Autonomous rail or off rail vehicle movement and system among a group of vehicles
AssigneeGlydways Inc.
InventorVinod Khosla
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an example, the autonomous vehicle (“AV”) can be configured among the other vehicles and railway to communicate with a rider on a peer to peer basis to pick up the rider on demand from a location on a track, like a railway, tram or other track, rather than the rider being held hostage to a fixed, railway schedule. The rider can have an application on his/her cell phone, which tracks each of the AVs. and contact them using the application on the cell phone. In an example, the AV is configured for both on-track and off track operation with different operating parameters for on-track and off track, including speed, degree of autonomy, sensors used etc.
Claims20
A method for moving an autonomous vehicle among a plurality of autonomous vehicles, the method comprising:
- at a central server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of autonomous vehicles (AVs):
- receiving an on-demand request signal from an on-demand scheduling module of the central server system;
- and
- wirelessly communicating the on-demand request signal to a first AV of the plurality of AVs;
- and
- at the first AV:
- initiating movement of the first AV along a path;
- establishing a convoy with a second AV as the first AV travels along the path;
- as the first AV travels along the path, detecting reflectance data using a sensor array system comprising a plurality of active sensor systems;
- identifying an event corresponding to the reflectance data, the event selected from at least one of a roadway obstacle, a stationary feature, or a location of a third AV of the plurality of AVs;
- using the reflectance data, adjusting a movement of the first AV in relationship to the event;
- and
- sending information about the identified event to the second AV.
A method for moving an autonomous vehicle among a plurality of autonomous vehicles, the method comprising:
- at a central server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of autonomous vehicles (AVs):
- receiving an on-demand request signal from an on-demand scheduling module of the central server system;
- and
- wirelessly communicating the on-demand request signal to a first AV of the plurality of AVs;
- and
- at the first AV:
- initiating movement of the first AV along a path;
- establishing a convoy with a second AV as the first AV travels along the path;
- as the first AV travels along the path, detecting first reflectance data using a sensor array system comprising a plurality of active sensor systems, wherein an active sensor system of the plurality of active sensor systems is operating according to a first sensor configuration;
- based at least in part on the reflectance data, changing the active sensor system from the first sensor configuration to a second sensor configuration;
- after changing the active sensor system to the second sensor configuration, detecting second reflectance data using the active sensor system;
- identifying an event corresponding to the second reflectance data;
- using the second reflectance data, adjusting a movement of the first AV in relationship to the event;
- and
- sending information about the identified event to the second AV.
An autonomous vehicle system comprising:
- a plurality of autonomous vehicles (AVs) configured to operate in a transportation system;
- and
- a central server system communicatively coupled to the plurality of AVs and comprising an on-demand scheduling module, the central server system configured to:
- receive an on-demand request signal from the on-demand scheduling module;
- and
- wirelessly communicate the on-demand request signal to a first AV of the plurality of AVs;
- and
- wherein the first AV comprises a sensor array system comprising a plurality of active sensor systems and is configured to:
- initiate movement of the first AV along a path;
- establish a convoy with a second AV as the first AV travels along the path;
- as the first AV travels along the path, detect reflectance data using the sensor array system;
- identify an event corresponding to the reflectance data, the event selected from at least one of a roadway obstacle, a stationary feature, or a location of a third second AV of the plurality of AVs;
- using the reflectance data, adjust a movement of the first AV in relationship to the event;
- and
- send information about the identified event to the second AV.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.