Drive mode selection

1 . A method for navigating a vehicle from an origin location to a destination location, comprising:

receiving, from a requester, the origin location and the destination location;

receiving from a drive mode selector a particular drive mode for a particular route segment located between the origin location and the destination location;

planning, by a route planning module based on the drive mode selector, a route from the origin location to the destination location, wherein the route comprises one or more route segments and the particular drive mode is assigned to the particular route segment;

determining, a first transition point between the origin location and the destination location that partitions a portion of the route between the origin location to the destination location into a first route segment and a second route segment,

wherein the first transition point is determined based at least in part on a determination that a stored path is available for the first route segment and whether a high-definition map including high-definition map information is available,

wherein the vehicle is driven according to a first drive mode in the first route segment that ends at the first transition point and the vehicle is driven according to a second drive mode in the second route segment that starts at the first transition point,

wherein the first transition point is a location that the high-definition map information is not available,

wherein the first drive mode is different from the second drive mode, and if the first drive mode is an autonomous drive mode then the second mode is a non-autonomous drive mode or if the first drive mode is the non-autonomous drive mode then the second drive mode is the autonomous driving mode, and

wherein the first drive mode is a stored-path drive mode defined by the stored path available for the first route segment, and the second drive mode is selected from available drive modes, the first drive mode indicating a corresponding way of operating the vehicle while traveling on the first route segment and the second drive mode indicating a corresponding way of operating the vehicle on the second route segment;

providing the first transition point, the first route segment, and the second route segment to the requester;

determining a second transition point between a current location of the vehicle and the destination location that partitions at least a portion of the second route segment into a third route segment and a fourth route segment,

wherein the second transition point is determined based at least in part on at least one constraint for navigating the vehicle,

wherein the vehicle is to be driven according to a third drive mode in the third route segment that ends at the second transition point and the vehicle is to be driven according to a fourth drive mode in the fourth route segment that starts at the second transition point,

wherein the third drive mode is selected from the available drive modes and is different from the fourth drive mode,

wherein the fourth drive mode is a manual drive mode when the at least one constraint comprises obstruction information between the current location and the destination location, and

wherein the available drive modes are the autonomous drive mode, the non-autonomous drive mode, a tele-operator assisted drive mode, a manual drive mode, a stored-path drive mode, and a driver-assistance drive mode; and

generating an optimized route with optimization criterion that is based upon a user desire related to conditions and constraints under which a drive mode is applied.

2 . The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the available drive modes comprise the tele-operator assisted drive mode, where a remote operator remotely operates the vehicle along the stored path,

wherein satellite image information is available for only the second route segment so that the second mode along the second route segment is a non-autonomous drive mode.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first transition point comprises:

receiving a second constraint for navigating the vehicle; and

determining the first transition point based on the second constraint.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving the at least one constraint for navigating the vehicle from a public sensor, wherein the at least one constraint comprises traffic information, and wherein the traffic information comprises timing information of traffic signs and queue lengths information at the traffic signs.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one constraint comprises obstruction information between the origin location and the destination location.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one constraint for navigating the vehicle comprises a selected drive mode to be used as the fourth drive mode.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

aggregating traffic information over a period of time related to the route and

generating an alternate route based on the traffic information aggregated.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining obstruction information between the origin location and the destination location and

updating the alternate route based upon the obstruction information.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimization criterion relates to maximizing a duration the autonomous driving mode is applied between the origin location and the destination location.

10 . A system for routing a vehicle from an origin location to a destination location, comprising:

a drive-mode selector configured to:

receive from a requester the origin location and the destination location;

receive from a drive mode selector a particular drive mode for a particular route segment located between the origin location and the destination location;

plan, by a route planning module based on the drive mode selector, a route from the origin location to the destination location, wherein the route comprises one or more route segments and the particular drive mode is assigned to the particular route segment;

determine transition points between the origin location and the destination location, wherein the transition points partition the route between the origin location and the destination location into the one or more route segments, and

generate an optimized route with optimization criterion that is based upon a user desire related to conditions and constraints under which a drive mode is applied;

wherein a first transition point of the transition points between a first route segment of the one or more route segments and a second route segment of the one or more route segments is determined based at least in part on a determination that 1) no high-definition map information is available and satellite image information is available for the first route segment, and 2) whether high-definition map information is available for the second route segment, and

wherein a second transition point of the transition points between a third route segment of the one or more route segments and a fourth route segment of the one or more route segments is determined based at least in part on at least one constraint for navigating the vehicle; and

determine a first drive mode for the first route segment, a second drive mode for the second route segment, a third drive mode for the third route segment, and a fourth drive mode for the fourth route segment,

wherein the first drive mode is defined by a tele-operator drive mode where a remote operator remotely operates the vehicle along the first route segment and the second drive mode is defined by an autonomous drive mode where the vehicle is autonomously driven along the second route segment,

wherein the third drive mode is defined by an autonomous drive mode along a third route segment, and

wherein the fourth drive mode is defined by a manual drive mode when the at least one constraint comprises obstruction information and the high-definition map information is not available; and

a vehicle-control module configured to:

control the vehicle according to the first drive mode in the first route segment, the second drive mode in the second route segment, the third drive mode in the third route segment, and the fourth drive mode in the fourth route segment.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the drive-mode selector is further configured to:

receive waypoints between the origin location and the destination location, wherein a waypoint is a location between the origin location and the destination location that the vehicle is to pass through or by.

12 . The system of claim 10 ,

wherein the drive-mode selector is further configured to:

receive the optimization criterion; and

determine the transition points between the origin location and the destination location using the optimization criterion.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the optimization criterion is to maximize a duration of the autonomous drive mode between the origin location and the destination location.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the optimization criterion is to minimize a driving time between the origin location and the destination location.

15 . The system of claim 10 ,

wherein the drive-mode selector is further configured to:

receive a selected drive mode between a first intermediate location and a second intermediate location, the first intermediate location and the second intermediate location forming a route segment of the route segments;

wherein to determine the transition points between the origin location and the destination location comprises to:

include the first intermediate location and the second intermediate location in the determined transition points; and

wherein to determine the respective drive modes for the route segments comprises to:

select the selected drive mode for the route segment.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the vehicle-control module is further configured to:

in response to determining that a waypoint is at a predefined distance of a current location of the vehicle and that the tele-operator drive mode is to be used at the waypoint, initiating a request to the remote operator to assist in driving the vehicle.

17 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the vehicle-control module is further configured to:

notify, in response to determining that a waypoint is at a predefined distance of a current location of the vehicle and that the manual drive mode is to be used at the waypoint, instruct a user to place a hand on a steering control of the vehicle.

18 . An apparatus for routing a vehicle from an origin location to a destination location, comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive a request to determine a route from the origin location to the destination location;

determine the route from the origin location to the destination location;

partition the route from the origin location to the destination location into route segments based at least in part on:

whether respective high-definition map data are available for at least some of the route segments,

whether a stored path is available for a first route segment of the route segments comprising at least the first route segment and a second route segment, and

a determination that the stored path is available for the first route segment,

wherein the stored path includes a path previously followed by the vehicle according to instructions of a human operator and the path previously followed by the vehicle is recorded,

wherein no high-definition map data is available for the first route segment and high-definition map data is available for the second route segment, and

wherein the first route segment and the second route segment are successive route segments;

assign a first drive mode to the first route segment, wherein the first drive mode is a non-autonomous drive mode and

assign a second drive mode to the second route segment, wherein the second drive mode is an autonomous drive mode,

wherein the first drive mode is defined by a stored-path drive mode,

wherein the first route segment, the second route segment, the first drive mode, and the second drive mode are selected based on availability of mapping data of the first route segment and the second route segment; and

provide, to the vehicle, the first route segment, the second route segment, the first drive mode, and the second drive mode;

receive at least one constraint for navigating the vehicle, wherein the at least one constraint is located between a current location of the vehicle and the destination location;

determine a route from the current location to the destination location;

partition the route from the current location to the destination location into a third route segment and a fourth route segment based at least in part on a location of the at least one constraint,

wherein the third route segment and the fourth route segment are successive route segments; and

assign a third drive mode to the third route segment and a fourth drive mode to the fourth route segment,

wherein the third drive mode is different from the fourth drive mode and the third drive mode is one of an available drive mode that includes a tele-operator assisted drive mode, a stored-path drive mode, and a driver-assistance drive mode, and

wherein the fourth drive mode is a manual drive mode when the at least one constraint comprises obstruction information between the current location and the destination location; and

generate an optimized route with optimization criterion that is based upon a user desire related to conditions and constraints under which a drive mode is applied.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine, using traffic information, at least some of the route segments,

wherein the traffic information includes at least two of traffic lights durations, traffic queue lengths at the traffic lights, or obstruction information.

20 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the at least one constraint comprises obstruction information between the origin location and the destination location.