Communications for autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12043174-B2
Application number	US-202318333831-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2023
Priority date	Mar 12, 2019
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method of facilitating communications from an autonomous vehicle to a user. For instance, a method may include, while attempting to pick up the user and prior to the user entering an vehicle, inputting a current location of the vehicle and map information into a model in order to identify a type of communication action for communicating a location of the vehicle to the user; enabling a first communication based on the type of the communication action; determining whether the user has responded to the first communication from received sensor data; and enabling a second communication based on the determination of whether the user has responded to the communication.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors of a computing device from a client computing device associated with a user, a request to assist the user in reaching an autonomous vehicle;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a type of communication of a plurality of possible types of communications to be generated by the autonomous vehicle to assist the user in reaching the autonomous vehicle; and
initiating, by the one or more processors, generation of the selected type of communication by the autonomous vehicle.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting is performed using a trained model.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the model is trained to identify patterns which increase a likelihood that the user will reach an autonomous vehicle more quickly in response to a vehicle communication.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the patterns indicate one or more escalated communications previously initiated by the user to minimize an amount of time it took the user to reach the autonomous vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selected type of communication is generated by flashing headlights of the autonomous vehicle.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, conditions in an environment of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the type of communication is selected based on the determined conditions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the determined conditions include ambient lighting conditions.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ambient lighting conditions indicate whether the environment is dark enough to use.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ambient lighting conditions are determined based on feedback from light sensors of the autonomous vehicle.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ambient lighting conditions are determined based on at least one of a state of headlights of the autonomous vehicle or internal electronic displays in the autonomous vehicle.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the ambient lighting conditions are determined based on data generated by a perception system of the autonomous vehicle.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selected type of communication is generated by honking a horn of the autonomous vehicle.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selected type of communication is selected further based on time of day.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selected type of communication is generated by displaying information on a display externally mounted on the autonomous vehicle.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the selected type of communication is generated by one or more speakers of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling, by the one or more processors, surfacing of one or more options on the client computing device of the user to enable the user to cause the autonomous vehicle to generate the selected type of communication.

17. A computing device comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
receive, from a client computing device associated with a user, a request to assist the user in reaching an autonomous vehicle;
select a type of communication of a plurality of possible types of communications to be generated by the autonomous vehicle to assist the user in reaching the autonomous vehicle; and
initiate generation of the selected type of communication by the autonomous vehicle.

18. An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a plurality of communication devices; and
one or more processors configured to:
receive, from a client computing device associated with a user, a request to assist the user in reaching an autonomous vehicle;
select one or more of the plurality of communication devices to assist the user in reaching the autonomous vehicle; and
initiate activation of the selected one or more of the plurality of communication devices.

19. The autonomous vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of communication devices includes headlights.

20. The autonomous vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of communication devices includes a horn.

21. The autonomous vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of communication devices includes one or more speakers.

22. The autonomous vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of communication devices includes a display externally mounted on the autonomous vehicle.

Assignees

• Waymo Llc

Inventors

• Pandit Salil
• Mercay Julien
• Wright Clement

Classifications

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• G08G1/205

  Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental · CPC title

• G06N3/08

  Learning methods · CPC title

• G01C21/3438

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• B60Q1/482 Primary

  for locating vehicle in parking lot · CPC title