Autonomous Vehicle Waypath Control for Distribution Center Operations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for parking, fueling, and maintaining vehicles are inefficient, as they require significant human intervention, leading to wasted time and resources.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method utilizing a processor and memory to autonomously control vehicles at a specified location, by receiving site-specific driving rules and communicating with multiple vehicles to determine and transmit optimal pathways for tasks such as parking, fueling, and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If human drivers manually perform parking, fueling, and maintenance tasks, then vehicles can complete these operations, but significant human time is wasted and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements autonomous vehicles that perform parking, fueling, and maintenance tasks without human intervention. The system uses processors to receive site-specific driving rules, communicate with vehicles to obtain status data, determine optimal waypaths, and transmit navigation instructions, enabling vehicles to service themselves automatically at distribution centers and other locations.
2Productivity
If autonomous control systems are implemented to manage vehicle operations, then human intervention is reduced and productivity increases, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized control system that acts as an intermediary between vehicles and the infrastructure. This system receives site-specific driving rules, communicates with multiple vehicles to gather status data, determines optimal waypaths based on aggregated information, and transmits navigation instructions, thereby managing complexity centrally rather than in each individual vehicle.
3Loss of time
If multiple vehicles operate autonomously at a specified location, then human time is freed for other tasks, but coordination and communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the communication and coordination functions of multiple autonomous vehicles into a single centralized control system. This system receives site-specific driving rules, aggregates status data from all vehicles, determines waypaths for the plurality of vehicles collectively, and transmits coordinated navigation instructions, thereby simplifying individual vehicle complexity while enabling efficient multi-vehicle operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for autonomously controlling vehicles at a specified location is provided. The apparatus includes at least a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the at least a processor. The memory includes instructions configuring the at least a processor to receive site-specific driving rules for a distribution center and communicate with a plurality of delivery vehicles at the distribution center. Communicating includes receiving status data from the plurality of delivery vehicles, determining a waypath for the plurality of delivery vehicles based on the status data and the site-specific driving rules, and transmitting the waypath to the plurality of delivery vehicles. The processor is also configured to communicate with a monitor device, wherein the monitor device is configured to monitor movements of the plurality of delivery vehicles.