Cleaning control device, cleaning control method, and cleaning control program
A cleaning control device is configured to control a cleaning system of a vehicle equipped with (i) an optical sensor configured to acquire an outside light image according to intensity of outside light while light irradiation for sensing reflected light is stopped, (ii) a sensing camera configured to acquire a camera image according to the intensity of the outside light, and (iii) the cleaning system configured to clean an incident surface on which light is incident from sensing areas of the optical sensor and the sensing camera overlapping with each other. The cleaning control device includes an extraction unit configured to extract an unmatched pixel group by comparing the outside light image with the camera image, and a control unit configured to instruct the cleaning system to perform cleaning control to remove dirt from the incident surface, the dirt being estimated to correspond to the unmatched pixel group.
1 . A cleaning control device configured to control a cleaning system of a vehicle equipped with (i) an optical sensor configured to acquire an outside light image according to intensity of outside light while light irradiation for sensing reflected light is stopped, (ii) a sensing camera configured to acquire a camera image according to the intensity of the outside light, and (iii) the cleaning system configured to clean an incident surface on which light is incident from sensing areas of the optical sensor and the sensing camera overlapping with each other, the cleaning control device comprising:
an extraction unit configured to extract an unmatched pixel group by comparing the outside light image with the camera image; and
a control unit configured to instruct the cleaning system to perform cleaning control to remove dirt from the incident surface, the dirt being estimated to correspond to the unmatched pixel group,
wherein
the optical sensor includes a light emitting element and an imaging element, and the optical sensor is configured to acquire optical information usable in an automated driving mode of the vehicle, and
during a period in which light irradiation from the light emitting element is stopped, the optical sensor acquires, using the imaging element, an outside light image corresponding to intensity of outside light from outside the vehicle, the outside light image not including the reflected light from the light emitting element,
wherein
the extraction unit is configured to perform edge detection on both the outside light image and the camera image, and to compare, in a comparison of, the detected edges in the outside light image with the detected edges in the camera image, and to extract as the unmatched pixel group an unmatched edge pixel group identified based on the comparison.
2 . The cleaning control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the extraction unit is configured to compare the outside light image with the camera image after interpolating a higher-resolution one of the outside light image and the camera image to a lower-resolution one of the outside light image and the camera image.
3 . The cleaning control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit is configured to instruct the cleaning system of the vehicle in an automated driving mode to perform the cleaning control.