JP2000305625A - Automatic traveling car - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smooth the operation of an automatic vehicle guidance system using an automatic traveling car without causing malfunction of a safety device by detecting an obstacle recklessly. SOLUTION: An obstacle sensor 2 detecting obstacle around a vehicle is arranged. A coordinate system converting means 24 which calculates the travel range of a vehicle traveling along a travel route on the basis of travel route coordinate data stored in a map data storing part 23 is arranged. A detection range deciding means 25 which defines a range where a travel range and the detectable range of the sensor 2 overlap each other as a detection range is arranged. An obstacle detecting means 12 which detects the existence/absence of an obstacle in the detection range defined by the means 25 on the basis of a detection signal from the sensor 2 is arranged. A map data rewriting means 29 which prepares a detour route avoiding the detected obstacle, writes detour route coordinate data in the travel route coordinate data of the part 23 and rewrites a travel route is arranged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic traveling vehicle that travels along a traveling route by automatic guidance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an automatic vehicle guidance system has been developed in which a vehicle such as an electric vehicle is guided and traveled by automatic driving. This type of automatic vehicle guidance system is configured to travel by automatic guidance along a predetermined traveling route based on, for example, a guide cable embedded in a road surface or map information stored in a vehicle controller. ing. The self-driving vehicle used in this automatic vehicle guidance system is provided with obstacle sensors such as a laser device and an ultrasonic sensor inside bumpers and the like before and after the vehicle, and the obstacle sensor detects an obstacle. At this time, the vehicle is stopped or decelerated, or an alarm is issued.

[0003]

When the vehicle is moving forward, an obstacle sensor on the front side of the vehicle detects an obstacle. For example, when the vehicle turns, In this case, an obstacle on the outer peripheral side different from the turning direction is detected, and even if there is no obstacle in the actual traveling direction, the vehicle stops, decelerates, or a malfunction such that an alarm is issued is caused. There was a problem. Further, when there is an obstacle on the traveling route, there is a problem that the vehicle must be completely stopped and the operation of the entire system is delayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is an automatic traveling vehicle capable of smoothly operating a system without inadvertently detecting an obstacle and causing a malfunction of a safety device. It is intended to provide.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic traveling vehicle according to claim 1 is an automatic traveling vehicle that travels along a traveling route by automatic guidance, as shown in the drawing. An obstacle sensor 2 for detecting an obstacle S around the vehicle 1a and a traveling range A1 of the vehicle 1a traveling along the traveling route R1 are determined, and the traveling range A1 and the detectable range A2 of the obstacle sensor 2 are determined. Is the detection range A
And an obstacle detection unit 12 that detects the presence or absence of the obstacle S in the detection range A determined by the detection range determination unit 25 based on the detection signal from the obstacle sensor 2. It is characterized by:

As described above, the obstacle S is detected by setting the range where the traveling range A1 of the vehicle overlaps the detectable range A2 of the obstacle sensor 2 as the detection range A.
It is possible to eliminate unnecessary detection of the obstacle S in a place other than the traveling direction. In particular, when the vehicle 1a turns, unnecessary detection of the obstacle S on the outer peripheral side prevents unnecessary control of safety such as vehicle stop, deceleration, or issuing an alarm by detecting the obstacle. Thus, the automatic vehicle guidance system using the automatic traveling vehicle 1 can be operated without delay.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic traveling vehicle according to the first aspect, wherein when the obstacle detecting means detects the obstacle, the vehicle deviates from the traveling route and avoids the obstacle. Then, it is characterized by having a map data rewriting means 29 for creating a detour route R2 returning to the traveling route R1 again and rewriting the traveling route R1.

As described above, the detour route R2 for avoiding the obstacle S existing in the detection range A is created, and the detour route R2 is created.
2, the driving can be continued, so that the delay of the driving due to the obstacle S can be reduced, and the automatic vehicle guidance system using the automatic driving vehicle 1 can be smoothly operated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automatic traveling vehicle according to the second aspect, when the position where the obstacle S is detected is within a predetermined distance L from the vehicle 1a, the brake control means 14 is controlled. It is characterized by having a judging means 27 for activating the brake and stopping the vehicle 1a.

That is, the detected obstacle S is located at a predetermined distance L
By stopping the vehicle if it exists within the range, the operation can be smoothly performed while ensuring high safety.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an automatic traveling vehicle according to the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic traveling vehicle. The self-driving vehicle 1 is provided with an obstacle sensor 2 including a radar device or an ultrasonic sensor at the tip of the vehicle 1a.

The obstacle sensor 2 transmits a radar wave or an ultrasonic wave in front of the vehicle 1a of the automatic traveling vehicle 1 and receives the reflected radar wave or the ultrasonic wave. But controller 1
1 is output to an obstacle detecting means 12 to be described later, and the obstacle detecting means 12 detects the presence or absence of the obstacle S. Note that the obstacle sensor 2 is also provided at a rear portion, a side portion, and the like of the vehicle 1a.

The automatic traveling vehicle 1 includes an automatic accelerator device 3,
An automatic brake device 4 and an automatic steering device 5 are provided. The automatic accelerator device 3 receives an accelerator control signal from an accelerator control unit 13 of the controller 11, which will be described later. 1
4 receives a brake control signal from the automatic steering device 5
, A handle control signal from the handle control means 15 is input.

The automatic accelerator device 3 drives the drive motor of the vehicle 1a based on the accelerator control signal, and the automatic brake device 4 is provided on each wheel W of the vehicle 1a based on the brake control signal. The brake device is operated. In addition, the automatic steering device 5
Is provided on the drive shaft of the front wheel Wf of the vehicle 1a. In the automatic steering device 5, the front wheel Wf is steered based on a steering wheel control signal.

The automatic accelerator device 3, the automatic brake device 4, and the automatic steering device 5 are provided with an accelerator opening sensor, a brake pressure sensor, and a steering angle sensor, respectively. The steering angle is detected.

The vehicle 1a of the self-propelled vehicle 1 is provided with cable sensors 6 at symmetrical positions with respect to the axle. The cable sensors 6 detect a magnetic flux generated from an induction cable buried on the road surface. It has become.
Further, the vehicle 1a of the automatic traveling vehicle 1 is provided with a nail sensor 7 for detecting a magnetic flux of a magnetic nail embedded in a road surface at intervals along an induction cable.

Next, the controller 11 will be described with reference to FIG. The controller 11 is provided with a vehicle position calculating means 16 for determining the position of the vehicle.
The own vehicle position calculating means 16 receives distance data and azimuth data from the distance sensor 17 and the azimuth sensor 18 provided in the vehicle 1a, and receives an initial position of the own vehicle from an initial position storage unit 19. Initial position data is input.

The vehicle position calculating means 16 calculates the distance data, the direction data and the initial position data from the distance data, the azimuth data and the initial position data.
The position of the own vehicle is calculated. The vehicle position data calculated by the vehicle position calculating means 16 is transmitted to the vehicle position correcting means 21.

Detection signals from the cable sensor 6 and the nail sensor 7 are also transmitted to the vehicle position correcting means 21. Then, the own vehicle position correcting means 21 corrects the own vehicle position data based on the detection signals from the cable sensor 6 and the nail sensor 7 and outputs the corrected data to the comparison control means 22 as the own vehicle current position data. Has become.

The controller 11 is provided with a map data storage unit 23. The map data storage unit 23 stores travel route coordinate data P1 in a port or the like as an area where the vehicle 1a travels at coordinate points. Stored as columns. As shown in FIG. 3, the travel route coordinate data P1 indicates a point sequence along the travel route R1 of the vehicle 1a by coordinates. As shown in FIG. 4, the point sequence of the travel route R1 in the port is shown in FIG. The coordinates and directions (x, y, θ) are arranged in the order of the point sequence.

The traveling route coordinate data P1 stored in the map data storage unit 23 is output to the comparison control means 22 described above. Comparison control means 2
The accelerator control means 13 compares the traveling route coordinate data P1 from the map data storage unit 23 with the current position data of the own vehicle and causes the vehicle 1a to travel along the coordinate point sequence of the traveling route coordinate data P1. A control signal is output to the brake control means 14 and the handle control means 15.

Further, the controller 11 is provided with a coordinate system converting means 24. The coordinate system converting means 24 receives the current vehicle position data and the current vehicle position data from the own vehicle position correcting means 21 and the map data storage unit 23. The travel route coordinate data P1 is transmitted. The coordinate system converting means 24 determines the travel route R in the port on the basis of the current vehicle position data and the travel route coordinate data P1.
1 is converted into a coordinate system based on the position of the obstacle sensor 2 provided on the vehicle 1a, and the converted coordinate data is output to the detection range determining means 25.

Vehicle data such as the width of the vehicle 1a is transmitted from the vehicle data storage unit 26 to the detection range determination means 25. The detection range determination means 25 The travel range A1 of the vehicle 1a along the travel route R1 is determined, and as shown in FIG.
Is determined as a detection range A by the obstacle sensor 2 and is output to the obstacle detection means 12 as detection range data.

The obstacle detecting means 12 detects the detection range based on the detection signal from the obstacle sensor 2.
The presence / absence of the obstacle S in the detection range A determined in 5 is detected, and the obstacle detection data and the obstacle position data are output to the determination means 27. Judgment means 27
Calculates the position of the obstacle S from the obstacle position data,
It is determined whether or not the distance of the obstacle S from the vehicle 1a is within a predetermined distance L. If the distance is within the predetermined distance L, a stop command signal is output to the stopping means 28, and the obstacle S is separated from the predetermined distance L. The obstacle position data is output to the map data rewriting means 29.

In the stop means 28, when a stop command signal is input from the determination means 27, a stop control signal is output to the brake control means 14, and the brake control means 14 operates the brake device to stop the vehicle 1a. ing. Further, the map data rewriting means 29 is
When the obstacle position data is input from the
Output a stop command signal.

When the stop command signal is input, the correction stopping means 30 outputs a stop signal to the own vehicle position correcting means 21, and the own vehicle position is corrected by the cable sensor 6 and the nail sensor 7 in the own vehicle position correcting means 21. Is stopped. As a result, the vehicle 1a travels using only the information on the travel route coordinate data P1 from the map data storage unit 23.

In the map data rewriting means 29, based on the obstacle position data from the judgment means 27, the obstacle S
The detour route coordinate data P2, which is the coordinate data of the point sequence of the detour route R2 that deviates from the traveling route R1 and detours the obstacle S from the position before the predetermined distance L and returns to the traveling route R1 again, is generated. P2 is output to the map data storage unit 23.

Note that the detour route R2 is a route that passes through a position that is more than half of the vehicle 1a away from the obstacle S so that the vehicle 1a traveling along the detour route R2 does not contact the obstacle S. Is done.

Next, the obstacle S of the self-propelled vehicle 1 having the above configuration will be described.
Will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The coordinate conversion means 24 converts the coordinate system of the travel route coordinate data P1 from the map data storage unit 23 into a coordinate system based on the obstacle sensor 2 of the vehicle 1a. That is, the vehicle position is identified (step S1).

Next, the detection range determining means 25
The travel range A1 of the vehicle 1a along the travel route R1 is determined based on vehicle data such as the vehicle width of the vehicle 1a from the vehicle data storage unit 26 and traveling direction data from the direction sensor 18 and the like. That is, the shape of the road ahead of the vehicle 1a is identified (step S2). A portion where the traveling range A1 and the detectable range A2 of the obstacle sensor 2 overlap is determined as a detection range A of the obstacle sensor 2. That is, the detection range of the obstacle sensor 2 is limited (step S3).

The detection in the limited detection range A is started (step S4), and the presence or absence of the obstacle S in the detection range is monitored (step S5). Here, when the detection of the obstacle S in the detection range A is not performed, the traveling of the vehicle 1a is continued (step S6). Obstacle detection means 1
In 2, when the obstacle S is detected in the detection range A,
The determining means 27 determines whether or not the distance from the vehicle 1a to the obstacle S is within a predetermined distance L (step S7).

Here, the distance to the obstacle S is a predetermined distance L
If it is within the range, the stop command signal is output from the stopping means 28 to the brake control means 14, and the brake control means 14
As a result, the brake device is operated, and the vehicle 1a is stopped (step S8).

If the distance to the obstacle S is longer than the predetermined distance L, it is determined that a detour is possible, and the map data rewriting means 29 uses the obstacle S based on the obstacle position data.
The detour route coordinate data P2, which is the coordinate data of the point sequence of the detour route R2 that deviates from the traveling route R1 and detours the obstacle S from the position before the predetermined distance L and returns to the traveling route R1 again, is created. That is, the detour route R2 for avoiding the obstacle S is created (step S9).

The detour route coordinate data P2 is transmitted from the map data rewriting means 29 to the map data storage unit 23, and the traveling route R1 of the traveling route R1 before and after the obstacle S (part of the predetermined distance L before and after the obstacle S). The coordinate data P1 is rewritten to the detour route coordinate data P2. That is, the map is rewritten (step S10).

The own vehicle position correcting means 21 stops the correction processing of the own vehicle position by the cable sensor 6 and the nail sensor 7 in response to the stop signal from the correction stopping means 30. The vehicle 1a travels based on the bypass route coordinate data P2, thereby bypassing the obstacle S and returning to the normal travel route R1 again. That is, the vehicle 1a is automatically steered and guided to the detour route R2 (step S11). When the vehicle 1a returns from the detour route R2 to the traveling route R1, the traveling of the vehicle 1a is continued again by the traveling route coordinate data P1 of the normal traveling route R1 stored in the map data storage unit 23.

As described above, according to the automatic traveling vehicle 1 of the above-described embodiment, the obstacle S is detected by setting the overlapping range of the traveling range A1 of the vehicle and the detectable range A2 of the obstacle sensor 2 as the detection range A. Therefore, unnecessary detection of the obstacle S in a place other than the traveling direction of the vehicle can be eliminated.

In particular, when the vehicle turns, the obstacle S on the outer peripheral side
Is unnecessary, safety control such as stopping, decelerating, or issuing an alarm by detecting an obstacle is not performed unnecessarily. The guidance system can be operated smoothly.

Further, a detour route R2 for avoiding the obstacle S within the detection range A can be created, and the vehicle can be driven on the detour route R2 to continue driving. The automatic vehicle guidance system using the automatic traveling vehicle 1 can be smoothly operated. Furthermore, when the detected obstacle S is present within the predetermined distance L, the vehicle is stopped, whereby smooth driving can be achieved while ensuring high safety.

[0039]

As described above, according to the automatic traveling vehicle of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. According to the automatic traveling vehicle of the first aspect, an obstacle is detected using a range in which the traveling range of the vehicle overlaps with the detectable range of the obstacle sensor as a detection range. Useless detection of obstacles can be eliminated. In particular, when the vehicle is turning, unnecessary detection of obstacles on the outer peripheral side prevents unnecessary control of safety such as stopping, decelerating, or issuing an alarm by detecting the obstacles. Thereby, the automatic vehicle guidance system using the automatic traveling vehicle can be operated without delay.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to create a detour route for avoiding obstacles within the detection range and to continue driving while traveling on this detour route. It is possible to reduce running delays, and to smoothly operate an automatic vehicle guidance system using an automatic traveling vehicle.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the detected obstacle is present within a predetermined distance, the vehicle is stopped, so that driving can be performed smoothly while ensuring high safety.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic traveling vehicle illustrating a configuration and a structure of an automatic traveling vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the automatic traveling vehicle, illustrating a traveling system of the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating travel route coordinate data stored in a map data storage unit of the controller of the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a detection range of an obstacle sensor of the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view illustrating a detour route in the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating detection of an obstacle and detour control in the automatic traveling vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic traveling vehicle 1a Vehicle 2 Obstacle sensor 12 Obstacle detection means 14 Brake control means 25 Detection range determination means 27 Judgment means 29 Map data rewriting means A Detection range A1 Travel range A2 Detectable range L Predetermined distance R1 Travel route R2 Detour Route S Obstacle

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) // B62D 137: 00 B60R 21/00 624E 624G 627 628C F term (reference) 3D032 CC20 DA03 DA76 DA81 DA90 DA92 DA93 EA01 EB04 FF01 FF07 GG01 5H301 AA01 AA09 AA10 CC03 CC06 DD01 EE05 FF04 FF11 GG08 GG10 GG11 GG16 GG23 GG29 LL01 LL06 LL08 LL11 LL14 LL16 MM09

Claims (3)

[Claims] An autonomous vehicle that travels along a traveling route by automatic guidance, comprising: an obstacle sensor that detects an obstacle around the vehicle; and a traveling range of the vehicle traveling along the traveling route. The detection range is determined by the detection range determining means based on a detection signal from the obstacle sensor, the detection range being a range in which the travel range overlaps with the detectable range of the obstacle sensor. And an obstacle detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an obstacle in the detection range. 2. When an obstacle is detected by the obstacle detection means, a detour route is created that avoids the obstacle by deviating from the travel route and then returns to the travel route again, and creates a detour route. 2. The automatic traveling vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a map data rewriting means for rewriting. 3. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a determination unit that controls a brake control unit to activate a brake and stop the vehicle when the obstacle detection position is within a predetermined distance from the vehicle. 2. The self-driving vehicle according to 2.