TSLA Patent

Autonomous Driving System Component Fault Prediction
PATENT NUMBER DOCUMENT ID DATE PUBLISHED

11640733 US 11640733 B2 2023-05-02
INVENTOR INFORMATION
NAME CITY STATE ZIP CODE COUNTRY Gorti; Atchyuth
Austin
TX N/A US Glasco; David Austin TX
N/A US Bailey; Daniel Austin TX N/A
William US
ASSIGNEE INFORMATION
NAME CITY STATE ZIP CODE COUNTRY TYPE CODE
Tesla, Inc. Austin TX N/A US 02
APPLICATION NO DATE FILED

16/954755 2018-12-05
DOMESTIC PRIORITY (CONTINUITY DATA)

us-provisional-application US 62610188 20171223
US CLASS CURRENT:
701/31.9
CPC CURRENT
TYPE CPC DATE
CPCI G 06 N 20/00 2019-01-01
CPCI G 07 C 5/0816 2013-01-01
CPCI B 60 W 60/001 2020-02-01
CPCI G 07 C 5/0808 2013-01-01
KWIC Hits
Abstract
A vehicular autonomous driving system includes a fault prediction unit, including a processor and
memory, configured to predict a potential future fault condition by: monitoring performance data
associated with the plurality of autonomous driving components; comparing the performance data
associated with the plurality of autonomous driving components to a plurality of performance
thresholds; and determining the potential future fault condition for one of the plurality of autonomous
driving components, when the performance data associated with the one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components compares unfavorably to a corresponding one of the plurality of
performance thresholds.
Background/Summary
BACKGROUND
Technical Field
(1) The present invention relates to the autonomous driving of a vehicle; and more particularly to
prediction of faults in autonomous driving components within the vehicle.
Description of Related Art
(2) Self-driving vehicles are generally known to include a plurality of sensors, e.g., RADAR sensors,
and LIDOR sensors, cameras, and sonic proximity detectors, among other types of data capturing
components. The data captured by these sensors is communicated to a central processor, which
processes the data to assist in making autonomous driving decisions, e.g., braking, accelerating,
steering changes, etc. that are implemented by corresponding drive units of the vehicle. Such
autonomous driving decisions may be performed while the vehicle is self-driving or when the driver of
the vehicle is being assisted, e.g., emergency braking, driver notification, etc.
SUMMARY
(3) A vehicular autonomous driving system includes a fault prediction unit configured to predict a
potential future fault condition by: monitoring performance data associated with a plurality of
autonomous driving components; comparing the performance data associated with the plurality of
autonomous driving components to a plurality of performance thresholds; and determining the
potential future fault condition for one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the
performance data associated with the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components
compares unfavorably to a corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
potential future fault condition by: monitoring performance data associated with a canary circuit
included in each of a plurality of autonomous driving components; comparing the performance data
associated with the canary circuit included in each of the plurality of autonomous driving components
to a plurality of performance thresholds; and determining the potential future fault condition for one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the performance data associated with one of
the canary circuits included in the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components compares
unfavorably to a corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
potential future fault condition by: monitoring life accelerating events data associated with the plurality
of autonomous driving components; updating an expected component life associated with the plurality
of autonomous driving components; and determining the potential future fault condition of one of the
plurality of autonomous driving components based on when a service time of the one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components exceeds the expected component life associated with the one of the
plurality of autonomous driving components.
(6) Benefits of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from reading the detailed description
below with reference to the drawings.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle having a vehicular autonomous driving system constructed
and operating according to various embodiments.
(2) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a vehicular autonomous driving system constructed and
operating according to various embodiments.
(3) FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a fault prediction unit constructed and operating according to
various embodiments.
(4) FIG. 3B is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one or more described embodiments.
(5) FIG. 3C is a temporal diagram illustrating component characteristic data according to one or more
described embodiments.
(6) FIG. 3D is a temporal diagram illustrating component characteristic data according to one or more
(7) FIG. 3E is a temporal diagram illustrating expected component life according to one or more
(8) FIG. 3F is a tabular diagram illustrating component data according to one or more described
embodiments.
(9) FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving sensor constructed according to a
described embodiment.
(10) FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving unit constructed according to a
described embodiment.
(11) FIG. 4C is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving controller constructed according to
a described embodiment.
(12) FIG. 4D is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle accessory constructed according to a described
embodiment.
(13) FIG. 4E is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle interface constructed according to a described
embodiment.
(14) FIG. 5A is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one or more described embodiments.
(15) FIG. 5B is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one or more described embodiments.
(16) FIG. 5C is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one or more described embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
(17) FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle having a vehicular autonomous driving system
constructed and operating according to a described embodiment. An automobile 100 that includes the
vehicular autonomous driving system has a body 102 and a wiring system 104 for connecting a
plurality of autonomous driving sensors 106a-106d to an autonomous driving controller 108. The
wiring system 104 of FIG. 1 includes a structural cable 112 or other wiring. The autonomous driving
controller 108 may reside on or in or be co-located with an infotainment device 110. The infotainment
device 110 may be used to control functions of various components present in the automobile 100,
e.g., to take over control of a steering function associated with a steering system (not shown) of the
automobile 100, a braking function, an acceleration function, or another function of the automobile 100
related to autonomous driving or collision prevention. These operations of the infotainment device 110
are performed based upon interaction with the autonomous driving controller 108.
(18) The autonomous driving sensors 106a-106d include cameras, RADAR sensors, LIDAR sensors,
sonic proximity sensors, or other sensors that collect information relevant to the operation of the
automobile 100. For example, autonomous driving sensors 106a, 106b could be cameras while
autonomous driving sensors 106c, 106d could be RADAR sensors. The autonomous driving sensors
106a-106d are communicatively connected to the autonomous driving controller 108 via the structural
cable 112. The structural cable 112 may include a single conductor or a pair of conductors and may be
twisted pair wiring, coaxial wiring, single conductor wiring, a power bus or wiring, strip wiring, or other
wiring. When the structural cable 112 includes two or more conductors, as is illustrated in FIG. 2,
communications supported by the structural cable 112 may be differential, which causes the
communications to be more resistance to noise generated within the automobile 100. When the
structural cable 112 includes only a single conductor, communications supported by the structural
cable 112 are single ended with the chassis of the automobile 100 or other metallic portion of the
automobile 100 serving as a common ground.
(19) According to a number of embodiments described herein, the autonomous driving sensors 106a,
106b, 106c, and 106d (and other components coupled to the structural cable 112) communicate with
the autonomous driving controller 108 in a Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) fashion, i.e., each
autonomous driving sensor 106a-106d or other device coupled to the structural cable has access to
the structural cable 112 during respective assigned time slots, however other multiple access
techniques can likewise be employed. The terms “structural cable” and “TDM bus” are both used
herein to describe one or more communication paths that communicatively intercouple communication
devices within the automobile 100. Further, the terms “TDM bus time slot” and “time slot” will be used
interchangeably herein. The teachings presented herein may also be applied to differing vehicles as
well, e.g., boats, trucks, aerial vehicles and/or other vehicles that support autonomous movement.
(20) The communications serviced within the automobile 100 via the structural cable 112 may operate
consistently with a broadband Power Line Communication (PLC) operating standard as modified
according to the present disclosure. Broadband PLC operating standards typically specify carrier
frequencies of 1.8-250 MHz and support relatively high data rates up to hundreds of Mbps.
Specifications for PLC include the Universal Powerline Association, SiConnect, the HD-PLC Alliance,
Xsilon and the ITU-T's G.hn specifications. Other specifications, including the HomePlug AV and IEEE
1901 standards specify how data is supported. PLCs are designed to be robust in noisy environments.
Vehicles, particularly electric vehicles, include components that create noise. The PLCs are wells
suited to broadband communications within an automobile, considering their accommodation for noise
on servicing conductor(s), however other communication protocols can be employed.
(21) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a vehicular autonomous driving system 200 constructed and
operating according to a described embodiment. The vehicular autonomous driving system 200
includes a TDM bus such as structural cable 112 or other bus structure. The vehicular autonomous
driving system 200 also include an autonomous driving controller 210, such as autonomous driving
controller 108 and a plurality of autonomous driving sensors 212A-212F, such as one or more radio
direction and ranging (RADAR) units, one or more light direction and ranging (LIDAR) units, one or
more cameras, one or more sonar devices, one or more proximity sensors and/or other sensing
devices or autonomous driving sensors 106a-106d, that are coupled to communicate via the TDM bus.
(22) In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the TDM bus includes two interconnected sections. A first section of
the TDM bus includes conductors 202A and 202B that are terminated via terminations 226A and 226B
to minimize reflections. A second section of the TDM bus includes conductors 204A and 204B that are
terminated via terminations 226C and 226D to minimize reflections. Interconnecting conductors 205A
and 205B intercouple the first and second sections of the TDM bus. The TDM bus may be a twisted
pair of conductors, a pair of strip conductors, a coaxial conductor, a two conductor power bus that
carries DC power, or another structure having two conductors to support TDM communications. Note
that the communication connectivity via the TDM bus may be different in differing embodiments.
(23) A plurality of devices communicates via the TDM bus. These devices include: the autonomous
driving controller 210; a memory 216; the plurality of autonomous driving sensors 212A-212F; a
plurality of autonomous driving units 222A-222D, such as an engine/motor control, steering control,
brake control, battery control (e.g., when the vehicle is an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle) and/or
other autonomous drive unit that facilitates control of the movement of the vehicle under commands
from the autonomous driving controller 210; a plurality of vehicle accessories 214A-214B, such as an
infotainment device, a climate control device and/or other vehicle accessories; and a plurality
interfaces 218A-218B, such as a wireless communication interface, a wired communication interface
and/or a vehicle charging port (e.g., when the vehicle is an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid vehicle)
that further includes a wired interface and/or other interface for communicating vehicle diagnostics or
other information with a diagnostics unit that is separate from the vehicle.
(24) The memory 216 can be implemented using volatile memory, non-volatile memory, disk storage,
and other memory storage including, for example, one or more memory controllers and/or other
devices for interfacing the memory to the TDM bus, to mediate and authenticate access to the memory
216 and further to process ready and write commands to access data stored in the memory 216.
Further, nonvolatile memory can be included in read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM
(PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flash
memory. Volatile memory can comprise random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache
memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous
RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR
SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM
(DRRAM). The memory 216 can be used to store data including an operating system, utilities and
other program code, one or more cache memories, buffers and/or other temporary data storage,
program data, and other data stored and retrieved by the vehicular autonomous driving system.
(25) A fault prediction unit 225 is also coupled to the TDM bus and can communicate with one or more
of the other driving components such as the autonomous driving controller 210, the memory 216, the
plurality of autonomous driving sensors 212A-212F, the plurality of autonomous driving units 222A-
222D, the plurality of vehicle accessories 214A-214B, and/or the plurality interfaces 218A-218B. The
fault prediction unit 225 is configured to predict a potential future fault condition by: (a) monitoring
performance data associated with each of the plurality of autonomous driving components; (b)
comparing the performance data associated with each of the plurality of autonomous driving
components to a corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds; and (c) determining the
potential future fault condition for one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the
performance data associated with that one of the autonomous driving components compares
unfavorably to the corresponding one of the performance thresholds.
(26) An indication of the potential future fault condition can be used to generate a fault message on the
infotainment system, dashboard display or other vehicle system. In addition or in the alternative, an
indication of the potential future fault condition can be transmitted to a diagnostic unit associated with
the operator of the vehicle or a service technician via a wireless communication link, a charging port of
the vehicle or other wired or wireless interface 218A-B. In this fashion, the indication of the potential
future fault condition can be used to repair or replace an autonomous driving component before a
failure occurs that might adversely impact the operation of the vehicle.
(27) Performance data associated with each of the plurality of autonomous driving components can be
generated by each monitored component and sent to the fault prediction unit 225 via the TDM bus or
via other wired or wireless connections. The performance data can be simple input/output data for
each component that is generated in the ordinary course of operation of the vehicular autonomous
driving system and monitored by the fault prediction unit 225 for potential abnormalities. In addition or
in the alternative, the performance data can include other diagnostic or status data generated by an
autonomous driving component and sent to the fault prediction unit 225 for the purposes of monitoring.
One or more autonomous driving components can include a canary circuit that generates performance
data and is designed specifically to fail before other portions of the component itself. Canary circuits
can be ring oscillators, memory devices, logic circuits or other standard functional blocks of a system
on a chip or other component that are implemented entirely for fault prediction and not used in normal
operations of the autonomous component. In particular, the canary circuits can be designed as the
least reliable circuit in the design or otherwise with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the
autonomous driving component so as to increase the likelihood that the canary circuit will fail before
the other portions of the autonomous driving component. In this fashion, degradation of performance
of the canary circuit and/or failure can be used to predict the potential future failure of one or more
remaining portions of the autonomous driving component that are used in normal operation of the
vehicular autonomous driving system.
(28) In various embodiments, the performance data can include: a hardware-specific characteristic,
such as a frequency, frequency stability, frequency drift, current draw, voltage droop, hardware resets,
memory errors and other hardware-specific characteristics; software-specific characteristics such as
exception reports, stack overflows, stack traces, and/or hardware/software errors such as analog to
digital converter errors, communication errors, error control coding errors, time-out errors and/or other
component characteristic data.
(29) In various embodiments, the performance data associated with the plurality of autonomous driving
components includes component characteristic data measured over time. Comparing the performance
data associated the plurality of autonomous driving components to a corresponding performance
threshold can include: (a) determining a deviation between component characteristic data measured
over time and corresponding nominal characteristic data; and (b) comparing the deviation between the
component characteristic data measured over time and the corresponding nominal characteristic data
to the corresponding performance threshold.
The nominal component characteristic data can be a scalar quantity, such as a numerical value or
other scalar quantity, a vector quantity such as a time signature or other vector quantity, depending on
the form of the component characteristic data that is used to characterize normal performance and
otherwise used to predict the potential for future component failure. The nominal component
characteristic data of monitored components may be established initially and prestored in the fault
prediction unit 225. Alternatively, the nominal characteristic data can determined over time based upon
collected performance data. For example, the fault prediction unit 225 can operate via machine
learning to derive the nominal characteristic data to more closely match the actual components and
performance of the vehicular autonomous driving system.
(30) In various embodiments, the performance thresholds can be predetermined based on an amount
of likelihood that an amount of deviation between the component characteristic data measured over
time and the corresponding nominal characteristic data indicates a future fault in the corresponding
autonomous driving component. The amount of likelihood can be set based on a relative importance of
the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving. For
example, a performance threshold can be determined to indicate a potential future failure when the
likelihood of future fault is high for an unimportant autonomous driving component such as a climate
control component, redundant memory or processing components. For other autonomous driving
components, another performance threshold can be determined to indicate a potential future failure
when the likelihood of future fault is more moderate. For mission critical autonomous driving
components, such as the autonomous driving controller, LIDAR or RADAR components, braking and
steering components, etc., a performance threshold can be determined to indicate a potential future
failure even when the likelihood of future fault is low, given the relative importance of these
components to autonomous driving.
(31) While the foregoing discussion has focused on determining a potential future fault condition based
on performance data associated with autonomous driving components, other criteria can also be
employed. In addition, or in the alternative, the fault prediction unit 225 can be configured to predict a
potential future fault condition by: (a) monitoring life accelerating events data associated with the
plurality of autonomous driving components; (b) updating an expected component life associated with
the plurality of autonomous driving components; and (c) determining the potential future fault condition
of one of the plurality of autonomous driving components based on when a service time of the one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components exceeds the expected component life associated with
the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components.
(32) In various embodiments, the life accelerating events data includes an indication of one of a
plurality of life accelerating events and an indication of one or more of the plurality of autonomous
driving components associated with the life accelerating event. For example, the life accelerating
events data can include an indication of life accelerating events such as an over-voltage condition, a
voltage spike, a current spike, a high operating temperature, a low operating temperature, and or an
indication of other events that can potentially shorten the life of an autonomous driving component.
Furthermore, updating the expected component life associated with the plurality of autonomous driving
components includes decreasing the expected component life associated with a selected one of the
plurality of autonomous driving components in response to the life accelerating events data indicating
a life accelerating event associated with the selected one of the plurality of autonomous driving
components.
(33) In addition, or in the alternative, the fault prediction unit 225 can be configured to predict a
potential future fault condition by executing a stress test on a particular autonomous driving
component either periodically or in response to determining a potential future fault condition by other
methods previously discussed. Stress testing can be implemented periodically or solely during off-line
times when the vehicle is not in operation. Furthermore, stress testing can be triggered as a final
verification in response to the expiration of expected component life, canary circuit indication or an
indication during normal testing of a potential issue. Poor performance in stress testing can be the final
indicator that replacement or repair is indicated. For example, the stress test can be executed when
the service time of an autonomous driving component exceeds the expected component life
associated with that autonomous driving components. The stress test can involve stressing the
particular autonomous driving component by applying a higher operating frequency or an over-voltage
condition or other component stress condition and can be used to generate stress test results, such as
any of the performance data previously described. The fault prediction unit 225 can compare the
stress test results to a stress test threshold and determine the potential future fault condition of one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components further based on a determination that the stress test
results compare unfavorably to the stress test threshold.
(34) Further operations of the fault prediction unit 225 and the other autonomous driving components
of the vehicular autonomous driving system, including several optional functions and features, will be
described further in conjunction with FIGS. 3A-3F, 4A-4E and 5A-5C that follow.
(35) FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a fault prediction unit 225 constructed and operating
according to various embodiments. The fault prediction unit 225 includes processing circuitry 302,
memory 304, and a transceiver 311 coupled to the processing circuitry 302, and to the memory 304
via a bus. The processing circuitry 302 executes programs stored in memory 304, e.g., performing any
and all of the functions and features of fault prediction unit 225 described herein. Furthermore
processing circuitry 302 performs reads and writes of data from/to memory 304, e.g., data and
instructions to support fault prediction operations including the monitoring and processing of
performance data and life accelerating events data, and generating data indicating potential future
fault conditions. The processing circuitry 302 interacts with the transceiver 311 to communicate via the
TDM bus, to support these functions and features along with other operations.
(36) By way of example and not limitation, processing circuitry 302 may be a central processing unit, a
microcontroller, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a Judging unit, a
Determining Unit, an Executing unit, combinations of any of the foregoing, or any other device suitable
for execution of computer programs. By way of example, memory 304 may be dynamic memory, static
memory, disk drive(s), flash drive(s), combinations of any of the foregoing, or any other form of
computer memory. The memory 304 stores computer programs for operations of the present
disclosure, may also store other computer programs, configuration information, and other short-term
and long-term data necessary for implementation of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
(37) The transceiver 311 includes a transmitter 308, a receiver 310, and a media I/F 312. The media
I/F 312 may be a transmit/receive (T/R) switch, a duplexer, or other device that supports the illustrated
coupling. In other embodiments, both the transmitter 308 and receiver 310 couple directly to the TDM
bus or couple to the TDM bus other than via the media I/F 312.
(38) FIG. 3B is a flow diagram 300 illustrating a method according to one or more described
embodiments. In particular a method is presented for use in generating the nominal component
characteristic data discussed in conjunction with FIG. 2. As previously discussed, the nominal
characteristic data can determined over time by the fault prediction unit 225 based upon collected
performance data for the various autonomous driving components. In step 322, performance data, in
the form of component characteristic data, is accumulated over time. The component characteristic
data can be a signature over time, time-varying function or other distribution over time of
measurements such as voltage, voltage droop, current, frequency, voltage droop, ADC errors, DAC
errors, communication errors, ECC errors, exception reports, stack overflows, buffer overflows, re-
buffering events, time-out conditions and/or other measurable aspects of any of the autonomous
driving components of vehicular autonomous driving system 200 that is processed as vectorized data
for each autonomous driving component. It should be noted that a single autonomous driving
component can have component characteristic data of multiple types, depending on the type of
component.
(39) In step 324, nominal component characteristic data is generated via machine learning for each of
the corresponding autonomous driving components. The fault prediction unit 225 can operate by
performing a learning algorithm on the component characteristic data in order to generate the nominal
component characteristic data for each of the autonomous driving components, for example, as model
parameter data of a corresponding learning model. In various embodiments, the model parameter data
can be either a scalar quantity or a vector quantity and the learning model can be a time signature,
boundary value or other model. While a convolutional neural network is a preferred embodiment, the
learning model can additionally or alternatively include one or more of a Bayesian model, a support
vector machine model, a cluster analysis model, statistical modelling or other supervised or
unsupervised learning model.
(40) In this fashion, the fault prediction unit 225 can compare the nominal component characteristic
data to the current component characteristic data to predict a potential future fault by, for example,
computing a vector distance such as the Euclidian distance, or squared Euclidian distance, between
the nominal component characteristic data and the current component characteristic data, and/or
determining an average output error such as an average Euclidian distance or squared Euclidian
distance if multiple input feature vectors were employed.
(41) FIG. 3C is a temporal diagram 330 illustrating component characteristic data according to one or
more described embodiments. In the example shown, the component characteristic data 334 is a
measurement over time of a quantity such as current draw of an autonomous driving component, such
as a proximity sensor. The nominal component characteristic data 332, in this case, is a scalar
quantity that provides a boundary value of expected current draw for this component derived from
statistical modelling. In particular, the boundary value of the nominal component characteristic data
332 can be derived based on a statistical confidence that the component characteristic data 334 of a
normal component will not exceed the limit and/or a likelihood that, a component drawing a current
that exceeds this boundary value could begin to fail. As previously discussed, the particular level of
likelihood used can be based on the importance of the particular autonomous driving component.
(42) Consequently, when comparison of the component characteristic data 334 to the nominal
component characteristic data 332 indicates that the measured current draw begins to exceed the
boundary value at time t.sub.1, the fault prediction unit 225 can indicate a potential future fault for this
particular autonomous driving component.
(43) FIG. 3D is a temporal diagram 340 illustrating component characteristic data according to one or
more described embodiments. In the example shown, the component characteristic data 334 is a
measurement over time of a quantity such as voltage droop of an autonomous driving component,
such as a power supply. The nominal component characteristic data 342, in this case, is a vector
quantity that provides a time signature of expected voltage for this component derived from machine
learning.
(44) In this instance, the component characteristic data 334 can be compared to the nominal
component characteristic data 342 by computing a deviation metric, such as a sum of squared error
between these time signatures. A performance threshold for this deviation can be established based
on a likelihood, for example, that a component having component characteristic data 344 deviating by
more than this amount from the nominal component characteristic data 342 is expected to fail within a
predetermined time frame. As previously discussed, the particular level of likelihood used can be
based on the importance of the particular autonomous driving component.
(45) When the deviation between the component characteristic data 344 and the nominal component
characteristic data 342 exceeds the performance threshold, the fault prediction unit 225 can indicate a
potential future fault for this component. Otherwise, when the deviation between the component
characteristic data 344 and the nominal component characteristic data 342 does not exceed the
performance threshold, the fault prediction unit 225 can indicate normal operation for this particular
autonomous driving component.
(46) FIG. 3E is a temporal diagram 350 illustrating expected component life 352 according to one or
more described embodiments. In the example shown, a particular autonomous driving component, at
time t.sub.0, has an expected component life of:
L.sub.1=t.sub.4−t.sub.0
As the accumulated operating time (e.g. the service time) of the component progresses, from time
t.sub.0 to t.sub.1, the component life projection 354 remains unaltered, projecting the expected
component life to expire (reach zero) at time t.sub.4.
(47) At time t.sub.1, a life accelerating event occurs, such as an over-voltage condition, a voltage
spike, a current spike, a high operating temperature, a low operating temperature, and or another
event that can potentially shorten the life of the autonomous driving component. At this point the
expected component life 352 is decreased from L.sub.2 to a lower expected life L.sub.3,
corresponding to the component life projection 356. In effect, the expected component life 352 is
decreased by an amount
L.sub.2−L.sub.3=t.sub.4−t.sub.3
The amount of the expected component life 352 is decreased at t.sub.1 can be determined based on
the type and/or magnitude of the life accelerating event that occurs at time t.sub.1 as well as the type
of component. For example, the fault prediction unit can include a look-up table that correlates life
accelerating events of different types and different magnitudes with the different types of components
to generate an amount that the expected component life 352 is decreased for each kind of life
accelerating event. As the accumulated operating time of the component progresses, from time t.sub.1
to t.sub.2, the component life projection 356 remains unaltered, projecting the expected component life
to expire (reach zero) at time t.sub.3.
(48) At time t.sub.2, another life accelerating event occurs, such as an over-voltage condition, a
voltage spike, a current spike, a high operating temperature, a low operating temperature, and or
another event that can potentially shorten the life of the autonomous driving component. The amount
of the expected component life 352 is decreased at t.sub.2 can also be determined based on the type
and/or magnitude of the life accelerating event that occurs at time t.sub.2. The amount of the decrease
at t.sub.2 is greater than or equal to the remaining life L.sub.4. As a result, the expected component
life 352 is decreased to zero and the expected component life expires.
(49) FIG. 3F is a tabular diagram 360 illustrating component data according to one or more described
embodiments. In particular, the fault prediction unit 225 maintains a database of other data structure
that includes, for each autonomous driving component, a component number, importance, likelihood,
and expected life along with other data previously described such as a learning model type and model
parameters associated with the learning model, one or more performance thresholds and/or other
nominal component characteristic data.
(50) FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving sensor constructed according to a
described embodiment. The autonomous driving sensor 212 includes a data collection component 406
configured to collect autonomous driving data. The data collection component 406 may be any of the
autonomous driving sensors 212A-212F such as a RADAR sensor, a LIDAR sensor, a sonic or other
proximity sensor, or another type of sensor. The autonomous driving sensor 212 further includes
processing circuitry 402, memory 404, canary circuit 405, and a transceiver 411 coupled to the
processing circuitry 402, to the memory 404, and to the data collection component 406 via a bus. The
processing circuitry 402 executes programs stored in memory 404, e.g., autonomous driving data
collection, reads and writes data from/to memory 404, e.g., data and instructions to support
autonomous driving operations, interacts with the data collection component 406 to control the
collection and transmission of autonomous driving data and performance data for the various
subcomponents of the autonomous driving sensor 212 including the canary circuit 405, processes the
autonomous driving data, and interacts with the transceiver 411 to communicate via the TDM bus,
among other operations.
(51) As previously discussed, the canary circuit 405 can be a ring oscillator, memory device, logic
circuit or other standard functional block of a system on a chip or sensor component that is
implemented entirely for fault prediction and not used in normal operations of the autonomous driving
sensor 212—but only for generating performance data for use by the fault prediction unit 225 in
predicting a potential future fault. In particular, the canary circuit 405 can be designed as the least
reliable circuit in the design or otherwise with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the
autonomous driving sensor 212 so as to increase the likelihood that the canary circuit 405 will fail
before the other portions of the autonomous driving sensor 212. In this fashion, degradation of
performance of the canary circuit 405 and/or failure can be used to predict the potential future failure
of one or more remaining portions of the autonomous driving sensor 212 that are used in normal
operation of the vehicular autonomous driving system 200. Furthermore, while the autonomous driving
sensor 212 is shown as having a single canary circuit 405, the autonomous driving sensor 212 may
have multiple canary circuits 405, for example, one or more canary circuits 405 associated with each
of the various subcomponents of the autonomous driving sensor 212.
(52) By way of example and not limitation, processing circuitry 402 may be a central processing unit, a
microcontroller, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a Judging unit, a
Determining Unit, an Executing unit, combinations of any of the foregoing, or any other device suitable
for execution of computer programs. By way of example, memory 404 may be dynamic memory, static
memory, disk drive(s), flash drive(s), combinations of any of the foregoing, or any other form of
computer memory. The memory 404 stores computer programs for operations of the present
disclosure, may also store other computer programs, configuration information, and other short-term
and long-term data necessary for implementation of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
(53) The transceiver 411 includes a transmitter 408, a receiver 410, and a media I/F 412. The media
I/F 412 may be a transmit/receive (T/R) switch, a duplexer, or other device that supports the illustrated
coupling. In other embodiments, both the transmitter 408 and receiver 410 couple directly to the TDM
bus or couple to the TDM bus other than via the media I/F 412.
(54) FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving unit 222 constructed according to a
described embodiment. The autonomous driving unit 222 includes a control component 426
configured to process autonomous driving commands from the autonomous driving controller 210 and
to control the vehicle in response thereto. The control component 426 may be any of the autonomous
driving units 222A-222D such as engine/motor control, steering control, brake control, battery control
and/or other autonomous driving control. The autonomous driving unit 222 further includes processing
circuitry 422, memory 424, canary circuit 425, and a transceiver 431 coupled to the processing
circuitry 422, to the memory 424, and to the control component 426 via a bus. The processing circuitry
422 executes programs stored in memory 424, e.g., autonomous driving data controls, reads and
writes data from/to memory 424, e.g., data and instructions to support autonomous driving operations,
interacts with the control component 426 to control the operation of the vehicle and to control the
collection and transmission of performance data for the various subcomponents of the autonomous
driving controller 210 including the canary circuit 425, processes the autonomous driving commands
and data, and interacts with the transceiver 431 to communicate via the TDM bus, among other
operations.
(55) The canary circuit 425 can be a ring oscillator, memory device, logic circuit or other standard
functional block of a system on a chip or autonomous driving component that is implemented entirely
for fault prediction and not used in normal operations of the autonomous driving unit 222—but only for
generating performance data for use by the fault prediction unit 225 in predicting a potential future
fault. In particular, the canary circuit 425 can be designed as the least reliable circuit in the design or
otherwise with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the autonomous driving unit 222 so as to
increase the likelihood that the canary circuit 425 will fail before the other portions of the autonomous
driving unit 222. In this fashion, degradation of performance of the canary circuit 425 and/or failure can
be used to predict the potential future failure of one or more remaining portions of the autonomous
driving unit 222 that are used in normal operation of the vehicular autonomous driving system 200.
Furthermore, while the autonomous driving unit 222 is shown as having a single canary circuit 425, the
autonomous driving unit 222 may have multiple canary circuits 425, for example, one or more canary
circuits 425 associated with each of the various subcomponents of the autonomous driving unit 222.
(56) By way of example and not limitation, processing circuitry 422 and memory 424 can be
implemented similarly to processing circuit 402 and memory 404. The transceiver 431 includes a
transmitter 428, a receiver 430, and a media I/F 432. The media I/F 432 may be a transmit/receive
(T/R) switch, a duplexer, or other device that supports the illustrated coupling. In other embodiments,
both the transmitter 428 and receiver 430 couple directly to the TDM bus or couple to the TDM bus
other than via the media I/F 432.
(57) FIG. 4C is a block diagram illustrating an autonomous driving controller constructed according to
a described embodiment. The autonomous driving controller 210 includes processing circuitry 452,
memory 454, canary circuit 455 and a transceiver 461 coupled to the processing circuitry 452 and
configured to communicate with a plurality of autonomous driving sensors via the TDM bus. The
autonomous driving controller 210 may also include a plurality of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)
engines 464A, 464B, and 464C that are configured to operate on autonomous driving data received
from the autonomous driving sensors. The processing circuitry 452 is configured to perform
autonomous driving functions and other vehicle control functions based upon the autonomous driving
data, other data, and programmed operations. The transceiver 461 includes a transmitter 458, a
receiver 460, and a media I/F 462 that in combination support communications via the TDM bus.
(58) The construct of the processing circuitry 452 may be similar to the construct of the processing
circuitry 402 of the autonomous driving sensor 212 but with additional processing power to service the
requirements of the autonomous driving controller 210. For example, the processing circuitry 402 may
include a plurality of individual processors that operate in parallel. The memory 454 may be of similar
structure as the memory 404 of the autonomous driving sensor 212 but with capacity as required to
support the functions of the autonomous driving controller 210.
(59) In one aspect of operations of the autonomous driving controller 210, the processing circuitry 452
and the transceiver are configured to assign TDM bus time slots to the plurality of autonomous driving
sensors and direct the plurality of autonomous driving sensors to transmit data in assigned time slots.
The autonomous driving controller 310 receives first autonomous driving data from the plurality of
autonomous driving sensors in assigned time slot(s). The processing circuitry 452 and the transceiver
461 are further configured to reassign TDM bus time slots to the plurality of autonomous driving
sensors via communication on the TDM bus. Further, the processing circuitry 452 and the transceiver
461 are further configured to direct the plurality of autonomous driving sensors to transmit data in
reassigned time slots. The autonomous driving controller 310, also operates to control the collection
and transmission of performance data for the various subcomponents of the autonomous driving
controller 210 including the canary circuit 455.
functional block of a system on a chip or autonomous driving control component that is implemented
entirely for fault prediction and not used in normal operations of autonomous driving controller 210—
but only for generating performance data for use by the fault prediction unit 225 in predicting a
potential future fault. In particular, the canary circuit 455 can be designed as the least reliable circuit in
the design or otherwise with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the autonomous driving
unit 222 so as to increase the likelihood that the canary circuit 455 will fail before the other portions of
the autonomous driving controller 210. In this fashion, degradation of performance of the canary circuit
455 and/or failure can be used to predict the potential future failure of one or more remaining portions
of the autonomous driving controller 210 that are used in normal operation of the vehicular
autonomous driving system 200. Furthermore, while the autonomous driving controller 210 is shown
as having a single canary circuit 455, the autonomous driving controller 210 may have multiple canary
circuits 455, for example, one or more canary circuits 405 associated with each of the various
subcomponents of the autonomous driving controller 210.
(61) FIG. 4D is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle accessory constructed according to a described
embodiment. The vehicle accessory 214 may be any of the vehicle accessories 214A-214B and
includes an accessory component 476 such as an infotainment system, climate control system and/or
other vehicle accessory. The vehicle accessory 214 further includes processing circuitry 472, memory
474, canary circuit 475, and a transceiver 481 coupled to the processing circuitry 472, to the memory
474, and to the accessory component 476 via a bus. The processing circuitry 472 executes programs
stored in memory 474, e.g., vehicle accessory controls, reads and writes data from/to memory 474,
e.g., data and instructions to support autonomous driving operations and accessory functionality, and
to control the collection and transmission of performance data for the various subcomponents of the
vehicle accessory 214 including the canary circuit 475, and interacts with the transceiver 481 to
communicate via the TDM bus, among other operations.
functional block of a system on a chip or accessory component that is implemented entirely for fault
prediction and not used in normal operations of the vehicle accessory 214—but only for generating
performance data for use by the fault prediction unit 225 in predicting a potential future fault. In
particular, the canary circuit 475 can be designed as the least reliable circuit in the design or otherwise
with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the vehicle accessory 214 so as to increase the
likelihood that the canary circuit 475 will fail before the other portions of the vehicle accessory 214. In
this fashion, degradation of performance of the canary circuit 475 and/or failure can be used to predict
the potential future failure of one or more remaining portions of the vehicle accessory 214 that are
used in normal operation of the vehicular autonomous driving system 200. Furthermore, while the
vehicle accessory 214 is shown as having a single canary circuit 475, the vehicle accessory 214 may
have multiple canary circuits 475, for example, one or more canary circuits 475 associated with each
of the various subcomponents of the vehicle accessory 214.
(64) FIG. 4E is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle interface constructed according to a described
embodiment. The interface 218 may be any of the vehicle accessories 218A-218B and includes an
interface component 496 such as a charging port, wireless link or other wired or wireless interface.
The interface 218 further includes processing circuitry 492, memory 494, canary circuit 495, and a
transceiver 491 coupled to the processing circuitry 492, to the memory 494, and to the accessory
component 476 via a bus. The processing circuitry 492 executes programs stored in memory 494,
e.g., vehicle accessory controls, reads and writes data from/to memory 494, e.g., data and instructions
to support autonomous driving operations and interface functionality, and to control the collection and
transmission of performance data for the various subcomponents of the interface 218 including the
canary circuit 495, and interacts with the transceiver 491 to communicate via the TDM bus, among
other operations.
functional block of a system on a chip or accessory component that is implemented entirely for fault
prediction and not used in normal operations of the interface 218—but only for generating
performance data for use by the fault prediction unit 225 in predicting a potential future fault. In
particular, the canary circuit 495 can be designed as the least reliable circuit in the design or otherwise
with less robustness than ordinary circuit blocks of the interface 218 so as to increase the likelihood
that the canary circuit 495 will fail before the other portions of the interface 218. In this fashion,
degradation of performance of the canary circuit 495 and/or failure can be used to predict the potential
future failure of one or more remaining portions of the interface 218 that are used in normal operation
of the vehicular autonomous driving system 200. Furthermore, while the interface 218 is shown as
having a single canary circuit 495, the interface 218 may have multiple canary circuits 495, for
example, one or more canary circuits 495 associated with each of the various subcomponents of the
interface 218.
(67) FIG. 5A is a flow diagram 500 illustrating a method according to one or more described
embodiments. In particular, a method is presented for use with one or more functions and features
described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-2, 3A-3F and 4A-4E. Step 502 includes monitoring performance
data associated with a plurality of autonomous driving components of an autonomous vehicle. Step
504 includes comparing the performance data associated with the plurality of autonomous driving
components to a plurality of performance thresholds. Step 506 includes determining a potential future
fault condition for one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the performance data
associated with the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components compares unfavorably to a
corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
(68) In various embodiments, the performance data associated with at least one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components includes component characteristic data measured over time and
wherein comparing the performance data associated with the at least one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components to a corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance
thresholds includes determining a deviation between the component characteristic data measured
over time and a corresponding nominal characteristic data and comparing the deviation between the
to the corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance thresholds. The nominal characteristic
data can be determined via machine learning. The corresponding at least one of the plurality of
performance thresholds can be set based on an amount of likelihood that an amount of deviation
between the component characteristic data measured over time and the corresponding nominal
characteristic data indicates a future fault in the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving
components. The amount of likelihood can be set based on a relative importance of the at least one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving. The amount of likelihood can
be set to a first likelihood for a first of the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous
driving of high relative importance to autonomous driving and wherein the amount of likelihood is set to
a second likelihood for a second of the plurality of autonomous driving components of low relative
importance to autonomous driving and wherein the first likelihood is less than the second likelihood.
(69) In various embodiments, the component characteristic data can includes a hardware-specific
characteristic and/or a software-specific characteristic. An indication of the potential future fault
condition can be transmitted to a diagnostic unit via a wireless communication link or via a charging
port of the autonomous vehicle. Further, the plurality of autonomous driving components can include a
plurality of autonomous driving units that control motion of the autonomous vehicle, a plurality of
autonomous driving sensors coupled to the autonomous driving controller and configured to collect
autonomous driving data and transmit the autonomous driving data to the autonomous driving
controller and an autonomous driving controller configured to control the plurality of autonomous
driving units of the autonomous vehicle.
(70) FIG. 5B is a flow diagram 510 illustrating a method according to one or more described
described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-2, 3A-3F and 4A-4E. Step 512 includes monitoring performance
data associated with a canary circuit included in each of a plurality of autonomous driving components
of an autonomous vehicle. Step 514 includes comparing the performance data associated with the
canary circuit included in each of the plurality of autonomous driving components to a plurality of
performance thresholds. Step 516 includes determining a potential future fault condition for one of the
plurality of autonomous driving components, when the performance data associated with one of the
plurality of canary circuits included in the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components
compares unfavorably to a corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
(71) In various embodiments, the performance data associated with the at least one of the plurality of
canary circuits includes a component characteristic data measured over time and wherein comparing
the performance data associated with the at least one of the plurality of canary circuits to a
corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance thresholds includes determining a deviation
between the component characteristic data measured over time and a corresponding nominal
characteristic data and comparing the deviation between the component characteristic data measured
over time and the corresponding nominal characteristic data to the corresponding at least one of the
plurality of performance thresholds. The nominal characteristic data can be determined via machine
learning.
(72) In various embodiments, the corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance thresholds
is set based on an amount of likelihood that an amount of deviation between the component
characteristic data measured over time and the corresponding nominal characteristic data indicates a
future fault in the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components. The amount of
likelihood can be set based on a relative importance of the at least one of the plurality of autonomous
driving components to autonomous driving. The amount of likelihood can be set to a first likelihood for
a first of the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving of high relative
importance to autonomous driving and wherein the amount of likelihood is set to a second likelihood
for a second of the plurality of autonomous driving components of low relative importance to
autonomous driving and wherein the first likelihood is less than the second likelihood.
(73) In various embodiments, the component characteristic data can include a hardware-specific
characteristic and/or a software-specific characteristic the canary circuit. The canary circuit included in
each of the plurality of autonomous driving components can be designed to fail before the each of the
plurality of autonomous driving components. An indication of the potential future fault condition can be
transmitted to a diagnostic unit via a wireless communication link or via a charging port of the
autonomous vehicle. Further, plurality of autonomous driving components can include a plurality of
autonomous driving units that control motion of the autonomous vehicle, a plurality of autonomous
driving sensors coupled to the autonomous driving controller and configured to collect autonomous
driving data and transmit the autonomous driving data to the autonomous driving controller and an
autonomous driving controller configured to control the plurality of autonomous driving units of the
autonomous vehicle.
(74) FIG. 5C is a flow diagram 520 illustrating a method according to one or more described
described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-2, 3A-3F and 4A-4E. Step 522 includes monitoring life
accelerating events data associated with the plurality of autonomous driving components of an
autonomous vehicle. Step 524 includes updating an expected component life associated with the
plurality of autonomous driving components. Step 526 includes determining a potential future fault
condition of one of the plurality of autonomous driving components based on when a service time of
the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components exceeds the expected component life
associated with the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components.
(75) In various embodiments, the life accelerating events data includes an indication of one of a
plurality of life accelerating events and an indication of one or more of the plurality of autonomous
driving components associated with the life accelerating event. The plurality of life accelerating events
can include an indication of an over-voltage condition, a voltage spike a current spike a high operating
temperature or a low operating temperature. Determining the potential future fault condition of one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components can include: executing a stress test, when the service
time of the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components exceeds the expected component
life associated with the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components; and determining the
potential future fault condition of one of the plurality of autonomous driving components when stress
test results compare unfavorably to a stress test threshold.
(76) In various embodiments, the method can further include: executing a stress test to generate
stress test results; and comparing stress test results to a stress test threshold; wherein determining
the potential future fault condition of one of the plurality of autonomous driving components is further
based on the stress test results compare unfavorably to the stress test threshold. Updating the
expected component life associated with the plurality of autonomous driving components can include
decreasing the expected component life associated with a selected one of the plurality of autonomous
driving components in response to the life accelerating events data indicating a life accelerating event
associated with the selected one of the plurality of autonomous driving components. An indication of
the potential future fault condition can be transmitted to a diagnostic unit via a wireless communication
link and/or via a charging port of the autonomous vehicle. The plurality of autonomous driving
components can include a plurality of autonomous driving units that control motion of the autonomous
vehicle, a plurality of autonomous driving sensors coupled to the autonomous driving controller and
configured to collect autonomous driving data and transmit the autonomous driving data to the
autonomous driving controller and an autonomous driving controller configured to control the plurality
of autonomous driving units of the autonomous vehicle.
(77) In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific
embodiments. However, as one skilled in the art will appreciate, various embodiments disclosed
herein can be modified or otherwise implemented in various other ways without departing from the
spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, this description is to be considered as illustrative and is
for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the manner of making and using various
embodiments of the disclosed system, method, and computer program product. It is to be understood
that the forms of disclosure herein shown and described are to be taken as representative
embodiments. Equivalent elements, materials, processes or steps may be substituted for those
representatively illustrated and described herein. Moreover, certain features of the disclosure may be
utilized independently of the use of other features, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art
after having the benefit of this description of the disclosure.
(78) Routines, methods, steps, operations, or portions thereof described herein may be implemented
through electronics, e.g., one or more processors, using software and firmware instructions. A
“processor” or “processing circuitry” includes any hardware system, hardware mechanism or hardware
component that processes data, signals or other information. A processor can include a system with a
central processing unit, multiple processing units, dedicated circuitry for achieving functionality, or
other systems. Some embodiments may be implemented by using software programming or code in
one or more digital computers or processors, by using application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),
programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), optical, chemical, biological,
quantum or nano-engineered systems, components and mechanisms. Based on the disclosure and
teachings representatively provided herein, a person skilled in the art will appreciate other ways or
methods to implement the invention. As may also be used herein, the terms “processing module”,
“processing circuit”, “processor”, and/or “processing unit” may be a single processing device or a
plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller,
digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array,
programmable logic device, application specific integrated circuit, state machine, logic circuitry, analog
circuitry, digital circuitry, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nano-engineered systems,
components and mechanisms and/or any other device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital)
based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module, module,
processing circuit, and/or processing unit may be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated
memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or
embedded circuitry of another processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit.
Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-
volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device
that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or
processing unit includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally
located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be
distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide
area network). Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or
processing unit implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital
circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding
operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state
machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory
element may store, and the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit
executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps
and/or functions illustrated in one or more of the Figures. Such a memory device or memory element
can be included in an article of manufacture.
(79) As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any
contextual variants thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,
product, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those
elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, product,
article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive or and
not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition “A or B” is satisfied by any one of the following: A is
true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present),
and both A and B is true (or present).
(80) It is noted that terminologies as may be used herein such as bit stream, stream, signal sequence,
etc. (or their equivalents) have been used interchangeably to describe digital information whose
content corresponds to any of a number of desired types (e.g., data, video, speech, audio, etc. any of
which may generally be referred to as ‘data’).
(81) As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provides an industry-
accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-
accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not
limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall
times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to
magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) “configured to”, “operably coupled to”,
“coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling
between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an
element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for an example of indirect coupling, the intervening item
does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power
level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another
element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as
“coupled to”. As may even further be used herein, the term “configured to”, “operable to”, “coupled to”,
or “operably coupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s),
output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and may further
include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term
“associated with”, includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being
embedded within another item.
(82) As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that a comparison between two
or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired
relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be
achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of
signal 2 is less than that of signal 1. As may be used herein, the term “compares unfavorably”,
indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., fails to provide the desired
relationship.
(83) One or more embodiments have been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating
the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of
these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience
of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions
and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus
within the scope and spirit of the claims. Further, the boundaries of these functional building blocks
have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as
long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks
may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality.
(84) To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined
otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both
functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit
of the claims. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and
other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by
discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate
software and the like or any combination thereof.
(85) In addition, a flow diagram may include a “start” and/or “continue” indication. The “start” and
“continue” indications reflect that the steps presented can optionally be incorporated in or otherwise
used in conjunction with other routines. In this context, “start” indicates the beginning of the first step
presented and may be preceded by other activities not specifically shown. Further, the “continue”
indication reflects that the steps presented may be performed multiple times and/or may be succeeded
by other activities not specifically shown. Further, while a flow diagram indicates a particular ordering
of steps, other orderings are likewise possible provided that the principles of causality are maintained.
(86) The one or more embodiments are used herein to illustrate one or more aspects, one or more
features, one or more concepts, and/or one or more examples. A physical embodiment of an
apparatus, an article of manufacture, a machine, and/or of a process may include one or more of the
aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more of the
embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporate the
same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or different reference
numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps,
modules, etc. or different ones.
(87) Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/or between elements in a figure of
any of the figures presented herein may be analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and
single-ended or differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as a single-ended path, it also
represents a differential signal path. Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it also
represents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particular architectures are described
herein, other architectures can likewise be implemented that use one or more data buses not
expressly shown, direct connectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between other
elements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.
(88) The term “module” is used in the description of one or more of the embodiments. A module
implements one or more functions via a device such as a processor or other processing device or
other hardware that may include or operate in association with a memory that stores operational
instructions. A module may operate independently and/or in conjunction with software and/or firmware.
As also used herein, a module may contain one or more sub-modules, each of which may be one or
more modules.
(89) It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements depicted in the drawings/figures can
also be implemented in a more separated or integrated manner, or even removed or rendered as
inoperable in certain cases, as is useful in accordance with a particular application. Additionally, any
signal arrows in the drawings/figures should be considered only as exemplary, and not limiting.
Claims
1. A vehicular autonomous driving system comprising: a plurality of autonomous driving components

including: a plurality of autonomous driving units that control motion of a vehicle; an autonomous
driving controller configured to control the plurality of autonomous driving units of the vehicle; a
plurality of autonomous driving sensors coupled to the autonomous driving controller and configured to
collect autonomous driving data and transmit the autonomous driving data to the autonomous driving
controller; a fault prediction unit, including a processor and memory, configured to predict a potential
future fault condition by: monitoring performance data associated with the plurality of autonomous
driving components; comparing the performance data associated with the plurality of autonomous
driving components to a plurality of performance thresholds; and determining the potential future fault
condition for one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the performance data
corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds, wherein the fault prediction unit is
configured to execute a stress test for the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, and
wherein the stress test comprises one or more of applying a higher operating frequency or an over-
voltage condition.
2. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 1, wherein the performance data associated with
at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components includes component characteristic data
measured over time and wherein comparing the performance data associated with the at least one of
the plurality of autonomous driving components to a corresponding at least one of the plurality of
performance thresholds includes determining a deviation between the component characteristic data
measured over time and a corresponding nominal characteristic data and comparing the deviation
characteristic data to the corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
3. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 2, wherein the nominal characteristic data is
determined by the fault prediction unit via machine learning.
4. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 2, wherein the corresponding at least one of the
plurality of performance thresholds is set based on an amount of likelihood that an amount of deviation
characteristic data indicates a future fault in the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving
components.
5. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 4, wherein the amount of likelihood is set based
on a relative importance of the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components to
autonomous driving.
6. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 4, wherein the amount of likelihood is set to a
first likelihood for a first of the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving of
high relative importance to autonomous driving and wherein the amount of likelihood is set to a second
likelihood for a second of the plurality of autonomous driving components of low relative importance to
autonomous driving and wherein the first likelihood is less than the second likelihood.
7. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 2, wherein the component characteristic data
includes a hardware-specific characteristic.
8. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 2, wherein the component characteristic data
includes a software-specific characteristic.
9. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 1, wherein an indication of the potential future
fault condition is transmitted to a diagnostic unit via a wireless communication link or via a charging
port of the vehicle.
10. The vehicular autonomous driving system of claim 1, wherein plurality of autonomous driving
components further include components of at least one vehicle accessory.
11. A method implemented by a fault prediction unit included in a vehicle, the method comprising:
monitoring performance data associated with a plurality of autonomous driving components of an
autonomous vehicle; comparing the performance data associated with the plurality of autonomous
driving components to a plurality of performance thresholds; and determining a potential future fault
condition for one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, when the performance data
corresponding one of the plurality of performance thresholds, wherein the fault prediction unit is
configured to execute a stress test for the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, and
wherein the stress test comprises one or more of applying a higher operating frequency or an over-
voltage condition.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the performance data associated with at least one of the plurality
of autonomous driving components includes component characteristic data measured over time and
wherein comparing the performance data associated with the at least one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components to a corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance
thresholds includes determining a deviation between the component characteristic data measured
over time and a corresponding nominal characteristic data and comparing the deviation between the
to the corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance thresholds.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the nominal characteristic data is determined via machine
learning.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the corresponding at least one of the plurality of performance
thresholds is set based on an amount of likelihood that an amount of deviation between the
indicates a future fault in the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the amount of likelihood is set based on a relative importance of
the at least one of the plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the amount of likelihood is set to a first likelihood for a first of the
plurality of autonomous driving components to autonomous driving of high relative importance to
autonomous driving and wherein the amount of likelihood is set to a second likelihood for a second of
the plurality of autonomous driving components of low relative importance to autonomous driving and
wherein the first likelihood is less than the second likelihood.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the component characteristic data includes a hardware-specific
characteristic.
18. The method of claim 12, wherein the component characteristic data includes a software-specific
characteristic.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein an indication of the potential future fault condition is transmitted
to a diagnostic unit via a wireless communication link or via a charging port of the autonomous vehicle.
20. Non-transitory computer storage media storing instructions that when executed by one or more
processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations: monitoring performance data
associated with a plurality of autonomous driving components; comparing the performance data
associated with the plurality of autonomous driving components to a plurality of performance
thresholds; and determining a potential future fault condition for one of the plurality of autonomous
driving components, when the performance data associated with the one of the plurality of
autonomous driving components compares unfavorably to a corresponding one of the plurality of
performance thresholds, wherein determining the potential future fault condition is based on execution
of a stress test for the one of the plurality of autonomous driving components, and wherein the stress
test comprises one or more of applying a higher operating frequency or an over-voltage condition.

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Autonomous Driving System Component Fault Prediction

PATENT NUMBER DOCUMENT ID DATE PUBLISHED

APPLICATION NO DATE FILED

DOMESTIC PRIORITY (CONTINUITY DATA)

Description of Related Art

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. A vehicular autonomous driving system comprising: a plurality of autonomous driving components

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