SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPENING BOARDING DOOR

The present disclosure provides a method of opening a boarding door of a vehicle that provides use of a trunk room to a passenger reserving the trunk room. The method comprises keeping the boarding door closed until both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied and opening the boarding door or enabling the boarding door to be opened in response to both the first condition and the second condition being satisfied. Here, the first condition is that the passenger is in the vicinity of the boarding door. The second condition is that the trunk door is closed or that a reservation of the trunk room is cancelled.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-114998, filed Jul. 12, 2021, the contents of which application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Field

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for opening a boarding door of a vehicle that provides use of a trunk room to a passenger, and a program for causing a computer to control the opening of the boarding door of the vehicle.

Background Art

JP2019-020985A discloses a prior art related to control of an unattended taxi. According to this prior art, a boarding door is unlocked upon detection of a passenger's approach, and a trunk door is unlocked if the passenger has reserved the use of a trunk room. Then, all the doors are locked when the passenger gets in the taxi.

As prior art documents representing the technical level of the technical field to which the present disclosure belongs, in addition to JP2019-020985A, JP2020-111896A can be exemplified.

SUMMARY

However, in the above-described prior art, while the passenger is loading a baggage into the trunk room, another person may get in the vehicle from the unlocked boarding door. Furthermore, in the case of a vehicle whose boarding door opens automatically when being unlocked like a Japanese taxi, there is also a possibility of problems such as the passenger room gets wet in rainy weather and the air conditioner efficiency becomes poor due to unnecessary contact with outside air. In addition, if the boarding door automatically opens when the passenger stands in front of the boarding door, the passenger may unintentionally get into the vehicle. This causes a trouble that the passenger fails to put his or her baggage into the vehicle. Furthermore, it is expected that the passenger will be confused about how to use the trunk room due to the automatic opening of the boarding door, which will delay the departure of the vehicle.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above-described problems. An object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique capable of reducing the occurrence of trouble when a passenger loads a baggage into a trunk room and gets into a vehicle.

The present disclosure provides a system for opening a boarding door. The system of the present disclosure is a system applied to a vehicle that provides use of a trunk room to a passenger reserving the trunk room. The system of the present disclosure comprises at least one memory storing at least one program and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one program is configured to cause the at least one processor to: keep the boarding door closed until both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied; and open the boarding door or enable the boarding door to be opened in response to both the first condition and the second condition being satisfied. The first condition is that the passenger is in the vicinity of the boarding door. The second condition is that a trunk door is closed or that a reservation of the trunk room is cancelled.

According to the system of the present disclosure having the above-described configuration, the boarding door is not opened unless both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied. Therefore, the boarding door is prevented from opening or being openable before or while the passenger uses the trunk room.

In the system of the present disclosure, the at least one program may be configured to cause the at least one processor to confirm an intention of the passenger to cancel the reservation of the trunk room if the passenger is not detected in the vicinity of the trunk door after the vehicle arrives at the passenger. This makes it possible to urge the passenger who no longer needs to use the trunk room to cancel the reservation of the trunk room. If the reservation of the trunk room is cancelled, the boarding door will open if the passenger stands in the vicinity of the boarding door, allowing the passenger to get into the vehicle.

In the system of the present disclosure, the at least one program may be configured to cause the at least one processor to guide the passenger to the trunk door by voice or display if the passenger is not detected in the vicinity of the trunk door after the vehicle arrives at the passenger. Thus, the passenger who does not know the location of the trunk door can be guided thereto.

In the system of the present disclosure, the at least one program may be configured to cause the at least one processor to: automatically open the trunk door upon detecting that an opening/closing switch provided in the vehicle is pressed; and close the trunk door upon detecting that the opening/closing switch is pressed again.

According to the above-described processing, by detecting the operation of the opening/closing switch to open/close the trunk door, it is possible to prevent the trunk door from accidentally opening or closing regardless of the intention of the passenger.

In the system of the present disclosure, the at least one program may be configured to cause the at least one processor to: unlock the trunk door when authentication is performed between the vehicle and the passenger; and lock the trunk door upon closure of the trunk door.

According to the above processing, when the trunk door is closed, the trunk door is automatically locked, so that the safety of the baggage in the trunk room is ensured.

The present disclosure provides a method of opening a boarding door. The method of the present disclosure is a method applied to a vehicle that provides use of a trunk room to a passenger reserving the trunk room. The method of the present disclosure comprises: keeping the boarding door closed until both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied; and opening the boarding door or enabling the boarding door to be opened in response to both the first condition and the second condition being satisfied. The first condition is that the passenger is in the vicinity of the boarding door. The second condition is that the trunk door is closed or that a reservation of the trunk room is cancelled.

According to the method of the present disclosure comprising above-described steps, the boarding door is prevented from opening or being openable before or while the passenger uses the trunk room.

The present disclosure provides a program of opening a boarding door of a vehicle to be executed by a computer. The program of the present disclosure is a program applied to a vehicle that provides use of a trunk room to a passenger reserving the trunk room. The program of the present disclosure is configured to cause a computer to execute processing comprising: keeping the boarding door closed until both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied; and opening the boarding door or enabling the boarding door to be opened in response to both the first condition and the second condition being satisfied. The first condition is that the passenger is in the vicinity of the boarding door. The second condition is that the trunk door is closed or that a reservation of the trunk room is cancelled.

According to the program of the present disclosure configured as described above, the computer can control the opening/closing of the boarding door so that the boarding door is prevented from opening or being openable before or while the passenger uses the trunk room. The program according to the present disclosure may be recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

As described above, according to the technique of the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of trouble when the passenger loads a baggage into the trunk room and gets into the vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereunder, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that when the numerals of numbers, quantities, amounts, ranges and the like of respective elements are mentioned in the embodiment shown as follows, the present disclosure is not limited to the mentioned numerals unless specially explicitly described otherwise, or unless the disclosure is explicitly designated by the numerals theoretically. Furthermore, structures and processes that are described in the embodiments shown as follows are not always indispensable to the disclosure unless specially explicitly shown otherwise, or unless the disclosure is explicitly designated by the structures or the processes theoretically.

1. Method of Opening and Closing Boarding Door

First, a method of opening a boarding door according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. In the present embodiment, the method of opening a boarding door of the present disclosure is applied to a vehicle for MaaS. The vehicle may be a shared vehicle, such as a bus, or a dedicated vehicle, such as a taxi. The vehicle may also be an autonomously traveling vehicle, or a remotely operated vehicle that is remotely driven by a remote driver in a monitoring center. A passenger can use the vehicle by, for example, becoming a member of a mobility service using MaaS vehicles and making a reservation.

FIG.1is a schematic diagram for explaining the method of opening a boarding door according to the present embodiment (hereinafter, referred to as the method according to the present embodiment). The vehicle2to which the method according to the present embodiment is applied is a vehicle in which a trunk door12is provided separately from a boarding door6, and a trunk room10is basically accessible only from the trunk door12. As shown schematically inFIG.1, the boarding door6is a sliding door provided on the side of the vehicle2, and the trunk door12is a flip-up door provided on the rear of the vehicle2.

The method according to the present embodiment is a method of opening the boarding door6when a passenger20having a baggage22gets in the vehicle2. InFIG.1, the operations from the arrival of the vehicle2and the passenger20at the boarding point until the passenger20gets into the vehicle2are represented by three steps.

In step1shown inFIG.1, the vehicle20and the passenger20reserving the vehicle2arrive at the boarding point. An example of the boarding point is a predefined boarding location, such as a bus ride or taxi ride. The boarding point may be a place arbitrarily designated by the passenger20at the time of the reservation or may be a current position of the passenger20.

The passenger20wishes to load the baggage22into the trunk room10. The passenger20who desires to use the trunk room10is requested to reserve the trunk room10at the time of the reservation of the vehicle2. When authentication is made between the vehicle2and the passenger20, it is verified whether the passenger20is a passenger reserving the trunk room10. If the passenger20is a passenger not reserving the trunk room10, the vehicle2opens the boarding door6or enables the boarding door6to be opened upon completion of the authentication of the passenger20. Here, enabling the boarding door6to be opened means making the boarding door6in an unlocked state while keeping a closed state.

If the passenger20is a passenger reserving the trunk room10, the vehicle2does not open the boarding door6, even if the passenger20comes close to the boarding door6. In the case that the boarding door6is an automatic door that is automatically opened and closed by an actuator, not opening the boarding door6means that the actuator is not operated from the state in which the boarding door6is closed. In the case that the boarding door6is a manual door that is manually opened and closed by the passenger20, not opening the boarding door6means that the boarding door6is not unlocked.

In step2shown inFIG.1, the passenger20opens the trunk door12and loads the baggage22into the trunk room10. Opening the trunk door12may be performed by the passenger20himself/herself or may be performed automatically by an actuator. After loading the baggage22into the trunk room10, the passenger20closes the trunk door12. Closing the trunk door12may be performed by the passenger20himself/herself or may be performed automatically by an actuator.

While the passenger20is loading the baggage22into the trunk room10, the vehicle2maintains the boarding door6closed. If the boarding door6is an automatic door, the vehicle2maintains the boarding door6closed by not operating an actuator. If the boarding door6is a manual door, the vehicle2maintains the boarding door6closed by leaving the boarding door6locked.

In step3shown inFIG.1, the boarding door6opens and the passenger20gets in the passenger room4. The vehicle2opens the boarding door6or enables the boarding door6to be opened when the opened trunk door12is closed and the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6. Conversely, even if the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6, if the trunk door12remains open, the vehicle2maintains the boarding door6in a closed state. Further, even if the trunk door12is closed, if the passenger20is not in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the vehicle2maintains the boarding door6in a closed state.

Since the opening and closing of the boarding door6is controlled as described above, when the boarding door6is an automatic door, the boarding door6is prevented from being opened until the passenger20has finished loading the baggage22into the trunk room10and comes close to the boarding door6. Also, when the boarding door6is a manual door, the boarding door6is prevented from being unlocked until the passenger20has finished loading the baggage22into the trunk room10and comes close to the boarding door6. Thus, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of trouble such as another person getting into the vehicle2accidentally while the passenger20is loading the baggage22into the trunk room10.

Incidentally, the passenger20who reserved the trunk room10at the time of the reservation of the vehicle2may reconsider that it is not required to use the trunk room10when the vehicle2arrives. For example, if the baggage22can be carried into the passenger room4, the passenger20may consider that it is needless to use the trunk room10. In such a case, the passenger20is permitted to cancel the reservation of the trunk room10. When the passenger20cancels the reservation of the trunk room10, the vehicle2opens the boarding door6or enables the boarding door6to be opened if the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6.

The method according to the present embodiment as described above has two conditions with respect to the opening of the boarding door6. The first condition is that the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6. The second condition is that the opened trunk door12is closed or the reservation of the trunk room10is cancelled. The method according to the present embodiment includes keeping the boarding door6closed until both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied and opening the boarding door6or enabling the boarding door6to be opened in response to both the first condition and the second condition being satisfied.

2. System for Opening and Closing Boarding Door

The method according to the present embodiment described above is implemented by the system according to the embodiment of the present disclosure (hereinafter, referred to as the system according to the present embodiment). The system according to the present embodiment will be described below.

FIGS.2A and2Bare schematic diagrams showing the configuration of the vehicle2to which the system according to the present embodiment is applied.FIG.2Ais a side view of the vehicle2.FIG.2Bis a plan view of the vehicle2. As shown inFIGS.2A and2B, the vehicle2includes a boarding door front camera34provided on the boarding door6and a trunk door front camera32provided on the trunk door12. Further, the vehicle2includes a trunk door opening/closing switch30provided on the rear of the vehicle2, and a guide device36attached to the boarding door6.

The boarding door front camera34is mounted so that the vicinity of the boarding door6is within a photographing range34athereof. If the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the passenger20is sensed by the boarding door front camera34. The trunk door front camera32is mounted so that the vicinity of the trunk door12is within a photographing range32athereof. If the passenger20is in the vicinity of the trunk door12, the passenger20is sensed by the trunk door front camera32. The photographing range32aof the trunk door front camera32may or may not overlap the photographing range34aof the boarding door front camera34.

The trunk door opening/closing switch30is a switch used for opening and closing the trunk door12. In the following description, it is assumed that the trunk door12is an automatic door that is automatically opened and closed by an actuator. The actuator for opening and closing the trunk door12may be an electric type, or may be a hydraulic type, or may be a vacuum type. When the passenger20pushes the trunk door opening/closing switch30in a state where the trunk door12is closed, the trunk door12is automatically opened by the actuator. When the passenger20pushes the trunk door opening/closing switch30in a state where the trunk door12is open, the trunk door12is automatically closed by the actuator. By opening and closing the trunk door12upon detection of the operation of the trunk door opening/closing switch30, the trunk door12is prevented from being mistakenly opened and from being mistakenly closed regardless of the intention of the passenger20. Incidentally, the trunk door opening/closing switch30may be a button switch that is pressed by a finger of the passenger20, or a foot sensor that reacts to a foot placed by the passenger20.

The guide device36includes a display for providing character guidance to the passenger20, and a speaker for providing voice guidance to the passenger20. The speaker outputs audio information with the same content as the text information displayed on the display. The guide device36outputs text information and audio information for guiding a series of operations until the passenger20loads the baggage22into the trunk room10and gets into the passenger room4. Incidentally, the specific contents of the guide by the guide device36will be described later.

Further, as shown inFIG.2B, the vehicle2includes an authentication unit38and a control unit100. The authentication unit38is used for the authentication of the passenger20. The passenger20reserving the vehicle2receives an encryption key from a server using mobile communication by a mobile terminal24such as a smartphone. When the mobile terminal24which has received the encryption key enters an authentication area38awithin a certain distance from the vehicle2, the passenger20is automatically authenticated by short-range wireless communication with the authentication unit38and becomes able to get in the vehicle2.

The controller100is a core device of the system according to the present embodiment. Here,FIG.3is a block diagram showing the configuration of the system according to the present embodiment. The control unit100receives signals from the boarding door front camera34, the trunk door front camera32, the trunk door opening/closing switch30, and the authentication unit38. From the controller100, signals are output to a boarding door lock device40, a trunk door lock device42, a boarding door opening/closing actuator44, a trunk door opening/closing actuator46, and the guide device36.

The boarding door lock device40is a device for performing unlocking and locking the boarding door6. The trunk door lock device42is a device for performing unlocking and locking the trunk door12. The boarding door opening/closing actuator44is an actuator for automatically opening and closing the boarding door6. In the following description, it is assumed that the boarding door6is an automatic door that is automatically opened and closed by an actuator. The boarding door opening/closing actuator44may be an electric type, may be a hydraulic type, or may be a vacuum type. The trunk door opening/closing actuator46is an actuator for automatically opening and closing the trunk door12.

The controller100is a computer having at least one processor102(hereinafter simply referred to as a processor102) and at least one memory104(hereinafter simply referred to as a memory104) coupled to the processor102. The memory104stores at least one program106(hereinafter simply referred to as a program106) executable by the processor102and various associated data108. The memory104includes a main storage device and an auxiliary storage device. The program106and the data108may be stored in a main storage device or in a computer-readable recording medium that is an auxiliary storage device.

3. Program for Opening and Closing Boarding Door

The program according to the embodiment of the present disclosure (hereinafter, referred to as the program according to the present embodiment) is one of the programs106stored in the memory104. The program according to the present embodiment is executed by the processor102to cause the controller100to function as the system for opening the boarding door. The program according to the present embodiment will be described below.

FIG.4is a flowchart for explaining the program according to the present embodiment. In this flowchart, solid line frames show processes by the controller100as the system according to the present embodiment, broken line frames show operations by the passenger20, and dashed line frames show contents of guidance by the guide device36.

First, the controller100determines completion of the automatic authentication between the passenger20and the vehicle2(step S101). An encryption key is transmitted from the authentication server to the mobile terminal24of the passenger20reserving the vehicle2. When the passenger20enters the authentication area38awith the mobile terminal24, the passenger20is automatically authenticated by the authentication unit38. Upon the completion of the automated authentication, the controller100unlocks the boarding door6and the trunk door12by actuating the boarding door lock device40and the trunk door lock device42, respectively (step S102).

Next, the controller100determines whether the passenger20is a passenger reserving the trunk room10(step S103). Whether the passenger20has reserved the trunk room10may be determined, for example, by querying a server. Further, the encryption key transmitted from the server to the mobile terminal24of the passenger20may be changed depending on the presence or absence of the reservation of the trunk room10to determine whether or not the passenger20has reserved the trunk room10.

If the passenger20has reserved the trunk room10, the controller100determines whether the passenger20is in the vicinity of the trunk door12(step S104). Whether or not the passenger20is in the vicinity of the trunk door12is determined by whether or not the passenger20is caught by the trunk door front camera32. Alternatively, by measuring the distance and direction of the mobile terminal24from the vehicle2using the short-range wireless communication, it may be determined whether the passenger20having the mobile terminal24is in the vicinity of the trunk door12.

If the passenger20is in the vicinity of the trunk door12, the controller100waits for an input of a signal from the trunk door opening/closing switch30. The passenger20wishing to load the baggage22into trunk room10presses the trunk door opening/closing switch30to open the trunk door12(step S105). Upon receiving the input of the signal from the trunk door opening/closing switch30, the controller100opens the trunk door12by actuating the trunk door opening/closing actuator46(step S106).

The passenger20loads baggage22into the trunk room10that has become accessible because the trunk door12has become open (step S107). When loading of the baggage22into the trunk room10is completed, the passenger20presses the trunk door opening/closing switch30again to close the trunk door12(step S108). Upon receiving the input of the signal from the trunk door opening/closing switch30, the controller100closes the trunk door12by actuating the trunk door opening/closing actuator46, further, locks the trunk door12by actuating the trunk door lock device42(step S109). When the trunk door12is closed, the trunk door12is automatically locked, so that the safety of the baggage22in the trunk room10is ensured.

The passenger20, after loading the baggage22, approaches the boarding door6for getting in the vehicle (step S110). The controller100determines that the passenger20has approached the boarding door6when the passenger20is caught by the boarding door front camera34. Alternatively, by measuring the distance and direction of the mobile terminal24from the vehicle2using the short-range wireless communication, it may be determined whether the passenger20having the mobile terminal24has approached the boarding door6.

Upon confirming that the passenger20has approached the boarding door6, the controller100actuates the boarding door opening/closing actuator44to open the boarding door6(step S118). After the completion of the automated authentication, the boarding door6opens for the first time at this time. The passenger20is allowed to get into the passenger room4from the open boarding door6(step S119).

If the passenger20is not in the vicinity of trunk door12even though the passenger20reserves trunk room10, the determination of the step S104is negative. In this case, the controller100performs guidance by the guide device36(step S111). The guide device36displays a message “Trunk room is reserved. Would you like to use it?” on the display and plays sound of the same content as the message through the speaker. At the same time, the control unit100causes the mobile terminal24to display a guide of the same content as the message and display two options of “Yes (Use)” and “Cancel (Board now)”. The controller100may perform displaying the guidance and the options on the mobile terminal24directly by the short-range wireless communication or indirectly by the mobile communication via a server.

The controller100waits for a choice of whether to use the trunk room10by the passenger20(step S112). If it is detected that the passenger20has selected “Yes”, the controller100performs the guidance by the guide device36(step S113). The guide device36displays a message “Go to the rear and press the trunk door opening/closing switch.” on the display and plays sound of the same content as the message through the speaker. At the same time, the control unit100causes the mobile terminal24to display a guide of the same content as the message.

Guided by the guide device36and the mobile terminal24, the passenger20approaches the trunk door12(step S114). The passenger20wishing to load the baggage22into the trunk room10presses the trunk door opening/closing switch30to open the trunk door12(step S105). The subsequent processes by the controller100and the subsequent operations by the passenger20are as described above. Through the step S106, S107, S108, S109, S110, and S118, the passenger20is allowed to get into the passenger room4from the open boarding door6(step S119).

On the other hand, if it is detected in the step S112that the passenger20has selected “Cancel”, the controller100determines that the passenger20is willing to cancel the reservation of the trunk room10. After the cancellation of the reservation, the controller100determines whether the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6(step S115). Whether or not the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6is determined by whether or not the passenger20is caught by the boarding door front camera34. Alternatively, by measuring the distance and direction of the mobile terminal24from the vehicle2using the short-range wireless communication, it may be determined whether the passenger20having the mobile terminal24is in the vicinity of the boarding door6.

If the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the controller100actuates the boarding door opening/closing actuator44to open the boarding door6(step S118). The passenger20is allowed to get into the passenger room4from the open boarding door6(step S119).

If the passenger20is not in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the controller100provides guidance by the guide device36(step S116). The guide device36displays a message “Go to the front of the boarding door.” on the display and plays sound of the same content as the message through the speaker. At the same time, the controller100displays a guide of the same content on the mobile terminal24.

Guided by the guide device36and the mobile terminal24, the passenger20approaches the boarding door6(step S117). Upon confirming that the passenger20has approached the boarding door6, the controller100actuates the boarding door opening/closing actuator44to open the boarding door6(step S118). The passenger20is allowed to get into the passenger room4from the open boarding door6(step S119).

The processes by the controller100and the operations by the passenger20described above are processes and operations when the passenger20has reserved the trunk room10. If the passenger20has not reserved the trunk room10from the beginning, the determination of the step S103is negative. In this case, the controller100determines whether the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6(step S115). If the passenger20is in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the controller100opens the boarding door6(step S118). If the passenger20is not in the vicinity of the boarding door6, the controller100guides the passenger20to the boarding door6by the guide device36and the mobile terminal24(step S116). Then, in response to the passenger20approaching the boarding door6(step S117), the controller100opens the boarding door6(step S118). The passenger20is allowed to get into the passenger room4from the open boarding door6(step S119).

4. Other Embodiments

In the above-described embodiment, the processes of opening the boarding door6are performed by the controller100of the vehicle. Alternatively, the determination relating to the opening of the boarding door6may be performed by the server, and the control of the actuator based on the determination may be performed by the controller100.