Sensor-equipped vehicle braking systems, devices, and methods

A vehicle comprising:

• a body;
• a plurality of wheels connected with the body;
• a braking unit configured to brake at least one of the plurality of wheels, the braking unit comprising:
• a braking device comprising:
• a support;
• a block of friction material connected with the support and configured to interface with a brake disk or a brake drum associated with at least one of the plurality of wheels;
• and
• at least one sensor configured to output sensor data effective to determine one or more of:
• a pressure associated with the braking unit during braking, a braking torque associated with the braking unit during braking, a residual torque associated with the braking unit when the braking unit is deactivated, and a wear associated with the braking unit;
• an accelerometer;
• a vehicle computing system comprising one or more hardware processors configured to:
• receive input data comprising the sensor data output from the at least one sensor and acceleration data output from the accelerometer effective to determine deceleration of the vehicle;
• process the input data to identify a deceleration indicative of a collision;
• and
• process the input data to analyze brake system operation corresponding to a time at or around the time of the indicated collision;
• and
• one or more memory devices.

A method of processing data generated by vehicle sensors, including sensors from at least one sensor-equipped vehicle brake pad, to learn information relating to a collision, the method comprising:

• obtaining, with at least one sensor-equipped brake pad of a vehicle, first data effective to determine one or more of:
• a pressure associated with the brake pad during braking and a braking torque associated with the brake pad during braking;
• obtaining, with an acceleration sensor supported by the vehicle, second data effective to determine deceleration of the vehicle;
• receiving, with a computing system of the vehicle comprising one or more hardware processors, input data comprising the first data and the second data;
• processing the input data to identify a deceleration of the vehicle indicative of a collision;
• and
• processing the input data to analyze brake system operation corresponding to a time at or around the time of the collision.