Vehicle radar perception and localization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10082797-B2
Application number	US-201514856010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2015
Priority date	Sep 16, 2015
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

The disclosure relates to methods, systems, and apparatuses for autonomous driving vehicles or driving assistance systems and more particularly relates to vehicle radar perception and location. The vehicle driving system disclosed may include a storage media, a radar system, a location component and a driver controller. The storage media stores a map of roadways. The radar system is configured to generate perception information from a region near the vehicle. The location component is configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and other navigation related data. The drive controller is configured to control driving of the vehicle based on the map and the determined location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle driving system, comprising:
storage media storing a map of roadways;
a radar system configured to generate radar perception information from a region near a vehicle;
one or more additional sensor units comprising a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system;
a data quality component configured to determine that one or more sensor units are not providing usable data or are damaged, wherein the data quality component is configured to determine that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged;
a location component configured to determine a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and other navigation related data in response to determining that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and to determine the location of the vehicle on the map based on data from the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and
a drive controller configured to control driving of the vehicle based on the map and the determined location;
wherein the vehicle driving system is autonomous; and
wherein the other navigation related data comprises one or more of:
satellite positioning data from a satellite positioning system;
information received via a vehicle-to-vehicle communication;
information received via a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication; and
information from previous routes and trips driven by the vehicle.

2. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver configured to receive a wireless transmission from a stationary or moving structure, wherein the wireless transmission indicates a location of the stationary or moving structure and a time stamp, wherein the location component is further configured to determine the location of the vehicle based on the wireless transmission.

3. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , wherein the data quality component is configured to determine that the one or more sensor units are not providing usable data or are damaged based on one or more of:
current weather conditions; and
determining the one or more sensor units are not providing any data.

4. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to:
gather radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;
determine distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and
log navigation related data comprising the distance or relative location data;
wherein the location component determines the location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and the other navigation related data, wherein the other navigation related data comprises the navigation related data.

5. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined by a positioning system.

6. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined based on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication.

7. The vehicle driving system of claim 1 , wherein the other navigation related data comprises location information determined based on a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.

8. A method of perception and localization for a road vehicle comprising:
storing a map of a road or driving path;
determining that a LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged, the road vehicle comprising the LIDAR system;
receiving perception information from a radar system for one or more of ground and objects in a region near the vehicle;
receiving location information from a satellite positioning system;
determining a location of the vehicle on the map based on the radar perception information and the location information in response to determining that the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and determining the location of the vehicle on the map based on the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and
performing a driving maneuver based on the determined location on the map.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein further comprising receiving a wireless transmission from a stationary or moving structure, wherein the wireless transmission indicates a location of the stationary or moving structure and a time stamp, wherein determining the location of the vehicle on the map comprises determining based on the wireless transmission.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
gathering radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;
determining distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and
logging navigation related data comprising the distance or relative location data;
wherein determining the location of the vehicle further comprises determining based on the navigation related data.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the location of the of the vehicle on the map is further based on the information from the satellite positioning system and based on a location of an object or structure detected by the perception information from the radar system, wherein the object or structure is identified in the map.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein storing the map comprises storing a map comprising information about locations of the object or structure in relation to the road or the driving path.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving location or perception information from an infrastructure system or another vehicle, wherein determining the location further comprises determining based on the location or perception information from the infrastructure system or the another vehicle.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
obtain map data from storage, the map data corresponding to a map of a road;
determine that a LIDAR system of a vehicle is not providing usable data or is damaged;
obtain navigation related data from one or more sources;
obtain radar system data for a region near the vehicle;
determine a position of the vehicle in relation to the road by processing the radar system data and the navigation related data when the LIDAR system is not providing usable data or is damaged and by processing data from the LIDAR system when the LIDAR system is providing usable data; and
provide the position of the vehicle to an autonomous driving system of the vehicle;
wherein the navigation related data comprises one or more of:
satellite positioning data from a satellite positioning system;
information received via a vehicle-to-vehicle communication;
information received via a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication; and
information from previous routes and trips driven by the vehicle.

15. The computer readable storage media of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
gather radar data during one or more previous trips taken by the vehicle;
determine distance or relative location data of objects near a road with respect to lane lines, road boarders, or other road features based at least in part on the radar data; and
log the distance or relative location data as part of the navigation related data.

16. The computer readable storage media of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to receive a wireless transmission from a stationary or movin

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Micks Ashley Elizabeth
• Nallapa Venkatapathi Raju
• Nariyambut Murali Vidya
• Myers Scott Vincent

Classifications

• B60W30/00

  Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units · CPC title

• G01C21/3415

  Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents · CPC title

• G01S13/865

  Combination of radar systems with lidar systems · CPC title

• G01S19/45

  by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement · CPC title

• G01C21/30

  Map- or contour-matching · CPC title