US patent application 20170285585 published today. The title of the application sounds promising: “TECHNOLOGIES FOR RESOLVING MORAL CONFLICTS DURING AUTONOMOUS OPERATION OF A MACHINE”. And the introduction is even more promising. It explains that compute systems (such as those used in autonomous cars) can experience a moral conflict for which the hard-coded rules do […]
Waymo’s patent application publication US 20170220045 A1 is refreshingly candid: An autonomous car may not get you all the way to your destination since it will only be allowed to travel on pre-approved roads. Waymos answer: “A method, comprising: receiving, by a computer system, an input indicating a final destination, wherein the computer system is configured […]
Your place, or mine? Fastest or shortest route? Those are questions we are use to. Now there is a new question: How much do you want to drive, and how much should the car drive autonomously? At least that is a question VW poses in US patent application US20170219364 which published earlier this week. The idea […]
In a fully autonomous vehicle there is really no need for the driver and passenger seats to be facing forward. But rearward facing seats pose new challenges when the car is involved in an accident. Ford’s patent application US 2017/0210322 is addressing this new challenge. Ford writes: “One way to allow the driver to relax […]
GM is apparently thinking hard about rideshare technology. In patent application US20170213403 they are concerned with dropping passengers off in areas that require security clearance. The idea seems legit. But also somewhat demanding: A vehicle that transports a passenger automatically to a drop-off location that requires a security clearance would have to authenticate all passengers on […]
… apparently fifteen! GM patent application publication 20170213165 addresses a legitimate problem facing ridesharing in autonomous vehicles: How does a rider know that she is getting into the right vehicle? GM is offering several solutions. For example, as a shared vehicle approaches pick up of a rider, the rider’s smartphone vibrates to indicate that the shared […]
Similar claims are presented in three Mazda patent applications 20170203688, 20170203689 and 20170202501. 1. A driving assistance system comprising: a distracted driving sensing unit configured to determine whether or not a driver is distracted from driving; an alerting unit configured to alert, if the distracted driving sensing unit has determined the driver to be distracted from […]
Mobileye’s patent application publication 20170203744 claims a method for assessing an overall system failure rate associated with a braking decisioning system for a vehicle. The system is based on the analysis of video data. It calculates a first failure based on a change in texture between images and a second failure rate based on optical flow. The specification […]
Cruise Automation, GM’s expensive Silicon Valley outpost, is seeking to patent “A method for controlling an autonomous vehicle at an external interface, the method comprising: at an external interface, operably in communication with the autonomous vehicle: allowing an entity in a proximity of an outside of the autonomous vehicle to interact with the external interface; […]
This week we looked through a few autonomous vehicle patent applications: In US20170185089 Toyota claims a method of detecting overhanging objects in an external environment of an autonomous vehicle. It appears, the Toyota engineers are primarily concerned with trees, and whether the autonomous vehicle can drive below overhanging branches. The overhanging object are detected with a […]