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NvidiaPatent applicationCars & transportInterest 6/10

Nvidia patents method to check if self-driving car sensors are too slow

Nvidia describes a system that uses computer simulations to calculate how fast a self-driving car's sensors must process data to stay safe. If the actual processing speed is slower than this calculated limit, the system triggers alerts or prioritizes computing power to fix the delay.

Why it mattersThis helps ensure that self-driving cars can react quickly enough to obstacles by monitoring their own processing speed in real-time.

In the filing’s own words

An estimation model utilizes simulations of an autonomous vehicle and objects detected near the automated vehicle to develop estimates of tolerable frame processing latency to develop real world frame processing latency estimates for similar driving conditions. An estimation model can a minimum tolerable latency for processing the frames of image data of an object detection camera on an autonomous vehicle using the object state data of the objects detected near the autonomous vehicle. An autonomous vehicle system process can determine if the processing latency of a sensor is greater than the modeled tolerable latency for that sensor, then a safety check is failed and an alert is sent. An autonomous vehicle system process can determine if the processing latency of a sensor is greater than the modeled tolerable latency for that sensor, then the hardware resources are prioritized to the processing for that sensor. An autonomous vehicle system process can determine if the processing latency of a sensor is greater than the modeled tolerable latency for that sensor, hardware performance may be increased.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: executing a simulation for an autonomous vehicle and one or more objects associated with the autonomous vehicle; determining, from the simulation, a respective state for each of the autonomous vehicle and the one or more objects; determining, for a timestep associated with the respective states, a tolerable latency for a sensor of the autonomous vehicle; comparing the tolerable latency to a sensor perception latency associated with the sensor; determining the sensor perception latency exceeds the tolerable latency; and performing one or more remedial actions.

Facts

Company
Nvidia (Nvidia Corporation)
Official title
METHOD TO ESTIMATE PROCESSING RATE REQUIREMENT FOR SAFE AV DRIVING TO PRIORITIZE RESOURCE USAGE
Publication number
US20260285338A1
Application number
19686486
Filed
May 22, 2026
Published
Sep 24, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

B60W 50/06 Operations & transportB60W 50/0205 Operations & transportB60W 50/035 Operations & transportB60W 50/14 Operations & transportB60W 60/0015 Operations & transportB60W 2050/143 Operations & transport
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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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.