US 12,479,463 B2
Data determining interface for vehicle decision-making
Luis Lorenzo Bill Clark, San Francisco, CA (US); Kyle Hollins Wray, Mountain View, CA (US); David Ilstrup, Santa Cruz, CA (US); and Stefan Witwicki, San Carlos, CA (US)
Assigned to Nissan North America, Inc., Franklin, TN (US)
Filed by Nissan North America, Inc., Franklin, TN (US)
Filed on Oct. 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/977,641.
Prior Publication US 2024/0140472 A1, May 2, 2024
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 40/02 (2006.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [B60W 40/02 (2013.01); B60W 2420/408 (2024.01); B60W 2556/40 (2020.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for vehicle decision-making, the apparatus comprising:
a perception system configured to:
produce, while a vehicle is traversing a vehicle transportation network, operational environment data using at least two data sources, wherein the operational environment data includes data associated with objects external to the vehicle; and
identify, using the operational environment data, a distinct vehicle operation scenario;
a decision-making component that comprises a scenario-specific operational control evaluation model of the distinct vehicle operation scenario that, when solved, produces a candidate vehicle control action; and
a data determining interface between the perception system and the decision-making component that is configured to:
receive, from the perception system, the operational environment data having operational environment data types;
modify the operational environment data to determine output data for data types needed to solve the scenario-specific operational control evaluation model, wherein:
the operational environment data types comprise first operational environment data types when the at least two data sources comprise first data sources,
the operational environment data types comprise second operational environment data types when the at least two data sources comprise second data sources,
at least one of the second data sources is different from the first data sources,
at least one of the first operational environment data types is different from the second operational environment data types, and
the output data is the same whether the at least two data sources comprise the first data sources or the second data sources; and
transmit the output data to the decision-making component to output the candidate vehicle control action so as to cause the vehicle to perform the candidate vehicle control action for navigating the distinct vehicle operation scenario.