A hitching system for connecting a towed vehicle to a towing vehicle comprising: a connector member for engaging with a connection point on the towing vehicle; a shaft member connected at one end to the connector member and at a second opposing end to a housing fixed to the towed vehicle; a plurality of sensor elements mounted to said shaft member, at least one of the sensor elements configured to measure a lateral force present in the shaft member during towing of the towed vehicle by the towing vehicle; and a computer processor mounted with respect to the towed vehicle for receiving a signal from at least one of the sensor elements representative of the measure of the lateral force present in the shaft member and processing said signal to control motion of the towed vehicle.

A hitching system for connecting a towed vehicle to a towing vehicle comprising: a connector member for engaging with a connection point on the towing vehicle; a shaft member connected at one end to the connector member and at a second opposing end to a housing fixed to the towed vehicle; a plurality of sensor elements mounted to said shaft member, at least one of the sensor elements configured to measure a lateral force present in the shaft member during towing of the towed vehicle by the towing vehicle; and a computer processor mounted with respect to the towed vehicle for receiving a signal from at least one of the sensor elements representative of the measure of the lateral force present in the shaft member and processing said signal to control motion of the towed vehicle.

An accelerator device includes a pedal lever, a reaction force adjuster and a controller. The pedal lever operates according to a stepping operation. The reaction force adjuster is driven by an actuator, and is capable of adjusting a reaction force that is a force in a direction of pushing back the pedal lever. The controller includes a target operation amount setting unit and a drive control unit. The target operation amount setting unit sets a target operation amount, which is an operation amount of the pedal lever according to a vehicle speed. The drive control unit controls a drive of the actuator. The controller controls the reaction force according to the target operation amount so that the operation amount of the pedal lever is within a target range when switching from an automatic drive to a manual drive.

An accelerator device includes a pedal lever, a reaction force adjuster and a controller. The pedal lever operates according to a stepping operation. The reaction force adjuster is driven by an actuator, and is capable of adjusting a reaction force that is a force in a direction of pushing back the pedal lever. The controller includes a target operation amount setting unit and a drive control unit. The target operation amount setting unit sets a target operation amount, which is an operation amount of the pedal lever according to a vehicle speed. The drive control unit controls a drive of the actuator. The controller controls the reaction force according to the target operation amount so that the operation amount of the pedal lever is within a target range when switching from an automatic drive to a manual drive.

A method for controlling an automated parking system including determining a position and route of a vehicle for transmitting driving commands for the route to the vehicle, detecting an object within the parking system, determining the position and a movement path of the object, checking whether the route of the vehicle and the movement path of the object overlap, and initiating at least one measure by the parking system to prevent a collision between the vehicle and the object.

A system and method for vehicle compartment item presence indication senses an item within a vehicle compartment and notifies a user if the item is expected or unexpected within the compartment based on a vehicle state. Should the item be expected in a compartment during a phase of flight where the compartment is expected to contain items, there is no abnormal indication. However, if a compartment is expected to be empty during a specific phase of flight and the sensors indicate an item is present, the system will alert the user to the unexpected item.

A surface of a vehicle component can be dynamically deformable surface. The dynamically deformable surface can be configured to undergo deformations to dynamically form a dynamic button or other user interface element on demand. The dynamically deformable surface can include one or more biosensors. When a user engages the dynamic button with a portion of the body, the one or more biosensors can acquire user biodata. The user biodata can be used by the vehicle as input for various purposes. For instance, the vehicle can operate as a health-monitoring and/or comfort monitoring system. As a result of these arrangements, buttons and other user interface elements can appear and disappear depending on the need and/or application, providing a cleaner vehicle cockpit interface and greatly expanding the possibilities of where such buttons can be located at and how many things can be controlled by the driver using physical interfaces.

A vehicle safety system comprising a series of lights. One set of lights in a prominent turn indicator device indicates to the driver in a more prominent way whether the driver has indicated a turn. The turn indicator lights are either heads-up on a windshield, visible to the driver atop the dashboard or on an interior vehicle pillar, and away from vehicle instrument clusters. Another set of lights on a seatbelt compliance light device indicate to motorists external to the vehicle whether one or more occupants of a vehicle is in seatbelt. Each light system can be used to improve both the safety of the driver, pedestrians, surrounding vehicles, and vehicle occupants.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for detecting whether an object is approaching an autonomous vehicle when a passenger is about to exit the autonomous vehicle, determining a speed and type of the object that is approaching the autonomous vehicle, determining whether the object will enter an exit zone when the passenger enters the exit zone based on the speed and the type of the object that is approaching the autonomous vehicle, and preventing the passenger from exiting the autonomous vehicle based on the determining of whether the object will enter the exit zone when the passenger enters the exit zone.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for detecting whether an object is approaching an autonomous vehicle when a passenger is about to exit the autonomous vehicle, determining a speed and type of the object that is approaching the autonomous vehicle, determining whether the object will enter an exit zone when the passenger enters the exit zone based on the speed and the type of the object that is approaching the autonomous vehicle, and preventing the passenger from exiting the autonomous vehicle based on the determining of whether the object will enter the exit zone when the passenger enters the exit zone.