Systems and methods for predicting the trajectory of a road agent external to a vehicle

US11126186B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC. · US

Inventors

• Stephen G. McGill · Broomall, US
• Guy Rosman · Newton, US
• John Joseph Leonard · Newton, US
• Luke S. Fletcher · Cambridge, US
• Yusuke Sawamura · Ann Arbor, US
• Xin Huang · Xi'an, CN

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 7, 2019
• Grant date: Sep 21, 2021
• Expiry date: Aug 23, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06N7/01
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein relate to predicting a trajectory of a road agent external to a vehicle. One embodiment generates first and second predicted road-agent trajectories using respective first and second trajectory predictors based, at least in part, on a plurality of inputs including past road-agent trajectory information and vehicle sensor data; generates a confidence score for each predicted road-agent trajectory using a confidence estimator that includes a deep neural network, wherein generating the confidence scores includes computing them as a function of time within a predetermined temporal horizon; outputs the first and second predicted road-agent trajectories and their respective confidence scores; and controls operation of the vehicle based, at least in part, on one or more of the first predicted road-agent trajectory, the second predicted road-agent trajectory, the confidence score for the first predicted road-agent trajectory, and the confidence score for the second predicted road-agent trajectory.