Notification processing device

A notification processing device for providing a notification to a driver, which is used in a vehicle capable of running in an automatic driving mode in which an automatic driving control is executed to perform automatically at least acceleration, braking, and steering, and the vehicle equipped with an imaging device capturing an area ahead of the vehicle and a display device, comprising:

• an image acquisition unit that acquires, using a processor, a captured image from the imaging device;
• a recognition unit that recognizes, using the processor, a start announcement sign announcing beforehand a start of an automatic driving permitted zone as a zone where running in the automatic driving mode is permitted, in the captured image acquired by the image acquisition unit;
• a first notification processing unit that displays, using the processor, the start announcement sign on the display device to notify the driver in response to the recognition unit recognizing the start announcement sign;
• and
• a second notification processing unit that notifies, using the processor, the start of the automatic driving permitted zone in a notification mode different from the display by the first notification processing unit in response to the recognition unit recognizing the start announcement sign.

A computer-implemented method for providing a notification to a driver of a vehicle capable of operating in an automatic driving mode and a manual driving mode, the automatic driving mode being in which an automatic driving control is executed to perform automatically at least acceleration, braking, and steering, the manual driving mode being in which automatic driving control is not executed, the method comprising:

• acquiring a captured image from an imaging device that captures an area ahead of the vehicle;
• recognizing a specific sign in the captured image acquired by an image acquisition unit;
• displaying a specific captured image as the captured image showing the specific sign on a display device in the vehicle;
• generating a notification in a notification mode different from a display of the specific captured image;
• and
• recognizing a start sign as the specific sign in the captured image, the start sign indicating a start of an automatic driving permitted zone as a zone where running in the automatic driving mode is permitted, wherein
• in response to recognizing the start sign, a start captured image is displayed on the display device, the start captured image comprised of the captured image showing the start sign as the specific captured image, and
• in response to recognizing the start sign, a start of the automatic driving permitted zone is notified in a notification mode different from a display of the start captured image.