Vehicle driving assist system

• US 7,940,301 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Subaru Corp.
• Original Assignee: Fuji Heavy Industries Limited (Subaru Corp.)
• Inventors: Kinoshita, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Tung
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOLDER, ANNER N
• Application Number:
  US11/016,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20050143887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: 348/148, 348/116, 348/118, 348/153
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/02 Active or adaptive cruise control system; Distance control
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

In a vehicle driving assist system, an external environment recognition unit detects a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle based on an image captured by a stereo camera and determines whether the image ahead of the vehicle is in a condition that makes visual perception of the 3-D obstacle difficult. A controller calculates a required alarm working distance between the vehicle and the 3D obstacle, at which an alarm unit is worked when the vehicle approaches the 3D obstacle, and a required brake operating distance, at which a brake is operated by a brake applying unit, based on a vehicle traveling speed. If it is determined that an external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult, the required working and operating distances are extended by predetermined values to set the working and operating timings earlier.

Claims

1. A vehicle driving assist system for assisting a driver in driving a vehicle by recognizing an external environment of the vehicle, comprising:

an imaging device imaging the external environment of the vehicle;

a 3-D obstacle detector detecting a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle and the distance to the 3-D obstacle based on an image of the external environment captured by the imaging means;

a visual perception difficulty determination device determining, based on automatic analysis of the captured image of the external environment including the 3-D obstacle and other 3-D objects, whether the external environment is in a condition which makes it difficult for the driver to visually perceive the 3-D obstacle by the presence of the other 3-D objects;

a collision avoidance device controlling the vehicle so as to avoid the collision with the 3-D obstacle; and

a controller, upon detection of the 3-D obstacle by the 3-D obstacle detector, controlling the activation of the collision avoidance device based on detecting a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle and changing the controlling of the activation of the collision avoidance means based on the determination result of the visual perception difficulty determination device.

2. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the controller determines a required activation distance required for avoiding a collision with the 3-D obstacle based on a traveling speed of the vehicle and extends the required activation distance by a predetermined distance if the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult.

3. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that an outline of the 3-D obstacle is interrupted by another 3-D object.

4. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if a similar 3-D object to the 3-D obstacle is detected.

5. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 4, wherein it is determined that the similar 3-D object to the 3-D obstacle is detected if more than or equal to a predetermined number of 3-D objects having at least one of a predetermined size and a predetermined shape are detected.

6. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 4, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the similar 3-D object to the 3-D obstacle is detected if more than or equal to a predetermined number of vertical edges extracted from the captured image of the external environment are detected.

7. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

8. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 2, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

9. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 3, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

10. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 4, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

11. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 5, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

12. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 6, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the 3-D object is a moving object and more than or equal to a predetermined number of moving objects are detected.

13. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if the image of the external environment captured by the imaging means is complex.

14. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 13, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device counts the number of vertical edges and the number of horizontal edges extracted from the image of the external environment and determines that the image is complex if more than or equal to a predetermined number of vertical edges or more than or equal to a predetermined number of horizontal edges is detected.

15. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if more than or equal to a predetermined ratio of area having substantially the same color as the 3-D obstacle is detected in the image of the external environment captured by the imaging device.

16. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the collision avoiding device is at least one of an alarm unit and a vehicle speed limiting unit.

17. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 1, wherein the collision avoiding device comprises an alarm unit and a vehicle speed limiting unit and a required activation distance of the vehicle speed limiting unit is shorter than a required activation distance of the alarm unit.

18. A vehicle driving assist system for estimating perception ability of a driver with respect to a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of a vehicle driven by the driver, the system comprising:

an imaging device imaging the external environment ahead of the vehicle; and

visual perception difficulty determination device extracting a luminance edge from an image of the external environment captured by the imaging device and automatically determining, based on the extracted luminance edge, whether the external environment is in a condition in which the perception ability of the driver with respect to the 3-D obstacle is decreased b the presence of other 3-D objects.

19. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 18, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device determines that the external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult if a 3-D object having a similar shape to the 3-D obstacle is detected.

20. The vehicle driving assist system according to claim 19, wherein the visual perception difficulty determination device counts the number of vertical edges and the number of horizontal edges in a plurality of the luminance edges and determines that the image is complex if more than or equal to a predetermined number of vertical edges or more than or equal to a predetermined number of horizontal edges is detected.