System and method for autonomous taxiing

A system comprising:

• at least one controller onboard a vehicle and configured to provide for autonomous taxiing of the vehicle at an airport, the at least one controller including a processor and a memory in operative communication with the processor;
• a set of optical sensors onboard the vehicle and in operative communication with the processor, the optical sensors including at least one look-forward optical sensor and at least one look-down optical sensor;
• at least one bidirectional communication radio onboard the vehicle and in operative communication with the processor, the at least one bidirectional communication radio operative to receive air traffic control (ATC) clearance information;
• one or more aiding sensors onboard the vehicle and in operative communication with the processor;
• and
• an airport moving map database located in the memory;
• wherein the processor hosts a plurality of data processing and control modules, comprising:
• an ATC clearance processing module operative to receive the ATC clearance information from the at least one bidirectional communication radio, the ATC clearance processing module operative to translate the ATC clearance information into processor readable information;
• an image processing module in operative communication with the ATC clearance processing module and operative to receive image data from the optical sensors, the image processing module configured to provide an object detection function and an image interpretation function;
• wherein the image processing module is operative to execute an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to calculate a distance between the vehicle and a proceeding aircraft or other object, by performing a deep mapping method, which calculates the distance between the proceeding aircraft or other object by comparing a size change in at least two consecutive frames of a look-forward image;
• a taxi route generation module in operative communication with the ATC clearance processing module and the airport moving map database, the taxi route generation module operative to receive the translated ATC clearance information from the ATC clearance processing module, and to receive map information from the airport moving map database, to thereby generate a geographic travel route at the airport for the vehicle;
• an aiding sensor data processing module operative to receive vehicle state data from the one or more aiding sensors, the aiding sensor data processing module operative to determine state information for the vehicle based on the vehicle state data;
• a command generation module in operative communication with the image processing module, the taxi route generation module, and the aiding sensor data processing module, the command generation module configured to generate commands for driving the vehicle;
• and
• a control module in operative communication with the command generation module, the control module operative to automatically drive the vehicle on a surface of the airport, and to control a brake and throttle of the vehicle to adjust a speed of the vehicle.