# US 11,908,328 B2 · Determining changes in a driving environment based on vehicle behavior

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- Number: US 11,908,328 B2
- Document ID: US11908328B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/122,434
- Filed: 2023-03-16
- Published: 2023-09-14
- Granted: 2024-02-20
- Earliest claimed: 2012-09-27
- Assignees: Waymo LLC
- Applicants: Waymo LLC
- Inventors: David Ian Franklin Ferguson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11908328B2

## CPC

- G08G 1/166: {for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes}
- G01C 21/32: Structuring or formatting of map data
- G01C 21/3819: {Road shape data, e.g. outline of a route}
- G01C 21/3848: {Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors}
- 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})
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)

## Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for determining whether a driving environment has changed relative to previously stored information about the driving environment. The apparatus may include an autonomous driving computer system configured to detect one or more vehicles in the driving environment, and determine corresponding trajectories for those detected vehicles. The autonomous driving computer system may then compare the determined trajectories to an expected trajectory of a hypothetical vehicle in the driving environment. Based on the comparison, the autonomous driving computer system may determine whether the driving environment has changed and/or a probability that the driving environment has changed, relative to the previously stored information about the driving environment.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors of a first vehicle, sensor information including information about vehicles in a driving environment of the first vehicle;
determining, by the one or more processors, a plurality of trajectories corresponding to the vehicles;
consolidating, by the one or more processors, the plurality of trajectories;
determining, by the one or more processors, a consolidated trajectory quality value for the consolidated trajectory, the consolidated trajectory quality value representing a quality of the consolidated trajectory;
determining, by the one or more processors, a probability value that the driving environment has changed based on the consolidated trajectory quality value; and
performing, by the one or more processors, one or more actions when the probability value has met or exceeded a probability threshold.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidated trajectory quality value varies based on a number of trajectories, a noisiness of each of the plurality of trajectories, or an accuracy of each of the plurality of trajectories.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidating the plurality of trajectories includes determining raw trajectories from the vehicles and determining averaged trajectories from the determined raw trajectories.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined raw trajectories.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined averaged trajectories.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined raw trajectories and the determined averaged trajectories.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein consolidating the plurality of trajectories of the vehicles is based on at least one consolidation factor.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one consolidation factor is a relationship of each of the plurality of trajectories to a trajectory of the first vehicle.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one consolidation factor is a quality of each of the plurality of trajectories.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions is displaying a warning on a display of the first vehicle.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions is requesting updated map information from a remote computing device.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the probability value that the driving environment has changed is determined by a probability function that refers to a probability model.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the probability model is selected from a plurality of probability models based on a type of the driving environment.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of probability models is a highway-type probability model.

### Claim 15

A system comprising one or more processors configured to:
receive sensor information including information about vehicles in a driving environment of a first vehicle;
determine a plurality of trajectories corresponding to the vehicles;
consolidate the plurality of trajectories;
determine a consolidated trajectory quality value for the consolidated trajectory, the consolidated trajectory quality value representing a quality of the consolidated trajectory;
determine a probability value that the driving environment has changed based on the consolidated trajectory quality value; and
perform one or more actions when the probability value has met or exceeded a probability threshold.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The system of claim 15, wherein the consolidated trajectory quality value varies based on a number of trajectories used in the consolidation, a noisiness of each of the plurality of trajectories, or an accuracy of each of the plurality of trajectories.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The system of claim 15, wherein the consolidation includes determining raw trajectories from the vehicles and determining averaged trajectories from the determined raw trajectories.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined raw trajectories.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined averaged trajectories.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein the consolidated trajectory represents an average of the determined raw trajectories and the determined averaged trajectories.