Power moding for reduction of vehicle power consumption

A method comprising:

• continuously monitoring an operational mode of an autonomous vehicle (AV);
• detecting a change in the operational mode of the AV;
• determining a current operational mode of the AV, wherein the determining is performed based on data received from at least one vehicle information system associated with the vehicle;
• selecting one of a plurality of power consumption profiles for the AV based on the determined operational mode and at least one additional factor;
• and
• applying the selected one of the power consumption profiles to the vehicle.

An autonomous vehicle (“AV”) comprising:

• an onboard computer;
• a sensor suite comprising a plurality of imaging and sensing devices;
• and
• a power moding system configured to:
• determine an operational mode of a vehicle based on data accumulated from at least one vehicle information system associated with the vehicle, wherein the at least one vehicle information system comprises at least one of a sensor suite, an onboard computer, a mapping information system, a GPS system, a vehicle coordinator, a remote expert interface, and a remote system;
• select one of a plurality of power consumption profiles for the vehicle based on the determined operational mode;
• and
• apply the selected one of the power consumption profiles to the vehicle.