# US 10,870,433 B2 · Emergency route planning system

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- Number: US 10,870,433 B2
- Document ID: US10870433B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/381,771
- Filed: 2019-04-11
- Published: 2020-10-15
- Granted: 2020-12-22
- Earliest claimed: 2019-04-11
- Assignees: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
- Applicants: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
- Inventors: Brendan Diamond; Erik J. Christen; Kevin James Rhodes
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10870433B2

## CPC

- B60W 40/06: Road conditions
- G08G 1/096725: {where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control}
- B60W 60/00259: {Surveillance operations}
- G01C 21/3415: {Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents}
- G01C 21/3819: {Road shape data, e.g. outline of a route}
- G01C 21/3822: {Road feature data, e.g. slope data}
- G01S 17/89: for mapping or imaging
- G01S 17/931: of land vehicles
- G06V 20/58: Recognition of moving objects or obstacles, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians; Recognition of traffic objects, e.g. traffic signs, traffic lights or roads
- G08G 1/0112: {from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]}
- G08G 1/0133: {for classifying traffic situation}
- G08G 1/096708: {where the received information might be used to generate an automatic action on the vehicle control}
- G08G 1/096741: {where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle}
- G08G 1/096775: {where the origin of the information is a central station}
- G08G 1/202: {Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching}
- B60W 2540/049: Number of occupants
- B60W 2552/00: Input parameters relating to infrastructure
- B60W 2554/00: Input parameters relating to objects
- B60W 2555/20: Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
- B60W 2556/45: External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
- G01S 13/867: {Combination of radar systems with cameras}
- G01S 13/931: of land vehicles
- G01S 15/931: of land vehicles
- G01S 2013/9316: {combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations}
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING

## Abstract

A vehicle includes a controller, programmed to responsive to detecting, via a vehicle sensor, an obstacle blocking a route on which the vehicle is traversing, report the obstacle and blockage to a server via a wireless connection; responsive to receiving a command from the server instructing to perform an exploratory maneuver to remove the obstacle from the route, execute the command via an autonomous driving controller; and report an implementation result of the exploratory maneuver to the server.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A vehicle, comprising:
a controller, programmed to
responsive to detecting, via a vehicle sensor, an obstacle blocking a route on which the vehicle is traversing, report the obstacle and blockage to a server via a wireless connection,
responsive to receiving a first command from the server instructing to perform an exploratory maneuver to remove the obstacle from the route, verify the vehicle is unoccupied, and execute the first command via an autonomous driving controller,
report an exploratory maneuver result indicative of a failure to remove the obstacle from the route to the server,
responsive to receiving a second command from the server instructing to explore an off-roading option bypassing the obstacle, execute the second command via the autonomous driving controller, and
report an off-roading result indicative of a successful traversing of the off-roading option to the server.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to
output a message via a human-machine interface controls to invite input from an occupant of the vehicle, and
verify there is no occupant in the vehicle responsive to detecting a predetermined time has lapsed without receiving any input.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to
send data collected via the vehicle sensor to the server in a real-time manner while performing the exploratory maneuver.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to
perform a self-examination to detect damage of the vehicle after performing the exploratory maneuver.

### Claim 5

A vehicle, comprising:
a controller, programmed to
responsive to detecting a predefined road condition on a route via a vehicle sensor, report the road condition to a server,
responsive to receiving a first command from a server instructing to perform an exploratory maneuver to overcome the road condition, verify the vehicle is unoccupied, and execute the first command, and
report an exploratory maneuver result indicative of a failure to overcome the obstacle from the route to the server,
responsive to receiving a second command from the server instructing to explore an off-roading option bypassing the obstacle, execute the second command, and
report an off-roading result indicative of a successful traversing of the off-roading option to the server,
wherein the road condition includes at least one of: a road blockage, a flood, or a fire.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the exploratory maneuver is to drive toward an obstacle blocking the route and push the obstacle away to open the route.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the exploratory maneuver is to drive through the flood to verify a depth of the flood.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the controller is further programmed to
verify an occupancy of the vehicle using data collected via a seat sensor and an interior camera.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the controller is further programmed to
responsive to detecting a predefined road condition, perform an initial evaluation of the road condition; and
send the initial evaluation to the server.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the initial evaluation includes measuring a size of an obstacle blocking the route using data collected from a lidar sensor.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the initial evaluation includes measuring air quality to verify if the air is suitable for human respiration using data collected from an air quality sensor.

### Claim 12 (depends on 5)

The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the controller is further programmed to
send data collected via the vehicle sensor to the server in a real-time manner while performing the exploratory maneuver.

### Claim 13

A cloud server, comprising:
a processor, programmed to
responsive to receiving a road condition reported by a vehicle, analyze the road condition based on data collected via sensors of the vehicle;
responsive to confirming the vehicle is unable to overcome the road condition, flag the road condition in a database, and load map data including geographic information nearby the location of the road condition;
responsive to verifying a possible off-roading option bypassing the road condition, instruct the vehicle to explore the off-roading option; and
responsive to receiving data from the vehicle indicative of the vehicle successfully traversed the off-roading option, mark the off-roading option as an alternative route for further reference.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The cloud server of claim 13, wherein the processor is further programmed to
instructing a second vehicle to drive toward the road condition to clear the road condition.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The cloud server of claim 14, wherein the processor is further programmed to
unflag the road condition in the database.

### Claim 16 (depends on 13)

The cloud server of claim 13, wherein the processor is further programmed to
responsive to receiving road condition of smoke above a predefined threshold indicative of a wildfire near the vehicle, instruct multiple fleet vehicles to run over a crop field near the vehicle.