Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W30/00—Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
  • B60W30/18—Propelling the vehicle
  • B60W30/18009—Propelling the vehicle related to particular drive situations
  • B60W30/18163—Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W30/00—Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
  • B60W30/18—Propelling the vehicle
  • B60W30/18009—Propelling the vehicle related to particular drive situations
  • B60W30/18145—Cornering
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W60/00—Drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles
  • B60W60/001—Planning or execution of driving tasks
  • B60W60/0015—Planning or execution of driving tasks specially adapted for safety
  • B60W60/0017—Planning or execution of driving tasks specially adapted for safety of other traffic participants
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W60/00—Drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles
  • B60W60/001—Planning or execution of driving tasks
  • B60W60/0027—Planning or execution of driving tasks using trajectory prediction for other traffic participants
  • B60W60/00272—Planning or execution of driving tasks using trajectory prediction for other traffic participants relying on extrapolation of current movement
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
  • G06V20/00—Scenes; Scene-specific elements
  • G06V20/50—Context or environment of the image
  • G06V20/56—Context or environment of the image exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
  • G06V20/58—Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
  • G06V20/00—Scenes; Scene-specific elements
  • G06V20/50—Context or environment of the image
  • G06V20/56—Context or environment of the image exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
  • G06V20/588—Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W2555/00—Input parameters relating to exterior conditions, not covered by groups B60W2552/00, B60W2554/00
  • B60W2555/60—Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60W—CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
  • B60W2556/00—Input parameters relating to data
  • B60W2556/45—External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
  • B60W2556/50—External transmission of data to or from the vehicle of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data

Definitions

• FIG. 9 illustrates an example process for using a classification of a vehicle for performing lane handling techniques, as described herein.
• Techniques described herein relate to performing, by a vehicle, lane handling techniques to control the vehicle in an environment.
• the vehicle can be associated with a drive mission that requires the vehicle to perform a turn in association with a junction.
• a turning lane can precede the junction such that the vehicle is to merge into the turning lane prior to executing the turn.
• a turning lane can be associated with a bike lane. In such an example, the vehicle is to merge into the bike lane prior to executing the turn.
• Techniques described herein enable the vehicle to merge (or otherwise maneuver) into a turning lane, as described above, prior to executing a turn at a junction while ensuring safety of any objects (vehicle, bikes, etc.) in such a lane.
• the vehicle can consider one or more preconditions prior to generating an instruction to perform an action for controlling the vehicle to merge into a turning lane and execute a turn at a junction.
• preconditions can include determining whether there is an indication of a junction upcoming in a drive mission of the vehicle, determining whether there is an indication of a second lane associated with the junction to facilitate a turn at the junction, determining whether the drive mission includes a turn at the junction, determining whether the vehicle can merge into the second lane (e.g., is there a valid action trajectory, no blockage, etc.), and so on.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a vehicle performing lane handling techniques, as described herein.
• FIG. 1 depicts a portion of an environment 100, wherein a vehicle 102 is positioned.
• the vehicle 102 can be an autonomous vehicle configured to operate according to a Level 5 classification issued by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which describes a vehicle capable of performing all safety-critical functions for the entire trip, with the driver (or occupant) not being expected to control the vehicle at any time.
• the vehicle 102 can be configured to control all functions from start to stop, including all parking functions, it can be unoccupied.
• the environment 100 includes ajunction 104, where two or more roads are joined.
• one of the roads can be associated with a driving lane 106 and a bike lane 108.
• the driving lane 106 can be a lane in which the vehicle 102 can drive.
• the bike lane 108 can be a lane in which bicycles (e.g., bikes, cyclists, etc.) can travel.
• a bike lane before a junction can include a broken lane boundary, lane marking, or other indicator (hereinafter “indicator”) indicating that a vehicle is allowed to merge, at least partially, into the bike lane to execute a turn when completing a turn at such a junction.
• indicator indicating that a vehicle is allowed to merge, at least partially, into the bike lane to execute a turn when completing a turn at such a junction.
• the merging zone 112 can be associated with a beginning 114, which can correspond to a beginning of the indicator 110, and an end 116, which can correspond with the end of the bike lane 108 (e.g., where the bike lane 108 turns into the junction 104).
• a bike lane 108 may exist for a finite distance from an intersection, be associated with a turn for a vehicle (as opposed to a bike), be located on the left for a left turn, be associated with a parking lane (as opposed to a bike lane), be associated with a bus lane (as opposed to a bus lane), or the like.
• the vehicle 102 can modify the reference of the vehicle 102 from the reference 200 to the reference 202. Such a modification causes the vehicle 102 switch (laterally) from a first reference 200 to a second reference 202. The vehicle 102 can then track (e.g., follow) the reference 202 for the duration of the bike lane 108 (e.g., until the location of the vehicle 102 is determined to be associated with the end 116 of the merging zone 112).
• the system(s) can identify and/or classify objects within the environment of the vehicle 600.
• the system(s) can output bounding boxes associated objects identified in the environment of the vehicle 600.
• the system(s) can store width and/or fraction data associated with a bounding box of the vehicle 600, which can be based on the span of the bounding box (e.g., perpendicular to the lane reference).
• the bounding box can occupy multiple lanes.
• the system(s) can determine a width of the bounding box as penetrated into each lane and a fraction of the span of the bounding box in each lane.
• the system(s) can store the amount of bounding box area of the vehicle 600 in each lane.
• Block 902 illustrates accessing a data structure associated with classifications of lanes in an environment of a vehicle.
• the planning system 726 can access the data structure described in block 818 above.
• the planning system 726 can determine that the vehicle 702 can perform the action. As such, the planning system 726 can initiate the action, as illustrated in block 906. In some examples, the cut-in analysis can be performed by the planning system 726 until the vehicle 702 is established in the target lane, at which point, the planning system 726 can terminate the cut-in analysis.
• FIG. 10 illustrates an example process 1000 for performing lane handling techniques, as described herein.
• Block 1106 illustrates determining whether the vehicle merging into the second lane negatively affects another object in the second lane.
• the planning system 726 can analyze sensor data to determine whether the vehicle 702 merging into the second lane negatively affects another object, such as a cyclist, another vehicle, a pedestrian, or the like. That is, the planning system 726 can perform a cut-in analysis to determine whether it is safe for the vehicle 702 to merge into the second lane (e.g., free of collision and/or uncomfortable braking for the other object).
• Such a modification causes the vehicle 702 switch (laterally) from a first reference in the first lane to a second reference in the second lane.
• the vehicle 702 can then track (e.g., follow) the second reference in the second lane for the duration of the second lane (e.g., until the location of the vehicle 702 is determined to be associated with the end of the merging zone and/or the second lane).
• the driving corridor can expand on the left side (e.g., to the width of the driving lane). Restricting the left side of the driving corridor during the turn can reduce the nudging or otherwise restrict the lateral motion of the vehicle 702.
• the planning system 726 can utilize object fusion to modify the driving corridor based at least in part on the presence of objects in the environment, as described above.
• Block 1114 illustrates generating an instruction to perform an alternate action.
• the planning system 726 can generate an instruction for performing an alternate action, such as an abort action to prevent the vehicle 702 from merging into the second lane, at least temporarily.
• an alternate action can cause the vehicle 702 to slow down or speed up to come within the threshold of negatively affecting the other object (e.g., so as not to negatively affect the other object).
• the process 1100 can return to block 1104 to determine whether the vehicle merging into the second lane negatively affects another object in the second lane (again).
• FIGS. 4 and 5 above describe two examples of abort actions.
• the planning system 726 of the vehicle 702 may execute an abort action (e.g., instructions associated therewith) to control the vehicle 702 to come to a stop, for example, along the indicator or at the start of the second lane.
• the planning system 726 can consider whether an abort action should be executed while the planning system 726 consider whether an action controlling the vehicle 702 to merge prior to turning right should be executed.
• An autonomous vehicle comprising: one or more processors; and computer- readable media storing instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the autonomous vehicle to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a sensor associated with the autonomous vehicle, sensor data associated with an environment within which the autonomous vehicle is positioned; receiving map data associated with the environment; determining that the autonomous vehicle is to perform a turn; determining, based at least in part on at least one of the sensor data or the map data, that the turn passes through a bike lane disposed proximate a current lane in which the autonomous vehicle is positioned, the bike lane comprising a merging zone indicative of a merging region; determining to merge into the bike lane in the merging zone; determining, based at least in part on the sensor data and the map data, a location of the autonomous vehicle with respect to the merging zone; and causing, based at least in part on the location, the autonomous vehicle to merge into the bike lane prior to performing the turn.
• M The method as paragraph L recites, further comprising causing the vehicle to turn into the first lane based at least in part on: determining, at an end of the second lane, a target lane of the vehicle, wherein the target lane is the first lane; determining a third reference line associated with the target lane along which the vehicle is to travel while in the target lane; and determining a third cost associated with a distance of the vehicle from the third reference line, wherein causing the vehicle to turn into the first lane is based at least in part on the third cost.
• the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as paragraph N or O recites, the operations further comprising: determining a first reference line with the first lane about which the vehicle is to follow while in the first lane; determining a second reference line associated with at least a portion of the second lane about which the vehicle is to follow while in the second lane; determining a first cost based at least in part on a first distance of the vehicle from the first reference line; and determining a second cost based at least in part on a second distance of the vehicle from the second reference line, wherein causing the vehicle to merge into the second lane is based at least in part on the first cost and the second cost.
• T The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as any of paragraphs N-S recite, the operations further comprising: determining, as a safety signal, that at least one of (i) an object comprising a bicycle or a second vehicle has established priority in the second lane or (ii) the vehicle merging into the second lane affects the object; and responsive to the safety signal, performing an alternative action to at least temporarily prevent the vehicle from merging into the second lane.
• determining the classification of the lane comprises: determining, based at least in part on the signal, that the portion of the autonomous vehicle that occupies the lane is less than a threshold; and determining that the lane is classified as the occupied lane and not the established lane.
• determining the classification of the lane comprises: determining, based at least in part on the signal, that the portion of the autonomous vehicle that occupies the lane meets or exceeds a threshold; and determining that the lane is classified as the occupied lane and the established lane.
• controlling the vehicle comprises: determining a first classification of at least one lane left of the vehicle or a second classification of at least one lane right of the vehicle; and determining an action for controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the first classification or the second classification.
• AD The method as any of paragraphs AA-AC recite, wherein the lane occupancy is based on at least one of sensor data received from a sensor associated with the vehicle or map data associated with the environment.
• determining the classification of the lane comprises: determining, based at least in part on the signal, that an unoccupied portion of the lane is less than a threshold; and determining that the lane is classified as the occupied lane and the established lane.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Traffic Control Systems (AREA)
• Control Of Driving Devices And Active Controlling Of Vehicle (AREA)

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• 2020
  • 2020-08-19 WO PCT/US2020/047058 patent/WO2021034969A1/en unknown
  • 2020-08-19 EP EP20765156.3A patent/EP4018363A1/en active Pending
  • 2020-08-19 CN CN202080058506.1A patent/CN114269618A/zh active Pending
  • 2020-08-19 JP JP2022511013A patent/JP2022544835A/ja active Pending

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