Patent ID: 9336436
Filing Date: 2016-05-10
CPC Classification: B60W,G06K,G08G

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: receiving, at a computing device from a laser-based sensor, range data corresponding to an environment of a vehicle, wherein the range data comprises a plurality of data points in a point cloud that are indicative of respective positions of one or more objects in the environment relative to the vehicle; detecting, by the computing device using the range data, one or more subsets of data points indicative of an upper-body region of a pedestrian from the plurality of data points in the point cloud, wherein the upper-body region comprises parameters corresponding to one or more of a head region and a chest region of the pedestrian; identifying, using the one or more detected subsets of data points, a reflectivity ratio based on a first intensity level of data points corresponding to the head region and a second intensity level of data points corresponding to the chest region of the pedestrian; determining whether the reflectivity ratio is in a range that indicates the upper-body region corresponds to a predefined reflectivity ratio range indicative of a pedestrian; responsive to determining that the reflectivity ratio is in the predefined reflectivity ratio range, determining a position of the pedestrian relative to the vehicle; based on the position of the pedestrian relative to the vehicle, determining a control strategy for the vehicle; and causing, by the computing device, one or more systems of the vehicle to control the vehicle based on the control strategy.