Determining vehicle position using sideslip vector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12252200-B2
Application number	US-202217957756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2022
Publication date	Mar 18, 2025
Grant date	Mar 18, 2025

Abstract

Systems and techniques for determining a sideslip vector for a vehicle that may have a direction that is different from that of a heading vector for the vehicle. The sideslip vector in a current vehicle state and sideslip vectors in predicted vehicles states may be used to determine paths for a vehicle through an environment and trajectories for controlling the vehicle through the environment. The sideslip vector may be based on a vehicle position that is the center point of the wheelbase of the vehicle and may include lateral velocity, facilitating the control of four-wheel steered vehicle while maintaining the ability to control two-wheel steered vehicles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
determining a position of a vehicle in an environment, the position comprising two-dimensional coordinates and a yaw value;
determining a heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the position, wherein the heading vector comprises a heading direction;
determining a sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the sideslip vector comprises a sideslip direction that is different from the heading direction;
determining a curvature of the vehicle by:
determining a predicted heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;
determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and
determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading vector and the heading vector;

determining a plurality of candidate paths for traversing the environment based at least in part on the curvature;
determining an operational vehicle path from among the plurality of candidate paths;
determining an operational trajectory for controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the operational vehicle path; and
controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the operational trajectory.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the position, the heading vector, and the sideslip vector are based at least in part on a longitudinal center point of a wheelbase of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
determining the plurality of candidate paths comprises:
determining that an object is represented in the environment;
determining a candidate path based at least in part on the curvature; and
determining a perpendicular distance between the object and the candidate path; and

determining the operational vehicle path from among the plurality of candidate paths comprises:
determining the candidate path as the operational vehicle path based at least in part on the perpendicular distance between the object and the candidate path.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle comprises four-wheel steering components; and
determining the operational trajectory comprises determining a four-wheel steering control that controls the four-wheel steering components.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein:
determining the four-wheel steering control comprises determining steering angle data based at least in part on the sideslip vector; and
the four-wheel steering control causes the steering angle data to be provided to the four-wheel steering components.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform operations comprising:
determining a heading vector associated with a vehicle based at least in part on a position of the vehicle in an environment, wherein the heading vector comprises a heading direction;
determining a sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the sideslip vector comprises a sideslip direction that is different from the heading direction;
determining a curvature associated with the vehicle by:
determining a predicted heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;
determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and
determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading vector and the heading vector;

determining a path for traversing the environment based at least in part on the curvature; and
providing the path to a vehicle trajectory determination system.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:
determining a cost associated with the path; and
determining the path from among a plurality of candidate paths based at least in part on the cost.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the cost associated with the path is based at least in part on one or more of:
vehicle rotation associated with the path;
vehicle translation associated with the path;
vehicle ride quality associated with the path; or
vehicle safety associated with the path.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:
determining a perpendicular distance between an object in the environment and the path; and
determining the path from among a plurality of candidate paths based at least in part on the perpendicular distance.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the curvature is further based at least in part on a path segment length.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein the predicted direction of motion corresponds to a predicted heading direction of the predicted heading vector.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein:
the velocity comprises lateral velocity;
the position comprises a yaw value;
the predicted position of the vehicle comprises a predicted yaw value; and
the predicted yaw value corresponds to the yaw value.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , wherein:
the predicted velocity comprises a predicted lateral velocity; and
the predicted lateral velocity is different than the lateral velocity.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:
determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity;
determining a corridor for the path based at least in part on the sideslip vector and the predicted sideslip vector; and
determining the path based at least in part on the corridor.

15. A method comprising:
determining a position of a vehicle in an environment,
determining a heading direction for the vehicle based at least in part on the position;
determining a sideslip vector for the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the direction of motion of the vehicle is different from the heading direction;
determining a curvature associated with the vehicle by:
determining a predicted heading direction for the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;
determining a predicted sideslip vector for the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and
determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading direction and the heading direction;

determining a path for traversing the environment based at least i

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Funke Joseph
• Gallagher Liam
• Kobilarov Marin
• Laurense Vincent Andreas
• Mcclelland Mark Jonathon
• Narayanan Sriram
• Okamoto Kazuhide
• Riley Jack
• Schwartz Jeremy
• Thalman Jacob Patrick
• Toupet Olivier Amaury
• Zlotnik David Evan

Classifications

• B62D15/0265

  Automatic obstacle avoidance by steering · CPC title

• B62D15/0255

  Automatic changing of lane, e.g. for passing another vehicle · CPC title

• B62D15/025

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62D7/159 Primary

  characterised by computing methods or stabilisation processes or systems, e.g. responding to yaw rate, lateral wind, load, road condition · CPC title