US-12623686-B2 - Systems and methods for controlled deceleration

Abstract

Systems and techniques for determining deceleration controls to use in a trajectory for use in stopping a vehicle are described. A deceleration determination system may receive a trajectory from a trajectory determination system and determine, based on various deceleration parameters, the appropriate controls to configure in a longitudinal profile of the trajectory and the suitable implementation points for implementing the controls. The deceleration determination system may determine deceleration data for various types of trajectories that a vehicle computing system may select from for operating the vehicle based on current conditions.

Inventors

• Taylor Scott Clawson
• Brian Michael Filarsky
• Jefferson Bradfield Packer
• Olivier Amaury Toupet

Assignees

• Zoox, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20220815

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising: receiving a trajectory for a vehicle to traverse through an environment, the trajectory associated with a longitudinal acceleration profile and comprising a first plurality of control points for performing first vehicle controls; determining an implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a decision point for modifying the trajectory; determining, for the implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a deceleration control; generating a modified trajectory comprising a second plurality of control points for performing second vehicle controls by modifying an acceleration control of the trajectory at the implementation point based at least in part on the deceleration control; determining a control point of the second plurality of control points, wherein the control point comprises a point on the trajectory separated from the implementation point by at least a minimum distance, the minimum distance based at least in part on a reaction duration associated with a time between the implementation point and the control point; and causing the vehicle to be controlled based at least in part on the modified trajectory by implementing the modified acceleration control at the control point of the second plurality of control points.
2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the implementation point is a first implementation point on the trajectory separated from a second implementation point based at least in part on one more of an amount of time or an amount of space.
3. 3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the reaction duration is based at least in part on at least one of the deceleration control or a condition of the environment.
4. 4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein: the trajectory comprises a lateral profile, and the modified trajectory comprises the lateral profile.
5. 5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: determining that an object is represented in the environment; and determining that an intersection probability associated with the object meets or exceeds a threshold, wherein the deceleration control differs from the acceleration control of the trajectory based at least in part on the intersection probability meeting or exceeding the threshold.
6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the trajectory for the vehicle to traverse through the environment is along a planned path through the environment from a current location determined by a trajectory determination system, the trajectory further comprising a plurality of implementation points, an individual implementation point of the plurality of implementation points being indicative of an individual decision point for modifying the trajectory.
7. 7 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform operations comprising: receiving a trajectory for a vehicle to traverse through an environment, the trajectory associated with a longitudinal acceleration profile and comprising a first plurality of control points for performing first vehicle controls; determining an implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a decision point for modifying the trajectory; determining, for the implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a deceleration control; generating a modified trajectory comprising a second plurality of control points for performing second vehicle controls by modifying an acceleration control of the trajectory at the implementation point based at least in part on the deceleration control; determining a control point of the second plurality of control points, wherein the control point comprises a point on the trajectory separated from the implementation point by at least a minimum distance, the minimum distance based at least in part on a reaction duration associated with a time between the implementation point and the control point; and causing the vehicle to be controlled based at least in part on the modified trajectory by implementing the modified acceleration control at the control point of the second plurality of control points.
8. 8 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the implementation point is determined further based at least in part on one or more of: the reaction duration being associated with one or more physical components configured at the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle at the implementation point, or an acceleration of the vehicle at the implementation point.
9. 9 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the acceleration control of the trajectory is associated with a first acceleration rate that is greater than or equal to a second acceleration rate associated with the deceleration control.
10. 10 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise: determining a second implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a second point at which to implement a second vehicle control; determining, for the second implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a second deceleration control; and generating a second modified trajectory comprising a third plurality of control points for performing third vehicle controls by modifying a second acceleration control of the trajectory at the second implementation point based at least in part on the second deceleration control.
11. 11 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein a first acceleration rate associated with the deceleration control is greater than a second acceleration rate associated with the second deceleration control.
12. 12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10 , wherein causing the vehicle to be controlled based at least in part on the modified trajectory comprises: selecting, based at least in part on data associated with the environment, an operational trajectory from among the trajectory, the modified trajectory, and the second modified trajectory; and based at least in part on selecting the operational trajectory, causing the vehicle to be controlled based at least in part on the operational trajectory.
13. 13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , wherein the data associated with the environment comprises an indication of an obstacle detected by the vehicle in a region of travel associated with the trajectory.
14. 14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein determining the deceleration control comprises performing less than or equal to a threshold number of iterations of a search algorithm to determine an acceleration rate associated with the deceleration control.
15. 15 . A method comprising: receiving a trajectory for a vehicle to traverse through an environment, the trajectory associated with a longitudinal acceleration profile and comprising a first plurality of control points for performing first vehicle controls; determining an implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a decision point for modifying the trajectory; determining, for the implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a deceleration control; generating a modified trajectory comprising a second plurality of control points for performing second vehicle controls by modifying an acceleration control of the trajectory at the implementation point based at least in part on the deceleration control; determining a control point of the second plurality of control points, wherein the control point comprises a point on the trajectory separated from the implementation point by at least a minimum distance, the minimum distance based at least in part on a reaction duration associated with a time between the implementation point and the control point; and causing the vehicle to be controlled based at least in part on the modified trajectory by implementing the modified acceleration control at the control point of the second plurality of control points.
16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising: determining a second implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a second decision point for modifying the trajectory; determining, for the second implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a second deceleration control; generating a second modified trajectory comprising a third plurality of control points for performing third vehicle controls by modifying a second acceleration control of the trajectory at the second implementation point based at least in part on the second deceleration control; and providing the second modified trajectory to a trajectory selection system configured to determine an operational trajectory from among the trajectory, the modified trajectory, and the second modified trajectory.
17. 17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising: determining a second implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a second decision point for modifying the trajectory; determining, for the second implementation point and based at least in part on the trajectory, a second deceleration control associated with a second rate of acceleration; and generating the modified trajectory by modifying a second acceleration control of the trajectory at the second implementation point based at least in part on the second deceleration control.
18. 18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein determining the second deceleration control comprises determining a second acceleration rate for the second deceleration control based at least in part on a first acceleration rate for the deceleration control and a minimum change in acceleration.
19. 19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein: implementation points are separated by one or more of the minimum distance or a minimum amount of time; and the method further comprises determining a second implementation point on the trajectory and indicative of a second decision point for modifying the trajectory, wherein there is at least the minimum distance or the minimum amount of time between the implementation point and the second implementation point.
20. 20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the deceleration control is further based at least in part on one or more of: a minimum acceleration; a minimum change in acceleration; or a nominal acceleration.

Description

BACKGROUND Vehicles may be equipped with systems used to detect objects in an environment and control the vehicle to avoid the objects. Vehicles may also be equipped with a trajectory planning system that determines an operational trajectory for the vehicle that may be used to control a vehicle as it travels within an environment. A vehicle traveling through an environment using such a trajectory may decelerate as it travels in the environment, for example when approaching a planned stopping point or experiencing an unexpected event, such an unexpected obstacle entering the path of the vehicle or a vehicle malfunction. Maintaining passenger comfort and safety while continuing to safely operate a vehicle during deceleration may, at times, present challenges. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same reference numbers in different figures indicate similar or identical items. FIG. 1 illustrates an example process for determining and implementing controlled deceleration in a vehicle, in accordance with examples of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example trajectory determination system, in accordance with examples of the disclosure. FIGS. 3A-B depict block diagrams representing an example vehicle, environment, trajectories, and deceleration increments, in accordance with examples of the disclosure. FIG. 4 depicts a graphical representation of deceleration rates over time that may be determined for trajectories, in accordance with examples of the disclosure. FIG. 5 depicts another graphical representation of deceleration rates over time that may be determined for trajectories, in accordance with examples of the disclosure. FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example system for implementing the techniques described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION A vehicle may be capable of implementing various levels of deceleration, for example, by applying various amounts of braking pressure. The use of different levels of deceleration may have associated impacts on vehicle performance and passenger comfort. The various techniques described herein may be used to determine appropriate deceleration levels for particular times and/or locations along a region of travel for a vehicle to improve vehicle safety and passenger comfort. Systems and techniques for determining a deceleration level to apply at a vehicle to implement controlled deceleration based on various criteria are discussed herein. In various examples, a vehicle computing system may execute a deceleration determination system that may determine or receive a trajectory for operating a vehicle in an environment, where the trajectory includes a region of travel for a vehicle and, in some examples, a stopping point along the region of travel. This trajectory may be provided to the deceleration determination system by a trajectory determination system (e.g., that may, in some examples, also be executed by the vehicle computing system). In various examples, one or more trajectory determination systems associated with particular types of trajectories may provide trajectories to the deceleration determination system for the determination of deceleration data. In some examples, these one or more trajectory determination systems may be configured with the deceleration determination system in a vehicle trajectory system. The vehicle trajectory system may be configured to provide a trajectory to a tracking system and/or planning system for use in controlling the vehicle. The vehicle trajectory system may determine, from the various trajectories that may be determined by associated trajectory determination systems and the deceleration determination system, a particular trajectory to provide to a tracking system and/or planning system. For example, a vehicle trajectory system may include a trajectory selection system that may receive one or more trajectories from a trajectory determination system and one or more modified trajectories from a deceleration determination system. The trajectory selection system may determine, from among these received trajectories, a trajectory for use in controlling the vehicle. For example, the trajectory selection system may determine a distance to a potential collision or a distance to an intersection with an object and select the trajectory that will stop the vehicle within that distance. In various examples, the various trajectory determination systems, deceleration determination systems, and trajectory selection systems described herein may be configured separately and to interoperate to determine one or more trajectories. A trajectory may include a lateral profile representing directional parameters (e.g., steering controls) and/or a longitudinal profile representing velocity parameters (e.g., acceleration, deceleration, and/or