Vehicle control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11900812-B2
Application number	US-202117562759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2021
Priority date	Nov 9, 2017
Publication date	Feb 13, 2024
Grant date	Feb 13, 2024

Abstract

A vehicle control device includes an external situation recognition unit configured to recognize a crossing person who crosses over a path of a vehicle and acquire information on the crossing person and information on an environment where the crossing person crosses, a scheduled departure time deciding unit configured to decide a scheduled departure time of the vehicle based on the information on the crossing person and the environment where the crossing person crosses when the crossing person is recognized by the external situation recognition unit, and an informing controller configured to perform a control to inform an outside of the vehicle of the scheduled departure time. The scheduled departure time deciding unit predicts a crossing completion time at which the crossing person recognized by the external situation recognition unit completes the crossing and decides the scheduled departure time based on the crossing completion time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control device comprising:
a processor configured to:
generate a traveling plan of a vehicle;
recognize a crossing person who crosses over a path of a vehicle that is obtained from the traveling plan;
acquire, from an external sensor, information of the crossing person including a speed of the crossing person;
predict a crossing completion time at which the crossing person completes the crossing based on the speed of the crossing person;
decide a scheduled departure time of the vehicle based on the crossing completion time; and
perform a control to inform an outside of the vehicle, in a manner recognized by the crossing person, of the scheduled departure time, wherein the scheduled departure time is a dynamically changing countdown showing a remaining time from a current time to a time the vehicle departs,

wherein, when the crossing person is not recognized, not perform the control to inform the outside of the vehicle of the scheduled departure time.

2. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted in a vehicle and cause the one or more processors to perform functions, the functions comprising:
generating a traveling plan of the vehicle;
recognizing a crossing person who crosses over a path of a vehicle that is obtained from the traveling plan;
acquiring, from an external sensor, information of the crossing person including a speed of the crossing person;
predicting a crossing completion time at which the crossing person completes the crossing based on the speed of the crossing person;
deciding a scheduled departure time of the vehicle based on the crossing completion time; and
performing a control of informing an outside of the vehicle, in a manner recognized by the crossing person, of the scheduled departure time, wherein the scheduled departure time is a dynamically changing countdown showing a remaining time from a current time to a time the vehicle departs,
wherein, when no crossing person is recognized, the informing to the outside of the vehicle of the scheduled departure time is not performed.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
recognize a traffic signal on a road around the path of the vehicle; and
acquire a signal switching time until a signal of the traffic signal switches,
wherein when a traffic signal is recognized, a signal switching time is acquired, and when the signal switching time is longer than the crossing completion time, decide the scheduled departure time based on the signal switching time.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to inform the crossing person of the scheduled departure time by displaying a visual display in a direction of the crossing person.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor causes a display of the informing of the scheduled departure time on a road surface between the vehicle and the crossing person.

6. A control method of informing an outside of a vehicle, executed by one or more processors of an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted in the vehicle, comprising:
generating, using the ECU, a traveling plan of the vehicle;
recognizing, using the ECU, a crossing person who crosses over a path of a vehicle that is obtained from the traveling plan;
acquiring, from an external sensor, information of the crossing person including a speed of the crossing person;
predicting, using the ECU, a crossing completion time at which the crossing person completes the crossing based on the speed of the crossing person;
deciding, using the ECU, a scheduled departure time of the vehicle based on the crossing completion time; and
performing, using the ECU, a control of informing an outside of the vehicle, in a manner recognized by the crossing person, of the scheduled departure time, wherein the scheduled departure time is a dynamically changing countdown showing a remaining time from a current time to a time the vehicle departs,
wherein, when no crossing person is recognized, the informing to the outside of the vehicle of the scheduled departure time is not performed.

7. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 2 , the functions further comprising:
recognizing, using the ECU, a traffic signal on a road around the path of the vehicle; and
acquiring, using the ECU, a signal switching time until a signal of the traffic signal switches,
wherein when a traffic signal is recognized, acquiring a signal switching time, and when the signal switching time is longer than the crossing completion time, deciding the scheduled departure time based on the signal switching time.

8. The control method according to claim 6 , further comprising:
recognizing, using the ECU, a traffic signal on a road around the path of the vehicle; and
acquiring, using the ECU, a signal switching time until a signal of the traffic signal switches,
wherein when a traffic signal is recognized, acquiring a signal switching time, and when the signal switching time is longer than the crossing completion time, deciding the scheduled departure time based on the signal switching time.

9. The control method according to claim 6 , wherein the performing the control of informing the crossing person of the scheduled departure time includes displaying a visual display in a direction of the crossing person.

10. The control method according to claim 6 , wherein the performing the control of informing the crossing person includes displaying the scheduled departure time on a road surface between the vehicle and the crossing person.

11. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the performing the control of informing the crossing person of the scheduled departure time includes displaying a visual display in a direction of the crossing person.

12. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 2 , wherein the performing the control of informing the crossing person includes displaying the scheduled departure time on a road surface between the vehicle and the crossing person.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Morimura Junichi
• Watanabe Junya
• Arakawa Seiji

Classifications

• G08G1/166 Primary

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title

• G08G1/0125

  Traffic data processing · CPC title

• G08G1/0137

  for specific applications · CPC title

• G08G1/096716

  where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control · CPC title

• G05D2201/0213

  Physics · mapped topic