Lyft, Inc.

Woven Planet North America, Inc.

Azhar Kamal Meyer

Alfred Charles Jones, Ii

Ethan Duncan Eyler

Marco Antonio Marroquin

Steven Son Khau

Lakshmaiah Brahmasani

John Sungchun Chiu

Richard Wimmer

Srinivasa Rao Damaraju

Joseph Patrick Wendell Whinnery

Marco Antonio Marroquín

Paridhi Anang Desai

Hannah Samantha Talisse

Benjamin Patrick Rhoads

A communication unit for attachment to a vehicle is provided. The communication unit may include a housing, a mount, a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), and a thermal architecture. The housing may include an enclosure defined by a lens surface and a rear enclosure. The lens surface has an emblem, and the rear enclosure has a vent. The mount may be coupled to the housing and is configured to attach the communication unit to a portion of the vehicle. The PCBA is disposed within the housing and behind the lens surface. The PCBA may include a plurality of light emitting elements configured to illuminate the emblem of the communication unit. The thermal architecture is disposed between the PCBA and the rear enclosure. The thermal architecture is configured to dissipate heat generated by one or more of the PCBA or the plurality of light emitting elements.

Illuminated communication unit for a vehicle within a transportation network

An illuminated communication unit for a vehicle is provided. The communication unit may include an enclosure carrying components within a cavity that include a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) and a heat sink. The PCBA may include a position sensor in communication with the vehicle and configured to detect a position of the vehicle, and a plurality of light emitting elements disposed adjacent to the position sensor and configured to generate a light output. The heat sink may be configured to dissipate heat caused by the plurality of light emitting elements generating the light output. The communication unit may include a diffuser lens that includes a lens surface having an emblem disposed thereon, the diffuser lens being configured to receive the light output generated by the plurality of light emitting elements and diffusely illuminate the emblem. The lens surface may be configured to widely disperse the light output.

Systems and methods are provided for disinfecting a cabin of a vehicle. In one example, a disinfection system comprises a controller, an ultraviolet radiation source, an air duct, and a steerable optical system. The ultraviolet radiation source is in communication with the controller, disposed within the air duct, and configured to emit ultraviolet radiation. The air duct comprises an inlet configured to receive air particles from within the cabin. The air duct comprises one or more internal reflective surfaces configured to reflect the ultraviolet radiation so as to disinfect the air particles within the air duct. The air duct comprises an outlet configured to transmit the disinfected air particles out of the air duct via the outlet. The steerable optical system is coupled to the air duct and configured to receive and selectively direct the ultraviolet radiation to disinfect the cabin. Additional systems and related methods are provided.

Vehicle cabin disinfection systems and methods

In one embodiment, a method includes, by a computing system of a vehicle, determining a first temperature of a control unit of the vehicle, wherein the control unit and one or more components of the vehicle are interconnected through a thermal network, determining a thermal objective for the control unit based on the first temperature of the control unit, selecting, based on the thermal objective for the control unit, at least a first component from the one or more components, and sending one or more signals to one or more actuators within the thermal network to enable a heat-transfer fluid to flow between (1) a first portion of the thermal network thermally coupled to the control unit and (2) a second portion of the thermal network thermally coupled to the selected first component.

Unified automotive thermal management network

In one embodiment, a storage system includes one or more platforms to stow compute units of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in a storage compartment of the vehicle. The platform is configured to support a compute unit of the vehicle to avoid a crumple zone of the vehicle. The crumple zone of the vehicle is designed to crumple when colliding with an object. The storage system also includes one or more shear fasteners configured to fasten the compute unit to the platform. The one or more shear fasteners are configured to break in a predetermined direction in response to a predetermined amount of lateral force. The breakage of the one or more shear fasteners decouples the compute unit from the platform in a controlled direction.

Safety-enhanced storage system for autonomous vehicle compute units

Growing community of inventors

Pacifica, CA, United States of America

Azhar Kamal Meyer