Accelerated vehicle development process
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of manufacturing a vehicle comprising:
- designing and manufacturing a vehicle chassis including a structural frame;
a suspension system mounted to the structural frame;
at least three wheels rotatably mounted to the suspension system;
an energy conversion system mounted to the structural frame, operably connected to at least one wheel, and controllable by wire;
a by-wire braking system mounted to the frame and operably connected to at least one wheel; and
a computer operatively connected to the energy conversion system and braking system, wherein said vehicle chassis is designed to include a common, standardized interface system having body connection components arranged to facilitate selective attachment of any of a plurality of different body types to the chassis; and
subsequent to said step of manufacturing a vehicle chassis, designing and manufacturing a body configured to conform to said standardized interface system for attachment to said manufactured chassis.
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Abstract
An accelerated vehicle development process includes establishing a common, standardized interface system whereby different types of vehicle bodies may be attached to a single chassis design. Chassis and bodies are designed, manufactured and validated independently of each other in accordance with the standardized interface system, thereby accelerating the development process. As new bodies are designed to mate with the previously manufactured and validated chassis, the newly designed bodies may be developed more quickly in response to market demand and attached to the previously validated chassis.
57 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing a vehicle comprising:
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designing and manufacturing a vehicle chassis including a structural frame;
a suspension system mounted to the structural frame;
at least three wheels rotatably mounted to the suspension system;
an energy conversion system mounted to the structural frame, operably connected to at least one wheel, and controllable by wire;
a by-wire braking system mounted to the frame and operably connected to at least one wheel; and
a computer operatively connected to the energy conversion system and braking system, wherein said vehicle chassis is designed to include a common, standardized interface system having body connection components arranged to facilitate selective attachment of any of a plurality of different body types to the chassis; and
subsequent to said step of manufacturing a vehicle chassis, designing and manufacturing a body configured to conform to said standardized interface system for attachment to said manufactured chassis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for the rapid production of vehicles, comprising:
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manufacturing a plurality of vehicle chassis, each having a body-attachment interface, a suspension system, a controllable energy conversion system, a controllable steering system, and a controllable braking system;
wherein the body-attachment interface includes body connection components engageable with complementary connection components on a vehicle body, including at least one body-retention coupling and at least one control signal receiving electrical connector;
each of the energy conversion system, the steering system, and the braking system operably connected to at least one control signal receiving electrical connector; and
each of the body-connection components on each of the vehicle chassis having the same predetermined spatial relationship relative to one another on the body attachment interface;
manufacturing a plurality of first vehicle bodies, the vehicle bodies each having a chassis-attachment interface juxtaposable with the body attachment interface of any of said chassis and comprising chassis-connection components complementary to the body-connection components, including at least one chassis-retention coupling and at least one control signal transmitting electrical connector, the chassis-connection components of each chassis attachment interface having a spatial relationship relative to one another on the chassis attachment interface that is compatible with the predetermined spatial relationship of the body-connection components on the vehicle chassis;
in response to a perceived market demand, subsequently manufacturing a plurality of second vehicle bodies differing in style, function, or configuration from the first vehicle bodies previously manufactured, the second bodies having a chassis-attachment interface comprising chassis connection components complementary to the body-connection components, including a chassis retention coupling and a control signal transmitting electrical connector, the chassis-connection components of the second vehicle bodies having a spatial relationship relative to one another that is the same as the spatial relationship of the body-connection components of the first vehicle bodies; and
in response to a perceived market demand, manufacturing a vehicle with one of said first or second vehicle bodies on one of said vehicle chassis.
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10. A method of designing and manufacturing vehicles comprising:
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designing and manufacturing a plurality of vehicle chassis conforming to a predefined vehicle body-chassis interface system wherein mechanical and electrical connection components are required to be in predetermined spatial positions relative to each other in a body-attachment interface on a chassis and in complementary predetermined spatial positions relative to each other in a corresponding chassis-attachment interface on any body to be attached to the chassis; and
concurrently with said designing and manufacturing a plurality of vehicle chassis, designing and manufacturing a plurality of vehicle bodies corresponding to said predefined vehicle body-chassis interface system, such that said chassis and bodies are designed and manufactured in parallel;
said vehicle chassis and vehicle bodies being designed and manufactured independently of each other. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of manufacturing a vehicle comprising;
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designing and manufacturing a vehicle chassis including a structural frame;
a suspension system mounted to the structural frame;
at least three wheels rotatably mounted to the suspension system;
a fuel cell energy conversion system mounted to the structural frame, operably connected to at least one wheel, and controllable by wire;
a by-wire braking system mounted to the structural frame and operably connected to at least one wheel;
a by-wire steering system operably connected to at least one wheel and controllable by wire; and
a computer operatively connected to the fuel cell energy conversion system, braking system and steering system, wherein said vehicle chassis is designed to include a common, standardized interface system having body connection components arranged to facilitate selective attachment of any of a plurality of different body types to the chassis;
subsequent to said step of manufacturing a vehicle chassis, designing and manufacturing a body configured to conform to said standardized interface system for attachment to said manufactured chassis;
attaching said manufactured body to said manufactured chassis; and
after said attaching step, designing and manufacturing an additional body having a body type different from said attached body and configured to conform to said standardized interface system for selective attachment to said manufactured chassis.
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Specification