US 12,233,852 B1
Handling sensor occlusions for autonomous vehicles
Brandon Douglas Luders, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Vadim Furman, Los Gatos, CA (US); and Nathaniel Fairfield, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 14, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/605,292.
Application 18/605,292 is a continuation of application No. 17/734,709, filed on May 2, 2022, granted, now 11,951,975.
Application 17/734,709 is a continuation of application No. 16/890,274, filed on Jun. 2, 2020, granted, now 11,345,335, issued on May 31, 2022.
Application 16/890,274 is a continuation of application No. 16/162,978, filed on Oct. 17, 2018, granted, now 10,705,526, issued on Jul. 7, 2020.
Application 16/162,978 is a continuation of application No. 15/299,764, filed on Oct. 21, 2016, granted, now 10,146,223, issued on Dec. 4, 2018.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B60W 30/00 (2006.01); G01S 13/931 (2020.01); G01S 17/00 (2020.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); G08G 1/16 (2006.01)
CPC B60W 30/00 (2013.01) [G01S 13/931 (2013.01); G01S 17/00 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); G05D 1/0088 (2013.01); G05D 1/0212 (2013.01); G06V 20/588 (2022.01); G08G 1/167 (2013.01); G01S 2013/93271 (2020.01); G01S 2013/93272 (2020.01); G01S 2013/93274 (2020.01); G01S 2013/93277 (2020.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for maneuvering an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
determining, by one or more processors, characteristics for a hypothetical occluded object traveling between a location within range of a sensor of the autonomous vehicle but occluded by an environmental factor and a trajectory of the autonomous vehicle;
monitoring, by the one or more processors, the location over time based on the characteristics;
determining, by the one or more processors, whether there is an occluded object based on the monitoring; and
controlling, by the one or more processors, a driving system of the autonomous vehicle in order to maneuver based on the determination of whether there is an occluded object.