Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Doug Thornburg

Mahmoud Yousef Ghannam

Brian Bennie

Joshua R Wheeler

Scott Andrew Amman

Mark Anthony Cuddihy

Srinivasan Sundararajan

Sangeetha Sangameswaran

Jason Michael Miller

Kenneth A Marko

Brock Watters

William C Dierker

Shane Rachedi

George Halow

Systems and methods for securing limited drivability of a vehicle by impaired drivers using blockchain are provided. The vehicle system uses blockchain to protect and disclose such vehicle deactivation, prevent false enabling/disabling of a vehicle, and saves this information to a shared ledger. A sensor system located on the vehicle, e.g., alcohol interlock sensors, interior sensors, and exterior sensors, may have access to this information along with fleet managers, OEM, and/or users. For example, when the alcohol interlock sensor is activated, it transmits a test request. Subsequently, the other sensors may identify the request and look for a known person inside or in the proximity of the vehicle. In a similar manner, whether the test has been conducted, as well as the results of the test may be verified by the other nodes, e.g., sensors/modules in the vehicle. Upon confirmation that the driver is impaired, the vehicle may be deactivated.

Systems and methods to securely limit drivability of a vehicle by impaired users

Systems, devices, and methods are disclosed for determining whether to provide an over-the-air (OTA) update to a vehicle. An example method includes determining an update characteristic of a pending software update for a vehicle. The method also includes determining a vehicle battery state of charge (SOC) threshold based on the update characteristic. The method further includes modifying the threshold based on a location of the vehicle. The method still further includes determining a SOC of a battery of the vehicle. And the method yet further includes responsively providing the pending software update to the vehicle based on the SOC and the threshold.

Vehicle update systems and methods

Accelerometer-based external sound monitoring for backup assistance in a vehicle. The vehicle includes an accelerometer mounted on an internal surface of a rear window of the vehicle, a rear view camera, and a processor. The processor identifies a source of a sound that causes vibrations on the rear window that are captured by the accelerometer. The processor also categorizes the sound and provides an alert based on a category of the sound.

Accelerometer-based external sound monitoring for backup assistance in a vehicle

An example vehicle for monitoring windshield vibrations for vehicle collision detection includes a windshield, a vibration sensor coupled to the windshield to detect window vibrations of the windshield, a first accelerometer to detect vehicle body vibrations of a vehicle body, and a restraint control module. The restraint control module is to detect an event based upon the window vibrations and determine whether the event is a collision event or a non-collision event responsive to comparing the window vibrations and the vehicle body vibrations.

Monitoring windshield vibrations for vehicle collision detection

Method and apparatus are disclosed for accelerometer-based windshield wiper monitoring. A vehicle includes an accelerometer affixed to a vehicle window, a windshield wiper to actuate across the vehicle window, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine an acoustic profile corresponding to the windshield wiper based on structure-borne audio data received from the accelerometer, determine whether a bandlimited decibel level of the acoustic profile exceeds a threshold, and responsively provide an alert via a vehicle display.

Accelerometer-based vehicle wiper blade monitoring

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for predictive road sensing to minimize transient electrical load issues in a vehicle. More specifically, various embodiments include a system and method for minimizing electrical load issues in a vehicle by sensing a vehicle's surroundings using sensing devices (such as sensors, or a camera), utilizing detected road condition information to determine a need for starting and/or operating a motor, and preemptively soft starting the motors to avoid a spike in transient load for the vehicular control system.

System and method for predictive road sensing to minimize transient electrical load issues

Method and apparatus are disclosed for accelerometer-based external sound monitoring. A vehicle includes accelerometers, speakers, and an infotainment head unit. The accelerometers are affixed to windows of the vehicle. The speakers are located inside the vehicle in the vicinity of the accelerometers. Each of the speakers is uniquely associated with one of the accelerometers. The infotainment head unit, when the vehicle is not in motion and when a signal is received from one of the accelerometers, plays the signal only on the associated one of the speakers.

Accelerometer-based external sound monitoring

Systems and methods for phone-as-a-key range extension are disclosed. An example disclosed vehicle includes an integrated antenna array with a plurality of antenna located on a roof of the vehicle. The plurality of antenna includes a personal area network antenna. The example vehicle also includes a personal area network module communicatively connected to the personal area network antenna. Additionally, the vehicle includes a key phone unit communicatively connected to the personal area network module. The example key phone unit performs key fob functions as requested by an authorized mobile device.

Systems and methods for phone-as-a-key range extension

A diagnostic/prognostic system monitors performance of a vehicle or other apparatus wherein the vehicle has a plurality of operational components. Each operational component has a predetermined nominal operating state and generates respective electrical signals pursuant to its operation. A data collection memory in the vehicle stores samples of the electrical signals in a rolling buffer. An analyzer in the vehicle is responsive to the electrical signals for detecting a trigger event indicative of at least a potential variance of an operational component from its nominal operating state. A computation center located remotely from the vehicle has a database storing representations of electrical signals for classifying nominal and irregular operating states of the operational components. A transmitter is activated by the trigger event to transmit at least some of the stored samples in the rolling buffer at the time of the trigger event to the computation center. The computation center receives the transmitted samples and classifies them according to the nominal or irregular operating states.

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Doug Thornburg