Methods and systems for determining instructions for pulling over an autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9821807-B2
Application number	US-201715622766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2017
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining instructions for pulling over an autonomous vehicle are described. An example method may involve identifying a region of a road ahead of the autonomous vehicle based on lane boundaries of the road, one or more road boundaries indicating an edge of the road, and a size of the autonomous vehicle. The method may also involve determining a braking profile for reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle based on the region and a speed of the autonomous vehicle. The method may also involve determining, based on the braking profile, a trajectory such that the autonomous vehicle will travel within the region while reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle. The method may further involve determining instructions for pulling over and stopping the autonomous vehicle in the region in accordance with the determined trajectory and storing the instructions in a memory accessible by a computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a computing system configured to control an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
selecting, by at least one processor of the computing system, a region of a road of travel ahead of the autonomous vehicle based on sensor data indicative of the road of travel ahead of the autonomous vehicle;
based on a speed of the autonomous vehicle and based on the region, determining, by the at least one processor, (i) a braking profile having a plurality of phases during which the autonomous vehicle, while travelling within the region, will reduce the speed of the autonomous vehicle, pull over, and stop in the region, (ii) for each phase of the plurality of phases, a respective rate at which to reduce the speed of the autonomous vehicle while travelling within the region during the phase, and, (iii) for each phase of the plurality of phases, a respective lateral displacement the autonomous vehicle navigates within the region during the phase;
based on the braking profile, determining, by the at least one processor, a trajectory the autonomous vehicle navigates within the region while reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile;
the at least one processor determining instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel and storing the instructions in a memory of the computing system accessible by the at least one processor; and
based on the stored instructions, the computing system causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of phases includes a first phase, a second phase which follows the first phase, and a third phase which follows the second phase, and
wherein the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the second phase is at least equal to the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the first phase and the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the third phase, and wherein the respective rate of the third phase is greater than the respective rates of the first phase and the second phase.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rate for the third phase is greater than both the rate of the first phase and the rate of the second phase.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data is further indicative of one or more objects ahead of the autonomous vehicle on the road, and
wherein determining the respective rates and lateral displacements of the plurality of phases is further based on the one or more objects such that the autonomous vehicle will avoid the one or more objects within the region while reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the braking profile includes a piecewise linear function associated with the plurality of phases and representative of the respective rates.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each phase of the plurality of phases has a respective duration defined before the method is performed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the at least one processor, and from one or more sensors in communication with the computing system, the sensor data.

8. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory having stored thereon instructions that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
selecting a region of a road of travel ahead of an autonomous vehicle based on sensor data indicative of the road of travel ahead of the autonomous vehicle;
based on a speed of the autonomous vehicle and based on the region, determining (i) a braking profile having a plurality of phases during which the autonomous vehicle, while travelling within the region, will reduce the speed of the autonomous vehicle, pull over, and stop in the region, (ii) for each phase of the plurality of phases, a respective rate at which to reduce the speed of the autonomous vehicle while travelling within the region during the phase, and, (iii) for each phase of the plurality of phases, a respective lateral displacement the autonomous vehicle navigates within the region during the phase;
based on the braking profile, determining a trajectory the autonomous vehicle navigates within the region while reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile;
determining instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel and storing the instructions in the memory; and
based on the stored instructions, causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel and storing the instructions in the memory comprises periodically determining up-to-date instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel as an environment of the autonomous vehicle changes and storing the up-to-date instructions in the memory, and
wherein causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile based on the stored instructions comprises causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile based on the stored up-to-date instructions.

10. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
periodically determining, as the environment of the autonomous vehicle changes, up-to-date default instructions for maintaining a current trajectory of the autonomous vehicle and maintaining the speed of the autonomous vehicle so as to not pull over and stop the autonomous vehicle; and
storing the up-to-date default instructions in the memory.

11. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
receiving information indicative of a failure of one or more systems of the autonomous vehicle; and
in response to receiving the information indicative of the failure of the one or more systems of the autonomous vehicle, and based on the stored up-to-date instructions, causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of phases includes a first phase, a second phase which follows the first phase, and a third phase which follows the second phase, and
wherein the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the second phase is at least equal to the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the first phase and the lateral displacement of the autonomous vehicle during the third phase, and wherein the respective rate of the third phase is greater than the respective rates of the first phase and the second phase.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the rate for the third phase is greater than both the rate of the first phase and the rate of the second phase.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the sensor data is further indicative of one or more objects ahead of the autonomous vehicle on the road, and
wherein determining the respective rates and lateral

Assignees

• Waymo Llc

Inventors

• Herbach Joshua Seth
• Fairfield Nathaniel

Classifications

• B62D15/025

  Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation (B62D1/28 takes precedence) · 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

• B62D15/0265

  Automatic obstacle avoidance by steering · CPC title

• B60W2710/20

  Steering systems · CPC title

• B60W2555/00

  Input parameters relating to exterior conditions, not covered by groups B60W2552/00, B60W2554/00 · CPC title