Techniques for Navigating Vehicles using Teleoperator Instructions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020409358-A1
Application number	US-201916457341-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Jun 28, 2019
Publication date	Dec 31, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques and methods for navigating an autonomous vehicle using teleoperator instructions. For instance, while navigating to a location, progress of an autonomous vehicle may stop. This may be caused by the autonomous vehicle yielding to another vehicle, such as at an intersection or when the other vehicle is located along a route of the autonomous vehicle. After yielding for a threshold amount of time, the autonomous vehicle may send sensor data and/or an indication of the other vehicle to the teleoperator. The autonomous vehicle may then receive, from the teleoperator, an instruction to cease yielding to the other vehicle. Based at least in part on the instruction, the autonomous vehicle may again begin navigating.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a sensor; one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the autonomous vehicle to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor data from the sensor at a first location;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, that progress of the autonomous vehicle is impeded by an object;
transmitting at least a portion of the sensor data to one or more computing devices associated with a remote operator;
transmitting an indication that the progress of autonomous vehicle is impeded by the object;
receiving an instruction associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle; and
based at least in part on the instruction, causing the autonomous vehicle to begin navigating from the first location to a second location along the route.

2 . The autonomous vehicle as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining, while navigating to the second location, that the object begins moving; and based at least in part on the determining that the object begins moving, causing the autonomous vehicle to yield to the object.

3 . The autonomous vehicle as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the one or more computing devices, an additional indication of an area that surrounds the object; determining, while navigating to the second location, that the object is located outside of the area; and based at least in part on the object being located outside of the area, causing the autonomous vehicle to yield to the object.

4 . The autonomous vehicle as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
storing data representing one or more policies associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle, the one or more policies including at least one of:
a first policy to yield to objects that arrive at an intersection before the autonomous vehicle; or
a second policy to stay in a driving lane when navigating; and
based at least in part on the instruction, determining to temporarily forego following at least one of the one or more policies.

5 . The autonomous vehicle as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
setting a first action associated with the object, the first action being to follow the object; and based at least in part on the instruction, setting a second action associated with the object, the second action being to cease following the object.

6 . The autonomous vehicle as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the instruction, to temporarily cease yielding to the object; and determining, based at least in part on one or more policies, whether to yield to one or more other objects, and wherein the causing the autonomous vehicle to begin navigating from the first location to the second location along the route is based at least in part on determining not to yield to the one or more other objects.

7 . A method comprising:
receiving sensor data from a sensor on a vehicle; determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, that progress of the vehicle along a route is impeded by an object in the environment; determining whether to contact a remote operator; transmitting, based at least in part on determining whether to contact the remote operator, one or more of at least a portion of the sensor data, a representation of the sensor data associated with the object, or an indication that the object is impeding progress to one or more computing devices associated with the remote operator; receiving, from the one or more computing devices, an instruction altering a policy associated with the object; and based at least in part on the instruction, causing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to a location.

8 . The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein:
the indication comprises data identifying that the vehicle is yielding to the object; and the altering the policy comprises instructing the vehicle to stop yielding to the object.

9 . The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, while navigating to the location, that the object begins moving; and based at least in part on the determining that the object begins moving, causing the vehicle to yield to the object.

10 . The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving, from the one or more computing devices, an area that surrounds the object; determining, while navigating to the location, that the object is located outside of the area; and based at least in part on the object being located outside of the area, causing the vehicle to yield to the object.

11 . The method as recited in claim 7 ,
wherein the policy comprises at least one of:
a first policy to yield to objects that arrive at an intersection before the vehicle, or
a second policy to stay in a driving lane when navigating, and
wherein altering the policy comprises determining to temporarily forego following at least one of the first policy or second policy.

12 . The method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising, after navigating to the location, determining to again follow the first or second policies.

13 . The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
setting a first action associated with the object, the first action being to follow the object, wherein altering the policy comprises setting a second action associated with the object, the second action being to cease following the object.

14 . The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising determining whether to impede progress of the autonomous vehicle to another object based at least in part on the progress.

15 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor data from a sensor on a vehicle; determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, that an object has caused the vehicle to be impeded from navigating to a location; transmitting at least a portion of the sensor data to one or more computing devices associated with a remote operator; receiving, from the one or more computing devices, an instruction to alter a policy with respect to the object; and based at least in part on the instruction, causing the vehicle to navigate to the location.

16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15 , the operations further comprising transmitting, to the one or more computing devices, an indication that the object has caused the autonomous vehicle to be impeded from navigating to the location.

17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
determining, while navigating to the location, that the object begins moving; and based at least in part on the determining that the object begins moving, causing the vehicle to ignore the instruction.

18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, from the one or more computing devices, an area associated with the object; determining, while navigating to the location, that the object is located outside of the area; and based at least in part on the object being located outside of the area, causing the autonomous vehicle to ignore the instruction.

19 . The one or more non-transitory compu

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Gogna Ravi
• Goldman Meredith James
• Orecchio Paul

Classifications

• G05D2201/0213

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D1/0038 Primary

  by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation (images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246) · CPC title

• G05D1/0061

  for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title

• G05D1/0011 Primary

  associated with a remote control arrangement · CPC title