Lane assignments for autonomous vehicles

• US 10,388,155 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2017
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Curlander, James Christopher, Russell, Ryan Scott, Bathurst, Allan Scott, Madan, Udit, Graybill, Jules Cook, Norwood, Jonathan Blair, Lauka, Wesley Scott, Mishra, Pragyana K., Canavor, Darren Ernest
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Luat T
• Application Number:
  US15/406,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20170148316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23, 701 24, 701301
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• 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: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for coordination of autonomous vehicles in a roadway. A roadway management system can generate lane configurations for a roadway or a portion of the roadway. The roadway management system can determine the direction of travel for lanes in a roadway and direct autonomous automobiles to enter the roadway in a particular lane.

Claims

1. An autonomous vehicle controller, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to at least;

obtain environmental conditions associated with an autonomous vehicle, wherein the environmental conditions comprise at least a current location of the autonomous vehicle;

generate a request to use a portion of a roadway between the current location of the autonomous vehicle and a destination of the autonomous vehicle;

transmit the request to use the portion of the roadway to a roadway management system associated with the portion of the roadway;

obtain a roadway assignment associated with the portion of the roadway from the roadway management system; and

generate a routing instruction for the autonomous vehicle in response to receiving the roadway assignment.

2. The autonomous vehicle controller of claim 1, wherein the routing instruction is based at least in part upon the roadway assignment, and

wherein the routing instruction specifies a direction of travel in a respective lane of the portion of the roadway.

3. The autonomous vehicle controller of claim 1, wherein the request to use the portion of the roadway comprises at least one of a request to park the autonomous vehicle in a location at the destination or a request to park the autonomous vehicle within the portion of the roadway.

4. The autonomous vehicle controller of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a priority associated with the autonomous vehicle.

5. A roadway management system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

at least one application executed in the at least one computing device, the at least one application being configured to cause the at least one computing device to perform a method comprising;

obtaining, via a plurality of roadway sensors, a roadway status associated with a portion of a roadway;

obtaining, via a wireless communications interface, a request from an autonomous vehicle from a plurality of autonomous vehicles to use the portion of the roadway;

generating, based at least in part upon the roadway status and the request, a lane configuration for a plurality of lanes for the portion of the roadway;

generating, based at least in part upon an outcome directive associated with the portion of the roadway, a roadway assignment for the autonomous vehicle taking into account parameters of the request and the roadway status; and

causing, via the wireless communications interface, the roadway assignment to be communicated to the autonomous vehicle.

6. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of roadway sensors comprise at least one image capture device configured to capture imagery of the portion of the roadway.

7. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein generating the roadway assignment for the autonomous vehicle is further based at least upon a cost function associated with the roadway, the cost function associated with the roadway based upon at least one of:

a number of lanes in the portion of the roadway, a speed limit associated with the portion of the roadway, a quantity of autonomous vehicles in the portion of the roadway, or a throughput metric associated with the portion of the roadway.

8. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the roadway assignment for the autonomous vehicle is generated based at least in part upon vehicle data associated with the autonomous vehicle, and

wherein the vehicle data comprises at least one of:

a number of occupants of the autonomous vehicle, an efficiency of the autonomous vehicle, a timestamp associated with the request, a cost per mile associated with the autonomous vehicle, or a cost associated with the request.

9. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein generating the roadway assignment for the autonomous vehicle further comprises:

generating a lane assignment for the autonomous vehicle, wherein the lane assignment specifies a lane having a lane configuration consistent with a destination associated with the request; and

determining a time and velocity associated with the lane assignment.

10. The roadway management system of claim 9, wherein the lane configuration specifies a direction of travel for each of the plurality of lanes based upon the roadway status, a quantity of the plurality of autonomous vehicles in the portion of the roadway, and the request from the autonomous vehicle.

11. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the at least one application is further configured to cause the at least one computing device to reverse a direction of travel for a respective one of the plurality of lanes based upon at least one of:

a time of day or traffic conditions associated with the portion of the roadway.

12. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the at least one application is further configured to cause the at least one computing device to modify another roadway assignment of another autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles in response to receiving the request to use the portion of the roadway, and

wherein modifying the roadway assignment comprises generating an instruction to change from a first lane to a second lane of the plurality of lanes.

13. The roadway management system of claim 12, wherein the other roadway assignment of the other autonomous vehicle is modified in response to a determination that a priority of the request to use the roadway associated with the autonomous vehicle is a higher priority than a respective priority associated with the other autonomous vehicle.

14. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the outcome directive comprises maximizing a number of autonomous vehicles or an average velocity of autonomous vehicles traveling through the portion of the roadway over a period of time.

15. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the outcome directive comprises maximizing a revenue metric associated with the portion of the roadway over a period of time.

16. The roadway management system of claim 5, wherein the lane configuration comprises at least one of:

a parking lane configuration, a direction of travel in a first direction, a direction of travel in a second direction, a width of a respective lane of the portion of the roadway, or an emergency lane configuration.

17. A method comprising:

obtaining environmental conditions associated with an autonomous vehicle, wherein the environmental conditions comprise a current location of the autonomous vehicle;

generating a request to use a portion of a roadway between the current location of the autonomous vehicle and a destination of the autonomous vehicle;

transmitting the request to use the portion of the roadway to a roadway management system associated with the portion of the roadway;

obtaining a first roadway assignment associated with the portion of the roadway from the roadway management system; and

generating a first routing instruction for the autonomous vehicle in response to receiving the first roadway assignment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first roadway assignment comprises at least one of a lane assignment, a velocity, a velocity range, or a direction of travel with respect to the portion of the roadway.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a second roadway assignment associated with the portion of the roadway; and

generating a second routing instruction for the autonomous vehicle in response to receiving the second roadway assignment.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying the roadway management system associated with the portion of the roadway based upon mapping data obtained by a controller.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the request to use the portion of the roadway comprises at least one of a request to park the autonomous vehicle at a destination location or a request to park the autonomous vehicle within the portion of the roadway.