System and method for autonomously charging electric vehicles

Abstract

An EV can be autonomously charged by using its localization and navigation capabilities. The EV determines its pose in a local area and establishes a connection with a charger coordination system. The EV requests the charger coordination system to find a charging station in the local area based on the EV's pose. The charger coordination system uses the EV's pose to find the charging station. The charger coordination system sends the location of the charging station to the EV. The EV navigates to the charger. The EV further determines its pose relative to the charging station and aligns its charge port with the charger plug of the charging station. The EV may plug itself in or request the charger coordination system to insert the charger plug into the charge port. The alignment and insertion process may be managed by using force sensors on the charger plug or charge port.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for autonomously charging a vehicle, the method comprising:
 after detecting an entry of a vehicle into a local area, establishing, by the vehicle, a communication with a charger coordination system associated with one or more charging stations in the local area;   receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, location information of a charging station in the local area, wherein the charging station is one of the one or more charging stations;   determining a navigation route for navigating the vehicle to the charging station based on the location information of the charging station;   subsequent to arrival of the vehicle at the charging station, generating pose information of the vehicle, the pose information describing a pose of the vehicle with respect to a charger plug of the charging station; and   causing an insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting the entry of the vehicle into the local area based on sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the location information of the charging station in the local area comprises:
 sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, a charging request; and   in response to the charging request, receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, the location information of the charging station.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the charging request comprises information describing a pose of the vehicle with respect to the local area or a charging parameter, and the charging parameter is charging rate, charger type, charging method, charge level, or some combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the pose information of the vehicle comprises:
 generating the pose information based on sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle,   wherein the one or more sensors have detected one or more features associated with the charging station.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more features associated with the charging station include a wall, a lane marker, a fiducial marker, a sign, a post, a rail, a landmark, or some combination thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information comprises:
 determining, by the vehicle based on the pose information, whether a charge port of the vehicle and the charger plug are aligned.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information further comprises:
 in response to determining that the charge port and the charger plug are not aligned, sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, an actuation request to request the charger coordination system to move the charger plug to align the charger plug with the charge port.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information further comprises:
 in response to determining that the charge port and the charger plug are not aligned, determining whether the charge port and the charger plug can be aligned by a passive alignment mechanism associated with the charger plug; and   in response to determining that the charge port and the charger plug can be aligned by the passive alignment mechanism associated with the charger plug, navigating the vehicle to insert the charger plug into the charge port.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a connection of the charger plug with a charge port of the vehicle; and   in response to detecting the connection, instructing the charger coordination system to start charging the vehicle.   
     
     
         11 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable to perform operations comprising:
 after detecting an entry of a vehicle into a local area, establishing, by the vehicle, a communication with a charger coordination system associated with one or more charging stations in the local area;   receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, location information of a charging station in the local area, wherein the charging station is one of the one or more charging stations;   determining a navigation route for navigating the vehicle to the charging station based on the location information of the charging station;   subsequent to arrival of the vehicle at the charging station, generating pose information of the vehicle, the pose information describing a pose of the vehicle with respect to a charger plug of the charging station; and   causing an insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information.   
     
     
         12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting the entry of the vehicle into the local area based on sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle.   
     
     
         13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein receiving the location information of the charging station in the local area comprises:
 sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, a charging request; and   in response to the charging request, receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, the location information of the charging station.   
     
     
         14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 13 , wherein the charging request comprises information describing a pose of the vehicle with respect to the local area or a charging parameter, and the charging parameter is charging rate, charger type, charging method, charge level, or some combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein generating the pose information of the vehicle comprises:
 generating the pose information based on sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle,   wherein the one or more sensors have detected one or more features associated with the charging station.   
     
     
         16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information comprises:
 determining, by the vehicle based on the pose information, whether a charge port of the vehicle and the charger plug are aligned.   
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 16 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information further comprises:
 in response to determining that the charge port and the charger plug are not aligned, sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, an actuation request to request the charger coordination system to move the charger plug to align the charger plug with the charge port.   
     
     
         18 . A computer system, comprising:
 a computer processor for executing computer program instructions; and   one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer program instructions executable by the computer processor to perform operations comprising:
 after detecting an entry of a vehicle into a local area, establishing, by the vehicle, a communication with a charger coordination system associated with one or more charging stations in the local area, 
 receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, location information of a charging station in the local area, wherein the charging station is one of the one or more charging stations, 
 determining a navigation route for navigating the vehicle to the charging station based on the location information of the charging station, 
 subsequent to arrival of the vehicle at the charging station, generating pose information of the vehicle, the pose information describing a pose of the vehicle with respect to a charger plug of the charging station, and 
 causing an insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information. 
   
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 18 , wherein receiving the location information of the charging station in the local area comprises:
 sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, a charging request; and   in response to the charging request, receiving, by the vehicle from the charger coordination system, the location information of the charging station.   
     
     
         20 . The computer system of  claim 18 , wherein causing the insertion of the charger plug into the vehicle based on the pose information comprises:
 determining, by the vehicle based on the pose information, whether a charge port of the vehicle and the charger plug are aligned; and   in response to determining that the charge port and the charger plug are not aligned, sending, by the vehicle to the charger coordination system, an actuation request to request the charger coordination system to move the charger plug to align the charger plug with the charge port.