Locality adapted computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles

• US 9,134,731 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Healey, Jennifer A., Zafiroglu, Alexandra C.
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUD, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US14/125,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20150057869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/23, 701/301, 348/E13.074
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 40/00 Estimation or calculation of non-directly measurable driving parameters for road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub unit, e.g. by using mathematical models
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• 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: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• 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 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with computerized assist or autonomous driving of vehicles are disclosed herein. In embodiments, a method may include receiving, by a computing device, a plurality of data associated with vehicles driving at various locations within a locality; and generating, by the computing device, one or more locality specific policies for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles at the locality, based at least in part on the data associated with vehicles driving at various locations within the locality. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles, comprising:

one or more processors;

a policy generator to be operated by the one or more processors to;

receive a plurality of data associated with a first plurality of vehicles driving within a locality; and

generate or update one or more locality specific policies for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of second one or more vehicles within the locality, based at least in part on the data associated with the first plurality of vehicles driving within the locality; and

a storage medium coupled with the policy generator to store the one or more locality specific policies, and to selectively output the one or more locality specific policies to a computerized assisted or autonomous driving system of a first of the second one or more vehicles, in response to receipt, from the first vehicle, a request for a subset of the one or more locality specific policies for the locality;

wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system of the first vehicle assists or autonomously drives the first vehicle within the locality, in a manner that is adapted for the locality, based at least in part on the one or more locality specific policies and data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to receive of a plurality of data comprises the policy generator to receive image, sonic, or electromagnetic data associated with the first plurality of vehicles driving within the locality, from corresponding imaging, sonar, or electromagnetic devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to receive of a plurality of data comprises the policy generator to receive the plurality of data associated with the first plurality of vehicles driving within the locality from devices disposed at various locations within the locality, devices disposed in vehicles passing through various locations within the locality, devices carried by pedestrians passing through various locations within the locality, or devices disposed on aerial or space vehicles passing over various locations within the locality.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to generate or update one or more locality specific policies comprises the policy generator to generate a locality specific pedestrian policy for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of the second one or more vehicles within the locality.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to generate or update one or more locality specific policies comprises the policy generator to generate a locality specific aggression policy for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of the second one or more vehicles within the locality.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to generate or update one or more locality specific policies comprises the policy generator to generate a locality specific proxemic policy for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of the second one or more vehicles within the locality.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the policy generator to generate or update one or more locality specific policies comprises the policy generator to generate a locality specific stop sign policy for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of the second one or more vehicles in response to a stop sign within the locality.

8. An apparatus for on-board computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles, comprising:

one or more processors disposed on a vehicle; and

a computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to be operated by the one or more processors to;

first receive a locality or a current location of the vehicle within the locality;

request or retrieve one or more locality specific policies for locality adapted computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles within the locality;

second receive a plurality of data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies; and

assist or autonomously drive the vehicle within the locality, in a manner that is adapted for the locality, based at least in part on the one or more locality specific policies and the plurality of data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to first receive comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive the current location of the vehicle, from a global position system receiver, while the vehicle is in operation.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to request or retrieve comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to request a remote server for the one or more locality specific policies, and wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive from the remote server the one or more locality specific policies.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising local storage coupled with the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system, to store the one or more locality specific policies, and wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to request or retrieve comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to retrieve, from the local storage, the one or more locality specific policies.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more locality specific policies comprise a locality specific pedestrian policy, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to second receive comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive real time images of the current location, and wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system is further to process the real time images to determine whether one or more pedestrians are currently present at the current location.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more locality specific policies comprise a locality specific aggression policy, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to second receive comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive traffic volume for the current location or law enforcement data of the current location or locality, wherein the proxemic and aggression policies respectively specify an amount of distance to maintain from a vehicle in front and a level of aggression for computerized assisted or autonomously driving the vehicle, based at least in part on the traffic volume of the current location, or law enforcement data of the current location or locality.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system is further to determine a time of day, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to second receive further comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to receive crime data of the current location or locality for the time of day, wherein the proxemic and the aggression policy respectively specify the distance and the level of aggression, further based on crime data of the current location or locality.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more locality specific policies comprise a locality specific proxemic or aggression policy, wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to assist or autonomously drive the vehicle comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to apply of the locality specific proxemic or aggression policy to computer assisted or autonomous driving of the vehicle at various locations within the locality.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more locality specific policies further comprise a locality specific pedestrian policy, and the proxemic and aggression policies respectively specify an amount of distance to maintain from a vehicle in front or a level of aggression based at least in part on an output from an application of the locality specific pedestrian policy, and wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to assist or autonomously drive the vehicle, further comprises the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to apply the locality specific pedestrian policy prior to application of the locality specific proxemic or aggression policy.

17. A method for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a plurality of data associated with a first plurality of vehicles driving at various locations within a locality;

generating or updating, by the computing device, one or more locality specific policies for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of second one or more vehicles within the locality, based at least in part on the data associated with vehicles driving within the locality;

storing the one or more locality specific policies; and

selectively outputting the one or more locality specific policies to a computerized assisted or autonomous driving system of a first of the second one or more vehicles, in response to receipt, from the first vehicle, a request for a subset of the one or more locality specific policies for the locality;

wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system of the first vehicle assists or autonomously drives the first vehicle within the locality, in a manner that is adapted for the locality, based at least in part on the one or more locality specific policies and data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving a plurality of data comprises receiving image, sonic, or electromagnetic data associated with the first plurality of vehicles driving within the locality, from corresponding imaging, sonar, or electromagnetic devices.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein generating one or more locality specific policies comprises generating a locality specific pedestrian, proxemic or aggression policy for computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles within the locality.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by a computerized assisted or autonomous driving system of a vehicle, to cause the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system to:

first receive a locality or a current location of the vehicle within the locality;

request or retrieve one or more locality specific policies for locality adapted computerized assisted or autonomous driving of vehicles within the locality;

second receive a plurality of data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies; and

assist driving or autonomously drive the vehicle, within the locality, in a manner that is adapted for the locality, based at least in part on the one or more locality specific policies and the plurality of data associated with policy parameters of the one or more locality specific policies.

21. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein to first receive comprises to receive the current location of the vehicle, from a global position system receiver.

22. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more locality specific policies comprise a locality specific pedestrian policy, wherein to second receive comprises to receive real time images of the current location, and wherein the computerized assisted or autonomous driving system is to further process the real time images, to determine whether one or more pedestrians are currently present at the current location.

23. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more locality specific policies comprise a locality specific proxemic or aggression policy, wherein to second receive comprises to receive traffic volume for the current location or law enforcement data of the current location or locality, wherein the proxemic and aggression policies respectively specify an amount of distance to maintain from a vehicle in front and a level of aggression for computerized assisted or autonomously driving the vehicle, based at least in part on the traffic volume of the current location, or law enforcement data of the current location or locality.