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US 12,013,696 B2Granted
Reactive suspension and emergency signaling in autonomous trucking systems
AssigneeWaymo LLC
InventorAndre Strobel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Aspects and implementations of the present disclosure relate to performance and safety improvements for autonomous trucking systems, such as reactive suspensions for maximizing aerodynamic performance and minimizing mechanical impact from road imperfections, automated placement of emergency signaling devices, and techniques of enhanced illumination of stopped and stranded vehicles.
Claims20
A method to operate an autonomously driven truck (ADT), the method comprising:
- obtaining a first set of road data characterizing a quality of a first portion of a road traveled by the ADT, a suspension of the ADT having an initial height;
- identifying, using a data processing system of the ADT and based on the first set of road data, one or more road imperfections;
- determining one or more first parameters characterizing the one or more road imperfections;
- and
- responsive to identifying the one or more road imperfections, determining, by the data processing system of the ADT and using the one or more first parameters, first settings of a suspension of the ADT, wherein the first settings comprise:
- a first height of the suspension of the ADT, wherein the first height is higher than the initial height,
- and a first stiffness of the suspension of the ADT;
- and
- causing an autonomous control system of the ADT to configure the suspension of the ADT based on the first settings.
6 more elements
A method to operate an autonomously driven truck (ADT), the method comprising:
- obtaining a first set of road data characterizing a quality of a first portion of a road traveled by the ADT, a suspension of the ADT having an initial height;
- identifying, using a data processing system of the ADT and based on the first set of road data, one or more road imperfections;
- determining one or more first parameters characterizing the one or more road imperfections;
- and
- responsive to the identified one or more road imperfections, determining, by the data processing system of the ADT and using the one or more first parameters, first settings of a suspension of the ADT, wherein the first settings comprise a first height of the ADT above the road, wherein the first height is higher than the initial height;
- causing an autonomous control system of the ADT to configure the suspension of the ADT based on the first settings;
- obtaining a second set of road data characterizing a quality of a second portion of the road traveled by the ADT;
- responsive to the quality of the second portion of the road being higher than the quality of the first portion of the road,
- determining second settings of the suspension of the ADT, wherein the second settings comprise:
- a second height of the ADT above the road, wherein the second height is lower that the first height;
- and
- causing the autonomous control system of the ADT to configure the suspension of the ADT based on the second settings.
9 more elements
A system comprising:
- a sensing system of an autonomously driven truck (ADT), the sensing system to:
- obtain a first set of road data characterizing a quality of a first portion of a road traveled by the ADT, the ADT being at an initial height above the road;
- a data processing system of the ADT to:
- identify, using the first set of road data, one or more road imperfections;
- determine one or more first parameters characterizing the one or more road imperfections;
- and
- responsive to the identified one or more road imperfections, determine, using the one or more first parameters, first settings of a suspension of the ADT, wherein the first settings comprise:
- a first height of the ADT above the road, wherein the first height is higher than the initial height,
- and a first stiffness of the suspension of the ADT;
- and
- cause an autonomous control system of the ADT to configure the suspension of the ADT based on the first settings;
- determine second settings of the suspension of the ADT, wherein the second settings comprise:
- a second height of the ADT above the road, wherein the second height is lower that the first height;
- estimate an energy cost of changing the suspension of the ADT from the first settings to the second settings;
- and
- cause, in view of the estimated energy cost, the autonomous control system of the ADT to reconfigure the suspension of the ADT based on the second settings.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.