Vehicle corner modules and vehicles comprising them

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11267522-B2
Application number	US-202117464121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2021
Priority date	Jan 2, 2020
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle corner module (VCM) is provided for regulating motion of a host vehicle which comprises a vehicle-onboard vehicle-controller. The VCM comprises a sub-frame mountable to a reference frame of the host vehicle; a wheel-hub assembly comprising a wheel-hub; VCM-sub-systems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, e.g., a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and/or a braking subsystem; and an VCM-onboard VCM-controller, comprising one or more processors and a computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to establish a communication link with a vehicle-controller, including electronically transferring information about the VCM from the VCM-controller to the vehicle-controller, and to perform, in response to an installation of the VCM on a vehicle, a post-installation validation-process that includes validating the VCM-subsystems and communicating a result of the validating to the vehicle-controller.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of installing a vehicle corner module (VCM) on a vehicle platform, the VCM comprising a sub-frame mountable to the vehicle platform, a wheel-hub assembly, a VCM-controller onboard the VCM, and a plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem, the method comprising the following steps:
a. establishing an electronic communication link between the VCM-controller and a vehicle-controller onboard the vehicle platform, wherein the establishing includes transferring information about the VCM from the VCM-controller to the vehicle-controller;
b. transmitting, to a permission system in an external computer, information about the VCM,
wherein an installing-value is assigned to the VCM, based on at least one of: information about prior usage of one or more of the plurality of subsystems, and information about prior maintenance of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems.

2. A method of installing a vehicle corner module (VCM) on a vehicle platform, the VCM comprising a sub-frame mountable to the vehicle platform, a wheel-hub assembly, a VCM-controller onboard the VCM, and a plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem, the method comprising the following steps:
a. establishing an electronic communication link between the VCM-controller and a vehicle-controller onboard the vehicle platform, wherein the establishing includes transferring information about the VCM from the VCM-controller to the vehicle-controller;
b. transmitting to a permission system in an external computer, information about the VCM,
wherein the method additionally comprises: mounting the VCM to the vehicle platform, and wherein the mounting includes replacing a previously installed VCM that comprises a respective plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the respective plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a replacing-value is assigned to the replacing, based at least in part on at least one of: usage information of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems of the previously-installed VCM, and maintenance information of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems of the previously-installed VCM.

4. A method of installing a vehicle corner module (VCM) on a vehicle platform, the VCM comprising a sub-frame mountable to the vehicle platform, a wheel-hub assembly, a VCM-controller onboard the VCM, and a plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem, the method comprising the following steps:
a. establishing an electronic communication link between the VCM-controller and an external computer;
b. transmitting, to a permission system in the external computer, information about the VCM.

5. A method of installing a vehicle corner module (VCM) on a vehicle platform, the VCM comprising a sub-frame mountable to the vehicle platform, a wheel-hub assembly, a VCM-controller onboard the VCM, and a plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem, the method comprising the following steps:
a. establishing an electronic communication link between the VCM-controller and an external computer;
b. transmitting, to a permission system in the external computer, information about the VCM,
wherein an installing-value is assigned to the VCM, based on at least one of: information about prior usage of one or more of the plurality of subsystems, and information about prior maintenance of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems.

6. A method of installing a vehicle corner module (VCM) on a vehicle platform, the VCM comprising a sub-frame mountable to the vehicle platform, a wheel-hub assembly, a VCM-controller onboard the VCM, and a plurality of subsystem mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem, the method comprising the following steps:
a. establishing an electronic communication link between the VCM-controller and an external computer;
b. transmitting, to a permission system in the external computer, information about the VCM,
wherein the method additionally comprises: mounting the VCM to the vehicle platform, and wherein the mounting includes replacing a previously installed VCM that comprises a respective plurality of subsystems mediating between the sub-frame and the wheel-hub assembly, the plurality of subsystems comprising at least two of a drive subsystem, a steering subsystem, a suspension subsystem and a braking subsystem.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising assigning a replacing-value to the VCM, based at least in part on at least one of: usage information of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems of the previously-installed VCM, and maintenance information of one or more of the respective plurality of subsystems of the previously-installed VCM.

Assignees

• Ree Automotive Ltd

Inventors

• Sardes Ahishay
• Segev Tomer
• Dekel Ran
• Chioclea Shmuel
• Doron Neta

Classifications

• B60K7/0007 Primary

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• Y02T10/64

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• H04W4/48

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• H04L12/46

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• B60Y2306/15

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