Vehicle control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12179792-B2
Application number	US-202117479777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2021
Priority date	Jan 18, 2019
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

Command determination for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, is described. In an example, individual requests for controlling the vehicle relative to each of multiple objects or conditions in an environment are received (substantially simultaneously) and based on the request type and/or additional information associated with a request, command controllers can determine control commands (e.g., different accelerations, steering angles, steering rates, and the like) associated with each of the one or more requests. The command controllers may have different controller gains (which may be based on functions of distance, distance ratios, time to estimated collisions, etc.) for determining the controls and a control command may be determined based on the all such determined controls.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a first request to navigate relative to an object in an environment, the first request comprising first information including at least one of a first velocity relative to the object, a first distance relative to the object, or a first time relative to the object;
receiving a second request to navigate in the environment, the second request comprising second information comprising at least one of a second velocity, a second distance, or a second time;
determining, using a first command controller, a first command for controlling a vehicle in accordance with the first request;
determining, using a second command controller, a second command for controlling the vehicle in accordance with the second request;
determining, based at least in part on the first command and the second command, a control command for controlling the vehicle, and
controlling, based at least in part on the control command, the vehicle.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first command, the second command and the control command are longitudinal accelerations along a direction of travel of the vehicle, and
wherein the first command controller comprises a first gain and the second command controller comprises a second gain different from the first gain.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the first request comprises a request to follow the object; and
the first information comprises at least one of a velocity of the object or a distance to maintain behind the object.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the first request includes a request to follow the object and the first distance is associated with a time gap to maintain between the vehicle and the object, and wherein a first gain of the first command controller is based at least in part on at least one of a distance between the vehicle and the object, a desired distance between the vehicle and the object, or a time associated with an estimated collision of the vehicle and the object.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the first information or the second information includes at least one of a minimum time gap or a maximum time gap,
the first velocity or the second velocity includes at least one of a minimum velocity or a maximum velocity, or
the first request or the second request further includes at least one of a minimum acceleration or a maximum acceleration.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the second request is a request to attain the second velocity at a distance from a current position;
the second information includes the second velocity and the second distance, the second velocity comprising the second velocity and the second distance comprising the distance from the current position; and
the second command controller has a second controller gain based at least in part on the distance from the current position.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first request includes first additional information or the second request includes second additional information, the first command being further determined based at least in part on the first additional information and the second command being further based at least in part on the second additional information.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first additional information comprises at least one of:
an instruction to assign a constant velocity to an object;
an instruction to assign a predicted movement to the object;
an instruction to cause the vehicle to move forward slowly from a stop;
an instruction to increase a first acceleration or a second acceleration; or
an instruction to de-prioritize one of the first request or the second request relative to the other of the first request or the second request or other requests.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein a first condition comprises a dynamic object and the first additional information comprises an instruction to associate a predetermined velocity or a predetermined trajectory to the object.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first additional information comprises an instruction to cause the first command controller to determine an increased acceleration, the operations further comprising:
altering a gain associated with the first command controller based at least in part on receiving the instruction.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first additional information comprises an instruction to de-prioritize the first request relative to the second request or additional requests, the operations further comprising:
associating a weighting factor with the first command based at least in part on the instruction to de-prioritize.

12. An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a first controller for determining a first acceleration based at least in part on first input information and associated with a first controller gain;
a second controller for determining a second acceleration based at least in part on second input information and associated with a second controller gain;
one or more processors; and
memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous vehicle to perform acts comprising:
receiving a first request to navigate relative to an object in an environment;
receiving a second request to navigate in the environment;
determining, using the first controller, a first command for controlling the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the first request;
determining, using the second controller, a second command for controlling the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the second request;
determining, based at least in part on the first command and the second command, a control command; and
controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the control command.

13. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the first request includes a request to follow the object and a time gap to maintain between the autonomous vehicle and the object, and wherein the first controller gain is based at least in part on at least one of a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the object, a desired distance between the autonomous vehicle and the object, or a time associated with an estimated collision of the autonomous vehicle and the object.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein:
the first command, the second command and the control command are longitudinal accelerations along a direction of travel of the autonomous vehicle, and
the first controller comprises a first gain and the second controller comprises a second gain different from the first gain.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein:
the second request is a request to attain a second velocity at a distance from a current position; and
the second controller has a second controller gain based at least in part on the distance from the current position.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the first request includes first additional information or the second request includes second additional information, the first command being further determined based at least in part on the first additional informatio

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Akella Abishek Krishna
• Hudecek Janek
• Kobilarov Marin
• Wimmershoff Marc

Classifications

• B60W2554/801

  Lateral distance · CPC title

• B60W2720/106

  Longitudinal acceleration · CPC title

• B60W2554/802

  Longitudinal distance · CPC title

• B60W2720/125

  Lateral acceleration · CPC title

• B60W2520/12

  Lateral speed · CPC title