System and method for autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle

• US 10,562,406 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2018
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Williams, Paxton S., Williams, Colby S., Frederick, Scott L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sarwar, Babar
• Application Number:
  US15/918,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20190275892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/62 Vehicle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/12 by confirmation, e.g. of the input
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/32 Auto pilot mode
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/35 Means for automatic or assisted adjustment of the relative position of charging devices and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and methods for autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle. Specifically, the present disclosure describes an autonomous vehicle subsystem configured to evaluate vehicle charge, identify possible charging stations, interact with a user to confirm a charging station, navigate to the selected charging station, and initiate and receive of a charge from a charging port at the charging station. User interaction may be vehicle-driven or user-driven.

Claims

1. A method for semi-autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle battery, comprising:

measuring, by processing circuitry, a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery;

determining, by the processing circuitry and based upon the measuring of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery;

acquiring, by the processing circuitry, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determining of the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

recommending, by the processing circuitry, a charging station based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

querying, via a user interface, a selection regarding the recommended charging station;

reserving, by the processing circuitry and based upon the selection regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station;

navigating, by the processing circuitry, an autonomous vehicle associated with the autonomous vehicle battery to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and

receiving, via a charging subsystem including a charging arm deployable from a charging arm housing disposed within the autonomous vehicle, a charge from a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station, the charging plate being disposed in ground and the charging arm being configured to receive the charge from the charging plate upon deployment into contact with the charging plate.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising deploying, by the processing circuitry, the charging arm based upon co-location of the charging arm with the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the co-location is based on a location of a global positioning system receiver of the charging arm housing relative to geographic coordinates of the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from a current position, travel time from the current position, estimated time to charge the autonomous vehicle battery, estimated cost of charging the autonomous vehicle battery, or a combination thereof.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

establishing, by the processing circuitry, a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station;

and

determining, by the processing circuitry, whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence,

wherein the determining whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence comprises estimating a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence,

wherein receiving, via the charging subsystem, the charge from the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence.

6. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

an autonomous vehicle battery;

a user interface;

a charging subsystem including a charging arm deployable from a charging arm housing disposed within the autonomous vehicle; and

processing circuitry configured to

measure a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery;

determine, based upon the measurement of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery;

acquire, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determination of the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

recommend, based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations, a charging station;

reserve, based upon a selection regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station; and

navigate the autonomous vehicle to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station,

wherein the user interface is configured to receive the selection regarding the recommended charging station in response to a query,

wherein the charging subsystem is configured to receive a charge from a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station, the charging plate being disposed in ground and the charging arm of the charging subsystem being configured to receive the charge from the charging plate upon deployment into contact with the charging plate.

7. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

deploy the charging arm based upon co-location of the charging arm with the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

8. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the co-location is based on a location of a global positioning system receiver of the charging arm housing relative to geographic coordinates of the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

9. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from a current position, travel time from the current position, estimated time to charge the autonomous vehicle battery, estimated cost of charging the autonomous vehicle battery, or a combination thereof.

10. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

establish a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station;

and

determine whether the autonomous vehicle is inside the established geofence,

wherein the determination of whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence comprises an estimation of a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence,

wherein receipt of the charge from the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence.

11. A method for semi-autonomous charging of an autonomous vehicle battery, comprising:

measuring, by processing circuitry and in response to receiving a command via a user interface, a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery;

determining, by the processing circuitry and based upon the measuring of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery;

acquiring, by the processing circuitry, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determining the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

recommending, by the processing circuitry, a charging station based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

querying, via the user interface, a selection regarding the recommended charging station;

reserving, by the processing circuitry and based upon the selection regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station;

navigating, by the processing circuitry, the autonomous vehicle to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station; and

receiving, via a charging subsystem including a charging arm deployable from a charging arm housing disposed within the autonomous vehicle, a charge from a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station, the charging plate being disposed in ground and the charging arm being configured to receive the charge from the charging plate upon deployment into contact with the charging plate.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising

deploying, by the processing circuitry, the charging arm based upon co-location of the charging arm with the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the co-location is based on a location of a global positioning system receiver of the charging arm housing relative to geographic coordinates of the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from a current position, travel time from the current position, estimated time to charge the autonomous vehicle battery, estimated cost of charging the autonomous vehicle battery, or a combination thereof.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising

establishing, by the processing circuitry, a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station;

and

determining, by the processing circuitry, whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence,

wherein the determining whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence comprises estimating a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence,

wherein receiving, via the charging subsystem, the charge from the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence.

16. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

an autonomous vehicle battery;

a user interface;

a charging subsystem including a charging arm deployable from a charging arm housing disposed within the autonomous vehicle; and

a processing circuitry configured to

measure, in response to receiving a command via the user interface, a current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery;

determine, based upon the measurement of the current charge of the autonomous vehicle battery, a battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery;

acquire, from a network of charging stations and based upon the determination of the battery charge residual capacity of the autonomous vehicle battery with respect to a pre-determined threshold, information related to one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations;

recommend, based upon the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations, a charging station;

reserve, based upon a selection regarding the recommended charging station, a charging port at the selected charging station; and

navigate the autonomous vehicle to the reserved charging port at the selected charging station,

wherein the user interface is configured to receive the selection regarding the recommended charging station in response to a query,

wherein the charging subsystem is configured to receive a charge from a charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station, the charging plate being disposed in ground and the charging arm of the charging subsystem being configured to receive the charge from the charging plate upon deployment into contact with the charging plate.

17. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

deploy the charging arm based upon co-location of the charging arm with the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

18. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 17, wherein the co-location is based on a location of a global positioning system receiver of the charging arm housing relative to geographic coordinates of the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station.

19. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the information related to the one or more charging stations of the network of charging stations includes charging port availability, distance from a current position, travel time from the current position, estimated time to charge the autonomous vehicle battery, estimated cost of charging the autonomous vehicle battery, or a combination thereof.

20. The autonomous vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

establish a geofence for the reserved charging port at the selected charging station;

and

determine whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence,

wherein the determination of whether the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence comprises an estimation of a geolocation of the autonomous vehicle in context of the established geofence,

wherein receipt of the charge from the charging plate of the reserved charging port at the selected charging station is predicate upon a positive determination that the autonomous vehicle is within the established geofence.