Waymo LLC

Google Inc.

Other

On2.com, Inc.

David Harrison Silver

David Ian Franklin Ferguson

David Ian Ferguson

Nathaniel Fairfield

Pankaj Chaudhari

Abhijit S Ogale

Carl Kershaw

Jennifer Taylor

Benjamin T Ingram

Ioan-Alexandru Sucan

Stéphane Ross

Vaibhav Nangia

Angus Leigh

Wan-Yen Lo

Qichi Yang

Michael R James

Jens-Steffen Ralf Gutmann

Romain Thibaux

Hyman Murveit

Jur Van Den Berg

Chen Wu

Congcong Li

David Yonchar Margines

Jonathan Baldwin Dowdall

Henrik Kretzschmar

Victoria Dean

Joshua Seth Herbach

Katharine Patterson

Daniel M Miller

Ivan Bogun

Congrui Hetang

Andreas Wendel

Michael Steven Montemerlo

Carlos Hernandez Esteban

Peter Michal Pawlowski

Eric Ameres

Brandon Douglas Luders

Edward Hsiao

Zhinan Xu

Chi Yeung Jonathan Ng

Zijian Guo

Jonathan Hsiao

Blake G Sloan

Michael Stenzler

Gerry Rossi

Neil Radisch

Timothy S Murphy

Anthony Ronald Grue

Kevin Poulet

Aspects of the disclosure relate controlling autonomous vehicles or vehicles having an autonomous driving mode. More particularly, these vehicles may identify and respond to other vehicles engaged in a parallel parking maneuver by receiving sensor data corresponding to objects in an autonomous vehicle's environment and including location information for the objects over time. An object corresponding to another vehicle in a lane in front of the first vehicle may be identified from the sensor data. A pattern of actions of the other vehicle identified form the sensor data is used to determine that the second vehicle is engaged in a parallel parking maneuver based on a pattern of actions exhibited by the other vehicle identified from the sensor data. The determination is then used to control the autonomous vehicle.

Detecting and responding to parking behaviors in autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the disclosure relate to generating scouting objectives in order to update map information used to control a fleet of vehicles in an autonomous driving mode. For instance, a notification from a vehicle of the fleet identifying a feature and a location of the feature may be received. A first bound for a scouting area may be identified based on the location of the feature. A second bound for the scouting area may be identified based on a lane closest to the feature. A scouting objective may be generated for the feature based on the first bound and the second bound.

Generating scouting objectives

Aspects of the disclosure relate to determining whether a feature of map information. For example, data identifying an object detected in a vehicle's environment and including location coordinates is received. This information is used to identify a corresponding feature from pre-stored map information based on a map location of the corresponding feature. The corresponding feature is defined as a curve and associated with a tag identifying a type of the corresponding object. A tolerance constraint is identified based on the tag. The curve is divided into two or more line segments. Each line segment has a first position. The first position of a line segment is changed in order to determine a second position based on the location coordinates and the tolerance constraint. A value is determined based on a comparison of the first position to the second position. This value indicates a likelihood that the corresponding feature has changed.

Change detection using curve alignment

Aspects of the disclosure relate to an autonomous vehicle that may detect other nearby vehicles and designate stationary vehicles as being in one of a short-term stationary state or a long-term stationary state. This determination may be made based on various indicia, including visible indicia displayed by the detected vehicle and traffic control factors relating to the detected vehicle. For example, the autonomous vehicle may identify a detected vehicle as being in a long-term stationary state based on detection of hazard lights being displayed by the detected vehicle, as well as the absence of brake lights being displayed by the detected vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may then base its control strategy on the stationary state of the detected vehicle.

Determining the stationary state of detected vehicles

Aspects of the disclosure provide for the identification of parkable areas. In one instance, observations of parked vehicles may be identified from logged data. The observations may be used to determine whether a sub-portion of an edge of a roadgraph corresponds to a parkable area. In some examples, the edge may define a drivable area in the roadgraph. In addition, map information is generated based on the determination of whether the sub-portion of the edge corresponds to the parkable area.

Identifying parkable areas for autonomous vehicles

The technology relates to detecting and responding to processions. For instance, sensor data identifying two or more objects in an environment of a vehicle may be received. The two or more objects may be determined to be disobeying a predetermined rule in a same way. Based on the determination that the two or more objects are disobeying a predetermined rule, that the two or more objects are involved in a procession may be determined. The vehicle may then be controlled autonomously in order to respond to the procession based on the determination that the two or more objects are involved in a procession.

Detecting and responding to processions for autonomous vehicles

The technology relates to detecting and responding to emergency vehicles. This may include using a plurality of microphones to detect a siren noise corresponding to an emergency vehicle and to estimate a bearing of the emergency vehicle. This estimated bearing is compared to map information to identify a portion of roadway on which the emergency vehicle is traveling. In addition, information identifying a set of objects in the vehicle's environment as well as characteristics of those objects is received from a perception system is used to determine whether one of the set of objects corresponds to the emergency vehicle. How to respond to the emergency vehicle is determined based on the estimated bearing and identified road segments and the determination of whether one of the set of objects corresponds to the emergency vehicle. This determined response is then used to control the vehicle in an autonomous driving mode.

Detecting and responding to sirens

Aspects of the disclosure relate to detecting and responding to objects in a vehicle's environment. For example, an object may be identified in a vehicle's environment, the object having a heading and location. A set of possible actions for the object may be generated using map information describing the vehicle's environment and the heading and location of the object. A set of possible future trajectories of the object may be generated based on the set of possible actions. A likelihood value of each trajectory of the set of possible future trajectories may be determined based on contextual information including a status of the detected object. A final future trajectory is determined based on the determined likelihood value for each trajectory of the set of possible future trajectories. The vehicle is then maneuvered in order to avoid the final future trajectory and the object.

Predicting trajectories of objects based on contextual information

The technology relates to determining general weather conditions affecting the roadway around a vehicle, and how such conditions may impact driving and route planning for the vehicle when operating in an autonomous mode. For instance, the on-board sensor system may detect whether the road is generally icy as opposed to a small ice patch on a specific portion of the road surface. The system may also evaluate specific driving actions taken by the vehicle and/or other nearby vehicles. Based on such information, the vehicle's control system is able to use the resultant information to select an appropriate braking level or braking strategy. As a result, the system can detect and respond to different levels of adverse weather conditions. The on-board computer system may share road condition information with nearby vehicles and with remote assistance, so that it may be employed with broader fleet planning operations.

Detecting general road weather conditions

The technology relates to identifying and addressing aberrant driver behavior. Various driving operations may be evaluated over different time scales and driving distances. The system can detect driving errors and suboptimal maneuvering, which are evaluated by an onboard driver assistance system and compared against a model of expected driver behavior. The result of this comparison can be used to alert the driver or take immediate corrective driving action. It may also be used for real-time or offline training or sensor calibration purposes. The behavior model may be driver-specific, or may be a nominal driver model based on aggregated information from many drivers. These approaches can be employed with drivers of passenger vehicles, busses, cargo trucks and other vehicles.

Using driver assistance to detect and address aberrant driver behavior

The technology relates to approaches for determining appropriate stopping locations at intersections for vehicles operating in a self-driving mode. While many intersections have stop lines painted on the roadway, many others have no such lines. Even if a stop line is present, the physical location may not match what is in store map data, which may be out of date due to construction or line repainting. Aspects of the technology employ a neural network that utilizes input training data and detected sensor data to perform classification, localization and uncertain estimation processes. Based on these processes, the system is able to evaluate distribution information for possible stop locations. The vehicle uses such information to determine an optimal stop point, which may or may not correspond to a stop line in the map data. This information is also used to update the existing map data, which can be shared with other vehicles.

Stop location change detection

The technology relates to controlling a vehicle in an autonomous driving mode, the method. For instance, a vehicle may be maneuvered in the autonomous driving mode using pre-stored map information identifying traffic flow directions. Data may be received from a perception system of the vehicle identifying objects in an external environment of the vehicle related to a traffic redirection not identified the map information. The received data may be used to identify one or more corridors of a traffic redirection. One of the one or more corridors may be selected based on a direction of traffic flow through the selected corridor. The vehicle may then be controlled in the autonomous driving mode to enter and follow the selected one of the one or more corridors based on the determined direction of flow of traffic through each of the one or more corridors.

Detecting and responding to traffic redirection for autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the disclosure relate to detecting and responding to malfunctioning traffic signals for a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode. For instance, information identifying a detected state of a traffic signal for an intersection. An anomaly for the traffic signal may be detected based on the detected state and prestored information about expected states of the traffic signal. The vehicle may be controlled in the autonomous driving mode based on the detected anomaly.

Detecting and responding to malfunctioning traffic signals for autonomous vehicles

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Millbrae, CA, United States of America

David Harrison Silver