Active lighting control for communicating a state of an autonomous vehicle to entities in a surrounding environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9804599-B2
Application number	US-201514932948-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods implemented in algorithms, software, firmware, logic, or circuitry may be configured to process data and sensory input to determine whether an object external to an autonomous vehicle (e.g., another vehicle, a pedestrian, a bicyclist, etc.) may be a potential collision threat to the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may include a light emitter positioned external to a surface of the autonomous vehicle and being configured to implement a visual alert by emitting light from the light emitter. Data representing a light pattern may be received by the light emitter and the light emitted by the display may be indicative of the light pattern. The light pattern may be selected to gain the attention of the object (e.g., a pedestrian, a driver of a car, a bicyclists, etc.) in order to avoid the potential collision or to alert the object to the presence of the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing sensor data generated by a sensor system of an autonomous vehicle;
determining, based at least in part on the sensor data, a location of the autonomous vehicle within the environment, wherein the location of the autonomous vehicle identifies a position and orientation of the autonomous vehicle within the environment according to a global coordinate system;
calculating, based at least in part on the location of the autonomous vehicle and at least a portion of the sensor data, a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the trajectory indicates a planned path associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle between at least a first location and a second location within the environment;
identifying, based at least in part on the sensor data, a pedestrian object within the environment;
determining a location of the pedestrian object in the environment, wherein the location of the pedestrian object identifies a position and orientation of the pedestrian object within the environment according to the global coordinate system, wherein the position identifies one or more coordinates and wherein the orientation identifies one or more of a pitch, a yaw, or a roll of the pedestrian object;
determining, based at least in part on the location of the pedestrian object and the location of the autonomous vehicle, to provide a visual alert in a direction of the pedestrian object;
selecting a light pattern from a plurality of light patterns, wherein a first one of light patterns is associated with a first level of urgency of the visual alert to provide in the direction of the pedestrian object, and a second one of the light patterns is associated with a second level of urgency of the visual alert to provide in the direction of the pedestrian object;
selecting, from a plurality of light emitters of the autonomous vehicle, a light emitter to provide the visual alert, wherein the plurality of light emitters include a first light emitter located within a first area between a first wheel of the autonomous vehicle and a second wheel of the autonomous vehicle, a second light emitter located within a second area between a third wheel of the autonomous vehicle and a fourth wheel of the autonomous vehicle, a third light emitter located within a third area between the first wheel and the third wheel, and a fourth light emitter located within a fourth area between the second wheel and the fourth wheel; and
causing the light emitter to provide the visual alert in the direction to the pedestrian object, the light emitter emitting light indicative of the light pattern into the environment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating, based at least in part on the location of the pedestrian object and the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, an orientation of the autonomous vehicle relative to the location of the pedestrian object; and
wherein selecting the light emitter is based at least in part on the orientation of the autonomous vehicle relative to the location of the pedestrian object.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
estimating, based at least in part on the location of the pedestrian object and the location of the autonomous vehicle, a threshold event associated with causing the light emitter to provide the visual alert;
detecting an occurrence of the threshold event; and
wherein causing the light emitter of the autonomous vehicle to provide the visual alert is based at least in part on the occurrence of the threshold event.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating, based at least in part on the location of the pedestrian object and the location of the autonomous vehicle, a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the pedestrian object; and
wherein selecting the light pattern is based at least in part on the distance.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the light pattern is based at least in part on one or more of a first threshold distance or a threshold time, wherein the first threshold distance is associated with the light pattern and a second threshold distance is associated with a different light pattern, wherein the first threshold distance and the second threshold distance is less than a distance between the pedestrian object and the autonomous vehicle, and wherein the threshold time is shorter in duration as compared to a time associated with the location of the autonomous vehicle and the location of the pedestrian object being coincident with each other.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating, based at least in part on the location of the pedestrian object and the trajectory of the autonomous vehicle, a time associated with the location of the autonomous vehicle and the location of the pedestrian object being coincident with each other; and
wherein causing the light emitter of the autonomous vehicle to provide the visual alert is based at least in part on the time.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an object classification for the pedestrian object, the pedestrian object classification determined from a plurality of object classifications, wherein the object classifications include a static pedestrian object classification, and a dynamic pedestrian object classification; and
wherein selecting the light pattern is based at least in part on the object classification.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing map data associated with the environment, the map data accessed from a data store of the autonomous vehicle;
determining position data and orientation data associated with the autonomous vehicle; and
wherein determining the location of the autonomous vehicle within the environment is based at least in part on the map data, the position data and the orientation data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting a different light pattern from the plurality of light patterns based at least in part on a difference between a first location of the pedestrian object and a second location of the pedestrian object, the first location comprising a first position and first orientation and the second location comprising a second position and a second orientation; and
causing the light emitter to provide a second visual alert, wherein the light emitter emits light indicative of the different light pattern into the environment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light emitter includes a sub-section and the light pattern includes a sub-pattern associated with the sub-section, the sub-section being configured to emit light indicative of the sub-pattern, wherein at least one of the sub-patterns is indicative of one or more of a signaling function of the autonomous vehicle or a braking function of the autonomous vehicle and wherein at least one other sub-pattern is indicative of the visual alert.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving data representing a sensor signal indicative of a rate of rotation of a wheel of the autonomous vehicle; and
modulating the light pattern based at least in part on the rate of rotation.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting, from the plurality of light emitters of the autonomous vehicle, the light emitter to provide the visual alert is based at least in part on one or more of an orientation of the autonomous vehicle, the location of the autonomous vehicle, the location of the pedestrian object, or the trajectory of the pedestrian object.

13. A system, comprising:
sensors operative to generate sensor data for an autonomous vehicle located within an environment, wherein the sensors include LIDAR sensors;
light

Assignees

• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Kentley-Klay Timothy David
• Gamara Rachad Youssef

Classifications

• B60Q1/2611

  Indicating devices mounted on the roof of the vehicle · CPC title

• B60Q1/268

  on windscreens or windows (B60Q1/302 takes precedence; lighting devices for vehicle interior on or for windows B60Q3/208) · CPC title

• G08G1/167

  Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection · CPC title

• B60Q1/44

  for indicating braking action {or preparation for braking, e.g. by detection of the foot approaching the brake pedal} · CPC title

• G10K11/34

  using electrical steering of transducer arrays, e.g. beam steering {(constructional aspects B06B1/0607, B06B1/085)} · CPC title