Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Lindsay Chan

Jinesh J Jain

Daniel Boccuccia

Zachary David Nelson

Shant Tokatyan

Jennifer L Brace

Aysha Habbaba

A method for parcel delivery service that permits secure and timely delivery of items to unattended vehicles. The method includes receiving an order to deliver an item to a vehicle. A current location of the vehicle may be determined using vehicle identification information. After the vehicle has been located, the item may be authenticated at the vehicle, and access to the interior of the vehicle may be automatically provided to enable the vehicle to securely receive the item. A corresponding system is also disclosed and claimed herein.

Unattended parcel delivery service

A controller of an autonomous vehicle receives a travel itinerary of a passenger and an airport map. The controller then uses the airport map to arrive at a terminal corresponding to the passenger's travel itinerary. Upon arrival at the terminal the controller communicates with parked vehicles (V2V) or infrastructure to identify an unoccupied parking spot and then autonomously parks. When picking up a passenger, the controller determines whether the passenger has checked luggage and adjusts and arrival time accordingly and may account for the storage volume of the luggage. The controller may also loop a circuit at the airport where a wait time has been exceeded. In some embodiments, augmented reality may be used to help the passenger identify the vehicle.

Picking up and dropping off passengers at an airport using an autonomous vehicle

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for assisting drivers with roadway lane changes. In general, aspects of the invention are used in motorized vehicles to guide a driver to a more efficiently operating lane of a multi-lane roadway. A lane recommendation can be based on sensed and/or communicated aspects of surrounding vehicles (e.g., speed, acceleration, etc.). Lane recommendations can be communicated to a driver with audio and/or visual cues. In one aspect, images of surrounding roadway are augmented with additional data to highlight lanes, lane change locations, other vehicles, etc. Lane recommendations can be revised in (essentially) real-time in response to changing conditions in a roadway environment (e.g., a vehicle in a neighboring lane has changed speed).

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Oakland, CA, United States of America

Lindsay Chan