Control of vehicles based on auditory signals

• US 8,694,192 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waymo LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Cullinane, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): BERNS, MICHAEL ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US14/037,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20140032032A1
• Time in Patent Office: 194 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23
• US Class Current: 701/23
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/54 Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18154 Approaching an intersection
• 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: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Methods and systems for control of vehicles based on auditory signals are described. In an example, a computing device may be configured to control a vehicle or may be in communication with the vehicle. The computing device may be configured to receive audio information relating to an audible crosswalk signal for an intersection. The computing device also may be configured to determine a likelihood associated with a presence of a pedestrian in a crosswalk at the intersection based on the audio information. The computing device further may be configured to determine a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle from among multiple control strategies, based on the likelihood, and may be configured to provide instructions to control the vehicle based on the determined control strategy.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device of a vehicle, audio information relating to an audible crosswalk signal for an intersection;

determining, based on the audio information, a state of a traffic signal at the intersection;

determining a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle from among multiple control strategies based at least on the state of the traffic signal; and

providing instructions to control the vehicle based on the determined control strategy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to control the vehicle in an autonomous operation mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the state of the traffic signal at the intersection comprises:

determining a state of the audible crosswalk signal based on the audio information, wherein the state of the audible crosswalk signal provides information meaningful to pedestrian crossing control.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the state of the traffic signal at the intersection comprises:

determining an estimate of an amount of time remaining before the state of audible crosswalk signal changes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the state of the audible crosswalk signal and the estimate of the amount of time remaining before the state of the audible crosswalk signal changes comprises:

determining one or more of frequency and amplitude of an audio signal associated with the audio information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an allowed direction of travel of a given pedestrian based on the audio information, wherein determining the control strategy is further based on the allowed direction of travel of the given pedestrian.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the instructions to control the vehicle based on the determined control strategy comprises:

determining a desired path of the vehicle based at least in part on the state of the traffic signal.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an estimate of an amount of time remaining before the state of the traffic signal at the intersection changes, wherein determining the control strategy is further based on the estimate of the amount of time.

9. A system, comprising:

one or more sensors coupled to a vehicle;

at least one processor in communication with the one or more sensors; and

data storage comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform functions comprising;

receiving, from the one or more sensors, audio information relating to an audible crosswalk signal for an intersection;

determining, based on the audio information, a state of a traffic signal at the intersection;

determining a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle from among multiple control strategies based at least on the state of the traffic signal; and

providing instructions to control the vehicle based on the determined control strategy.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors include an audio sensor, and wherein the function of receiving the audio information comprises:

receiving from the audio sensor an audio signal associated with the audio information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the function of determining the state of the traffic signal at the intersection comprises:

determining one or more of frequency and amplitude of the audio signal; and

determining a state of the audible crosswalk signal based on the one or more of the frequency and the amplitude of the audio signal.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the determined control strategy comprises a defensive driving behavior comprising at least one of:

(i) providing an alert to a driver of the vehicle, (ii) slowing a speed of the vehicle, and (iii) stopping the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors include a Global Position System (GPS) sensor and an audio sensor, and wherein the functions further comprise:

receiving, from the GPS sensor, location information associated with a geographic location of the vehicle and the intersection the vehicle is approaching;

determining that the audible crosswalk signal is present at the intersection based on the location information; and

enabling the audio sensor so as to receive the audio information relating to the audible crosswalk signal.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise:

enabling a sensor of the one or more sensors based on the determined state of the traffic signal at the intersection.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing device of a vehicle, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving audio information relating to an audible crosswalk signal for an intersection;

determining, based on the audio information, a state of a traffic signal at the intersection;

determining a control strategy associated with a driving behavior of the vehicle from among multiple control strategies based at least on the state of the traffic signal; and

providing instructions to control the vehicle based on the determined control strategy.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computing device is configured to control the vehicle in an autonomous operation mode.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the function of receiving the audio information comprises receiving an audio signal associated with the audio information, and wherein the function of determining the state of the traffic signal at the intersection comprises:

determining one or more of frequency and amplitude of the audio signal; and

determining a state of the audible crosswalk signal based on the one or more of the frequency and the amplitude of the audio signal.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining an estimate of an amount of time remaining before the state of the traffic signal at the intersection changes, wherein the function of determining the control strategy comprises determining the control strategy further based on the estimate of the amount of time.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining a likelihood associated with a presence of a pedestrian in a crosswalk of the intersection based on the audio information, wherein the function of determining the control strategy comprises determining the control strategy further based on the likelihood.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining a state of the audible crosswalk signal based on the audio information, wherein the function of determining the state of the traffic signal at the intersection comprises determining the state of the traffic signal based on the state of the audible crosswalk signal.