US 12,071,156 B2
Planning for occlusions with surfel maps
Michael Buchanan, Palo Alto, CA (US); Aleksandar Rumenov Gabrovski, Mountain View, CA (US); Colin Andrew Braley, Mountain View, CA (US); and David Yonchar Margines, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 29, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/036,926.
Prior Publication US 2022/0097726 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 30/095 (2012.01); B60W 30/18 (2012.01); G05D 1/00 (2024.01); G06V 20/58 (2022.01); G06V 20/64 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [B60W 30/0956 (2013.01); B60W 30/18163 (2013.01); G05D 1/0214 (2013.01); G05D 1/0246 (2013.01); G06V 20/58 (2022.01); B60W 2420/403 (2013.01); B60W 2554/4026 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4029 (2020.02); G06V 20/64 (2022.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a previously-generated surfel map depicting an area in which a vehicle is located, the surfel map comprising a plurality of surfels generated by a plurality of other vehicles obtaining sensor data in the area, each surfel corresponding to a respective different location in the area in which a vehicle is located;
receiving, in real-time from one or more sensors, sensor data representing the area in which the vehicle is located;
determining, based on comparing a representation of an object detected by the sensor data to one or more surfels corresponding to the object detected by the sensor data, that the area in which a vehicle is located includes a dynamic object having a changed shape relative to its representation in the surfel map;
determining that the changed shape of the dynamic object introduces an occlusion of a line of sight between a location of the vehicle and an area of interest; and
in response, generating an updated path for the vehicle to travel that avoids the occlusion introduced by the changed shape of the dynamic object and establishes a line of sight between one or more sensors of the vehicle and the area of interest.