Patent Description:
Various automatic driving systems that recognize a position or a running state of a vehicle and an object other than a vehicle based on detection results from various sensors included in the vehicle and control traveling of the vehicle based on the recognition results have been proposed. Japanese Patent Application <CIT> discloses a vehicle controller that executes automatic driving control based on a first control signal indicating a track in which a risk potential for a host vehicle is low. In the vehicle controller disclosed in <CIT>, when it is determined that the first control signal has an abnormality due to an abnormality in sensors, communication functions, or the like, automatic driving is performed based on a second control signal indicating a position and a speed which are relative to an external object. In this way, the reliability of automatic driving is complemented using different control signals.

German Patent Application <CIT> discloses a driving assistance system with a plurality of sensors which include a camera, radar, LIDAR, a laser scanner, GPS, a radio receiver, and an ultrasonic system which are used to acquire redundant information about the vehicle and its environment. The information about the environment includes weather information (rain, snow, fog), and when the acquired sensor information may be unreliable, for example due to heavy snow, such information is determined as not being reliable and not used for the control of the vehicle.

From United States Patent Application <CIT>, a travel lane marking recognition system is known which recognizes a travel lane marking that demarcates the travel lane from an image captured by the on-board camera. The travel lane marking recognition system sets a reliability level of the recognized travel lane marking based on the acquired value of the at least one state acquisition apparatus. When the reliability level is higher than a first predetermined threshold, the travel lane marking recognition system performs driving control of the own vehicle based on the recognized travel lane marking. When the reliability level is lower than the first predetermined threshold, the travel lane marking recognition system performs a deviation warning of deviation from the travel lane based on the recognized travel lane marking.

When an abnormality does not occur in sensors, there is concern that the reliability of the sensors may decrease in a predetermined environment and reliability of vehicle control may also decrease. In <CIT>, a decrease in reliability of vehicle control in such a case cannot be prevented.

The invention provides a vehicle controller, a vehicle control method, and a non-transitory storage medium storing a vehicle control program that can curb a decrease in reliability of vehicle control when an abnormality has not occurred in sensors.

A first aspect of the invention as set forth in claim <NUM> provides a vehicle controller. The vehicle controller includes: an information acquiring unit configured to acquire one or more pieces of information for identifying a traveling state including a position of a vehicle or a condition of an object around the vehicle; an environment detecting unit configured to detect an environment in which the vehicle is located; an operation control unit configured to determine a reliability of the information, based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit and a detection result of the environment detecting unit; and a control instruction generating unit configured to generate a control instruction for controlling an operation of the vehicle, based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit and the reliability of the information, and output the control instruction. The operation control unit is not to use the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low for determining the operation of the vehicle but to use said information for a process different from determining the operation of the vehicle, and verify validity of determination of a decrease in the reliability of the information by comparing a calculation result when the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is not used with a calculation result when the information is used, wherein the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is stored and used as a reference value in processes after the reliability has been recovered.

According to this configuration, it is possible to perform operation control in consideration of the reliability of the information acquired by the information acquiring unit according to the environment and to curb a decrease in reliability of vehicle control. Moreover, it is possible to stop operation control before a decrease in quality of operation control occurs when the reliability of the information is low.

In the first aspect, the operation control unit may be configured to determine the operation of the vehicle based on the information and the reliability.

In the first aspect, the operation control unit may be configured to determine the reliability of the information by using data in which each of a plurality of types of the information are associated with a specific environment in which the reliability is decreased.

In the first aspect, the plurality of types of the information may include camera-imaging data acquired from a camera mounted on the vehicle, and the operation control unit may be configured to determine that a reliability of the camera-imaging data is low when the environment detecting unit detects at least one of a fact that it is night and a fact that the vehicle is traveling in a tunnel.

According to this configuration, it is possible to appropriately determine the reliability of camera-imaging data.

In the first aspect, the plurality of types of the information may include LIDAR-received data acquired from a LIDAR device mounted on the vehicle, and the operation control unit may be configured to determine that a reliability of the LIDAR-received data is low when the environment detecting unit detects that it is raining or it is snowing.

According to this configuration, it is possible to appropriately determine the reliability of LIDAR-received data.

In the first aspect, the plurality of types of the information may include map data stored in the vehicle, and the operation control unit may be configured to determine that a reliability of the map data is low when the environment detecting unit detects that a road on which the vehicle is traveling is under construction.

According to this configuration, it is possible to appropriately determine the reliability of map data.

In the first aspect, the plurality of types of the information may include GPS-received data acquired from a GPS sensor mounted on the vehicle, and the operation control unit may be configured to determine that a reliability of the GPS-received data is low when the environment detecting unit detects that the vehicle is under an influence of solar flare.

According to this configuration, it is possible to appropriately determine the reliability of GPS-received data.

A second aspect of the invention as set forth in claim <NUM> provides a vehicle control method. The vehicle control method includes acquiring one or more pieces of information for identifying a traveling state including a position of a vehicle or a condition of an object around the vehicle; detecting an environment in which the vehicle is located; determining a reliability of the information, based on the information and a detection result regarding the environment; generating a control instruction for controlling an operation of the vehicle based on the information and the reliability; and outputting the control instruction. The method further comprises not using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low for determining the operation of the vehicle but using said information for a process different from determining the operation of the vehicle, and verifying validity of determination of a decrease in the reliability of the information by comparing a calculation result when the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is not used with a calculation result when the information is used, wherein the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is stored and used as a reference value in processes after the reliability has been recovered.

According to this configuration, it is possible to perform operation control in consideration of the reliability of the information acquired by the information acquiring unit according to the environment and to curb a decrease in reliability of vehicle control.

A third aspect of the invention as set forth in claim <NUM> provides a non-transitory storage medium storing a vehicle control program, the vehicle control program causing a computer in a vehicle controller to perform at least: acquiring, by an information acquiring unit, one or more pieces of information for identifying a traveling state including a position of a vehicle or a condition of an object around the vehicle; detecting, by an environment detecting unit, an environment in which the vehicle is located; determining, by an operation control unit, a reliability of the information, based on the information and a detection result regarding the environment; and generating, by a control instruction generating unit, a control instruction for controlling an operation of the vehicle based on the information and the reliability, and outputting the control instruction. The vehicle control program further causes the computer to perform: not using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low for determining the operation of the vehicle but using said information for a process different from determining the operation of the vehicle, and verifying validity of determination of a decrease in the reliability of the information by comparing a calculation result when the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is not used with a calculation result when the information is used, wherein the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is stored and used as a reference value in processes after the reliability has been recovered.

According to this configuration, it is possible to perform operation control in consideration of the reliability of the information acquired by the information acquiring unit depending on the environment and to curb a decrease in reliability of vehicle control.

As described above, according to the invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle controller, a vehicle control method, and a non-transitory storage medium storing a vehicle control program that can curb a decrease in reliability by detecting an environment of a vehicle, determining the reliability of information acquired from sensors or the like, and performing operation control based on the reliability even when an abnormality has not occurred in the sensors or the like.

A vehicle controller according to the invention performs vehicle control based on information from sensors or the like and the reliability of the information which is determined based on an environment in which a vehicle is located. Accordingly, it is possible to curb a decrease in reliability of vehicle control in automatic driving or the like by performing operation control in consideration of the reliability of information acquired from the sensors or the like when an abnormality has not occurred in the sensors or the like.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> is a functional block diagram of a vehicle controller <NUM> and peripheral units thereof according to this embodiment. The vehicle controller <NUM> is, for example, an automatic driving ECU that is mounted in a vehicle and includes an information acquiring unit <NUM>, an environment detecting unit <NUM>, an operation control unit <NUM>, and a control instruction generating unit <NUM>.

The information acquiring unit <NUM> acquires a variety of information for identifying a traveling state such as a position and a speed of the vehicle and conditions of objects around the vehicle. Such information is position information based on camera-imaging data for the surroundings of the vehicle imaged by a camera <NUM> mounted in the vehicle, millimeter wave radar-received data and LIDAR-received data due to emission from a millimeter wave radar <NUM> and a LIDAR <NUM> and reflection and reception from an object, map data stored in a map information storage unit <NUM>, or GPS information received from a GPS sensor <NUM>. The information acquiring unit <NUM> acquires such information and performs processing such as correction thereon if necessary. The map information may be acquired from a server or the like which is installed outside the vehicle.

The environment detecting unit <NUM> detects an environment in which the vehicle is located. The environment detecting unit <NUM> detects the weather around the vehicle, for example, based on outputs of a rain sensor <NUM> and a solar sensor <NUM> which are mounted in the vehicle. The environment detecting unit <NUM> acquires, for example, the current date and time, roadwork information, road information, the weather, or occurrence conditions of solar flare based on radio information from a server <NUM> or a broadcast station or a beacon station <NUM> outside the vehicle.

The operation control unit <NUM> includes an object detecting unit <NUM>, a vehicle position estimating unit <NUM>, a reliability determining unit <NUM>, and an operation determining unit <NUM>. The object detecting unit <NUM> detects conditions such as presence of an object around the vehicle and the position and the speed of the vehicle, for example, based on the camera-imaging data, the millimeter wave radar-received data, and the LIDAR-received data acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM>. The vehicle position estimating unit <NUM> estimates conditions such as the position and the speed of the vehicle, for example, based on the map data and the position information acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM>. The reliability determining unit <NUM> determines the reliability of the information acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM> based on the detection results from the environment detecting unit <NUM>. The operation determining unit <NUM> determines the operation of the vehicle in automatic driving or the like based on the determination results from the reliability determining unit <NUM>, the determination results from the object detecting unit <NUM>, and the estimation results from the vehicle position estimating unit <NUM>. The object detecting unit <NUM> and the vehicle position estimating unit <NUM> may also use the determination results from the reliability determining unit <NUM> for processing thereof.

The control instruction generating unit <NUM> generates a control instruction based on the operation of the vehicle determined by the operation determining unit <NUM>. The control instruction is, for example, information instructing at least one of a brake <NUM>, a steering <NUM>, and an engine or motor <NUM> to apply a braking force, a steering force, and a driving force to the vehicle. The control instruction generating unit <NUM> outputs the generated control instruction to the units. The brake <NUM>, the steering <NUM>, and the engine or motor <NUM> apply a braking force, a steering force, and a driving force to the vehicle based on the output control instruction.

A process routine which is performed by the vehicle controller <NUM> according to this embodiment will be described. <FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an example of the process routine which is performed by the vehicle controller <NUM>. This flowchart is started, for example, when a user activates an automatic driving function.

(Step S101) The information acquiring unit <NUM> acquires a variety of information for identifying a traveling state such as a position and a speed of the vehicle or conditions of objects around the vehicle.

(Step S102) The environment detecting unit <NUM> detects an environment in which the vehicle is located.

(Step S103) The reliability determining unit <NUM> of the operation control unit <NUM> determines whether there is a likelihood that the reliability of the information acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM> in Step S101 based on the environment detected by environment detecting unit <NUM> in Step S102 is low. Examples of an environmental factor causing a decrease in reliability by information types are described in Table <NUM>. A type of information may be determined depending on a type of a sensor that acquires the information. For example, information acquired from camera-imaging data and information acquired from LIDAR-received data may be determined to be different types of information.

As shown in Table <NUM>, the reliability of camera-imaging data is considered to be low at the night or in a tunnel in which a field of view is darkened. The reliability of LIDAR-received data is considered to be low when it is raining or it is snowing, which serves as an obstacle of a path of light. The reliability of map data is considered to be low in a road under roadwork (construction) or in a region in which a land use plan has been updated, which provide a high likelihood that a shape of a road or the like will be updated. The reliability of GPS information is considered to be low when solar flare causing disturbance of the ionosphere occur.

The reliability determining unit <NUM> can perform determination based on data indicating a correlation between information and an environment in which the reliability of the information is low, which is shown in Table <NUM>. In this data, an environment may be correlated with each information type or information may be correlated with each environment type. This data may be provided and updated from the outside. Reliability may be determined by binary values of YES/NO or, for example, a plurality of threshold values may be provided for each environment type such that threshold values indicating levels of rainfalls such as amounts of rainfalls are provided for rain and the reliability may be determined by three or more scores depending on the levels. The correlation shown in Table <NUM> is an example and the correlation is not limited thereto.

(Step S104) The process routine transitions to Step S105 when the reliability determining unit <NUM> determines that the reliability of any information has not decreased in Step S103, and transitions to Step S106 when it is determined that the reliability of certain information has decreased.

(Step S105) In this step, for example, a vehicle operation for automatic driving is determined using the variety of information. As described above, the object detecting unit <NUM> detects conditions such as presence, a position, and a speed of an object around the vehicle, for example, based on camera-imaging data, millimeter wave radar-received data, LIDAR-received data which are acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM>. The vehicle position estimating unit <NUM> estimates conditions such as a position and a speed of the vehicle, for example, based on map data and position information acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM>. The operation determining unit <NUM> determines an operation of the vehicle based on the determination result from the reliability determining unit <NUM>, the detection result from the object detecting unit <NUM>, and the estimation result from the vehicle position estimating unit <NUM>. The control instruction generating unit <NUM> generates and outputs a control instruction for performing the determined operation of the vehicle. After this step has been performed, by returning to Step S101 and repeatedly performing the processes of the flowchart, it is possible to continue to perform driving control.

(Step S106) In this step, processes using information of which the reliability has been determined to be low are prohibited in comparison with the process of Step S105 in the object detecting unit <NUM>, the vehicle position estimating unit <NUM>, or the operation determining unit <NUM>. Examples thereof will be described below.

(Example <NUM>) When automatic driving is being performed, the automatic driving is stopped. Accordingly, the automatic driving can be stopped before the reliability of automatic driving is lowered. In this case, a user may be notified of a message indicating that automatic driving is to be stopped using an alarm unit which is not illustrated. Alternatively, when automatic driving has not been yet started, a user may be notified of a message indicating that automatic driving is not possible. For example, only some driving assist functions which can be realized by processes not using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low may be activated.

(Example <NUM>) When automatic driving is being performed, the automatic driving is continuously performed without using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low. In an automatic driving process, this example can be employed, for example, when a plurality of algorithms using different types of information are independently performed, the operation of the vehicle is determined by majority decision or weighted evaluation for the results of the algorithms, and processes capable of continuously performing the automatic driving are performed without using some information. In this case, by using only information of which the reliability has not been determined to be low without using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low, it is possible to enhance reliability of the determination of an operation or to curb at least a decrease in reliability. When reliability of information has decreased such that it is difficult to perform the determination of operation, similarly to Example <NUM>, the automatic driving may be stopped, or only some driving assist functions which can be realized by processes not using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low may be activated.

(Example <NUM>) According to the invention, automatic driving is continuously performed also using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low for the processes. The process results using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low are used with a less weighting in the weighted evaluation, that is, different processes or handling is performed depending on the reliability. Accordingly, it is possible to enhance reliability of the determination of an operation or to curb at least a decrease in reliability. The information of which the reliability has been determined to be low may not be used to determine the operation of the vehicle but may be used for other processes. Validity of the determination of a decrease in reliability may be verified, for example, by comparing a calculation result when the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is not used for the conditions such as presence, a position, and a speed of an object around the vehicle, the conditions such as a position and a speed of the vehicle, and the operation determined based thereon with a calculation result when the information is used, and correlation data between an information type and an environment (or a threshold value thereof) which is shown in Table <NUM> may be updated. Information which is acquired when the reliability is determined to be low may be stored and may be used as a reference value such as a previous value or an initial value in processes after the reliability has been recovered.

As in this step, by prohibiting processes using the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low, it is possible to prevent a decrease in quality of automatic driving. As a result, when a calculation load can be reduced, it is possible to reduce a load, an amount of heat generated, and power consumption of a processor. After this step has been performed, the driving control may be continuously performed by returning to Step S101 and repeatedly performing the processes of the flowchart.

While an embodiment of the invention has been described above, the invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be appropriately modified. For example, the methods of acquiring or detecting the information acquired by the information acquiring unit <NUM>, the configuration of the environment detecting unit <NUM>, or the type of environment detected thereby are not limited. A sensor itself included in the vehicle may determine the reliability of the sensor based on detection results from other sensors. For example, the camera <NUM> may determine reliability of camera-imaging data based on the outputs from the rain sensor <NUM> and the solar sensor <NUM> and output the determination result along with the camera-imaging data to the vehicle controller <NUM>.

As described above, according to the invention, even when an abnormality has not occurred in sensors or the like, it is possible to detect an environment of the vehicle, to determine reliability of information acquired from the sensors or the like, to perform vehicle control based on the reliability, and to appropriately perform vehicle control depending on an environment.

The invention can be understood as a vehicle controller, can also be understood as a vehicle control method in which a computer in a vehicle controller including a control unit and a storage unit performs the functions of the above-mentioned units or a vehicle control program in which the processes of the vehicle control method are described.

Claim 1:
A vehicle controller (<NUM>) comprising:
an information acquiring unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire one or more pieces of information for identifying a traveling state including a position of a vehicle or a condition of an object around the vehicle;
an environment detecting unit (<NUM>) configured to detect an environment in which the vehicle is located;
an operation control unit (<NUM>) configured to determine a reliability of the information, based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit (<NUM>) and a detection result of the environment detecting unit (<NUM>); and
a control instruction generating unit (<NUM>) configured to
generate a control instruction for controlling an operation of the vehicle, based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit (<NUM>) and the reliability of the information, and
output the control instruction,
characterized in that.
the operation control unit (<NUM>) is configured to:
not to use the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low for determining the operation of the vehicle but to use said information for a process different from determining the operation of the vehicle, and
verify validity of determination of a decrease in the reliability of the information by comparing a calculation result when the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is not used with a calculation result when the information is used, wherein
the information of which the reliability has been determined to be low is stored and used as a reference value in processes after the reliability has been recovered.