Mitigating outage of service provided by autonomous vehicle
An AV may determine a degradation score based on data indicating a condition of an environment where the AV operates to provide a service. The degradation score may indicate a degradation in a performance of the AV (e.g., one or more sensors of the AV) under the condition. After determining that the degradation score is higher than a threshold, the AV may pause the service, e.g., by moving out of the traffic lane or pulling over. The AV may re-check the condition later and determine a new degradation score. After determining that degradation score is lower than the threshold, the AV may resume the service, e.g., by moving back to the traffic lane. The AV may determine that the degradation score is higher than another threshold and in response to the determination, stops where it is, e.g., in a traffic lane. The AV may request remote assistance or retrieval.
1 . A method, comprising:
determining an environmental condition based on data indicating the environmental condition, the environmental condition being a condition of an environment where a vehicle performs an operation for providing a service; and
determining a degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the environmental condition, the degradation score indicating a degradation in an accuracy of one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle (AV), and wherein determining the degradation score comprises quantifying the degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors by comparing real-time sensor data from the one or more sensors to reference sensor data captured at a time where the environmental condition was not present;
determining whether the degradation score is beyond a threshold;
in response to determining that the degradation score is beyond the threshold, transmitting one or more first control signals to cause the vehicle to pause the operation by performing a recovery maneuver selected from the group consisting of:
circling an area;
navigating to a parking area; and
pulling over to a safe location;
while the operation is paused during the recovery maneuver, periodically re-evaluating the environmental condition at a predetermined frequency by:
determining a change in the environmental condition based on new data indicating the environmental condition at a later time; and
determining a new degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the change in the environmental condition, the new degradation score indicating a degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition at the later time;
determining whether the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold; and
in response to determining that the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold, transmitting one or more second control signals to cause the vehicle to resume the operation.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data or new data is received from the one or more sensors of the vehicle that detect the environmental condition.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data or new data is received from another vehicle including another one or more sensors that detect the environmental condition, and the another vehicle is in communication with the vehicle.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the environmental condition includes a weather condition in the environment;
the operation includes a performance of the one or more sensors of the vehicle; and
the data or new data is generated by the one or more sensors through a detection of the weather condition by the one or more sensors.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein periodically re-evaluating the environmental condition at the predetermined frequency further comprises:
transmitting a request for an update in the environmental condition at the predetermined frequency; and
receiving the new data in response to the request.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the degradation score is beyond another threshold; and
in response to determining that the degradation score is beyond the another threshold, transmitting one or more third control signals to cause the vehicle to stop.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: in response to determining that the new degradation score is beyond the threshold, transmitting a request for remote assistance, the remote assistance to be provided by a system or person from outside the environment.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the request for remote assistance comprises a request for retrieving the vehicle from the environment.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the one or more first control signals to cause the vehicle to pause the operation comprises:
determining a location where the vehicle can stop and wait for recovery from the degradation; and
transmitting the one or more first control signals to cause the vehicle to move to the location and to stop at the location.
10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: in response to determining that the degradation score or the new degradation score is beyond another threshold, transmitting an instruction of preventing one or more other vehicles from entering the environment.
11 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable to perform operations, the operations comprising:
determining an environmental condition based on data indicating the environmental condition, the environmental condition being a condition of an environment where a vehicle performs an operation for providing a service; and
determining a degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the environmental condition, the degradation score indicating a degradation in an accuracy of one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle (AV), and wherein determining the degradation score comprises quantifying the degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors by comparing real-time sensor data from the one or more sensors to reference sensor data captured at a time where the environmental condition was not present;
determining whether the degradation score is beyond a threshold;
in response to determining that the degradation score is beyond the threshold, transmitting one or more first control signals to cause the vehicle to pause the operation by performing a recovery maneuver selected from the group consisting of:
circling an area;
navigating to a parking area; and
pulling over to a safe location;
while the operation is paused during the recovery maneuver, periodically re-evaluating the environmental condition at a predetermined frequency by:
determining a change in the environmental condition based on new data indicating the environmental condition at a later time; and
determining a new degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the change in the environmental condition, the new degradation score indicating a degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition at the later time;
determining whether the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold; and
in response to determining that the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold, transmitting one or more second control signals to cause the vehicle to resume the operation.
12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the data or new data is received from the one or more sensors of the vehicle that detect the environmental condition.
13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the data or new data is received from another vehicle including another one or more sensors that detect the environmental condition, and the another vehicle is in communication with the vehicle.
14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein:
the environmental condition includes a weather condition in the environment;
the operation includes a performance of the one or more sensors of the vehicle; and
the data or new data is generated by the one or more sensors through a detection of the weather condition by the one or more sensors.
15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein periodically re-evaluating the environmental condition at the predetermined frequency further comprises:
transmitting a request for an update in the environmental condition at the predetermined frequency; and
receiving the new data in response to the request.
16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining whether the degradation score is beyond another threshold; and
in response to determining that the degradation score is beyond the another threshold, transmitting one or more third control signals to cause the vehicle to stop.
17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise: in response to determining that the degradation score or the new degradation score is beyond another threshold, transmitting an instruction of preventing one or more other vehicles from entering the environment.
18 . A computer system, comprising:
a computer processor for executing computer program instructions; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer program instructions executable by the computer processor to perform operations comprising:
determining an environmental condition based on data indicating the environmental condition, the environmental condition being a condition of an environment where a vehicle performs an operation for providing a service; and
determining a degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the environmental condition, the degradation score indicating a degradation in an accuracy of one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle (AV), and wherein determining the degradation score comprises quantifying the degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors by comparing real-time sensor data from the one or more sensors to reference sensor data captured at a time where the environmental condition was not present;
determining whether the degradation score is beyond a threshold;
in response to determining that the degradation score is beyond the threshold, transmitting one or more first control signals to cause the vehicle to pause the operation by performing a recovery maneuver selected from the group consisting of:
circling an area;
navigating to a parking area; and
pulling over to a safe location;
while the operation is paused during the recovery maneuver, periodically re-evaluating the environmental condition at a predetermined frequency by:
determining a change in the environmental condition based on new data indicating the environmental condition at a later time; and
determining a new degradation score for the vehicle based on determining the change in the environmental condition, the new degradation score indicating a degradation in the accuracy of the one or more sensors of the vehicle while operating during the environmental condition at the later time;
determining whether the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold; and
in response to determining that the new degradation score is no greater than the threshold, transmitting one or more second control signals to cause the vehicle to resume the operation.
19 . The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the data or new data is received from one or more sensors of the vehicle that detect the environmental condition or from another vehicle including another one or more sensors that detect the environmental condition.
20 . The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise: in response to determining that the degradation score or the new degradation score is beyond another threshold, transmitting an instruction of preventing one or more other vehicles from entering the environment.