Vehicle self-leveling for overlanding vehicles
AssigneesToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorRyan C. Harris
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods of leveling a vehicle are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: provide a plurality of air bag jacks under the vehicle; determine roll and pitch information of the vehicle; determine, using a computing system, an amount of air-adjustment to make for one or more of the plurality of air bag jacks, based on the roll and pitch information, to level the vehicle; and activate, via the computing system, an air compressor to make the determined air-adjustment.
Claims20
A method of leveling a vehicle, comprising:
- providing a plurality of inflatable air bag jacks between a vehicle wheel and ground beneath the vehicle wheel;
- determining roll and pitch information of the vehicle using a roll/pitch sensor located in or on the vehicle;
- determining, using a computing system, an amount of air-pressure adjustment to make for one or more of the plurality of inflatable air bag jacks, based on the roll and pitch information, to level the vehicle;
- activating, via the computing system, an air compressor configured to provide variable air-pressure levels to make the determined air-pressure adjustment;
- and
- using feedback from the roll/pitch sensor to adjust the air pressure in each inflatable air bag jack until the vehicle achieves a level condition.
A vehicle control system for leveling a vehicle, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory coupled to at least one of the one or more processors to store instructions, which when executed by the at least one of the one or more processors, cause the at least one of the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- determining, using a computing system, an amount of air-pressure adjustment to make for one or more of a plurality of inflatable air bag jacks provided between a vehicle wheel and a surface beneath the vehicle wheel, based on roll and pitch information of the vehicle obtained using a roll/pitch sensor located in or on the vehicle, to level the vehicle;
- activating, via the computing system, an air compressor configured to provide variable air pressure levels to make the determined air-pressure adjustment;
- using feedback from the roll/pitch sensor to adjust the air pressure in each inflatable air bag jack until the vehicle achieves a level condition.
A leveling system for leveling a vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of inflatable air bag jacks positioned between a vehicle wheel and a surface beneath the vehicle wheel;
- an air compressor communicatively coupled to the plurality of inflatable air bag jacks;
- a roll/pitch sensor, located in or on the vehicle, that determines roll and pitch information of the vehicle;
- and
- a computing system configured to:
- determine an amount of air-pressure adjustment to make for one or more of the plurality of inflatable air bag jacks, based on the roll and pitch information of the vehicle, in order to level the vehicle;
- activate the air compressor to make the determined air-pressure adjustment;
- and
- use feedback from the roll/pitch sensor to adjust the air pressure in each inflatable air bag jack until the vehicle achieves a level condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.