IP Library Granted Patent US 8,140,241
Granted Patent B2
US 8,140,241 · App. 12/087,130 · Granted Mar 20, 2012

Driving action estimating device, driving support device, vehicle evaluating system, driver model creating device, and driving action determining device

Assignees: National University Corporation Nagoya University; Equos Research Co., Ltd.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,140,241
App. No.
12/087,130
Granted
Mar 20, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A driver model with higher precision is created as an evaluation standard for a driving condition in a normal condition. By detecting biometric information of a driver, whether a driver is in a usual condition or not is recognized. Then, data of driving conditions are collected while the driver is driving, and from the driving condition data, a part indicating that the driver operates in a usual condition is extracted to create a driver model. Further, the driver model is created taking only a case of driving in a normal condition as a driving action in normal times based on biometric information of the driver, and hence the driver model becomes more precise and neutral. Further, by using a GMM (Gaussian mixture model) for the driver model, a driver model for each driver can be created easily, and moreover, by calculation to maximize a conditional probability, a driving operation action is easily estimated and outputted.

Claims (31)

1. A driving action estimating device, comprising:

a driver model for accelerator pedal operation and a driver model for brake pedal operation, each driver model being in the form of a Gaussian mixture model calculated by an EM algorithm, with time-series data of N types of characteristic amounts detected during travel of a vehicle as learning data, as a probability distribution of existence of the respective learning data in N dimensional spaces;

characteristic amount obtaining means for obtaining at least one or more characteristic amounts from the N types excluding a certain characteristic amount x;

maximum posterior probability calculating means for calculating a maximum posterior probability in the driver model for the obtained characteristic amount; and

output means for outputting an estimated value of the certain characteristic amount x for the obtained characteristic amount based on the calculated maximum posterior probability.

2. The driving action estimating device according to claim 1 , wherein the N types of characteristic amounts include a time change amount for n types (n<N) of characteristic amounts.

3. The driving action estimating device according to claim 1 , wherein the characteristic amount x includes an operation amount of an operation device operated directly by a driver and a time change amount of the operation amount.

4. A driving support device, comprising:

a driving action estimating device according to claim 1 , wherein the learning data comprises an accelerator operation amount, a brake operation amount, a vehicle speed of the driver's vehicle, and an inter-vehicle distance between the driver's vehicle and a leading vehicle immediately ahead of the driver's vehicle as characteristic amounts, and estimates an accelerator operation amount and a brake operation amount as the characteristic amounts x;

traveling data obtaining means for obtaining the vehicle speed of the driver's vehicle and the inter-vehicle distance;

traveling control means for performing automatic cruise control with respect to the leading vehicle by controlling an engine throttle and a brake pedal according to an accelerator operation amount and a brake operation amount that are estimated with respect to the obtained traveling data by the driving action estimating device.

5. A vehicle evaluating system, comprising:

a driving action estimating device according to claim 1 , wherein the learning data comprises an accelerator operation amount, a brake operation amount, a vehicle speed of the driver's vehicle, and an inter-vehicle distance between the driver's vehicle and a leading vehicle immediately ahead of the driver's vehicle as characteristic amounts, and estimates an accelerator operation amount and a brake operation amount as the characteristic amounts x;

means for obtaining vehicle performance data for the driver's vehicle as a target of evaluation;

means for obtaining traveling data and a traveling route model for simulation;

vehicle dynamics calculating means for estimating a behavior of the driver's vehicle including acceleration of the driver's vehicle as a target of evaluation with respect to an accelerator operation amount and a brake operation amount that are obtained by inputting the obtained traveling data and traveling route model to the driving action estimating device; and

evaluating means for evaluating traveling performance of the driver's vehicle as a target of evaluation from the estimated behavior of the vehicle.

6. A driving support device, comprising:

driver model obtaining means for obtaining a driver model for accelerator pedal operation and a driver model for brake pedal operation under normal conditions, each driver model being in the form of a Gaussian mixture model calculated by an EM algorithm, with time-series data of N types of characteristic amounts detected during travel of a vehicle as learning data, as a probability distribution of existence of the respective learning data in N dimensional spaces;

driving operation estimating means for estimating a driving operation which is usually operated in a normal condition using the obtained driver model;

driving action determining means for determining a driving action of a driver from the estimated driving operation and a driving operation based on current driving operation information; and

driving support means for providing driving support according to the determined driving action.

7. The driving support device according to claim 6 , wherein the driver model obtaining means obtains a driver model corresponding to a current traveling environment from driver models of driving operations in a normal condition created for each traveling environment.

8. The driving support device according to claim 6 further comprising:

driver condition determining means for determining a condition of a driver from biometric information of the driver,

wherein the driving support means performs a driving support according to the determined driving action and the determined driver condition.

9. The driving support device according to claim 6 , wherein the driving support means performs at least one driving support function selected from the group consisting of warnings by voice or image, providing information, vibration, and guidance to a rest station.

10. A driving action determining device, comprising:

driver model obtaining means for obtaining a driver model for accelerator pedal operation and a driver model for brake pedal operation under normal conditions, each driver model being in the form of a Gaussian mixture model calculated by an EM algorithm, with time-series data of N types of characteristic amounts detected during travel of a vehicle as learning data, as a probability distribution of existence of the respective learning data in N dimensional spaces;

driving operation estimating means for estimating, as driving operations, a brake pedal operation and an accelerator pedal operation, which operations are usually made under the normal conditions, using the obtained driver models; and

driving action determining means for determining a brake pedal operation and an accelerator operation of a driver from the estimated driving operations and current driving operations based on current driving operation information.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 25, 2008
From: TAKEDA, KAZUYA; ITOU, KATUNOBU; MIYAJIMA, CHIYOMI; OZAWA, KOJI; NOMOTO, HIROKAZU; FUJII, KAZUAKI; SUZUKI, SEIICHI
To: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION NAGOYA UNIVERSITY; EQUOS RESEARCH CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 021917/0757 →
Priority Claims (2)
JP 2005-378929 · Dec 28, 2005 · national
JP 2006-101053 · Mar 31, 2006 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20090234552A1 · Sep 17, 2009