Zoox, Inc.

Abishek Krishna Akella

Janek Hudecek

Marin Kobilarov

William Anthony Silva

Rick Zhang

Timothy Caldwell

Jefferson Bradfield Packer

Marc Wimmershoff

Dan Xie

Mahsa Ghafarianzadeh

Kenneth Michael Siebert

Kai Zhenyu Wang

Peter Scott Schleede

Vasiliy Karasev

Seyed Mahdi Shamsi

Techniques for vehicle deceleration planning are discussed. The techniques include determining a first location and a first velocity of a vehicle. The techniques further include determining a second location and a second velocity of an object. Based on the first location, the second location, the first velocity, and the second velocity, a relative stopping distance between the vehicle and the object can be determined. If the relative stopping distance is less than a threshold distance, the first maximum deceleration value can be increased to a second maximum deceleration value, and the techniques determine a trajectory for the vehicle based at least in part on the second maximum deceleration value.

Vehicle deceleration planning

Techniques for determining that a first vehicle is associated with a reverse state, and controlling a second vehicle based on the reverse state, are described herein. In some examples, the first vehicle may provide an indication that the first vehicle will be executing a reverse maneuver, such as with reverse lights on the vehicle or by positioning at an angle relative to a road or parking space to allow for the reverse maneuver into a desired location. A planning system of the second vehicle (such as an autonomous vehicle) may receive sensor data and determine a variety of these indications to determine a probability that the vehicle is going to execute a reverse maneuver. The second vehicle can further determine a likely trajectory of the reverse maneuver and can provide appropriate accommodations (e.g., time and/or space) to allow the second vehicle to execute the maneuver safely and efficiently.

Planning accommodations for reversing vehicles

Command determination for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, is described. In an example, individual requests for controlling the vehicle relative to each of multiple objects or conditions in an environment are received (substantially simultaneously) and based on the request type and/or additional information associated with a request, command controllers can determine control commands (e.g., different accelerations, steering angles, steering rates, and the like) associated with each of the one or more requests. The command controllers may have different controller gains (which may be based on functions of distance, distance ratios, time to estimated collisions, etc.) for determining the controls and a control command may be determined based on the all such determined controls.

Vehicle control

Techniques for determining whether to yield a vehicle to an oncoming object based on a stationary object are discussed herein. A vehicle can determine a drivable area in an environment through which the vehicle is travelling. A trajectory associated with the vehicle can be determined. A probability that the oncoming object will intersect a drive path associated with a vehicle trajectory can be determined. In some case, the probability can be based on various distance metric(s) of the environment. If the oncoming object is determined to intersect the drive path, a stopping location for the vehicle can be determined to allow the oncoming object to traverse around the stationary object. The vehicle can be controlled based on sensor data captured by the vehicle and the probability.

Collision avoidance for a vehicle with objects in an oncoming lane

Drive envelope determination is described. In an example, a vehicle can capture sensor data while traversing an environment and can provide the sensor data to computing system(s). The sensor data can indicate agent(s) in the environment and the computing system(s) can determine, based on the sensor data, a planned path through the environment relative to the agent(s). The computing system(s) can also determine lateral distance(s) to the agent(s) from the planned path. In an example, the computing system(s) can determine modified distance(s) based at least in part on the lateral distance(s) and information about the agents. The computing system can determine a drive envelope based on the modified distance(s) and can determine a trajectory in the drive envelope.

Drive envelope determination

Acceleration determination for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, is described. In an example, objects in an environment of the vehicle are identified and a probability that each object will impact travel of the vehicle is determined. Individual accelerations for responding to each object may also be determined. Weighting factors for each of the accelerations may also be determined based on the probabilities. A control acceleration may be determined based on the weighting factors and the accelerations.

Responsive vehicle control

Techniques for determining a vehicle action and controlling a vehicle to perform the vehicle action for navigating the vehicle in an environment can include determining a vehicle action, such as a lane change action, for a vehicle to perform in an environment. The vehicle can detect, based at least in part on sensor data, an object associated with a target lane associated with the lane change action sensor data. In some instances, the vehicle may determine attribute data associated with the object and input the attribute data to a machine-learned model that can output a yield score. Based on such a yield score, the vehicle may determine whether it is safe to perform the lane change action.

Yield behavior modeling and prediction

Techniques are discussed for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, based on occluded areas in an environment. An occluded area can represent areas where sensors of the vehicle are unable to sense portions of the environment due to obstruction by another object or sensor limitation. An occluded region for an object is determined by the vehicle as part of an occlusion grid, from the perspective of the vehicle. The vehicle may receive another occlusion grid from another source, such as another vehicle or a remote computing device that stores and distributes occlusion grids. The other occlusion grid may be from a different perspective than the occlusion grid generated by the vehicle, and may include occupancy data for the region that is otherwise occluded from the perspective of the vehicle. The vehicle can be controlled to traverse the environment based on the occupancy data received from the other source.

Sharing occlusion data

A vehicle safety system within an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle may predict and avoid collisions between the vehicle and other moving objects in the environment. The vehicle safety system may determine one or more perturbed trajectories for another object in the environment, for example, by perturbing the state parameters of a perceived trajectory associated with the object. Each perturbed trajectory may be evaluated to determine whether it intersects or potentially collides the planned trajectory of the vehicle. In some examples, the vehicle safety system may aggregate the results of analyses of multiple perturbed trajectories to determine a collision probability and/or additional weights or adjustment factors associated with the collision prediction, and may determine actions for the vehicle to take based on the collision predictions and probabilities.

Vehicle collision avoidance based on perturbed object trajectories

Trajectory determination for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, is described. In an example, a vehicle system includes multiple planning systems for calculating trajectories. A first system may calculate first trajectories at a first frequency and the second system may calculate second trajectories at a second frequency and based on the first trajectories. The first and/or second trajectories may be initialized at states of the vehicle corresponding to a projection onto a previous-in-time respective first or second trajectory. The second trajectories may be control trajectories along which the vehicle is controlled.

Trajectory initialization

Techniques for generating trajectories and drivable areas for navigating a vehicle in an environment are discussed herein. The techniques can include receiving a reference trajectory representing an initial trajectory for a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, to traverse the environment. Portions of the reference trajectory can be identified as corresponding to actions to navigate around a double-parked vehicle or to change lanes, for example. In some cases, a portion of the reference trajectory can be identified based on a proximity to an object in the environment. A weight can be associated with the portions of the reference trajectory, and the techniques can include evaluating a reference cost function at points of the reference trajectory based on the associated weights to generate a target trajectory. Further, the techniques can include controlling the autonomous vehicle to traverse the environment based at least in part on the target trajectory.

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Pleasanton, CA, United States of America

Abishek Krishna Akella