Moving body, moving body control system, and moving body control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10747221-B2
Application number	US-201815909384-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2018
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A moving body, having: a movement control unit controls movement of the moving body; a storage unit stores map information and target object information pertaining to a degree of necessity for determining whether self-driving can be continued; a monitoring/control unit transmits information inquiring whether to continue self-driving if the moving body comes into close proximity with the target object; and a route calculation unit that selects as a movement route, from a plurality of routes, a route where the degree of necessity of determining whether self-driving can be continued has a small value, on the basis of the map information and the target object information If a control signal for controlling the moving body is received in response to an inquiry regarding continuing self-driving, the monitoring/control unit inputs the control signal to the movement control unit and the movement control unit executes driving control according to the control signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A moving body, comprising:
a movement control unit that controls movement of the moving body;
a storage unit that stores map information including information pertaining to links corresponding to roads and nodes connecting the links, and target object information that associates the links, a target object, and an indicator with one another, the indicator indicates a cost value for monitoring movement of the movement body to determine whether self-driving of the moving body by the movement control unit can be continued;
a route calculation unit that:
receives a starting point and the ending point;
identifies a plurality of routes from the starting point to the ending point, each of which includes one or more of the links, on the basis of the map information;
calculates, for each of the plurality of routes, a total value of the indicators to determine whether self-driving of the moving body can continue, for one or more of the target objects corresponding to said one or more of the links, on the basis of the map information and the target object information; and
selects as a movement route, a route with a total value of the indicators below a prescribed reference parameter; and

a monitoring/control unit that transmits information to a server inquiring whether self-driving of the moving body can be continued if the moving body has come into close proximity to the target object, the monitoring/control unit configured to:
input a control signal to the movement control unit and cause the movement control unit to execute driving control of the moving body according to the control signal in response to receiving the control signal for controlling the moving body from the server, and
cause the movement control unit to continue self-driving of the moving body on the selected movement route when a response including the control signal for controlling the moving body is not received from the server.

2. The moving body according to claim 1 ,
wherein the prescribed reference parameter is a smallest total value for the indicators from among the plurality of routes.

3. The moving body according to claim 1 ,
wherein the cost for monitoring the moving body includes at least one of a length of time for monitoring movement of the moving body, and a degree of probability that control based on the control signal will be executed as a result of performing said monitoring.

4. The moving body according to claim 1 ,
the monitoring/control unit further inputs recognition results of a state of an area surrounding the moving body to the movement control unit and causes the movement control unit to continue self-driving using the recognition results in response to receiving the control signal for controlling the moving body from the server.

5. The moving body according to claim 1 ,
wherein the target object information further includes information associating the target object with a monitoring range, the monitoring range being a positional area over which monitoring and control is executed and
wherein the monitoring/control unit determines that the moving body has come into close proximity to the target object when a current location of the moving body is included in the monitoring range of the target object.

6. The moving body according to claim 1 ,
wherein the monitoring/control unit determines whether a response indicating that monitoring of the moving body is possible has been received when the moving body has come into close proximity to any of the target objects,
wherein the monitoring/control unit transmits a request for monitoring the moving body when a response indicating that monitoring of the moving body is possible has not been received, and
wherein the monitoring/control unit transmits information for inquiring as to whether self-driving of the moving body can be continued when a response indicating that monitoring of the moving body is possible has been received.

7. The moving body according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor unit that acquires information pertaining to a state of an area surrounding the moving body,
wherein the information for inquiring as to whether self-driving of the moving body can be continued includes the information acquired by the sensor unit.

8. The moving body according to claim 7 ,
wherein the target object information includes information associating the target object with information indicating the portion of the information acquired by the sensor unit that should be transmitted when inquiring whether self-driving of the moving body can be continued, and
wherein the monitoring/control unit transmits the indicated portion of the information, from among the information acquired by the sensor unit, that was associated with the target object to which the moving body came into close proximity when the moving body comes into close proximity to any of the target objects.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Endo Hideki
• Yunoki Shoji
• Kubo Hiroyuki

Classifications

• G01C21/3837

  Data obtained from a single source · CPC title

• G01C21/3815

  Road data · CPC title

• B60W30/00

  Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units · CPC title

• B60W2556/40

  High definition maps · CPC title

• B60W60/0015

  specially adapted for safety · CPC title