Vehicle

• US 10,259,471 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sato, Kunihito, Ichikawa, Kentaro, Sugaiwa, Taisuke, Hirano, Maiko, Okumura, Bunyo
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US15/591,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20170334458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/408 Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2510/202 Steering torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/10 Accelerator pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/12 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/223 Posture, e.g. hand, foot, or seat position, turned or inclined
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/225 Direction of gaze
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/082 Selecting or switching between different modes of propelling
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0051 from occupants to vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0053 from vehicle to occupant
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0059 Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa

Abstract

A vehicle includes an autonomous driving device that executes autonomous drive control; a track generation section that generates a travel track of the vehicle based on an estimation result by a self-position estimation section and a recognition result by an object recognition section; an actuator that moves the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along the travel track; a trigger input pedal disposed at a left side from an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal 102, seen from a driver; and an autonomous drive control start determination section that starts the autonomous drive control when an autonomous drive control start trigger is inputted via the trigger input pedal and it is determined that start of the autonomous drive control is possible.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal and an autonomous driving device that executes autonomous drive control of the vehicle, wherein the autonomous driving device comprises:

a self-position estimation section;

an object recognition section;

a track generation section that generates a travel track of the vehicle based on an estimation result by the self-position estimation section and a recognition result by the object recognition section;

an actuator that moves the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along the travel track generated by the track generation section;

an autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal that is disposed at a left side from the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, seen from a driver; and

an autonomous drive control start determination section that starts the autonomous drive control when an autonomous drive control start trigger is inputted via the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal by the driver under a situation where the autonomous driving device determines that start of the autonomous drive control is possible.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the autonomous driving device further comprises:

a driver state estimation section that estimates a state of the driver; and

a driver state determination section that determines whether or not the state of the driver estimated by the driver state estimation section is suitable for start of the autonomous drive control, and wherein

the autonomous drive control start determination section starts the autonomous drive control, when the driver state determination section determines that the state of the driver is suitable for start of the autonomous drive control and the autonomous drive control start trigger is inputted via the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal by the driver, under a situation where the autonomous driving device determines that start of the autonomous drive control is possible.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

the autonomous driving device further comprises a lock mechanism that locks the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal, and

the lock mechanism locks the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal so that the driver cannot input the autonomous drive control start trigger via the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal when the driver state determination section determines that the state of the driver is not suitable for start of the autonomous drive control.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal also functions as an autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal, and

the autonomous driving device further comprises an autonomous drive control end determination section that ends the autonomous drive control when the driver inputs an autonomous drive control end trigger via the autonomous drive control start trigger input pedal, under a situation where the autonomous drive control is executed by the autonomous driving device.

5. A vehicle comprising an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal and an autonomous driving device that executes autonomous drive control of the vehicle, wherein the autonomous driving device comprises:

a self-position estimation section,

an object recognition section,

a track generation section that generates a travel track of the vehicle based on an estimation result by the self-position estimation section and a recognition result by the object recognition section,

an actuator that moves the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along the travel track generated by the track generation section,

an autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal that is disposed at a left side from the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, seen from a driver, and

an autonomous drive control end determination section that ends the autonomous drive control when an autonomous drive control end trigger is inputted via the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal by the driver under a situation where the autonomous drive control is executed by the autonomous driving device.

6. The vehicle according to claim 5, wherein the autonomous driving device further comprises:

a driver state estimation section that estimates a state of the driver; and

a driver state determination section that determines whether or not the state of the driver estimated by the driver state estimation section is suitable for end of the autonomous drive control, and wherein

the autonomous drive control end determination section ends the autonomous drive control, when the driver state determination section determines that the state of the driver is suitable for end of the autonomous drive control and the autonomous drive control end trigger is inputted via the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal by the driver, under a situation where the autonomous drive control is executed by the autonomous driving device.

7. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein

the autonomous driving device further comprises a lock mechanism that locks the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal, and

the lock mechanism locks the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal so that the driver cannot input the autonomous drive control end trigger via the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal when the driver state determination section determines that the state of the driver is not suitable for end of the autonomous drive control.

8. The vehicle according to claim 7, wherein

the driver state estimation section estimates steering intervention of the driver in the autonomous drive control;

the autonomous driving device further comprises a risk estimation section that estimates a risk that is caused by steering intervention of the driver in the autonomous drive control; and

the lock mechanism locks the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal so that the driver cannot input the autonomous drive control end trigger via the autonomous drive control end trigger input pedal when the risk estimation section estimates that the risk is present.