Autonomous vehicle sensor cleaning system

1. A sensor cleaning system that provides individualized cleaning of autonomous vehicle sensors, the sensor cleaning system comprising:

a plurality of sensor cleaning units configured to respectively clean a plurality of sensors of an autonomous vehicle;

a fluid source that supplies a fluid, wherein the fluid source comprises a tank that stores a pressurized volume of the fluid;

a plurality of flow control devices that respectively control a flow of the fluid from the fluid source to the plurality of sensor cleaning units, wherein the plurality of flow control devices comprise a plurality of solenoids that are included in a solenoid manifold that is physically located within the pressurized volume of the fluid, and

one or more controllers that comprise one or more processors, the one or more controllers configured to individually control each respective flow control device to allow the flow of the fluid to the corresponding sensor cleaning unit to enable the corresponding sensor cleaning unit to individually clean the corresponding sensor;

wherein the sensor cleaning system is configured to use a fluid that comprises a gas or a liquid.

2. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises a gas.

3. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises a liquid.

4. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are configured to:

determine when a particular sensor of the plurality of sensors requires cleaning; and

in response to the determination that the particular sensor requires cleaning, control a particular flow control device that corresponds to such particular sensor to allow the flow of the fluid to the corresponding sensor cleaning unit to enable the corresponding sensor cleaning unit to individually clean the particular sensor.

5. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein:

each of the plurality of sensors collects respective sensor data; and

the one or more controllers are further configured to determine that a first sensor of the plurality of sensors requires cleaning based at least in part on first sensor data collected by the first sensor.

6. The sensor cleaning system of claim 5 , wherein:

the first sensor comprises a first camera that captures first imagery; and

the one or more controllers are further configured to determine that the first camera requires cleaning based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the first imagery captured by the first camera.

7. The sensor cleaning system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more controllers determine that the first camera requires cleaning based at least in part on at least one of a sharpness and a brightness of at least a portion of a first frame included in the first imagery captured by the first camera.

8. The sensor cleaning system of claim 6 , wherein, to determine that the first camera requires cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect an occlusion exhibited at a same location in a plurality of frames included in the first imagery captured by the first camera.

9. The sensor cleaning system of claim 5 , wherein, to determine that the first sensor requires cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect a disappearance of an observed object.

10. The sensor cleaning system of claim 5 , wherein, to determine that the first sensor requires cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect an absence of an object that is expected to be observed.

11. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , wherein an entirety of the sensor cleaning system exclusive of wiring is physically located external to a cab of the autonomous vehicle.

12. The sensor cleaning system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller area network, wherein the one or more controllers transmit control signals on the controller area network to control the plurality of flow control devices.

13. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a plurality of sensors; and

a sensor cleaning system that performs individualized cleaning of the plurality of sensors of the autonomous vehicle, the sensor cleaning system comprising:

a plurality of sensor cleaning units configured to respectively clean the plurality of sensors of the autonomous vehicle;

a fluid source that supplies a fluid, wherein the fluid source comprises a tank that stores a pressurized volume of the fluid;

a plurality of flow control devices that respectively control a flow of the fluid from the fluid source to the plurality of sensor cleaning units, wherein the plurality of flow control devices comprise a plurality of solenoids that are included in a solenoid manifold that is physically located within the pressurized volume of the fluid; and

one or more controllers that comprise one or more processors, the one or more controllers configured to:

determine that a first sensor of the plurality of sensors requires cleaning; and

individually control a first flow control device that corresponds to a first sensor cleaning unit that corresponds to the first sensor to allow the flow of the fluid to the first sensor cleaning unit to enable the first sensor cleaning unit to individually clean the first sensor.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the fluid comprises a gas.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the fluid comprises a liquid.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 13 , wherein:

each of the plurality of sensors collects respective sensor data; and

the one or more controllers determine that the first sensor requires cleaning based at least in part on first sensor data collected by the first sensor.