# US 11,079,771 B2 · Coordinated optimization of autonomous vehicle operations > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,079,771 B2 - Document ID: US11079771B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/673,952 - Filed: 2017-08-10 - Published: 2019-02-14 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2017-08-10 - Assignees: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Applicants: Amazon Technologies, Inc. - Inventors: Jon Stuart Battles; James Christopher Curlander; Larry Felser; Gur Kimchi; Pragyana K. Mishra - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11079771B2 ## CPC - G05D 1/0297: {by controlling means in a control room} - B60W 30/00: Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units - B60W 60/0015: {specially adapted for safety} - G05D 1/00: Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots (drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00) - G06Q 10/047: Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem - G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)} - G08G 1/096725: {where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control} - G08G 1/096741: {where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle} - G08G 1/096758: {where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information} - G08G 1/096775: {where the origin of the information is a central station} - G08G 1/096791: {where the origin of the information is another vehicle} - G08G 1/163: {involving continuous checking} - G08G 1/165: {for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees} - G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes} - G08G 1/167: {Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection} - G08G 1/20: {Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles} - G08G 5/21: located onboard the aircraft - G08G 5/25: Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft - G08G 5/55: for a single aircraft - G08G 5/57: for unmanned aircraft - G08G 5/723: {from the aircraft} - G08G 5/80: Anti-collision systems - G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES - B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) ## Abstract Systems and methods for coordinating operations of a plurality of autonomous vehicles are described. An autonomous vehicle management system may receive information from the plurality of autonomous vehicles related to strategy modes, actions, and the environments. The strategy modes may include an uncoupled strategy mode, a permissive strategy mode, an assistive strategy mode, and a preventative strategy mode. The autonomous vehicle management system may then process the received information based on an operational goal for the system as a whole. The autonomous vehicle management system may then instruct modifications to operations of one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to achieve the operational goal for the system. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of coordinating operations of a plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles, comprising: receiving, by a processor, information related to autonomous strategy modes of one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles, wherein the autonomous strategy modes comprise a plurality of autonomous strategy modes including uncoupled strategy modes, permissive strategy modes, assistive strategy modes, or preventative strategy modes, wherein each of the plurality of autonomous strategy modes comprises a respective set of available actions of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles; receiving, by the processor, information related to aspects of one or more environments of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles; receiving, by the processor, information related to topological constraints associated with the one or more environments; processing, by the processor, the information related to the autonomous strategy modes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles, the information related to the aspects of the one or more environments, and the information related to the topological constraints associated with the one or more environments based at least in part on an operational goal for the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles; and instructing, by the processor, modifications to operations of one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles based at least in part on the information processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the operational goal comprises at least one of safety, resolvability, efficiency, throughput, on-time completion, speed, or time. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles at least one of reduce a number of conflicts between the one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles, or increase an overall efficiency of operations of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the autonomous strategy modes are selected by the one or more of the plurality of autonomous ground-based vehicles. ### Claim 5 A method of coordinating operations of a plurality of autonomous vehicles, comprising: receiving, by a processor, information related to autonomous strategy modes of one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, wherein the autonomous strategy modes comprise a plurality of autonomous strategy modes including uncoupled strategy modes, permissive strategy modes, assistive strategy modes, or preventative strategy modes, wherein each of the plurality of autonomous strategy modes comprises a respective set of available actions of the plurality of autonomous vehicles; processing, by the processor, the information related to the autonomous strategy modes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based at least in part on an operational goal for the plurality of autonomous vehicles; and instructing, by the processor, modifications to operations of one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based at least in part on the information processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the information related to the autonomous strategy modes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles includes historical information related to autonomous strategy modes prior to a current time. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles are instructed at the current time based at least in part on the historical information processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise one of scheduling instructions transmitted to the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles from an autonomous vehicle management system, or recommendations transmitted to the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles from the autonomous vehicle management system based in part upon which the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles coordinate via peer-to-peer communications. ### Claim 9 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the operational goal comprises at least one of safety, resolvability, efficiency, throughput, on-time completion, speed, or time. ### Claim 10 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise modifying routes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to distribute a system load associated with the operations. ### Claim 11 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise modifying routes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to reduce a number of conflicts associated with the operations. ### Claim 12 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise modifying priorities of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to achieve a desired throughput or on-time completion. ### Claim 13 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise modifying priorities of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to achieve a desired resource utilization or resource conservation. ### Claim 14 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, by the processor, information related to aspects of one or more environments of the plurality of autonomous vehicles; wherein the information related to the aspects of the one or more environments of the plurality of autonomous vehicles is further processed based at least in part on the operational goal; and wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles are further instructed based at least in part on the information related to the aspects of the one or more environments processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the aspects of the one or more environments comprise elements in the one or more environments, the elements comprising at least one of natural obstacles, buildings, weather formations, pathway characteristics, pedestrians, cyclists, or animals. ### Claim 16 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, by the processor, information related to topological constraints associated with one or more environments; wherein the information related to the topological constraints associated with the one or more environments is further processed based at least in part on the operational goal; and wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles are further instructed based at least in part on the information related to the topological constraints associated with the one or more environments processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the topological constraints associated with the one or more environments comprise at least one of pathway characteristics or conditions, weather conditions associated with the one or more environments, or characteristics or capabilities of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles. ### Claim 18 An autonomous vehicle management system to coordinate operations of a plurality of autonomous vehicles, comprising: a processor and a memory, the processor configured to: receive information related to autonomous strategy modes of one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, wherein the autonomous strategy modes comprise a plurality of autonomous strategy modes including uncoupled strategy modes, permissive strategy modes, assistive strategy modes, or preventative strategy modes, wherein each of the plurality of autonomous strategy modes comprises a respective set of available actions of the plurality of autonomous vehicles; process the information related to the autonomous strategy modes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based at least in part on an operational goal for the plurality of autonomous vehicles; and instruct modifications to operations of one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles based at least in part on the information processed based at least in part on the operational goal. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The autonomous vehicle management system of claim 18, wherein the information related to the autonomous strategy modes of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles includes historical information related to autonomous strategy modes stored in the memory prior to a current time. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The autonomous vehicle management system of claim 19, wherein the modifications to the operations of the one or more of the plurality of autonomous vehicles are instructed at the current time based at least in part on the historical information stored in the memory and processed based at least in part on the operational goal.