Autonomous personal mobility systems

• US 10,452,077 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2017
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Louey, Andrew, D'Agata, Gaetano, Cameron, Graeme, Schulz, Howard, Evans, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Greene, Daniel L
• Application Number:
  US15/707,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20180101179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/24 Personal mobility vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/16 DC brushless machines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/42 with use of more than one motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2220/44 Wheel Hub motors, i.e. integrated in the wheel hub
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/42 related to electric machines
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/20 by driver identification
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0015 Prevention of collisions
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 5/005 without mechanical contact between the collector and the power supply line
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/51 characterised by AC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/52 characterised by DC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/64 Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/124 Detection or removal of foreign bodies
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B62H 5/00 Appliances preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of cycles; Locks integral with cycles fittings for preventing or indicating use or theft of vehicles in general B60R; general features of locks E05B
• CPC Class Codes: B62J 45/41 characterised by the type of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: B62J 50/22 electronic, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 15/00 Collapsible or foldable cycles
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 2204/00 Adaptations for driving cycles by electric motor for driving electrically assisted bicycles B62M6/00
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 5/027 : Motorcycles with three wheels specially adapted for disabled riders B62K5/023
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 : characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 : with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0225 : involving docking at a fixed facility, e.g. base station or loading bay parking aids B62D15/027
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0274 : using mapping information stored in a memory device navigation using map-matching G01C21/30
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 : using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 : Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 : where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 : for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 : for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 : with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/64 : Electric machine technologies in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

Autonomous personal mobility systems including one or more personal mobility vehicles, each personal mobility vehicle including a navigation system configured to provide autonomous point-to-point navigation within a specified geographic area, and one or more sensors configured to detect obstructions proximate to the personal mobility vehicle, so as to enable the navigation system to avoid the detected obstructions. The system includes one or more kiosks configured to store the one or more personal mobility vehicles and charge the one or more personal mobility vehicles while stored. In some examples, the systems include a smartphone app interface to the navigation system.

Claims

1. An autonomous personal mobility system, comprising:

one or more personal mobility vehicles, each personal mobility vehicle comprising;

a key to activate an operation, the key including an identification code associated with a service provider, wherein the personal mobility vehicles are authorized to operate only in a specific geographic area according to the identification code,

a navigation system including;

a mobility control system including a database of locations in the specific geographic area,

a touch screen interface configured to present a plurality of points of interest within the specified geographic area according to the identification code,

a navigation interface communicated with the mobility control system and the touch screen interface for a user to select a point of interest from the touch screen interface, wherein the point of the interest is one of the locations within the specific geographic area, and

one or more sensors configured to detect obstructions proximate to the personal mobility vehicle, so as to enable the navigation system to avoid the detected obstructions,

wherein the mobility control system is configured to receive the selected point of interest from the navigation interface and compute a navigation path from a current location of the personal mobility vehicle to the selected point of interest and instruct a drive wheel controller to navigate the personal mobility vehicle to the selected point of interest automatically according to the information from the navigation system and the sensors, and

wherein the personal mobility vehicle is deactivated when the navigation system determines that the personal mobility vehicle is outside the specific geographic area; and

one or more kiosks configured to store the one or more personal mobility vehicles and charge the one or more personal mobility vehicles while stored and electrically communicated with the kiosks.

2. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 1, further comprising a smartphone application that allows a user to summon a personal mobility vehicle while the user is apart from the personal mobility vehicle, and interact with the navigation system.

3. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 1, wherein the specified geographic area is an airport, a shopping center, a transportation hub, a tourist attraction, or an urban core.

4. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 1, further comprising a smartphone application, wherein the smartphone application is further configured to transmit the location of the user to the navigation system, and the navigation system is further configured to navigate the personal mobility vehicle to the user'"'"'s location upon the user'"'"'s request.

5. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more kiosks charges the one or more personal mobility vehicles via an induction charging rail.

6. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more kiosks further allows one of the personal mobility vehicles to be rented.

7. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 1, wherein each of the personal mobility vehicles has a three-wheel configuration.

8. The autonomous personal mobility system of claim 7, wherein each of the personal mobility vehicles is foldable so as to minimize space consumed in one of the kiosks.

9. A personal mobility vehicle for renting by a service provider, comprising:

a key to start an operation, the key including an identification code associated with the service provider for a user to operate the personal mobility vehicle only in a specific geographic area authorized according to the identification code;

a navigation system including;

a mobility control system including a database of locations in the specific geographic area,

a touch-screen interface configured to present a plurality of points of interest within the specified geographic area according to the identification code, wherein the points of interest correspond to the locations in the specific geographic area;

a navigation interface communicated with the mobility control system and the touch screen interface for a user to select a point of interest;

an object collision avoidance system to detect presence of objects surrounding the personal mobility vehicle; and

a drive wheel controller,

wherein the mobility control system is configured to receive the selected point of interest from the navigation interface and compute a navigation path from a current location of the personal mobility vehicle to selected point of interest and instruct the drive wheel controller to navigate the personal mobility vehicle to the selected point of interest automatically according to the information from the navigation system and the object collision avoidance system and

wherein the personal mobility vehicle is deactivated when the navigation system determines that the personal mobility vehicle is outside the specific geographic area.

10. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, wherein the mobility control system is further configured to control the drive wheel controller to follow a traffic flow at a walking pace or a jog pace.

11. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, wherein the personal mobility vehicle is a three-wheel vehicle, and includes a seat movably attached to a base to enable a storage and stack mode, the personal mobility vehicle further configured to allow a seated posture and a standing posture of the user, wherein the personal mobility vehicle further includes a pivoting deck and a touch screen including the user interface.

12. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, wherein the drive system includes two non-pneumatic type drive wheels and a motor mounted on a hub and a rechargeable battery to power the motor;

wherein steering is provided by left-only, right-only, forward and reverse electronic actuation of the drive wheels.

13. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, further comprising a manual driving button on the user interface, wherein an autonomous driving mode is overridden when the user activates a manual operation mode via the manual driving button.

14. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, wherein the mobility control system is configured to receive specific destination information from the service provider and causes display of the specific destination information on the user interface, wherein the specific destination information includes at least one of new books available at a library, a gate or a flight information from an airport, shopping information for a shopping mall, zone access restriction based on security, safety, and theft prevention.

15. The autonomous personal mobility vehicle of claim 9, further comprising a smartphone application, wherein the smartphone application is further configured to transmit the location of the user to the navigation system, and the navigation system is further configured to navigate the personal mobility vehicle to the user'"'"'s location upon the user'"'"'s request.

16. The personal mobility vehicle of claim 15, further comprising a manual driving button on the user interface, wherein an autonomous driving mode is overridden when the user activates a manual operation mode via the manual driving button, and wherein the manual operation mode is disabled when the personal mobility vehicle is navigated without the user.