US 12,162,492 B2
Lane adjustment techniques for slow lead agents
Pablo Abad, San Francisco, CA (US); Karen Rajen Parikh, Mountain View, CA (US); Kang Li, Sammamish, WA (US); David Garber, Mountain View, CA (US); Tony Grue, Thousand Oaks, CA (US); and Khawaja Waqee Khalid, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 13, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/812,317.
Prior Publication US 2024/0017726 A1, Jan. 18, 2024
Int. Cl. B60W 30/18 (2012.01); B60W 30/16 (2020.01); B60W 40/04 (2006.01); B60W 60/00 (2020.01); G06V 20/58 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 30/18163 (2013.01) [B60W 30/16 (2013.01); B60W 40/04 (2013.01); B60W 60/0011 (2020.02); B60W 60/0015 (2020.02); G06V 20/582 (2022.01); B60W 2300/145 (2013.01); B60W 2420/403 (2013.01); B60W 2530/205 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4041 (2020.02); B60W 2554/406 (2020.02); B60W 2554/80 (2020.02); B60W 2555/60 (2020.02)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a computing device coupled to a first vehicle, sensor data representing an environment of the first vehicle as the first vehicle navigates a path in a first lane of a multiple lane road;
based on the sensor data, aggregating speed data for a plurality of lane segments, wherein speed data for a lane segment is based on measurements of one or more vehicles traveling in the lane segment;
based on speed data for the plurality of lane segments, detecting a second vehicle traveling in the first lane at a position in front of the first vehicle and at a speed that is less than a minimum threshold speed;
responsive to determining that the speed of the second vehicle failed to increase above the minimum threshold speed by a threshold time, determining whether to cause the first vehicle to perform a lane change maneuver;
based on causing the first vehicle to perform the lane change maneuver, determining that the first vehicle has passed the second vehicle by at least a buffer distance that extends in front of the second vehicle while traveling in the second lane; and
causing the first vehicle to perform a second lane change maneuver from the second lane and into the first lane responsive to determining that the first vehicle has passed the second vehicle by at least the buffer distance.