JP7646583B2 - Mobile Control System - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a mobile control system.

In recent years, control devices have been developed that estimate the vehicle's position using infrastructure sensors installed along the route, such as roadside cameras and roadside LiDAR (light detection and ranging), and guide the vehicle based on that position. These control devices estimate the vehicle's position by analyzing measurement information from the infrastructure sensors on a nearby server and transmit the information to the vehicle via wireless communication. For example, in autonomous driving of automobiles on public roads, the vehicle's position is estimated by comparing measurement information from on-board sensors with on-board map data, so autonomous driving is not possible on private land not covered by on-board map data. However, by using position estimation from infrastructure sensors in combination, autonomous driving is possible even in areas not covered by on-board map data. In addition, by using position estimation from infrastructure sensors in combination, autonomous driving is possible even for vehicles that are not equipped with the sensors necessary for vehicle position estimation.

The device described in Patent Document 1 is one example, which estimates the position of a moving object using infrastructure sensors fixed to buildings, etc., and transmits this information to the moving object via wireless communication, thereby guiding the moving object.

International Publication No. 2020/230325

However, as described in Patent Document 1, when estimating the vehicle position using infrastructure sensors and transmitting the position to the vehicle via wireless communication, delays occur, and the vehicle may move between the time of measurement and the time the estimated result reaches the vehicle, resulting in a decrease in position accuracy.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above problems, and its purpose is to provide a mobile control system that can improve the accuracy of estimating the vehicle position.

To achieve the above object, the mobile control system of the present invention comprises a measurement unit that is installed in a driving environment and measures the surroundings and outputs measurement information, a time information assignment unit that assigns time information to the measurement information and outputs timed measurement information, a vehicle position determination unit that identifies the position of a vehicle traveling in the driving environment based on the timed measurement information and outputs a timed vehicle position, a vehicle behavior acquisition unit that is provided in the vehicle and acquires vehicle behavior, a delay correction unit that corrects the delay in the timed vehicle position based on the time information and the vehicle behavior and outputs a corrected vehicle state, and a vehicle control unit that controls the vehicle based on the corrected vehicle state.

The present invention makes it possible to estimate the current vehicle position with high accuracy.

Issues, configurations, and advantages other than those described above will become clear from the description of the embodiments below.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a mobile object control system according to a first embodiment; 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle according to a first embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an infrastructure sensor according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a remote server according to the first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile object control system according to a first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of an infrastructure sensor calculation unit in the first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a remote server computing unit in the first embodiment; 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of a vehicle calculation unit in the first embodiment. 3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating the operation of the mobile object control system in the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a mobile object control system according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile object control system in the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a mobile object control system according to a third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile object control system in the third embodiment. 13A to 13C are diagrams illustrating the operation of a time information correction unit in the third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a mobile object control system according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile object control system in the fifth embodiment.

Below, we will explain the form for implementing the present invention with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of a mobile control system in the first embodiment. Note that the dashed arrows in Figure 1 indicate the flow of signals.

The mobile control system 5 includes a vehicle 1 that automatically drives within a limited driving area within a driving environment, infrastructure sensors 2 that are fixed to the driving environment such as buildings and pillars and measure the driving area of the vehicle 1, and a remote server 3 installed outside the vehicle 1.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of vehicle 1 in the first embodiment. Note that the dashed arrows in Figure 2 indicate the flow of signals.

The vehicle 1 is equipped with driven wheels 11 provided on the left and right rear sides, drive wheels 12 provided on the left and right front sides, a motor 13 that drives the vehicle 1, a brake 14 that brakes the vehicle 1, a reduction gear 15 that reduces the driving force generated by the motor 13, a steering mechanism 16 that changes the angle of the drive wheels 12, a vehicle communication unit 17 that wirelessly communicates with a remote server 3, a vehicle calculation unit 18 that issues commands to the motor 13, the brake 14, and the steering mechanism 16, a wheel speed sensor 19 that detects the rotation speed of the driven wheels 11 and the drive wheels 12, and an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) 20 that detects the acceleration and angular velocity of the vehicle 1.

The power generated by the motor 13 through the conversion of electrical energy is transmitted to the reducer 15, where it is reduced in speed by a gear-type reduction mechanism inside the reducer 15, and then transmitted to the left and right drive wheels 12, becoming the driving force that drives the vehicle 1.

Brakes 14 that generate a braking force for the vehicle 1 are provided near the driven wheels 11 and the driving wheels 12. The brakes 14 generate frictional force by hydraulically pressing brake pads against the disc rotor. This converts kinetic energy into thermal energy, braking the vehicle 1.

The vehicle 1 can be turned by changing the angle of the drive wheels 12 using a link mechanism provided in the steering mechanism 16.

The vehicle communication unit 17 communicates with the remote server 3 using a wireless communication method such as local LTE (Long Term Evolution) or local 5G (Generation) and can receive information necessary for autonomous driving of the vehicle 1.

The vehicle calculation unit 18 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, etc., and executes a vehicle control program to calculate command values for the motor 13, the brake 14, and the steering mechanism 16 based on information received by the vehicle communication unit 17 from the remote server 3, the vehicle speed obtained from the wheel speed sensor 19, and the acceleration and angular velocity obtained from the IMU 20. This makes it possible to control the acceleration/deceleration and turning of the vehicle 1, and to guide the vehicle 1 to any desired location.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the infrastructure sensor 2 in the first embodiment. Note that the dashed arrows in Figure 3 indicate the flow of signals.

The infrastructure sensor 2 includes a measurement unit 31 that measures the surrounding conditions, an infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 that processes the output of the measurement unit 31, and an infrastructure sensor communication unit 33 that communicates with the remote server 3 via wired communication.

The measurement unit 31 is composed of a mechanical rotation LiDAR and other devices, and can measure the distance to nearby objects from the time it takes for laser light emitted into the surrounding area to be reflected and return, and output the shape as a point cloud.

The infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), memory, a hard disk drive, etc., and executes the infrastructure sensor control program to process the output of the measurement unit 31.

The infrastructure sensor communication unit 33 communicates with the remote server 3 using a wired communication method such as Ethernet, and transmits the processing results of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 to the remote server 3.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of the remote server 3 in the first embodiment. Note that the dashed arrows in Figure 4 indicate the flow of signals.

The remote server 3 includes a remote server calculation unit 42 that calculates information necessary for the autonomous driving of the vehicle 1, and a remote server communication unit 43 that wirelessly communicates with the vehicle 1 and wiredly communicates with the infrastructure sensor 2.

The remote server calculation unit 42 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), memory, a hard disk drive, etc., and executes a remote server control program to calculate information required for autonomous driving of the vehicle 1.

The remote server communication unit 43 can communicate with the vehicle 1 using a wireless communication method such as local LTE or local 5G, and can communicate with the infrastructure sensor 2 using a wired communication method such as Ethernet.

Figure 5 is a block diagram of the mobile control system in the first embodiment. Figure 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 in the first embodiment. Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the remote server calculation unit 42 in the first embodiment. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the vehicle calculation unit 18 in the first embodiment. In the following, the control operation of the first embodiment will be described using Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8. The CPU of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 constitutes a part of the control block shown in Figure 5 in the form of software of a microcomputer, and repeatedly executes the operation shown in Figure 6 (infrastructure sensor control program) while the power supply (not shown) of the infrastructure sensor 2 is on. The CPU of the remote server calculation unit 42 constitutes a part of the control block shown in Figure 5 in the form of software of a microcomputer, and executes the operation shown in Figure 7 (remote server control program) in response to receiving packet data transmitted by the infrastructure sensor 2. The CPU of the vehicle calculation unit 18 constitutes a part of the control block shown in Figure 5 in the form of software of a microcomputer, and executes the operation shown in Figure 8 (vehicle control program) while the power supply (not shown) of the vehicle 1 is on.

The infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 is provided with a time information assignment unit 101.

The remote server calculation unit 42 is provided with a vehicle position determination unit 201.

The vehicle calculation unit 18 is provided with a delay correction unit 302 and a vehicle control unit 303.

The operation of each part is explained below.

In step S001 of FIG. 6, the time information adding unit 101 calculates time-attached measurement information from the measurement information input from the measurement unit 31. The time-attached measurement information is measurement information to which time information has been added. The time information adding unit 101 acquires the time by referring to the system clock of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 at the timing of receiving the measurement information, and adds the time information to the measurement information and outputs it as time-attached measurement information.

In step S101 of FIG. 7, the vehicle position determination unit 201 calculates a time-attached vehicle position from the time-attached measurement information input from the time information attachment unit 101. The time-attached vehicle position is a combination of the position of the vehicle 1 determined from the measurement information included in the time-attached measurement information and the time information attached in step S001. The vehicle position determination unit 201 extracts a point cloud reflected from a dynamic object by removing a point cloud reflected from the background such as the ground or buildings from a point cloud representing the shape of a surrounding object included in the time-attached measurement information, and compares it with the shape of the vehicle 1 by ICP (Iterative Closest Point). In this way, the position of the vehicle 1 traveling in the traveling environment is acquired (identified) and output as a time-attached vehicle position. A method based on a neural network such as PointPillars may be used to identify the position of the vehicle 1.

In step S201 of FIG. 8, the delay correction unit 302 calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior (comprised of speed and angular velocity) input from the vehicle behavior acquisition unit 301 (comprised of the wheel speed sensor 19 and the IMU 20) and the time-stamped vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201. The corrected vehicle state is a combination of the corrected vehicle position corrected for the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position and the communication delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 transmits the time-stamped vehicle position to the delay correction unit 302, the speed and angular velocity included in the vehicle behavior, and the elapsed time since the time information assignment unit 101 received the measurement information.

9 is a diagram explaining the operation of the mobile control system in the first embodiment. The delay correction unit 302 acquires the time (current time) T02 by referring to the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 at the start of calculation, and calculates the elapsed time ΔT02 since the time information assignment unit 101 received the measurement information by subtracting the time T01, which is the time information assigned by the time information assignment unit 101. The amount of movement of the vehicle 1 between time T01 and time T02 is calculated on the assumption of uniform speed and uniform angular velocity motion from the elapsed time ΔT02 (the difference between time T01 and time T02) calculated based on the time information and the speed and angular velocity (speed and angular velocity at time T02) included in the vehicle behavior. The amount of movement is added to the position P01 of the vehicle 1 at time T01 calculated by the vehicle position identification unit 201, and the corrected vehicle position, which is the position P02 of the vehicle 1 at time (current time) T02, is calculated. The corrected vehicle state is calculated by combining this corrected vehicle position with the speed and angular velocity included in the vehicle behavior. This makes it possible to correct the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position and the communication delay when the time-stamped vehicle position is transmitted from the vehicle position identification unit 201 to the delay correction unit 302, thereby improving the accuracy of the vehicle position.

In step S202 of FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 determines whether the time since the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 was last time synchronized is less than a predetermined time (in other words, whether the time since the time information source that notifies the delay correction unit 302 of the current time was synchronized is less than a predetermined time). If it is determined that the time is less than the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S203, and if it is determined that the time is equal to or greater than the predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S207.

In step S203 of FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 determines whether the distance between the vehicle 1 and the infrastructure sensor 2 (the measurement unit 31) is within a predetermined range from the corrected vehicle state input from the delay correction unit 302. If it is determined that it is within the predetermined range, the process proceeds to step S204, and if it is determined that it is outside the predetermined range, the process proceeds to step S207.

In step S204 of FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 determines, from the corrected vehicle state input from the delay correction unit 302, whether the elapsed time (i.e., delay) since the time information providing unit 101 received the measurement information is less than a predetermined value. If it is determined that it is less than the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S205, and if it is determined that it is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S206.

In step S205 of FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 calculates a motor command value, a brake command value, and a steering command value from the corrected vehicle state input from the delay correction unit 302 so as to guide the vehicle 1 to an arbitrary point. The vehicle control unit 303 calculates a motor command value, a brake command value, and a steering command value so that the corrected vehicle position included in the corrected vehicle state follows a predetermined target route. This makes it possible to guide the vehicle 1 to an arbitrary point.

In step S206 in FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 calculates a motor command value, a brake command value, and a steering command value from the corrected vehicle state input from the delay correction unit 302 so as to guide the vehicle 1 to an arbitrary point while increasing the margin of distance between the vehicle 1 and surrounding objects at a low speed. If the time information providing unit 101 determines in step S204 that the elapsed time (delay) since it received the measurement information is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the amount of movement added to the position P01 in FIG. 9 by the delay correction unit 302 is large, and the accuracy of the corrected vehicle position may decrease. In such a case, the amount of movement added to the position P01 can be reduced by decelerating or stopping the vehicle 1, thereby improving the accuracy of the corrected vehicle position. In addition, the margin of distance between the vehicle 1 and surrounding objects can be increased, improving the safety of the vehicle 1.

In step S207 of FIG. 8, the vehicle control unit 303 calculates a motor command value, a brake command value, and a steering command value from the corrected vehicle state input from the delay correction unit 302 so as to decelerate (reduce speed) or stop the vehicle 1. If it is determined in step S202 that a predetermined time or more has elapsed since the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 was last time synchronized, the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 may be out of sync, causing the delay correction unit 302 to make an erroneous correction. Also, if it is determined in step S203 that the distance between the vehicle 1 and the infrastructure sensor 2 (the measurement unit 31) is outside the predetermined range, the vehicle 1 may be too close or too far from the infrastructure sensor 2 (the measurement unit 31), and the vehicle position identification unit 201 may not be able to accurately obtain the position of the vehicle 1. In such a case, the safety of the vehicle 1 can be improved by decelerating or stopping the vehicle 1.

[Second embodiment]
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

The second embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment described above. The same elements as those shown in Figures 1 to 9 are given the same reference numerals, and the following description focuses on the differences.

Figure 10 is a block diagram of a mobile control system in the second embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the vehicle calculation unit 18 includes a vehicle behavior memory unit 304.

The vehicle behavior storage unit 304 in the second embodiment calculates the vehicle behavior history from the vehicle behavior (consisting of speed and angular velocity) input from the vehicle behavior acquisition unit 301 (consisting of the wheel speed sensor 19 and the IMU 20). The vehicle behavior history is a stored time series data of the vehicle behavior received in the past few seconds.

The delay correction unit 302 in the second embodiment calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior history input from the vehicle behavior storage unit 304 and the time-stamped vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201. The corrected vehicle state in the second embodiment is a combination of the corrected vehicle position corrected for the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position and the communication delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 transmits the time-stamped vehicle position to the delay correction unit 302, the current speed and angular velocity included in the vehicle behavior history, and the elapsed time since the time information assignment unit 101 received the measurement information.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the mobile control system in the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the delay correction unit 302 refers to the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 at the start of calculation to obtain the time (current time) T12, and subtracts the time T11, which is the time information given by the time information giving unit 101, to calculate the elapsed time ΔT12 since the time information giving unit 101 received the measurement information. Based on the vehicle behavior history (vehicle behavior between time T11 and time T12), the movement amount of the vehicle 1 between time T11 and time T12 is calculated. By adding this movement amount to the position P11 of the vehicle 1 at time T11 calculated by the vehicle position identification unit 201, the corrected vehicle position, which is the position P12 of the vehicle 1 at time (current time) T12, is calculated. The corrected vehicle state is calculated by combining this corrected vehicle position with the current speed and angular velocity included in the vehicle behavior history. This compensates for the calculation delay when the vehicle position determination unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position, and the communication delay when the vehicle position determination unit 201 transmits the time-stamped vehicle position to the delay correction unit 302, making it possible to improve the accuracy of the vehicle position even if the vehicle behavior changes between time T11 and time T12.

[Third embodiment]
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

The third embodiment is a modification of the second embodiment described above. The same elements as those shown in Figures 1 to 11 are given the same reference numerals, and the following description will focus on the differences.

Figure 12 is a block diagram of a mobile control system in the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the remote server calculation unit 42 includes a time information correction unit 202.

The time information correction unit 202 in the third embodiment calculates a vehicle position with corrected time from the vehicle position with time input from the vehicle position identification unit 201. The vehicle position with corrected time is the vehicle position with time with corrected time information (e.g., in place of the time information described above) that corrects the delay that occurred before the time information was added by the time information adding unit 101.

Figure 13 is a diagram explaining the operation of the mobile object control system in the third embodiment.

Figure 14 is a diagram explaining the operation of the time information correction unit 202 in the third embodiment.

The mechanical rotation type LiDAR constituting the measurement unit 31 measures the surrounding situation while rotating the laser and detector. Therefore, a transmission delay and a measurement delay occur before the time information is assigned by the time information assignment unit 101. The mechanical rotation type LiDAR constituting the measurement unit 31 in FIG. 13 measures the surrounding situation while rotating the laser and detector counterclockwise, and outputs a point cloud, which is the measurement information, at the timing when the laser and detector reach the transmission angle. Therefore, the smaller the angle from the transmission angle, the more past point clouds are transmitted, and the greater the delay. When the time information assignment unit 101 receives the measurement information at time T21 and the vehicle position identification unit 201 identifies the vehicle 1 at a position of angle θ21a, the actual measurement time is time T21a, which is earlier than time T21 by the amount of the transmission delay and the measurement delay. When the time information providing unit 101 receives the measurement information at time T21 and the vehicle position identifying unit 201 identifies the vehicle 1 at a position of angle θ21b, the actual measurement time is time T21b, which is earlier than time T21 by the transmission delay and the measurement delay. The transmission delay depends on the data size of the point cloud output by the measuring unit 31 and the throughput of the wired communication method connecting the infrastructure sensor communication unit 33 to the remote server communication unit 43. In other words, the transmission delay is a delay that does not depend on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle 1 and the measuring unit 31, i.e., the angle from the transmission angle (see FIG. 14). The measurement delay depends on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle 1 and the measuring unit 31, i.e., the angle from the transmission angle (see FIG. 14). Therefore, the time information correction unit 202 can calculate corrected time information that corrects the delay that occurred before the time information was added by the time information adding unit 101, i.e., the transmission delay and measurement delay, based on the time-attached vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201 (more specifically, the relative positional relationship between the position of the vehicle 1 indicated by the time-attached vehicle position and the position of the measurement unit 31, and more specifically, the relationship between that relative positional relationship and the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit 31). The time information correction unit 202 assigns corrected time information, which is obtained by correcting the time information assigned to the measurement information by the above-mentioned time information assigning unit 101, to the time-attached vehicle position and outputs it as the corrected time-attached vehicle position.

The delay correction unit 302 in the third embodiment calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior history input from the vehicle behavior storage unit 304 and the vehicle position with corrected time input from the time information correction unit 202. This corrects the transmission delay and measurement delay, the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the vehicle position with time, and the communication delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 transmits the vehicle position with time to the delay correction unit 302 (via the time information correction unit 202), and the vehicle position can be determined with high accuracy even if a delay occurs before the time information is added by the time information addition unit 101.

[Fourth embodiment]
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

The fourth embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment described above. The same elements as those shown in Figures 1 to 9 are given the same reference numerals, and the following description will focus on the differences.

Figure 15 is a block diagram of a mobile object control system in the fourth embodiment.

In the fourth embodiment, the infrastructure sensor communication unit 33 communicates with the vehicle 1 using a wireless communication method such as DSRC (Dedicated Shot-Range Communications) and transmits the processing results of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 to the vehicle 1.

In the fourth embodiment, the time-stamped measurement information output by the time information providing unit 101 of the infrastructure sensor calculation unit 32 is transmitted to the vehicle position identification unit 201 provided in the vehicle calculation unit 18 via wireless communication. In the first embodiment, the time-stamped vehicle position output by the vehicle position identification unit 201 of the remote server calculation unit 42 provided outside the vehicle 1 (driving environment) is transmitted to the delay correction unit 302 provided in the vehicle calculation unit 18 via wireless communication.

In the fourth embodiment, the delay correction unit 302 calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior (consisting of speed and angular velocity) input from the vehicle behavior acquisition unit 301 (consisting of the wheel speed sensor 19 and the IMU 20) and the time-stamped vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201.

This makes it possible to correct the communication delay when transmitting time-stamped measurement information from the time information assignment unit 101 to the vehicle position determination unit 201 and the calculation delay when the vehicle position determination unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position, thereby improving the accuracy of the vehicle position.

[Fifth embodiment]
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

The fifth embodiment is a modification of the second embodiment described above. The same elements as those shown in Figures 1 to 11 are given the same reference numerals, and the following description will focus on the differences.

The vehicle behavior storage unit 304 in the fifth embodiment calculates the vehicle behavior history from the vehicle behavior (composed of speed and angular velocity) input from the vehicle behavior acquisition unit 301 (composed of the wheel speed sensor 19 and the IMU 20). The vehicle behavior history is stored time-series data of the vehicle's travel trajectory calculated from the vehicle behavior received in the past few seconds.

The delay correction unit 302 in the fifth embodiment calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior history input from the vehicle behavior storage unit 304 and the time-stamped vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201. The corrected vehicle state in the fifth embodiment is a combination of a corrected vehicle position corrected for the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position and the communication delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 transmits the time-stamped vehicle position to the delay correction unit 302, and the time elapsed since the time information assignment unit 101 received the measurement information.

Figure 16 is a diagram explaining the operation of the mobile control system in the fifth embodiment. In the fifth embodiment, the delay correction unit 302 refers to the system clock of the vehicle calculation unit 18 at the start of calculation to obtain the time (current time) T32, and calculates the elapsed time ΔT32 since the time information assignment unit 101 received the measurement information by subtracting the time T31, which is the time information assigned by the time information assignment unit 101. Based on the vehicle behavior history (vehicle behavior between time T31 and time T32), the movement amount of the vehicle 1 between time T31 and time T32 is calculated. By adding this movement amount to the position P31 of the vehicle 1 at time T31 calculated by the vehicle position identification unit 201, the corrected vehicle position, which is the position P32 of the vehicle 1 at time T32 (current time), is calculated. This compensates for the calculation delay when the vehicle position determination unit 201 calculates the time-stamped vehicle position, and the communication delay when the vehicle position determination unit 201 transmits the time-stamped vehicle position to the delay correction unit 302, making it possible to improve the accuracy of the vehicle position even if the vehicle behavior changes between time T31 and time T32.

Sixth embodiment
In the embodiment described below, the present invention is described using an example in which the present invention is applied to a guidance device for an electric vehicle, but the present invention can also be applied to automatic driving devices such as transport vehicles that run within a warehouse and construction vehicles that run on a construction site.

The sixth embodiment is a modification of the third embodiment described above. The same elements as those shown in Figures 1 to 14 are given the same reference numerals, and the following description focuses on the differences.

The measurement unit 31 in the sixth embodiment is composed of a rolling shutter CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) camera and can output the charge of the imaging element as an image.

The vehicle position determination unit 201 in the sixth embodiment calculates a time-stamped vehicle position from the time-stamped measurement information input from the time information assignment unit 101. The vehicle position determination unit 201 in the sixth embodiment obtains the position of the vehicle 1 traveling in the traveling environment from the image included in the time-stamped measurement information by an image recognition method such as YOLO (You Only Look Once).

Since the measurement unit 31 in the sixth embodiment is a rolling shutter CMOS camera, the measurement delay depends on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle 1 and the measurement unit 31, i.e., the position of the imaging element onto which the vehicle 1 is projected. Therefore, the time information correction unit 202 in the sixth embodiment can calculate corrected time information in which the delay that occurred before the time information was assigned by the time information assignment unit 101, i.e., the transmission delay and measurement delay, is corrected, based on the time-stamped vehicle position input from the vehicle position identification unit 201 (more specifically, the relative positional relationship between the position of the vehicle 1 indicated by the time-stamped vehicle position and the position of the measurement unit 31, and more specifically, the relationship between that relative positional relationship and the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit 31).

The delay correction unit 302 in the sixth embodiment calculates a corrected vehicle state from the vehicle behavior history input from the vehicle behavior storage unit 304 and the vehicle position with corrected time input from the time information correction unit 202. This corrects the transmission delay and measurement delay, the calculation delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 calculates the vehicle position with time, and the communication delay when the vehicle position identification unit 201 transmits the vehicle position with time to the delay correction unit 302 (via the time information correction unit 202), and the vehicle position can be determined with high accuracy even if a delay occurs before the time information is added by the time information addition unit 101.

[Summary of the first to sixth embodiments]
As described above, the mobile body control system 5 of the first embodiment comprises a measurement unit 31 that is installed in the driving environment and measures the surroundings (surrounding objects) and outputs measurement information, a time information assignment unit 101 that assigns time information to the measurement information and outputs timed measurement information, a vehicle position identification unit 201 that identifies the position of the vehicle 1 driving in the driving environment based on the timed measurement information and outputs a timed vehicle position, a vehicle behavior acquisition unit 301 that is provided in the vehicle 1 and acquires vehicle behavior, a delay correction unit 302 that corrects the delay in the timed vehicle position based on the time information and the vehicle behavior and outputs a corrected vehicle state, and a vehicle control unit 303 that controls the vehicle 1 based on the corrected vehicle state.

The mobile control system 5 of the second embodiment also includes a vehicle behavior memory unit 304 that stores the history of the vehicle behavior and outputs the vehicle behavior history, and the delay correction unit 302 corrects the delay of the time-stamped vehicle position based on the time information and the vehicle behavior history, and outputs a corrected vehicle state.

The mobile control system 5 of the third and sixth embodiments further includes a time information correction unit 202 that corrects the time information (added to the measurement information by the time information adding unit 101) based on the relative positional relationship between the vehicle position indicated by the time-added vehicle position and the measurement unit 31, adds corrected time information to the time-added vehicle position, and outputs the corrected time-added vehicle position, and the delay correction unit 302 corrects the delay of the corrected time-added vehicle position based on the corrected time information and the vehicle behavior history, and outputs the corrected vehicle state.

More specifically, the time information correction unit 202 corrects the time information using the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit 31 according to the relative positional relationship based on the relationship between the relative positional relationship and the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit 31 (which are added to the measurement information by the time information adding unit 101), and adds the corrected time information to the time-added vehicle position, and outputs the corrected time-added vehicle position.

In addition, in the fourth embodiment of the mobile control system 5, the vehicle position identification unit 201 is provided in the vehicle 1, and the time-stamped measurement information is transmitted from the traveling environment to the vehicle 1 via wireless communication.

In addition, in the first embodiment of the mobile control system 5, the vehicle position identification unit 201 is provided outside the vehicle 1, and the time-stamped vehicle position is transmitted from the driving environment to the vehicle 1 via wireless communication.

In addition, in the first embodiment of the mobile object control system 5, the vehicle behavior history is a history of the speed and angular velocity of the vehicle.

In addition, in the fifth embodiment of the mobile object control system 5, the vehicle behavior history is a history of the vehicle's travel trajectory.

According to the above-described embodiment, the infrastructure sensor adds time information immediately after measurement, estimating the elapsed time from measurement to arrival of the information, and correcting for the amount of movement of the vehicle between measurement and arrival of the information, making it possible to estimate the current vehicle position with high accuracy.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modified forms. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. It is also possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in hardware, in part or in whole, for example by designing them as integrated circuits. Furthermore, the above-mentioned configurations, functions, etc. may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information on the programs, tables, files, etc. that realize each function can be stored in a memory, a storage device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for the explanation, and not all control lines and information lines on the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected.

1: Vehicle 2: Infrastructure sensor 3: Remote server 5: Mobile control system 11: Driven wheels 12: Driving wheels 13: Motor 14: Brake 15: Speed reducer 16: Steering mechanism 17: Vehicle communication unit 18: Vehicle calculation unit 19: Wheel speed sensor 20: IMU
31: Measurement unit 32: Infrastructure sensor calculation unit 33: Infrastructure sensor communication unit 42: Remote server calculation unit 43: Remote server communication unit 101: Time information assignment unit 201: Vehicle position identification unit 202: Time information correction unit 301: Vehicle behavior acquisition unit 302: Delay correction unit 303: Vehicle control unit 304: Vehicle behavior storage unit

Claims (13)

A measurement unit that is installed in the driving environment and measures the surroundings and outputs measurement information;
a time information adding unit that adds time information to the measurement information and outputs time-added measurement information;
a vehicle position determining unit that determines a position of a vehicle traveling in the traveling environment based on the time-stamped measurement information and outputs a time-stamped vehicle position;
A vehicle event acquisition unit provided in the vehicle and configured to acquire a vehicle event;
a delay correction unit that corrects a delay of the time-stamped vehicle position based on the time information and the vehicle behavior and outputs a corrected vehicle state;
a vehicle control unit that controls the vehicle based on the corrected vehicle state. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
a vehicle event storage unit that stores the history of the vehicle events and outputs the vehicle event history;
The mobile object control system is characterized in that the delay correction unit corrects the delay of the time-stamped vehicle position based on the time information and the vehicle behavior history, and outputs a corrected vehicle state. The mobile object control system according to claim 2,
a time information correction unit that corrects the time information based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle position indicated by the time-stamped vehicle position and the measurement unit, and assigns the corrected time information to the time-stamped vehicle position to output the corrected time-stamped vehicle position;
The mobile control system is characterized in that the delay correction unit corrects the delay of the vehicle position with the correction time based on the correction time information and the vehicle behavior history, and outputs a corrected vehicle state. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
The vehicle position identification unit is provided in the vehicle,
A vehicle control system characterized in that the time-stamped measurement information is transmitted from the driving environment to the vehicle via wireless communication. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
The vehicle position identification unit is provided outside the vehicle,
A vehicle control system, characterized in that the vehicle position with time is transmitted from the driving environment to the vehicle via wireless communication. The mobile object control system according to claim 2,
A mobile object control system, wherein the vehicle behavior history is a history of the speed and angular velocity of the vehicle. The mobile object control system according to claim 2,
A mobile object control system, wherein the vehicle behavior history is a history of a travel path of the vehicle. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
A mobile control system, characterized in that, when the delay is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the vehicle control unit reduces the speed of the vehicle or stops the vehicle. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
A mobile control system, characterized in that, when the delay is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the vehicle control unit increases a distance between the vehicle and an object surrounding the vehicle. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
A mobile control system, characterized in that, when the distance between the measurement unit and the vehicle is outside a predetermined range, the vehicle control unit reduces the speed of the vehicle or stops the vehicle. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
A mobile control system characterized in that when a predetermined time has elapsed since time synchronization of a time information source that notifies the delay correction unit of the current time is performed, the vehicle control unit reduces or stops the vehicle's speed. The mobile object control system according to claim 1,
The mobile control system is characterized in that the delay correction unit identifies the vehicle position at the current time by correcting the delay of the time-stamped vehicle position based on the difference between the time information and the current time and the vehicle behavior, and outputs a corrected vehicle state. The mobile object control system according to claim 3,
The mobile control system is characterized in that the time information correction unit corrects the time information using the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit according to the relative positional relationship based on the relationship between the relative positional relationship and the measurement delay and transmission delay of the measurement unit, and assigns the corrected time information to the time-stamped vehicle position, thereby outputting the corrected time-stamped vehicle position.

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