Autonomous Control Of Powered Earth-Moving Vehicles To Implement Vehicle Stoppage And Shutdown

An autonomous vehicle stopping system, comprising:

• a bulldozer vehicle with tracks, a blade tool attachment at a front of a body of the bulldozer vehicle, a ripper tool attachment at a rear of the body, one or more first hydraulic arms between the body and the blade tool attachment, one or more second hydraulic arms between the body and the ripper tool attachment, first physical controls for manipulating movement of the tracks via at least a brake pedal and a decelerator pedal and a parking brake, second physical controls for manipulating the blade tool attachment via the one or more first hydraulic arms and the ripper tool attachment via the one or more second hydraulic arms, and piston displacement mechanisms capable of effecting movement of the first and second physical controls;
• at least one hardware processor on the bulldozer vehicle that is capable of effecting movement of the first and second physical controls via the piston displacement mechanisms;
• and
• a control system on the bulldozer vehicle that includes software instructions executable by the at least one hardware processor and is configured to perform automated operations including initiating, while the bulldozer vehicle is in motion and in response to a determination to stop the bulldozer vehicle, autonomous operations of the bulldozer vehicle to perform a sequence of stopping actions, the sequence of stopping actions including at least:
• activating the brake pedal and the decelerator pedal using one or more of the first physical controls via one or more of the piston displacement mechanisms until one or more criteria related to the motion of the bulldozer vehicle are satisfied, wherein the activating of the brake pedal includes applying one or more first amounts of force to the brake pedal for a first period of time, and wherein the activating of the decelerator pedal includes applying one or more second amounts of force to the decelerator pedal for a second period of time;
• after the activating of the brake pedal and the decelerator pedal, lowering at least one of the blade tool attachment or the ripper tool attachment using one or more of the second physical controls via at least one of the piston displacement mechanisms, wherein the lowering of the at least one of the blade tool attachment or the ripper tool attachment includes applying one or more third amounts of force to the at least one piston displacement mechanism for a third period of time and ending with the at least one of the blade tool attachment or the ripper tool attachment being in contact with an underlying surface on which the bulldozer vehicle is positioned;
• and
• after the lowering of the at least one of the blade tool attachment or the ripper tool attachment, activating the parking brake using at least one of the first physical controls via one of the piston displacement mechanisms.

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• initiating, by one or more hardware processors and in response to a determination to halt motion of a powered earth-moving vehicle on a job site, activation of one or more first physical controls of the powered earth-moving vehicle that inhibit movement of at least one of wheels or tracks of the powered earth-moving vehicle via application of one or more first amounts of force over a first period of time to at least a brake pedal of the powered earth-moving vehicle, wherein the powered earth-moving vehicle includes a body, and at least one of a front tool attachment or a rear tool attachment, and one or more second physical controls to manipulate the at least one of the front tool attachment or the rear tool attachment;
• lowering, by the one or more hardware processors and after the initiating of the activation of the one or more first physical controls, the at least one of the front tool attachment or the rear tool attachment using one or more of the second physical controls via application of one or more second amounts of force over a second period of time and ending with the at least one of the front tool attachment or the rear tool attachment being in contact with an underlying surface on which the powered earth-moving vehicle is positioned;
• and
• initiating, by the one or more hardware processors and after the lowering of the at least one of the front tool attachment or the rear tool attachment, activating of a parking control on the powered earth-moving vehicle using at least one of the one or more first physical controls.