TRAVEL SUPPORT DEVICE, TRAVEL SUPPORT METHOD, AND DRIVE SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20150241228A1
• Filed: 02/03/2015
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: OGAWA, Yuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,476,721 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/12 using control strategies taking into account route information estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters B60W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/25 Road altitude
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A travel support device includes a planner adapted to plan vehicle travel modes to be respectively assigned to each of a plurality of sections into which a travel route from a current location to a destination is divided. To each of the sections, the planner is adapted to assign, based on a road load associated with each section, a travel mode among a first mode, in which the remaining energy charge of the battery of the vehicle is not maintained, and a second mode, in which the remaining energy charge of the battery is maintained. The planner is adapted to identify, from among the sections, an excessive altitude change section, in which a change of altitude is predicted to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and assign the second mode with priority to the excessive altitude change section.

Claims

1. A travel support device for supporting a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources to move from a current location to a destination,

the travel support device comprising a planner adapted to plan vehicle travel modes to be respectively assigned to each of a plurality of sections into which a travel route from the current location to the destination is divided, wherein

to each of the plurality of sections, the planner is adapted to assign, based on a road load associated with the respective sections, a travel mode among a first mode, in which a remaining energy charge of a battery of the vehicle is not maintained, and a second mode, in which the remaining energy charge of the battery is maintained, and

the planner is adapted to identify, from among the plurality of sections, an excessive altitude change section, in which a change of altitude is predicted to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and assign the second mode with priority to the excessive altitude change section.

2. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the planner is adapted to identify the excessive altitude change section based on information other than altitude information included in a map database.

3. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein

the planner is adapted to acquire road types of the travel route from map data and identify a section that includes at least one of a tunnel, a bridge, and an interchange as the excessive altitude change section.

4. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the planner is adapted to acquire display types of areas in the vicinity of the travel route from the map data and identify a section in the vicinity of at least one of a river, a lake, and a sea as the excessive altitude change section.

5. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the planner is adapted to acquire gradient information of the travel route from map data and identify the excessive altitude change section based on the acquired gradient information.

6. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein

the planner is adapted to also assign the second mode with priority to a section including an expressway and a section in the vicinity of the destination in addition to the excessive altitude change section, and

the priority decreases in the order of the section including an expressway, the excessive altitude change section, and the section in the vicinity of the destination.

7. The travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the planner performs planning of the travel modes using, as energy required for travelling the travel route, energy obtained by subtracting an allowance value from a total consumption energy required for travelling the travel route.

10. A drive support system for supporting driving of a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources,

the system comprising the travel support device according to claim 1,

wherein the travel support device is adapted to assign one travel mode selected from a plurality of different travel modes of the vehicle to each of a plurality of sections into which a travel route from a current location to a destination of the vehicle is divided and plan the vehicle travel modes based on the assignment.

8. A travel support method for supporting a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and a motor as drive sources to move from a current location to a destination, the method comprising:

dividing a travel route from the current location to the destination into a plurality of sections; and

planning vehicle travel modes to be respectively assigned to each of the plurality of sections, wherein the travel modes are planned by assigning, to each of the plurality of sections and based on a road load associated with respective sections, a travel mode among a first mode, in which a remaining energy charge of a battery of the vehicle is not maintained, and a second mode, in which the remaining energy charge of the battery is maintained, wherein

the planning of the travel modes includes

identifying, from among the plurality of sections, an excessive altitude change section, in which a change of altitude is predicted to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and

assigning the second mode with priority to the excessive altitude change section.

9. The travel support method according to claim 8, further comprising:

planning the vehicle travel modes such that the second mode is assigned with priority to a section including an expressway and a section in the vicinity of the destination; and

performing planning such that the second mode is assigned with priority to the respective sections in the order of the section including an expressway, the excessive altitude change section, and the section in the vicinity of the destination.