Patents Examined by Dale W Hilgendorf
  • Patent number: 11458993
    Abstract: A lead autonomous vehicle (AV) includes a sensor configured to observe a field of view in front of the lead AV. Following AVs are on the same road behind the lead AV. A processor of the lead AV is configured to detect a road closure. The processor overrides driving instructions of the lead AV, such that the lead AV is stopped at first location coordinates. The processor sends a first message to an operation server, indicating that the road closure is detected. The operation server update the first portion of the map data, reflecting the road closure. The operation server determines whether re-routing is possible for each AV. If re-routing is possible is possible for that AV, the operation server sends re-routing instructions to the AV. If re-routing is not possible is possible for that AV, the operation server sends pulling over instructions to the AV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: TUSIMPLE, INC.
    Inventors: Robert Patrick Brown, Scott Douglas Foster, Joyce Tam
  • Patent number: 11455890
    Abstract: In an example, a method receives vehicle data for a plurality of vehicles associated with a geographic region. The method determines, based on the vehicle data, a connected vehicle status of the geographic region. The connected vehicle status reflects an estimated number of connected vehicles in the geographic region at a point in time. The method determines, based on the estimated number of connected vehicles, one or more vehicle functions to be deployed by a server associated with the geographic region. The method deploys, by the server, the one or more vehicle functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR ENG & MFG NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Hao Yang, Kentaro Oguchi
  • Patent number: 11453414
    Abstract: A method for adapting a driving strategy of a transportation vehicle driving in at least semi-automated state, wherein the adapting takes place based on at least one occupant condition, captured by at least one sensor system, of an occupant, wherein a sleep phase is determined by the at least one sensor system during a sleeping condition of the occupant, wherein the driving strategy is adapted by a control device based on the determined sleep phase. An apparatus for adapting a driving strategy of a transportation vehicle driving in at least semi-automated state having at least one sensor system for capturing an occupant condition of an occupant, and a control device for adapting the driving strategy, wherein the at least one sensor system determines a sleep phase during a sleeping condition of the occupant, and wherein the control device adapts a driving strategy based on the determined sleep phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Inventor: Viktor Bader
  • Patent number: 11435196
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for managing lost property in a shared autonomous vehicle, which determine a likely lost property spot based on a location and time a passenger is highly likely to lose their property, by monitoring the passenger's movements in the vehicle and classifying the passenger's behavior as a behavior pattern that makes the passenger prone to losing their property. Accordingly, the passenger may send a lost property retrieval request, and the passenger may be given guidance on how to retrieve the lost property, thereby allowing for efficient management of lost property in a shared autonomous vehicle. One or more among an autonomous vehicle, user terminal, and server according to the present invention may be associated with an artificial intelligence module, a drone (or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)) robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and a 5G service-related device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Soryoung Kim
  • Patent number: 11427255
    Abstract: A method for supporting a process of coupling a transportation vehicle to a trailer wherein a position of a coupling element on the trailer is detected by a trailer coupling assistant and the transportation vehicle is at least partly autonomously maneuvered into a target position in which a trailer coupling of the transportation vehicle is disposed in a specified position for coupling to the coupling element on the trailer, wherein a rearward monitoring region of the transportation vehicle is monitored by a parking aid during the maneuvering process. The parking aid is operated in a standard mode in response to the trailer coupling assistant being deactivated and the parking aid is operated in a coupling mode in which obstacle warnings relating to the rearward region are output by the parking aid differently from in the standard mode in response to the trailer coupling assistant being activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Inventors: Sascha Ziebart, Frank Schwitters, Chrystian Knoppek, Hermann Gebert, Benedikt Michl
  • Patent number: 11427223
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for generating data indicative of a friction associated with a driving surface, and for using friction data as part of controlling autonomous vehicle operations. In one example, a computing system can detect an event including at least one of an acceleration, a deceleration, or a stop associated with an autonomous vehicle and obtain, in response to detecting the event, operational data associated with the autonomous vehicle during the event. The computing system can determine, based at least in part on the operational data, data indicative of a friction associated with a surface upon which the autonomous vehicle is traveling during the event. The computing system can control the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the data indicative of the friction associated with the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: UATC, LLC
    Inventors: Scott C. Poeppel, Mats Jonasson
  • Patent number: 11427187
    Abstract: An automatic valet parking system includes: a terminal device having an application information generator for transmitting application information for the valet parking to a parking place server and a vehicle manufacturer server; a vehicular device having an autonomous driving controller for performing autonomous driving control according to a drive plan when receiving a temporary key; a parking place server having a key request generator for receiving the application information and transmitting a temporary key request to the vehicle manufacturer server; and a vehicle manufacturer server having a key request verification portion for verifying authenticity of the temporary key request and a temporary key generator for transmitting the temporary key to the vehicular device when a verification result is true. The parking place server or the vehicular device includes a drive planning portion for generating a drive plan to a targeted parking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sirinda Khurewattanakul, Masashi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11420617
    Abstract: Methods, systems, devices and apparatuses for an off-road vehicle control system. The control system for the vehicle includes at least one of a navigation unit or a sensor. The navigation unit is configured to obtain a current location of the vehicle. The sensor is configured to obtain sensor data of a surrounding environment of the vehicle. The control system includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is coupled to the at least one of the navigation unit or the sensor. The electronic control unit is configured to set the vehicle into an electrical vehicle (EV) mode based on the current location of the vehicle or the sensor data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventor: Geoffrey David Gaither
  • Patent number: 11420624
    Abstract: When there is a possibility of collision between a host vehicle and objects positioned in a detection region in front of the host vehicle, an ECU implements collision avoidance control for preventing the host vehicle from colliding with an object. The ECU detects the objects positioned in the detection region and judges whether, among the detected objects, there is an object that the host vehicle has overtaken and that is capable of moving within a prescribed range in the vehicle width direction of the host vehicle. If it is judged that the host vehicle is turning to the left or to the right after it has been judged that the host vehicle has overtaken an object, the actuation timing of the collision avoidance control is advanced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ryo Takaki
  • Patent number: 11422003
    Abstract: A control device includes: an obtaining unit configured to obtain location information of an electric bicycle and operation information obtained by the vehicle; a calculation unit configured to generate environment information indicating an estimated travel environment of the electric bicycle based on the operation information; and a storage unit configured to store the location information and the environment information. The calculation unit is configured to generate an updated map by associating the location information with the environment information, and reflecting the location information and the environment information on a map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuaki Hashimoto, Jin Yoshizawa, Takashi Uchida
  • Patent number: 11407422
    Abstract: An operation appropriateness determination system includes an authentication apparatus that identifies an operator on a basis of a feature of the operator and that outputs information for identifying the operator, a biometric sensing apparatus that obtains biological information regarding the operator and that outputs the biological information, an operation sensing apparatus that detects a load of an operation that is being performed by the operator and that outputs operation information indicating the load of the operation, a storage device, and a signal processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hisashi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11409292
    Abstract: A method is provided for gathering probe data and using the gathered data to creating parking lot road link geometry. Methods may include: receiving probe data from a plurality of probes in and around a parking lot; identify a plurality of seed points, where the plurality of seed points are iteratively created from the probe data; generating one or more parking lot road links based on identification of compatible seed points; determining if one or more parking lot road links is within a predefined distance of an end of each of the one or more parking lot road links; forming a T-junction between a first parking lot road link and a second parking lot road link; generating a parking lot map including the one or more parking lot road links; and providing for guidance of a vehicle through the parking lot based on the generated parking lot map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: HERE GLOBAL B.V.
    Inventor: Ole Henry Dorum
  • Patent number: 11410469
    Abstract: A vehicle-mounted device includes a waiting time determination unit which determines a waiting time until the vehicle-mounted device transitions from a power-on state where a service providing function is performed to a power saving state where the service providing function is stopped while an engine of a vehicle is stopped, and a state transition unit which shifts the vehicle-mounted device from the power-on state to the power saving state after the waiting time has elapsed since stopping of an engine of the vehicle, and the waiting time determination unit changes the waiting time from a waiting time at a time of previous engine stopping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MACHINERY SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventor: Takeshi Korenaga
  • Patent number: 11402841
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for controlling the operation of an autonomous vehicle. According to one aspect, the autonomous vehicle may track the trajectories of other vehicles on a road. Based on the other vehicle's trajectories, the autonomous vehicle may generate a pool of combined trajectories. Subsequently, the autonomous vehicle may select one of the combined trajectories as a representative trajectory. The representative trajectory may be used to change at least one of the speed or direction of the autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: David I. Ferguson, Jiajun Zhu
  • Patent number: 11400929
    Abstract: The present application relates to a method and apparatus including a sensor for detecting a first vehicle speed, a camera operative to capture an image, a processor operative to determine a road curvature in response to the image, the processor further operative to determine a first predicted lateral acceleration in response to the road curvature and the first vehicle speed, the processor further operative to determine a second vehicle speed in response to the first predicted lateral acceleration exceeding a threshold value wherein the second vehicle speed results in a second predicted lateral acceleration being less than the threshold value, and to generate a control signal indicative of the second vehicle speed, and a vehicle controller operative to reduce a vehicle velocity to the second vehicle speed in response to the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Crystal Nassouri, Tyler J. Jamieson
  • Patent number: 11403944
    Abstract: The present application is such that, in order to prevent communication disruption caused by a change in the situation of wireless communication due to the distance between a roadway instrument and a self-vehicle, a vehicle wireless communication device includes a communication section; a control section which controls the reception in the communication section; a position detection section which detects the position of a roadway instrument; and a running direction detection section which detects the running direction of a self-vehicle, wherein the communication section, based on the roadway instrument position detected by the position detection section and on the self-vehicle running direction detected by the running direction detection section, receives information from a roadway instrument next closest to a roadway instrument carrying out communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayoshi Takehara, Akira Hirata, Keisuke Morita
  • Patent number: 11396305
    Abstract: System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving driver warnings for automated driving by a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes monitoring a vehicle control system for driver feedback during the automated driving. The method also includes adapting a points value at a defined rate according to whether the driver feedback is present. The method also includes, responsive to determining that the points value satisfies a threshold before the driver feedback is present, generating a warning to a driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Urano, Kentaro Ichikawa, Junya Ueno
  • Patent number: 11391585
    Abstract: There are provided systems and methods for load balancing for map application route selection and output. A user may utilize a device application to map or route between two or more endpoints, such as geo-locations entered or detected by the device. During calculation of a travel route between the endpoints, real-time data, user preferences, and requesting entities may provide criteria data that may cause determination of a particular travel route, where the travel route may be longer than a most efficient route but within a pre-defined variable time or distance allotment and match the criteria data. Use of the route may accrue a form of compensation for the user. The user may view an application interface displaying the route, which may further include one or more executable processes to cause recalculation of the route. Recalculation of the route may require the user to provide credits or compensation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: PayPal, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Charles Todasco, Gautam Madaan, Timothy Resudek, Braden Christopher Ericson, Cheng Tian, Jiri Medlen
  • Patent number: 11386784
    Abstract: Systems and method are provided for predicting a vehicle pose. In one embodiment, a system includes a non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitory computer readable medium includes: an asynchronous prediction module configured to, by a processor, receive vehicle data from a vehicle, and compute a prediction of vehicle pose from the vehicle data, wherein the computation is performed asynchronously using a vehicle time frame and a common coordinate system; and a synchronous prediction module configured to, by the processor, compute a final prediction of the vehicle pose across the vehicle population based on the prediction of vehicle pose from the asynchronous prediction module, wherein the computation is performed synchronously using a global time frame and the common system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Joon Hwang, Mason D. Gemar, Geoffrey Wakefield, Donal B. McErlean, Scott E. Jackson, Jim McCord, Damien P. Rennick
  • Patent number: 11377102
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for host vehicle navigation. Disclosed systems and methods may receive, from a camera, a plurality of images representative of an environment of the host vehicle; analyze the plurality of images to identify at least one pedestrian in the environment of the host vehicle; identify eyes of the at least one pedestrian represented in at least one of the plurality of images; and determine, based on analysis of the at least one of the plurality of images and based on the identification of the eyes of the at least one pedestrian in the at least one of the plurality of images, a looking direction of the at least one pedestrian.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: MOBILEYE VISION TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
    Inventors: Amnon Shashua, Shai Shalev-Shwartz, Shaked Shammah