Autonomous vehicle diagnostic system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10137903-B2
Application number	US-201615238093-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2016
Priority date	Aug 16, 2016
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

An on-board diagnostic system for an autonomous vehicle can receive diagnostic data from any number of AV systems of the AV. For each AV system the on-board diagnostic system can determine whether the diagnostic data indicates that the AV system is operating nominally. In response to determining a fault condition of an AV system, the on-board diagnostic system can initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve the fault condition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An on-board diagnostic system for an autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:
at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems;
one or more processors; and
one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive, via the at least one AV systems interface, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems;
for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and
in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by:
controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;
determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;
based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and
based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.

2. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of AV systems comprises a plurality of sensor systems of the AV.

3. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of sensor systems comprises at least a LIDAR sensor system and a stereoscopic camera sensor system.

4. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 3 , wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the LIDAR sensor system is operating nominally by comparing the diagnostic data from the LIDAR sensor system with a set of tolerance ranges for each of a plurality of components on the LIDAR sensor system.

5. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 4 , wherein the set of tolerance ranges for the LIDAR sensor system include at least one of a spin rate range, a laser power range, a laser frequency range, or a photodetector alignment range.

6. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of sensor systems further comprises a radar sensor system.

7. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of AV systems further comprises a positioning system.

8. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of AV systems further comprises an AV control system that processes sensor data from the plurality of sensor systems in order to autonomously operate acceleration, braking, and steering systems of the AV along a current route.

9. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 8 , wherein the fault condition affects autonomous operations of the AV control system, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
classify the fault condition based on a degree to which the fault condition affects the autonomous operations; and
implement a sequence of safety operations in the procedure in response to the fault condition.

10. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9 , wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises a transfer procedure to hand over control of the AV to a human driver.

11. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 10 , wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
log the fault condition in one or more data logs of the AV.

12. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9 , wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises causing the AV control system to autonomously drive the AV to a home location.

13. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9 , wherein the sequence of safety operations comprises causing the AV control system to stop the AV at a nearest safe location.

14. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 9 , wherein the autonomous operations comprise at least one of perception operations or planning operations by the AV control system.

15. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 14 , wherein the affected perception operations indicate a failure in a faulty sensor system, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
in response to identifying the failure in the faulty sensor system, cause the AV control system to disregard sensor data from the faulty sensor system.

16. The on-board diagnostic system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of AV systems comprises at least one electronic control unit of the AV.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an on-board diagnostic system of an autonomous vehicle (AV), cause the one or more processors to:
receive, via at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems;
for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determine whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and
in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiate a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by:
controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;
determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;
based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and
based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.

18. A computer-implemented method of performing diagnostics on an autonomous vehicle (AV), the method being performed by one or more processors of an on-board diagnostic system of the AV and comprising:
receiving, via at least one AV systems interface connecting the on-board diagnostic system with a plurality of AV systems, diagnostic data from the plurality of AV systems of the AV;
for each respective AV system of the plurality of AV systems, determining whether the diagnostic data indicate that the respective AV system is operating nominally; and
in response to determining a fault condition corresponding to the respective AV system not operating nominally, initiating a procedure associated with the respective AV system to resolve or mitigate the fault condition by:
controlling one or more sensors or actuators to reset the respective AV system;
determining whether resetting the respective AV system resolves the fault condition;
based on determining that resetting the respective AV system does not resolve the fault condition, determining whether the fault condition for the respective AV system can be mitigated; and
based on determining that the fault condition can be mitigated, controlling one or more sensors or actuators to mitigate the fault condition in accordance with the procedure associated with the respective AV system.

Assignees

• Uber Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Tascione Daniel
• Bode Michael

Classifications

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title

• B60W50/0225

  Failure correction strategy · CPC title

• B60W10/04

  including control of propulsion units · CPC title

• G07C5/0841

  Registering performance data (recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B) · CPC title

• B60W50/032

  Fixing failures by repairing failed parts, e.g. loosening a sticking valve · CPC title