Autonomous vehicle with a smart ramp for wheeled carriers

A method for controlling a ramp for a passenger vehicle, comprising:

• determining, by a controller, a direction of travel of a wheeled carrier on the ramp for entering and/or exiting the passenger vehicle;
• determining, by the controller, a position of a wheel of the wheeled carrier on a contact side of the ramp based on data sensed by one or more sensors;
• selecting at least subset of actuatable tiles to actuate based on the direction of travel and the position, wherein the actuatable tiles are arranged on a contact side of the ramp;
• and
• generating and transmitting commands to one or more tile actuators corresponding to selected subset of the actuatable tiles to actuate the selected subset of the actuatable tiles.

A ramp for wheeled carriers and living beings to enter and/or exit a vehicle cabin of a vehicle, comprising:

• actuatable tiles arranged across a contact side of the ramp, and
• tile actuators to selectively actuate the actuatable tiles;
• one or more sensors to sense a position of a wheel of a wheeled carrier on the ramp;
• and
• a controller to determine a direction of travel of a wheeled carrier, and generates one or more commands to the tile actuators to selectively actuate the actuatable tiles based on the direction of travel and the position sensed by the one or more sensors.