Waymo patents method for self-driving cars to balance learning and driving
This patent describes a system for autonomous vehicles that chooses driving paths by weighing two factors. It calculates how much new information a path would provide about the surroundings and how well it moves the car toward its destination.
In the filing’s own words
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for assessing driving plans for autonomous vehicles. One of the methods includes obtaining data representing a goal for an agent in a driving environment, generating one or more available trajectories for the agent, and selecting one or more future actions for the agent.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining data representing a goal for an agent in a driving environment; generating one or more available trajectories for the agent to attain the goal in the driving environment; selecting one or more future actions for the agent, comprising: for each of the one or more available trajectories, determining an epistemic value that represents the degree of information to be gained about the driving environment and a pragmatic value that represents the degree to which the agent will advance toward the goal; determining a trajectory of the one or more available trajectories that is optimized between the epistemic value and the pragmatic value; and selecting the one or more future actions based on the trajectory that is optimized between the epistemic value and the pragmatic value; and causing the agent to execute the one or more future actions.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Assessing driving plans for autonomous vehicles
- Patent number
- US12735072B1
- Application number
- 18614428
- Filed
- Mar 22, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 21
Classified under
B60W 60/0027 Operations & transportB60W 2552/15 Operations & transportB60W 2552/20 Operations & transportB60W 2552/40 Operations & transportB60W 2554/20 Operations & transportB60W 2554/4046 Operations & transportMore from Google in Cars & transport
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- Waymo patents AI that predicts driving scenes from sensor data Oct 1, 2026
- Waymo patents method for self-driving cars to predict when they can see hidden hazards Sep 8, 2026
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.