Method to track and to alert autonomous driving vehicles (ADVS) of emergency vehicles

1. A computer-implemented method for operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), the method comprising:

sending current location information of the ADV to an alert service over a network, wherein the alert service is in communication with one or more ADVs;

receiving a broadcast alert signal from the alert service, wherein the alert service has determined that the ADV is or will be located in an alert area, wherein the location of the alert area is determined based on a location of an emergency vehicle having a higher priority of travel;

in response to receiving the broadcast alert signal, examining a current state and the current location of the ADV in view of the alert area to determine whether the ADV should overtake or yield the alert area based on a set of rules;

generating a trajectory to control the ADV to navigate the alert area based on the examination;

controlling the ADV to be in a yield state comprising yielding, by the ADV, to incoming traffic including the emergency vehicle; and

if the ADV is in an intersection, controlling the ADV to move away from the intersection prior to yielding to the incoming traffic.

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

receiving a second broadcast alert signal from the alert service; and

in response to receiving the second broadcast alert signal, controlling the ADV to resume a normal operation of the ADV.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the emergency vehicle is one of the following: a police vehicle, a fire engine, an ambulance, and a police motorcycle.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a current speed information and a current route information of the ADV to the alert service for the alert service to determine whether to broadcast an alert signal to the ADV.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein yielding, by the ADV, to incoming traffic comprises:

signaling by the ADV in advance of decelerating towards a left or a right side of a current road of the ADV;

decelerating the ADV to the left or the right side of the current road; and

stopping near the left or the right side of the current road of the ADV in wait of further instructions.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising if the ADV is currently in an intersection, controlling the ADV to move away from the intersection prior to signaling by the ADV in advance of decelerating.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein an alert area includes one or more road segments, wherein the alert service is triggered to send an alert signal to an ADV situated in the one or more road segments.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

sending a current location information of the ADV to an alert service over a network, wherein the alert service is in communication with one or more ADVs;

receiving a broadcast alert signal from the alert service, wherein the alert service has determined that the ADV is or will be located in an alert area, wherein the location of the alert area is determined based on a location of an emergency vehicle having a higher priority of travel;

in response to receiving the broadcast alert signal, examining a current state and the current location of the ADV in view of the alert area to determine whether the ADV should overtake or yield the alert area based on a set of rules;

generating a trajectory to control the ADV to navigate the alert area based on the examination, controlling the ADV to be in a yield state comprising yielding, by the ADV, to incoming traffic including the emergency vehicle; and

if the ADV is in an intersection, controlling the ADV to move away from the intersection prior to yielding to the incoming traffic.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a second broadcast alert signal from the alert service; and

in response to receiving the second broadcast alert signal, controlling the ADV to resume a normal operation of the ADV.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the emergency vehicle is one of the following: a police vehicle, a fire engine, an ambulance, and a police motorcycle.

11. A data processing system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors to store instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations including

sending a current location information of the ADV to an alert service over a network, wherein the alert service is in communication with one or more ADVs;

receiving a broadcast alert signal from the alert service, wherein the alert service has determined that the ADV is or will be located in an alert area, wherein the location of the alert area is determined based on a location of an emergency vehicle having a higher priority of travel;

in response to receiving the broadcast alert signal, examining a current state and the current location of the ADV in view of the alert area to determine whether the ADV should overtake or yield the alert area based on a set of rules;

generating a trajectory to control the ADV to navigate the alert area based on the examination,

controlling the ADV to be in a yield state comprising yielding, by the ADV, to incoming traffic including the emergency vehicle; and

if the ADV is in an intersection, controlling the ADV to move away from the intersection prior to yielding to the incoming traffic.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a second broadcast alert signal from the alert service; and

in response to receiving the second broadcast alert signal, controlling the ADV to resume a normal operation of the ADV.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the emergency vehicle is one of the following: a police vehicle, a fire engine, an ambulance, and a police motorcycle.

14. A computer-implemented method for operating an alert service to broadcast alert signals to autonomous driving vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving current location information from one or more emergency vehicles, the emergency vehicles having a higher priority of travel on roads;

determining one or more alert areas based on the location information for the one or more emergency vehicles;

receiving current location information from one or more ADVs;

determining if any of the ADVs will enter or is currently within a predetermined proximity of the one or more alert areas based on the current location information of the ADVs; and

broadcasting an alert signal to an ADV, in response to determining that the ADV will enter or is currently within the predetermined proximity of the one or more alert areas, wherein in response to receiving the broadcast alert signal, if the ADV is in an intersection, the ADV is to move away from the intersection prior to yielding to incoming traffic.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving an updated location information from the one or more emergency vehicles;

determining one or more updated alert areas based on the updated location information of the one or more emergency vehicles;

receiving updated current location information from the ADVs;

determining if any of the ADVs will exit or has exited from a predetermined proximity of the one or more updated alert areas based on the updated current location information of the ADVs; and

broadcasting a second alert signal to the ADVs, in response to determining that the ADVs will exit or has already exited from a predetermined proximity of the one or more updated alert areas.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving a speed information or a route information from the one or more emergency vehicles.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the alert area is determined based on the speed or the route information of the one or more emergency vehicles.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein an alert area, corresponding to an emergency vehicle, is determined by,

determining a current heading and a current direction of the emergency vehicle;

determining a plurality of possible vehicle controls based on the current heading and the current direction of the emergency vehicle; and

mapping out road segments based on the plurality of possible vehicle controls as possible locations for the emergency vehicle to arrive at after a predetermined period of time, wherein the road segments are used as the alert area.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , further comprising extending the road segments for a predetermined length and using the extending road segments as the alert area.