Waymo patents method to filter out useless LIDAR data from self-driving cars
This patent describes a system for self-driving vehicles that identifies and discards unnecessary data points from LIDAR sensors. It uses information about the vehicle's surroundings and operation to decide which data to keep and which to drop before sending it to the main computer.
In the filing’s own words
Example implementations may relate to determining a strategy for a drop process associated with a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device. In particular, the LIDAR device could emit light pulses and detect return light pulses, and could generate a set of data points representative of the detected return light pulses. The drop process could involve a computing system discarding data point(s) of the set and/or preventing emission of light pulse(s) by the LIDAR device. Accordingly, the computing system could detect a trigger to engage in the drop process, and may responsively (i) use information associated with the environment around the vehicle, operation of the vehicle, and/or operation of the LIDAR device as a basis to determine the strategy for the drop process, and (ii) engage in the drop process in accordance with the determined strategy.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: operating, by a computing system, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device to scan an environment around a vehicle, wherein the operating comprises causing the LIDAR device to emit light pulses and to detect return light pulses, wherein the LIDAR device is configured to generate a set of data points representative of the detected return light pulses; identifying, by the computing system and from among the data points of the set, a subset of data points to be discarded, wherein identifying the subset of data points to be discarded is based on one or more characteristics of an object in the environment around the vehicle; discarding, by the computing system, the data points of the identified subset; and transmitting, by the computing system and to a computing device via a communication channel, data points of the set other than the discarded data points.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Methods and Systems to Determine a Strategy for a Drop Process Associated with a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) Device
- Publication number
- US20260276831A1
- Application number
- 19666901
- Filed
- May 4, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G01S 17/931 Physics & computingG01S 7/4861 Physics & computingG01S 17/10 Physics & computingG01S 17/89 Physics & computingG05D 1/81 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.