Topo Locked Autonav: A Reference-Based Topological Locking System for Autonomous Navigation

This invention proposes a novel, minimal-computation autonomous vehicle navigation system based on topological locking. By encoding a high-resolution, lidar-derived environmental topology into the vehicle’s on-board storage, and combining it with vision-based confirmation from cameras, the system maintains a recursive lock to known reference features. This approach dramatically reduces the need for real-time full-scope scene analysis, enabling ultra-efficient self-driving systems with minimal reliance on networked processing or continuous internet connectivity.