AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WITH INDEPENDENT AUXILIARY CONTROL UNITS

• US 20170090476A1
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Published: 03/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Letwin, Nicholas, Kelly, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 10,061,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2270/406 Test-mode; Self-diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17557 specially adapted for lane departure prevention road vehicle drive control systems for lane keeping otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/12
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17558 specially adapted for collision avoidance or collision mitigation road vehicle drive control systems for collision avoidance otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/09
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0215 Sensor drifts or sensor failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2302/05 Leading to automatic stopping of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0077 using redundant signals or controls
• 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 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/86 Monitoring the performance of the system, e.g. alarm or diagnosis modules
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2105/20 for transportation
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2107/13 Spaces reserved for vehicle traffic, e.g. roads, regulated airspace or regulated waters
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 2109/10 Land vehicles

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle which includes multiple independent control systems that provide redundancy as to specific and critical safety situations which may be encountered when the autonomous vehicle is in operation.

Claims

1. An autonomous vehicle comprising:

multiple sensors;

a primary control sub-system to control the vehicle, including to (i) receive sensor input from at least some of the multiple sensors of the vehicle, (ii) determine, from the sensor input, a vehicle action or vehicle, and (iii) signal one or more control parameters corresponding to the determined action or state to a corresponding one or more vehicle interfaces of the vehicle; and

an auxiliary control unit, operating independently of the primary control system, (i) to monitor for and detect a specific set of conditions or events from one or more of the multiple sensors, and (ii) to generate a vehicle response output in response to monitoring for the specific set of conditions or events.

2. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary control unit communicates the vehicle response output to the primary control system.

3. The autonomous vehicle of claim 2, wherein auxiliary control unit receives trajectory data from the primary control system for a planned trajectory of the vehicle, and determines the vehicle response output based at least in part on sensor data and the trajectory data.

4. The autonomous vehicle of claim 3, wherein the primary control system uses the vehicle response output to verify one or more planned trajectories of the vehicle.

5. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary control unit generates the vehicle response output to specify one or more vehicle actions to one or more vehicle interfaces of the vehicle.

6. The autonomous vehicle of claim 5, wherein the auxiliary control unit communicates the vehicle response output to a preselected vehicle interface of the vehicle, to cause the vehicle to perform a predetermined vehicle action or achieve a predetermined vehicle state.

7. The autonomous vehicle of claim 6, wherein the predetermined vehicle action includes one of (i) bringing the vehicle to a stop, (ii) bringing the vehicle to a particular velocity, (iii) maintaining the vehicle to move within a lane, (iv) steering the vehicle to a roadside stop, (v) performing a lane change action.

8. The autonomous vehicle of claim 6, wherein the one or more vehicle interfaces are configured to implement the predetermined vehicle action as a bypass to command input received from the primary control system.

9. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary control unit generates the vehicle response output to implement one or more predetermined actions by the vehicle as a response to detecting the specific set of conditions or events.

10. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein the auxiliary control unit generates the vehicle response output to signal a brake interface of the vehicle to perform an emergency stop, and wherein the brake interface actuates a braking mechanism of the vehicle to come to a stop.

11. The autonomous vehicle of claim 10, wherein the auxiliary control unit generates the vehicle response output to cause a multistep action to be performed by multiple control devices of the vehicle.

12. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11, wherein the multiple control devices of the vehicle include (i) a brake interface for a braking system of the vehicle, (ii) a steering interface for a steering system of the vehicle, (iii) an accelerator interface for an acceleration mechanism of the vehicle, (iv) a shift interface for a shift operator of the vehicle, (v) a light signal interface for a vehicle light, and/or (vi) an interface for a wireless communication port of the vehicle.

13. A method for operating an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

autonomously controlling a vehicle in operation using a primary control system;

operating an auxiliary control unit to monitor for and detect a predetermined condition or event, the control unit being independent of the primary control system; and

generating, using the auxiliary control unit, a vehicle response output that specifies a vehicle state or action based on the detected predetermined condition or event.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

communicating, by the auxiliary control unit, the vehicle response output to the primary control system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the auxiliary control unit, trajectory data from the primary control system for a planned trajectory of the vehicle, and

determining the vehicle response output based at least in part on sensor data and the trajectory data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the auxiliary control unit repeatedly communicates the vehicle response output to the primary control system while monitoring for the predetermined condition or event.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

calculating, by the primary control system, a trajectory of the vehicle; and

verifying the calculated trajectory based on the vehicle response output of the auxiliary control unit.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

communicating, by the auxiliary control unit, the vehicle response output to one or more control devices of the vehicle, to cause the one or more control devices to implement a vehicle action or vehicle state that is determined by the auxiliary control unit.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the auxiliary control unit causes the one or more control devices of the vehicle to bypass control parameters communicated by the primary control system in order to perform a vehicle action that is determined by the auxiliary control unit.

20. A control system for an autonomous vehicle, the control system comprising:

a primary control sub-system to control the vehicle, including to (i) receive sensor input from at least some sensors of the vehicle, (ii) determine, from the sensor input, a vehicle action or vehicle, and (iii) signal one or more control parameters corresponding to the determined action or state to a corresponding one or more vehicle interfaces of the vehicle; and

an auxiliary control unit, operating independently of the primary control system, (i) to monitor for and detect a specific set of conditions or events from one or more sensors of the vehicle, and (ii) to generate a vehicle response output in response to monitoring for the specific set of conditions or events.