Validating protolanes with actor behavior flowcharts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12195042-B2
Application number	US-202217846652-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2022
Priority date	Jun 22, 2022
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product aspects for validating protolanes. For example, the method includes determining a protolane level flowchart from one or more flowcharts corresponding to one or more gates of a protolane selected from a set of protolanes of a geonet, wherein the one or more flowcharts correspond to conditions that can be encountered by an actor approaching the corresponding one or more gates, and wherein the geonet comprises a plurality of lane segments associated with the set of protolanes. A graph through the protolane level flowchart is generated that corresponds to actions of an actor. Reasoning of the actor is validated by testing the actions of the actor against the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a protolane level flowchart from one or more flowcharts corresponding to one or more gates of a protolane selected from a set of protolanes of a geonet, wherein the one or more flowcharts correspond to conditions that can be encountered by an actor approaching the corresponding one or more gates, and wherein the geonet comprises a plurality of lane segments associated with the set of protolanes;
generating, by the one or more computing devices, a graph through the protolane level flowchart corresponding to actions of an actor; and
validating, by the one or more computing devices, reasoning of the actor by testing the actions of the actor against the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the actor is an autonomous vehicle, the method further comprising:
defining, by the one or more computing devices, a sequence of the one or more gates of the protolane based on a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle through the protolane.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more flowcharts corresponding to the one or more gates of the protolane are assigned to entry/exit gate pairs of the one or more gates.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
constructing a test scenario for a subgraph of the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more gates are each in a respective open or closed state.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the closed state regulates entry by the actor into a contested space through a corresponding gate of the one or more gates.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein testing the actions of the actor against the graph includes validating whether the actor proceeded through a sequence of the one or more gates that are part of the graph consistent with the graph.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the protolane selected from the set of protolanes comprises a sequence of consecutive protolanes.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the protolane selected from the set of protolanes consists of a single protolane.

10. A system, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform operations comprising:
determining a protolane level flowchart from one or more flowcharts corresponding to one or more gates of a protolane selected from a set of protolanes of a geonet, wherein the one or more flowcharts correspond to conditions that can be encountered by an actor approaching the corresponding one or more gates, and wherein the geonet comprises a plurality of lane segments associated with the set of protolanes,
generating a graph through the protolane level flowchart corresponding to actions of an actor, and
validating reasoning of the actor by testing the actions of the actor against the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the actor is an autonomous vehicle, the operations further comprising:
defining a sequence of the one or more gates of the protolane based on a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle through the protolane.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more flowcharts corresponding to the one or more gates of the protolane are assigned to entry/exit gate pairs of the one or more gates.

13. The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
constructing a test scenario for a subgraph of the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more gates are each in a respective open or closed state.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the closed state regulates entry by the actor into a contested space through a corresponding gate of the one or more gates.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein testing the actions of the actor against the graph includes validating whether the actor proceeded through a sequence of the one or more gates that are part of the graph consistent with the graph.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:
determining a protolane level flowchart from one or more flowcharts corresponding to one or more gates of a protolane selected from a set of protolanes of a geonet, wherein the one or more flowcharts correspond to conditions that can be encountered by an actor approaching the corresponding one or more gates, and wherein the geonet comprises a plurality of lane segments associated with the set of protolanes;
generating a graph through the protolane level flowchart corresponding to actions of an actor; and
validating reasoning of the actor by testing the actions of the actor against the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the actor is an autonomous vehicle, the operations further comprising:
defining a sequence of the one or more gates of the protolane based on a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle through the protolane.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
constructing a test scenario for a subgraph of the graph through the protolane level flowchart.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein testing the actions of the actor against the graph includes validating whether the actor proceeded through a sequence of the one or more gates that are part of the graph consistent with the graph.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Carr George Peter Kenneth
• Cook Shawn
• Browning Brett
• Hartnett Andrew
• Savtchenko Constantin A
• Seegmiller Neal
• Cunningham Christopher
• Petroff Thomas Mark
• Pacilio Michael

Classifications

• B60W2552/53

  Road markings, e.g. lane marker or crosswalk · CPC title

• B60W2552/10

  Number of lanes · CPC title

• B60W2554/4046

  Behavior, e.g. aggressive or erratic · CPC title

• B60W2554/4045

  Intention, e.g. lane change or imminent movement · CPC title

• B60W2420/403

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