Vehicle controller device and vehicle control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11760389-B2
Application number	US-202016907608-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2020
Priority date	Jul 16, 2019
Publication date	Sep 19, 2023
Grant date	Sep 19, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle controller device including: a communication section configured to perform communication between an operation device external to a vehicle and another vehicle; a memory; and a processor that is coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: acquire peripheral information regarding a periphery of the vehicle from a peripheral information detection section, generate a travel plan for the vehicle based on the peripheral information of the vehicle, acquire operation information to operate the vehicle from the operation device, control autonomous driving in which the vehicle travels based on the generated travel plan and also control remote driving in which the vehicle travels based on the acquired operation information, acquire peripheral information from the other vehicle in a case in which the processor is unable to acquire peripheral information, and hand over operation authority to the operation device when peripheral information is being acquired by the processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle controller device comprising:
a communication interface configured to perform communication between an operation device external to a vehicle and another vehicle;
a memory; and
a processor that is coupled to the memory,
the processor being configured to:
acquire peripheral information regarding a periphery of the vehicle from a peripheral information detection section,
generate a travel plan for the vehicle based on the peripheral information of the vehicle,
acquire operation information to operate the vehicle from the operation device,
control autonomous driving in which the vehicle travels based on the generated travel plan and also control remote driving in which the vehicle travels based on the acquired operation information,
acquire second peripheral information from the another vehicle in a case in which the processor is unable to acquire the peripheral information from the peripheral information detection section, and
hand over operation authority to the operation device when the second peripheral information is being acquired by the processor, wherein:

in a case in which the processor has become unable to acquire the peripheral information from the peripheral information detection section, the processor automatically transmits, via the communication interface, (i) a request to the another vehicle to acquire the second peripheral information and (ii) another request to the operation device to hand over the operation authority, the another request to the operation device indicating that the vehicle is unable to acquire the peripheral information from the peripheral information detection section and thereby requesting to hand over the operation authority to the operation device,
the processor switches from the autonomous driving to the remote driving in a case in which the operation authority has been handed over to the operation device and remote driving preparation by the operation device has been completed, and, until the remote driving preparation is completed, the processor continues the autonomous driving based on the second peripheral information acquired from the another vehicle instead of the peripheral information acquired from the peripheral information detection section,
the processor determines that the remote driving preparation is completed when a remote driver has sat down at the operation device or the remote driver has operated a preparation complete button provided at the operation device, and
the processor is configured to acquire additional second peripheral information from a monitoring camera provided at a facility at the periphery of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle controller device of claim 1 , wherein the communication interface is further configured to receive the operation information from the operation device via the another vehicle, and
wherein the processor is configured to control the remote driving in which the vehicle travels based on the operation information received from the operation device via the another vehicle.

3. A vehicle control system comprising:
the vehicle controller device of claim 1 ;
the operation device;
the vehicle, installed with the vehicle controller device; and
the another vehicle being one or more vehicles with autonomous driving capability.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsushita Makoto
• Hanawa Atsushi
• Nakagawa Yasuki
• Yokota Yusuke
• Kuriyama Tomoyuki
• Sugimura Tae

Classifications

• B60W60/005 Primary

  Handover processes (Handing over between remote control and on-board control or handing over between remote control arrangements G05D1/227) · CPC title

• B60W60/0015

  specially adapted for safety · CPC title

• B60W60/0059

  Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity · CPC title

• G08G1/22

  Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles · CPC title

• G01C21/3407

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title