Systems and methods for autonomous vehicles with lighting control

• US 10,682,948 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2019
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearpath Robotics, Inc. (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Clearpath Robotics, Inc. (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Drexler, Simon, Rendall, Matthew Allen, Gariepy, Ryan Christopher, Hanuschik, Mike, Mohr, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Philogene, Haissa
• Application Number:
  US16/299,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20190270402A1
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 1/00 Arrangement or mounting of electrical propulsion units B60K7/00 takes precedence; arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion B60K6/00; electric transmission arrangements B60K17/12; electric equipment or propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles per se B60L; current-collectors for power supply lines of electrically-propelled vehicles B60L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/08 automatically
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/085 due to special conditions, e.g. adverse weather, type of road, badly illuminated road signs or potential dangers B60Q1/10, B60Q1/12, B60Q1/1423 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/1407 General lighting circuits comprising dimming circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/26 the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/5037 the display content changing automatically, e.g. depending on traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/507 specific to autonomous vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/543 for indicating other states or conditions of the vehicle indicating taxis' state of hire or fare G07B13/045
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2400/50 Projected symbol or information, e.g. onto the road or car body
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 2800/20 Utility vehicles, e.g. for agriculture, construction work
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/40 Special vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/10 Controlling the intensity of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/165 following a pre-assigned programmed sequence; Logic control [LC]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/17 Operational modes, e.g. switching from manual to automatic mode or prohibiting specific operations
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle comprises a chassis, two or more drive wheels extending below the chassis, a drive motor housed within the chassis for driving the drive wheels, and a payload surface on top of the chassis for carrying a payload. An illumination system, for emitting light from at least one portion of the chassis, is mounted substantially around the entire perimeter of the chassis. The illumination system may be implemented using an array of light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”) that are arranged as segments. For example, there may be “headlight” segments on the front left and front right corners of the chassis.

Claims

1. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a chassis;

two or more drive wheels extending below the chassis;

a drive motor housed within the chassis for driving the drive wheels;

an illumination system for emitting light from at least a portion of the chassis;

a memory storing a plurality of lighting pattern definitions; and

a processor operable to;

receive state data defining a current state of the autonomous vehicle;

select a lighting pattern of the plurality of lighting patterns based on the state data; and

control the illumination system according to the selected lighting pattern definition.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to:

receive a signal from a sensor based on a detected object, and select the lighting pattern based on the signal.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising environmental data defining an object in a vicinity of the autonomous vehicle.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising control data defining operation parameters of the autonomous vehicle.

5. The vehicle claim 4, wherein the control data is associated with a warning condition.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising trajectory data defining a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle.

7. The vehicle of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to:

determine the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle comprising a turn, and

control the illumination system to illuminate a segment for signaling the turn.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to control the illumination system to illuminate a segment of the illumination system according to the selected lighting pattern.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein:

each lighting pattern definition comprises a plurality of lighting pattern definition subsets with each lighting pattern definition subset corresponding to a sub-state of the autonomous vehicle; and

the processor is operable to;

determine, from the state data, an active sub-state associated with a highest rank; and

select the lighting pattern definition subset corresponding to the active sub-state.

10. A system for controlling an illumination system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of lighting pattern definitions;

a processor in communication with the memory and the illumination system, the processor is operable to;

receive state data defining a current state of the autonomous vehicle;

select a lighting pattern of the plurality of lighting patterns based on the state data; and

control the illumination system according to the selected lighting pattern definition.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to:

receive a signal from a sensor based on a detected object, and

select the lighting pattern based on the signal.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising environmental data defining an object in a vicinity of the autonomous vehicle.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising control data defining operation parameters of the autonomous vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is operable to determine the control data is associated with a warning condition.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to determine the state data comprising trajectory data defining a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is operable to:

determine the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle comprising a turn, and

control the illumination system to illuminate a segment for signaling the turn.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is operable to control the illumination system to illuminate a segment of the illumination system according to the selected lighting pattern.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein:

each lighting pattern definition comprises a plurality of lighting pattern definition subsets with each lighting pattern definition subset corresponding to a sub-state of the autonomous vehicle; and

the processor is operable to;

determine, from the state data, an active sub-state associated with a highest rank; and

select the lighting pattern definition subset corresponding to the active sub-state.