Abstract: Presented are liquid-gas (LG) separator assemblies for segregating air and water in fuel cell system (FCS) exhaust streams, methods for making/using such assemblies, and FCS-powered vehicles equipped with such assemblies. An LG separator assembly includes a quick-connect (QC) fitting with a fitting body having a first open end, which couples to an exhaust pipe of the FCS to thereby receive an exhaust stream expelled from the FCS. An LG separator unit has a separator body with opposite open ends, a first of which couples to a second open end of the fitting body to thereby releasably couple to the exhaust pipe and receive therefrom the exhaust stream through the QC fitting. The LG separator unit extracts liquid water entrained within the exhaust stream, ejects the extracted water through a water nozzle located within the separator body, and expels the remaining exhaust stream through a second end of the separator body.

Abstract: An electronic control unit (ECU), or node, is configured to use a single key for generating requests from a security peripheral for a MAC. The security peripheral includes the stored shared key. The security peripheral may further include a policy enabling it to detect if a request from the V-ECU is valid, in which case it generates a MAC. The security peripheral is also used to store information in a MAC Generate Allow List (MGAL). In some embodiments, the receiving nodes in a network receive data based on a security peripheral's response to a transmit nodes requests for a MAC. The receiving nodes use this knowledge to avoid being spoofed.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a part using water jet cutting includes providing a water jet cutting system having a water cutter to define a cutting stream and having a working surface. The water jet cutting system includes at least one actuator responsive to one or more control signals from a controller to move the water cutter relative to the working surface. The method includes positioning a sacrificial material system on the working surface of the water jet cutting system and positioning a stock material adjacent to the sacrificial material system, the part to be composed of the stock material. The method includes cutting the part from the stock material using the water jet cutting system.

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) utilize perception and understanding of objects on the road to predict behaviors of the objects, and to plan a trajectory for the vehicle. In some scenarios, an AV may benefit from having information about an object that is not within a perceivable area of the sensors of the AV. Another AV in the area that has the object within a perceivable area of the sensors of the other AV may share information with the AV. Rich information about the object determined by the other AV can be compressed using an encoder and transferred efficiently to the AV for inclusion in a temporal map that combines locally determined object information and transferred object information determined by other AV(s). The temporal map may be used in one or more parts of the software stack of the AV.

Abstract: A hybrid system including a high-voltage bus, a high-voltage battery electrically connected to the high-voltage bus, a fuel cell power device electrically connected to the high-voltage bus, and a drive unit electrically connected to the high-voltage bus. A controller is electrically connected to the drive unit, the fuel cell power device, and the high-voltage battery. The controller is configured to identify an application power request for the drive unit and determine a relationship between the application power request and an optimal membrane life power for the fuel cell power device. The controller is also configured to direct the fuel cell power device to operate between the optimal membrane life power and a second power. The application power request is at a power level between the optimal membrane life power and the second power.

Abstract: A system and method for additive manufacturing includes a fusing mechanism, an outlet and a controller. The system and method is performed in a chamber containing a layer of particle. The fusing mechanism transmits a beam for fusing particles in the layer of particles. The fusing mechanism is configured to move the beam in a fusing path extending from one end of the chamber to another end of the chamber in a first direction. The outlet is movable in the first direction and configured to blow air in a second direction opposite of the first direction. The controller is configured to move the outlet in the first direction and keep the outlet upstream of the beam.

Abstract: A cargo lift system for a vehicle includes a frame system, a deck system, and a cargo hook. The frame system is configured to be attached to the vehicle. The deck system includes a deck frame having a plurality of deck frame segments. The deck system is operable to translate along the frame system in (i) a first deployment mode where the deck frame segments cooperate to define a rigid support platform and (ii) a second deployment mode where the deck frame segments articulate to a lift position adjacent to a ground surface associated with the vehicle The cargo hook is attached to the deck system and operable to move between an extended state and a retracted state.

Abstract: An accessory system for a vehicle includes a housing having a base attached to the vehicle and a projection extending from the base, the projection being fluidly coupled to a duct of the vehicle. The accessory system also includes a first vehicle accessory having a cavity configured to selectively receive the projection of the housing to selectively attach the first vehicle accessory to the housing in an engaged state.

Abstract: A trailer backing assistance (TBA) application in a vehicle includes a vehicle attached to a trailer by a movable hitch. The TBA utilizes an HMI, sensors on the vehicle, a GPS system, and a remote computing system (RCS). A controller having a processor, memory, and input/output (I/O) communicates with the sensors, HMI, RCS and GPS via a V2I communications network. The memory stores the TBA which is executed by the processor. The TBA determines conditions have been satisfied, obtains and processes optical data from sensors and RCS, presents a vehicle environment view, prompts a vehicle operator for first and second inputs, calculates a current location of the vehicle, generates a planned path to a target location, presents an animation of the vehicle traversing the path, and continuously displays a live view of the trailer and hitch while actively adjusting on-screen instructions to guide the vehicle and trailer along the path.

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles utilize perception to identify objects in a vehicle's surrounding environment and plan a trajectory. In perceiving an AV's surroundings, an object detection model uses sensor data from AV sensors to detect objects in the AV surroundings. An object detection model can be trained to detect objects using training datasets having sensor data and ground truth objects. In training, the object detection model uses the sensor data to identify objects in the locations of the ground truth objects. However, sometimes there is little or no sensor data corresponding to the ground truth objects, and the model is not able to learn patterns in sensor data to correctly detect the objects. Systems and methods are provided herein for removing ground truth objects that do not have sufficient corresponding sensor data from the training dataset, thereby preventing these objects from dominating the loss and interfering with the model learning useful patterns.

Abstract: An incident evaluation system for vehicle incidents includes a first imager configured to capture image data corresponding to a first vehicle and a first vehicle processor that is communicatively coupled to the first imager and configured to receive the captured image data. The first vehicle processor is configured to generate a first vehicle report in response to an incident captured in the image data and includes a first vehicle profile including at least one of first vehicle insurance details, driver details, and pre-incident image data. The incident evaluation system also includes a server communicatively coupled to the first vehicle processor and configured to receive the first vehicle report. The server is configured to evaluate the captured image data to generate an incident report.

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) utilize perception and understanding of objects on the road to predict behaviors of the objects, and to plan a trajectory for the vehicle. In some situations, an object may be occluded and undetected by an AV. However, a different AV viewing the same scene may detect the object. With information from multiple views of the same scene, it is possible to determine occlusion attributes for the object, such as relational occlusion information and extent of occlusion. For the AV that is driving on the road, having knowledge of the occluded object and the occlusion attributes can improve the performance of perception, understanding, tracking, prediction, and/or planning algorithms. For the algorithms, occlusion attributes can be generated from the multi-view data and included as part of labeled data for machine learning training. The models in the algorithms can learn to better handle occluded objects.

Abstract: A vehicle to load inverter module (V2LIM) based onboard charger (OBC). The V2LIM based OBC may include an alternating current to direct current (AC/DC) converter having an AC/DC input and an AC/DC output, a direct current to direct current (DC/DC) converter having a DC/DC input and a DC/DC output, and a direct current to alternating current (DC/AC) converter having a DC/AC input and a DC/AC output, and a controller configured for controlling the AC/DC converter, the DC/DC converter, and the DC/AC converter according to a split-phase load powering mode.

Abstract: Disclosed are embodiments for facilitating purposeful stress testing of autonomous vehicle response time with simulation. In some aspects, an embodiment includes receiving a request to launch a simulation scenario on an autonomous vehicle (AV) that is to operate on a real-world test course; initiating a simulation derived from the simulation scenario using a simulation driver that is executing on the AV; engaging operation of the AV on the real-world test course; coordinating a simulated AV position in the simulation with a physical AV position of the AV on the real-world test course; combining virtual entities from the simulation with physical entities on the real-world test course into a list of tracked objects for the AV; and causing the AV to respond to the list of tracked objects including the virtual entities and the physical entities during the operation of the AV on the real-world test course.

Abstract: A vehicular autonomous preference system includes a plurality of sensors positioned within a cabin of a vehicle, and data processing hardware including a memory storing a user profile that includes user preferences and a trainable preference model that includes a model trainer. The data processing hardware is configured to execute the model trainer in response to sensor data received from one or more of the plurality of sensors to update the user preferences in the user profile. The data processing hardware is also configured to adjust ambient controls of the vehicle based on the trainable preference model and the updated user preferences.

Abstract: Systems and methods provide active control of rotor cooling. In a number of embodiments, a system includes a controller coupled with an electric machine having a rotor. The controller evaluates parameters related to the electric machine for flow rate requirements of the rotor, where the flow rate requirements relate to cooling of the rotor. A flow rate of a fluid for cooling the rotor is computed, where the flow rate is based on a composite of the flow rate requirements. A control valve signal is delivered to set a control valve to supply the flow rate to the rotor based on the parameters.

Abstract: A road sign interpretation system includes a front-facing camera mounted on or in a vehicle collecting image data of multiple road signs. A first convolutional neural network (CNN) receives the image data from the front-facing camera and yields a set of sign predictions including one or more sign text instances. A second CNN defining a text extractor receives the image data from the front-facing camera and extracts text candidates including the multiple sign text instances. Sign and sign data localization is provided in the second CNN to compute a text order from the multiple sign text instances. A sign text synthesizer module receives individual sign text instances from the first CNN and individual ones of the sign text instances in digitized forms from an optical character recognizer (OCR). A semantic encoding and interpretation module receives the sign text instances and identifies semantics of the multiple road signs.

Abstract: A vehicle seat includes a seat base and a selectively vertically adjustable seatback coupled to the seat base. The selectively vertically adjustable seatback including a first frame component coupled to the seat base and a second frame component connected to the first frame component, the second frame component being shiftable relative to the seat base.

Abstract: A vehicle includes a propulsion system having multiple electric motors. A battery system is connected to the electric motors via a direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converter and an inverter. The battery system includes a battery assembly having a plurality of battery modules. Each of the battery modules has multiple individual battery cells arranged in battery packs, a set of sensors configured to monitor a set of parameters of each battery pack, and a plurality of battery pack mounts. Each battery pack mount includes a base plate and a top plate and an actuator configured to alter a distance between plates. A monitoring unit is configured to monitor a value representative of a battery pack pressure, determine whether the value falls within a pressure threshold window, and maintain the value within the pressure threshold window by actively altering the battery pack pressure.

Abstract: A system for motion planning for a vehicle includes at least one vehicle sensor for determining information about an environment surrounding the vehicle and a controller in electrical communication with the at least one vehicle sensor. The controller is programmed to perform a plurality of measurements of a remote vehicle using the at least one vehicle sensor. The plurality of measurements includes at least a plurality of position measurements of the remote vehicle. The controller is further programmed to determine a risk score for each of a plurality of location cells in an environment surrounding the remote vehicle based at least in part on the plurality of measurements of the remote vehicle. The controller is further programmed to adjust a planned path of the vehicle based at least in part on the risk score of each of the plurality of location cells in the environment surrounding the remote vehicle.