Autonomous vehicle communication configuration system

• US 9,740,205 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2016
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Ross, William, Aitken, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US15/219,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20170160742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 392 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554141, 4554566, 455522, 455434, 455515, 4554532, 701410, 701 334, 701431
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• 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 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0291 Fleet control monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 : Moving wireless networks

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle (AV) can include a communication system to communicate with a backend system, a sensor system to collect sensor data representing an operational environment of the AV, and a control system that can processes the sensor data to (i) perform a localization operation to determine a location and an orientation of the AV within a given region, and (ii) autonomously operate the AV'"'"'s acceleration, braking, and steering system throughout the given region. Based on the localization operation, the AV can implement a set of configuration commands to configure the communication system to transmit and receive data with the backend system using a number of specified network nodes.

Claims

1. A communication configuration system for a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in a given region, the communication configuration system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the communication configuration system to;

receive localization data from a respective AV of the fleet of AVs, the localization data comprising a location and an orientation of the respective AV;

using a network resource map, select a proximate network node relative to the respective AV based on the location of the respective AV, the network resource map indicating locations of network nodes for connecting the fleet of AVs with a backend system; and

based on the orientation of the respective AV, transmit configuration commands to the respective AV to cause the respective AV to configure an on-board communication system to transmit and receive data with the proximate network node.

2. The communication configuration system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the communication configuration system to:

using the localization data of the respective AV, perform a ray tracing operation to identify a plurality of network nodes through which the respective AV can communicate with the backend system.

3. The communication configuration system of claim 2, wherein the executed instructions cause the communication configuration system to select the proximate network node based on results of the ray tracing operation.

4. The communication configuration system of claim 3, wherein the results of the ray tracing operation indicate that the selected proximate network node provides a highest signal strength.

5. The communication configuration system of claim 3, wherein the results of the ray tracing operation indicate an optimal communication channel available for the respective AV to communicate with the backend system.

6. The communication configuration system of claim 5, wherein the configuration commands further cause the respective AV to select the optimal communication channel to communicate with the backend system via the selected proximate network node.

7. The communication configuration system of claim 1, wherein the localization data for the respective AV is received periodically as the respective AV travels throughout the given region.

8. The communication configuration system of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions cause the communication configuration system to select proximate network nodes and transmit configuration commands in response to each instance of the periodically received localization data.

9. The communication configuration system of claim 1, wherein the network resource map is either (i) stored locally in the one or more memory resources, or (ii) stored remotely and accessible by the communication configuration system via one or more networks.

10. A computer-implemented method of managing communications between a backend system and a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AVs) operating throughout a given region, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:

receiving localization data from a respective AV of the fleet of AVs, the localization data comprising a location and an orientation of the respective AV;

using a network resource map, selecting a proximate network node relative to the respective AV based on the location of the respective AV, the network resource map indicating locations of network nodes for connecting the fleet of AVs with a backend system; and

based on the orientation of the respective AV, transmitting configuration commands to the respective AV to cause the respective AV to configure an on-board communication system to transmit and receive data with the proximate network node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using the localization data of the respective AV, performing a ray tracing operation to identify a plurality of network nodes through which the respective AV can communicate with the backend system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors select the proximate network node based on results of the ray tracing operation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the results of the ray tracing operation indicate that the selected proximate network node provides a highest signal strength.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the results of the ray tracing operation indicate an optimal communication channel available for the respective AV to communicate with the backend system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration commands further cause the respective AV to select the optimal communication channel to communicate with the backend system via the selected proximate network node.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the localization data for the respective AV is received periodically as the respective AV travels throughout the given region.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors select proximate network nodes and transmit configuration commands in response to each instance of the periodically received localization data.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the network resource map is either (i) stored locally in the one or more memory resources, or (ii) stored remotely and accessible by the communication configuration system via one or more networks.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive localization data from a respective AV of a fleet of AVs, the localization data comprising a location and an orientation of the respective AV;

using a network resource map, select a proximate network node relative to the respective AV based on the location of the respective AV, the network resource map indicating locations of network nodes for connecting the fleet of AVs with a backend system; and

based on the orientation of the respective AV, transmit configuration commands to the respective AV to cause the respective AV to configure an on-board communication system to transmit and receive data with the proximate network node.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

using the localization data of the respective AV, perform a ray tracing operation to identify a plurality of network nodes through which the respective AV can communicate with the backend system.