Methods and systems for determining instructions for pulling over an autonomous vehicle

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, upon execution by a computing device configured to control an autonomous vehicle, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

• while the autonomous vehicle is travelling on a road along a trajectory at a speed and while an environment of the autonomous vehicle changes, continuously (i) determining up-to-date instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel and (ii) storing the up-to-date instructions in a memory accessible by the computing device, wherein determining and storing the up-to-date instructions comprises:
• selecting a suitable region of the road ahead of an autonomous vehicle to be an up-to-date region in which to pull over and stop the autonomous vehicle while avoiding obstacles in the up-to-date region,
• based on the speed of the autonomous vehicle and based on the up-to-date region, determining a braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region, the braking profile being for reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle while travelling within the up-to-date region, and
• based on the braking profile, (i) determining the up-to-date instructions for causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the up-to-date region while navigating along an adjusted trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region, and (ii) storing the up-to-date instructions in a memory accessible by the computing device;
• and
• based on the stored up-to-date instructions, causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the up-to-date region while navigating along the adjusted trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region.

A system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory having stored thereon instructions that, upon execution by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform functions comprising:
• receiving, from one or more sensors coupled to the autonomous vehicle, sensor data indicative of lane boundaries of a region of a road of travel ahead of the autonomous vehicle and one or more road boundaries indicating an edge of the road in the region;
• based on the sensor data and further based on a size of the autonomous vehicle:
• (i) determining a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the lane boundaries of the road, (ii) determining a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the one or more road boundaries, (iii) comparing the determined distances to a predetermined threshold distance and to the size of the autonomous vehicle, and (iv) based on the determined distances satisfying the predetermined threshold, selecting the region to be a region in which to pull over and stop the autonomous vehicle;
• based on a speed of the autonomous vehicle and based on the region, determining a braking profile for reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle while travelling within the region;
• based on the braking profile, determining a trajectory the autonomous vehicle navigates within the region while reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile;
• determining instructions for causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile;
• continuously determining up-to-date instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel as an environment of the autonomous vehicle changes and storing the up-to-date instructions in the memory accessible and executable by the at least one processor;
• and
• based on the stored up-to-date instructions, causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the region while navigating along the trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile.

A method performed by a computing system configured to control an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:

• while the autonomous vehicle is travelling on a road along a trajectory at a speed and while an environment of the autonomous vehicle changes, at least one processor of the computing system continuously (i) determining up-to-date instructions to cause the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop during travel and (ii) storing the up-to-date instructions in a memory of the computing system accessible by the at least one processor, wherein determining and storing the up-to-date instructions comprises:
• the at least one processor selecting a suitable region of the road ahead of an autonomous vehicle to be an up-to-date region in which to pull over and stop the autonomous vehicle while avoiding obstacles in the up-to-date region;
• based on the speed of the autonomous vehicle and based on the up-to-date region, the at least one processor determining a braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region, the braking profile being for reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle while travelling within the up-to-date region;
• based on the braking profile, the at least one processor (i) determining the up-to-date instructions for causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the up-to-date region while navigating along an adjusted trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region, and (ii) storing the up-to-date instructions in a memory of the computing system accessible by the at least one processor;
• and
• based on the stored up-to-date instructions, the computing system causing the autonomous vehicle to pull over and stop in the up-to-date region while navigating along the adjusted trajectory and reducing the speed of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the braking profile corresponding to the up-to-date region.