System and method for autonomous trailer integration

Abstract

Systems, methods, and articulated vehicles which use sensor rails attached to trailers to provide improved control for autonomous articulated vehicles. An example vehicle can receive, at a computer system of a tractor operating in an autonomous mode, trailer sensor data from a plurality of trailer sensors located on at least one trailer, the at least one trailer being coupled to the tractor. The computer system can also receive road condition data from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor being located on at least one of the tractor and the at least one trailer. The computer system can then identify, based on the trailer sensor data and the road condition data, a physical condition of the at least one trailer to be modified, and modify, via an electrical signal transmitted from the computer system, the physical condition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.