US 12,462,677 B2
Autonomously guiding vehicles using vehicles-centered occupancy grid including collected information about road users
Andreas Petrovic, Stuttgart (DE)
Assigned to MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG, Stuttgart (DE)
Appl. No. 18/034,165
Filed by MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG, Stuttgart (DE)
PCT Filed Jul. 27, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/071064
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 27, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/089800, PCT Pub. Date May 5, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2020 006 719.0 (DE), filed on Nov. 2, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0394959 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. G08G 1/01 (2006.01); B60W 60/00 (2020.01); H04L 67/12 (2022.01)
CPC G08G 1/0133 (2013.01) [B60W 60/0025 (2020.02); B60W 2556/45 (2020.02); H04L 67/12 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
detecting, by on-board sensors of a plurality of vehicles, information about a road users in surroundings of the plurality of vehicle;
generating, by each of the plurality of vehicles based on respective detected information, a vehicle-centered occupancy grid comprising a set of cells centered on a respective one of the plurality of vehicles, wherein cell each cell of the vehicle-centered occupancy grid is occupied or is unoccupied, wherein occupied cells include a vector for one of the road users detected in the respective occupied cell, wherein the vector comprises
position of the one of the detected road users relative to the respective one of the plurality of vehicles;
a speed vector of a speed of the one of the road users detected in the respective occupied cell,
a time stamp of when a respective on-board sensor of a respective one of the plurality of vehicles detected the one of the road users detected in the respective occupied cell,
an orientation of the one of the road users detected in the respective occupied cell, and
an object class of a type of the one of the road users detected in the respective occupied cell;
transmitting, by the plurality of vehicle, a respective vehicle-centered occupancy grid to a back-end server;
converting, by the back-end server, each of the respective vehicle-centered occupancy grids into a global occupancy grid defined by a global coordinate system;
transmitting, by the back-end server to an autonomous vehicle that is one of the plurality of vehicles, the global occupancy grid;
converting, by the autonomous vehicle, the global occupancy grid into an occupancy grid centered on the autonomous vehicle, wherein the occupancy grid centered on the autonomous vehicle includes
cell beyond a range of at least one sensor of the autonomous vehicle; or
cells that are not in a field of vision of the autonomous vehicle;
generating, by the autonomous vehicle based on the occupancy grid centered on the autonomous vehicle, a safe driving path; and
autonomously guiding the autonomous vehicle along the safe driving path.