Systems and methods for autonomous vehicle lane change control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10618519-B2
Application number	US-201815862757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2018
Priority date	Nov 6, 2017
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods are directed to lane change control for an autonomous vehicle. In one example, a computer-implemented method for determining whether to abort a lane change in an autonomous vehicle includes initiating, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a lane change procedure for an autonomous vehicle. The method further includes obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of one or more changed objects relative to the autonomous vehicle. The method further includes determining, by the computing system, that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of one or more changed objects. The method further includes in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle, generating, by the computing system, a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining whether to abort a lane change in an autonomous vehicle comprising:
initiating, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a lane change procedure for an autonomous vehicle;
obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of one or more changed objects relative to the autonomous vehicle;
determining, by the computing system, that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of one or more changed objects; and
in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle, generating, by the computing system, a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure;
wherein the generating, by the computing system, a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises remaining in a current lane if the lane change procedure is in a first phase where the autonomous vehicle has not crossed lane boundaries of the current lane.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the generating, by the computing system, a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises returning to an original lane if the lane change procedure is in a second phase where the autonomous vehicle has partially crossed a lane boundary of the original lane.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the computing system, that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle comprises determining, by the computing system, whether one or more thresholds have been satisfied.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more thresholds comprise one or more of:
a distance to a leading vehicle in a target lane of the lane change procedure;
a distance to a trailing vehicle in the target lane of the lane change procedure;
a deceleration threshold for the autonomous vehicle; and
an acceleration threshold for the autonomous vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing system, that aborting the lane change procedure is not feasible, based at least in part on one or more objects surrounding the autonomous vehicle; and
in response to determining that aborting the lane change procedure is not feasible, generating, by the computing system, a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to complete the lane change procedure.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the computing system, one or more notifications to a vehicle occupant in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle.

7. A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
initiating a lane change procedure for an autonomous vehicle in keeping with one or more thresholds being satisfied;
obtaining data indicative of one or more changed objects relative to the autonomous vehicle;
determining that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of one or more changed objects and that the one or more thresholds cannot still be satisfied; and
in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle, generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure;
wherein the generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises returning to an original lane if the lane change procedure is in a second phase where the autonomous vehicle has partially crossed a lane boundary of the original lane.

8. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises remaining in a current lane if the lane change procedure is in a first phase where the autonomous vehicle has not crossed lane boundaries of the current lane.

9. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more thresholds comprise one or more of a deceleration threshold of the autonomous vehicle relative to another vehicle or an acceleration threshold of the autonomous vehicle relative to another vehicle.

10. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more thresholds comprise one or more of:
a distance to a leading vehicle in a target lane of the lane change procedure; or
a distance to a trailing vehicle in the target lane of the lane change procedure.

11. The computing system of claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
determining that aborting the lane change procedure is not feasible, based at least in part on one or more objects surrounding the autonomous vehicle; and
in response to determining that aborting the lane change procedure is not feasible, generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to complete the lane change procedure.

12. The computing system of claim 7 , the operations further comprising:
providing one or more notifications to a vehicle occupant in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle.

13. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
initiating a lane change procedure for the autonomous vehicle;
obtaining data indicative of one or more changed objects relative to the autonomous vehicle;
determining that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of one or more changed objects; and
in response to determining that the lane change cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle, generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure;
wherein the generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises remaining in a current lane if the lane change procedure is in a first phase where the autonomous vehicle has not crossed lane boundaries of the current lane.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the generating a motion plan that controls the autonomous vehicle to abort the lane change procedure comprises returning to an original lane if the lane change procedure is in a second phase where the autonomous vehicle has partially crossed a lane boundary of the original lane.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the determining that the lane change procedure cannot be completed by the autonomous vehicle comprises determining whether one or more thresholds have been satisfied.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the one or more thresholds comprise one or more of:
a distance to a leading vehicle in a target lane of the lane change procedure;
a distance to a trailing vehicle in the target lane of the lane change procedure;
a deceleration threshold; and
an acceleration threshold.

17. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , the operations further comprising:
determining that aborting the lane change procedure is not feasible, based at

Assignees

• Uatc Llc

Inventors

• Marden Samuel Philip
• Perko Eric Michael

Classifications

• B60W60/0015

  specially adapted for safety · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60W60/001

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title

• B60W30/18163 Primary

  Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres · CPC title

• B60W2050/146

  Display means · CPC title