Back to results
US 2019/0323281 A1Published application
Vehicle liftgate control for cargo management
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMahmoud Yousef Ghannam, Brian Bennie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and apparatus are disclosed for vehicle liftgate control for cargo management. An example vehicle includes a liftgate with a sensor on an inner surface and a processor. The liftgate provides access to a cargo area. The processor, when an object is in the cargo area, detect when the object is banked against the liftgate using measurements from the sensor, and when the object is banked and a command to open the liftgate is received, autonomously opens the liftgate to an intermediate position between fully open and fully closed.
Claims19
A vehicle comprising:
- a liftgate with a sensor on an inner surface, the liftgate providing access to a cargo area;
- and
- a processor to, when an object is in the cargo area:
- detect when the object is banked against the liftgate using measurements from the sensor;
- and
- when the object is banked and a command to open the liftgate is received, autonomously open the liftgate to an intermediate position between fully open and fully closed.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- determining, with a liftgate sensor, whether an object is in a cargo area of a vehicle;
- determining, with a vehicle processor, whether the object is likely to fall out of the vehicle from the cargo area;
- and
- when the object is likely to fall out of the vehicle and a command to open a liftgate is received, autonomously opening the liftgate to an intermediate position between fully open and fully closed.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.