Sensor blind spot indication for vehicles
First Claim
1. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
- acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle;
determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including;
determining whether one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors; and
responsive to determining that one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by the at least one of the one or more sensors, determining that the portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the at least one of the one or more sensors that are occluded by one or more physical objects to be unreliable; and
responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle can be configured to indicate sensor blind spots to a vehicle occupant (e.g., a driver). Using one or more sensors, the vehicle can acquire driving environment data of an external environment of the vehicle. It can be determined whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable. Responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, an alert can be caused to be presented within the vehicle. The alert can indicate one or more locations in the external environment in which the driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable. In some instances, the alert can be a visual alert and/or an audial alert.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors; and responsive to determining that one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by the at least one of the one or more sensors, determining that the portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the at least one of the one or more sensors that are occluded by one or more physical objects to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9)
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6. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including determining whether sensor data is completely occluded in one or more portions of the external environment of the autonomous vehicle; responsive to determining that sensor data is completely occluded in one or more portions of the external environment, causing the autonomous vehicle to transition to a manual operational mode or safety operational mode; and causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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10. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for a vehicle, the method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; comparing the acquired driving environment data to a map; determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map; and responsive to determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map, determining that that portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the vehicle, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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11. A sensor blind spot indication system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to acquire driving environment data of at least a portion of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and a processor operatively connected to the one or more sensors, the processor being programmed to initiate executable operations comprising; determining whether one or more portions of acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors; and responsive to determining that one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors, determining that the portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the one or more sensors that are occluded by at least one of one or more physical objects to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer program product for indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therein, the program code executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors; and responsive to determining that one or more physical objects or barriers in the external environment occlude portions of the external environment from being detected by at least one of the one or more sensors, determining that the portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the at least one of the one or more sensors that are occluded by one or more physical objects to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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20. A sensor blind spot indication system for a vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to acquire driving environment data of at least a portion of an external environment of the vehicle; and a processor operatively connected to the one or more sensors, the processor being programmed to initiate executable operations comprising; determining whether one or more portions of acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; comparing the acquired driving environment data to a map; determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map; and responsive to determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map, determining that that portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the vehicle, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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21. A computer program product for indicating sensor blind spots for a vehicle, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therein, the program code executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; comparing the acquired driving environment data to a map; determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map; and responsive to determining whether there is a difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map, determining that that portion of the acquired driving environment data associated with the difference between the acquired driving environment data and an expected feature included in the map to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the vehicle, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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22. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether map data is available for a current external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and responsive to determining that map data is not available for at least a portion of the current external environment of the autonomous vehicle, determining that the acquired driving environment data associated with the at least a portion of the current external environment of the autonomous vehicle for which map data is not available to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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23. A sensor blind spot indication system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to acquire driving environment data of at least a portion of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and a processor operatively connected to the one or more sensors, the processor being programmed to initiate executable operations comprising; determining whether one or more portions of acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether map data is available for a current external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and responsive to determining that map data is not available for at least a portion of the current external environment of the autonomous vehicle, determining that the acquired driving environment data associated with the at least a portion of the current external environment of the autonomous vehicle for which map data is not available to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the acquired driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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24. A method of indicating sensor blind spots for an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
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acquiring, using one or more sensors, driving environment data of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; determining whether one or more portions of driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether one or more environment sensors is off or deactivated; responsive to determining that one or more environment sensors is off or deactivated, determining that the portion of the driving environment data associated with the one or more environment sensors that are off or deactivated to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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25. A sensor blind spot indication system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to acquire driving environment data of at least a portion of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and a processor operatively connected to the one or more sensors, the processor being programmed to initiate executable operations comprising; determining whether one or more portions of driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including; determining whether one or more environment sensors is off or deactivated; and responsive to determining that one or more environment sensors is off or deactivated, determining that the portion of the driving environment data associated with the one or more environment sensors that are off or deactivated to be unreliable; and responsive to determining that one or more portions of the driving environment data is unreliable, causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle while maintaining an autonomous operational mode, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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26. A sensor blind spot indication system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to acquire driving environment data of at least a portion of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; and a processor operatively connected to the one or more sensors, the processor being programmed to initiate executable operations comprising; determining whether one or more portions of acquired driving environment data is unreliable, the determining including determining whether sensor data is completely occluded in one or more portions of an external environment of the autonomous vehicle; responsive to determining that sensor data is completely occluded in one or more portions of the external environment, causing the autonomous vehicle to transition to a manual operational mode or safety operational mode; and causing an alert to be presented within the autonomous vehicle, the alert indicating one or more locations in the external environment which correspond to the acquired driving environment data that is determined to be unreliable.
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Specification