Patents by Inventor David McAllister Bradley

David McAllister Bradley 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).

  • Publication number: 20240140487
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides autonomous vehicle systems and methods that include or otherwise leverage a machine-learned yield model. In particular, the machine-learned yield model can be trained or otherwise configured to receive and process feature data descriptive of objects perceived by the autonomous vehicle and/or the surrounding environment and, in response to receipt of the feature data, provide yield decisions for the autonomous vehicle relative to the objects. For example, a yield decision for a first object can describe a yield behavior for the autonomous vehicle relative to the first object (e.g., yield to the first object or do not yield to the first object). Example objects include traffic signals, additional vehicles, or other objects. The motion of the autonomous vehicle can be controlled in accordance with the yield decisions provided by the machine-learned yield model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2023
    Publication date: May 2, 2024
    Inventors: Colin Jeffrey Green, Wei Liu, David McAllister Bradley, Vijay Subramanian
  • Patent number: 11887032
    Abstract: An on-demand transportation management system can collect vehicle fleet utilization data corresponding to human-driven vehicles (HDVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) operating within a given region in connection with an on-demand transportation service. The on-demand transportation management system can then establish a set of selection priorities for respective areas of the given region based on the vehicle fleet utilization data, each selection priority indicating whether a respective area of the given region is to favor HDVs or AVs for servicing transport requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Dima Kislovskiy, David McAllister Bradley
  • Patent number: 11827240
    Abstract: Systems and methods for autonomous vehicle motion planning are provided. Sensor data describing an environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial travel path for the autonomous vehicle through the environment can be obtained. A number of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle are generated based on the sensor data and the initial travel path. The trajectories can be evaluated by generating a number of costs for each trajectory. The costs can include a safety cost and a total cost. Each cost is generated by a cost function created in accordance with a number of relational propositions defining desired relationships between the number of costs. A subset of trajectories can be determined from the trajectories based on the safety cost and an optimal trajectory can be determined from the subset of trajectories based on the total cost. The autonomous vehicle can control its motion in accordance with the optimal trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Vijay Subramanian, Moslem Kazemi, David Mcallister Bradley, Michael Lee Phillips
  • Patent number: 11822337
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides autonomous vehicle systems and methods that include or otherwise leverage a machine-learned yield model. In particular, the machine-learned yield model can be trained or otherwise configured to receive and process feature data descriptive of objects perceived by the autonomous vehicle and/or the surrounding environment and, in response to receipt of the feature data, provide yield decisions for the autonomous vehicle relative to the objects. For example, a yield decision for a first object can describe a yield behavior for the autonomous vehicle relative to the first object (e.g., yield to the first object or do not yield to the first object). Example objects include traffic signals, additional vehicles, or other objects. The motion of the autonomous vehicle can be controlled in accordance with the yield decisions provided by the machine-learned yield model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Colin Jeffrey Green, Wei Liu, David McAllister Bradley, Vijay Subramanian
  • Publication number: 20230339462
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling the motion of an autonomous are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining data associated with an object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle. The data associated with the object is indicative of a predicted motion trajectory of the object. The method includes determining a vehicle action sequence based at least in part on the predicted motion trajectory of the object. The vehicle action sequence is indicative of a plurality of vehicle actions for the autonomous vehicle at a plurality of respective time steps associated with the predicted motion trajectory. The method includes determining a motion plan for the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the vehicle action sequence. The method includes causing the autonomous vehicle to initiate motion control in accordance with at least a portion of the motion plan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Inventors: Kalin Vasilev Gochev, Michael Lee Phillips, David McAllister Bradley, Bradley Nicholas Emi
  • Patent number: 11760280
    Abstract: Generally, the present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for streaming processing within one or more systems of an autonomy computing system. When an update for a particular object or region of interest is received by a given system, the system can control transmission of data associated with the update as well as a determination of other aspects by the given system. For example, the system can determine based on a received update for a particular aspect and a priority classification and/or interaction classification determined for that aspect whether data associated with the update should be transmitted to a subsequent system before waiting for other updates to arrive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: David McAllister Bradley, Galen Clark Haynes
  • Patent number: 11713006
    Abstract: Generally, the present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for streaming processing within one or more systems of an autonomy computing system. When an update for a particular object or region of interest is received by a given system, the system can control transmission of data associated with the update as well as a determination of other aspects by the given system. For example, the system can determine based on a received update for a particular aspect and a priority classification and/or interaction classification determined for that aspect whether data associated with the update should be transmitted to a subsequent system before waiting for other updates to arrive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: David McAllister Bradley, Galen Clark Haynes
  • Patent number: 11714417
    Abstract: Generally, the present disclosure is directed to systems and methods that include or otherwise leverage an iterative solver as part of optimizing a motion plan for an autonomous vehicle (AV). In particular, a scenario generator within a motion planning system can include a warm start generator configured to determine an initial trajectory that respects the dynamics of the autonomous vehicle and that closely tracks a speed profile determined by a constraint solver and one or more nominal paths determined by a route selector. A decision validator can analyze speed profiles and nominal paths to identify potential inconsistencies and validate a decision before optimization and execution. An initial trajectory can be further optimized by an iterative solver to determine an optimized trajectory for execution as a motion plan for the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Chenggang Liu, Moslem Kazemi, David McAllister Bradley, Tianyu Gu, Michael Lee Phillips
  • Patent number: 11687079
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to analyzing motion plans of autonomous vehicles. In particular, the methods, devices, and systems of the present disclosure can: receive data indicating a motion plan, of an autonomous vehicle through an environment, based at least in part on multiple different constraints of the environment; and determine, for each constraint of the multiple different constraints, a measure of an influence of the constraint on the motion plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Sameer Bardapurkar, Moslem Kazemi, David McAllister Bradley
  • Patent number: 11667283
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling the motion of an autonomous are provided. In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes obtaining data associated with an object within a surrounding environment of an autonomous vehicle. The data associated with the object is indicative of a predicted motion trajectory of the object. The method includes determining a vehicle action sequence based at least in part on the predicted motion trajectory of the object. The vehicle action sequence is indicative of a plurality of vehicle actions for the autonomous vehicle at a plurality of respective time steps associated with the predicted motion trajectory. The method includes determining a motion plan for the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the vehicle action sequence. The method includes causing the autonomous vehicle to initiate motion control in accordance with at least a portion of the motion plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Kalin Vasilev Gochev, Michael Lee Phillips, David McAllister Bradley, Bradley Nicholas Emi
  • Patent number: 11635764
    Abstract: Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with the motion prediction and operation of a device including a vehicle are provided. For example, a vehicle computing system can access state data including information associated with locations and characteristics of objects over a plurality of time intervals. Trajectories of the objects at subsequent time intervals following the plurality of time intervals can be determined based on the state data and a machine-learned tracking and kinematics model. The trajectories of the objects can include predicted locations of the objects at subsequent time intervals that follow the plurality of time intervals. Further, the predicted locations of the objects can be based on physical constraints of the objects. Furthermore, indications, which can include visual indications, can be generated based on the predicted locations of the objects at the subsequent time intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC.
    Inventors: Nemanja Djuric, Henggang Cui, Thi Duong Nguyen, Fang-Chieh Chou, Tsung-Han Lin, Jeff Schneider, David McAllister Bradley
  • Publication number: 20230122617
    Abstract: Systems and methods for vehicle spatial path sampling are provided. The method includes obtaining an initial travel path for an autonomous vehicle from a first location to a second location and vehicle configuration data indicative of one or more physical constraints of the autonomous vehicle. The method includes determining one or more secondary travel paths for the autonomous vehicle from the first location to the second location based on the initial travel path and the vehicle configuration data. The method includes generating a spatial envelope based on the one or more secondary travel paths that indicates a plurality of lateral offsets from the initial travel path. And, the method includes generating a plurality of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle to travel from the first location to the second location such that each of the plurality of trajectories include one or more lateral offsets identified by the spatial envelope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2022
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Inventors: David McAllister Bradley, Chenggang Liu, Daoyuan Jia
  • Patent number: 11561548
    Abstract: Systems and methods for basis path generation are provided. In particular, a computing system can obtain a target nominal path. The computing system can determine a current pose for an autonomous vehicle. The computing system can determine, based at least in part on the current pose of the autonomous vehicle and the target nominal path, a lane change region. The computing system can determine one or more merge points on the target nominal path. The computing system can, for each respective merge point in the one or more merge points, generate a candidate basis path from the current pose of the autonomous vehicle to the respective merge point. The computing system can generate a suitability classification for each candidate basis path. The computing system can select one or more candidate basis paths based on the suitability classification for each respective candidate basis path in the plurality of candidate basis paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Chenggang Liu, David McAllister Bradley, Daoyuan Jia
  • Patent number: 11537127
    Abstract: Systems and methods for vehicle motion planning based on uncertainty are provided. A method can include obtaining scene data descriptive of one or more objects within a surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can include determining one or more subproblems based at least in part on the scene data. In some implementation, each of the one or more subproblems can correspond to at least one object within the surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can include generating one or more branching policies based at least in part on the one or more subproblems. In some implementations, each of the one or more branching policies can include scene data associated with the autonomous vehicle and one or more objects within the surrounding environment of the autonomous vehicle. The method can include determining one or more costs associated each of the one or more branching policies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Eric Lloyd Wilkinson, Michael Lee Phillips, David Mcallister Bradley, Zakary Warren Littlefield, Aum Jadhav, Utku Eren, Samuel Philip Marden, Colin Jeffrey Green
  • Patent number: 11518393
    Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for validating vehicle trajectories are provided. A vehicle controller can obtain a motion plan indicative of a trajectory including one or more state variables and one or more control variables. The vehicle controller can determine a dynamics defect value for the motion plan based at least in part on the one or more state variables, the one or more control variables, and a continuous-time dynamics function comprising a function indicative of a change in the one or more state variables and the one or more control variables over time. The vehicle controller can further determine the motion plan is dynamically consistent based at least in part on the dynamics defect value, generate one or more vehicle system control signals, and control the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more vehicle system control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Chenggang Liu, David Mcallister Bradley
  • Patent number: 11520338
    Abstract: Systems and methods for vehicle spatial path sampling are provided. The method includes obtaining an initial travel path for an autonomous vehicle from a first location to a second location and vehicle configuration data indicative of one or more physical constraints of the autonomous vehicle. The method includes determining one or more secondary travel paths for the autonomous vehicle from the first location to the second location based on the initial travel path and the vehicle configuration data. The method includes generating a spatial envelope based on the one or more secondary travel paths that indicates a plurality of lateral offsets from the initial travel path. And, the method includes generating a plurality of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle to travel from the first location to the second location such that each of the plurality of trajectories include one or more lateral offsets identified by the spatial envelope.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: David McAllister Bradley, Chenggang Liu, Daoyuan Jia
  • Patent number: 11505984
    Abstract: A system for monitoring a vehicle used in providing a service is disclosed. The system detects when the service is complete, and upon detecting that the service is complete, the system determines, from one or more sensors of the vehicle, that an object which should have been removed from the vehicle after completion of the transport service, remains in the vehicle. The system then automatically initiates performance of a remedial action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: David McAllister Bradley, Jean-Sebastien Valois
  • Patent number: 11390300
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed generating candidate trajectories and selecting one of them to be implemented. In particular, a computing system can obtain an initial travel path for an autonomous vehicle. The computing system can obtain sensor data describing objects within an environment of the autonomous vehicle. The computing system can generate a plurality of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle based on the sensor data and the initial travel path. The computing system can determine whether the initial travel path, an offset profile, and a velocity profile meet flatness criteria. In response to determining that the initial travel path, the offset profile, and the velocity profile meet the flatness criteria, the computing system can combine the initial travel path, the offset profile, and the velocity profile into the respective trajectory. The computing system can determine a trajectory from the plurality of trajectories.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Michael Lee Phillips, David McAllister Bradley, Utku Eren, Chenggang Liu, Daoyuan Jia, Eric Michael Perko, Samuel Philip Marden, Kalin Vasilev Gochev, Moslem Kazemi
  • Publication number: 20220176995
    Abstract: Systems and methods for autonomous vehicle motion planning are provided. Sensor data describing an environment of an autonomous vehicle and an initial travel path for the autonomous vehicle through the environment can be obtained. A number of trajectories for the autonomous vehicle are generated based on the sensor data and the initial travel path. The trajectories can be evaluated by generating a number of costs for each trajectory. The costs can include a safety cost and a total cost. Each cost is generated by a cost function created in accordance with a number of relational propositions defining desired relationships between the number of costs. A subset of trajectories can be determined from the trajectories based on the safety cost and an optimal trajectory can be determined from the subset of trajectories based on the total cost. The autonomous vehicle can control its motion in accordance with the optimal trajectory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Vijay Subramanian, Moslem Kazemi, David McAllister Bradley, Michael Lee Phillips
  • Publication number: 20220171390
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides autonomous vehicle systems and methods that include or otherwise leverage a motion planning system that generates constraints as part of determining a motion plan for an autonomous vehicle (AV). In particular, a scenario generator within a motion planning system can generate constraints based on where objects of interest are predicted to be relative to an autonomous vehicle. A constraint solver can identify navigation decisions for each of the constraints that provide a consistent solution across all constraints. The solution provided by the constraint solver can be in the form of a trajectory path determined relative to constraint areas for all objects of interest. The trajectory path represents a set of navigation decisions such that a navigation decision relative to one constraint doesn't sacrifice an ability to satisfy a different navigation decision relative to one or more other constraints.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Inventors: Michael Lee Phillips, Don Burnette, Kalin Vasilev Gochev, Somchaya Liemhetcharat, Harishma Dayanidhi, Eric Michael Perko, Eric Lloyd Wilkinson, Colin Jeffrey Green, Wei Liu, Anthony Joseph Stentz, David McAllister Bradley, Samuel Philip Marden