Patents by Inventor Brian C. Becker
Brian C. Becker has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 12259694Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2024Date of Patent: March 25, 2025Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
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Patent number: 12214808Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2023Date of Patent: February 4, 2025Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
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Publication number: 20240369977Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 6, 2024Publication date: November 7, 2024Inventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
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Patent number: 12131487Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.Type: GrantFiled: April 21, 2022Date of Patent: October 29, 2024Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
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Patent number: 12055945Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2023Date of Patent: August 6, 2024Assignee: UATC, LLCInventor: Brian C. Becker
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Publication number: 20240239377Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 20, 2024Publication date: July 18, 2024Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
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Patent number: 12007728Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting and predicting the motion of objects within the surrounding environment of a system such as an autonomous vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can obtain sensor data from a plurality of sensors comprising at least two different sensor modalities (e.g., RADAR, LIDAR, camera) and fused together to create a fused sensor sample. The fused sensor sample can then be provided as input to a machine learning model (e.g., a machine learning model for object detection and/or motion prediction). The machine learning model can have been trained by independently applying sensor dropout to the at least two different sensor modalities. Outputs received from the machine learning model in response to receipt of the fused sensor samples are characterized by improved generalization performance over multiple sensor modalities, thus yielding improved performance in detecting objects and predicting their future locations, as well as improved navigation performance.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2021Date of Patent: June 11, 2024Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Abhishek Mohta, Fang-Chieh Chou, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker, Nemanja Djuric
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Patent number: 11964673Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2022Date of Patent: April 23, 2024Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
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Publication number: 20240087378Abstract: An example method includes (a) generating a request to obtain log data descriptive of operation of an autonomous vehicle control system in a subject scenario, the log data indexed by an indexing parameter; (b) submitting the request to a log repository service, the log repository service configured to receive the request and serve, responsive to the request, log metadata; (c) loading, based on the log metadata and an index value of the indexing parameter, a log data sketch associated with the index value; and (d) loading, based on the log metadata and the index value, and responsive to an inspection indicator, detailed log data associated with the index value.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2023Publication date: March 14, 2024Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Peter VanTuyl Bentley, Matthew Thomas Bradley, Nathan Falk, Jack Wyatt Harris, Marion Le Borgne, Timothy Patrick Wojtaszek
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Publication number: 20230242160Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 6, 2023Publication date: August 3, 2023Inventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
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Publication number: 20230236602Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 4, 2023Publication date: July 27, 2023Inventor: Brian C. Becker
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Patent number: 11625045Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling an autonomous vehicle are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining sensor data indicative of a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle, the surrounding environment including one or more occluded sensor zones. The method includes determining that a first occluded sensor zone of the occluded sensor zone(s) is occupied based at least in part on the sensor data. The method includes, in response to determining that the first occluded sensor zone is occupied, controlling the autonomous vehicle to travel clear of the first occluded sensor zone.Type: GrantFiled: May 22, 2018Date of Patent: April 11, 2023Assignee: UATC, LLCInventor: Brian C. Becker
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Patent number: 11597406Abstract: An autonomous vehicle computing system can include a primary perception system configured to receive a plurality of sensor data points as input generate primary perception data representing a plurality of classifiable objects and a plurality of paths representing tracked motion of the plurality of classifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can include a secondary perception system configured to receive the plurality of sensor data points as input, cluster a subset of the plurality of sensor data points of the sensor data to generate one or more sensor data point clusters representing one or more unclassifiable objects that are not classifiable by the primary perception system, and generate secondary path data representing tracked motion of the one or more unclassifiable objects. The autonomous vehicle computing system can generate fused perception data based on the primary perception data and the one or more unclassifiable objects.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2020Date of Patent: March 7, 2023Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Abhishek Sen, Ashton James Fagg, Brian C. Becker, Yang Xu, Nathan Nicolas Pilbrough, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez
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Patent number: 11577723Abstract: Systems, device, and methods for trajectory association and tracking are provided. A method can include obtaining input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more first objects for a first time step and input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more second objects for a second time step subsequent to the first time step. The method can include generating, using a machine-learned model, a temporally-consistent trajectory for at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects based at least in part on the input data and determining a third predicted trajectory for the at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects for at least the second time step based at least in part on the temporally-consistent trajectory.Type: GrantFiled: July 24, 2020Date of Patent: February 14, 2023Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Shivam Gautam, Sida Zhang, Gregory P. Meyer, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker
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Publication number: 20220245950Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 21, 2022Publication date: August 4, 2022Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
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Publication number: 20220215756Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2022Publication date: July 7, 2022Inventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
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Patent number: 11348339Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with object association and tracking are provided. Input data can be obtained. The input data can be indicative of a detected object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial object classification of the detected object at an initial time interval and object tracks at time intervals preceding the initial time interval. Association data can be generated based on the input data and a machine-learned model. The association data can indicate whether the detected object is associated with at least one of the object tracks. An object classification probability distribution can be determined based on the association data. The object classification probability distribution can indicate a probability that the detected object is associated with each respective object classification. The association data and the object classification probability distribution for the detected object can be outputted.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2019Date of Patent: May 31, 2022Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Cole Christian Gulino
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Patent number: 11326888Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices for operating an autonomous vehicle are provided. For example, a vehicle computing system can receive sensor data including information based on sensor outputs associated with detection of objects in an environment by sensors of a vehicle. Inflection points can be determined based at least in part on the sensor data. The inflection points can correspond to portions of the objects that occlude detection of the environment beyond the portions of the objects. A set of polar coordinates can be determined for each of the one or more inflection points. The set of polar coordinates can include a distance from the sensors to a portion of the objects and an angle of the sensor with respect to the portion of the objects. Furthermore, sparse map data including the set of polar coordinates can be generated based on the set of polar coordinates.Type: GrantFiled: August 7, 2018Date of Patent: May 10, 2022Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Shivam Gautam, Brian C. Becker
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Patent number: 11315431Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling autonomous vehicle are provided. A method can include obtaining, by a computing system, data indicative of a plurality of objects in a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, one or more clusters of the objects based at least in part on the data indicative of the plurality of objects. The method can further include determining, by the computing system, whether to enter an operation mode having one or more limited operational capabilities based at least in part on one or more properties of the one or more clusters. In response to determining that the operation mode is to be entered by the autonomous vehicle, the method can include controlling, by the computing system, the operation of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more limited operational capabilities.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 2019Date of Patent: April 26, 2022Assignee: UATC, LLCInventors: Brian C. Becker, Michael Lee Phillips, Yang Xu, Eric Michael Perko, Narek Melik-Barkhudarov
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Publication number: 20210402991Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for trajectory association and tracking are provided. A method can include method can include obtaining input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more first objects for a first time step and input data indicative of a respective trajectory for each of one or more second objects for a second time step subsequent to the first time step. The method can include generating, using a machine-learned model, a temporally-consistent trajectory for at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects based at least in part on the input data and determining a third predicted trajectory for the at least one of the one or more first objects or the one or more second objects for at least the second time step based at least in part on the temporally-consistent trajectory.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 24, 2020Publication date: December 30, 2021Inventors: Shivam Gautam, Sidney Zhang, Gregory P. Meyer, Carlos Vallespi-Gonzalez, Brian C. Becker