US 12,007,487 B1
Global positioning system time verification for autonomous vehicles
Craig Robinson, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 9, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/546,496.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/132,480, filed on Dec. 31, 2020.
Int. Cl. G01S 19/25 (2010.01); B60W 40/10 (2012.01); G01S 19/39 (2010.01); G01S 19/45 (2010.01); G01S 19/48 (2010.01)
CPC G01S 19/256 (2013.01) [B60W 40/10 (2013.01); G01S 19/396 (2019.08); G01S 19/45 (2013.01); G01S 19/48 (2013.01); B60W 2420/408 (2024.01); B60W 2556/50 (2020.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
a global positioning system (GPS) receiver configured to receive a plurality of GPS signals from GPS satellites;
one or more sensors;
a clock; and
a processor coupled to the GPS receiver, the one or more sensors, and the clock, the processor configured to:
determine a sensor-based position of an autonomous vehicle, the sensor-based position determined based on data generated from the one or more sensors and based on a digital map accessible to the processor;
determine a GPS computed position of the autonomous vehicle and a GPS time, the GPS computed position and the GPS time determined based on the plurality of GPS signals;
compare the sensor-based position to the GPS computed position to determine whether the sensor-based position is within a threshold distance from the GPS computed position; and
update the clock based on the GPS time in response to a determination that the sensor-based position is within the threshold distance from the GPS computed position.