Multi-controller synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11099563-B2
Application number	US-201816226542-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2018
Priority date	Dec 19, 2018
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle can include a primary computing device and a secondary computing device. The primary computing device can receive a trajectory and can generate control data to control the vehicle based on a computed state. Further, the primary computing device can send the internal data to the secondary computing device configured to control the vehicle in the event of a failure of the primary computing device. The secondary computing device can receive the internal data as first internal data and determine a capability associated with the primary computing device. Using the first internal data, the secondary computing device can determine second internal data and, based on the capability (e.g., in event of a failure of the primary computing device), can control the vehicle to follow a trajectory using the second internal data. Transferring state between an active to a standby computing device can ensure algorithmic synchronization and safe operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at a primary computing device, a first trajectory and a second trajectory for an autonomous vehicle, the first trajectory comprising a first set of positions, orientations, and velocities to traverse through an environment and the second trajectory comprising a second set of positions, orientations, and velocities to stop the autonomous vehicle in the environment;
receiving, at a secondary computing device, the second trajectory;
determining, at the primary computing device, vehicle state data, the vehicle state data comprising one or more of a current position, a current velocity, a plurality of previous positions, or a plurality of previous velocities;
determining, at the primary computing device and based at least in part on the vehicle state data and the first trajectory, first internal data;
determining, at the primary computing device and based at least in part on the first internal data, first control data comprising at least one of first steering data or first acceleration data;
transmitting, from the primary computing device to the secondary computing device, one or more of the first internal data or the vehicle state data;
determining, at the secondary computing device, an error state associated with the primary computing device;
determining, at the secondary computing device and based at least in part on the first internal data and the second trajectory, second internal data;
determining, at the secondary computing device and based at least in part on the second internal data, second control data comprising at least one of second steering data or second acceleration data; and
controlling, based at least in part on the second control data and by the secondary computing device, the autonomous vehicle to follow the second trajectory.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the error state comprises at least one of:
receiving, at the secondary computing device and from the primary computing device, a capability status indicating that the primary computing device is malfunctioning; or
determining, at the secondary computing device, that a time period associated with the first internal data has expired.

3. The system of claim 2 , the operations further comprising:
determining, at the secondary computing device and based at least in part on determining the capability status of the primary computing device, an active state associated with the secondary computing device,
wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle by the secondary computing device is based at least in part on determining the active state associated with the secondary computing device.

4. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining, at the secondary computing device and based at least in part on the second internal data or a second error associated with the secondary computing device, to execute a third trajectory comprising an emergency stop trajectory.

5. A method comprising:
receiving, at a first computing device, a trajectory for a vehicle;
determining, at the first computing device, vehicle state data associated with the vehicle;
determining, at the first computing device and based at least in part on vehicle state data and the trajectory, internal data;
determining, based at least in part on the internal data, control data;
determining a difference between the trajectory and the vehicle state data;
determining, based at least in part on the difference and the internal data, at least one of steering data or acceleration data, wherein the control data comprises at least one of the steering data or the acceleration data;
transmitting, to a second computing device and from the first computing device, one or more of the internal data or the vehicle state data; and
controlling, based at least in part on the control data, the vehicle to follow the trajectory.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining an error state associated with the first computing device, the error state indicating at least one of a malfunction, an error condition, or a fault condition.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein controlling the vehicle is at a first time, the method further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on determining the error state associated with the first computing device, a standby state associated with the first computing device at a second time; and
determining that the second computing device is controlling the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the second computing device and from the first computing device, time data indicating at least one of an operational state or an active state of the first computing device,
wherein determining the error state associated with the first computing device is based at least in part on determining that a time period associated with the time data has expired.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the internal data is first internal data and the control data is first control data, the method further comprising:
determining an active state associated with the first computing device at a third time;
receiving, from the second computing device and at the first computing device, second internal data;
determining, based at least in part on the second internal data, second control data; and
controlling, based at least in part on the second control data, the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the vehicle state data comprises at least one of a current position, a current velocity, a plurality of previous positions, or a plurality of previous velocities, and
wherein determining the internal data is based at least in part on one or more of a proportional-integral controller or a proportional-integral-derivative controller.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the control data comprises:
transmitting, to an actuator from the first computing device, the control data, the actuator associated with at least one of a steering system, a braking system, or a motor system of the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein transmitting the internal data comprises transmitting the internal data at one of a fixed frequency or an intermittent frequency.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein the trajectory is determined by a third computing device, the trajectory determined to avoid an obstacle in an environment.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a first computing device and at a second computing device, internal data determined by the first computing device, wherein the internal data is based at least in part on first vehicle state data and a trajectory;
determining, at the second computing device, a standby state associated with the second computing device at a first time;
determining, at the second computing device, an active state associated with the second computing device at a second time after the first time;
receiving, at the second computing device, the trajectory for a vehicle;
determining, at the second computing device, a difference between the trajectory and second vehicle state data, the second vehicle state data comprising at least one of a current position associated with the vehicle, a current velocity associated with the vehicle, a p

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Darayan Shayan
• Funke Joseph
• Wimmershoff Marc

Classifications

• G05D1/617

  Safety or protection, e.g. defining protection zones around obstacles or avoiding hazards (arrangements for controlling the position or course of two or more vehicles for avoiding collisions therebetween G05D1/693; arrangements for reacting to or preventing system or operator failure G05D1/80) · CPC title

• G05D1/628

  following the obstacle profile, e.g. a wall or undulated terrain · CPC title

• G05D1/81

  Handing over between on-board automatic and on-board manual control · CPC title

• B60W50/0205 Primary

  Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models · CPC title

• B60W30/0956

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