Systems and methods for managing fleets of autonomous vehicles to optimize electric budget

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10691138-B2
Application number	US-201715822326-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2017
Priority date	Jun 27, 2017
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

Communication network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of this disclosure provide autonomous vehicle network architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamically configurable network of autonomous vehicles comprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes, including systems and methods for managing fleets of autonomous vehicles to optimize electric budget.

First claim

What are claimed:

1. A method for managing operation of a vehicle, comprising:
determining by the vehicle a battery level of its battery;
determining by the vehicle, based on the battery level, a first charging station at which to charge the battery; and
controlling by the vehicle without a user input, based on one or more of the battery level and a location of the first charging station, operation of one or more of hardware devices and software applications.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving updates on status of one or more charging stations, including the first charging station.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising changing, based on the updates, from the first charging station to a second charging station to charge the battery.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the updates comprise one or more of: expected time to drive to each of the one or more charging stations, expected wait time at each of the plurality of the one or more charging stations until a charging spot is available, and expected charge time at each one of the one or more charging stations once the charging spot is acquired.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising controlling data transfer based on one or more of the battery level, availability of a fixed access point, and mode of operation of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the data transfer occurs via another vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising providing, by the vehicle, environment data to one or both of: other vehicles and a cloud server.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the environment data comprises one or more of: traffic information, infrastructure information, and vehicle information.

9. A vehicle, comprising:
a battery storage level block configured to determine a battery level of a battery in the vehicle; and
one or more processors configured to, without a user input:
determine, based on the battery level, a first charging station at which to charge the battery; and
control, based on one or more of the battery level and a location of the first charging station, operation of one or more of hardware devices and software applications.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , comprising a transceiver configured to receive updates on status of one or more charging stations, including the first charging station.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to change, based on the updates, from the first charging station to a second charging station to charge the battery.

12. The vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the updates comprise one or more of: expected time to drive to each of the one or more charging stations, expected wait time at each of the plurality of the one or more charging stations until a charging spot is available, and expected charge time at each one of the one or more charging stations once the charging spot is acquired.

13. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to control data transfer based on one or more of the battery level, availability of a fixed access point, and mode of operation of the vehicle.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the data transfer occurs via another vehicle.

15. The vehicle of claim 9 , comprising providing, by the vehicle, environment data to one or more of: other vehicles and a cloud server.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the environment data comprises one or more of: traffic information, infrastructure information, and vehicle information.

Assignees

• Veniam Inc

Inventors

• Antunes Marques Esteves Francisco José

Classifications

• Y02T90/167

  Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV] · CPC title

• Y04S30/12

  Remote or cooperative charging · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T90/12

  Electric charging stations · CPC title