Autonomous vehicle intent signaling

US11345277B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC · US

Inventors

• Eric Lujan · San Francisco, US
• Shiva Ghose · Berkeley, US
• Elliot Branson · San Francisco, US
• Peter Gao · San Francisco, US
• Zhichang Yan · San Francisco, US
• Zhizhong Yan · Espoo, FI

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 16, 2018
• Grant date: May 31, 2022
• Expiry date: Apr 10, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B60W2710/30
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Various technologies described herein pertain to controlling an autonomous vehicle to provide indicators that signal a driving intent of the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle includes a plurality of sensor systems that generate a plurality of sensor signals, a notification system, and a computing system. The computing system determines that the autonomous vehicle is to execute a maneuver that will cause the autonomous vehicle to traverse a portion of a driving environment of the autonomous vehicle. The computing system predicts that a person in the driving environment is to traverse the portion of the driving environment based upon the plurality of sensor signals. The computing system then controls the notification system to output a first indicator indicating that the autonomous vehicle plans to yield to the person or a second indicator indicating that the autonomous vehicle plans to execute the maneuver prior to the person traversing the portion of the driving environment.