Waymo patents system to score safe parking spots for self-driving cars
This patent describes a method for autonomous vehicles to evaluate potential parking spots before stopping. It calculates a quality score for a location by analyzing how often other cars have parked there and how long they stayed, helping the vehicle choose a spot where it is less likely to be blocked by moving traffic.
In the filing’s own words
Aspects of the disclosure relate to evaluating quality of a predetermined pullover location for an autonomous vehicle. For instance, a plurality of inputs for the predetermined pullover location may be received. The plurality of inputs may each include a value representative of a characteristic of the predetermined pullover location. The plurality of inputs may be combined to determine a pullover quality value for the predetermined pullover location. The pullover quality value may be provided to a vehicle in order to enable the vehicle to select a pullover location for the vehicle.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: determining, by one or more processors, a likelihood that one or more first vehicles parked at a predetermined pullover location for an autonomous vehicle of a fleet of autonomous vehicles will begin to unpark from the predetermined pullover location based on previous observations, by one or more autonomous vehicles of the fleet of autonomous vehicles, of how often or long one or more second vehicles have previously parked at the predetermined pullover location; determining, by the one or more processors based on the likelihood, a pullover quality value for the predetermined pullover location; and enabling the autonomous vehicle to select a pullover location for the autonomous vehicle by providing, by the one or more processors, the pullover quality value to the autonomous vehicle.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Quality scoring for pullovers for autonomous vehicles
- Patent number
- US12747955B2
- Application number
- 18887589
- Filed
- Sep 17, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 29, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G01C 21/3461 Physics & computingB60W 30/095 Operations & transportB60W 60/0015 Operations & transportB60W 60/00253 Operations & transportG01C 21/3438 Physics & computingB60W 2552/45 Operations & transportMore 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.