Robert Boschgmbh

Frank Riggi

James Stephen Miller

Patrick Graf

A method and apparatus for controlling use of an autonomous vehicle includes an interior occupant sensing system to obtain data of occupants from a video camera. An occupant sensing controller is configured to receive the video and detect a number of faces of occupants disposed in the vehicle. Further, the occupant sensing controller determines demographic information from the video data of each of the detected faces and then stores the vehicle location, the number of faces, and the demographic information for occupants as data in the vehicle. The occupant sensing controller determines from the demographic information an age of occupants in the autonomous vehicle, and when the demographic information indicates that all occupants in the autonomous vehicle are less than a certain age, limits travel to a destination or operation of the autonomous vehicle in response to age. Further, the occupant sensing controller can recognize a specific authorized individual within the vehicle and limit usage of the vehicle for the identified authorized individual.

Access and control for driving of autonomous vehicle

A system for tracking a following vehicle by a leading vehicle. In one example, the system includes a user interface, a camera, an output device, and an electronic controller. The electronic controller is configured to receive, via the user interface, an indication of the following vehicle and recognize the following vehicle. The electronic controller tracks the following vehicle using a video feed from the camera and determines whether the following vehicle is struggling to follow the leading vehicle. The electronic controller also generates a driver notification when the following vehicle is struggling to follow the leading vehicle and outputs, via the output device, the driver notification.

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Plymouth, MI, United States of America

Frank Riggi