Autonomous Vehicle Sensor Cleaning System

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a sensor cleaning system that cleans one or more sensors of an autonomous vehicle. Each sensor can have one or more corresponding sensor cleaning units that are configured to clean such sensor using a fluid (e.g., a gas or a liquid). Thus, the sensor cleaning system can include both a gas cleaning system and a liquid cleaning system. According to one aspect, the sensor cleaning system can provide individualized cleaning of the autonomous vehicle sensors. According to another aspect, a liquid cleaning system can be pressurized or otherwise powered by the gas cleaning system or other gas system.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A sensor cleaning system for cleaning of autonomous vehicle sensors, the sensor cleaning system comprising:
 one or more sensor cleaning units configured to clean a plurality of sensors of an autonomous vehicle;   a fluid source that supplies a fluid;   one or more flow control devices that respectively control a flow of the fluid from the fluid source to the one or more sensor cleaning units; and   one or more controllers that comprise one or more processors, the one or more controllers configured to:
 obtain first sensor data collected by a subset of sensors of the plurality of sensors; 
 determine that the subset of sensors require cleaning based at least in part on the first sensor data; and 
 control the one or more flow control devices to control the flow of the fluid from the fluid source to at least one of the one or more sensor cleaning units to clean the subset of sensors, 
 wherein the subset of sensors comprise a camera, a LIDAR sensor, or a RADAR sensor. 
   
     
     
         22 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the subset of sensors comprises the camera that captures first imagery; and   the one or more controllers are further configured to determine that the camera requires cleaning based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the first imagery captured by the camera.   
     
     
         23 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more controllers determine that the camera requires cleaning based at least in part on at least one of a sharpness and a brightness of at least a portion of a first frame included in the first imagery captured by the camera. 
     
     
         24 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 22 , wherein, to determine that the camera requires cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect an occlusion exhibited at a same location in a plurality of frames included in the first imagery captured by the camera. 
     
     
         25 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein, to determine that the subset of sensors require cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect a disappearance of an observed object. 
     
     
         26 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein, to determine that the subset of sensors require cleaning, the one or more controllers are configured to detect an absence of an object that is expected to be observed. 
     
     
         27 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the subset of sensors comprises the LIDAR sensor that captures LIDAR data; and   the one or more controllers are further configured to determine that the LIDAR sensor requires cleaning based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the LIDAR data captured by the LIDAR sensor.   
     
     
         28 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 27 , wherein:
 the LIDAR sensor is located in a pod that is mounted on a roof of the autonomous vehicle; and   at least a first sensor cleaning unit of the one or more sensor cleaning units that is configured to clean the LIDAR sensor is located in the pod that is mounted on the roof of the autonomous vehicle.   
     
     
         29 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the subset of sensors comprises the RADAR sensor that captures RADAR data; and   the one or more controllers are further configured to determine that the RADAR sensor requires cleaning based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the RADAR data captured by the RADAR sensor.   
     
     
         30 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein the subset of sensors comprises a front-facing sensor that experiences accumulation of bug splatter. 
     
     
         31 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 21 , wherein the fluid source comprises a tank that stores a liquid and the one or more sensor cleaning units are configured to clean the one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle using the liquid. 
     
     
         32 . The sensor cleaning system of  claim 31 , further comprising:
 a gas source that supplies a gas;   wherein the one or more sensor cleaning units or one or more additional sensor cleaning units are configured to clean the one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle using the gas.   
     
     
         33 . A computer-implemented method to clean autonomous vehicle sensors, the method comprising:
 obtaining, by one or more computing devices, one or more sets of sensor data respectively generated by one or more sensors of an autonomous vehicle, wherein one or more sensor cleaning units are configured to clean the one or more sensors;   performing, by the one or more computing devices, an analysis of each set of sensor data to determine whether the corresponding sensor requires cleaning;   identifying, by the one or more computing devices, when a first sensor of the one or more sensors requires cleaning based at least in part on the analysis of a first set of sensor data generated by the first sensor, wherein the first sensor comprises one or more cameras, one or more LIDAR sensors, or one or more RADAR sensors; and   controlling, by the one or more computing devices, a flow of a fluid to a first sensor cleaning unit of the one or more sensor cleaning units to enable the first sensor cleaning unit to clean the first sensor.   
     
     
         34 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , wherein:
 obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more sets of sensor data comprises obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, one or more sets of imagery respectively generated by the one or more cameras; and   performing, by the one or more computing devices, the analysis of each set of sensor data to determine whether the corresponding sensor requires cleaning comprises performing, by the one or more computing devices, an analysis of each set of imagery to determine whether the corresponding camera requires cleaning.   
     
     
         35 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 34 , wherein performing, by the one or more computing devices, the analysis of each set of imagery comprises at least one of:
 performing, by the one or more computing devices, the analysis of at least one of a sharpness and a brightness of at least one frame of each set of imagery to determine whether the corresponding camera requires cleaning; and   detecting, by the one or more computing devices, an occlusion exhibited at a same location in a plurality of frames of a particular set of imagery.   
     
     
         36 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , wherein:
 obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more sets of sensor data comprises obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, one or more sets of LIDAR data respectively generated by the one or more LIDAR sensors; and   performing, by the one or more computing devices, the analysis of each set of sensor data to determine whether the corresponding sensor requires cleaning comprises performing, by the one or more computing devices, an analysis of each set of LIDAR data to determine whether the corresponding LIDAR sensor requires cleaning.   
     
     
         37 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , wherein:
 obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more sets of sensor data comprises obtaining, by the one or more computing devices, one or more sets of RADAR data respectively generated by the one or more RADAR sensors; and   performing, by the one or more computing devices, the analysis of each set of sensor data to determine whether the corresponding sensor requires cleaning comprises performing, by the one or more computing devices, an analysis of each set of RADAR data to determine whether the corresponding RADAR sensor requires cleaning.   
     
     
         38 . An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
 a plurality of cameras; and   a sensor cleaning system that performs individualized cleaning of the plurality of cameras of the autonomous vehicle, the sensor cleaning system comprising:
 a plurality of sensor cleaning units configured to respectively clean the plurality of cameras of the autonomous vehicle; 
 a fluid source that supplies a fluid; 
 a plurality of flow control devices that respectively control a flow of the fluid from the fluid source to the plurality of sensor cleaning units; and 
 one or more controllers that comprise one or more processors, the one or more controllers configured to:
 determine that a first camera of the plurality of cameras requires cleaning; and 
 individually control a first flow control device that corresponds to a first sensor cleaning unit that corresponds to the first camera to allow the flow of the fluid to the first sensor cleaning unit to enable the first sensor cleaning unit to individually clean the first camera. 
 
   
     
     
         39 . The autonomous vehicle of  claim 38 , wherein the fluid source comprises a liquid reservoir and the fluid comprises a liquid. 
     
     
         40 . The autonomous vehicle of  claim 38 , wherein:
 each of the plurality of cameras collects respective image data; and   the one or more controllers determine that the first camera requires cleaning based at least in part on first image data collected by the first camera.