Perception simulation for improved autonomous vehicle control

A method comprising:

• receiving perception data from a plurality of sensors of an autonomous vehicle;
• configuring the perception simulation operation based on a comparison of the perception data against ground truth data;
• generating simulated perception data by simulating errors related to the physical constraints of one or more of the plurality of sensors, and by simulating noise in data provided by a sensor processing module corresponding to one or more of the plurality of sensors, wherein simulating errors related to the physical constraints of one or more of the plurality of sensors includes applying a maximum range beyond which the one or more of the plurality of sensors cannot detect objects;
• and
• providing the simulated perception data to a motion planning system for the autonomous vehicle.

A non-transitory machine-useable storage medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

• receive perception data from a plurality of sensors of an autonomous vehicle;
• configure the perception simulation operation based on a comparison of the perception data against ground truth data;
• generate simulated perception data by simulating errors related to the physical constraints of one or more of the plurality of sensors, and by simulating noise in data provided by a sensor processing module corresponding to one or more of the plurality of sensors, wherein simulating errors related to the physical constraints of one or more of the plurality of sensors includes applying a maximum range beyond which the one or more of the plurality of sensors cannot detect objects;
• and
• provide the simulated perception data to a motion planning system for the autonomous vehicle.