LANE BIAS MANEUVER FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES TO AVOID AN INTRUDING VEHICLE

1 . A system comprising:

a control device associated with an autonomous vehicle and comprising:

a memory configured to store sensor data associated with one or more objects on a road, wherein the sensor data is captured by at least one sensor associated with the autonomous vehicle; and

at least one processor operably coupled to the memory, and configured to at least:

detect a presence of a vehicle from the sensor data;

determine a lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle;

compare the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle with a threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle; and

determine, based at least in part upon the comparison between the lateral distance and the threshold distance, whether to instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform a lane bias maneuver,

wherein the lane bias maneuver comprises driving the autonomous vehicle off center in a current lane traveled by the autonomous vehicle toward an opposite direction with respect to the vehicle until the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is at least equal to the threshold distance.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to at least determine a lane bias amount, wherein the lane bias amount is a distance that the autonomous vehicle moves off center in the current lane until the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is at least equal to the threshold distance.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to at least:

determine a location of a lane marker between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle;

determine that the vehicle is intruding into the current lane in response to determining that the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is less than a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the lane marker;

determine how much of the current lane is intruded by the vehicle;

determine an available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle compared to where the vehicle is detected;

compare the intruded distance in the current lane by the vehicle with the available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle;

determine whether there is enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver based at least in part the comparison between the intruded distance of the current lane by the vehicle with the available distance on the other side of the autonomous vehicle;

in response to determining that there is enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver, instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver; and

in response to determining that there is not enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver, instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform a minimal risk maneuver.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the minimal risk maneuver comprises:

slowing down the autonomous vehicle so that the autonomous vehicle does not drive adjacent to the vehicle; or

speeding up the autonomous vehicle so that the autonomous vehicle does not drive adjacent to the vehicle.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to at least determine that there is enough available distance on the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver if the available distance on the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle is more than or equal to the intruded distance on the current lane by the vehicle.

6 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to at least determine that there is not enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver if the available distance on the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle is less than the intruded distance on the current lane by the vehicle.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to at least:

determine that the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is less than the threshold distance;

determine that there is not enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver;

in response to determining that there is not enough available distance in the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver:

determine whether there is another vehicle on an adjacent lane of the autonomous vehicle;

in response to determining that there is no other vehicle in the adjacent lane:

instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver;

instruct the autonomous vehicle to temporarily drive into the adjacent lane until a distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is equal to the threshold distance; and

instruct the autonomous vehicle to drive back to the current lane when the autonomous vehicle is no longer adjacent to the vehicle.

8 . A method comprising:

detecting a presence of a vehicle from sensor data captured by at least one sensor associated with an autonomous vehicle;

determining a lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle;

comparing the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle with a threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to travel along a road; and

determining, based at least in part upon the comparison between the lateral distance and the threshold distance, whether to instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform a lane bias maneuver,

wherein the lane bias maneuver comprises driving the autonomous vehicle off center in a current lane traveled by the autonomous vehicle toward an opposite direction with respect to the vehicle until the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is at least equal to the threshold distance.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver in response to determining that the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is less than the threshold distance, wherein the vehicle is detected on an adjacent lane on either side of the autonomous vehicle.

10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining whether the lane bias maneuver can be performed within a threshold time period; and

in response to determining that the lane bias maneuver can be performed within the threshold time period, instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver, wherein the vehicle is detected in front and on an adjacent lane on either side of the autonomous vehicle.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining whether the lane bias maneuver can be performed within the threshold time period comprises:

determining a longitudinal distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle;

determining a first speed and a first position of the vehicle;

determining a first trajectory of the vehicle based at least in part upon the first speed and the first position of the vehicle;

determining a second speed and a second position of the autonomous vehicle;

determining a second trajectory of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part upon the second speed and the second position of the autonomous vehicle if the lane bias maneuver is performed;

predicting a future lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle based at least in part upon the first trajectory of the vehicle, the second trajectory of the vehicle, and the longitudinal distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle;

comparing the predicted lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle with the threshold distance; and

performing the lane bias maneuver in response to determining that the predicted lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle will be at least equal to the threshold distance within the threshold time period,

wherein the threshold time period is subject to at least one of traffic on the road, a speed of the autonomous vehicle, and a size of the vehicle.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform a minimal risk maneuver in response to determining that the lane bias maneuver cannot be performed within the threshold time period, wherein the minimal risk maneuver comprises:

slowing down the autonomous vehicle so that the autonomous vehicle does not drive adjacent to the vehicle; or

speeding up the autonomous vehicle so that the autonomous vehicle does not drive adjacent to the vehicle.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining a longitudinal distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is stopped on a side of the road ahead of the autonomous vehicle;

determining how much of the current lane is intruded by the vehicle;

determining an available distance on the current lane on the other side of the autonomous vehicle compared to where the vehicle is detected;

determining that there is enough available distance on the current lane on the other side of the current lane to perform the lane bias maneuver; and

instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver.

14 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining not to instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver in response to determining that a driving pattern of the vehicle indicates that a driving pattern prediction of the vehicle is less than a threshold percentage and that the driving pattern of the vehicle is highly unpredictable.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein:

the driving pattern of the vehicle is determined based at least in part upon a historical driving behavior associated with the vehicle; and

the historical driving behavior indicates that the vehicle has been intruding into other lanes.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

detect a presence of a vehicle from sensor data captured by at least one sensor associated with an autonomous vehicle;

determine a lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to travel along a road;

compare the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle with a threshold distance from the autonomous vehicle; and

determine, based at least in part upon the comparison between the lateral distance and the threshold distance, whether to instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform a lane bias maneuver,

wherein the lane bias maneuver comprises driving the autonomous vehicle off center in a current lane traveled by the autonomous vehicle toward an opposite direction with respect to the vehicle until the lateral distance between the autonomous vehicle and the vehicle is at least equal to the threshold distance.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to maintain a consistent lane bias until the autonomous vehicle is no longer adjacent to the vehicle in response to performing the lane bias maneuver.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein:

the autonomous vehicle comprises a semi-truck tractor unit attached to a trailer;

the road is a curved road; and

the instructions when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a road curvature associated with the road;

determine a trailer angle between the semi-truck tractor unit and the trailer when the autonomous vehicle would reach the road curvature;

calculate a total lane bias adjustment amount based at least in part upon the road curvature and the trailer angle; and

instruct the autonomous vehicle to perform the lane bias maneuver based at least in part upon the total lane bias adjustment amount.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to determine a classification of vehicles based at least in part upon a size of each vehicle, wherein determining whether to perform the lane bias maneuver is further based at least in part upon a particular class to which the vehicle belongs.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the threshold distance is subject to at least one of traffic on the road, a speed of the autonomous vehicle, and a size of the vehicle.