Using Wheel Orientation To Determine Future Heading
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorJens-Steffen Ralf Gutmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The technology relates to determining a future heading of an object. In order to do so, sensor data, including information identifying a bounding box representing an object in a vehicle's environment and locations of sensor data points corresponding to the object, may be received. Based on dimensions of the bounding box, an area corresponding to a wheel of the object may be identified. An orientation of the wheel may then be estimated based on the sensor data points having locations within the area. The estimation may then be used to determine a future heading of the object.
Claims21
A method comprising:
- receiving, by one or more processors of an autonomous vehicle, a representation of dimensions of a road user of a particular type in an environment of the autonomous vehicle;
- accessing, by the one or more processors, stored data including expected wheel locations of different types of road users;
- identifying, by the one or more processors from the stored data, based on the representation of dimensions, an area that is likely to correspond towhere a wheel of the particular type of the road user;
- predicting, by the one or more processors, a trajectory or heading of the road user based, in part, on the identified area;
- and
- controlling, by the one or more processors, the autonomous vehicle based on the predicted trajectory or heading of the road user.
A perception system of an autonomous vehicle, the perception system comprising one or more processors configured to:
- receive a representation of dimensions of a road user of a particular type in an environment of the autonomous vehicle;
- access stored data including expected wheel locations of different types of road users;
- identify, based on the stored data and the representation of dimensions, an area that is likely to correspond to a wheel of the particular type of the road user;
- predict a trajectory or heading of the road user based, in part, on the identified area;
- and
- control the autonomous vehicle based on the predicted trajectory or heading of the road user.
(canceled)
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an autonomous vehicle, cause the autonomous vehicle to:
- receive a representation of dimensions of a road user of a particular type in an environment of the autonomous vehicle;
- access stored data including expected wheel locations of different types of road users;
- identify from the stored data and the representation of dimensions, an area that is likely to correspond to a wheel of the particular type of the road user;
- predict a trajectory or heading of the road user based, in part, on the identified area;
- and
- control the autonomous vehicle based on the predicted trajectory or heading of the road user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.