VEHICLE GROUP CONTROL METHOD AND VEHICLE

• US 20110288754A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Shida, Mitsuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 8,738,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9325 for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

The invention provides a vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles. The vehicle group control method includes: a process of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and a small vehicle group control process of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. A vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles which travels in a row, comprising:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups,

wherein, in the small vehicle group control step, the traveling of the representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups other than the first small vehicle group is controlled such that a distance from the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group which is just in front of the small vehicle group including a host vehicle is maintained to be uniform.

13. The vehicle group control method according to claim 9,

wherein, in the step of controlling the vehicles in the small vehicle group, each distance between the vehicles in the small vehicle group is controlled, and

in the small vehicle group control step, the distance between the representative vehicles is controlled such that the distance between the successive small vehicle groups is different from the distance between the vehicles in each small vehicle group.

10. A vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles which travels in a row, comprising:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups,

wherein, in the small vehicle group control step, the traveling of each of the representative vehicles other than the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including a target vehicle which is selected from the vehicles in the vehicle group is controlled such that the distance between the target vehicle and each of the representative vehicles other than the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle is maintained to be uniform, using communication between the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle and each of the representative vehicles other than the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle.

11. A vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles, comprising:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups,

wherein, in the small vehicle group control step, the relative relationship between a target vehicle selected from the vehicles in the vehicle group and each of the representative vehicles other than the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle is controlled using communication between the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle and each of the representative vehicles other than the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle,

in the small vehicle group including the target vehicle, the target vehicle is a first vehicle in the small vehicle group, and

the representative vehicle is selected from vehicles other than the first vehicle.

12. A vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles, comprising:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups,

wherein, in the step of controlling the vehicles in the small vehicle group, a distance between the vehicles in the small vehicle group is controlled, and

the number of vehicles in each small vehicle group is determined by an error in the distance between the vehicles behind a first vehicle that can occur in correspondence with the acceleration of the first vehicle in the small vehicle group in the step of controlling the vehicles in the small vehicle group.

14. A vehicle group control method that controls the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles, comprising:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups,

wherein, in the small vehicle group control step, the relative relationship between the representative vehicles is controlled such that the distance between the successive small vehicle groups is a predetermined target distance, and

the predetermined target distance is set on the basis of an inter-vehicle error propagation ratio, which is the propagation ratio of the error in the inter-vehicle distance propagated to the vehicles that are behind each vehicle, in the step of controlling the vehicles in the small vehicle group.

15. A vehicle that is used in a vehicle group control method of controlling the traveling of a vehicle group including a plurality of vehicles which travels in a row,

wherein the vehicle group control method includes:

a step of controlling vehicles in each of a plurality of small vehicle groups which are divided from the vehicle group and controlling the relative relationship between the vehicles in each small vehicle group using communication between the vehicles in the same small vehicle group; and

a small vehicle group control step of controlling the relative relationship between the small vehicle groups using communication between representative vehicles in the small vehicle groups, and

when a host vehicle is the representative vehicle in each of the small vehicle groups other than a first small vehicle group, the traveling of the host vehicle is controlled using communication between the host vehicle and the representative vehicle in the small vehicle group that is just in front of the small vehicle including the host vehicle such that the distance between the host vehicle and the representative vehicle is maintained to be uniform.