Systems and methods for communicating autonomous vehicle scenario evaluation and intended vehicle actions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10712745-B2
Application number	US-201916276761-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2019
Priority date	Aug 16, 2017
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for communicating autonomous vehicle operations are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer implemented method includes obtaining data associated with the autonomous vehicle. The method includes identifying an object within the surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle or a planned vehicle motion action of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data associated with the autonomous vehicle. The method includes determining an audible vehicle indication that is associated with the identified object or the planned vehicle motion action. The audible vehicle indication is indicative of a type of the object or a type of the planned vehicle motion. The method includes outputting, via one or more output devices onboard the autonomous vehicle, the audible vehicle indication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for communicating autonomous vehicle operations, comprising:
obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of a motion plan of an autonomous vehicle, wherein the motion plan comprises one or more planned vehicle motion actions of the autonomous vehicle;
determining, by the computing system, a relevant planned vehicle motion action from among the plurality of planned vehicle motion actions of the motion plan; and
outputting, by the computing system via one or more output devices onboard the autonomous vehicle, an audible vehicle indication that is indicative of the relevant planned vehicle motion action,
wherein the audible vehicle indication is outputted in a manner that is indicative of one or more locations associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action, and wherein the one or more output devices correspond to the one or more locations associated with the planned vehicle motion action, and
wherein the audible vehicle indication is indicative of a type of the planned vehicle motion action or a direction of the relevant planned vehicle motion action.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the audible vehicle indication is associated with a preference of a passenger or an operator of the autonomous vehicle.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the audible vehicle indication is indicative of a distance until the relevant planned vehicle motion action is performed by the autonomous vehicle.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the relevant planned vehicle motion comprises a turn of the autonomous vehicle or a lane change of the autonomous vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the audible vehicle indication is indicative of the direction of the turn or the lane change.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the computing system, the relevant planned vehicle motion action among the plurality of planned vehicle motion actions comprises:
determining, by the computing system, that the relevant planned vehicle motion action is relevant to an intended audience of the audible vehicle indication.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein determining, by the computing system, that the relevant planned vehicle motion action is relevant to the intended audience of the audible vehicle indication comprises determining, by the computing system, that the relevant planned vehicle motion action is relevant to the intended audience of the audible vehicle indication based at least in part on at least one of the type of the relevant planned vehicle motion action or an effect of the relevant planned vehicle motion action on at least one of a heading or a speed of the autonomous vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the intended audience is a passenger of the vehicle for a transportation service.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous vehicle comprises a plurality of output devices onboard the autonomous vehicle, and wherein outputting the audible vehicle indication comprises:
selecting, by the computing system, the one or more output devices from among the plurality of output devices located onboard the autonomous vehicle.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein one or more positions of the one or more output devices correspond to the one or more locations associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more output devices are configured to output the audible vehicle indication in a manner that is audible to a passenger within an interior of the autonomous vehicle.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating, by the computing system, the audible vehicle indication comprises:
accessing, by the computing system, a data structure stored in a memory located onboard the autonomous vehicle, wherein the data structure is indicative of a plurality of auditory characteristics;
identifying, by the computing system, one or more auditory characteristics of the plurality of auditory characteristics for the audible vehicle indication based at least in part on the data structure, and
wherein outputting, by the computing system via the one or more output devices onboard the autonomous vehicle, the audible vehicle indication comprises outputting the audible vehicle indication in accordance with the one or more identified auditory characteristics.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the identified auditory characteristics is based at least in part on an intended audience of the audible vehicle indication.

14. A computing system for communicating autonomous vehicle operations, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
identifying data indicative of a motion plan of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data associated with the autonomous vehicle;
determining a relevant planned vehicle motion action from the motion plan of the autonomous vehicle;
generating an audible vehicle indication that is associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action; and
outputting, via one or more output devices onboard the autonomous vehicle, the audible vehicle indication within an interior of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the audible vehicle indication is indicative of a characteristic of the relevant planned vehicle motion action,
wherein the audible vehicle indication is outputted in a manner that is indicative of one or more locations associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action, and wherein the one or more output devices correspond to the one or more locations associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action, and
wherein characteristic comprises at least one of a type of the relevant planned vehicle motion action or a direction of the planned vehicle motion action.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
providing data indicative of the audible vehicle indication to one or more remote computing devices, wherein the audible vehicle indication is outputted to a remote operator of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the audible vehicle indication is associated with a preference of a passenger of the autonomous vehicle that is utilizing the autonomous vehicle for a transportation service requested by the passenger.

17. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein one or more positions of the one or more output devices correspond to one or more locations associated with the relevant planned vehicle motion action.

18. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
one or more output devices;
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the autonomous vehicle to perform operations, the operations comprising:
obtaining data associated with a motion plan of the autonomous vehicle;
identifying a planned vehicle motion action of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data associated with the motion plan of the autonomous vehicle;
generating the audible vehicle indication that is associated with the planned vehicle motion action; and
outputting, via the

Assignees

• Uatc Llc

Inventors

• Zych Noah

Classifications

• G08G1/166 Primary

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title

• B60W30/09

  Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering · CPC title

• B60W30/08

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

• B60W50/14

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

• B60W30/0953

  the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters · CPC title