Navigation and control system for autonomous vehicles

Abstract

A navigation and control system including a sensor configured to locate objects in a predetermined field of view from a vehicle. The sensor has an emitter configured to repeatedly scan a beam into a two-dimensional sector of a plane defined with respect to a first predetermined axis of the vehicle, and a detector configured to detect a reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects. The sensor includes a panning mechanism configured to pan the plane in which the beam is scanned about a second predetermined axis to produce a three dimensional field of view. The navigation and control system includes a processor configured to determine the existence and location of the objects in the three dimensional field of view based on a position of the vehicle and a time between an emittance of the beam and a reception of the reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects.

1 . A land-based drivable unit comprising:
 a vehicle for ground transportation including,   a sensor configured to locate objects in a predetermined field of view from a vehicle, including,
 an emitter configured to scan a beam into a sector of a plane defined with respect to a first predetermined axis of the vehicle, 
 a detector configured to detect a reflection of the emitted beam from one of the objects, and 
 a panning mechanism configured to pan the plane in which the beam is scanned about a second predetermined axis to produce a three dimensional field of view, and 
 a processor configured to determine the existence and location of the objects in the three dimensional field of view based on the three dimensional field of view. 
   
     
     
         2 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the processor determines the existence and location of the objects based on a position of the vehicle and a time between an emittance of the beam and a reception of the reflection of the emitted beam. 
     
     
         3 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises at least one of an automobile, a truck, a sport utility vehicle, rescue vehicle, an agricultural vehicle, a mining vehicle, an escort vehicle, a toy vehicle, a reconnaissance vehicle, a test-track vehicle, and an armored vehicle. 
     
     
         4 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle without driver-assisted control. 
     
     
         5 . The unit of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a driver-controlled vehicle with computer-assisted control. 
     
     
         6 . The unit of  claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to recognize driver impairment. 
     
     
         7 . The unit of  claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to recognize driver impairment from a biometric sensor or from an analysis of driver-control of the vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . The unit of  claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to control the vehicle in an event of an input command indicating driver impairment.