Autonomous vehicle system for determining a pullover spot in response to detected local failure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11214272-B2
Application number	US-201816139538-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2018
Priority date	Sep 24, 2018
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

The disclosure provides for a method for determining a pullover spot for a vehicle. The method includes using a computing device to detect information related to a system of the vehicle or an environment surrounding the vehicle using a sensor of a vehicle and determine a local failure of the vehicle based on the information. The computing device may then be used to determine that the vehicle should pullover before completing a current trip related to transporting a passenger or good by comparing vehicle requirements for the trip with the local failure and determine a pullover spot by identifying a first area for the vehicle to park in part based on a second area being available for a second vehicle to pick up the passenger or good. The computing device may operate the vehicle to the pullover spot and transmit a request for a second vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by one or more computing devices, information related to one or more systems of a first vehicle or an environment surrounding the first vehicle using one or more sensors of the first vehicle;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a local failure at the first vehicle based on the information from the one or more sensors;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the first vehicle should pullover before completing a current trip, during which a good is transported, by comparing vehicle requirements for the current trip with the local failure;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first area for the first vehicle to park having a first minimum size, wherein the first minimum size is determined based on a size of the first vehicle,
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a second area for a second vehicle to park and pick up the good, and
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a third area adjacent to the first area for the good to be unloaded from the first vehicle having a second minimum size, wherein the second minimum size is determined based on a size of the good;
transmitting first instructions by the one or more computing devices, to the first vehicle, the first instructions causing the first vehicle to park in the first area;
transmitting, by the one or more computing devices, a request for the second vehicle to park in the second area;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the good has transferred from the first vehicle parked in the first area to the second vehicle parked in the second area; and
in response to the determining that that the good has transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicle, transmitting second instructions, by the one or more computing devices, to the first vehicle, the second instructions causing the first vehicle to travel to a fallback location based on the local failure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the local failure includes comparing the information with one or more set thresholds.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the one or more computing devices, the vehicle requirements based on characteristics of roadways for the current trip and planned maneuvers for the first vehicle during the current trip.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first area includes determining that the first area is within a maximum distance from a current location of the first vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first area includes determining that the first area is reachable by the first vehicle within a maximum amount of time from when the local failure is detected based on the local failure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third area is within a maximum distance from a road.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third area is within a maximum distance from the second area.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first area includes determining that the second area has a third minimum size based on a size of the second vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when a wait time for the second vehicle is known and exceeds a maximum wait time threshold, determining that the second area is within a maximum distance from one or more facilities for the good.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the request for the second vehicle includes transmitting information related to the second area.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the good has transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicle further includes receiving, by the one or more computing devices, an indication that the transfer of the good has been completed.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the good has transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicle further includes detecting, by the one or more computing devices, that the good is located in the second vehicle.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second minimum size is a predetermined amount more that a base area of the good to allow for a human mover to access and move the good.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, information about a size of the second vehicle; and
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a third minimum size of the second area based on the information about the size of the second vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the information indicates that there is more than one second vehicle and the sizes of each of the second vehicles.

16. A first vehicle capable of operating autonomously, the first vehicle comprising:
one or more sensors configured to detect a status of one or more systems of the first vehicle or an environment surrounding the first vehicle; and
one or more computing devices configured to:
receive information from the one or more sensors;
determine a local failure at the first vehicle based on the information from the one or more sensors;
determine that the first vehicle should pullover before completing a current trip, during which a good is transported, by comparing vehicle requirements for the current trip with the local failure;
determine a first area for the first vehicle to park having a first minimum size, wherein the first minimum size is determined based on a size of the first vehicle,
determine a second area for a second vehicle to park and pick up the good, and
determine a third area adjacent to the first area for the good to be unloaded from the first vehicle having a second minimum size, wherein the second minimum size is determined based on a size of the good;
determine that the good has transferred from the first vehicle parked in the first area to the second vehicle parked in the second area; and
in response to the determination that that the good has transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicle, operate the first vehicle to travel to a fallback location based on the local failure.

17. A method comprising:
detecting, by one or more computing devices, information related to one or more systems of a first vehicle or an environment surrounding the first vehicle using one or more sensors of the first vehicle;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a local failure at the first vehicle based on the information from the one or more sensors;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, that the first vehicle should pullover before completing a current trip, during which a good is transported, by comparing vehicle requirements for the current trip with the local failure;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first area for the first vehicle to park having a first minimum size, wherein the first minimum size is determined based on a size of the first vehicle,
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a second area for a second vehicle to park and pick up the good, and
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a third area adjacent to the first area for the good to be unloaded from the first vehicle having a second minimum size, wherein the second minimum size is determined based on a size of the good;
transmitting first instructions by the one or more computing devices, to the first vehicle, the first instructions causing the first vehicle to park in the first area;
transmitting, by the one or more computing devices, a request for the seco

Assignees

• Waymo Llc

Inventors

• Chi Emily
• Andrade Ryan Joseph

Classifications

• B60W50/029 Primary

  Adapting to failures or work around with other constraints, e.g. circumvention by avoiding use of failed parts · CPC title

• B60W60/00253

  Taxi operations · CPC title

• B60W2050/0292

  Fail-safe or redundant systems, e.g. limp-home or backup systems · CPC title

• G08G1/202

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

• B60W60/00256

  Delivery operations · CPC title