Abstract: A cognitive commuter assistant may provide alerts regarding sensitive conversation topics and smart excuse route suggestions. The cognitive commuter assistant may store user preferences and historical data related to past conversations between passengers and navigators. The cognitive commuter assistant may identify current location and destinations, and may further identify local information, such as news and cultural information, based on the current location and destination. The cognitive commuter assistant may monitor and analyze the conversation between a passenger and navigator to determine a first route to the destination. The cognitive commuter assistant may generate, based on user preferences, local information, the first route, and historical data, alternative route suggestions.

Abstract: An information processing method includes: acquiring, from one or more first vehicles, manual driving information for each of the first vehicles; acquiring, from one or more second vehicles, automatic driving information for each of the second vehicles; calculating, for each area, a first value of a driving parameter correlated with a degree of difficulty in driving according to the manual driving information; calculating, for the each area, a second value of the driving parameter according to the automatic driving information; comparing the first value with the second value for the each area to determine at least one difficult area in which travel of a vehicle by automatic driving is difficult; and creating difficult area information.

Abstract: Various embodiments are provided for controlling an autonomous car. The embodiments acquire meeting information indicating a place of a meeting and a time of the meeting. A remaining time between the time of the meeting and a current time is calculated. A waiting time for waiting in a waiting place by the autonomous car and a traveling time for traveling to the place of the meeting by the autonomous car are determined. The waiting and traveling times are determined to minimize a total cost and to make a total time within the remaining time. The total cost includes a cost of the traveling and a cost of the waiting. The total time includes the waiting and traveling times. A route along which the autonomous car is to travel to the place of the meeting within the traveling time is determined.

Abstract: A robot uses types of behavior such as approach, follow, avoid, and so forth to move about an environment and interact with a user. An occupancy map provides information about obstacles in the environment. A predicted trajectory of the user is determined that is indicative of expected locations and confidence of those expected locations. The predicted trajectory may be based on the user's movement and the occupancy map. Based on the predicted trajectory and the occupancy map, a target point and a path to the target point is determined. The path may also be based on a proxemic cost map that specifies how regions with respect to the user may be traversed.

Abstract: An action planning system (100) and method for autonomous vehicles are provided. The system (100) comprises one or more processors (108) and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (110) having stored thereon a computer program used by the one or more processors (108), wherein the computer program causes the one or more processors (108) to estimate future environment of an autonomous vehicle (114), generate a possible trajectory for the autonomous vehicle (114), predict motion and reactions of each dynamic obstacle in the future environment of the autonomous vehicle (114) based on current local traffic context, and generate a prediction iteratively over timesteps.

Abstract: Systems and methods use cameras to provide autonomous navigation features. In one implementation, a driver-assist object detection system is provided for a vehicle. One or more processing devices associated with the system receive at least two images from a plurality of captured images via a data interface. The device(s) analyze the first image and at least a second image to determine a reference plane corresponding to the roadway the vehicle is traveling on. The processing device(s) locate a target object in the first two images, and determine a difference in a size of at least one dimension of the target object between the two images. The system may use the difference in size to determine a height of the object. Further, the system may cause a change in at least a directional course of the vehicle if the determined height exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: A route examining system includes first and second detection units and an identification unit. The first and second detection units are configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle system traveling along a route having plural conductive tracks. The first and second detection units are disposed at spaced apart locations along a length of the vehicle system. The first and second detection units are configured to monitor one or more electrical characteristics of the conductive tracks in response to an examination signal being electrically injected into at least one of the conductive tracks. The identification unit includes one or more processors configured to determine that a section of the route includes an electrical short responsive to the one or more electrical characteristics monitored by the first and second detection units indicating that the examination signal is received by only one of the first and second detection units.

Abstract: A wireless communication device for collecting vehicle on-board diagnostics (OBD) data is disclosed, together with associated methods of handling OBD data in such wireless communication devices. The device comprises a connector for connecting the device to an OBD port of a vehicle to receive OBD data; a processor configured to continually aggregate the OBD data and/or acceleration data from an acceleration sensor into risk profile data during a journey made by the vehicle; a memory for storing the latest risk profile data for the journey; and a wireless transceiver for transmitting the stored risk profile data to an external mobile device during the journey.

Abstract: A system includes a sensor for sensing an outdoor environment weather condition of an outdoor environment, a processor, and a memory module communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory module including one or more processor-readable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to determine an expected departure time, determine the outdoor environment weather condition from data received from the sensor, and send a request for user input to a remote device, the request including a user input selector to initiate at least one climate control system based on one or more of the expected departure time and the outdoor environment weather condition.

Abstract: Systems and methods provide for optimizing dispatching of autonomous vehicles (AVs) using an AV fleet management system. The AV fleet management system can receive first data indicative of client application to the AV fleet management system being opened on a client device. The AV fleet management system can determine availability of an AV within proximity of the client device. The AV fleet management system can determine a first route from a first location of the AV to a second location of the client device. The AV fleet management system can dispatch the AV from the first location to the second location via the first route prior to determining a destination of a second route from the second location to the destination.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a procedure for operating a safety system for a motor vehicle for driving beyond a system boundary. The motor vehicle moves autonomously within a predetermined area, defined by the system boundary, in an autonomous driving mode from a delivery point to a predetermined position and back to the delivery point. To drive beyond the system boundary, a mechanical blocking device of the safety system is first detected by a detection device of the motor vehicle, the mechanical blocking device forming part of the system boundary. Subsequently, a current driving mode of the motor vehicle is detected. Next, a driving mode message is output by a communication device of the motor vehicle for opening the mechanical blocking device. Finally, the mechanical blocking device is opened when the motor vehicle is in a non-autonomous driving mode according to the driving mode message.

Abstract: The invention relates to a lane change assistance system in a vehicle (21), wherein the lane change assistance system has a sensor arrangement for detecting the current surrounding area of the vehicle in each case and is designed to generate a warning signal and/or steering intervention when an imminent lane change by the vehicle is identified, depending on a second vehicle (25) being detected by the sensor arrangement in the vehicle's surrounding area. In this case the lane change assistance system is designed to suppress generation of the warning signal and/or the steering intervention based on map data (15), particularly when the change of lane by the vehicle is to a newly opening lane (23) of a multiple lane road (22) which is branching off (e.g. of a corresponding motorway exit) and the second vehicle is located in another lane (24) of the road (22) which is branching off.

Abstract: Systems and methods for operating a vehicle driveline that includes an engine and an electric machine are described. In one example, an amount of electrical power that is available to electrical consumers that are electrically coupled to a high voltage bus is adjusted responsive to a temperature of a catalyst for the purpose of reducing engine emissions.

Abstract: A method of controlling a movable object to track a target includes determining a difference between a desired height and a measured height of the movable object, determining a reference speed of the movable object or the target, and adjusting the movable object based on the reference speed and the difference between the desired height and the measured height.

Abstract: A processing system for a motorized mobile system includes at least one sensor to measure one or more kinematic states of an object and at least one processor to use at least one state estimation filter and at least one object kinematic model to predict a first kinematic state estimate of the object and output the first predicted kinematic state estimate for use by at least one other process of the motorized mobile system. The processor uses the first predicted kinematic state estimate and the one or more measured kinematic states to determine a second kinematic state estimate of the object and uses the second kinematic state estimate as an input to the state estimation filter to predict another kinematic state estimate of the object.

Abstract: A driving assistance apparatus includes a surrounding object recognition unit configured to recognize a surrounding object, a signal recognition unit configured to recognize a state of a light color of a traffic signal, and an assistance unit configured to assist driving of the host vehicle. The assistance unit is configured to determine whether or not there is a possibility that the host vehicle will come into contact with the surrounding object if the state of the light color is a state of prohibiting the host vehicle from proceeding in one or a plurality of specific directions and when the host vehicle proceeds in that specific direction, and calculate a withdrawal route candidate for the host vehicle to leave from the intersection without coming into contact with the surrounding object if it is determined that there is the possibility that the host vehicle will come into contact with the surrounding object.

Abstract: A readiness monitoring system for a fire apparatus includes a processing circuit that has programmed instructions to acquire fluid level data indicating at least one of a water level within a water tank, a fire suppressing agent level within an agent tank, a fuel level within a fuel tank, or a diesel exhaust fluid level within a diesel exhaust fluid reservoir of the fire apparatus; acquire fault data indicating any active faults with components of the fire apparatus; acquire maintenance data indicating whether maintenance is due or overdue; acquire exercise data indicating an elapsed time since the fire apparatus was last exercised; and determine a readiness score for the fire apparatus based on the fluid level data, the fault data, the maintenance data, and the exercise data.

Abstract: A design solution for classifying users as potential drivers traveling in a vehicle based upon a combination of real-time data gathered during a shared trip and historical data. Data gathered include overlapping time and distance of users to be classified as potential drivers. Shared trip scenarios include two or more users share a complete trip from beginning to end; two or more users share the beginning of a trip where at least one user is dropped off and the other user continues driving; two or more users share the end of a trip where at least one user is picked up during the shared trip; and one user picks up another user during a trip to thereby create a shared trip and drop off the other user to a different location before heading to a final location.

Abstract: An interaction detection and analysis (“IDA”) computing device for aggregating and analyzing operations data from a plurality of autonomous vehicles (“AVs”) may be provided. The IDA computing device may include at least one processor programmed to (i) receive software ecosystem data, environmental conditions data, and performance data for a plurality of AVs, (ii) store the received data in a plurality of data records, (iii) apply at least one clustering algorithm to the plurality of data records to identify a subset of data records for AVs that have similar software ecosystems, and (iv) apply at least one machine learning algorithm to the identified subset of data records to detect i) an interaction between at least one software application and at least one environmental condition that may result in a particular outcome and ii) a correlation between the detected interaction and the particular outcome.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide for advanced trip planning for an autonomous vehicle service. For instance, an example method may include determining a potential pickup location for a user, determining a set of potential destination locations for a user, and determining a set of potential trips. For each potential trip a vehicle of a fleet of autonomous vehicles of the service may be assigned and trip information, including an estimated time of arrival for the assigned vehicle of the potential trip to reach the destination location of the potential trip, may be determined. The trip information for each potential trip may be provided for display to the user. Thereafter, confirmation information identifying one of the set of potential trips may be received, and the assigned vehicle for one first of the set of potential trips may be dispatched to pick up the user.