US 12,597,114 B2Granted

Systems and techniques for vehicle inspection and condition analysis

AssigneeACV Auctions Inc.

InventorsMark Brighton, Margaret Donnelly, Dennis Christopher Fedorishin, Livio Forte, III, Shawn Galante, William Giegerich, Frank Pollina, Philip Schneider, Prajwal Shubhodaya Shetty

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Abstract

Systems and techniques for inspecting vehicles, such as cars or trucks. Some embodiments provide a method for inspecting a vehicle using a vehicle inspection system. The vehicle inspection system may include a vehicle exterior inspection system having a plurality of exterior sensor arrays, the plurality of exterior sensor arrays including respective sets of sensors oriented in different directions. The vehicle inspection system may include a vehicle undercarriage inspection system having an undercarriage sensor array including cameras configured to capture images at different angles, and a sensor configured to output vehicle position/motion data. In some embodiments, the method includes: moving the vehicle and/or vehicle inspection system; triggering capture, by the exterior sensor arrays and undercarriage sensor array, of sensor data about the vehicle; capturing the sensor data; stopping capture of the sensor data; stopping movement of the vehicle and/or vehicle inspection system; and generating a vehicle condition report.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A vehicle inspection system for inspecting a vehicle, the system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system comprising:
a first support member;
a first sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a first set of one or more cameras positioned to capture images of wheels of the vehicle being imaged;
a second sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a second set of one or more cameras positioned to capture images of a side of the vehicle being imaged;
and
a third sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a third set of one or more cameras positioned to capture images of a roof of the vehicle being imaged;
and
a vehicle undercarriage inspection system comprising:
a base having a width and a depth respectively extending along respective first and second directions orthogonal to one another, the width extending from a first end of the base to a second end of the base and being longer than the depth, the base supporting:
a fourth sensor array configured to capture images of an undercarriage of the vehicle, wherein the fourth sensor array comprises:
a first camera positioned at a first side of the base;
a second camera positioned at a second side of the base, the first and second sides of the base being opposite sides of the base along its width;
and
a third camera positioned between the first and second cameras;
and
a first time of flight (TOF) sensor configured to determine a distance between the undercarriage of the vehicle and the vehicle undercarriage inspection system,
wherein the vehicle inspection system is configured to:
capture a first plurality of images of the vehicle using the first, second and third sets of cameras of the vehicle exterior inspection system;
capture a second plurality of images of the undercarriage of the vehicle using the fourth sensor array of the vehicle undercarriage inspection system;
and
capture data indicative of the distance between the undercarriage of the vehicle and the vehicle undercarriage inspection system using the first TOF sensor of the vehicle undercarriage inspection system.

18 more elements

A vehicle inspection system for analyzing condition of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system comprising:
a first support member;
a first sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a first set of one or more cameras positioned to capture images of wheels of the vehicle being imaged;
a second sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a second one or more set of cameras positioned to capture images of a side of the vehicle being imaged;
and
a third sensor array coupled to the first support member and comprising a third set of one or more cameras positioned to capture images of a roof of the vehicle being imaged;
a vehicle undercarriage inspection system comprising:
a base having a width and a depth respectively extending along respective first and second directions orthogonal to one another, the width extending from a first end of the base to a second end of the base and being longer than the depth, the base:
supporting a fourth sensor array configured to capture images of an undercarriage of the vehicle, wherein the fourth sensor array comprises:
a first camera positioned at the first side of the base;
a second camera positioned at a second side of the base, the first and second sides of the base being opposite sides of the base along its width;
and
a third camera positioned between the first and second cameras;
and
being configured to withstand 16,000 pounds of force;
and
a computer hardware processor configured to perform:
obtaining a first plurality of images of the vehicle captured using the first, second and third sets of cameras of the vehicle exterior inspection system;
obtaining a second plurality of images of the undercarriage of the vehicle captured using the fourth sensor array of the vehicle undercarriage inspection system;
processing images of the first and second pluralities of images, using at least one trained machine learning (ML) model, to determine whether the vehicle has one or more defects;
and
generating a vehicle condition report based on results of the processing.

19 more elements

A vehicle inspection system for inspecting a vehicle, the vehicle inspection system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system comprising:
a first support member comprising a first portion and a second portion angled relative to the first portion;
and
a first plurality of sensor arrays coupled to the first support member, the first plurality of sensor arrays comprising:
a first sensor array comprising a first set of one or more cameras, the first sensor array being coupled to the first support member at a position at which the first set of one or more cameras has one or more wheels of a vehicle in its field of view (FOV) when the first sensor array is being used to image the vehicle;
a second sensor array comprising a second set of cameras oriented in multiple second directions, the second sensor array being coupled to the first support member at a position at which the second set of cameras has a first side of the vehicle in its FOV when the second sensor array is being used to image the vehicle;
and
a third sensor array comprising a third set of one or more cameras, the third sensor array being coupled to the first support member at a position at which the third set of one or more cameras has a roof of the vehicle in its FOV when the third sensor array is being used to image the vehicle;
and
a vehicle undercarriage inspection system, comprising:
a base having a width and a depth respectively extending along respective first and second directions orthogonal to one another, the width extending from a first end of the base to a second end of the base and being longer than the depth, the base being configured to withstand 16,000 pounds of force;
and
a fourth sensor array coupled to the base, the fourth sensor array comprising a set of cameras oriented in multiple directions, the set of cameras including:
a first camera positioned at a first side of the base and oriented in part towards the first side of the base;
a second camera positioned at a second side of the base and oriented in part towards the second side of the base, the first and second sides of the base being opposite sides of the base along its width;
and
a third camera positioned between the first and second cameras.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 19/196,679Filed 1 May 2025 · continuation
Priority: 30 Aug 2024
Published: US 2026/0063563 A15 Mar 2026
Granted: 7 Apr 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification28 codes

G06T 7/0004
Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection: industrial image inspection
G01N 21/8851
Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination: scan or image signal processing specially adapted therefor, e.g. for scan signal adjustment,…
G06T 3/4038
Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting: image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
G06T 7/0002
Image analysis: inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection

Family

Application63/689,539Us provisional application · filed 30 Aug 2024
Application19/009,882Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Jan 2025
US 2026/0063563 A1Pre-grant publication · published 5 Mar 2026
US 12,392,730 B1Parent of this continuation
US 12,597,114 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.