Cruise control plan evaluation device and method
First Claim
1. A cruise control plan evaluation device that evaluates safety of a cruise control plan for an automatically-operated vehicle, comprising:
- a behavior prediction unit that is configured to predict a behavior that is exhibited by a nearby vehicle, which is present near the automatically-operated vehicle, at a given time point;
a position prediction unit that is configured to predict a position of the nearby vehicle after the given time point based on a position of the nearby vehicle at the given time point and the behavior predicted by the behavior prediction unit;
a cruise control plan preparation unit that is configured to prepare multiple cruise control plans for the automatically-operated vehicle; and
an evaluation unit that is configured to evaluate the safety of each cruise control plan based on the position of the nearby vehicle predicted by the position prediction unit and a position that is reached by the automatically-operated vehicle according to the cruise control plan, whereinthe behavior prediction unit is configured to predict the behavior that is exhibited by the nearby vehicle and also configured to estimate a probability that the nearby vehicle exhibits the behavior, andthe evaluation unit includes;
a predicted vehicle-presence region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up a predicted vehicle-presence region that indicates a region, in which the nearby vehicle is predicted to be present, using a probability distribution based on the position of the nearby vehicle predicted by the position prediction unit and the probability estimated by the behavior prediction unit;
a contact impermissible region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up a contact impermissible region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the contact impermissible region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle;
an emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up an emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle in an emergency and is a region that is ensured for the automatically-operated vehicle in the event of the emergency, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle; and
a determination unit that is configured to determine that the cruise control plan is safe when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the contact impermissible region is equal to or lower than a first threshold value at any time point and when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region is equal to or lower than a second threshold value at any time point.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cruise control plan evaluation device (10) that evaluates safety of a cruise control plan for an automatically-operated vehicle includes: a behavior prediction unit (16a) that predicts a behavior that may be exhibited by a nearby vehicle, which is present near the automatically-operated vehicle, at a given time point; a position prediction unit (16b) that predicts a position of the nearby vehicle after the given time point based on a position of the nearby vehicle at the given time point and the behavior predicted by the behavior prediction unit (16a); and an evaluation unit (20) that evaluates the safety of the cruise control plan based on the position of the nearby vehicle predicted by the position prediction unit (16b) and a position that is reached by the automatically-operated vehicle according to the cruise control plan.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A cruise control plan evaluation device that evaluates safety of a cruise control plan for an automatically-operated vehicle, comprising:
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a behavior prediction unit that is configured to predict a behavior that is exhibited by a nearby vehicle, which is present near the automatically-operated vehicle, at a given time point; a position prediction unit that is configured to predict a position of the nearby vehicle after the given time point based on a position of the nearby vehicle at the given time point and the behavior predicted by the behavior prediction unit; a cruise control plan preparation unit that is configured to prepare multiple cruise control plans for the automatically-operated vehicle; and an evaluation unit that is configured to evaluate the safety of each cruise control plan based on the position of the nearby vehicle predicted by the position prediction unit and a position that is reached by the automatically-operated vehicle according to the cruise control plan, wherein the behavior prediction unit is configured to predict the behavior that is exhibited by the nearby vehicle and also configured to estimate a probability that the nearby vehicle exhibits the behavior, and the evaluation unit includes; a predicted vehicle-presence region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up a predicted vehicle-presence region that indicates a region, in which the nearby vehicle is predicted to be present, using a probability distribution based on the position of the nearby vehicle predicted by the position prediction unit and the probability estimated by the behavior prediction unit; a contact impermissible region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up a contact impermissible region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the contact impermissible region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle; an emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region drawing-up unit that is configured to draw up an emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle in an emergency and is a region that is ensured for the automatically-operated vehicle in the event of the emergency, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle; and a determination unit that is configured to determine that the cruise control plan is safe when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the contact impermissible region is equal to or lower than a first threshold value at any time point and when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region is equal to or lower than a second threshold value at any time point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A cruise control plan evaluation method for evaluating safety of a cruise control plan for an automatically-operated vehicle, comprising:
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predicting a behavior that is exhibited by a nearby vehicle, which is present near the automatically-operated vehicle, at a given time point; predicting a position of the nearby vehicle after the given time point based on a position of the nearby vehicle at the given time point and the predicted behavior; preparing multiple cruise control plans for the automatically-operated vehicle; and evaluating the safety of each cruise control plan based on the predicted position of the nearby vehicle and a position that is reached by the automatically-operated vehicle according to the cruise control plan, wherein the behavior that is exhibited by the nearby vehicle is predicted and a probability that the nearby vehicle exhibits the behavior is also estimated, and a step of evaluating the cruise control plan includes; drawing up a predicted vehicle-presence region that indicates a region, in which the nearby vehicle is predicted to be present, using a probability distribution based on the predicted position of the nearby vehicle and the estimated probability; drawing up a contact impermissible region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the contact impermissible region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle; drawing up an emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region that indicates a region, which needs to be maintained to prevent contact between the automatically-operated vehicle and the nearby vehicle in an emergency and is a region that is ensured for the automatically-operated vehicle in the event of the emergency, using a probability distribution in a manner such that an outline of the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region surrounds the automatically-operated vehicle; and determining that the cruise control plan is safe when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the contact impermissible region is equal to or lower than a first threshold value at any time point and when a result of multiply-and-accumulation of the predicted vehicle-presence region and the emergency contact-avoidance ensuring region is equal to or lower than a second threshold value at any time point. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification