Internal safety systems for robotic vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10303174-B2
Application number	US-201815886675-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2018
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods implemented in algorithms, hardware, software, firmware, logic, or circuitry may be configured to process data and sensory input to determine whether an object external to an autonomous vehicle (e.g., another vehicle, a pedestrian, road debris, a bicyclist, etc.) may be a potential collision threat to the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may be configured to implement interior active safety systems to protect passengers of the autonomous vehicle during a collision with an object or during evasive maneuvers by the autonomous vehicle, for example. The interior active safety systems may be configured to provide passengers with notice of an impending collision and/or emergency maneuvers by the vehicle by tensioning seat belts prior to executing an evasive maneuver and/or prior to a predicted point of collision.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for vehicle safety system activation, comprising:
receiving sensor data from a sensor associated with a vehicle;
determining a vehicle location within an environment, wherein the vehicle location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the vehicle within the environment;
calculating, based at least in part on the vehicle location, a vehicle trajectory, wherein the vehicle trajectory indicates a subset of a planned path associated with navigating the vehicle between at least a first location and a second location within the environment;
identifying an object within the environment;
determining an object location, wherein the object location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the object within the environment;
determining an object trajectory based at least in part on the object location; and
causing a safety system to activate based at least in part on the vehicle trajectory and the object trajectory.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the safety system comprises at least one of an interior safety system, an exterior safety system, or a drive system.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object is a first object, and wherein the method further comprises:
identifying a second object within the environment;
determining a first priority associated with the first object;
determining a second priority associated with the second object; and
determining to activate the safety system for the first object based at least in part on the first priority and the second priority.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the object location is a first object location and the object trajectory is a first object trajectory, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining a second object location, wherein the second object location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the second object within the environment; and
determining a second object trajectory based at least in part on the second object location,
wherein determining the first priority is based at least in part on the first object trajectory, and wherein determining the second priority is based at least in part on the second object trajectory.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 , further comprising:
determining a first type of object associated with the first object; and
determining a second type of object associated with the second object,
wherein determining the first priority is based at least in part on the first type of object, and wherein determining the second priority is based at least in part on the second type of object.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object location is a first object location and the one or more of the position or the orientation of the object within the environment is one or more of a first position or a first orientation of the object within the environment, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining a second object location, wherein the second object location identifies one or more of a second position or a second orientation of the object within the environment; and
determining a behavior associated with the object based at least in part on the first object location and the second object location,
wherein causing the safety system to activate is further based on the behavior associated with the object.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object location is a first object location, the one or more of the position or the orientation of the object within the environment is one or more of a first position or a first orientation of the object within the environment, the object trajectory is a first object trajectory, and the safety system is a first safety system, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining a second object location, wherein the second object location identifies one or more of a second position or a second orientation of the object within the environment;
determining a second object trajectory based at least in part on the second object location; and
causing a second safety system to activate based at least in part on the vehicle trajectory and the second object trajectory.

8. A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor data from a sensor associated with a vehicle;
determining a vehicle location within an environment, wherein the vehicle location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the vehicle within the environment;
calculating, based at least in part on the vehicle location, a vehicle trajectory, wherein the vehicle trajectory indicates a portion of a planned path associated with navigating the vehicle between at least a first location and a second location within the environment;
identifying an object within the environment;
determining an object location, wherein the object location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the object within the environment;
determining, based at least in part on the object location, an object trajectory; and
causing a safety system to activate based at least in part on the vehicle trajectory and the object trajectory.

9. The system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the object is a first object, and wherein the operations further comprise:
identifying a second object within the environment;
determining a first priority associated with the first object;
determining a second priority associated with the second object; and
determining to activate the safety system for the first object based at least in part on the first priority and the second priority.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the object location is a first object location and the object trajectory is a first object trajectory, and wherein the operations further comprise:
determining a second object location, wherein the second object location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the second object within the environment; and
determining a second object trajectory based at least in part on the second object location,
wherein determining the first priority is based at least in part on the first object trajectory, and wherein determining the second priority is based at least in part on the second object trajectory.

11. The system as recited in claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
determining a first type of object associated with the first object; and
determining a second type of object associated with the second object,
wherein determining the first priority is based at least in part on the first type of object, and wherein determining the second priority is based at least in part on the second type of object.

12. The system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the object location is a first object location and the one or more of the position or the orientation of the object within the environment is one or more of a first position or a first orientation of the object within the environment, and wherein the operations further comprise:
determining a second object location, wherein the second object location identifies one or more of a second position or a second orientation of the object within the environment; and
determining a behavior associated with the object based at least in part on the first object location and the second object location,
wherein causing the safety system to activate is further based on the behavior asociated with the object.

13. The system as recited in claim 8

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Kentley-Klay Timothy David
• Gamara Rachad Youssef
• Behere Sagar

Classifications

• B60W2554/00

  Input parameters relating to objects · CPC title

• B60W30/18

  Propelling the vehicle · CPC title

• B60L2200/40

  Working vehicles · CPC title

• B60W30/08

  Active safety systems} predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision {or attempting to minimise its consequences · CPC title

• B60L3/04

  Cutting off the power supply under fault conditions (protective devices and circuit arrangements in general H01H; H02H) · CPC title