Control and systems for autonomously driven vehicles

A method for navigation and control of a vehicle, comprising:

• generating position signals indicative of the location and heading of a vehicle;
• normalizing the position signals by way of a programmable interface to produce normalized position signals;
• producing from the normalized position signals operation control signals;
• and
• normalizing the operation control signals by way of the programmable interface to produce normalized operation control signals which control an operation of the vehicle along an updated travel path for the vehicle.

A drivable unit comprising:

• a vehicle including,
• one or more position sensors configured to generate position signals indicative of the location and heading of a vehicle;
• one or more operation control mechanisms having inputs and producing outputs which control an operation of the vehicle;
• and
• a self-contained autonomous controller disposed remote from the at least one operation control mechanism, comprising,
• a processor configured to receive the position signals from the position sensors and to generate operation control signals defining an updated travel path for the vehicle, and
• a programmable interface providing communication among the position sensors, the operation control mechanisms, and the processor, and configured to normalize inputs to the processor from the position sensors and to generate compatible operation control signals applied as the inputs to the operation control mechanisms, whereby the self-contained autonomous controller is configurable for operation with a variety of different sensors and different operation control mechanisms.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing program instructions for execution on a processor in a vehicle, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the functions of:

• receiving position signals indicative of the location and heading of a vehicle, said position signals having been normalized by way of a programmable interface to produce normalized position signals;
• producing from the normalized position signals operation control signals;
• and
• outputting the operation control signals to the programmable interface to produce normalized operation control signals which control an operation of the vehicle along an updated travel path for the vehicle.

A navigation and control system comprising:

• one or more operation control mechanisms having inputs and producing outputs which control an operation of a vehicle;
• and
• a processor, connected to the one or more operation control mechanisms, configured to generate a steering command based on 1) a moving point (x*(s), y*(s)) of the vehicle from a travel path, 2) a distance s(t) of the vehicle from the travel path, and 3) an error vector E(t) of an actual vehicle position (x(t), y(t)) from the moving point (x*(s(t)), y*(s(t))),
• wherein the error vector E(t) accommodates time dependent non-linear factors capable of causing the vehicle to deviate from the travel path or deviate from an approach path to the travel path.