JP7705608B2 - Automobile driving support device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a driving assistance device for an automobile.

In recent years, research and development into driving assistance control that assists a driver in driving an automobile has been put to practical use. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a vehicle control system that assists a driver in driving an automobile based on the driver's driving skills and driving preferences. In this vehicle control system, driver information including information such as the driver's driving skills and driving preferences is rewritably recorded in advance on an IC card that also serves as a driver's license. Then, when the driver starts driving, the driver information is read from the IC card into the vehicle control system, and driving assistance control of the automobile based on the driver information is performed. For example, for a driver with low driving skills, driving assistance control that takes safety into consideration is performed to prevent traffic accidents that may occur due to inexperienced driving. In addition, for a driver with high driving skills, driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences is performed, so that the driver's expectations can be satisfied.

JP 2003-118425 A

In order to accurately perform driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences, it is necessary to complete learning of the driver's driving preferences for each of several different learning items. To complete learning of the driver's driving preferences for each learning item, it is necessary to detect the required number of times the driver drives the vehicle for each learning item. It takes a certain amount of time to detect the required number of times the driver drives the vehicle for each learning item.

However, conventional vehicle control systems are not configured to allow the driver to recognize the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item, and therefore the driver cannot grasp how many driving operations must be detected to complete the learning of the driving preferences. Until the learning of the driving preferences is completed, driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences may not be performed appropriately, and the driver may feel uncomfortable with such driving assistance control or feel uneasy that the driving assistance control is not functioning properly.

The present invention aims to solve these problems and propose a driving assistance device that allows the driver to recognize the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the driving assistance device of the present invention includes a means for learning the driving preferences of a driver for each of a plurality of learning items by detecting the driving operations of the driver of the vehicle, a means for executing driving assistance control for assisting the driver in driving the vehicle according to the driving preferences of the driver, a means for calculating a progress of learning of the driver's driving preferences for each learning item based on the number of detections of the driving operations of the driver of the vehicle for each learning item, and a means for notifying or displaying to the driver the progress of learning of the driver's driving preferences for each learning item for each learning item.

By displaying the driver's progress in learning driving preferences for each learning item, the driver can understand which of the multiple learning items he or she needs to learn more about. This can alleviate the driver's anxiety caused by insufficient learning of a particular learning item resulting in inappropriate driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences.

The present invention allows the driver to recognize the progress of learning about the driver's driving preferences for each learning item.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automobile driving assistance device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of a process executed by a read/write device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by a vehicle distance control ECU according to an embodiment of the present invention. 13 is an example of a screen displaying the progress of learning of a driver's driving preferences for each learning item according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, the same reference numerals indicate the same components, and duplicate explanations will be omitted.

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic configuration of an automobile driving assistance device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The driving assistance device 10 includes various electronic control units called ECUs (Electrical Control Units) (a vehicle distance control ECU 21, a navigation ECU 22, an engine control ECU 23, and a brake control ECU 24), a laser radar sensor 30, a read/write device 41, a display device 51, an audio output device 52, and an in-vehicle communication network 60. The ECU is a computer system that is composed of electronic circuits such as an input/output interface, a processor, and a memory.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 is a computer system dedicated to vehicle distance control. The vehicle distance control ECU 21 receives a vehicle speed signal, a throttle opening signal, and various control state signals (e.g., control state signals indicating the idle control state and the shift position of the transmission) from the engine control ECU 23, and also receives a steering angle signal, a yaw rate signal, and the like from the brake control ECU 24. Based on these various received signals, the vehicle distance control ECU 21 calculates the radius of curvature of curves on the road and performs vehicle distance control calculations.

The laser radar sensor 30 is an electronic circuit that includes a laser scanning distance meter and a microcomputer. The laser radar sensor 30 calculates the probability of the preceding vehicle being in the own lane based on the angle and relative speed of the preceding vehicle detected by the scanning distance meter, and the vehicle speed signal and the curve curvature radius received from the vehicle distance control ECU 21, and transmits preceding vehicle information including the information on the probability of the own lane and the relative speed of the preceding vehicle to the vehicle distance control ECU 21.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 determines the vehicle ahead for which distance control should be performed based on the lane probability included in the preceding vehicle information received from the laser radar sensor 30, and transmits a target acceleration signal and a fuel cut request signal to the engine control ECU 23 as control command values for appropriately adjusting the distance to the preceding vehicle, and transmits a brake request signal to the brake control ECU 24.

The brake control ECU 24 is a computer system dedicated to brake control. The brake control ECU 24 calculates information on the steering angle and yaw rate from signals output from a steering sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle, a yaw rate sensor that detects the yaw rate, and a wheel speed sensor that detects the speed of each wheel, and transmits this information to the vehicle distance control ECU 21 and the engine control ECU 23. In addition, the brake control ECU 24 controls a brake actuator that performs duty control on the opening and closing of a pressure increase control valve and a pressure decrease control valve provided in a brake hydraulic circuit in order to control the braking force in response to a brake request signal output from the vehicle distance control ECU 21.

The engine control ECU 23 is a computer system dedicated to engine control. The engine control ECU 23 receives signals output from a throttle opening sensor that detects the throttle opening, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the vehicle speed, a brake switch that detects whether the brake is applied, and other sensors and switches, and also receives a target acceleration signal and a fuel cut request signal output from the vehicle distance control ECU 21. Based on these various received signals, the engine control ECU 23 outputs drive commands to a throttle actuator that adjusts the throttle opening of the internal combustion engine, an injector that controls fuel injection into the internal combustion engine, and a transmission that controls the vehicle's gear changes.

The navigation ECU 22 is a computer system dedicated to navigation. The navigation ECU 22 is connected to a position detection device such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a map data storage device, and selects the optimal travel route to the destination input by the driver using a method such as the Dijkstra algorithm, and displays the selected travel route and the vehicle's current position on a navigation display device. The navigation ECU 22 generates each control signal for target acceleration regulation control based on a signal output from the position detection device, preceding vehicle information output from the laser radar sensor 30, and a signal indicating the operation status of the turn signal, and transmits each control signal to the vehicle distance control ECU 21.

The read/write device 41 reads the driver information from the IC card 42 and transmits the read driver information to the vehicle distance control ECU 21 via the in-vehicle communication network 60.

Driver information means information specific to a driver that is used to perform driving assistance control of a vehicle that matches the driver's driving preferences, and includes, for example, driving history information that indicates the driver's driving tendencies in each of a number of different learning items. For example, driving history information that indicates the vehicle's driving speed, acceleration, deceleration, and following distance, which are manually operated by the driver and change depending on various driving environments such as road type, driving area, or weather, can be used as information that reflects the driver's driving preferences. In addition to driving history information that indicates the driver's driving tendencies, the driver information may further include information such as the driver's driving history (date of driver's license acquisition), age, sex, residential area, or driving skill (for example, history of traffic law violations, history of traffic accidents).

The memory in the vehicle distance control ECU 21 stores vehicle control information for controlling the vehicle in accordance with the driver information. This vehicle control information is used to control the vehicle in accordance with various driving environments based on the driving history information and driving skill information contained in the driver information.

For example, various setting information is stored in advance in the memory of the vehicle distance control ECU 21 as vehicle control information corresponding to the driver information of a driver with poor driving skills, such as setting the vehicle distance to be greater than the normal distance, setting the acceleration to be gentle, setting the deceleration rate to be strong, or setting the upper vehicle speed limit to be less than the legal speed limit.

In addition, various setting information is pre-stored in the memory of the vehicle distance control ECU 21 as vehicle control information corresponding to the driver information of a driver with high driving skills, such as setting the vehicle distance to a normal distance, setting the acceleration to a strong value, setting the deceleration rise to a weak value, or setting the upper vehicle speed limit to a value close to the legal speed limit.

When the vehicle distance control ECU 21 receives driver information from the read/write device 41, it reads vehicle control information corresponding to this driver information from the memory within the vehicle distance control ECU 21 and executes vehicle distance control processing according to the read vehicle control information.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 detects the vehicle driver's driving operations and learns the driver's driving preferences for each of a number of learning items from the driving history information. Examples of learning items include the distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle itself when following the vehicle ahead, the distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle itself when stopped, the timing of acceleration, and the timing of deceleration.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 calculates the progress of learning the driving preferences of the vehicle driver for each learning item based on the number of detections of the vehicle driver's driving operations for each learning item. For example, if the number of detections of driving operations required to complete learning of driving preferences for a certain learning item is N1, and the number of detections of driving operations at a certain learning stage for that learning item is N2, the progress of learning for that learning item at that learning stage can be calculated as N2/N1 x 100 (%).

The display device 51 displays the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item. The display device 51 may be, for example, a head-up display, a multimedia display, or an information display of meters in an automobile.

The audio output device 52 notifies the driver by voice of the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item. The audio output device 52 may be, for example, an audio device or speaker of the vehicle.

When new driving history information is obtained while the vehicle is traveling, the reading/writing device 41 updates the driving history information recorded in the IC card 42 by writing the new driving history information to the IC card 42. The timing for updating the driving history information recorded in the IC card 42 may be, for example, immediately before the IC card 42 is removed from the reading/writing device 41.

The IC card 42 is preferably a card medium that also doubles as a driver's license, for example. Drivers are required by law to carry their driver's license, so they will carry this IC card 42 when driving a car. This prevents the driver from forgetting the IC card 42 when driving a car. In addition, because this IC card 42 doubles as a driver's license, there are no problems such as the inconvenience of carrying it around.

Next, the flow of the automobile control process will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.
FIG. 2 shows the flow of processing executed by the read/write device 41, and FIG. 3 shows the flow of processing executed by the headway control ECU 21.

When the IC card 42 is inserted into the reading/writing device 41 (step 201 in FIG. 2; YES), the reading/writing device 41 reads the driver information from the IC card 42 (step 202 in FIG. 2) and transmits the read driver information to the vehicle distance control ECU 21 via the in-vehicle communication network 60 (step 203 in FIG. 2).

When the headway control ECU 21 receives driver information (driver information transmitted from the read/write device 41 in step 203 in FIG. 2) from the read/write device 41 via the in-vehicle communication network 60 (step 301 in FIG. 3; YES), it determines whether the headway control (ACC) mode has been activated by the driver's operation of the cruise main switch (step 302 in FIG. 3).

If the vehicle distance control mode is activated (step 302 in FIG. 3; YES), the vehicle distance control ECU 21 reads vehicle control information corresponding to the driver information from the memory in the vehicle distance control ECU 21 (step 303 in FIG. 3). For example, if the driver information indicates that the driver has poor driving skills based on driving history or driving ability, the vehicle distance control ECU 21 reads various setting information from the memory in the vehicle distance control ECU 21 as vehicle control information for setting the vehicle distance to be greater than the normal distance, the acceleration to be gentle, the deceleration to be stronger, or the upper limit vehicle speed to be less than the legal speed.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 executes vehicle distance control calculations based on vehicle control information (various setting information such as vehicle distance, acceleration, deceleration, and upper limit speed) and information received from the laser radar sensor 30 (step 304 in FIG. 3).

Based on the results of the vehicle distance control calculation, the vehicle distance control ECU 21 transmits various control signals to the engine control ECU 23 and the brake control ECU 24, and performs vehicle distance control according to the driver's driving preferences and driving skills (step 305 in Figure 3).

If the vehicle distance control mode is not activated (step 302 in FIG. 3; NO), i.e., if the driving of the vehicle is controlled by manual operation by the driver, the vehicle distance control ECU 21 collects driving history information indicating the vehicle's driving speed, acceleration, deceleration, vehicle distance, etc., as a result of manual operation by the driver, as information reflecting the driver's driving preferences (step 306 in FIG. 3). The driving history information collected in this manner is stored in the memory within the vehicle distance control ECU 21.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 determines whether or not driving of the vehicle has ended (step 307 in FIG. 3). For example, when the ignition switch is switched from on to off, the vehicle distance control ECU 21 determines that driving of the vehicle has ended.

If driving of the vehicle has not ended (step 307 in FIG. 3; NO), the vehicle distance control ECU 21 returns to the processing of step 302.

When driving of the vehicle is terminated (step 307 in FIG. 3; YES), the vehicle distance control ECU 21 transmits the driver information, including the driving history information stored in the memory in the vehicle distance control ECU 21, to the read/write device 41 via the in-vehicle communication network 60 (step 308 in FIG. 3).

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 calculates the progress of learning the driving preferences of the vehicle driver for each learning item based on the number of detections of the vehicle driver's driving operations for each learning item (step 309 in Figure 3).

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 outputs information indicating the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item to the display device 51 or the audio output device 52 (step 310 in FIG. 3). In response to a command from the vehicle distance control ECU 21, the display device 51 displays the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item. In response to a command from the vehicle distance control ECU 21, the audio output device 52 notifies the driver by voice of the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item. Note that the vehicle distance control ECU 21 only needs to output a command to either the display device 51 or the audio output device 52 to display or notify the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item, and does not necessarily need to output a command to both to display or notify the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item.

The read/write device 41 determines whether or not it has received driver information (driver information transmitted from the vehicle distance control ECU 21 in step 308 in FIG. 3) from the vehicle distance control ECU 21 via the in-vehicle communication network 60 (step 204 in FIG. 2).

The read/write device 41 determines whether the driving history information included in the driver information has been updated (step 205 in FIG. 2). Whether the driving history information included in the driver information has been updated is determined based on whether new driving history information is included in the driver information.

If the driving history information included in the driver information has been updated (step 205 in FIG. 2; YES), the reading/writing device 41 updates the driving history information included in the driver information recorded on the IC card 42 by writing the new driving history information to the IC card 42 (step 206 in FIG. 2).

If the driving history information included in the driver information has not been updated (step 205 in FIG. 2; NO), or if the update process for the driving history information included in the driver information recorded in the IC card 42 (step 206 in FIG. 2) is completed, the process of the read/write device 41 ends.

In this way, by updating the driving history information contained in the driver information recorded on the IC card 42, driving assistance control can be performed accurately in accordance with the driver's driving preferences.

Figure 4 shows an example of a screen 60 that displays the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item. This screen 60 is displayed by the display device 51. In this example, the progress of learning the distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle itself when following the vehicle ahead is 82%, the progress of learning the distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle itself when stopped is 100%, the progress of learning the timing of acceleration is 36%, and the progress of learning the timing of deceleration is 60%.

By displaying the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item, the driver can understand which of the multiple learning items he or she needs to learn. This can eliminate the driver's anxiety caused by insufficient learning of a specific learning item resulting in inadequate driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences. The driver can also drive the vehicle while taking care to complete the learning of the specific learning item that is insufficient as soon as possible. This allows the learning of all learning items to be completed at an early stage, making it possible to accurately perform driving assistance control that matches the driver's driving preferences at an early stage.

The vehicle distance control ECU 21 functions as a means for learning the driver's driving preferences for each of a plurality of learning items by detecting the driving operations of the vehicle by the driver, and as a means for calculating the progress of learning the driver's driving preferences for each learning item based on the number of detections of the driving operations of the vehicle by the driver for each learning item.

The various electronic control units (the vehicle distance control ECU 21, the navigation ECU 22, the engine control ECU 23, and the brake control ECU 24) function as a means for executing driving assistance control that assists the driver in driving the vehicle according to the driver's driving preferences.

In the above example, an internal combustion engine is used as the power source for the automobile, but an internal combustion engine and an electric motor may be used together, or an electric motor may be used instead of an internal combustion engine.

In a configuration in which an internal combustion engine and an electric motor are used together as the power source of a vehicle, the vehicle distance control ECU 21, navigation ECU 22, engine control ECU 23, brake control ECU 24, and the ECU that controls the electric motor function as a means for executing driving assistance control that assists the driver in driving the vehicle according to the driver's driving preferences.

In a configuration in which an electric motor is used instead of an internal combustion engine as the power source for the vehicle, the vehicle distance control ECU 21, navigation ECU 22, brake control ECU 24, and the ECU that controls the electric motor function as a means for executing driving assistance control that assists the driver in driving the vehicle according to the driver's driving preferences.

The display device 51 functions as a means for displaying the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item.

The audio output device 52 functions as a means for notifying the driver of the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item. The means for notifying the driver of the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item is not limited to an audio output device, and may be, for example, a wireless communication device that transmits information indicating the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item to a mobile terminal device carried by the driver (for example, a multi-function phone called a smartphone, or a tablet terminal). In this case, the driver can check the information indicating the progress of the driver's learning of driving preferences for each learning item from the mobile terminal device.

The embodiments of the present invention are intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention. Note that the same reference numerals indicate the same components, and duplicate explanations will be omitted.

10: Driving support device 21: Distance control ECU 22: Navigation ECU 23: Engine control ECU 24: Brake control ECU 30: Laser radar sensor 41: Read/write device 42: IC card 51: Display device 52: Audio output device 60: In-vehicle communication network

Claims (1)

A driving assistance device for an automobile, comprising:
A means for learning the driving preferences of the driver for each of a plurality of learning items by detecting a driving operation of the driver of the vehicle;
a means for executing a driving assistance control for assisting the driver in driving the vehicle in accordance with the driving preferences of the driver;
A means for calculating a progress of learning of the driver's driving preferences for each learning item based on the number of detections of driving operations of the driver of the vehicle for each learning item;
A means for notifying or displaying to the driver a progress of learning of the driver's driving preferences for each learning item;
A driving assistance device comprising:

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