Radar interference reduction techniques for autonomous vehicles

A system comprising:

• a first vehicle having a vehicle radar system and one or more non-radar sensors;
• and
• a computing device coupled to the first vehicle, wherein the computing device is configured to:
• receive sensor data representing an environment of the first vehicle, wherein the sensor data is received from the one or more non-radar sensors;
• based on the sensor data, detecting a second vehicle positioned within a threshold distance from the first vehicle;
• in response to the detection, switch the vehicle radar system from an environment measure mode to a passive receive-only mode for a threshold duration;
• while the vehicle radar system is operating in the passive receive-only mode, receive information relating to electromagnetic energy radiating in the environment of the first vehicle and detected using the vehicle radar system, wherein at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy originated from the second vehicle;
• based on the information relating to the electromagnetic energy, determine a spectrum occupancy representation that indicates one or more spectral regions occupied by the electromagnetic energy;
• identify a vehicle type for the second vehicle;
• assign at least one spectral region of the one or more spectral regions occupied by the electromagnetic energy to the vehicle type based on subsequent electromagnetic energy received by one or more radar units oriented toward the second vehicle;
• and
• adjust operation of the vehicle radar system based on the spectrum occupancy representation, wherein adjusting operation of the vehicle radar system comprises operating outside the at least one spectral region.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions, that when executed by a computing system comprising one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform operations comprising:

• receiving sensor data representing an environment of a first vehicle, wherein the sensor data is received from one or more non-radar sensors coupled to the first vehicle;
• based on the sensor data, detecting a second vehicle within a threshold distance from the first vehicle;
• in response to the detection, switching a vehicle radar system used by the first vehicle from an environment measure mode to a passive receive-only mode for a threshold duration;
• while the vehicle radar system is operating in the passive receive-only mode, receiving information relating to electromagnetic energy radiating in the environment of the first vehicle and detected using the vehicle radar system, wherein at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy originated from the second vehicle;
• based on the information relating to the electromagnetic energy, determining a spectrum occupancy representation that indicates one or more spectral regions occupied by the electromagnetic energy;
• identifying a vehicle type for the second vehicle;
• assigning at least one spectral region of the one or more spectral regions occupied by the electromagnetic energy to the vehicle type based on subsequent electromagnetic energy received by one or more radar units oriented toward the second vehicle;
• and
• adjusting operation of the vehicle radar system based on the spectrum occupancy representation, wherein adjusting operation of the vehicle radar system comprises operating outside the at least one spectral region.