Autonomous vehicle operational management control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10654476-B2
Application number	US-201716472573-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2017
Priority date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

Autonomous vehicle operational management may include traversing, by an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle transportation network. Traversing the vehicle transportation network may include receiving, from a sensor of the autonomous vehicle, sensor information corresponding to an external object within a defined distance of the autonomous vehicle, identifying a distinct vehicle operational scenario in response to receiving the sensor information, instantiating a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module modeling the distinct vehicle operational scenario, receiving a candidate vehicle control action from the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, and traversing a portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the candidate vehicle control action.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for use in traversing a vehicle transportation network, the method comprising:
traversing, by an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle transportation network, wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes an autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle:
receiving, from a sensor of the autonomous vehicle, sensor information corresponding to an external object within a defined distance of the autonomous vehicle;
identifying a distinct vehicle operational scenario in response to receiving the sensor information;
instantiating a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of a scenario-specific operational control evaluation module modeling the distinct vehicle operational scenario;
receiving a candidate vehicle control action from the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance; and
controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse a portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the candidate vehicle control action.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the candidate vehicle control action includes determining whether to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the candidate vehicle control action is selected from a plurality of candidate vehicle control action that includes a stop vehicle control action, an advance vehicle control action, and a proceed vehicle control action.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the candidate vehicle control action includes:
on a condition that the candidate vehicle control action is stop, controlling the autonomous vehicle to be stationary;
on a condition that the candidate vehicle control action is advance, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse a defined cautionary distance in the vehicle transportation network at a defined cautionary rate;
on a condition that the candidate vehicle control action is proceed, controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the vehicle transportation network in accordance with a previously identified vehicle control action.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein instantiating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes:
identifying a convergence probability of spatio-temporal convergence between the external object and the autonomous vehicle; and
instantiating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance on a condition that the convergence probability exceeds a defined threshold.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes the autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle:
in response to traversing the portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the candidate vehicle control action:
identifying a second convergence probability of spatio-temporal convergence between the external object and the autonomous vehicle;
on a condition that the second convergence probability exceeds the defined threshold:
receiving a second candidate vehicle control action from the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance; and
controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the second candidate vehicle control action; and

on a condition that the second convergence probability is within the defined threshold:
uninstantiating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes the autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle:
instantiating a second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance; and
receiving a second candidate vehicle control action from the second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance substantially concurrently with receiving the candidate vehicle control action from the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying the distinct vehicle operational scenario includes identifying a second distinct vehicle operational scenario in response to receiving the sensor information, and wherein the second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of a second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module modeling the second distinct vehicle operational scenario.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes the autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle receiving, from a sensor of the autonomous vehicle, second sensor information corresponding to a second external object within the defined distance of the autonomous vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes the autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle:
identifying a second distinct vehicle operational scenario in response to receiving the second sensor information, wherein the second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is a second instance of the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein traversing the vehicle transportation network includes the autonomous vehicle operational management controller of the autonomous vehicle:
identifying a second distinct vehicle operational scenario in response to receiving the second sensor information, wherein the second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of a second scenario-specific operational control evaluation module modeling the second distinct vehicle operational scenario.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network based on the candidate vehicle control action and the second candidate vehicle control action.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network includes:
on a condition that the candidate vehicle control action differs from the second candidate vehicle control action, identifying one of the candidate vehicle control action or the second candidate vehicle control action as an elected vehicle control action; and
controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the portion of the vehicle transportation network in accordance with the elected vehicle control action.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein instantiating the scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance includes:
on a condition that identifying the distinct vehicle operational scenario includes identifying an intersection scenario, instantiating an intersection-scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance, wherein the intersection-scenario-specific operational control evaluation module instance is an instance of an intersection-scenario-specific operational control evaluation module modeling the intersection scenario;
on a condition that i

Assignees

• Nissan North America Inc
• Univ Massachusetts

Inventors

• Wray Kyle
• Witwicki Stefan
• Zilberstein Shlomo
• Pedersen Liam

Classifications

• B60W2554/80

  Spatial relation or speed relative to objects · CPC title

• B60W30/18154

  Approaching an intersection · CPC title

• B60W30/18159

  Traversing an intersection · CPC title

• G05B13/04 Primary

  involving the use of models or simulators · CPC title

• B60W30/0956 Primary

  the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters · CPC title