JP7635176B2 - Traffic management device, control method for traffic management device, and control program for traffic management device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a traffic management device, a control method for a traffic management device, and a control program for a traffic management device.

In recent years, so-called autonomous vehicles, which run without the need for driver operation, have become more common. Autonomous driving has levels set according to who will be driving and the areas in which the vehicle can be driven, and it is defined that for autonomous driving level 3 and above, the autonomous driving device will be responsible for driving operations.

According to the Road Transport Vehicle Law, an automated driving device is "a device whose main components are sensors for detecting the state of a vehicle while it is in operation and the surrounding conditions, and a computer and program for processing the information sent from the sensors, which are necessary for automatically driving a vehicle through a program," and "has the ability to completely replace the driver's abilities related to perception, prediction, judgment, and operation, and is equipped with a device for recording information necessary to confirm the operating status of said functions."

Here, a level 3 autonomous vehicle is required to have a function for informing the driver or operator on board, or the operations manager who remotely monitors the vehicle at an operations management center, of the operating status of the autonomous driving device. For example, currently, a service has been launched in which autonomous vehicles are used to run public buses carrying passengers (e.g., Patent Document 1). However, it is preferable that such public buses operated by autonomous vehicles be monitored as necessary by the driver or operations manager, or by an operations management system (operations management device) at the operations management center where the operations manager is waiting.

JP 2022-45502 A

In a public bus operated by an autonomous vehicle (hereinafter also referred to as an "autonomous bus") as described in Patent Document 1, the safety of passengers is given top priority. Therefore, in the event that an event occurs in which the autonomous driving device installed in the autonomous bus cannot execute sufficient control to protect the safety of passengers, the operation management center is required to execute control such as stopping the autonomous driving at its discretion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a traffic management device for a traffic management system that remotely manages a vehicle traveling under the control of an automatic driving device equipped in the vehicle includes an acquisition unit that acquires multiple pieces of driving environment information related to the vehicle's operation, a determination unit that determines whether a predetermined condition related to the driving environment information is satisfied while the vehicle is traveling, a generation unit that generates a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic driving device is to be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied, and a transmission unit that transmits the stop instruction to the automatic driving device.

In an operation control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the generation unit may generate a stop instruction that includes an instruction to switch control of the vehicle from that of the automatic operation device to that of the operation management device.

In an operation control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the generation unit may generate a stop instruction that includes an instruction to switch the vehicle from control by the automatic operation device to control by the user.

The driving control device according to one embodiment of the present invention controls the driving of the vehicle in accordance with driving environment information acquired by an information acquisition device equipped in the vehicle from among a plurality of pieces of driving environment information, and the determination unit may determine whether a predetermined condition is satisfied for driving environment information not acquired by the information acquisition device equipped in the vehicle from among the driving environment information acquired by the acquisition unit.

The driving control device according to one embodiment of the present invention further includes a driving control unit that controls the driving of the vehicle, and the driving control unit may determine the control content of the vehicle when control is started, depending on the predetermined condition that is established.

In an operation control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the driving control unit may determine the vehicle's condition when a predetermined condition is met based on multiple pieces of driving environment information, and may determine the vehicle control content when control is initiated according to the condition.

In an operation control device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the driving control unit may allow the automatic driving device to continue control of the vehicle depending on the control of the vehicle by the automatic driving device when a predetermined condition is met.

A method for controlling a traffic management device in a traffic management system that remotely manages a traveling vehicle by controlling an automatic driving device provided in the vehicle, according to one embodiment of the present invention, includes the steps of acquiring multiple pieces of driving environment information related to the driving environment of the vehicle, determining whether or not a predetermined condition related to the driving environment information is satisfied while the vehicle is traveling, generating a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic driving device is to be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied, and transmitting the stop instruction to the automatic driving device.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a control program for a traffic management device in a traffic management system that remotely manages a vehicle traveling under the control of an automatic driving device equipped in the vehicle provides the traffic management device with the following functions: acquiring multiple pieces of driving environment information related to the vehicle's operation; determining whether or not a predetermined condition related to the driving environment information is satisfied while the vehicle is traveling; generating a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic driving device should be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied; and transmitting the stop instruction to the automatic driving device.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide a traffic management device etc. that can execute appropriate control of an autonomous vehicle at the discretion of the traffic management center.

1 is a schematic diagram of a traffic control system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an example of a functional block diagram of an autonomous driving vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram of a server (operation management device) according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is an example of a table relating to predetermined conditions in the traffic management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention according to the present disclosure (also referred to as the present invention) will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the drawings are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to those shown in the drawings. For example, the illustrated operation management device (server), autonomous vehicle (autonomous driving bus), autonomous operation device, storage device, number of information providing devices (roadside devices, etc.), data set (table), flow chart, identifier, etc. are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.

<System Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a traffic control system configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention. The traffic control system 700 is a system that executes traffic control of an autonomous bus in a service that provides a public bus (autonomous driving bus) by an autonomous vehicle. That is, the traffic control system 700 may be a system that remotely monitors and manages the operation of a plurality of autonomous vehicles 200 (200A to 200C). In one embodiment of the present invention, the autonomous vehicle 200 may be a level 3 or higher vehicle in which the main driver is not a driver but an automatic operation device, but the autonomous vehicle 200 may be a vehicle in which a driver or an operator (hereinafter simply referred to as "operator, etc.") rides and can perform auxiliary driving operations such as stopping operations at traffic lights. In addition, although only three public buses are shown as autonomous vehicles in FIG. 1, there may be more autonomous vehicles managed by the traffic control system 700. Hereinafter, when there is no particular need to distinguish between them, the autonomous vehicles 200A to 200C may be simply referred to as autonomous vehicles 200 or vehicles 200.

In this specification, the "automatic driving device" is described as a system that is installed in the vehicle 200 and controls the steering, braking, etc. of the vehicle 200 based on information acquired from various sensors and road infrastructure. In contrast, the "traffic management device" is described as a system on the side of the traffic management center that remotely monitors and controls the vehicle 200. Furthermore, a distinction is made between the state in which the vehicle 200 runs under the control of the automatic driving device as "automatic driving" and the state in which the vehicle runs under the control of the traffic management device as "remote control." In addition, "manual driving" is defined as the state in which the vehicle runs under control using a specified input device by an operator, etc., on board the vehicle 200 or a traffic manager waiting at the traffic management center.

The traffic management system 700 may include at least the vehicles 200A-200C and a traffic management device (server) 100. The traffic management system 700 may further include a map database (DB) 400 and an information providing device 500 installed in road accessories (road infrastructure) such as roadside devices and traffic lights.

The traffic management device 100, the vehicle 200, and the information providing device 500 may exchange various information (data) via the network 300. For example, the traffic management device 100 may remotely monitor and control the vehicle 200 via the network 300. The information providing device 500 is a device with wireless communication capabilities installed on roadside devices, traffic lights, etc., and may provide the vehicle 200 with information on the status of traffic lights, location information of other vehicles, information on pedestrians, etc., via road-to-vehicle communication (V2I: Vehicle to Infrastructure). In addition, the vehicles 200A to 200C may exchange various information between vehicles within a communication range via vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V: Vehicle to Vehicle).

The map database 400 is a dynamic map database, and the vehicle 200 and the server 100 may obtain from the map database 400 a portion of driving environment information related to the driving environment in which the vehicle 200 drives, and control the driving speed, lanes, etc. Conventionally, high-definition 3D map data is used to realize autonomous driving. High-definition 3D map data is data related to road information such as the number of lanes, division lines, and width, as well as crosswalks, stop lines, signs, and building position information. Here, in order to drive a vehicle, a dynamic map is used that combines high-definition 3D map data, which is static information, with quasi-static information (traffic regulations, road construction schedules, wide-area weather forecast information, etc.), dynamic information (surrounding vehicles and pedestrians, traffic light information, etc.), and quasi-dynamic information (traffic accidents, traffic regulations, congestion, narrow-area weather information, etc.) that changes in real time. In other words, the driving environment information related to the driving environment may include the static information, quasi-static information, dynamic information, and quasi-dynamic information described above. This information may be obtained and updated in real time from each vehicle 200 traveling on the road, or may be updated by obtaining weather information and traffic information provided by an external service.

The network 300 includes a wireless network and a wired network. Specifically, for example, the network 300 may be a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), LTE (long term evolution), a mobile communication system for fourth generation communication (4G), fifth generation communication (5G), sixth generation communication (6G) or later. The network 300 is not limited to these examples, and may be, for example, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), Bluetooth (Bluetooth (registered trademark)), an optical line, an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) line, a satellite communication network, etc. Furthermore, the network 300 may include a wireless communication method for IoT, such as NB-IoT (Narrow Band IoT) and eMTC (enhanced Machine Type Communication). The network 300 may also include a communication method used in road-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The network 300 may be a combination of these.

<Autonomous vehicles>
Next, the hardware configuration and functional configuration of an autonomous vehicle 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 2. The autonomous vehicle 200 includes a driving control unit 210 and a monitoring control unit 240. These control units may typically be realized by an electronic control unit (ECU). Here, the driving control unit 210 may perform control related to the driving and running of the vehicle 200, and the monitoring control unit 240 may perform control related to processing executed inside the vehicle.

The driving control unit 210 includes a driving information acquisition unit 211, a driving force control unit 212, a brake control unit 213, and a steering control unit 214. The driving information acquisition unit 211 is connected to a driving control sensor group 201 and a control outside vehicle image capture unit 202 that function as information acquisition devices, and acquires data collected by these. The driving control sensor group 201 includes sensors that collect measurement data used for controlling autonomous driving, and includes, for example, positioning devices (GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), odometry, etc.), vehicle speed sensors, acceleration sensors, angular velocity sensors, steering angle sensors, ranging sensors (LiDAR (light detection and ranging), millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic sensors, infrared sensors, etc.), IMU (inertial measurement unit), illuminance sensors, raindrop sensors, etc. The control exterior imaging unit 207 is, for example, a camera (monocular camera, stereo camera, multi-camera, etc.) that is provided on the front, rear, left, right, etc. of the vehicle and captures video or still images of the outside of the vehicle 200. The objects captured by the control exterior imaging unit 202 may be information necessary for autonomous driving, such as lanes, obstacles, road construction and traffic regulations, and congestion. Furthermore, the driving information acquisition unit 211 may function as an information acquisition device, and may refer to the map database 400 to acquire driving environment information related to the driving environment of the vehicle to be used for controlling the vehicle 200.

The vehicle 200 further includes a driving force output device (engine/motor) 221, a brake device 222, and a steering device 223. The automatic driving device 20 may be a system for controlling the driving force output device (engine/motor) 221, the brake device 222, and the steering device 223. The driving force control unit 212, the brake control unit 213, and the steering control unit 214 control the driving force output device 221, the brake device 222, and the steering device 223, respectively. The driving control unit 210 moves or stops the vehicle 200 along a preset driving route based on the current position, vehicle speed, steering angle, moving images outside the vehicle, the presence or absence of obstacles, and the like of the vehicle 200 acquired from the various sensors described above. The driving control unit 210 generates a control signal for moving or stopping the vehicle 200 along the route, and outputs it to the driving force control unit 212, the brake control unit 213, and the steering control unit 214. Based on the control signal, the driving force control unit 212, the brake control unit 213, and the steering control unit 214 respectively control the driving force output device 221, the brake device 222, and the steering device 223. Note that existing technology may be used to control the vehicle through autonomous driving.

The monitoring control unit 240 executes processes related to monitoring the vehicle 200, and includes a communication control unit 241 and an in-vehicle information acquisition unit 242. The in-vehicle information acquisition unit 242 may acquire driving environment information related to the driving environment of the vehicle, which is used for controlling the vehicle.

For example, the in-vehicle information acquisition unit 242 acquires data collected by a monitoring sensor group 203 provided in the vehicle 200, which functions as an information acquisition device. The monitoring sensor group 203 is a sensor group that collects data used for monitoring the inside and outside of the vehicle. Sensors for in-vehicle monitoring may be, for example, a human presence sensor, a breath sensor, a temperature sensor, a heat sensor, a smoke sensor, etc. Furthermore, sensors for outside of the vehicle may be an illuminance sensor, a raindrop sensor, a distance sensor (LiDAR, millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic sensor, infrared sensor, etc.), etc.

The in-vehicle information acquisition unit 242 also acquires data captured by the monitoring exterior imaging unit 204, which functions as an information acquisition device. The monitoring exterior imaging unit 204 is, for example, a camera (monocular camera, stereo camera, multi-camera, etc.), and multiple cameras are provided outside the vehicle 200, for example, on the front, rear, left and right sides, and captures moving images outside the vehicle. The data captured by the monitoring exterior imaging unit 204 may be moving images or still images.

Furthermore, the in-vehicle information acquisition unit 242 acquires data captured by the in-vehicle imaging unit 205 functioning as an information acquisition device. The in-vehicle imaging unit 205 is, for example, a camera, and is provided at multiple locations within the vehicle, such as at the entrance and exit doors and at locations that allow a glance inside the vehicle, and captures images of the inside of the vehicle 200. The data captured by the in-vehicle imaging unit 205 may be video or still images. The data captured by the in-vehicle imaging unit 205 may be used to determine attributes such as the seating status of passengers in the vehicle, the number of passengers, and whether they are elderly or children.

In addition, various devices may be provided inside the vehicle 200, such as the in-vehicle imaging unit 205, as well as a speaker, microphone, display, etc. (not shown).

The monitoring control unit 240 transmits the various acquired data to the traffic management device 100. When sudden acceleration/deceleration or abrupt turning (sudden steering) occurs in the vehicle 200, the monitoring control unit 240 may acquire data indicating the occurrence and transmit it to the traffic management device 100. The various data transmitted to the traffic management device 100 may be output to a display device at the traffic management center, with or without processing, as necessary. For example, video data of the inside or outside of the vehicle output to the display device may be used for remote monitoring by the traffic manager at the traffic management center. The various data may be transmitted from the vehicle 200 to the traffic management device 100 at predetermined time intervals, for example, every second.

The communication control unit 241 controls communication (data exchange) between the vehicle 200 and the traffic management device 100 via the network 300 by the communication I/F (interface) 250. The communication control unit 241 may also control vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the vehicles 200, or road-to-vehicle communication between the vehicle 200 and an information providing device 500 provided on road accessories such as roadside devices and traffic lights installed on the road.

The storage unit 270 is typically realized by various recording media such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), an SD card, or a flash memory, and has the function of storing various programs and data required for the operation of the vehicle 200. The storage unit 270 may also temporarily store data acquired from the various sensors described above and video images captured by each imaging unit.

Note that, in the above, a configuration has been described in which the sensor and imaging unit that collect data used for autonomous driving and the sensor and imaging unit that collect data used for monitoring are separate, but these may be realized by the same hardware or software. Also, in the above, a configuration has been described in which the driving control unit 210 and the monitoring control unit 240 are separate, but these may be realized by a single control unit.

<Traffic management device>
Next, the hardware configuration and the functional configuration of the traffic management device 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

(1) Hardware Configuration of the Traffic Management Device The traffic management device 100 includes a control unit 110, a communication unit 120, an input/output unit 130, and a memory unit 170.

The control unit 110 is typically a processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), microprocessor, processor core, multiprocessor, ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc., and is realized by a logic circuit (hardware) or a dedicated circuit formed in an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)), etc. It is preferable that the traffic management device 100 has a processor with high computing power for processing large amounts of data.

The communication unit 120 may be implemented as hardware such as a network adapter, communication software, or a combination of these. The communication unit 120 transmits and receives various data to and from the vehicle 200 via the network 300.

The input/output unit 130 may include an input device (keyboard, touch panel, microphone, etc.) for inputting various operations to the traffic management device 100, and an output device (display device, speaker, etc.) for outputting the processing results processed by the traffic management device 100.

The storage unit 170 stores various programs and data required for the operation of the traffic management device 100. For example, the storage unit 170 may store predetermined conditions related to the driving environment information described below. The storage unit 170 may include, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, etc. The storage unit 170 may also include memory (such as a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), etc.) that provides a working area for the control unit 110.

(2) Functional configuration of the traffic management device The traffic management device 100 may include a communication control unit 111, an input/output control unit 112, an acquisition unit 113, a determination unit 114, a generation unit 115, and a driving control unit 116 as functions realized by the control unit 110. Note that each functional unit described in FIG. 3 is not essential, and in each embodiment described hereinafter, non-essential functional units may be omitted. In addition, the functions or processes of each functional unit may be realized by machine learning or AI to the extent that they can be realized.

The communication control unit 111 controls communication with the vehicle 200 and the information providing device 500 via the communication unit 120. The input/output control unit 112 controls the input/output of information via wired or wireless communication with an external device via the input/output unit 130. For example, the input/output control unit 112 may output a management screen based on various data transmitted from the vehicle 200 to a display device (not shown) installed in the operation control center.

The acquisition unit 113 may acquire multiple pieces of driving environment information related to the driving environment of the vehicle 200, which are used for controlling the vehicle 200, from the vehicle 200, the information providing device 500, etc. The driving environment information is information related to the environment in which the vehicle 200 is located or the environment in which the vehicle 200 may be located in the future, and may be any information related to the road, the environment around the road, the state of the vehicle 200, etc. The driving environment information acquired from the vehicle 200 is information collected by various sensors and imaging units of the traveling vehicle 200, and may be, for example, images inside and outside the vehicle, the driving position, the driving time, the driving speed, the number of passengers, the type of passengers, the temperature and humidity inside the vehicle, the amount of carbon dioxide, the weather during driving, the brightness around the road on which the vehicle is traveling, signs on the road on which the vehicle is traveling, the steering history, the braking history, obstacles on the road, pedestrian information, etc. The driving environment information acquired from the information providing device 500 may be traffic light information, temporary traffic restrictions due to construction or accidents, congestion, weather, the approach of emergency vehicles, etc.

The determination unit 114 may determine whether a predetermined condition related to the driving environment information is satisfied while the vehicle 200 is traveling. The predetermined condition related to the driving environment information may be a preset condition that causes the automatic driving device 20 to stop controlling the vehicle 200. In other words, the predetermined condition may be a condition that makes it possible to determine that an event may occur in which the automatic driving device 20 is unable to perform sufficient control to protect the safety of the passengers of the vehicle 200.

Figure 4 shows an example of the predetermined condition table TB10 stored in the storage unit 170. The predetermined condition table TB10 stores an identifier (condition ID (IDentifieer)) for identifying each condition, the type of driving environment information, and the content for determining that the predetermined condition is satisfied, in association with each other. The judgment unit 114 may refer to the predetermined condition table TB10 and judge whether the driving environment information satisfies the predetermined condition for each vehicle 200A to 200C. The operation management device 100 acquires the above-mentioned driving environment information from each vehicle 200 traveling in various locations and from the information providing device 500 installed in various locations. For this reason, the amount of information acquired by the operation management device 100 is greater than the amount of information acquired by a single vehicle 200, and driving environment information over a wide geographical range can be acquired. In light of this, the specified condition table TB10 may store information that enables the operation management device 100 to determine, based on the driving environment information acquired, events that require attention when driving the vehicle 200, such as the need to reduce driving speed or change lanes, but that may not be recognized by the vehicle 200 alone.

For example, if the content of the "road information" in the driving environment information for the vehicle 200A indicates "approach of an emergency vehicle", the determination unit 114 may determine that the predetermined condition is met for the vehicle 200A. Also, if the content of the "weather information" in the driving environment information for the vehicle 200A indicates "rainfall of 〇 mm/h or more", the determination unit 114 may determine that the predetermined condition is met for the vehicle 200A. For example, torrential rain, sudden snowfall, and irradiation by the setting sun due to the angle of sunlight may reduce the accuracy of information acquired by the distance measuring sensor and the outside image capturing unit of the vehicle 200 or cause malfunction. For this reason, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a predetermined condition may be set, and these events may be detected in advance based on information acquired by other vehicles 200 and the information providing device 500 while a certain vehicle 200 is traveling. The "instructions to the vehicle" in the predetermined condition table TB1 will be described later.

In addition, if the content of the "in-vehicle information" among the driving environment information related to vehicle 200A indicates "abnormal operation by the controller," determination unit 114 may determine that a predetermined condition is met for vehicle 200A. This may be a condition that can detect, for example, a sudden steering operation or control contrary to the traffic light information (for example, no stopping operation despite a red light) when an operator is in vehicle 200 and operating a controller that inputs control signals to vehicle 200.

Note that FIG. 4 is an example, and the information stored in the specified condition table TB10 may be more or less than this. In addition, the operation management device 100 may further include a learning unit (not shown) that learns driving environment information when switching from automatic driving by the automatic operation device 20 to remote operation by the operation management device 100 or manual driving by an operator, etc., and updates the specified condition table TB10.

When a predetermined condition is met, the generation unit 115 may generate a stop instruction (stop signal) indicating that control by the automated driving device 20 is to be stopped. The communication control unit 111 may transmit the stop instruction generated by the generation unit 115 to the vehicle 200 via the communication unit 120. The driving control unit 210 of the vehicle 200 may control the brake device 222 and steering device 223 in response to the received stop instruction to stop the vehicle 200.

In this way, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the operation management device 100 can remotely determine that an event may occur that the automated driving device 20 alone cannot handle appropriately, and can transmit to the vehicle 200 a stop instruction to stop the vehicle 200. This contributes to safer driving of the automated driving vehicle 200 and can reduce the load on the vehicle 200's determination processing.

The generation unit 115 may generate a stop instruction to include a command to switch the control of the vehicle 200 from that of the automatic operation device 20 to that of the operation management device 100. The predetermined condition table TB1 may further store the command contents to be given to the vehicle when a predetermined condition is satisfied, as shown in FIG. 4. For example, when the predetermined condition determined by the determination unit 114 is that the content of the "road information" indicates "traffic control xx km ahead," the generation unit 115 may refer to the predetermined condition table TB1 and include a command to switch from control by the automatic operation device 20 to remote control by the operation management device 100.

This allows for a smooth transition to control by the operation management device 200 when an event occurs that requires control by the automatic operation device 20 to be stopped.

Furthermore, the generation unit 115 may generate a stop instruction that includes a command to switch control of the vehicle 200 from that of the automatic operation device 20 to that of a user (operation manager, operator, etc.). That is, the specified condition table TB1 may further include a condition for switching control from that of the automatic operation device 20 to that of a user, and the generation unit 115 may refer to the specified condition table TB1 to include a command to switch control from that of the automatic operation device 20 to manual driving by the user. The stop instruction may include information that notifies the user that the subject of control of the vehicle 200 is to be switched. For example, the command to switch from automatic driving to manual driving may be notified by voice.

This allows for a smooth transition to user control if an event occurs that requires control by the automated driving device 20 to be stopped.

As described above, the automatic operation device 20 controls the driving of the vehicle according to driving environment information acquired by an information acquisition device provided in the vehicle 200 from among multiple driving environment information. The information acquisition device may include, for example, the driving control sensor group 201, the control exterior imaging unit 202, the monitoring sensor group 203, the monitoring exterior imaging unit 204, the interior imaging unit 205, and the driving information acquisition unit 211 described above. The determination unit 114 of the operation management device 100 may determine whether a predetermined condition is established for driving environment information acquired by the acquisition unit 113 that is not acquired by the information acquisition device provided in the vehicle 200.

As described above, the traffic management device 100 can acquire a large amount of driving environment information from each vehicle 200 traveling in various locations and from the information providing devices 500 installed in various locations, so the amount of information acquired by the traffic management device 100 can be greater than the amount of information acquired by the vehicle 200 alone. For example, the vehicle 200A alone cannot detect the approach of an emergency vehicle, but the traffic management device 100 can detect the presence of an emergency vehicle on the route along which the vehicle 200A is scheduled to travel, based on information acquired from other vehicles 200B, 200C, the roadside unit 500, etc. In addition, the traffic management device 100 can acquire information about accidents on the route along which the vehicle 200 is scheduled to travel, sudden localized weather changes, etc., before the vehicle 200 does.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the establishment of the above-mentioned predetermined conditions may be determined based on driving environment information that is not acquired by the vehicle 200. This makes it possible to detect in advance events that the vehicle 200 may encounter in the future and to stop the vehicle 200, which contributes to safer driving.

The driving control unit 116 of the traffic management device 100 may remotely control the driving of the vehicle 200. That is, the driving control unit 116 may control the driving of the vehicle 200 after the automatic driving is stopped and then the control is switched to remote control. Here, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the driving control unit 116 may determine the control content of the vehicle 200 when the control is started according to the established predetermined condition. For example, in the "instruction to the vehicle" in the predetermined condition table TB1, information on the speed at the time of stopping and the stopping position may be further stored as information on the control content at the time of starting the control. The driving control unit 116 may control the vehicle 200 by referring to information on the control content associated with the established predetermined condition. For example, when the automatic driving is stopped due to the approach of an emergency vehicle, the driving control unit 116 may quickly stop the vehicle 200 by pulling over to the shoulder of the road. Also, when the automatic driving is stopped due to snowfall, the driving control unit 116 may gently stop the vehicle 200. The braking speed may be achieved by setting the degree of acceleration fluctuation in advance. The vehicle 200 may be stopped while taking into consideration the traffic around the vehicle 200. For example, if the location where the vehicle 200 is traveling when the predetermined condition is met is an intersection, the traveling control unit 115 may stop the vehicle 200 after passing the intersection without stopping the vehicle 200 by applying sudden brakes.

In this way, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the behavior of the vehicle 200 when switching from autonomous driving to remote control is determined according to the content of the event that stops the autonomous driving. Therefore, it is possible to realize safer driving of the vehicle 200.

The driving control unit 116 may determine the control content of the vehicle 200 when control is started, depending on the state of the vehicle 200 when a predetermined condition determined based on multiple driving environment information is satisfied. The state of the vehicle 200 is information indicating the state of the interior and exterior of the vehicle 200 and the state of the road on which the vehicle 200 is traveling, and may be, for example, information indicating the state of the passengers in the vehicle 200 (number of passengers, standing/sitting, elderly/children, etc.), intersections, waiting at traffic lights, etc. The state of the vehicle 200 may be acquired from the above-mentioned in-vehicle imaging unit 205, the control exterior imaging unit 202, the monitoring exterior imaging unit 204, etc.

For example, if a passenger is standing inside the vehicle 200 when a predetermined condition is met, the driving control unit 116 may gently stop the vehicle 200. Also, if the vehicle 200 is traveling through an intersection when a predetermined condition is met, the driving control unit 116 may stop the vehicle 200 after passing through the intersection.

In this way, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the behavior of the vehicle 200 when switching from autonomous driving to remote control is determined according to the state of the vehicle 200 when it is determined that autonomous driving should be stopped. Therefore, it is possible to achieve safer driving of the vehicle 200 without affecting traffic.

The driving control unit 116 may allow the automatic driving device 20 to continue control of the vehicle 200 depending on the control of the vehicle 200 by the automatic driving device 20 when a predetermined condition is met. In other words, when the determination unit 114 determines that a predetermined condition is met and the server 100 detects that the automatic driving device 20 has performed control to stop the vehicle 200, the driving control unit 116 may not perform remote control and the automatic driving by the automatic driving device 20 may continue.

When automatic driving by the automatic operation device 20 is stopped and control is transferred, there is a risk of a time lag occurring due to communication delays, switching processing, and the like. Therefore, even if a certain condition is met, if safety can be ensured by continuing control by the automatic operation device 20, control by the automatic operation device 20 may continue as is. This has the advantage of avoiding unnecessary switching of the driving subject and avoiding the generation of load due to switching.

<Control flow chart of the traffic management device>
Here, the control method of the operation management device 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5. First, the acquisition unit 113 of the operation management device 100 may acquire a plurality of pieces of driving environment information related to the driving environment of the vehicle 200 used for controlling the vehicle 200 (step S11). The acquired driving environment information may be stored in the storage unit 170 or an external storage device (not shown). The determination unit 114 of the operation management device 100 may determine whether a predetermined condition related to the driving environment information is satisfied during the driving of the vehicle 200 (step S12). If it is determined that the predetermined condition is not satisfied (NO in step S12), the process may return to step S11 and continue acquiring the driving environment information. If it is determined that the predetermined condition is satisfied (YES in step S12), the generation unit 115 may generate a stop instruction indicating that the control by the automatic operation device 20 is to be stopped (step S13). Then, the communication control unit 111 may transmit the stop instruction to the automatic operation device 20 (step S14). As described above, the stop control of the vehicle 200 may be performed so as not to affect the traffic around the vehicle 200.

Although the present invention has been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that a person skilled in the art would easily be able to make various modifications and corrections based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and corrections are included in the scope of the present invention. For example, the functions included in each component, step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to cause logical contradictions, and multiple components, steps, etc. can be combined into one or divided. In addition, the configurations shown in the above embodiments may be combined as appropriate. For example, each component described as being included in the traffic management device 100 may be realized by distributing it across multiple servers.

For example, in the above, a mode has been described in which remote control is performed by the operation management device 100 after the automatic operation by the automatic operation device 20 is stopped. However, after the automatic operation is stopped, manual operation via a controller by an operator or the like on board the vehicle 200, or remote manual operation by an operation manager waiting at the operation management center may also be performed.

In the above, the manner in which the automatic driving by the automatic driving device 20 is stopped by the judgment by the traffic management device 100 has been described. However, depending on the contents of the predetermined conditions, the priority of the entity that judges whether or not to stop the automatic driving may differ. For example, when an operator or the like is on board the vehicle 200, the operator or the like is the one who can best grasp the driving environment of the vehicle 200. Therefore, even if the traffic management device 100 judges that the automatic driving should be stopped, the automatic driving may be controlled to continue by an input operation by the operator or the like.

Each functional unit of the traffic management device 100 and the vehicle 200 may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) or a dedicated circuit formed in an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)), or may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit). Each functional unit may be realized by one or more integrated circuits, and the functions of multiple functional units may be realized by a single integrated circuit. Furthermore, the above-mentioned traffic management device 100 may be realized by multiple traffic management device computers, and depending on the function, it may be realized by calling an external platform, etc., using an API (Application Programming Interface), etc.

When each functional unit of the traffic management device 100 is realized by software, the traffic management device 100 includes a CPU that executes the commands of a program that is software that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) or storage device (these are referred to as "recording media") in which the program and various data are recorded so as to be readable by a computer (or CPU), and a RAM (Random Access Memory) in which the program is expanded. The object of the present invention is achieved by the computer (or CPU) reading and executing the program from the recording medium. That is, the traffic management device 100 according to the present invention functions as each of the above-mentioned components by the CPU executing the program loaded on the RAM. As the recording medium, a "non-transient tangible medium", for example, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, etc. can be used. The program may also be supplied to the computer via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or a broadcast wave) that can transmit the program. The present invention may also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

The above program may be implemented using, for example, a scripting language such as ActionScript, JavaScript (registered trademark), Python, or Ruby; an object-oriented programming language such as C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Swift, or Java (registered trademark); or a markup language such as HTML5. Furthermore, the term "section, module, or unit" in the claims may be read as "means" or "circuit." For example, a communication section may be read as a communication means or a communication circuit.

The program disclosed herein may also be provided to the traffic management device 100 via any transmission medium capable of transmitting the program (such as a communication network or broadcast waves).

As mentioned above, the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, but it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Furthermore, the scope of the claims may include combinations of configurations, and may include modifications and similar configurations of the claims.

The above-described aspects of the present disclosure enable safe operation of autonomous vehicles, thereby contributing to the achievement of Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "Sustainable cities and communities."

100 Operation management device (server)
110 Control unit 111 Communication control unit 112 Display processing unit 113 Acquisition unit 114 Determination unit 115 Generation unit 116 Travel control unit 120 Communication unit 130 Input/output unit 170 Memory unit 200 Autonomous driving vehicle 201 Driving control sensor group 202 Control vehicle exterior imaging unit 203 Monitoring sensor group 204 Monitoring vehicle exterior imaging unit 205 Vehicle interior imaging unit 210 Driving control unit 211 Driving information acquisition unit 212 Driving force control unit 213 Brake control unit 214 Steering control unit 221 Driving force output device 222 Brake device 223 Steering device 240 Monitoring control unit 241 Communication control unit 242 Vehicle interior information acquisition unit 250 Communication I/F
260 Display unit 270 Storage unit 300 Network 400 Map database 500 Information providing device 700 Traffic management system

Claims (5)

A traffic management device for a traffic management system that remotely manages a vehicle traveling under the control of an automatic driving device provided in the vehicle,
A storage unit that stores a predetermined condition that is set in advance to stop control by the automatic operation device;
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of pieces of driving environment information relating to a driving environment of the vehicle;
a determination unit that determines whether or not the predetermined condition is satisfied with respect to the driving environment information while the vehicle is traveling;
A generation unit that generates a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic operation device is to be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied, the stop instruction including an instruction to switch the control of the vehicle from the automatic operation device to the control by the operation management device;
A transmission unit that transmits the stop instruction to the automatic operation device;
A driving control unit that remotely controls the driving of the vehicle, determines that the automatic driving device has performed control to stop the vehicle as the state of the vehicle when the predetermined condition is satisfied, based on at least the driving speed of the vehicle included in the plurality of driving environment information acquired by the acquisition unit, and determines the control content when the device starts to control the vehicle according to the state,
The driving control unit, in response to the automatic driving device performing control to stop the vehicle as the control content of the automatic driving device of the vehicle that was performed when the specified condition, which is determined according to the situation, is satisfied, does not remotely control the vehicle , but allows the automatic driving device to continue control of the vehicle. The traffic management device according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates the stop instruction by including an instruction to switch the control of the vehicle from the automatic driving device to the user's control. The automatic operation device controls the traveling of the vehicle according to the traveling environment information acquired by an information acquisition device provided in the vehicle among the plurality of traveling environment information,
The operation management device according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit determines whether the predetermined condition is satisfied for driving environment information acquired by the acquisition unit that is not acquired by an information acquisition device equipped in the vehicle. A method for controlling a traffic management device in a traffic management system that remotely manages a vehicle traveling by controlling an automatic driving device provided in the vehicle, comprising:
The operation management device,
A step of storing a preset predetermined condition for stopping control by the automatic operation device;
acquiring a plurality of pieces of driving environment information relating to a driving environment of the vehicle;
determining whether or not the predetermined condition is satisfied with respect to the driving environment information while the vehicle is traveling;
generating a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic operation device is to be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied, the stop instruction including an instruction to switch the control of the vehicle from the automatic operation device to the control by the operation management device;
transmitting the stop instruction to the automatic operation device;
a step of remotely controlling the traveling of the vehicle, determining that the automatic operation device has performed control to stop the vehicle as the state of the vehicle when the predetermined condition is satisfied, based on at least the traveling speed of the vehicle included in the plurality of traveling environment information acquired in the acquiring step, and determining the control content when the device starts to control the vehicle, based on the state;
In response to the control of the vehicle by the automatic operation device being performed when the predetermined condition is satisfied, which is determined according to the situation, stopping the vehicle by the automatic operation device , the step of continuing the control of the vehicle by the automatic operation device without remotely controlling the vehicle;
A method for controlling an operation management device. A control program for a traffic management device related to a traffic management system that remotely manages a vehicle traveling under the control of an automatic driving device provided in the vehicle,
The traffic management device includes:
A function of storing a predetermined condition that is set in advance to stop control by the automatic operation device;
A function of acquiring a plurality of pieces of driving environment information relating to a driving environment of the vehicle;
a function of determining whether or not the predetermined condition is satisfied with respect to the driving environment information while the vehicle is traveling;
a function of generating a stop instruction indicating that control by the automatic operation device is to be stopped when the predetermined condition is satisfied, the stop instruction including an instruction to switch the control of the vehicle from the automatic operation device to the control by the operation management device;
A function of transmitting the stop instruction to the automatic operation device;
a driving control function that remotely controls the driving of the vehicle, determines that the automatic driving device has performed control to stop the vehicle as the state of the vehicle when the predetermined condition is satisfied, based on at least the driving speed of the vehicle included in the plurality of driving environment information acquired by the acquiring function, and determines the control content when the device starts to control the vehicle, based on the state;
Realize this,
The driving control function is a control program for an operation management device that, in response to the automatic operation device performing control to stop the vehicle as the control content of the automatic operation device of the vehicle that was performed when the specified condition, which is determined depending on the situation, is satisfied, does not perform remote control of the vehicle, but continues control of the vehicle by the automatic operation device.

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