Vehicle control schemes for autonomous vehicle system
AssigneeGlydways Inc.
InventorPatrick Kessler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of navigating a plurality of vehicles along a roadway includes, at a first vehicle, navigating along a section of a roadway by following a first moving position-target, the first moving position-target determined in accordance with a first tracking function defining position along the section of the roadway as a function of time, and at a second vehicle, navigating along the section of the roadway by following a second moving position-target, the second moving position-target determined in accordance with a second tracking function defining position along the section of the roadway as a function of time. A distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle may change as the first vehicle and the second vehicle navigate along the section of the roadway.
Claims20
A method of navigating a plurality of vehicles along a roadway, comprising:
- at a vehicle:
- navigating along a first segment of a roadway according to a first vehicle control scheme;
- and
- in response to crossing a boundary between the first segment of the roadway and a second segment of the roadway, transitioning from navigating according to the first vehicle control scheme to navigating according to a second vehicle control scheme different from the first vehicle control scheme, the second vehicle control scheme corresponding to a moving position-target vehicle control scheme, wherein
- transitioning from navigating according to the first vehicle control scheme to navigating according to the second vehicle control scheme comprises:
- selecting, from a plurality of candidate tracking functions, a tracking function that is associated with a time at which the vehicle will enter the second segment of the roadway;
- and
- in response to crossing the boundary, causing the vehicle to follow a moving position-target defined by the selected tracking function.
A transportation system comprising a plurality of vehicles configured to autonomously navigate along a roadway, comprising:
- a vehicle configured to:
- navigate along a first segment of a roadway according to a first vehicle control scheme;
- and
- in response to crossing a boundary between the first segment of the roadway and a second segment of the roadway, transition from navigating according to the first vehicle control scheme to navigating according to a second vehicle control scheme different from the first vehicle control scheme, the second vehicle control scheme corresponding to a moving position-target vehicle control scheme, wherein
- transitioning from navigating according to the first vehicle control scheme to navigating according to the second vehicle control scheme comprises:
- selecting, from a plurality of candidate tracking functions, a tracking function that is associated with a time at which the vehicle will enter the second segment of the roadway;
- and
- in response to crossing the boundary, causing the vehicle to follow a moving position-target defined by the selected tracking function.
A method of navigating a plurality of vehicles along a roadway, comprising:
- at a transportation system controller:
- detecting that a vehicle is approaching a boundary between a first segment of a roadway that is associated with a first vehicle control scheme and a second segment of the roadway that is associated with a second vehicle control scheme different from the first vehicle control scheme, the second vehicle control scheme corresponding to a moving position-target vehicle control scheme;
- in response to detecting that the vehicle is approaching the boundary, selecting, from a plurality of candidate tracking functions, a tracking function that is associated with a time at which the vehicle will enter the second segment of the roadway;
- and
- sending the tracking function to the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to follow a moving-position target defined by the selected tracking function when the vehicle enters the second segment of the roadway.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.