All weather autonomously driven vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11073835-B2
Application number	US-201815971195-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2018
Priority date	Mar 4, 2014
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

Autonomously driven vehicles operate in rain, snow and other adverse weather conditions. An on-board vehicle sensor has a beam with a diameter that is only intermittently blocked by rain, snow, dust or other obscurant particles. This allows an obstacle detection processor is to tell the difference between obstacles, terrain variations and obscurant particles, thereby enabling the vehicle driving control unit to disregard the presence of obscurant particles along the route taken by the vehicle. The sensor may form part of a LADAR or RADAR system or a video camera. The obstacle detection processor may receive time-spaced frames divided into cells or pixels, whereby groups of connected cells or pixels and/or cells or pixels that persist over longer periods of time are interpreted to be obstacles or terrain variations. The system may further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust the operation of the obstacle detection processor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An all-weather autonomously driven vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of environmental sensors disposed on the vehicle;
wherein the plurality of environmental sensors includes a terrain sensor having a field of view that includes the ground plane in front of the vehicle;
an obstacle detection processor receiving signals from the terrain sensor to determine the presence of obstacles and terrain variations along a route taken by the vehicle;
wherein the obstacles and terrain variations include positive obstacles that extend upwardly from the ground plane and negative obstacles that extend downwardly from the ground plane;
a terrain grading system operative to determine physical characteristics associated with negative obstacles, including obstacle depth and width thresholds, d and w;
a vehicle driving control unit operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle; and
wherein the obstacle detection processor is further operative to invoke obstacle avoidance behavior by sending a signal to the vehicle driving control unit if the obstacle depth or width thresholds are exceeded, thereby causing the vehicle driving control unit to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle to avoid the obstacle.

2. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the terrain sensor forms part of a laser detection and ranging (LADAR) system.

3. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the terrain sensor forms part of a radio detection and ranging (RADAR) system.

4. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the terrain sensor is a video camera.

5. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust d and w based upon weather conditions or soil type.

6. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle driving control unit is further operative to adjust vehicle stopping distance as a function of weather-based reduced tire-terrain surface friction.

7. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle driving control unit is further operative to steer or adjust the speed of the vehicle as a function of visibility due to obscurant density.

8. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the obstacle detection processor is operative to distinguish between pot holes and puddles.

9. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the obstacle detection processor is operative to distinguish between pot holes and puddles by detecting a small lip at the far end of a pot hole which is not present for a puddle.

10. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 1 , further including an input for receiving weather-specific configuration parameters to adjust the operation of the obstacle detection processor.

11. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are manually supplied.

12. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are made available for selection by a driver.

13. The all-weather autonomously driven vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the weather-specific configuration parameters are automatically detected by measuring temperature, precipitation, atmospheric clarity or other ambient conditions.

Assignees

• Cybernet Systems Corp

Inventors

• Jacobus Charles J
• Haanpaa Douglas

Classifications

• G01S7/487

  Extracting wanted echo signals {, e.g. pulse detection} · CPC title

• G01S17/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S13/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G05D1/024 Primary

  in combination with a laser (lasers per se H01S) · CPC title