Automatic snow chain deployment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12286121-B2
Application number	US-202017000030-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2020
Priority date	Aug 21, 2020
Publication date	Apr 29, 2025
Grant date	Apr 29, 2025

Abstract

Techniques are described for determining whether snow chains are permitted to be used and to deploy snow chains based on traffic signs, weather conditions, and/or road conditions. An example method of autonomous driving operation includes performing a first determination, by a computer located in an autonomous vehicle, whether a use of snow chains is permitted based at least on a location where the autonomous vehicle is operating, performing a second determination that snow chains are required for driving the autonomous vehicle on a road, and sending, in response to the first determination indicating that the use of snow chains is permitted and in response to the second determination, instruction to snow chain devices located on the autonomous vehicle, where the instruction triggers the snow chain devices to deploy snow chains on tires of the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of autonomous driving operation, comprising:
performing a first determination, by a computer located in an autonomous vehicle, whether a use of snow chains is permitted based at least on a location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the first determination is performed by selecting a snow chain rule associated with an area that includes the location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the snow chain rule is selected from a pre-determined list of snow chain rules that indicate whether or when snow chains are permitted in a plurality of areas,
wherein the snow chain rule indicates a range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted, and
wherein the first determination includes determining that the use of the snow chain is permitted based on determining that a date when the autonomous vehicle is operating is within the range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted;

performing a second determination that snow chains are required for driving the autonomous vehicle on a road; and
sending, in response to the first determination indicating that the use of snow chains is permitted and in response to the second determination, instruction to snow chain devices located on the autonomous vehicle, wherein the instruction triggers the snow chain devices to deploy snow chains on tires of the autonomous vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the snow chain rule indicates a range of dates when the use of snow chains is not permitted,
wherein the first determination includes determining that the use of snow chains is not permitted based on determining that a date when the autonomous vehicle is operating is within the range of dates when the use of snow chains is not permitted; and
wherein a deployment of the snow chain devices is disabled in response to the determining that the use of snow chains is not permitted.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the second determination is based on a traffic sign located on the road, wherein the traffic sign includes words that indicate that snow chains are required.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving, from a camera located on the autonomous vehicle, an image of an area towards which the autonomous vehicle is operating, wherein the image comprises the traffic sign; and
determining that the traffic sign in the image indicates that snow chains are required by performing optical character recognition on a portion of the image associated with the traffic sign.

5. A system for autonomous vehicle operation, the system comprising a computer that includes a processor configured to implement a method comprising:
perform a first determination, by a computer located in an autonomous vehicle, whether a use of snow chains is permitted based at least on a location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the first determination is performed by a selection of a snow chain rule associated with an area that includes the location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the snow chain rule is selected from a pre-determined list of snow chain rules that indicate whether or when snow chains are permitted in a plurality of areas,
wherein the snow chain rule indicates a range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted, and
wherein the first determination includes determining that the use of the snow chain is permitted based on determining that a date when the autonomous vehicle is operating is within the range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted;

perform a second determination that snow chains are required for driving the autonomous vehicle on a road; and
send, in response to the first determination indicating that the use of snow chains is permitted and in response to the second determination, instruction to snow chain devices located on the autonomous vehicle, wherein the instruction triggers the snow chain devices to deploy snow chains on tires of the autonomous vehicle.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the perform the second determination is based on a traffic sign located on the road, and wherein the traffic sign includes a picture that indicates that snow chains are required.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the perform the second determination is based on a message received from a remote computer in a command center located outside the autonomous vehicle, and wherein the message indicate that snow chains are required for driving the autonomous vehicle on the road.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the perform the second determination is based on road conditions determined by the processor configured to:
receive, from a temperature sensor located on the autonomous vehicle, a measurement of a temperature of an environment in which the autonomous vehicle is operating;
receive, from a camera located on the autonomous vehicle, an image of an area towards which the autonomous vehicle is driven; and
wherein the second determination that snow chains are required is performed in response to:
a third determination that the temperature is less than a pre-determined value, and
a fourth determination that a presence of fog in the image.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the temperature of the environment is the temperature of the road.

10. The system of claim 5 , wherein the perform the second determination is based on road conditions determined by the processor configured to:
receive information that indicates a wind speed of a region that includes the location where the autonomous vehicle is operating;
receive, from a temperature sensor located on the autonomous vehicle, a measurement of a temperature of an environment in which the autonomous vehicle is operating;
receive, from a camera located on the autonomous vehicle, an image of an area towards which the autonomous vehicle is driven; and
wherein the second determination that snow chains are required is performed in response to:
a third determination that the wind speed is less than a first pre-determined value,
a fourth determination that the temperature is less than a second pre-determined value, and
a fifth determination that the image comprises a clear night sky upon a determination that the image includes a black sky without clouds.

11. A non-transitory computer readable program storage medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method comprising:
performing a first determination, by a computer located in an autonomous vehicle, whether a use of snow chains is permitted based at least on a location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the first determination is performed by selecting a snow chain rule associated with an area that includes the location where the autonomous vehicle is operating,
wherein the snow chain rule is selected from a pre-determined list of snow chain rules that indicate whether or when snow chains are permitted in a plurality of areas,
wherein the snow chain rule indicates a range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted, and
wherein the first determination includes determining that the use of the snow chain is permitted based on determining that a date when the autonomous vehicle is operating is within the range of dates when the use of snow chains is permitted;

performing a second determination that snow chains are required for driving the autonomous vehicle on a road; and
sending, in response to the first determination indicating that the use of snow chains is permitted and in response to the second determination, instruction to snow chain devices located on the autonomous vehicle, wherein the instruction triggers th

Assignees

• Tusimple Inc

Inventors

• Lau Jason Robert
• Brown Robert Patrick

Classifications

• B60B39/003

  Vehicle mounted non-skid chains actuated by centrifugal force (non-skid devices temporarily attachable to resilient tyres B60C27/00) · CPC title

• G06V20/582

  of traffic signs · CPC title

• B60W2555/20

  Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain · CPC title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• B60W2420/403

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