Secured vehicle for user use only

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10074223-B2
Application number	US-201715406138-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2017
Priority date	Jan 13, 2017
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

Systems of an electrical vehicle and the operations thereof are provided. Within an autonomous vehicle fleet that can be optionally primarily used for ridesharing, how does an owner or first user of one of the vehicles prevent another customer or second user from approaching a vehicle and using it for their own purposes/trips? How does the first customer lock down the vehicle for their use exclusively? How does a user secure any personal data that they may have stored in the vehicle? As one example, software locking, portable device authentication, human identification, biometric, rolling code and/or a physical identification card can be utilized to secure and/or reserve the vehicle for the first user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle security system, comprising:
a security license system to lock one or more vehicle systems using encryption;
one or more sensors to detect that an authorized user of the vehicle is no longer proximate to the vehicle;
a communications system to provide, in response to the one or more sensors detecting that the authorized user of the vehicle is no longer proximate to the vehicle, a decryption key to a communication device associated with the authorized user, wherein the decryption key is configured to decrypt the encryption used for locking the one or more vehicle systems;
the communications system further configured to receive a plurality of factors for authentication in response to a request for authentication, wherein the plurality of factors includes the decryption key;
a multi-factor authentication system in communication with the communication system to determine whether access to the vehicle should be provided based on the received plurality of factors;
a low-level controller that allows access to the one or more vehicle systems upon authentication confirmation from the multi-factor authentication system; and
the multi-factor authentication system further allowing access to user profile information associated with the authorized user of the vehicle based on the authentication and only when the decryption key is received by the communications system.

2. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the low-level controller operates at a Basic Input-Output System (“BIOS”) level, wherein the low-level controller encrypts a component to prevent use of the component by an unauthenticated user, wherein the component is one or more of the vehicle's navigation, communication, control, and/or sensor, wherein the decryption key must be provided by the first user to decrypt and enable the component, and wherein the plurality of factors includes one or more of user identity information, biometric information, license information, rolling code information, password information, time information, location information, reservation information, secure code information, and/or an authorization code.

3. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle operates in a high or full automation level, wherein when operating in the high automation level a human driver is separated from controlling all vehicle operations, wherein when operating in the full automation level the vehicle controls all driving operations, wherein, in the high or full automation levels, the vehicle receives sensor information describing a condition of a target in an environment surrounding the vehicle, and autonomously changes to a driving operation of the vehicle in response to the sensor information, wherein the low-level controller operates at a Basic Input-Output System (“BIOS”) level, wherein the communications system receives the plurality of factors for authentication one or more of wirelessly, through direct electrical contact, via a user interface, from a smartphone, from an electronic device, audibly, and/or from a reader, and wherein the low-level controller authenticates the user using one or more of a rolling RSA security license, biometric information, public key/private key encryption technique, and an encryption technique.

4. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is a shared vehicle, the vehicle being shared by at least the user and a second user, and one of the plurality of factors for authentication is a reservation for the vehicle at a date and a time, wherein the low-level controller encrypts a component to prevent use of the component by an unauthenticated user, wherein the component is one or more of the vehicle's navigation, communication, control, and/or sensor, wherein the decryption key must be provided by an authenticated user to decrypt and enable the component, wherein the user, but not the second user, is provided with the decryption key at a first time and the second user, but not the user, is provided with the decryption key at a different second time, and wherein the decryption key is provided wirelessly to smartphones of the user and the second user.

5. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication provides access to only some of the vehicle systems, wherein the vehicle is a shared vehicle, the vehicle being shared by at least the user and a second user, and one of the plurality of factors for authentication is a reservation for the vehicle at a date and a time, wherein different first and second tokens are provided to the user and the second user, respectively at different times, wherein the tokens are generated by an RSA SecurID authentication mechanism, and wherein the low-level controller determines that the first token, but not the second token, is valid at a first time and that the second token, but not the first token, is valid at a different second time.

6. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein a license associated with the authentication specifies which vehicle systems a particular user can access, wherein a trusted platform module authenticates a key received from the user, wherein the trusted platform module is embedded in a motherboard of an on board vehicle system, and wherein the key is a hardware key.

7. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein after authentication the vehicle is subsequently locked and one or more of the one or more vehicle systems are encrypted, wherein a trusted platform module authenticates a key received from the user, wherein the trusted platform module is embedded in a motherboard of an on board vehicle system, wherein the key is the decryption key, and wherein the decryption is wrapped using the trusted platform module, thereby binding a storage device comprising encrypted information that is decrypted by the decryption key to a device comprising the motherboard.

8. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the low-level controller operates at a Basic Input-Output System (“BIOS”) level, wherein the low-level controller encrypts a component to prevent use of the component by an unauthenticated user, wherein the component is one or more of the vehicle's navigation, communication, control, and/or sensor, and wherein the vehicle communicates the decryption key to decrypt the encrypted component to a computational component in a cloud.

9. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein successful authentication of the user triggers downloading by the vehicle of the user's information from a remote location.

10. The vehicle security system of claim 1 , wherein the user has reserved the vehicle over a specified time period and/or for pickup at a specific location, wherein the request for authentication is triggered by a vehicle sensor detecting a presence of the user, and wherein the low-level controller considers the time and/or location of the user's presence in determining whether to authenticate successfully the user.

11. A method to operate a vehicle security system comprising:
determining, via one or more sensors, that an authorized user of a vehicle is no longer proximate to the vehicle;
communicating, in response to the one or more sensors determining that the authorized user of the vehicle is no longer proximate to the vehicle, a decryption key to a communication device associated with the authorized user, wherein the decryption key is configured to decrypt an encryption used for locking one or more vehicle systems;
receiving, by a low-level controller, a plurality of factors for authentication in response to a communicated request for authentication, wherein the plurality of factors includes the decryption key;
determining, by the low-level controller, wheth

Assignees

• Nio Usa Inc

Inventors

• Newman Austin L

Classifications

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• B60W2540/043

  Identity of occupants · CPC title

• G07C2009/00873

  by code input from the lock · CPC title

• G07C9/28

  the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence · CPC title