Sensing assembly for autonomous driving

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020064483-A1
Application number	US-201916664204-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 25, 2019
Priority date	Apr 28, 2017
Publication date	Feb 27, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

An autonomous driving assembly for a vehicle includes a plurality of lidar units configured to be supported by a vehicle body. The lidar units are collectively configured to detect a periphery region in proximity to the vehicle body to aid in autonomous driving upon coupling the driving assembly to the vehicle body. Each of the plurality of lidar units has a field of view of less than about 180 degrees.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An autonomous driving assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
a plurality of lidar units configured to be supported by a vehicle body, the lidar units being collectively configured to detect a periphery region in proximity to the vehicle body to aid in autonomous driving upon coupling the driving assembly to the vehicle body; wherein each of the plurality of lidar units has a field of view of less than about 180 degrees.

2 . The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lidar units comprise a first subset of lidar units comprising at least two lidar units having a fixed disposition relative to one another, and a second subset of lidar units comprising at least two lidar units having a fixed disposition relative to one another.

3 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units are supported on different areas of the vehicle body, and configured to work in concert to detect the periphery region or a portion of the periphery region.

4 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units comprise a first lidar unit optically aligned in a first direction and a second lidar optically aligned in a second direction, wherein an angle between the first direction and the second direction is about 50 degrees or less.

5 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units are supported by a first support structure, and the second subset of lidar units are supported by a second support structure that is separate from the first support structure.

6 . The assembly of claim 5 , wherein the first subset of lidar units comprise at least three lidar units supported by the first support structure.

7 . The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the at least three lidar units of the first subset of lidar units are arranged in a manner to increase overlap between adjacent fields of view of the at least three lidar units.

8 . The assembly of claim 5 , wherein the second subset of lidar units comprises at least three lidar units supported by the second support structure.

9 . The assembly of claim 8 , wherein the at least three lidar units of the second subset of lidar units are arranged in a manner to increase overlap between adjacent fields of view of the at least three lidar units.

10 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units are configured to move relative to the second subset of lidar units so as to adjust an overlap of field of view between the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units.

11 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units are configured to move relative to each other so as to adjust an overlap of field of view between the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units.

12 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein an overlap of field of view between the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units is adjustable in real-time to compensate for blind spots while the vehicle is in operation.

13 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein at least 70 degrees of overlap of field of view exists between the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units.

14 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the first subset of lidar units comprises a collective field of view of at least 160 degrees, and the second subset of lidar units comprises a collective field of view of at least 160 degrees.

15 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein a collective field of view of the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units is inversely proportional to a collective detection range of the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units.

16 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the at least two lidar units of the first subset of lidar units are configured to not move relative to one another during operation of the vehicle, and wherein the at least two lidar units of the second subset of lidar units are configured to not move relative to one another during operation of the vehicle.

17 . The assembly of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the first subset of lidar units or the second subset of lidar units undergoes an initial intrinsic calibration prior to utilization of the at least one of the first subset of lidar units or the second subset of lidar units for sensing.

18 . The assembly of claim 17 , wherein the lidar units of the first subset do not require online calibration during operation of the vehicle, and the lidar units of the second subset do not require online calibration during operation of the vehicle.

19 . The assembly of claim 17 , wherein the first subset of lidar units and the second subset of lidar units undergo an online calibration relative to each other during the operation of the vehicle.

20 . The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a long range lidar unit comprising a field of view that is narrower than a collective field of view of the plurality of lidar units.

Assignees

• Sz Dji Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Li Wei
• Ma Lu

Classifications

• H01Q1/3233

  particular used as part of a sensor or in a security system, e.g. for automotive radar, navigation systems · CPC title

• G01S13/931 Primary

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S17/931 Primary

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G01S2013/93274

  on the side of the vehicles · CPC title