US 11,814,039 B2
Vehicle operation using a dynamic occupancy grid
Dmytro S. Yershov, Boston, MA (US); and Matthias Sapuan, Singapore (SG)
Assigned to Motional AD LLC, Boston, MA (US)
Filed by Motional AD LLC, Boston, MA (US)
Filed on May 12, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/318,433.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/023,337, filed on May 12, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0354690 A1, Nov. 18, 2021
Int. Cl. B60W 30/08 (2012.01); G06F 17/14 (2006.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01)
CPC B60W 30/08 (2013.01) [G06V 20/56 (2022.01); B60W 2420/52 (2013.01); B60W 2554/4029 (2020.02); B60W 2554/4049 (2020.02); G06F 17/14 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors of a vehicle operating in an environment, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data from one or more LiDARs of the vehicle, the LiDAR data representing one or more objects located in the environment;
generating, by the one or more processors, a dynamic occupancy grid (DOG) by segregating a semantic map of the environment, the DOG comprising a plurality of grid cells, each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells representing a portion of the environment;
for each grid cell of the plurality of grid cells, generating, by the one or more processors, a probability density function based on the LiDAR data in a time-space-velocity coordinate frame, the probability density function representing a probability that the portion of the environment represented by the grid cell is occupied by an object of the one or more objects, wherein the probability density function is a probability density of finding a particle at a respective grid cell at a time t, a location x, and a velocity v, said particle representing the object;
determining, by the one or more processors, that a time-to-collision (TTC) of the vehicle and the object is less than a threshold time based on the time t of the probability density function; and
responsive to determining that the TTC is less than the threshold time, operating, by the one or more processors, the vehicle to avoid a collision of the vehicle and the object.