Augmenting point cloud data with artificial return points
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorGil Shotan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure relate to augmenting point cloud data with artificial return points. An example method includes: receiving point cloud data comprising a plurality of return points, each return point being representative of a reflecting region that reflects a beam emitted by a sensing system, and generating a plurality of artificial return points based on presence or absence of return points along radial paths of beams emitted from the sensing system.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- receiving, by a data processing system of an autonomous vehicle (AV), point cloud data comprising a plurality of return points, each return point being representative of a reflecting region that reflects a beam emitted by a sensing system;
- generating a plurality of artificial return points based on presence or absence of return points along radial paths of beams emitted from the sensing system, wherein the artificial return points are representative of probable free space along the radial paths;
- generating augmented point cloud data that comprises the plurality of return points and the plurality of artificial return points;
- and
- causing a driving path of the AV to be determined based on the augmented point cloud data.
A system comprising:
- a sensing system of an autonomous vehicle (AV);
- and
- a data processing system operatively coupled to the sensing system, wherein the sensing system is to:
- receive point cloud data comprising a plurality of return points, each return point being representative of a reflecting region that reflects a beam emitted by the sensing system;
- generate a plurality of artificial return points based on presence or absence of return points along radial paths of beams emitted from the sensing system, wherein the artificial return points are representative of probable free space along the radial paths;
- and
- generate augmented point cloud data comprising the plurality of return points and the plurality of artificial return points;
- and
- an autonomous vehicle control system to cause a driving path of the AV to be determined based on the augmented point cloud data.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device of an autonomous vehicle (AV), cause the computing device to:
- receive point cloud data comprising a plurality of return points, each return point being representative of a reflecting region that reflects a beam emitted by a sensing system of the AV;
- generate a plurality of artificial return points based on presence or absence of return points along radial paths of beams emitted from the sensing system, wherein the artificial return points are representative of probable free space along the radial paths;
- generate augmented point cloud data comprising the plurality of return points and the plurality of artificial return points;
- and
- cause a driving path of the AV to be determined based on the augmented point cloud data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.