Multi-model switching on a collision mitigation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10780880-B2
Application number	US-201816052899-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2018
Priority date	Aug 3, 2017
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes receiving data indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to operate in a plurality of operating modes. The method includes determining one or more response characteristics of the vehicle based at least in part on the operating mode of the vehicle, each response characteristic indicating how the vehicle responds to a potential collision. The method includes controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling an autonomous vehicle having a plurality of operating modes, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices; data indicative of a first operating mode from the plurality of operating modes of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the first operating mode corresponds to an occupant of the autonomous vehicle;
determining, by the computing system and based at least in part on the first operating mode of the autonomous vehicle, one or more first control signals for a collision mitigation system onboard the autonomous vehicle, the one or more first control signals representing one or more response characteristics indicative of a response by the autonomous vehicle to a potential collision, the one or more response characteristics based on one or more preferences of the occupant of the autonomous vehicle regarding the response of the autonomous vehicle to the potential collision; and
issuing, by the computing system, the one or more first control signals to control the autonomous vehicle via the collision mitigation system in accordance with the one or more response characteristics.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
detecting, by the computing system via the collision mitigation system, a potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and an object within a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle;
controlling, by the computing system via the collision mitigation system, the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to avoid the potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and the object in the surrounding environment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to avoid the potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and the object in the surrounding environment comprises:
providing an indication of the potential collision to an autonomy computing system or a human-machine interface system on-board the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics; and
monitoring the potential collision for a first duration of time or until the potential collision is avoided via the autonomy computing system or the human-machine interface system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , the method further comprising:
determining that the potential collision persists after the first duration of time; and
issuing, in response to determining that the potential collision persists after the first duration of time; one or more second control signals to one or more vehicle control systems onboard the autonomous vehicle to control a motion of the autonomous vehicle and avoid the potential collision.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more second control signals are determined based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to control the motion of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the one or more response characteristics.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein providing the indication of the potential collision to the autonomy computing system or the human-machine interface system on-board the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics comprises:
providing the indication of the potential collision to the autonomy computing system when the first operating mode is an autonomous operating mode; and
providing the indication of the potential collision to the human-machine interface system when the first operating mode is a manual operating mode.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein detecting the potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and the object within the surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle comprises:
obtaining trajectory information associated with the autonomous vehicle from an autonomy computing system onboard the autonomous vehicle;
determining one or more regions of interest within the surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the trajectory information; and
detecting the potential collision within the one or more regions of interest while monitoring the one or more regions of interest for one or more potential collisions between the autonomous vehicle and one or more objects in the surrounding environment.

8. A computing system for controlling an autonomous vehicle having a plurality of operating modes, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer readable media that collectively store instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving data indicative of a first operating mode from the plurality of operating modes of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the first operating mode corresponds to an occupant of the autonomous vehicle;
determining one or more first control signals for a collision mitigation system onboard the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the first operating mode of the autonomous vehicle, the one or more first control signals representing one or more response characteristics indicative of a response by the autonomous vehicle to a potential collision, the one or more response characteristics based on one or more preferences of the occupant of the autonomous vehicle regarding the response of the autonomous vehicle to the potential collision; and
issuing the one or more first control signals to control the autonomous vehicle via the collision mitigation system in accordance with the one or more response characteristics.

9. The computing system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
detecting a potential collision via the collision mitigation system between the autonomous vehicle and an object within a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle;
controlling the autonomous vehicle via the collision mitigation system based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to avoid the potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and the object in the surrounding environment.

10. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle via the collision mitigation system based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to avoid the potential collision between the autonomous vehicle and the object in the surrounding environment comprises:
providing an indication of the potential collision to an autonomy computing system or a human-machine interface system on-board the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics; and
monitoring the potential collision for a first duration of time or until the potential collision is avoided via the autonomy computing system or the human-machine interface system.

11. The computing system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
determining that the potential collision persists after the first duration of time; and
in response to determining that the potential collision persists after the first duration of time, issuing one or more second control signals to one or more vehicle control systems onboard the autonomous vehicle to control a motion of the autonomous vehicle and avoid the potential collision.

12. The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more second control signals are determined based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics to control the motion

Assignees

• Uatc Llc

Inventors

• Wood Matthew Shaw
• Leach William M
• Poeppel Scott C
• Letwin Nicholas G
• Zych Noah

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

• B60W30/0956

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

• B60W30/0953

  the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters · CPC title

• B60W30/095

  Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision · CPC title