Patent ID: 11945444
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F  G | IPC B  F  G

Claim 0:
1. A vehicle movement control method of executing an automatic movement control to cause a vehicle to move from a current position to a destination along a target movement route without a driving operation for driving the vehicle by a driver of the vehicle,
wherein the vehicle movement control method comprises steps of:
(i) memorizing a relationship between control amounts input into vehicle actuators and vehicle behavior characteristics derived from inputting the control amounts into the vehicle actuators, respectively as vehicle behavior characteristic data,
the vehicle behavior characteristics including a turning characteristic, a acceleration characteristic, and a deceleration characteristic of the vehicle detected by at least one sensor,
the control amounts being input to the vehicle actuators to activate the vehicle actuators, respectively, and
the vehicle actuators including a turning actuator for turning the vehicle, an acceleration actuator for accelerating the vehicle, and a deceleration actuator for decelerating the vehicle;

(ii) setting an optimal movement route as the target movement route when an update condition is not satisfied, the optimal movement route being determined such that the vehicle is caused to move with reducing (a) a distance of movement of the vehicle from the current position to the destination and (b) time taken for the vehicle to move from the current position to the destination;
(iii) setting an update movement route as the target movement route when the update condition is satisfied,
the update condition includes a condition that an execution of the automatic movement control is requested and a condition that there is no occupant in the vehicle,
the update movement route being determined such that the vehicle is caused to move with turning, acceleration, and deceleration necessary to update the vehicle behavior characteristic data so as to represent actual vehicle behavior characteristics, wherein the update movement route includes (a) the turning of the vehicle at a predetermined yaw rate for a predetermined time, (b) the acceleration or the deceleration of the vehicle with a predetermined longitudinal acceleration Gx for a predetermined time, and (c) the turning of the vehicle with a predetermined lateral acceleration Gy for a predetermined time, and
the update movement route is a different route from the current position to the destination than the optimal movement route;

(iv) executing the automatic movement control to (a) determine the control amounts to be input into the vehicle actuators as automatic control amounts so as to cause the vehicle to move along the target movement route, based on the vehicle behavior characteristic data and (b) input the determined automatic control amounts into the vehicle actuators, respectively when the execution of the automatic movement control is requested, wherein the determined automatic control amounts input into at least one of the vehicle actuators when the update movement route is set as the target movement route are greater than the control amounts input into the at least one of the vehicle actuators when the optimal movement route is set as the target movement route so that the vehicle behavior characteristic data is updated to represent the actual vehicle behavior characteristics;
(v) acquiring the turning characteristic, the acceleration characteristic, and the deceleration characteristic of the vehicle from the at least one sensor while executing the automatic movement control to cause the vehicle to move along the update movement route; and
(vi) updating the vehicle behavior characteristic data so as to represent the actual vehicle behavior characteristics, based on the acquired turning characteristics, the acquired acceleration characteristic, and the acquired deceleration characteristic.