Google Inc.

Kitty Hawk Corporation

Leland Stanford Junior University

Waymo LLC

Silicon Valley Factory LLC

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Sebastian Thrun

Other

Max-planck-gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Wissenschaften E.v.

Strider Labs, Inc.

Udacity, Inc.

Christopher Paul Urmson

Luis Ricardo Prada Gomez

Philip Nemec

Andrew Timothy Szybalski

Damon Vander Lind

Benjamin Otto Berry

Arash Kani

David St Martin

Dmitri A Dolgov

Andrew Lookingbill

Nathaniel Fairfield

Hariraam Varun Ganapathi

Mohammed Waleed Kadous

Christian Plagemann

David Stavens

Anthony Scott Levandowski

David Benjamin Millman

Hendrik Dahlkamp

Jesse S Levinson

Joseph Huang

Christopher Scott Saunders

Silvio Savarese

Christian Theobalt

Joakim Arfvidsson

David Held

Maj Isabelle Olsson

Thad Eugene Starner

Dragomir Dimitrov Anguelov

Hayes Solos Raffle

Nirmal Jitendra Patel

Mitchell Joseph Heinrich

Michael Steven Montemerlo

Bradley J Rhodes

Aaron Joseph Wheeler

Sergey Brin

Michael Patrick Johnson

Scott Ettinger

Liang-Yu (Tom) Chi

Hans-Peter Seidel

Eliot Leonard Wegbreit

Jacques L Favreau

Daphne Koller

Carsten Stoll

Michael Sokolsky

Irene Au

Edilson De Aguiar

Praveen Srinivasan

Joakim Arfidsson

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to limiting the use of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by particular occupants based on permission data. More specifically, permission data may include destinations, routes, and/or other information that is predefined or set by a third party. The vehicle may then access the permission data in order to transport the particular occupant to the predefined destination, for example, without deviation from the predefined route. The vehicle may drop the particular occupant off at the destination and may wait until the passenger is ready to move to another predefined destination. The permission data may be used to limit the ability of the particular occupant to change the route of the vehicle completely or by some maximum deviation value. For example, the vehicle may be able to deviate from the route up to a particular distance from or along the route.

Systems and methods for vehicles with limited destination ability

During a vertical landing state, it is decided whether to switch from the vertical landing state to a self adjusting state. The VTOL vehicle includes the flight controller, the rotor, and a fuselage where the rotor is coupled to the fuselage via a vertical connector. If it is so decided, there is a switch from the vertical landing state to the self adjusting state. During the self adjusting state, a control signal for a rotor is generated where the control signal causes: (1) the rotor to rotate during the self adjusting state and (2) the VTOL vehicle to remain in a fixed position during the self adjusting state, in response to the control signal, and independent of docking infrastructure. During a rotors off state, a rotor off control signal is generated for the rotor that causes the rotor to turn off.

Multicopter with self-adjusting rotors

A vertical landing is performed by an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle above a charger where the eVTOL vehicle includes a rotor that is configured to rotate during an occupant change state to keep the eVTOL vehicle stationary during the occupant change state. A vertically-oriented male charging port that is part of the eVTOL vehicle and a female charging port that is part of the charger are detachably coupled and a battery in the eVTOL vehicle is charged using the charger while the vertically-oriented male charging port and the female charging port are detachably coupled.

Charging station for self-balancing multicopter

A system includes a first battery in a vehicle. The vehicle is capable of being coupled at least temporarily with a second, removable battery and is powered by at least one of the first or the second battery. The system also includes a controller in the vehicle which is configured to estimate an amount of travel-related charge based at least in part on a pickup and drop off location. It is decided whether to charge the first battery using the second battery based at least in part on the amount of travel-related charge and a measured amount of stored charge in the second battery. If it is decided to do so, the first battery is charged using the second battery.

Charge related processing for a personal transportation system with removable battery

A vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle that includes a flight controller and a rotor. During a vertical landing state, during which the VTOL vehicle is performing a vertical landing, the flight controller decides whether to switch from the vertical landing state to a self adjusting state and in the event it is decided to do so, the flight controller switches from the vertical landing state to the self adjusting state. During the self adjusting state, the flight controller generates a control signal for a rotor where the control signal causes: (1) the rotor to rotate during the self adjusting state and (2) the VTOL vehicle to stay in place during the self adjusting state, such that an occupant is able to enter or exit the VTOL vehicle during the self adjusting state.

A system includes a higher unmanned multicopter, a lower unmanned multicopter, and a flexible connector. The flexible connector connects the higher unmanned multicopter and the lower unmanned multicopter. The VTM system is configured to carry a payload, including by having the higher unmanned multicopter fly above the lower unmanned multicopter with the flexible connector taut such that both the higher unmanned multicopter and the lower unmanned multicopter contribute to carrying the payload.

Vertically-tethered multicopters

A first propeller has a shorter blade length and a lower inertia than a second propeller. An electromagnetic field emitter is coupled to one of the first propeller or the second propeller and an electromagnetic field receptor is coupled to the other one that is not coupled to the electromagnetic field emitter. The electromagnetic field emitter emits an electromagnetic field. In response to the electromagnetic field: the electromagnetic field receptor and its coupled propeller rotate in a first rotational direction; and the electromagnetic field emitter and its coupled propeller rotate in a second and counter-rotational direction. In response to a second electromagnetic field associated with increasing torque: the first propeller increases and subsequently decreases its rotational speed; and the second propeller increases its rotational speed at a slower rate than the increase in the rotational speed of the first propeller.

Reactionless free-spinning motor with dual propellers

An electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle is positioned to be in a charging position on the ground, wherein the eVTOL vehicle is capable of performing vertical take-offs and landings. The battery is charged while in the charging position on the ground using a wind turbine that includes the rotor.

Electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle with wind turbine

A first and a second aircraft are detachably coupled where the first aircraft is configured to perform a vertical landing using a first battery while the first aircraft is unoccupied and the unoccupied first aircraft includes the first battery. In response to detecting a second, removable battery being detachably coupled to the first aircraft, a power source for the first aircraft is switched from the first battery to the second, removable battery. After the switch, the first aircraft takes off vertically using the second, removable battery while occupied. The detachably coupled first aircraft and second aircraft are flown using the second aircraft (the power to keep the detachably coupled first aircraft and second aircraft airborne comes exclusively from the second aircraft and not the first aircraft).

Two vehicle transportation system

A system which includes a first propeller, a second propeller, an electromagnetic field emitter that is coupled to the first propeller, and an electromagnetic field receptor that is coupled to the second propeller. The electromagnetic field emitter emits an electromagnetic field and in response to the electromagnetic field, the electromagnetic field receptor and the second propeller rotate in a first rotational direction and the electromagnetic field emitter and the first propeller rotate in a second and counter-rotational direction.

In response to a change in a state of at least some part of a vehicle, a control signal associated with countering the change in the state while the vehicle is in an occupant change state is generated. The control signal is sent to a rotor in the vehicle while the vehicle is in the occupant change state, wherein the control signal causes the rotor to move in a manner that is counter to the change in the state and the rotor rotates about a substantially vertical axis of rotation and enables the vehicle to perform vertical takeoffs and landings.

In various embodiments, an apparatus includes a top portion, a bottom portion adapted to receive the top portion to define a space enclosed within the top portion and bottom portion, where the bottom portion comprises a conductive structure, the conductive structure configured to receive electromagnetic energy from an EM source. The apparatus may also include an electronic tag configured to encode information about contents of the space. In various embodiments, a heating apparatus includes an electromagnetic (EM) source and a controller configured to: receive data associated with a heatable load, determine heating instructions based at least in part on the received data, and control the EM source based on the determined heating instructions.

Automatic heating system and method

Growing community of inventors

Los Altos Hills, CA, United States of America

Sebastian Thrun