Autonomous driving system for a racing car or other vehicle
AssigneeAda Innovation Lab Limited
InventorBryn Balcombe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An autonomous driving system for a vehicle (e.g. a racing car) is installed in the space normally allocated to a human driver and is attached to the pre-existing anchor points used for structures that are no longer needed once a human is no longer required, such as the crash protection anchor points. The autonomous driving system enables AI and robotics technology to be seamlessly integrated into existing high-performance race car designs without requiring significant design modifications to the vehicle. This invention enables a new era of motorsport, where for example human drivers in a Formula One car can compete against the same car controlled by an autonomous driving system, because the design integrity of all cars remain identical.
Claims61
An autonomous driving system for a vehicle, the vehicle being originally configured or designed to be human-driven, in which the autonomous driving system is configured (a) to replace one or more components that would otherwise be present in an original vehicle, and (b) to occupy a driver cockpit volume space that would otherwise be occupied by a human, such as a driver or pilot, such that human re-entry is precluded without removal of the system, and (c) to provide autonomous driving capabilities to the vehicle, the autonomous driving system including one or more sensors and compute resources, operating to provide an autonomous or remote driving system;
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- in which the vehicle is an open cockpit vehicle and an outer casing or external surface of the autonomous driving system, when fitted to the vehicle is shaped to conform to and replace or supplement an aerodynamic structure of the vehicle, thereby forming, forms part of an aerodynamic external surface of the vehicle.
A method of testing and developing autonomous driving systems, comprising the step of using an autonomous driving system as part of a technology testing and development program, in which the autonomous driving system is for a vehicle, the vehicle being originally configured or designed to be human-driven, in which the autonomous driving system is configured (a) to replace one or more components that would otherwise be present in an original vehicle, and (b) to occupy a driver cockpit volume space that would otherwise be occupied by a human, such as a driver or pilot, such that human re-entry is precluded without removal of the system, and (c) to provide autonomous driving capabilities to that vehicle, the autonomous driving system including one or more sensors and compute resources, operating to provide an autonomous or remote driving system;
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- in which the vehicle is an open cockpit vehicle and an outer casing or surface of the autonomous driving system when fitted to the vehicle is shaped to conform to and replace or supplement an aerodynamic structure of the vehicle, thereby forming part of an aerodynamic external surface of the vehicle.
A vehicle designed using the results of a testing and developing method comprising the step of using an autonomous driving system as part of a technology testing and development program, in which the autonomous driving system is for a vehicle, the vehicle being originally configured or designed to be human-driven, in which the autonomous driving system is configured (a) to replace one or more components that would otherwise be present in an original vehicle, and (b) to occupy a driver cockpit volume space that would otherwise be occupied by a human, such as a driver or pilot, such that human re-entry is precluded without removal of the autonomous driving system, and (c) to provide autonomous driving capabilities to that vehicle, the autonomous driving system including one or more sensors and compute resources, operating to provide an autonomous or remote driving system;
- and
- in which the vehicle is an open cockpit vehicle and an outer casing or surface of the autonomous driving system when fitted to the vehicle is shaped to conform and replace an aerodynamic structure of the vehicle, thereby forming part of an aerodynamic external surface of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.