Granted Patent B2

US 12,252,200 · App. 17/957,756 · Granted Mar 18, 2025

Inventors: Joseph Funke (Redwood City, CA); Liam Gallagher (San Francisco, CA); Marin Kobilarov (Baltimore, MD); Vincent Andreas Laurense (Foster City, CA); Mark Jonathon McClelland (San Francisco, CA); Sriram Narayanan (San Jose, CA); Kazuhide Okamoto (Mountain View, CA); Jack Riley (San Francisco, CA); Jeremy Schwartz (Redwood City, CA); Jacob Patrick Thalman (San Francisco, CA); Olivier Amaury Toupet (Escondido, CA); David Evan Zlotnik (Menlo Park, CA)

Assignee: Zoox, Inc.

B62D7/159B62D15/025B62D15/0255B62D15/0265

Abstract

Claims (82)

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

determining a position of a vehicle in an environment, the position comprising two-dimensional coordinates and a yaw value;

determining a heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the position, wherein the heading vector comprises a heading direction;

determining a sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the sideslip vector comprises a sideslip direction that is different from the heading direction;

determining a curvature of the vehicle by:

determining a predicted heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;

determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and

determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading vector and the heading vector;

determining a plurality of candidate paths for traversing the environment based at least in part on the curvature;

determining an operational vehicle path from among the plurality of candidate paths;

determining an operational trajectory for controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the operational vehicle path; and

controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the operational trajectory.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the position, the heading vector, and the sideslip vector are based at least in part on a longitudinal center point of a wheelbase of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

determining the plurality of candidate paths comprises:

determining that an object is represented in the environment;

determining a candidate path based at least in part on the curvature; and

determining a perpendicular distance between the object and the candidate path; and

determining the operational vehicle path from among the plurality of candidate paths comprises:

determining the candidate path as the operational vehicle path based at least in part on the perpendicular distance between the object and the candidate path.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the vehicle comprises four-wheel steering components; and

determining the operational trajectory comprises determining a four-wheel steering control that controls the four-wheel steering components.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein:

determining the four-wheel steering control comprises determining steering angle data based at least in part on the sideslip vector; and

the four-wheel steering control causes the steering angle data to be provided to the four-wheel steering components.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform operations comprising:

determining a heading vector associated with a vehicle based at least in part on a position of the vehicle in an environment, wherein the heading vector comprises a heading direction;

determining a sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the sideslip vector comprises a sideslip direction that is different from the heading direction;

determining a curvature associated with the vehicle by:

determining a predicted heading vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;

determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and

determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading vector and the heading vector;

determining a path for traversing the environment based at least in part on the curvature; and

providing the path to a vehicle trajectory determination system.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:

determining a cost associated with the path; and

determining the path from among a plurality of candidate paths based at least in part on the cost.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the cost associated with the path is based at least in part on one or more of:

vehicle rotation associated with the path;

vehicle translation associated with the path;

vehicle ride quality associated with the path; or

vehicle safety associated with the path.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:

determining a perpendicular distance between an object in the environment and the path; and

determining the path from among a plurality of candidate paths based at least in part on the perpendicular distance.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the curvature is further based at least in part on a path segment length.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein the predicted direction of motion corresponds to a predicted heading direction of the predicted heading vector.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein:

the velocity comprises lateral velocity;

the position comprises a yaw value;

the predicted position of the vehicle comprises a predicted yaw value; and

the predicted yaw value corresponds to the yaw value.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , wherein:

the predicted velocity comprises a predicted lateral velocity; and

the predicted lateral velocity is different than the lateral velocity.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein determining the path comprises:

determining a predicted sideslip vector associated with the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity;

determining a corridor for the path based at least in part on the sideslip vector and the predicted sideslip vector; and

determining the path based at least in part on the corridor.

15. A method comprising:

determining a position of a vehicle in an environment,

determining a heading direction for the vehicle based at least in part on the position;

determining a sideslip vector for the vehicle based at least in part on a direction of motion of the vehicle and a velocity, wherein the direction of motion of the vehicle is different from the heading direction;

determining a curvature associated with the vehicle by:

determining a predicted heading direction for the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted position of the vehicle;

determining a predicted sideslip vector for the vehicle based at least in part on a predicted direction of motion of the vehicle and a predicted velocity; and

determining the curvature based at least in part on a difference between the predicted sideslip vector and the sideslip vector and a difference between the predicted heading direction and the heading direction;

determining a path for traversing the environment based at least in part on the curvature; and

controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the path.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein controlling the vehicle comprises providing a change of vehicle direction of motion to a four-wheel steering component configured at the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the path comprises:

detecting an object in the environment;

determining a predicted sideslip vector of the vehicle;

determining the path further based at least in part on the predicted sideslip vector;

determining a perpendicular distance between a location of the object and the path; and

determining the path from among a plurality of candidate paths based at least in part on the perpendicular distance.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the velocity comprises lateral velocity.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the curvature is further based at least in part on a path arc length.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein position comprises two- dimensional coordinates of a center point of a wheelbase of the vehicle.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (60)