Autonomous driving assistance system, autonomous driving assistance method, and computer program
Autonomous driving assistance systems, methods, and programs obtain road information that specifies line types of lane markings and connection types of lanes and specify, when a vehicle travels with autonomous driving assistance, a planned route to be taken by the vehicle based on the road information. The systems, methods, and programs execute the autonomous driving assistance for the vehicle according to the specified planned route.
1. An autonomous driving assistance system for a vehicle, comprising:
a processor programmed to:
access map information stored in a database;
obtain road information that specifies line types of lane markings and connection types of lanes from the accessed map information;
based on the obtained road information, determine whether a single route can be specified as a route that is to be taken by the vehicle, the determination being made based on a presumption that the vehicle travels without changing lanes;
when the vehicle travels with autonomous driving assistance:
if the single route can be specified, specify the single route as a planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
if the single route cannot be specified, specify a route along a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling as the planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
execute the autonomous driving assistance for the vehicle according to the specified planned route.
2. The autonomous driving assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
if there is a branch point ahead in a direction in which the vehicle is traveling, determine if the single route can be specified, based on the road information, as a route to be taken by the vehicle.
3. The autonomous driving assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the road information about the line types of lane markings includes information about a lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road; and
the road information about the connection types of lanes includes information specifying that each lane is “add,” “continue,” “end,” “divide,” or “merge.”
4. The autonomous driving assistance system according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
if there is at the branch point the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road and, as the information about the connection types of lanes, add has been set for a lane next to the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road, and, as the information about the connection types of lanes, add has been set for every lane located either on the right or on the left of the lane for which add has been set, determine that a lane in which the vehicle is traveling does not branch at the branch point and another lane is added at the branch point, and determine that the single route can be specified as a route to be taken by the vehicle.
5. The autonomous driving assistance system according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
specify a lane in which the vehicle is traveling; and
if there is at the branch point the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road and, as the information about the connection types of lanes, add has been set for a lane next to the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road, and, as the information about the connection types of lanes, add has been set for a single lane located on the right or on the left of the lane for which add has been set, and a lane in which the vehicle is traveling has been specified, and as the information about the connection types of lanes, continue has been set for the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, determine that the lane in which the vehicle is traveling does not divide but branches at the branch point, and determine that the single route can be specified as a route to be taken by the vehicle.
6. The autonomous driving assistance system according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is programmed to:
specify a lane in which the vehicle is traveling; and
if there is at the branch point the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road and, as the information about the connection types of lanes, information other than add has been set for a lane next to the lane marking indicating start of merging or an end of branching of a road, and t a lane in which the vehicle is traveling has been specified, and as the information about the connection types of lanes, continue has been set for the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, determine that the lane in which the vehicle is traveling does not divide but branches at the branch point, and determine that the single route can be specified as a route to be taken by the vehicle.
7. An autonomous driving assistance method for a vehicle, comprising the steps of:
accessing map information stored in a database;
obtaining road information that specifies line types of lane markings and connection types of lanes from the accessed map information;
based on the obtained road information, determining whether a single route can be specified as a route that is to be taken by the vehicle, the determination being made based on a presumption that the vehicle travels without changing lanes;
when the vehicle travels with autonomous driving assistance:
if the single route can be specified, specifying the single route as a planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
if the single route cannot be specified, specifying a route along a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling as the planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
executing the autonomous driving assistance for the vehicle according to the specified planned route.
8. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executable autonomous driving assistance program for a vehicle that causes a computer to perform the following functions:
accessing map information stored in a database;
obtaining road information that specifies line types of lane markings and connection types of lanes from the accessed map information;
based on the obtained road information, determining whether a single route can be specified as a route that is to be taken by the vehicle, the determination being made based on a presumption that the vehicle travels without changing lanes;
when the vehicle travels with autonomous driving assistance:
if the single route can be specified, specifying the single route as a planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
if the single route cannot be specified, specifying a route along a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling as the planned route to be taken by the vehicle; and
executing the autonomous driving assistance for the vehicle according to the specified planned route.