Recommended traveling speed provision program, travel support system, vehicle control device, and automatic traveling vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11080997-B2
Application number	US-201716096379-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2017
Priority date	Apr 28, 2016
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

A recommended traveling speed provision program according to one aspect of the present disclosure causes a computer to function as: an acquisition unit configured to acquire, from probe vehicles, pieces of probe information each including information of a time within a predetermined time period and a position of the corresponding probe vehicle at the time; a representative traveling speed calculation unit configured to calculate a representative traveling speed that is a representative value of traveling speeds of the probe vehicles, based on the pieces of probe information acquired by the acquisition unit; a recommended traveling speed calculation unit configured to calculate a recommended traveling speed, based on the representative traveling speed calculated by the representative traveling speed calculation unit; and a provision unit configured to provide the recommended traveling speed calculated by the recommended traveling speed calculation unit to a target vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program for providing a recommended traveling speed to a target vehicle, the computer program, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
acquiring, via a communication network, pieces of probe information from probe vehicles traveling on a road, each piece of probe information including information of a time within a predetermined time period and a position of the corresponding probe vehicle at the time;
executing a first calculation process to calculate a representative traveling speed that is a representative value of traveling speeds of the probe vehicles, based on the acquired pieces of probe information;
executing a second calculation process to calculate a recommended traveling speed, based on the calculated representative traveling speed; and
providing, via the communication network, the calculated recommended traveling speed to the target vehicle.

2. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the first calculation process includes calculating the representative traveling speed, based on the probe information including information of positions within an area around a merging point at which a plurality of lanes merge, among the acquired pieces of probe information.

3. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the first calculation process includes calculating the representative traveling speed, for each of zones of a road on which the probe vehicles travel, based on the probe information including information of positions included in the zone; and
the second calculation process includes calculating the recommended traveling speed for each zone, based on the representative traveling speed calculated for each zone in the first calculation process.

4. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 3 , wherein
the first calculation process includes calculating the representative traveling speed for each of the zones, based on the acquired pieces of probe information, excluding pieces of probe information of the probe vehicles traveling on a merging lane that merges with a main lane.

5. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the first calculation process includes calculating the representative traveling speed for each of courses on which the probe vehicles travel, based on the probe information including information of positions included in the course, and
the second calculation process includes calculating the recommended traveling speed for each course, based on the representative traveling speed calculated for each course in the first calculation process.

6. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the first calculation process includes calculating the representative traveling speed by preferentially using the probe information acquired from a vehicle whose traveling lane can be identified, among the acquired pieces of probe information.

7. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the first calculation process includes, in a case where the pieces of probe information are not acquired from the probe vehicles not less than a predetermined number-of-vehicle threshold within the predetermined time interval, outputting, as a calculation result, a representative traveling speed that has been calculated based on probe information acquired before the predetermined time period.

8. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein
the second calculation process includes, in a case where the representative traveling speed calculated in the first calculation process is lower than a predetermined lower limit speed value, calculating the lower limit speed value as the recommended traveling speed.

9. A traveling support system for supporting traveling of a target vehicle, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable memory storing a computer program; and
a hardware processor coupled to the non-transitory computer readable memory and configured to perform, in accordance with the computer program, operations comprising:
acquiring, via a communication network, pieces of probe information from probe vehicles traveling on a road, each piece of probe information including information of a time within a predetermined time period and a position of the corresponding probe vehicle at the time;
calculating a representative traveling speed that is a representative value of traveling speeds of the probe vehicles, based on the acquired pieces of probe information;
calculating a recommended traveling speed, based on the calculated representative traveling speed; and
providing, via the communication network, the calculated recommended traveling speed to the target vehicle.

10. The traveling support system according to claim 9 , further comprising a target vehicle configured to acquire the recommended traveling speed provided from the hardware processor, and to control a traveling speed thereof in accordance with the recommended traveling speed.

11. A vehicle control device for controlling traveling of an automatic traveling vehicle, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable memory storing a computer program; and
a hardware processor coupled to the non-transitory computer readable memory and configured to perform, in accordance with the computer program, operations comprising:
acquiring, from a server in communication with the processor via a communication network, a recommended traveling speed calculated based on a representative traveling speed that is a representative value of traveling speeds of probe vehicles traveling on a road, the representative traveling speed being based on pieces of probe information generated by the probe vehicles, each piece of probe information including information of a time within a predetermined time period and a position of the corresponding probe vehicle at the time; and
automatically controlling a traveling speed of the automatic traveling vehicle, based on the acquired recommended traveling speed.

12. An automatic traveling vehicle including the vehicle control device according to claim 11 .

Assignees

• Sumitomo Electric Industries
• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yamada Hiroyuki
• Tanada Shoichi
• Nishimura Shigeki
• Tokunaga Masataka
• Konishi Hitoshi

Classifications

• B60T7/12 Primary

  for automatic initiation; for initiation not subject to will of driver or passenger {(limiting speed of vehicles other than rail vehicles B60K31/00)} · CPC title

• G08G1/0145 Primary

  for active traffic flow control · CPC title

• B60T7/18

  operated by wayside apparatus · CPC title

• B60T2210/36

  Global Positioning System [GPS] · CPC title

• G08G1/0112

  from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD] · CPC title