Design fast search for AV raw logs

Autonomous vehicles collect large volumes of raw logs (e.g., sensor streams, perception outputs, planning/debug signals). In these logs, there may be situations such as:

• A pedestrian crossing
• A traffic sign appearing (stop sign, speed limit sign, etc.)

Design a system that allows engineers to quickly find log segments where these situations might occur.

Requirements

• Users should be able to query for scenarios like “pedestrian present”, “stop sign detected”, optionally with filters such as time range, vehicle/software version, geography, route, weather, etc.
• Results should point to the exact time ranges (segments) in logs.
• Logs are large-scale (many vehicles, continuous uploads).

Clarify

Explain what signals you would rely on (raw sensor vs derived perception outputs), how you index/search, and how the system scales.