Abstract: An electric generation system for vehicular applications including a vehicle tire having a tread portion, a hub portion and a plurality of semi-rigid spokes extending radially from the hub portion to the tread portion, a plurality of piezoelectric devices affixed to at least one surface of each of the plurality of semi-rigid spokes such that a deformation of the tread portion of the vehicle tire results in a deformation of at least one of the plurality of spokes and at least one of the plurality of piezoelectric devices, and a charge accumulator for receiving an electric current generated in response to the deformation of the at least one of the plurality of spokes and for storing an electric charge accumulated in response to the electric current.

Abstract: A vehicle system includes a user device configured to produce acoustic sounds at varying frequencies. The vehicle system also includes a vehicle microphone for collecting acoustic data from the user device. Additionally, the vehicle system includes a vehicle processor for storing vehicle data including the acoustic data and a server communicatively coupled to the vehicle processor. In some examples, the server is configured to determine if the acoustic data match one or more predetermined frequencies of sound.

Abstract: A system includes data processing hardware and memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations including inputting cellular range data, barometric sensor data, GNSS data, and automotive inertial data into a Kalman filter and outputting from the Kalman filter an estimate of elevation distance of a vehicle based on the cellular range data, the barometric sensor data, the GNSS data, and the automotive inertial data.

Abstract: A language detection system includes data processing hardware and memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware. The memory hardware stores instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations. The operations include issuing a vehicle prompt and determining responsiveness to the issued vehicle prompt, the responsiveness including an execution response and anon-responsive response. A language monitoring module is activated in response to the non-responsive response of the determined responsiveness and a spoken language is monitored within an interior cabin of a vehicle. A driver state is estimated based on the determined language, and a translation function is executed using a translation module in response to the estimated driver state.

Abstract: A system and method for adjusting an operating parameter of a vehicle by processing a trailer information includes a sensor and a controller. The vehicle includes a tow hitch configured to couple with a trailer. The sensor is configured to detect if the trailer is coupled to the tow hitch. The controller includes a data processing hardware and a memory hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations including processing the trailer information to change the vehicle operating parameter to a predetermined operating parameter if the trailer is coupled to the hitch.

Abstract: The concepts include a user support system in the form of a microphone, a visual display arranged in a vehicle cabin, and a controller. The controller includes an instruction set that is executable to receive, via the microphone, a voice-based request from a user, and employ a virtual assistant to determine a user interaction in real time and to determine a specific intent for the voice-based request, including capturing metadata. A user interaction routine determines a user interaction parameter associated with the virtual assistant based upon the voice-based request from the user. A user sentiment analysis routine determines a user satisfaction parameter associated with the virtual assistant based upon the voice-based request from the user. The controller responds in real-time to the voice-based request based upon the user satisfaction parameter and the user interaction parameter that are associated with the virtual assistant.

Abstract: A method for managing range of an electric vehicle includes acquiring temperature forecast data for an upcoming time period and determining a range of the electric vehicle over the upcoming time period in view of the temperature forecast data. The method also includes determining a driving distance from the electric vehicle to a stationary electric vehicle charging station. Additionally, the method includes informing a user of the electric vehicle if, at one or more times during the upcoming time period, the range of the electric vehicle will be less than a threshold relative to the driving distance from the electric vehicle to the stationary electric vehicle charging station. Further, another method for managing range of an electric vehicle may take into account distance to one or more intended destinations.

Abstract: Aspects of fine-grained, dynamic noise pattern learning for voice applications include a vehicle, the vehicle having a body with a cabin. Embedded within the vehicle is a processor coupled to memory. The processor may be configured to embed multimodal data for environment and vehicle data. The embedded acoustic data may be from microphone-captured data in the cabin. The processor may concatenate the embeddings to form a latent vector characterizing the embeddings to thereby estimate a mean and variance of the latent vector using an adaptive time window. The processor may identify a noise type using the mean and variance of the latent vector, the noise type identification being fine-grained via the adaptive time window to accurately emulate vehicle noise.

Abstract: Herein, a technology is discussed that facilitates remote assistance for an occupant of a vehicle in response to the detection of distressed vehicle loading conditions during a power-assisted loading of cargo into the vehicle. The technology and techniques described herein detect a distressed condition that occurs during a power-assisted loading of cargo into a vehicle. In response to the detected condition, the technology and techniques notify a remote communications center and facilitate the assistance of an occupant in cooperation with that center.

Abstract: A system for creating vehicle lighting atmosphere of a vehicle is provided. The system includes ambient lighting including a plurality of lights configured for illuminating an interior of the vehicle or an exterior of the vehicle with a selectable light color. The system further includes a computerized vehicle lighting controller, including programming to monitor an input useful to select an ambient lighting theme, select an ambient lighting theme based upon the input, and generate a command to control the ambient lighting based upon the ambient lighting theme.

Abstract: A system for providing hearing accessibility for an occupant in a vehicle includes at least one display unit operatively connected to the vehicle. The at least one display unit has multiple sections, including a media screen adapted to display video content and a plurality of text boxes. A controller is in electronic communication with the at least one display unit, the controller being adapted to selectively execute a dictation engine. The controller has a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory on which instructions are recorded. The controller is adapted to receive audio input data from a plurality of sources. The controller is adapted to generate respective transcribed data from the audio input data, via the dictation engine. The respective transcribed data is displayed in the plurality of text boxes.

Abstract: A method includes virtually dividing a cargo area of a vehicle into a plurality of virtual cells. The method also includes creating, by implementing machine learning, a load profile for the cargo area. The load profile indicates a weight estimate at each of the plurality of virtual cells based on a load in the cargo area. Guidance on moving the load within the cargo area is provided based on the load profile to balance the load in the cargo area.

Abstract: Vehicles, systems and methods for acquiring a choreographic light pattern not previously available to the vehicles are presented. In some aspects, a target vehicle includes a processing system therein, an input interface coupled to the processing system and accessible to a user, and one or more image or other sensors positioned for capturing data from a source vehicle emitting a light pattern of interest. The processing system may scan and record a light pattern emitted by a portion of another vehicle in a line of sight of the vehicle. The scan uses data from the sensors and pattern recognition code. The identified light pattern is converted into metadata and transmitted to a central database. If the transmitted pattern is available and compatible with the target vehicle, the database may send a prompt to the target vehicle to download or purchase the pattern.

Abstract: A voiceprint module for in-vehicle voiceprint drift detection. The module may be configured for determining an archived voiceprint for an operator of a vehicle, generating a first real-time voiceprint according to in-vehicle utterances of the operator made while operating the vehicle, generating a first voiceprint deviation to quantify statistical distance between one or more probabilistic density functions associated with each of the first real-time and archived voiceprints, and updating one or more vocal characteristics of the archived voiceprint to generate an updated voiceprint in response to the first voiceprint deviation surpassing an update threshold.

Abstract: A voice-biometrics based solution for unwanted self-invocations by virtual assistant applications is proposed. In various embodiments, a processing system is configured to control a virtual assistant. The processing system may have stored in a memory at least one voiceprint created using voice biometrics based on recorded utterances of synthetic speech from the virtual assistant. The at least one voiceprint may be used to prevent self-invocation of a virtual speech session by matching the voiceprint created using the synthetic speech utterances with the incoming audio stream.

Abstract: An automatic rain response system includes microphones of a vehicle, windshield wipers, and a controller. The microphones generate acoustic signals in response to rain. The controller is configured to receive a local weather condition, extract acoustic features from the acoustic signals, form feature vectors in response to the acoustic features and the local weather condition, classify the feature vectors to determine a current class among multiple classes, activate the windshield the wipers at a high speed in response to the current class being a heavy rain on a windshield class, activate the windshield wipers at a medium speed in response to the current class being a freezing rain on the windshield class, activate the windshield wipers at a low speed in response to the current class being a light rain on the windshield class, and deactivate the windshield wipers in response to the current class being a no rain class.

Abstract: A method for determining a sampling rate of occupancy data for a vehicle includes determining a vehicle speed and detecting whether an interrupt condition is present. If the speed is within a first speed range and no interrupt condition is detected, then a first sampling rate is selected for sampling the occupancy data. If the speed is within a second speed range that is higher than the first speed range, and/or if the interrupt condition is detected, then a second sampling rate which is faster than the first sampling rate is selected for sampling the occupancy data. A primary electronic control unit (ECU) may be configured for sampling the occupancy data. If the second sampling rate is selected and a computational demand of the primary ECU exceeds a predetermined threshold, then a portion of the computational demand may be transferred to one or more secondary ECUs for sampling the data.

Abstract: A communication augmentation system includes a camera, a transceiver and a computer. The camera is operation to record an image of users. The transceiver is operational to receive inbound messages from wireless devices. The inbound messages include an input content. The computer is operational to store registrations of the users, determine user locations where the users are located in response to facial profiles relative to the image, determine device locations where the wireless devices are located based on the inbound messages, associate the wireless devices with the users based on the user locations and the device locations, determine destinations of the inbound messages based on a comparison of input content to the identifiers, and transfer the input content and the destinations to the transceiver. The transceiver is further operational to transmit the input content in a plurality of outbound messages to the wireless devices based on the destinations.

Abstract: The concepts include a user support system in the form of a microphone, a visual display arranged in a vehicle cabin, and a controller. The controller includes an instruction set that is executable to receive, via the microphone, a voice-based request from a user, and employ a virtual assistant to determine a user interaction in real time and to determine a specific intent for the voice-based request, including capturing metadata. A user interaction routine determines a user interaction parameter associated with the virtual assistant based upon the voice-based request from the user. A user sentiment analysis routine determines a user satisfaction parameter associated with the virtual assistant based upon the voice-based request from the user. The controller responds in real-time to the voice-based request based upon the user satisfaction parameter and the user interaction parameter that are associated with the virtual assistant.

Abstract: A method for determining a sampling rate of occupancy data for a vehicle includes determining a vehicle speed and detecting whether an interrupt condition is present. If the speed is within a first speed range and no interrupt condition is detected, then a first sampling rate is selected for sampling the occupancy data. If the speed is within a second speed range that is higher than the first speed range, and/or if the interrupt condition is detected, then a second sampling rate which is faster than the first sampling rate is selected for sampling the occupancy data. A primary electronic control unit (ECU) may be configured for sampling the occupancy data. If the second sampling rate is selected and a computational demand of the primary ECU exceeds a predetermined threshold, then a portion of the computational demand may be transferred to one or more secondary ECUs for sampling the data.