Techniques to control a driving behavior of a vehicle when a failure occurs

Abstract

Techniques are described to enable a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, to steer and/or apply brakes on a road when a failure condition occurs. An example method for autonomous driving operation includes receiving a reduced set of location information that describes a location of the autonomous vehicle on a road; receiving a reduced set of trajectory information where the autonomous vehicle is expected to be driven; determining a driving path information where the autonomous vehicle is expected to be driven; and in response to determining an occurrence of a fault condition: sending a first instruction to cause the autonomous vehicle to steer the autonomous vehicle using at least the driving path information and the reduced set of location information, and sending a second instruction to cause the autonomous vehicle to apply brakes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of driving operation, comprising:
 receiving a first set of information related to a location of a vehicle and a second set of information related to a trajectory of the vehicle;   determining a first set of position information related to a driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven, wherein the first set of position information is determined based on the second set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle; and   performing a driving related operation on the vehicle based on the first set of information related to the location of the vehicle and the first set of position information related to the driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the driving related operation is performed in response to determining that a fault condition has occurred in the vehicle. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the fault condition is determined to occur in response to determining that information related to the location of the vehicle has not been received for more than a pre-determined length of time. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the fault condition is determined to occur in response to receiving a message that multiple sensors on the vehicle have stopped sending data. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the performing the driving related operations includes sending instructions to one or more motors in a steering system of the vehicle, and   wherein the instructions cause the vehicle to be steered along or close to the driving path indicated by the first set of position information.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein an amount of steering is determined based on the first set of information related to the location of the vehicle, a heading of the vehicle, the first set of position information related to the driving path, and a speed of the vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the performing the driving related operations includes sending instructions to actuators associated brakes on the vehicle, and   wherein the instructions cause brakes to be applied on the vehicle as the vehicle is being driven along or close to the driving path indicated by the first set of position information.   
     
     
         8 . A driving apparatus, comprising:
 a processor configured to implement a method, the processor configured to:
 receive a first set of information related to a location of a vehicle and a second set of information related to a trajectory of the vehicle; 
 determine a first set of position information related to a driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven, wherein the first set of position information is determined based on the second set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle; and 
 perform a driving related operation on the vehicle based on the first set of information related to the location of the vehicle and the first set of position information related to the driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven. 
   
     
     
         9 . The driving apparatus of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the first set of information related to the location and the second set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle are respectively converted from a third set of information related to the location of the vehicle and a fourth set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle,   wherein the first set of information includes less information for the location than in the third set of information, and   wherein the second set of information includes less information for the trajectory than in the fourth set of information.   
     
     
         10 . The driving apparatus of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the first set of information is received at a first pre-determined rate, and   wherein the second set of information is received at a second pre-determined rate.   
     
     
         11 . The driving apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the second pre-determined rate is faster than the first pre-determined rate. 
     
     
         12 . The driving apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the first set of information includes a longitude, a latitude, and an altitude related to the location of the vehicle. 
     
     
         13 . The driving apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the longitude, the latitude, and the altitude are associated with a pre-determined numerical characteristic. 
     
     
         14 . The driving apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the second set of information includes position information of at least two points on a road that are related to the trajectory of the vehicle. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer readable program storage medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method comprising:
 receiving a first set of information related to a location of a vehicle and a second set of information related to a trajectory of the vehicle;   determining a first set of position information related to a driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven, wherein the first set of position information is determined based on the second set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle; and   performing a driving related operation on the vehicle based on the first set of information related to the location of the vehicle and the first set of position information related to the driving path on which the vehicle is expected to be driven.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the second set of information related to the trajectory of the vehicle includes a second set of position information of a plurality of points on a road, wherein each point is associated with an index value. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining that position information of a point from the plurality of points is not received; and   determining the position information of the point based on position information of at least two points from the plurality of points.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the point is located in between the at least two points. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the point is located immediately before or immediately after the at least two points. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the first set of position information is determined by:
 obtaining a combined set of points by combining the second set of position information of the plurality of points;   obtaining a line that fits the combined set of points, wherein the first set of position information is determined from points on the line.