Autonomous Vehicle Ride Start Using Passenger Safety Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in determining when it is safe to initiate movement or driving without human input, as they struggle to assess passenger readiness for safety requirements such as seatbelt fastening and door closure.
Innovation Solution
The system uses a combination of sensor systems like cameras, lidar, and seat sensors to detect passenger identity, behavior, and safety status, prompting actions if necessary, and communicates with a remote computing system to verify passenger authentication and ensure safety protocols are met before initiating motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle waits for explicit passenger actions or directions before moving, then passenger safety is improved, but ride initiation time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of passenger presence and safety conditions (seatbelt fastening, door closure) before the ride officially begins. The sensor systems continuously monitor these conditions in advance, so that when the passenger boards, the vehicle is already prepared to determine when it is safe to move, reducing the waiting time while maintaining safety standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensor feedback (cameras, lidars, seat sensors) to continuously monitor passenger actions and safety conditions. This real-time feedback allows the vehicle to automatically detect when safety requirements are met and initiate movement accordingly, eliminating the need for lengthy explicit passenger confirmations while ensuring safety protocols are followed.
2Measurement precision
If the autonomous vehicle uses multiple sensor systems to detect passenger behavior and safety status, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor systems are designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously. For example, cameras not only detect passenger presence but also monitor seatbelt fastening and door closure. Lidars serve both for obstacle detection and passenger positioning. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated sensors for each detection task, thereby managing complexity while maintaining high detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple sensor types (cameras, lidars, seat sensors) into an integrated sensor system that works together to detect passenger behavior and safety status. By merging these sensors into a unified system with centralized processing, the patent reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate independent systems for each detection function.
3Reliability
If the autonomous vehicle requires passenger authentication and safety protocol verification before moving, then ride safety is improved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Authentication and safety protocol verifications are performed preliminarily and efficiently during the passenger boarding process. The system checks these conditions in advance using automated sensor detection, so that once verification is complete, the vehicle can begin movement quickly. This preliminary verification approach ensures safety while minimizing the time lost before the ride begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses automated feedback from sensor systems to verify safety protocols and authentication status in real-time. When conditions are met, the vehicle automatically proceeds without requiring extended manual verification processes. This feedback-driven approach maintains high safety standards while improving vehicle turnover rate by reducing the time required for safety checks.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomous vehicle having a user interface and a computing system that is in communication with the user interface. The computing system may have at least one processor and at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions. When executed by the at least one processor, the instructions may cause the at least one processor to output information through the user interface to inform the passenger of an action that the passenger needs to enact prior to the autonomous vehicle beginning to move and determine, based upon an occurrence of the action that the passenger needs to enact, whether the autonomous vehicle is permitted to begin moving.