Crowd sourcing data for autonomous vehicle navigation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11599113-B2
Application number	US-201916554437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 7, 2023
Grant date	Mar 7, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods of processing crowdsourced navigation information for use in autonomous vehicle navigation are disclosed. A method may include processing, by a mapping server, crowdsourced navigation information from a plurality of vehicles obtained by sensors coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the navigation information describes road lanes of a road segment; collecting data about landmarks identified proximate to the road segment, the landmarking including a traffic sign; generating, by the mapping server, an autonomous vehicle map for the road segment, wherein the autonomous vehicle map includes a spline corresponding to a lane in the road segment and the landmarks identified proximate to the road segment; and distributing, by the mapping server, the autonomous vehicle map to an autonomous vehicle for use in autonomous navigation over the road segment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of processing crowdsourced navigation information for use in autonomous vehicle navigation, the method comprising:
processing, by a mapping server, crowdsourced navigation information from a plurality of vehicles obtained by sensors coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the crowdsourced navigation information describes road lanes of a road segment;
collecting data about a first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the first landmark comprising a traffic sign;
generating, by the mapping server, an autonomous vehicle map for the road segment, wherein:
the autonomous vehicle map includes a spline corresponding to a lane in the road segment;
the autonomous vehicle map includes position information of the first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the position information including at least one of a physical size of the first landmark, a distance between the first landmark and the road segment, a height of the first landmark, or a distance between the first landmark and a second landmark;
the position information of the first landmark is based on the crowdsourced navigation information from the plurality of vehicles; and
the autonomous vehicle map is configured for an autonomous vehicle to use the position information of the first landmark for vehicle localization relative to the spline; and

distributing, by the mapping server, the autonomous vehicle map to the autonomous vehicle for use in autonomous navigation over the road segment.

2. The method of claim 1 , crowdsourced navigation information includes road geometry data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vehicles includes autonomous vehicles.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein sensor data obtained by the sensors includes road geometry data.

5. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions for processing crowdsourced navigation information for use in autonomous vehicle navigation, wherein the instructions, when executed by a mapping server, cause the mapping server to perform operations comprising:
processing crowdsourced navigation information from a plurality of vehicles obtained by sensors coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the crowdsourced navigation information describes road lanes of a road segment;
collecting data about a first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the first landmark comprising a traffic sign;
generating an autonomous vehicle map for the road segment, wherein:
the autonomous vehicle map includes a spline corresponding to a lane in the road segment;
the autonomous vehicle map includes position information of the first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the position information including at least one of a physical size of the first landmark, a distance between the first landmark and the road segment, a height of the first landmark, or a distance between the first landmark and a second landmark;
the position information of the first landmark is based on the crowdsourced navigation information from the plurality of vehicles; and
the autonomous vehicle map is configured for an autonomous vehicle to use the position information of the first landmark for vehicle localization relative to the spline; and

distributing the autonomous vehicle map to the autonomous vehicle for use in autonomous navigation over the road segment.

6. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the crowdsourced navigation information includes road geometry data.

7. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of vehicles includes autonomous vehicles.

8. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein sensor data obtained by the sensors includes road geometry data.

9. A mapping server for processing crowdsourced navigation information for use in autonomous vehicle navigation, the mapping server comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory device including instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
process crowdsourced navigation information from a plurality of vehicles obtained by sensors coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the crowdsourced navigation information describes road lanes of a road segment;
collect data about a first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the first landmark comprising a traffic sign;
generate an autonomous vehicle map for the road segment, wherein:
the autonomous vehicle map includes a spline corresponding to a lane in the road segment;
the autonomous vehicle map includes position information of the first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the position information including at least one of a physical size of the first landmark, a distance between the first landmark and the road segment, a height of the first landmark, or a distance between the first landmark and a second landmark;
the position information of the first landmark is based on the crowdsourced navigation information from the plurality of vehicles; and
the autonomous vehicle map is configured for an autonomous vehicle to use the position information of the first landmark for vehicle localization relative to the spline; and

distribute the autonomous vehicle map to the autonomous vehicle for use in autonomous navigation over the road segment.

10. The mapping server of claim 9 , wherein the crowdsourced navigation information includes road geometry data.

11. The mapping server of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of vehicles includes autonomous vehicles.

12. The mapping server of claim 9 , wherein sensor data obtained by the sensors includes road geometry data.

13. A vehicle system for assisting autonomous vehicle navigation using crowdsourced navigation information, the vehicle system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory device including instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
access navigation information at the vehicle system, the navigation information derived from sensor data obtained by a plurality of sensors coupled to the vehicle system;
provide the navigation information to a mapping server, the navigation information processed by the mapping server including crowdsourced navigation information from a plurality of vehicles obtained by sensors coupled to the plurality of vehicles, wherein the crowdsourced navigation information describes road lanes of a road segment; and
receive an autonomous vehicle map, wherein:
the autonomous vehicle map includes a spline corresponding to a lane in the road segment;
the autonomous vehicle map includes position information of a first landmark identified proximate to the road segment, the position information including at least one of a physical size of the first landmark, a distance between the first landmark and the road segment, a height of the first landmark, or a distance between the first landmark and a second landmark;
the position information of the first landmark is based on the crowdsourced navigation information from the plurality of vehicles; and
the autonomous vehicle map is configured for an autonomous vehicle to use the position information of the first landmark for vehicle localization relative to the spline.

14. The vehicle system of claim 13 , wherein the crowdsourced navigation information includes road geometry data.

15. The vehicle system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of vehicles includes autonomous vehicles.

16. The vehicle system

Assignees

• Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd

Inventors

• Shashua Amnon
• Gdalyahu Yoram
• Springer Ofer
• Reisman Aran
• Braunstein Daniel

Classifications

• G01C21/32

  Structuring or formatting of map data · CPC title

• G01C21/30 Primary

  Map- or contour-matching · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G06T7/00

  Image analysis · CPC title

• G05D2111/10

  Optical signals · CPC title