Sidewalk detection for pedestrian behavior modeling
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorJared Stephen Russell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects of the disclosure relate to detecting sidewalks adjacent to roads. In this regard, a set of potential sidewalk areas adjacent to one or more roads in a vehicle's vicinity may be determined based on map data. Topology data for the set of potential sidewalk areas may be generated based on sensor data received from a perception system of the vehicle. The set of potential sidewalks may be filtered to remove areas unlikely to include a sidewalk. The vehicle may be operated based on the filtered set of potential sidewalk areas, which may include taking precautionary measures when within a predetermined distance from any of the filtered set of potential sidewalks.
Claims19
A method for determining sidewalks, the method comprising:
- identifying, by one or more computing devices based on map data corresponding to one or more roads in a vicinity of a vehicle, a set of potential sidewalk areas adjacent to the one or more roads;
- generating, by the one or more computing devices, topology data for the set of potential sidewalk areas based on sensor data received from a perception system of the vehicle;
- detecting, by the one or more computing devices, one or more objects in one or more of the potential sidewalk areas that does not provide at least a threshold clearance in the one or more potential sidewalk areas through which a pedestrian can pass;
- filtering, by the one or more computing devices, the set of potential sidewalk areas to remove those potential sidewalk areas that include the one or more objects;
- and
- operating, by the one or more computing devices, the vehicle in an autonomous driving mode based on the filtered set of potential sidewalk areas.
A system, comprising:
- one or more computing devices configured to:
- identify, based on map data corresponding to one or more roads in a vicinity of a vehicle, a set of potential sidewalk areas adjacent to the one or more roads;
- generate topology data for the set of potential sidewalk areas based on sensor data received from a perception system of the vehicle;
- detect one or more objects in one or more of the potential sidewalk areas that does not provide at least a threshold clearance in the one or more of the potential sidewalk areas through which a pedestrian can pass;
- filter the set of potential sidewalk areas to remove those potential sidewalk areas that include the one or more objects;
- and
- operate the vehicle in an autonomous driving mode based on the filtered set of potential sidewalk areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.