A surrounding environment recognition device recognizes a surrounding environment around a vehicle. A traveling control unit centrally controls a whole of the entire vehicle. An obstacle presumer presumes presence of an obstacle ahead of the vehicle based on a behavior distribution of preceding vehicles recognized by the surrounding environment recognition device, and estimates a position and an area where the obstacle is present when the presence of the obstacle is presumed. A traveling path calculator calculates candidates for traveling path areas along which the vehicle is expected to travel while avoiding collision with the presumed obstacle. A traveling path selector selects a traveling path area from among the calculated traveling path areas and sets the selected traveling path area. The traveling control unit controls the vehicle to travel along the set traveling path area.

An optical apparatus includes a deflector configured to deflect illumination light from a light source to scan an object, and configured to deflect reflected light from the object, a light guide configured to guide the illumination light form the light source to the deflector, and configured to guide the reflected light from the deflector to a light receiving element, an optical member having a reflective area that makes first light which is part of the illumination light from the deflector incident on the deflector by reflection, and a controller configured to obtain information regarding the deflector on the basis of information of the first light from the reflective area. In a cross-section including the optical path from the reflective area to the light guide, a width of the reflective area is smaller than a width of the illumination light on the reflective area.

A system for control of a steering system of a vehicle. The system including an actuator for applying a force or a torque to the steering system. A force or torque can be superimposed on a force or torque originating from the wheels. The system includes a detection unit disposed on the vehicle and configured for anticipatorily detecting at least one surface condition of a surface section located ahead of the vehicle in the direction of vehicle travel and subsequently driven on by the vehicle. The system including a data processing unit disposed on the vehicle and connected to and communicating with the detection unit. The data processing unit configured for generating control signals for controlling an actuator of the steering system based on the detected surface condition.

In one embodiment, a plurality of obstacles is sensed in an environment of an automated driving vehicle (ADV). One or more representations are formed to represent corresponding groupings of the plurality of obstacles. A vehicle route is determined in view of the one or more representations, rather than each and every one of the obstacles individually.

Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes receiving data indicative of an operating mode of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle is configured to operate in a plurality of operating modes. The method includes determining one or more response characteristics of the vehicle based at least in part on the operating mode of the vehicle, each response characteristic indicating how the vehicle responds to a potential collision. The method includes controlling the vehicle based at least in part on the one or more response characteristics.

A sensor assembly can include a housing that includes a view pane and a mounting feature configured to replace a trailer light of a cargo trailer of a semi-trailer truck. The sensor assembly can also include a lighting element mounted within the housing to selectively generate light, and a sensor mounted within the housing and having a field of view through the view pane. The sensor assembly can also include a communication interface configured to transmit sensor data from the sensor to a control system of the self-driving tractor.

Autonomous vehicle operation with explicit occlusion reasoning may include traversing, by a vehicle, a vehicle transporation network. Traversing the vehicle transportation network can include receiving, from a sensor of the vehicle, sensor data for a portion of a vehicle operational environment, determining, using the sensor data, a visibility grid comprising coordinates forming an unobserved region within a defined distance from the vehicle, computing a probability of a presence of an external object within the unobserved region by comparing the visibility grid to a map (e.g., a high-definition map), and traversing a portion of the vehicle transportation network using the probability. An apparatus and a vehicle are also described.

Systems and methods for situational behavior of an autonomous vehicle are disclosed. In one aspect, an autonomous vehicle includes at least one perception sensor configured to generate perception data indicative of at least one other vehicle on a roadway, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine that the other vehicle is violating one or more rules of the roadway based on the perception data, tag the other vehicle as a non-compliant driver, and modify control of the autonomous vehicle in response to tagging the other vehicle as a non-compliant driver.

Disclosed are distributed computing systems and methods for controlling multiple autonomous control modules and subsystems in an autonomous vehicle. In some aspects of the disclosed technology, a computing architecture for an autonomous vehicle includes distributing the complexity of autonomous vehicle operation, thereby avoiding the use of a single high-performance computing system and enabling off-the-shelf components to be use more readily and reducing system failure rates.

A method and an apparatus for obtaining information are disclosed. The method includes: determining that a first sensor in environment sensing sensors in a vehicle fails; determining a first detection area of the first sensor, where the first detection area includes a first angle range, and the first angle range is an angle range of a detection angle, of the first sensor, that covers a driving environment around the vehicle; adjusting a second detection area of a dynamic sensor in the vehicle, so that an angle range of the second detection area covers the first angle range, where the angle range of the second detection area is a range of a detection angle, of the dynamic sensor, that covers a driving environment around the vehicle; and obtaining environment information by using the dynamic sensor.