Autonomous vehicle with freespace planner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025115271-A1
Application number	US-202318482304-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 6, 2023
Priority date	Oct 6, 2023
Publication date	Apr 10, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Planning, or path finding is one of many tasks performed by an autonomous vehicle (AV). Planning involves searching for and updating an optimal plan from a current pose to an end pose while avoiding obstacles. Planning can be particularly challenging in driving scenarios involving complex driving maneuvers, such as parking, making a U-turn, making a K-turn, etc. Searching for an optimal plan may take more time, e.g., a few seconds, in certain driving scenarios. Consumers of the plan may have a low tolerance for delay in receiving the optimal plan. A relay can be implemented to publish the latest plan to the consumers at a frequency. The relay can check whether the delay violates a dynamic threshold and raise an error accordingly. The searching process can be improved to reduce the delay in finding an optimal plan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A planning and control system for a vehicle, the planning and control system comprising:
a planner to:
receive (1) a request to generate a plan for the vehicle to reach an end pose, (2) a current pose of the vehicle, and (3) environment information;
search, using the current pose, the environment information, and one or more first constraints, for a plan from the current pose to the end pose, wherein the plan includes a first segment, a second segment, and an intermediate pose connecting the first segment and the second segment;
search, using the current pose, the environment information, and one or more second constraints different from the one or more first constraints, for a subplan from the current pose to the intermediate pose; and
output the subplan; and
vehicle controls to control one or more vehicle actuators of the vehicle based the subplan output by the planner.

2 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein searching for the subplan further comprises using the first segment as a seed.

3 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more second constraints impose stricter kinematics on the vehicle than the one or more first constraints.

4 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more second constraints allow unidirectional travel only.

5 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the first segment involves the vehicle traveling in a first direction, and the second segment involves the vehicle traveling in a second direction opposite of the first direction.

6 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate pose involves the vehicle changing direction of travel.

7 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate pose involves the vehicle at a stop.

8 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate pose involves the vehicle at a stop before entering an intersection.

9 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate pose involves the vehicle crossing a lane boundary.

10 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate pose involves the vehicle exiting a first level of a multi-level structure and entering a second level of the multi-level structure.

11 . The planning and control system of claim 1 , wherein the planner is further to:
determine that a position control error of the vehicle based on the current pose and the subplan crosses a threshold; and in response to the determination, search, using the current pose, the environment information, for a further plan from the current pose to the end pose.

12 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a planner of a vehicle, (1) a request to generate a plan for the vehicle to reach an end pose, (2) a current pose of the vehicle, and (3) environment information; searching, by the planner using the current pose, the environment information, and one or more first constraints, for a plan from the current pose to the end pose, wherein the plan includes a first segment, a second segment, and an intermediate pose connecting the first segment and the second segment; searching, by the planner using the current pose, the environment information, and one or more second constraints different from the one or more first constraints, for a subplan from the current pose to the intermediate pose; outputting, by the planner, the subplan; and causing vehicle controls to control one or more vehicle actuators of the vehicle based the subplan output by the planner.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein:
the one or more second constraints allow unidirectional travel only; and the intermediate pose involves the vehicle changing direction of travel.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein searching for the subplan further comprises using the first segment as a seed.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more second constraints impose stricter kinematics on the vehicle than the one or more first constraints.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining, by the planner, that a position control error of the vehicle based on the current pose and the subplan crosses a threshold; and in response to the determination, searching, by the planner using the current pose, the environment information, for a further plan from the current pose to the end pose.

17 . A planning and control system for a vehicle, the planning and control system comprising:
a planner to generate timestamped plans for a vehicle to reach to reach an end pose; a relay to:
receive the timestamped plans;
store a latest timestamped plan;
output the latest timestamped plan at a frequency;
determine that a difference between a timestamp of the latest timestamped plan and a current timestamp crosses a threshold; and
raise an error in response to the determination; and
vehicle controls to control one or more vehicle actuators of the vehicle based the latest timestamped plan output by the relay.

18 . The planning and control system of claim 17 , wherein the relay is further to:
output the latest timestamped plan upon receipt.

19 . The planning and control system of claim 17 , wherein the relay is further to:
determine the threshold based on a state of the vehicle.

20 . The planning and control system of claim 17 , wherein the relay is further to:
determine the threshold based on a speed of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Zhou Xiaoyu
• Kushwaha Shreyans
• Fasola Juan

Classifications

• B60W2552/53

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

• B60W2520/04

  Vehicle stop · CPC title

• B60W2520/10

  Longitudinal speed · CPC title

• B60W2520/06

  Direction of travel · CPC title

• B60W60/001 Primary

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title