Driving Assistance of Welfare Vehicle with Virtual Platoon Control Method which has Collision Avoidance Function Using Mixed Reality

Recently, welfare vehicles are widely used among the elderly and the aged. However, it is not easy for inexperienced beginners or aged to control the welfare vehicle in narrow places such as elevators and corridors. In this paper, a driving assistance using MR which has collision avoidance function is proposed using a virtual platoon control. In the system, the cognitive and driving ability is enhanced from the simulated objective view point. The driver rides on the vehicle and controls using the virtual preceding vehicle with Head Mounted Display (HMD). The virtual preceding vehicle projected on a HMD steered virtually from a simulating objective viewpoint, and the real vehicle is robust controlled so as to follow the virtual preceding vehicle. Furthermore, the obstacle avoidance function in the narrow space is implemented on the assistance system with MR technology. The feature of the proposed assistance system is a modification of the driver's operation of not to collide the static obstacles using 3D modeling function of the environment by HMD. As a result, it is confirmed that collision can be avoided safely by correction for the driver's operation of the virtual preceding vehicle control.