IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,577,722
Granted Patent B1
US 11,577,722 · App. 16/587,892 · Granted Feb 14, 2023

Hyper planning based on object and/or region

Inventors: Jefferson Bradfield Packer (San Francisco, CA); Sarah Tariq (Palo Alto, CA); Marc Wimmershoff (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Zoox, Inc.
B60W30/0956G05D1/0088G05D1/0238G06V20/58G06V40/161G05D2201/0213
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,577,722
App. No.
16/587,892
Filed
Sep 30, 2019
Granted
Feb 14, 2023
Kind
B1
Examiner
SEOL, DAVIN
Art Unit
3662
USPC
701/23
Abstract

A vehicle computing system may implement techniques to predict behavior of objects detected by a vehicle operating in the environment. The techniques may include determining a feature with respect to a detected objects (e.g., likelihood that the detected object will impact operation of the vehicle) and/or a location of the vehicle and determining based on the feature a model to use to predict behavior (e.g., estimated states) of proximate objects (e.g., the detected object). The model may be configured to use one or more algorithms, classifiers, and/or computational resources to predict the behavior. Different models may be used to predict behavior of different objects and/or regions in the environment. Each model may receive sensor data as an input, and output predicted behavior for the detected object. Based on the predicted behavior of the object, a vehicle computing system may control operation of the vehicle.

Claims (84)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

detecting an object in an environment around a vehicle based at least in part on sensor data;

determining a type of feature associated with the object or the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data or map data;

determining a first model for the object based at least in part on the type of feature;

predicting, based at least in part on the first model, a first behavior of the object;

determining a second model from among multiple available models based at least in part on the type of feature associated with the object;

predicting, by the second model, a second behavior of the object; and

controlling operation of the vehicle based at in part on the second behavior from the second model.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the type of feature indicates a relevance of the object to operation of the vehicle.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the type of feature comprises at least one of:

a semantic classification of the object;

an attribute of the object;

an attribute of the environment;

a proximity of the object relative to the vehicle;

an attribute of the vehicle relative to another object in the environment;

a location of the object;

a velocity of the object relative to a velocity of the vehicle;

a route of the vehicle to a destination in the environment;

a context of the object;

a region adjacent to the vehicle;

a likelihood that the object impacts operation of the vehicle;

an interaction between the object and the vehicle; or

an interaction between objects in the environment.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the second model is more computationally intensive than the first model.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the first model comprises a first machine learned model trained to output a classification of the object and the second model comprises a second machine learned model trained to recognize a gesture associated with the object.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

inputting at least a portion of the sensor data into the second model; and

receiving, from the second model, second output indicative of the second behavior of the object;

wherein controlling operation of the vehicle is further based at least in part on the second behavior being associated with a finer level of movement detection with respect to the first behavior of the object.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , the operations further comprising sending an instruction to at least one of:

a sensor of the vehicle to change at least one of a resolution, a bit rate, a rate of capture, or a compression, at which sensor data is captured or stored; or

a perception component to change an input of the perception component.

8. A method comprising:

receiving sensor data from a sensor associated with a vehicle traversing an environment;

determining, based at least in part on one or more of the sensor data or map data, a type of feature associated with the environment;

determining, based at least in part on the type of feature, a first model;

inputting at least a portion of the sensor data into the first model;

receiving, from the first model, a first output indicative of a behavior of an object in the environment;

determining a second model from among multiple available models based at least in part on the feature;

inputting at least a portion of the sensor data into the second model;

receiving, from the second model, a second output indicative of another behavior of the object; and

controlling operation of the vehicle based at in part on the second output of the second model.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the type of feature associated with the environment comprises at least one of: an attribute of the environment, an attribute of the object in the environment, map data, an occluded region, or a region of interest.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the type of feature comprises a relevance of the object to operation of the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein predicting the behavior of the object comprises determining an attribute of the object or a location of the object in the environment at a future time.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising sending an instruction to at least one of:

a sensor of the vehicle to change at least one of a resolution, a bit rate, a rate of capture, a compression, at which sensor data is captured or stored; or

a perception component to change an input of the perception component.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the first model is trained to output at least one of a detection of the object or a classification of the object; and

the second model is trained to output at least one of a velocity of the object, a predicted trajectory of the object, a pose of the object, a subclassification of the object, a detection of a portion of the object, a detection of a face, or a detection of a gesture.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first model comprises a machine learned model trained to output a classification of the object and the second model is not a machine learned model.

15. A system comprising:

a sensor associated with a vehicle traversing an environment;

one or more processors; and

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

detecting an object in an environment around a vehicle based at least in part on sensor data;

determining a type of feature associated with the object or the vehicle based at least in part on the sensor data or map data;

determining a first model for the object based at least in part on the type of feature;

predicting, based at least in part on the first model, a first behavior of the object;

determining a second model from among multiple available models based at least in part on the type of feature associated with the object;

predicting, by the second model, a second behavior of the object; and

controlling operation of the vehicle based at in part on the second behavior from the second model.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the type of feature indicates a relevance of the object to operation of the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the type of feature comprises at least one of:

a semantic classification of the object;

an attribute of the object;

an attribute of the environment;

a proximity of the object relative to the vehicle;

an attribute of the vehicle relative to another object in the environment;

a location of the object;

a velocity of the object relative to a velocity of the vehicle;

a route of the vehicle to a destination in the environment;

a context of the object;

a region adjacent to the vehicle;

a likelihood that the object impacts operation of the vehicle;

an interaction between the object and the vehicle; or

an interaction between objects in the environment.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the second model is more computationally intensive than the first model.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first model comprises a first machine learned model trained to output a classification of the object and the second model comprises a second machine learned model trained to recognize a gesture associated with the object.

20. The system of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:

inputting at least a portion of the sensor data into the second model; and

receiving, from the second model, second output indicative of behavior of the object;

wherein controlling operation of the vehicle is further based at least in part on the second behavior being associated with a finer level of movement detection with respect to the first behavior of the object.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 2, 2020
From: PACKER, JEFFERSON BRADFIELD; TARIQ, SARAH; WIMMERSHOFF, MARC
To: ZOOX, INC.
Reel/Frame 051695/0065 →
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