JP2014134897A - Vehicular communication device and vehicular communication system employing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular communication device capable of surely performing communication between drivers.SOLUTION: A vehicular communication device 100 mounted on a vehicle 10 comprises: a communication section 11 for communicating with a communication device 110 mounted on another vehicle 20; a control section 13 for transferring a will of a driver to the other vehicle 20 on the basis of an operation by the driver of the vehicle 10; and a display 15 for receiving a reply signal from the other vehicle 20 and reporting it to the driver. In such a configuration, a response of whether the will of the driver per se of the vehicle 10 is comprehended by a driver of the other vehicle 20 can be obtained. Thus, misunderstanding or the like can be reduced, thereby surely implementing communication between drivers.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device useful when a driver communicates with another vehicle and a vehicle communication system using the communication device.

  Conventionally, communication between drivers during driving is performed using lights such as headlamps and blinkers.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a special device that sends a sign indicating the driver's gratitude toward the rear vehicle.

Utility Model Registration No. 3106565

  However, in many cases, the above-mentioned sign by the headlamp and winker and the sign by a special device cannot obtain a response as to whether or not the driver of the counterpart vehicle has correctly understood the meaning of the sign. For this reason, there is a possibility that the communication is not accurately performed due to misunderstanding or oversight.

  For example, passing using a headlamp is used both positively and negatively. Therefore, even when trying to join thinking that he / she agreed to join, there was a case where it could not be smoothly joined because of misunderstanding.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicle communication device capable of reliably communicating between drivers.

  In order to solve the above problem, the vehicle communication device according to claim 1 communicates with another vehicle based on the operation of the communication device (11) communicating with the other vehicle (20) and the driver. A control device (13, S102) for transmitting the driver's intention through the device, and a notification means (13, 15, S105, S106) for receiving a reply signal from another vehicle and notifying the driver. It is said.

  According to the present invention, since the driver's intention is transmitted between the vehicles via the communication device, the driver can obtain a response as to whether the driver's intention is understood by the driver of the other vehicle. . According to the above, misunderstandings and oversights can be reduced, so that communication between drivers is surely performed.

It is a mimetic diagram showing the whole vehicle communication system composition in a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the condition which changes the lane of the own vehicle. It is the figure which showed typically the operation example of the communication system for vehicles in 1st embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the control which the control part of the vehicle which performs lane change in 1st embodiment performs. It is the flowchart which showed the control which the control part of the vehicle in the lane of the interrupted side in 1st embodiment performs. 6 is a flowchart illustrating control executed by a control unit of a server when the control in FIGS. 4 and 5 in the first embodiment is performed between vehicles. It is a figure which shows typically the condition which prompts evacuation to the preceding vehicle which drive | works an overtaking lane. It is the figure which showed typically the operation example of the communication system for vehicles in 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the condition which prompts evacuation to the preceding vehicle which drive | works the road of one side one lane. It is the figure which showed typically the operation example of the communication system for vehicles in 3rd embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the other operation example of the communication system for vehicles in 3rd embodiment. It is the figure which showed the modification of the display by a display. It is the figure which showed the modification of the display by a display.

  Hereinafter, a plurality of embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the overlapping description may be abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol to the corresponding component in each embodiment. When only a part of the configuration is described in each embodiment, the configuration of the other embodiment described above can be applied to the other part of the configuration. In addition, not only combinations of configurations explicitly described in the description of each embodiment, but also the configurations of a plurality of embodiments can be partially combined even if they are not explicitly specified unless there is a problem with the combination. . And the combination where the structure described in several embodiment and the modification is not specified shall also be disclosed by the following description.

(First embodiment)
A communication device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 constitutes a vehicle communication system 1 together with other communication devices 110 and a server 30 installed in a data center. The communication device 100 is mounted on the vehicle 10 and includes a communication unit 11, a GPS receiving unit 12, for example, a display device such as a display 15, an input unit 17, and a control unit 13.

  The communication unit 11 is configured to transmit and receive signals to and from the base station and other communication devices 110 and the like. Through the communication unit 31, the control unit 13 can exchange information with the server 30 and other communication devices 110.

  The GPS receiving unit 12 is configured to receive signals transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites. Based on the signal received by the GPS receiver 12, the controller 13 can acquire the current position of the vehicle 10 on which the communication device 100 is mounted.

  The display 15 is disposed, for example, in a combination meter provided in front of the driver's seat. The display 15 is a dot matrix type liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like that realizes color display with a plurality of pixels arranged along a display screen. The display 15 notifies the driver of various information by display.

  The input unit 17 includes, for example, a winker lever 17a (see FIG. 3) provided on the steering column, and a determination button 27a (see FIG. 3) provided on the steering. An operation by the driver is input to the input unit 17. An input to the input unit 17 is detected by the control unit 13.

  The control part 13 is comprised by the microcomputer etc. which operate | move with a program. The controller 13 displays various information on the display 15 by driving each pixel of the display 15.

  The communication device 110 is different from the vehicle 10 in which the communication device 100 is mounted (hereinafter, referred to as “own vehicle” as appropriate) 10, in another vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as “other vehicle” as appropriate). It is installed. The communication device 110 includes a communication unit 21, a GPS reception unit 22, a control unit 23, a display 25, and an input unit 27 that are substantially the same as the respective configurations 11 to 13, 15, and 27.

  The server 30 is configured to implement the assignment and management to the communication devices 100 and 110 for the safety points described later. The server 30 includes a communication unit 31, a control unit 33, and a storage area 35. The communication unit 31 is connected to a communication line by wire or wireless. The control unit 33 is a control circuit that is operated by a program, and can exchange information with the communication devices 100 and 110 via the communication unit 31. Moreover, the control part 33 performs the process which accumulate | stores a safety point based on a predetermined calculation. The storage area 35 is configured so that information can be written and read by the control unit 33. The storage area 35 stores a cumulative value of safety points for each user associated with each communication device 100, 110 or the like.

  Here, conventionally, when joining a main road on a highway or a main road or changing a lane, the driver intends to change the course to a driver of a vehicle traveling on the main road or a destination lane. Or trying to notify you by blinking blinkers. However, the driver who travels in the lane of the merge destination does not always correctly capture the intention and intention of blinking the blinker, and there may be cases where smooth merge cannot be performed due to misunderstanding.

  In order to solve such a problem, communication of communication between drivers that can be realized by the vehicle communication system 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. A series of communication shown in FIG. 3 is performed when the driver of the vehicle 10 tries to join the host vehicle 10 in front of the other vehicle 20 as shown in FIG.

  First, when the driver of the vehicle 10 inputs an operation to the winker lever 17a for merging, the communication device 100 sends a merging request indicating the driver's intention to join the overtaking lane based on the operation to the surroundings. Send to the vehicle. Thereby, the fact that the driver has operated the blinker lever 17a in the vehicle 10 is notified to surrounding vehicles by inter-vehicle communication.

  The communication device 110 of the vehicle 20 displays on the display 25 that there is a vehicle that requests the merge by receiving the merge request from the communication device 100. At this time, the display screen of the display 25 is vertically divided and divided into a first display area 25a and a second display area 25b.

  The first display area 25a is defined above the second display area 25b and displays the direction notification image 50. The direction notification image 50 includes an own vehicle mark 51, an other vehicle notification mark 53, and the like, and is an image in which the traveling direction of the own vehicle 10 is upward. The own vehicle mark 51 is a mark indicating the own vehicle (in this case, the vehicle 20), and has a rectangular shape with the vertical direction as the longitudinal direction. The own vehicle mark 51 is arranged at the center of the other vehicle notification mark 53. The other vehicle notification mark 53 is formed in a circular shape so as to surround the host vehicle mark 51. The other vehicle notification mark 53 is divided into, for example, six regions in the circumferential direction. When the vehicle 10 is about to merge from the left front of the vehicle 20, the other vehicle notification mark 53 emits light in an area located in the left front (upper left) of the host vehicle mark 51 among the divided areas. And By such display of the other vehicle notification mark 53, the direction notification image 50 can notify the relative direction of the vehicle 10 that is the transmission source of the merge request.

  The second display area 25b is defined below the first display area 25a and displays the message image 60. The message image 60 includes a message unit 61, a selection unit 63, and the like. The message unit 61 notifies the driver of the vehicle 20 of a message “merge” corresponding to the intention of the driver of the vehicle 10. The selection unit 63 is an operation for determining whether or not to merge candidates for a response to the intention notified to the message unit 61, for example, a mark “please” that permits the merge and a mark “x” that rejects the merge. Display as a button.

  The driver of the vehicle 20 inputs the intention of permission to join or refuse to join to the communication device 110 by performing an operation of selecting and determining the above-described operation buttons by a determination button 27a provided on the steering wheel. The communication device 110 transmits a response result to the joining request, which is the driver's intention, to surrounding vehicles. Thereby, the response result of the joining request is notified to the vehicle 10 by inter-vehicle communication.

  The communication device 100 of the vehicle 10 displays on the display 15 whether or not merging is possible by receiving a response to the merging request from another communication device 110. At this time, the display screen of the display 15 is divided into a first display area 15a for displaying the direction notification image 50 and a second display area 15b for displaying a message image 60 indicating that the merging is permitted, for example. .

  Specifically, when the other vehicle 20 that permits joining is traveling on the right rear side of the host vehicle 10, the other vehicle notification mark 53 emits light in an area located at the right rear (lower right) of the host vehicle mark 51. And On the other hand, the message image 60 displays a message part 61 labeled “Please join me”. In this manner, the display 15 displays the operation result of the driver of the vehicle 20, that is, the intention of the driver. Therefore, the driver of the vehicle 10 can join the overtaking lane with confidence by the display on the display 15.

  In addition, when the driver of the vehicle 20 inputs an operation for permitting merging, the message image 60 is displayed over the entire display screen of the display 25. This message image 60 notifies the driver of the vehicle 20 of the safety points given by allowing the vehicle 10 to join and the cumulative safety points obtained by accumulating the points by the message unit 61.

  In order to realize the series of displays described above, processes performed by the control unit 13 of the vehicle 10, the control unit 23 of the vehicle 20, and the control unit 33 of the server 30 will be described below.

  First, the process implemented by the control part 13 of the vehicle 10 which performs lane change is demonstrated based on FIG. The process shown in FIG. 4 is started by the control unit 13 when, for example, the ignition of the vehicle 10 is turned on.

  In S101, it is detected whether or not the winker lever 17a is operated. If the operation of the blinker lever 17a is not detected in S101, S101 is repeated. On the other hand, when the operation of the blinker lever 17a is detected in S101, the process proceeds to S102.

  In S102, by sending a join request to the surrounding vehicles, the surrounding vehicles are notified by inter-vehicle communication that the winker lever 17a has been operated, and the process proceeds to S103. In S102, position information indicating the current position of the host vehicle 10 is also transmitted together with the merge request. In this way, the driver's intention is transmitted to the other vehicle 20.

  In S103, it is determined whether or not there is a response from the other vehicle 20 in response to the merge request transmitted in S102. If it is determined in S103 that a response from the other vehicle 20 has not been acquired, the state in which the response from the other vehicle 20 is on standby is maintained by repeating S103. And when the response of the driver of the said vehicle 20 is acquired by receiving the reply signal from the other vehicle 20, it progresses to S104. In S103, the position information of the other vehicle 20 that has responded is also acquired.

  In S104, it is determined whether or not the response result returned from the other vehicle 20 permits joining. If it is determined in S104 that a response result indicating that the merge is permitted has been acquired, the process proceeds to S105. In S <b> 105, the relative direction in which the other vehicle 20 is positioned with respect to the host vehicle 10 is calculated by comparing the position information of the host vehicle 10 with the position information of the other vehicle 20. Then, a direction notification image 50 indicating the calculated direction, which is a direction notification image 50 indicating the position of the vehicle 20 that has permitted the merging, and a message image 60 that notifies a message that the merging is permitted, are displayed. Terminate the process.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S104 that a response result indicating that the merge is rejected is obtained, the process proceeds to S106. In S106, a direction notification image 50 indicating the position of the vehicle that has refused to join and a message image 60 such as “Please refrain from joining” indicating that the joining has been refused are displayed, and the series of processing ends. Note that the control unit 13 repeatedly performs the above-described processing from S101 to S106 until the ignition is turned off.

  Next, the process which the control part 23 of the vehicle 20 used as the side interrupted by the vehicle 10 implements is demonstrated based on FIG. The process shown in FIG. 5 is started by the control unit 23 when, for example, the ignition of the vehicle 20 is turned on.

  In S121, it is determined whether a merge request is received from surrounding vehicles. If it is determined in S121 that the join request has not been received, the state waiting for reception of the join request is maintained by repeating S121. If it is determined that the join request has been received, the process proceeds to S122. In S121, the position information of the vehicle 10 that has transmitted the join request is also acquired together with the join request.

  In S122, a notification that there is a join request and each selection unit 63 that is an operation button are displayed on the display 25, and the process proceeds to S123. Thereby, the direction notification image 50 which shows the position of the vehicle 10 which transmitted the joining request | requirement, and the message image 60 for determining permission and rejection of joining are displayed on the display 25 (refer FIG. 3).

  In S123, based on the display in S122, it is determined whether or not the driver of the vehicle 20 has input an operation for permitting merging. If an operation for selecting the “please” selection unit 63 is detected in S123, the process proceeds to S124. On the other hand, if a predetermined time has elapsed without detecting an operation for selecting the “please” selection unit 63, or if an operation for selecting the “x” selection unit 63 is detected, the process proceeds to S127.

  In S124, a merge permission notification for permitting merge is transmitted, and the process proceeds to S125. In addition, in S124, the position information of the vehicle 20 and the individual ID that identifies the individual of the vehicle 20 or the communication device 110 are transmitted together with the response result of the merge permission. As described above, a notification of permission to join is returned to the communication device 100, and information indicating that an operation for permitting joining is performed is transmitted to the server 30.

  In S125, based on the merge permission notification transmitted in S124, information on the safety point returned from the server 30 is received, and the process proceeds to S126. In S126, the information on the safety point received in S125 is displayed on the display 25, and the series of processes is terminated. As described above, the message unit 61 indicating the safety points acquired by the current permission to join and the message unit 61 indicating the total safety points are displayed on the display 25 (see FIG. 3).

  On the other hand, in S127 when the operation for permitting merging is not performed, a notification of refusal of merging to refuse merging is transmitted to surrounding vehicles by inter-vehicle communication, and a series of processing ends. Note that the control unit 23 repeatedly performs the processing from S121 to S127 described above until the ignition is turned off.

  Next, processing performed by the control unit 33 of the server 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The process illustrated in FIG. 6 is repeatedly performed by the control unit 33 while the server 30 is operating.

  In S <b> 141, it is determined whether or not a merge permission notification is received from the vehicle 20 on the interrupted side. If it is determined in S141 that the merge permission notification has not been received, the state of waiting for reception of the merge permission notification is maintained by repeating S141. And when it determines with having received the notification of flow permission, it progresses to S142.

  In S142, the current safety point of the user linked to the ID is searched from the storage area 35 based on the individual ID of the vehicle 20 or the communication device 110 that has transmitted the notification of permission to join, and the process proceeds to S143. . In S143, for example, “1 point” is added to the user's safety point read in S142, and the process proceeds to S144. In S144, the communication device 110 of the vehicle 20 that has transmitted the notification of permission to join is notified of the information on the safety points given this time and the information on the total safety points, and the series of processing ends.

  The safety point system managed by the server 30 will be described in detail.

  The above-described response of the vehicle 20 to the vehicle 10 is gentle driving, which contributes to reducing traffic accidents and contributing to smooth traffic. Therefore, a safety point that expresses gratitude by the driver of the vehicle 10 is given to the driver of the vehicle 20. Users (drivers) who participate in such a safety point system can quantitatively know the results of their safe driving by using the added safety points, so that it is easy to obtain satisfaction.

  In addition, the safety point may be used for discounting insurance premiums, for example, by notifying an insurance company that provides voluntary insurance. Thus, it becomes possible for the user (driver) to enjoy the result of continuing the safe driving in an easy-to-understand manner, thereby further promoting the safe driving.

  In addition, in order to limit the exchange of points between specific users such as friends, an upper limit is provided for points that can be added by a concession driving between specific vehicles (users) within a certain period of time. It is desirable. Further, the safety point may be provided with an expiration date, for example, two years after being granted. Further, a vehicle (user) having an extremely small accumulation of safety points acquired during a specific period may be alerted to surrounding vehicles as a driver who performs dangerous driving.

  In the first embodiment described so far, the mutual driver's intention can be transmitted to each other by inter-vehicle communication via the communication units 11 and 21. Therefore, the driver can correctly obtain a response indicating whether or not his / her intention has been understood by the driver of the other vehicle 20. As described above, the mutual communication between the drivers is surely performed as described above, so that the host vehicle 10 can be smoothly merged in front of the other vehicle 20.

  In addition, according to the first embodiment, a safety point is given to a driver who has performed a safe travel that is appreciated by other drivers. Thus, it becomes easier for a driver who continues safe driving to enjoy benefits such as satisfaction and discounts, thereby further promoting safe driving.

  In the first embodiment, the communication unit 11 corresponds to a “communication device” described in the claims, and the control unit 13 corresponds to a “control device” described in the claims. The display 15 corresponds to “notification means” described in the claims, and the communication devices 100 and 110 correspond to “vehicle communication devices” described in the claims.

(Second embodiment)
The second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is a modification of the first embodiment. Hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 7, communication of communication performed when the driver of the vehicle 10 traveling in the overtaking lane prompts the other vehicle 20 traveling ahead to retreat to the traveling lane will be described.

  First, when the driver of the vehicle 10 inputs an operation of pulling the winker lever 17a toward the front and causing the headlamp to light up momentarily upward, the communication device 100 requests that the driver wish to retreat from the overtaking lane. Send the indicated lane change request. Thereby, the surrounding vehicle including the vehicle 20a is notified by the inter-vehicle communication that the driver has performed the passing operation in the vehicle 10.

  The communication device 110 of the vehicle 20a displays that the following vehicle 10 is present on the display 25 by receiving the lane change request from the communication device 100. At this time, the display 25 displays the direction notification image 250 in the first display area 25a and displays the message image 60 in the second display area 25b.

  The other vehicle notification mark 253 of the direction notification image 250 according to the second embodiment is formed in a rectangular shape surrounding the own vehicle mark 51 and is divided into eight regions. When the vehicle 10 is approaching from the rear of the vehicle 20a, the other vehicle notification mark 253 causes a region located behind (below) the host vehicle mark 51 to emit light among a plurality of divided regions. By displaying the other vehicle notification mark 253, the direction notification image 250 can notify the relative direction of the vehicle 10 that is the transmission source of the lane change request.

  In addition, the message unit 61 of the message image 60 notifies the driver of the vehicle 20a of a message “I want you to be there” corresponding to the intention of the driver of the vehicle 10. The selection unit 63 saves the candidate response to the intention notified to the message unit 61, for example, the mark “please” that accepts the lane change request and the mark “×” that rejects the lane change request. It is displayed as an operation button for whether or not to do.

  The driver of the vehicle 20a inputs the intention of accepting the request or rejecting the request to the communication device 110 by performing an operation of selecting and determining the above-described operation button with the determination button 27a provided on the steering wheel. The communication device 110 transmits a response result to the lane change request to surrounding vehicles. Thereby, the response result to the lane change request is notified to the vehicle 10 by inter-vehicle communication. Furthermore, the communication device 120 mounted on the vehicle 20b in parallel with the vehicle 20a is notified by inter-vehicle communication that the vehicle 20a is scheduled to change lanes.

  The communication device 100 of the vehicle 10 displays the approval / disapproval of the lane change request on the display 15 by receiving the response from the communication device 110. At this time, in the first display area 15 a of the display 15, the other vehicle notification mark 253 is displayed in which the area located in front (above) of the host vehicle mark 51 is in a light emitting state. In the second display area 15b, a message image 60 for notifying that the lane change request has been accepted is displayed.

  Further, the communication device 120 of the vehicle 20b receives a notification from the communication device 110, displays on the display 125 that the vehicle 20a is scheduled to change lanes, and pays attention to the driver of the vehicle 20b. Prompt. At this time, in the first display area 125 a of the display 125, the other vehicle notification mark 253 is displayed in which the area located in the front right (upper right) of the host vehicle mark 51 is in a light emitting state. In the second display area 125b, a message image 60 for notifying that a lane change is scheduled is displayed.

  When the driver of the vehicle 20a inputs an operation for accepting the lane change request, a message image 60 for notifying information related to the safety point is displayed on the entire display screen of the display 25 as in the first embodiment. Is done.

  Even in the second embodiment described so far, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained, so that mutual communication between the drivers is reliably performed. Therefore, the transfer of vehicles on the overtaking lane as described above is performed smoothly.

(Third embodiment)
The third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 is another modification of the first embodiment. The communication between the drivers described in the third embodiment is performed when the inter-vehicle distance between the front vehicle 10 and the rear vehicle 20 approaches as shown in FIG. In such a case, the driver of the vehicle 10 is easily distracted by the intimidation of the vehicle 20 behind. On the other hand, the driver of the rear vehicle 20 may feel that the front vehicle 10 is in the way and fall into a state in which the vehicle 20 is to be brought closer. In order not to fall into such a state, communication of communication between drivers that can be realized by the vehicle communication system 1 (see FIG. 1) will be described in detail below.

  First, the case where the driver of the front vehicle 10 that travels at a low speed notifies the driver of the rear vehicle 20 that wants to travel at a high speed that the inter-vehicle distance is too tight will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The driver of the vehicle 10 selects a message to notify the vehicle 20 behind. Specifically, the relative direction of the vehicle 20 to which the message is to be transmitted is selected using the direction determination image 350 having substantially the same form as the direction notification image 50. Further, the driver selects the selection unit 63 for warning that the inter-vehicle distance is too clogged from among a plurality of selection units 63 in which messages prepared in advance as messages to be sent to the vehicle behind are described. Then, the communication device 100 transmits a notification indicating the driver's intention of “fearful because the distance between the vehicles is clogged” to the surrounding vehicles.

  The communication device 110 of the vehicle 20 receives the notification from the communication device 100, and displays the other vehicle notification mark 53 on the display 25 with the area located in front of (above) the host vehicle mark 51 in a light emitting state. It is displayed in one display area 25a. Further, the intention of the driver of the preceding vehicle 10 is displayed by the message image 60 in the second display area 25b.

  The driver of the vehicle 20 determines a response to the received notification by operating the determination button 27a. The communication device 110 transmits a response notification indicating the intention of the driver of the vehicle 20, for example, a message stating “Thank you for the next climbing lane”. Thereby, the intention of the driver of the vehicle 20 is notified to the communication device 100.

  The communication device 100 of the vehicle 10 displays the message image 60 that notifies the acquired message on the second display area 15 b of the display 15 by receiving the response notification from the communication device 110. At this time, in the first display area 15 a of the display 15, the other vehicle notification mark 53 is displayed in which the area located behind (below) the host vehicle mark 51 is in a light emitting state.

  According to the above exchange, the intention of the driver of the vehicle 10 traveling ahead is reliably transmitted to the driver of the vehicle 20 traveling rearward. Then, the driver of the vehicle 10 can smoothly give way to the vehicle 20 at an appropriate opportunity such as the timing when the vehicle 10 has reached the uphill lane.

  Next, a case where the driver of the rear vehicle 20 notifies the driver of the front vehicle 10 of giving a way will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the driver of the vehicle 20 inputs a bashing operation to the blinker lever 17a, the communication device 110 transmits a request indicating the driver's intention to give way to surrounding vehicles.

  The communication device 100 of the vehicle 10 receives the request from the communication device 110, and displays the other vehicle notification mark 53 on the display 15 with the area located behind (downward) the host vehicle mark 51 in the light emitting state. It is displayed in one display area 15a. In addition, a message image 60 for notifying the intention of the driver of the following vehicle 20 is displayed in the second display area 15b.

  The driver of the vehicle 10 inputs a response to the request to the communication device 100 by operating the determination button 27a. Accordingly, the communication device 100 transmits a response notification indicating the intention of the driver of the vehicle 10, for example, a message “Wait for the next climbing lane”. Thereby, the intention of the driver of the vehicle 10 is notified to the communication device 110.

  The communication device 110 of the vehicle 20 displays the acquired message in the second display area 25 b of the display 25 by receiving a response notification from the communication device 100. At this time, in the first display area 25a of the display 25, the other vehicle notification mark 53 in which the area located in front (above) of the host vehicle mark 51 is in a light emitting state is displayed.

  When the driver of the vehicle 10 inputs an operation for accepting the request of the driver of the vehicle 20, a message image 60 for notifying information related to the safety point is displayed on the entire display 25 as in the first embodiment. The

  According to the above exchange, the intention of the driver of the vehicle 20 traveling behind is reliably transmitted to the driver of the vehicle 10 traveling forward. Therefore, the driver of the vehicle 20 can smoothly give way to the driver of the vehicle 10 at an appropriate opportunity such as the timing of reaching the uphill lane.

(Other embodiments)
Although a plurality of embodiments according to the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not construed as being limited to the above embodiments, and can be applied to various embodiments and combinations without departing from the gist of the present invention. can do.

  In the communication device according to the modification of the above embodiment, a touch panel type display 415 as shown in FIGS. The display 415 displays the positional relationship between the host vehicle and the other vehicle in a bird's-eye view (see FIG. 2 for the actual positional relationship between the vehicles). In addition, exchanges of communication between the host vehicle and other vehicles are displayed together on a bird's eye view. With such a display form, the driver can accurately grasp the exchange with the driver of each vehicle even in a situation in which exchanges for communication between the plurality of vehicles are performed in parallel.

  Specifically, the display 415 includes an own vehicle mark 451 indicating the own vehicle 10 (see FIG. 2) and an other vehicle mark 453 indicating the relative position of the other vehicle 20 (see FIG. 2) at the actual relative positions. Displayed in the corresponding positional relationship. The message image 60 and the selection unit 63 are displayed in association with the surroundings of the host vehicle mark 451 and the other vehicle mark 453, or are displayed superimposed on the host vehicle mark 451 and the other vehicle mark 453.

  In such a display form, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, even when a merge request is received from a plurality of other vehicles at substantially the same timing, request permission and request rejection are issued to each of the plurality of other vehicles. The response can be made accurately. It should be noted that a selection unit 463 for permitting and rejecting a plurality of merge requests at once may be displayed so that the operation is not complicated.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 13, it becomes possible to receive responses from a plurality of other vehicles in response to a join request transmitted from the host vehicle. Then, the other vehicle that has permitted the join request and the other vehicle that has refused the join request are displayed on the display 415 in an easy-to-understand manner, so that the driver can smoothly move the host vehicle ahead of the other vehicle that has permitted the join request. It can be merged.

  In the bird's-eye view display on the display 415, the traveling direction of the host vehicle does not have to be directed upward. The traveling direction of the lane to be merged with may be set above the display.

  In the modification of the above embodiment, the safety point may be given to the driver (user) who has accepted the request based on the approval by the driver of the vehicle that has transmitted the join request or the lane change request. Further, the safety point of the driver (user) who has transmitted the join request or the lane change request may be subtracted when such a request is approved by the driver of another vehicle.

  In the above embodiment, inter-vehicle communication is realized by wireless communication via the communication units 11 and 21. However, the configuration for realizing inter-vehicle communication may be changed as appropriate. For example, vehicle-to-vehicle communication may be realized by optical communication using a combination of a headlight, a taillight, and a camera. Specifically, the lighting state of the headlamp or tail lamp is controlled at a high frequency that cannot be recognized by human vision. With such modulation control, the communication device can send various requests to other vehicles. On the other hand, the communication device of the other vehicle can acquire the content of the transmitted request by demodulating the change in the lighting state of the headlight or the taillight from the camera image.

  Further, by comparing a plurality of camera images from a plurality of cameras mounted on the vehicle, the communication device can calculate the relative direction of the vehicle that is the transmission source of the request. Therefore, the accuracy of the direction notification image 50 that notifies the current position of the vehicle that is the transmission source of the request is further ensured.

  In the above embodiment, the display 15 or the like is used as a notification unit that notifies the driver of information. However, the configuration corresponding to the “notification means” described in the claims may be changed as appropriate. For example, a display provided in the navigation device, a head-up display device that realizes a virtual image display by projecting an image on the front window, or the like may provide the function of “notification means”. Furthermore, the function of “notification means” may be provided by an audio device that reproduces audio data together with or in place of the above-described display.

  In the above-described embodiment, the functions provided by the control units 13 and 23 that have executed the program may be provided by hardware and software different from the above-described control units, or a combination thereof. For example, a function such as “control device” may be provided by an analog circuit that performs a predetermined function without depending on a program.

  And the communication system for vehicles may be constructed | assembled by combining more communication devices than the said embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle communication system, 10 (Own) vehicle, 20, 20a, 20b (Other) Vehicle, 11, 21 Communication unit (communication device), 12, 22 GPS receiving unit, 13, 23 Control unit (control device, notification means) ), 15, 25, 415 display (notification means), 17, 27 input unit, 17a winker lever, 27a determination button, 30 server, 31 communication unit, 33 control unit, 35 storage area, 100, 110, 120 communication device (Vehicle communication device)

Claims (3)

A communication device (11) for communicating with another vehicle (20);
A control device (13, S102) for transmitting the driver's intention to the other vehicle via the communication device based on the operation of the driver;
Notification means (13, 15, S105, S106) for receiving a reply signal from the other vehicle and notifying the driver;
A vehicle communication device comprising:   A vehicle communication system that communicates intentions among a plurality of vehicles by combining a plurality of vehicle communication devices according to claim 1.   A server (30) for accumulating points based on a predetermined calculation for a vehicle communication device that has transmitted a reply signal for permitting a request transmitted from the other vehicle. 2. The vehicle communication system according to 2.

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