Techniques for authorizing vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11124154-B1
Application number	US-201916370787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2019
Priority date	Mar 29, 2019
Publication date	Sep 21, 2021
Grant date	Sep 21, 2021

Abstract

Techniques and methods for security vehicle systems. For instance, a control system may receive a reported location of a vehicle. The control system may then receive sensor data generated by the vehicle. After receiving the sensor data, the control system may analyze the sensor data with respect to additional data associated with the reported location. The additional data may include map data representing the reported location and/or additional sensor data received from another vehicle or user device. The control system may determine whether the vehicle is at the reported location. If the control system determines that the vehicle is at the reported location, the control system may determine that the vehicle is not compromised. However, if the control system determines that the vehicle is not at the reported location, the control system may determine that the vehicle is compromised and may then perform one or more remedial actions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more network components;
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from an autonomous vehicle, a reported location;
sending, to the autonomous vehicle, a request for sensor data;
receiving, from the autonomous vehicle, sensor data representing a portion of an environment of the autonomous vehicle;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data and at least a portion of map data, a sensor-based location of the autonomous vehicle;
determining a difference between the reported location and the sensor-based location;
determining that the difference meets or exceeds a threshold; and
based at least in part on the difference meeting or exceeding the threshold, determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the sensor data comprises one or more of image data or lidar data; and
the determining the sensor-based location comprises localizing the autonomous vehicle using the sensor data.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 ,
the operations further comprising sending, to the autonomous vehicle and using the one or more network components, first data representing an instruction to bring the autonomous vehicle to a safe stop.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising sending, to an additional autonomous vehicle and using the one or more network components, a request to move to the reported location.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the autonomous vehicle and using the one or more network components, additional sensor data; and
determining an additional difference based at least in part on the additional sensor data and the sensor data,
wherein the determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location is further based at least in part on the additional difference.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request for the sensor data comprises a request indicating at least one of:
a type of the sensor data that is requested; or
a sensor of the autonomous vehicle from which the sensor data is requested.

7. A method comprising:
receiving a reported location of an autonomous vehicle;
receiving, from the autonomous vehicle, first data generated by at least one sensor of the autonomous vehicle;
analyzing the first data with respect to second data associated with an environment at which the autonomous vehicle is navigating;
determining, based at least in part on the analyzing, that at least one feature represented by the first data does not match at least one feature represented by the second data; and
determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the at least one feature represented by the first data not matching the at least one feature represented by the second data, a sensor-based location of the autonomous vehicle;
determining a difference between the reported location and the sensor-based location; and
determining that the difference is equal to or greater than a threshold,
wherein the determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location is based at least in part on the difference being equal to or greater than the threshold.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising, based at least in part on the determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location, performing at least one of:
sending, to the autonomous vehicle, third data representing a first instruction associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle; or
sending, to an additional autonomous vehicle, fourth data representing a second instruction to navigate to the reported location.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein:
the second data includes map data representing a map; and
the analyzing the first data with respect to the map data comprises comparing the first data to a portion of the map data, the portion of the map data representing the reported location of the autonomous vehicle.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein:
the second data includes sensor data generated by a sensor of an additional autonomous vehicle, the additional autonomous vehicle being located outside of a threshold distance to the autonomous vehicle; and
the determining that the at least one feature represented by the first data does not match the at least one feature represented by the sensor data comprises determining, based at least in part on the analyzing, that the sensor data represents the autonomous vehicle.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising sending, to the autonomous vehicle, a request for the first data, the request indicating at least one of:
a type of the first data that is requested; or
a sensor of the autonomous vehicle from which the first data is requested.

13. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first data includes at least one of:
image data generated by a camera of the autonomous vehicle; or
lidar data generated by a lidar sensor of the autonomous vehicle.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
receiving a reported location of an autonomous vehicle;
receiving, from the autonomous vehicle, first data generated by at least one sensor of the autonomous vehicle;
analyzing the first data with respect to second data associated with an environment at which the autonomous vehicle is navigating;
determining, based at least in part on the analyzing, that at least one feature represented by the first data does not match at least one feature represented by the second data; and
determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the at least one feature represented by the first data does not matching the at least one feature represented by the second data, a sensor-based location of the autonomous vehicle;
determining a difference between the reported location and the sensor-based location; and
determining that the difference is equal to or greater than a threshold; and threshold,
wherein the determining that the autonomous vehicle is not located at the reported location is based at least in part on the difference being equal to or greater than the threshold.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14 , wherein:
the second data includes sensor data generated by a sensor of an additional autonomous vehicle, the additional autonomous vehicle being within a threshold distance to the autonomous vehicle; and
the determining that the at least one feature represented by the first data does not match the at least one feature represented by the sensor data comprises determining, based at least in part on the analyzing, that the sensor data represents the autonomous vehicle.

17. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein:
the second data includes map data representing a map;
the analyzing the first data with respect to the map data comprises

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Bojinov Hristo Iankov
• Carter Bryce Douglas Jones
• Chiang Jimmy Ming
• Gogna Ravi
• Wolotsky Max Ellis

Classifications

• G08G1/202

  Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G01C21/32

  Structuring or formatting of map data · CPC title

• B60R25/33 Primary

  of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title