US 12,116,018 B2
Permeable speed constraints
Jared Stephen Russell, San Francisco, CA (US); Tobias Kunz, San Francisco, CA (US); and Anup Menon, Fremont, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by WAYMO LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/558,680.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/131,092, filed on Dec. 28, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0204056 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01)
CPC B60W 60/00276 (2020.02) [B60W 60/00272 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4041 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4042 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4043 (2020.02); B60W 2554/801 (2020.02); B60W 2554/803 (2020.02); B60W 2554/804 (2020.02); B60W 2720/10 (2013.01); B60W 2720/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of maneuvering a vehicle in an autonomous driving mode, the method comprising:
obtaining, from a perception system of the vehicle, sensor data of one or more objects in an external environment around the vehicle;
identifying, by one or more processors, characteristics for each of the one or more objects;
determining, by the one or more processors based on the characteristics, a projected trajectory for each of the one or more objects over a selected timeframe;
determining, by the one or more processors based on a route of the vehicle, a projected vehicle trajectory over the selected timeframe;
generating, by the one or more processors based on the projected trajectories for the one or more objects and the projected vehicle trajectory, a plurality of constraints associated with each of the one or more objects, wherein the plurality of constraints is defined in a distance versus time space;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a speed plan based on the plurality of constraints, in which the vehicle is able to pass through a given permeable one of the constraints when a speed of the vehicle relative to a speed of the given permeable constraint satisfies one or more criteria; and
maneuvering, by the one or more processors, the vehicle in the autonomous driving mode according to the speed plan.