ROUTE PLANNING DEVICE

• US 20140046595A1
• Filed: 08/06/2013
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tsurutani, Taisuke, Hayashi, Masanori, Takemasa, Koichiro, Segawa, Daisei
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/541
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard

Abstract

A route planning device plans plural routes from a current location to a destination, calculates an amount of electricity consumed by a motor during driving to the destination along each planned route in each of plural drive modes, calculates an amount of electricity consumed by electric equipment during driving to the destination along each planned route for each of plural operational settings of the electric equipment, calculates an estimated amount of charge remaining in a battery on arrival at the destination, calculates, for each of the planned routes, a total comfort level score for each of the drive modes and/or each of the operational settings of the electrical equipment, selects plural operation plans each formed from a combination of the route, drive mode, and operational setting on the basis of the calculated total comfort level score, and displays the selected operation plans on a display.

Claims

1. A route planning device for planning a driving route for an electric vehicle, comprising:

a processing unit including a computer, the processing unit being configured to;

upon receiving a position information of a destination, plan one or more driving routes from a current location to the destination,

calculate an amount of electricity consumed by a motor mounted in the electric vehicle during driving to the destination along each of the planned routes, for each of a plurality of drive modes each having different condition of controlling the motor,

calculate an amount of electricity consumed by an electric equipment mounted in the electric vehicle during a period of driving along each of the planned routes, for each of a plurality of operational settings of the electric equipment,

on the basis of the calculated amount of electricity consumed by the motor and the calculated amount of electricity consumed by the electrical equipment, calculate an estimated value of an amount of charge remaining in a battery of the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle arrives at the destination,

calculate, for each of the planned routes, a total comfort level score for each of the drive modes and/or each of the operational settings of the electrical equipment, on the basis of a predetermined comfort level score for each of the estimated values of the amount of charge remaining in the battery, a predetermined comfort level score for each of the drive modes, and a predetermined comfort level score for each of the operational settings of the electrical equipment,

select, on the basis of magnitude of the calculated total comfort level score, a plurality of operation plans each comprising a combination of one of the routes, one of the drive modes, and one of the operational settings of the electrical equipment and

display the selected operation plans on a display unit.

2. The route, planning device according to claim 1, wherein the calculated total comfort level score includes a total comfort level score obtained when a current setting of the electrical equipment remains unchanged during the driving to the destination.

3. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein when one of the selected operation plans displayed on the display unit is chosen, the processing unit performs setting on the electrical equipment directly, or indirectly through another device, and starts giving route guidance in accordance with the chosen operation plan.

4. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein after route guidance starts in accordance with the chosen one of the operation plans displayed on the display unit, the processing unit detects deviation of the driving vehicle from a route indicated by the chosen operation plan and/or a change in the operational setting of the electrical equipment from the operational setting indicated by the chosen operation plan directly or indirectly via another device and notifies a passenger of the electric vehicle of the deviation and/or the change in the operational setting.

7. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined comfort level score for each of the drive modes is preset as proportional to a power consumption rate per unit distance of the electric vehicle.

8. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined comfort level score for each of the estimated values of the amount of charge remaining in the battery is preset as proportional to the amount of charge remaining in the battery.

9. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein the electric equipment mounted in the electric vehicle is an air conditioner.

10. The route planning device according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of operational settings of the electric equipment is temperature settings of the air conditioner.

11. The route planning device, according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined comfort level score for each of the operational settings of the electrical equipment is preset as inversely proportional to a difference between an air conditioner set temperature and an optimum room temperature.

12. The route, planning device according to claim 1, wherein the route, planning device is a handheld device.

13. The route planning device according to claim 1, wherein the route planning device is a mobile phone.

5. A method for planning a driving route for use in an electric vehicle, comprising:

planning one or more driving routes from a current location to a destination;

calculating an amount of electricity consumed by a motor mounted in the electric vehicle during driving to the destination along each of the planned routes, for each of a plurality of drive modes each having different condition of controlling the motor;

calculating an amount of electricity consumed by an electric equipment mounted in the electric vehicle during a period of driving along each of the planned routs, for each of a plurality of operational settings of the electric equipment;

calculating, on the basis of the calculated amount of electricity consumed by the motor and the calculated amount of electricity consumed by the electrical equipment, an estimated value of an amount of charge remaining in a battery of the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle arrives at the destination;

calculating, for each of the planned routes, a total comfort level score, for each of the drive modes and/or each of the operational settings of to electrical equipment on the basis of a predetermined comfort level score for each of the estimated values of the amount of charge remaining in the battery, a predetermined comfort level score for each of the drive modes, and a predetermined comfort level score for each of the operational settings of the electrical equipment;

selecting, on the basis of magnitude of the calculated total comfort level score, a plurality of operation plans each comprising a combination of one of the routes, one of the drive modes, and one of the operational settings of the electrical equipment; and

displaying the selected operation plans on a display unit.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable, program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a processor to perform the steps as in claim 5.