JP2995970B2 - Travel control device for vehicles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular travel control device, and more particularly to a vehicular travel control device for controlling a vehicle to travel following a preceding preceding vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various methods have been studied for automatic cruise control of a vehicle.
There is known a control method in which the position of a preceding vehicle is detected by a D camera or the like, and the vehicle travels following the preceding vehicle. In such a device, there is a problem that the measurable range is limited, and the following distance cannot be obtained when the inter-vehicle distance with the preceding vehicle is too large or when the preceding vehicle steers suddenly. In order to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
In the vehicle travel control device of JP-A-133, there is disclosed a control method of receiving information indicating a vehicle speed, an absolute position, and a steering angle of a preceding vehicle from the preceding vehicle and controlling the own vehicle based on the information.

[0003]

However, the running state quantities such as the vehicle speed, steering angle, and absolute position of the preceding vehicle do not always indicate changes in vehicle motion caused by the changes. For example, if the current vehicle speed, throttle opening, and gear position of the transmission are received as the vehicle state variables of the preceding vehicle, even if the preceding vehicle tries to accelerate and opens the throttle, how much acceleration actually takes place It varies depending on output characteristics and gear ratio settings. In other words, it is not enough to predict the change in the motion of the vehicle only by controlling based on the above-mentioned traveling state quantity.
For example, a difference in athletic performance cannot be reflected due to a difference between a large car and a small car or a difference in performance. Therefore, there is a problem that smooth control cannot be performed in the following running of the preceding vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and has as its object to provide a vehicular travel control device capable of realizing smooth follow-up travel.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a vehicle traveling control device according to the present invention transmits information indicating a control operation amount, a traveling state amount, and vehicle specifications from a plurality of traveling vehicles. The other vehicle situation receiving means for receiving, the own vehicle situation detecting means for detecting the control operation amount and the traveling state quantity of the own vehicle, at least information on the immediately preceding preceding vehicle among the information received by the other vehicle situation receiving means, The operation amount calculation means for calculating the control operation amount of the own vehicle so as to follow the immediately preceding vehicle based on the own vehicle state detected by the own vehicle state, and the operation amount calculation means Traveling control means for performing traveling control based on the operation amount.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the running control of the own vehicle is performed according to the vehicle specifications in addition to the control operation amount and the running state amount of the preceding vehicle. It is possible to predict a change in the motion state of the vehicle, and highly accurate following can be performed.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. Control based on information obtained from other vehicle status receiving means 1 for receiving information indicating the traveling state of the other vehicle in parallel traveling and own vehicle situation detecting means 2 for detecting information indicating the current traveling state of the own vehicle The operation amount calculation means 3 calculates a control operation amount of the own vehicle. Based on this operation amount, the traveling control means 4 performs the following traveling control of the own vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration in which the device of this embodiment is actually applied to a vehicle. The information transmission / reception device 11 receives information such as a control operation amount, a traveling state amount, and vehicle specifications of another vehicle, and sends the information to the control operation amount calculation device 12. Although details will be described later, an engine control device 13, a brake control device 14, a steering control device 15, a transmission control device 16, and the like are provided to detect a traveling control situation of the host vehicle. Further, a vehicle speed calculating device 17, an acceleration detecting device 18, a yaw angular acceleration detecting device 19, and a vehicle weight detecting device 20 are provided. These detectors,
The control operation amount calculation device 12 calculates the control operation amount based on information obtained by the control device and the like, and
These control devices perform control based on the manipulated variable to perform follow-up running control of the own vehicle.
The control manipulated variable calculator 12 further sends the control contents to a display 21 provided in the vehicle interior to notify the driver of the current vehicle control situation. Further, when the vehicle approaches the preceding vehicle more than necessary, or when a failure occurs in the control device or the detection device, a warning is issued to the driver by a buzzer or a synthesized voice. The inter-vehicle distance detection device 23 is provided at the front end of the vehicle, and detects an inter-vehicle distance from a preceding vehicle.

Next, each control device and detection device will be described in detail.

The engine control device 13 has a throttle opening,
It controls the engine speed, intake air amount, fuel injection amount, ignition timing, etc., and performs engine control according to the driving situation. The rotation angle of the throttle opening is detected by a potentiometer provided on the throttle valve, and is controlled by a stepping motor or the like to adjust the amount of intake air. The engine speed is determined by detecting the rotation of a timing rotor provided on a cam pulley, a crankshaft, or the like with an electromagnetic pickup. The intake air amount is detected by a hot wire flow meter or the like. These throttle openings,
The engine control device 13 controls a fuel injection amount, an ignition timing, and the like based on an engine speed, an intake air amount, and the like. Based on the control amount, the control operation amount calculating device 12 calculates the engine speed and the output torque.

The brake control unit 14 detects a brake stroke from a pedal stroke detected by a potentiometer or the like or a brake actuation pressure, and controls a pedal stroke by a hydraulic actuator or the like or directly controls a brake actuation pressure. This controls the amount of brake operation. Steering control device 15
Is to rotate the steering with a DC motor etc.
The rotation angle is detected by a potentiometer, an optical rotation angle sensor, or the like. The transmission control device 16 selects a gear position and controls the lock-up operation based on the throttle opening and the vehicle speed. The vehicle speed calculation device 17 obtains the vehicle speed from the rotation speed of each wheel or an average thereof from output pulses from a vehicle speed sensor for meter display using an electromagnetic pickup sensor or a Hall IC, or a wheel rotation speed sensor. The vehicle weight detection device 20 measures the load applied to each wheel by a load cell or the like and detects the total weight of the vehicle. The inter-vehicle distance detecting device 23 is configured by a distance measuring sensor such as a radar sensor or a CCD image sensor.

Further, acceleration in the front-rear direction and lateral direction is detected by an acceleration detecting device 18 constituted by a gas rate sensor or a gyro sensor, and a yaw angular acceleration detecting device 19 also constituted by a gas rate sensor or a gyro sensor. An angular acceleration around the vehicle yaw axis is detected, and a vehicle behavior is detected based on the angular acceleration.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the follow-up running control of this embodiment.
This will be described with reference to the following flowcharts. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of the control of the present invention. In step S101, information indicating the traveling state of the preceding vehicle and the vehicle specifications is received, and in step S102, the traveling state of the host vehicle is detected. In step S103, the traveling control of the own vehicle is performed based on the information. The control at this time is controlled based on the control operation itself, not the behavior of the preceding vehicle as a result of the operation, and is called feedforward control. Further, in step S104, feedback control for controlling according to the behavior of the preceding vehicle is performed. By this feedback control, when the inter-vehicle distance obtained by the feedforward control is changed with respect to the predetermined inter-vehicle distance, such as when the third vehicle interrupts between the target preceding vehicle and the own vehicle, the predetermined inter-vehicle distance Can be controlled.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing information reception from the preceding vehicle. In step S111, control operation amounts of the preceding vehicle such as the throttle opening, brake operation amount, steering angle, and transmission gear of the preceding vehicle are received. next,
In step S112, information related to the current running state of the preceding vehicle such as the vehicle speed, acceleration, yaw angular acceleration, and absolute position of the preceding vehicle is received. Finally, in step S113, information on vehicle specifications such as the weight of the preceding vehicle, the transmission gear ratio, and the output characteristics of the engine is received. By processing the above information, it is possible to predict how much the current traveling state of the preceding vehicle changes according to the received control operation amount.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the feedforward control. Following control is performed by performing the following control based on the information from the preceding vehicle and the information indicating the traveling state of the own vehicle as described above. The throttle control is performed in step S121, the brake control is performed in step S122, the steering angle control is performed in step S123, and the transmission control is performed in step S124.

The details of each control will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the throttle control. As described above, based on the information received from the preceding vehicle, a correction coefficient KS indicating the difference between the performance of the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle, in this case, the difference between the throttle opening and the actually obtained acceleration between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle is calculated ( Step S131). That is, the output characteristics of the engine, the vehicle weight, the current gear reduction ratio, and the like differ depending on the vehicle. Even if the throttle opening is equal, generally the same acceleration cannot be obtained, and the coefficient for correcting this difference is corrected. The coefficient KS. Next, in step S132, the appropriate inter-vehicle distance d0 according to the current vehicle speed is compared with the current inter-vehicle distance d. If the current inter-vehicle distance d is smaller than the appropriate inter-vehicle distance d0, the process proceeds to step S133 and the process proceeds to step S133. Fully close the car throttle. Otherwise, step S
At 134, the throttle opening θi of the own vehicle to be controlled by the own vehicle
From the throttle opening .theta.p of the preceding vehicle and the aforementioned correction coefficient KS.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the brake control. As in the case of the throttle control, the brake operation amount and the actually obtained acceleration are different due to the difference in performance between the preceding vehicle and the own vehicle. Therefore, a correction coefficient KB is obtained to correct this (step S141). Then, in step S142, the brake operation amount Bp of the own vehicle to be controlled is calculated from the brake operation amount Bi of the preceding vehicle and the correction coefficient KB.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the steering angle control. The position of the preceding vehicle after t seconds is estimated from the steering angle and the vehicle speed of the preceding vehicle (step S151), and a travel path that guides the own vehicle to this position is calculated (step S152), and this travel path is realized. A steering angle Si to be controlled by the host vehicle is calculated (step S153).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the transmission control. In this control as well, it is not sufficient to select the same gear position as the preceding vehicle due to the performance difference of the vehicle as in the above-described throttle control. Therefore, the gear of the host vehicle is selected so as to smoothly follow the preceding gear, the throttle opening, the output characteristics of the engine, and the like (step S).
161).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the feedback control. In this feedback control, each operation amount calculated in the previous step S103 is corrected in accordance with the running state of the vehicle, and the following running control is performed. Step S
The throttle control is performed at 171, the brake control is performed at step S172, the steering angle control is performed at step S173, and the transmission control is performed at step S174.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing throttle control, and FIG. 12 is a diagram showing brake control. The throttle opening correction amount Δθ and the brake operation amount correction amount ΔB are calculated based on the relative speed between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle, and the respective operation amounts are corrected by the equations shown in the figure (steps S181 and S191). When the own vehicle is approaching the preceding vehicle, Δθ is negative and ΔB is a positive predetermined amount. Conversely, when the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle are moving away, Δθ is positive and ΔB is a negative predetermined amount. FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the steering angle control. As shown in FIG. 13, when the vehicle is too close to the road shoulder, such as when the radius of curvature of the road is small, this is corrected (step S201). FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the transmission control, and determines the gear position based on the transmission control map based on the throttle opening degree θi and the own vehicle speed obtained in step S181.

As described above, the feedforward control, that is, the control of the own vehicle based on the control operation amount of the preceding vehicle, is performed. Therefore, the feedback control for controlling the own vehicle based on a change in the state of the vehicle as a result of the control operation is performed. Thus, control with little delay becomes possible.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that information is received from the immediately preceding vehicle in the first embodiment, but information is received from all vehicles within a predetermined distance from the host vehicle in the present embodiment. The point is to receive.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of the present embodiment. In step S301, information is received from a plurality of vehicles existing within a predetermined range, and in step S302, the own vehicle status is detected. Step S30 based on these information
At 3, the feedforward control of the own vehicle is performed. Further, in step S304, follow-up running is controlled by feedback control.

The details of each step will be described below. FIG.
7 shows a flowchart for receiving information from a plurality of vehicles around the own vehicle. In step S311, information on a plurality of vehicles within a predetermined distance range from the own vehicle is received. The predetermined range is set to, for example, 300 m in front and 100 m in back.
Then, the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle are separated (step S31).
2) Further, a vehicle having the lowest vehicle speed is selected from a plurality of preceding vehicles. The reason for selecting the vehicle with the lowest vehicle speed is that smoother and more appropriate acceleration / deceleration or inter-vehicle distance control can be performed without being affected by the operation delay of the immediately preceding vehicle (step S313). By setting one preceding vehicle and one following vehicle among a plurality of parallel traveling vehicles in this way, the storage capacity can be set small.

In the feedforward control, the control is performed in accordance with the flow shown in FIGS. 5 to 9 described in the first embodiment. At this time, the information of the preceding vehicle is not the information of the immediately preceding vehicle but of a plurality of preceding vehicles. The control is performed based on the information of the lowest speed vehicle.

The feedback control is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Step S321
Based on the information on the lowest speed vehicle, control is performed based on the information shown in FIG. 10 to FIG. 14 based on the information on the lowest speed vehicle. Further, in step S322, the vehicle speed Vp of the immediately preceding vehicle and the vehicle speed Vmin of the lowest speed vehicle are compared. The absolute value of the relative speed of the vehicle is a predetermined value ε
If less than the above, the process proceeds to step S324. Otherwise, in step S323, feedback control is performed based on information on the immediately preceding vehicle. In step S324, a correction is made based on the distance between the vehicle behind and the vehicle, and the vehicle speed of the host vehicle is slightly increased, for example, when the vehicle behind the vehicle approaches too much, and control is performed so as to increase the distance between the vehicles. Alternatively, a brake operation may be performed slightly to turn on a brake lamp to call attention to a vehicle behind.

Although a case has been described above where information is received for a plurality of vehicles around the own vehicle, control information may be obtained by weighting according to the distance from the own vehicle. In other words, control is performed with emphasis on information on vehicles near the vehicle rather than information on vehicles that are far from the vehicle, and slight changes in the information content of vehicles far away affect the behavior of the vehicle. Not to be. Thereby, smooth control is possible.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the control operation amount of the preceding vehicle is determined by adding the control operation amount and the vehicle specifications of the preceding vehicle to the control input, and the control operation amount of the own vehicle is determined. Since this can be predicted without waiting for a change in the running state, smooth follow-up running control with little control delay becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a vehicle including a vehicle travel control device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, particularly showing a flow when information is received from a preceding vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, particularly showing a flow relating to feedforward control.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, particularly showing a flow relating to control of a throttle opening in feedforward control.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, particularly showing a flow relating to brake control in feedforward control.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, and particularly shows a flow relating to steering angle control in feedforward control.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment, and particularly shows a flow relating to control of the transmission in the feedforward control.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment,
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to feedback control.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment,
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to the throttle control in the feedback control.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment;
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to brake control in feedback control.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment,
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to the steering angle control in the feedback control.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the first embodiment,
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to the transmission control in the feedback control.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of steering angle control.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment;
Particularly, it shows a flow when information is received from a plurality of vehicles around the own vehicle.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment,
Particularly, it shows a flow relating to feedback control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 information transmitting and receiving device 12 control operation amount calculating device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60K 31/00 B60K 31/18 F02D 29/02 301 G08G 1/16

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Other vehicle status receiving means for receiving information indicating a control operation amount, a traveling state amount, and vehicle specifications from a plurality of traveling vehicles, and a self-vehicle for detecting a control operation amount and a traveling state amount of the own vehicle. A vehicle situation detecting means for following the preceding preceding vehicle based on at least information relating to the preceding preceding vehicle in the information received by the other vehicle situation receiving means and the situation of the own vehicle detected as the subject vehicle situation; A travel control device for a vehicle, comprising: a control operation amount calculating means for calculating the control operation amount of the host vehicle; and a travel control means for performing travel control based on the operation amount calculated by the control operation amount calculation means.