Patents by Inventor Ryuta Hashimoto

Ryuta Hashimoto has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11054823
    Abstract: When the subject vehicle reaches the position PNO in the middle of the interflow zone, it is judged whether the conditions for automatic interflow are satisfied. When it is judged that the condition for automatic interflow are not satisfied at the position PNO, the notification for urging manual interflow by the driver is started. Otherwise, the notification for manual interflow is not started. In the case where the notification for manual interflow was not started, when the subject vehicle reaches the position PGU between the distal end of the interflow zone and the position PNO, the notification for manual interflow is started.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Hiroki Fukuda, Akira Ito
  • Patent number: 11022979
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system controls autonomous driving of a vehicle and calculates an interest level of a driver of the vehicle for the autonomous driving. In a driver-oriented mode, the autonomous driving system gives priority to at least one of setting by the driver, will of the driver, and ride quality. In a performance-oriented mode, the autonomous driving system gives priority to at least one of increase in a safety margin, reduction in a time to arrive at a destination, improvement in fuel economy, improvement in motion performance, and reduction in a frequency of notification to the driver. The autonomous driving system controls the autonomous driving in the driver-oriented mode in a case of a normal state, and controls the autonomous driving in the performance-oriented mode in a case of a low interest state where the interest level is lower than the normal state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11014563
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes a lane change control device that performs lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of a vehicle. The lane change control device is configured to: determine, from start to completion of the lane change control, whether or not a driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control; when the abort request operation is performed, determine whether or not an abort permission condition is satisfied; when the abort permission condition is not satisfied, continue the lane change control; and, when the abort permission condition is satisfied, abort the lane change control and make the vehicle travel in the first lane. The lane change control device changes ease of satisfaction of the abort permission condition depending on the situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Hiroki Fukuda, Akira Ito
  • Patent number: 11014572
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system mounted on a vehicle includes: a vehicle behavior control device configured to perform vehicle behavior control that controls behavior of the vehicle; and an awareness level calculation device configured to calculate an awareness level of a driver of the vehicle. A low awareness state is a state where the awareness level is lower than a normal state. The vehicle behavior control device performs the vehicle behavior control such that another vehicle around the vehicle predicts or recognizes the behavior of the vehicle more easily in a case of the low awareness state than in a case of the normal state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10981569
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes a lane change control device that performs lane change control for making a lane change from a first lane to a second lane during autonomous driving of a vehicle. From start to completion of the lane change control, the lane change control device determines whether or not a driver's operation is performed as an abort request operation that requests to abort the lane change control. Specifically, the lane change control device: calculates abort necessity level indicating necessity to abort the lane change control, based on driving environment information indicating driving environment for the vehicle; sets criterion for determination such that the criterion becomes more easily satisfied as the abort necessity level increases; and when the driver's operation satisfies the criterion for determination, determines that the driver's operation is performed as the abort request operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Hiroki Fukuda, Akira Ito
  • Patent number: 10935976
    Abstract: A blinker judgment device mounted on a vehicle includes an information acquisition device configured to acquire surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the vehicle; and a control device configured to: recognize blinker flashing of a target vehicle based on image information of the target vehicle, check, based on the surrounding situation information, whether or not there is a cause for the target vehicle to make a lane change, in response to recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information, judge that the recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information is falsely positive in response to determining that the cause does not exist, and devise a travel plan based on the recognition of the blinker flashing in response to determining that the cause exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10895875
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes: a driver information acquisition device that acquires driver information indicating an action and a state of a driver of a vehicle; and a control device that performs autonomous driving control that controls autonomous driving of the vehicle. The autonomous driving control includes: deactivating action detection processing that detects, based on the driver information, a deactivating action of the driver to deactivate the autonomous driving; ready state detection processing that detects, based on the driver information, a ready state indicating that the driver is ready for manual driving; and deactivation processing that deactivates the autonomous driving when the ready state is detected after the deactivating action is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Kenichiro Aoki, Yoshinori Watanabe, Daisuke Satoh
  • Publication number: 20200393830
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes: a Human Machine Interface; and a control device configured to control autonomous driving of a vehicle, present a first operation instruction to a driver of the vehicle during the autonomous driving, the first operation instruction requesting the driver to perform a first response operation performed in response to a first request or a first proposal by presenting the first request or the first proposal to the driver via the Human Machine Interface, and prohibit presenting a second operation instruction different from the first operation instruction until the first response operation is completed or until a timing at which the first response operation is predicted to be completed, the second operation instruction requesting the driver to perform a second response operation performed in response to a second request or a second proposal by presenting the second request or the second proposal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Publication date: December 17, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryuta HASHIMOTO
  • Patent number: 10858007
    Abstract: The lane change intention discrimination portion executes intention discrimination processing when it receives from the vehicle control ECU an instruction for controlling the blinker. The intention discrimination processing is processing to discriminate what type of pattern for the lane change operation was demanded in the instruction for controlling the blinker. The start and exit timing setting portion executes timing setting processing based on a discrimination result of the intention discrimination processing. The timing setting processing is processing to set a start timing and an exit timing of the lighting operation of the blinker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Akira Ito
  • Patent number: 10788825
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes: a Human Machine Interface; and a control device configured to control autonomous driving of a vehicle, present a first operation instruction to a driver of the vehicle during the autonomous driving, the first operation instruction requesting the driver to perform a first response operation performed in response to a first request or a first proposal by presenting the first request or the first proposal to the driver via the Human Machine Interface, and prohibit presenting a second operation instruction different from the first operation instruction until the first response operation is completed or until a timing at which the first response operation is predicted to be completed, the second operation instruction requesting the driver to perform a second response operation performed in response to a second request or a second proposal by presenting the second request or the second proposal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ryuta Hashimoto
  • Publication number: 20200301431
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a scene determination unit determining whether or not a current traveling scene is a traveling-restricted scene, an order setting unit setting priorities corresponding to a restriction with respect to driving behaviors previously classified for different purposes in a case where it is determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene and setting priorities with respect to the plurality of driving behaviors in a case where it is not determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene, a traveling plan generating unit generating traveling plans corresponding to the plurality of priority-set driving behaviors, an executability determination unit determining executability of each of the plurality of generated driving behaviors, a traveling plan selection unit selecting the traveling plan corresponding to the driving behavior with the highest priority, and a traveling control unit controlling the traveling of the host vehicle based on the trav
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiyuki MATSUBARA, Masaki Matsunaga, Kenichiro Aoki, Yoshinori Watanabe, Ryuta Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 10761540
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system has: an information acquisition device configured to acquire driving environment information indicating driving environment for a vehicle; and an autonomous driving control device configured to control autonomous driving of the vehicle based on the driving environment information. A forward event is an event that exists in front of the vehicle and causes the autonomous driving control device to change a travel state of the vehicle. The autonomous driving control device performs: event detection processing that detects the forward event based on the driving environment information; visually-recognizing timing estimation processing that estimates a visually-recognizing timing at which a driver of the vehicle is able to visually-recognize the forward event; and travel control processing that proposes or executes, at or after the visually-recognizing timing, travel control that changes the travel state according to the forward event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20200272147
    Abstract: A blinker judgment device mounted on a vehicle includes an information acquisition device configured to acquire surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the vehicle; and a control device configured to: recognize blinker flashing of a target vehicle based on image information of the target vehicle, check, based on the surrounding situation information, whether or not there is a cause for the target vehicle to make a lane change, in response to recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information, judge that the recognition of the blinker flashing based on the image information is falsely positive in response to determining that the cause does not exist, and devise a travel plan based on the recognition of the blinker flashing in response to determining that the cause exists.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20200257290
    Abstract: When a subject vehicle reaches a position PNO in a middle of an interflow zone, it is judged whether conditions for automatic interflow are satisfied. When it is judged that the conditions for automatic interflow are not satisfied at the position PNO, a notification for urging manual interflow by a driver is started. Otherwise, the notification for manual interflow is not started. In a case where the notification for manual interflow was not started, when the subject vehicle reaches the position PGU between a distal end of an interflow zone and the position PNO, the notification for manual interflow is started.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2020
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryuta HASHIMOTO, Hiroki FUKUDA, Akira ITO
  • Publication number: 20200241547
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system acquires information concerning a vehicle density in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a lane on which an own vehicle is traveling, when the own vehicle travels on a road having a plurality of lanes. The autonomous driving system selects the adjacent lane as an own vehicle travel lane, when the vehicle density in the adjacent lane that is calculated from the acquired information is lower than a threshold density that is determined in accordance with relations between the own vehicle and surrounding vehicles. The autonomous driving system performs lane change to the adjacent lane autonomously, or propose lane change to the adjacent lane to a driver, when the adjacent lane is selected as the own vehicle travel lane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 10699579
    Abstract: An autonomous driving vehicle sets a travelable area in which the autonomous driving vehicle can travel in a process of going to a destination. In a multiple-lane area including two or more lanes in the travelable area, one lane is determined as a standard travel lane. Processing of determining the standard travel lane is configured so that dispersion occurs to standard travel lanes which are determined by a plurality of autonomous driving vehicles in a same multiple-lane area placed under a same environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 10691125
    Abstract: A blinker judgment device for a vehicle includes: an information acquisition device that acquires surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the vehicle; and a control device that performs blinker judgment processing based on the surrounding situation information. The surrounding situation information includes image information of a target vehicle imaged by a camera. The control device performs: recognizing blinker flashing of the target vehicle based on the image information; checking, based on the surrounding situation information, whether or not there is a reasonable cause for the target vehicle to make a lane change, when the blinker flashing is recognized; and judging that the target vehicle is not in a process of the blinker flashing when the cause does not exist while judges that the target vehicle is in a process of the blinker flashing when the cause exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 10684621
    Abstract: A vehicle control device includes a scene determination unit determining whether or not a current traveling scene is a traveling-restricted scene, an order setting unit setting priorities corresponding to a restriction with respect to driving behaviors previously classified for different purposes in a case where it is determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene and setting priorities with respect to the plurality of driving behaviors in a case where it is not determined that the traveling scene is the traveling-restricted scene, a traveling plan generating unit generating traveling plans corresponding to the plurality of priority-set driving behaviors, an executability determination unit determining executability of each of the plurality of generated driving behaviors, a traveling plan selection unit selecting the traveling plan corresponding to the driving behavior with the highest priority, and a traveling control unit controlling the traveling of the host vehicle based on the trav
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Matsubara, Masaki Matsunaga, Kenichiro Aoki, Yoshinori Watanabe, Ryuta Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 10663973
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system acquires information concerning a vehicle density in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a lane on which an own vehicle is traveling, when the own vehicle travels on a road having a plurality of lanes. The autonomous driving system selects the adjacent lane as an own vehicle travel lane, when the vehicle density in the adjacent lane that is calculated from the acquired information is lower than a threshold density that is determined in accordance with relations between the own vehicle and surrounding vehicles. The autonomous driving system performs lane change to the adjacent lane autonomously, or propose lane change to the adjacent lane to a driver, when the adjacent lane is selected as the own vehicle travel lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Kenichiro Aoki, Tomoyuki Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 10562532
    Abstract: An autonomous driving system includes: an information acquisition device configured to acquire driving environment information indicating driving environment for a vehicle; and a lane change control device configured to control lane change of the vehicle based on the driving environment information. When determining that the lane change can be started at a standard timing, the lane change control device performs delay processing that delays an actual start timing of the lane change from the standard timing. The lane change control device variably sets a delay time from the standard timing to the actual start timing according to the driving environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryuta Hashimoto, Yoshinori Watanabe