Waymo patents system to detect cyclists losing control before they fall
This patent describes a method for autonomous vehicles to detect when a cyclist or pedestrian is about to lose their balance. The system uses sensors and machine learning to track specific points on the person's body, looking for changes in height that indicate they are tipping over. If the system detects a loss of control, it triggers the car to take evasive action.
In the filing’s own words
The disclosed systems and techniques are directed to identifying and responding to presence of vulnerable road users (VRUs) in driving environments that are at risk of loss of control of their driving trajectories. The techniques include collecting, using a sensing system of an autonomous vehicle, sensing data for an environment of the autonomous vehicle and processing the sensing data by one or more machine learning models to identify a plurality of reference points associated with a VRU in the environment. The techniques further include identifying one or more height differentials for the plurality of reference points, determining that the VRU is at risk of loss of control, based at least on a change of the one or more height differentials, and causing a control system of the autonomous vehicle to perform an avoidance action.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A system comprising: a sensing system of an autonomous vehicle, the sensing system to collect sensing data for an environment of the autonomous vehicle; and a perception system of the autonomous vehicle, the perception system to: process the sensing data by one or more machine learning models to identify a plurality of reference points associated with a vulnerable road user (VRU) in the environment; identify one or more height differentials for the plurality of reference points; determine that the VRU is at risk of loss of control, based at least on a change of the one or more height differentials; and cause a control system of the autonomous vehicle to perform an avoidance action.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Detection of loss-of-control vulnerable road users in automotive environments
- Patent number
- US12728897B2
- Application number
- 18954098
- Filed
- Nov 20, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
B60W 60/0017 Operations & transportG06V 10/764 Physics & computingG06V 20/58 Physics & computingG06V 2201/07 Physics & computingMore from Google in Cars & transport
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.