Precautionary observation zone for vehicle routing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12123729-B2
Application number	US-202117476529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 16, 2021
Priority date	Sep 16, 2021
Publication date	Oct 22, 2024
Grant date	Oct 22, 2024

Abstract

In some examples, a system may determine a plurality of candidate routes between a source location of a vehicle and a destination location for the vehicle. Further, the system may determine one or more respective observation zone volumes for each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes. The system may determine a field of view (FOV) for one or more vehicle sensors onboard the vehicle. In addition, the system may select a route for the vehicle from the plurality of candidate routes based at least on comparing an overlap of the FOV with the respective observation zone volumes for the candidate routes.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions executable by the one or more processors to configure the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a plurality of candidate routes between a source location for a vehicle and a destination location for the vehicle;
segmenting each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes into multiple road segments;
determining a respective observation zone volume for individual road segments of each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes;
receiving vehicle sensor configuration information for vehicle sensors onboard the vehicle;
determining a field of view (FOV) for the vehicle sensors onboard the vehicle;
comparing an overlap of the FOV for the vehicle sensors with the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route to determine an amount of overlap of the FOV with each of the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route;
determining a safety score for each of the individual road segments of each candidate route based on the amount of overlap determined for each of the individual road segments;
determining a total safety score for each candidate route based on the safety scores determined for the individual road segments of the candidate route;
selecting a route for the vehicle from the plurality of candidate routes based at least on the total safety score for the selected route; and
causing a controller to operate the vehicle according to the selected route.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the respective observation zone volumes are determined based at least in part on proximity to an intersection functional area.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the respective observation zone volumes are determined based at least partially on determining a stopping sight distance and a road design speed.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , the operation of comparing the overlap of the FOV for the vehicle sensors with the respective observation zone volumes for the multiple road segments further comprises determining the safety score based on a percentage of overlap of the FOV of the vehicle sensors with the respective observation zone volume for each individual road segment.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
receiving vehicle information indicating at least a powertrain configuration of the vehicle;
determining a predicted fuel consumption for the vehicle for the plurality of candidate routes based at least in part on the received powertrain configuration; and
selecting the route based partially on considering the predicted fuel consumption.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining a speed profile for individual road segments of the multiple road segments, the speed profile indicating a predicted speed of the vehicle for traversing the individual road segments;
determining a predicted time for each candidate route and/or a predicted fuel consumption based at least partially on the predicted speed; and
selecting the route based partially on considering at least one of the predicted time or predicted fuel consumption.

7. A method comprising:
determining, by one or more processors, a plurality of candidate routes between a source location of a vehicle and a destination location for the vehicle;
segmenting each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes into multiple road segments;
determining a respective observation zone volume for individual road segments of each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes;
determining a field of view (FOV) for vehicle sensors onboard the vehicle;
comparing an overlap of the FOV with the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route to determine an amount of overlap of the FOV with each of the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route;
determining a safety score for each of the individual road segments of each candidate route based on the amount of overlap determined for each of the individual road segments;
determining a total safety score for each candidate route based on the safety scores determined for the individual road segments of the candidate route;
selecting a route for the vehicle from the plurality of candidate routes based at least on the total safety score for the selected route; and
causing a controller to operate the vehicle according to the selected route.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the respective observation zone volumes are determined based at least in part on proximity to an intersection functional area.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the respective observation zone volumes are determined based at least partially on determining a stopping sight distance and a road design speed.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
determining the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of each candidate route based at least on a road width and a turning sight distance.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein comparing the overlap of the FOV with the respective observation zone volumes for the multiple road segments of the candidate routes further comprises determining the safety score based on a percentage of overlap of the FOV of the vehicle sensors with the respective observation zone volume for each individual road segment.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving vehicle information indicating at least a powertrain configuration of the vehicle;
determining a predicted fuel consumption for the vehicle for the plurality of candidate routes based at least in part on the received powertrain configuration; and
selecting the route based partially on considering the predicted fuel consumption.

13. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving one or more current conditions over a network from one or more computing devices, the one or more current conditions including at least one of: weather conditions, or traffic conditions; and
selecting a different route for the vehicle based on receiving the one or more current conditions.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by one or more processors to configure the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a plurality of candidate routes between a source location of a vehicle and a destination location for the vehicle;
segmenting each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes into multiple road segments;
determining a respective observation zone volume for individual road segments of each candidate route of the plurality of candidate routes;
determining a field of view (FOV) for vehicle sensors onboard the vehicle;
comparing an overlap of the FOV with the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route to determine an amount of overlap of the FOV with each of the respective observation zone volumes for the individual road segments of the multiple road segments of each candidate route;
determining a safety score for each of the individual road segments of each candidate route based on the amount of overlap determined fo

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Kundu Subrata Kumar
• Lonari Yashodeep Dilip
• Zhu Xiaoliang
• BANGALORE RAMAIAH Naveen Kumar

Classifications

• B60W2420/403

  Image sensing, e.g. optical camera · CPC title

• B60W60/001

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title

• B60W50/0097

  Predicting future conditions · CPC title

• G06N5/022

  Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition · CPC title

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title