Systems and methods for moving a vehicle tailgate
OwnerKeith Weston, Brendan Diamond +3inventors
InventorsKeith Weston, Brendan Diamond, Jonathan Hair, John Robert Van Wiemeersch, Stuart C. Salter
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Abstract
A vehicle including a tailgate, a sensor system, and a processor is disclosed. The sensor system may be configured to capture inputs associated with the tailgate. The processor may be configured to obtain a trigger signal, and determine an object presence on the tailgate based on the inputs obtained from the sensor system responsive to obtaining the trigger signal. The processor may further prevent a tailgate movement responsive determining the object presence.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- a tailgate;
- a sensor system configured to capture inputs associated with the tailgate;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- obtain a trigger signal;
- cause a predefined tailgate movement responsive to obtaining the trigger signal;
- determine a tailgate motor torque associated with the predefined tailgate movement;
- estimate a tailgate weight based on the tailgate motor torque;
- determine an object presence on the tailgate based on the tailgate weight being greater than a predefined tailgate weight;
- and
- prevent a tailgate movement responsive to determining the object presence.
A method for enabling a tailgate movement, the method comprising:
- obtaining, by a processor, a trigger signal;
- causing, by the processor, a predefined tailgate movement of a tailgate of a vehicle, responsive to obtaining the trigger signal;
- determining, by the processor, a tailgate motor torque associated with the predefined tailgate movement;
- estimating, by the processor, a tailgate weight based on the tailgate motor torque;
- determining, by the processor, an object presence on the tailgate based on determining that a difference between the tailgate weight and a predefined tailgate weight is greater than a threshold;
- and
- preventing, by the processor, the tailgate movement responsive to determining the object presence.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
- obtain a trigger signal;
- cause a predefined tailgate movement of a tailgate of a vehicle, responsive to the trigger signal;
- determine a tailgate motor torque associated with the predefined tailgate movement;
- estimate a tailgate weight based on the tailgate motor torque;
- determine an object presence on the tailgate based on the tailgate weight being greater than a predefined tailgate weight;
- and
- prevent a tailgate movement responsive to determining the object presence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.