CONVOY TRAVEL SYSTEM AND CONVOY TRAVEL APPARATUS

• US 20140107867A1
• Filed: 10/10/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Yamashiro, Takahisa
• Granted Patent: US 9,779,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/05 Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/10 Number of lanes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0605 Throttle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/18 Braking system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/20 Steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/20 Sideslip angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2754/10 Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2754/30 Longitudinal distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0255 Automatic changing of lane, e.g. for passing another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 : using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0293 : Convoy travelling
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2201/0213 : Road vehicle, e.g. car or truck
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 : Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 : Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

A convoy travel apparatus for organizing a convoy of vehicles is provided. The convoy travel apparatus controls at least one of the convoy of vehicles to change lanes to a lane that is opposite to a merging lane when it is determined that the convoy of vehicles approaches a merge point of a multi-lane road and a currently traveling lane of the convoy of vehicles has the merge point. In such a lane change scheme, a vehicle having no communication device may merge into the multi-lane road without compromising a ride comfort of the convoy of vehicles.

Claims

1. A convoy travel system for organizing a convoy having a plurality of self vehicles that are each respectively equipped with a convoy travel apparatus that includes a follow travel controller for controlling the self vehicle to respectively follow a preceding vehicle by using information obtained from the preceding vehicle through communication, the follow travel controller of the convoy travel system in each of the plurality of self vehicles comprising:

a travel lane identification unit for identifying a travel lane of the convoy;

a pre-merge determination unit for determining whether the convoy is approaching a merge point of a multi-lane road that has multiple travel lanes on a side of traffic; and

a lane change unit for performing a steering control of the plurality of self vehicles to change lanes, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point and (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy travels in a travel lane that has the merge point, the lane change unit controls at least one of the plurality of self vehicles in the convoy to change lanes toward a no-merge lane that is opposite to a merging lane.

2. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point and (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy is traveling in a travel lane that has the merge point, the lane change unit controls only one vehicle in the convoy to change lanes toward the no-merge lane that is opposite to the merging lane.

3. The convoy travel system of claim 2, wherein the convoy travel apparatus further includes

an order identification unit for determining a vehicle position ranking of the self vehicle in the convoy by using information obtained through communication from other in-convoy vehicles in the convoy, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point, (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy is traveling in a travel lane that has the merge point, and (iii) the vehicle position ranking of the self vehicle in the convoy which has been identified by the order identification unit is a predetermined position ranking, the lane change unit controls the self vehicle to change lanes toward the no-merge lane that is opposite to the merging lane.

4. The convoy travel system of claim 3, wherein

the predetermined position ranking in the convoy is any position ranking other than a front-most position ranking of the convoy or a rear-most position ranking of the convoy.

5. The convoy travel system of claim 3, wherein

the predetermined position ranking in the convoy is any position ranking other than a front-most position ranking of the convoy or a rear-most position ranking of the convoy, and

the predetermined position ranking in the convoy is any position ranking that is subsequent to a middle position ranking of the convoy.

6. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein the convoy travel apparatus further includes

an order identification unit for determining a vehicle position ranking of the self vehicle in the convoy by using information obtained through communication from other in-convoy vehicles in the convoy, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point, (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy is traveling in a travel lane that has the merge point, and (iii) the vehicle position ranking of the self vehicle in the convoy which has been identified by the order identification unit corresponds to one of predetermined plural position rankings, the lane change unit controls the self vehicle to change lanes toward the no-merge lane that is opposite to the merging lane.

7. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein the convoy travel apparatus further includes

an order identification unit for determining a vehicle position ranking of the self vehicle by using information obtained through communication from other in-convoy vehicles in the convoy, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point, (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy is traveling in a travel lane that has the merge point, the lane change unit controls all subsequent vehicles to a vehicle having a predetermined vehicle position ranking to change lanes toward the no-merge lane that is opposite to the merging lane.

8. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein the convoy travel apparatus further includes

a vacancy determination unit for determining whether a vacant space exists in a lane that is opposite to the merging lane and in an area that extends from a diagonal-front of the self vehicle to a side of the self vehicle, and

a notification unit for notifying, as a lane change prior notice, a scheduled lane change of the self vehicle to other vehicles through communication when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point, (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy is traveling in a travel lane that has the merge point, and (iii) the vacancy determination unit has determined that the vacancy space exists, and

(A) when the lane change prior notice has already been received by the self vehicle either from the preceding vehicle of the self vehicle or from a following vehicle of the self vehicle through communication, before providing the lane change prior notice from the self vehicle to other vehicles by using the notification unit, the notification unit of the self vehicle will not provide the lane change prior notice and the lane change unit of the self vehicle will not control the self vehicle to change lanes, or

(B) when that the lane change prior notice has not been received by the self vehicle either from the preceding vehicle of the self vehicle or from the following vehicle of the self vehicle through communication, before providing the lane change prior notice from the self vehicle to other vehicles by using the notification unit, the notification unit of the self vehicle provides the lane change prior notice and the lane change unit of the self vehicle controls the self vehicle to change lanes to a lane that is opposite to the merging lane.

9. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein the convoy travel apparatus further includes

a vacancy determination unit for determining whether a vacant space exists in a lane that is opposite to the merging lane and in an area that extends from a diagonal-front of the self vehicle to a side of the self vehicle, wherein

the lane change unit will not control the self vehicle to change lanes when the vacancy determination unit determines that the vacant space does not exist.

10. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein

the follow travel controller performs a first other lane follow travel control when, after the lane change of the self vehicle to a lane that is opposite to the merging lane by the lane change unit, the self vehicle travels in a different lane from a pre-lane-change preceding vehicle, or

the follow travel controller continues to perform a follow travel control of the self vehicle to follow the pre-lane-change preceding vehicle when, after the lane change of the self vehicle to a lane that is opposite to the merging lane by the lane change unit, the pre-lane-change preceding vehicle travels in a same lane as the self vehicle.

11. The convoy travel system of claim 10, wherein the convoy travel apparatus includes

a merge determination unit for determining whether a merging vehicle has merged in a side space on a merging point side of the self vehicle after the lane change of the self vehicle, wherein

the lane change unit automatically performs a steering control of the self vehicle to control the self vehicle to change lanes to a lane that is previously traveled before the lane change of the self vehicle when the merge determination unit determines that no vehicle has merged.

12. The convoy travel system of claim 11, wherein

the follow travel controller of the convoy travel apparatus ends the follow travel control when the merge determination unit determines that a vehicle has merged and the merged vehicle has joined the convoy.

13. The convoy travel system of claim 10, wherein

the follow travel controller performs a second other-lane follow travel control that controls the self vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle in a different lane when the preceding vehicle of the self vehicle travels in a different lane from the self vehicle even though the lane change unit has not controlled the self vehicle to change lanes.

14. The convoy travel system of claim 1, wherein the convoy travel apparatus includes

a merge determination unit for determining whether a merging vehicle has merged into a side space on a merging point side of the self vehicle after the lane change of the self vehicle, and

a behavior control unit for automatically performing an acceleration/deceleration control and a steering control for the self vehicle to move the self vehicle either in front of a leader vehicle of the convoy or behind a tail vehicle of the convoy when (i) the merge determination unit has determined that a vehicle has merged and (ii) the merged vehicle has joined the convoy.

15. A convoy travel apparatus for controlling a plurality of self vehicles in a convoy of vehicles to follow a preceding vehicle by using information obtained from the preceding vehicle through communication, the convoy travel apparatus comprising:

a travel lane identification unit for identifying a travel lane of the convoy;

a pre-merge determination unit for determining whether the convoy is approaching a merge point of a multi-lane road that has multiple travel lanes on a side of traffic; and

a lane change unit for performing a steering control of the plurality of self vehicles to change lanes, wherein

when (i) the pre-merge determination unit determines that the convoy approaches the merge point and (ii) the travel lane identification unit identifies that the convoy travels in a travel lane that has the merge point, the lane change unit controls at least one of the plurality of self vehicles in the convoy to change lanes toward a no-merge lane that is opposite to a merging lane.