Granted Patent B2

US 12,397,782 · App. 17/948,786 · Granted Aug 26, 2025

Inventors: Toshimasa Takagi (Kanagawa, JP); Takeo Tomida (Kanagawa, JP); Yoshimasa Okabe (Kanagawa, JP)

Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.

B60W30/09B60W40/12B60W2420/408B60W2420/54B60W2554/20B60W2554/80

Abstract

Claims (63)

1. A vehicle control device mountable on a vehicle, the vehicle control device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle control device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

acquiring detection information obtained by detecting an obstacle around the vehicle;

performing collision determination of evaluating a possibility of collision with the obstacle;

generating, based on the detection information, information on an approaching object that is an obstacle approaching the vehicle and information on a detection point group that is a set of detection points indicating an obstacle that does not move; and

excluding the approaching object from collision determination in a case in which the detection point group has a shielding effect of shielding the vehicle from the approaching object, and

wherein the shielding effect is evaluated by using a gap threshold that is set based on a vehicle width,

wherein the detection information includes detection information detected by a sonar, and wherein a detection point detected by the sonar is not excluded from the collision determination, and

wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting, based on a reception intensity of the sonar, a detection point as an evaluation target of the shielding effect from detection points detected by the sonar.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the gap threshold set based on the vehicle width is set to a value equal to or less than a vehicle width of a passenger vehicle, and

wherein the operations further comprise comparing a gap between the detection points with the gap threshold, and evaluating the shielding effect to be lower in a case in which the gap between the detection points is larger than the gap threshold than in a case in which the gap between the detection points is smaller than the gap threshold.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 ,

wherein any one of a direction toward the approaching object, a traveling direction of the vehicle, and a traveling direction of the approaching object is set as a reference direction, and

wherein the evaluating the shielding effect comprises evaluating a gap between the detection points with the reference direction as a reference.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 3 ,

wherein the evaluating the shielding effect comprises:

evaluating a gap between detection points in a detection point group located in the reference direction; and

evaluating the shielding effect such that a gap having a small deflection angle with respect to the reference direction is given more weight than a gap having a large deflection angle with respect to the reference direction.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 3 ,

wherein the evaluating the shielding effect comprises:

evaluating a number of detection points in a detection point group located in the reference direction; and

evaluating the shielding effect to be higher in a case in which the number of the detection points is large than in a case in which the number of the detection points is small.

6. The vehicle control device according to claim 3 ,

wherein the gap between the detection points is a gap between two detection points sandwiching the reference direction and closest to the reference direction.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the operations further comprise:

evaluating, in a case in which there is a target parking position at which the vehicle is to be parked, the shielding effect to be low in a case in which there is the approaching object in a direction with the target parking position as a reference.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 7 ,

wherein a direction with the target parking position as a reference is a direction toward a near end of the target parking position.

9. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the operations further comprise:

evaluating, in a case in which there is a target parking position at which the vehicle is to be parked, the shielding effect to be lower in a case in which the detection point group is located closer than a position with the target parking position as a reference than in a case in which the detection point group is located farther than the position with the target parking position as a reference.

10. The vehicle control device according to claim 9 ,

wherein the position with the target parking position as a reference is a far end of the target parking position.

11. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the detection information includes detection information detected by a radar, and

wherein the information on the approaching object is based on the detection information detected by the radar.

12. The vehicle control device according to claim 11 ,

wherein an evaluation target of the shielding effect includes an obstacle detected by the radar.

13. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting, as the detection point as the evaluation target, a detection point where the reception intensity is greater than a threshold.

14. The vehicle control device according to claim 13 ,

wherein the threshold is set to be smaller as a distance between the sonar and the detection point larger.

15. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 ,

wherein the operations further comprise:

generating an approximate straight line based on positions of a plurality of detection points included in the detection point group;

calculating an average distance from the approximate straight line to the positions of the plurality of detection points or a variance of the positions of the plurality of detection points with respect to the approximate straight line; and

evaluating the shielding effect to be high in a case in which the average distance or variance is small.

16. A vehicle comprising:

the vehicle control device according to claim 1 .

17. A vehicle control method to be executed by one or more computers mountable on a vehicle, the vehicle control method comprising:

acquiring detection information obtained by detecting an obstacle around the vehicle;

generating, based on the detection information, information on an approaching object that is an obstacle approaching the vehicle and information on a detection point group that is a set of detection points indicating an obstacle that does not move;

evaluating, based on the information on the approaching object and the information on the detection point group, a shielding effect of shielding the vehicle from the approaching object by the detection point group; and

excluding, in accordance with the shielding effect, the approaching object from a target of collision determination in which a possibility of collision with the vehicle is evaluated,

wherein the shielding effect is evaluated by using a gap threshold that is set based on a vehicle width,

wherein the detection information includes detection information detected by a sonar, and wherein a detection point detected by the sonar is not excluded from the collision determination, and

wherein the vehicle control method further comprise:

selecting, based on a reception intensity of the sonar, a detection point as an evaluation target of the shielding effect from detection points detected by the sonar.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (13)