Early object detection for unprotected turns
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorBrandon Douglas Luders
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method is provided for early detection of objects by a perception system of a vehicle, and triggering a precautionary action by the vehicle in response without waiting for a more precise detection. The vehicle has a multi-level sensor range, wherein a first level of the sensor range is adjacent an outer bounds of the sensor range and has a first confidence value, and a second level of the sensor range is within the first range and has a second higher confidence value. In situations when oncoming traffic is traveling at a high rate of speed, the vehicle responds to noisier detections, or objects perceived with a lower degree of confidence, rather than waiting for verification which may come too late.
Claims18
A method for operating a vehicle in an autonomous driving mode, the method comprising:
- detecting, by a perception system of the vehicle, one or more objects in an external environment of the vehicle during an initial sensor operation, each of the one or more detected objects having a first confidence level associated therewith based on the initial sensor operation;
- detecting, by the perception system of the vehicle, at least one of the one or more objects in the external environment during a subsequent sensor operation, each of the at least one of the one or more detected objects having a second confidence level associated therewith based on the subsequent sensor operation;
- and
- determining, by a control system of the vehicle, whether to alter a driving action to be performed by the vehicle in response to a change from the first confidence level to the second confidence level.
A vehicle configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode, comprising:
- a driving system including a steering subsystem, an acceleration subsystem and a deceleration subsystem to perform driving actions in the autonomous driving mode;
- a perception system including one or more sensors configured to detect objects in an environment external to the vehicle based on obtained sensor data in a plurality of sensor operations, each of the one or more sensors being positioned along the vehicle;
- and
- a control system operatively connected to the driving system and the perception system, the control system having one or more processors configured to:
- evaluate one or more objects in the external environment detected during a first one of the plurality of sensor operations according to a first confidence level;
- evaluate at least one of the one or more objects in the external environment detected during a subsequent one of the plurality of sensor operations according to a second confidence level;
- and
- determine whether to alter a driving action to be performed by the driving system in response to a change from the first confidence level to the second confidence level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.