Patent ID: 11914367
Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 10:
11. An autonomous vehicle comprising:
a sensor system that generates a sensor signal;
an electro-mechanical device affixed to the sensor system, the electro-mechanical device configured to rotate the sensor system with respect to the autonomous vehicle, wherein rotation of the sensor system by the electro-mechanical device causes a field of view towards which the sensor system is oriented to be modifiable;
a computing system in communication with the sensor system and the electro-mechanical device, wherein the computing system comprises:
a data store comprising:
perception degradation data, wherein the perception degradation data specifies a level of interference caused by the sun with detection of a state of a traffic light by the sensor system at a particular location and a particular orientation within an environment for a given date and a given time of day; and
occlusion location information for an object that occludes the sun from a perspective of the sensor system;

a processor; and
memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:
receiving the sensor signal, the sensor signal being indicative of the traffic light and the sun, wherein the sensor signal is generated by the sensor system when the sensor system is at the particular location and the particular orientation within the environment at the given date and the given time of day;
receiving the perception degradation data for the particular location and the particular orientation within the environment for the given date and the given time of day;
when the sensor system is at the particular location and the particular orientation within the environment at the given date and the given time of day, determining perception degradation to the sensor system caused by the sun based at least in part on the perception degradation data, the occlusion location information, and data specifying whether the sun reflecting off a window of a building causes perception degradation at the particular location and the particular orientation; and
controlling the electro-mechanical device to rotate the sensor system to modify the field of view when the perception degradation to the sensor system exceeds a threshold perception degradation, wherein the sensor system is rotated to reduce the perception degradation to the sensor system based on a position of the sun, a position of the traffic light, a position of the object that occludes the sun, and a position of the window of the building.