JP7698498B2 - Driving Support Devices - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a driving assistance device that prevents reverse driving.

It is extremely dangerous for a vehicle to travel in the wrong direction relative to the road, and preventing vehicles from traveling in the wrong direction is an issue. It is also a problem when drivers travel in the wrong direction relative to the road.

In recent years, various proposals have been made regarding technology to detect and prevent wrong-way driving of vehicles. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses technology for a driving support device that issues a warning about wrong-way driving for an appropriate period of time. This conventional driving support device determines wrong-way driving from patterns of predetermined actions and vehicle behavior, such as a U-turn on a highway being wrong-way driving, or driving in the opposite direction to the link information on a map being wrong-way driving.

JP 2012-053846 A

However, while the situations and patterns that lead to wrong-way driving on roads change from moment to moment, conventional driving assistance devices do not detect wrong-way driving based on specific patterns of predetermined actions or vehicle behavior, and so even when the driver has no intention of driving the wrong way, the system intervenes to issue a warning, which can be annoying.

In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide a driving assistance device that performs appropriate wrong-way driving judgment of a vehicle depending on road conditions.

A driving assistance device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an external recognition device that acquires driving environment information around the vehicle, a locator unit in which road map information is stored and that detects the vehicle's position based on a positioning signal, an alarm device that issues an alarm such as an alarm sound or a warning display to the driver, and a cruise control unit that controls the vehicle based on the forward driving environment information from the external recognition device, wherein the cruise control unit identifies a road section on which the vehicle is traveling based on the position of the vehicle on the road map information estimated by the locator unit, into a first road section which is the entire road section on which the vehicle is traveling, and other road sections which are obtained by dividing the first road section into a plurality of sections, performs a first wrong-way driving determination process in the first road section, and performs other wrong-way driving determination processes in addition to the first wrong-way driving determination process in each of the other divided road sections, and activates the alarm device when it detects behavior of the vehicle that may be wrong-way driving in each of the road sections.

The present invention provides a driving assistance device that performs appropriate wrong-way driving judgment of a vehicle depending on road conditions.

Functional block diagram showing the configuration of a driving assistance device Top view of a vehicle equipped with autonomous sensors A diagram showing the entrances and exits to expressways from general roads and explaining the division of multiple road sections A flowchart showing a driving section determination process executed by a driving control unit. 1 is a flowchart showing a first reverse running determination process executed by a driving control unit. 1 is a flowchart showing a second reverse running determination process executed by the driving control unit. 11 is a flowchart showing a third reverse running determination process executed by the driving control unit. A diagram showing a scene where the vehicle is about to enter an expressway exit from a general road. 11 is a flowchart showing a fourth reverse running determination process executed by the driving control unit.

An embodiment of one aspect of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that in the drawings used in the following description, each component is shown at a different scale so that it can be recognized on the drawing, and the present invention is not limited to the number of components, the shapes of the components, the size ratios of the components, or the relative positions of the components shown in these drawings.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a driving control device 10 serving as a driving assistance device for a vehicle has a driving environment recognition unit 11 and a locator unit 12 as units for recognizing the driving environment outside the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1.

The driving control device 10 also includes a driving control unit (hereinafter referred to as "driving_ECU") 22, an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as "E/G_ECU") 23, a power steering control unit (hereinafter referred to as "PS_ECU") 24 which is a steering control unit, a brake control unit (hereinafter referred to as "BK_ECU") 25, and a clutch control unit (hereinafter referred to as "CL_ECU") 26. These control units 22 to 26 are connected to the driving environment recognition unit 11 and the locator unit 12 via an in-vehicle communication line such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

The driving environment recognition unit 11, which is an external recognition device, is fixed, for example, in the center of the upper front part of the vehicle interior. This driving environment recognition unit 11 has an on-board camera (stereo camera) consisting of a main camera 11a and a sub-camera 11b, an image processing unit (IPU) 11c, and a driving environment recognition section 11d.

The main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b are, for example, autonomous sensors that sense the real space in front of the vehicle M. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b are arranged in symmetrical positions in the vehicle interior in front of the upper part of the windshield, with the center of the vehicle width in between, and capture stereo images of the area in front of the vehicle M from different viewpoints.

IPU 11c processes the forward driving environment image information of the area in front of vehicle M captured by cameras 11a and 11b in a predetermined manner, and generates forward driving environment image information (distance image information) including distance information calculated from the amount of deviation between the positions of corresponding objects. Based on the distance image information received from IPU 11c, driving environment recognition unit 11d calculates lane markings that divide the roads around vehicle M.

The driving environment recognition unit 11d also determines the road curvature [1/m] of the lane markings dividing the left and right sides of the roadway (host vehicle driving lane) on which the host vehicle M is traveling, and the width between the left and right lane markings (lane width). There are various known methods for determining this road curvature and lane width, but for example, the driving environment recognition unit 11d recognizes the left and right lane markings by binarizing the road curvature based on the forward driving environment image information using brightness difference, and determines the curvatures of the left and right lane markings for each specified section using a curve approximation formula using the least squares method, etc.

The driving environment recognition unit 11d also performs a predetermined pattern matching on the distance image information to recognize guardrails and curbs along the road, as well as obstacles and three-dimensional objects such as pedestrians, motorcycles, and vehicles other than motorcycles that are present on the road around the vehicle M.

Here, when the driving environment recognition unit 11d recognizes three-dimensional objects, obstacles, etc., it recognizes, for example, the type of three-dimensional object, the distance to the three-dimensional object, the speed of the three-dimensional object, and the relative speed between the three-dimensional object and the vehicle M. Note that a three-dimensional object recognized in this way based on an image from an on-board camera is referred to as a camera object (camera OBJ).

Furthermore, multiple radar devices (e.g., a left front-side radar device 11fl, a right front-side radar device 11fr, a left rear-side radar device 11rl, and a right rear-side radar device 11rr) are connected to the driving environment recognition unit 11d as autonomous sensors.

These multiple radar devices (left front side radar device 11fl, right front side radar device 11fr, left rear side radar device 11rl, and right rear side radar device 11rr) are arranged on the bumper or the like outside the vehicle cabin, for example, so as to sandwich the center in the front-rear direction and the vehicle width direction, and to be symmetrical in the front-rear and left-right directions, as shown in FIG. 2.

The left front-side radar device 11fl and the right front-side radar device 11fr monitor two areas, the left and right diagonally forward and to the sides, of the vehicle M, which cannot be monitored using images from the above-mentioned cameras 11a and 11b. The left rear-side radar device 11rl and the right rear-side radar device 11rr monitor two areas, from the left and right sides to the rear of the vehicle M, which cannot be monitored using the above-mentioned left front-side radar device 11fl and right front-side radar device 11fr.

Each of these radar devices 11fl, 11fr, 11rl, and 11rr is equipped with a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), etc. Each of the radar devices 11fl, 11fr, 11rl, and 11rr detects multiple reflection points on three-dimensional objects around the vehicle M by receiving reflected waves of radar waves (radio waves, laser beams, etc.) emitted in the horizontal direction, and recognizes the three-dimensional objects.

In this way, information about the radar OBJ recognized by each radar device 11fl, 11fr, 11rl, 11rr is input to the driving environment recognition unit 11d. This makes it possible for the driving environment recognition unit 11d to recognize not only preceding vehicles and the like in front of the host vehicle M, but also vehicles traveling parallel to the side of the host vehicle M, intersecting vehicles approaching the host vehicle M from a direction intersecting the host vehicle's path at an intersection, and following vehicles behind the host vehicle M.

In addition, the left rear-side radar device 11rl and the right rear-side radar device 11rr may not be installed, and a backup camera may be used to recognize vehicles traveling parallel to the rear and following vehicles.

The locator unit 12 estimates the vehicle's position on a road map, and has a locator calculation unit 13 that estimates the vehicle's position. The input side of the locator calculation unit 13 is connected to sensors required for estimating the position of the vehicle M (vehicle position), such as an acceleration sensor 14 that detects the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle M, a wheel speed sensor 15 that detects the rotational speed of each of the front, rear, left and right wheels, a gyro sensor 16 that detects the angular velocity or angular acceleration of the vehicle M, a GNSS receiver 17 that receives positioning signals transmitted from multiple positioning satellites, and a steering angle sensor 18 that detects the rotation angle of the steering wheel (not shown).

The locator calculation unit 13 is connected to a high-precision road map database 19. The high-precision road map database 19 is a large-capacity storage medium such as an HDD, and stores high-precision road map information (dynamic map).

In other words, high-precision road map information has four layers of information: static and quasi-static information that mainly constitutes road information, and quasi-dynamic and dynamic information that mainly constitutes traffic information.

The locator calculation unit 13 includes a map information acquisition unit 13a and a vehicle position estimation unit 13b. The map information acquisition unit 13a acquires route map information from the current location to the destination from the map information stored in the high-precision road map database 19, for example, based on the destination set by the driver during automatic driving.

The map information acquisition unit 13a also transmits the acquired route map information (lane data on the route map) to the vehicle position estimation unit 13b. The vehicle position estimation unit 13b acquires the position coordinates of the vehicle M based on the positioning signal received by the GNSS receiver 17.

Furthermore, the vehicle position estimation unit 13b performs map matching of the acquired position coordinates on the route map information to estimate the vehicle position on the road map, recognizes the left and right lane markings that divide the vehicle's travel path (travel lane), and acquires the road curvature of the center of the travel lane stored in the road map data.

In addition, in an environment where a valid positioning signal from a positioning satellite cannot be received due to reduced sensitivity of the GNSS receiver 17, such as when driving inside a tunnel, the vehicle position estimation unit 13b switches to autonomous navigation, which estimates the vehicle position based on the vehicle speed calculated based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor 15, the angular velocity detected by the gyro sensor 16, and the longitudinal acceleration detected by the longitudinal acceleration sensor 14, and estimates the vehicle position on the road map.

Furthermore, the vehicle position estimation unit 13b estimates the vehicle's position on a road map based on the positioning signal received by the GNSS receiver 17 or information detected by the gyro sensor 16, as described above, and then determines the road type of the road on which the vehicle M is traveling, based on the estimated vehicle position on the road map.

Also, various switches and sensors are connected to the input side of the driving_ECU 22 (none of which are shown), such as a mode changeover switch that allows the driver to switch automatic driving (driving control) on/off, a steering torque sensor that detects steering torque as a driving operation amount by the driver, a brake sensor that detects the amount of depression of the brake pedal as a driving operation amount by the driver, an accelerator sensor that detects the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal as a driving operation amount by the driver, and a yaw rate sensor that detects the yaw rate acting on the host vehicle M.

The driving modes set in the driving_ECU 22 are a manual driving mode, a first driving control mode and a second driving control mode for driving control, and an evacuation mode. Each of these driving modes can be selectively switched in the driving_ECU 22 based on the operation status of the mode change switch, etc.

Here, the manual driving mode is a driving mode that requires the driver to maintain steering, for example, a driving mode in which the vehicle M is driven according to driving operations such as steering, accelerator, and brake operations by the driver.

Similarly, the first driving control mode is also a driving mode that requires the driver to maintain steering. In other words, the first driving control mode is a semi-automated driving mode in which the host vehicle M is driven along a target driving route by appropriately combining adaptive cruise control (ACC), active lane keep centering control (ALKC), and active lane keep bouncing control, for example, through control of the E/G_ECU 23, PS_ECU 24, BK_ECU 25, while reflecting the driving operation by the driver.

The second driving control mode is an autonomous driving mode in which the vehicle M is driven along a target route (route map information) without the driver needing to maintain steering, operate the accelerator, or operate the brakes, and is mainly driven by an appropriate combination of preceding vehicle following control, lane centering control, and lane departure prevention control through control of the E/G_ECU 23, PS_ECU 24, BK_ECU 25, etc.

The evacuation mode is a mode for automatically stopping the vehicle M on a roadside or the like when, for example, while driving in the second driving control mode, driving in that mode cannot be continued and the driver cannot take over driving operations (i.e., when transition to the manual driving mode or the first driving control mode cannot be made).

The output side of the E/G_ECU 23 is connected to a throttle actuator 35. This throttle actuator 35 opens and closes the throttle valve of an electronically controlled throttle provided in the throttle body of the engine, and generates the desired engine output by opening and closing the throttle valve in response to a drive signal from the E/G_ECU 23 to adjust the intake air flow rate.

An electric power steering motor 28, which is a drive source, is connected to the output side of the PS_ECU 24. This electric power steering motor 28 applies steering torque to the steering mechanism by the rotational force of the motor, and in autonomous driving, the electric power steering motor 28 is controlled by a drive signal from the PS_ECU 24 to perform lane centering control, which keeps the vehicle traveling in the current lane, and lane change control, which moves the vehicle M to an adjacent lane (lane change control for overtaking control, etc.).

A brake actuator 29 is connected to the output side of the BK_ECU 25. This brake actuator 29 adjusts the brake hydraulic pressure supplied to the brake wheel cylinders provided on each wheel. When the brake actuator 29 is driven by a drive signal from the BK_ECU 25, the brake wheel cylinders generate a braking force of the braking mechanism on each wheel, forcing the vehicle to decelerate.

A differential clutch 30 is connected to the output side of the CL_ECU 26. This differential clutch 30 is, for example, a hydraulic clutch, and absorbs the difference in rotation between the left and right wheels by adjusting the driving force transmitted to the left and right wheels according to a drive signal from the CL_ECU 26. Note that the differential clutch 30 may be an electromagnetic clutch instead of a hydraulic clutch.

This differential clutch 30 is provided on one or both of the front and rear differential devices, which are differential devices, depending on the drive system, such as FF (front wheel drive), FR (rear wheel drive), or 4WD (four wheel drive).

The input side of the travel_ECU 22 is connected to a turn indicator (blinker) control unit (not shown), which is a turn indicator control device. This turn indicator control unit receives an ON signal from a turn indicator lever (not shown), which is a turn indicator operation unit (blinker lever) operated by the driver.

The turn indicator control unit also includes a relay circuit, and when the driver operates the turn indicator lever, two of the four turn indicators (blinkers) 37a, 37b, 38a, and 38b on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the vehicle M shown in FIG. 2 are blinked. In this example, for example, the right front indicator 37a and the right rear indicator 38a form a pair, and the left front indicator 37b and the left rear indicator 38b form a pair.

Furthermore, an alarm device 31 is connected to the output side of the travel_ECU 22. This alarm device 31 issues alarm sounds such as voice and buzzers, and displays warnings on the instrument panel, navigation monitor, etc.

The driving assistance device 1 configured as described above executes control to determine and prevent reverse driving when the vehicle M is being manually operated by the driver.

In the driving assistance device 1 of this embodiment, a predetermined road section is set in advance based on high-precision map information. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the device detects behavior of the vehicle M likely to run in the wrong direction according to a predetermined road section of a general road that includes a branch lane 102 on the entrance side, which is a branch road that branches from the main road of a general road 100 to a toll gate 101 onto an expressway, and a merging lane 103 on the exit side, which is a merging road that enters the general road 100 from the toll gate 101.

Specifically, on the general road 100, the entire road is set as a first road section A, the section from near the branch point P1 to near the junction P2 is set as a second road section B, the section from near the junction P2 to near the junction P2 is set as a third road section C, and the section from near the junction P2 to a predetermined distance away is set as a fourth road section D.

In this example, the general road 100 is divided into first to fourth road sections A to D, but the present invention is not limited to this. The driving assistance device 1 can also apply control to prevent reverse driving based on the behavior of the vehicle M on expressways, bypass roads, and road sections where there are roads that branch off from and merge with the main road.

(Travel Section Determination Processing)
While the vehicle M is traveling on the general road 100 under manual operation by the driver, the traveling_ECU 22 of the driving support device 1 determines whether the position of the vehicle M is the first road section A in the map information (S1) as shown in Fig. 4. The traveling_ECU 22 repeatedly executes the determination routine of step S1 as to whether the vehicle M is the first road section A. Note that since the first road section A is the entire section of the general road 100, the traveling_ECU 22 always determines that the vehicle M is the first road section A while the vehicle M is traveling on the general road 100.

When the position of the vehicle M is in the first road section A of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 executes the first wrong-way driving determination process shown in FIG. 5 and described below (S2).

Then, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the position of the vehicle M is in the second road section B of the map information (S3). If the position of the vehicle M is in the second road section B of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 executes the second wrong-way driving determination process shown in FIG. 6 and described later (S4), and returns to the determination routine of step S1.

On the other hand, if the position of the vehicle M is not the second road section B of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the position of the vehicle M is the third road section C of the map information (S5). If the position of the vehicle M is the third road section C of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 executes a third wrong-way driving determination process shown in FIG. 7 and described below (S6), and returns to the determination routine of step S1.

On the other hand, if the position of the vehicle M is not the third road section C of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the position of the vehicle M is the fourth road section D of the map information (S7). If the position of the vehicle M is the fourth road section D of the map information, the travel_ECU 22 executes a fourth wrong-way driving determination process shown in FIG. 9 and described below (S8), and returns to the determination routine of step S1.

If the position of the vehicle M is not the fourth road section D in the map information, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the determination routine of step S1.

In each determination process here, the driving_ECU 22 performs map matching of the position coordinates on the route map information based on the positioning signal of the GNSS receiver 17 to determine the section in which the vehicle M is traveling.

(First reverse running determination process)
The first wrong-way driving determination process executed by the travel_ECU 22 while the host vehicle M is traveling on the first road section A will be described with reference to FIG.

The travel_ECU 22 determines whether the host vehicle M has decelerated (S11). If the host vehicle M has decelerated based on the operating state of the brake actuator 29, the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor 15, etc., the travel_ECU 22 determines whether there is a preceding vehicle ahead (S12). If the host vehicle M has not decelerated, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the determination routine of step S11.

The driving_ECU 22 judges whether or not the vehicle has been steered if there is no preceding vehicle ahead based on the forward driving environment image information of the area ahead of the vehicle M captured by the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b, which is input from the IPU 11c (S13). Note that if the driving_ECU 22 detects a preceding vehicle ahead of the vehicle M, it returns to the judgment routine of step S11.

When the host vehicle M has turned, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the host vehicle M has changed lanes based on the operating state of the electric power steering motor 28, the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor 18, etc. (S14). Note that when the host vehicle M has not turned, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the determination routine of step S11.

When the vehicle M has not changed lanes, the driving_ECU 22 determines whether or not a branch point P1, an intersection, or a parking lot entrance is nearby based on the forward driving environment image information of the area ahead of the vehicle M captured by the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b (S15). Note that when the vehicle M has changed lanes, the driving_ECU 22 returns to the determination routine of step S11.

The travel_ECU 22 starts a warning (S16) if there is no branch point P1, intersection, or parking lot entrance immediately ahead of the host vehicle M. The travel_ECU 22 activates the alarm device 31 to sound an alarm, display an alarm, or the like to alert the driver.

Next, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether or not a U-turn has been made (S17). Here, the travel_ECU 22 detects the U-turn behavior of the host vehicle M from the forward travel environment image information, the position coordinates of the host vehicle M, map information, steering angle information, and the yaw acceleration (yaw rate) of the host vehicle M measured by the gyro sensor 16 and a yaw rate sensor (not shown).

If the host vehicle M has not made a U-turn, the travel_ECU 22 stops driving the warning device 31 and stops the warning (S18). On the other hand, if the host vehicle M has made a U-turn, the travel_ECU 22 executes evacuation control (S19).

In this evacuation control, the driving_ECU 22, on behalf of the driver, controls the operation of the electric power steering motor 28, the brake actuator 29, the throttle actuator 27, etc., using the E/G_ECU 23, the PS_ECU 24, and the BK_ECU 25 based on the forward driving environment image information, and parks the host vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, etc.

Then, after parking the vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, the driving_ECU 22 stops the warning (S20), hands over the operation of the vehicle M to the driver (S21), and ends this control.

From the above explanation, the driving assistance device 1 detects deceleration of the vehicle M while traveling on the first road section A of the general road 100, and if there is a possibility of the vehicle M traveling in the wrong direction due to a U-turn or the like, it warns the driver and prevents the vehicle M from traveling in the wrong direction.

Furthermore, if the driver ignores the warning and makes a U-turn with the vehicle M, the driving assistance device 1 switches to system control and executes control to park the vehicle M in a safe location such as the shoulder of the road.

(Second reverse running determination process)
Next, the second wrong-way driving determination process executed by the travel_ECU 22 while the host vehicle M is traveling on the second road section B will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the travel_ECU 22 executes the first reverse driving determination process shown in FIG. 5 (S30). In this first reverse driving determination process, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the deceleration detected in step S11 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (S31). If the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor 15 or the like indicates that the host vehicle M is decelerating less than the predetermined threshold, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S30.

If the host vehicle M decelerates rapidly to a predetermined threshold or more, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether or not there is a preceding vehicle ahead (S32). If the host vehicle M is not decelerating, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S30.

The travel_ECU 22 starts issuing a warning if there is no preceding vehicle ahead based on the forward driving environment image information of the area ahead of the vehicle M captured by the main camera 11a and the sub-camera 11b, which is input from the IPU 11c (S33). That is, since there is a possibility that the vehicle M may be stopped due to sudden braking, the travel_ECU 22 activates the warning device 31 to sound an alarm, display an alarm, or the like, to alert the driver.

In this case, the second road section B does not have any intersections or traffic lights, and since there is a low possibility that the host vehicle M will suddenly decelerate and stop without a preceding vehicle, a warning is issued to the driver.

Next, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the vehicle M is reversing in the direction of the branch point P1 at the entrance to the expressway (S34). The travel_ECU 22 detects the reversal of the vehicle M from the forward travel environment image information, the position coordinates of the vehicle M, map information, etc.

The detection of vehicle M reversing here assumes that vehicle M may pass branch point P1 at the entrance to the expressway, reverse to branch point P1, and then enter branch lane 102 after driving in the wrong direction.

If the host vehicle M is not moving backward, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether or not the host vehicle M has made a U-turn (S35). Here, as in step S17 of FIG. 5, the travel_ECU 22 detects the U-turn behavior of the host vehicle M from the forward travel environment image information, the position coordinates of the host vehicle M, map information, steering angle information, and the yaw acceleration (yaw rate) of the host vehicle M measured by the gyro sensor 16 and a yaw rate sensor (not shown).

If the host vehicle M is not making a U-turn, the driving_ECU 22 stops the warning (S36) and returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S30.

When the host vehicle M is moving backward or making a U-turn, the travel_ECU 22 executes evacuation control (S37). In this evacuation control, similar to step S19 in FIG. 5, the travel_ECU 22, on behalf of the driver, controls the drive of the electric power steering motor 28, the brake actuator 29, the throttle actuator 27, etc., using the E/G_ECU 23, the PS_ECU 24, and the BK_ECU 25 based on the forward driving environment image information, thereby parking the host vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, etc.

Then, after parking the vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, the driving_ECU 22 stops the warning (S38), hands over the operation of the vehicle M to the driver (S39), and ends this control.

From the above explanation, while traveling on the second road section B on the general road 100, the driving assistance device 1 detects sudden deceleration of the vehicle M in addition to the first wrong-way driving judgment process, and warns the driver to prevent wrong-way driving if there is a possibility of reverse driving due to backing up, making a U-turn, etc.

Furthermore, if the driver ignores the warning and reverses or makes a U-turn with the vehicle M, the driving assistance device 1 switches to system control and executes control to park the vehicle M in a safe location such as the shoulder of the road.

(Third reverse running determination process)
Next, the third wrong-way driving determination process executed by the travel_ECU 22 while the host vehicle M is traveling on the third road section C will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the travel_ECU 22 executes the first reverse driving determination process shown in FIG. 5 (S40). In this first reverse driving determination process, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the steering angle amount detected in step S13 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (S41). If the steering angle amount detected by the steering angle sensor 18 is less than the predetermined threshold, the travel_ECU 22 returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S40.

When the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor 18 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the driving_ECU 22 starts a warning (S42). Here too, the driving_ECU 22 activates the alarm device 31 to sound an alarm, display an alarm, or the like, to alert the driver. That is, it is assumed that the third road section C in this case does not have an intersection, and as shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that when the steering angle is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the vehicle M may make an abrupt turn and enter the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway from the merging point P2.

Then, the driving_ECU 22 judges whether the host vehicle M has entered the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway from the merging point P2 (S43). If the host vehicle M has not entered the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway based on the forward driving environment image information, the position coordinates of the host vehicle M, the map information, etc., the driving_ECU 22 returns to the first wrong-way driving judgment process of step S40.

On the other hand, when the host vehicle M enters the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway, the travel_ECU 22 executes evacuation control (S45). In this evacuation control, similar to step S19 in FIG. 5, the travel_ECU 22, on behalf of the driver, controls the drive of the electric power steering motor 28, the brake actuator 29, the throttle actuator 27, etc., using the E/G_ECU 23, the PS_ECU 24, and the BK_ECU 25 based on the forward driving environment image information, and parks the host vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, etc.

Then, after parking the vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, the driving_ECU 22 stops the warning (S46), hands over the operation of the vehicle M to the driver (S47), and ends this control.

From the above explanation, while traveling on the third road section C on the general road 100, the driving assistance device 1, in addition to the first wrong-way driving judgment process, detects abrupt steering from a steering angle of the vehicle M that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, and warns the driver to prevent wrong-way driving if there is a possibility of entering the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway.

Furthermore, if the driver ignores the warning and drives the vehicle M into the merging lane 103 at the exit of the expressway, the driving assistance device 1 switches to system control and executes control to park the vehicle M in a safe location such as the shoulder of the road.

(Fourth reverse running determination process)
Next, the fourth wrong-way driving determination process executed by the travel_ECU 22 while the host vehicle M is traveling on the fourth road section D will be described with reference to Fig. 9. Note that this control executes substantially the same routine as the second wrong-way driving determination process in Fig. 6. Therefore, the following mainly describes the routines that are different from the second wrong-way driving determination process, and the other routines will be simply described using the same step S numbers.

First, the travel_ECU 22 executes the first reverse driving determination process shown in FIG. 5 (S30). In this first reverse driving determination process, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether the deceleration detected in step S11 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (S31).

When the host vehicle M suddenly decelerates to a level equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether or not there is a preceding vehicle ahead (S32), and if the host vehicle M is not decelerating, the process returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S30.

If there is no preceding vehicle ahead, the travel_ECU 22 starts issuing a warning (S33). Note that the fourth road section D here also has no intersections, traffic lights, etc., and since there is a low possibility that the host vehicle M will suddenly decelerate and stop without a preceding vehicle, a warning is issued to the driver.

Next, the driving_ECU 22 determines whether the vehicle M is reversing in the direction of the junction P2 at the expressway exit (S34'). As in step S34 of the second wrong-way driving determination process, the driving_ECU 22 detects the reversal of the vehicle M from the forward driving environment image information, the position coordinates of the vehicle M, map information, etc.

The detection of vehicle M moving backward assumes that vehicle M may pass junction P2 at the expressway exit, back up to junction P2, drive in the wrong direction, and then enter merging lane 103.

If the host vehicle M has not reversed, the travel_ECU 22 determines whether or not a U-turn has been made (S35), and if the host vehicle M has not made a U-turn, stops the warning (S36) and returns to the first reverse driving determination process of step S30.

When the host vehicle M is moving backward or making a U-turn, the travel_ECU 22 executes evacuation control (S37). Then, after parking the host vehicle M on the shoulder of the general road 100, the travel_ECU 22 stops the warning (S38), hands over the operation of the host vehicle M to the driver (S39), and ends this control.

From the above explanation, while traveling on the fourth road section D on the general road 100, the driving assistance device 1 detects sudden deceleration of the vehicle M in addition to the first wrong-way driving judgment process, and warns the driver to prevent wrong-way driving if there is a possibility that the vehicle M will reverse, make a U-turn, or otherwise drive in the wrong direction and enter the merging lane 103 at the expressway exit.

Furthermore, if the driver ignores the warning and reverses or makes a U-turn with the vehicle M, the driving assistance device 1 switches to system control and executes control to park the vehicle M in a safe location such as the shoulder of the road.

As described above, the vehicle driving assistance device 1 is configured to perform an appropriate wrong-way driving judgment of the vehicle M according to the road conditions, based on the changing situations and patterns of wrong-way driving for each road section, dividing the area from the general road 100 near the entrance to the expressway to the exit into the second road section B to the fourth road section D.

Each of the ECUs 22-26 of the driving assistance device 1 of the vehicle M has a processor including a central processing unit (CPU) and storage devices such as ROM and RAM. In addition, all or part of the configuration of the processor's multiple circuits may be implemented by software. For example, the CPU may read and execute various programs corresponding to each function stored in the ROM.

Furthermore, all or part of the functions of the processor may be configured using logic circuits or analog circuits, and the processing of various programs may be realized using electronic circuits such as FPGAs.

The invention described in the above embodiments is not limited to those forms, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the gist of the invention. Furthermore, each of the above forms includes inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriate combinations of the multiple constituent elements disclosed.

For example, if some constituent elements are deleted from the total constituent elements shown in each form, and the problem described can still be solved and the effect described can still be obtained, then the configuration from which these constituent elements have been deleted can be extracted as the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Driving assistance device 10... Driving control device 11... Driving environment recognition unit 11a... Main camera 11b... Sub-camera 11d... Driving environment recognition unit 11fl... Left front side radar device 11fr... Right front side radar device 11rl... Left rear side radar device 11rr... Right rear side radar device 12... Locator unit 13... Locator calculation unit 13a... Map information acquisition unit 13b... Vehicle position estimation unit 14... Acceleration sensor 15... Wheel speed sensor 16... Gyro sensor 17... GNSS receiver 18... Steering angle sensor 19... High-precision road map database 22... Driving control unit 23... Engine control unit Knit 24...power steering control unit 25...brake control unit 26...clutch control unit 27...throttle actuator 28...electric power steering motor 29...brake actuator 30...differential clutch 31...alarm device 35...throttle actuator 37a...right front turn indicator 37b...left front turn indicator 38a...right rear turn indicator 38b...left rear turn indicator 100...general road 101...toll gate 102...branching lane 103...merging lane A...first road section B...second road section C...third road section D...fourth road section M...own vehicle M
P1: Branch point P2: Junction

Claims (5)

An external recognition device that acquires driving environment information around the vehicle ;
a locator unit that stores road map information and detects the vehicle's position based on a positioning signal;
An alarm device that issues an alarm to the driver, such as an alarm sound or a warning display;
a driving control unit that controls the host vehicle based on forward driving environment information obtained by the external recognition device;
Equipped with
The driving control unit includes:
Identifying a road section on which the vehicle is traveling from the position of the vehicle on the road map information estimated by the locator unit into a first road section which is the entire road section on which the vehicle is traveling and other road sections which are obtained by dividing the first road section into a plurality of sections;
Executing a first wrong-way driving determination process in the first road section;
execute another wrong-way driving determination process in addition to the first wrong-way driving determination process in each of the other divided road sections;
A driving support device, characterized in that the warning device is activated when a behavior of the host vehicle that may indicate wrong-way driving is detected in each of the road sections . The other road sections are a second road section from a vicinity of a branch point of a branching lane branching off from a road to a vicinity just before a junction point of a merging lane merging into the road, a third road section from a vicinity just before the junction point to a vicinity just past the junction, and a fourth road section from a vicinity just past the junction to a predetermined distance,
The driving control unit includes:
execute a second wrong-way driving determination process in addition to the first wrong-way driving determination process in the second road section;
execute a third wrong-way driving determination process in addition to the first wrong-way driving determination process in the third road section;
2. The driving support device according to claim 1, further comprising: a fourth wrong-way driving determination process in addition to the first wrong-way driving determination process in the fourth road section. 3. The driving support device according to claim 2, wherein the driving control unit detects a deceleration of the host vehicle equal to or greater than a threshold value in the second wrong-way driving determination process and the fourth wrong-way driving determination process, and activates the warning device when a preceding vehicle is not detected by the external recognition device. 3. The driving support device according to claim 2, wherein the driving control unit activates the warning device when a steering angle of the host vehicle equal to or greater than a threshold value is detected in the third wrong-way driving determination process. 2. The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the driving control unit executes evacuation control for causing the host vehicle to move to a road shoulder or the like when the driving control unit detects a U-turn or backward movement of the host vehicle after activating the warning device.

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