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US 12,736,367 B2Granted
Vehicle sensors for observation of surrounding fleet vehicles
AssigneeGM Cruise Holdings LLC
InventorJeffrey Brandon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for automated surveillance of a fleet of vehicles in a parking area using vehicle sensors on various fleet vehicles. In particular, the vehicles in a parking area can be observed and monitored using sensors on a subset of the vehicles. The field of view of each vehicle and overall map coverage of a parking area can be used to determine which vehicles to use for surveillance and/or which sensors on various vehicles to use for surveillance. Thus, surveillance can be optimized using fleet knowledge of vehicle locations within a facility and the scope of coverage of various vehicle sensors to determine where there is overlap in coverage. Appropriate sensors on certain vehicles can be selectively activated to maintain secure coverage without burning resources unnecessarily.
Claims20
A computer implemented method for vehicle fleet surveillance comprising:
- dispatching, by a central computer, a plurality of vehicles from a vehicle fleet to parking spaces in a parking area, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles includes a respective sensor suite having a plurality of image sensors;
- receiving captured images from each of the plurality of image sensors from each respective vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;
- storing the received captured images as a set of available captured images;
- processing the set of available captured images to identify a respective field of view of the parking area corresponding to each of the set of available captured images;
- identifying a subset of the set of available captured images that together provide a selected field of view of the parking area;
- identifying a subset of the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the identified subset of captured images;
- determining that each vehicle in the subset of vehicles has sufficient charge to support sentinel mode operation;
- transmitting a message to each vehicle in the subset of vehicles to activate the respective sensor suites and enter the sentinel mode operation;
- identifying, using a high-definition map of the parking area, a first parking space having a field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces;
- determining, for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, that a predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy a predetermined threshold;
- and
- based on identifying the first parking space having the field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces and determining that the predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy the predetermined threshold:
- dispatching the first vehicle to the first parking space;
- selecting the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle for deactivation based on the first vehicle having a lower state of charge than a second vehicle having a sensor with an overlapping field of view;
- and
- deactivating the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle when the first vehicle arrives at the first parking space.
13 more elements
A system for fleet parking area surveillance, comprising:
- a plurality of vehicles each having a respective sensor suite including a plurality of image sensors, wherein each of the plurality of image sensors is configured to capture an image upon vehicle parking in a respective parking space in a parking area;
- a dispatch service in communication with each of the plurality of vehicles and configured to dispatch respective vehicles to the parking area;
- a central computer in communication with the dispatch service and with each of the plurality of vehicles, the central computer configured to:
- receive captured images from each of the plurality of image sensors from each respective vehicle of the plurality of vehicles;
- store the received captured images as a set of available captured images;
- process the set of available captured images to identify a respective field of view of the parking area corresponding to each of the set of available captured images;
- identify a subset of the set of available captured images that together provide a selected field of view of the parking area;
- identify a subset of the plurality of vehicles corresponding to the identified subset of the available captured images;
- determine that each vehicle in the subset of vehicles has sufficient charge to support sentinel mode operation;
- transmit a message to each vehicle in the subset of vehicles to activate the respective sensor suites and enter the sentinel mode operation;
- identify, using a high-definition map of the parking area, a first parking space having a field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces;
- determine, for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, that a predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy a predetermined threshold;
- and
- based on identifying the first parking space having the field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces and determining that the predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy the predetermined threshold:
- dispatch the first vehicle to the first parking space;
- select the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle for deactivation based on the first vehicle having a lower state of charge than a second vehicle having a sensor with an overlapping field of view;
- and
- deactivate the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle when the first vehicle arrives at the first parking space.
15 more elements
A method for vehicle fleet surveillance comprising:
- receiving a high definition map of a parking area including a plurality of parking spaces;
- receiving vehicle data from each of a plurality of fleet vehicles parked in respective parking spaces of the plurality of parking spaces, each fleet vehicle includes a respective sensor suite having a plurality of image sensors, each image sensor having a respective sensor field of view;
- determining that each fleet vehicle has sufficient charge to support sentinel mode operation;
- transmitting a message to each fleet vehicle to activate the respective sensor suites and enter the sentinel mode operation;
- identifying, using a high-definition map of the parking area, a first parking space having a field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces;
- determining, for a first vehicle of the plurality of fleet vehicles, that a predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy a predetermined threshold;
- and
- based on identifying the first parking space having the field of view that is substantially redundant with fields of view from other parking spaces and determining that the predicted future state of charge fails to satisfy the predetermined threshold:
- dispatching the first vehicle to the first parking space;
- selecting the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle for deactivation based on the first vehicle having a lower state of charge than a second vehicle having a sensor with an overlapping field of view;
- and
- deactivating the respective sensor suite of the first vehicle when the first vehicle arrives at the first parking space.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.