Zoox, Inc.

Dan Xie

Jesse Sol Levinson

Ravi Verma Gogna

Ashutosh Gajanan Rege

Gary Linscott

Paul Orecchio

Amanda Lee Kelly Lockwood

Marin Kobilarov

Timothy Caldwell

William Anthony Silva

Jefferson Bradfield Packer

Abishek Krishna Akella

Rick Zhang

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

A method for autonomously operating a driverless vehicle along a path between a first geographic location and a destination may include receiving communication signals from the driverless vehicle. The communication signals may include sensor data from the driverless vehicle and data indicating occurrence of an event associated with the path. The communication signals may also include data indicating that a confidence level associated with the path is less than a threshold confidence level due to the event. The method may also include determining, via a teleoperations system, a level of guidance to provide the driverless vehicle based on data associated with the communication signals, and transmitting teleoperations signals to the driverless vehicle. The teleoperations signals may include guidance to operate the driverless vehicle according to the determined level of guidance, so that a vehicle controller maneuvers the driverless vehicle to avoid, travel around, or pass through the event.

Interactions between vehicle and teleoperations system

A driverless vehicle may include a processor, a sensor, a network interface, and a memory having stored thereon processor-executable instructions. The driverless vehicle may be configured to obtain a stream of sensor signals including sensor data related to operation of the driverless vehicle from the sensor and/or the network interface. The driverless vehicle may be configured to determine a confidence level associated with operation of the driverless vehicle from the sensor data, and store the confidence level and at least a portion of the sensor data. The driverless vehicle may also be configured to transmit via the network interface a request for teleoperator assistance, and the request may include the portion of the sensor data and the confidence level.

Teleoperator situational awareness

A teleoperator device may be configured to obtain a request for teleoperator assistance from a driverless vehicle and obtain teleoperator data in response to the request. The teleoperator device may also be configured to record at least some of the teleoperator input and/or guidance transmitted to the driverless vehicle based on the teleoperator input. Upon receiving a subsequent request, the teleoperator device may be configured to reproduce at least part of the former teleoperator input and/or to provide an option to activate guidance associated with the teleoperator input. The teleoperator device may also be configured to train a model and/or use a model to determine from vehicle data an option for presentation via a teleoperator interface and/or a presentation configuration of the teleoperator interface.

Predictive teleoperator situational awareness

A method for operating a driverless vehicle may include receiving, at the driverless vehicle, sensor signals related to operation of the driverless vehicle, and road network data from a road network data store. The method may also include determining a driving corridor within which the driverless vehicle travels according to a trajectory, and causing the driverless vehicle to traverse a road network autonomously according to a path from a first geographic location to a second geographic location. The method may also include determining that an event associated with the path has occurred, and sending communication signals to a teleoperations system including a request for guidance and one or more of sensor data and the road network data. The method may include receiving, at the driverless vehicle, teleoperations signals from the teleoperations system, such that the vehicle controller determines a revised trajectory based at least in part on the teleoperations signals.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Dan Xie