Zoox, Inc.

Markus Jost

Andrew John Piper

Andrew Frank Raczkowski

Josh Alexander Jimenez

Mark Alan Bates

David Maurice Libeaut

Kern Rameshwar Sharma

Timothy David Kentley-Klay

Goutham Shanmuga Sundaram

Amanda Brown Prescott

Nirmal Muralidharan

Mikael Jarsaeter

Samantha Lynne Schoell

Johannes Edren

Ahditya Melkote

Michal Jan Swiniarski

Marcos Puerta Terron

Swagat Goswami

Daria Di Costanzo

Subasingha Shaminda Subasingha

Subhasis Das

Nam Gook Cho

Thomas Andrew Stoddart

Brandon Loeb

Ramanjaneya Reddy Butukuri

Alexandre Nunes

Ashley Williams

Haley Riesenberg

Marina Camille Josephs

Valerie Bumbaca Randolph

Michael Anthony Baer

Karthikeyan Marudhamuthu

Solomon Andrew Hafer

Paolo Ruscitti

An occupant protection system for a vehicle may include an expandable curtain and/or an expandable bladder configured to be expanded from a stowed state to a deployed state. In the deployed state, the expandable curtain may include first and second sides configured to extend along respective portions of first and second interior sides of the vehicle. The expandable curtain may also include a transverse portion extending between the first and second sides, and the first and second sides, and the transverse portion of the expandable curtain may form a contiguous barrier. The expandable bladder when deployed may be supported by the expandable curtain during contact by an occupant. The occupant protection system may also include a deployment control system configured to cause the expandable curtain and/or the expandable bladder to expand to the deployed state. The occupant protection system may be used in vehicles having a carriage-style seating arrangement.

Occupant protection system including expandable curtain and/or expandable bladder

A bench seating and side airbag system is provided. The system comprises a back portion and a side portion. The back portion has an interior facing interior facing surface and an exterior facing surface opposite the interior facing surface. The side portion and the back portion are positioned to define a seam between the back portion and the side portion. A chamber is configured to be mounted proximate the seam and behind the exterior facing surface of the back portion. An inflator is coupled to the chamber and configured to inflate the chamber. When inflated, the chamber extends through the seam and beyond the interior facing surface of back portion along the side portion.

Side airbag systems and vehicles with side airbag systems

An occupant constraint system may include a belt marker on a seat belt in a passenger compartment of the vehicle for restraining a passenger during a collision. The occupant constraint system may include a camera system for producing marker position data that is indicative of a position of the marker, and a physical characteristic estimator that is uses the marker position data to produce a physical characteristic estimate of a physical characteristic estimate of the passenger. The occupant constraint system may include a passenger related system having a passenger function and the passenger related system may control the passenger function based at least in part on the physical characteristic estimate.

Occupant restraint system and method

This disclosure relates to systems and techniques for identifying collisions, such as relatively low energy impact collisions involving an autonomous vehicle. Sensor data from a first sensor modality in a first array may be used to determine a first estimated location of impact and second sensor data from a second sensor modality in a second array may be used to determine a second estimated location of impact. A low energy impact event may be configured when the first estimated location of impact corresponds to the second estimated location of impact.

Low-energy impact collision detection

An occupant protection system for a vehicle may include an expandable curtain and/or an expandable bladder configured to be expanded from a stowed state to a deployed state. The system may also include a transverse ceiling trim panel and one or more side ceiling trim panels configured to be coupled to a ceiling of the vehicle, with the transverse ceiling trim panel extending substantially transversely with respect to the one or more side ceiling trim panels. Portions of the ceiling trim panels may be configured to deflect and allow expansion of the expandable curtain and/or the expandable bladder to the deployed state. The system may also include a deployment controller and one or more inflators configured to cause deployment of the expandable curtain at a first time and deployment of the expandable bladder at a second time after the first time.

Occupant protection system including inflators

A vehicle includes an expandable curtain disposed in a roof of the vehicle and is configured to selectively deploy from a stowed configuration to a deployed configuration. An expandable bladder is configured to inflate at least partially during deployment of the expandable curtain. The expandable bladder includes a neck portion mechanically coupled to the expandable curtain and a head portion extending from the neck portion.

Occupant protection system for vehicle

A vehicle may receive sensor data captured by a sensor, determine that the sensor data represents an object in the environment, and determine a collision probability associated with a collision between the vehicle and the object. Based at least in part on the collision probability, the vehicle may determine one or more mitigating actions to perform prior to, during, and/or after the collision. The mitigating action may be associated with adjusting a hydraulic fluid pressure in at least a portion of a hydraulic fluid system of the vehicle.

Reducing hydraulic fluid pressure based on predicted collision

An occupant protection system may comprise an expandable curtain, expandable bladder and tether. The curtain may be configured to expand from a stowed state to a deployed state. In the deployed state, the curtain may comprise a transverse portion having a support side face and a rear side face. The bladder may be configured to expand from a stowed state to a deployed, wherein in the deployed state, the bladder comprises an occupant facing surface and a rear surface configured to face the support side face of the curtain. The tether may be attached at a first location to the bladder and at a second location such that in the deployed state of the curtain and bladder, the tether extends behind the rear side face of the curtain and frictionally engages the rear side face of the curtain, thereby creating a resistance to lateral movement of the bladder.

Vehicle occupant protection systems having frictionally engaging tether

A safety system for vehicle may include a restraint surface adjustment mechanism for adjusting at least one of a height or an angle of a restraint surface disposed under a vehicle seat during a collision and/or predicted collision in which the vehicle seat is facing in the direction of travel and/or the direction of the oncoming collision. The seat may comprise a bench seat including a first seating space and a second seating space. A first restraint surface adjustment mechanism may be associated with the first seating space and a second restraint surface adjustment mechanism may be associated with the second seating space. The restraint surface adjustment mechanism may include, for example, an inflatable bladder, a movable plate which rotates about an axis, or other restraint surface adjustment mechanisms that adjust at least one of the height, angle, or physical property (e.g., rigidity) of one or more restraint surfaces.

Actuation of restraint surface adjustment safety system

A seat for a vehicle may include a seatback including one or more inflatable bladders that may be configured to deploy in response to a triggering signal indicative of a change of velocity, collision, or predicted collision event. As at least a portion of the back of an occupant of the seat pushes against a front surface of the seatback due to the event, the one or more inflatable bladders compress at least partially the comfortable foam or comfort material in the seatback and expedite engagement of the energy absorbing material.

Occupant protection system and method including seatback

A seat for a vehicle may include a seatback including one or more inflatable bladders that may be configured to provide adjustable lumbar support and to deploy in response to a triggering event signal indicative of a change of velocity, collision, or predicted collision event. One or more inflatable bladders may be configured to be independently controllable and configured to provide adjustable lumbar support at a region of the seatback during normal vehicle operation. Moreover, when at least a portion of the back of an occupant of the seat pushes against a front surface of the seatback due to the event, the one or more inflatable bladders may be configured to compress at least partially a comfort foam or comfort material in the seatback and expedite engagement of the energy absorbing material with the occupant's back.

Multipurpose seatback bladder system for crash safety and lumbar support

A seat of a vehicle is designed for safety to reduce risk of injury to an occupant of the seat in the event of an abrupt movement or a collision involving the vehicle from the rear. The seat may have seatback geometry designed to promote coupling an occupant to the seat, thereby minimizing a gap between an occupant and the seatback and, therefore, the impact forces to the occupant in a rear-facing collision by reducing a relative velocity between the occupant and the seat, as well as absorbing energy of the occupant over a longer distance. The seat may include one or more materials that plastically deform under a force imparted on the seat by the occupant accelerating relative to and toward the seat during a vehicle collision. Cavities in the seat can be used, in some examples, to create a particular compressibility for optimizing impact.

Seat crush structure

A wet dry barrier support system for a vehicle includes a support structure portion with mounting locations for mounting suspension components of a vehicle, mounting locations for coupling to a body of the vehicle, and a barrier portion to provide an environmental barrier to separate a first area of the vehicle from a second area of a vehicle. The support structure portion may provide a stiff mounting interface between the body and the suspension components by transferring loads therebetween and may define a through-cavity configured to pass a vehicle component through the through-cavity. The barrier portion may plastically deform upon receiving an energetic input from an impact of the vehicle and may prevent the wet dry barrier support system from entering a passenger compartment during the impact.

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San Mateo, CA, United States of America

Markus Jost