Safety filter with preview data to improve the safety of steer commands

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, by a computing system, a lane-keeping safe set associated with constraints on lateral movement of a vehicle traveling on a road, wherein

the constraints include safety constraints comprising a maximum allowed deviation from a heading of the vehicle,

the constraints include performance objectives, and

the performance objectives include a minimum allowed lateral offset from a planned path of the vehicle;

obtaining, by the computing system, known characteristics of a road ahead of the vehicle;

generating, by the computing system, a lane-keeping safe set with preview based on the lane-keeping safe set and preview data, the preview data associated with the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle; and

steering, by the computing system, the vehicle based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the preview data further comprises at least one of:

positions of lane boundaries of the road ahead of the vehicle;

positions of a planned path of the vehicle; and

road bank information of the road ahead of the vehicle.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the computing system, a steer command to control the lateral movement of the vehicle; and

generating, by the computing system, a safe steer command by modifying the steer command based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining, by the computing system, the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle from at least one of an inertial monitoring unit (IMU) onboard the vehicle, a current heading of the vehicle, and an electronic map of the road ahead of the vehicle.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the lane-keeping safe set comprises:

selecting the lane-keeping safe set from a library comprising a plurality of the lane- keeping safe sets based on at least one of:

a current operational design domain (ODD) of the vehicle; and

an identity of the vehicle.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, by the computing system, the lane-keeping safe set.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the lane-keeping safe set is generated based on at least one of:

a position of the vehicle;

a velocity of the vehicle;

an acceleration of the vehicle;

a lateral wind speed at the vehicle;

a lateral wind direction at the vehicle; and

dynamics of an actuator of the vehicle.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the safety constraints further comprise at least one of:

a maximum allowed lateral offset from a planned path of the vehicle; and

a maximum allowed lateral acceleration of the vehicle.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the lane-keeping safe set comprises the safety constraints, and wherein the safety constraints are formulated as a control barrier function (CBF).

10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a lane-keeping safe set associated with constraints on lateral movement of a vehicle traveling on a road, wherein

the constraints include safety constraints comprising a maximum allowed deviation from a heading of the vehicle,

the constraints include performance objectives, and

the performance objectives include a minimum allowed lateral offset from a planned path of the vehicle;

obtaining known characteristics of a road ahead of the vehicle;

generating a lane-keeping safe set with preview based on the lane-keeping safe set and preview data, the preview data associated with the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle; and

steering the vehicle based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the preview data further comprises at least one of:

positions of lane boundaries of the road ahead of the vehicle;

positions of a planned path of the vehicle; and

road bank information of the road ahead of the vehicle.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:

receiving a steer command to control the lateral movement of the vehicle; and

generating a safe steer command by modifying the steer command based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:

obtaining the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle from at least one of an inertial monitoring unit (IMU) onboard the vehicle, a current heading of the vehicle, and an electronic map of the road ahead of the vehicle.

14 . A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a lane-keeping safe set associated with constraints on lateral movement of a vehicle traveling on a road, wherein

the constraints include safety constraints comprising a maximum allowed deviation from a heading of the vehicle,

the constraints include performance objectives, and

the performance objectives include a minimum allowed lateral offset from a planned path of the vehicle;

obtaining known characteristics of a road ahead of the vehicle;

generating a lane-keeping safe set with preview based on the lane-keeping safe set and preview data, the preview data associated with the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle; and

steering the vehicle based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the preview data further comprises at least one of:

positions of lane boundaries of the road ahead of the vehicle;

positions of a planned path of the vehicle; and

road bank information of the road ahead of the vehicle.

16 . The system of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:

receiving a steer command to control the lateral movement of the vehicle; and

generating a safe steer command by modifying the steer command based on the lane-keeping safe set with preview.

17 . The system of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:

obtaining the known characteristics of the road ahead of the vehicle from at least one of an inertial monitoring unit (IMU) onboard the vehicle, a current heading of the vehicle, and an electronic map of the road ahead of the vehicle.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein obtaining the lane-keeping safe set comprises:

selecting the lane-keeping safe set from a library comprising a plurality of the lane-keeping safe sets based on at least one of:

a current operational design domain (ODD) of the vehicle; and

an identity of the vehicle.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

generating, by the computing system, the lane-keeping safe set,

wherein the lane-keeping safe set is generated based on at least one of:

a position of the vehicle;

a velocity of the vehicle;

an acceleration of the vehicle;

a lateral wind speed at the vehicle;

a lateral wind direction at the vehicle; and

dynamics of an actuator of the vehicle.

20 . The system of claim 14 , wherein obtaining the lane-keeping safe set comprises:

selecting the lane-keeping safe set from a library comprising a plurality of the lane-keeping safe sets based on at least one of:

a current operational design domain (ODD) of the vehicle; and

an identity of the vehicle.