System and method for theft and medical emergency event for self-driving vehicle

• US 9,157,752 B1
• Filed: 08/08/2014
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Autonomous Mobility US LLC (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Fernndez Garcia, Miguel A, Guzman Muiz, Perla Y, Surez Ramirez, Oscar I, Reyes Marquez, Jorge A
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US14/455,188
• Time in Patent Office: 431 Days
• Field of Search: 701/25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/30 Detection related to theft or to other events relevant to anti-theft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0276 using signals provided by a source external to the vehicle involving a plurality of vehicles G05D1/0287; automatically controlling vehicle speed responsive to externally generated signals B60K31/0058

Abstract

A system and method provides for autonomously driving a vehicle to a particular location during an emergency event. The method enables the vehicle to be driven autonomously. As a result of the emergency event, an input is provided to generate a request signal. Based on the request signal, the method 1) instructs the self-driving system to drive the vehicle to the particular location, and 2) sends, via an Internet connection, data to an entity remote from the vehicle.

Claims

1. A system for autonomously driving a vehicle to a particular location based on an emergency event, comprising:

a self-driving system constructed and arranged to autonomously drive the vehicle,

an input constructed and arranged to generate a request signal,

a response unit constructed and arranged, based on the request signal, to instruct the self-driving system to drive the vehicle to the particular location,

a server in remote communication with the response unit, the response unit, based on the request signal, being constructed and arranged to request the particular location from the server based on an actual location of the vehicle and a distance that the particular location is from the vehicle, and

a transceiver associated with the response unit, and based on the request signal, the transceiver being constructed and arranged to send, via an Internet connection, data relating to the emergency event to an entity that is remote from the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the input is a button in the vehicle that is constructed and arranged to be manual actuated to generate the request signal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the input is a sensor in the vehicle that is constructed and arranged to generate the request signal based on incapacity of an operator of the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the input is a mobile device remote from the vehicle that generate the request signal, the system further comprising a notification system that receives the request signal, the notification system being constructed and arranged to communicate wirelessly with the response unit so as to send a signal to the request unit based on the request signal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the self-driving system includes a global positioning system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is a cellular Internet access device having a SIM card and is constructed and arranged to send a web page containing the data.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the data relating to the emergency event includes an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle at the particular location.

7. A method for autonomously driving a vehicle to a particular location during an emergency event, the method comprising the steps of:

enabling the vehicle to be driven autonomously,

as a result of the emergency event, providing an input to generate a request signal, and

based on the request signal,

     1) accessing a server, remote from the vehicle, to obtain a particular location based on an actual location of the vehicle and a distance that the particular location is from the vehicle, and instructing the self-driving system to drive the vehicle to the particular location, and

     2) sending, via an Internet connection, data relating to the emergency event to an entity that is remote from the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the emergency event is theft of the vehicle and wherein the particular location is a location for safely recovering the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the entity is an owner of the vehicle and the sending step includes sending the data to the owner with the data indicating a status of the vehicle'"'"'s retrieval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of sending the data includes sending the data using a cellular Internet access device having a SIM card located on the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of providing an input includes using a mobile device remote from the vehicle to send the request signal in a wireless manner to a notification system, the method further includes causing the notification system to communicate wirelessly with a response unit on the vehicle to initiate the response unit to perform the instructing and sending steps.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the emergency event is a medical emergency of the operator of the vehicle and wherein the particular location is a medical treatment center.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the entity is the medical treatment center and the sending step includes sending the data to the medical treatment center with the data including an indication that a medical emergency is occurring and an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle at the medical treatment center.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of sending the data includes sending a web page containing the data, the web page being transmitted using a cellular Internet access device having a SIM card located on the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of providing an input includes actuating a button in the vehicle thereby sending the request signal to a response unit on the vehicle to initiate the response unit to perform the instructing and sending steps.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of providing an input includes sensing a status of the operator of the vehicle and if the operator is determined to be incapacitated, sending the request signal to a response unit on the vehicle to initiate the response unit to perform the instructing and sending steps.