JP7702338B2 - Vehicle control device and vehicle control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method.

In order to systematically realize power supply from batteries, a battery control system is known that performs maintenance in the form of charging by issuing an instruction to move an autonomously mobile battery to a charging station when the remaining battery charge of the battery falls below a predetermined threshold (see Patent Document 1).

A vehicle maintenance management system has also been disclosed that issues instructions for carrying out maintenance at appropriate times according to the supply and demand situation for vehicles (see Patent Document 2).

Patent No. 6050909 JP 2020-13373 A

However, with conventional systems, it is difficult to make a vehicle available for supply through vehicle dispatch services once it has undergone maintenance, and there is a problem that it is difficult to meet customer needs when the on-demand supply and demand balance differs significantly from expectations and the number of vehicle dispatch requests increases.

The present invention was conceived in light of the above circumstances, and aims to provide a vehicle control device and a vehicle control method that can control vehicles undergoing maintenance so that they can be supplied according to the supply and demand balance.

One aspect of the present invention is a vehicle control device that includes a first judgment unit that judges whether there is a current or future surplus or shortage of the vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle use, a maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance information related to each maintenance to be performed on the vehicles currently undergoing maintenance, a second judgment unit that judges whether the necessity of each maintenance is equal to or less than a threshold for each vehicle based on the maintenance information, and a vehicle control unit that, when the first judgment unit judges that there is a shortage of the vehicles, selects at least some of the vehicles that will undergo maintenance whose necessity is judged to be equal to or less than the threshold by the second judgment unit, prohibits the execution of maintenance below the threshold for the vehicles, and sets the vehicles as available for supply after maintenance that exceeds the threshold.

According to one aspect of the present invention, even vehicles undergoing maintenance can be controlled to a supply state according to the supply and demand balance.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle maintenance management system S according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing three possible states through which a transition can occur. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an increase in the number of vehicles that can be supplied due to the suspension of maintenance by vehicle control unit 109. FIG. 4 is an information transition flow diagram showing an example of a processing flow by the server 1 of this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a more specific example of the processing of the server 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing data when this embodiment is applied.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a vehicle maintenance management system S according to the present embodiment. The vehicle maintenance management system S according to the present embodiment is a system that uses the vehicle control method according to the present embodiment. The vehicle maintenance management system S according to the present embodiment is a system that can be applied when at least one vehicle 2 is used by one or more users (users), and can be applied to a service such as a car sharing service in which a user picks up a reserved vehicle and drives it himself/herself, a service in which a vehicle driven by a driver is used to transport one or more users to a destination, or a service in which an unmanned vehicle without a driver is used to transport one or more users to a destination.

In addition to such business vehicles, the system can also be applied to services that provide periodic cleaning, supply of driving energy (refueling or charging), part replacement (replacing tires, batteries, various oils, etc.), and software updates (upgrades, etc.) for on-board computers for vehicles owned by individuals (so-called private cars) and companies (so-called company cars). In short, it is a system that has the function of notifying various vehicles of the timing of maintenance and actually performing maintenance. In the embodiment described below, an example of application to a service in which one or more users are transported to a destination using an unmanned vehicle without a driver is shown. The vehicle maintenance management system S of this embodiment includes a server 1 as a vehicle control device, a vehicle 2, and a user terminal device 3. Each configuration will be described below. In addition, since this embodiment relates to returning a vehicle under maintenance to a supplyable state in a vehicle maintenance management system related to the implementation of maintenance according to the supply and demand situation for vehicles, the description of the embodiment in Patent Document 2 may be partially referred to.

(Server 1)
Server 1 is a programmable server that is composed of one or more computers (hardware equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, etc., with software installed to realize the functions described below) and that accepts signal input from outside and performs various processes.

All vehicles 2 according to this embodiment can transition between three states (service statuses). Figure 2 shows the three possible states.

As shown in FIG. 2, when a vehicle is in operation U, it is in a standby state T or a shuttle state S, and when the vehicle is not in operation U, it is in a maintenance state M, such as charging. The server 1, which serves as a vehicle control device in this embodiment, manages these three transition states and controls the state according to the supply and demand of vehicles. Note that this embodiment will mainly explain how the server 1 controls a vehicle in the maintenance state M to transition to the standby state T.

The details of how the server 1 is configured are not particularly limited, and a general server may be used. The server 1 includes a vehicle information database 101, a map database 102, a vehicle request management unit 103, a vehicle planning unit 104, a vehicle reservation unit 105, a usage information acquisition unit 106, a maintenance necessity estimation unit 107, a first judgment unit 108, a maintenance information acquisition unit 112, a second judgment unit 113, a vehicle control unit 109, a supply and demand information acquisition unit 110, and a threshold setting unit 111. Of these units, the vehicle information database 101 and the map database 102 are configured by a storage device, and the functions of the other units are realized by software installed in the server 1.

The vehicle information database 101 is a database that stores dynamic vehicle information that can be transmitted from the vehicle information transmission unit 23 of the vehicle 2 at predetermined time intervals, in addition to previously known static information such as the vehicle type and the registration date of the vehicle. In this embodiment, the dynamic vehicle information may be maintenance information. Since there are multiple vehicles 2, the vehicle information for all vehicles present within a specified service area can be stored in the vehicle information database 101.

Vehicle information includes various states (service status) such as whether the vehicle is ready to receive a request (standby state), whether it is in automatic driving (shuttle/pick-up state), whether it is being cleaned or undergoing other maintenance, and if it is undergoing maintenance, maintenance information (maintenance progress, etc.) regarding the various maintenance tasks that the vehicle will be performing in the future. These are stored in the vehicle information database 101 in association with the vehicle ID.

As described below, the vehicle information database 101 may be classified into a vehicle past information database that accumulates past vehicle information, a vehicle state quantity database that stores vehicle states (service status) such as maintenance progress, and a demand database that accumulates information related to vehicle dispatch demand, depending on the nature of the information stored.

In addition, the vehicle information may include information related to remote monitoring of unmanned autonomous driving, such as the location information of vehicle 2, vehicle direction, vehicle speed, door lock and door open/close status, seat belt sensor values, period of use of vehicle 2, number of times vehicle 2 has been used, distance traveled by vehicle 2, remaining driving energy of vehicle 2 (remaining fuel in the case of an engine vehicle, remaining battery power in the case of an electric vehicle, remaining fuel power and/or remaining battery power in the case of a hybrid vehicle), lifespan of various parts of vehicle 2, software update information for the computer (such as an ECU) installed in vehicle 2, cumulative number of passengers in vehicle 2 at each maintenance, characteristics of the user of vehicle 2 (whether or not they like to be clean), the area in which vehicle 2 is traveling, weather when vehicle 2 is being used, presence and number of passengers, and whether the destination of the transportation instructions has been reached.

The map database 102 includes a so-called navigation map that includes at least road link information on which the vehicle 2 can travel, as well as information on locations where the user can get on and off, refueling and/or charging locations, waiting locations for the vehicle 2, pick-up and drop-off locations, etc. In addition, it may include pedestrian road link information for calculating the route the user will walk.

The vehicle request management unit 103 receives usage request information for the vehicle 2 from the user terminal device 3, and outputs the usage request information for the vehicle 2 to the vehicle planning unit 104. It also inputs usage request result information for the usage request information from the vehicle planning unit 104, and transmits the usage request result information to the user terminal device 3.

The vehicle planning unit 104 calculates vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 using the utilization request information for the vehicle 2 output from the vehicle request management unit 103 and the vehicle information stored in the vehicle information database 101, and outputs the calculated vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 to the vehicle request management unit 103 and the vehicle reservation unit 105. Here, a method for calculating the vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 will be described. First, the nearest boarding and alighting locations are determined as the boarding location and disembarking location, respectively, using the position information for the departure point and destination point included in the utilization request information for the vehicle 2 and the position information for the boarding and alighting locations included in the map database 102. Next, of all the vehicles 2 that can receive utilization request information for the vehicle 2, the vehicle 2 closest to the boarding location is determined as the assigned vehicle. Note that the calculation method for the vehicle allocation plan information for the vehicle 2 is not particularly limited, and other methods may be used.

The vehicle reservation unit 105 uses the dispatch plan information for vehicle 2 output from the vehicle planning unit 104 and the vehicle information included in the vehicle information database 101 to calculate a driving route to a location where the user is picked up and a driving route to a location where the user is dropped off. This information can be sent to the server information receiving unit 24 of vehicle 2, taking into account other information necessary for operating an unmanned autonomous vehicle.

The usage information acquisition unit 106 acquires maintenance information associated with the vehicle ID of the vehicle 2 from the vehicle information of the vehicle 2 stored in the vehicle information database 101 for the vehicle 2 assigned to the user's usage request information.

The maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 estimates the necessity of maintenance for vehicle 2 based on the vehicle maintenance information.

The supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 also acquires supply and demand information on the demand and supply of vehicle usage. For example, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires the status of the degree of demand for the provided service for each vehicle or for each vehicle present in a specified area (for example, within a 500 m radius of the area where the service is provided). More specifically, the number of reservations in the most recent hour and the maximum number of reservations in the previous hour may be acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent hour by the maximum number of reservations in the previous hour may be quantified as the demand status.

The supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 also acquires the status of the extent to which the supply of the provided service has been achieved for each vehicle or for each vehicle present in a specified area (for example, within a 500 m radius of the area where the service is provided). For example, the current number of vehicles 2 in the area where the service is provided and the maximum number of vehicles in the past that the service has been provided may be acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the current number of vehicles that the service has been provided divided by the maximum number of vehicles that the service has been provided may be quantified as the supply status.

Furthermore, the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 acquires the status of the supply relative to demand for the provided service for each vehicle or for each vehicle present in a specified area (for example, within a 500 m radius of the area where the service is provided). For example, the current number of reserved vehicles 2 in the area where the service is provided and the current number of vehicles for which the service is provided may be acquired from the vehicle planning unit 104, and the current number of vehicles for which the service is provided divided by the current number of vehicles reserved (the so-called supply and demand ratio) may be quantified as the supply and demand status.

The determination unit determines whether to transition the vehicle's service status from a standby state to a maintenance state, or from a maintenance state to a standby state, depending on the supply and demand balance and the degree of maintenance necessity. Please refer to Patent Document 2 for details of the control by which the determination unit transitions the vehicle's service status from a standby state to a maintenance state depending on the supply and demand balance acquired by the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 and the degree of maintenance necessity estimated by the maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 (in summary, if the degree of maintenance necessity estimated by the maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 exceeds the threshold set by the threshold setting unit 111, the determination unit determines that the vehicle requires maintenance, and if it does not exceed the threshold, the determination unit determines that the vehicle does not require maintenance).

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the control in which the determination unit transitions the vehicle's service status from a maintenance state to a standby state according to the supply and demand balance and the degree of necessity for maintenance will be described in particular. For this control, in this embodiment, the determination unit is particularly composed of a first determination unit 108, a maintenance information acquisition unit 112, and a second determination unit 113.

The first determination unit 108 determines the current or future surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply information of vehicle usage demand and supply acquired by the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110. Here, the first determination unit 108 may determine the current or future number of vehicles surplus or shortage. As described above in FIG. 2, the vehicle information database 101 stores the service status of each vehicle, so the current number of vehicles in shortage may be calculated, for example, by subtracting the number of vehicles requested to be dispatched from the number of waiting vehicles.

Furthermore, when calculating the future number of vehicles in excess or shortage, the first determination unit 108 may use the following formula. Here, the predicted number of vehicles in demand may be a planned value obtained from the past demand or supply conditions by the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110. The number of vehicles in transit and the number of vehicles on standby (i.e., the number of vehicles in operation) are on-demand values obtained in real time. Therefore, by subtracting the number of vehicles in operation from the predicted number of vehicles in demand, the difference with the prediction can be calculated as the number of vehicles in excess or shortage.
Forecasted number of vehicles in demand - (number of vehicles in transit + number of vehicles on standby) = number of vehicles in surplus or shortage In this embodiment, in order to prevent a shortage of supply relative to demand, the number of vehicles in surplus or shortage is controlled to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value and not to become negative. For example, the predetermined value may be a surplus supply plan value. If the hysteresis is 0, there is a possibility that there will be a shortage of vehicles if demand becomes higher than planned, so it is preferable that the hysteresis be a positive number.
Number of vehicles requested for dispatch = Planned surplus supply - current surplus supply (- hysteresis)
In the state transition shown in FIG. 2, the number of vehicles in operation can be calculated using the following formula.
Number of vehicles in operation = total number of vehicles (number of vehicles owned) - number of vehicles undergoing maintenance. If more detailed consideration is given to the number of vehicles in transition between each state, the following formula may be used.
Number of vehicles undergoing maintenance = number of vehicles undergoing past maintenance + number of vehicles shifted to maintenance - number of vehicles returning to service Number of vehicles shifted to maintenance = number of vehicles planned to shift + number of vehicles shifted in advance - number of vehicles waiting to shift Number of vehicles returning to service = number of vehicles planned to return + number of vehicles requested to be dispatched - number of vehicles waiting to return Furthermore, the maintenance information acquisition unit 112 acquires maintenance information (such as the progress of maintenance) relating to each maintenance to be performed on the vehicle under maintenance. The maintenance information acquisition unit 112 may acquire maintenance information transmitted from the vehicle information transmission unit 23 and stored in the vehicle information database 101. Note that the maintenance information may be transmitted manually by the maintenance worker via the vehicle information transmission unit 23, or may be transmitted automatically in response to detection by the vehicle state detection unit 22.

The second judgment unit 113 judges whether the necessity of each maintenance for each vehicle is equal to or lower than a threshold value based on the maintenance information acquired by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112. As an example, the setting of the necessity (importance) of each maintenance of charging, cleaning, regularly replaced parts replacement, and system update is shown below. In this example, "must" is set to the highest necessity, "want" is set to a medium level, and "hope" is set to a low level.

<Charging>
must: Charge to the SOC (State of Charge) consumed in one dispatch + the charging start SOC threshold (used in maintenance planning) (because vehicles that do not have an SOC that can withstand one dispatch cannot be supplied (returned))
want: SOC that is not subject to input current limit
Hope: Higher SOC (charging after input current limiting is inefficient and has low priority)
<Cleaning>
must: guest room
want: Appearance
Hope: Driver's seat <Regularly replaced parts>
must: Repair the malfunctioning part
want: Corresponding years/mileage have elapsed
hope: Years/mileage covered is about to pass <System update (timing)>
must: Update deadline has passed
want: Settings update in progress
hope: During update software distribution period Note that there may be an order of priority between maintenance items. For example, the priority order may be charging > cleaning >> regularly replaced parts = system update. This is because charging is necessary for continued service and is therefore highly necessary (important) and has a delivery deadline measured in minutes, whereas cleaning is highly necessary (important) for maintenance purposes but has a delivery deadline measured in hours. Furthermore, the necessity (importance) of regularly replaced parts and system updates is low and has a delivery deadline measured in days, weeks, or months.

Here, the threshold value of the degree of necessity determined by the second judgment unit 113 may be fixed or variable. For example, the threshold value of the degree of necessity determined by the second judgment unit 113 may be set by the threshold setting unit 111 according to the surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle use. More specifically, the threshold setting unit 111 may set the threshold value of the degree of necessity determined by the second judgment unit 113 higher when the demand for vehicle use is relatively high and/or when the supply relative to the demand for vehicle use is relatively low, or the greater the number of vehicles in shortfall.

That is, the threshold setting unit 111 sets the threshold in the second judgment unit 113 using the quantified demand situation, supply situation, or supply and demand situation acquired by the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110. The threshold setting unit 111 may determine whether to maintain the threshold as it is or relatively increase it by considering the demand situation, supply situation, or supply and demand situation acquired by the supply and demand information acquisition unit 110 with respect to the initial value, and set the final threshold. For example, for the demand situation for each vehicle or for each vehicle existing in a specified area, if the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent hour by the maximum number of reservations in the past hour is less than 50%, it may be determined that demand is low and the threshold may be maintained at the initial value, while if the value obtained by dividing the number of reservations in the most recent hour by the maximum number of reservations in the past hour is 50% or more, it may be determined that demand is high and the threshold may be changed to a value higher than the initial value, that is, in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state.

In addition, with regard to the supply status for each vehicle or for each vehicle in a specified area, if the value obtained by dividing the current number of vehicles supplied with service by the maximum number of vehicles supplied with service in the past is, for example, 80% or more, it is determined that the supply is sufficient and the threshold is maintained at the initial value, whereas if the value obtained by dividing the current number of vehicles supplied with service by the maximum number of vehicles supplied with service in the past is, for example, less than 80%, it is determined that the supply is insufficient and the threshold is changed to a value higher than the initial value, i.e., in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state.

Furthermore, for the supply and demand situation for each vehicle or for each vehicle in a specified area, if the value (supply and demand ratio) obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the current number of reservations is, for example, 90% or more, it is determined that the supply to the demand is sufficient and the threshold is maintained at the initial value, whereas if the value (supply and demand ratio) obtained by dividing the current number of service supply vehicles by the current number of reservations is, for example, less than 90%, it is determined that the supply to the demand is insufficient and the threshold is changed to a value higher than the initial value, that is, in the direction of returning from the maintenance state to the standby state. Note that the specific numerical values of 50%, 80%, and 90% mentioned above are merely examples and are values that can be arbitrarily set by the administrator of the vehicle maintenance management system S according to this embodiment based on empirical rules, service provision policies, etc.

Returning to FIG. 1, when the judgment unit judges that the service status of the vehicle should be transitioned from the standby state to the maintenance state, or from the maintenance state to the standby state, the vehicle control unit 109 instructs or notifies the same. Although not limited to this, examples of the destination of the instruction or notification from the vehicle control unit 109 include a transportation service provider or its personnel, a company performing maintenance or its personnel, a robot, etc. The method of instruction or notification by the vehicle control unit 109 includes a method that can be recognized visually or audibly, such as displaying on a display, turning on a display provided at a predetermined position of the vehicle 2, instruction or notification by sound including voice, etc. In addition, when the transition from the maintenance state to the standby state is judged, the maintenance of the vehicle 2 may be automatically canceled. Specifically, the vehicle control unit 109 refers to the map database 102 to calculate a driving route from the maintenance location to the standby location or the dispatch location, and transmits the driving route to the vehicle 2 with unmanned automatic driving function. The vehicle 2 may input the driving route transmitted from the vehicle control unit 109 to the driving control unit 25 via the server information receiving unit 24, and use the automatic driving function to drive to a waiting location or a dispatch location, making it possible to automatically supply the vehicle.

In this embodiment, particularly, when the first judgment unit 108 judges that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 selects at least some of the vehicles for which maintenance is judged by the second judgment unit 113 to be below the threshold, prohibits the execution of maintenance below the threshold for the vehicles, and sets them as vehicles that can be supplied after maintenance that exceeds the threshold is performed. Note that the vehicle control unit 109 may select vehicles whose necessity is judged by the second judgment unit 113 to be below the threshold (i.e., suspend maintenance) by the number of vehicles judged to be insufficient by the first judgment unit 108. Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an increase in the number of vehicles that can be supplied due to the suspension of maintenance by the vehicle control unit 109. #1 to #4 represent vehicle IDs, and the supply item indicates the number of vehicles that can be supplied. Also, the vertical items indicate time. The maintenance progress status (standby, maintenance 1 to 4) is shown by hash division.

As shown in FIG. 3, for example, at 15:40, the number of vehicles that could be supplied was originally supposed to be zero, but as a result of the first judgment unit 108 judging a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 suspends the maintenance of vehicle #1, which is undergoing maintenance 2 with a low maintenance necessity, and the vehicle becomes available for supply (transitions from maintenance 1 to standby), so the number of vehicles that can be supplied at 15:40 increases to one (see the thick-framed rectangular area at 15:40). Similarly, in the lower diagram of FIG. 3, the number of vehicles that can be supplied increases by not performing maintenance 4 with a low necessity and putting the vehicle into standby mode (see the thick-framed rectangular areas at 12:00, 12:30, and 13:00). In this way, when the number of dispatch requests increases more than expected (planned), the vehicle control unit 109 can perform only the minimum necessary maintenance on the vehicle undergoing maintenance and change it to standby mode by suspending subsequent maintenance.

Here, the vehicle control unit 109 may select a vehicle in the following order of priority (time, importance of maintenance, etc.). That is, when the first determination unit 108 determines that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 may preferentially select a vehicle from among the vehicles whose necessity is determined to be equal to or less than a threshold by the second determination unit 113, in accordance with the time required to complete maintenance that exceeds the threshold and make the vehicle available for supply. Here, the time required to complete maintenance that exceeds the threshold and make the vehicle available for supply may be the time required to complete maintenance that exceeds the threshold, or may be the time required to make the vehicle available for supply, taking into account the distance and travel time to a waiting location or a vehicle dispatch location. More specifically, it may be the sum of the following times:
(1) Time until a must-have maintenance item is completed (2) Time required to transition to a step where maintenance can be interrupted (3) Time required to complete maintenance (4) System standby preparation time (5) Time required to move to the dispatch request area For example, as shown in the table below, a case will be explained in which, following steps 1 and 2, which are must-have maintenance items, there is step 3, which has a low degree of maintenance necessity. As an example, in step 3.2 (Step 3.2: Front tire replacement), if the front right tire (FR) is being replaced in Step 3.2.1, the above (1) to (5) are calculated as follows:
(1) 0 (Because Step 2 is a must-have item)
(2) Time to complete Step 3.2.2 (front left tire replacement) (3) Time to put away tools (4) Time to start up the system (5) Time to travel from the maintenance area to the service area

As another example, if charging is being performed as maintenance and Step 2 = 60% (SOC) and Step 3 = 90% (SOC), a normal EV/charging equipment can interrupt charging anywhere during Step 3, so the above (1) to (5) may be calculated as follows. As an example, if the current SOC is 50%, it may be the sum of (1) the time to reach 60%, (2) 0, (3) the time to remove the charging cable, (4) the start-up time, and (5) the time to move from the charger. Also, if the current SOC is 70%, it may be the sum of (1) 0, (2) 0, (3) the time to remove the charging cable, (4) the start-up time, and (5) the time to move from the charger.

The vehicle control unit 109 may select vehicles according to the importance of maintenance. That is, when the first judgment unit 108 judges that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 may preferentially select vehicles that have a low degree of need for maintenance exceeding the threshold among the vehicles whose degree of need is judged by the second judgment unit 113 to be equal to or lower than the threshold.

As described above, the vehicle control unit 109 can determine whether or not maintenance needs to be suspended based on the difference between the current demand and the planned value. The vehicle control unit 109 can also determine whether or not maintenance should be suspended based on the progress of the maintenance. The vehicle control unit 109 can also compare the time until return to service and extract vehicles that can be effectively controlled.

"vehicle"
The vehicle 2 is a service vehicle provided in response to a request from a user, and in this embodiment, a plurality of vehicles are arranged in the area where the service is provided. However, as described above, this is not intended to exclude non-service vehicles such as private cars and company cars. As an example, the vehicle 2 may include a vehicle position calculation unit 21, a vehicle state detection unit 22, a vehicle information transmission unit 23, a server information reception unit 24, and a driving control unit 25.

The vehicle position calculation unit 21 calculates the position of the vehicle 2 and outputs it to the vehicle information transmission unit 23. The vehicle position calculation unit 21 is, for example, an ECU connected to a GPS/INS sensor, and outputs the latitude and longitude position information output from the GPS/INS sensor at regular intervals (for example, 100 msec). The method of calculating the position information is not particularly limited, and other methods capable of identifying the position, such as map matching based on map data, may be used.

The vehicle state detection unit 22 detects various vehicle states such as vehicle speed, door lock and door open/close status, seat belt sensor values, whether the vehicle is in autonomous driving or not, as well as information related to remote monitoring of unmanned autonomous driving, such as whether it is possible to receive usage request information for the vehicle 2, whether the vehicle is undergoing maintenance such as cleaning, the progress of maintenance, whether there are passengers and the number of passengers, and whether the destination specified in the travel instructions has been reached, and outputs the information to the vehicle information transmission unit 23.

The vehicle information transmission unit 23 is an in-vehicle device equipped with a mobile communication function of, for example, 4G/LTE, and transmits information output from the vehicle position calculation unit 21 and the vehicle state detection unit 22 via CAN, LAN, etc. to the vehicle information database 101 of the server 1 at regular intervals (for example, 100 msec). In this embodiment, in particular, the vehicle information transmission unit 23 may transmit maintenance information to the server 1 according to the maintenance progress detected by the vehicle state detection unit 22. The vehicle information transmission unit 23 may be provided in a terminal owned by a maintenance person, and the maintenance information may be transmitted to the server 1 according to an input by the maintenance person.

The server information receiving unit 24 is an in-vehicle device equipped with, for example, a 4G/LTE mobile communication function, and receives various driving routes, such as a route to a waiting location, a driving route to a location where a user is picked up (the starting point of a dispatch location), a driving route to a maintenance location, and other information necessary for operating an unmanned autonomous vehicle, transmitted from the vehicle reservation unit 105 and the vehicle control unit 109 of the server 1. In particular, in this embodiment, the server information receiving unit 24 may receive information instructing the suspension of maintenance. The server information receiving unit 24 may be provided in a terminal possessed by a maintenance worker, and the information instructing the suspension of maintenance may be output so as to be recognizable by the maintenance worker. In addition, when the vehicle 2 is an autonomous vehicle, when the server information receiving unit 24 receives information instructing the suspension of maintenance, the suspension of maintenance may be automatically controlled, such as by moving away from the charging location.

The driving control unit 25 is a controller that automatically controls the driving source (engine and/or motor), steering mechanism, braking mechanism, and various electrical equipment of the vehicle 2, including the turn signals and windshield wipers, and automatically controls the driving source, steering mechanism, braking mechanism, and various electrical equipment of the vehicle 2 based on various driving routes, such as the route to the waiting location, the driving route to the location where the user is picked up (the starting point of the dispatch location), and the driving route to the maintenance location, transmitted from the vehicle reservation unit 105 and the vehicle control unit 109 of the server 1, as well as other information necessary for operating an unmanned autonomous vehicle.

User terminal device
The user terminal 3 is a terminal device used by a user who desires a transport service to make a utilization request, and is, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a smartphone, which executes application software for making a utilization request and accesses the server 1 via a telecommunication network such as 4G/LTE or WiFi (registered trademark). The user terminal 3 is not particularly limited, and in addition to the above means, other implementation methods may be used, such as making a utilization request via the Internet from a personal computer implemented as WEB application software.

Based on the user's input, the vehicle request management unit 103 transmits the vehicle 2 usage request information described below. The vehicle request management unit 103 also receives usage request result information for the usage request information, and presents it to the user via a display or the like.

The vehicle 2 usage request information sent to the vehicle request management unit 103 includes the departure point and destination, where the destination is obtained by input from the user, and the departure point may be obtained from the user's location information or by input from the user. In addition, it may further include additional information such as a designated intermediate point, a designated boarding/disembarking point, the number of passengers, the reservation time, and whether or not carpooling is possible.

The usage request result information sent from the vehicle request management unit 103 includes the user's boarding location and disembarking location, the current location of the reserved vehicle 2, and information for identifying the reserved vehicle, and may also include additional information based on information calculated by the vehicle reservation unit 105, such as the time the vehicle will arrive at the boarding location, the travel time from the boarding location to the disembarking location, and a recommended walking route for the user to travel to the boarding location.

<Processing>
Next, a specific processing flow will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is an information transition flow diagram showing an example of a processing flow by the server 1 of this embodiment. Note that each component is a functional concept, and is not limited to being arranged as shown in the figure. In addition, it is preferable that this processing flow is executed periodically, such as at a predetermined time interval.

As described above, the vehicle information database 101 is classified into a vehicle past information database 101A that accumulates past vehicle information, a vehicle state quantity database 101B that stores vehicle states (service status) such as maintenance progress, and a demand database 101C that accumulates information related to past vehicle dispatch demand, as shown in this example (Figure 4).

First, the first judgment unit 108 judges the future surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage. In this example, the first judgment unit 108 includes a maintenance necessity estimation unit 107 as a maintenance planning unit that obtains a power consumption prediction value from a vehicle past information database 101A that accumulates past vehicle information and predicts maintenance demand, a vehicle planning unit 105 as a vehicle allocation management unit that obtains a service demand prediction (predicted number of vehicles in demand) from a demand database 101C that accumulates information on past vehicle allocation demand, and a vehicle allocation demand increase judgment unit 111 as a threshold setting unit that judges the vehicle allocation supply and demand balance based on the maintenance demand prediction and service demand prediction. The future number of vehicles surplus or shortage predicted by these is used by the vehicle control unit 109.

On the other hand, the second judgment unit 113 judges whether the necessity of each maintenance for each vehicle is equal to or lower than a threshold value based on the maintenance information (maintenance progress degree, etc.) acquired from the vehicle state quantity database by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112. The judgment result for each vehicle is used by the vehicle control unit 109.

When the first determination unit determines that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control unit 109 selects (extracts) target vehicles for which the service to be performed is below the threshold in order to suspend maintenance and return the vehicles to service.

Then, in order to extract only the number of vehicles that the first judgment unit judges to be insufficient, the vehicle control unit 109 first calculates the time until return to service for the target vehicles (for example, the sum of (1) to (5) above).

Then, the vehicle control unit 109 determines the number of vehicles to return to service based on the number of vehicles that the first determination unit 108 determines to be insufficient, giving priority to vehicles that will be returned to service in the shortest time.

Then, the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) maintenance end command information to the vehicle returning to service.

The recovery state from the maintenance state is reflected in the vehicle state quantity database, and the above process is repeated by the server 1.

The above is an example of the processing flow of server 1 in this embodiment. Here, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a more specific example of the processing of server 1.

The vehicle request management unit 103 acquires vehicle dispatch demand based on a demand database that accumulates past vehicle dispatch requests from the user terminal device 3 (S1). For example, a predicted value (past average, etc.) of the number of vehicle dispatch requests for each time period is acquired based on past vehicle dispatch data.

Then, the maintenance planning unit 107 calculates the planned maintenance timing based on the predicted power consumption value, etc. (S2), and repeats the process until the maintenance timing. The planned maintenance timing (charging in this example) is calculated by calculating the number of vehicles required for each time period based on the predicted value of vehicle dispatch demand and the number of spare vehicles (hysteresis) to accommodate prediction errors. For example, the maintenance planning unit 107 plans the start/end timing of maintenance for each vehicle based on the required number of vehicles and the required frequency of each maintenance item. If the maintenance is charging, a prediction of SOC (charging rate or state of charge) is made based on past data, and the timing when charging is required is calculated.

When it is determined that it is time to start planned maintenance (S3), the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) information instructing the target vehicle to perform maintenance (S4).

Then, when the planned maintenance end timing (e.g., a predetermined charging rate) is reached (S5), the first judgment unit 108 judges whether the demand for vehicle dispatch is higher or lower than planned (S6, S9).

If the demand for dispatching vehicles is less than planned (S6), the vehicle control unit 119 outputs (sends) an instruction to add and perform maintenance items (S7). The decision on whether to add maintenance is triggered by demand being less than planned. If there is an oversupply of vehicles compared to normal demand, it is not necessary to add vehicles. Maintenance that was scheduled for later may be performed first.

Then, the maintenance planning unit 107 changes the maintenance plan and returns the process to S4 (S8). As an example of adding/changing the plan for a maintenance item, in the case of charging, when charging was scheduled to end when SOC 80% or 30 minutes (min) have elapsed, 30 minutes of charging maintenance may be performed, although this is less necessary. Note that the time until the next time the SOC falls below the specified value will be extended, so the maintenance plan is readjusted accordingly. In the case of charging, the additional charge is only a want item, which is less necessary than a must item, so it can be interrupted at any time. In the case of maintenance other than charging, the upper limit of the extension time for the maintenance of the vehicle is recalculated based on the normal vehicle dispatch demand forecast value and the maintenance plan. A change in the number of waiting vehicles may be predicted based on the expected time (planned value) for one dispatch and the difference between the demand forecast and actual demand. Maintenance that can be performed within that time limit may be extracted based on the upper limit time. In this way, the maintenance that was scheduled to be performed at the next maintenance timing in the maintenance plan can be performed.

On the other hand, if the demand for vehicle dispatching is greater than planned (S9), the vehicle control unit 109 calculates the number of vehicles requested to be restored based on the supply and demand balance and the degree of necessity for maintenance using the following formula or the like (S10). This allows the determination of whether or not to end charging earlier than planned. In other words, by instructing the end of maintenance when there is a shortage of vehicles, the shortage of the number of vehicles in operation can be resolved. The vehicle control unit 109 makes a determination when the demand for vehicle dispatching is greater than expected as a trigger. Note that a reserve number (hysteresis number) is planned for the expected demand, but although it is desirable from a business perspective that the reserve number is small, there is a possibility that the demand will not be met. In any case, since the number of vehicles to be restored from maintenance is determined based on the deviation from the planned value of the number of vehicle dispatch requests, it is possible to prevent more vehicles than necessary from completing maintenance, and to suppress an increase in the frequency of maintenance.
Supply volume = service volume + waiting volume
= Estimated number of vehicles in demand + Number of vehicles requested to return to reserve = Planned number of reserve vehicles - Current number of vehicles on standby (- Hysteresis number)
Then, the vehicle control unit 109 extracts a maintenance interruption point based on the maintenance information (such as the maintenance progress degree) acquired from the vehicle state quantity database by the maintenance information acquisition unit 112 (S11). The extraction of the interruption possibility point of the maintenance is performed by dividing the maintenance into steps as described above, and extracting the interruption possible point. If the maintenance is charging, it is divided at a predetermined SOC such as every 5%. Technically, it can be interrupted anywhere. On the other hand, if the maintenance is tire replacement, each tire replacement of FL/FR/RL/RR becomes a step as described above. However, the timing of completing the replacement of the front tire can be interrupted, but the timing of completing the replacement of one of the left and right wheels cannot be interrupted.

Then, the vehicle control unit 109 sets the degree of necessity (importance) of the interrupted maintenance (S12). By varying the degree of necessity (importance) of the maintenance or the threshold value according to the situation, it is possible to suppress the impact on subsequent plans due to the return to maintenance. Note that the importance (necessity) of maintenance is set by determining the importance of maintenance for each step. In the case of charging, the importance of continuing charging thereafter is determined based on the current SOC.

High: SOC consumed per dispatch (used in maintenance planning) + charging start SOC threshold (used in maintenance planning)
Medium: The input current limit value is not reached. To protect the battery, a limit is requested from the battery to the charger for input and output power, based mainly on the SOC and battery temperature.

Small: More than that (charging after the limit is applied is time inefficient and has low priority)
Then, the vehicle control unit 109 calculates the time until return to service for the target vehicles (for example, the sum of the above (1) to (5)) in order to extract only the number of vehicles that the first judgment unit 108 judges to be insufficient (S13). Since an appropriate vehicle is selected based on the time required for return, the shortage in the number of vehicles can be quickly alleviated.

Then, the vehicle control unit 109 determines the number of vehicles to return to service that the first determination unit 108 determines to be insufficient, giving priority to vehicles with the shortest time until return to service (S14). For example, depending on the work location, the time may also take into consideration the travel time to the service area. Note that the time required from vehicle startup to standby differs depending on the vehicle model, so this may also be taken into consideration. In this example, since the purpose is to secure a sufficient number of vehicles, the comparison is made based on the return time. Alternatively, if the purpose is to reallocate vehicles, the determination may be made based on the travel time to the destination, or the total travel distance including waiting vehicles.

Then, the vehicle control unit 109 outputs (transmits) maintenance end command information to the vehicle returning to service (S15).

As described above, the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment determines the current or future surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage, obtains maintenance information related to each maintenance to be performed on vehicles undergoing maintenance, and determines whether the degree of necessity of each maintenance is below a threshold for each vehicle based on the maintenance information. If it determines that there is a shortage of vehicles, it selects at least some of the vehicles undergoing maintenance whose necessity is determined to be below the threshold, prohibits the execution of maintenance below the threshold for those vehicles, and sets the vehicles as available for supply after maintenance that exceeds the threshold. Therefore, it is possible to control vehicles undergoing maintenance to a supplyable state according to the supply and demand balance.

In addition, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment, the number of vehicles judged to be in short supply is matched by the number of vehicles whose necessity is judged to be below a threshold, so that it is possible to determine whether or not maintenance needs to be suspended based on the difference between current demand and the planned value, thereby preventing a drop in the maintenance rate due to excessive suspension of maintenance.

In addition, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment, the threshold value of the degree of necessity is set according to the surplus or shortage of vehicles based on the demand and supply of vehicle usage, so that the number of vehicles that can be supplied can be appropriately increased or decreased according to the supply and demand balance.

In addition, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment, when it is determined that there is a shortage of vehicles, vehicles are preferentially selected from among those whose necessity is determined to be below a threshold, based on the time it takes for maintenance that exceeds the threshold to be completed and for them to be available for supply, so that it is possible to compare the time it takes to return to service and extract vehicles to be effectively controlled.

In addition, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment, when it is determined that there is a shortage of vehicles, vehicles that are determined to be below a threshold level and have a low level of need for maintenance that exceeds the threshold level are selected first, so that it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not to interrupt maintenance based on the progress and importance of the maintenance.

In addition, according to the vehicle control device (server 1) of this embodiment, when the demand for vehicle use is relatively high and/or when the supply relative to the demand for vehicle use is relatively low, or the greater the number of vehicles in short supply, the higher the threshold of necessity is set, so that the number of vehicles for which maintenance is suspended can be appropriately increased as the number of vehicles available for supply becomes insufficient.

S vehicle maintenance management system 1 server 101 vehicle information database 101A vehicle past information database 101B vehicle state quantity database 101C demand database 102 map database 103 vehicle request management unit 104 vehicle planning unit 105 vehicle reservation unit 106 usage information acquisition unit 107 maintenance necessity estimation unit 108 first judgment unit 109 vehicle control unit 110 supply and demand information acquisition unit 111 threshold setting unit 112 maintenance information acquisition unit 113 second judgment unit 2... vehicle 21... vehicle position calculation unit 22... vehicle state detection unit 23... vehicle information transmission unit 24... server information reception unit 25... driving control unit 3... user terminal device

Claims (7)

A first determination unit that determines a current or future surplus or shortage of vehicles based on demand and supply of vehicle usage;
a maintenance information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance information regarding each maintenance to be performed on the vehicle currently under maintenance;
a second determination unit that determines whether or not a degree of necessity of each maintenance for each vehicle is equal to or lower than a threshold based on the maintenance information;
a vehicle control unit that, when the first determination unit determines that there is a shortage of the vehicles, selects at least some of the vehicles for which maintenance whose necessity is determined to be equal to or less than a threshold by the second determination unit, prohibits the execution of maintenance of the vehicles that is equal to or less than the threshold, and sets the vehicles as vehicles that can be supplied after maintenance that exceeds the threshold;
A vehicle control device comprising: The vehicle control unit includes:
The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle control device selects the vehicles whose degree of necessity is determined to be equal to or less than a threshold by the second determination unit by the number of vehicles determined to be insufficient by the first determination unit. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the threshold value of the degree of necessity determined by the second determination unit is set according to the surplus or shortage of the vehicle based on the demand and supply of the use of the vehicle. The vehicle control unit includes:
A vehicle control device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the first judgment unit judges that there is a shortage of vehicles, from among the vehicles whose necessity is judged by the second judgment unit to be below a threshold, the vehicles are preferentially selected according to the time it takes for maintenance exceeding the threshold to be completed and for the vehicles to be available for supply when the first judgment unit judges that there is a shortage of vehicles. The vehicle control unit includes:
4. A vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein, when the first judgment unit judges that there is a shortage of vehicles, the vehicle control device selects, from among the vehicles whose necessity is judged by the second judgment unit to be below a threshold, vehicles whose necessity for maintenance exceeding the threshold is low, with priority given to the vehicles. The vehicle control device according to claim 3, wherein the threshold value of the degree of necessity set by the second determination unit is set higher when the demand for the use of the vehicle is relatively high and/or when the supply relative to the demand for the use of the vehicle is relatively low, or when the number of vehicles in short supply is large. A first determination step of determining a current or future surplus or shortage of vehicles based on demand and supply of vehicle usage;
a maintenance information acquisition step of acquiring maintenance information regarding each maintenance to be performed on the vehicle currently undergoing maintenance;
a second determination step of determining whether or not a degree of necessity for each maintenance for each vehicle is equal to or lower than a threshold based on the maintenance information;
a vehicle control step of selecting at least some of the vehicles for which maintenance whose necessity is determined to be equal to or less than a threshold value in the second determination step is to be performed when a shortage of the vehicles is determined in the first determination step, prohibiting the execution of maintenance of the vehicles whose necessity is equal to or less than the threshold value, and setting the vehicles as vehicles that can be supplied after maintenance that exceeds the threshold value is performed;
A vehicle control method that causes a computer to execute the above .

Images