DRIVING CONTROL DEVICE, DRIVING CONTROL METHOD, AND VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20180061236A1
• Filed: 03/10/2016
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: YAMAMOTO, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,621,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18163 Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0253 extracting relative motion information from a plurality of images taken successively, e.g. visual odometry, optical flow determining position or orientation from images G06T7/70
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

By performing an actual traveling operation after vehicles communicate with each other regarding a safety check by vehicle-to-vehicle communication in advance, the present invention makes it possible to smoothly and safely change lanes or merge when a vehicle is changing lanes or merging by automatic driving. A driving control device that controls the driving of a vehicle is provided with: a sensor unit that detects vehicles present around a vehicle A vehicle-mounted communication device that transmits and receives information including position information to/from vehicle-mounted communication devices that are mounted to vehicles around the vehicle And maintains said information as a surrounding communication device table; a travel determination unit for determining travel control for the vehicle on the basis of the detection result of the sensor unit and the surrounding communication device table of the vehicle-mounted communication device; and a travel control unit that controls the travel of the vehicle on the basis of the result determined by the travel determination unit. When the vehicle is changing lanes, the sensor unit verifies whether a following linearly traveling vehicle is present in the lane that is the lane change destination. When a following linearly traveling vehicle is present in the lane that is the lane change destination, the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits information requesting a lane change to the following linearly traveling vehicle.

Claims

1. A driving control device for controlling driving of a vehicle, the driving control device comprising:

a sensor unit that detects a surrounding vehicle of an own-vehicle;

a vehicle-mounted communication device that mutually transmits and receives, to/from a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the surrounding vehicle of the own-vehicle, information including position information and maintains the information in a surrounding communication device table;

travel determination unit that determines a travel control of the own-vehicle based on a detection result of the sensor unit and the surrounding communication device table of the vehicle-mounted communication device; and

travel control unit that controls traveling of the own-vehicle based on a result obtained by a determination made by the travel determination unit;

wherein

when the own-vehicle changes a lane, the sensor unit verifies whether a following linearly traveling vehicle is present on a change destination lane; and

if the following linearly traveling vehicle is present on the change destination lane, the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits, to the following linearly traveling vehicle, information on a lane change request.

2. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit maintains the position information of detected surrounding vehicle of the surrounding vehicle in a surrounding vehicle table;

and the travel determination unit compares the position information that is obtained from the vehicle-mounted communication device and is maintained in the surrounding communication device table with the position information maintained in the surrounding vehicle table and identifies, as the following linearly traveling vehicle, a vehicle that performs a lane change and includes an error that is equal to or below a predetermined threshold value.

3. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits information on the lane change request to an area of lane change destination where the following linearly traveling vehicle is present by geocast.

4. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein:

the vehicle-mounted communication device mutually transmits and receives, with the vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the surrounding vehicle of the own-vehicle, data including the position information and identification data, and maintains the position information and the identification data as a set in the surrounding communication device table;

the travel determination means selects the identification data of the following linearly traveling vehicle identified from a table maintained by the vehicle-mounted communication device; and

the vehicle-mounted communication device uses the identification data to transmit, to the following linearly traveling vehicle, information on the lane change request by unicast.

5. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

6. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein when the lane is changed, the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits information on the lane change to the surrounding vehicle by broadcast.

7. A driving control device according to claim 1, wherein when the lane change is completed, the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits, to the following linearly traveling vehicle, a notification of a completion of the lane change by unicast.

10. A driving control device according to claim 2, wherein the vehicle-mounted communication device transmits information on the lane change request to an area of lane change destination where the following linearly traveling vehicle is present by geocast.

11. A driving control device according to claim 2, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

12. A driving control device according to claim 3, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

13. A driving control device according to claim 4, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

14. A driving control device according to claim 2, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

15. A driving control device according to claim 3, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

16. A driving control device according to claim 4, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

17. A driving control device according to claim 5, wherein the travel control unit performs the lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives a reply to acknowledge the lane change from the following linearly traveling vehicle by unicast.

8. A driving control method for controlling driving of a vehicle when a lane is changed, the driving control method comprising:

maintaining, in a surrounding vehicle table, position information of a surrounding vehicle detected by a sensor unit mounted on an own-vehicle;

mutually transmitting and receiving information including an identification number and the position information between a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the own-vehicle and a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the surrounding vehicle of the own-vehicle and maintaining the information in a surrounding communication device table;

verifying whether a following linearly traveling vehicle is present from the surrounding vehicle table and the surrounding communication device table and when the following linearly traveling vehicle is present on a change destination lane, transmitting, to the following linearly traveling vehicle, information on a lane change request; and

performing a lane change after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives, from the following linearly traveling vehicle, a reply to acknowledge the lane change.

9. A vehicle-to-vehicle communication system for performing a communication among moving vehicles, wherein:

when a lane is changed, position information of a surrounding vehicle detected by a sensor unit mounted on an own-vehicle is maintained in a surrounding vehicle table;

information including an identification number and the position information is mutually transmitted and received between a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the own-vehicle and a vehicle-mounted communication device mounted on the surrounding vehicle of the own-vehicle and the information is maintained in a surrounding communication device table;

whether a following linearly traveling vehicle is present is verified from the surrounding vehicle table and the surrounding communication device table and if the following linearly traveling vehicle is present on a change destination lane, information on a lane change request is transmitted to the following linearly traveling vehicle; and

a lane change is performed after the vehicle-mounted communication device receives, from the following linearly traveling vehicle, a reply to acknowledge the lane change by unicast.