JPH05217099A - Traveling control device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a vehicle traveling control device capable of attaining safe traveling by forecasting the cutting in of an adjacent lane forward vehicle traveling on an adjacent lane and executing interruption processing matched with a practical driving sense. CONSTITUTION:Forward vehicles traveling on a self-traveling lane and its right and left adjacent lanes are searched by range finding sensors 10, 12, 13 and distances from respective vehicles are measured. The distance data are supplied to an inter-vehicle distance computer 16 and relative speeds are detected by differential operation. In order to forecast a cutting in from the adjacent lanes, the relative speed of the adjacent forward vehicle is compared with that of the self-lane forward vehicle and whether the coincidence time of both the relative speeds continues for more than a prescribed time or not and the distance from the adjacent lane forward vehicle is less than the distance from the self-lane forward vehicle or not are judged. When the conditions are satisfied, the generation of a cutting in is forecasted, so that the close of a slottle actuator 20 is controlled so as to increase the inter-vehicle distance before the generation of a practical cutting in.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle running control device, and more particularly to a case where a vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane interrupts when the vehicle is traveling while maintaining a vehicle-to-vehicle distance to a vehicle traveling in its own lane at a target vehicle distance. Regarding the processing of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a vehicle running control device for controlling acceleration / deceleration of a vehicle for the purpose of improving safety in running on a highway or reducing driving operation by a driver.

In such a vehicle travel control device, the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane is detected, and acceleration / deceleration control is performed so that the inter-vehicle distance becomes equal to or greater than the safe inter-vehicle distance, and the vehicle travels in the adjacent lane. A configuration is also adopted in which the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle that is running is also detected, and the traveling of the host vehicle is changed when the preceding vehicle interrupts.

For example, in a vehicle traveling control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-40799, a front sonar for measuring an inter-vehicle distance to a front vehicle and a right sonar and a left sonar for detecting a side vehicle. The front sonar transmits an ultrasonic pulse train forward at predetermined time intervals, switches to reception after transmission, receives the reflected wave, and measures the inter-vehicle distance to control the vehicle speed. Further, the right-side sonar and the left-side sonar transmit ultrasonic pulse trains diagonally to the left and right, and when an object is detected by one of the sonars, it detects the distance to the object and whether or not it is moving. And
If this distance is within a predetermined distance and is moving, the brake is operated so as not to approach the object any more.

As described above, the lateral sonar detects a vehicle that is intruding from the side, and the traveling control of the vehicle is performed based on the detection of the distance between the vehicle in which the vehicle is intruding and the vehicle and the movement state thereof. You can drive safely against interruptions.

[0006]

However, when the distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is within a predetermined distance and the vehicle is moving as described above, it is judged as an interruption and the brake is operated. So, for example, even if a vehicle in front passes by the side near the own vehicle, it may be erroneously determined to be an interruption. I had a problem.

In addition, the configuration in which the sonar is used for control in this way, when the inter-vehicle distance between the front vehicle and the host vehicle is small,
That is, it means that the vehicle ahead of the adjacent lane actually cuts into the own lane and the control is performed after determining that the interruption has occurred, which is a problem different from the driving operation performed by the actual driver.

That is, the actual driver does not control the brake until the vehicle ahead of the adjacent lane actually interrupts, but observes the behavior of the vehicle ahead of the adjacent lane and interrupts when a predetermined behavior appears. The vehicle-to-vehicle distance is increased in advance by predicting that the vehicle will come, and in this way, by predicting the interruption in advance, a sudden braking operation or the like is avoided to achieve safe driving.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to predict an interrupt of a vehicle ahead of an adjacent lane traveling in an adjacent lane and perform an interrupt process that matches an actual driving feeling. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle travel control device that enables safe travel.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle travel control system of the present invention includes a radar system 1 for detecting a forward vehicle traveling in its own lane and an adjacent lane as shown in FIG. A distance detecting means 2 for detecting a distance to a front vehicle based on a detection signal from the radar device, a relative speed detecting means 3 for detecting a relative speed with the front vehicle based on a detection signal from the radar device, The difference between the relative speed of the front vehicle traveling in the lane and the relative speed of the front vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is equal to or less than a predetermined speed continues for a predetermined time or more, and the distance between the front vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is And a control means 4 for controlling the throttle to increase the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane when the distance is less than or equal to the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane.

[0011]

As described above, the actual driver predicts that the vehicle ahead will be interrupted when a predetermined behavior appears in the vehicle ahead in the adjacent lane. Here, the predetermined behavior means that the vehicle in the adjacent lane travels at substantially the same speed as the vehicle in its own lane as shown in FIG.
In addition, it is a case where the vehicle is located between the own vehicle and the vehicle ahead of the own lane.

Therefore, the radar device detects the preceding vehicle in the own lane and the adjacent lane, and if the difference between the relative speed of the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane and the relative speed of the preceding vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is less than a predetermined speed. A certain time continues for more than a predetermined time,
In addition, it is possible to predict the interruption by determining whether or not the distance to the forward vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is less than or equal to the distance to the forward vehicle traveling in the own lane.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a vehicle travel control device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the configuration of this embodiment. Three distance measuring sensors 10, 1 such as laser radar
Reference numerals 2 and 14 are provided in front of the vehicle, and as shown in FIG. 3, three spots of laser light are radiated forward and sideward to detect a vehicle in front of the own lane and an adjacent lane and measure the distance. Of course, instead of using the three laser radars in this manner, the front vehicle may be detected by scanning the laser light from one laser radar left and right (scan-type laser radar device).

Distance signals from the three distance measuring sensors 10, 12 and 14 are input to a headway distance control computer 16 and time differential is calculated to detect a relative speed. Further, the own vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor 18 is also the computer 16
Entered in.

The inter-vehicle distance control computer 16 calculates the target inter-vehicle distance L0 from the vehicle in front of the own lane from the distance data, the vehicle speed data, and the relative speed data, and throttles the own vehicle so that the inter-vehicle distance becomes the target inter-vehicle distance L0. In addition to controlling the actuator 20, the host vehicle performs acceleration / deceleration control so as to appropriately perform traveling with respect to the vehicle that interrupts by performing interrupt processing that will be described later.

The processing performed by the headway distance control computer 16 will be described in detail below with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 5.

First, it is determined whether or not the distance LC detected by the central distance measuring sensor 12 is a finite value (S101).
The central distance measuring sensor 12 detects a vehicle ahead of the own lane, and the effective distance measuring range of the laser radar is about 100 m.
When there is a vehicle ahead of the own lane within 00 m, it is next determined whether or not the distance LR detected by the right distance measuring sensor 14 is a finite value (S102). When a vehicle ahead of the right adjacent lane exists, a vehicle ahead exists in both the own lane and the right adjacent lane.

When there is a forward vehicle in both the lane of the own lane and the adjacent lane of the right adjacent lane, the vehicle in front of the adjacent lane in the right adjacent lane (corresponding to the overtaking lane when the own vehicle is in the traveling lane) is interrupted. In order to predict whether or not, the relative velocity obtained by differentiating the distance data with respect to time is evaluated. That is, it is determined whether or not the absolute value of the difference VRRC-VRRR between the relative speed VRRC of the vehicle ahead of the own lane and the relative speed VRRR of the vehicle ahead of the right adjacent lane is less than or equal to the predetermined value α (S10).
3).

If there is no intention to interrupt a vehicle ahead in the adjacent lane to the right adjacent lane, or if the vehicle appears with the intention to interrupt and first appears in front of the own vehicle, the vehicle is not traveling at the same speed as the traveling speed of the own lane. Therefore, the flag TR is set to 1 (S104). Then, when the vehicle ahead in the right adjacent lane starts decelerating or accelerating to interrupt and starts traveling at substantially the same speed as the own lane, the flag TR is set to 0 (S105 to S106) to measure the time. The timer CTR of is reset to 0 (S107).

While the vehicle ahead in the right adjacent lane is traveling at substantially the same speed as the own lane, this timer CTR is incremented by 1 (S109) and the duration thereof is measured. Then, this continuation time is a predetermined time KTTR (3 to 4
It is determined whether or not the time is equal to or more than a second), and when the vehicle continues for a predetermined time, the distance LC with respect to the vehicle in front of the own lane and the distance LR with respect to the vehicle in the right adjacent lane are compared (S11).
1).

As described above, when a vehicle ahead in the right adjacent lane cuts in, it is located between the own vehicle and the vehicle ahead in the own lane (see FIG. 6). Therefore, when the distance LR is smaller than the distance LC, it corresponds to a case where a vehicle ahead in the right adjacent lane is just cutting in.

In this case, the target inter-vehicle distance LRT with the vehicle ahead on the right adjacent lane is incremented by 1 m (S113) and increased until reaching LT0 + (LR-LC) (S112). LT0 is the target inter-vehicle distance from the vehicle in front of the own lane as described above, and therefore LT0 +
(LR-LC) is a distance at which the target inter-vehicle distance L0 can be secured between the vehicle in front of the right adjacent lane and the vehicle in front when the vehicle in front of the right adjacent lane cuts into the lane.

Here, the right adjacent lane is also relatively crowded,
There is a case where the vehicle travels at approximately the same vehicle speed as the vehicle in its own lane and is continuously present between the own vehicle and a vehicle ahead of the own lane, even though there is no intention to interrupt. In such a case, it is not only wasteful to maintain the inter-vehicle distance from the vehicle in front, but it may hinder the flow of traffic. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the second timer CTR2 is operated, and when the above-mentioned state continues for a predetermined time KTTR2 or more, LRT is returned to LT0 again to recover the inter-vehicle distance (S114 to S116).

The above-mentioned processing is intended for the case where the front vehicle is coming in from the right adjacent lane, but there is also the case where the front vehicle is coming in from the left adjacent lane. So S
Processing in the case where there is a vehicle ahead in the left adjacent lane is performed in steps 121 to S145. Note that, in FIG. 5, the subscript “L” indicating the left adjacent lane is used in place of the subscript R in FIG. 4 for all flags.

After detecting the behavior of the vehicle ahead of the right adjacent lane and the vehicle ahead of the left adjacent lane in this way, when it is determined that there is a possibility of interruption, the inter-vehicle distance to the vehicle ahead is LT0 + (LR- LC) or LT0 + (LC-LL)
The throttle actuator is controlled to be closed (S146 to S148). Of course, when there is a possibility that both the vehicle ahead of the right adjacent lane and the vehicle ahead of the left adjacent lane may interrupt, the vehicle is controlled to have a larger inter-vehicle distance according to the vehicle closer to the own vehicle (comparison in S146). Processing corresponds to this).

When there is no vehicle ahead in the lane, the target inter-vehicle distance is LT0 '(S117),
LT0 'in this case means that the driver runs at a constant speed at a predetermined speed. That is, when there is no vehicle ahead in the lane, the cruise traveling is performed at the constant speed V0.

Further, when there is a vehicle ahead in the own lane but no vehicle ahead in the adjacent lane to the right (the same applies when the vehicle does not exist in the left lane), the timer CTR is set.
Is set to FF (S117), the target vehicle distance becomes LT0 (S116), and normal vehicle distance control is performed. A known method is used as a normal vehicle-to-vehicle distance control method. In this embodiment, the target vehicle-to-vehicle distance LT0 is calculated by LT0 = α × vehicle speed−β × relative speed (α, β: constant), and the target vehicle distance LT is calculated.
The difference E = LC-LT0 between 0 and the distance LC detected by the central distance measuring sensor 12 is calculated, and the target vehicle speed VT is determined by VT = V + GE (G: gain) so that this difference becomes 0. The actuator 20 is controlled.

As described above, in this embodiment, by predicting the interruption from the behavior of the vehicle in front of the adjacent lane and gradually increasing the inter-vehicle distance before the interruption starts, the vehicle speed is reduced after the interruption is actually performed and the inter-vehicle distance is reduced. Smoother traveling becomes possible compared to the case where the distance is increased.

[0030]

As described above, according to the vehicular travel control device of the present invention, it is possible to predict the interruption of the vehicle ahead in the adjacent lane and obtain a sufficient inter-vehicle distance before the driving feeling in the actual driving. It enables smooth and safe automatic driving in conformity with.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a vehicle travel control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a range-finding range of the radar apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship among a host vehicle, a vehicle ahead of the own lane, and a vehicle ahead of an adjacent lane.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 12, 14 Distance measuring sensor 16 Inter-vehicle control computer 18 Vehicle speed sensor 20 Throttle actuator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A radar device for detecting a forward vehicle traveling in its own lane and an adjacent lane, a distance detecting means for detecting a distance to the forward vehicle based on a detection signal from the radar device, and a detection from the radar device. Time when the difference between the relative speed between the relative speed detecting means that detects the relative speed of the preceding vehicle based on the signal and the preceding vehicle traveling in its own lane and the preceding vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is less than or equal to a predetermined speed. For a predetermined time or more and the distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane is less than or equal to the distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane, the throttle is controlled and the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle traveling in the own lane A vehicle traveling control device comprising: