Dual mode map for autonomous vehicle
AssigneeAurora Operations, Inc.
InventorsChris Leibs, Stephen O'Hara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An autonomous vehicle control system and method may utilize a dual mode map including sparse map data for some portions of an environment that lacks some of the data maintained in dense map data for other portions of the environment. Sparse map data may be used, for instance, to address a recently-established construction area on a roadway that is incompatible with dense map data that was previously used to operate on the roadway, enabling operation of an autonomous vehicle in the construction area to proceed even in the absence of dense map data for the construction area, e.g., by dynamically augmenting the sparse map data to incorporate additional data sensed by a perception system of the autonomous vehicle.
Claims20
An autonomous vehicle control system for an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous vehicle control system to:
- store dense map data describing a ground surface of a first portion of an environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, the dense map data further including semantic content for the first portion of the environment;
- store sparse map data describing a ground surface of a second portion of the environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, wherein the first and second portions are different from one another, and wherein the sparse map data describing the ground surface of the second portion of the environment is generated remote from the autonomous vehicle based on log data collected from one or more other autonomous vehicles that are operated within the second portion of the environment;
- and
- in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is located in the second portion of the environment:
- receive perception data describing at least one perceived boundary for a roadway in the environment that is sensed by at least one perception sensor of the autonomous vehicle during operation of the autonomous vehicle on the roadway;
- augment the sparse map data to generate augmented sparse map data, wherein the augmented sparse map data describes a pathway for use in operating the autonomous vehicle in a perceived lane defined by the at least one perceived boundary;
- and
- control the autonomous vehicle using the augmented sparse map data.
A method of operating an autonomous vehicle, comprising:
- storing dense map data describing a ground surface of a first portion of an environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, the dense map data further including semantic content for the first portion of the environment;
- storing sparse map data describing a ground surface of a second portion of the environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, wherein the first and second portions are different from one another, and wherein the sparse map data describing the ground surface of the second portion of the environment is generated remote from the autonomous vehicle based on log data collected from one or more other autonomous vehicles that are operated within the second portion of the environment;
- and
- in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is located in the second portion of the environment:
- receiving perception data describing at least one perceived boundary for a roadway in the environment that is sensed by at least one perception sensor of the autonomous vehicle during operation of the autonomous vehicle on the roadway;
- augmenting the sparse map data to generate augmented sparse map data, wherein the augmented sparse map data describes a pathway for use in operating the autonomous vehicle in a perceived lane defined by the at least one perceived boundary;
- and
- controlling the autonomous vehicle using the augmented sparse map data.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a method of operating an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
- storing dense map data describing a ground surface of a first portion of an environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, the dense map data further including semantic content for the first portion of the environment;
- storing sparse map data describing a ground surface of a second portion of the environment within which the autonomous vehicle operates, wherein the first and second portions are different from one another, and wherein the sparse map data describing the ground surface of the second portion of the environment is generated remote from the autonomous vehicle based on log data collected from one or more other autonomous vehicles that are operated within the second portion of the environment;
- and
- in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is located in the second portion of the environment:
- receiving perception data describing at least one perceived boundary for a roadway in the environment that is sensed by at least one perception sensor of the autonomous vehicle during operation of the autonomous vehicle on the roadway;
- augmenting the sparse map data to generate augmented sparse map data, wherein the augmented sparse map data describes a pathway for use in operating the autonomous vehicle in a perceived lane defined by the at least one perceived boundary;
- and
- controlling the autonomous vehicle using the augmented sparse map data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.