Stand-up vehicle having safety posture determination process and upper limit speed management process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11938936-B2
Application number	US-202117464095-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2021
Priority date	Sep 3, 2020
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

In a stand-up vehicle having a vehicle upper part having a riding surface configured for a user to stand on, one or more electronic control units execute emergency situation detection processing for detecting an emergency of the user when receiving notification from the user or based on information from one or more sensors, safety posture determination processing for determining whether or not the user takes a safety posture based on information from one or more sensors after detecting the emergency, and upper limit speed management processing executed when detecting the emergency and determining that the user takes the safety posture. The upper limit speed management process increases the upper limit speed to be higher than the basic upper limit speed selected when the safety posture determination process determines that the user is not in the safety posture, or cancels the upper limit speed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stand-up vehicle comprising:
a vehicle upper portion having a surface configured for a user to stand on;
a handrail arranged on the surface of the vehicle upper portion, the handrail configured for the user to grip;
one or more sensors configured to detect movement of the user riding on the stand-up vehicle;
a power unit configured to drive the stand-up vehicle; and
one or more electronic control units configured to control the power unit to limit a speed of the stand-up vehicle to an upper limit speed or less, wherein
the one or more electronic control units are configured to execute:
an emergency detection process to detect an emergency of the user when receiving a notification from the user or based on information from the one or more sensors;
a safety posture determination process to determine whether or not the user is in a safety posture based on information from the one or more sensors after the emergency is detected by the emergency detection process, the safety posture includes a posture in which the user stands on all fours on the surface including the user being only on their hands, knees, and feet;
an upper limit speed management process that is executed when the emergency is detected by the emergency detection process and the user is determined by the safety posture determination process to be in the safety posture, and
in the upper limit speed management process, the one or more electronic control units increase the upper limit speed to be higher than a basic upper limit speed selected when the safety posture determination process determines that the user is not in the safety posture, or cancels the upper limit speed.

2. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising a microphone, wherein
the one or more electronic control units are configured to detect the emergency when a predetermined password corresponding to the notification from the user is detected by the microphone.

3. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the safety posture includes a posture in which the user squats on the surface while gripping the handrail.

4. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the safety posture includes a first posture in which the user holds the handrail while standing on the surface, and the posture in which the user stands on all fours on the surface, and
in the upper limit speed management process, the one or more electronic control units increase an increase amount of the upper limit speed with respect to the basic upper limit speed when the safety posture determined by the safety posture determination process is the posture, as compared to an increase amount of the upper limit speed when the safety posture is the first posture.

5. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the safety posture includes a first posture in which the user holds the handrail while standing on the surface and a third posture in which the user squats on the surface while gripping the handrail, and
in the upper limit speed management process, the one or more electronic control units increase an increase amount of the upper limit speed with respect to the basic upper limit speed when the safety posture determined by the safety posture determination process is the third posture, as compared to an increase amount of the upper limit speed when the safety posture is the first posture.

6. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the handrail includes a front handrail and a rear handrail, the front handrail extends between a pair of front supports that extend upwardly from the surface at a front end portion of the stand-up vehicle, and the rear handrail extends between a pair of rear supports that extend upwardly from the surface at a rear end portion of the stand-up vehicle.

7. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 6 , further comprising an emergency button provided on each of the pair of front supports and the pair of rear supports, the emergency button operated by the user to notify the stand-up vehicle of an emergency situation.

8. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more sensors includes an inward facing camera installed on at least one of the pair of front supports and the pair of rear supports.

9. The stand-up vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors includes a weight sensor that is configured to detect a change in load on the surface.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Maniwa Yuta
• Kanata Tetsuya
• Iwami Yozo
• Honda Daisaku
• Katsumata Yuhei
• Fukudome Hideki
• Watabe Takuya
• Ichikawa Naoko
• Narita Saki
• Nishikawa Yuki

Classifications

• B60W30/146 Primary

  Speed limiting · CPC title

• B60W50/0098

  Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B60W50/085

  Changing the parameters of the control units, e.g. changing limit values, working points by control input · CPC title

• B60W60/0016 Primary

  of the vehicle or its occupants · CPC title

• G06V20/59

  inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions · CPC title