Hierarchical motion planning for autonomous vehicles
AssigneeUatc, LLC
InventorsBenjamin Kroop, Matthew Way, David McAllister Bradley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An autonomous vehicle can implement a primary motion planner to continuously determine an first motion plan for the AV, and a secondary motion planner to continuously determine a backup motion plan for the AV. The secondary motion planner can comprise one or more cost metrics that act to diverge the backup motion plan from the first motion plan. A control system of the AV may then analyze a live sensor view generated by a sensor suite of the AV to operate acceleration, braking, and steering systems of the AV along sequential route trajectories selected between the first motion plan and the backup motion plan.
Claims14
An autonomous vehicle (AV) comprising:
- a sensor suite generating a live sensor view of a surrounding environment of the AV;
- acceleration, braking, and steering systems;
- and
- a control system executing an instruction set, causing the control system to:
- implement a primary motion planner to continuously determine a first motion plan for the AV;
- implement a secondary motion planner to continuously determine a backup motion plan for the AV, wherein continuously determining a backup plan comprises:
- identifying an upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan;
- and
- dynamically adjusting one or more cost metrics associated with following the upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan to cause the backup motion plan to diverge from the first motion plan, wherein the one or more cost metrics comprise a threshold below which the secondary motion planner will determine the backup motion plan to be different from the first motion plan, and above which the backup motion plan and the first motion plan will be the same;
- and
- analyze the live sensor view to operate the acceleration, braking, and steering systems along sequential route trajectories selected between the first motion plan and the backup motion plan by selecting the backup motion plan, the backup motion plan preventing the primary motion planner from triggering a first teleassistance state for the first motion plan, the first teleassistance state corresponding to the primary motion planner requesting human assistance to continue in accordance with the first motion plan.
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an autonomous vehicle (AV), cause the one or more processors to:
- implement a primary motion planner to continuously determine a first motion plan for the AV;
- implement a secondary motion planner to continuously determine a backup motion plan for the AV, wherein continuously determining a backup plan comprises:
- identifying an upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan;
- and
- dynamically adjusting one or more cost metrics associated with following the upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan to cause the backup motion plan from the first motion plan, wherein the one or more cost metrics comprise a threshold below which the secondary motion planner will determine the backup motion plan to be different from the first motion plan, and above which the backup motion plan and the first motion plan will be the same;
- and
- analyze a live sensor view generated by a sensor suite of the AV to operate acceleration, braking, and steering systems of the AV along sequential route trajectories selected between the first motion plan and the backup motion plan by selecting the backup motion plan, the backup motion plan preventing the primary motion planner from triggering a first teleassistance state for the first motion plan, the first teleassistance state corresponding to the primary motion planner requesting human assistance to continue in accordance with the first motion plan.
A computer-implemented method of operating an autonomous vehicle (AV), the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:
- implementing a primary motion planner to continuously determine a first motion plan for the AV;
- implementing a secondary motion planner to continuously determine a backup motion plan for the AV, wherein continuously determining a backup motion plan comprises:
- identifying an upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan;
- and
- dynamically adjusting one or more cost metrics associated with following the upcoming route trajectory associated with the first motion plan to cause the backup motion plan to diverge from the first motion plan, wherein the one or more cost metrics comprise a threshold below which the secondary motion planner will determine the backup motion plan to be different from the first motion plan, and above which the backup motion plan and the first motion plan will be the same;
- and
- analyzing a live sensor view generated by a sensor suite of the AV to operate acceleration, braking, and steering systems of the AV along sequential route trajectories selected between the first motion plan and the backup motion plan by selecting the backup motion plan, the backup motion plan preventing the primary motion planner from triggering a first teleassistance state for the first motion plan, the first teleassistance state corresponding to the primary motion planner requesting human assistance to continue in accordance with the first motion plan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.