NAVIGATION AND CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

• US 20130131908A1
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Gray & Company, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gray & Company, Inc.
• Inventors: TREPAGNIER, Paul Gerard, Nagel, Jorge Emilio, KINNEY, Powell McVay, DOONER, Matthew Taylor, WILSON, Bruce Mackie, SCHNEIDER, Carl Reimers Jr., GOELLER, Keith Brian
• Application Number:
  US13/715,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20130131908A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/23
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/35 Road bumpiness, e.g. potholes
• 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: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/00 Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0238 using obstacle or wall sensors G05D1/0246 and G05D1/0289 take precedence; lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S17/93
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0242 using non-visible light signals, e.g. IR or UV signals
• 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

A navigation and control system including a sensor configured to locate objects in a predetermined field of view from a vehicle. The sensor has an emitter configured to repeatedly scan a beam into a two-dimensional sector of a plane defined with respect to a first predetermined axis of the vehicle, and a detector configured to detect a reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects. The sensor includes a panning mechanism configured to pan the plane in which the beam is scanned about a second predetermined axis to produce a three dimensional field of view. The navigation and control system includes a processor configured to determine the existence and location of the objects in the three dimensional field of view based on a position of the vehicle and a time between an emittance of the beam and a reception of the reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects.

Claims

1. A land-based drivable unit comprising:

a vehicle for ground transportation including,

a sensor configured to locate objects in a predetermined field of view from a vehicle, including,

an emitter configured to scan a beam into a sector of a plane defined with respect to a first predetermined axis of the vehicle,

a detector configured to detect a reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects, and

a panning mechanism configured to pan the plane in which the beam is scanned about a second predetermined axis to produce a three dimensional field of view, and

a processor configured to determine the existence and location of the objects in the three dimensional field of view based on the three dimensional field of view.

2. The unit of claim 1, wherein the processor determines the existence and location of the objects based on a position of the vehicle and a time between an emittance of the beam and a reception of the reflection of the emitted beam.

3. The unit of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises at least one of an automobile, a truck, a sport utility vehicle, rescue vehicle, an agricultural vehicle, a mining vehicle, an escort vehicle, a toy vehicle, a reconnaissance vehicle, a test-track vehicle, and an armored vehicle.

4. The unit of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle without driver-assisted control.

5. The unit of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises a driver-controlled vehicle with computer-assisted control.

6. The unit of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to recognize driver impairment.

7. The unit of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to recognize driver impairment from a biometric sensor or from an analysis of driver-control of the vehicle.

8. The unit of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to control the vehicle in an event of an input command indicating driver impairment.