Back to results
US 10,472,843 B2Granted
Vehicle vending machine
AssigneeCarvana, LLC
InventorsErnest C. Garcia, III, Bret Sassenberg, Benjamin E. Huston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, non-transitory processor-readable storage media, and devices of the various embodiments enable a vehicle vending machine to retrieve a vehicle from a storage location and deliver the vehicle to a delivery bay for delivery to a customer. Various embodiments may include a vehicle vending machine including a tower, a robotic carrier, a corridor extending from the tower, a plurality of delivery bays positioned along the corridor, a customer interaction kiosk, and a video system.
Claims13
A vehicle vending machine, comprising:
- a tower comprising a series of storage locations on different vertically arranged levels;
- a delivery bay;
- a corridor extending between the tower and the delivery bay, wherein at least a portion of the series of storage locations are on at least one of the different vertically arranged levels of the tower that is vertically offset from the delivery bay and the corridor;
- and
- a robotic carrier configured to move a vehicle pallet between the tower and the delivery bay horizontally along the corridor, wherein the vehicle pallet is configured to carry a vehicle thereon, wherein a portion of a floor of the delivery bay is configured to move from a first position to a second position to allow the vehicle pallet to enter the delivery bay and return to the first position with the vehicle pallet secured in the delivery bay.
2 more elements
A method for operating a vehicle vending machine, comprising:
- retrieving a vehicle positioned on a vehicle pallet from a storage location within a tower of the vehicle vending machine;
- navigating a robotic carrier through a corridor of the vehicle vending machine to an appropriate one of a plurality of delivery bays of the vehicle vending machine while the robotic carrier carries the vehicle positioned on the vehicle pallet;
- and
- delivering the vehicle positioned on the vehicle pallet to the appropriate delivery bay, wherein a portion of a floor of the appropriate delivery bay moves from a first position to a second position, to allow the vehicle pallet to enter the appropriate delivery bay, and returns to the first position with the vehicle pallet secured in the delivery bay.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.