Autonomous vehicle maneuvering based upon risk associated with occluded regions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11433883-B2
Application number	US-201916371088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2019
Priority date	Mar 31, 2019
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle (AV) is described herein. The AV is configured to identify an occluded region where a portion of a field of view of a sensor is occluded by an object. The AV is further configured to hypothesize that an object exists in the occluded region and is moving in the occluded region. The AV is still further configured to perform a driving maneuver based upon the hypothesized object existing in the occluded region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:
a mechanical system; and
a computing system operatively coupled to the mechanical system, the computing system having a processor and a memory;
wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:
as the AV approaches an intersection of roadways, where the AV is to turn across a lane of a roadway in the roadways while traveling along a route, identifying an occluded region, wherein the occluded region is a spatial region where the AV lacks visibility, wherein the occluded region includes a portion of the lane of the roadway;
hypothesizing that a vehicle is travelling in the lane of the roadway in the occluded region towards the AV;
inferring that the vehicle will decelerate upon the AV becoming visible to a driver of the vehicle; and
based upon the inferring that the vehicle will decelerate upon the AV becoming visible to the driver of the vehicle, computing a time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection due to the vehicle decelerating; and
based upon the time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection, controlling the AV to turn across the lane of the roadway.

2. The AV of claim 1 , wherein the turn across the lane of traffic is a left turn across the lane of traffic.

3. The AV of claim 1 , wherein computing the time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection comprises:
computing a position of the vehicle in the occluded region, wherein the AV is estimated to be first observable to the vehicle at the position.

4. The AV of claim 3 , wherein computing the time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection further comprises:
assigning an initial velocity to the vehicle, the initial velocity being a speed that the vehicle is travelling at the computed position.

5. The AV of claim 4 , wherein computing the time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection further comprises:
assigning a final velocity to the vehicle, the final velocity being a speed to which the hypothetical vehicle is expected to slow.

6. The AV of claim 5 , wherein computing the time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection further comprises:
assigning a deceleration to the vehicle, wherein the hypothetical vehicle is inferred to decelerate at the deceleration until the vehicle reaches the final velocity.

7. The AV of claim 1 , wherein inferring that the vehicle will decelerate upon the AV becoming visible to the driver of the vehicle comprises computing expected velocities of the vehicle in time through use of the following algorithm:

v
⁡

(
t
)

=

{

v
i

;

0
≤
t
<
τ

a
⁡

(

t
-
τ

)

+

v
i

;

τ
≤
t
<

v
f

-

v
i

a

v
f

;

t
>

v
f

-

v
i

a

,

where v(t) is velocity of the vehicle at time t, v i is an initial velocity assigned to the vehicle, v f is a minimum threshold velocity assigned to the vehicle, τ is an estimated reaction time of the driver of the vehicle, and a is a constant deceleration that is assigned to the vehicle.

8. The AV of claim 7 , the acts further comprising integrating v(t) to compute the time when the vehicle is estimated to reach the intersection.

9. The AV of claim 1 , the acts further comprising:
computing an amount of time required for the AV to clear the intersection when performing the turn across the lane, wherein the amount of time is computed based upon a profile for the AV, and further wherein the AV is controlled to turn across the lane of the roadway based upon the computed amount of time required for the AV to clear the intersection.

10. A method performed by an autonomous vehicle (AV), the method comprising:
navigating a route from a beginning location to a destination location, wherein the route includes a turn at an intersection between two roadways, wherein the turn is across a lane of oncoming traffic;
as the AV approaches the intersection, identifying an occluded region, wherein the occluded region is a spatial region where the AV lacks visibility, and further wherein the occluded region comprises a portion of the lane of oncoming traffic;
hypothesizing that a vehicle is travelling in the lane of oncoming traffic in the occluded region towards the AV;
inferring that the vehicle will decelerate upon the AV becoming visible to a driver of the vehicle;
based upon the inferring that the vehicle will decelerate, computing a time when the vehicle is expected to reach the intersection due to the vehicle decelerating; and
based upon

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Ghose Shiva
• Chen Daniel
• Nitz Ted
• Philippona Christophe
• Harrington Curt
• Daily-Diamond Christopher
• Swofford Mason
• Holben Ryan
• Lujan Eric
• Greer Benjamin
• Capodieci Francesco

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

• G05D1/81

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

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title

• B60W60/0015

  specially adapted for safety · CPC title

• B60W30/09 Primary

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