On-road emergency behavior modalities enabling for autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025222963-A1
Application number	US-202418406655-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 8, 2024
Priority date	Jan 8, 2024
Publication date	Jul 10, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle including one or more sensors positioned on a body of the autonomous vehicle, at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions is disclosed. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to: (i) receive sensor data from the one or more sensors; (ii) determine, from the sensor data, presence of an emergency situation and absence of an emergency vehicle at a site of the emergency situation; (iii) in accordance with the determining, trigger a first responder mode of the autonomous vehicle; and (iv) initiate one or more actions to assist or protect people or a property at the site of the emergency situation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
one or more sensors positioned on a body of the autonomous vehicle; at least one processor; at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to:
receive sensor data from the one or more sensors;
determine, from the sensor data, presence of an emergency situation and absence of an emergency vehicle at a site of the emergency situation;
in accordance with the determining, trigger a first responder mode of the autonomous vehicle; and
initiate one or more actions to assist or protect people or a property at the site of the emergency situation.

2 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
transmit, via the transceiver to a computing system, the sensor data including a geolocation of the site of the emergency situation, and audio or visual data corresponding to the emergency situation; and receive, via the transceiver from the computing system, instructions to transmit specific sensor data or perform the one or more actions to assist or protect the people or the property at the site of the emergency situation.

3 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
process the sensor data to remove personal identifying information from the sensor data before transmitting the sensor data to the computing system.

4 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors include at least one or more acoustic sensors, one or more cameras, one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, or one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors.

5 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate three dimensional (3D) visualization images based on the sensor data from the one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, the one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors, or the one or more cameras.

6 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising one or more display devices mounted on one or more exterior sides of the autonomous vehicle; and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to initiate the one or more actions to assist or protect the people or property at the site of the emergency situation by performing one or more of:
pulling the autonomous vehicle in a driving lane or a shoulder at an angle or straight; displaying one or more messages on the one or more display devices to alert a passerby of the emergency situation or to request help; or initiating a two-way communication between the passerby and an agent at a mission control, a police department, a fire department, or an emergency medical services department.

7 . The autonomous vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine presence of the emergency situation and absence of the emergency vehicle at the site of the emergency situation based on one or more machine-learning models trained to identify the emergency situation including an accident, a fire, a smoke, a damaged property, or an injured person, based at least in part on acoustic data or visual data of the sensor data using the one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, the one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors, the one or more cameras, or the one or more microphones.

8 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving sensor data from one or more sensors positioned on a body of an autonomous vehicle; based on the sensor data, determining presence of an emergency situation and absence of an emergency vehicle at a site of the emergency situation; in accordance with the determining, triggering a first responder mode of the autonomous vehicle; and initiating one or more actions to assist or protect people or a property at the site of the emergency situation.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising:
transmitting, via a transceiver of the autonomous vehicle to a computing system, the sensor data including a geolocation of the site of the emergency situation, and audio or visual data corresponding to the emergency situation; and receiving, via the transceiver from the computing system, instructions to transmit specific sensor data or perform the one or more actions to assist or protect the people or the property at the site of the emergency situation.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising processing the sensor data to remove personal identifying information from the sensor data before transmitting the sensor data to the computing system.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more sensors include at least one or more acoustic sensors, one or more cameras, one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, or one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising generating three dimensional (3D) visualization images based on the sensor data from the one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, the one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors, or the one or more cameras.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein initiating the one or more actions to assist or protect the people or the property at the site of the emergency situation comprises performing one or more of:
pulling the autonomous vehicle in a driving lane or a shoulder at an angle or straight; displaying one or more messages on one or more display devices mounted on one or more exterior sides of the autonomous vehicle to alert a passerby of the emergency situation or to request help; or initiating a two-way communication between the passerby and an agent at a mission control, a police department, a fire department, or an emergency medical services department.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , further comprising determining presence of the emergency situation and absence of the emergency vehicle at the site of the emergency situation based on one or more machine-learning models trained to identify the emergency situation including an accident, a fire, a smoke, a damaged property, or an injured person, based at least in part on acoustic data or visual data of the sensor data using the one or more radio detection and ranging (RADAR) sensors, the one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors, the one or more cameras, or the one or more microphones.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium (CRM) embodying programmed instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of an autonomous vehicle, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving sensor data from one or more sensors positioned on a body of the autonomous vehicle; based on the sensor data, determining presence of an emergency situation and absence of an emergency vehicle at a site of the emergency situation; in accordance with the determining, triggering a first responder mode of the autonomous vehicle; and initiating one or more actions to assist or protect people or a property at the site of the emergency situation.

16 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprising:
transmitting, via a transceiver of the autonomous vehicle to a computing system, the sensor data including a geolocation of the site of the emergency situation, and audio or v

Assignees

• Torc Robotics Inc

Inventors

• Davis William
• Fox-Rabinovitz Joseph R
• Raikar Akshay Pai
• Yurkanin Justin
• Smith Pablo
• Deshingkar Mihir

Classifications

• B60W2420/54

  Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound · CPC title

• B60W2420/408

  Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar · CPC title

• B60W60/007 Primary

  Emergency override (Handing over between remote control and on-board control or handing over between remote control arrangements G05D1/227) · CPC title

• B60Q1/52

  for indicating emergencies · CPC title

• H04W4/90 Primary

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title