公开(公告)号：US10394243B1

公开(公告)日：2019-08-27

申请号：US16138582

申请日：2018-09-21

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Vahid R. Ramezani ,  Benjamin Englard ,  Tomi P. Maila

IPC: G05D1/02 ,  G05D1/00 ,  B60W50/029

Abstract: Various software techniques for managing operation of autonomous vehicles based on sensor data are disclosed herein. A computing system may generate, based on a set of signals descriptive of a current state of an environment in which the autonomous vehicle is operating, a normal path plan separate from a safe path plan, or a hybrid path plan including a normal path plan and a safe path plan. In generating the safe path plan, the computing system may generate and concatenate a set of motion primitives. When a fault condition occurs, the computing device may transition from executing the normal path plan to executing the safe path plan to safely stop the autonomous vehicle.

公开(公告)号：US20190242978A1

公开(公告)日：2019-08-08

申请号：US16389362

申请日：2019-04-19

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Matthew D. Weed ,  Scott R. Campbell ,  Lane A. Martin ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Austin K. Russell

IPC: G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S7/497

CPC classification number: G01S7/484 ,  G01S7/4817 ,  G01S7/497 ,  G01S17/10 ,  G01S17/42 ,  G01S17/936

Abstract: To compensate for the uneven distribution of data points around the periphery of a vehicle in a lidar system, a light source transmits light pulses at a variable pulse rate according to the orientation of the light pulses with respect to the lidar system. A controller may communicate with a scanner in the lidar system that provides the orientations of the light pulses to the controller. The controller may then provide a control signal to the light source adjusting the pulse rate based on the orientations of the light pulses. For example, the pulse rate may be slower near the front of the lidar system and faster near the periphery. In another example, the pulse rate may be faster near the front of the lidar system and slower near the periphery.

公开(公告)号：US10345447B1

公开(公告)日：2019-07-09

申请号：US16020481

申请日：2018-06-27

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Richmond Hicks

IPC: G01S17/93 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/486 ,  G01S17/02 ,  H04N5/3745 ,  H04N5/235 ,  G06K9/00

Abstract: A dynamic vision sensor (DVS) camera is described that directs scanning of a lidar. In one example, a DVS has an array of pixels, wherein each DVS pixel comprises a photodetector, and is configured to detect temporal contrast and generate an event in response. A lidar system has a light source configured to emit light, a scanner configured to direct the emitted light along a scan pattern contained within a field of regard of the lidar system, and a receiver configured to detect at least a portion of the emitted light scattered by one or more remote targets in a scene. A processor is coupled to the lidar system and to the dynamic vision sensor and receives the events, identifies a region of interest in the field of regard that corresponds to DVS pixels that generated the events, and adjusts a scan parameter of the lidar system in the region of interest.

公开(公告)号：US10338223B1

公开(公告)日：2019-07-02

申请号：US16176649

申请日：2018-10-31

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Englard ,  Eric C. Danziger

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G05D1/02 ,  B60W30/18 ,  G06T7/50 ,  G06K9/42 ,  G06N3/08 ,  G05D1/00 ,  G06K9/62 ,  G06K9/00 ,  G06T7/20

Abstract: A method for processing point clouds having variable spatial distributions of scan lines includes receiving a point cloud frame generated by a sensor configured to sense a vehicle environment. Each of the points in the frame has associated two-dimensional coordinates and an associated parameter value. The method also includes generating a normalized point cloud frame by adding interpolated points not present in the received frame, at least by, for each interpolated point, identifying one or more neighboring points having associated two-dimensional coordinates that are within a threshold distance of two-dimensional coordinates for the interpolated point, and calculating an estimated parameter value of the interpolated point using, for each of the identified neighboring points, a distance between the two-dimensional coordinates and the parameter value associated with the identified neighboring point. The method also includes generating, using the normalized point cloud frame, signals descriptive of a current state of the vehicle environment.

公开(公告)号：US20190197778A1

公开(公告)日：2019-06-27

申请号：US15906529

申请日：2018-02-27

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Prateek Sachdeva ,  Dmytro Trofymov

IPC: G06T19/00 ,  G06T11/00 ,  G06F3/0481 ,  G06K9/00 ,  G06T15/30 ,  G06T7/174 ,  G06T15/20 ,  G06K9/62 ,  G06K9/66

Abstract: Techniques for identifying and labeling distinct objects within 3-D images of environments in which vehicles operate, to thereby generate training data used to train models that autonomously control and/or operate vehicles, are disclosed. A 3-D image may be presented from various perspective views (in some cases, dynamically), and/or may be presented with a corresponding 2-D environment image in a side-by-side and/or a layered manner, thereby allowing a user to more accurately identify groups/clusters of data points within the 3-D image that represent distinct objects. Automatic identification/delineation of various types of objects depicted within 3-D images, automatic labeling of identified/delineated objects, and automatic tracking of objects across various frames of a 3-D video are disclosed. A user may modify and/or refine any automatically generated information. Further, at least some of the techniques described herein are equally applicable to 2-D images.

公开(公告)号：US20190179026A1

公开(公告)日：2019-06-13

申请号：US16176624

申请日：2018-10-31

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Englard ,  Eric C. Danziger ,  Austin K. Russell

IPC: G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/02 ,  G01S17/66 ,  G01S7/48

Abstract: A method for controlling at least a first sensor of a vehicle, which senses an environment through which the vehicle is moving by producing a plurality of scan lines arranged according to a spatial distribution, includes receiving sensor data generated by one or more sensors. The one or more sensors are configured to sense the environment through which the vehicle is moving. The method also includes identifying, by one or more processors and based on the received sensor data, one or more areas of interest in the environment, and causing, by one or more processors and based on the areas of interest, the spatial distribution of the plurality of scan lines produced by the first sensor to be adjusted.

公开(公告)号：US20190178988A1

公开(公告)日：2019-06-13

申请号：US16176529

申请日：2018-10-31

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Englard ,  Eric C. Danziger

IPC: G01S7/40 ,  G01S13/93 ,  G01S7/41 ,  G01S13/42 ,  G05D1/00 ,  G05D1/02 ,  B60W30/18 ,  B60W10/04 ,  G06N3/08

Abstract: A method for configuring a perception component of a vehicle having one or more sensors includes generating a first set of training data that includes first sensor data corresponding to a first setting of one or more sensor parameters, and an indicator of the first setting. The method also includes generating a second set of training data that includes second sensor data corresponding to a second setting of the sensor parameter(s), and an indicator of the second setting. The method further includes training the perception component, at least by training a machine learning based model using the first and second training data sets. The trained perception component is configured to generate signals descriptive of a current state of the vehicle environment by processing sensor data generated by the sensor(s), and one or more indicators indicating which setting of the sensor parameter(s) corresponds to which portions of the generated sensor data.

公开(公告)号：US20190154836A1

公开(公告)日：2019-05-23

申请号：US15965197

申请日：2018-04-27

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Scott R. Campbell ,  Jason M. Eichenholz ,  Austin K. Russell ,  John G. Hughes

IPC: G01S17/93 ,  G02B27/09 ,  G01S17/08 ,  G01S17/89

Abstract: A lidar system comprises a light source configured to emit light, a scanner configured to direct the emitted light to scan a field of regard of the lidar system in accordance with a scan pattern, a receiver configured to detect the light scattered by one or more remote targets, and a controller configured to control motion of at least the second mirror to modify the scan pattern. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror having a block having a first wall, a second wall, and reflective surfaces extending between the first and second walls, the reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another along a periphery of the block. The scanner also includes a polygon mirror axle extending into the block through at least one of the first and second walls, about which the block rotates, and a second mirror pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axle.

公开(公告)号：US20190154804A1

公开(公告)日：2019-05-23

申请号：US16107521

申请日：2018-08-21

Applicant: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Inventor： Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G02B26/12 ,  G02B26/10

Abstract: A lidar system operates in a vehicle and includes a light source configured to emit light, a scanner configured to direct the emitted light so as to scan a field of regard of the lidar system in accordance with a scan pattern, and a receiver configured to detect the light scattered by one or more remote targets. The scanner includes a rotatable polygon mirror configured to scan the FOR along a horizontal dimension, a polygon mirror axis about which the polygon mirror rotates, and a y-scan mirror pivotable along an axis orthogonal to the polygon mirror axis and configured to scan the FOR along a vertical dimension. The polygon mirror has multiple reflective surfaces being angularly offset from one another. The polygon mirror axis is disposed on a plane substantially parallel to a plane along which the vehicle moves.

公开(公告)号：US20190107606A1

公开(公告)日：2019-04-11

申请号：US16155207

申请日：2018-10-09

Applicant: Luminar Technologies, Inc.

Inventor： Austin K. Russell ,  Matthew D. Weed ,  Liam J. McGregor ,  Jason M. Eichenholz

IPC: G01S7/481 ,  G01S7/48 ,  G01S7/486 ,  G01S17/93 ,  G01S17/89 ,  G01S17/10

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit pulses of light and a scanner configured to scan at least a portion of the emitted pulses of light across a field of regard. The field of regard contains all or part of a target located a distance from the lidar system that is less than or equal to a maximum range of the lidar system, and one or more of the emitted pulses of light are scattered by the target. The lidar system also includes a receiver configured to detect at least a portion of the pulses of light scattered by the target. The lidar system further includes a processor configured to determine the distance from the lidar system to the target based at least in part on a round-trip time of flight for an emitted pulse of light.