Unexpected impulse change collision detector

A system for or detecting vehicle collisions, the system comprising one or more processors configured to:

• receive acceleration data of a vehicle over a period of time;
• receive expected acceleration data of the vehicle over the period of time;
• determine a change in the vehicle's acceleration over the period of time, where the change in the vehicle's acceleration over the period of time is a difference between the expected acceleration data and the acceleration data;
• detect an occurrence when the change in the vehicle's acceleration is greater than a threshold value;
• assign the occurrence into a collision category including a high energy collision category, a low energy collision category or a high-fidelity low energy collision category;
• perform a responsive action based on the assigned collision category;
• receive additional data of a vehicle's surroundings captured by a sensor during the period of time;
• determine, based on the additional data, an object in the vehicle's surroundings and capable of contacting the vehicle during the period of time;
• and
• based on the determining of the object, re-categorize the from the assigned collision category to another collision category, different than the assigned collision category,
• wherein when the occurrence is categorized as the low energy collision category a communication from a remote assistance operator causes the vehicle to perform a responsive action of shutting down and
• wherein when the occurrence is categorized as the high-fidelity low energy collision category the vehicle performs the responsive action of shutting down.

A non-transitory computer readable medium on which instructions are stored, the instructions when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method of detecting vehicle collisions, the method comprising:

• receiving acceleration data of a vehicle over a period of time;
• receiving expected acceleration data of the vehicle over the period of time;
• determining a change in the vehicle's acceleration over the period of time, where the change in the vehicle's acceleration over the period of time is the difference between the expected acceleration data and the acceleration data;
• detecting an occurrence when the change in the vehicle's acceleration is greater than a threshold value;
• assigning the occurrence into a collision category including a high energy collision category, a low energy collision category or a high-fidelity low energy collision category;
• performing a responsive action based on the assigned collision category
• receiving additional data of a vehicle's surroundings captured by a sensor during the period of time;
• determining based on the additional data an object in the vehicle's surroundings and capable of contacting the vehicle during the period of time;
• and
• based on the determining of the object, re-categorizing the occurrence from the assigned collision category to another collision category, different than the assigned collision category,
• wherein when the occurrence is categorized as the low energy collision category a communication from a remote assistance operator causes the vehicle to perform a responsive action of shutting down and
• wherein when the occurrence is categorized as the high-fidelity low energy collision category the vehicle performs the responsive action of shutting down.