Control of semi-autonomous vehicles
OwnerJeffrey Matosinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Semi-autonomous vehicle apparatus which is controlled by a plurality of control sources includes a vehicle which may function autonomously and apparatus for control of the vehicle by either an onboard driver or a driver not situated onboard. The vehicle may also be controlled by an off-vehicle computational device. Hierarchy setting apparatus determines which one or combination of the possible control entities take priority. Persons using the apparatus are identified by either a password or, preferably by providing identification based on a biologic feature. Management of impaired vehicle operators is provided for.
Claims21
A method for controlling a semi-autonomous vehicle by both an internal and at least one additional control source, comprising:
- (a) receiving, by a vehicle processor, vehicle sensor information;
- (b) based on the received sensor information, generating, by the vehicle processor, internal vehicle control information, said information representing an internal vehicle control choice;
- (c) providing, by the vehicle, the sensor information to at least one additional control source;
- (d) receiving, by the at least one additional control source, the sensor information;
- (e) providing, by at least one additional control source processor, additional vehicle control information, said information representing an additional vehicle control choice;
- (f) providing, by the at least one additional control source, at least one additional vehicle control choice to said vehicle processor;
- (g) receiving, by the vehicle processor, the at least one additional vehicle control choice;
- (h) providing, by a hierarchy-determining processor, hierarchy information comprising a first plurality of priority assignments, for each of said internal vehicle control choice and each one of said at least one additional vehicle control choices;
- wherein a vehicle control choice received from a vehicle control source with a higher assigned priority takes precedence over a vehicle control choice received from a vehicle control source with a lower assigned priority;
- (i) providing, by the hierarchy-determining processor, the hierarchy information to the vehicle processor;
- (j) receiving, by the vehicle processor, the hierarchy information;
- (k) based on the hierarchy information, selecting, by the vehicle processor, the one vehicle control choice representing the vehicle control information received from the vehicle control source with the highest assigned priority, from among each of the control choices;
- and
- (l) providing, by the vehicle processor, information representing the selected vehicle control choice to a vehicle management device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.