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US 11,999,372 B2Granted
Operation of an autonomous vehicle based on availability of navigational information
AssigneeMotional AD LLC
InventorsJong Ho Lee, Rahul Ahluwalia, Jonathan Wieskamp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The subject matter described in this specification is directed to a computer system and techniques for operating an autonomous vehicle (AV) based on the availability of navigation information. In one example, while the AV is in an autonomous mode, first data is obtained from a first sensor and second data is obtained from a second sensor. A location of the AV is determined based on the first data and the second data. If navigational information is not available for the determined location, an alert is provided that the AV will exit the autonomous mode.
Claims17
A system, comprising:
- one or more computer processors;
- and
- one or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:
- operating a vehicle in an autonomous mode, wherein operating the vehicle in the autonomous mode comprises:
- receiving sensor data associated with one or more objects within an environment of the vehicle;
- causing control of at least one of steering, throttling or ignition of the vehicle based on the sensor data to navigate the vehicle to a destination;
- determining a first geographic location of the vehicle using location data from a location sensor;
- determining a second geographic location of the vehicle using the first geographic location, imaging data from an imaging sensor, and a semantic map comprising a map with annotated features, wherein the second geographic location is more precise than the first geographic location;
- determining a predicted location of the vehicle based on the second geographic location of the vehicle;
- in accordance with a determination that the annotated features of the semantic map are not available for determining geographical locations at the predicted location, providing an alert that the vehicle will exit the autonomous mode;
- and
- in accordance with a determination that no operator control is detected after providing the alert:
- maintaining operation of the vehicle in the autonomous mode;
- and
- re-routing the vehicle by navigating the vehicle on a route that keeps the vehicle within an area in which the annotated features of the semantic map are available for determining geographical locations.
12 more elements
A method, comprising:
- operating a vehicle in an autonomous mode, wherein operating the vehicle in the autonomous mode comprises:
- receiving sensor data associated with one or more objects within an environment of the vehicle;
- and
- causing control of at least one of steering, throttling or ignition of the vehicle based on the sensor data to navigate the vehicle to a destination;
- determining a first geographic location of the vehicle using location data from a location sensor;
- determining a second geographic location of the vehicle using the first geographic location, imaging data from an imaging sensor, and a semantic map comprising a map with annotated features, wherein the second geographic location is more precise than the first geographic location;
- determining a predicted location of the vehicle based on the second geographic location of the vehicle;
- in accordance with a determination that the annotated features of the semantic map are not available for determining geographical locations at the predicted location, providing an alert that the vehicle will exit the autonomous mode;
- and
- in accordance with a determination that no operator control is detected after providing the alert:
- maintaining operation of the vehicle in the autonomous mode;
- and
- re-routing the vehicle by navigating the vehicle on a route that keeps the vehicle within an area in which the annotated features of the semantic map are available for determining geographical locations.
10 more elements
One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
- operating a vehicle in an autonomous mode, wherein operating the vehicle in the autonomous mode comprises:
- receiving sensor data associated with one or more objects within an environment of the vehicle;
- and
- causing control of at least one of steering, throttling or ignition of the vehicle based on the sensor data to navigate the vehicle to a destination;
- determining a first geographic location of the vehicle using location data from a location sensor;
- determining a second geographic location of the vehicle using the first geographic location, imaging data from an imaging sensor, and a semantic map comprising a map with annotated features, wherein the second geographic location is more precise than the first geographic location;
- determining a predicted location of the vehicle based on the second geographic location of the vehicle;
- in accordance with a determination that the annotated features of the semantic map are not available for determining geographical locations at the predicted location, providing an alert that the vehicle will exit the autonomous mode;
- and
- in accordance with a determination that no operator control is detected after providing the alert:
- maintaining operation of the vehicle in the autonomous mode;
- and
- re-routing the vehicle by navigating the vehicle on a route that keeps the vehicle within an area in which the annotated features of the semantic map are available for determining geographical locations.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.