System and method for autonomously navigating a vehicle in a manufacturing environment

A method for autonomously navigating a subject vehicle from among a plurality of vehicles in an environment, the method comprising:

• determining whether the subject vehicle is to be moved from a first post-production location to a second post-production location within the environment at a departure time from the environment based on transportation scheduling data associated with the subject vehicle, wherein the transportation scheduling data associates the subject vehicle with the departure time, a departure location from the environment, and a default vehicle path to the second post-production location, and wherein the second post-production location includes a plurality of parking spaces;
• obtaining image data from one or more imaging sensors disposed within the environment and location data associated with the plurality of vehicles;
• selecting a parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces based on the image data;
• determining an image-based location of each of the plurality of vehicles based on a difference between the image data and one or more reference images that are tagged with predetermined location information;
• defining a vehicle path based on the parking space, the image-based location, and the default vehicle path to the second post-production location;
• and
• at the departure time for the subject vehicle, instructing the subject vehicle to autonomously travel along the vehicle path.

A system for autonomously navigating a subject vehicle from among a plurality of vehicles in an environment, the system comprising:

• one or more image sensors disposed within the environment;
• a controller communicably coupled to the one or more image sensors and the plurality of vehicles, wherein the controller is configured to execute a navigation routine at a departure time, wherein during the navigation routine, the controller is configured to:
• determine whether the subject vehicle is to be moved from a first post-production location to a second post-production location within the environment at the departure time from the environment based on transportation scheduling data associated with the subject vehicle, wherein the transportation scheduling data associates the subject vehicle with the departure time, a departure location from the environment, and a default vehicle path to the second post-production location, and wherein the second post-production location includes a plurality of parking spaces;
• obtain image data from the one or more imaging sensors;
• determine an image-based location of each of the plurality of vehicles based on a difference between the image data and one or more reference images that are tagged with predetermined location information;
• select a parking space from among the plurality of parking spaces based on the image data;
• define a vehicle path based on the parking space, the image-based location, and the default vehicle path to the second post-production location;
• and
• instruct the subject vehicle to autonomously travel along the vehicle path to the post-production location at the departure time.