Technical Field
[0001] The present disclosure relates to an automatic driving control device, an automatic
driving control method, and a program, and more particularly, relates to an automatic
driving control device, an automatic driving control method, and a program capable of
safely performing automatic driving.
[0002]
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Priority Patent Application JP
2014-251493 filed on December 12, 2014, the entire contents of which are in
corporated herein by reference.
Background Art
[0003] In recent years, rapid progress has been made in a technical development for
realizing automatic driving of an automobile. For example, a lane departure warning
system that emits warning when a cruising vehicle moves out of a lane has been
developed recently as a technical development related to automatic driving. When, in a
monotonous road, there is a decrease in the level of driver's awakening, and the
cruising vehicle begins to move out of the lane, the lane departure warning system
emits warning with vibration, sound, and the like. It is recognized that such lane
departure warning system has the effect of preventing lane departure accident of
vehicles in advance, and when the effect is considered in terms of statistics, it is
recognized that the lane departure warning system greatly reduces the lane departure
accident of a vehicle group having the lane departure warning system provided.
[0004] A technique for detecting obstacles with a submillimeter wave radar using a submillimeter
wave, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) using laser instead of a submillimeter
wave, or a stereo camera has been developed as a technique for sensing
around a vehicle to measure a distance between and arrangement of the vehicle and a
vehicle driving ahead (see PTL 1). Therefore, applications such as an adaptive cruise
control system for maintaining the distance between the vehicle and a vehicle driving
ahead and further an emergency collision reduction/prevention brake system have been
put into practice as applications.
[0005] When automatic driving is used, the degree of proficiency in driving is different
depending on the driver, and it is considered that it is very important to monitor the
status of the driver.
[0006] However, a system in which a passenger does not at all intervene in driving of a
vehicle from the departure location to the destination location is viable only in a closed
environment such as a vehicle running on a track such as an electric train and a
monorail, but in the system that can be conceived today, introduction of the automatic
driving of vehicles has not been realized on a generally-used road surface for the time
being.
[0007] On the other hand, introduction of automatic driving is beginning to start in some
way. At that occasion, a manual intervention travelling section is expected to occur. At
that occasion, when the vehicle once goes into an automatic driving mode and shuts off
intervention into the driver's driving, a lower level of manual driving recovery ability
at that occasion of recovery is considered to be a risk of causing an accident and
disturbing traffic.
[0008] For example, unlike drink and driving, even if the driver gets a little bit fatigued,
transportation on a vehicle is considered to cause a mental effect on a person who
wishes to move to actively drive the vehicle, and it is desired to have a mechanical or
systematic mechanism for reducing an operation involving danger as an automatic
driving system.
Citation List
Patent Literature
[0009] PTL 1: JP 2000-329852 A
Summary of Invention
Technical Problem
[0010] From the perspective of operation as described above, in order to more safely
perform automatic driving, the driver needs to have a driving recovery ability when the
driver plans to run in a manual driving section before the start of automatic cruising a s
sociated with driving of automatic driving, and it is necessary to have a mechanism to
allow dedicated automatic driving cruising upon determining whether the driver has
the driving recovery ability or not. In addition, it is necessary to have a measure to
prohibit the start of running of automatic driving in a state where it is confirmed that
the performance to recover back into a manual driving section is determined to have
become lower level.
[001 1] The present disclosure is made in view of such circumstances, and the present
disclosure is to enable safer automatic driving.
Solution to Problem
[0012] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for switching
modes for operating a vehicle. The method includes determining, by circuitry of an in
formation processing apparatus, whether a mode for operating the vehicle is to be
switched from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes. The method includes obtaining a state of a driver
of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched.
The method further includes switching, by the circuitry, the mode for operating the
vehicle from the one of the autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the
autonomous manual driving modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
[0013] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory
computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer,
causes the computer to perform a method for switching modes for operating a vehicle.
The method includes determining whether a mode for operating the vehicle is to be
switched from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes. The method includes obtaining a state of a driver
of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched.
The method further includes switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one
of the autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual
driving modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
[0014] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an information
processing apparatus, including circuitry configured to determine whether a mode for
operating a vehicle is to be switched from one of autonomous and manual driving
modes to the other of the autonomous and manual driving modes. The circuitry is
configured to obtain a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the
vehicle is determined to be switched. The circuitry is further configured to switch the
mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the autonomous and manual driving
modes to the other of the autonomous manual driving modes based on the obtained
state of the driver.
[0015] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an information
processing apparatus, including means for determining whether a mode for operating a
vehicle is to be switched from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the
other of the autonomous and manual driving modes, means for obtaining a state of a
driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be
switched, and means for switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of
the autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual
driving modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
Advantageous Effects of Invention
[0016] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, automatic driving can be performed
more safely.
Brief Description of Drawings
[fig. 1]Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an em
bodiment of an automatic driving control device to which the present technique is
applied.
[fig.2]Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining automatic driving termination processing that
is performed when automatic driving is terminated.
[fig.3]Fig. 3 is a figure for explaining road environments related to automatic driving
and processing that is performed in each road environment.
[fig.4]Fig. 4 is a flowchart for explaining determination processing for determining
automatic driving lane driving possibility /impossibility and continuous cruising pos
sibility/impossibility.
[fig.5]Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing for automatically evacuating to an
evacuation lane in an emergency situation.
[fig.6]Fig. 6 is a flowchart for explaining dynamic correction processing of a brake
force.
[fig.7]Fig. 7 is a figure for explaining an autonomous automatic cruising termination
sequence.
[fig.8]Figs. 8A and 8B are figures for explaining performance of determination of a
driver with regard to a road environment variation situation.
[fig.9]Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an
automatic driving control system.
[fig. 10] Fig. 10 is a flowchart for explaining initial determination processing
[fig. 1l]Fig. 11 is a flowchart for explaining setting input processing
[fig. 12] Fig. 12 is a flowchart for explaining recovery ability total evaluation
processing.
[fig.l3]Fig. 13 is a flowchart for explaining emergency evacuation mode start
processing.
[fig. 14] Fig. 14 is a flowchart for explaining automatic driving termination prediction
processing.
[fig.l5]Fig. 15 is a flowchart for explaining termination preparation processing.
[fig.l6]Fig. 16 is a flowchart for explaining automatic evacuation processing.
[fig.l7]Fig. 17 is a figure for explaining flashing of a hazard flasher.
[fig.l8]Fig. 18 is a flowchart for explaining manual driving performance determination
processing.
[fig.l9]Fig. 19 is a flowchart for explaining driver awakening processing.
[fig.20]Fig. 20 is a flowchart for explaining emergency evacuation transition
processing.
[fig.21]Figs. 21A and 21B are figures for explaining operation delay of a driver.
[fig.22]Fig. 22 is a flowchart for explaining brake assistance intervention processing.
[fig.23]Fig. 23 is a figure for explaining processing for predicting a predicted time
when switching to a manual driving occurs.
[fig.24]Fig. 24 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an em
bodiment of a computer to which the present technique is applied.
Description of Embodiments
[0018] Hereinafter, a specific embodiment to which the present technique is applied will be
explained in details with reference to drawings.
[0019] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an embodiment
of an automatic driving control device to which the present technique is applied.
[0020] An automatic driving control device 11 as shown in Fig. 1 is incorporated as a part of
an automatic driving system provided in an automobile capable of performing
automatic driving, and is configured to include a recovery determination unit 12 and a
driving execution unit 13. For example, the automatic driving control device 1 1
performs control when an automobile that performs automatic driving changes from
manual driving to automatic driving, or when it is difficult to continue continuous
automatic driving due to certain dependency on the vehicle itself or the environment
during automatic driving, or when the automobile recovers back to manual driving
performed by a driver.
[0021] The recovery determination unit 12 determines whether the driver has a sufficient
level of driving ability to recover from automatic driving back to manual driving. As
shown in the drawing, the recovery determination unit 12 is configured to include a
monitor unit 21, an output unit 22, a road information obtaining unit 23, an input unit
24, a recording unit 25, and a determination processing unit 26. It should be noted that
the manual driving operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is
not limited to driving operation using a manual transmission, and the manual driving
operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure generally means
driving operation in which the driver intervenes in driving operation of the vehicle in
some way to directly cause effect on the driving of the vehicle.
[0022] The monitor unit 2 1 continuously monitors the state of the driver to find the
awakened state of the driver, and provides the driver status indicating the awakened
state of the driver to the determination processing unit 26. For example, as explained
later with reference to Fig. 8, the monitor unit 2 1 recognizes the vision line direction of
the driver, thus obtaining the driver status indicating whether the driver is in a
awakened state in which the driver can drive normally. In addition, the monitor unit 2 1
can monitor the state of the driver according to various methods such as, for example,
recognizing the posture of the face of the driver, detecting the cardiac state of the
driver, tracking the steering stability of the steering, detecting the body order of the
driver, detecting a change in the degree of fatigue/a cardiac rate of the driver, and the
operation stability of the brake and acceleration pedals. The monitor unit 2 1 can
monitor the driving ability of the driver by using one or more methods including face
recognition of the driver, head part posture recognition, vision line direction
recognition, and statistical determination processing of the head part posture or the
vision line direction time lapse stability. Further, the monitor unit 2 1 can monitor
whether there is a malfunction in the vehicle, and monitor whether the vehicle is in an
emergency state or not. In addition, information about the planned driving route is
derived in a timely manner from the infrastructure side of the monitor unit 2 1 and
vehicles around the vehicle in question, and a route in which the vehicle drives may be
monitored in advance by monitoring the trafficable situation of the road and the like. It
should be noted that, while the monitor unit 2 1 continuously monitors the state of the
driver, the monitor unit 2 1 may temporarily interrupt direct monitoring of the driver in
a driving section where autonomous automatic driving is guaranteed in which the in
tervention of the driver is not at all necessary.
[0023] For example, the output unit 22 is connected to a speaker, not shown, and outputs
various kinds of announces and warning sounds with the speaker in accordance with an
instruction provided on the basis of a result obtained when the determination
processing unit 26 performs determination processing.
[0024] The road information obtaining unit 23 obtains road information around the running
vehicle, for example, road information about an ordinary road, a completely automatic
driving-only lane, and a buffer zone road in accordance with the driving route of the
vehicle and notifies the road information to the determination processing unit 26.
[0025] The input unit 24 receives, e.g., the driving route from, for example, a setting device
with which the driver sets the driving route at the start of the automatic driving, and
receives a self-diagnosis result related to automatic driving of the vehicle from a
diagnosis device for diagnosing the situation of each unit of the vehicle. The input unit
24 provides the thus received information to the determination processing unit 26.
[0026] The recording unit 25 records various kinds of processing performed by the
automatic driving control device 11. For example, the recording unit 25 records and
saves some or all of determination results and the like made by the determination
processing unit 26. In particular, e.g., in switching of a driving mode related to a
decision making by the driver explained later, the recording made by the driver
himself/herself is at least saved as non-erasable recording.
[0027] The determination processing unit 26 performs various kinds of determination
processing on the basis of the driver status provided by the monitor unit 21, the driving
route and self-diagnosis result provided from the input unit 24, the road information
provided from the road information obtaining unit 23.
[0028] The driving execution unit 13 executes automatic driving cruising of the vehicle. As
shown in the drawing, the driving execution unit 13 is configured to include an en
vironment recognition unit 31, a driving processing unit 32, a steering wheel control
unit 33, a speed control unit 34, and a hazard flasher control unit 35.
[0029] The environment recognition unit 3 1 uses, for example, devices such as a stereo
camera and a laser radar to recognize external environment of the vehicle, and provides
information indicating the external environment to the driving processing unit 32.
[0030] When the driving processing unit 32 receives an emergency stop command for
making an emergency stop of the vehicle from the determination processing unit 26 of
the recovery determination unit 12 that makes a possibility /impossibility determination
as to whether the driving mode can be changed from automatic driving to manual
driving, the driving processing unit 32 gives instructions to the steering wheel control
unit 33, the speed control unit 34, and the hazard flasher control unit 35, and performs
driving processing to make an emergency stop of the vehicle.
[0031] The steering wheel control unit 33 performs control of steering of the vehicle for de
termining the direction in accordance with an instruction given by the driving
processing unit 32 by centrally performing acknowledgement processing on road
running detailed lane information about the planned driving route on which the vehicle
drives on the basis of the planned route map and which is obtained from the en
vironment recognition unit 31, correlated ambient obstruction information correlated to
the lane in question, and the like. The speed control unit 34 performs brake and ac
celeration control for controlling the speed of the vehicle in accordance with an in
struction given by the driving processing unit 32. The hazard flasher control unit 35
performs control of lighting of a hazard flasher (emergency flashing indication lamp)
provided in the vehicle in accordance with an instruction given by the driving
processing unit 32. Although the steering wheel control unit 33 is referred to as a
steering wheel control unit, the steering wheel control also includes turning control of
the vehicle that is achieved by individually controlling the wheels with an electronic
control brake, because this is not the content that is directly related to the present
disclosure.
[0032] In the automatic driving control device 11 configured as described above, the deter
mination processing unit 26 can determine whether the driver has a sufficient level of
driving ability for recovering back to the manual driving on the basis of the driver
status provided from the monitor unit 21. Then, the determination processing unit 26
can permit switching to the automatic driving mode in accordance with this deter
mination result.
[0033] For example, the monitor unit 2 1 provides the determination processing unit 26 with
the driver status including a consciousness state, a psychological state, a stress state, a
drug affection degree, and the like of the driver made into parameters. Then, the deter
mination processing unit 26 makes a threshold value determination of these p a
rameters, thus determining whether the driver has a sufficient level of driving ability
for recovering back to the manual driving, and can permit switching to the automatic
driving mode.
[0034] In a case where an alcohol detection sensor is connected to the monitor unit 21, the
monitor unit 2 1 detects the alcohol intake level of the driver on the basis of the alcohol
concentration detected from the breath of the driver, and provides the alcohol intake
level to the determination processing unit 26 as the driver status. Therefore, when
switching to the automatic driving mode, the determination processing unit 26 can
determine whether the driver has a sufficient level of driving ability to recover back to
the manual driving or not on the basis of the alcohol intake level of the driver.
[0035] Further, when switching to the automatic driving mode, the determination processing
unit 26 uses the determination result based on the alcohol intake level of the driver, and
observes the elapse of the transition of the consciousness degree of the driver, and in a
case where there is an increase in the delay of the decision made by the driver, the
driving assistance is terminated, and the vehicle is caused to forcibly evacuate to an
evacuation lane and the like soon, so that the vehicle can be proceed to an action for
stopping. In particular, when the vehicle that started to drive along the planned route
enters into an automatic driving section from a manual driving section, the driver's
driving recovery ability determination is made in a previous buffer section R2 of Fig. 3
explained later, and in a case where a driving recovery ability is not expected, an
evacuation control is performed to cause the vehicle to drive into an emergency
temporary evacuation lane.
[0036] Subsequently, automatic driving termination processing that is performed when the
automatic driving is terminated will be explained with reference to a flowchart of Fig.
2.
[0037] For example, when the determination processing unit 26 recognizes that the current
driving point is before the end of the completely automatic driving-only lane on the
basis of the infrastructure, the vehicle-mounted drive history, the position information,
and the like, processing for manual driving possibility/impossibility determination of
the driver of the vehicle is started. For example, when the vehicle enters into a buffer
zone road (road environment R7) provided immediately before the end of the
completely automatic driving-only lane of Fig. 3 explained later, this determination
processing is started.
[0038] In step SI 1, the determination processing unit 26 controls the output unit 22 to output
a sound announce indicating that the automatic driving travel track is coming to the
end. Accordingly, the output unit 22 uses a speaker, not shown, to output, for example,
a sound announce "automatic driving is going to be terminated", or a corresponding
particular alarm sound. Alternatively, the end of the automatic driving travel track may
be notified by vibrating the steering or the seat, or giving a haptic feedback such as
pulling the seat belt.
[0039] In step S12, the determination processing unit 26 obtains, from the monitor unit 21,
the driver status for determining whether the driver has a level of driving ability to be
able to recover back to the manual driving. For example, the monitor unit 2 1 con
tinuously monitors the driver before the automatic driving termination processing is
started, and provides the monitor result of the driver in a predetermined period before
the automatic driving termination processing is started to the determination processing
unit 26 as the driver status.
[0040] Alternatively, before the vehicle enters into the section of the road environment R7
of Fig. 3, a notification input may be given to the driver in accordance with any one of
the auditory, visual, tactile methods and the like, and a confirmation may be made by a
method for confirming that the driver gives an appropriate feedback to the deter
mination processing unit 26 of the vehicle in response to the instruction. The ap
propriate feedback means that even if the driver is in a consciousness state in a course
of awakening from sleeping, and more specifically, even if the environment judgement
performance is an insufficient level of awakening, the driver is prevented from, or is
less likely to cancel the automatic driving in a hurry without thinking, by introducing,
e.g., a push procedure of buttons that are changed on every occasion in accordance
with a guidance of two different buttons that is performed through a determination
procedure in a more thinking manner rather than an operation for pushing a simple
button that can be operated by a reflective operation.
[0041] In step S13, the determination processing unit 26 makes a determination as to
whether the driver has a sufficient level of driving ability to recover back to the manual
driving or not on the basis of the driver status obtained in step S12.
[0042] In step S13, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the
driver does not have a sufficient level of driving ability to be able to recover back to
the manual driving, and more specifically, in a case where the determination
processing unit 26 determines that the driver's driving ability is insufficient, the
processing in step S14 is subsequently performed.
[0043] In step S14, the determination processing unit 26 controls the output unit 22 to give a
warning to the driver to perform safe consciousness recovery. Accordingly, the output
unit 22 uses a speaker and the like to output a sound announce, a warning sound, and
the like to prompt the driver to perform the consciousness recovery. For example, in a
case where a device, a display device, and the like for giving warning to the driver in a
tactile manner in accordance with a haptic technique of a force feedback and the like
are connected to the output unit 22, the output unit 22 can prompt the driver to perform
the consciousness recovery by outputting a tactile notice and a visual warning.
[0044] In step S15 after the processing in step S14, the determination processing unit 26
performs re-determination of the driver's driving ability like step S13.
[0045] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the driver's
driving ability is insufficient in step S15, the processing in step S16 is subsequently
performed. In step S16, the determination processing unit 26 instructs the driving
processing unit 32 of the driving execution unit 13 to enter into the evacuation lane in
accordance with a road sign and stop the vehicle. Accordingly, the driving processing
unit 32 controls the steering wheel control unit 33 and the speed control unit 34 on the
basis of the information indicating the external environment provided from the en
vironment recognition unit 31, and performs automatic driving in which the vehicle
stops after the vehicle enters into the evacuation lane. Then, after the stopping of the
vehicle is completed in the evacuation lane, the automatic driving termination
processing is terminated.
[0046] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
that the driver's driving ability is sufficient (the driver's driving ability is sufficiently
maintained or recovered) in step S13 or S15, the processing in step S17 is subsequently
performed.
[0047] In step S17, the determination processing unit 26 notifies the driving processing unit
32 that the driving processing unit 32 of the driving execution unit 13 is permitted to
switch to the manual driving. Accordingly, the driving processing unit 32 prepares
switching from the automatic driving to the manual driving.
[0048] Thereafter, for example, when the driver operates the steering wheel or acceleration,
the driving processing unit 32 switches the driving of the vehicle from the automatic
driving to the manual driving in step SI 8. Then, the manual driving by the driver is
started, and the driving proceeds to the ordinary road, and the manual driving is
performed continuously, and then, the automatic driving termination processing is
terminated. In the transition to the manual driving performed here, it is not typically
necessary to include an explicit operation as long as the steering of the driver is stable,
and the transition to the manual driving may be performed seamlessly.
[0049] With the automatic driving control device 11, the output unit 22 may output a sound
announce for notifying the end of the completely automatic driving-only lane to give a
notice to the passengers in the vehicle, before the vehicle enters into a buffer zone road
provided immediately before the end of the completely automatic driving-only lane.
Thereafter, in a case where the driver's driving ability is determined to be insufficient,
the determination processing unit 26 can control the output unit 22 to activate a device
to cause the driver to obtain awakening in accordance with a haptic technique such as a
force feedback explained above. In a case where the driver's driving ability is in
sufficient even after that, the determination processing unit 26 can control the driving
processing unit 32 to cause the vehicle to evacuate into an evacuation lane and
suddenly slows down within a safe range for a vehicle driving behind in accordance
with automatic driving.
[0050] In this case, for example, the meaning of suddenly slowing down the vehicle on
purpose is that the manual driving recovery of the driver is a flow of operation that is
originally desired, and when multiple vehicles continuously, repeatedly make an
evacuation retraction stop in succession from the perspective of road environment
maintenance, a certain number of vehicles or more may not be accommodated, which
is not desirable. More specifically, the vehicle controller does not prefer stopping of
the vehicle by using sudden deceleration which is not a comfortable riding, and
therefore, it is expected to comfortably recover back to the manual driving by
seamlessly proceeding to the manual driving in advance.
[0051] In a case where the automatic driving control device 11 is provided with an
emergency automatic stop operation unit that can be easily operated by a non-driver,
the driving processing unit 32 may be configured to start an emergency stop sequence
when an operation is performed with the emergency automatic stop operation unit.
[0052] Further, with the automatic driving control device 11, when proceeding from the
automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode, the output unit 22 can perform
control to repeat non-regular switching of illuminations of the rear portion of the
vehicle. At this occasion, the output unit 22 performs control to successively, con
tinuously turn on lamps from the center of the vehicle to the outside, so that it can be
visually acknowledged in an approaching and enlarging manner when it is seen from
the vehicle driving behind. More specifically, when seen from the vehicle driving
behind, the driver of the vehicle driving behind feels an illusion feeling as if the lamp
interval is expanding, and therefore, a situation can be produced to feel as if ap
proaching the vehicle in terms of feeling, and the driver of the vehicle driving behind
receives a feeling that the vehicle is approaching as a perception feeling in a p sy
chological manner, and therefore, the driver of the vehicle driving behind naturally
sees as if the vehicle driving ahead decelerates, and thus a notice can be given.
[0053] Subsequently, road environments related to automatic driving and processing
performed for each road environment will be explained with reference to Fig. 3.
[0054] The road environment Rl is an ordinary road before entering into a completely
automatic driving-only lane. In a case where the vehicle starts with manual driving of
the driver, and enters into the completely automatic driving-only lane in the route, a
determination processing is made in the road environment Rl to determine whether the
driver has a recovery ability to recover from the completely automatic driving in the
driving ahead. In a case where the completely automatic driving is performed from the
start point, a determination processing as to whether the driver has a recovery ability to
recover from the completely automatic driving is made immediately after the route is
set at the start of the automatic driving.
[0055] The road environment R2 is a buffer zone road before entering from the ordinary
road into the completely automatic driving-only lane. In this buffer zone road, in a case
where the driver is determined to have performance of recovery as a result of deter
mination performed before, the vehicle is basically considered to enter into the
completely automatic driving-only lane, and various kinds of notice announces (the
road route guidance to the destination location, road surface, weather, rest stop,
accident occurrence situation, and the like) are given. At this occasion, automatic
cruising is prepared, and driver non-intervention complete autonomous automatic
cruising mode or attention continuation driver occasional succession mode is set as the
allowed driving mode. Further, in the buffer zone road, a termination notice of the end
of the ordinary road, a notice to passengers, and an announcement of traffic jam in
formation are given. In addition, a preparation setting of not-experienced section
driving mode, emergency early warning mode activation, and the like is made, and a
prompt for reconfirmation is given.
[0056] On the other hand, in a case where the driver is determined not to have the per
formance for recovery as a result of the determination processing performed before the
buffer zone road, the driver is prompted to select any one of an evacuation rest and a
completely automatic driving-only lane driving in emergency state.
[0057] The road environment R3 is an emergency temporary evacuation lane provided at
roadside for each section on the route of the completely automatic driving-only lane.
For example, the emergency temporary evacuation lane is used when the vehicle
evacuates due to decrease in a level of driving ability for recovering from the
completely automatic driving to the manual driving, or when emergency evacuation is
necessary due to a system failure. In Fig. 3, a single road environment R3 is drawn due
to restrictions of the drawing, but, for example, the road environments R3 are
considered to be provided every several kilometers.
[0058] The road environment R4 is a transition completely automatic driving exit-only lane
between main highway roads. In the transition completely automatic driving exit-only
lane of the main highway road, guidance is given to the driver as necessary, and a
guidance is given with the temporary awakening recovery to the driver, so that a help
can be provided to find the instantaneous situation of the emergency.
[0059] The road environment R5 is an entrance lane for entering into a parking area for
temporary evacuation. This parking area is preferably a rest stop into which a vehicle
can enter with completely automatic driving under a situation in which the driver needs
to rest because of accumulated fatigue although it is not emergency, or is preferably f a
cilities corresponding to the rest stop.
[0060] The road environment R6 is a recovery lane for recovering from the parking area for
temporary evacuation back to the completely automatic driving-only lane, and the
recovery ability is confirmed, e.g., a necessary notice announce for driving recovery.
[0061] The road environment R7 is a buffer zone road before entering into an ordinary road
from the completely automatic driving-only lane. This buffer zone road lane serves as
a driving section for determining an evacuation lane guidance possibility/impossibility
for the vehicle in which the driver is determined not to have driving recovery ability in
the completely automatic driving-only lane termination, and in a case where it is de
termined to be difficult or it is determined to be dangerous to perform seamless manual
driving continuous cruising of the driving as a result of the determination, an automatic
guidance to the evacuation lane is provided, and in order to avoid completely clogging
the area because of continuous evacuation although the evacuation lane is used as a
pool lane for a short period of time, the space for vehicles driving behind can be
ensured by automatically parking and stopping by way of the guidance path R8 to the
evacuation parking area after the vehicle basically slows down and enters.
[0062] In the road environment R9, the vehicle shifts from the completely automatic
driving-only lane to the manual driving general lane, and it is connected to a manual
driving general lane and the vehicle reaches the destination location (road environment
R10).
[0063] The road environment R13 is a manual driving entry lane which is a section in which
the vehicle departs from the completely automatic driving-only lane to the manual
driving general lane.
[0064] In the manual driving general lane which is a road provided at the side of the
completely automatic driving-only lane, areas other than the manual driving entry lane
(road environment R13) is an area in which a lane change that obstructs the main
traffic is basically prohibited. Therefore, this area is a driving range in which an entry
into the manual driving general lane is not so much expected.
[0065] The manual driving entry lane is an area in which an entry into the manual driving
general lane is expected when a direction indicator lamp is manually operated, and in
the manual driving entry lane, it is an obligation for an ordinary vehicle to allow entry
in a preferential manner. For example, the manual driving entry lane is used to prepare
for, e.g., move on to a road that does not have any completely automatic driving-only
lane at a branch ahead of the manual driving entry lane.
[0066] Subsequently, determination processing for determining automatic driving lane
driving possibility/impossibility and continuous cruising possibility/impossibility will
be explained with a flowchart of Fig. 4.
[0067] For example, when the driver shows an expression to start automatic driving, and
more specifically, when an operation of the automatic driving start operation unit and
the like is performed, the processing is started.
[0068] In step S21, the determination processing unit 26 obtains, via the input unit 24, a selfdiagnosis
result related to the automatic driving of the vehicle.
[0069] In parallel with step S21, in step S22, the determination processing unit 26 obtains
the driver status from the monitor unit 2 1 in order to determine whether the driver has
a level of driving ability to be able to recover back to the manual driving.
[0070] In step S23, the determination processing unit 26 determines whether automatic
driving can be started or not. For example, in a case where a malfunction occurs in at
least some of the devices on the basis of the self-diagnosis result obtained in step S21,
the determination processing unit 26 determines that the automatic driving may not be
started. Alternatively, in a case where the driver does not have any driving ability or
has a low level of driving ability on the basis of the driver status obtained in step S22,
the determination processing unit 26 determines that the automatic driving may not be
started. For simplification in the above example, the completely automatic driving is
possible in the automatic cruising-only lane, or an entry into the automatic cruisingonly
lane is prohibited, so that an exclusive selection is made, but in reality, even in a
case where the driver does not have a complete recovery ability for complete manual
driving, the driving may be possible. For example, as explained later, it is expected to
drive under an emergency evacuation and a situation where a pregnant woman, a
patient who may not wait for an emergency vehicle, and the like are in an emergency
state in a hospital urgent driving mode.
[0071] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the automatic
driving may not be started in step S23, the processing in step S24 is subsequently
performed. In step S24, the determination processing unit 26 determines to prohibit
automatic driving, and for example, an entry into the automatic cruising-only lane is
prohibited, and the processing is terminated.
[0072] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
that the automatic driving can be started in step S23, the processing in step S25 is sub
sequently performed, and the determination processing unit 26 instructs the driving
processing unit 32 of the driving execution unit 13 to perform start preparation of the
automatic driving.
[0073] In step S26, the driving processing unit 32 controls the steering wheel control unit 33
and the speed control unit 34 to perform automatic driving on the basis of information
which is provided from the environment recognition unit 31 and which is made by rec
ognizing ambient environment, and starts driving with the automatic driving.
[0074] In step S27, the determination processing unit 26 monitors the driver status provided
from the monitor unit 21, and the ambient environment provided from the environment
recognition unit 31. In this case, for example, when the determination processing unit
26 detects an occurrence of a certain irregular event during the automatic cruising
mode on the basis of a change in the driver status or the ambient environment, the de
termination processing unit 26 determines whether this event raises a certain driving
risk due to continuous automatic driving in step S29, and in a case where there is a
risk, a guidance is given to the driver, and when necessary on the basis of an ap
propriate operation, the vehicle proceeds to a mode for ending the automatic driving.
[0075] In step S28, the determination processing unit 26 recognizes the state of the driver on
the basis of the driver status provided from the monitor unit 21. Then, the deter
mination processing unit 26 determines whether the driver has a sufficient level of
driving ability to recover back to the manual driving.
[0076] In step S29, the determination processing unit 26 determines whether the automatic
driving is to be terminated or not, and in a case where the automatic driving is de
termined not to be terminated, the processing in step S27 is performed again, and
thereafter, the same processing is repeated.
[0077] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
to terminate the automatic driving in step S29, the processing in step S30 is sub
sequently performed, and the automatic driving termination processing explained with
reference to the flowchart of Fig. 2 is performed. Then, when the automatic driving ter
mination processing is finished, the processing is terminated. Although the automatic
driving termination procedure shown in Fig. 2 is described as the contents in which the
end of the autonomous automatic driving-only lane section R7 is considered, the
automatic driving termination procedure shown in Fig. 2 may also be a procedure for
executing entry into the parking area R5 and the like unexpectedly or when moving
from the autonomous automatic driving-only lane section R7 to the manual driving
entry lane R13 of the general lane in order to move to the destination location at a
position before the end point of the autonomous automatic driving-only lane section
R7.
[0078] As described above, in a case where a malfunction occurs in at least some of the
devices, or in a case where the driver does not have any driving ability or has a low
level of driving ability, and it may be impossible to recover back to the manual driving,
the automatic driving control device 11 prohibits an entry into the automatic cruisingonly
lane, so that the automatic driving can be performed more safely.
[0079] Subsequently, processing for automatically evacuating into an evacuation lane in
case of emergency will be explained with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 5.
[0080] When driving is started, processing is started, and in step S41, the determination
processing unit 26 obtains, via the input unit 24, a self-diagnosis result related to the
automatic driving of the vehicle. It may also be possible to perform environment in
formation acquisition necessary for autonomous automatic cruising for overall planned
driving route and previous information acquisition of update information acquisition
possibility /impossibility.
[0081] In step S42, the determination processing unit 26 monitors the driver status provided
from the monitor unit 21, and the ambient environment provided from the environment
recognition unit 31. The environment previous information necessary for the au
tonomous automatic cruising on the planned driving route may be obtained by means
such as radio.
[0082] In step S43, the determination processing unit 26 gives warning to the driver corre
sponding to an occurrence of a non-regular state, and, for example, gives a notice to
the driver in a tactile manner in accordance with a haptic technique such as a force
feedback. The non-regular state referred to herein means a state of a planned change
range of the vehicle, the road, the weather, and the like in which safe vehicle driving of
the vehicle is guaranteed even if the driver is absent in the autonomous-type
completely automatic driving, and a state of deviating from a design expectation en
vironment of the autonomous-type completely automatic driving due to, e.g., a device
problem of a submillimeter wave radar that affects driving of the vehicle, a problem of
road guidance information, a delay of update information, and deterioration of weather
environment beyond expectation. In this case, the measure for coping with the nonregular
state is performed upon roughly divided into two states. One of them is a case
where the vehicle continues to drive with the manual driving as it is if the driver can
recover awakening normally, and the other of them is a stop of an evacuation vehicle
from a dedicated lane in which a temporary stop is expected because of the lack of
awakening performance of the driver. The vehicle is expected to continuously drive
only in a case where the autonomous automatic driving system can ensure a certain
level or higher safety risk by intervening in an assisting manner even if the driver may
not completely recover awakening normally.
[0083] In step S44, the determination processing unit 26 determines whether the driver
makes a reaction indicating a normal awakened state in response to the warning in step
S43. For example, when the driver reacts in response to the warning as shown in Figs.
21A and 21B (for example, the awakened state of the consciousness reaction is within
a normal value), the determination processing unit 26 determines that there is a
reaction of the driver, and the processing in step S42 is performed again, and
thereafter, the same processing is repeated.
[0084] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
that there is no reaction of the driver (or, when the awakened state is insufficient), the
processing in step S45 is subsequently performed. In step S45, the determination
processing unit 26 determines which of "consciousness loss", "awakened state
decrease", and "no problem" the state of the driver is, on the basis of the driver status
provided from the monitor unit 21.
[0085] In step S45, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the
state of the driver is "no problem", the processing in step S42 is performed again, and
thereafter, the same processing is repeated.
[0086] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
that the state of the driver is equal to or less than "awakened state" in step S45, the
processing in step S46 is subsequently performed. In step S46, the determination
processing unit 26 executes awakening work for causing the driver to gain awakening,
and, for example, controls the output unit 22 to output a sound announce, a warning
sound, and the like.
[0087] In step S47, the determination processing unit 26 determines whether the driver can
perform normal driving or not on the basis of the driver status provided from the
monitor unit 21.
[0088] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the driver can
perform normal driving in step S47, the determination processing unit 26 attracts
attention to, e.g., proceed to the closest waiting area. Further, the determination
processing unit 26 monitors whether the driver executes a corresponding operation in
accordance with the attention-attraction, and after the driver executes the operation, the
processing in step S42 is performed again, and thereafter, the same processing is
performed.
[0089] On the other hand, in a case where the state of the driver is determined to be "con
sciousness loss" in step S45, or in a case where the driver is determined not to be able
to perform normal driving in step S47, the processing in step S49 is subsequently
performed.
[0090] In step S49, the determination processing unit 26 determines that the driver may not
perform normal driving, the driving processing unit 32 of the driving execution unit 13
is caused to perform evacuation operation to the evacuation lane in accordance with
the road sign, and an instruction is given to stop the vehicle. Accordingly, the driving
processing unit 32 controls the steering wheel control unit 33 and the speed control
unit 34 on the basis of information indicated by the external environment provided
from the environment recognition unit 31, and performs automatic driving for stopping
after entering into the evacuation lane. The driving processing unit 32 controls the
hazard flasher control unit 35 to give warning to vehicles driving behind. Then, when
the vehicle finishes stopping in the evacuation lane, the automatic driving termination
processing is terminated.
[0091] Subsequently, dynamic correction processing of a brake force will be explained with
reference to the flowchart of Fig. 6.
[0092] When driving is started, processing is started, and in step S61, the driving processing
unit 32 sets a brake coefficient for brake operation to an initial value.
[0093] In step S62, the determination processing unit 26 obtains, via the input unit 24, a selfdiagnosis
result related to the automatic driving of the vehicle, and in parallel, in step
S63, the determination processing unit 26 obtains the driver status from the monitor
unit 2 1 in order to determine whether the driver has a level of driving ability to be able
to recover back to the manual driving.
[0094] Further, in parallel with step S62 and S63, the environment recognition unit 3 1 finds
a previous situation of the environment and the road surface associated with the
planned driving route in step S64. For example, the environment recognition unit 3 1
finds the previous situation of the environment and the road surface on the basis of the
past drive history, the weather information, the maintenance situation of the brake
device of the vehicle, the traffic situation, the congestion situation, and the like.
[0095] In step S65, the driving processing unit 32 sets a road surface prediction friction co
efficient on the basis of the previous situation of the environment and road surface
found by the environment recognition unit 3 1 in step S64.
[0096] In step S66, the driving processing unit 32 estimates a braking distance in accordance
with the driving route, the vehicle onboard weight (whether the vehicle carries a heavy
object or not) and the like.
[0097] After the processing in steps S62 to S66, the processing in step S67 is subsequently
performed, and the determination processing unit 26 monitors the driver status
provided from the monitor unit 2 1 and the ambient environment provided from the en
vironment recognition unit 31.
[0098] In step S68, the determination processing unit 26 determines whether there is some
change in the status or not, and in a case where the determination processing unit 26
determines that there is no change in the status, the processing in step S67 is repeatedly
performed.
[0099] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that there is a
change in the status in step S68, the processing in step S69 is subsequently performed,
and the determination processing unit 26 determines which of the following has
occurred: the braking distance has changed, the driver has changed, and a factor other
than the braking distance and the driver has changed.
[0100] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the braking
distance has changed in step S69, the processing in step S70 is subsequently
performed. In step S70, the driving processing unit 32 sets a response coefficient
correction to the brake steering so as to cope with a change in the braking distance.
[0101] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that the driver has
changed in step S69, the processing in step S71 is subsequently performed. In step
S71, the driving processing unit 32 sets a driver response characteristics weighting co
efficient correction value so as to cope with a change in the driver.
[0102] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that a factor other
than the braking distance and the driver has changed in step S69, the processing in step
S72 is subsequently performed. In step S72, the determination processing unit 26 de
termines whether it is a change caused by a series of operation intended by the driver.
[0103] In a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines that it is not a
change caused by the series of operation intended by the driver in step S72, a brake
characteristics update of the vehicle is confirmed in accordance with operation in
continuous cruising, and the processing in step S73 is subsequently performed. After
the processing in steps S70 and S71, the processing in step S73 is subsequently
performed.
[0104] In step S73, the driving processing unit 32 sets an environment application correction
value for a situation change, the processing in step S67 is performed again, thereafter,
the same processing is performed.
[0105] On the other hand, in a case where the determination processing unit 26 determines
that it is a change caused by the series of operation intended by the driver in step S72,
the processing in step S74 is subsequently performed. In step S74, the driving
processing unit 32 intervenes in the series of brake operation of vehicle stop, and
thereafter, the processing is terminated by performing processing for stopping the
vehicle. At this occasion, the driving processing unit 32 performs intervention a s
sistance to the steering in view of a correction value for stopping (the response co
efficient correction for the brake steering, the driver response characteristics weighting
coefficient correction value, and the environment application correction value for the
situation change) in accordance with the autonomous brake pedal operation amount of
the driver. For example, in the simplest case, in a case of detecting a change in which
the situation recognition delay of the driver is such that the average reaction is delayed
by 0.2 seconds, a correction is performed in order to increase the brake force of the
vehicle so that the vehicle can be stopped and slowed down in a short time over a
distance corresponding to the braking distance in which the vehicle runs in the period
of 0.2 seconds.
[0106] Fig. 7 is a figure for explaining an autonomous automatic cruising termination
sequence.
[0107] It is dangerous to enter into a general manual driving road extension lane while the
awakened state of the consciousness of the driver is still low when the autonomous
driving automatic driving-only lane ends. Therefore, a mechanism for evacuate and
stop the vehicle by providing a road line at the end portion of the autonomous driving
automatic driving-only lane to guide the vehicle to a forcible stop lane guidance
evacuation path b is effective.
[0108] In this evacuation lane guidance path, first, regardless of the consciousness state of
the driver, the vehicle is caused to slow down and enter into the section b for guiding
the road white line to an awakening non-recovery driver vehicle evacuation lane, and
the vehicle passes a deceleration slow down section c for stopping, and the vehicle
almost stops in a semi- stop lane d, and thereafter, the automatic guidance to an
evacuation stop space (not shown) is given, so that, even in a case where the driver is
not awakened from the autonomous steering of the automobile, the vehicle can make
an emergency evacuation. When a scenario of multiple vehicles entering successively
is expected, the vehicle is not caused to completely stop in the semi-stop lane d, and
the vehicle performs automatic steering of low speed autonomous evacuation parking
by recognizing a vacant space of an adjacent evacuation parking so that vehicles
driving behind do not collide even if there are multiple vehicles come behind suc
cessively. The marks c and d on the road shown in the drawing are examples of
dedicated road signs indicating the positions of the deceleration slow down section and
the semi-stop lane by using image processing based on a perceptual manner or image
processing with a camera and the like.
[0109] A determination function is provided to permit successive continuous cruising to an
ordinary road by notifying, in auditory, visual, and sensory manner, an automatic
driving termination announce to the driver at least 30 seconds before the end of the au
tonomous driving dedicated lane, and more preferably, 2 or 3 minutes before in normal
driving, performing preparation of the autonomous automatic driving mode can
cellation in the section a, and recognizing a result of prompting the driver to perform
determination operation in accordance with a procedure defined in advance, and in a
case where the awakening recovery state of the driver is not preferable, the vehicle is
caused to automatically enter into the evacuation lane of the section b as it is.
[0110] In a case where the awakening recovery state is sufficiently made in advance, the
vehicle deviates from the lane marker in the evacuation white line direction of the
section b, the driver performs ordinary manual driving to the road extension ordinary
road section under the consciousness steering of the driver, and the travel track is made
into a continuous cruising.
[0111] As described above, the automatic driving control device 11 also has the function of
determining the awakening recovery ability of the driver. In a vehicle having some
kind of automatic driving function, the driver can perform continuous cruising even if
the driver does not maintain a high level of consciousness state of all the devices
related to driving thanks to the automatic driving system of the vehicle.
[0112] A typical example of that function is a lane maintaining (departure prevention)
system, and is a forward car following system that covers stop and start (stop & go)
such as CACC (Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control). These devices have the effect
of reducing the burden of the driver, but the driver relies on the system, and normal
stable forward driving is made possible even in the state in which the consciousness is
low, and therefore, the vehicle can physically drive in a stable manner even in a state in
which the awakened state of the driver is low.
[0113] Generally speaking, when a person recovers from the state in which the con
sciousness state is low, the person is confused because the person may not understand
the situation surrounding him or her, or the person continues to have consciousness in
the dream, and the person is busy trying to understand the situation surrounding him or
her in reality and fails to make a sudden judgement, and further, the person may do an
action that may not be expected under the awakened state such as a reflective
convulsion of muscles in the dream. Therefore, when automatic driving becomes
widely prevalent, there occurs a drowsy driving in a deeper state and there occurs a
lower degree of consciousness from driving, and therefore, the awakened state deter
mination of the driver plays an important role during manual driving recovery, and it is
necessary to determine the situation judgement performance suitable for the ambient
environment.
[0114] For example, units for intentionally inputting visually unspecific information to the
driver from the infrastructure environment such as a road and determining the driver
awakened state on the basis of whether a result appropriately involves a reaction of the
driver for the contents of the unspecific information is effective as a method for
actively and efficiently performing appropriate ambient situation determination.
[0115] In an embodiment, a sign of which content is variable is provided on a road for con
sciousness/awakening degree determination of the driver, and the driver performs input
operation of the determination device in accordance with the content, so that the
awakened state determination of the driver is performed. For example, numerical value
display is performed continuously for two portions with advancement on the road, and
the consciousness determination of the driver is performed in view of an operation for
correctly manipulating a button, the acceleration, and the steering wheel in response to
the numerical values and the operation result.
[0116] A method of visual feedback includes moving and displaying, in time series, (for
example, successively turning on signal signs) multiple visual targets of which display
contents are changed in multiple directions in which the positional relationships are un
specific for the driver on the road surface and the places therearound, and statistically
determining appearance of a movement track of the line of sight of the driver in the
visual line direction of the driver in synchronization with the timing of the moving
display, and determining whether the driver has recovered to the visual line operation
level unique to the consciousness possessed by the driver. In a case where there is a
symptom of the decrease in the level of awakening such as a long delay in capturing
the line of sight of the target object or a large difference in the direction of sight, the
awakening is determined to be insufficient.
[01 17] In another embodiment, automatic driving cancellation reservation is performed in
the buffer section of the end of the automatic lane termination, and, for example, a lane
is designed to wind gently to the right and the left on the dedicated road, and a deter
mination is made as to whether the vehicle performs driving operation along the lane in
that section with steering under consciousness of the driver.
[0118] The automatic driving control device 11 can take measures in congestion and can
take measures when the emergency automatic driving evacuation parking lot is full.
For example, when vehicles that may not recover back to the manual driving are
gathered in the evacuation parking lot, it is necessary to prevent the parking lot from
being full and prevent the failure to ensure evacuation of the vehicles driving behind.
[01 19] Therefore, the vehicles driving behind make early transition to the general manual
lane in accordance with the amount of traffic of the dedicated road, and therefore, it
effective to reduce the number of vehicles failing to be awakened and entering into the
evacuation parking lot by giving an advance awakening recovery guidance to the
vehicles in the autonomous automatic cruising at a point in time earlier than a normally
specified previous preparation. More specifically, the vehicle space failing to be
awakened and entering into the evacuation parking space from the autonomous
automatic cruising is limited, and there is also a risk that the evacuation parking space
suddenly becomes full, and therefore, it is effective to cause the automatic driving
vehicle that comes from behind to switch the travel track into the manual driving at an
earlier point in time, thus increasing the reliability of transition to the ordinary road.
[0120] The automatic driving control device 11 also has a judgement performance deter
mination for determining the road environment variation situation of the driver using
an active illumination sign in synchronization with the approaching vehicle.
[0121] The performance of judgement of the driver in response to the road environment
variation situation will be explained with reference to Fig. 8.
[0122] Fig. 8A illustrates a road corresponding to the section a of Fig. 7, and Fig. 8B i l
lustrates the inside of the vehicle having the automatic driving control device 11.
[0123] As shown in Fig. 8B, a camera 4 1 provided inside of the vehicle is arranged to be
able to capture the face of the driver. For example, the image captured by the camera
4 1 is provided to the monitor unit 21, and the monitor unit 2 1 recognizes the line of
sight of the driver, so that the state of the driver can be recognized.
[0124] Therefore, for example, when the driver moves the line of sight by seeing the i l
luminated sign, and the monitor unit 2 1 raises the degree of reliability by finding the
response reaction according to the display order with multiple operations, e.g., from t =
t l to t = t3, as shown in Fig. 8A, or ensures the degree of reliability of the awakening
determination with an operation (a button operation and the like in response to a
numerical value) in response to a display content (a numerical value and the like not
shown).
[0125] Then, the monitor unit 2 1 determines whether the driver is appropriately finding, in a
visual manner, signs illuminated and displayed from the infrastructure- side sign, and
when the driver performs an operation according to the sign content, the monitor unit
2 1 determines that the awakening consciousness state is high. On the other hand, the
monitor unit 2 1 determines that the recovery ability is poor when the reaction is slow
and there is no corresponding reaction or the corresponding reaction is insufficient. In
the reaction determination, examples of operation contents of an easy human machine
interface that imposes as less burden as possible include a button operation, successive
repeated opening and closing of the eyelids, slight turning of the steering wheel to the
right and the left, a shallow operation of the acceleration pedal, and the like.
[0126] As described above, the automatic driving control device 11 can determine the
driving ability by inputting the consciousness degree of the driver to the ambient en
vironment from the infrastructure- side environment and analyzing a response situation
of the driver in response to the input. More specifically, as shown in Fig. 8, the
automatic driving control device 11 visually presents a unique display content, which
is to be recognized by the driver, on an infrastructure-side installation sign, and the
driver performs a necessary reaction operation in response to the display content, so
that the consciousness state can be determined. In Fig. 8, the visual input has been
shown as an example, but an oral response in reply to a sound guidance based on radio,
and a button steering, and the like can also be used in the same manner for the
awakened state determination.
[0127] The automatic driving control device 1 1 determines the environment acknowl
edgement degree of the driver on the basis of a consciousness determination result of
the driver based on an input of unique visual information of the road on which the
vehicle is driving from the infrastructure or auditory information given via units such
as radio, and the intervention ratio of the safe automatic driving system can be changed
(correction of the coefficient of Fig. 6) in accordance with the acknowledgement
degree of the determination result.
[0128] It should be noted that the monitor unit 2 1 may not only perform such sight line
recognition of the driver but also obtains the behavior of the reaction operation of the
driver, for example, operation transition observation of transition to various vehicle
control input units such as the acceleration pedal operation state of the vehicle, the
brake pedal operation state, the clutch operation state, and the steering wheel operation
state, and further the head part posture state of the driver, motion tracking of the line of
sight, sight line saccade movement analysis, and the like, and detects the decrease in
the level of awakening by finding a change of the awakened state from a temporal
change in a period in which the awakened state is high. For example, when there is a
decrease in the level of awakening, the optimum driving steering amount and the
vehicle speed begin to deviate because of the decrease in the consciousness during
driving operation, and therefore, in contrast to normal gentle steering, unnatural sudden
steering increases, e.g., the driver repeats sudden correction operation to try to correct
the deviation. In the saccade movement of the line of sight, an operation for causing
the line of sight to follow the target object little by little at a high speed is repeated, but
when there is a decrease in the awakened state, the saccade movement for following an
obstacle with the line of sight becomes dull in general.
[0129] More specifically, the vehicle equipped with the sight line recognition function and
the vehicle forward obstacle recognition device tracks the sight line direction change of
the driver, and at the same time, the vehicle monitors a transition of occurrence of the
degree of instantaneous match of the direction of the obstacle with respect to the driver
that is estimated from arrangement analysis of the obstacle in the vehicle driving
direction, and further monitors the transition of the stability of so-called sight line
saccade movement which is a high speed movement of the line of sight, so that the
awakening degree status of the driver can be determined. While the vehicle drives with
normal stable driving steering, a vehicle and the like in the vehicle driving direction
forward advances in the same direction as the vehicle in question, and the ambient en
vironment moves with a speed vector in the opposite direction opposing the vehicle in
question in a relative manner. Therefore, the driver continues driving while moving the
line of sight to the car driving ahead and the ambient environment as necessary.
[0130] The analysis of the line of sight as described below is effective as means for de
termining the awakened state of the driver. More specifically, in the operation during
actual driving, the driver does not see each and every piece of environment information
for a certain period of time. In reality, in accordance with the situation and also in ac
cordance with the experience of the driver, the environment acknowledgement per
formance, the performance at that time, and the like, the line of sight is quickly moved,
and the driver repeats the movement of the line of sight in order to find a forward
obstacle and the environment position shape relationship in association with the degree
of effect on the driver's vehicle. Then, when the monitoring of the degree as to how
much the direction of the line of sight of the driver himself/herself matches the
direction of the obstacle detected by the above-explained vehicle forward obstacle
recognition device with respect to the driver is further considered into details, in the
movement of the line of sight of the driver, a movement of the line of sight for an
obstacle candidate is necessary for a subsequent operation.
[0131] In this case, the saccade movement is an operation for moving, at a high speed, the
direction of the center of the line of sight to the direction which is considered to be
necessary for a person to pay attention to in the ambient visual field, and a salience
map is a scheme for estimating a portion where a person is likely to pay attention to in
the image.
[0132] As described above, the motion of the line of sight of the driver is recognized and the
awakening determination of the driver is performed, so that, for example, in a case
where the vehicle is provided with an ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistant System)
system and performs direction detection of a forward obstacle, it is expected to
produce an effect such as performing the monitoring of time-series analysis of cor
relation with the obstacle recognition device and the line of sight of the driver,
evaluation time-series change of an agility evaluation point of the saccade movement
of the line of sight of the driver. In any case, the driving environment finding per
formance of the driver has physical characteristics unique to the driver, and therefore,
in the state determination, the vehicle can be provided with determination threshold
value learning of a consciousness state decrease point of the driver characteristics.
[0133] In this case, various kinds of processing executed in the automatic driving control to
which the present technique is applied will be further explained with reference to Figs.
9 to 23.
[0134] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of an automatic
driving control system to which the present technique is applied.
[0135] As shown in Fig. 9, an automatic driving control system 101 is configured to include
a sonar device 111, a radar device 112, an LIDAR device 113, a mono-camera 114, a
stereo camera 115, Tof (Time_of_flight) camera 116, an environment sensor 117, an
input device 118, a short range communication device 119, a mobile communication
device 120, a beacon device 121, a measurement device 122, a gyro sensor 123, an ac
celeration operation detection unit 124, a brake operation detection unit 125, a steering
operation detection unit 126, a driver monitor device 127, an engine activation device
128, a brake activation device 129, a steering activation device 130, a lamp control unit
131, an attention attraction processing device 132, an instrument panel 133, a head-up
display 134, a virtual image display unit 135, and an electronic control unit 151.
[0136] The sonar device 111, the radar device 112, and the LIDAR device 113 detect an
object around the vehicle (such as another vehicle, a pedestrian, and the like) in order
for the vehicle to perform the automatic driving, and provide a relative distance to the
detected object to the automatic driving controller 154 of the electronic control unit
151.
[0137] The mono-camera 114, the stereo camera 115, and the Tof camera 116 recognize an
object shown in an image obtained by capturing the surrounding of the vehicle in order
for the vehicle to perform the automatic driving, and provides information about the
recognized object to the automatic driving controller 154 of the electronic control unit
151. For example, the stereo camera 115 and the Tof camera 116 measure the distance
to the recognized object, and provides the distance to the object to the automatic
driving controller 154 of the electronic control unit 151.
[0138] The environment sensor 117 detects the environment around the vehicle such as the
temperature, the humidity, the weather, the road surface situation, and the like, and
provides the environment detection result to the electronic control unit 151.
[0139] The input device 118 includes, e.g., a microphone with which the driver gives an
input by using sound, and an operation unit with which the driver gives an input by
using operation with buttons and touch panel, and when the driver gives an input, the
input device 118 provides the input content to the electronic control unit 151.
[0140] The short range communication device 119 uses DSRC (Dedicated Short Range
Communications), which is a radio communication technique designed specifically for
radio communication of vehicles, to communicate with an ITS (Intelligent Transport
Systems) spot installed along the road, and obtains traffic jam information, regulation
information, and the like.
[0141] The mobile communication device 120 communicates in accordance with a commu
nication standard (3G/4G) according to which cellular phones communicate, and, for
example, the mobile communication device 120 obtains various kinds of information
via a network such as the Internet.
[0142] For example, the beacon device 121 communicates with a road side device installed
at the roadside to support safe driving, and obtains various kinds of traffic information.
[0143] The measurement device 122 uses a satellite navigation system such as GPS (Global
Positioning System) for measuring the current position by using, for example, an ar
tificial satellite to measure the current position of the vehicle.
[0144] The gyro sensor 123 detects the acceleration and the angular speed of the vehicle
used in autonomous position analysis processing for analyzing the current position of
the vehicle in an autonomous manner.
[0145] The acceleration operation detection unit 124 detects an operation of the driver with
the accelerator, the brake operation detection unit 125 detects an operation of the driver
with the brake, and the steering operation detection unit 126 detects an operation of the
driver with the steering. The acceleration operation detection unit 124, the brake
operation detection unit 125, and the steering operation detection unit 126 obtain, for
example, the timing with which the driver performs operation, the operation amount,
and the like as an operation detection result, and provides the operation detection result
to the driving behavior analysis unit 152 of the electronic control unit 151.
[0146] The driver monitor device 127 monitors the driver by using various kinds of sensors
for detecting the awakened state of the driver (for example, an alcohol sensor, a
pulsation sensor, an odor sensor, and the like). For example, the driver monitor device
127 captures an image of the face of the driver using a camera, recognizes the line of
sight of the driver, and monitors the motion of the line of sight. Then, the driver
monitor device 127 provides the monitor result obtained by monitoring the driver to
the driver status determination unit 153 of the electronic control unit 151.
[0147] The engine activation device 128 controls starting of the engine of the vehicle in ac
cordance with an instruction given by the automatic driving controller 154 of the
electronic control unit 151.
[0148] The brake activation device 129 controls activation of the brake of the vehicle in ac
cordance with an instruction given by the automatic driving controller 154 of the
electronic control unit 151.
[0149] The steering activation device 130 controls activation of the steering of the vehicle in
accordance with an instruction given by the automatic driving controller 154 of the
electronic control unit 151.
[0150] For example, the lamp control unit 131 controls flashing of a hazard flasher when the
vehicle proceeds to the evacuation lane as shown in Fig. 17 explained later, in ac
cordance with an instruction given by the automatic driving controller 154 of the
electronic control unit 151.
[0151] The attention attraction processing device 132 performs processing to attract the
attention of the driver in accordance with an instruction given by the automatic driving
controller 154 of the electronic control unit 151. For example, the attention attraction
processing device 132 gives a haptic feedback such as vibrating the steering and the
seat and pulling the seat belt.
[0152] The instrument panel 133 includes various kinds of instruments and the like such as a
speedometer and a navigation display which are arranged thereon, and, for example,
the instrument panel 133 gives a notification to the driver by displaying a message on
the display.
[0153] For example, the head-up display 134 is a display unit provided at the upper portion
of the windshield, and displays a message notified to the driver, a dummy target
explained with reference to Fig. 18, and the like.
[0154] The virtual image display unit 135 displays a virtual image, which augments the real
world, in an overlapping manner on the real world that can be seen from the driver.
[0155] The electronic control unit (ECU) 151 can have various kinds of functions by
executing a program for controlling each block constituting the automatic driving
control system 101. For example, in the example of Fig. 9, the electronic control unit
151 includes the functions as the driving behavior analysis unit 152, the driver status
determination unit 153, and the automatic driving controller 154.
[0156] The driving behavior analysis unit (Operation Behaviour Analyzer) 152 analyzes the
driving behavior of the driver (an operation of driving, behavior, and the like) on the
basis of the operation detection result provided from the acceleration operation
detection unit 124, the brake operation detection unit 125, and the steering operation
detection unit 126. Then, the driving behavior analysis unit 152 provides the analysis
result obtained by analyzing the driving behavior of the driver to the driver status de
termination unit 153.
[0157] The driver status determination unit 153 performs processing for determining the
driver status indicating the awakened state of the driver on the basis of the monitor
result provided from the driver monitor device 127 and the analysis result provided
from the driving behavior analysis unit 152. Then, the driver status determination unit
153 provides the determination result of the driver status to the automatic driving
controller 154. Although not shown in the drawing, inputs to the driver monitor device
127 are considered to include not only the recognition of the line of sight and the face
but also electrocardiogram, thermography, body odor, breath, skin temperature di s
tribution, breathing state, and the like of the driver.
[0158] The automatic driving controller 154 gives various kinds of instructions necessary
for the automatic driving of the vehicle to the engine activation device 128, the brake
activation device 129, the steering activation device 130, the lamp control unit 131,
and the attention attraction processing device 132, on the basis of the determination
result of the driver status provided from the driver status determination unit 153.
[0159] It should be noted that various kinds of processing executed by the driver status de
termination unit 153 and the automatic driving controller 154 will be explained in
details with reference to the flowchart explained later.
[0160] Fig. 10 is a flowchart for explaining initial determination processing performed by
the automatic driving control system 101.
[0161] First, in step S101, the automatic driving control system 101 uses an input based on
sound or operation with the input device 118, an indication on the display provided in
the instrument panel 133, and the like to perform setting input processing to input
setting necessary for starting the automatic driving. For example, in the setting input
processing, as explained with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 11, a selection of a
route to the destination location, a selection as to whether the automatic driving is
performed in the emergency evacuation mode or not, and the like are performed.
[0162] In step S102, the automatic driving controller 154 refers to map data stored in a
memory unit, not shown, and determines whether there is an automatic driving lane or
not in the route selected in step S101.
[0163] In step S102, in a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that
there is an automatic driving lane, the processing in step S107 is subsequently
performed, and in a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that
there is no automatic driving lane, the processing in step S103 is subsequently
performed.
[0164] In step S103, the automatic driving controller 154 determines to start the cruising and
driving in the manual-only driving mode in which the vehicle drives with only the
manual driving performed by the driver, and terminates the initial determination
processing. Thereafter, the automatic driving control system 101 restricts the automatic
driving performed by the automatic driving controller 154, and drives the vehicle with
the manual driving performed by the driver.
[0165] In parallel with step S101, the automatic driving controller 154 performs vehicle selfdevice
diagnosis processing for diagnosing the equipment of the vehicle necessary for
performing the automatic driving in step S104. For example, in the vehicle self-device
diagnosis processing, a confirmation is performed to find as to whether all the blocks
constituting the automatic driving control system 101 as shown in Fig. 9 operate
normally or not.
[0166] In step S105, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether the au
tonomous driving is possible or not on the equipment in accordance with the diagnosis
result in the vehicle self-device diagnosis processing of step S104. For example, in a
case where all the blocks constituting the automatic driving control system 101 operate
normally, the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the autonomous driving
is possible on the equipment, and in a case where at least any one of the blocks does
not operate normally, the automatic driving controller 154 performs the risk diagnosis,
and in a case where the safe driving risk is not equal to or less than a predetermined
level, the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the autonomous driving is
not possible on the equipment.
[0167] In a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the autonomous
driving is not possible on the equipment in step S105, the processing in step S103 is
subsequently performed, and in the same manner as described above, it is determined
to start the cruising and driving in the manual-only driving mode, and the initial deter
mination processing is terminated.
[0168] In parallel with steps S101 and S104, the automatic driving controller 154 performs
the driver performance diagnosis processing for diagnosing the driver's driving ability
on the basis of the determination result of the driver status provided from the driver
status determination unit 153 in step S106.
[0169] After the processing in step S106, or, in a case where the autonomous driving is de
termined to be possible on the equipment in step S105, the processing in step S107 is
subsequently performed. In step S107, the automatic driving controller 154 performs
recovery ability total evaluation processing (the processing in the flowchart of Fig. 12
explained later) for predicting the recovery ability from the automatic driving to the
manual driving and performs evaluation in a total manner.
[0170] In step S108, the automatic driving controller 154 predicts and determines whether
the driver has a recovery ability for recovering back to the manual driving after the
automatic driving is terminated on the basis of the evaluation result of the recovery
ability total evaluation processing of step S107.
[0171] In a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the driver has a
recovery ability for recovering back to the manual driving in step S108, the processing
in step S109 is subsequently performed.
[0172] In step S109, the automatic driving controller 154 determines to start the cruising and
driving in the automatic driving lane entry permission mode for permitting the
automatic driving in the automatic driving lane which is in the route selected in step
S101, and terminates the initial determination processing. Thereafter, in the automatic
driving control system 101, before the vehicle enters into the automatic driving lane,
the above-described road environment R2 is a buffer zone road before entering into the
completely automatic driving-only lane before the ordinary road. In this buffer zone
road, it is determined that there is a recovery performance as a result of the deter
mination processing before that, and the vehicle drives with the automatic driving
performed by the automatic driving controller 154.
[0173] On the other hand, in step S108, the automatic driving controller 154 determines that
the driver does not have a recovery ability for recovering back to the manual driving,
the processing in step SI 10 is subsequently performed.
[0174] In step SI 10, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether the emergency
evacuation mode is selected or not in the setting input processing of step S101 (Fig.
11).
[0175] In a case where the emergency evacuation mode is determined to be selected in step
SI 10, the processing in step S103 is subsequently performed, and in the same manner
as described above, it is determined to start the cruising and driving in the manual-only
driving mode (and, continue that if the vehicle is already driving), and the initial deter
mination processing is terminated.
[0176] On the other hand, in step SI 10, it is determined that the emergency evacuation mode
is selected, the processing in step Sill is subsequently performed. In step Sill, the
automatic driving controller 154 performs emergency evacuation mode start
processing (the processing of the flowchart of Fig. 13 explained later) for making for
setting or changing necessary to start the emergency evacuation mode.
[0177] In step SI 12, the automatic driving controller 154 determines to start the cruising and
driving in the emergency evacuation mode, and terminates the initial determination
processing. Thereafter, in the automatic driving control system 101, after the vehicle
enters into the automatic driving lane, the automatic driving performed by the
automatic driving controller 154 is exceptionally executed. When the vehicle enters
into the driving in the emergency evacuation mode, the status transition and condition
is recorded and saved.
[0178] Subsequently, Fig. 11 is a flowchart for explaining setting input processing in step
S101 of Fig. 10.
[0179] In step S121, when the driver inputs the destination location by a sound or an
operation, the input is received by the input device 118, and the destination location is
set. Then, the input device 118 provides the location information about the destination
location to the automatic driving controller 154.
[0180] In step S122, the automatic driving controller 154 refers to map data stored in a
memory unit, not shown, on the basis of the location information about the destination
location provided in step S121, and searches the route from the current location to the
destination location. Then, the automatic driving controller 154 displays multiple route
candidates obtained as a result of the search on, for example, a display provided on the
instrument panel 133.
[0181] In step S123, when the driver inputs a route selected from among multiple route
candidates by using a sound or an operation, the input device 118 informs the
automatic driving controller 154 of the received route. Then, the automatic driving
controller 154 selects the route selected by the user as the route in which the vehicle
drives.
[0182] In step S124, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether the automatic
driving controller 154 has received an emergency evacuation instruction for excep
tionally performing the automatic driving when the driver's driving ability becomes
lower. For example, the automatic driving controller 154 displays, on a display
provided on the instrument panel 133, a message for asking whether to exceptionally
perform the automatic driving or not when the driver's driving ability becomes lower,
and makes a determination in accordance with the user's input in response to the
message.
[0183] In a case where the emergency evacuation instruction is determined not to be input in
step S124, the setting input processing is terminated as it is. On the other hand, in a
case where the emergency evacuation instruction is determined to be input in step
5124, the automatic driving controller 154 sets an emergency evacuation flag in step
5125, and thereafter the setting input processing is terminated. In the present em
bodiment, the destination location setting of the driving and the route selection are
performed with the display interface and the instruction input, but in a case where a
seamless and simple method is put into practice in the future, the HMI may be
achieved with a sound guidance, a sound input, a gesture input, and the like, and
further, the following case may also be possible:, e.g., destination locations may be au
tomatically narrowed down from a previous plan before riding the vehicle, and a
suggestion may be presented, but the embodiment is not limited to this example.
[0184] Subsequently, Fig. 12 is a flowchart for explaining recovery ability total evaluation
processing in step SI07 of Fig. 10.
[0185] In step S131, the automatic driving controller 154 predicts the predicted time when
the completely automatic driving-only lane ends on the route selected in step S123 of
Fig. 11 and a switching to the manual driving occurs. It should be noted that the
prediction of the predicted time will be explained in details with reference to Fig. 23
explained later.
[0186] In step SI 32, the driver status determination unit 153 obtains the driver status from
various kinds of data monitored by the driver monitor device 127, and provides the
driver status to the automatic driving controller 154. For example, the driver status de
termination unit 153 obtains, as the driver status, biometric information about the
driver such as the stability of the line of sight, the alcohol intake degree, the pulsation,
a face recognition fatigue degree measurement result, an odor measurement result, a
response evaluation of the driver according to the human machine interface, and the
like.
[0187] In step S133, the automatic driving controller 154 totally calculates the degree of
fatigue, the awakening degree, and the like of the driver at the predicted time predicted
in step S131 on the basis of the driver status provided in step SI 32. Then, the
automatic driving controller 154 derives, as the evaluation result of the recovery ability
total evaluation processing, the manual driving recovery ability of the driver predicted
on the basis of the degree of fatigue calculated, and the recovery ability total
evaluation processing is terminated.
[0188] Subsequently, Fig. 13 is a flowchart for explaining emergency evacuation mode start
processing in step Sill of Fig. 10.
[0189] In step S141, even in a case where a driver's driving ability defect is observed, there
is a possibility of a state of emergency, and therefore, the automatic driving controller
154 makes setting necessary to execute exception processing that exceptionally enables
autonomous driving. For example, the automatic driving controller 154 sets a
suppressed upper limit speed for performing particular emergency automatic driving
that is more greatly suppressed than the upper limit speed in ordinary automatic
driving.
[0190] In step S142, the automatic driving controller 154 records that the exception
processing is expected in accordance with an inerasable method. By performing such
recording, for example, it is possible to prevent the driver from performing misuse by
continuously performing exception processing in terms of institution and operation.
[0191] In step S143, the automatic driving controller 154 performs cruising preparation in
particular emergency automatic driving. For example, in this case, the driver may not
be able to take measures during emergency situation and at the end of the automatic
lane driving, and therefore, for example, the automatic driving controller 154 performs
the cruising preparation by changing the restriction during the automatic driving and
changing the degree of priority of the route path in which the vehicle can drive more
safely even if the driver intervention is low. There is risk that the driver may not be
able to take appropriate measures when some kind of abnormal situation occurs during
automatic driving, and therefore, the automatic driving controller 154 performs the
cruising preparation for changing the driving upper limit speed and the brake charac
teristics when the automatic driving is executed.
[0192] In step S144, the automatic driving controller 154 performs the road situation deter
mination, reviews the route according to necessity, and then terminates the emergency
evacuation mode start processing.
[0193] As explained with reference to Figs. 10 to 13, the automatic driving control system
101 performs processing necessary to start the automatic driving. Thereafter, when the
vehicle enters into the automatic driving lane, the automatic driving is started. Then, in
order to predict a time when the automatic driving is terminated and the vehicle is
switched to the manual driving and notify the time to the driver, the automatic driving
controller 154 can perform the automatic driving termination prediction processing to
derive the predicted time at which the automatic driving ends.
[0194] Subsequently, Fig. 14 is a flowchart for explaining automatic driving termination
prediction processing.
[0195] For example, in step S151, the automatic driving controller 154 obtains data in
dicating the latest current position measured by the measurement device 122.
[0196] In step S152, the automatic driving controller 154 performs autonomous position
analysis processing for deriving the current position from the movement of the au
tonomous driving on the basis of the acceleration and the angular speed of the vehicle
detected by an acceleration sensor, not shown, and the gyro sensor 123 and the travel
distance measured by an odometer, not shown. When the reception sensitivity is good,
this is not limited to the autonomous position analysis processing, and it may also be
possible to obtain the current location from a GNSS, not shown, and the like.
[0197] In step S153, the automatic driving controller 154 detects a positional deviation in
the map data with respect to the current position derived in steps S151 and 152, and
performs position adjustment for identifying the current position on the map data
(registration analysis).
[0198] In step S154, the automatic driving controller 154 inputs the end position of the
completely automatic driving-only lane during driving on the basis of the selected
route.
[0199] In step S155, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether the vehicle ap
proaches the end position of the completely automatic driving-only lane which is input
in step S154 on the basis of the current position identified in step S153.
[0200] In step S155, in a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the
vehicle is not approaching the end position of the completely automatic driving-only
lane, the processing in step S151 is performed again, and thereafter, the same
processing is repeated.
[0201] On the other hand, in a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines
that the vehicle is approaching the end position of the completely automatic drivingonly
lane in step S155, the processing in step S156 is subsequently performed. In step
S156, the automatic driving controller 154 starts the termination preparation
processing for preparing the termination of the automatic driving which involves
switching from the automatic driving to the manual driving, and terminates the
automatic driving termination prediction processing.
[0202] As described above, automatic driving controller 154 monitors the detailed timing for
starting the termination preparation processing for preparing the termination of the
automatic driving on the basis of the current location data before the predicted arrival
time of the completely automatic driving lane. Then, the termination preparation
processing is started when it is less than a predetermined setting time at which the
vehicle arrives at the end position of the completely automatic driving-only lane.
[0203] Subsequently, Fig. 15 is a flowchart for explaining termination preparation
processing.
[0204] In step S161, the driver status determination unit 153 gives the driver an an
nouncement indicating that the completely automatic driving-only lane comes to the
end by, for example, outputting sound. By using methods other than outputting sound,
the fact that the completely automatic driving-only lane comes to the end may be
clearly notified to the driver by displaying, for example, a message on a display and
turning on a lamp.
[0205] In step SI62, the driver status determination unit 153 attracts attention to tell the
driver that the completely automatic driving-only lane comes to the end to such a
degree that the driver does not feel unpleasant.
[0206] In step S163, the driver status determination unit 153 waits for a time which the
driver needs to respond to the attention given in step SI62, and performs the
processing of the determination.
[0207] In step SI64, the driver status determination unit 153 obtains the latest driver status
on the basis of the monitor result provided from the driver monitor device 127 and the
analysis result provided from the driving behavior analysis unit 152.
[0208] In step S165, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the
attention attraction to such a degree that the driver does not feel unpleasant is re
peatedly performed for a defined number of times.
[0209] In a case where the attention attraction is not performed for the defined number of
times in step S165, the processing in step SI62 is performed again, and the processing
is repeatedly performed until it is performed the defined number of times. Then, when
the attention attraction is performed for the defined number of times in step S165, the
processing in step S166 is subsequently performed.
[0210] In step S166, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the
awakening recovery of the driver is sufficient, and the driver can perform the manual
driving or not, on the basis of the latest driver status obtained in step SI 64. In a case
where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the driver may not
perform the manual driving in step S166, the processing in step SI67 is subsequently
performed.
[021 1] In step S167, the driver status determination unit 153 executes the awakening work
for urging the driver to be awakened. For example, in the awakening work, for the
purpose of urging the driver to be awakened, more unpleasant alarm than the attention
attraction in step SI62 (termination warning) may be output, or more highly intense
haptic feedback is given.
[0212] In step S168, the driver status determination unit 153 holds the processing in the
waiting state in accordance with a response time which the driver needs to respond to
the awakening work in step SI 67.
[0213] In step S169, the driver status determination unit 153 obtains the latest driver status
on the basis of the monitor result provided from the driver monitor device 127 and the
analysis result provided from the driving behavior analysis unit 152.
[0214] In step S170, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the
awakening work for urging the driver to be awakened is repeatedly performed for the
defined number of times or not.
[0215] In a case where the awakening work for urging the driver to be awakened is de
termined not to have been repeatedly performed for the defined number of times in
step S170, the processing in step SI67 is performed again, and the processing is re
peatedly performed until it is performed for the defined number of times. Then, when
the awakening work for urging the driver to be awakened is determined to have been
repeatedly performed for the defined number of times in step S170, the processing in
step S171 is subsequently performed.
[0216] In step S171, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the driving
ability has recovered to such a level that the driver can perform the manual driving on
the basis of the latest driver status obtained in step S169.
[0217] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the driving
ability has not recovered to such a level that the driver can perform the manual driving
in step S171, the processing in step S172 is subsequently performed. In step S172, the
driver status determination unit 153 notifies the automatic driving controller 154 that
the driver may not perform the manual driving, and the automatic driving controller
154 executes the automatic evacuation processing (the processing in the flowchart of
Fig. 16 explained later), and terminates the termination preparation processing.
[0218] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that the driving ability has recovered to such a level that the driver can
perform the manual driving in step S171, or in a case where the driver is determined to
be able to perform the manual driving in step S166, the processing in step S173 is sub
sequently performed.
[0219] In step S173, the automatic driving controller 154 permits seamless transition from
the automatic driving lane to the manual driving of the driver.
[0220] In step S174, the automatic driving controller 154 seamlessly continues to perform
processing of transition to the manual driving performed by the driver.
[0221] In step S175, the driver status determination unit 153 performs continuous
monitoring of the driving situation in which the driver performs the manual driving
and the response situation in which the driver responds to the ambient environment.
[0222] In step S176, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the driver
completely recovers and the manual driving performance is continuously maintained or
not. In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the
manual driving performance is continuously maintained in step S176, the termination
preparation processing is terminated.
[0223] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that the manual driving performance is not continuously maintained in step
S176, the processing in step S177 is subsequently performed. More specifically, in this
case, in a case where the decrease in the level of awakening of the driver is temporarily
found, the automatic driving controller 154 may further perform the attention attraction
and may perform processing to urge the driver to stop the vehicle or take an earlier rest
in accordance with the state of the driver in step S177. Then, upon waiting for the stop
and the rest carried out, the termination preparation processing is terminated. In this
case, although not shown in the flowchart, step S175 is performed again as the
operation of the system and the state of the driver may be continued after step S177 for
further performing the attention attraction is executed. Further, the continuous driver
monitoring may be performed after the vehicle once proceeds from the automatic
driving to the manual driving and the sequence is terminated.
[0224] Subsequently, Fig. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the automatic evacuation
processing performed in step S172 of Fig. 15.
[0225] In step S181, for example, as the processing associated with transition to the
evacuation lane, the automatic driving controller 154 flashes the hazard flasher in order
to notify vehicles driving behind that the automatic evacuation processing is being
executed.
[0226] For example, when each of the right and left direction indicator lamps is constituted
by arranging at least three light sources side by side as shown in Fig. 17, the automatic
driving controller 154 instructs the lamp control unit 131 to control the hazard flasher
to flash in such order that the light sources are successively turned on in the radiation
direction. With such visual means of the successive illumination method, enlarging
illusion can be induced and the approaching illusion effect can be given to the driver of
a vehicle driving behind, and therefore, the driver can take measures and do
preparation earlier.
[0227] In step SI 82, the automatic driving controller 154 performs the automatic driving to
cause to the vehicle to proceed to the evacuation lane, and temporarily prohibits the
manual driving other than soft braking by the driver. Therefore, this can prevent oc
currence of an accident that is expected when the driver forcibly performs the manual
driving.
[0228] In step S183, the automatic driving controller 154 performs highly intense attention
attraction to such a degree that the driver feels unpleasant. For example, the automatic
driving controller 154 performs highly intense attention attraction by giving an in
struction to the brake activation device 129 so as to rapidly decelerate or applying seat
vibration haptics input and the like. As described above, when the evacuation re
traction driving with the automatic driving is started in a case where the manual
driving recovery of the driver is not performed, highly intense attention attraction is
performed, so that the driver feels unpleasant, and therefore, a psychological process is
acted on the driver to put priority on seamless transition to manual cruising in a
conscious manner in order to avoid unpleasant feeling, and it is expected to produce an
effect of increasing vehicles recovering back to the manual driving in a preferential
manner.
[0229] In step SI 84, the driver status determination unit 153 obtains the driver status in
response to highly intense attention attraction on the basis of the monitor result
provided from the driver monitor device 127 and the analysis result provided from the
driving behavior analysis unit 152.
[0230] In step S185, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the manual
driving performance of the driver has been completely recovered by the highly intense
attention attraction.
[0231] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the manual
driving performance of the driver has been completely recovered in step SI 85, the
processing in step SI 86 is subsequently performed. In step SI 86, the automatic driving
controller 154 permits the manual driving after a predetermined delay time, and, for
example, permits the manual driving from getting out of an evacuation parking place,
and terminates the automatic evacuation processing.
[0232] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that the manual driving performance of the driver has not yet been completely
recovered in step SI 85, the processing in step SI 87 is subsequently performed, and the
automatic driving controller 154 performs automatic parking processing. In the
automatic parking processing, for example, the automatic driving controller 154
proceeds to the evacuation lane with the automatic driving, searches a vacant parking
space in the parking lot, and stops the vehicle in the desired parking space with the
automatic guidance. For example, in the evacuation parking zone and the end position
of the completely automatic driving-only lane, the evacuation vehicle may line up con
tinuously, and therefore, an evacuation slow down entry vehicle approaches and
evacuates from the main lane of the completely automatic driving-only lane, and
thereafter the evacuation slow down entry vehicle performs the automatic cruising to
the desired parking space and stops there.
[0233] In step S188, the automatic driving controller 154 sets a timer for delaying the
subsequent driving in accordance with the time which the driver needs to completely
recover the manual driving performance, and terminates the automatic evacuation
processing. If there is a mechanism to lock the continuous cruising of the vehicle as a
penalty until the driver is ready to restart from the evacuation parking lot in a case
where the consciousness level decreases and the vehicle automatically makes an
emergency evacuation parking, a psychological process also works here for the driver
to seamlessly select the manual continuous cruising by avoiding the automatic
evacuation. The degree of tolerance to the preventive function of such delay timer of
the driver may be tolerated by some people or may not be tolerated by other people
because of cultural factors. Therefore, the delay setting based on the timer is preferably
incorporated with a mechanism of variable setting according to the sales market of
vehicles. On the other hand, the driver may try to forcibly proceed to the manual
driving because of insufficient driving ability in order to avoid the subsequent driving
delay due to this penalty, and therefore, a limited restriction is preferably applied to
handover of the authority to the driver related to the driving in the automatic parking
transition time period from the highly intense attention attraction, and thus the
handover may be performed.
[0234] In this case, when a determination is made as to whether the driver is in such a
awakened state that the driver can drive normally, the illuminated sign is used as the
target of the line of sight of the driver as explained above with reference to Fig. 8, but
in addition, it may also be possible to use, for example, a dummy target as the target of
the line of sight of the driver. More specifically, the dummy target which is the target
of the line of sight of the driver may be displayed on the head- up display 134, and the
line of sight of the driver may be tracked, so that a determination is made as to whether
the driver has a manual driving performance or not.
[0235] Subsequently, Fig. 18 is a flowchart for explaining manual driving performance de
termination processing for determining whether the driver has the manual driving per
formance or not.
[0236] In step S191, the driver status determination unit 153 resets a normal visual
recognition counter AC (Acknowledge Counter), which counts the number of times the
driver normally visually recognizes the dummy target (AC = 0).
[0237] In step S192, the driver status determination unit 153 makes a setting for displaying a
dummy target on the head- up display 134, and sets a dummy target counter nt for
measuring the number of times the dummy target is displayed (nt = 1).
[0238] In step S193, the driver status determination unit 153 performs gentle awakening
input into the driver by using, for example, seat vibration, steering percussion,
attention attraction warning, and the like.
[0239] In step S194, the driver status determination unit 153 displays, on the head-up
display 134, a dummy target for determining the awakening degree of the driver in
such a manner that it is in a target direction On when seen from the driver.
[0240] In step S195, the driver status determination unit 153 keeps the processing waiting in
accordance with a response time which the driver needs to respond to the dummy
target displayed on the head-up display 134 in step S194.
[0241] In step S196, the driver status determination unit 153 tracks the line of sight of the
driver on the basis of the monitor result provided from the driver monitor device 127.
[0242] In step S197, the driver status determination unit 153 analyzes the visual tracking
status indicating the tracking state for tracking the line of sight of the driver for the
dummy target displayed in the target direction On after the time tn.
[0243] In step S198, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether there is a
visual recognition of the driver in the target direction On on the basis of the tracking
status analyzed in step S197.
[0244] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that there is no
visual recognition of the driver in the target direction On in step S198, the processing in
step S199 is subsequently performed.
[0245] In step S199, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether a prede
termined permission confirmation number which is set in advance is exceeded or not in
order to confirm whether the driver has normally visually recognized the dummy
target.
[0246] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the prede
termined permission confirmation number is exceeded in step S199, the processing in
step S200 is subsequently performed. In step S200, since the driver may not normally
visually recognize the dummy target and is not in the awakened state, the driver status
determination unit 153 starts the driver awakening processing for causing the driver to
be awakened (Fig. 19), and terminates the manual driving performance determination
processing.
[0247] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that the predetermined permission confirmation number is not exceeded in
step S199, the processing in step S201 is subsequently performed. In step S201, the
driver status determination unit 153 increments the dummy target counter nt (nt = nt +
1), and the processing in step S193 is performed again, and thereafter, the same
processing is repeated.
[0248] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that there is a visual recognition of the driver in the target direction On in step
S198, the processing in step S202 is subsequently performed. In step S202, the driver
status determination unit 153 increments the normal visual recognition counter AC
(AC = AC + 1).
[0249] In step S203, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the number
of times the visual recognition of the driver in the target direction On is confirmed
attains a predetermined repetition number (ACmin) at which the driver can be de
termined to be surely awakened (AC ³ AC min).
[0250] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that the number
of times the visual recognition of the driver in the target direction On is confirmed has
not attained the predetermined repetition number in step S203, the processing in step
S201 is subsequently performed, and the dummy target counter nt is incremented, and
thereafter, the processing in step S193 is performed again.
[0251] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that the number of times the visual recognition of the driver in the target
direction On is confirmed has attained the predetermined repetition number in step
S203, the processing in step S204 is subsequently performed. In step S204, the driver
status determination unit 153 notifies the automatic driving controller 154 that the
driver is surely awakened, and the automatic driving controller 154 permits transition
to the manual driving (operation authority handover), and terminates the manual
driving performance determination processing.
[0252] As described above, the automatic driving control system 101 uses the awakened
state of the driver as confirmation means, and can feed the infrastructure environment
or the dummy visual recognition target in the vehicle to the driver as necessary. The
driver status determination unit 153 can use at least one of the units including the face,
the line of sight, the dynamic analysis of the line of sight, and the like to determine the
reaction situation of the driver, and can determine whether the driver makes a
judgement under the awakening according to the feed information.
[0253] It should be noted that signs such as a number and a character illuminated and
displayed around the road may also be used as the feed content, and the driver gives an
operation feedback by make a judgement under consciousness according to the display
content, and the driver status determination unit 153 determines the awakened state.
Alternatively, for example, the target may be a composite element such as a numerical
value, a sign, a signal, and the like, and the driver may perform acknowledgement/
thinking judgment, and the awakened state can be determined on the basis of whether
the acknowledgement has been performed correctly or not.
[0254] Subsequently, Fig. 19 is a flowchart for explaining driver awakening processing for
causing the driver who may not normally visually recognize the dummy target to
awakening.
[0255] In step S21 1, the driver status determination unit 153 performs attention attraction
by, e.g., outputting a sound alarm for awakening, and driving a haptics device.
[0256] In step S212, the driver status determination unit 153 keeps the processing waiting in
accordance with a reaction time which the driver needs to react to the attention at
traction in step S211, and thereafter, the driver status determination unit 153 monitors
the state change of the driver on the basis of the monitor result provided from the
driver monitor device 127.
[0257] In step S213, the driver status determination unit 153 analyzes the stability of the line
of sight of the driver, the pedal operation, the steering operation, and the like. Then, the
driver status determination unit 153 totally determines whether the driver recovers
back to the awakened state on the basis of the analysis result.
[0258] In step S214, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the con
firmation as to whether the driver recovers back to the awakened state as a result of the
total determination made in step S213 has been completed or not, or whether the con
firmation has been performed for a predetermined number of times.
[0259] In a case where the confirmation as to whether the driver recovers back to the
awakened state is determined not to have been completed or in a case where the con
firmation is determined not to have been performed for a predetermined number of
times in step S214, the processing in step S21 1 is performed again, and thereafter, the
same processing is repeated.
[0260] On the other hand, in a case where the confirmation as to whether the driver recovers
back to the awakened state is determined to have been completed or in a case where
the confirmation is determined to have been performed for a predetermined number of
times in step S214, the processing in step S215 is subsequently performed.
[0261] In step S215, the driver status determination unit 153 notifies the automatic driving
controller 154 to start the automatic evacuation processing (Fig. 16), and terminates the
driver awakening processing.
[0262] By the way, the automatic driving control system 101 is preferably configured to
have a system configuration that can cause the vehicle to proceed to the manual driving
in accordance with various situations and can cope with a situation in which the
automatic evacuation is preferably performed even in locations other than the location
the end of the automatic driving lane during the automatic lane driving. For example, it
is difficult to carry out perfect automatic driving when expected automatic driving may
not be executed due to unexpected abnormal weather, or when the road sign such as a
white line necessary for the automatic driving is damaged due to an accident, or when
a portion constituting the automatic driving control system 101 is broken.
[0263] In order to cope with such situation, when the automatic driving control system 101
determines that it is difficult to continue the automatic driving, the automatic driving
control system 101 finds the awakened state of the driver, and when the driver is de
termined to have the manual driving performance, the automatic driving control system
101 proceeds from the automatic driving to the manual driving, and in a case where the
driver does not have the manual driving performance, the automatic driving control
system 101 performs processing to make an emergency evacuation.
[0264] Subsequently, Fig. 20 is a flowchart for explaining emergency evacuation transition
processing for proceeding to the emergency evacuation during normal driving.
[0265] In step S221, the automatic driving controller 154 monitors the safety risk when the
automatic driving is continuously performed. For example, the automatic driving
controller 154 confirms whether all the blocks constituting the automatic driving
control system 101 shown in Fig. 9 operate normally, and makes a confirmation in
advance before reaching the location in question to find whether there occurs an ab
normality in the road environment on the driving route by communicating with an ITS
(Intelligent Transport Systems) spot installed along the road via the mobile commu
nication device 120 and the like.
[0266] In step S222, the automatic driving controller 154 calculates the degree of risk which
is a degree how much the safety risk occurs due to continuation of the automatic
driving, on the basis of the result of the monitoring in step S221.
[0267] In step S223, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether the degree of
risk calculated in step S222 has increased to a predetermined value or more.
[0268] In a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines that the degree of
risk calculated in step S222 has not increased to the predetermined value in step S223,
the processing in step S221 is performed again, and periodical monitoring is repeatedly
performed.
[0269] On the other hand, in a case where the automatic driving controller 154 determines
that the degree of risk calculated in step S222 has increased to the predetermined value
in step S223, the processing in step S224 is subsequently performed.
[0270] In step S224, the automatic driving controller 154 determines whether it is necessary
to make an emergency stop or not. In this case, the automatic driving controller 154
immediately proceeds to the sequence S232 for stopping the vehicle when it would be
too late if the awakening determination and the like of the driver is performed. In a
situation where it is not necessary to immediately stop the vehicle, a judgement may be
made by the driver in the manual driving.
[0271] In a case where the automatic driving controller 154 does not determine that it is
necessary to make an emergency stop in step S224, the processing in step S225 is sub
sequently performed. In step S225, the driver status determination unit 153 performs
processing for confirming the awakened state of the driver (for example, like the
manual driving performance determination processing of Fig. 18, processing for
tracking the line of sight for the dummy target).
[0272] In step S226, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the driver
has normal driving ability or not as a result of the awakened state of the driver
confirmed in step S225. In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines whether the driver does not have normal driving ability in step S226, the
processing in step S227 is subsequently performed.
[0273] In step S227, the automatic driving controller 154 performs processing for awake the
driver (for example, the driver awakening processing of Fig. 19). At this occasion, the
automatic driving controller 154 makes a setting for taking a measure against abnormal
operation to prevent an accident that is caused by an operation that is performed by the
driver in a hurry while the driver is insufficiently understanding the situation (for
example, making a sharp turn or a harsh braking immediately after the driver wakes
up).
[0274] In step S228, the driver status determination unit 153 performs the processing for
confirming the awakened state of the driver like step S225.
[0275] In step S229, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether the driving
ability of the driver has recovered or not as a result of the confirmation of the
awakened state of the driver in step S228. In a case where the driver status deter
mination unit 153 determines that the driving ability of the driver has recovered in step
S229, the processing in step S230 is subsequently performed. In a case where the
driver is determined to have normal driving ability in step S226, the processing in step
S230 is subsequently performed.
[0276] In step S230, the automatic driving controller 154 terminates the automatic driving,
and proceeds to the normal manual priority driving.
[0277] In step S231, the automatic driving controller 154 confirms that the awakened state
of the driver has been ensured, and thereafter, the automatic driving controller 154
cancels the measures for the abnormal operation that is set in step S227, and terminates
the emergency evacuation transition processing.
[0278] On the other hand, in a case where it is determined that it is necessary to make an
emergency stop in step S224, or, in a case where the driving ability of the driver is de
termined not to have been recovered in step S229, the processing in step S232 is sub
sequently performed.
[0279] In step S232, as the processing for starting transition to the evacuation lane, for
example, the automatic driving controller 154 flashes the direction indicator lamps in
the direction of the evacuation lane, and performs flashing of the hazard flasher to
notify vehicles driving behind that the automatic evacuation processing is being
executed.
[0280] In step S233, the automatic driving controller 154 performs processing to proceed to
the evacuation lane at the shoulder of the road. In a road situation in which the vehicle
may not proceed to the evacuation lane, the automatic driving controller 154 de
celerates and thereafter stops the vehicle. After the processing in step S233, the
emergency evacuation transition processing is terminated.
[0281] Hereinafter, the active monitoring performed by the driver status determination unit
153 to monitor the response characteristics evaluation of the driver in the processing
for confirming the awakened state of the driver in steps S225 and S228 of Fig. 20 will
be hereinafter explained with reference to Figs. 21A and 21B.
[0282] Fig. 21A illustrates an operation delay in the normal state of the driver. Fig. 21B i l
lustrates an operation delay caused by the decrease in the level of awakening of the
driver.
[0283] For example, while the vehicle drives in a section in which driving operation such as
turning the steering is frequently necessary, the awakening determination of the driver
can be done in a passive manner by checking the stability of the correction of steering
when the driver correctly turns the steering along the curve of the road. In contrast, in a
case where the driver does not need to intervene because of continuous cruising on a
straight and flat road, it is necessary to give certain input corresponding to a response
request from the vehicle system side to the driver in order to determine the awakened
state of the driver.
[0284] Therefore, the automatic driving control system 101 gives an awakening vibration
and a warning sound to the driver and measures response characteristics of the driver,
so that there occurs a delay and a loss of reaction response of the driver in response to
an active input from the system when the consciousness level is lower as shown in Fig.
2IB in contrast to the delay that occurs in the awakened state as shown in Fig. 2 1A.
[0285] As described above, the automatic driving control system 101 monitors the response
characteristics evaluation of the driver according to the active method, and measures
the response delay at that occasion, the braking of the vehicle can be strengthened in
accordance with the measurement value. More specifically, in the automatic driving
control system 101, it is necessary to perform assistance intervention to braking of the
vehicle in a case where there occurs a delay in the response characteristics as a result
of the measurement and the monitoring of the response characteristics of the driver as
shown in Figs. 21A and 21B.
[0286] Fig. 22 is a flowchart for explaining brake assistance intervention processing for
performing giving assistance intervention to braking of the vehicle.
[0287] In step S241, the driver status determination unit 153 monitors the driver status on
the basis of the monitor result provided from the driver monitor device 127 and the
analysis result provided from the driving behavior analysis unit 152. The automatic
driving controller 154 monitors the ambient environment on the basis of the inputs of
various kinds of sensors.
[0288] In step S242, the driver status determination unit 153 measures the response char ac
teristics of the driver. More specifically, the driver status determination unit 153 causes
inputs of an awakening vibration and a warning sound explained with reference to
Figs. 21A and 21B, and the driving behavior analysis unit 152 measures and monitors
the response characteristics, the operation stability, and the like detected by the ac
celeration operation detection unit 124, the brake operation detection unit 125, and the
steering operation detection unit 126.
[0289] In step S243, the driver status determination unit 153 determines whether there
occurs a delay in the response characteristics or not as compared with a necessary time
in the normal preferable awakened state as shown in Fig. 2 1A.
[0290] In a case where the driver status determination unit 153 determines that there does
not occur any delay in the response characteristics in step S243, the driver is in a
preferable awakened state, and the processing in step S241 is performed again, and
thereafter, the same processing is repeated.
[0291] On the other hand, in a case where the driver status determination unit 153 de
termines that there occurs a delay in the response characteristics in step S243, the
processing in step S244 is subsequently performed. In this case, the driver is not in a
preferable awakened state, and therefore, in step S244, the driver status determination
unit 153 performs the assistance intervention of braking in order to compensate for the
reaction delay of the driver, and, for example, the driver status determination unit 153
performs adjustment of brake control parameters of the brake activation device 129
necessary to reduce the braking time in response to the brake operation.
[0292] As described above, the automatic driving control system 101 can perform the a s
sistance intervention of braking in a case where there occurs a delay as compared with
the statistical value obtained from learning of the driver- specific characteristics of the
operation in the normal preferable awakened state from the transition of the awakened
state of the driver.
[0293] Subsequently, the processing for predicting a predicted time at which switching to
the manual driving occurs will be explained with reference to Fig. 23.
[0294] As shown in Fig. 23, there is an automatic driving-only lane from the departure
location to the destination location, and arrival prediction probability for predicting the
time at which the vehicle arrives at the end position (for example, before the location
R7 and the location R13 of Fig. 3) will be explained.
[0295] For example, in order to allow the vehicle to smoothly enter into the manual driving
section from the autonomous automatic driving-only lane, the driver needs to be
awakened until the driver can sufficiently and correctly recognize the ambient
situation. In order to do this, a location where the vehicle drives a certain period of
time before the vehicle arrives at the end point of the section is predicted, and it is
necessary to determine the awakening recovery state of the driver until the vehicle
arrives at that location, and as necessary, it is necessary to awake the driver.
[0296] For example, if there occurs a possibility of delay in recognizing the ambient
situation due to the awakened state and execution of another work, the automatic
driving controller 154 needs to take measures such as automatic evacuation operation
and deceleration. More specifically, transition to the manual driving lane while the
recovery preparation of the driver of the autonomous automatic driving vehicle is not
ready at a predicted time at which the automatic driving-only lane section is predicted
to come to the end may result in a very dangerous situation because the manual driving
road ahead may not necessarily have an environment suitable for the autonomous
driving.
[0297] Therefore, it is necessary to correctly and previously find the end position of the
automatic driving-only lane section or the time at which the vehicle arrives at the
transition plan location to the manual lane, and it is necessary to have a preparation
time period for causing the driver to proceed to the manual driving. More specifically,
it is necessary to start the manual driving transition preparation sequence a certain
period of time At before the vehicle arrives at the location R7 (Fig. 3) where the
vehicle proceeds from the end position of the automatic driving-only lane section to
the manual driving section or the period of time At before the vehicle enters into the
location R13 (Fig. 3) where the vehicle proceeds from the autonomous automatic
driving lane to the manual lane.
[0298] At the driving location where the vehicle drives the period of time before the end
position of the automatic driving-only lane section, the point of the transition
preparation sequence can be designated with a sign on the road and a road sign and
further the fixed passing point with DSRC and the like as a road infrastructure
(infrastructure). In a case of such a fixed constant point coordinate, the vehicle may
pass that section of the road at a speed as high as the driving-permitted maximum
speed V x, and the vehicle may arrive at the location R7 at a time t later, and
therefore, this is a location before the transition location by a travel distance (V x *
At).
[0299] For example, when the period of time is defined as five minutes, and the speed 80
Km/h is the maximum speed allowed for the automatic driving, the location 6.7 Km
before the actual end of the dedicated lane termination is the manual driving transition
preparation location. However, depending on the degree of congestion of the road, the
actual driving speed is, for example, 20 km/h which is one fourth of the maximum
speed, and it takes a time four times longer, and in a case where a notification is
received 6.7 Km before, the manual driving transition preparation is started 20 minutes
before in reality because it takes a time four times longer.
[0300] In addition, the driving speed on the road changes dynamically due to traffic jam and
the like, and therefore, even if the previous awakening destination location is set, it
may change greatly from the actual time. In such case, when the actual timing
necessary for recovery of the driver is too much delayed, the driver may be feel
relieved by the situation, and the level of awakening may decrease, which results in the
opposite effect, and therefore, it is preferable to proceed to the manual driving
preparation sequence at a previous time that is somewhat accurate. On a route and the
like where there is typically traffic jam, it may be unpleasant for the driver, and
therefore, it may be preferable to perform the manual driving preparation transition
sequence a certain time At before, regardless of the entire flow of the road.
[0301] Further, in the autonomous automatic driving lane, there may be an exit at an un
specified location, and many such locations R13 (Fig. 3) for proceeding to the manual
lane may be provided frequently in a single continuous autonomous automatic drivingonly
lane. Therefore, it may not be said to be a very desirable configuration to arrange
exit markers for all of them and apply the manual driving preparation transition
sequence not only from the view point of the infrastructure maintenance but also from
the view point of the installation and long-term maintenance. Therefore, the vehicle
preferably includes the manual driving preparation transition sequence with au
tonomous determination even if external information is obtained by some other means.
By doing so, a marker or a sign for each exit on the way is not necessary, and it is
sufficient to provide a single driving preparation transition sequence start marker sign
at a single location of the ultimate end position of the single continuous autonomous
automatic driving-only lane section, and this greatly reduces the burden as the infras
tructure maintenance, so that the barrier for the introduction is reduced. Then, it is
preferable for each vehicle to perform the destination location arrival prediction in the
driving environment and the driving of the vehicle in an autonomous manner
depending on the purposes, and start autonomously the manual driving preparation
transition sequence from the autonomous automatic driving at an appropriate point
without depending on the infrastructure installation marker.
[0302] For example, in the commuting route and the like, a particular location which is a
daily used road environment is recorded and saved, and a previous preparation point of
the manual driving is defined in advance without fail, so that even if the drive tem
porarily becomes sleepy and the environment recognition is interrupted, awakening is
started in the same familiar environment by fixing a certain location designated and set
by the driver in advance, and it is expected to smoothly perform the recognition of the
situation again. In a case where the driver makes a custom setting in advance, the
driver may try to set the installation of a location as close as possible to the manual
driving transition location because the driver has a mentality of wishing to take an easy
course, which is dangerous. Therefore, the setting of the start location of the manual
driving preparation transition sequence is preferably limited to, for example, at least
one kilometer before the manual driving transition location in terms of safe operation.
[0303] In recent years, a service is provided to occasionally collect traffic data of roads from
a navigation system such as a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and many
driving vehicles, centrally obtain road information, and provide the road information to
the subscribed vehicles from the server. Therefore, it may be possible to obtain a
portion that can be calculated on the basis of the information held by the vehicle itself
and broad information obtained by centrally managing the central road information.
[0304] In a use case in which the manual driving preparation transition sequence location is
determined in advance, a determination is made as to whether the vehicle approaches
the manual driving preparation transition sequence location from the currently driving
location of the vehicle by referring to the drive history and the reference map in
formation, and it may be possible to start the sequence at the driving point determined
to pass.
[0305] On the other hand, the destination location arrival time predicted at the start of
driving changes due to various factors such as the congestion situation of the road
depending on the time zone and the day in the week, various weather situations on the
route, an occurrence of an accident and driving affection factors, maintenance situation
of the road, and the like, and the distribution of the arrival prediction probability
obtained at an early stage is expanded. When approaching closer to the arrival point,
the change factors also decrease, and therefore, more accurate prediction can be
obtained. What is necessary for the system for appropriate operation is to start the
manual driving transition preparation sequence a certain period of time t before, and
in such case, the vehicle may drive at the maximum permitted speed if there is no
driving blocking factors at all in a case where there is no information necessary at all
for change factor prediction, and therefore, at the fastest speed, the vehicle arrives at
the end position of the automatic driving-only lane after the vehicle drives in the
section of S = V x * At.
[0306] More specifically, if the latest arrival prediction probability distribution can be
obtained at the location with AS, the more appropriate arrival time of the end position
of the automatic driving-only lane changes, and where the updated arrival prediction
time obtained again is defined as t (renew arrival estimation), it is possible to suf
ficiently ensure a time for proceeding with the manual driving transition procedure for
the driver to such a degree that a large problem does not occur even though a change
factor remains if the manual driving transition preparation sequence is started at a point
in time that is a certain period of time At before the arrival prediction time and further
2s before that.
[0307] When the increase in the predicted driving speed is detected because, e.g., the traffic
jam is solved after passing AS, the arrival time becomes earlier, and therefore, the
manual driving transition preparation sequence is started earlier by a time for com
pensating the increase in the speed. By start at the earlier time, a measure for avoiding
the delay in the transition preparation sequence can be performed even if the vehicle
arrives earlier than the predicted arrival time.
[0308] The series of processing explained above (information processing method) may be
executed by hardware or may be executed by software. When the series of processing
is executed by the software, a program constituting the software is installed from a
program recording medium having the program recorded thereon is installed to a
computer incorporated into dedicated hardware and, for example, a general-purpose
personal computer capable of executing various kinds of functions by installing
various kinds of programs.
[0309] Fig. 24 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of hardware of a
computer executing the series of processing with the program, and/or configured to
implement one or a combination of the units described above with respect to FIGS. 1
and 9.
[03 10] In this computer, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 202, a ROM (Read Only
Memory) 203, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 204, and an EEPROM
(Electronically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 205 are connected
with each other by a bus 206. The bus 206 is further connected with an input/output
interface 207, and connected to the outside via the input/output interface 207.
[031 1] In the computer configured as described above, the CPU 202 performs the above
series of processing by executing the program stored in the ROM 103 and the
EEPROM 205 by loading the program to the RAM 203 via the bus 206.
[0312] For example, the program executed by the computer (CPU 202) may be provided by
using a package medium constituted by a magnetic disk (including a flexible disk), an
optical disk (a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital
Versatile Disc), and the like), a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, and
the like from the outside connected via the input/output interface 207, or provided via
wired or wireless transmission media such as a local area network, the Internet, and a
digital satellite broadcasting.
[0313] It should be noted that the present technique may be configured as follows.
(1) A method for switching modes for operating a vehicle, the method including:
determining, by circuitry of an information processing apparatus, whether a mode for
operating the vehicle is to be switched from one of autonomous and manual driving
modes to the other of the autonomous and manual driving modes;
obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is
determined to be switched; and
switching, by the circuitry, the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual driving
modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
(2) The method of feature (1), further including:
determining an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of
the driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to
the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be greater than
or equal to a predetermined level.
(3) The method of feature (2), further including:
providing a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when the ability of
the driver is determined to be less than the predetermined level; and
determining the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle after the warning is provided
to the driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to
the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver after the warning is provided is
determined to be greater than or equal to the predetermined level.
(4) The method of feature (3), further including:
causing the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle is determined
to be less than the predetermined level.
(5) The method of any one of features (1) to (4), further including:
notifying the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be terminated when the
mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode.
(6) The method of any one of features (1) to (5), in which the step of determining
includes:
determining the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a distance to an end of an
automatic driving-only lane.
(7) The method of any one of features (1) to (6), further including:
determining whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based on the
obtained state of the driver, in which
the step of switching the mode includes switching the mode for operating the vehicle
from the manual driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the autonomous
driving mode can be started.
(8) The method of feature (7), further including:
determining an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of
the driver; and
prohibiting the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the manual driving mode
to the autonomous driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be less
than a predetermined level.
(9) The method of any one of features (1) to (8), further including:
monitoring the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the mode for
operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
(10) The method of any one of features (1) to (9), further including:
causing a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver; and
monitoring a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of content, in which
the step of obtaining includes obtaining the state of the driver based on the monitored
reaction of the driver.
(11) A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when
executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for switching modes
for operating a vehicle, the method including:
determining whether a mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from one of au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous and manual
driving modes;
obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is
determined to be switched; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the autonomous and
manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual driving modes based on
the obtained state of the driver.
(12) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of feature (11), further including:
determining an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of the
driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to the
manual driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be greater than or
equal to a predetermined level.
(13) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of feature (12), further including:
providing a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when the ability of
the driver is determined to be less than the predetermined level; and
determining the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle after the warning is provided
to the driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to the
manual driving mode when the ability of the driver after the warning is provided is de
termined to be greater than or equal to the predetermined level.
(14) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of feature (13), further including:
causing the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle is de
termined to be less than the predetermined level.
(15) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of features (11) to (14),
further including:
notifying the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be terminated when the
mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode.
(16) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of features (11) to (15),
in which the step of determining includes:
determining the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a distance to an end of an
automatic driving-only lane.
(17) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of features (11) to (16),
further comprising:
determining whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based on the
obtained state of the driver, in which
the step of switching the mode includes switching the mode for operating the vehicle
from the manual driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the autonomous
driving mode can be started.
(18) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of feature (17), further including:
determining an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of
the driver; and
prohibiting the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the manual driving mode
to the autonomous driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be less
than a predetermined level.
(19) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of features (11) to (18),
further including:
monitoring the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the mode for
operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
(20) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of features (11) to (19),
further including:
causing a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver; and
monitoring a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of content, in which
the step of obtaining includes obtaining the state of the driver based on the monitored
reaction of the driver.
(21) An information processing apparatus, including:
circuitry configured to
determine whether a mode for operating a vehicle is to be switched from one of au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous and manual
driving modes;
obtain a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the vehicle is de
termined to be switched; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the autonomous and manual
driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual driving modes based on the
obtained state of the driver.
(22) The information processing apparatus of feature (21), in which the circuitry is
configured to
determine an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of the
driver; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to the
manual driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be greater than or
equal to a predetermined level.
(23) The information processing apparatus of feature (22), in which the circuitry is
configured to
provide a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when the ability of the
driver is determined to be less than the predetermined level;
determine the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle after the warning is provided to
the driver; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving mode to the
manual driving mode when the ability of the driver after the warning is provided is de
termined to be greater than or equal to the predetermined level.
(24) The information processing apparatus of feature (23), in which the circuitry is
configured to
cause the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle is de
termined to be less than the predetermined level.
(25) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (21) to (24), in which
the circuitry is configured to
notify the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be terminated when the mode
for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched from the autonomous driving
mode to the manual driving mode.
(26) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (21) to (25), in which
the circuitry is configured to
determine the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a distance to an end of an
automatic driving-only lane.
(27) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (21) to (26), in which
the circuitry is configured to
determine whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based on the obtained
state of the driver, and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the manual driving mode to the au
tonomous driving mode when the autonomous driving mode can be started.
(28) The information processing apparatus of feature (27), in which the circuitry is
configured to
determine an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained state of the
driver; and
prohibit the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the manual driving mode to
the autonomous driving mode when the ability of the driver is determined to be less
than a predetermined level.
(29) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (21) to (28), in which
the circuitry is configured to
monitor the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the mode for
operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
(30) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (21) to (29), in which
the circuitry is configured to
cause a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver;
monitor a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of content; and
obtain the state of the driver based on the monitored reaction of the driver.
(31) An information processing apparatus, including:
means for determining whether a mode for operating a vehicle is to be switched from
one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous and
manual driving modes;
means for obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the
vehicle is determined to be switched; and
means for switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous manual driving
modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
(32) The information processing apparatus of feature (31), further including:
means for determining an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the obtained
state of the driver, in which
the means for switching switches the mode for operating the vehicle from the au
tonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver is
determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined level.
(33) The information processing apparatus of feature (32), further including:
means for providing a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when the
ability of the driver is determined to be less than the predetermined level, in which
the means for determining the ability of the driver determines the ability of the driver
to drive the vehicle after the warning is provided to the driver, and
the means for switching switches the mode for operating the vehicle from the au
tonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver after
the warning is provided is determined to be greater than or equal to the predetermined
level.
(34) The information processing apparatus of feature (33), further including:
means for causing the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle
is determined to be less than the predetermined level.
(35) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (31) to (34), further
including:
means for notifying the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be terminated
when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched from the au
tonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.
(36) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (31) to (35), in which
the means for determining whether the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched
determines the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a distance to an end of an
automatic driving-only lane.
(37) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (31) to (36), further
including:
means for determining whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based on
the obtained state of the driver, in which
the means for switching switches the mode for operating the vehicle from the manual
driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the autonomous driving mode can
be started.
(38) The information processing apparatus of feature (37), further including:
means for determining an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the
obtained state of the driver; and
means for prohibiting the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the manual
driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the ability of the driver is de
termined to be less than a predetermined level.
(39) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (31) to (38), further
including:
means for monitoring the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the
mode for operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
(40) The information processing apparatus of any one of features (31) to (39), further
including:
means for causing a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver; and
means for monitoring a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of content,
in which
the means for obtaining obtains the state of the driver based on the monitored reaction
of the driver.
It should be noted that the present technique may be configured as follows.
(1) An automatic driving control device including:
a driving execution unit configured to execute automatic driving cruising of a
vehicle; and
a recovery determination unit configured to determine whether a driver has driving
ability capable of recovering to manual driving from automatic driving,
wherein the automatic driving cruising is prohibited in a case where the recovery de
termination unit determines that the driver does not have the driving ability before the
driving execution unit starts the automatic driving cruising of the vehicle.
(2) The automatic driving control device according to (1), wherein even when the
driver's driving ability decreases, the recovery determination unit permits the driving
execution unit to perform the automatic driving cruising in an emergency evacuation
coping mode.
(3) The automatic driving control device according to (2), wherein the recovery determination
unit includes a recording unit configured to record and save, in a non
erasable manner, that the automatic driving cruising is permitted to be performed in the
emergency evacuation coping mode when the driving execution unit permits the
automatic driving cruising in the emergency evacuation coping mode.
(4) The automatic driving control device according to any one of (1) through (3),
wherein the recovery determination unit includes:
a monitor unit configured to monitor the driver's driving ability by using one or more
of schemes including a face recognition of the driver, a head part posture recognition, a
vision line direction recognition, and statistical determination processing of a head part
posture or a vision line direction time lapse stability; and
a determination processing unit configured to determine manual driving performance
after a particular time on the basis of a monitor result of the monitor unit.
(5) An automatic driving control method for an automatic driving control device
including a driving execution unit configured to execute automatic driving cruising of
a vehicle and a recovery determination unit configured to determine whether a driver
has driving ability capable of recovering to manual driving from automatic driving,
wherein the automatic driving control method includes prohibiting the automatic
driving cruising in a case where the recovery determination unit determines that the
driver does not have the driving ability before the driving execution unit starts the
automatic driving cruising of the vehicle.
(6) A program causing a computer, the computer being included in an automatic
driving control device including a driving execution unit configured to execute
automatic driving cruising of a vehicle and a recovery determination unit configured to
determine whether a driver has driving ability capable of recovering to manual driving
from automatic driving, to execute:
prohibiting the automatic driving cruising in a case where the recovery determination
unit determines that the driver does not have the driving ability before the driving
execution unit starts the automatic driving cruising of the vehicle.
[0315] The present embodiment is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be changed
in various manners without deviating from the gist of the present disclosure.
Reference Signs List
[0316] 11 Automatic driving control device
12 Recovery determination unit
13 Driving execution unit
2 1 Monitor unit
22 Output unit
23 Road information obtaining unit
Input unit
Recording unit
Determination processing unit
Environment recognition unit
Driving processing unit
Steering wheel control unit
Speed control unit
Hazard flasher control unit
Camera

Claims
[Claim 1] A method for switching modes for operating a vehicle, the method
comprising:
determining, by circuitry of an information processing apparatus,
whether a mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from one of
autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous
and manual driving modes;
obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating
the vehicle is determined to be switched; and
switching, by the circuitry, the mode for operating the vehicle from the
one of the autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the
autonomous manual driving modes based on the obtained state of the
driver.
[Claim 2] The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the
obtained state of the driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver
is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined level.
[Claim 3] The method of claim 2, further comprising:
providing a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when
the ability of the driver is determined to be less than the predetermined
level; and
determining the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle after the
warning is provided to the driver; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous
driving mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver
after the warning is provided is determined to be greater than or equal
to the predetermined level.
[Claim 4] The method of claim 3, further comprising:
causing the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the
vehicle is determined to be less than the predetermined level.
[Claim 5] The method of claim 1, further comprising:
notifying the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be
terminated when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be
switched from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving
mode.
PCT7JP2015/006042
The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining comprises:
determining the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from
the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a
distance to an end of an automatic driving-only lane.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based
on the obtained state of the driver, wherein
the step of switching the mode includes switching the mode for
operating the vehicle from the manual driving mode to the autonomous
driving mode when the autonomous driving mode can be started.
The method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the
obtained state of the driver; and
prohibiting the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the
manual driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the ability
of the driver is determined to be less than a predetermined level.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:
monitoring the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the
mode for operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:
causing a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver; and
monitoring a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of
content, wherein
the step of obtaining includes obtaining the state of the driver based on
the monitored reaction of the driver.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which,
when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a
method for switching modes for operating a vehicle, the method
comprising:
determining whether a mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched
from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the
autonomous and manual driving modes;
obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating
the vehicle is determined to be switched; and
switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous
manual driving modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
An information processing apparatus, comprising:
WO 2016/092796 PCT/JP2015/006042
circuitry configured to
determine whether a mode for operating a vehicle is to be switched
from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the
autonomous and manual driving modes;
obtain a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for operating the
vehicle is determined to be switched; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of the au
tonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the autonomous
manual driving modes based on the obtained state of the driver.
[Claim 13] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
determine an ability of a driver to drive the vehicle based on the
obtained state of the driver; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving
mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver is de
termined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined level.
[Claim 14] The information processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
provide a warning to the driver to change the state of the driver when
the ability of the driver is determined to be less than the predetermined
level;
determine the ability of the driver to drive the vehicle after the warning
is provided to the driver; and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the autonomous driving
mode to the manual driving mode when the ability of the driver after
the warning is provided is determined to be greater than or equal to the
predetermined level.
[Claim 15] The information processing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
cause the vehicle to stop when the ability of the driver to drive the
vehicle is determined to be less than the predetermined level.
[Claim 16] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
notify the driver that the autonomous driving mode is to be terminated
when the mode for operating the vehicle is determined to be switched
from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.
[Claim 17] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
WO 2016/092796 PCT/JP2015/006042
determine the mode for operating the vehicle is to be switched from the
autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode based on a
distance to an end of an automatic driving-only lane.
[Claim 18] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
determine whether the autonomous driving mode can be started based
on the obtained state of the driver, and
switch the mode for operating the vehicle from the manual driving
mode to the autonomous driving mode when the autonomous driving
mode can be started.
[Claim 19] The information processing apparatus of claim 18, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
determine an ability of the driver to drive the vehicle based on the
obtained state of the driver; and
prohibit the mode for operating the vehicle to switch from the manual
driving mode to the autonomous driving mode when the ability of the
driver is determined to be less than a predetermined level.
[Claim 20] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
monitor the state of the driver and an ambient environment while the
mode for operating to vehicle is in the autonomous driving mode.
[Claim 21] The information processing apparatus of claim 12, wherein the circuitry
is configured to
cause a plurality of content to be displayed to the driver;
monitor a reaction of the driver to the display of the plurality of
content; and
obtain the state of the driver based on the monitored reaction of the
driver.
[Claim 22] An information processing apparatus, comprising:
means for determining whether a mode for operating a vehicle is to be
switched from one of autonomous and manual driving modes to the
other of the autonomous and manual driving modes;
means for obtaining a state of a driver of the vehicle when the mode for
operating the vehicle is determined to be switched; and
means for switching the mode for operating the vehicle from the one of
the autonomous and manual driving modes to the other of the au
tonomous manual driving modes based on the obtained state of the
driver.