Lidar fault detection system

An autonomous vehicle (AV) system for an autonomous vehicle, the AV system comprising:

• a Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) system comprising a plurality of channels, the Lidar system configured to output Lidar data indicative of objects reflecting laser signals emitted by the Lidar system;
• one or more detection features on an exterior of the autonomous vehicle;
• and
• one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining incoming Lidar data output by the Lidar system during operation of the AV system, the incoming Lidar data comprising at least one Lidar point corresponding to the one or more detection features;
• obtaining, from a memory, historical Lidar data based on previous output of the Lidar system, the historical Lidar data comprising at least one historical Lidar point corresponding to the one or more detection features from the previous output of the Lidar system, the at least one historical Lidar point comprising at least one of a historical range value or a historical intensity value;
• determining a condition at the Lidar system based on incoming data points of the incoming Lidar data with historical data points of the historical Lidar data;
• and
• initiating a restricted-operation state based on determining the condition.

A method comprising:

• obtaining incoming Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data output by a Lidar system during operation of an autonomous vehicle, the Lidar system comprising a plurality of channels and being configured to output Lidar data indicative of objects reflecting laser signals emitted by the Lidar system, the incoming Lidar data corresponding to one or more detection features on an exterior of the autonomous vehicle;
• obtaining, from a memory, historical Lidar data based on previous output of the Lidar system, the historical Lidar data corresponding to the one or more detection features and comprising at least one of a historical range value or a historical intensity value;
• determining a condition at the Lidar system based on the incoming Lidar data and the historical Lidar data;
• and
• initiating a restricted-operation state for the autonomous vehicle based on determining the condition.

A machine storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining incoming Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data output by a Lidar system during operation of an autonomous vehicle, the Lidar system comprising a plurality of channels and being configured to output Lidar data indicative of objects reflecting laser signals emitted by the Lidar system, the incoming Lidar data corresponding to one or more detection features on an exterior of the autonomous vehicle;
• obtaining, from a memory, historical Lidar data based on previous output of the Lidar system, the historical Lidar data corresponding to the one or more detection features, the historical Lidar data comprising at least one of a historical range value or a historical intensity value;
• determining a condition at the Lidar system based on the incoming Lidar data and the historical Lidar data;
• and
• initiating a restricted-operation state at the AV system based on determining the condition at the Lidar system.