AUTOMATIC DRIVING SYSTEM

• US 20170294120A1
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Published: 10/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Astemo Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: OOTSUJI, Shinya
• Granted Patent: US 10,783,781 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/175 Autonomous driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/175 Autonomous driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0058 responsive to externally generated signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0072 Controller asks driver to take over
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0055 only part of driving tasks shifted to occupants
• 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: B62D 1/02 vehicle-mounted
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/28 non-mechanical , e.g. following a line or other known markers
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 12/02 for vehicles operating in tandem
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 : Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 : where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 : where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information

Abstract

The present invention provides an automatic driving system capable of clearly identifying the factors responsible for causing an abnormality such as an accident or malfunction of a vehicle during automatic driving after the fact. The automatic driving system automatically selects, from each automatic driving function provided in the vehicle or each level of driving automation into which each automatic driving function is classified, an automatic driving function or a level of driving automation according to the circumstances surrounding the vehicle or the driving state of the vehicle, automatically performs a part of or the entirety of a vehicle driving operation to automatically drive the vehicle, and, remembers the time of automatic driving and information indicating the selected automatic driving function or level of driving automation at that time.

Claims

1. An automatic driving system which automatically selects, from each automatic driving function provided in a vehicle or each level of driving automation into which each automatic driving function is classified, an automatic driving function or a level of driving automation according to a circumstance surrounding the vehicle and/or a driving state of the vehicle, and automatically performs part of or all of a driving operation of the vehicle to automatically drive the vehicle,

wherein the automatic driving system stores information indicating a time during an automatic driving, and information indicating an automatic driving function or a level of driving automation selected at the time.

2. The automatic driving system according to claim 1, wherein the automatic driving system stores information in association with each other, the information being a factor by which the automatic driving function or the level of driving automation is selected.

3. The automatic driving system according to claim 1, wherein the automatic driving system stores information on a position of the vehicle in association with the time.

4. The automatic driving system according to claim 1, wherein the automatic driving system, when the vehicle is in an abnormal condition, or when a predetermined time comes, transmits stored information to an information collection device which is provided outside of the vehicle.

5. The automatic driving system according to claim 4, wherein the automatic driving system transmits the stored information as well as information identifying the vehicle to the information collection device.