Systems and methods for brake redundancy for an autonomous vehicle

1. An autonomous vehicle braking system, comprising:

a primary brake control module comprising one or more processors, the primary brake control module configured to:

receive, from a vehicle autonomy system, a braking command; and

in response to receiving the braking command, brake an autonomous vehicle by sending one or more control signals to a brake system; and

a secondary brake control module comprising one or more processors, wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to:

receive the braking command from at least one of the vehicle autonomy system or the primary brake control module;

determine, based at least in part on the braking command, a failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the primary brake control module receiving the braking command; and

in response to determining the failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle, implement a braking action for the autonomous vehicle.

2. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to determine that the primary brake control module has failed to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the braking command based at least in part on data indicative of a vehicle state.

3. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 2 , further comprising at least one of a wheel speed sensor or an inertial measurement unit; and

wherein the data indicative of the vehicle state comprises data from at least one of the wheel speed sensor or the inertial measurement unit.

4. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the braking command from at least one of the vehicle autonomy system or the primary brake control module comprises receiving the braking command from a vehicle interface module of the vehicle autonomy system.

5. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to implement the braking action by controlling a hydraulic braking system to brake the autonomous vehicle.

6. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to implement the braking action by controlling an electronic parking brake to brake the autonomous vehicle.

7. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a primary power source configured to provide power to the primary brake control module; and

an auxiliary power source configured to provide power to the secondary brake control module.

8. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 7 , wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to determine the primary brake control module has failed to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the braking command by determining the primary power source has faulted.

9. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an arbitration module configured to receive a primary brake control signal from the primary brake control module and a secondary brake control signal from the secondary brake control module; and

wherein the arbitration module is further configured to implement the braking action based at least in part on the primary brake control signal or the secondary brake control signal.

10. The autonomous vehicle braking system of claim 1 , wherein the primary brake control module is configured to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the braking command from the vehicle autonomy system of the autonomous vehicle by providing a control signal to the secondary brake control module; and

wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to brake the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the control signal.

11. A method for braking an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors of a secondary brake control module, a braking command for a primary brake control module of the autonomous vehicle;

determining, by the one or more processors, a failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the primary brake control module receiving the braking command based at least in part on the braking command; and

in response to determining the failure of the primary brake control module, implementing, by the one or more processors, a braking action to brake the autonomous vehicle;

wherein the braking command is received from at least one of the vehicle autonomy system or the primary brake control module.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving, by the one or more processors, the braking command for the primary brake control module of the autonomous vehicle comprises receiving, by the one or more processors, the braking command for the primary brake control module from a vehicle autonomy system.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining, by the one or more processors, the failure of the primary brake control module based at least in part on the braking command comprises determining, by the one or more processors, a failure of the primary brake control module to control a brake system of the autonomous vehicle to brake the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, data indicative of a vehicle state; and

wherein determining, by the one or more processors, the failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle comprises determining, by the one or more processors, the failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of the vehicle state.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein receiving, by the one or more processors, data indicative of the vehicle state comprises receiving, by the one or more processors, data indicative of the vehicle state from a wheel speed sensor or an inertial measurement unit of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining, by the one or more processors, the failure of the primary brake control module based at least in part on the braking command comprises determining, by the one or more processors, a fault of a primary power source configured to provide power to the primary brake control module.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein implementing, by the one or more processors, the braking action to brake the autonomous vehicle comprises controlling a hydraulic braking system to brake the autonomous vehicle.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein implementing, by the one or more processors, the braking action to brake the autonomous vehicle comprises controlling an electronic parking brake to brake the autonomous vehicle.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein implementing, by the one or more processors, the braking action to brake the autonomous vehicle comprises providing a brake signal to an arbitration module of the autonomous vehicle.

20. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle autonomy system comprising one or more processors, the vehicle autonomy system configured to generate a braking command for the autonomous vehicle; and

a braking system, comprising:

a primary brake control module comprising one or more processors, the primary brake control module configured to:

receive, from the vehicle autonomy system, the braking command; and

in response to receiving the braking command, brake an autonomous vehicle by sending one or more control signals to a brake system; and

a secondary brake control module comprising one or more processors, wherein the secondary brake control module is configured to:

receive the braking command from at least one of the vehicle autonomy system or the primary brake control module;

determine, based at least in part on the braking command, a failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle in response to the primary brake control module receiving the braking command; and

in response to determining the failure of the primary brake control module to brake the autonomous vehicle, implement a braking action for the autonomous vehicle.