Internal safety systems for robotic vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11099574-B2
Application number	US-201916391849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2019
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods implemented in algorithms, hardware, software, firmware, logic, or circuitry may be configured to process data and sensory input to determine whether an object external to an autonomous vehicle (e.g., another vehicle, a pedestrian, road debris, a bicyclist, etc.) may be a potential collision threat to the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may be configured to implement interior active safety systems to protect passengers of the autonomous vehicle during a collision with an object or during evasive maneuvers by the autonomous vehicle, for example. The interior active safety systems may be configured to provide passengers with notice of an impending collision and/or emergency maneuvers by the vehicle by tensioning seat belts prior to executing an evasive maneuver and/or prior to a predicted point of collision.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving sensor data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle;
determining a location of the vehicle within an environment, wherein the location identifies one or more of a position or an orientation of the vehicle in the environment;
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, an object within the environment;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, a classification associated with the object;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, a trajectory of the object;
determining, based at least in part on the classification and the trajectory of the object, an object type associated with the object;
determining a future location associated with the object based at least in part on the object type;
selecting a safety system of the vehicle based at least in part on the future location associated with the object; and
activating the safety system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object is a first object and the object type is a first object type, and the method further comprising:
associating, based at least in part on the first object type, a first priority with the first object;
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, a second object within the environment;
determining a second object type associated with the second object; and
associating, based at least in part on the second object type, a second priority with the second object,
and wherein selecting the safety system is further based at least in part on the first priority and the second priority.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the object is a first object, the object type is a first object type, the future location associated with the first object is a first future location associated with the first object, and the safety system is a first safety system, and the method further comprising:
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, a second object within the environment;
determining a second object type associated with the second object;
determining a second future location associated with the second object based at least in part on the second object type;
selecting a second safety system of the vehicle based at least in part on the second future location associated with the second object, the second safety system being different than the first safety system; and
activating the second safety system.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a location of the object within the environment;
determining a velocity associated with the object; and
determining one or more characteristics of the object based at least in part on the classification,
and wherein determining the trajectory of the object comprises determining the trajectory of the object based at least in part on the location of the object, the velocity of the object, and the one or more characteristics.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein selecting the safety system is further based at least in part on the object type.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising determining a trajectory for the vehicle based at least in part on at least one of the trajectory of the object or the object type.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a threshold distance from the vehicle based at least in part on at least one of the trajectory of the object or the object type; and
determining that the object is located within the threshold distance from the vehicle,
wherein activating the safety system is based at least in part on the object being located within the threshold distance from the vehicle.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the trajectory of the object is a first trajectory of the object and the safety system is a first safety system, and the method further comprising:
after activating the first safety system, determining a second trajectory of the object;
determining a second safety system of the vehicle based at least in part on the second trajectory of the object, the second safety system being different than the first safety system; and
activating the second safety system.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the safety system comprises at least one of an interior safety system, an exterior safety system, or a drive system.

10. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle;
determining a location of the vehicle within an environment;
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, an object within the environment;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, a classification associated with the object;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, a trajectory of the object;
determining, based at least in part on the classification and the trajectory of the object, an object type associated with the object;
determining a future location associated with the object based at least in part on the object type;
selecting a safety system of the vehicle based at least in part on the future location associated with the object; and
activating the safety system.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the object is a first object and the object type is a first object type, the operations further comprising:
associating, based at least in part on the first object type, a first priority with the first object;
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, a second object within the environment;
determining a second object type associated with the second object; and
associating, based at least in part on the second object type, a second priority with the second object, the second priority being higher than the first priority, and
wherein selecting the safety system is further based at least in part on the second object.

12. The system as recited in claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
determining a location of the object within the environment;
determining a velocity associated with the object; and
determining one or more characteristics of the object based at least in part on the classification,
and wherein determining the trajectory of the object comprises determining the trajectory of the object based at least in part on the location of the object, the velocity of the object, and the one or more characteristics.

13. The system as recited in claim 10 , the operations further comprising determining a trajectory for the vehicle based at least in part on at least one of the trajectory of the object or the object type.

14. The system as recited in claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
determining a threshold distance to the vehicle based at least in part on at least one of the trajectory of the object or the object type; and
determining that the object is located within the threshold distance to the vehicle,
and wherein activating the safety system is based at least in part on the object being located within the threshold distance to the vehicle.

15. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the trajectory of the object is a first trajectory of the object and the safety system is a first safety system, and the operations further comprising:
after activating the first safety system, determining a second trajectory of the object based at least in part on the object type;
determining a second safety sy

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Kentley-Klay Timothy David
• Behere Sagar
• Gamara Rachad Youssef

Classifications

• B60W2554/402

  Type · CPC title

• B60W30/0956

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

• B60W30/095

  Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision · CPC title

• B60W30/09

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

• B60W60/0015

  specially adapted for safety · CPC title