Rugged terrain vehicle design and route optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11797019-B2
Application number	US-202016933109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Jul 20, 2020
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

Method and system for providing a mobility service is described. The mobility service can include delivering goods in rough terrain, rural areas, and other similar environments, by selecting and configuring vehicles for terrain considerations based on known and dynamically changing information. The disclosed system can include a vehicle configured with a deployable autonomous drone, and can determine optimized vehicle routes to remote locations using the deployable drone and vehicle navigation sensors, for real time mapping that can be combined with existing map/terrain data. The terrain data may also be sent to a vehicle in a vehicle fleet, and/or to a cloud-based server, and be used to compute the best available vehicles designed for the mobility service. The system may deploy one or more mobility solutions, collect telematics, road information, navigational data, and other information during the delivery. This feedback may then be used for future mobility services.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A method for performing a mobility service using a vehicle, comprising:
determining a request to perform a mobility service associated with a target destination;
sending a deployment instruction to an autonomous drone:
receiving terrain data and environmental information from the autonomous drone, the terrain data comprising at least one terrain characteristic associated with a path to the target destination, the terrain characteristic comprising one or more of a road type, a road condition, or a road surface material;
selecting the vehicle for performing the mobility service based on the terrain data received from the autonomous drone and a vehicle characteristic associated with the vehicle;
determining a road associated with the path to the target destination based on a map of a geographic region in which the path to the target destination is located;
receiving, from the autonomous drone, navigational coordinates associated with an auxiliary path around the road, wherein the auxiliary path is an off-road path separate from the road, wherein the auxiliary path is generated by the autonomous drone based on a determination that the vehicle is able to navigate a type of off-road terrain associated with the auxiliary path, and wherein the auxiliary path avoids an obstacle at a first location on the road; and
navigating to the target destination using the road and the auxiliary path at the first location on the road
wherein selecting the vehicle comprises:
determining a timing requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determining a payload requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determining a passenger requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determining that the vehicle satisfies the timing requirement, the payload requirement, and the passenger requirement;
and optimizing the vehicle based on a fuel consumption characteristic, a fuel capacity, and availability of another vehicle in a vehicle fleet responsive to determining that the vehicle satisfies the timing requirement, the payload requirement, and the passenger requirement.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving information from any one or more of a vehicle sensor and an online environmental data source.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein terrain data from the autonomous drone further comprises an image of the path or a video feed of the path.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the environmental information further comprises weather information indicative of an atmospheric condition associated with a geographic region in which the path to the target destination is located.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the environmental information is received from one or more third vehicles of a vehicle fleet.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising selecting the vehicle responsive to determining that the vehicle satisfies a fuel consumption requirement associated with providing the mobility service.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: calculating an estimated travel time associated with a path to the target destination based on the environmental information and the vehicle characteristic associated with the environmental information; calculating the estimated travel time associated with the path to the target destination based on the environmental information and the vehicle characteristic; and selecting the vehicle based on the estimated travel time associated with the target destination based on the vehicle characteristic.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle characteristic comprises a set of terrain navigation characteristics comprising a vehicle ground clearance, a tire size, a tire type, a drivetrain type, a vehicle weight capacity, a vehicle fuel or power capacity, and a rate of fuel or power consumption.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle characteristic comprises one of a set of maneuverability characteristics comprising ability to fly, and ability to traverse a body of water.

10. A system, comprising:
an autonomous drone;
a processor disposed in communication with the autonomous drone; and
a memory for storing executable instructions, the processor configured to execute instructions to:
determine a request to perform a mobility service associated with a target destination;
send a deployment instruction to an autonomous drone:
receive terrain data and environmental information from the autonomous drone, the terrain data comprising at least one terrain characteristic associated with a path to the target destination, the terrain characteristic comprising one or more of a road type, a road condition, a road surface material, or a count of vehicles on the path;
select the vehicle for performing the mobility service based on the terrain data received from the autonomous drone and a vehicle characteristic associated with the vehicle;
determine a road associated with the path to the target destination based on a map of a geographic region in which the path to the target destination is located;
receive, from the autonomous drone, navigational coordinates associated with an auxiliary path around the road, wherein the auxiliary path is an off-road path separate from the road, wherein the auxiliary path is generated by the autonomous drone based on a determination that the vehicle is able to navigate a type of off-road terrain associated with the auxiliary path, and wherein the auxiliary path avoids an obstacle at a first location on the road; and
navigate to the target destination using the road and the auxiliary path at the first location on the road
wherein select the vehicle comprises:
determine a timing requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determine a payload requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determine a passenger requirement associated with providing the mobility service;
determine that the vehicle satisfies the timing requirement, the payload requirement, and the passenger requirement;
and optimize the vehicle based on a fuel consumption characteristic, a fuel capacity, and availability of another vehicle in a vehicle fleet responsive to determine that the vehicle satisfies the timing requirement, the payload requirement, and the passenger requirement.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to receive information from any one or more of a vehicle sensor and an online environmental data source.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein terrain data from the autonomous drone further comprises an image of the path or a video feed of the path.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the environmental information further comprises weather information indicative of an atmospheric condition associated with a geographic region in which the path to the target destination is located.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to: receive the environmental information from one or more third vehicles of a vehicle fleet.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in a mobility navigation module for a vehicle, the computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
determine a request to perform a mobility service associated with a target destination;
send a deployment instruction to an autonomous drone:
receive terrain data and environmental informa

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Parenti Robert
• Neubecker Cynthia
• Siddiqui Adil Nizam

Classifications

• B64U2101/31

  for surveillance · CPC title

• B64U10/14

  with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters · CPC title

• B64U2101/32

  for cartography or topography · CPC title

• G05D1/0246 Primary

  using a video camera in combination with image processing means · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title