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:
Apr. 28, 2026
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2024
Ford Global Technologies, Llc, Dearborn, MI (US);
Vidya Nariyambut Murali, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Roger Arnold Trombley, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Leonidas Kiliaris, Southgate, MI (US);
Jeremy Ferack, Livonia, MI (US);
Akshay Prabhakarrao Moharir, South Lyon, MI (US);
Michael Litvak, Tel Aviv, IL;
Noga Zieber, Brookline, MA (US);
Asaf Kagan, Herzliya, IL;
Rotem Littman, Hod Hasharon, IL;
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A hitch assistance system for assisting in maneuvering a vehicle toward a trailer includes a sensing system that includes an image sensor and a controller. The controller is configured to: identify a position of a coupler of the trailer based on image data received from the image sensor by utilizing a coupler detection model trained based on a library of images depicting couplers; control movement of the vehicle toward an aligned position based on the identified position of the coupler, wherein a hitch ball of the vehicle is aligned with the coupler of the trailer; determine a prospective location of the coupler in image data based on sensor data received from the sensing system; and crop image data based on the determined prospective location of the coupler.