Traffic control system for automatic driving vehicle

A traffic control system comprising:

• a vehicle control system configured to control an automatic driving vehicle to travel along a target traveling route under automatic travel control;
• and
• a management and control system configured to:
• collect snow removal information on a snow-removed area of a snow-covered section of a road from at least one of a snow removal vehicle that performs snow removal work in the snow-covered section or the automatic driving vehicle that travels in the snow-removed area of the snow-covered section;
• calculate traveling environment information of the snow-removed area in the snow-covered section based on the collected snow removal information;
• and
• transmit the calculated traveling environment information to the vehicle control system of the automatic driving vehicle,
• wherein the vehicle control system is configured to:
• in response to receiving the calculated traveling environment information, 1) correct map information stored in the automatic driving vehicle using the calculated traveling environment information for the snow-removed area and 2) determine whether the target traveling route of the automatic driving vehicle runs through the snow-removed area indicated in the calculated traveling environment information based on the corrected the map information;
• when the target traveling route of the automatic driving vehicle does not run through the snow-removed area indicated in the calculated traveling environment information, perform first automatic driving control based on i) the corrected map information, ii) location information of the automatic driving vehicle, and iii) external environment recognition information of an external environment of the automatic driving vehicle;
• and
• when 1) the target traveling route of the automatic driving vehicle runs through the snow-removed area indicated in the calculated traveling environment information and 2) the automatic driving vehicle is determined to be able to travel through the snow-removed area based on determining that a width of a travelable area of the snow-removed area included in the collected snow removal information is greater than a width of the automatic driving vehicle, perform second automatic driving control based on i) the location information of the automatic driving vehicle, ii) the corrected map information, and iii) the external environment recognition information of the external environment of the automatic driving vehicle, and
• wherein, when the vehicle control system performs the second automatic driving in response to determining that the width of the travelable area is greater than the width of the automatic driving vehicle, the vehicle system is configured to:
• determine whether the width of the travelable area of the snow-removed area is less than a threshold width, the threshold width is twice the width of the automatic driving vehicle;
• in response to determining that the width of the travelable area of the snow-removed area is not less than the threshold width, set the target traveling route on a position at a quarter of a width of the travelable area from one of two sides of the travelable area closer to the automatic driving vehicle;
• in response to determining that the width of the travelable area of the snow-removed area is less than the threshold width, i) set the target traveling route on a central position of the travelable area in a width direction of the travelable area and ii) determine whether an oncoming vehicle is recognized as passing through the travelable area towards the automatic driving vehicle;
• and
• in response to a determination that the oncoming vehicle is recognized, i) search for a retreat area along the road, ii) suspend the second automatic driving control, and iii) request an occupant of the automatic driving vehicle to take over driving and move the automatic driving vehicle to the retreat area to allow the oncoming vehicle to pass.