Attributed roadway trajectories for self-driving vehicles

A self-driving road vehicle, comprising:

• a body;
• a locomotion system coupled to the body for accelerating, propelling and decelerating the vehicle along a roadway;
• a steering system coupled to the body for steering the vehicle;
• a sensor array carried by the body for sensing driving data, the sensor array having a sensor range;
• a control system carried by the body, wherein:
• the control system is coupled to the sensor array for receiving sensed driving data from the sensor array;
• the control system is coupled to the locomotion system for controlling the locomotion system;
• and
• the control system is coupled to the steering system for controlling the steering system;
• a data storage module coupled to and accessible by the control system, the data storage module storing at least one attributed roadway trajectory;
• each attributed roadway trajectory comprising:
• at least one ordered series of attributed roadway trajectory points, wherein for each ordered series of attributed roadway trajectory points:
• the attributed roadway trajectory points are spaced along a curve;
• the curve is defined in a terrestrial coordinate frame and tracks an along-roadway physical feature of a real-world roadway segment portrayed in a point cloud;
• for any arbitrary attributed roadway trajectory point on the curve, that attributed roadway trajectory point passes a predetermined proximity test for proximity to point cloud points discriminated as representing part of the along-roadway physical feature;
• each attributed roadway trajectory point has, in addition to its position in the terrestrial coordinate frame, at least one roadway attribute having a respective attribute value;
• each attribute value representing a characteristic of the real-world roadway segment at a position on the real-world roadway segment that is spatially associated with the attributed roadway trajectory point;
• wherein the control system is configured to:
• obtain, for at least one of the attributed roadway trajectory points, at least one respective attribute value representing sensor-independent roadway data;
• and
• use the at least one attribute value to adjust control of at least one of the locomotion system and the steering system.

A method for controlling a self-driving road vehicle, comprising:

• a control system of the self-driving road vehicle accessing an attributed roadway trajectory, the attributed roadway trajectory comprising:
• at least one ordered series of attributed roadway trajectory points, wherein for each ordered series of attributed roadway trajectory points:
• the attributed roadway trajectory points are spaced along a curve;
• the curve is defined in a terrestrial coordinate frame and tracks an along-roadway physical feature of a real-world roadway segment portrayed in a point cloud;
• for any arbitrary attributed roadway trajectory point on the curve, that attributed roadway trajectory point passes a predetermined proximity test for proximity to point cloud points discriminated as representing part of the along-roadway physical feature;
• each attributed roadway trajectory point has, in addition to its position in the terrestrial coordinate frame, at least one roadway attribute having a respective attribute value;
• each attribute value representing a characteristic of the real-world roadway segment at a position on the real-world roadway segment that is spatially associated with the attributed roadway trajectory point;
• the control system of the self-driving road vehicle obtaining, for at least one of the attributed roadway trajectory points, at least one respective attribute value representing sensor-independent roadway data;
• and
• the control system of the self-driving road vehicle using the at least one attribute value to adjust control of at least one of the locomotion system and the steering system.