Apparatus and method for evaluating driving skill and apparatus and method for informing efficiency of driver's physical load to driving operation

• US 7,649,445 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2006
• Issued: 01/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yokohama Rubber Company Limited
• Inventors: Kuramori, Akira, Koguchi, Noritaka, Sadoyama, Tsugutake, Kamijo, Masayoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US11/454,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20070290867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 340/439, 340/575, 340/438, 340/576, 600/546, 600/590, 701/48, 701/70, 701/42, 701/72, 701/300, 434/62
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling

Abstract

The driving skill evaluating apparatus is an apparatus that evaluates the driving skill of a driver who drives a vehicle. The evaluating apparatus includes: driver load measurement means for measuring the degree of physical load on the driver in a driving operation activity of the vehicle; driving operation quantity measurement means for measuring the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity; and evaluation means for evaluating the driving skill of the driver by using the degree of the physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation. And the driving load efficiency informing apparatus includes: the driver load measurement means: the driving operation quantity measurement means; load efficiency judgment value calculating means for calculating a load efficiency judgment value indicating a efficiency of efficiency of the physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle to the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle, by using the degree of the physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation; and informing means for informing the driver of the efficiency of the physical load on the driver to the driving operation activity of the vehicle in accordance with the load efficiency judgment value.

Claims

1. An evaluating apparatus for evaluating driving skill of a driver who drives a vehicle, the evaluating apparatus including:

driver load measurement means for measuring the degree of physical load on the driver in a driving operation activity of the vehicle;

driving operation quantity measurement means for measuring a quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity; and

evaluation means for evaluating the driving skill of the driver by using the degree of the physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation,

wherein the driver load measurement means includes;

a myoelectric potential detecting section for detecting myoelectric potentials of a pair of right and left muscles of the driver, the pair of the muscles being involved in the driving operation activity; and

a load calculating section for calculating first data indicative of the physical load from the detected myoelectric potentials,

wherein the driving operation quantity measurement means includes;

a steering angle detecting section for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle, the steering angle being generated with the driving operating activity of the driver;

a steering torque detecting section for detecting a steering torque about a steering shaft of the vehicle, the steering torque being generated with the driving operation activity; and

an operation calculating section for calculating second data indicative of the driving operation from the detected steering angle and the detected steering torque, and

wherein the evaluation means calculates, as an evaluation value, a ratio of an integrated operation quantity value to an integrated load quantity value or a difference between the integrated operation quantity value and the integrated load quantity value, in which the integrated load quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated first data over a predetermined time and the integrated operation quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated second data over the predetermined time.

2. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation means calculates an evaluation value indicating efficiency of the physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle to a workload performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle from the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation to judge a level of the driving skill of the driver by using the evaluation value.

3. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the evaluation means compares the evaluation values and a predetermined reference value with each other to judge a level of the driving skill of the driver based on a result of the comparison.

4. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined reference value is set in accordance with at least one of the vehicle driven by the driver and a road on which the vehicle runs by the driving of the driver.

5. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluating apparatus further includes mental load quantity measurement means for measuring a mental load quantity generated with the driving operation activity of the driver who drives the vehicle, and the evaluation means uses the mental load quantity in addition to the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation to evaluate the driving skill of the driver.

6. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the mental load quantity measurement means detects an activity of a muscle which is independent of the driving operation of the driver and measures the mental load quantity based on the activity of the muscle.

7. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, further including trajectory deviation measurement means for detecting the amount of deviation of a trajectory of the vehicle by the driving operation activity of the driver from a lane along which the vehicle is targeted to run, and the evaluation means evaluates the driving skill of the driver by using the amount of deviation of the trajectory of the vehicle in addition to the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation.

8. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation means corrects the result of evaluation based on at least one piece of information indicating a state of the vehicle, information indicating a condition of the road, and information indicating a state of an ambient environment of the vehicle.

9. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation means outputs the result of evaluation of the driving skill of the driver in association with a road surface condition of the road.

10. The evaluating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the load calculating section calculates root means squares of the respective myoelectric potentials of the muscles and further calculates an average of the calculated root means squares as the first data, and

wherein the operation calculating section calculates a work rate by multiplying the detected steering torque and a steering velocity which is obtained by time-differentiating the detected steering angle, to obtain root means square of the work rate or an integral value of the work rate as the second data.

11. An apparatus for informing a driver who drives a vehicle of efficiency of a physical load of the driver to a driving operation activity of the vehicle, the apparatus including:

driver load measurement means for measuring the degree of physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle;

driving operation quantity measurement means for measuring the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity;

load efficiency judgment value calculating means for calculating a load efficiency judgment value indicating a efficiency of the physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle to the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle, by using the degree of the physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation; and

informing means for informing the driver of the efficiency of the physical load on the driver to the driving operation activity of the vehicle in accordance with the load efficiency judgment value,

wherein the driver load measurement means includes;

a myoelectric potential detecting section for detecting myoelectric potentials of a pair of right and left muscles of the driver, the pair of the muscles being involved in the driving operation activity;

a load calculating section for calculating first data indicative of the physical load from the detected myoelectric potentials,

wherein the driving operation quantity measurement means includes;

a steering angle detecting section for detecting a steering angle of the vehicle, the steering angle being generated with the driving operating activity of the driver;

a steering torque detecting section for detecting a steering torque about a steering shaft of the vehicle, the steering torque being generated with the driving operation activity; and

an operation calculating section for calculating second data indicative of the driving operation from the detected steering angle and the detected steering torque, and

wherein the load efficiency judgment value calculating means calculates, as a load efficiency judgment value, a ratio of an integrated operation quantity value to an integrated load quantity value or a difference between the integrated operation quantity value and the integrated load quantity value, in which the integrated load quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated first data over a predetermined time and the integrated operation quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated second data over the predetermined time.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further including judgment means for comparing the load efficiency judgment value calculated by the load efficiency judgment value calculating means and a predetermined judgment reference value to judge a level of the efficiency of the physical load on the driver to the driving operation activity of the vehicle based on a result of comparison, in which the informing means informs the driver of the efficiency of the physical load on the driver in an informing mode in accordance with the result of judgment.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the informing means issues a warning to the driver when the load efficiency judgment value is smaller than a predetermined warning reference value in the judgment means.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the load calculating section calculates root means squares of the respective myoelectric potentials of the muscles and further calculates an average of the calculated root means squares as the first data, and

wherein the operation calculating section calculates a work rate by multiplying the detected steering torque and a steering velocity which is obtained by time-differentiating the detected steering angle, to obtain root means square of the work rate or an integral value of the work rate as the second data.

15. A method of evaluating driving skill of a driver who drives a vehicle, including:

a driver load measuring step of measuring the degree of physical load on the driver in a driving operation activity of the vehicle;

a driving operation quantity measuring step of measuring the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle; and

an evaluating step of evaluating the driving skill of the driver by using the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation,

wherein in the driver load measuring step, myoelectric potentials of a pair of right and left muscles of the driver are detected, the pair of the muscles being involved in the driving operation activity; and

first data indicative of the physical load are calculated from the detected myoelectric potentials,

wherein in the driving operation quantity measuring step, a steering angle of the vehicle is detected, the steering angle being generated with the driving operating activity of the driver;

a steering torque about a steering shaft of the vehicle is detected, the steering torque being generated with the driving operation activity; and

second data indicative of the driving operation are calculated from the detected steering torque and the detected steering angle, and

wherein in the evaluating step, a ratio of an integrated operation quantity value to an integrated load quantity value or a difference between the integrated operation quantity value and the integrated load quantity value is calculated as an evaluation value in which the integrated load quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated first data over a predetermined time and the integrated operation quantity value is obtained by integrating the obtained second data over the predetermined time.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the evaluating step calculates an evaluation value indicating efficiency of the degree of physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle to the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle from the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation to judge a level of the driving skill of the driver by using the evaluation value.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein in the driver load measuring step, root means squares of the respective myoelectric potentials of the muscles are calculated and further an average of the calculated root means squares is calculated as the first data, and

wherein in the driving operation quantity measuring step, a work rate is calculated by multiplying the detected steering torque and a steering velocity which is obtained by time-differentiating the detected steering angle, to obtain root means square of the work rate or an integral value of the work rate as the second data.

18. A method of informing a driver who drives a vehicle of efficiency of a physical load of the driver to a driving operation activity of the vehicle, the method including:

a driver load measuring step of measuring the degree of physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle;

a driving operation quantity measuring step of measuring the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity;

a load efficiency judgment value calculating step of calculating a load efficiency judgment value indicating efficiency of the degree of physical load on the driver in the driving operation activity of the vehicle to the quantity of driving operation performed by the driver for the vehicle in the driving operation activity of the vehicle by using the degree of physical load on the driver and the quantity of driving operation; and

an informing step of informing the driver of the efficiency of the physical load on the driver to the driving operation activity of the vehicle in accordance with the load efficiency judgment value,

wherein in the driver load measuring step, myoelectric potentials of a pair of right and left muscles of the driver are detected, the pair of the muscles being involved in the driving operation activity; and

first data indicative of the physical load are calculated from the detected myoelectric potentials,

wherein in the driving operation quantity measuring step, a steering angle of the vehicle is detected, the steering angle being generated with the driving operating activity of the driver;

a steering torque about a steering shaft of the vehicle is detected, the steering torque being generated with the driving operation activity; and

second data indicative of the driving operation is calculated from the detected steering torque and the detected steering angle, and

wherein in the load efficiency judgment value calculating step, a ratio of an integrated operation quantity value to an integrated load quantity value or a difference between the integrated operation quantity value and the integrated load quantity value is calculated as a load efficiency judgment value in which the integrated load quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated first data over a predetermined time and the integrated operation quantity value is obtained by integrating the calculated second data over the predetermined time.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein in the driver load measuring step, root means squares of the respective myoelectric potentials of the muscles are calculated and further an average of the calculated root means squares is calculated as the first data, and

wherein in the driving operation quantity measuring step, a work rate is calculated by multiplying the detected steering torque and a steering velocity which is obtained by time-differentiating the detected steering angle, to obtain root means square of the work rate or an integral value of the work rate as the second data.