Drone-assisted vehicle emergency response system

A drone-assisted vehicle emergency system, the system comprising:

• an offroad vehicle having integrated therein a processing system coupled to a user interface, the processing system configured to respond to an emergency situation including detecting and assisting a person being stranded or lost originating on foot from the vehicle, wherein the emergency situation includes determining that the person failed to reach a final hiking destination remote from the vehicle at a predetermined time based on an expected time of arrival (ETA) determined by an ETA algorithm, wherein the ETA algorithm determines the ETA at the final hiking destination based on a level of skill hiking and historical hiking experiences on the predetermined route or a related route entered by the person into the user interface on the vehicle;
• and
• an aerial drone communicatively coupled to the vehicle, the drone comprising a controller coupled to sensors for receiving data, the vehicle and the drone configured to communicate using a wireless data link;
• wherein responsive to a trigger, the processing system is configured to instruct the drone to deploy one or more times at or immediately prior to the ETA;
• and
• wherein during one of the deployments, the drone is configured to;
• survey a target region including the final hiking destination, receive data from the sensors for identifying the person including determining if the person is located at the final hiking destination and searching a predetermined hiking path from the final hiking destination to the offroad vehicle to locate the person being stranded or lost if not identified at the final hiking destination at a predetermined time based on the ETA, transmit to the vehicle a location of the person being stranded or lost, and provide assistance to the person being stranded or lost in returning to a location of refuge or in receiving third party assistance.

A drone-assisted emergency vehicle system, the system comprising:

• an offroad vehicle including a processing system coupled to a user interface, the processing system including a memory for storing executable code that, when executed on the processing system, performs tasks responsive to a prospective emergency situation;
• and
• an aerial drone equipped with sensors coupled to a controller to receive data, wherein:
• the drone is configured to deploy based on a command from the processing system based on the controller identifying the prospective emergency situation with the prospective emergency situation including determining that a person failed to reach a final hiking destination remote from the vehicle at a predetermined time based on an expected time of arrival (ETA) determined by an ETA algorithm, wherein the ETA algorithm determines the ETA at the final hiking destination based on a level of skill hiking and historical hiking experiences on the predetermined route or a related route entered by the person into the user interface on the vehicle;
• during the deployment at or immediately prior to the ETA, the drone is configured to:
• survey a target region including the final hiking destination and engage the sensors to receive data identifying the prospective emergency situation including determining if the person is located at the final hiking destination and searching a predetermined hiking path from the final hiking destination to the offroad vehicle to locate the person being stranded or lost if not located at the final hiking destination at the predetermined time;
• and
• the drone is further configured to relay relevant portions of the data to the vehicle, to issue instructions and elicit feedback from the person being stranded or lost regarding a condition of the person, and to maneuver back to the vehicle or to a location having a network connection enabling the drone to request emergency assistance.