All weather autonomously driven vehicles

• US 9,989,967 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2014
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cybernet Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cybernet Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Jacobus, Charles J., Haanpaa, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): GREENE, DANIEL LAWSON
• Application Number:
  US14/196,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20150253775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23, 701301
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4808 Evaluating distance, position or velocity data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/487 Extracting wanted echo signals , e.g. pulse detection
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/497 Means for monitoring or calibrating
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means

Abstract

Autonomously driven vehicles operate in rain, snow and other adverse weather conditions. An on-board vehicle sensor has a beam with a diameter that is only intermittently blocked by rain, snow, dust or other obscurant particles. This allows an obstacle detection processor is to tell the difference between obstacles, terrain variations and obscurant particles, thereby enabling the vehicle driving control unit to disregard the presence of obscurant particles along the route taken by the vehicle. The sensor may form part of a LADAR or RADAR system or a video camera. The obstacle detection processor may receive time-spaced frames divided into cells or pixels, whereby groups of connected cells or pixels and/or cells or pixels that persist over longer periods of time are interpreted to be obstacles or terrain variations. The system may further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust the operation of the obstacle detection processor.

Claims

1. An all-weather autonomously driven vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of environmental sensors disposed on the vehicle;

an obstacle detection processor receiving signals from the sensors to determine the presence of obstacles and terrain variations along a route taken by the vehicle;

a vehicle driving control unit operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle in accordance with the route and the obstacles and the terrain variations detected by the obstacle detection processor;

wherein one of the sensors is an optical sensor operative to detect wavelengths in the visible or near-visible region of the spectrum, and wherein the optical sensor has a sensing beam defined by a small angle of view enabling the optical sensor to detect obstacles and obscurant particles including rain and snow particles along a route taken by the vehicle; and

wherein the obstacle detection processor receives frames of data over time from the optical sensor, and wherein the obstacle detection processor is operative to discern the difference between obstacles, terrain variations and obscurant particles by disregarding obscurant particles detected by the optical sensor that (a) are smaller than a size threshold and/or (b) do not persist between the frames of data, thereby enabling the vehicle driving control unit to disregard the presence of obscurant particles along the route taken by the vehicle.

2. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein the optical sensor operative to detect the obscurant particles forms part of a laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system.

3. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least one of the environmental sensors disposed on the vehicle other than the optical sensor is a radio detection and ranging (RADAR) system.

4. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein the sensor operative to detect the obscurant particles forms part of a video camera.

5. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein:

the obstacle detection processor receives information in the form of time-spaced frames divided into cells or pixels; and

groups of connected cells or pixels are interpreted to be obstacles or terrain variations.

6. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein:

the obstacle detection processor receives information in the form of time-spaced frames divided into cells or pixels; and

cells or pixels that persist over longer periods of time are interpreted to be obstacles or terrain variations.

7. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle driving control unit is further operative to adjust vehicle stopping distance as a function of weather conditions.

8. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, wherein the vehicle driving control unit is further operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle as a function of visibility due to obscurant density.

9. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust the operation of the obstacle detection processor.

10. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 9, wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are manually supplied.

11. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 9, wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are made available for selection by a driver.

12. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 9, wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are automatically detected by measuring temperature, precipitation, atmospheric clarity or other ambient conditions.

13. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1, further including a terrain grading system to determine physical characteristics associated with positive and negative obstacles that the vehicle is allowed to traverse without invoking obstacle avoidance behavior.

14. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 13, wherein the physical characteristics include an obstacle depth and width threshold, d and w.

15. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 14, further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust d and w based upon weather conditions or soil type.

16. An all-weather autonomously driven vehicle, comprising:

an optical sensor mounted on the vehicle, the optical sensor including an image sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of cells or pixels;

wherein the optical sensor has a narrow angle of view enabling the image sensor to detect obstacles and obscurant particles including rain and snow particles along a route taken by the vehicle;

an obstacle detection processor receiving images from the sensor array in the form of frames of data taken along the route that are spaced apart in time;

wherein the obstacle detection processor is operative to discern the difference between obstacles and obscurant particles using one or both of the following rules;

(a) obscurant particles are smaller than obstacles based upon the number of cells or pixels that the particles and obstacles respectively block on the image sensor; and

(b) obscurant particles intermittently block different cells or pixels from frame to frame as the particles pass through the narrow angle of view of the optical sensor, whereas obscurant particles persist from frame to frame; and

a vehicle driving control unit operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle in accordance with the route and the obstacles detected by the obstacle detection processor while disregarding the obscurant particles.

17. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 16, wherein the optical sensor is a video camera.

18. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 16, wherein the obstacle detection processor is further operative to detect obstacles in the form of terrain variations.

19. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 16, further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust the operation of the obstacle detection processor.

20. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 16, wherein the vehicle driving control unit is further operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle as a function of visibility due to obscurant density.