# US 11,897,460 B2 · Risk processing for vehicles having autonomous driving capabilities

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- Number: US 11,897,460 B2
- Document ID: US11897460B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/320,887
- Filed: 2021-05-14
- Published: 2021-11-04
- Granted: 2024-02-13
- Earliest claimed: 2017-06-20
- Assignees: Motional AD LLC
- Applicants: Motional AD LLC
- Inventors: Hsun-Hsien Chang; Noam Weinstein; Eric Wolff; Philipp Robbel; Jacob C. Cheuvront; Karl Iagnemma; Katarzyna Anna Marczuk
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11897460B2

## CPC

- B60W 30/09: Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
- B60W 30/0953: {the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters}
- B60W 30/0956: {the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters}
- B60W 30/10: Path keeping {(cruise control for automatically following a preceding vehicle B60W30/165)}
- B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres}
- B60W 50/0097: {Predicting future conditions}
- G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)}
- B60W 2050/0075: {Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means}
- B60W 2520/06: Direction of travel
- B60W 2520/10: Longitudinal speed
- B60W 2540/30: Driving style
- B60W 2552/00: Input parameters relating to infrastructure
- B60W 2552/20: Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
- B60W 2554/80: Spatial relation or speed relative to objects
- B60W 2556/10: Historical data
- 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
- 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

## Abstract

Among other things, sensor signals are received using a vehicle comprising an autonomous driving capability. A risk associated with operating the vehicle is identified based on the sensor signals. The autonomous driving capability is modified in response to the risk. The operation of the vehicle is updated based on the modifying of the autonomous capability.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising:
processing data to identify a risk during a current instance of driving a vehicle comprising an autonomous driving capability;
in response to identifying the risk, modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle, wherein the modifying comprises:
determining that the location of the risk is near a current location of the vehicle;
in response to determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, obtaining information about the risk by analyzing signals from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle;
configuring a perception process corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle to consider the obtained information about the risk as prior information; and
recognizing one or more objects in a driving environment of the vehicle by applying probabilistic inference to the one or more objects based at least on the prior information; and
causing movement of the vehicle based on modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle comprises selecting one of a plurality of available options to modify a route traveled by the vehicle based on a distance of the determined location of the risk relative to the current location of the vehicle, the operations further comprising:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to a trajectory of the vehicle to change a driving lane of the vehicle to bypass the risk; and
upon determining that the location of the risk is distant from the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to the route traveled by the vehicle to avoid the location of the risk.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, assigning a higher priority to operations performed by the perception process.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle in response to identifying the risk further comprises:
triggering a teleoperation system associated with the vehicle, the triggering including invoking intervention on the driving of the vehicle from a remote operator.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a flag to alert one or more other processes corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle about risks associated with driving the vehicle, wherein the operations comprise:
in response to identifying the risk, activating the flag to alert the one or more other processes about the risk.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to identifying the risk:
generating and inserting new instructions into existing instructions of a process that controls an operation of the vehicle, or
providing one or more inputs about objects detected in a driving environment of the vehicle to the process that controls the operation of the vehicle.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to identifying the risk, generating an alarm about the risk, the alarm comprising at least one of:
generating, using an interface providing information about the current instance of driving the vehicle, an audio signal to provide an alert about the risk, or
modifying a navigation guidance for the current instance of driving the vehicle to modify a trajectory of the vehicle to avoid the risk.

### Claim 8

A method performed by one or more processors in a vehicle with an autonomous driving capability, the method comprising:
processing data to identify a risk during a current instance of driving the vehicle;
in response to identifying the risk, modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle, wherein the modifying comprises:
determining that the location of the risk is near a current location of the vehicle;
in response to determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, obtaining information about the risk by analyzing signals from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle;
configuring a perception process corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle to consider the obtained information about the risk as prior information; and
recognizing one or more objects in a driving environment of the vehicle by applying probabilistic inference to the one or more objects based at least on the prior information; and
causing movement of the vehicle based on modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle comprises selecting one of a plurality of available options to modify the route traveled by the vehicle based on the distance of the determined location of the risk relative to the current location of the vehicle, the method further comprising:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to a trajectory of the vehicle to change a driving lane of the vehicle to bypass the risk; and
upon determining that the location of the risk is distant from the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to the route traveled by the vehicle to avoid the location of the risk.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, assigning a higher priority to operations performed by the perception process.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle in response to identifying the risk further comprises:
triggering a teleoperation system associated with the vehicle, the triggering including invoking intervention on the driving of the vehicle from a remote operator.

### Claim 12 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
in response to identifying the risk, activating a flag to alert one or more other processes corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle about risks associated with driving the vehicle.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
in response to identifying the risk:
generating and inserting new instructions into existing instructions of a process that controls an operation of the vehicle, or
providing one or more inputs about objects detected in a driving environment of the vehicle to the process that controls the operation of the vehicle.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
in response to identifying the risk, generating an alarm about the risk, the alarm comprising at least one of:
generating, using an interface providing information about the current instance of driving the vehicle, an audio signal to provide an alert about the risk, or
modifying a navigation guidance for the current instance of driving the vehicle to modify a trajectory of the vehicle to avoid the risk.

### Claim 15

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
processing data to identify a risk during a current instance of driving a vehicle comprising an autonomous driving capability;
in response to identifying the risk, modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle, wherein the modifying comprises:
determining that the location of the risk is near a current location of the vehicle;
in response to determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, obtaining information about the risk by analyzing signals from one or more sensors associated with the vehicle;
configuring a perception process corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle to consider the obtained information about the risk as prior information; and
recognizing one or more objects in a driving environment of the vehicle by applying probabilistic inference to the one or more objects based at least on the prior information; and
causing movement of the vehicle based on modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle comprises selecting one of a plurality of available options to modify the route traveled by the vehicle based on the distance of the determined location of the risk relative to the current location of the vehicle, the operations further comprising:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to a trajectory of the vehicle to change a driving lane of the vehicle to bypass the risk; and
upon determining that the location of the risk is distant from the current location of the vehicle, planning a modification to the route traveled by the vehicle to avoid the location of the risk.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:
upon determining that the location of the risk is near the current location of the vehicle, assigning a higher priority to operations performed by the perception process.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein modifying the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle in response to identifying the risk further comprises:
triggering a teleoperation system associated with the vehicle, the triggering including invoking intervention on the driving of the vehicle from a remote operator.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:
in response to identifying the risk, activating a flag to alert one or more other processes corresponding to the autonomous driving capability of the vehicle about risks associated with driving the vehicle.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to identifying the risk:
generating and inserting new instructions into existing instructions of a process that controls an operation of the vehicle, or
providing one or more inputs about objects detected in a driving environment of the vehicle to the process that controls the operation of the vehicle.

### Claim 21 (depends on 15)

The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to identifying the risk, generating an alarm about the risk, the alarm comprising at least one of:
generating, using an interface providing information about the current instance of driving the vehicle, an audio signal to provide an alert about the risk, or
modifying a navigation guidance for the current instance of driving the vehicle to modify a trajectory of the vehicle to avoid the risk.