JP7630061B2 - Driving assistance device and driving assistance method - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a driving assistance device and a driving assistance method that notify evacuation areas on roads.

On narrow roads, such as mountain roads, passing oncoming vehicles can be difficult in some places. To avoid such situations, a technology has been disclosed that estimates a position where the vehicle can pass another vehicle based on the vehicle's position and road map information, and displays the position to the driver (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-106945 A

Evacuation areas, which are places on mountain roads where it is possible to pass oncoming vehicles, are often located in places with many curves or are difficult to see due to the influence of vegetation, etc. In particular, there is an issue that it is difficult for drivers to see the location and shape of such evacuation areas at night. Also, there is a method that can be considered to detect the existence of an evacuation area and provide support lighting with sub-lights to make the evacuation area visible, but there is an issue that even when the evacuation area is clearly illuminated by the main headlights, the support lighting may be used, making it more difficult to find.

The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a driving assistance device and a driving assistance method that can illuminate evacuation locations so that they are clear to the driver.

In order to solve the above problems, the driving assistance device according to the present disclosure includes a map information acquisition unit that acquires map information including an evacuation location, a vehicle position identification unit that identifies the position of the vehicle, an evacuation location setting unit that sets an evacuation location based on the map information and the position of the vehicle, a lighting determination unit that determines whether the headlights of the vehicle are illuminating the evacuation location, and an assistance control unit that controls the lighting device to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation location when the lighting determination unit determines that the evacuation location is not illuminated.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to illuminate evacuation locations so that they are clear to the driver.

The objectives, features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a driving assistance device according to a first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a vehicle system including a driving assistance device according to a first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of the driving assistance device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the first embodiment. 13A to 13C are diagrams for explaining additional irradiation according to the first modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining additional irradiation according to the second modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining additional irradiation according to the second modification of the first embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of a driving assistance device according to a third modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the assisted irradiation according to the third modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the fourth modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle system including a driving assistance device according to a second embodiment. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the driving assistance device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the third modification of the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the third modification of the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the assisted irradiation according to the fourth modification of the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the support irradiation according to the fourth modification of the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the assisted irradiation according to the fifth modification of the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle system including a driving assistance device according to a third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the driving assistance device according to the third embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a driving assistance device according to the first to third embodiments. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a driving assistance device according to the first to third embodiments.

<First embodiment>
<Configuration>
Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a driving assistance device 1 according to embodiment 1. As shown in Fig. 1, the driving assistance device 1 includes a host vehicle position identifying unit 2, a map information acquiring unit 3, an evacuation place setting unit 4, an illumination determining unit 5, and an assistance control unit 6.

The vehicle position identification unit 2 identifies the position of the vehicle. The map information acquisition unit 3 acquires map information including evacuation locations. The evacuation location setting unit 4 sets an evacuation location based on the map information and the vehicle position.

The lighting determination unit 5 determines whether the headlights of the vehicle are illuminating the evacuation area. If the lighting determination unit 5 determines that the evacuation area is not illuminated, the assistance control unit 6 controls the lighting device to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation area.

Next, we will explain other configurations including the driving assistance device 1 shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle system 7 including a driving assistance device 8 relating to another configuration. As shown in Figure 2, the vehicle system 7 includes a driving assistance device 8, a positioning device 9, and a lighting device 10.

The positioning device 9 measures the position of the vehicle using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The positioning device 9 may be mounted on the driving assistance device 8.

The lighting device 10 has a headlight 11 and a sublight 12. The headlight 11 is a light (headlamp) that illuminates the area ahead of the vehicle. The sublight 12 is a light that provides driving assistance to the driver of the vehicle, and is capable of changing the illumination direction and illumination mode.

The driving assistance device 8 includes a vehicle position identification unit 2, a map information acquisition unit 3, an evacuation location setting unit 4, an illumination determination unit 5, and an assistance control unit 6. The driving assistance device 8 may be constructed as a system by appropriately combining not only an in-vehicle navigation device, i.e., a car navigation device, but also a PND (Portable Navigation Device) that can be mounted on a vehicle, and a server provided outside the vehicle system 7. In this case, each function or each component of the driving assistance device 8 is distributed and arranged among the functions that construct the system.

The vehicle position determining unit 2 determines the position of the vehicle based on the information on the vehicle's position acquired from the positioning device 9. At this time, the vehicle position determining unit 2 may perform map matching using map information, or may obtain vehicle speed information and acceleration information via an in-vehicle LAN (Local Area Network) (not shown) to correct the vehicle's position. The map information used by the vehicle position determining unit 2 when performing map matching may be map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3.

In addition, the vehicle position identification unit 2 identifies the orientation of the vehicle. For example, the vehicle position identification unit 2 may identify the orientation of the vehicle based on a change in the position of the vehicle over time, or may identify the orientation of the vehicle based on angular velocity information acquired via an in-vehicle LAN (not shown).

The map information acquisition unit 3 acquires map information including evacuation locations based on the position of the host vehicle identified by the host vehicle position identification unit 2. The evacuation locations include locations where the host vehicle or an oncoming vehicle evacuates to pass an oncoming vehicle, and locations where the host vehicle evacuates to allow a rear vehicle to pass. Here, an oncoming vehicle refers to another vehicle traveling toward the host vehicle from the front on the road on which the host vehicle is traveling. A rear vehicle refers to another vehicle traveling behind the host vehicle in the same lane as the lane on which the host vehicle is traveling.

The map information acquisition unit 3 may acquire map information from a map DB (database) (not shown) mounted on the vehicle system 7, or may acquire map information by downloading the map information from a map DB held by a cloud server using a communication device (not shown). The map DB may be mounted on the driving assistance device 8. The map information may include road shape, road width, and shape of the evacuation site in addition to the evacuation site.

The evacuation location setting unit 4 sets an evacuation location based on the position of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2 and the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3.

The illumination determination unit 5 determines whether the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location based on the position and orientation of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2 and the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4.

The assistance control unit 6 determines whether assistance illumination by the sublight 12 is necessary or not, according to the determination result by the lighting determination unit 5. Specifically, when the lighting determination unit 5 determines that the headlights 11 are not illuminating the evacuation location, the assistance control unit 6 controls the sublight 12 to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation location based on the position and orientation of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2 and the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4. Here, assistance illumination means illuminating the evacuation location with the sublight 12, rather than the headlights 11.

<Operation>
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the driving support device 8.

In step S101, the vehicle position determination unit 2 determines the position of the vehicle based on the vehicle position information obtained from the positioning device 9.

In step S102, the map information acquisition unit 3 acquires map information ahead of the vehicle based on the position of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2. For example, the map information acquisition unit 3 acquires map information a predetermined distance ahead of the vehicle position. The map information acquisition unit 3 may also acquire map information within a predetermined range centered on the vehicle position.

In step S103, the evacuation location setting unit 4 sets the evacuation location that is in front of the vehicle and closest to the position of the vehicle from among one or more evacuation locations included in the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3.

In step S104, the assistance control unit 6 determines whether or not a shelter is present within the assistance irradiation range based on the vehicle's position determined by the vehicle position determination unit 2, the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3, the shelter set by the shelter setting unit 4, and the assistance irradiation range of the sublight 12. That is, the assistance control unit 6 determines whether or not the sublight 12 can provide assistance irradiation to the shelter from the vehicle's position. Here, the assistance irradiation range refers to the range that the assistance irradiation by the sublight 12 reaches, and is, for example, 200 m. If a shelter is present within the assistance irradiation range, the process proceeds to step S105. On the other hand, if a shelter is not present within the assistance irradiation range, the process proceeds to step S107.

In step S105, the illumination determination unit 5 determines whether or not the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location based on the position and orientation of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2 and the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4. If the headlights 11 are not illuminating the evacuation location, the process proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, if the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location, the process proceeds to step S107.

Methods for determining whether the headlights 11 are illuminating an evacuation location include, for example, an indirect method and a direct method.

An example of a method for indirectly judging the presence or absence of the evacuation location is to estimate whether the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location based on the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4 and the position and orientation of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2. If there is a function to swivel the orientation of the headlights 11, it is estimated whether the evacuation location is illuminated taking into account the orientation of the headlights.

As a direct method of determination, there is a method in which image recognition processing is performed on an image captured in front of the vehicle, and if it is detected that the evacuation location in the image has a predetermined illuminance or higher, it is determined that the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location. At this time, the evacuation location in the image is identified based on the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4 and the position and orientation of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2. Note that if lighting equipment on the road is illuminating the evacuation location, it may be considered that the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation location.

The indirect and direct determination methods described above are merely examples, and these two methods may be used in combination.

In step S106, the assistance control unit 6 controls the sub-light 12 to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation location based on the evacuation location set by the evacuation location setting unit 4, the position of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2, and the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3.

Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining support illumination by the sublight 12. As shown in Figure 4, when the headlights 11 of the vehicle 13 are performing headlight illumination 14 on the evacuation site 15, the support control unit 6 controls the sublight 12 not to provide support illumination to the evacuation site 15 (not to provide confusing support illumination). On the other hand, as shown in Figure 5, when the headlights 11 of the vehicle 13 are not performing headlight illumination 14 on the evacuation site 15, the support control unit 6 controls the sublight 12 to provide support illumination 16 to the evacuation site 15. This makes it easier for the driver to recognize the evacuation site 15.

In step S107, the assistance control unit 6 determines whether assistance illumination by the headlights 11 is in progress. If assistance illumination is in progress, the process proceeds to step S108. On the other hand, if assistance illumination is not in progress, the process proceeds to step S109.

In step S108, the support control unit 6 controls the sublight 12 to terminate the support illumination.

In step S109, the driving assistance device 8 determines whether the vehicle has finished traveling. If the vehicle has finished traveling, the operation of FIG. 3 ends. On the other hand, if the vehicle has not finished traveling, the process returns to step S101.

Note that FIG. 3 describes a case where the sub-light 12 provides support illumination when the headlights 11 are not illuminating the evacuation area regardless of the brightness of the surroundings of the vehicle, but support illumination may not be provided when the evacuation area is sufficiently bright, such as during the day. In other words, support illumination may be provided by the sub-light 12 only when the headlights 11 are not illuminating the evacuation area, in a situation where the headlights 11 are turned on by the vehicle. Examples of situations where the vehicle turns on the headlights 11 include situations where the driver's visibility is poor due to poor weather conditions or the like, such as at night.

5 shows an example in which support illumination 16 is performed over a relatively wide range so that a certain range of the evacuation location can be seen, but it may be spot support illumination or support illumination expressed as letters or figures. In addition, since the illuminance of the evacuation location decreases when the distance from the vehicle to the evacuation location is large, the range of support illumination may be narrowed and the illumination brightness increased as the distance from the vehicle to the evacuation location increases, so that the illuminance of the support illumination for the evacuation location does not decrease.

In Figure 2, an example is shown in which the headlight 11 and sub-light 12 are provided separately to clarify the division of functions, but a configuration in which the headlight 11 is equipped with a lighting mechanism for providing auxiliary illumination (a configuration in which the headlight 11 includes the sub-light 12) may also be adopted.

＜Effects＞
When the headlights 11 are illuminating the evacuation area, the driving support device 8 does not perform support illumination by the sublights 12, and when the headlights 11 are not illuminating the evacuation area, the driving support device 8 performs support illumination by the sublights 12. This makes it possible to illuminate the evacuation area so that it is clear to the driver, which contributes to safe driving by the driver.

<Modification 1>
In the first embodiment, a case has been described in which the sub-light 12 does not emit support illumination when the headlight 11 is illuminating the evacuation site, but the present invention is not limited to this. Even when the headlight 11 is illuminating the evacuation site, additional illumination may be emitted to a predetermined position including the evacuation site in an illumination mode different from the support illumination.

For example, as shown in Fig. 6, when the headlights 11 of the vehicle 13 are illuminating the evacuation site 15 with headlights 14, the assistance control unit 6 controls the sub-lights 12 to provide additional spot illumination 17 to indicate the presence or absence of the evacuation site 15. In addition, when the headlights 11 of the vehicle 13 are not illuminating the evacuation site 15, the assistance control unit 6 may control the sub-lights 12 to provide assistance illumination 16 as shown in Fig. 5.

The additional illumination may be expressed by letters or figures, and the support illumination may be a relatively wide-area illumination. Also, the support illumination may be close to the hue of the illumination of the headlight 11, and the additional illumination may be different from the hue of the illumination of the headlight 11.

According to this variant example 1, it is possible to illuminate the evacuation area so that it is clearer to the driver.

<Modification 2>
In addition to the first embodiment, by using the shape of the evacuation site included in the map information, additional illumination 17 in the form of guide lines that enable the range of the evacuation site 15 (the shape of the evacuation site 15) to be identified as shown in FIG. 7 may be performed.

7 shows a case where the headlight 11 performs headlight illumination 14 on the evacuation location 15 and performs additional illumination 17 without performing support illumination, but the situation in which the additional illumination 17 is performed is not limited to this. For example, in a situation in which the headlight 11 is not performing headlight illumination 14 on the evacuation location 15, the additional illumination 17 may be performed on the evacuation location 15 together with support illumination.

In addition, if it can be determined that there is a step between the road and the evacuation location, additional guideline-like illumination 17 that allows the step to be identified may be performed, as shown in Figure 8. The step between the road and the evacuation location may be included in map information, may be recognized by image recognition from an image captured in front of the vehicle, or may be detected by Lidar. Lidar can detect the step between the road and the evacuation location that is located higher than the road.

In addition to the above examples, if the road is paved but the evacuation site is not, additional illumination may be provided in a form that represents whether or not the road is paved, such as a polka dot pattern. The above examples of additional illumination may be combined in any way.

The shape of the evacuation site may be recognized from an image captured in front of the vehicle. In this case, road information that does not include the shape of the evacuation site may be used.

According to this variant example 2, it is possible to clearly identify the ends that require attention in the evacuation area.

<Modification 3>
In addition to embodiment 1, when there is an obstruction such as a natural object such as a mountain or an artificial structure such as a wall between the vehicle and the evacuation location, advance support illumination (hereinafter referred to as "advance support illumination") may be provided in a manner that allows the direction of the evacuation location to be recognized in relation to the obstruction.

Figure 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a driving assistance device according to variant 3 of embodiment 1. Note that steps S201 to S205 and steps S208 to S211 in Figure 9 correspond to steps S101 to S109 in Figure 3, and therefore will not be described here. Steps S206 and S207 will be described below.

In step S206, the assistance control unit 6 determines whether or not an obstruction exists between the vehicle and the evacuation location. The method for determining whether or not an obstruction exists may be to use map information including altitude information, or to determine whether or not an obstruction exists in the scenery ahead by performing image recognition on an image captured in front of the vehicle. If it is determined that an obstruction exists, the process proceeds to step S207. On the other hand, if it is determined that no obstruction exists, the process proceeds to step S208.

In step S207, the support control unit 6 controls the sublight 12 to provide pre-support illumination to the obstruction in such a manner that the driver can recognize the direction of the evacuation site. At this time, it is desirable to provide pre-support illumination to the obstruction on the line connecting the vehicle's position and the evacuation site so that the driver can grasp the direction of the evacuation site. Figure 10 shows an example of circular pre-support illumination 19 for a mountain 18 in front of the vehicle 13. The dashed arrow in Figure 10 indicates the line connecting the vehicle's position and the evacuation site, and pre-support illumination 19 is provided for the mountain 18 on the line. The shape of the pre-support illumination 19 may be other than circular.

According to this variant example 3, the driver can predict in advance the direction in which the evacuation location is located even if the driver cannot see the evacuation location directly.

<Modification 4>
In variant example 3, we have described a case where advance support irradiation is performed without taking into account the number of obstacles between the vehicle and the evacuation location, but if there are multiple obstacles, advance support irradiation may be performed only on the obstacle closest to the evacuation location.

For example, as shown in Fig. 11, when there is a shelter 15 beyond a number of curves, the vehicle 13 performs advance support illumination 19 on the object closest to the shelter 15. This allows the driver of the vehicle 13 to know in advance that there is a shelter 15 beyond the curve where the object for which advance support illumination 19 has been performed is located.

The manner of advance support illumination may be changed depending on the number of obstacles between the vehicle and the evacuation location. For example, advance support illumination may be performed using numbers depending on the number of obstacles between the vehicle and the evacuation location, or advance support illumination may be performed on the obstacle closest to the evacuation location in a way that is more noticeable than other obstacles. The conspicuous advance support illumination may be any type of illumination, such as wide-area illumination or illumination using multiple colors.

<Embodiment 2>
<Configuration>
In the first embodiment, a case has been described in which support illumination is performed regardless of the presence or absence of another vehicle. In the second embodiment, support illumination is performed when another vehicle is present in the vicinity of the host vehicle.

Figure 12 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle system 20 including a driving assistance device 21 according to embodiment 2. As shown in Figure 12, the vehicle system 20 is characterized by having a surroundings detection device 22, and the driving assistance device 21 is characterized by having an other vehicle detection unit 23 and an evacuation place setting unit 24. The other configurations and operations are similar to those of embodiment 1 (see Figure 2), so detailed explanations are omitted here.

The periphery detection device 22 detects other vehicles present around the vehicle. Examples of the periphery detection device 22 include an image recognition device, Lidar, or millimeter wave radar. The periphery detection device 22 mainly detects the presence of a vehicle body. Other vehicles include oncoming vehicles and vehicles behind.

The other vehicle detection unit 23 detects the presence of other vehicles around the vehicle based on the detection results by the surrounding detection device 22. The evacuation location setting unit 24 sets an evacuation location when the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects another vehicle.

<Operation>
Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the driving support device 21. Note that steps S302 to S310 in Fig. 13 correspond to steps S101 to S109 in Fig. 3, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted here. Step S301 will be described below.

In step S301, the other vehicle detection unit 23 determines whether or not another vehicle is present around the vehicle based on the detection result by the periphery detection device 22. If another vehicle is present, the process proceeds to step S302. On the other hand, if no other vehicle is present, the process proceeds to step S308.

＜Effects＞
When there is another vehicle around the vehicle, if there is an evacuation place within the support illumination range and the headlights are not illuminating the evacuation place, the driving support device 21 performs support illumination to the evacuation place. On the other hand, when there is no another vehicle around the vehicle, the driving support device 21 does not set an evacuation place and does not perform support illumination. This prevents unnecessary support illumination, making it possible to realize a more energy-efficient system than the first embodiment.

<Modification 1>
In the second embodiment, the case has been described where the periphery detection device 22 directly detects other vehicles existing around the host vehicle, but other vehicles existing around the host vehicle may be indirectly detected.

Specifically, the vehicle system 20 shown in FIG. 12 may be provided with a driver sensing device instead of the surrounding detection device 22. The driver sensing device is a device that captures a facial image of the driver of the vehicle and detects the state of the driver by image processing the captured image. The driver sensing device is, for example, a DMS (Driver Monitoring System).

For example, when the driver sensing device detects the driver's line of sight, if the driver's line of sight is not only directed to a position corresponding to a general forward visibility distance according to the speed of the vehicle, but also directed intermittently to a position further away, the other vehicle detection unit 23 may determine that an oncoming vehicle is present in the distance. In this case, the evacuation place setting unit 24 sets an evacuation place, and the assistance control unit 6 controls the sub-light 12 to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation place.

In addition, when the driver sensing device detects the driver's gaze intermittently looking at the rearview mirror multiple times, or when the driver's gaze intermittently looks at the display on the electronic mirror, the other vehicle detection unit 23 may determine that another vehicle (rear vehicle) is following behind the vehicle. In this case, the evacuation place setting unit 24 sets an evacuation place for the vehicle to escape in order to allow the vehicle to overtake the rear vehicle, and the assistance control unit 6 controls the sub-light 12 to provide assistance illumination for the evacuation place.

In addition, if the driver sensing device detects that the driver's facial expression becomes stern, the driver frowns, or the driver narrows his or her eyes, the other vehicle detection unit 23 may determine that another vehicle is present.

In addition, if the camera equipped in the driver sensing device captures a bright image of the driver or captures the reflected light of the driver's cornea, the other vehicle detection unit 23 may determine that an oncoming vehicle is present.

<Modification 2>
In embodiment 2, when an image recognition device is adopted as the surrounding detection device 22, it is assumed that the body of another vehicle is recognized, but the presence of another vehicle may be detected by recognizing the illumination light from the headlights of the other vehicle.

Because the brightness of headlight illumination is high, it is possible to detect the presence of other vehicles even at great distances, such as several hundred meters ahead. A method for detecting the light emitted by the headlights of oncoming vehicles makes it possible to capture the illumination light for just a moment, making it possible to detect oncoming vehicles at a distance even on mountain roads with many curves.

In addition, based on the difference in color tone between the headlight illumination light and the taillight illumination light, it is possible to identify whether another vehicle detected in front of the vehicle is a leading vehicle (another vehicle traveling ahead in the same lane as the vehicle) or an oncoming vehicle. In this case, when the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects an oncoming vehicle, support illumination may be performed, and when the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects a leading vehicle, support illumination may not be performed.

<Modification 3>
In embodiment 2, no mention is made of whether the other vehicle detected by the other vehicle detection unit 23 is an oncoming vehicle or a rear vehicle, but when the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects a rear vehicle, support illumination may be provided to an evacuation location where the vehicle retreats to allow the rear vehicle to overtake.

For example, as shown in Fig. 14, when the other vehicle detection unit 23 does not detect a rear vehicle, it does not perform support illumination for the evacuation site 15. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 15, when the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects a rear vehicle 25 (an overtaking vehicle), it performs support illumination 16 for the evacuation site 15. Note that, although Fig. 15 does not show the headlight illumination of the rear vehicle 25, it is assumed that the rear vehicle 25 is actually illuminating its headlights.

Needless to say, if the other vehicle detection unit 23 detects an oncoming vehicle, it will provide support illumination to the evacuation site regardless of whether a rear vehicle is detected or not.

In addition, if the other vehicle detection unit 23 does not detect a rear vehicle or an oncoming vehicle, but detects only a leading vehicle, assistance illumination may not be provided to the evacuation location.

According to this variant example 3, even if a rear vehicle is detected, assistance can be appropriately directed to an evacuation site, thereby enabling smooth driving assistance.

<Modification 4>
When the vehicle is retreating to a shelter to pass an oncoming vehicle, assistance illumination may be provided to the vehicle behind to indicate that the vehicle is retreating to the shelter to pass an oncoming vehicle. This makes it possible to avoid a situation in which the vehicle behind retreats to the shelter following the vehicle behind and has difficulty passing an oncoming vehicle after overtaking the vehicle behind.

For example, as shown in Fig. 16, the support control unit 6 may control the sublight 12 to perform support illumination 16 expressed by characters. In the example of Fig. 16, support illumination 16 expressed by characters is shown, but support illumination 16 expressed by a figure may also be performed.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 17, the sub-light 12 may be controlled to provide assistance illumination 16 over a wide area of the evacuation location to make it easier for vehicles behind the vehicle to evacuate following the vehicle.

Note that in Figures 16 and 17, the headlight illumination of the rear vehicle 25 is not shown, but in reality, the rear vehicle 25 is assumed to have its headlights illuminated.

According to this variant example 4, assistance illumination is provided to other vehicles, making it possible to facilitate smooth traffic flow.

<Modification 5>
When the vehicle faces an oncoming vehicle and there is an evacuation area behind the oncoming vehicle, the evacuation area or the road leading to the evacuation area may be assisted with illumination so that the oncoming vehicle can easily retreat to the evacuation area.

For example, as shown in Fig. 18, when the vehicle 13 and an oncoming vehicle 26 are facing each other and there is a shelter 15 behind the oncoming vehicle 26, the assistance control unit 6 controls the sub-light 12 to provide assistance illumination 16 to the shelter 15. Note that while Fig. 18 does not show the headlight illumination of the oncoming vehicle 26, it is assumed that the oncoming vehicle 26 is actually illuminating its headlights.

According to this variant example 5, it becomes possible to assist other vehicles when they back up and move to an evacuation site.

<Third embodiment>
<Configuration>
The third embodiment is characterized in that the position of an oncoming vehicle is detected, the position where the vehicle and the oncoming vehicle will pass each other is estimated, and the optimal evacuation location is determined and support illumination is performed.

Figure 19 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle system 27 including a driving assistance device 28 according to embodiment 3. As shown in Figure 19, the vehicle system 27 is characterized by having a communication device 29, and the driving assistance device 28 is characterized by having a passing place estimation unit 30 and an evacuation place setting unit 31. The other configurations and operations are similar to those of embodiment 2 (see Figure 12), so detailed explanations are omitted here.

The communication device 29 is a device that communicates with the outside of the vehicle and acquires position information of other vehicles that are present at least in the vicinity of the vehicle. The communication device 29 communicates with, for example, other vehicles, roadside systems, or cloud servers.

The passing place estimation unit 30 estimates the position (passing place) where the vehicle and another vehicle pass each other. The evacuation place setting unit 31 sets an evacuation place that is located within a predetermined range from the passing place estimated by the passing place estimation unit 30.

<Operation>
Fig. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the driving support device 28. Steps S402, S403, and S406 to S411 in Fig. 20 correspond to steps S101, S102, and S104 to S109 in Fig. 3, and therefore will not be described here. Steps S401, S404, and S405 will be described below.

In step S401, the other vehicle detection unit 23 acquires position information of other vehicles present in the vicinity of the vehicle via the communication device 29. The other vehicle detection unit 23 then determines whether or not an oncoming vehicle is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle (for example, within 1 km ahead of the vehicle). The determination of whether or not the other vehicle is an oncoming vehicle can be made based on, for example, changes over time in the position information of the other vehicle. If an oncoming vehicle is present, the process proceeds to step S402. On the other hand, if no other vehicle is present, the process proceeds to step S409.

In step S404, the passing location estimation unit 30 estimates the passing location between the vehicle and the oncoming vehicle based on the position of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2, the position of the oncoming vehicle detected by the other vehicle detection unit 23, and the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3.

Any method may be used to estimate the passing place. For example, the midpoint of the road between the position of the vehicle and the position of the oncoming vehicle may be estimated as the passing place, or the allowable travel speed may be estimated based on the road width and road type between the position of the vehicle and the position of the oncoming vehicle, and the passing place may be estimated based on the allowable travel speed. The passing place may also be estimated based on the travel speed of the vehicle and the travel speed of the oncoming vehicle.

In step S405, the evacuation location setting unit 31 sets an evacuation location based on the position of the vehicle identified by the vehicle position identification unit 2, the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 3, and the passing location estimated by the passing location estimation unit 30.

Specifically, the evacuation location setting unit 31 does not set an evacuation location if the road width near the passing location is wide enough that evacuation is not necessary.

On the other hand, when the road width near the passing place is so narrow that passing is difficult, the evacuation place setting unit 31 searches for candidate evacuation places that exist between the vehicle and the other vehicle. Then, when there are multiple candidate evacuation places, the evacuation place setting unit 31 sets the candidate evacuation place that is closest to the passing place as the evacuation place.

In addition, the evacuation location setting unit 31 may update the set evacuation location depending on the driving speed of the vehicle itself and the driving speeds of other vehicles.

＜Effects＞
The driving support device 28 estimates a place where the vehicle and an oncoming vehicle will pass each other, and sets a place of evacuation based on the place of evacuation. This allows the driving support device 28 to perform support illumination only when a place of evacuation is necessary when passing an oncoming vehicle, thereby realizing an energy-saving system without performing unnecessary support illumination.

<Modification 1>
In the third embodiment, the communication device 29 is used to detect the position of an oncoming vehicle, but the means for detecting the position of an oncoming vehicle is not limited to the communication device 29 .

For example, if headlight illumination from an oncoming vehicle is detected ahead of the vehicle, the direction of the detected headlight illumination from the oncoming vehicle may be compared with the shape of the road ahead of the vehicle to detect where in front of the vehicle the oncoming vehicle is located.

As another example, a distance measuring device equipped with two cameras may be used to detect the distance between the vehicle and an oncoming vehicle, and the direction of the oncoming vehicle relative to the vehicle.

<Modification 2>
In the third embodiment, the waiting time from when the vehicle retreats to the evacuation area until the oncoming vehicle arrives at the evacuation area is not taken into consideration, but the driver of the vehicle may be notified to adjust the speed of the vehicle so as to shorten this waiting time. Also, the driver may be notified by displaying the relationship between the speed and the waiting time.

At this time, the navigation system may display the position of oncoming vehicles, the vehicle's position, evacuation locations, passing locations, waiting time, etc. along with a map.

If a reasonable speed increase allows the vehicle to take shelter at an evacuation site with less waiting time, the driver may be notified of this. Also, oncoming vehicles may be notified of the evacuation site where the vehicle is waiting by vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and may be notified to slow down in order to take shelter at an evacuation site with less waiting time.

<Hardware Configuration>
The functions of the vehicle position identification unit 2, the map information acquisition unit 3, the evacuation place setting unit 4, the illumination determination unit 5, and the assistance control unit 6 in the driving assistance device 8 described in the first embodiment are realized by a processing circuit. That is, the driving assistance device 8 includes a processing circuit for identifying the position of the vehicle, acquiring map information, setting an evacuation place, determining whether the headlights of the vehicle are illuminating the evacuation place, and controlling the sublights to illuminate the evacuation place with assistance light when the headlights are not illuminating the evacuation place. The processing circuit may be dedicated hardware or a processor (also called a CPU, a central processing unit, a processing unit, an arithmetic unit, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) that executes a program stored in a memory.

21, when the processing circuit is a dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 32 corresponds to, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination of these. Each function of the vehicle position identification unit 2, the map information acquisition unit 3, the evacuation place setting unit 4, the illumination determination unit 5, and the assistance control unit 6 may be realized by the processing circuit 32, or each function may be realized together by one processing circuit 32.

22, each function of the vehicle position identification unit 2, the map information acquisition unit 3, the evacuation place setting unit 4, the illumination determination unit 5, and the assistance control unit 6 is realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in the memory 34. The processor 33 realizes each function by reading and executing the program recorded in the memory 34. That is, the driving assistance device 8 includes a memory 34 for storing a program that results in the execution of a step of identifying the position of the vehicle, a step of acquiring map information, a step of setting an evacuation place, a step of determining whether the headlights of the vehicle are illuminating the evacuation place, and a step of controlling the sublight to illuminate the evacuation place with assistance when the headlights are not illuminating the evacuation place. In addition, it can be said that these programs cause a computer to execute the procedures or methods of the vehicle position identification unit 2, the map information acquisition unit 3, the evacuation place setting unit 4, the illumination determination unit 5, and the assistance control unit 6. Here, the memory may be, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or any storage medium that will be used in the future.

In addition, with regard to each function of the vehicle position identification unit 2, map information acquisition unit 3, evacuation location setting unit 4, lighting determination unit 5, and assistance control unit 6, some functions may be realized by dedicated hardware and other functions may be realized by software or firmware.

Thus, the processing circuitry can realize each of the above-mentioned functions through hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these.

The above describes the hardware configuration of the driving assistance device 8 shown in Figure 2, but the same applies to the hardware configuration of the driving assistance device 21 shown in Figure 12 and the hardware configuration of the driving assistance device 28 shown in Figure 19.

Within the scope of this disclosure, it is possible to freely combine the various embodiments, or to modify or omit the various embodiments as appropriate.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, the above description is illustrative in all respects and is not limiting. It is understood that countless variations not illustrated can be envisioned.

1 Driving assistance device, 2 Vehicle position identification unit, 3 Map information acquisition unit, 4 Evacuation place setting unit, 5 Lighting judgment unit, 6 Assistance control unit, 7 Vehicle system, 8 Driving assistance device, 9 Positioning device, 10 Lighting device, 11 Headlight, 12 Sub-light, 13 Vehicle, 14 Headlight illumination, 15 Evacuation place, 16 Assistance illumination, 17 Additional illumination, 18 Mountain, 19 Advance assistance illumination, 20 Vehicle system, 21 Driving assistance device, 22 Surrounding detection device, 23 Other vehicle detection unit, 24 Evacuation place setting unit, 25 Rear vehicle, 26 Oncoming vehicle, 27 Vehicle system, 28 Driving assistance device, 29 Communication unit, 30 Passing place estimation unit, 31 Evacuation place setting unit, 32 Processing circuit, 33 Processor, 34 Memory.

Claims (11)

a map information acquisition unit that acquires map information including an evacuation location;
a vehicle position identifying unit that identifies a position of the vehicle;
an evacuation location setting unit that sets an evacuation location based on the map information and the position of the host vehicle;
an illumination determination unit that determines whether or not a headlight of the host vehicle is illuminating the evacuation area;
a support control unit that controls a lighting device to provide support illumination to the evacuation area when the illumination determination unit determines that the evacuation area is not illuminated;
A driving assistance device comprising: The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to provide additional illumination to the evacuation location in a manner different from the assistance illumination when the illumination determination unit determines that the evacuation location is illuminated. The driving assistance device of claim 2, wherein the additional illumination includes illumination that enables the shape of the evacuation location to be identified, and illumination that enables the step between the evacuation location and the road to be identified. The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the assistance control unit determines whether or not an obstruction exists between the vehicle and the evacuation location, and, if the obstruction exists, controls the lighting device to illuminate the obstruction with advance assistance light in a manner that enables the direction of the evacuation location to be recognized. The driving assistance device according to claim 4, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to illuminate the advance assistance only to the object closest to the evacuation location when there are multiple obstructions between the vehicle and the evacuation location. Further, a vehicle detection unit is provided to detect the presence of another vehicle around the vehicle.
The driving assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to perform the assistance illumination when the other vehicle detection unit detects the other vehicle. A passing place estimation unit that estimates a passing place between the host vehicle and the other vehicle,
The driving assistance device according to claim 6, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to perform the assistance illumination when the passing place estimated by the passing place estimation unit and the evacuation place are within a predetermined range. The driving assistance device according to claim 6, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to illuminate the assistance light when the other vehicle is an overtaking vehicle that is overtaking the host vehicle. The driving assistance device according to claim 6, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation location of the other vehicle. The driving assistance device according to claim 6, wherein the assistance control unit controls the lighting device to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation area located behind the other vehicle. Obtain map information including evacuation locations,
Identifying the location of the vehicle,
setting an evacuation location based on the map information and the position of the vehicle;
determining whether or not the headlights of the host vehicle are illuminating the evacuation area;
The driving assistance method includes controlling a lighting device to provide assistance illumination to the evacuation area when it is determined that the evacuation area is not illuminated.

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