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US 11,131,108 B2Granted
Vehicle vending machine
AssigneeCarvana, LLC
InventorsErnest C. Garcia, III, Bret Sassenberg, Benjamin E. Huston
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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/or a video system.
Claims2
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;
- and
- navigating a robotic carrier 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, wherein the storage location is vertically offset from the plurality of delivery bays;
- unlocking a personnel door in the appropriate delivery bay in response to determining the vehicle positioned on the vehicle pallet is in a final position in the appropriate delivery bay;
- and
- opening an external door of the appropriate delivery bay in response to the personnel door being relocked after its unlocking.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.