Nvidia patents adaptive 3D bowl for self-driving car views
Nvidia describes a method for visualizing the area around a self-driving vehicle using a 3D shape called an adaptive bowl. The shape of this bowl changes based on how far away nearby objects are, allowing the system to create a top-down or 3D view of the surroundings.
In the filing’s own words
In various examples, an environment surrounding an ego-object is visualized using an adaptive 3D bowl that models the environment with a shape that changes based on distance (and direction) to one or more representative point(s) on detected objects. Distance (and direction) to detected objects may be determined using 3D object detection or a top-down 2D or 3D occupancy grid, and used to adapt the shape of the adaptive 3D bowl in various ways (e.g., by sizing its ground plane to fit within the distance to the closest detected object, fitting a shape using an optimization algorithm). The adaptive 3D bowl may be enabled or disabled during each time slice (e.g., based on ego-speed), and the 3D bowl for each time slice may be used to render a visualization of the environment (e.g., a top-down projection image, a textured 3D bowl, and/or a rendered view thereof).
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: determining, using one or more machine learning models, one or more distances and one or more directions from an ego-object to one or more closest detected objects in an environment; generating a three-dimensional (3D) bowl that adaptively models the environment with a shape that is based at least on the one or more distances and the one or more directions to the one or more closest detected objects; and generating a visualization of the environment based at least on the 3D bowl.
Facts
- Company
- Nvidia (NVIDIA CORPORATION)
- Official title
- ADAPTIVE SURROUND VIEW VISUALIZATION
- Publication number
- US20260289726A1
- Application number
- 19672824
- Filed
- May 11, 2026
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06T 3/4038 Physics & computingG06T 7/70 Physics & computingG06T 7/74 Physics & computingG06T 15/20 Physics & computingG06V 10/16 Physics & computingG06V 20/56 Physics & computingMore from Nvidia 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.