US 11,702,104 B2
Systems and methods to determine risk distribution based on sensor coverages of a sensor system for an autonomous driving vehicle
Xiaodong Liu, San Jose, CA (US); and Ning Qu, Fremont, CA (US)
Assigned to BAIDU USA LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed by Baidu USA LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 22, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/855,283.
Prior Publication US 2021/0331700 A1, Oct. 28, 2021
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 60/0015 (2020.02) [B60W 60/0011 (2020.02); B60W 60/0025 (2020.02); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of operating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) having a plurality of sensors, the method comprising:
for each coverage zone covered by at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors of the ADV, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of: a primary sensor communicating with a primary autonomous driving system (ADS) of the ADV, a redundant sensor communicating with a secondary ADS of the ADV, or a shared sensor communicating with the primary ADS and the secondary ADS,
obtaining mean time between failure (MTBF) data of the at least one sensor covering the coverage zone, wherein the MTBF data of the at least one sensor includes information of an elapsed time between failures of the at least one sensor,
determining an MTBF for the coverage zone based on the MTBF data of the at least one sensor, wherein the MTBF for the coverage zone represents the elapsed time between failures of the at least one sensor covering the coverage zone, and
computing a performance risk associated with the coverage zone based on the determined MTBF for the coverage zone;
determining risk distributions based on the computed performance risks associated with the plurality of coverage zones;
controlling the ADV to move along a route in autonomous driving (AD) mode; and
while controlling the ADV to move along the route in AD mode, for each coverage zone covered by the at least one sensor,
starting an AD mode timer, and
determining whether the AD mode timer reaches the MTBF for the coverage zone.