Self-driving delivery of optionally-driven vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10703382-B2
Application number	US-201715596046-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2017
Priority date	May 16, 2017
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for operating autonomous vehicles. In one example embodiment, the method includes receiving an instruction for an autonomous vehicle to autonomously travel in an autonomous mode from a first location to a second location. When operating in the autonomous mode, the autonomous vehicle is restricted to operating within a limited operating envelope. The method includes receiving data indicative of a request by a human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle. In response to receiving the data indicative of the request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle, the method includes authorizing the autonomous vehicle for operation by a human operator in a non-autonomous mode outside of the limited operating envelope. The limited operating envelope limits at least one operating capability of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on an operating limit associated with an autonomous system for the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
obtaining, by one or more processors, resource data that describes limited processing resources of an autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle;
determining, by the one or more processors and based on the resource data that describes the limited processing resources of the autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle, a limited operating envelope that restricts a type of travel maneuver available for the autonomous vehicle traveling from a first location to a second location in an autonomous mode;
receiving, by the one or more processors, an instruction for the autonomous vehicle to travel in the autonomous mode from the first location to the second location, wherein when operating in the autonomous mode; the autonomous vehicle is to travel from the first location to the second location without a human operator operating the autonomous vehicle;
after the autonomous vehicle arrives at the second location; receiving, by the one or more processors, data indicative of a request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle; and
in response to receiving the data indicative of the request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle, authorizing; by the one or more processors, the autonomous vehicle for operation by the human operator in a non-autonomous mode outside of the limited operating envelope.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the limited operating envelope further restricts at least one of a travel speed, a number of travel maneuvers, or a travel distance of the autonomous vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operating limit associated with the autonomous system comprises a maximum travel speed at which the autonomous system can control the autonomous vehicle to travel autonomously from the first location to the second location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the restricted type of travel maneuver comprises at least one of a U-turn or a lane change.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the limited operating envelope limits autonomous travel by the autonomous vehicle to a limited time window.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the limited time window is determined based at least in part on one or more environmental parameters.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the environmental parameters comprise at least one of time of day, traffic patterns, weather, pedestrian traffic, terrain, events, activity, or behavior.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instruction is determined based at least in part on a vehicle allocation for a vehicle sharing service.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle allocation is determined to achieve a balance of vehicles across a geographic area.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data indicative of the request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle comprises data indicative of the human operator starting the autonomous vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource data that describes the limited processing resources of the autonomous system comprises data describing an intentionally limited processing resource configuration of the autonomous system.

12. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
an autonomous system configured to control one or more vehicle components to implement autonomous travel;
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
obtaining resource data that describes limited processing resources of an autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle;
determining, based on the resource data that describes the limited processing resources of the autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle, a limited operating envelope that restricts a type of travel maneuver available for the autonomous vehicle traveling from a first location to a second location in an autonomous mode:
receiving an instruction for the autonomous vehicle to travel in an autonomous mode from the first location to the second location, wherein when operating in the autonomous mode, the autonomous vehicle is to travel from the first location to the second location without a human operator operating the autonomous vehicle;
after the autonomous vehicle arrives at the second location, receiving data indicative of a request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle; and
in response to receiving the data indicative of the request by the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle, authorizing the human operator to operate the autonomous vehicle in a non-autonomous mode outside of the limited operating envelope.

13. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the limited operating envelope further restricts at least one of a travel speed, a number of travel maneuvers or a travel distance of the autonomous vehicle.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the operating limit associated with the autonomous system comprises a maximum travel speed at which the autonomous system can control the autonomous vehicle to travel autonomously from the first location to the second location.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the limited operating envelope limits autonomous travel by the autonomous vehicle to a limited time window.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the limited time window is determined based at least in part on one or more environmental parameters.

17. The autonomous vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the environmental parameters comprise at least one of time of day, traffic patterns, weather, pedestrian traffic, terrain, events, activity, or behavior.

18. A computing system comprising one or more processors and one or more memory devices, the memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
obtaining data indicative of a vehicle allocation for a plurality of vehicles across a geographic area, the vehicle allocation specifying a location for each of the plurality of vehicles in the geographic area to implement a vehicle sharing service;
obtaining resource data that describes limited processing resources of an autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle;
determining, based on the resource data that describes the limited processing resources of the autonomous system onboard the autonomous vehicle, a limited operating envelope that restricts a type of travel maneuver available for the autonomous vehicle traveling from a first location to a second location in an autonomous mode;
determining an allocation time window for the autonomous vehicle, the allocation time window determined based at least in part on the limited operating envelope;
determining an instruction for the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the vehicle allocation and the allocation time window, wherein the instruction is configured to control the autonomous vehicle to travel at least partially to a location specified for the autonomous vehicle in the vehicle allocation during the allocation time window in an autonomous mode, and wherein the autonomous vehicle is to travel to the location specified for the autonomous vehicle without a human operator operating the autonomous vehicle; and
communicating the instruction to the autonomous vehicle.

19. The computing system of claim 18 ,

Assignees

• Uatc Llc

Inventors

• Sweeney Matthew
• Levandowski Anthony

Classifications

• B60W30/146

  Speed limiting · CPC title

• B60W50/085 Primary

  Changing the parameters of the control units, e.g. changing limit values, working points by control input · CPC title

• B60W60/0053

  from vehicle to occupant · CPC title

• B60W60/005

  Handover processes (Handing over between remote control and on-board control or handing over between remote control arrangements G05D1/227) · CPC title

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic