Autonomous driving system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11623646-B2
Application number	US-202117240324-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2021
Priority date	Nov 15, 2017
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

An autonomous driving system includes a lane change control device that performs lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of a vehicle. The lane change control device is configured to: determine, from start to completion of the lane change control, whether or not a driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control; when the abort request operation is performed, determine whether or not an abort permission condition is satisfied; when the abort permission condition is not satisfied, continue the lane change control; and, when the abort permission condition is satisfied, abort the lane change control and make the vehicle travel in the first lane. The lane change control device changes ease of satisfaction of the abort permission condition depending on the situation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous driving system mounted on a vehicle and comprising:
an electronic control unit (ECU) including a processor programmed to perform lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of the vehicle; and
a sensor that detects a driver's operation by a driver of the vehicle, wherein:
the processor is further programmed to perform:
abort request detection processing that, from start to completion of the lane change control, determines whether or not the driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control;
condition determination processing that, when the abort request operation is performed, determines whether or not an abort permission condition is satisfied; and
return control that aborts the lane change control and makes the vehicle return from the second lane to the first lane, when the abort request operation is performed after the vehicle overlaps the second lane and when the abort permission condition is satisfied, and
the processor is further programmed to variably set at least one of a return path and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle in the return control according to a type of the abort request operation.

2. The autonomous driving system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the processor variably sets the return path of the vehicle in the return control, according to the type of the abort request operation.

3. The autonomous driving system according to claim 2 , further comprising a turn signal lever and a steering wheel, wherein:
the processor is further programmed to set the return path when the turn signal lever is used for the abort request operation to be shorter than the return path when the steering wheel is used for the abort request operation.

4. The autonomous driving system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the processor variably sets the acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle in the return control according to the type of the abort request operation.

5. The autonomous driving system according to claim 4 , further comprising a turn signal lever and a steering wheel, wherein:
the processor is further programmed to set the acceleration/deceleration when the turn signal lever is used for the abort request operation to be higher than the acceleration/deceleration when the steering wheel is used for the abort request operation.

6. A method performed by an electronic control unit (ECU) including a processor programmed to perform lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of a vehicle, the method comprising:
performing abort request detection processing that, from start to completion of the lane change control, determines whether or not a driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control;
performing condition determination processing that, when the abort request operation is performed, determines whether or not an abort permission condition is satisfied;
performing return control that aborts the lane change control and makes the vehicle return from the second lane to the first lane, when the abort request operation is performed after the vehicle overlaps the second lane and when the abort permission condition is satisfied; and
variably setting at least one of a return path and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle in the return control according to a type of the abort request operation.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor of an electronic control unit (ECU) programmed to perform lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of a vehicle, cause the processor to perform:
abort request detection processing that, from start to completion of the lane change control, determines whether or not a driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control;
condition determination processing that, when the abort request operation is performed, determines whether or not an abort permission condition is satisfied; and
return control that aborts the lane change control and makes the vehicle return from the second lane to the first lane, when the abort request operation is performed after the vehicle overlaps the second lane and when the abort permission condition is satisfied, and
the one or more instructions further cause the processor to variably set at least one of a return path and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle in the return control according to a type of the abort request operation.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hashimoto Ryuta
• Fukuda Hiroki
• Ito Akira

Classifications

• B60W2554/80

  Spatial relation or speed relative to objects · CPC title

• B60W2554/406

  Traffic density · CPC title

• B60W30/18163 Primary

  Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres · CPC title

• B60W50/12

  Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation · CPC title

• B60W2554/00

  Input parameters relating to objects · CPC title