Removable interior for reconfigurable vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11110970-B2
Application number	US-201916710102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2019
Priority date	Sep 16, 2019
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A reconfigurable vehicle may include a vehicle frame body and a removable floor. The removable floor may be configurable based on a use case for the reconfigurable vehicle. The removable floor may be configured for passenger transport, goods transport, or both. The removable floor may include a rotating assembly. The rotating assembly may include a wheel and a catch element. The removable floor may include one or more connection interfaces.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reconfigurable vehicle comprising:
a vehicle frame body, wherein the vehicle frame body comprises a fixed vehicle floor and a first connection interface, wherein the fixed vehicle floor comprises a rail and a plurality of attachment points; and
a removable floor that is configurable based on a use case for the reconfigurable vehicle, the removable floor comprising:
a rotating assembly comprising a wheel and a catch element,
a second connection interface configured to connect to the first connection interface, and
a plurality of latches.

2. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the removable floor is configured for passenger transport.

3. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the removable floor is configured for goods transport.

4. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the removable floor comprise a first portion configured for passenger transport and a second portion configured for goods transport.

5. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle frame body comprises vehicle sensing configured for autonomous operation.

6. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle frame body comprises hardware systems configured for autonomous operation.

7. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the rail and the plurality of attachment points are recessed into the fixed vehicle floor.

8. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein a width of the wheel is larger than a width of an attachment point of the plurality of attachment points.

9. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the wheel is configured to roll on a floor of the rail and over the attachment point.

10. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the catch element is configured to engage one of the plurality of attachment points to lock the removable floor in place.

11. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the wheel is configured to lift off a floor of the rail as the catch element engages one of the plurality of attachment points.

12. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first connection interface is configured to supply power to the removable floor.

13. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the first connection interface is a data interface.

14. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the second connection interface is configured to receive power from the first connection interface.

15. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the second connection interface is configured to send data to the first interface.

16. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the removable floor further comprises a third connection interface.

17. The reconfigurable vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the third connection interface is configured to supply power to another removable floor.

18. A removable floor comprising:
a rotating assembly comprising a wheel and a catch element;
a first connection interface configured to connect to a connection interface of a vehicle; and
a second connection interface configured to connect to another removable floor.

19. The removable floor of claim 18 further comprising:
a bar element configured to raise and lower the wheel and the catch element.

20. The removable floor of claim 18 further comprising:
a cutout configured to accommodate a lifting device.

Assignees

• Great Wall Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Stimpson Alexander
• Wonnacott Dereck
• Crawford Mark

Classifications

• G05D1/0287

  involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16) · CPC title

• B60P3/42

  convertible from one use to a different one (vehicles capable of travelling in or on different media, rail-and-road vehicles B60F) · CPC title

• B60P3/423

  from transport of persons to transport of goods · CPC title

• B62D47/02

  for large numbers of passengers, e.g. omnibus · CPC title

• B62D25/2054

  Load carrying floors for commercial vehicles · CPC title