Vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11126178-B2
Application number	US-201916251788-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2019
Priority date	Jan 18, 2019
Publication date	Sep 21, 2021
Grant date	Sep 21, 2021

Abstract

Command determination for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, is described. In an example, individual requests for controlling the vehicle relative to each of multiple objects or conditions in an environment are received (substantially simultaneously) and based on the request type and/or additional information associated with a request, command controllers can determine control commands (e.g., different accelerations, steering angles, steering rates, and the like) associated with each of the one or more requests. The command controllers may have different controller gains (which may be based on functions of distance, distance ratios, time to estimated collisions, etc.) for determining the controls and a control command may be determined based on the all such determined controls.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a first controller for determining first accelerations based at least in part on first input information and a first controller gain;
a second controller for determining second accelerations based at least in part on second input information and a second controller gain;
one or more processors; and
memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous vehicle to perform acts comprising:
receiving a first request for controlling the autonomous vehicle, the first request comprising first velocity information and distance information;
determining, using the first controller, a first acceleration based at least in part on the first request;
receiving a second request for controlling the autonomous vehicle, the second request comprising second velocity information;
determining, using the second controller, a second acceleration based at least in part on the second request;
determining, based at least in part on the first acceleration and the second acceleration, a command acceleration for a point along a trajectory for controlling the vehicle; and
controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the trajectory.

2. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first request includes a request to follow an object and the distance information includes a time gap to maintain between the vehicle and the object, and wherein the first controller gain is based at least in part on at least one of a distance between the vehicle and the object, a desired distance between the vehicle and the object, or a time associated with an estimated collision of the vehicle and the object.

3. The autonomous vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the second request includes a target velocity at which to control the autonomous vehicle and a distance from a current position at which to achieve the target velocity, and wherein the second controller gain is based at least in part on the distance.

4. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of: the distance information comprises a time gap range, the first velocity information includes a first velocity range, or the first request further includes an acceleration range for the first acceleration.

5. The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first request includes first additional information or the second request includes second additional information, the first additional information and the second additional information comprising at least one of:
an instruction to assign a constant velocity to an object;
an instruction to assign a predicted movement to the object;
an instruction to cause the vehicle to move forward slowly from a stop;
an instruction to increase the first acceleration or the second acceleration; or
an instruction to de-prioritize the respective first request or the second request relative to the other of the first request or the second request or other requests.

6. A method comprising:
receiving a first request to navigate relative to a first condition in an environment, the first request comprising first information including at least one of first velocity information, first distance information, or first time information;
receiving a second request to navigate relative to a second condition in the environment, the second request comprising second information comprising at least one of second velocity information, second distance information, or second time information;
determining, using a first command controller and a first controller gain, a first command for controlling a vehicle in accordance with the first request;
determining, using a second command controller and a second controller gain, a second command for controlling the vehicle in accordance with the second request; and
determining, based at least in part on the first command and the second command, a control command for a point along a trajectory for controlling the vehicle,
wherein the first command, the second command, and the control command are longitudinal accelerations along a direction of travel of the autonomous vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the first condition comprises one or more of a stop sign in the environment of a first object proximate the vehicle;
the first request is a request to stop the vehicle or a request to follow the first object,
the first information includes the first distance information, the first distance information including a first distance from a current position of the vehicle to a stopping position or a second distance to maintain from the first object, and
the first controller gain is based at least in part on one or more of the first distance, the second distance, a first desired distance between the vehicle and the first object, a second desired distance between the vehicle and the stopping position, a first time associated with the first distance, or a second time associated with the second distance.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the second request is a request to attain a second velocity at a distance from a current position;
the second information includes the second velocity information and the second distance information, the second velocity information comprising the second velocity and the second distance information comprising the distance from the current position; and
the second controller gain is based at least in part on the distance from the current position.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the first condition comprises a leading vehicle in the environment,
the first request comprises a request to follow the leading vehicle, and
the first information comprises at least one of a velocity of the leading vehicle and a distance to maintain behind the leading vehicle.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one of:
the first information or the second information includes at least one of a minimum time gap or a maximum time gap,
the first velocity information or the second velocity information includes at least one of a minimum velocity or a maximum velocity, or
the first request or the second request further includes at least one of a minimum acceleration or a maximum acceleration.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the first request includes first additional information or the second request includes second additional information, the first command being further determined based at least in part on the first additional information and the second command being further based at least in part on the second additional information.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first condition comprises a dynamic object and the first additional information comprises an instruction to associate a predetermined velocity or a predetermined trajectory to the first object.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first additional information comprises an instruction to cause the first controller to determine an increased acceleration, the method further comprising:
altering the first controller gain based at least in part on receiving the instruction.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first additional information comprises an instruction to de-prioritize the first request relative to the second request or additional requests, the method further comprising:
associating a weighting factor with the first command based at least in part on the instruction.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instruction that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operation comprising:
receiving a first request

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Akella Abishek Krishna
• Hudecek Janek
• Kobilarov Marin
• Wimmershoff Marc

Classifications

• G06V20/584

  of vehicle lights or traffic lights · CPC title

• G06V20/582

  of traffic signs · 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

• B60W60/00

  Drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles · CPC title

• B60W30/18109

  Braking · CPC title