Vehicle control apparatus and vehicle control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12110012-B2
Application number	US-202217648768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2022
Priority date	Jul 26, 2019
Publication date	Oct 8, 2024
Grant date	Oct 8, 2024

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus is mounted in a subject vehicle provided with a running planning unit configured to calculate one or more candidate routes on which the subject vehicle is to travel. The vehicle control apparatus predicts an action of a prediction target moving body that includes the subject vehicle and at least one moving body present in a vicinity of the subject vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control apparatus mounted in a subject vehicle provided with a running planning unit configured to calculate one or more candidate routes on which the subject vehicle is to travel, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:
an action prediction unit configured to predict an action of a prediction target moving body that includes the subject vehicle and at least one moving body present in a vicinity of the subject vehicle; and
a responsibility determination unit configured to determine responsibility for a potential accident assumed when the subject vehicle travels on a candidate route of the one or more candidate routes based on the action predicted by the action prediction unit, wherein
when the action prediction unit predicts a deviation behavior in which at least either the subject vehicle or a nearby vehicle present in the vicinity of the subject vehicle deviates from a behavior according to a travel control, the action prediction unit predicts the action of the prediction target moving body when the deviation behavior occurs, and the responsibility determination unit determines responsibility for a potential accident when the deviation behavior occurs.

2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the action prediction unit (i) acquires the candidate route calculated by the running planning unit and (ii) predicts the action of the prediction target moving body when a travel control device provided in the subject vehicle causes the subject vehicle to travel on the candidate route.

3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the action prediction unit predicts the action of the prediction target moving body without acquiring the candidate route, and
the responsibility determination unit (i) acquires the candidate route from the running planning unit, (ii) acquires the action of the prediction target moving body predicted by the action prediction unit, and (iii) determines the responsibility based on the candidate route and the action of the prediction target moving body.

4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the running planning unit outputs one candidate route, the responsibility determination unit determines whether the responsibility accrues to the subject vehicle when the subject vehicle travels on the candidate route,
when the responsibility determination unit determines that the responsibility does not accrue to the subject vehicle, the responsibility determination unit determines the candidate route as a route to be adopted in a vehicle control, and
when the responsibility determination unit determines that the responsibility accrues to the subject vehicle, the responsibility determination unit instructs the running planning unit to recalculate the candidate route.

5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when the running planning unit outputs a plurality of candidate routes, the responsibility determination unit determines whether the responsibility accrues to the subject vehicle for each of the plurality of candidate routes when the subject vehicle travels on corresponding one of the plurality of candidate routes, and
when the responsibility determination unit determines that the responsibility accrues to the subject vehicle for some of the plurality of candidate routes, the responsibility determination unit determines one candidate route determined according to a predetermined reference as a route to be adopted in a vehicle control.

6. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the action prediction unit detects failure in a mechanism related to a behavior of the subject vehicle and thereby predicts an occurrence of the deviation behavior of the subject vehicle.

7. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a transmission instruction unit configured to transmit information to the nearby vehicle via wireless communication, wherein
when the action prediction unit detects the failure in the mechanism related to the behavior of the subject vehicle, the transmission instruction unit transmits information indicating the failure in the mechanism related to the behavior of the subject vehicle to the nearby vehicle via wireless communication.

8. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a received information acquisition unit configured to acquire information transmitted from the nearby vehicle via wireless communication, wherein
when the received information acquisition unit acquires information indicating failure in a mechanism related to a behavior of the nearby vehicle, the action prediction unit predicts an occurrence of the deviation behavior of the nearby vehicle.

9. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a received information acquisition unit configured to acquire information transmitted from the nearby vehicle via wireless communication, the information including information on a travel control in the nearby vehicle; and
a behavior recognition unit configured to recognize a behavior of the nearby vehicle using a detection result of a periphery monitoring sensor provided in the subject vehicle, wherein
when there is the nearby vehicle whose divergence between a behavior according to the travel control indicated by the information acquired by the received information acquisition unit and the behavior recognized by the behavior recognition unit is equal to or greater than a specified value, the action prediction unit predicts an occurrence of the deviation behavior of the nearby vehicle.

10. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a transmission instruction unit configured to output an instruction to transmit information to the nearby vehicle via wireless communication, wherein
when the action prediction unit predicts the occurrence of the deviation behavior of the nearby vehicle, the transmission instruction unit outputs an instruction to transmit information indicating that the occurrence of the deviation behavior of the nearby vehicle to the nearby vehicle via wireless communication.

11. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a received information acquisition unit configured to acquire information transmitted from the nearby vehicle via wireless communication, wherein
when the received information acquisition unit acquires information indicating that an occurrence of a deviation behavior of another vehicle that is present in the vicinity of the subject vehicle and other than the nearby vehicle, the action prediction unit predicts the occurrence of the deviation behavior of another vehicle.

12. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a road condition determination unit configured to successively determine a road condition of a road on which the vehicle is traveling; and
a braking ability estimation unit configured to successively estimate a braking ability which is an ability to stop the subject vehicle based on the road condition determined by the road condition determination unit, wherein
the action prediction unit predicts the action of the prediction target moving body based on the braking ability estimated by the braking ability estimation unit.

13. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a characteristic updating unit mounted in the subject vehicle and configured to successively update a characteristic of a factor changing over time among brake influencing factors that have an influence on a braking ability that is an ability to stop the sub

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Maeda Yu
• Baba Atsushi

Classifications

• B60W2720/12

  Lateral speed · CPC title

• B60W2720/10

  Longitudinal speed · CPC title

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W50/0205

  Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models · CPC title

• B60W40/02

  related to ambient conditions · CPC title