Patents Examined by Jerrod Irvin Davis
  • Patent number: 11619943
    Abstract: Methods, systems and apparatus for autonomous vehicle path planning and path navigation are described. One example system includes an offline server configured to generate a library of optimal paths for navigating a geographic area, wherein the geographic area is represented as a grid node map and an orientation grid bin map and wherein the optimal paths correspond to paths between pairs of grid node pairs in the grid node map based on optimization criteria, a storage device on the autonomous vehicle for storing the library of optimal paths, and an online server located on the autonomous vehicle configured to access information from the library of optimal paths from the storage device based on a current position and a current heading of the autonomous vehicle, and navigating the autonomous vehicle through the geographic area based on the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: TUSIMPLE, INC.
    Inventors: Junbo Jing, Arda Kurt, Tianqu Shao, Chasen Sherman, Xing Sun
  • Patent number: 11618503
    Abstract: A travel control system for a vehicle equipped with a steering device includes: an imaging device for acquiring images in front of the vehicle; a vehicle speed sensor; and a control device configured to control the steering device. The control device includes: a travel lane detection unit configured to recognize a lane shape of a travel lane on which the vehicle is currently traveling from the images acquired by the imaging device; a lane keeping planning unit configured to set a steering timing for steering the vehicle such that the vehicle travels on the recognized travel lane; and a lane keeping execution unit configured to control the steering device to steer the vehicle at the steering timing set by the lane keeping planning unit, the lane keeping planning unit being configured to change the steering timing based on the recognized lane shape and the detected vehicle speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Takashi Kubo
  • Patent number: 11618465
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for specifying a driving strategy for a vehicle driving with a first driving parameter, comprising the following steps: detecting a following vehicle that is located behind the vehicle in the driving direction of the vehicle, and detecting a second driving parameter that is assigned to the following vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Oliver Cassebaum, Enes Esatbeyoglu, Per Wallentin
  • Patent number: 11613307
    Abstract: In a vehicle contact avoidance assist system (1) for providing assistance in avoiding an obstacle located ahead of a vehicle including a contact avoidance control unit (15) configured to perform an obstacle avoidance operation upon detecting an obstacle located ahead of the vehicle, the obstacle avoidance operation including a steering of the steerable wheel via the steering actuator so as to avoid the obstacle, the contact avoidance control unit is configured to apply a restriction on the obstacle avoidance operation depending on a detected gripping state detected by a steering wheel gripping state detection unit (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuo Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11603127
    Abstract: A work vehicle includes a hydraulic actuator that changes an actual steering angle, an actual steering angle detecting part, an operating unit that performs a steering operation, a relative angle detecting part, a steering control part, and a position adjustment control part. The operating unit includes an operating part, a support part, a rotating part, a biasing part biasing the operating part to a predetermined position with respect to the rotating part, and a position adjusting part that adjusts the rotating part. The relative angle detecting part detects a relative rotation angle of the operating part with respect to the rotating part. The steering control part controls the hydraulic actuator based on a rotation operation of the operating part. The position adjustment control part sets a torque based on the relative rotation angle and uses the torque to control the position adjusting part based on the actual steering angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: KOMATSU LTD.
    Inventor: Yuichi Teranishi
  • Patent number: 11577781
    Abstract: A vehicle control system includes: an electric power steering device that generates an assist torque that assists turning of a wheel caused by a steering wheel rotation; a controller that controls the electric power steering device to generate the assist torque according to the steering wheel rotation in a normal mode; and a state sensor that detects a vehicle travel state and a state of an occupant at a driver's seat. When the occupant at the driver's seat performs a getting-on action or a getting-off action when the vehicle is in an ignition-ON state, the controller controls the electric power steering device in a temporal mode. In the temporal mode, the controller changes a method of controlling the electric power steering device such that the steering wheel rotation is suppressed as compared with a case of the normal mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomomichi Nakamura, Yoji Kunihiro
  • Patent number: 11578974
    Abstract: A road inclination estimating apparatus is configured to acquire power spectrum density of vertical vibration by a frequency analysis based on the detected vertical acceleration of the sprung mass of a vehicle. The apparatus is configured to determine that a first estimation condition is satisfied, when the power spectrum density has two of the acquired peak frequencies, wherein, one of the two of the peak frequencies is within a predetermined first frequency range, and the other one of the two of the peak frequencies is within a predetermined second frequency range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshihisa Yamada
  • Patent number: 11572097
    Abstract: A steering controller includes processing circuitry configured to execute a first operation process that, when an angle command value is not input from outside of the processing circuitry, calculates a first torque command value corresponding to a steering-side operation amount and operating a drive circuit of an electric motor to adjust torque of the electric motor to the first torque command value. The processing circuitry is further configured to execute a second operation process that, when the angle command value is input from the outside of the processing circuitry, calculates a second torque command value corresponding to at least an angle-side operation amount of the steering-side operation amount and the angle-side operation amount and operating the drive circuit of the electric motor to adjust the torque of the electric motor to the second torque command value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignees: JTEKT CORPORATION, JTEKT EUROPE S.A.S.
    Inventors: Terutaka Tamaizumi, Tahar Slama, Pascal Moulaire, Pierre Larminy
  • Patent number: 11572072
    Abstract: A method of controlling autonomous driving is provided. The method includes collecting driving information of a driver and curvature information of a road and generating a driving pattern of the driver, defined by associating behaviors in longitudinal and lateral directions of the vehicle based on the driving information. The driving pattern is then set to a constraint condition for driving torque and brake pressure and the vehicle is operated based thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Hee Gwon Kim
  • Patent number: 11572095
    Abstract: Technical solutions described herein include a method of controlling, in an electric power steering system, a steering angle according to a target steering angle by computing an initial value of an integral control term in a proportional integral derivative (PID) control loop used to calculate a control output signal, such as a motor torque command. The initial value of the integral control term is computed as a negative of the initial value of the feedforward term minus the initial value of the feedback term. The initial value of the integral control term corresponds to an initial value of a control output. Accordingly, the technical solutions described herein facilitate handling non-zero initial condition in Electric Power Steering angle control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation
    Inventors: Xingye Zhang, Anthony Champagne
  • Patent number: 11548166
    Abstract: Methods and systems for joint execution of complex tasks by a human and a robotic system are described herein. In one aspect, a collaborative robotic system includes a payload platform having a loading surface configured to carry a payload shared with a human collaborator. The collaborative robotic system navigates a crowded environment, while sharing a payload with the human collaborator. In another aspect, the collaborative robotic system measures forces in a plane parallel to the loading surface of the payload platform to infer navigational cues from the human collaborator. In some instances, the collaborative robotic system overrides the navigational cues of the human collaborator to avoid collisions between an object in the environment and any of the robotic system, the human collaborator, and the shared payload.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Skylla Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Kota Weaver
  • Patent number: 11548502
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system, method, infrastructure, and vehicle for performing automated valet parking. The present disclosure enables an unmanned vehicle to autonomously move to and park at an empty parking space by communicating with a parking infrastructure. The present disclosure enables an unmanned vehicle to autonomously move from a parking space to a pickup zone by communicating with a parking infrastructure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Hoon Kyung Cho
  • Patent number: 11548503
    Abstract: A vehicle travel control device executes vehicle travel control such that a vehicle follows a target trajectory. An automated driving control device generates a first target trajectory that is the target trajectory for automated driving of the vehicle. The vehicle travel control device further determines whether or not an activation condition of travel assist control is satisfied. When the activation condition is satisfied, the vehicle travel control device generates a second target trajectory that is the target trajectory for the travel assist control. When the second target trajectory is generated during the automated driving, the vehicle travel control device determines whether or not a cancellation condition is satisfied. When the cancellation condition is satisfied, the vehicle travel control device cancels both the first target trajectory and the second target trajectory, and decelerates the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takayuki Goto, Yoshinori Watanabe, Nobuhide Kamata, Kazuyuki Fujita, Masahiro Harada
  • Patent number: 11524696
    Abstract: A method for determining the values of parameters for a controller of a vehicle, wherein respective error measures are calculated for different sets of values and a set of values is selected based on the error measures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: CONTINENTAL TEVES AG & CO. OHG
    Inventor: Ulrich Stählin
  • Patent number: 11519742
    Abstract: Various examples are directed to systems and methods for routing an autonomous vehicle. For example, a system may access temporal data comprising a first temporal data item. The first temporal data item may describe a first roadway condition, a first time, and a first location. The system may also access a routing graph that comprises a plurality of route components and determine that a first route component of the routing graph corresponds to the first location. The system may generate a constrained routing graph at least in part by modifying the first route component based at least in part on the first roadway condition. The system may additionally generate a route for an autonomous vehicle using the constrained routing graph; and cause the autonomous vehicle to begin traversing the route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Voznesensky, Brent Goldman, Mark Yen
  • Patent number: 11518385
    Abstract: A steering assist apparatus comprises a steering assist control means for performing a lane tracing assist control (LTA) and a lane changing assist control (LCA) and a non-holding determination means for determining whether or not a first non-holding condition that a non-holding duration time is more than or equal to a first time is satisfied and whether or not a second non-holding condition that the non-holding duration time is more than or equal to a second time shorter than the first time is satisfied. The steering assist control means raises a warning when the second non-holding condition becomes satisfied and stops the LTA when the first non-holding condition becomes satisfied while performing the LTA, and raises a waring when the second non-holding condition becomes satisfied whereas continues the LCA until a completion condition of the LCA becomes satisfied regardless of the non-holding while performing the LCA.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shota Fujii, Kentaro Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11511760
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for collecting driving data from simulated autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) driving sessions and real-world ADV driving sessions. The driving data is processed to exclude manual (human) driving data and to exclude data corresponding to the ADV being stationary (not driving). Data can further be filtered based on driving direction: forward or reverse driving. Driving data records are time stamped. The driving data can be aligned according to the timestamp, then a standardized set of metrics is generated from the collected, filtered, and time-aligned data. The standardized set of metrics are used to grade the performance the control system of the ADV, and to generate an updated ADV controller, based on the standardized set of metrics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignees: BAIDU USA LLC, BAIDU.COM TIMES TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yu Wang, Qi Luo, Yu Cao, Zongbao Feng, Longtao Lin, Xiangquan Xiao, Jinghao Miao, Jiangtao Hu, Jingao Wang, Shu Jiang, Jinyun Zhou, Jiaxuan Xu
  • Patent number: 11505192
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus includes a controller configured to perform creep traveling control in which a vehicle is caused to travel regardless of an accelerator operation. When one or both of front wheels or one or both of rear wheels of the vehicle are determined as having moved onto a step by the controller after the creep traveling control starts, the controller causes a target vehicle speed of the creep traveling control to be lower than a first target vehicle speed until the remaining wheels out of the front wheels and the rear wheels are determined as having moved onto the step. The first target vehicle speed is equal to the target vehicle speed having been set before a time when the one or both of the front wheels or the one or both of the rear wheels are determined as having moved onto the step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shoto Arai
  • Patent number: 11507085
    Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus is configured to perform a steering assistance control of steering a vehicle to move away from an obstacle to avoid when the obstacle is in a steering assistance range. The vehicle control apparatus is provided with: a determinator configured to determine a steering assistance amount associated with the steering assistance control for the obstacle, on the basis of a distance between two of a plurality of obstacles in a direction of travel of the vehicle, when the plurality of obstacles are in the steering assistance range: and a controller programmed to control the vehicle to perform the steering assistance control by using the steering assistance amount determined by the determinator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Minami Sato, Kazuyuki Fujita
  • Patent number: 11500389
    Abstract: A vehicle control device is configured to include a steering control unit. The steering control unit is configured to perform a steering control such that a vehicle passes between a first obstacle of which a position in a lateral direction is closest to the vehicle, among one or multiple obstacles existing ahead of the vehicle on a left side of the traveling direction and a second obstacle of which a position in the lateral direction is closest to the vehicle, among one or multiple obstacles existing ahead of the vehicle on a right side of the traveling direction, and if there exists a third obstacle closer to the vehicle than the first obstacle and the second obstacle, inhibit the steering control to one side where the third obstacle exists either on the left side of the traveling direction or the right side of the traveling direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Minami Sato, Kazuyuki Fujita