Travel control device and travel control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9446766-B2
Application number	US-201314764501-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2013
Priority date	Feb 1, 2013
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

A travel control device includes a target vehicle-speed calculation unit that includes a target vehicle-speed pattern adjustment processing unit generating a target vehicle-speed pattern based on a route passing speed pattern which is a passing vehicle-speed pattern within a certain distance generated in consideration of traffic congestion information. The travel control device also includes an evaluation value calculation unit calculating an evaluation value based on a horizon length and the target vehicle-speed pattern. The horizon length representing the time taken until a vehicle arrives at an ultimate point generated in consideration of information on prospective traffic congestion which can occur in the future.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A travel control device comprising:
a target vehicle-speed calculation unit that includes a target vehicle-speed pattern adjustment processing unit generating a target vehicle-speed pattern based on a route passing speed pattern which is a passing vehicle-speed pattern within a certain distance generated in consideration of traffic congestion information, and an evaluation value calculation unit calculating an evaluation value based on a horizon length and the target vehicle-speed pattern, the horizon length representing the time taken until a vehicle arrives at an ultimate point generated in consideration of information on prospective traffic congestion which can occur in the future; and
a target control volume computation unit that calculates control volume of controlling the vehicle based on the evaluation value.

2. The travel control device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a vehicle movement calculation unit that calculates vehicle movement based on the target vehicle-speed pattern,
wherein the evaluation value calculation unit includes an energy consumption evaluation value calculation processing unit which calculates an energy consumption evaluation value based on the target vehicle-speed pattern and the vehicle movement, and the evaluation value is calculated by using the energy consumption evaluation value.

3. The travel control device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the evaluation value calculation unit includes
a riding comfort evaluation value calculation processing unit which calculates a riding comfort evaluation value based on the vehicle movement, and
a safety evaluation value calculation processing unit which calculates a safety evaluation value based on the target vehicle-speed pattern and the vehicle movement, and

wherein the evaluation value is calculated based on the horizon length, the energy consumption evaluation value, the riding comfort evaluation value, and the safety evaluation value.

4. The travel control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the target control volume computation unit includes
a target acceleration calculation processing unit which calculates target acceleration based on an input next point target vehicle-speed,
a target torque calculation processing unit which calculates target torque based on the target acceleration,
a throttle-opening calculation processing unit which calculates throttle-opening based on the target torque, and
a brake fluid pressure calculation processing unit which calculates brake fluid pressure based on the target torque.

5. The travel control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the traffic congestion information includes a current mean section-transit time and a past mean section-transit time,
wherein the mean section-transit time is a mean transit time of the vehicle in one section which is acquired by dividing a predetermined route from a departure point to the ultimate destination point into multiple sections, and
wherein the past mean section-transit time is a history of the mean transit time in a certain time zone.

6. A travel control system comprising:
an information processing apparatus that includes a shortest route calculation processing unit predicting prospective traffic congestion information based on an input route of a vehicle and current traffic congestion information and calculating optimal routes for all vehicles so as to minimize the energy consumption and arrival times at destinations of all the vehicles which pass through a prospective traffic congestion occurrence section based on the prospective traffic congestion information, a horizon length calculation processing unit calculating a horizon length which represents the time taken until the vehicle arrives at an ultimate point generated in consideration of the prospective traffic congestion information which can occur in the future based on the optimal route, and a route passing vehicle-speed calculation processing unit calculating a route passing vehicle-speed pattern based on the optimal route and the horizon length in a case of passing through a predetermined route; and
a travel control device that includes a target vehicle-speed calculation unit having a target vehicle-speed pattern adjustment processing unit which generates a target vehicle-speed pattern based on the route passing speed pattern and an evaluation value calculation unit which calculates an evaluation value based on the horizon length and the target vehicle-speed pattern, and a target control volume computation unit calculating control volume for controlling the vehicle based on the evaluation value.

7. The travel control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the horizon length calculation processing unit calculates the horizon length based on the optimal route and the route passing vehicle-speed pattern, and
wherein the route passing vehicle-speed calculation processing unit calculates the route passing vehicle-speed pattern based on the optimal route and the horizon length.

8. The travel control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the information processing apparatus includes a route reception processing unit which acquires estimated departure times, destinations, and routes leading to the destinations input from multiple vehicles.

9. The travel control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the information processing apparatus includes
a route reception database which stores the estimated departure times, the destinations, and the routes leading to the destinations input from the multiple vehicles,
a route database which holds the optimal route for the vehicle to travel and the prospective traffic congestion information,
a traffic congestion database which holds the current traffic congestion information in multiple road sections,
a passing vehicle-speed database which holds the route passing vehicle-speed pattern for each route through which the vehicle travels, and
a horizon length database which holds the horizon length.

10. The travel control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the shortest route calculation processing unit includes
an inflow ratio per hour prediction processing unit which predicts an inflow ratio of the vehicles per hour for each section based on the input routes of the multiple vehicles and the current traffic congestion information,
an inflow per hour calculation processing unit which calculates an inflow of the vehicles per hour based on the inflow ratio per hour,
a prospective mean section-transit time calculation processing unit which calculates a prospective mean section-transit time for each section based on the inflow of the vehicles and the current traffic congestion information,
a total consumption energy calculation processing unit which calculates total consumption energy based on the prospective mean section-transit time and the route,
an inflow ratio evaluation processing unit which calculates the evaluation value of the inflow ratio based on the prospective mean section-transit time and the total consumption energy,
an inflow ratio per hour extraction processing unit which extracts the inflow ratio per hour in which the evaluation value of the inflow ratio becomes the least, and
a route allocation processing unit which sets allocation of the optimal route with respect to each of the vehicles based on the extracted inflow ratio per hour.

11. The travel control system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the traffic congestion information includes a current mean section-transit time and a past mean section-transit time,
wherein the mean section-transit time is a mean transit time of the vehicle in one section which is acquired by dividing a predetermined route from

Assignees

• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Tanaka Yuya
• Tanimichi Taisetsu

Classifications

• G01C21/3492

  employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• B60W2554/00

  Input parameters relating to objects · CPC title

• B60W10/188

  hydraulic brakes · CPC title

• G01C21/3469

  Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects · CPC title

• B60W2720/103

  Speed profile · CPC title