Christopher D Cunningham

US Patent:

20220340137, Oct 27, 2022

Filed:

Apr 27, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/241238

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Neal Seegmiller - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

B60W 30/18
G05D 1/00
G05D 1/02

Abstract:

Systems and methods for controlling navigation of an autonomous vehicle for making an unprotected turn while traversing an intersection. The methods may include identifying a loiter pose of an autonomous vehicle for stopping at a point in an intersection before initiating an unprotected turn, initiating navigation of the autonomous vehicle to the loiter pose when a traffic signal is at a first state, determining whether the traffic signal has changed to a second state during or after navigation of the autonomous vehicle to the loiter pose, and in response to determining that the traffic signal has changed to the second state, generating a first trajectory for navigating the autonomous vehicle to execute the unprotected turn if the expected time for moving the autonomous vehicle from a current position to a position when the autonomous vehicle has fully exited an opposing conflict lane is less than a threshold time.

US Patent:

20220340201, Oct 27, 2022

Filed:

Jul 7, 2022

Appl. No.:

17/811164

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Ramadev Burigsay Hukkeri - Pittsburgh PA, US
Thomas Petroff - Gibsonia PA, US
Albert Costa - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

B62D 15/02
B60W 30/18
G08G 1/16
G01C 21/36
H04W 4/02

Abstract:

Methods and systems for maneuvering an autonomous vehicle are disclosed. The methods include generating a multi-corridor representation corresponding to a local region around the autonomous vehicle while travelling on a route, and using the multi-corridor representation and perception data corresponding to the local region to generate a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the local region. The multi-corridor representation includes a plurality of adjacent corridors that each include one or more lane segments of a road network. A location of executing a lane change along the route is determined dynamically during a trajectory generation phase based on the perception data.

US Patent:

20220227391, Jul 21, 2022

Filed:

Jan 20, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/152894

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Nathaniel Honka - Mountain View CA, US
Damir Mirkovic - München, DE

International Classification:

B60W 60/00
B60W 40/06
B60W 40/04

Abstract:

Systems and methods for operating an autonomous vehicle. The methods comprising: obtaining one or more candidate vehicle trajectories for the autonomous vehicle and context information defining a state of an environment surrounding the autonomous vehicle; assigning class(es) to a scenario specified by the context information and a first candidate vehicle trajectory; generating a first quality score for the first candidate vehicle trajectory using scoring function(s) selected based on the assigned class(es); select a candidate vehicle trajectory based on the first quality score associated with the first candidate vehicle trajectory and second quality score(s) associated with at least one second candidate vehicle trajectory; and causing the autonomous vehicle to perform autonomous driving operations using the selected candidate vehicle trajectory.

US Patent:

20230074873, Mar 9, 2023

Filed:

Sep 8, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/468961

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Mark Ollis - Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Neal Andrew Seegmiller - Pittsburgh PA, US
Patrick Stirling Barone - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

B60W 60/00
B60W 50/00

Abstract:

Provided are autonomous vehicles (AV), computer program products, and methods for maneuvering an AV in a roadway, including receiving forecast information associated with predicted trajectories of one or more actors in a roadway, determining a relevant trajectory of an actor based on correlating a forecast for predicted trajectories of the actor with the trajectory of the AV, regenerate a distance table for the relevant trajectory previously generated for processing constraints, generate a plurality of margins for the AV to evaluate, the margins based on a plurality of margin types for providing information about risks and effects on passenger comfort associated with a future proximity of the AV to the actor, classifying an interaction between the AV and the actor based on a plurality of margins, and generating continuous scores for each candidate trajectory that is also within the margin of the actor generated for the relevant trajectory.

US Patent:

20230054626, Feb 23, 2023

Filed:

Aug 17, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/404553

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Ed Venator - Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Patrick Barone - San Francisco CA, US
Xi Cai - San Jose CA, US

International Classification:

B60W 60/00

Abstract:

Systems and methods for operating an autonomous vehicle (AV) are provided. The method includes detecting one or more objects in an environment, predicting a first set of predicted object trajectories comprising one or more trajectories for each of the detected one or more objects, generating a plurality of candidate AV trajectories for the AV, scoring each of the candidate AV trajectories according to a cost function, using the scoring to select a final AV trajectory for execution, determining which of the predicted object trajectories affected the final AV trajectory and which did not do so, adding the predicted object trajectories that affected the final AV trajectory to a persisted prediction cache, excluding from the persisted prediction cache any predicted object trajectories that did not affect the final AV trajectory, and executing the final AV trajectory to cause the AV to move along the final AV trajectory.

US Patent:

20210107566, Apr 15, 2021

Filed:

Oct 9, 2019

Appl. No.:

16/597273

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Ramadev B. Hukkeri - Pittsburgh PA, US
Thomas Petroff - Gibsonia PA, US
Albert Costa - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

B62D 15/02
B60W 30/18
G08G 1/16
G01C 21/36
H04W 4/02

Abstract:

A method and a system for maneuvering an autonomous vehicle is disclosed. The system includes an autonomous vehicle including one or more sensors and a processor. The processor is configured to generate a nominal route from a start position toward a destination with reference to a road network map. The nominal route includes a plurality of consecutive lane segments from the start position to the destination. The processor is further configured to use the road network map to identify at least one candidate lane segment corresponding to one or more of the plurality of consecutive lane segments to generate an expanded route representation, generate a multi-corridor representation of a local region around the autonomous vehicle while travelling on the nominal path, and generate a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the local region using the multi-corridor representation and perception data corresponding to the autonomous vehicle.

US Patent:

20210108936, Apr 15, 2021

Filed:

Oct 9, 2019

Appl. No.:

16/597283

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
Ramadev Burigsay Hukkeri - Pittsburgh PA, US
Thomas Petroff - Gibsonia PA, US
Albert Costa - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

G01C 21/34
G05D 1/00
G05D 1/02
B60W 30/18

Abstract:

Systems and methods of maneuvering an autonomous vehicle in a local region using topological planning, while traversing a route to a destination location, are disclosed. The system includes an autonomous vehicle including one or more sensors and a processor. The processor is configured to determine the local region on the route and receive real-time information corresponding to the local region. The processor performs topological planning to identify on or more topologically distinct classes of trajectories, compute a constraint set for each of the one or more topologically distinct classes of trajectories, optimize a trajectory to generate a candidate trajectory for each constraint set, and select a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the local region from amongst the one or more candidate trajectories. Each of the one or more topologically distinct classes is associated with a plurality of trajectories that take the same combination of discrete actions with respect to objects in the local region.

US Patent:

20210061269, Mar 4, 2021

Filed:

Aug 30, 2019

Appl. No.:

16/556321

Inventors:

- Pittsburgh PA, US
Neal Seegmiller - Pittsburgh PA, US
Albert Costa - Pittsburgh PA, US
Christopher Cunningham - Pittsburgh PA, US
G. Peter K. Carr - Allison Park PA, US
Sameer Bardapurkar - Pittsburgh PA, US

International Classification:

B60W 30/095
B60W 30/18
B60W 30/09
G08G 1/16
G05D 1/00

Abstract:

An autonomous vehicle navigates an intersection in which occlusions block the vehicle's ability to detect moving objects. The vehicle handles this by generating a phantom obstacle behind the occlusion. The vehicle will predict the speed of the phantom obstacle and use the predicted speed to assess whether the phantom obstacle may collide with the vehicle. If a collision is a risk, the vehicle will slow or stop until it confirms that either (a) the phantom obstacle is not a real obstacle or (b) the vehicle can proceed at a speed that avoids the collision. To determine which occlusions shield real objects, the system may use a rasterized visibility grid of the area to identify occlusions that may accommodate the object.