Hitchless towing system for predicting and compensating for an intervening obstacle
AssigneesToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShaurya Panthri
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hitchless towing configuration comprises a follow vehicle following a lead vehicle without a physical connection between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle. Data received from at least one sensor of the lead vehicle or the follow vehicle is evaluated to determine an object is performing an action to move into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle. The lead vehicle or the follow vehicle is caused to perform a countermeasure to prevent the object from moving into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle.
Claims20
A computer implemented method for identifying and addressing an intervening obstacle between a set of vehicles, the method comprising:
- receiving data from at least one sensor of a lead vehicle or a follow vehicle in a hitchless towing configuration, the hitchless towing configuration comprising the follow vehicle following the lead vehicle without a physical connection between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, wherein an empty space exists between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- determining, based on the data, an object is performing an action to move into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- and
- causing the lead vehicle or the follow vehicle to perform a countermeasure to prevent the object from moving into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, the countermeasure comprising a maneuver.
A computing system for identifying and addressing an intervening obstacle between a set of vehicles, the computing system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory coupled to the one or more processors to store instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- receiving data from at least one sensor of the set of a lead vehicle or a follow vehicle in a hitchless towing configuration, the hitchless towing configuration comprising the follow vehicle following the lead vehicle without a physical connection between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, wherein an empty space exists between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- determining, based on the data, an object is performing an action to move into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- and
- causing the lead vehicle or the follow vehicle to perform a countermeasure to prevent the object from moving into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, the countermeasure comprising a maneuver.
A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- receiving data from at least one sensor of a lead vehicle or a follow vehicle in a hitchless towing configuration, the hitchless towing configuration comprising the follow vehicle following the lead vehicle without a physical connection between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, wherein an empty space exists between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- determining, based on the data, an object is performing an action to move into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle;
- and
- causing the lead vehicle or the follow vehicle to perform a countermeasure to prevent the object from moving into the empty space between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle, the countermeasure comprising a maneuver.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.