Patents Examined by Marthe Y. Marc-Coleman
  • Patent number: 11345359
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a first autonomous driving system (e.g., main system) is configured to perform a planning and control operation on an ADV, including perceiving a driving environment surrounding the ADV and planning a trajectory to drive the ADV. A second autonomous driving system (e.g., a backup system) operates as a redundant driving system to monitor a first operating status of the first autonomous driving system. The first autonomous driving system further monitors a second operating status of the second autonomous driving system. A safety action is performed to transition the ADV into a safer state based on the monitored operating status of the first and second autonomous driving systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: BAIDU USA LLC
    Inventor: Fan Zhu
  • Patent number: 11348383
    Abstract: Managing vehicle resources by a network device in lieu of a designated vehicle control device is disclosed. A connected car resource manager of a carrier core network can receive vehicle information intended for the designated vehicle control device. The connected car resource manager can determine a response command that can be substituted for a command from the designated vehicle control device update a parameter of the vehicle. The response command can be based on the vehicle information, supplementary information, etc. Moreover, the response command can be adapted based on a second tier of supplementary information by another carrier core network device. In some embodiments, the connected car resource manager can share management of response commands with the designated vehicle control device vehicle. The connected car resource manager can employ information about other vehicles connected to a network that is not available to the designated vehicle control device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: AT&T MOBILITY II LLC
    Inventor: Arturo Maria
  • Patent number: 11347234
    Abstract: In accordance with an example embodiment, a method of controlling a work vehicle includes sensing a surrounding environment of a work vehicle with a sensor, identifying an item of interest, determining a path toward or away from the item using the work vehicle's position, heading, and velocity, displaying the path, receiving a special steer command, steering the work vehicle based on the special steer command if the special steer command is received when no path is being displayed on the operator display, and autonomously controlling the work vehicle to travel along the path based on the special steer command if the special steer command is received while the path is being displayed on the operator display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: DEERE & COMPANY
    Inventor: Bran Ferren
  • Patent number: 11340354
    Abstract: Methods and systems include localization of a vehicle localize precisely and in near real-time. As described, localization of a vehicle using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can comprise receiving a signal from each of a plurality of satellites of a GNSS constellation and receiving input from one or more sensors of the vehicle. The input from the sensors can indicate current physical surroundings of the vehicle. A model of the current physical surrounding of the vehicle can be generated based on the input from the one or more sensors of the vehicle. One or more multipath signals received from the plurality of satellites can be mitigated based on the model and the vehicle can be localized using the received signals from the plurality of satellites of the GNSS constellation and based on the mitigation of the one or more multipath signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: NIO USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Tong Lin, Hiu Hong Yu, Veera Ganesh Yalla, Farzad Cyrus Foroughi Abari, Andre Michelin, Xu Chen
  • Patent number: 11334067
    Abstract: An apparatus for providing a safety strategy in a vehicle is provided. The apparatus includes a sensor configured to obtain information about a driver of the vehicle, an output device configured to output a notification to the driver, and a control circuit configured to be electrically connected with the sensor and the output device. The control circuit is configured to recognize a state of the driver based on the information obtained by the sensor, set a route toward a safety zone, when the state of the driver meets a specified condition, and control the vehicle to change a lane where the vehicle is traveling to a lane adjacent to the safety zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, KIA Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Sung Min Park, Jin Su Jeong, Jae Yong Jeon
  • Patent number: 11334073
    Abstract: An autonomous driving device includes a navigation device configured to search a plurality of routes, from a diverging point to a target position, for one or more extra routes other than a recommended route before a vehicle passes the diverging point wherein the diverging point is a point where the vehicle is expected to pass; and an electronic control unit configured to control autonomous driving of the vehicle based on information on a particular extra route when the vehicle departs from the recommended route at the diverging point and travels on the particular extra route wherein the particular extra route is one of the one or more extra routes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akira Iijima, Hiroaki Sakakibara
  • Patent number: 11333507
    Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide systems and methods for providing suggested locations for pick up and destination locations. Pick up locations may include locations where an autonomous vehicle can pick up a passenger, while destination locations may include locations where the vehicle can wait for an additional passenger, stop and wait for a passenger to perform some task and return to the vehicle, or for the vehicle to drop off a passenger. As such, a request for a vehicle may be received from a client computing device. The request may identify a first location. A set of one or more suggested locations may be selected by comparing the predetermined locations to the first location. The set may be provided to the client computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Peter Colijn, Joshua Seth Herbach, Matthew Paul McNaughton
  • Patent number: 11334068
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to a system and method for transitioning vehicle control between autonomous operation and manual operation. The system includes sensors configured to generate output signals conveying information related to the vehicle and its operation. During autonomous vehicle operation, the system gauges the level of responsiveness of a vehicle operator through challenges and corresponding responses. The system determines when to present a challenge to the vehicle operator based on internal and external factors. If necessary, the system will transition from an autonomous operation mode to a manual operation mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: SMARTDRIVE SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Jason Palmer, Mark Freitas, Daniel A. Deninger, David Forney, Slaven Sljivar, Alekh Vaidya, Jeffrey Griswold
  • Patent number: 11332143
    Abstract: A method for controlling a wheel slip of a vehicle is provided. The method includes estimating equivalent inertia information of a driving system based on operation information of the driving system during operation of a vehicle and subsequently, calculating the amount of calibration for calibrating a torque command of a driving device for driving the vehicle from the estimated equivalent inertia information of the driving system. The torque command of the driving device is calibrated using the calculated amount of calibration and subsequently the torque applied to a driving wheel is adjusted according to the calibrated torque command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Ji Won Oh, Jeong Soo Eo
  • Patent number: 11332161
    Abstract: A controller of an autonomous traveling vehicle as an information processing apparatus of the disclosure executes acquiring first information relating to a predetermined item and the first information relating to predetermined processing in a processing apparatus mounted on the autonomous traveling vehicle, acquiring second information relating to shipping of the predetermined item, controlling running of the autonomous traveling vehicle based on the second information, and controlling the operation of the processing apparatus based on the first information when the autonomous traveling vehicle is in a running state based on the second information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kunihiro Murakami, Katsuhiko Sakakibara, Makoto Matsushita, Junya Sato, Kiyonori Yoshida, Tae Sugimura, Takashi Hayashi, Jun Endo
  • Patent number: 11326889
    Abstract: It is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide a driver assistance system and control method thereof in which perform a data association of various data to be collected, thereby matching a plurality of features and performing precise position measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: MANDO MOBILITY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tae Han Kim
  • Patent number: 11325480
    Abstract: A travel control apparatus includes a state detection unit that detects whether each of at least three power sources of the autonomous driving system including one or more electricity storage devices and one or more power generators is in a normal state or in a malfunctioning state; and a mode setting unit that sets a fail operation mode corresponding to a type of at least one of the power sources upon determination that the at least one of the power sources is in the malfunctioning state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomomi Hase, Mitsuharu Higashitani, Noriaki Ikemoto
  • Patent number: 11318939
    Abstract: Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for controlling an inter-vehicle distance. Particularly, the apparatus for controlling an inter-vehicle distance may include one or more sensors, configured to detect one or more forward targets in front of a host vehicle, and a controller, configured to control the host vehicle to drive while maintaining a predetermined first inter-vehicle distance from a first target that drives on the driving road of the host vehicle. Therefore, according to the present disclosure, there are provided an apparatus and a method for controlling an inter-vehicle distance, which may more stably perform longitudinal control of a host vehicle while the host vehicle drives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Mando Mobility Solutions Corporation
    Inventor: ChangBeom Oh
  • Patent number: 11314755
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for repairing vehicles. A computing device having first and second software executables can determine vehicle identification information (VII) that identifies a vehicle. The computing device can store first and second vehicle identifiers that are based on the VII and are respectively associated with the first and second software executables, where the first vehicle identifier differs from the second vehicle identifier. The computing device can be used to repair the vehicle by at least: receiving a request to activate the first software executable, and activating the first software executable at least by providing the stored first vehicle identifier to the first software executable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Snap-on Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick S. Merg, Jacob G. Foreman, Joshua C. Covington, Roy Steven Brozovich
  • Patent number: 11305772
    Abstract: A driving assistance apparatus can execute a deceleration assistance control, when there is a deceleration target ahead, of the vehicle in a course thereof. The driving assistance apparatus is provided with: a recognizer configured to recognize a surrounding situation of the vehicle; and a controller programed to execute the deceleration assistance control when a predetermined condition is satisfied. The controller is programed to suppress execution of the deceleration assistance control if a road as the recognized surrounding situation has a high extent of a downgrade, in comparison with a situation in which the road has a low extent of the downgrade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuta Ikezawa, Kohei Tochigi, Shogo Ito
  • Patent number: 11292453
    Abstract: Method for operating a motor vehicle with a hybrid drive, which includes an internal combustion engine connected to an exhaust system of the motor vehicle along with at least one traction electric motor, which is operated via an electric energy accumulator of the motor vehicle and can be coupled to the internal combustion engine, wherein the motor vehicle can be moved via the internal combustion engine and/or the traction electric motor, wherein when movement of the motor vehicle via the internal combustion engine is switched to movement of the motor vehicle solely via the traction electric motor, and the internal combustion engine is decoupled from the traction electric motor, operation of the internal combustion engine is continued, dependent upon at least one piece of exhaust system information describing a condition of the exhaust system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: AUDI AG
    Inventors: Christopher Hohm, Michael Vogt, Norbert Breimhorst, Stefan Appel
  • Patent number: 11294386
    Abstract: A device and a method for determining a U-turn strategy of an autonomous driving vehicle is disclosed. The device for determining a U-turn strategy of an autonomous driving vehicle includes a learning device that learns a U-turn strategy for each situation by dividing situation information to be considered in a U-turn of the autonomous driving vehicle into groups, and a controller that determines the U-turn strategy of the autonomous driving vehicle based on the U-turn strategy for each situation learned by the learning device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tae Dong Oh
  • Patent number: 11288963
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides autonomous vehicles that include a vehicle intention system that provides intention signals indicative of an intention of the autonomous vehicle. In particular, in one example, the vehicle intention system can obtain one or more operational messages from various systems or components of an autonomous vehicle that operate to control the autonomous vehicle. The operational messages can include operational data regarding the control or operation of the autonomous vehicle. The vehicle intention system can determine an intention of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more operational messages. The vehicle intention system can output one or more intention signals that indicate the determined intention of the autonomous vehicle. For example, the vehicle intention system can publish intention messages that indicate the determined intention to one or more components or systems that consume the intention messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Moslem Kazemi, Nicholas Fermin Andrey Sterner, Eric Michael Perko
  • Patent number: 11287816
    Abstract: A computing system can generate a map constraint interface enabling a fleet operator to update map constraints for autonomous vehicles (AVs). The map constraint interface can comprise a unified document model enabling the fleet operator to configure a set of constraint layers of autonomy maps utilized by the AVs. Each constraint layer can include a toggle feature that enables the fleet operator to enable and disable the constraint layer. The system can receive, via the map constraint interface, a set of inputs configuring the set of constraint layers of the one or more autonomy maps, compile a set of updated map constraints, corresponding to the configured set of constraint layers, into a document container, and output the document container to a subset of the AVs to enable the subset of AVs to integrate the set of updated map constraints with the autonomy maps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Adam Panzica, Brett Bavar, Julie Derence, Marcial Hernandez, Tashwin Khurana, Bryan Nagy, Jordan Romaidis, Adrian Rechy Romero
  • Patent number: 11279242
    Abstract: A travel control apparatus includes a state detection unit that detects whether each of at least three power sources of the autonomous driving system including one or more electricity storage devices and one or more power generators is in a normal state or in a malfunctioning state; and a mode setting unit that sets a fail operation mode corresponding to a type of at least one of the power sources upon determination that the at least one of the power sources is in the malfunctioning state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomomi Hase, Mitsuharu Higashitani, Noriaki Ikemoto