IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,225,262

Granted Patent B2

US 11,225,262 · App. 16/457,668 · Granted Jan 18, 2022

Remotely supervised passenger intervention of an autonomous vehicle

Inventor: Jiang Zhang (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Beijing DiDi Infinity Technology and Development Co., Ltd.

B60W50/10 B60W50/14 H04L63/0823 B60W2050/0075 B60W2050/0083 B60W2050/146 B60W2520/06 B60W2520/10 B60W2556/45 G05D1/0061 G05D1/0088 G05D1/0276 G05D2201/0213

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 11,225,262
App. No.: 16/457,668
Granted: Jan 18, 2022
Kind: B2

External Links

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Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for managing user intervention for a vehicle are provided. One of the methods includes: receiving an instruction to initiate an intervention session from a server, and providing, in response to receiving the instruction, a user interface associated with the intervention session for display on a terminal associated with the vehicle. The method further includes detecting, at the terminal, a user interaction corresponding to a command associated with operation of the vehicle, and generating a decision associated with the operation of the vehicle based at least in part on the command.

Claims (94)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer device from a terminal associated with a vehicle, a request of a user for initiating an intervention session;

determining, by the computer device, whether the user has an authorized intervention session;

in response to determining that the user does not have the authorized intervention session:

forwarding, by the computer device, the request and information associated with a status of the vehicle to a server; and

receiving, by the computer device, an instruction to initiate the intervention session from the server;

in response to determining that the user has the authorized intervention session, reusing, by the computer device, the authorized intervention session as the intervention session,

displaying, by the computer device, a user interface associated with the intervention session on the terminal associated with the vehicle;

detecting, by the computer device from the user interface on the terminal, a user-level command for operating the vehicle to achieve an effect;

determining, by the computer device, whether to reject the user-level command for operating the vehicle based on sensor data collected by one or more sensors associated with the vehicle;

in response to determining not to reject the user-level command, generating, by the computer device based on the user-level command for operating the vehicle, a bus-level command for operating the vehicle to achieve the effect of the user-level command;

in response to determining to reject the user-level command, generating, by the computer device based on the sensor data, an alternative command for operating the vehicle to achieve the effect of the user-level command; and

sending, by the computer device to the server, a vehicle operation report comprising the user-level command.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-level command comprises:

instructions associated with a movement direction of the vehicle;

instructions associated with a speed of the vehicle; or

instructions associated with a destination for navigation of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

enabling a state flag indicating that the intervention session is authorized.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprise:

environmental information; and

speed, direction, elevation, and orientation of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining updated information associated with the status of the vehicle;

sending the updated information to the server; and

displaying the updated information in the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at the terminal, a user input comprising a request for terminating the intervention session;

terminating the intervention session in response to the received user input, wherein the terminating comprises disabling a state flag that indicates the intervention session is authorized; and

sending a report to the server indicating that the intervention session has been terminated.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a new command from the server to override the user-level command.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the server, a command to terminate the intervention session; and

terminating the intervention session in response to the command from the server, wherein the terminating comprises disabling a state flag that indicates the intervention session is authorized.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instruction comprises a digital certificate, and wherein the method further comprises:

verifying an identity of the server based on the digital certificate.

10. A system for managing user intervention, comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the system to perform operations comprising:

receiving from a terminal associated with a vehicle, a request of a user for initiating an intervention session;

determining whether the user has an authorized intervention session;

in response to determining that the user does not have the authorized intervention session:

forwarding the request and information associated with a status of the vehicle to a server; and

receiving an instruction to initiate the intervention session from the server;

in response to determining that the user has the authorized intervention session, reusing the authorized intervention session as the intervention session,

displaying a user interface associated with the intervention session on the terminal associated with the vehicle;

detecting, from the user interface on the terminal, a user-level command for operating the vehicle to achieve an effect;

determining whether to reject the user-level command for operating the vehicle based on sensor data collected by one or more sensors associated with the vehicle;

in response to determining not to reject the user-level command, generating, based on the user-level command for operating the vehicle, a bus-level command for operating the vehicle to achieve the effect of the user-level command;

in response to determining to reject the user-level command, generating, based on the sensor data, an alternative command for operating the vehicle to achieve the effect of the user-level command; and

sending to the server a vehicle operation report comprising the user-level command.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

enabling a state flag indicating that the intervention session is authorized.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining updated information associated with the status of the vehicle;

sending the updated information to the server; and

displaying the updated information in the user interface.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a new command from the server to override the user-level command.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the server, a command to terminate the intervention session; and

terminating the intervention session in response to the command from the server.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured with instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: