Collaborative perception for autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Collaborative perception is based on recognition that a fleet of AVs and stationary infrastructure objects equipped with sensors may be configured to communicate with one another in sharing their sensor data, thus benefiting from collaborative perception, rather than being limited to their individual perception. Three specific scenarios of collaborative perception are disclosed. The first scenario relates to two AVs in the vicinity of one another exchanging complexity scores indicative of their respective environments. The second scenario relates to an AV detecting that it has a blind spot and seeking other AVs or infrastructure objects to provide information indicative of the environment in the blind spot. The third scenario relates to providing infrastructure objects equipped with sensors in appropriate locations so that, when an AV is in the vicinity of such objects, the AV may receive information from their sensors.

1 . A vehicle management system, comprising:
 a vehicle manager module, configured to:
 receive, from a vehicle, an indication that the vehicle identified a region of obstructed visibility, 
 determine whether a perception unit capable of obtaining information indicative of an environment surrounding the vehicle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle, 
 upon positive determination, provide to the vehicle an identification of the perception unit, and 
 upon negative determination, configure a further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and provide to the vehicle an identification of the further perception unit. 
   
     
     
         2 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 1 , wherein the further perception unit is a mobile unit and wherein configuring the further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes configuring the mobile unit to:
 relocate to the vicinity of the vehicle,   obtain sensor data indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and   provide to the vehicle the sensor data.   
     
     
         3 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 2 , wherein the sensor data includes data indicative of one or more of:
 a field of view of the mobile unit,   a position of each of one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit,   a velocity of each of the one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit, and   one or more predictions regarding the environment surrounding the mobile unit.   
     
     
         4 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 2 , wherein the mobile unit is a further vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 1 , wherein the further perception unit is an infrastructure unit in the vicinity of the vehicle and wherein configuring the further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes:
 configuring one or more sensors of the infrastructure unit to obtain sensor data indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and   configuring the infrastructure unit to provide the sensor data to the vehicle.   
     
     
         6 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 5 , wherein configuring the one or more sensors includes changing an orientation of a field of view of the one or more sensors. 
     
     
         7 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes information indicative of an environment in at least a portion of the region of obstructed visibility of the vehicle.   
     
     
         8 . The vehicle management system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the indication that the vehicle identified the region of obstructed visibility includes information indicative of one or more of:
 a proportion of the region of obstructed visibility compared to a region of unobstructed visibility of the vehicle, and 
 a location of the region of obstructed visibility, 
   the vehicle manager module is configured to determine whether the information included in the indication satisfies one or more criteria for determining whether the perception unit capable of obtaining the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle, and   the vehicle manager module is configured to determine whether the perception unit capable of obtaining the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle when the vehicle manager module determines that the information included in the indication satisfies the one or more criteria.   
     
     
         9 . A method, comprising:
 receive, from a vehicle, an indication that the vehicle identified a region of obstructed visibility,   determine whether a perception unit capable of obtaining information indicative of an environment surrounding the vehicle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle,   upon positive determination, provide to the vehicle an identification of the perception unit, and   upon negative determination, configure a further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and provide to the vehicle an identification of the further perception unit.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the further perception unit is a mobile unit and wherein configuring the further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes configuring the mobile unit to:
 relocate to the vicinity of the vehicle,   obtain sensor data indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and   provide to the vehicle the sensor data.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the sensor data includes data indicative of one or more of:
 a field of view of the mobile unit,   a position of each of one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit,   a velocity of each of the one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit, and   one or more predictions regarding the environment surrounding the mobile unit.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the mobile unit is a further vehicle. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the further perception unit is an infrastructure unit in the vicinity of the vehicle and wherein configuring the further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes:
 configuring one or more sensors of the infrastructure unit to obtain sensor data indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and   configuring the infrastructure unit to provide the sensor data to the vehicle.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein configuring the one or more sensors includes changing an orientation of a field of view of the one or more sensors. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes information indicative of an environment in at least a portion of the region of obstructed visibility of the vehicle. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein:
 the indication that the vehicle identified the region of obstructed visibility includes information indicative of one or more of:
 a proportion of the region of obstructed visibility compared to a region of unobstructed visibility of the vehicle, and 
 a location of the region of obstructed visibility, and 
   the method further includes:
 determining whether the information included in the indication satisfies one or more criteria for determining whether the perception unit capable of obtaining the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle, and 
 determining whether the perception unit capable of obtaining the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle when the information included in the indication satisfies the one or more criteria. 
   
     
     
         17 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 receive, from a vehicle, an indication that the vehicle identified a region of obstructed visibility,   determine whether a perception unit capable of obtaining information indicative of an environment surrounding the vehicle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle,   upon positive determination, provide to the vehicle an identification of the perception unit, and   upon negative determination, configure a further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and provide to the vehicle an identification of the further perception unit.   
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to  claim 17 , wherein the further perception unit is a mobile unit and wherein configuring the further perception unit to obtain the information indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle includes configuring the mobile unit to:
 relocate to the vicinity of the vehicle,   obtain sensor data indicative of the environment surrounding the vehicle, and   provide to the vehicle the sensor data.   
     
     
         19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to  claim 18 , wherein the sensor data includes data indicative of one or more of:
 a field of view of the mobile unit,   a position of each of one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit,   a velocity of each of the one or more objects surrounding the mobile unit, and   one or more predictions regarding the environment surrounding the mobile unit.   
     
     
         20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to  claim 18 , wherein the mobile unit is a further vehicle.