Autonomous vehicle diagnostic system

• US 10,137,903 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Tascione, Daniel, Bode, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Tamara L
• Application Number:
  US15/238,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20180050704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 833 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/184 with wheel brakes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0215 Sensor drifts or sensor failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/408 Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/54 Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0225 Failure correction strategy
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/032 Fixing failures by repairing failed parts, e.g. loosening a sticking valve
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/035 Bringing the control units into a predefined state, e.g. giving priority to particular actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/00186 related to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0053 from vehicle to occupant
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0059 Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2302/05 Leading to automatic stopping of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B

Abstract

An on-board diagnostic system for an autonomous vehicle can receive diagnostic data from any number of AV systems of the AV. For each AV system the on-board diagnostic system can determine whether the diagnostic data indicates that the AV system is operating nominally. In response to determining a fault condition of an AV system, the on-board diagnostic system can initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve the fault condition.

Claims

1. An on-board diagnostic system for an autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:

at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems;

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive, via the at least one AV systems interface, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems;

for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and

in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by;

controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;

determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;

based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and

based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.

2. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of AV systems comprises a plurality of sensor systems of the AV.

3. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensor systems comprises at least a LIDAR sensor system and a stereoscopic camera sensor system.

4. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 3, wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the LIDAR sensor system is operating nominally by comparing the diagnostic data from the LIDAR sensor system with a set of tolerance ranges for each of a plurality of components on the LIDAR sensor system.

5. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 4, wherein the set of tolerance ranges for the LIDAR sensor system include at least one of a spin rate range, a laser power range, a laser frequency range, or a photodetector alignment range.

6. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensor systems further comprises a radar sensor system.

7. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of AV systems further comprises a positioning system.

8. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of AV systems further comprises an AV control system that processes sensor data from the plurality of sensor systems in order to autonomously operate acceleration, braking, and steering systems of the AV along a current route.

9. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 8, wherein the fault condition affects autonomous operations of the AV control system, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

classify the fault condition based on a degree to which the fault condition affects the autonomous operations; and

implement a sequence of safety operations in the procedure in response to the fault condition.

10. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9, wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises a transfer procedure to hand over control of the AV to a human driver.

11. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 10, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

log the fault condition in one or more data logs of the AV.

12. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9, wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises causing the AV control system to autonomously drive the AV to a home location.

13. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9, wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises causing the AV control system to stop the AV at a nearest safe location.

14. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9, wherein the autonomous operations comprise at least one of perception operations or planning operations by the AV control system.

15. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 14, wherein the affected perception operations indicate a failure in a faulty sensor system, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

in response to identifying the failure in the faulty sensor system, cause the AV control system to disregard sensor data from the faulty sensor system.

16. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of AV systems comprises at least one electronic control unit of the AV.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an on-board diagnostic system of an autonomous vehicle (AV), cause the one or more processors to:

receive, via at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems;

for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and

in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by;

controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;

determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;

based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and

based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.

18. A computer-implemented method of performing diagnostics on an autonomous vehicle (AV), the method being performed by one or more processors of an on-board diagnostic system of the AV and comprising:

receiving, via at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems of the AV;

for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determining whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and

in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiating a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by;

controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;

determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;

based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and

based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.