MIXED-MODE DRIVING OF A VEHICLE HAVING AUTONOMOUS DRIVING CAPABILITIES
Among other things, a vehicle having autonomous driving capabilities is operated in a mixed driving mode.
1 . A vehicle comprising:
driving components including an acceleration component, a steering component, and a deceleration component;
autonomous driving capabilities to issue signals to the driving components to drive the vehicle in an autonomous driving mode;
manual driving capabilities to enable the driving components to be used to drive the vehicle in a manual driving mode; and
a supervisory component to issue signals to cause the vehicle to be driven only in the autonomous driving mode, only in the manual driving mode, or only in a predefined other driving mode.
2 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component comprises elements on board the vehicle.
3 . The vehicle of claim 2 , in which the elements of the supervisory component that are on board the vehicle comprise only a portion of the elements of the supervisory component.
4 . The vehicle of claim 1 , comprising wireless communication components configured to carry data and commands to and from a central server.
5 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on information from sensors that detect conditions of the vehicle.
6 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on information about one or more occupants of the vehicle.
7 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on information about an environment of the vehicle.
8 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a preference of one or more of occupants.
9 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a physical condition of one or more of occupants.
10 . The method of claim 9 , in which the physical condition comprises a condition requiring emergency medical care.
11 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on an identity of one or more of occupants.
12 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a license to manually drive the vehicle.
13 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a degree of danger associated with one or more parcels on board the vehicle.
14 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a degree of danger associated with a driving environment of the vehicle.
15 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on presence on board the vehicle of an occupant who has a preference for one of the driving modes.
16 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a presence of an occupant in a driver's seat of the vehicle.
17 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on sensors configured to sense a condition on board the vehicle.
18 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a data source not on board the vehicle.
19 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a booking.
20 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on profile information of an occupant of the vehicle.
21 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a command from a remote operator.
22 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on a driving environment of the vehicle.
23 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to issue the signals based on one or more autonomous driving capabilities being disabled or enabled.
24 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to smooth a speed of the vehicle transitioning from a current driving mode and a next driving mode.
25 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to evaluate a trajectory towards a goal position under a next driving mode.
26 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to evaluate authentication of one or more occupants under a next driving mode.
27 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to recommend a next driving mode.
28 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to infer one or more intermediate driving modes between a current driving mode and a next driving mode.
29 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to use a probabilistic model to optimally determine a next driving mode.
30 . The vehicle of claim 1 , in which the supervisory component is configured to reject switching to a next driving mode when the next driving mode is infeasible or unsafe.