Robotic vehicle control
AssigneeElwha LLC
InventorsWilliam D. Duncan, Roderick A. Hyde
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle includes a detection system configured to acquire data regarding operation of the vehicle, and a robotic driving device configured to provide robotic control of the vehicle. The vehicle also includes a control system configured to determine whether the robotic driving device is activated, such that the vehicle is in robotic driving mode; receive a request by a prospective operator of the vehicle to deactivate the robotic driving device to initiate a manual driving mode; determine whether the prospective operator is impaired based on the data; and selectively grant or refuse the request based on the determination.
Claims20
A method of responding to an emergency situation in a vehicle, comprising:
- receiving threshold data indicative of an emergency situation;
- acquiring operation data regarding operation of the vehicle, wherein the operation data includes data regarding a non-operator passenger of the vehicle;
- determining whether an emergency situation exists based on the threshold data and the operation data;
- selectively activating a robotic driving mode to direct the vehicle to an emergency response location selected based on the emergency situation determination;
- and
- turning the vehicle off after arrival at the emergency response location.
A method for detecting and responding to operator impairment in a vehicle comprising:
- acquiring data regarding a prospective operator;
- determining that a robotic driving device is activated, such that the vehicle is in a robotic driving mode;
- receiving a request from the prospective operator to initiate a manual driving mode;
- determining whether the prospective operator is impaired based on the data;
- selectively deactivating the robotic driving device based on the determination.
An apparatus for detecting and responding to an emergency situation in a vehicle, comprising:
- a detection system configured to acquire data regarding operation of the vehicle, wherein the operation data includes data regarding a non-operator passenger of the vehicle;
- a robotic driving device configured to provide robotic operation of the vehicle;
- and
- a control system configured to determine whether an emergency situation exists based on the data and based on the determination, to selectively activate the robotic driving device to direct the vehicle to an emergency response location selected based on the emergency situation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.