Additionally, the present application is related to the following U.S. patent applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,143 entitled “Autonomous Operation Suitability Assessment and Mapping,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,146 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Routing,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,149 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Routing During Emergencies,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,159 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Trip Routing,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,163 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Parking,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,167 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Retrieval,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,099 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Path Coordination,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,107 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Signal Control,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,115 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Application,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (10) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,136 entitled “Method and System for Enhancing the Functionality of a Vehicle,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (11) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,180 entitled “Method and System for Repairing a Malfunctioning Autonomous Vehicle,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (12) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,148 entitled “System and Method for Autonomous Vehicle Sharing Using Facial Recognition,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (13) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,198 entitled “System and Method for Autonomous Vehicle Ride Sharing Using Facial Recognition,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (14) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,215 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Sensor Malfunction Detection,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (15) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,248 entitled “Sensor Malfunction Detection,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (16) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,271 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Component Malfunction Impact Assessment,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (17) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,305 entitled “Component Malfunction Impact Assessment,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (18) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,318 entitled “Automatic Repair of Autonomous Vehicles,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (19) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,336 entitled “Automatic Repair of Autonomous Components,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (20) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,340 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Damage and Salvage Assessment,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (21) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,349 entitled “Component Damage and Salvage Assessment,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (22) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,359 entitled “Detecting and Responding to Autonomous Vehicle Collisions,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (23) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,371 entitled “Detecting and Responding to Autonomous Environment Incidents,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (24) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,445 entitled “Virtual Testing of Autonomous Vehicle Control System,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (25) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,473 entitled “Virtual Testing of Autonomous Environment Control System,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (26) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,220 entitled “Autonomous Electric Vehicle Charging,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (27) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,213 entitled “Coordinated Autonomous Vehicle Automatic Area Scanning,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (28) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,228 entitled “Operator-Specific Configuration of Autonomous Vehicle Operation,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (29) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,236 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Operation Adjustment Based Upon Route,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; (30) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,239 entitled “Autonomous Vehicle Component Maintenance and Repair,” filed Jan. 18, 2017; and (31) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/409,243 entitled “Anomalous Condition Detection and Response for Autonomous Vehicles,” filed Jan. 18, 2017.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for communicating between autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles for signaling, collision avoidance, path coordination, or other autonomous control.

BACKGROUND

Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator who controls both steering and motive controls. Operator error, inattention, inexperience, misuse, or distraction leads to many vehicle collisions each year, resulting in injury and damage. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles augment vehicle operators' information or replace vehicle operators' control commands to operate the vehicle, in whole or part, with computer systems based upon information from sensors within, or attached to, the vehicle. Such vehicles may be operated with or without passengers, thus requiring different means of control than traditional vehicles. Such vehicles also may include a plurality of advanced sensors, capable of providing significantly more data (both in type and quantity) than is available even from GPS navigation assistance systems installed in traditional vehicles.

Ensuring safe operation of such autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles is of the utmost importance because the automated systems of these vehicles may not function properly in all environments. Although autonomous operation may be safer than manual operation under ordinary driving conditions, unusual or irregular environmental conditions may significantly impair the functioning of the autonomous operation features controlling the autonomous vehicle. Under some conditions, autonomous operation may become impractical or excessively dangerous. As an example, fog or heavy rain may greatly reduce the ability of autonomous operation features to safely control the vehicle. Additionally, damage or other impairment of sensors or other components of autonomous systems may significantly increase the risks associated with autonomous operation. Such conditions may change frequently, thereby changing the safety of autonomous vehicle operation.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present embodiments may be related to autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle operation, including driverless operation of fully autonomous vehicles. The embodiments described herein relate particularly to various aspects of communication between autonomous operation features, components, and software. An autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle may communicate with other vehicles within a predetermined communication range to alert the other vehicles of maneuvers which the autonomous vehicle will make (e.g., turns, lane changes, etc.) or to coordinate actions between several vehicles (e.g., coordinating paths based upon when each vehicle will exit a highway). Additionally, some aspects relate to communications which alert other vehicles of road segment conditions as the other vehicles approach the road segment, such as traffic, accidents, potholes, ice patches, construction, etc. Specific systems and methods are summarized below. The methods and systems summarized below may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for communicating between vehicles having one or more autonomous operation features may be provided. The method may include receiving, in a first vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features, a communication from a second vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features, wherein the second vehicle is within a communication range of the first vehicle, and wherein the first and second vehicles are travelling on a same road; analyzing the communication from the second vehicle to identify a first maneuver for the first vehicle in response to a second maneuver performed by the second vehicle, wherein the communication includes identification information for the second vehicle, an indication of a location of the second vehicle, and/or an indication of the second maneuver to be performed by the second vehicle; and/or causing the first vehicle to move in accordance with the first maneuver.

In some embodiments, the second maneuver to be performed by the second vehicle may include at least one of: (i) a lane change into or out of the lane currently occupied by the first vehicle, (ii) the second vehicle is slowing down in response to an upcoming traffic signal, (iii) the second vehicle is travelling at high speeds due to an emergency, (iv) a turn at an upcoming intersection, (v) a series of lane changes for exiting a highway, (vi) a merge onto a highway, (vii) the second vehicle is losing control or the at least one of the autonomous operation features in the second vehicle is experiencing a failure, and/or (viii) the second vehicle is reversing. When the second maneuver is a lane change into the lane currently occupied by the first vehicle, the first maneuver in response to the second maneuver may be to speed up or slow down to create space for the second vehicle and/or causing the first vehicle to move in accordance with the first maneuver may include causing the first vehicle to speed up or slow down to create space for the second vehicle in the lane currently occupied by the first vehicle. In additional embodiments, the communication may include an indication of a number of passengers in the second vehicle and respective locations of the passengers within the vehicle, the second maneuver to be performed by the second vehicle may include that a collision between the first and second vehicles is imminent, and/or when the second vehicle includes one or more passengers and the first vehicle does not include any passengers, the first maneuver in response to the second maneuver may be to veer off the road to avoid the collision with the second vehicle which contains passengers.

In further embodiments, analyzing the communication from the second vehicle may include identifying a distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle and current speeds of the first and second vehicles, determining whether the second vehicle will collide with the first vehicle based upon the second maneuver of the second vehicle, the distance between the first and second vehicle, and the current speeds of the first and second vehicles, and/or when the second vehicle will collide with the first vehicle: identifying a first maneuver for the first vehicle to avoid a path of the second vehicle according to the second maneuver. Identifying a first maneuver for the first vehicle to avoid a path of the second vehicle may include at least one of: speeding up, slowing down, changing lanes, and/or pulling over.

In some embodiments, when the second maneuver includes the second vehicle travelling at high speeds due to an emergency, the method may further include transmitting one or more additional communications to one or more third vehicles on the same road as the first and second vehicles, wherein the one or more additional communications include indications that the second vehicle is travelling at high speeds due to an emergency, where the one or more third vehicles are farther from the second vehicle than the first vehicle.

Also in some embodiments, receiving a communication from a second vehicle may include receiving a plurality of communications from a plurality of second vehicles each having one or more autonomous operation features, and/or the method may further include analyzing the plurality of communications to identify the first maneuver for the first vehicle in response to a plurality of second maneuvers performed by the plurality of second vehicles, wherein the first maneuver is identified to avoid each of the paths of the plurality of second vehicles according to the plurality of second maneuvers.

Systems or computer-readable media storing instructions for implementing all or part of the system described above may also be provided in some aspects. Systems for implementing such methods may include one or more of the following: a special-purpose assessment computing device, a mobile computing device, a personal electronic device, an on-board computer, a remote server, one or more sensors, one or more communication modules configured to communicate wirelessly via radio links, radio frequency links, and/or wireless communication channels, and/or one or more program memories coupled to one or more processors of the mobile computing device, personal electronic device, on-board computer, or remote server. Such program memories may store instructions to cause the one or more processors to implement part or all of the method described above. Additional or alternative features described herein below may be included in some aspects.

