Automatic driving device and vehicle control method

A vehicle control method for autonomously driving a vehicle using map data, the vehicle control method being executed by at least one processor, the vehicle control method comprising:

• determining an acquisition status of the map data;
• and
• generating a control plan for the vehicle using the map data, wherein
• the generating of the control plan includes changing a content of the control plan according to the acquisition status of the map data, wherein
• the control plan is generated using partial map data that is the map data for a part of an entire area recorded in a map, wherein
• the vehicle control method further comprises:
• acquiring the partial map data corresponding to a position of the vehicle from a map server;
• determining whether the partial map data is defective;
• generating the control plan such that an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle is equal to or larger than a safe distance;
• when the partial map data is determined to be defective, setting, as an emergency action, a set value of the safe distance larger than a predetermined standard value;
• and
• executing the emergency action such that the vehicle is autonomously driven to maintain the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle according to the emergency action.

An automatic driving device that generates a control plan for autonomously driving a vehicle using map data, the automatic driving device comprising;

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• a set of computer-executable instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that cause the processor to:
• determine an acquisition status of the map data;
• generate the control plan using the map data;
• change the control plan according to the acquisition status of the map data that is determined, wherein
• the control plan is generated using partial map data that is the map data for a part of an entire area recorded in a map, wherein
• the set of computer-executable instructions further cause the processor to:
• acquire the partial map data corresponding to a position of the vehicle from a map server;
• determine whether the partial map data is defective;
• generate the control plan such that an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle is equal to or larger than a safe distance;
• when the partial map data is determined to be defective, temporarily setting, as an emergency action, a set value of the safe distance larger than a predetermined standard value;
• and
• executing the emergency action such that the vehicle is autonomously driven to maintain the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle according to the emergency action.