This disclosure relates to, among other things, managing the operation of a vehicle in accordance with one or more policies. Consistent with various aspects of the disclosed embodiments, a vehicle control system may be used to enforce policy in connection with various vehicle operations based, at least in part, on trusted information provided by one or more vehicle subsystems and/or other systems. A vehicle control system may verify the received information and use the verified information to determine whether the vehicle may engage in a particular operation and/or enter a particular operational mode in accordance with one or more policies.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for managing user intervention for a vehicle are provided. One of the methods includes: receiving an instruction to initiate an intervention session from a server, and providing, in response to receiving the instruction, a user interface associated with the intervention session for display on a terminal associated with the vehicle. The method further includes detecting, at the terminal, a user interaction corresponding to a command associated with operation of the vehicle, and generating a decision associated with the operation of the vehicle based at least in part on the command.

An autonomous vehicle including a vehicle propulsion system, a braking system, a steering system, and a computing system that is in communication with the vehicle propulsion system, the brake system, and the steering system. The computing system can receive an indication an account associated with a passenger of the autonomous vehicle for a trip of the autonomous vehicle includes a predefined parent-child link with a second account. The predefined parent-child link indicates the account associated with the passenger is subordinate to the second account and a parent-child relationship exists between the passenger and a person associated with the second account. Responsive to receiving the indication of the parent-child link and the passenger being the child in the parent-child relationship, the computing system can control the autonomous vehicle to enable a linked account feature that would otherwise be disabled.

Disclosed is a control authority transfer apparatus of an autonomous vehicle, including a memory storing data on a plurality of users, and at least one processor setting driving operation priorities based on the data, wherein, in the state in which at least a part of autonomous driving control has failed, upon determining that a main user is in a state of being incapable of performing driving operation, the processor selects a first sub-user among a plurality of sub-users as a driving operation user according to the driving operation priorities, and selects a first device matching the first sub-user as a driving operation device.

An apparatus comprising an interface, a memory and a processor. The interface may be configured to receive sensor data samples during operation of a vehicle. The memory may be configured to store the sensor data samples over a number of points in time. The processor may be configured to analyze the sensor data samples stored in the memory to detect a pattern. The processor may be configured to manage an application of brakes of the vehicle in response to the pattern.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate switching between autonomous and manual driving modes. In order to do so, the vehicle’s computer may conduct a series of environmental, system, and driver checks to identify certain conditions. The computer may correct some of these conditions and also provide a driver with a checklist of tasks for completion. Once the tasks have been completed and the conditions are changed, the computer may allow the driver to switch from the manual to the autonomous driving mode. The computer may also make a determination, under certain conditions, that it would be detrimental to the driver’s safety or comfort to make a switch from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.

A vehicular driving assist system includes a camera disposed in a vehicle and at least viewing driver hand positions of hands of a driver present in the vehicle. The vehicular driving assist system determines driver hand positions via processing of image data captured by the camera. The vehicular driving assist system compares determined driver hand positions to a plurality of discrete driver hand positions, which includes (i) a plurality of discrete driver hand positions at a steering wheel of the vehicle, and (ii) a plurality of discrete driver hand positions at an interior portion of the vehicle and not at the steering wheel of the vehicle. The vehicular driving assist system, responsive to processing of image data captured by the camera and based at least in part on comparison of determined driver hand positions to the plurality of discrete driver hand positions, determines a level of attentiveness of the driver.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate switching between autonomous and manual driving modes. In order to do so, the vehicle's computer may conduct a series of environmental, system, and driver checks to identify certain conditions. The computer may correct some of these conditions and also provide a driver with a checklist of tasks for completion. Once the tasks have been completed and the conditions are changed, the computer may allow the driver to switch from the manual to the autonomous driving mode. The computer may also make a determination, under certain conditions, that it would be detrimental to the driver's safety or comfort to make a switch from the autonomous driving mode to the manual driving mode.

Techniques are provided for operational situation vehicle control, and include determining action and context data for one or more vehicle operations in one or more operational situations, training vehicle control rules for those operational situations, and using those vehicle control rules to control vehicles in compatible operational situations.

A vehicular control system includes at least one processor that processes image data captured by a forward viewing camera and radar data captured by a forward sensing radar sensor. With the system controlling driving of the vehicle, the system determines a triggering event that requires driving of the vehicle to be handed over to a driver of the vehicle before the vehicle encounters an event point, and the system (i) determines a total action time until the vehicle encounters the event, (ii) estimates a driver take over time for the driver to take over control and (iii) estimates a handling time for the driver to control the vehicle to avoid encountering the event point. Based on the determined and estimated times, the system (i) requests the driver take over control of the vehicle or (ii) controls the vehicle to slow down and stop the vehicle before the event point.