Augmented trajectories for autonomous vehicles

• US 9,008,890 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waymo LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Herbach, Joshua Seth, Fairfield, Nathaniel, Dolgov, Dmitri, Colijn, Peter, Chatham, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): MANCHO, RONNIE M
• Application Number:
  US13/837,573
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/26, 701/23, 701/24, 701/301, 701/2, 340/435, 340/436
• US Class Current: 701/26
• 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 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/20 Static objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/4029 Pedestrians
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/80 Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• 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 40/04 Traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/001 Planning or execution of driving tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• 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 1/0214 in accordance with safety or protection criteria, e.g. avoiding hazardous areas monitoring the location of vehicles within a certain area, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas, in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/13
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0231 using optical position detecting means position-fixing by using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. optical position detecting means G01S5/16
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle may include a stuck condition detection component and a communications component. The stuck-detection component may be configured to detect a condition in which the autonomous vehicle is impeded from navigating according to a first trajectory. The communications component may send an assistance signal to an assistance center and receive a response to the assistance signal. The assistance signal may include sensor information from the autonomous vehicle. The assistance center may include a communications component and a trajectory specification component. The communications component may receive the assistance signal and send a corresponding response. The trajectory specification component may specify a second trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and generate the corresponding response that includes a representation of the second trajectory. The second trajectory may be based on the first trajectory and may ignore an object that obstructs the first trajectory.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an autonomous vehicle, including;

a stuck-condition detection component, configured to detect a condition in which the autonomous vehicle is impeded from navigating according to a first trajectory, and

a communications component, configured at least to send an assistance signal indicating that the autonomous vehicle seeks assistance navigating according to the first trajectory, and to receive a response to the assistance signal, wherein the assistance signal includes sensor information of the autonomous vehicle, indicating low-level sensor strike input and high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representations of objects in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle; and

an assistance center, including;

a communications component, configured at least to receive the assistance signal, and to send the response to the assistance signal, and

a trajectory specification component, configured to specify a second trajectory for the autonomous vehicle, and to generate the response to the assistance signal including a representation of the second trajectory, wherein the second trajectory is based on the first trajectory, and wherein the second trajectory ignores the presence of at least one high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representation of an object that obstructs the first trajectory.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the assistance center further comprises an expert entity that determines the second trajectory based on the assistance signal and the sensor information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the expert entity comprises a human expert.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the expert entity comprises a computing system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle further comprises a trajectory validation component configured to validate the second trajectory.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle comprises a driving component, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to obtain the second trajectory from the response, and wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to instruct the driving component to drive the autonomous vehicle according to the second trajectory.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the autonomous vehicle reverts to driving according to the first trajectory after driving according to the second trajectory.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the second trajectory comprises a path defined by a plurality of points.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the path defined by the plurality of points comprises a spline connecting at least two points in the plurality of points.

10. A method comprising:

detecting, by an autonomous vehicle, a condition in which the autonomous vehicle is impeded from navigating according to a first trajectory;

sending an assistance signal from the autonomous vehicle to an assistance center that the autonomous vehicle seeks assistance navigating according to the first trajectory, wherein the assistance signal includes sensor information of the autonomous vehicle, indicating low-level sensor strike input and high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representations of objects in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle; and

receiving, by the autonomous vehicle, a response to the assistance signal, wherein the response includes a representation of a second trajectory, wherein the second trajectory is based on the first trajectory, wherein the second trajectory ignores the presence of at least one high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representation of an object that obstructs the first trajectory.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining the second trajectory from the response; and

driving the autonomous vehicle according to the second trajectory.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the driving the autonomous vehicle according to the second trajectory comprises driving according to the first trajectory after driving according to the second trajectory.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second trajectory comprises a path defined by a plurality of points.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the path comprises a spline connecting at least two points in the plurality of points.

15. An autonomous vehicle comprising:

one or more processors; and

data storage storing program instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous vehicle to perform functions comprising;

detecting a condition in which the autonomous vehicle is impeded from navigating according to a first trajectory;

sending an assistance signal from the autonomous vehicle to an assistance center that the autonomous vehicle seeks assistance navigating according to the first trajectory, wherein the assistance signal includes sensor information of the autonomous vehicle, indicating low-level sensor strike input and high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representations of objects in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle; and

receiving a response to the assistance signal, wherein the response includes a representation of a second trajectory, wherein the second trajectory is based on the first trajectory, wherein the second trajectory ignores the presence of at least one high-level, polygonal or polyhedral representation of an object that obstructs the first trajectory.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

validating the second trajectory.

17. The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

obtaining the second trajectory from the response; and

driving the autonomous vehicle according to the second trajectory.

18. The autonomous vehicle of claim 17, wherein driving the autonomous vehicle according to the second trajectory comprises driving according to the first trajectory after driving according to the second trajectory.

19. The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the second trajectory comprises a path defined by a plurality of points.

20. The autonomous vehicle of claim 19, wherein the path comprises a spline connecting at least two points in the plurality of points.