicle 2 through the vehicle wireless communication unit 108. The vehicle communication control processing unit 109 will be described in detail later.

General-purpose map data is pre-stored in the map data storage unit 110, or map data corresponding to the current position detected by the current position detection unit 106 is obtained from the navigation assistance server device 5 via the mobile phone communication unit 102 and stored.

The route search and guidance unit 111 is a processing unit configured with an application software program that has been downloaded in advance from the navigation assistance server device 5, and works in cooperation with the navigation assistance server device 5 to provide services such as pedestrian navigation and bicycle navigation.

In other words, the route search and guidance unit 111 cooperates with the navigation assistance server device 5 to perform route search and route guidance (guidance) for walking navigation from the starting point to the destination set by the carrier 3.

For example, when a voice recognition function is selected from the function menu of the mobile terminal 1 via the operation input unit 124, the voice recognition unit 112 receives an audio signal of a voice picked up by the microphone 121 under the control of the control unit 101, performs voice recognition on the voice, and returns the recognition result to the control unit 101. The control unit 101 performs control to execute processing instructed by the voice recognition result.

The mobile terminal 1 is configured as described above, but among the processing blocks shown in FIG. 2, the processing functions of the voice input/output unit 103, the display control unit 104, the current position detection unit 106, the vehicle communication control processing unit 109, the route search and guidance unit 111, and the voice recognition unit 112 can be realized as software processing performed by the control unit 101 executing a program.

[Processing Functions of the Vehicle Communication Control Processing Unit 109]
3 is a functional block diagram showing the functions executed by the vehicle communication control processing unit 109. That is, the vehicle communication control processing unit 109 includes a call trigger monitoring unit 1091, a vehicle communication request unit 1092, a communication path generation management unit 1093, a transmission information generation and transmission unit 1094, a reply information reception and analysis unit 1095, a vehicle behavior notification unit 1096, and a confirmation notification transmission unit 1097.

When pedestrian navigation, bicycle navigation, or wheelchair navigation is not being executed, if the transmission trigger monitoring unit 1091 detects a communication request operation from the carrier 3 via the operation input unit 124, it detects it as a transmission trigger for a vehicle communication request and notifies the vehicle communication request unit 1092 of the detection result. In addition, when pedestrian navigation or bicycle navigation is being executed, if the transmission trigger monitoring unit 1091 receives a vehicle communication request from the navigation app, it detects it as a transmission trigger for a vehicle communication request and notifies the vehicle communication request unit 1092 of the detection result.

When a transmission trigger is detected by the transmission trigger monitoring unit 1091, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request unit 1092 sends a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request through the vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication unit 108 based on that detection.

The communication path generation and management unit 1093 generates and manages a wireless communication path between the mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2. That is, it monitors responses from the automobile to the automobile communication request sent by the automobile communication request unit 1092, and when it detects a response, it generates a wireless communication path and monitors whether an end event has occurred for the generated wireless communication path, and when it detects an end event, it terminates the wireless communication path. In the following explanation, the automobile that sends a response to the automobile communication request and is on the other side when the wireless communication path is generated is referred to as the responding automobile.

The transmission information generating and transmitting unit 1094 generates and transmits transmission information to be transmitted to the responding vehicle via a wireless communication channel. In this embodiment, the transmission information includes the current location information of the mobile terminal 1, information on the planned behavior of the carrier 3, information on whether the carrier 3 is walking, moving in a wheelchair, or riding a bicycle, attribute information of the carrier 3, and the like. At this time, the transmission information generating and transmitting unit 1094 may also include information on the walking speed, wheelchair movement speed, or bicycle traveling speed of the carrier 3, and information on the direction of movement, in the transmission information. The walking speed, wheelchair movement speed, and bicycle traveling speed can be obtained by calculating the distance traveled within a specified time based on the change over time in the current position detected by the current position detection unit 106.

The reply information receiving and analyzing unit 1095 receives and analyzes reply information from the responding vehicle. As described below, reply information from the responding vehicle includes information on whether the responding vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier 3, information on the behavior of the responding vehicle in automatic driving mode in relation to the behavioral plans of the carrier 3 if the responding vehicle is involved, identification information for visually identifying the responding vehicle, and its current location information. The reply information receiving and analyzing unit 1095 transmits the analysis results to the communication path generation management unit 1093 and the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096.

When the communication path generation management unit 1093 receives an analysis result from the reply information reception analysis unit 1095 indicating that the responding vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier 3, it maintains the wireless communication path, but when it receives an analysis result indicating that the responding vehicle is not involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier 3, it disconnects the wireless communication that was generated with the responding vehicle and notifies the vehicle communication request unit 1092 to send another request for communication with the vehicle.

When a responding vehicle is involved in the behavior plan of the carrier 3, the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096 notifies the carrier of the behavior of the responding vehicle in automatic driving mode and the identification information for visually recognizing the responding vehicle, which are sent as the analysis result from the reply information receiving and analyzing unit 1095, through the display screen of the display unit 123, or notifies the carrier of the same as voice through the speaker 122. In addition, the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096 displays the current position of the responding vehicle on a map based on the current position of the responding vehicle sent as the analysis result from the reply information receiving and analyzing unit 1095, and notifies the carrier 3 of the position. Then, when the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096 has completed the notification process to the carrier 3, it transmits that fact to the confirmation notification sending unit 1097.

When the confirmation notification sending unit 1097 is notified from the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096 that the notification process to the carrier 3 has been completed, it sends a confirmation notification to the responding vehicle that the behavior has been confirmed. This confirmation notification may be sent after a confirmation operation is received from the carrier 3. In other words, in that case, when the confirmation notification sending unit 1097 is notified from the vehicle behavior notification unit 1096 that the notification process to the carrier 3 has been completed, it inquires of the carrier 3 through the display screen of the display unit 123 and through the speaker 122 whether or not confirmation has been performed, and waits for a confirmation response operation in response to the inquiry. Then, after confirming that the confirmation response operation by the carrier 3 has been received, the confirmation notification sending unit 1097 sends a confirmation notification to the responding vehicle.

[Example of electronic control circuit for automobile 2]
4 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an electronic control circuit unit 20 of an automobile 2 as an embodiment of the automobile according to the present invention. Note that the automobile 2 in this embodiment is an example of an electric automobile. However, the battery is not shown in FIG. 4.

The automobile 2 of this embodiment also has an automatic driving mode in which the automobile performs its own behavior autonomously, and a manual driving mode. The manual driving mode is a mode in which the automobile can travel in response to the driver's operation of the accelerator pedal, brake pedal, shift lever, and steering (handle operation), just like a normal automobile that is not an automatic driving vehicle. The automatic driving mode is a driving mode in which the automobile 2 itself automatically (autonomously) changes course while avoiding obstacles, without the driver having to operate the accelerator pedal, brake pedal, shift lever, or steering.

The driver of the automobile 2 can switch the automobile 2, which is traveling in the manual driving mode, to the automatic driving mode by performing a predetermined operation, for example, through the touch panel 212 described below, and the automobile 2 is configured to automatically return to the manual driving mode if the driver performs a predetermined operation, such as operating the accelerator pedal, brake pedal, shift lever, or steering, while traveling in the automatic driving mode.

As mentioned above, the vehicle 2 in this embodiment has two autonomous driving modes: a normal autonomous driving mode in which the vehicle automatically returns to manual driving mode when a specified operation is performed, and a forced autonomous driving mode in which the vehicle continues in autonomous driving mode even if the driver performs a specified operation.

As shown in FIG. 4, the electronic control circuit unit 20 is connected to the control unit 201 via the system bus 200, and each of the following is connected: wireless communication unit 202, motor drive control unit 203, steering drive control unit 204, driving mode switching control unit 205, radar group 206, camera group 207, sensor group 208, surrounding situation grasping unit 209, current position detection unit 210, display unit 211, touch panel 212, car navigation function unit 213, host vehicle information storage unit 214, driving speed and direction detection unit 215, clock unit 216, terminal communication control processing unit 217, behavior control unit 218, and voice input/output unit 219.

The motor drive control unit 203 is connected to a motor drive unit 221. The steering drive control unit 204 is connected to a steering drive unit 222. The driving mode switching control unit 205 is connected to a manual driving operation detection unit 223. The car navigation function unit 213 is connected to a car navigation database 224. The audio input/output unit 219 is further connected to a microphone 225 and a speaker 226.

The control unit 201 is configured with a computer and controls the entire automobile 2.

The wireless communication unit 202 is for communicating with the mobile terminal 1, and is normally in a reception standby mode. Then, as described below, in the reception standby mode, when the wireless communication unit 202 receives a request for communication with a vehicle, it operates under the control of the terminal communication control processing unit 217 to perform wireless communication through a wireless communication path generated with the mobile terminal 1 that issued the request for communication with the vehicle. The details of the terminal communication control processing unit 217 will be described later.

Under the control of the control unit 201, the motor drive control unit 203 controls the supply of a drive signal to the motor drive unit 221 of the automobile 2, which is an electric vehicle of this embodiment, to control the start of travel of the automobile 2, travel speed control (including brake control and accelerator control), travel stop, etc.

The steering drive control unit 204, under the control of the control unit 201, controls the supply of a drive control signal to the steering drive unit 222 of the automobile 2 in this embodiment, thereby controlling the course change of the automobile 2.

The driving mode switching control unit 205 controls switching of the driving mode of the automobile 2 between a manual driving mode and a normal automatic driving mode in response to a selection operation input via the touch panel 212. The driving mode switching control unit 205 also performs processing to switch to a forced automatic driving mode and processing to cancel the forced automatic driving mode in response to a control instruction from the terminal communication control processing unit 217.

The manual driving operation detection unit 223 receives operation information of the accelerator pedal operation, brake pedal operation, shift lever operation, and steering operation by the driver, and supplies the manual driving operation information to the driving mode switching control unit 205.

When the automobile 2 is in manual driving mode, the driving mode switching control unit 205 supplies the manual driving operation information from the manual driving operation detection unit 223 to the motor driving control unit 203 and the steering driving control unit 204, and controls the motor driving unit 221 and the steering driving unit 222 according to the driver's pedal operation, shift lever operation, and steering operation (handle operation).

When the automobile 2 is in the normal automatic driving mode or the forced automatic driving mode, the driving mode switching control unit 205 supplies automatic driving operation information generated by the control unit 201 based on the outputs of the radar group 206, the camera group 207, the sensor group 208, and the surrounding situation grasping unit 209 to the motor driving control unit 203 and the steering driving control unit 204, as described below, and controls the driving of the motor driving unit 221 and the steering driving unit 222 by the automatic driving operation information. Note that in the automatic driving mode and the forced automatic driving mode, the car navigation function unit 213 searches for a route from the current position to a destination (destination) set by the driver or the like, and controls the automobile to travel along the searched route.

In the case of a fully autonomous vehicle that does not have a manual driving mode but only has an autonomous driving mode, the driving mode switching control unit 205 does not of course have a function for switching between the manual driving mode and the normal autonomous driving mode, nor does it have a manual driving operation detection unit 223. In addition, it is not necessary to have an accelerator pedal, brake pedal, shift lever, steering wheel (handle), etc., which are necessary for manual driving operation. However, to ensure safety, it is possible to have a brake pedal (brake button, or touch panel input or voice input corresponding to braking) and to allow only braking to be handled manually.

The radar group 206 is used to measure the distance to people and objects around the vehicle 2, and consists of laser radar (lidar) and millimeter wave radar. The laser radar is embedded, for example, in the ceiling or near the bumper, and the millimeter wave radar is provided, for example, at the front and rear of the vehicle. The vehicle may be equipped with both laser radar and millimeter wave radar, or only one of them. Other radars, such as submillimeter wave radar and microwave radar, may also be used. Furthermore, sonar (not shown) using sound waves or ultrasonic waves may be used for the same purpose as radar.

The camera group 207 corresponds to the camera group 207 in the first embodiment, and includes one or more cameras that capture images of the interior of the automobile 2, and one or more cameras that capture images of the surroundings outside the automobile 2, such as the front, sides, and rear of the automobile 2.

The sensor group 208 includes an opening/closing detection sensor that detects the opening/closing of doors and windows, a sensor that detects whether a seat belt is fastened, a seating sensor that detects whether a passenger is seated in a seat such as the driver's seat or the passenger seat, a human presence sensor (infrared sensor) that detects a person nearby outside the vehicle, and various sensors for acquiring information that assists in automatic driving. Examples of the various sensors for acquiring information that assists in automatic driving include a vibration sensor that detects vibrations of the vehicle and tires, a rotation speed sensor that detects the number of tire rotations, a geomagnetic sensor that detects direction, an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration, a gyro sensor (gyroscope) that detects angles and angular velocities, and the like. In this embodiment, the sensor group 208 also includes sensors that detect the flashing of right and left turn signals (directional indicators) and hazard lights (emergency flashing lights), and the lighting of backlights and brake lights.

The surrounding situation grasping unit 209 grasps the surrounding environment such as moving objects (including people) around the vehicle, the number of lanes on the road, the lane the vehicle is traveling in, uphill and downhill slopes, etc., using images captured by the radar group 206, the sensor group 208, and the camera group 207. The surrounding situation grasping unit 209 grasps surrounding obstacles and moving objects by performing processing based on Bayes' theory, for example. The information on the surrounding environment, surrounding obstacles and moving objects grasped by the surrounding situation grasping unit 209 is used by the terminal communication control processing unit 217 and the behavior control unit 218, which will be described later, to determine behavior that complies with traffic laws and ensures safety.

In addition, in this embodiment, the surrounding situation recognition unit 209 has a function of recognizing traffic signs and traffic symbols from images of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera group 207. The traffic signs and traffic symbols recognized by the surrounding situation recognition unit 209 are used by the behavior control unit 218, which will be described later, to behave in accordance with traffic laws and regulations.

The current position detection unit 210 receives radio waves from GPS satellites and detects the current position of the vehicle. In order to further improve the accuracy of the position detected by radio waves from GPS satellites, the current position detection unit 210 uses not only the current position information detected by receiving radio waves from GPS satellites, but also images captured by one or more sensors included in the sensor group 208, the radar group 206, and the camera group 207 (also using navigation functions), and performs processing based on Bayes' theory, for example, to detect and confirm the current position with higher accuracy.

In the normal autonomous driving mode and the forced autonomous driving mode, the current position detection unit 210 and the surrounding situation grasping unit 209 process various information such as the radar group 206, the camera group 207, the sensor group 208, and position information obtained by receiving radio waves from GPS satellites, that is, information corresponding to information obtained from human eyes and ears, using Bayes' theory or the like, and based on this, the control unit 201 performs intelligent information processing (AI (artificial intelligence)) and control (AI (artificial intelligence)) such as changing the course of the vehicle and avoiding obstacles, to generate autonomous driving operation information. Then, based on the generated autonomous driving operation information, the motor drive control unit 203 drives the motor drive unit 221, and the steering drive control unit 204 drives the steering drive unit 222, thereby performing autonomous movement control. Therefore, in this embodiment, the autonomous movement control means is composed of a control unit 201, a radar group 206, a camera group 207, a sensor group 208, a surrounding situation grasping unit 209, a current position detection unit 210, a motor drive control unit 203, a motor drive unit 221, a steering drive control unit 204, a steering drive unit 222, and a car navigation function unit 213 described below.

The display unit 211 is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). The touch panel 212 is a touch sensor that allows touch input with a finger and is superimposed on the display screen of the display unit 211 made of an LCD. A display image including software buttons (including character input buttons of a keyboard) is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 211 under the control of the control unit 201. When the touch panel 212 detects a touch with a finger on a software button displayed on the display screen, it transmits the touch to the control unit 201. The control unit 201 is configured to execute a control process corresponding to the software button. The software buttons may be handled by using a separate keyboard or the like.

Domestic maps and route guidance data are stored in advance in the car navigation database 224 connected to the car navigation function unit 213. The car navigation function unit 213 is a function unit for providing guidance to assist the automobile 2 in moving to a specified destination based on the maps and route guidance data stored in the car navigation database 224. The car navigation function unit 213 performs a route search based on the departure point, intermediate points, destination, and search conditions set and input by the user (driver or passenger), creates route guidance data, and executes route guidance processing using this route guidance data. In this embodiment, the car navigation function unit 213 is configured to perform slightly different route guidance processing between the manual driving mode and the automatic driving mode (normal automatic driving mode and forced automatic driving mode).

In other words, in manual driving mode, the car navigation function unit 213 displays an image on the display screen of the display unit 211 in which the vehicle's position detected and confirmed by the current position detection unit 210 is superimposed on a map that explicitly shows the route to the destination, and also moves the vehicle's position (current position) on the map as the vehicle moves, and provides voice guidance at points where route guidance is necessary, such as intersections and branching points on the route. This is the same as a normal car navigation function.

On the other hand, in the autonomous driving modes (normal autonomous driving mode and forced autonomous driving mode), when the vehicle's current position is away from the route to the destination, the car navigation function unit 213 notifies the behavior control unit 218 (described later) of information on the direction and distance of the departure, and when the vehicle's current position is on the route to the destination, the car navigation function unit 213 notifies the behavior control unit 218 of information instructing the vehicle to change the course direction along the route before an intersection or branch point on the route as the vehicle moves.

Under the control of the control unit 201, the behavior control unit 218 controls the motor drive unit 221 via the motor drive control unit 203 so that the vehicle moves along the route as instructed, based on the information notified from the car navigation function unit 213, the current position confirmation result of the current position detection unit 210, and the recognition result of the surrounding situation recognition unit 209, and generates automatic driving operation information for controlling the steering drive unit 222 via the steering drive control unit 204. Therefore, even when there are no passengers, the car 2 can move to the destination thanks to route guidance to the destination by the car navigation function unit 213 and the control unit 201 in the automatic driving mode (normal automatic driving mode and forced automatic driving mode).

In addition, in this embodiment, in the autonomous driving modes (normal autonomous driving mode and forced autonomous driving mode), the car navigation function unit 213 also includes indicator control information in the route guidance data regarding the locations where the turn signals are to be blinked when turning right or left, and the hazard lights are to be blinked during an emergency stop, etc., and the indicators to be blinked (whether the left indicator, the right indicator, or both). Based on the indicator control information included in the route guidance data, the behavior control unit 218 executes the blinking control of the indicated indicator at the location where the current position becomes the indicator control point.

The indicator control information is not limited to information on points where flashing etc. will occur and indicators to flash, but may be information on points where lighting etc. will occur and indicators to light. For example, indicator control information on points where backlights (back-up lights) will be turned on (white light) when backing up, or brake lights (red light) when braking, and information on indicators to light (backlights, brake lights, or both) can also be included in the route guidance data. As in the case of flashing control, the behavior control unit 218 executes lighting control of the indicated indicator at the position where the current position becomes the indicator control point, based on the indicator control information included in this route guidance data.

The vehicle information storage unit 214 stores vehicle information consisting of mode information including information on whether the vehicle has an automatic driving mode (normal automatic driving mode and forced automatic driving mode) and vehicle identification information for visually identifying the vehicle and distinguishing it from other vehicles. This vehicle information is input and stored by an operator at the manufacturing plant of the automobile 2. In addition, when the automobile 2 is sold, the vehicle information is input and stored by a seller at a dealer or other sales outlet. Of course, the vehicle information may be input by an operator or seller directly or by downloading the information from a predetermined server of an automobile company or the like. Furthermore, when the vehicle information is input after the sale of the automobile 2, it is input and stored by the owner or user of the automobile 2, or by an administrator or management company.

In this example, the mode information stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214 includes information on whether the vehicle is a manual specification vehicle or an automatic driving vehicle with an automatic driving mode, and if it is an automatic driving vehicle, information on which type of vehicle it is among multiple types such as a type that can switch between manual driving mode and automatic driving mode, a type with a forced automatic driving mode, a type with only automatic driving mode, and a type that can be driven unmanned. In addition, if it is possible to specify the source and the level of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) installed and used in the automatic driving vehicle, such as the developer and version, such information may be included as the vehicle information. In addition, in the case of AI, since it generally evolves through learning and improves safety and driving performance, etc., there is a high correlation between the driving time and driving distance and the safety and driving performance that depend on AI, so the driving time and driving distance may be included as the vehicle information. In addition, AI may be installed in hardware such as an LSI or in software. Furthermore, information on the manufacturers and performance of the radars, cameras, and sensors used in the radar group 206, camera group 207, and sensor group 208 may be included as vehicle information.

Needless to say, the identification information stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214 for visually identifying the vehicle 2 and distinguishing it from other vehicles may include not only information different from other vehicles, but also information on the specifications of the vehicle 2. Examples of vehicle information stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214 include the country code (which country the vehicle is from), manufacturer (automobile company), vehicle model, vehicle name, body color, engine displacement, drive system (gasoline vehicle, PHV (Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle), EV (Electric Vehicle), fuel cell vehicle, etc.), whether or not the vehicle has an autonomous driving mode, number of passengers, license plate number, whether the vehicle is a general vehicle or a special vehicle (ambulance, fire engine, police car, taxi, bus, etc.), and other manufacturer options (which can be freely set by the manufacturer).

In this embodiment, the driver's attribute information, such as gender, age, nationality, and driving history, is registered (input) by the driver, and stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214 in association with the driver's identification information. In this example, the driver's face image information is used as the driver's identification information. In this embodiment, the control unit 201 of the automobile 2 captures a face image of the driver using a camera that captures the driver's seat among the camera group 207, and compares the face image, which is the driver's identification information stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214, to recognize which of the drivers stored in the vehicle information storage unit 214 is sitting in the driver's seat. Of course, if the vehicle is a fully autonomous vehicle, unmanned driving is possible, so there is no driver and no driver attribute information is required.

The driving speed and direction detection unit 215 detects the driving speed of the automobile 2 from the sensor output of the speed sensor in the sensor group 208, or from the change in the current position detected by the current position detection unit 210 during the time change from the clock unit 216, and also detects the driving direction of the automobile 2 from the sensor output of the acceleration sensor, gyro sensor, and orientation sensor in the sensor group 208.

The clock unit 216 generates time information of year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. The time information is used for the driving speed and direction detection unit 215 to detect the driving speed. The time information is also used when determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in the behavior plan when a request for vehicle communication is made from the mobile terminal 1, taking into consideration the current position of the wearer 3, the position of the vehicle, the walking speed and direction of the wearer 3 or the bicycle, and the vehicle's moving speed and direction.

The terminal communication control processing unit 217 uses the wireless communication unit 202 in this embodiment to control the reception standby operation and the operation upon receiving a request for communication with the vehicle from the mobile terminal 1. The terminal communication control processing unit 217 will be described in detail later.

The behavior control unit 218 controls the execution of the behavior of the vehicle in the autonomous driving mode. That is, in the autonomous driving mode, the vehicle 2 in this embodiment travels while executing the behavior that should be performed at the current position detected by the current position detection unit 210, according to route guidance information to the destination determined by a route search by the car navigation function unit 213. The behavior control unit 218 is a functional unit that determines the behavior that the vehicle 2 should perform at the current position detected by the current position detection unit 210, based on the route guidance information, and controls the execution of that behavior.

Furthermore, in the automobile 2 of this embodiment, when the behavior to be performed at that time is determined by the terminal communication control processing unit 217 as described below, the behavior control unit 218 controls the execution of the determined behavior as a priority.

The audio input/output unit 219 takes in the audio signal of the surrounding sounds picked up by the microphone 225, and supplies the audio signal for notifying the driver, etc. to the speaker 226 to emit the sound. In this embodiment, the surrounding sounds picked up by the microphone 225, such as the sound of the siren of an emergency vehicle (ambulance, fire engine, police car, etc.), are used when determining the behavior in the terminal communication control processing unit 217 and the behavior control unit 218, and in this case too, the behavior is determined to give priority to the driving of the emergency vehicle. In this embodiment, the necessary message audio signal to notify the driver is generated by the control unit 201, the terminal communication control processing unit 217, etc., and the message audio signal is emitted through the speaker 226.

The electronic control circuit section 20 of the automobile 2 is configured as described above, but among the processing blocks shown in FIG. 4, the processing functions of the motor drive control section 203, steering drive control section 204, driving mode switching control section 205, surrounding situation grasping section 209, current position detection section 210, car navigation function section 213, driving speed and direction detection section 215, terminal communication control processing section 217, and behavior control section 218 can be realized as software processing performed by the control section 201 executing a program.

[Example of the configuration of the terminal communication control processing unit 217]
5 is a functional block diagram for explaining the processing functions of the terminal communication control processing unit 217. That is, in this embodiment, the terminal communication control processing unit 217 is configured to include, as functional units, a communication request reception monitoring unit 2171, a communication path generation management unit 2172, a received information analysis unit 2173, a behavior determination unit 2174, a reply information generation and transmission unit 2175, and a confirmation notification reception confirmation unit 2176.

The communication request reception monitoring unit 2171 constantly monitors the reception of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request from the mobile terminal 1, and when it confirms the reception of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, it notifies the communication path generation management unit 2172 of the reception confirmation together with information about the driving mode of the vehicle at that time.

The communication path generation and management unit 2172 generates and manages a wireless communication path between the mobile terminal 1 while taking into account the driving mode of the vehicle.

The received information analysis unit 2173 analyzes the information sent from the mobile terminal 1 through the generated wireless communication path, and recognizes the current location of the mobile terminal 1's carrier 3, whether the person is walking or cycling, the planned behavior that is about to be executed, and so on, and transmits this information to the behavior determination unit 2174.

The behavior determination unit 2174 determines whether the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule that the carrier 3 of the mobile terminal 1 is about to execute, and if it determines that the vehicle is not involved, notifies the communication path generation management unit 2172 of that effect. The communication path generation management unit 2172 notifies the mobile terminal 1 via the wireless communication path that the vehicle is not involved in the behavior schedule that the carrier 3 is about to execute, and disconnects the wireless communication path.

When the behavior determination unit 2174 determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior plan that the carrier 3 of the mobile terminal 1 is about to execute, it determines whether the vehicle is in manual driving mode and whether the driver has refused to switch to automatic driving mode, and if it determines that refusal has been made, it transmits this fact to the reply information generation and transmission unit 2175.

At this time, the reply information generation and transmission unit 2175 notifies the mobile terminal 1 via the wireless communication path that it is not possible to perform a behavior that corresponds to the behavior schedule of the mobile terminal 1, and transmits information on the current position of the vehicle, information on the driving speed and driving direction, identification information for making the vehicle visible, and driver attribute information to the mobile terminal 1 via the wireless communication path. After this transmission, the reply information generation and transmission unit 2175 then transmits a communication path connection request to the communication path generation management unit 2172. In response to this communication path connection request, the communication path generation management unit 2172 disconnects the wireless communication path with the mobile terminal 1.

When the behavior determination unit 2174 determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior plan that the carrier 3 of the mobile terminal 1 is about to execute, if the vehicle is in manual driving mode and the driver has permitted switching to automatic driving mode, or if the vehicle is in automatic driving mode when a request for vehicle communication is received from the mobile terminal 1, the behavior determination unit 2174 switches the vehicle to forced automatic driving mode and determines a behavior that prioritizes the carrier 3's behavior plan, and causes the behavior control unit 218 to execute the determined behavior, while transmitting information on the determined behavior to the reply information generation and transmission unit 2175.

At this time, the reply information generating and transmitting unit 2175 transmits to the mobile terminal 1 via a wireless communication path information on behavior that prioritizes the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 determined by the behavior determining unit 2174, information on the current position of the vehicle, information on the traveling speed and traveling direction, and identification information for enabling the vehicle to be identified by visual inspection.

After the reply information generating and transmitting unit 2175 transmits to the mobile terminal 1 information on behavior that prioritizes the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 determined by the behavior determining unit 2174, information on the current position of the vehicle, information on the traveling speed and traveling direction, and identification information for enabling the vehicle to be identified by visual inspection, the confirmation communication reception confirmation unit 2176 checks whether a confirmation notification regarding the behavior of the vehicle sent from the mobile terminal 1 has been received, and if so, transfers the confirmation notification to the behavior control unit 218 to reliably urge the determined behavior to be executed.

[Example of processing operations of mobile terminal 1 and car 2]
Figures 6 to 9 are flowcharts showing an example of the flow of processing operations of the mobile terminal 1 in this embodiment. Also, Figures 10 to 12 are flowcharts showing an example of the flow of processing operations of the automobile 2 in the embodiment described above. Below, examples of the flow of processing operations of the mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2 will be described with reference to these flowcharts.

In the following description, the control unit 101 of the mobile terminal 1 will be described as implementing the processing functions of the voice input/output unit 103, display control unit 104, current position detection unit 106, vehicle communication control processing unit 109, route search and guidance unit 111, and voice recognition unit 112, among the processing blocks shown in FIG. 2, as software processing by executing a program. Also, in the automobile 2, the control unit 201 will be described as implementing the processing functions of the motor drive control unit 203, steering drive control unit 204, driving mode switching control unit 205, surrounding situation recognition unit 209, current position detection unit 210, car navigation function unit 213, driving speed and direction detection unit 215, device communication control processing unit 217, and behavior control unit 218, among the processing blocks shown in FIG. 4, as software processing by executing a program.

<Example of Processing Operation of Mobile Terminal 1>
6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the overall flow of processing operations mainly executed by the vehicle communication control processing unit 109 of the mobile terminal 1. As mentioned above, in the following explanation, the execution subject of each step will be explained as the control unit 101 of the mobile terminal 1. Note that in the example explained below, the mobile terminal 1 will be explained as being compatible with pedestrian navigation and bicycle navigation, but it goes without saying that it can also be configured to be compatible with the wheelchair navigation mentioned above.

The control unit 101 determines whether pedestrian guidance navigation (hereinafter, navigation will be abbreviated to navigation) is in operation on the mobile terminal 1 (step S101). If it is determined that pedestrian guidance navigation is not in operation, the control unit 101 determines whether bicycle navigation is in operation (step S102). If it is determined in step S102 that bicycle navigation is not in operation, the control unit 101 determines whether the carrier 3 has input a request for communication with a vehicle through the operation input unit 124 (step S103). Then, if it is determined in step S103 that a request for communication with a vehicle has not been input, the control unit 101 returns the process to step S101 and repeats steps S101 and onward.

If it is determined in step S101 that the pedestrian guidance navigation is operating, the control unit 101 detects the current position (step S104) and determines whether the detected current position is the transmission trigger position for a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request set in the pedestrian guidance navigation (step S105). If it is determined in step S105 that the current position is not the transmission trigger position for a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, the control unit 101 returns the process to step S101 and repeats the processes from step S101 onwards.

Also, when it is determined in step S105 that it is the trigger position for transmitting a request for communication with a vehicle, the control unit 101 executes a process for communication with a vehicle, an example of which is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 (step S108), and when it has confirmed that the process has ended (step S109), it returns the process to step S101 and repeats the process from step S101 onwards.

If it is determined in step S102 that the bicycle navigation system is operating, the control unit 101 detects the current location (step S106) and determines whether the detected current location is the transmission trigger location for a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request set in the bicycle navigation system (step S107). If it is determined in step S107 that the current location is not the transmission trigger location for a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, the control unit 101 returns the process to step S101 and repeats the processes from step S101 onwards.

Also, when it is determined in step S107 that it is the trigger position for transmitting a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, the control unit 101 executes vehicle-to-vehicle communication processing, the flow of which is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 (described later) (step S108), and when it is confirmed that the processing has ended (step S109), it returns the processing to step S101 and repeats the processing from step S101 onward.

If the mobile terminal 1 is also compatible with wheelchair navigation, it detects the current location, determines whether the detected current location is the trigger location for sending a request for communication with a vehicle set in the wheelchair navigation, and performs the same processing as in the pedestrian navigation and bicycle navigation described above depending on the result of the determination.

Furthermore, when it is determined in step S103 that an input operation for a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request has been performed, the control unit 101 executes a vehicle-to-vehicle communication process, the flow of which is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 (described later) (step S108), and when it is confirmed that the process has ended (step S109), the process returns to step S101, and the processes from step S101 onward are repeated.

Next, an example of the process flow for vehicle-to-vehicle communication processing in step S108 of FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

The control unit 101 sends a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request through the vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication unit 108 (step S111), and determines whether or not a response to the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request has been received from the vehicle (step S112). If it is determined in step S112 that a response has not been received from the vehicle, the control unit 101 does not generate a wireless communication path, and displays on the display screen of the display unit 123 that there are no vehicles available for communication, and notifies by voice through the speaker 122 (step S113). Of course, the notification that there are no vehicles available for communication may be made by not displaying on the display screen of the display unit 123. The control unit 101 then ends this processing routine.

When it is determined in step S112 that response information has been received from a vehicle, the control unit 101 generates a wireless communication path between the vehicle that responded (hereinafter referred to as the responding vehicle) (step S114). The control unit 101 then generates transmission information including the current location information of the mobile terminal 1, information on whether the mobile terminal 1 is walking or cycling, and information on the planned behavior of the carrier 3, and transmits this information to the responding vehicle through the wireless communication path (step S115). At this time, the transmission information generated in step S115 may also include information on the carrier 3's walking speed, wheelchair movement speed, or bicycle movement speed, as well as information on the movement direction, as described above.

The control unit 101 then receives the reply information from the responding vehicle and analyzes the contents of the reply information (step S116). The control unit 101 then determines whether the responding vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier 3 (step S117), and if it determines that the responding vehicle is not involved, disconnects the wireless communication path created in step S114 (step S121 in FIG. 8). The control unit 101 then resends the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request (step S122), and determines whether it has received reply information from the vehicle (step S123), and if it determines that it has received reply information, returns the process to step S114 in FIG. 7 and repeats the processes from step S114 onwards.

Furthermore, if it is determined in step S123 that no response information has been received from a vehicle, the display unit 123 displays on its display screen that there is no vehicle 2 that corresponds to the behavioral schedule of the carrier 3, and notifies the user by voice through the speaker 122 (step S124). Of course, the display unit 123 may notify the user that there is no vehicle with which communication is possible by not displaying this on its display screen. The control unit 101 then ends this processing routine.

In addition, when it is determined in step S117 that the responding vehicle is involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier 3, the control unit 101 determines whether the responding vehicle will behave in a manner that corresponds to the behavioral plans of the carrier 3 (step S118).

If it is determined in step S118 that the responding vehicle will not behave in accordance with the behavior schedule of the carrier 3, the control unit 101 displays on the display screen of the display unit 123 that the responding vehicle will not behave in accordance with the behavior schedule of the carrier 3, and notifies the carrier 3 by voice through the speaker 122 (step S119). That is, in step S119, even if the responding vehicle does not behave in accordance with the behavior schedule of the carrier 3, the response information from the responding vehicle includes the current position information of the responding vehicle, the identification information of the responding vehicle, the attribute information of the driver, and the driving speed and driving direction information, so that the control unit 101 displays the position and movement of the responding vehicle on the map that displays its own position based on the information, and notifies the identification information to the carrier 3 on the display screen and/or through the speaker 122.

As a result, the user 3 is aware of the existence of a vehicle involved in his/her behavior schedule, even if the vehicle does not prioritize the behavior schedule he/she is trying to execute, and can learn where the vehicle is currently located, what type of vehicle it is, and what attributes the driver has, so he/she can execute his/her behavior schedule while keeping an eye on the vehicle.

Of course, the reply information from the responding vehicle can also include information on whether the responding vehicle is an emergency vehicle (ambulance, fire engine, police car, etc.). If the responding vehicle is an emergency vehicle, this is notified to the wearer 3 on the display screen and/or through the speaker 122, allowing the wearer 3 to prioritize the movement of the emergency vehicle over the behavior plan that he or she is about to execute, and to execute his or her own behavior plan after the emergency vehicle has passed.

After step S119, the control unit 101 advances the process to step S121 in FIG. 8, disconnects the wireless communication path, and then in step S122, resends the request for communication with the vehicle, repeating the process (the process from step S122 onward) to enable a response from a vehicle that will behave in accordance with the behavior plan of the carrier 3. Note that, because the wireless communication path is disconnected, the current position of the responding vehicle is no longer transmitted, but since the traveling speed and traveling direction are transmitted, the moving position according to the traveling speed and traveling direction can be calculated from the last current position, and the vehicle can continue to be displayed on the map.

Also, when it is determined in step S118 that the responding vehicle will behave in accordance with the behavior schedule of the carrier 3, the control unit 101 displays the behavior that the responding vehicle is scheduled to perform in accordance with the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 on the display screen of the display unit 123, notifies the carrier 3 by voice through the speaker 122, and displays the information of the responding vehicle on the display screen and notifies the carrier 3 by voice through the speaker 122 (step S120). The reply information from the responding vehicle includes the current position information of the responding vehicle, the identification information of the responding vehicle, the attribute information of the driver, and the driving speed and driving direction information. Therefore, in this step S120, the control unit 101 displays the position and movement of the responding vehicle on the map that displays its own position based on the information, and notifies the identification information to the carrier 3 on the display screen and/or through the speaker 122.

This allows the user 3 to know the existence of a vehicle whose behavior will give priority to the behavior schedule that the user is trying to execute, as well as where that vehicle is currently located, what type of vehicle it is, and how it will behave, allowing the user to safely execute his or her behavior schedule while keeping an eye on the vehicle.

After completing the notification to the carrier 3 in step S120, the control unit 101 transmits a confirmation notification to the responding vehicle (step S131 in FIG. 9). As described above, this confirmation notification may be sent after the carrier 3 confirms the notification to the carrier 3.

Next, the control unit 101 determines whether the carrier 3's behavior schedule has been completed (step S132). The completion of the carrier 3's behavior schedule is determined by whether the carrier 3 has passed through the location where the behavior schedule is performed or a specified area. If it is determined in step S132 that the carrier 3's behavior schedule has not been completed, the control unit 101 updates the location of the mobile terminal 1 and the location of the responding vehicle 2 displayed on the display screen of the display unit 123 based on the information on the current location of the mobile terminal 1 detected by the current location detection unit 106 and the information on the current location of the responding vehicle 2 received through the vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication unit 108 (step S133). The control unit 101 then returns the process to step S132 and repeats the processes from step S132 onwards.

When it is determined in step S132 that the execution of the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 has ended, the control unit 101 transmits a notification of the end of the behavior of the carrier to the responding vehicle through the wireless communication path (step S134). Then, the control unit 101 disconnects the wireless communication path with the responding vehicle (step S135) and ends this processing routine.

[Example of processing operation of automobile 2]
10 to 12 are flowcharts showing an example of the flow of processing operations mainly executed by the terminal communication control processing unit 217 of the automobile 2 in this embodiment. As described above, in the following explanation, each step will be executed by the control unit 201 of the electronic control circuit unit 20 of the automobile 2.

The control unit 201 determines whether or not a request for communication with the vehicle has been received from the mobile terminal 1 (step S201), and if it determines that no reception has been detected, executes other processing (step S202), and after completing that processing, returns the processing to step S201 and repeats the processing from step S201 onwards.

When it is determined in step S201 that a request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication has been received from the mobile terminal 1, the control unit 201 sends response information to the request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication to the mobile terminal 1 that sent the request for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and creates a communication path between the mobile terminal 1 and the mobile terminal 1 (step S203).

After step S203, the control unit 201 receives and analyzes the behavior plan information of the carrier 3 from the mobile terminal 1 (step S204). Then, the control unit 201 determines from the analysis result whether the behavior plan of the carrier 3 indicated in the behavior plan information from the mobile terminal 1 is involved in (affects) the behavior of the vehicle (step S205).

When it is determined in step S205 that the behavior plan of the carrier 3 indicated in the behavior plan information does not affect (have no influence on) the behavior of the vehicle, the control unit 201 transmits to the mobile terminal 1 a message indicating that the behavior plan of the carrier 3 does not affect (has no influence on) the behavior of the vehicle (step S206), and then disconnects the wireless communication path (step S207), and ends this processing routine.

When it is determined in step S205 that the behavior plan of the user 3 indicated in the behavior plan information is related to (affects) the behavior of the vehicle, the control unit 201 determines whether the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle that only has an autonomous driving mode (step S211 in FIG. 11).

When it is determined in step S211 that the vehicle is not an autonomous vehicle that has only an autonomous driving mode, the control unit 201 determines whether or not the vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode (step S212). When it is determined in step S212 that the vehicle is not in the autonomous driving mode, the control unit 201 determines whether or not switching to the autonomous driving mode is permitted (step S213). In step S213, for example, the control unit 201 inquires of the driver, "There is a communication request from the mobile terminal 1. Can I switch to the autonomous driving mode?" and determines whether or not the driver has responded to the inquiry by granting permission to switch to the autonomous driving mode. Note that, if the driver has previously input a setting to the vehicle 2 as to whether or not switching to the autonomous driving mode is permitted, the control unit 201 refers to the setting input to determine whether or not switching to the autonomous driving mode is permitted.

Also, when it is determined in step S213 that switching to the autonomous driving mode is not permitted (the driver refuses to switch), the control unit 201 determines that the behavior corresponding to the behavior plan of the carrier 3 cannot be performed (step S214), and generates reply information including information to that effect, information on the current position of the vehicle, information on the driving speed and driving direction, identification information for making the vehicle visible, and attribute information of the driver, and transmits this to the mobile terminal 1 via the wireless communication path (step S215). Next, the control unit 201 disconnects the wireless communication path (step S216) and ends this processing routine.

When it is determined in step S211 that the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle that has only the autonomous driving mode, when it is determined in step S212 that the vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode, and when it is determined in step S213 that switching to the autonomous driving mode is permitted, the control unit 201 switches the vehicle to the forced autonomous driving mode and notifies the driver of this through the speaker 226 (FIG. 12, step S221).

The control unit 201 then determines the behavior of the vehicle that corresponds to the user's planned behavior (step S222), generates reply information including information on the determined behavior of the vehicle (including information on the behavior to be executed in forced automatic driving mode), information on the current position of the vehicle, information on the driving speed and direction, and identification information to make the vehicle visible, and sends the reply information to the mobile terminal 1 that issued the request for vehicle-to-car communication (step S223).

Then, the control unit 201 waits to receive a confirmation notification from the mobile terminal 1 (step S224), and when it determines that a confirmation notification has been received, it notifies the behavior control unit 218 to execute the determined behavior of the vehicle (step S225).

Next, the control unit 201 waits to receive a notification of the end of behavior execution from the mobile terminal 1 (step S226), and when it determines that the notification of the end of execution has been received, it disconnects the wireless communication path with the mobile terminal 1 (step S227). Then, the control unit 201 releases the prohibition on switching to the manual driving mode (step S228), and notifies the driver of the end of behavior processing via communication with the terminal through the display screen of the display unit 211 and by sound output from the speaker 226 (step S229). Then, the control unit 201 ends this processing routine.

[Other examples of communication control]
In the above-described embodiment, the mobile terminal 1 and the automobile 2 communicate one-to-one, but by doing the following, it is also possible for the mobile terminal 1 to obtain reply information from multiple automobiles 2 in response to a request for automobile communication from the mobile terminal 1.

That is, in this example, mobile terminal 1 sends out a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request by broadcast or multicast, and when the transmission is complete, it waits for access of reply information from vehicle 2. In this case, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request includes the current location information of mobile terminal 1 and information on the carrier's behavior plans. When vehicle 2 receives this vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, it determines whether its own vehicle is involved in the carrier's behavior plans, and if it determines that it is involved, it generates reply information and transmits the reply information to mobile terminal 1 until mobile terminal 1 retrieves it.

The mobile terminal 1 notifies the carrier 3 of each reply information sent from the vehicle in response to the vehicle communication request. In this case, the map displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal 1 shows the location of each vehicle that sent the reply information together with its identification information.

In this way, the mobile terminal 1 can receive reply information from all of the vehicles involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier 3 included in the vehicle communication request, and notify the carrier 3 of the behavior of each vehicle.

In the above embodiment, only the positions of cars that can communicate wirelessly with the mobile terminal 1 are displayed on the map, but by doing the following, it is possible to notify the carrier 3 of the positions of cars that do not have wireless communication capabilities with the mobile terminal 1, including their characteristics (attributes).

That is, the reply information from the automobile in response to the automobile communication request from the mobile terminal 1 includes images of the surroundings in front, behind, left and right of the automobile captured by the automobile's cameras and is sent to the mobile terminal 1. The mobile terminal 1 analyzes the received captured images, recognizes the automobile contained in the captured images, and estimates the position of the recognized automobile from the current position and traveling direction of the automobile that sent the captured images. In this case, if there are multiple automobiles capable of wireless communication, the mobile terminal 1 can more accurately detect the position of automobiles that do not have wireless communication capabilities by using the recognition results of the captured images from the multiple automobiles and the current positions and traveling direction of the automobiles that sent the captured images.

The mobile terminal 1 displays the detected location of the vehicle without wireless communication capability on a map in addition to the vehicle 2, allowing the carrier 3 to carry out his/her planned behavior while understanding the traffic conditions around him/her.

[Example of vehicle behavior based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication requests in response to a carrier's behavior schedule]
In the following description, for the sake of convenience, it is assumed that all of the vehicles have the terminal communication control processor 217 of the embodiment. Note that the mobile terminal 1 of the embodiment cannot communicate with a vehicle that does not have the terminal communication control processor 217, so that such a vehicle is excluded from the target vehicles that determine behavior in accordance with the carrier's behavior schedule.

In the example of FIG. 13, a user 3 carrying a mobile terminal 1 is walking along the right side of a road 7 and is scheduled to continue straight across a side road 6 ahead of him in his direction of travel. In the example of FIG. 13, there are three cars 2A, 2B, and 2C traveling on the road 7 in the same direction as the user 3.

In this case, when a vehicle communication request is sent from the mobile terminal 1 held by the carrier 3 at a specified position just before the side road 6, all three vehicles 2A, 2B, and 2C can receive the vehicle communication request and each responds to generate a wireless communication path. However, since vehicle 2A is traveling at a position where it has already passed the side road 6, it is not involved in the carrier 3's behavior plan to cross the side road 6, so it sends a notification to that effect to the mobile terminal 1 and disconnects the wireless communication path. Also, vehicle 2C, which is traveling on the passing lane side of the two-lane road 7, plans to pass the side road 6 and continue straight ahead, so it is similarly not involved in the carrier 3's behavior plan to cross the side road 6. Therefore, vehicle 2C also sends a notification to the mobile terminal 1 that it is not involved in the carrier 3's behavior plan to cross the side road 6, and disconnects the wireless communication path.

In this example, automobile 2B plans to turn left from road 7 onto side road 6. Therefore, automobile 2B determines that it is involved in the behavioral plans of carrier 3, and in this example, decides to behave in a forced automatic driving mode so as to give priority to carrier 3's crossing of side road 6, for example by stopping just before turning left onto side road 6 and waiting until carrier 3 has finished crossing, and replies to that effect, along with its own vehicle's position and information for identifying its own vehicle, to mobile terminal 1.

The mobile terminal 1 then notifies the carrier 3 through the display screen and speaker that the car 2B will behave in a way that prioritizes the carrier 3's behavioral schedule, as well as notifying the carrier 3 of where the car 2B is currently traveling and what visual characteristics the car has. As a result, the carrier 3 carrying the mobile terminal 1 can safely cross the side road 6 while visually recognizing the car 2B and checking its movements and behavior.

The example in Figure 14 shows a case where a user 3 carrying a mobile terminal 1 plans to exit between buildings BL1 and BL2 onto a road 8 with one lane in each direction, and cross the road from left to right as shown in Figure 14. In this example, road 8 has a pedestrian crossing road sign, but no traffic lights. Three cars 2D, 2E, and 2F are traveling in the right lane 8R of road 8, and two cars 2G and 2H are traveling in the left lane 8L.

In the example of Figure 14, the mobile terminal 1 sends out a request for communication with a vehicle, for example by broadcast, and is able to sequentially receive all replies from multiple vehicles 2.

In this case, when a vehicle communication request is sent from the mobile terminal 1 held by the carrier 3 located between buildings BL1 and BL2, all five vehicles 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H can receive the vehicle communication request and each responds by creating a wireless communication path. However, since vehicle 2F is traveling at a position that has already passed the crosswalk, it is not involved in the carrier 3's planned behavior of crossing the crosswalk, so it sends reply information to that effect to the mobile terminal 1 and disconnects the wireless communication path.

In addition, automobile 2E traveling in the right lane 8R of road 8 and automobile 2G traveling in the left lane 8L are involved in the behavior plan of carrier 3 to cross the road, but are too close to the crosswalk and determine that they cannot stop before the crosswalk without braking suddenly. They respond to mobile terminal 1 with reply information to that effect that they cannot take the corresponding behavior that gives priority to carrier 3's behavior plan, and then disconnect the wireless communication path.

Then, automobile 2E traveling in the right lane 8R of road 8 and automobile 2G traveling in the left lane 8L are involved in the behavior plan of carrier 3 to cross the road, and it is determined that they can take corresponding behavior that prioritizes the behavior plan of carrier 3, and they send reply information to that effect to mobile terminal 1, and then disconnect the wireless communication path.

In this example, the mobile terminal 1 acquires reply information from all five automobiles 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H. The received reply information includes the current position, identification information, and information on the traveling speed and direction of each of the automobiles 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H, and the mobile terminal 1 uses this information to display each of the automobiles 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, and 2H on the map on the display screen. Furthermore, the mobile terminal 1 notifies the carrier 3 of the behavior of each automobile in relation to the crossing of the vehicle through the display screen and/or the speaker 122.

Therefore, the carrier 3 can safely execute the planned behavior of crossing the crosswalk that he or she is about to perform while referring to the notification on the display screen of the mobile terminal 1 and the sound emitted from the speaker 122. Of course, this is not limited to the planned behavior of crossing the crosswalk, but can also be applied to the planned behavior of crossing a road without a crosswalk, or to passing through a place where the movement of vehicles is difficult to predict, such as the entrance/exit of a parking lot or a roundabout at a station, and can safely execute any of these planned behaviors that the carrier is about to perform.

[Other embodiments or modifications]
The automobile 2 may be configured to disable the above functions in consideration of cases where, due to an emergency or other reasons, the automobile 2 does not wish to respond to an automobile communication request from the carrier 3. In that case, when the automobile 2 receives a request, it transmits to the portable terminal 1 a message indicating that it cannot respond to the request, and disconnects the communication path.

In the above embodiment, when the automobile receives a request for automobile communication from the mobile terminal 1 and is driving in manual driving mode, the automobile inquires of the driver whether or not to permit switching to automatic driving mode, and if permission is not granted, the automobile does not respond to the automobile communication request. However, if the carrier 3, such as a pedestrian, is a vulnerable person in terms of traffic safety, such as an elderly person, a person accompanied by an infant, a person with a disability, a wheelchair user, an elementary school student, or a child before entering elementary school, the automobile 2 may be configured to always respond to automobile communication requests.

In other words, even when driving in manual driving mode, in response to a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request from such a vulnerable person in terms of road safety, the vehicle is configured to forcibly switch to normal automatic driving mode or forced automatic driving mode without asking the driver, and to take a behavior that prioritizes the behavior plan of the vulnerable person in terms of road safety. In this case, the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request includes information about the vulnerable person as attribute information of the requesting carrier 3, so that the vehicle can confirm it.

In addition, when the automobile receives a vehicle-to-vehicle communication request from a predetermined number of mobile terminals (two or more) within a predetermined short period of time (for example, within 30 seconds), automobile 2 may be configured to forcibly switch to normal automatic driving mode or forced automatic driving mode from a safety standpoint, and respond to the vehicle-to-vehicle communication request, even if the driver has not previously permitted switching to automatic driving mode while the automobile is operating in manual driving mode.

1...Mobile terminal, 2...Automobile, 3...Car carrier, 20...Automobile electronic control circuit section, 106...Current position detection section, 108...Automobile wireless communication section, 109...Automobile communication control processing section, 202...Wireless communication section, 205...Driving mode switching control section, 210...Current position detection section, 217...Terminal communication control processing section, 218...Behavior control section

Claims (39)

A communication system having a mobile terminal and an automobile having a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The mobile terminal includes:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, by broadcast or multicast, to the vehicle, a wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information about a behavior schedule of a user of the terminal;
Equipped with
The vehicle is
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to the wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier based on location information of a current location of the mobile terminal and information on the behavior schedule of the carrier, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the user, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
Equipped with
Furthermore, the mobile terminal
Equipped with a display screen,
a display based on the positions and the identification information of each of the vehicles on the display screen based on the reply information from all of the vehicles that have sent the reply information. The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the automobile continues to transmit the reply information to the mobile terminal until the mobile terminal receives the reply information. The automobile is provided with an autonomous driving mode capable of autonomous driving,
The information regarding the behavior schedule of the vehicle owner includes behavior schedule notification information for notifying the vehicle owner of a behavior schedule that affects the behavior of the vehicle,
When the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior plan of the user notified by the behavior plan notification information, the vehicle determines a behavior of the vehicle that prioritizes the behavior plan of the user in the automatic driving mode, includes the determined behavior of the vehicle in the response information, and transmits the response information to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path,
3. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal notifies the carrier of the behavior of the vehicle corresponding to the behavior schedule contained in the reply information from the vehicle. 4. The communication system according to claim 3, wherein the mobile terminal includes a means for notifying the wearer by vibration, and the vibration pattern corresponds to the behavior of the vehicle. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that when the automobile determines using the involvement determination means that the automobile is not involved in the behavioral plans of the carrier, it notifies the mobile terminal of this fact and disconnects the wireless communication path. the reply information from the vehicle includes information indicating that the vehicle is an emergency vehicle;
6. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal includes a notification unit that notifies the carrier that the automobile that has sent the reply information is an emergency vehicle. 7. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the carrier's planned behavior includes information regarding the carrier while the carrier is walking, traveling in a wheelchair, or riding a bicycle. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the information regarding the behavioral plans of the wearer includes information on the wearer's walking speed, wheelchair movement speed, or bicycle travel speed. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the information regarding the wearer's planned behavior includes information on the direction of movement of the wearer while walking, information on the direction of movement of the wearer while moving in a wheelchair, or information on the direction of movement of the wearer while riding a bicycle. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the automobile has a manual driving mode and the automatic driving mode, and has a switching means for switching the automobile to the automatic driving mode when the automobile receives the wireless communication request from the mobile terminal and the automobile is in the manual driving mode. The communication system according to claim 10, characterized in that, when the automobile receives the wireless communication request from the mobile terminal and is in the manual driving mode, the automobile inquires the driver as to whether or not to allow switching to the automatic driving mode, and even if the automobile does not permit the switching in response to the inquiry, the switching means switches the automobile to the automatic driving mode. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, when there is no automobile that has responded to the wireless communication request by the communication request sending means, the mobile terminal notifies the carrier of the fact that there is no automobile that can accommodate the carrier's planned behavior. The communication system according to claim 12 , wherein the mobile terminal performs the notification by vibration. The mobile terminal includes:
a receiving means for receiving a transmission request operation of the wireless communication request to the vehicle by a carrier of the terminal,
14. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein said communication request sending means sends said wireless communication request to said automobile when said acceptance means accepts said operation for requesting wireless communication. the portable terminal includes a carrier attribute storage unit configured to store, as attribute information of the carrier, information indicating that the carrier is a vulnerable person in terms of traffic safety;
The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the communication request sending means sends the wireless communication request including information indicating that the user is a vulnerable person in terms of traffic safety, which is stored in the user attribute storage unit. The communication system according to claim 15, wherein the vulnerable people in terms of traffic safety include elderly people, people with infants, people with disabilities, wheelchair users, elementary school children, and children before entering elementary school. The mobile terminal includes:
- a navigation means for performing pedestrian, wheelchair and/or bicycle route guidance;
a route guidance execution determination means for determining whether or not the route guidance by the navigation means is being executed;
Equipped with
The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that when the route guidance in progress determination means determines that the route guidance is not in progress, the communication request sending means sends the wireless communication request to the vehicle when the receiving means receives a sending request from the carrier, and when the route guidance is determined to be in progress, the communication request sending means sends the wireless communication request to the vehicle when it determines that the vehicle has arrived at a position or area required for the wireless communication request, which is included in the route guidance data of the navigation means. A vehicle having a mobile terminal and a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The mobile terminal includes:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, by broadcast or multicast, to the vehicle, a wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information about a behavior schedule of a user of the terminal;
A display screen;
and a display based on the position of each of the vehicles and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle is performed on the display screen based on the reply information from all of the vehicles that have sent reply information,
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to the wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier based on location information of a current location of the mobile terminal and information on the behavior schedule of the carrier, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the user, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and the identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
A vehicle comprising: The automobile according to claim 18, characterized in that the automobile continues to transmit the reply information to the mobile terminal until the mobile terminal acquires the reply information. Equipped with an autonomous driving mode that allows autonomous driving,
The information regarding the behavior schedule of the vehicle owner includes behavior schedule notification information for notifying the vehicle owner of a behavior schedule that affects the behavior of the vehicle,
The automobile described in claim 18 or 19, characterized in that when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior plan of the user notified by the behavior plan notification information, the involvement determination means determines a behavior of the vehicle that prioritizes the behavior plan of the user in the autonomous driving mode, includes the determined behavior of the vehicle in the reply information and transmits it to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path, and causes the mobile terminal to notify the user of the behavior of the vehicle that corresponds to the behavior plan included in the reply information from the automobile. The automobile according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is not involved in the behavioral plans of the user, it notifies the mobile terminal of that fact and disconnects the wireless communication path. The automobile according to any one of claims 18 to 21, characterized in that, if the automobile is an emergency vehicle, the reply information includes information indicating that the automobile is an emergency vehicle, and the mobile terminal is caused to notify the carrier that the automobile that sent the reply information is an emergency vehicle. The automobile according to any one of claims 18 to 22, further comprising a manual driving mode and the automatic driving mode, and a switching means for switching the vehicle to the automatic driving mode when the vehicle is in the manual driving mode upon receiving the wireless communication request from the mobile terminal. The vehicle according to claim 23, characterized in that when the wireless communication request is received from the mobile terminal, if the manual driving mode is selected, the driver is inquired as to whether or not to permit switching to the automatic driving mode, and even if the driver does not permit the switching in response to the inquiry, the switching means switches the vehicle to the automatic driving mode. A vehicle having a mobile terminal and a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The vehicle is
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to a wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in a behavior schedule of a user of the mobile terminal based on location information of a current location of the mobile terminal and information on a behavior schedule of the user of the mobile terminal, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the user, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
The mobile terminal in a communication system comprising:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, to the vehicle, the wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information about a behavior schedule of a user of the terminal, by broadcast or multicast;
A display screen;
Equipped with
A portable terminal characterized in that, based on the reply information from all of the vehicles which have transmitted the reply information, a display based on the positions of the respective vehicles and the identifying information is performed on the display screen. The information regarding the behavior schedule of the vehicle owner includes behavior schedule notification information for notifying the vehicle owner of a behavior schedule that affects the behavior of the vehicle,
the automobile is provided with an automatic driving mode capable of autonomous driving, and when the involvement determination means determines that the automobile is involved in the behavior plan of the user notified by the behavior plan notification information, the automobile determines a behavior of the automobile in the automatic driving mode that prioritizes the behavior plan of the user, includes the determined behavior of the automobile in the reply information, and transmits the reply information to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
The mobile terminal according to claim 25, characterized in that the mobile terminal notifies the carrier of the behavior of the vehicle corresponding to the behavior schedule contained in the reply information from the vehicle. 27. The mobile terminal according to claim 26, further comprising a means for notifying the wearer by vibration, the vibration pattern being determined according to the behavior of the vehicle. the reply information from the vehicle includes information indicating that the vehicle is an emergency vehicle;
The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 27, further comprising a notification means for notifying the carrier that the automobile which has sent the reply information is an emergency vehicle. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 28, wherein the information regarding the carrier's planned behavior includes information regarding the carrier while the carrier is walking, moving in a wheelchair, or riding a bicycle. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 29, characterized in that the information regarding the carrier's planned behavior includes information on the carrier's walking speed, wheelchair movement speed, or bicycle travel speed. The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 30, characterized in that the information regarding the wearer's planned behavior includes information on the direction of movement of the wearer while walking, information on the direction of movement while traveling in a wheelchair, or information on the direction of movement while riding a bicycle. A mobile terminal as described in any one of claims 25 to 31, characterized in that, when there is no vehicle that responds to the wireless communication request by the communication request sending means, the mobile terminal notifies the carrier that there is no vehicle that can accommodate the carrier's planned behavior. The mobile terminal according to claim 32, characterized in that the notification is performed by vibration. a receiving means for receiving a transmission request operation of the wireless communication request to the vehicle by a carrier of the terminal,
34. The mobile terminal according to claim 25, wherein said communication request sending means sends said wireless communication request to said automobile when said acceptance means accepts said operation for requesting wireless communication. a carrier attribute storage unit for storing information indicating that the carrier is a vulnerable person in terms of traffic safety as attribute information of the carrier,
The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 34, characterized in that the communication request sending means sends the wireless communication request including information indicating that the user is a vulnerable person in terms of traffic safety, which is stored in the user attribute storage unit. The mobile terminal according to claim 35, characterized in that the vulnerable people in terms of traffic safety include any one of the elderly, people with infants, people with disabilities, wheelchair users, elementary school children, and children before entering elementary school. - a navigation means for performing pedestrian, wheelchair and/or bicycle route guidance;
a route guidance execution determination means for determining whether or not the route guidance by the navigation means is being executed;
Equipped with
The mobile terminal according to any one of claims 25 to 36, characterized in that the communication request sending means sends the wireless communication request to the vehicle when the route guidance execution determination means determines that the route guidance is not being executed and when the reception means accepts a send request from the carrier, and when the route guidance is determined to be executed and when it determines that the vehicle has arrived at a position or area required for the wireless communication request included in the route guidance data of the navigation means, sends a wireless communication request to the vehicle. A vehicle having a mobile terminal and a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The mobile terminal includes:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, by broadcast or multicast, to the vehicle, a wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information about a behavior schedule of a user of the terminal;
A display screen;
a computer provided in the vehicle in the communication system, which displays on the display screen the positions of the vehicles and information for identifying the vehicles based on the response information from all of the vehicles that have sent the response information,
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to the wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier based on location information of the current location of the mobile terminal and information on the behavior schedule of the carrier, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and the identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the carrier;
A program for automobiles to function as. A mobile terminal having a display screen and a vehicle having a function of wirelessly communicating with the mobile terminal,
The vehicle is
a vehicle position detection means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
means for generating a wireless communication path in response to a wireless communication request received from the mobile terminal;
an involvement determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is involved in a behavior schedule of a user of the mobile terminal based on location information of a current location of the mobile terminal and information on a behavior schedule of the user of the mobile terminal, which are included in the received wireless communication request;
a reply means for transmitting, when the involvement determination means determines that the vehicle is involved in the behavior schedule of the user, reply information including location information of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection means and identification information for visually recognizing the vehicle to the mobile terminal via the wireless communication path;
A computer provided in the mobile terminal in a communication system comprising:
A terminal position detection means for detecting a current position of the terminal;
a communication request sending means for sending, to the vehicle, by broadcast or multicast, the wireless communication request including location information of the current location of the terminal detected by the terminal location detection means and information on the behavior schedule of the carrier of the terminal;
a means for performing display on the display screen based on the positions of the vehicles and the identification information, based on the reply information from all the vehicles which have transmitted the reply information;
A program for a mobile device to function as a

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