US 11,970,161 B2
Apparatus, method and article to facilitate motion planning of an autonomous vehicle in an environment having dynamic objects
Daniel Sorin, Durham, NC (US); William Floyd-Jones, Durham, NC (US); Sean Murray, Durham, NC (US); George Konidaris, Durham, NC (US); and William Walker, Durham, NC (US)
Assigned to DUKE UNIVERSITY, Durham, NC (US); and BROWN UNIVERSITY, Providence, RI (US)
Filed by DUKE UNIVERSITY, Durham, NC (US); and BROWN UNIVERSITY, Providence, RI (US)
Filed on Feb. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/682,732.
Application 17/682,732 is a continuation of application No. 16/240,086, filed on Jan. 4, 2019, granted, now 11,292,456.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/775,257, filed on Dec. 4, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/616,783, filed on Jan. 12, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0176951 A1, Jun. 9, 2022
Int. Cl. B60W 30/09 (2012.01); B60W 30/095 (2012.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01); G06V 20/58 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 30/09 (2013.01) [B60W 30/0956 (2013.01); G05D 1/0088 (2013.01); G05D 1/0214 (2013.01); G05D 1/0217 (2013.01); G05D 1/0274 (2013.01); G06V 20/58 (2022.01); G05D 2201/0213 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operation in a processor-based system to determine paths for vehicles via planning graphs, where each planning graph respectively comprises a plurality of nodes connected by edges, each node which represents, implicitly or explicitly, time and variables that characterize a state of a vehicle which operates in an environment and which environment includes one or more dynamic objects, and each edge represents a transition between a respective pair of nodes, the method comprising:
receiving perception information that represents the environment in which the vehicle operates;
performing a collision assessment on each edge of two or more of the edges of a planning graph;
for each of two or more edges of the planning graph, setting a respective probability of collision for a respective edge of the two or more edges based at least in part on the collision assessment on the respective edge, wherein setting a respective probability of collision for the respective edge for each of two or more edges of the planning graph based at least in part on the collision assessment includes setting a respective probability of collision for each of two or more edges of the planning graph based at least in part on a predicted trajectory of the one or more dynamic objects that is based at least in part on a change in a trajectory of the vehicle;
performing an optimization on the edges of a resulting planning graph, each of the edges having the respective probability of collision that was set therefor, to identify a path in the resulting planning graph that provides a longest route of travel of the vehicle in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space in the environment in which the vehicle operates; and
implementing a motion plan based at least in part on the optimization.