US 11,867,527 B2
Vehicle control system and own lane identifying method
Koichiro Wada, Saitama (JP)
Assigned to HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Dec. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/559,147.
Claims priority of application No. 2020-219157 (JP), filed on Dec. 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0205810 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
Int. Cl. G01C 21/00 (2006.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); G06V 10/74 (2022.01); G06T 7/73 (2017.01)
CPC G01C 21/3815 (2020.08) [G06T 7/74 (2017.01); G06V 10/74 (2022.01); G06V 20/588 (2022.01); G06T 2207/30242 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30256 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle, comprising:
a camera configured to capture an image of a travel route on which the vehicle is traveling;
a map generating unit configured to generate a map of a surrounding area of the vehicle;
an own lane identifying unit configured to identify an own lane on which the vehicle is traveling on the map; and
a mode setting unit configured to switch a driving mode of the vehicle between a manual driving mode and an autonomous driving mode,
wherein the own lane identifying unit is configured to
estimate a position of the vehicle on the map,
calculate the number of lanes present in a specific area including the position of the vehicle on the map,
identify one lane as the own lane on the map in a case where the one lane is an only lane present in the specific area on the map,
compare a type of a delimiting line of a captured own lane with types of delimiting lines of a plurality of lanes on the map in a case where the plurality of lanes are present in the specific area on the map, the captured own lane being an own lane recognized from the image captured by the camera, and
identify one of the plurality of lanes on the map as the own lane on the map in a case where the type of the delimiting line of the captured own lane matches only a type of a delimiting line of the one of the plurality of lanes on the map,
wherein the own lane identifying unit is configured to update the own lane on the map according to a travel position of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling autonomously in the autonomous driving mode,
wherein upon determining that the vehicle has performed a lane change on the map after identifying the own lane on the map, the own lane identifying unit changes the own lane on the map according to a direction of the lane change,
wherein in a case where the delimiting line is not present between a merging lane on the map and a main lane on the map at a place where the merging lane merges with the main lane, the own lane identifying unit sets a virtual delimiting line between the merging lane and the main lane such that a distance from the merging lane to the virtual delimiting line is equal to the distance from the main lane to the virtual delimiting line, and
in a case where a center of the vehicle on the map crosses the virtual delimiting line and shifts from the virtual delimiting line by a prescribed length or more, the own lane identifying unit determines that the vehicle has performed the lane change on the map from the merging lane to the main lane across the virtual delimiting line.