Toyota Research Institute, Inc.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Paul J Ozog

Ryan W Wolcott

Schuyler H Cohen

Xipeng Wang

Jeffrey Michael Walls

Hai Jin

Chong Zhang

Fernando Nobre

Federico Boniardi

A method for synchronizing neighboring tiles in an electronic map is described. The method includes grouping neighboring tiles of the electronic map into a plurality of tile groups. The method also includes selecting a first tile group and a second tile group that border one another on at least a first tile in the first tile group and a second tile in the second tile group. The method further includes independently optimizing the first tile group and the second tile group if a feature crosses between the first tile group and the second tile group. The method also includes shifting a border of the first tile group and a border of the second tile group to join the first tile and the second tile in the second tile group or the first tile group.

Synchronizing neighboring tiles in a high definition map

A method for fitting an odometry noise model of a vehicle is described. The method includes collecting multiple passes of sensor measurements from motion sensors of the vehicle to measure a motion sensor noise during a testing operation of the vehicle. The method also includes determining an estimated standard deviation of the motion sensor noise measured during the testing operation of the vehicle. The method further includes determining the odometry noise model of the vehicle according to the estimated standard deviation of the motion sensor noise measured during the testing operation of the vehicle. The method also includes compensating, using the odometry noise model, the motion sensor noise during normal operation of the vehicle.

Odometry noise model fitting from fleet-scale datasets

A map object management system including object information for objects in the environment around a location. The objects generally relating to the roadway on which a user is travelling. The map object management system provides a user with queries regarding detected objects that fail to meet confidence thresholds regarding the identification of the object. The map object management system receives answers to the queries to crowdsource uncertain or inaccurate object identifications for use in a map service to provide accurate map information to users.

Crowdsourcing annotations of roadway information

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to associating coordinates between separate coordinate systems. In one embodiment, a method includes acquiring location coordinates of a vehicle in a surrounding environment according to sensor data from at least one sensor of the vehicle. The method includes transforming reference coordinates associated with the location coordinates into first intermediate coordinates associated with a first coordinate system that is based, at least in part, on a distorted two-dimensional map projection, and second intermediate coordinates associated with a second coordinate system that is a Cartesian coordinate system associated with a Geodetic datum. The method includes generating, using the first intermediate coordinates and the second intermediate coordinates, an estimated transform for converting between the first coordinate system and the second coordinate system. The method includes projecting one or more annotations encoded in the second coordinate system into the first coordinate system using the estimated transform.

Systems and methods for transforming coordinates between distorted and undistorted coordinate systems

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving calibration of an onboard sensor of a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes, in response to acquiring sensor data from a surrounding environment of the vehicle using the onboard sensor, analyzing the sensor data to determine calibration parameters for the onboard sensor. The method includes identifying a suitability parameter that characterizes how well the surrounding environment provides for determining the calibration parameters. The method includes generating annotations within a map that specify at least the suitability parameter for a location associated with the sensor data. In further aspects, the method includes identifying, from the map, a calibration route for the vehicle that is a deviation from a current route in response to determining that the calibration state of the onboard sensor does not satisfy the calibration threshold.

Systems and methods for annotating maps to improve sensor calibration

The systems and methods described herein disclose localization of a vehicle based on tactile events. As described here, the vibrations produced by objects in an environment as a vehicle encounters them can be used to determine the position and orientation of the vehicle. The systems and methods can include detecting at least one tactile event in an environment, during the operation of a vehicle. A tactile survey map can then be accessed to correlate surveyed tactile events to an event location in the environment. The detected tactile events can then be compared to the tactile survey map. Then, the event location and the tactile correlation can be applied to determine the vehicle location in the environment.

Tactile detection to determine lane localization

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving an electronic representation of lines. In one embodiment, a method includes, in response to acquiring sensor data from at least one sensor representing a surrounding environment of a robotic device, extracting a feature representation of an observed line feature in the sensor data by providing a probability distribution that is defined based, at least in part, on feature parameters that overparameterize the observed line feature. The method includes converting the feature representation of the observed line feature into reduced parameters to avoid the feature parameters overparameterizing the observed line feature. The reduced parameters include an observation uncertainty for the line feature that is based, at least part, on the probability distribution. The method includes providing a detection distribution according to a correlation between the reduced parameters and a mapped line feature.

System and method for improving the representation of line features

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to identifying changes within a surrounding environment of a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting, using at least one sensor of the vehicle, sensor data about the surrounding environment. The method includes analyzing the sensor data to identify features of the surrounding environment. The features are landmarks of the surrounding environment that are indicated within a map of the surrounding environment. The sensor data indicates at least measurements associated with the features as acquired by the at least one sensor. The method includes computing persistence likelihoods for the features according to a persistence model that characterizes at least prior observations of the features and relationships between the features. The persistence likelihoods indicate estimated persistences of the features to indicate whether the features likely still exist. The method includes controlling the vehicle according to the persistence likelihoods.

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Paul J Ozog