Self-Recognition of Autonomous Vehicles in Mirrored or Reflective Surfaces

• Main Authors: Reiff Brielle, Schrier Madeline Jane, Sivashankar Nithika
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.04.2017
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENT OF BRAKING ELEMENTS ON VEHICLES IN GENERAL; BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF, IN GENERAL; CALCULATING; COMPUTING; CONTROLLING; COUNTING; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS; MOTOR VEHICLES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PORTABLE DEVICES FOR PREVENTING UNWANTED MOVEMENT OFVEHICLES; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TRAILERS; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLE BRAKE CONTROL SYSTEMS OR PARTS THEREOF; VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE COOLING OF BRAKES; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A controller for an autonomous vehicle receives an image stream from one or more imaging devices. The controller identifies vehicle images in the image stream. Vehicle images are compared to the color, shape, badging, markings, license plate, and driver of the autonomous vehicle. If the vehicle image is determined to match the autonomous vehicle, then the vehicle image is ignored as a potential obstacle. The location of a reflective surface that generated the vehicle image may be determined and added to a set of potential obstacles. The color and shape of a vehicle in a vehicle image may be evaluated first. Only if the color and shape in the vehicle image match the autonomous vehicle are other factors such as badging, markings, license plate, and driver considered. Vehicle images not matching the autonomous vehicle are included in a set of potential obstacles.