JPH07141591A - Road guiding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide really required information minutely and also on realtime concerning a road guiding device which provides jam information at the exit of an interchange in a superhighway for the driver of a backward vehicle being the rearest of the jammed vehicles. CONSTITUTION:A processor 24 receives vehicle information from the vehicles 20-1 to 20-n with a leakage coaxial cable 22 and detects jam conditions, and jam distance L in the neighborhood of the interchange. The vehicle 30 decides the optimum interchange exits by the relation with an object value and supplies course information of the effect of following to the driver of the rearest vehicle of the jam.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a road guide device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a road guidance device that provides traffic information at an interchange exit of a highway to a driver of a vehicle traveling behind the rear end of a traffic jam vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, on a highway, traffic information is provided to a driver by a visual traffic information system using an electronic bulletin board, a radio broadcast limited to a specific section, or the like.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-119794, for example, the difference between the ticket issuing time and the withdrawing time of a ticket issued when entering a highway is calculated for each vehicle, and the result is statistically processed. Discloses a device that supplies the time required until a target interchange as traffic information.

As described above, for the traffic information system on the expressway, various devices and methods have been proposed and put into practical use for the convenience of the user. It is possible to obtain various types of traffic information in advance before reaching the accident occurrence site or before entering the highway so that the highway can be used efficiently and safely.

[0005]

By the way, on the expressway, there are many cases where traffic congestion occurs especially near the interchange exit, and even in the above conventional traffic information systems, the traffic congestion information is provided as quickly as possible. Is operated as follows.

However, for example, in the traffic information system using the electronic bulletin board or the radio broadcasting described above, the amount of information obtained about traffic jam information, accident information, etc. is small, and
The collected information is processed by a predetermined information center and is displayed or broadcast. Therefore, the detailedness and real-time property of the information are naturally limited.

In addition, the traffic information system described in the above publication only provides an indication of the time required for traveling between interchanges, and can estimate what kind of traffic jam situation is present at each interchange exit. Can not.

That is, in the conventional traffic information system, when a long-distance traffic jam occurs at the interchange exit and the rear end of the traffic information reaches a position greatly separated from the interchange exit, the traffic jam is connected from the interchange exit. It is not possible to make detailed information announcements such as whether it is a temporary one caused by an accident or the like.

Further, the above-mentioned conventional traffic information systems are
It is a system that supplies the same traffic information to all vehicles passing through the grounding position of the electronic bulletin board, the broadcasting section of the radio, etc. In other words, the driver of the vehicle passing through the place had to sort out necessary information and unnecessary information from the information displayed or broadcast.

Therefore, depending on the driver's misjudgment, carelessness, etc., when the trailing end of a congested vehicle continuing from the exit of the interchange is on the driving lane, the driver may pass the line of congestion from the passing lane, resulting in an interchange Immediately before this, a situation arises in which there is no choice but to interrupt. Such a situation disturbs the flow of traffic and, as a result of requiring time and effort for interruption, causes further traffic congestion in the driving lane and also hinders the flow of the overtaking lane, which is not preferable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a traffic jam occurs near the interchange exit, the traffic jam continues from the interchange exit to a vehicle traveling at the rear end of the traffic jam. In real time, on the other hand, the vehicle will follow the last vehicle to the driver only if the traffic congestion information is issued from the optimal interchange exit in relation to the destination of the vehicle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a road guide device that can solve the above problems by providing route information that should be obtained.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram of a road guide device which achieves the above-mentioned object. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned purpose is to detect traffic congestion at an interchange exit, and notify a vehicle running behind the back end of a traffic jam of predetermined traffic congestion information regarding the interchange concerned to a vehicle running at the rear end of the traffic jam. The destination storage means M2 for storing the target value of the own vehicle, the optimum exit determination means M3 for determining the optimum interchange exit when going to the target value, and the traffic congestion information supplied from the traffic congestion notification means A route information providing means M4 for determining whether or not the information is about an interchange most suitable for the vehicle and providing appropriate route information to the driver based on the result of the determination.
It is achieved by a road guidance device including.

[0013]

In the road guide device according to the present invention, the traffic jam notification means M1 detects the traffic jam situation for each interchange and notifies the situation in real time to the area including the rear end of the traffic jam.

On the other hand, on the vehicle side, the optimum exit determination means M3 determines the optimum interchange exit in relation to the destination stored in the destination storage means M2. Also,
The route information providing means M4 individually judges whether or not the traffic congestion information notified by the traffic congestion notification means M1 relates to an optimal interchange exit, and selects appropriate according to the relationship between each interchange exit and the optimal exit. Providing route information only to individual drivers.

[0015]

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of the system configuration of a road guide device which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 indicates a highway. In the figure, the median strip 12
It shows a highway with two lanes each side separated by. In the following description, the lane on the side of the median strip is called the overtaking lane 14 and the other lane is called the traveling lane 16.

Here, reference numeral 18 in FIG. 2 denotes a lead-out path that branches from the traveling lane 16 and leads to the interchange exit,
The figure shows a situation in which traffic vehicles 20-1, 20-2, ..., 20-n due to traffic congestion at the exit from the exit road 18 to the driving lane 16 are connected (the last vehicle in the traffic congestion is 20-n). And).

A leaky coaxial cable (LCX) 22 having a sufficient length and extending rearward is disposed at the side of the driving lane 16 of the highway 10 with the branch point of the lead-out path 18 as one end. There is. This LCX22 is a coaxial cable that does not have a ground line in the circumferential portion like a general coaxial cable, does not seal the cable at any part, and can send and receive signals to and from the outside world.

A processing unit 24 is connected to the LCX 22. The processing device 24 detects a traffic jam condition based on various information supplied to the LCX 22, and calculates a distance (hereinafter, referred to as a traffic jam distance) L from a branch point of the outgoing path 18 to a vehicle at the end of the traffic jam vehicle. , Which is a member for arranging the traffic congestion information set based on the traffic congestion distance L.

The congestion information thus formed is supplied from the processing device 24 to the LCX 22.
Are supplied to vehicles on the highway 10 over an area corresponding to the total length of the vehicle.

In this case, in the road guidance device of this embodiment, the vehicle traveling on the highway 10 is at its own position,
It is assumed that the vehicle has a function of emitting a signal corresponding to the vehicle speed and that road-to-vehicle communication is performed.

Therefore, as the length of the LCX 22, the congestion distance L assumed at the time of exit congestion on the highway 10
If a sufficient distance can be secured with respect to
Can calculate the congestion distance L based on the position of the vehicle traveling on the side of the LCX 22 and the vehicle speed, and can notify the congestion information to the vehicle traveling from the rear end of the congestion. . In this sense, the LCX 22 and the processing device 24 in this embodiment correspond to the traffic jam notification means M1.

Incidentally, in parallel with the LCX 22, the driving lane 16
When a vehicle detection sensor that detects the moving state of the vehicle above is continuously installed over a sufficient distance, it is possible to grasp the traffic jam condition based on the detection result of the vehicle detection sensor.
When adopting such a configuration, the function of transmitting vehicle information from the vehicle to the LCX 22 is not an essential requirement.

The vehicle 20 at the end of the traffic jam shown in FIG.
A vehicle traveling on the rear overtaking lane 14 of -n indicates a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a host vehicle) 30 equipped with the LCX 22 and the processing device 24 described above and various devices that constitute the road guidance device of the present embodiment. .

The vehicle 30 is equipped with various devices shown in FIG. That is, in FIG. 3, the road-to-vehicle communication device 3
2 receives various traffic information emitted from the LCX 22 and transmits vehicle data such as the vehicle speed and position of the vehicle 30. The distance information extraction unit 34 extracts only the data regarding the congestion distance L from the traffic information received by the road-vehicle communication device 32 and supplies the data to the lane change determination unit 36.

The lane change judging section 36 is an essential part of the present embodiment which realizes the destination storing means M2, the optimum exit determining means M3 and the route information providing means M4, and executes the routine processing described later. By using the display device 38 and the audio device 40, the predetermined route information is generated, and the route information is provided to the driver.

The route guidance device 42 is a navigation device mounted on the own vehicle 30, has a function of detecting the current position of the own vehicle 30, and has the lane change judging unit 36 described above the destination storage means M2. The map information necessary for realizing the optimum exit determining means M3 is stored.

That is, the lane change judging section 36 collates the map information of the route guidance device 42 with the position of the destination set by the driver, and when the optimum route to the destination is assumed, expressway The interchange that should exit from is decided as the optimal exit. Then, only when the congestion information is issued from the LCX 22 at the time of reaching the vicinity of the optimum exit, the route information indicating that the trailing end of the congestion should be followed is output.

The specific operation contents of the road guide device of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a traffic congestion information notification routine executed by the processing device 24 so as to realize the traffic congestion notification means M1. As shown in the figure, when this routine is started, first in step 100, the vehicle speed,
Collect information such as vehicle position. This is to detect the traffic congestion situation near the lead-out road 18 based on the vehicle information emitted by each vehicle traveling on the highway 10.

Step 102 is a step of determining whether or not a traffic jam is occurring based on the vehicle information collected in this way. That is, the processing device 24 has an LC
Information regarding the absolute position of the vehicle and the vehicle speed is supplied from many vehicles running on the side of X22, and as a result of comprehensively considering these, there are probably low-speed vehicles continuing from the branch point of the derivation road 18. If it occupies the area, it is determined that congestion has occurred.

If it is determined that there is no traffic congestion, then no further processing is required and the process returns to step 100 to collect new vehicle information. on the other hand,
If it is determined that a traffic jam has occurred, the routine proceeds to step 104, where the vehicle position at the end of the traffic jam is detected and the distance from the branch point of the derivation road 18 to the vehicle at the end, that is, the traffic jam distance L is calculated.

Here, the position of the vehicle 20-n at the end of the traffic jam can be grasped as the position at the end of the absolute positions emitted from the vehicle running at a low speed.
Then, the congestion distance L can be calculated based on the relationship with the position of the lead-out path 18 which is stored in advance by the processing device 24.
If the function of performing information communication from the vehicle to the processing device 24 is not premised, the vehicle detection sensor provided in parallel with the LCX 22 will detect the end of the traffic jam.

When the calculation of the traffic jam distance L is completed in this way, the routine proceeds to step 106, where the traffic jam flag indicating the occurrence of traffic jam and the traffic jam distance L are output. As a result, LCX22
From this, a traffic jam flag and a signal regarding the traffic jam distance L are supplied to the vehicle traveling on the side of the vehicle, and the traffic jam information is also provided to the own vehicle 30 traveling behind the tail end of the traffic jam. It will be.

In the processing device 24, after the processing of step 106 is completed, the processing of step 100 is performed thereafter.
The transition process is repeatedly executed, and unless the traffic jam is resolved, the traffic jam information is continuously provided.

In FIG. 5, the lane change judging section 3 receives the traffic congestion information and selects only necessary information to supply it to the driver.
6 shows a flowchart of a traffic jam information guidance routine executed by No. 6. As shown in the figure, in this routine, first, at step 200, it is judged if any signal is received from the LCX 22. As described above, since the LCX 22 is arranged with the branch point of the outgoing path 18 as one end and has a length that can cover the congestion distance L, the vehicle side receives the signal emitted by the LCX 22. This is because there are only limited sections.

Therefore, the signal from the LCX 22 is not received at a position sufficiently distant from any interchange exit, and it is determined in step 200 that there is no reception from the LCX 22. Then, when such a determination is made, the above step 200 is repeatedly executed until the signal from the LCX 22 is received.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 200 that there is a reception, it is determined that any of the interchange exits is approaching, and the process proceeds to step 202 to collect information regarding exit congestion.

In this step 202, it is checked whether or not the signal indicating the congestion flag ON is issued from the LCX 22. This is to determine whether there is an exit congestion. Therefore, if the congestion flag ON indicating the exit congestion is not issued, there is no need to perform any processing, so the above step 2
Then, the process returns to 00 and the same process is repeated.

On the other hand, when the traffic jam flag is on, the routine proceeds to step 204 in order to perform a predetermined process for the exit traffic jam. In this step 204, when it is necessary to inform the driver of the exit congestion based on the congestion distance L supplied from the LCX together with the signal indicating the congestion flag ON, the position where the information should be provided is determined. This is the step of calculating.

That is, if the driver needs to exit the expressway at the interchange exit, he / she needs to perform operations such as deceleration and lane change in order to follow the vehicle 20-n at the end of the traffic jam. . Therefore, the position where the route information should be provided should not be uniformly set as a position at a constant distance from the derivation road 18, but should be set with the position of the last vehicle 20-n in the traffic jam as the starting point.

Therefore, in this routine, in step 204, the total distance X obtained by adding the guidance start distance α set as the operation grace period to the traffic congestion distance L,
It is calculated as the position where the route information should be supplied to the driver.

When the total distance X is calculated in this way,
Proceeding to step 206, the distance from the optimum interchange determined by the relationship with the destination input by the driver is X.
Determine whether or not. If this condition is not satisfied, the above steps 200 to 2 are performed until the condition is satisfied.
The processing of 06 is repeatedly executed.

By performing such processing, the LCX22
Even if traffic jam information such as a traffic jam flag and a traffic jam distance L is supplied from the above, the condition of step 206 may be satisfied unless the information is issued from the LCX 22 arranged at the interchange determined as the optimum interchange. In the end, no further processing will be executed.

In other words, the LCX22 arranged at the interchange determined as the optimum interchange.
As a result, no route information is provided to the driver until the congestion information issued from is received, and the driver is not confused by unnecessary route information.

Then, the host vehicle 30 reaches the intended interchange and the L installed at the interchange.
Only when the congestion information is provided from the CX, the condition of the above step 206 is satisfied, and in step 208, the voice device 40 indicates, for example, "At the end of the congestion at about 2 km. Please move to the driving lane." Etc. will be provided with course information.

Further, in this embodiment, the guide start distance is set to 2 km as described above, and the first guide is provided when the point 2 km from the end of the traffic jam is reached. The route information is to be provided again when the distance becomes 0.
Are steps for realizing such processing.

That is, after the processing of step 208 is completed as described above, next in step 210, the derivation path 1
It is determined whether the distance from the branch point of 8 has reached “L + (guidance start distance) / 2”. Then, the process of this step is repeatedly executed until this condition is satisfied, and at the same time as the condition is satisfied, guidance for confirmation is given at step 212.

After that, the routine proceeds to step 214, where it is determined whether the actual vehicle 30 has passed through the exit of the interchange.
Confirmation is performed from the information regarding the absolute position of the route guidance device 42, and this routine is terminated when the confirmation is completed.

As described above, according to the road guidance device of this embodiment, the traffic congestion information is provided based on the monitoring of the extremely limited area near the interchange exit.
Detailed information can be supplied in real time, and the driver can use the information with confidence. Also, in relation to the destination of the vehicle, unnecessary route information is not provided to the driver, distracting the driver's attention is prevented, and execution by providing traffic information is ensured. It also has the effect of being secured.

In the above embodiment, L is used for interchanges other than the intended interchange.
Although the traffic congestion information supplied from the CX22 is ignored, under such circumstances, for example, the traffic information such as "The driving lane is an exit traffic congestion. Please change lanes to the overtaking lane." .

Further, in the above embodiment, the optimum interchange is determined only based on the route to the destination input by the driver. However, the processing device 24 provided at each interchange is close to the interchange. The traffic information of the interchange may be provided, and the vehicle may have a function of determining an interchange that is close to the destination and has no exit congestion as an optimal interchange exit.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the traffic jam condition is detected only near the interchange exit, detailed traffic jam information can be notified to the vehicle in real time. On the other hand, the driver of the vehicle, when the traffic lane of the expressway is congested, only if the congestion continues from the optimal interchange exit in relation to his / her destination, the route information to that effect. To be provided.

For this reason, when the driver receives the route information indicating that there is continuous traffic congestion from the interchange exit, it is sufficient for the driver to change the lane to follow the last vehicle without making any selection. As in the case of the traffic information system described above, traffic jams are not overlooked, attention is not distracted with traffic information, and obstruction of traffic flow can be effectively prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a road guide device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a road guide device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of vehicle-side components of the road guide device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a congestion information notification routine executed by the processing device of the road guidance device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a route information providing routine executed by a lane change determining unit of the road guide device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 M1 traffic jam notification means M2 destination storage means M3 optimal exit determination means M4 route information provision means 22 leaky coaxial cable (LCX) 24 processing device 32 road-to-vehicle communication device 34 distance information extraction unit 36 lane change determination unit 38 display device 40 voice device 42 Route guidance device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A traffic congestion notification means for detecting a traffic congestion situation at an interchange exit and for notifying a vehicle traveling behind the back end of a traffic congestion vehicle of predetermined traffic congestion information regarding the interchange, and storing a target value of the own vehicle. A destination storage means, an optimal exit determination means for determining an optimal interchange exit when approaching the destination value, and whether or not the traffic congestion information supplied from the traffic congestion notification means is information about the optimal interchange for the vehicle. A road guidance device comprising: a route information providing unit that determines the route and provides appropriate route information to the driver based on the determination result.