US 11,914,371 B2
Autonomous driving vehicle that avoids natural disasters
Yasunao Yoshizaki, Okazaki (JP); Koji Taguchi, Sagamihara (JP); Masaki Wasekura, Toyota (JP); and Nobuhide Kamata, Susono (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Aichi-ken (JP)
Filed on Nov. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/538,051.
Application 17/538,051 is a continuation of application No. 16/120,760, filed on Sep. 4, 2018, granted, now 11,281,215.
Claims priority of application No. 2017-212099 (JP), filed on Nov. 1, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0083059 A1, Mar. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01); B60W 30/00 (2006.01)
CPC G05D 1/0088 (2013.01) [B60W 30/00 (2013.01); G05D 1/0214 (2013.01); G05D 2201/0212 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An autonomous driving vehicle that provides a driverless transportation service for a user, the autonomous driving vehicle comprising:
a processor programmed to:
control travel of the autonomous driving vehicle;
recognize a phenomenon at a current location of the autonomous driving vehicle or on a planned travel route from the current location to a destination, the phenomenon being one or more of rain, snow, a flood, an earthquake, or a tsunami;
based on recognizing the phenomenon, determine whether to continue or halt vehicle travel control in accordance with a current travel plan; and
based on determining to halt the vehicle travel control in accordance with the current travel plan, select an emergency plan and control the autonomous driving vehicle in accordance with the selected emergency plan, wherein:
a first emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to travel along a bypass route that bypasses the phenomenon to reach the destination,
a second emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to travel along an evacuation route that enables evacuation from the phenomenon,
a third emergency plan controls the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location regardless of the destination and unlocks a door of the autonomous driving vehicle after the autonomous driving vehicle stops,
the processor is further programmed to select one of the first emergency plan, the second emergency plan, or the third emergency plan as the emergency plan according to whether the recognized phenomenon is the rain, the snow, the flood, the earthquake, or the tsunami, and
the third emergency plan further includes:
obtaining concentration of surrounding buildings from surrounding situation information indicating a situation around the autonomous driving vehicle and obtained by a sensor group of the autonomous driving vehicle;
determining whether the current location of the autonomous driving vehicle is in a town based on whether the concentration of surrounding buildings is higher than a threshold;
when the current location is in a town, controlling the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location without notifying the user of occurrence of the phenomenon; and
when the current location is not in a town, controlling the autonomous driving vehicle to stop at the current location after notifying the user of occurrence of the phenomenon.