Automated vehicle safety response methods and corresponding vehicle safety systems with serialized computing architectures

Abstract

Described herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for implementing automated vehicle safety response measures to ensure continued safe automated vehicle operation for a limited period of time after a vehicle component or vehicle system that supports an automated vehicle driving function fails. When a critical vehicle component/system such as a vehicle computing platform fails, the vehicle is likely no longer capable of performing calculations required to safely operate and navigate the vehicle in an autonomous manner, or at a minimum, is no longer able to ensure the accuracy of such calculations. In such a scenario, the automated vehicle safety response measures disclosed herein can ensure - despite failure of the vehicle component/system -continued safe automated operation of the vehicle for a limited period of time in order to bring the vehicle to a safe stop.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a main vehicle computing platform;   a secondary vehicle computing platform;   one or more actuators; and   at least one processor; and   at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions, wherein the at least one processor is configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 determine a failure of the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle computing platform; 
 iterate through a vehicle safety response control level hierarchy to determine a vehicle safety response control level; 
 determine a set of vehicle safety response control commands corresponding to the vehicle safety response control level, wherein the determining of the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises determining a complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands depending on whether first commands from the main vehicle computing platform conflict with second commands from the secondary vehicle platform or whether first results of sensor data processing by the main vehicle computing platform conflict with second results of sensor data processing by the secondary vehicle platform; and 
 send the set of vehicle safety response control commands to the one or more actuators of the vehicle to initiate a safety response measure for the vehicle in response to the failure of the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle computing platform. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining the complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands comprises reducing a complexity of the first commands or the second commands in response to determining that the first commands are inconsistent with the second commands or that the first results are inconsistent with the second results. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining the complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands comprises, in response to determining that the first commands are inconsistent with the second commands or that the first results are inconsistent with the second results:
 determining whether the secondary vehicle computing platform has failed; and   in response to determining that the secondary vehicle computing platform has failed, determining the set of vehicle safety response control commands to have a reduced complexity compared to the second commands.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein, in response to determining that the secondary vehicle computing platform is functional, determining the set of vehicle safety response control commands as the second commands. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises adjusting a complexity of the set based on a complexity of any sensors that feed back data to be processed by the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle platform. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises synchronizing a current vehicle trajectory with expected vehicle trajectory data if the expected vehicle trajectory data corresponds to within a threshold period of time of the primary vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle computing platform failing. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the synchronizing a current vehicle trajectory with expected vehicle trajectory data is based on an absence of obstacles in a path of the expected vehicle trajectory data. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to:
 receive, at the at least one processor, sensor data from one or more sensors of the vehicle;   augment, by the at least one processor, the set of vehicle safety response control commands using the sensor data to obtain a set of augmented vehicle safety response control commands; and   send, by the at least one processor, the set of augmented vehicle safety response control commands to the one or more actuators to enhance the safety response measure for the vehicle.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise an inertial sensor. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the sensor data comprises first sensor data received from the inertial sensor, and wherein augmenting the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises:
 determining, by the at least one processor, a current location of the vehicle using the first sensor data;   determining, by the at least one processor and based at least in part on planned vehicle trajectory data, that the current location of the vehicle deviates from an expected location of the vehicle; and   modifying, by the one or more processors, a vehicle steering control command of the set of vehicle safety response control commands to obtain an augmented vehicle steering control command of the set of augmented vehicle safety response control commands, wherein the augmented vehicle steering control command, when implemented, causes the one or more actuators to adjust a steering control for the vehicle to reduce the deviation between the current location of the vehicle and the expected location of the vehicle.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise a radar-based sensor, wherein the sensor data comprises first sensor data received from the radar-based sensor, and wherein augmenting the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises:
 determining, by the at least one processor and using the first sensor data, that an obstacle is present along a planned trajectory of the vehicle; and   modifying, by the one or more processors, one or more control commands of the set of vehicle safety response control commands to obtain one or more augmented vehicle safety response control commands of the set of augmented vehicle safety response control commands, wherein the one or more augmented vehicle safety response control commands, when implemented, cause the one or more actuators to adjust at least one of a steering control or a braking control for the vehicle to cause the vehicle to deviate from the planned trajectory in order to avoid the obstacle.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the failure is based on cumulative periods of lack of connectivity between the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle computing platform and the at least one processor. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the failure comprises determining a potential failure based on a clock frequency of the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle computing platform. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors associated with a vehicle, planned vehicle trajectory data from a vehicle computing platform of the vehicle, the planned vehicle trajectory data indicating a planned trajectory of the vehicle for a period of time subsequent to a time of receipt of the planned vehicle trajectory data;   determining, by the one or more processors, that the vehicle computing platform has failed;   determining, by the one or more processors, a set of vehicle safety response control commands based at least in part on the planned vehicle trajectory data;   sending, by the one or more processors, the set of vehicle safety response control commands to one or more actuators of the vehicle to initiate a safety response measure for the vehicle in response to failure of the vehicle computing platform;   during a period of time in which the safety response measure is undertaken, continuously receiving over time, at the one or more processors, sensor data from one or more sensors of the vehicle, the sensor data comprising indicating actual vehicle trajectory data;   updating the set of vehicle safety response control commands based on any deviation between the actual vehicle trajectory data and the planned vehicle trajectory data; and   transmitting the updated set of vehicle safety response control commands to the one or more actuators.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the continuously receiving over time the sensor data comprises continuously receiving the sensor data from an inertial sensor. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the sensor data comprises angular rate and angular orientation. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the determining a set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises determining a complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands depending on whether first commands from a main vehicle computing platform of the vehicle computing platform conflict with second commands from a secondary vehicle platform of the vehicle computing platform or whether first results of sensor data processing by the main vehicle computing platform conflict with second results of sensor data processing by the secondary vehicle platform. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein determining the complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands comprises reducing a complexity of the first commands or the second commands in response to determining that the first commands are inconsistent with the second commands or that the first results are inconsistent with the second results. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein determining the complexity of the set of the vehicle safety response control commands comprises, in response to determining that the first commands are inconsistent with the second commands or that the first results are inconsistent with the second results:
 determining whether the secondary vehicle computing platform has failed; and   in response to determining that the secondary vehicle computing platform has failed, determining the set of vehicle safety response control commands to have a reduced complexity compared to the second commands.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the determining of the set of vehicle safety response control commands comprises adjusting a complexity of the set based on a complexity of any sensors that feed back data to be processed by the main vehicle computing platform or the secondary vehicle platform.