Vehicle radar perception and localization

• US 10,082,797 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Micks, Ashley Elizabeth, Nallapa, Venkatapathi Raju, Nariyambut Murali, Vidya, Myers, Scott Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lewandroski, Sara J
• Application Number:
  US14/856,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20170075355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/865 Combination of radar systems with lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/45 by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS

Abstract

The disclosure relates to methods, systems, and apparatuses for autonomous driving vehicles or driving assistance systems and more particularly relates to vehicle radar perception and location. The vehicle driving system disclosed may include a storage media, a radar system, a location component and a driver controller. The storage media stores a map of roadways. The radar system is configured to generate perception information from a region near the vehicle. The location component is configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and other navigation related data. The drive controller is configured to control driving of the vehicle based on the map and the determined location.

Claims

1. A vehicle driving system, comprising:

storage media storing a map of roadways;

a radar system configured to generate radar perception information from a region near a vehicle;

one or more additional sensor units comprising a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system;

a data quality component configured to determine that one or more sensor units are not providing usable data or are damaged, wherein the data quality component is configured to determine that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged;

a location component configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and other navigation related data in response to determining that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and to determine the location of the vehicle on the map based on data from the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and

a drive controller configured to control driving of the vehicle based on the map and the determined location;

wherein the vehicle driving system is autonomous; and

wherein the other navigation related data comprises one or more of;

satellite positioning data from a satellite positioning system;

information received via a vehicle-to-vehicle communication;

information received via a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication; and

information from previous routes and trips driven by the vehicle.

2. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to receive a wireless transmission from a stationary or moving structure, wherein the wireless transmission indicates a location of the stationary or moving structure and a time stamp, wherein the location component is further configured to determine the location of the vehicle based on the wireless transmission.

3. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, wherein the data quality component is configured to determine that the one or more sensor units are not providing usable data or are damaged based on one or more of:

current weather conditions; and

determining the one or more sensor units are not providing any data.

4. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to:

gather radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;

determine distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and

log navigation related data comprising the distance or relative location data;

wherein the location component determines the location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and the other navigation related data, wherein the other navigation related data comprises the navigation related data.

5. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined by a positioning system.

6. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined based on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

7. The vehicle driving system of claim 1, wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined based on a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.

8. A method of perception and localization for a road vehicle comprising:

storing a map of a road or driving path;

determining that a LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged, the road vehicle comprising the LIDAR system;

receiving perception information from a radar system for one or more of ground and objects in a region near the vehicle;

receiving location information from a satellite positioning system;

determining a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and the location information in response to determining that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and determining the location of the vehicle on the map based on the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and

performing a driving maneuver based on the determined location on the map.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein further comprising receiving a wireless transmission from a stationary or moving structure, wherein the wireless transmission indicates a location of the stationary or moving structure and a time stamp, wherein determining the location of the vehicle on the map comprises determining based on the wireless transmission.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

gathering radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;

determining distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and

logging navigation related data comprising the distance or relative location data;

wherein determining the location of the vehicle further comprises determining based on the navigation related data.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the location of the of the vehicle on the map is further based on the information from the satellite positioning system and based on a location of an object or structure detected by the perception information from the radar system, wherein the object or structure is identified in the map.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein storing the map comprises storing a map comprising information about locations of the object or structure in relation to the road or the driving path.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving location or perception information from an infrastructure system or another vehicle, wherein determining the location further comprises determining based on the location or perception information from the infrastructure system or the another vehicle.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

obtain map data from storage, the map data corresponding to a map of a road;

determine that a LIDAR system of a vehicle is not providing usable data or is damaged;

obtain navigation related data from one or more sources;

obtain radar system data for a region near the vehicle;

determine a position of the vehicle in relation to the road by processing the radar system data and the navigation related data when the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and by processing data from the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and

provide the position of the vehicle to an autonomous driving system of the vehicle;

wherein the navigation related data comprises one or more of;

satellite positioning data from a satellite positioning system;

information received via a vehicle-to-vehicle communication;

information received via a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication; and

information from previous routes and trips driven by the vehicle.

15. The computer readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

gather radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;

determine distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and

log the distance or relative location data as part of the navigation related data.

16. The computer readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to receive a wireless transmission from a stationary or moving structure, wherein the wireless transmission indicates a location of the stationary or moving structure and a time stamp, wherein determining the position of the vehicle on the map comprises determining based on the wireless transmission.

17. The computer readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the map data comprises information about locations of an object or structure in relation to the road.

18. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the radar system data comprises information about a location of the object or structure in relation to the vehicle, and wherein processing the radar system data to locate the position comprises determining the location based on the locations of the object or structure according to the map.