Granted Patent B2

US 12,736,682 · App. 18/826,645 · Granted Sep 15, 2026

Inventor: Siegwart Bogatscher (Leonberg, DE)

Assignee: TORC Robotics, Inc.

G01S17/931B60W60/001G01S7/4817G01S7/497G01S17/86G01S17/89G06T7/80G06V20/58B60W2420/403B60W2420/408G06T2207/10028G06T2207/30261

Abstract

Claims (45)

1 . A blind zone visualization system for an autonomous vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one visual sensor mounted on a roof of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a pair of sensors positioned on the roof at opposite sides of a lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle;

at least one mirror mounted on a hood of the autonomous vehicle, the at least one mirror configured to redirect a portion of a field of view (FOV) of the at least one visual sensor into a volume of space in front of the autonomous vehicle; and

at least one processor programmed to execute computer-readable instructions that cause the at least one processor to:

receive sensor data output from the at least one visual sensor and representative of the volume of space;

detect, from the sensor data, no obstacle is present in the volume of space; and

transmit a first signal to a control system of the autonomous vehicle to control the autonomous vehicle to travel forward through the volume of space.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

detect, from the sensor data, that an obstacle is present in the volume of space; and

transmit a second signal to the control system to restrict the autonomous vehicle from traveling forward into the volume of space.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises one of a camera and a LiDAR sensor.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a combination of a camera and a LiDAR sensor.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one visual sensor further comprises a single sensor located at a center of the roof.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mirror comprises a first mirror on one side of the hood, and a second mirror on other side of hood.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a first visual sensor and a second visual sensor positioned on opposite sides of the lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a first visual sensor and a second visual sensor positioned on opposite sides of the lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle, the first mirror redirects a portion of the FOV of the first visual sensor into the volume of space, and the second mirror redirects a portion of the FOV of the second visual sensor into the volume of space.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

measure, from the sensor data, at least one calibration pixel and at least one redirected pixel of the at least one mirror to detect the at least one mirror and calibrate the at least one visual sensor.

10 . An autonomous vehicle comprising:

a control system; and

a blind zone visualization system comprising:

at least one visual sensor mounted on a roof of the autonomous vehicle;

at least one mirror mounted on a hood of the autonomous vehicle, the at least one mirror configured to redirect a portion of a field of view (FOV) of the at least one visual sensor into a volume of space in front of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the at least one mirror comprises a first mirror on one side of the hood, and a second mirror on other side of the hood; and

at least one processor programmed to execute computer-readable instructions that cause the at least one processor to:

receive sensor data output from the at least one visual sensor and representative of the volume of space;

detect, from the sensor data, no obstacle is present in the volume of space; and

transmit a first signal to the control system of the autonomous vehicle to control the autonomous vehicle to travel forward through the volume of space.

11 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises one of a camera and a LiDAR sensor located at a center of the roof.

12 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 10 , the at least one visual sensor comprises a combination of a camera and a LiDAR sensor.

13 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a pair of sensors positioned on opposite sides of a lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle.

14 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a first visual sensor and a second visual sensor positioned on opposite sides of a lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle.

15 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the first mirror redirects a portion of the FOV of the first visual sensor into the volume of space, and the second mirror redirects a portion of the FOV of the second visual sensor into the volume of space.

16 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the at least one visual sensor comprises a single sensor located at a center of the roof.

17 . A method of blind zone visualization for an autonomous vehicle, the method implemented using a visualization system including at least one visual sensor mounted on a roof of the autonomous vehicle, at least one mirror mounted on a hood of the autonomous vehicle, the at least one mirror configured to redirect a portion of a field of view (FOV) of the at least one visual sensor into a volume of space in front of the autonomous vehicle, and at least one processor programmed to execute computer-readable instructions, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data output from the at least one visual sensor and representative of the volume of space;

detecting, from the sensor data, no obstacle is present in the volume of space; and

transmitting a first signal to a control system of the autonomous vehicle to control the autonomous vehicle to travel forward through the volume of space,

wherein the method further comprises providing the at least one visual sensor including a pair of sensors positioned on the roof at opposite sides of a lateral midline of the autonomous vehicle.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

detecting, from the sensor data, that an obstacle is present in the volume of space; and

transmitting a second signal to the control system to restrict the autonomous vehicle from traveling forward into the volume of space.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

calibrating the at least one visual sensor by:

detecting the at least one mirror; and

measuring at least one calibration pixel and at least one redirected pixel of the at least one mirror.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (13)