Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Vivekananda Krishnamurthy

Mahrdad Damsaz

Kathryn Hamilton

Raymond C Siciak

Barnabas Joseph Nemec

Scott J Lauffer

Ray C Siciak

Michael Adel Awad Alla

Tsung-Han Tsai

Daniel Denomme

Amy Beth Cronin

A system for alerting a user against a vehicular contact includes an alerting device. The alerting device includes an ultrasonic receiver configured to receive ultrasonic signals emitted by an ultrasonic transmitter of a vehicle, and an intensity determination module configured to determine whether an intensity of the ultrasonic signals is increasing or decreasing during a predetermined period. The alerting device is configured to generate an alert to the user or move the user away from the vehicle in response to a determination by the intensity determination module that the intensity of the ultrasonic signals is increasing during the predetermine period.

Method and system to mitigate vehicular contacts in autonomously marshalled manufacturing using ultrasonics

Techniques and examples pertaining to baggage transportation in a vehicle-sharing environment are described. An automotive vehicle may have a plurality of baggage compartments each respectively having a size capacity and a weight capacity. The vehicle may also have a plurality of sensors capable of monitoring a loading situation of the plurality of baggage compartments. The vehicle may further have a memory element capable of storing capacity data representing the loading situation, as well as a processor capable of updating the capacity data in an event that the loading situation is changed due to a baggage having been loaded to, or unloaded from, a baggage compartment of the plurality of the baggage compartment. The automotive vehicle may be an autonomous ride-sharing vehicle.

Baggage transportation using autonomous vehicle

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to, upon determining that a local set of identifiers is inconsistent with a remotely served set of identifiers, prevent a vehicle from entering an autonomous mode or instruct the vehicle to perform a minimal risk condition.

Vehicle software check

A computer includes a processor and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to, upon determining that a vehicle entered a geofenced area, start a timer; upon determining that a handoff of the vehicle from an operator to a remote server has not occurred since starting the timer and that the timer has exceeded a time threshold, determine whether the operator is absent based on data from sensors; and then, upon determining that the operator is absent, instruct the vehicle to follow a command received from the remote server.

Vehicle control handoff

Exposure to ultrasound energy emitted by remote object detection systems on vehicles is reduced for vehicle occupants. An automotive vehicle has a passenger cabin and a remote sensing system including ultrasonic transceivers mounted for sensing external objects. An ultrasonic microphone is disposed to sense an ultrasonic wave entering the passenger cabin at greater than 30 kHz. An antinoise processor calculates an antinoise signal adapted to at least partially cancel the ultrasonic wave at a predetermined location in the cabin. An amplifier is coupled to the processor for amplifying the antinoise signal by a predetermined gain. An ultrasonic speaker is coupled to the amplifier to project the antinoise signal into the predetermined location to attenuate the ultrasonic wave at the predetermined location.

Ultrasonic noise cancellation in vehicular passenger compartment

Remote object detection in an automotive vehicle includes an ultrasonic sensor for emitting ultrasonic bursts from an ultrasonic transducer at a standard rate. At least one object is tracked which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor. The transducer is adaptively set to emit ultrasonic bursts at a reduced rate which is less than the standard rate based on a result of the object tracking. In one embodiment, the ultrasonic bursts are set at the reduced rate when the tracked object is maintaining a stable relative position. The stable relative position may be comprised of the tracked object having a relative velocity less than a threshold. In another embodiment, extrinsic ultrasonic bursts originating from the tracked object and subsequent echoes between the automotive vehicle and the tracked object can be used by the vehicle to monitor the tracked object while emission of bursts from the vehicle are switched off.

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Belleville, MI, United States of America

Vivekananda Krishnamurthy