The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 13, 2023
Filed:
Feb. 06, 2019
Koito Manufaturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Naoki Tatara, Shizuoka, JP;
Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Problem: To provide an autonomous driving indication system that allows a pedestrian or another vehicle to clearly discriminate driving states of an autonomous driving vehicle and provide a vehicle communication system capable of sending an appropriate message to a pedestrian from a vehicle according to the probability of the pedestrian crossing the road. Means to Solve the Problem: Left and right headlamps () are each provided with a first communication lamp () and a second communication lamp () for indicating an autonomous driving state of a vehicle (). The first and second communication lamps () and () are each comprised of a plurality of light emitting segments, and each light emitting segment is caused to flash by a lamp ECU. When flashing the light emitting segments, the lamp ECU controls the change in the brightness of the light emitting segments according to the driving state of the vehicle. A vehicle ECU or the lamp ECU is provided with a probability computing unit for calculating the probability that a pedestrian will cross the road, and a control unit for switching the light output of light emitting segments individually or in unison according to the probability.