JP7453850B2 - Parking support device and parking support method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a parking assistance device and a parking assistance method.

2. Description of the Related Art Patent Document 1 is known as a technique for reducing the number of times of forward and reverse driving when parallel parking a vehicle. The abstract of Patent Document 1 includes the following description. ``When the parking angle of own vehicle A at the turning start position is corrected to the target parking angle by turning back based on the parking space length F detected in the parking space detection process, the own vehicle in the depth direction of parking space D Depth adjustment processing that changes the position of own vehicle A in the depth direction of parking space D at the turning start position so that the position of A matches the target parking position, and rotation that changes the parking angle of own vehicle A at the turning start position. Perform correction processing.”

JP2013-193526A

The technology of Patent Document 1 is designed to reduce the number of turns as much as possible when it is necessary to repeatedly drive backward and forward (hereinafter referred to as "turnback") to park at a target parking position at a target parking angle. This method generates fewer routes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a parking support device and a parking support method capable of supporting a reduction in the number of driving operations for switching between forward and reverse directions without increasing the burden on an occupant through simple driving operations.

One aspect of the present invention includes a position detection unit that detects the current position of a vehicle, a camera that photographs the surroundings of the vehicle, a parking position acquisition unit that acquires a parking position where the vehicle is parked, the current position, and a parking route calculation unit that calculates a parking route for the vehicle to move to the parking position using each of a plurality of virtual positions different from the current position as a start position of movement; and a parking route calculated by the parking route calculation unit. A parking route selection unit that selects a parking route that requires the least number of driving operations to switch the vehicle from forward to reverse or from reverse to forward among the routes, and a parking route selected by the parking route selection unit that includes the plurality of parking routes If the starting position of each of the virtual positions is one of the starting positions of the virtual positions of an output unit that causes a display unit to display guidance for an occupant in which a mark indicating a starting position of the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit is superimposed , and the plurality of virtual positions are set without changing the steering angle. is a position that can be reached from the current position by moving the vehicle forward or backward, and if there are two or more parking routes with the least number of driving operations, the parking route selection unit selects a parking route from the current position to the starting position. This parking assist device is characterized in that it selects the parking route with the shortest distance .

The present invention can help reduce the number of driving operations required to switch between forward and reverse without increasing the burden on the occupants as much as possible.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle equipped with a parking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the installation aspect of a sonar and a camera. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the positional relationship between a vehicle and a parking section at the time of starting parking assistance. It is a flowchart of parking support processing. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a current position and a virtual position used as a starting position of a parking route. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a difference in the number of times of switching due to a difference in starting position. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a starting position guidance display. It is an explanatory view of a virtual position concerning a modification of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle 1 equipped with a parking assist device 100 according to the present embodiment.
The vehicle 1 includes a surrounding detection sensor section 10, a vehicle sensor section 20, a navigation device 30, and a parking assist device 100, which can communicate data through an in-vehicle network 5 such as a CAN (Controller Area Network) bus. It is connected.

The surroundings detection sensor section 10 includes various sensors for detecting information around the vehicle 1 and outputs surrounding information acquired through detection to the parking assist device 100. Hereinafter, surrounding information will be referred to as "surrounding information."
The surrounding information includes information on objects that exist around the vehicle 1, and the objects are, for example, obstacles, lane lines that demarcate the driving path of the vehicle 1, the parking lot Q, and the like. Obstacles are various objects that impede the running of the vehicle 1. Typical examples of obstacles include pillars, walls, structures such as fire hydrants, other parked or running vehicles, and passersby.

The surrounding detection sensor section 10 of this embodiment includes a sonar 10A and a camera 10B.
The sonar 10A is a distance sensor that detects surrounding obstacles using sound waves and measures the distance between the obstacles and the vehicle 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle 1 of this embodiment has sonar 10A arranged on each of the left and right sides. Thereby, obstacles in the respective sensing ranges R on the right side and the left side when viewed from the vehicle 1 are detected by each sonar 10A. Further, the sonar 10A of this embodiment has a sensing range R formed in a beam shape, thereby increasing the directivity to the side of the vehicle 1. Thereby, obstacles on the sides of the vehicle 1 can be detected with higher accuracy.
In addition, the arrangement position, the number of arrangement|positioning, and the sensing range R of sonar 10A in the vehicle 1 can be changed suitably. For example, an appropriate number of sonar units 10A may be arranged at appropriate positions so as to be able to detect all directions (range of 360 degrees) of the vehicle 1. Further, other distance measuring sensors such as radar or lidar may be used in place of the sonar 10A.

The camera 10B is a photographing means for photographing surrounding objects such as the driving route and the lane markings of the parking lot Q.
As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle 1 of this embodiment is provided with cameras 10B at the front, left side, right side, and rear, respectively. These cameras 10B take pictures in all directions around the vehicle 1.
Note that the camera 10B may be one that takes images in all directions. Further, the photographing range of the camera 10B and the number of cameras 10B can be changed as appropriate.

The vehicle sensor unit 20 is mounted on the vehicle 1 and includes various sensors for detecting the running state of the vehicle 1 and various types of information required for autonomous navigation (dead reckoning). Such sensors include, for example, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and a steering angle sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle 1.

The navigation device 30 receives a positioning signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite, and calculates the absolute position (latitude and longitude) of the vehicle 1 based on the received positioning signal. Furthermore, when a destination is input by the occupant of the vehicle 1, the navigation device 30 searches for an optimal guidance route connecting the current location and the destination, taking into account traffic information and the like. The navigation device 30 also includes a display unit 31 including a display, and displays a guide route and various types of guidance on the display unit 31 to notify the occupants of these.

The parking support device 100 is a device that supports driving operations for parking by an occupant.
The parking assistance device 100 includes a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Microprocessor Unit), and a memory device (also called a main memory) such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory). ) and HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and SSD (Solid State Drive) (also called auxiliary storage), an interface circuit for connecting sensors, peripheral devices, etc., and other in-vehicle devices via the in-vehicle network 5. and an in-vehicle network communication circuit that communicates with the computer. As such a computer, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is used.
In the parking assistance device 100, the various functional configurations shown in FIG. 1 are realized by a processor executing a computer program stored in a memory device or a storage device.

That is, the parking assistance device 100 has a functional configuration including a position detection section 110, a surrounding information acquisition section 111, an obstacle detection section 112, a map generation section 113, a parking position acquisition section 114, and a parking route calculation section 115. , a parking route selection section 116 , and an output section 117 .

The position detection unit 110 detects the current position (self-position) of the vehicle 1 based on the detection result of the vehicle sensor unit 20 using a known or well-known dead reckoning method.

The surrounding information acquisition unit 111 obtains surrounding information detected by the surrounding detection sensor unit 10.
Obstacle detection unit 112 detects obstacles around vehicle 1 based on surrounding information.
More specifically, the obstacle detection unit 112 detects surrounding obstacles based on the detection results of the sonar 10A, and detects the position (that is, relative position) of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle 1.
The map generation unit 113 generates map data based on the detection results of the obstacle detection unit 112. The map data is data in which the position of each obstacle is recorded in a local space coordinate system with the current position of the vehicle 1 at an appropriate timing as the origin. In other words, the map data is also data that represents the position of each obstacle using position coordinates in the local spatial coordinate system.

The parking position acquisition unit 114 acquires a parking lot Q (FIG. 3), which is one aspect of the parking position where the vehicle 1 is parked, based on surrounding information.
More specifically, the parking position acquisition unit 114 recognizes the parking lot Q by image recognition of the image taken by the camera 10B. Then, the parking position acquisition unit 114 converts the position of the parking lot Q in the photographed image to the position in the local space coordinate system of the map data by projecting transformation from the two-dimensional coordinate system of the photographed image to the local space coordinate system of the map data. do. This projection transformation can be performed using any known or well-known appropriate technique. Thereby, the position of the parking lot Q in the local coordinate system is acquired.

Note that the parking position is not limited to the parking lot Q. That is, the parking position may be any suitable space that is large enough to park the vehicle 1, and may be, for example, a space between two other parked vehicles 3 (FIG. 3). A space large enough for parking can be identified based on the distribution of obstacles indicated by the map data.

The parking route calculation unit 115 calculates and calculates a parking route based on map data.
The parking route of this embodiment is a route that moves the vehicle 1 from the starting position to the parking lot Q so that the vehicle 1 can park backwards in the parking lot Q without colliding with surrounding obstacles.
Reverse parking refers to entering the vehicle 1 into the parking lot Q by moving backward. Note that moving the vehicle 1 forward into the parking lot Q is referred to as forward parking.
The starting position is the position where the vehicle 1 starts moving for parking. In this embodiment, the current position P (FIG. 5 ) of the vehicle 1 and the virtual position F (FIG. 5 ) that can be reached by moving the vehicle 1 forward from the current position P are used as the starting position.
Then, the parking route calculation unit 115 calculates a parking route for each of these starting positions (current position P and virtual position F).

The parking route selection unit 116 selects the route with the least number of turns from among the parking routes calculated by the parking route calculation unit 115.
Turning is a driving operation in which the vehicle 1 switches between forward and reverse, such as from forward to reverse, or from reverse to forward, in order to change the approach angle of the vehicle 1 into the parking lot Q. Sometimes called a switchback.

The output unit 117 outputs the starting position of the parking route selected by the parking route selecting unit 116 to the navigation device 30, and displays the starting position on the display unit 31, thereby guiding the occupant to the starting position.

Next, in the operation of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the occupant drives the vehicle 1 in the parking lot and places the vehicle 1 near the parking lot Q where other vehicles 3 are parked on both the left and right sides. A case will be described in which the parking assist device 100 supports the driver's driving operation by guiding the driver to the starting position where the number of turns is least when parking the vehicle backwards in the parking lot.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of parking assistance processing executed by the parking assistance device 100.
In the parking assistance device 100, while the movement of the vehicle 1 is detected based on the detection result of the vehicle sensor unit 20 (step S1: No), the obstacle detection unit 112 continues to detect surrounding obstacles based on surrounding information. (Step Sa2), the map generation unit 113 sequentially records map data of the position of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detection unit 112 (Step Sa3), and the parking position acquisition unit 114 Section Q is sequentially detected based on surrounding information (step Sa4).

Next, when the parking assistance device 100 detects that the vehicle 1 has stopped (step Sa1: Yes), first, the parking position acquisition unit 114 acquires the parking position (step Sa5).
Specifically, the parking position acquisition unit 114 selects the nearest parking bay Q in which rear facing parking is possible from among the parking bays Q detected in step Sa4, and acquires the position of the parking bay Q. Note that the configuration is such that the occupant instructs the parking support device 100 to specify a parking lot Q as a parking target by operating an HMI (human machine interface) not shown, and the parking position acquisition unit 114 acquires the position of the parking lot Q. It may be.

Next, the parking route calculation unit 115 calculates a parking route starting from the current position P (step Sa6).
Next, the parking route selection unit 116 determines whether the number of times the vehicle 1 is turned back when moving along the parking route exceeds a predetermined allowable number of times (for example, zero times) (step Sa7).

If the number of turns is less than or equal to the allowable number of times (step Sa7: No), the current position P is appropriate as the starting position of movement for parking, so the parking assistance device 100 ends the process.
On the other hand, if the number of turns exceeds the allowable number of times (step Sa7: Yes), the parking route calculation unit 115 calculates a parking route with each of the plurality of virtual positions F as a starting position (step Sa8).
The virtual position F is a position reached when the vehicle 1 is assumed to be moved forward from the current position P, as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a position reached from the current position P without changing the steering angle is used as the virtual position F. In addition, when calculating the parking route, the parking route calculation unit 115 appropriately sets the interval and number of virtual positions F within a range that is not more than a predetermined distance L (for example, L = 2 meters, etc.) from the target parking lot Q. do.

Next, the parking route selection unit 116 selects the parking route with the least number of turns from among the plurality of parking routes calculated using each of the current position P and the virtual position F as starting positions (step Sa9).
For example, as shown in FIG. 6(A), the parking route calculated from the current position P as the starting position includes one or more turnarounds, whereas as shown in FIG. If the parking route determined as the starting position does not include a turnaround (the number of turns=zero), the parking route whose starting position is the virtual position F is selected.
Note that if there are two or more parking routes with the least number of turns, the parking route selection unit 116 selects the parking route with the shortest distance from the current position P to the starting position.

Next, the output unit 117 determines whether the starting position of the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit 116 is the virtual position F (step Sa10).
If the starting position is not the virtual position F, that is, if the starting position is the current position P (step Sa10: No), the current position P is appropriate as the starting position of movement for parking, so the parking assistance device 100 Processing ends immediately.
On the other hand, if the starting position is the virtual position F (step Sa10: Yes), the output unit 117 outputs this starting position to the display unit 31 to guide the occupant to the starting position where the number of turns is the least ( Step Sa11).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of the guidance display of the starting position.
In order to enable the passenger to accurately and quickly grasp the starting position, the starting position guidance display is typically a display in which the starting position is superimposed on an image taken by the camera 10B.
For example, as shown in display example A, guidance for the starting position is displayed using a mode in which a starting position mark D indicating the starting position is superimposed on an overhead image Ca that is a planar view (overhead view) of the vehicle 1 from above the vehicle 1. will be held. The bird's-eye view image Ca can be generated by combining images taken by the camera 10B of the front, rear, left side, and right side of the vehicle 1.
For example, as shown in display example B, a guide display of the start position is performed using a mode in which a start position mark D is superimposed on a photographed image Cb showing the front of the vehicle 1.

Further, in the guidance display for the starting position, a guidance message E is displayed to urge the occupant to move the vehicle 1 forward. The content of this guidance message E conveys that the number of turns can be reduced by moving the vehicle 1 forward, and allows the occupants to clearly understand the reason for moving the vehicle 1 forward and the effect obtained by doing so. It looks like this.

In addition, in the parking assistance process of FIG. 4, after the vehicle 1 is located at the starting position, the parking assistance device 100 performs steering assistance for the occupant or automatic steering so that the vehicle 1 travels along the parking route. This will assist you with parking. For these steering support and automatic steering, known or well-known appropriate techniques can be used.

According to this embodiment, the following effects are achieved.

The parking support device 100 of this embodiment creates a parking route for the vehicle 1 to move to a parking lot Q (parking position) using the current position P and a virtual position F different from the current position P as movement start positions. A parking route calculation unit 115 that calculates the parking route, a parking route selection unit 116 that selects the parking route with the least number of turns for the vehicle 1 from among the parking routes calculated by the parking route calculation unit 115, and the parking route selection unit 116. and an output unit 117 that outputs the starting position of the parking route selected in .
According to this parking assist device 100, when the number of turns at the virtual position F is smaller than the number of times the vehicle is turned back from the current position P, the virtual position F is outputted from the output unit 117 and notified to the occupant.
Therefore, the occupant can reduce the number of turns without burden by simply moving the vehicle 1 from the current position P to the virtual position F.

In the parking assistance device 100 of the present embodiment, the output unit 117 outputs the number of turns in the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit 116, so it can inform the occupant of the number of turns.
Further, when the starting position of the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit 116 is the virtual position F, the output unit 117 also outputs the number of times the parking route has been turned around with the current position as the starting position, so that the occupant can By moving the vehicle 1 from the current position P to the virtual position F, it is possible to grasp how much the number of turns can be reduced.

In the parking assistance device 100 of this embodiment, if there are two or more parking routes with the least number of turns, the parking route selection unit 116 selects the parking route with the shortest distance from the current position P to the starting position.
Thereby, it is possible to select a parking route that requires less burden on driving operations among the parking routes with the least number of turns.

In the parking assistance device 100 of this embodiment, the virtual position F is a position that can be reached from the current position P by moving the vehicle 1 forward.
As a result, a position that is easy to move from the current position P is used as the virtual position F, so that the vehicle 1 can be roughly moved to the virtual position F regardless of the level of driving skill of the occupant. The burden of driving operations on the occupant when moving the vehicle 1 can also be reduced.

Note that the above-described embodiment is merely an example of one aspect of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily modified and applied without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, an example of reverse parking has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to forward parking.

Further, for example, the virtual position F is not a position that can be reached from the current position P by moving the vehicle 1 forward as shown in FIG. It may be set at any position. In this case, if the virtual position F becomes the starting position, the vehicle 1 first moves backward from the current position P to the virtual position F, and then moves to the parking lot Q.
Note that the virtual position F may be a position that can be reached by going backwards without changing the steering angle, so that the virtual position F can be moved to the virtual position F with a simple driving operation.

For example, the parking route may be a route in which the vehicle 1 is moved from the starting position to the parking lot Q (parking position) so as to park facing forward in the parking lot Q (parking position), as shown in FIG.

The functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 are schematic diagrams showing the components of the vehicle 1 and the parking assist device 100 classified according to the main processing contents in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. can be further classified into more components depending on the processing content. It is also possible to classify one component so that it performs more processes.

Further, the processing of each component of the parking assist device 100 may be executed by one piece of hardware or may be executed by a plurality of pieces of hardware. Moreover, the processing of each component may be realized by one program, or may be realized by multiple programs.

1 Vehicle 100 Parking support device 110 Position detection unit 114 Parking position acquisition unit 115 Parking route calculation unit 116 Parking route selection unit 117 Output unit Ca Overhead image Cb Photographed image D Start position mark F Virtual position P Current position Q Parking section (parking position )

Claims (3)

a position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle;
a camera that photographs the surroundings of the vehicle;
a parking position acquisition unit that acquires a parking position at which the vehicle is to be parked;
a parking route calculation unit that calculates a parking route for the vehicle to move to the parking position using the current position and each of a plurality of virtual positions different from the current position as movement start positions;
a parking route selection unit that selects a parking route that requires the least number of driving operations to switch the vehicle from forward to reverse or from reverse to forward among the parking routes calculated by the parking route calculation unit;
If the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit is one of the starting positions of each of the plurality of virtual positions, an overhead image generated by combining images taken by the cameras, or an output unit that causes a display unit to display guidance for an occupant in which a mark indicating a starting position of the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit is superimposed on an image taken of the front of the vehicle or the rear of the vehicle ;
Equipped with
The plurality of virtual positions are
a position that can be reached from the current position by moving the vehicle forward or backward without changing the steering angle;
The parking route selection section includes:
If there are two or more parking routes with the least number of driving operations, selecting the parking route with the shortest distance from the current position to the starting position;
A parking assist device characterized by: The output section is
The parking assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the parking assistance device outputs the number of driving operations in the parking route selected by the parking route selection unit. The computer installed in the vehicle
A first step of detecting the current position of the vehicle;
a second step of photographing the surroundings of the vehicle with a camera;
a third step of obtaining a parking position where the vehicle is to be parked;
a fourth step of calculating a parking route for the vehicle to move to the parking position using the current position and each of a plurality of virtual positions different from the current position as movement start positions;
A fifth step of selecting a parking route that requires the least number of driving operations to switch the vehicle from forward to reverse or from reverse to forward among the parking routes calculated in the fourth step;
If the parking route selected in the fifth step is one of the starting positions of each of the plurality of virtual positions, an overhead image generated by combining images taken by the cameras, or a sixth step of displaying, on a display unit, guidance for the occupant in which a mark indicating the starting position of the parking route selected in the fifth step is superimposed on an image taken of the front of the vehicle or the rear of the vehicle ;
The plurality of virtual positions are
a position that can be reached from the current position by moving the vehicle forward or backward without changing the steering angle;
The fifth step is
If there are two or more parking routes with the least number of driving operations, selecting the parking route with the shortest distance from the current position to the starting position;
A parking assistance method characterized by:

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