Extension to safety protocols for autonomous vehicle operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10953873-B2
Application number	US-201916370372-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2019
Priority date	Mar 29, 2019
Publication date	Mar 23, 2021
Grant date	Mar 23, 2021

Abstract

Various systems and methods for controlling a vehicle using driving policies are described herein. A system for controlling a vehicle using driving policies includes a memory device; and a processor subsystem to access instructions on the memory device that cause the processor subsystem to: operate a host vehicle using a driving policy from a policy repository, the host vehicle operating in a lane on a first road, the driving policy governed by a safety model; detect a second vehicle, the second vehicle operating in a second lane; determine whether the second vehicle is an oncoming vehicle or an intersecting vehicle, the oncoming vehicle operating on the first road with the first and second lanes in adjacent bidirectional arrangement, and the intersecting vehicle operating on a second road that intersects the first road; and initiate a vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle to reduce or avoid a collision with the second vehicle, based on the safety model, the vehicle maneuver performed based on whether the second vehicle is an oncoming vehicle or an intersecting vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for controlling a vehicle using driving policies, the system comprising:
a memory device; and
a processor subsystem to access instructions on the memory device that cause the processor subsystem to:
operate a host vehicle using a driving policy from a policy repository, the host vehicle operating in a lane on a first road, the driving policy governed by a safety model;
detect a second vehicle, the second vehicle operating in a second lane;
determine that the second vehicle is an intersecting vehicle, the intersecting vehicle operating on a second road that intersects the first road at an intersection;
determine that the host vehicle has priority over the intersecting vehicle to right-of-way at the intersection of the first and second road;
estimate a longitudinal distance and a lateral distance to occur between the host vehicle and the intersecting vehicle at a future time that the host vehicle is estimated to cross the intersection;
determine, based on the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance, that the intersecting vehicle is not braking correctly to avoid conflict at the intersection with the host vehicle, at the future time that the host vehicle is estimated to cross the intersection; and
initiate a vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle to reduce or avoid a collision with the intersecting vehicle, based on the safety model, in response to the determination that the intersecting vehicle is not braking correctly to avoid conflict at the intersection with the host vehicle;
wherein the vehicle maneuver is applied by the host vehicle before entering the intersection and is based on the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance estimated to occur at the future time, and wherein the vehicle maneuver causes the host vehicle to initiate braking with at least a minimum braking rate.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to initiate the vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle, the processor subsystem is to:
determine that the longitudinal distance is below a first threshold value and that the lateral distance is below a second threshold value; and
initiate the braking of the host vehicle in response to the determination that the longitudinal distance is below the first threshold value and the lateral distance is below the second threshold value.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance is estimated based on a maximum acceleration capability of the intersecting vehicle, and wherein the maximum acceleration capability is bounded by a speed limit governing the second road.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein to initiate the vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle, the processor subsystem is to:
determine that the intersecting vehicle has failed to brake and has failed to provide the right-of-way to the host vehicle at the future time to cross the intersection; and
initiate the braking of the host vehicle in response to the determination that the host vehicle has priority and the intersecting vehicle has failed to brake.

5. The system of claim 1 , the instructions further to cause the processor subsystem to use virtual objects to describe road boundaries in the safety model.

6. The system of claim 1 , the instructions further to cause the processor subsystem to use virtual objects to describe static obstacles in the safety model.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein in response to the vehicle maneuver being applied by the host vehicle, the intersecting vehicle applies a corresponding vehicle maneuver which causes the intersecting vehicle to initiate braking with at least a minimum braking rate.

8. A method for controlling a vehicle using driving policies, the method comprising:
operating a host vehicle using a driving policy from a policy repository, the host vehicle operating in a lane on a first road, the driving policy governed by a safety model;
detecting a second vehicle, the second vehicle operating in a second lane;
determining that the second vehicle is an intersecting vehicle, the intersecting vehicle operating on a second road that intersects the first road at an intersection;
determining that the host vehicle has priority over the intersecting vehicle to right-of-way at the intersection of the first and second road;
estimating a longitudinal distance and a lateral distance to occur between the host vehicle and the intersecting vehicle at a future time that the host vehicle is estimated to cross the intersection;
determining, based on the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance, that the intersecting vehicle is not braking correctly to avoid conflict at the intersection with the host vehicle, at the future time that the host vehicle is estimated to cross the intersection; and
initiating a vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle to reduce or avoid a collision with the intersecting vehicle, based on the safety model, in response to determining that the intersecting vehicle is not braking correctly to avoid conflict at the intersection with the host vehicle;
wherein the vehicle maneuver is applied by the host vehicle before entering the intersection and is based on the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance estimated to occur at the future time, and wherein the vehicle maneuver causes the host vehicle to initiate braking with at least a minimum braking rate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein initiating the vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle comprises:
determining that the longitudinal distance is below a first threshold value and that the lateral distance is below a second threshold value; and
initiating the braking of the host vehicle in response to determining that the longitudinal distance is below the first threshold value and the lateral distance is below the second threshold value.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the longitudinal distance and the lateral distance is estimated based on a maximum acceleration capability of the intersecting vehicle, and wherein the maximum acceleration capability is bounded by a speed limit governing the second road.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein initiating the vehicle maneuver of the host vehicle comprises:
determining that the intersecting vehicle has failed to brake and has failed to provide the right-of-way to the host vehicle at the future time to cross the intersection; and
initiating the braking of the host vehicle in response to determining that the host vehicle has priority and the intersecting vehicle has failed to brake.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising using virtual objects to describe road boundaries in the safety model.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising using virtual objects to describe static obstacles in the safety model.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein in response to the vehicle maneuver being applied by the host vehicle, the intersecting vehicle applies a corresponding vehicle maneuver which causes the intersecting vehicle to initiate braking with at least a minimum braking rate.

15. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions for controlling a vehicle using driving policies, the instructions when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
operating a host vehicle using a driving policy from a policy repository, the host vehicle operating in a lane on a first road, the driving policy governed by a safety model;
detecting a second vehicle, the second vehicle operating in a second lane;
determining that the second vehicle is an intersecting vehicle, the intersecting vehicle operating on a second road that intersects the first road at an interse

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Buerkle Cornelius
• Gassmann Bernd
• Oboril Fabian

Classifications

• B60W30/095 Primary

  Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision · CPC title

• G06V20/588

  Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road · CPC title

• G06V20/584

  of vehicle lights or traffic lights · CPC title

• G06V20/58

  Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads · CPC title

• G08G1/096791

  where the origin of the information is another vehicle · CPC title