Detecting and responding to parking behaviors in autonomous vehicles

• US 10,293,822 B1
• Filed: 05/17/2017
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waymo LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Waymo LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Silver, David Harrison, Ferguson, David Ian Franklin
• Primary Examiner(s): Troost, Aaron L
• Application Number:
  US15/597,379
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/346 with automatic actuation
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0025 specially adapted for specific operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/58 Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate controlling autonomous vehicles or vehicles having an autonomous driving mode. More particularly, these vehicles may identify and respond to other vehicles engaged in a parallel parking maneuver by receiving sensor data corresponding to objects in an autonomous vehicle'"'"'s environment and including location information for the objects over time. An object corresponding to another vehicle in a lane in front of the first vehicle may be identified from the sensor data. A pattern of actions of the other vehicle identified form the sensor data is used to determine that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver based on a pattern of actions exhibited by the other vehicle identified from the sensor data. The determination is then used to control the autonomous vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for identifying and responding to vehicles engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, over a period of time, sensor data corresponding to objects in a first vehicle'"'"'s environment, the sensor data including location information for the objects over time, and the first vehicle having an autonomous driving mode where the one or more processors maintain a default distance between the first vehicle and other vehicles in a same lane;

identifying, by the one or more processors, from the sensor data an object corresponding to a second vehicle in a lane in front of the first vehicle;

tracking, by the one or more processors, the second vehicle over the period of time in order to identify a number of different actions performed by the second vehicle from the sensor data;

determining, by the one or more processors, that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver by comparing the number of different actions to a threshold value; and

when the second vehicle is determined to be engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, controlling, by the one or more processors, the first vehicle in the autonomous driving mode by maintaining a second distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle that is greater than the default distance.

2. The method of claim 1, first comprising:

accessing data identifying pre-stored behavior patterns corresponding to actions vehicles take when engaged in parallel parking maneuvers;

tracking a set of actions performed by the second vehicle over the period of time;

identifying a subset of the set of actions that correspond to the pre-stored behavior patterns; and

wherein the number of different actions corresponds to a number of actions in the subset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include turning on a turn signal when the second vehicle is adjacent to a parking area.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include pulling forward and backing into a parking area.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include pulling adjacent to an opening between two parked vehicles adjacent to the lane and the opening is larger than a size of the second vehicle indicated in the sensor data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include stopping adjacent to one of the two parked vehicles when there is no other vehicle within a given distance of the second vehicle in the lane in front of the second vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, once the second vehicle is located at least partially within a parking area:

determining when there is sufficient room in the lane to pass the second vehicle; and

when sufficient room is determined to be in the lane, no longer maintaining the second distance and moving the first vehicle around and past the second vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the one or more processors, that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver is further based on whether there are any other vehicles within a given distance in front of the second vehicle.

9. A system for identifying and responding to vehicles engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, the system comprising one or more processors configured to:

receive over a period of time, sensor data corresponding to objects in a first vehicle'"'"'s environment, the sensor data including location information for the objects over time, and the first vehicle having an autonomous driving mode where the one or more processors maintain a default distance between the first vehicle and other vehicles in a same lane;

identify from the sensor data an object corresponding to a second vehicle in a lane in front of the first vehicle;

track the second vehicle over the period of time in order to identify a number of different actions performed by the second vehicle from the sensor data;

determine that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver by comparing the number of different actions to a threshold value; and

when the second vehicle is determined to be engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, control the first vehicle in the autonomous driving mode by maintaining a second distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle that is greater than the default distance.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

access data identifying pre-stored behavior patterns corresponding to actions vehicles take when engaged in parallel parking maneuvers;

track a set of actions performed by the second vehicle over the period of time;

identify a subset of the set of actions that correspond to the pre-stored behavior patterns; and

wherein the number of different actions corresponds to a number of actions in the subset.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include turning on a turn signal when the second vehicle is adjacent to a parking area.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include pulling forward and backing into a parking area.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include pulling adjacent to an opening between two parked vehicles adjacent to the lane and the opening is larger than a size of the second vehicle indicated in the sensor data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the pre-stored behavior patterns include stopping adjacent to one of the two parked vehicles when there is no other vehicle within a given distance of the second vehicle in the lane in front of the second vehicle.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising the first vehicle.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, once the second vehicle is located at least partially within a parking area:

determine when there is sufficient room in the lane to pass the second vehicle; and

when sufficient room is determined to be in the lane, no longer maintain the second distance and moving the first vehicle around and past the second vehicle.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further reconfigured to determine that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver further based on whether there are any other vehicles within a given distance in front of the second vehicle.

18. A non-transitory, computer readable medium on which instructions are stored, the instructions when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for identifying and responding to vehicles engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, the method comprising:

receiving over a period of time, sensor data corresponding to objects in a first vehicle'"'"'s environment, the sensor data including location information for the objects over time, and the first vehicle having an autonomous driving mode where the one or more processors maintain a default distance between the first vehicle and other vehicles in a same lane;

identifying from the sensor data an object corresponding to a second vehicle in a lane in front of the first vehicle;

tracking the second vehicle over the period of time in order to identify a number of different actions performed by the second vehicle from the sensor data;

determining that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver by comparing the number of different actions to a threshold value; and

when the second vehicle is determined to be engaged in a parallel parking maneuver, controlling the first vehicle in the autonomous driving mode by maintaining a second distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle that is greater than the default distance.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

accessing data identifying pre-stored behavior patterns corresponding to actions vehicles take when engaged in parallel parking maneuvers;

tracking a set of actions performed by the second vehicle over the period of time;

identifying a subset of the set of actions that correspond to the pre-stored behavior patterns; and

wherein the number of different actions corresponds to a number of actions in the subset.

20. The medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises, once the second vehicle is located at least partially within a parking area:

determining when there is sufficient room in the lane to pass the second vehicle; and

when sufficient room is determined to be in the lane, no longer maintaining the second distance and moving the first vehicle around and past the second vehicle.