US 11,838,689 B2
Rotating LIDAR with co-aligned imager
Pierre-Yves Droz, Los Altos, CA (US); Simon Verghese, Mountain View, CA (US); and Brendan Hermalyn, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Waymo LLC, Mountain view, CA (US)
Filed by Waymo LLC, Mountain view, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/959,170.
Application 17/959,170 is a continuation of application No. 17/187,775, filed on Feb. 27, 2021, granted, now 11,470,284.
Application 17/187,775 is a continuation of application No. 16/592,541, filed on Oct. 3, 2019, granted, now 10,951,864, issued on Mar. 16, 2021.
Application 16/592,541 is a continuation of application No. 15/671,845, filed on Aug. 8, 2017, granted, now 10,447,973, issued on Oct. 15, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0032410 A1, Feb. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. G01S 17/86 (2020.01); H04N 7/18 (2006.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); H04N 23/60 (2023.01); H04N 23/69 (2023.01); G01S 17/87 (2020.01); G01S 17/89 (2020.01); B60R 1/00 (2022.01)
CPC H04N 7/183 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4812 (2013.01); G01S 7/4817 (2013.01); G01S 17/86 (2020.01); G01S 17/87 (2013.01); G01S 17/89 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); H04N 23/60 (2023.01); H04N 23/69 (2023.01); B60R 1/00 (2013.01); B60R 2300/101 (2013.01); B60R 2300/301 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
generating, using a light detection and ranging (lidar) sensor of a vehicle, a unit of sensing data comprising a direction and a distance to a reflective feature in an external scene;
capturing, using a camera sensor, a plurality of laterally offset images of the external scene, wherein a first image of the plurality of laterally offset images of the external scene is captured at a first time;
mapping, based at least on a scanning frequency associated with capturing the plurality of laterally offset images using the camera sensor, a first region of the first image to the unit of sensing data, wherein the first region depicts the reflective feature;
obtaining an augmented unit of sensing data, wherein obtaining the augmented unit of sensing data comprises:
fusing the unit of sensing data with the first region of the first image; and
delivering the augmented unit of sensing data to a navigation and pathing system of the vehicle.