The disclosure describes systems and methods including a mobile device for remotely controlling the movement of a vehicle and trailer. The mobile device provides an intuitive user interface and control input mechanism for controlling the movement of the vehicle and trailer. The control input mechanism uses the tilt and heading of the mobile device to provide a propulsion command and a steering curvature command.

The invention simplifies the process of utilizing mmmg or construction trucks to automatically carry ore, dirt, or other matter from one location to another. Transportation of the dirt, ore, or matter is usually performed using trucks with loaders or excavators. The trucks then take the loads and deposit them in piles, which are then used for the next step of the mining or construction process. The invention uses a teach-and-follow process to establish the trajectories that these paths must follow. The present invention describes a system to record and execute trajectories for autonomous mining and construction trucks. This system comprises one or more sensors that can detect road features, a drive-by-wire kit installed onto the truck(s), a user interface that allows the operator to learn trajectories and “replay trajectories”, and a planning algorithm that creates trajectories which take the vehicle from a starting location to an ending location (final destination), while maintaining the vehicle inside of the allowed driving envelope. The invention allows the user to drive the truck along the desired route and have the truck automatically learn the route using features in the environment to localize. In future runs, the truck is able to automatically follow the learned route.

A positioning and navigation method for a robot includes: receiving point cloud information of a current position and information of a target position sent by a robot, wherein the point cloud information of the current position is updated in real time; determining the current position of the robot according to the point cloud information; planning a plurality of motion paths according to the current position and the target position; searching for an optimal path among the plurality of motion paths by a predetermined heuristic search algorithm; and sending the current position of the robot and the optimal path to the robot, such that the robot moves according to the optimal path.

A vehicle control facility for the automated control of an electrical road vehicle for a route system with an energy-supply system that includes a lane-bound energy supply line, in particular an overhead line system. A position-determining unit determines a geographical position of the electrical road vehicle. A specific-lane-determining unit determines position data for a specific lane assigned to the lane-bound energy supply line. A communication interface transmits current relative positions of infrastructure features with respect to the electrical road vehicle to an external central specific-lane-determining facility and receives position data. A vehicle-control unit controls the electrical road vehicle with respect to the determined specific lane in dependence on the determined relative position of the specific lane.

A computer-implemented method of updating an auto insurance policy is provided. The method may include (1) determining that a customer's mobile device has a Telematics Application (“App”) installed on it, the Telematics App configured to (i) receive telematics data associated with another vehicle via a wireless communication broadcast; (ii) determine a travel event from analysis of the telematics data received, and (iii) generate a corrective action based upon the telematics data received or travel event determined that alleviates the risk of vehicle collision. The method may also include (2) monitoring, with the customer's permission, an amount or percentage of usage of the Telematics App on the customer's mobile device while the customer is driving in an insured vehicle; and (3) adjusting an insurance policy premium or discount based upon usage of the Telematics App to facilitate rewarding risk-averse drivers and encourage usage of risk mitigation or prevention technology.

A method for recognizing a location of a robotic device includes collecting first environmental data corresponding to a first current location of the robotic device, generating a first location signature based on the first environmental data, driving the robotic device to enter a standby mode at a first time, driving the robotic device to wake up from the standby mode after a predetermined time elapses at a second time after the driving the robotic device to enter the standby mode, collecting second environmental data corresponding to a second current location of the robotic device, generating the second location signature generated based on the second environmental data, comparing the first and second location signatures, and determining whether a location of the robotic device has been changed between the first and second times based on a comparison result between the first and second location signatures.

Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a method that includes receiving, at a communications interface, one or more control signals to control a drive system of the mobile robot to move within an area. A surface within the area and/or an object within the area may be detected using at least one sensor of the mobile robot. Using a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the area may be mapped in two dimensions (2D) or three dimensions (3D) based on the detecting of at least one of the surface and the object as the mobile robot moves within the area based on the one or more received control signals. The method may include mapping, using the processor and the communications interface, wireless network communication signal strength as the mobile robot moves within the area based on the one or more received control signals.

A surrounding information collection system requests a vehicle to transmit surrounding information, and stores the surrounding information transmitted from the vehicle in response to the request. The surrounding information collection system requests a vehicle to transmit surrounding information, the vehicle acquiring the surrounding information having accuracy greater than a threshold calculated based on accuracy of the stored surrounding information.

Methods and systems for assessing, detecting, and responding to malfunctions involving components of autonomous vehicles and/or smart homes are described herein. Malfunctions may be detected by receiving sensor data from a plurality of sensors. One of these sensors may be selected for assessment. An electronic device may obtain from the selected sensor a set of signals. When the set of signals includes signals that are outside of a determined range of signals associated with proper functioning for the selected sensor, it may be determined that the selected sensor is malfunctioning. In response, an action may be performed to resolve the malfunction and/or mitigate consequences of the malfunction.

Methods and systems for autonomous vehicle recharging or refueling are disclosed. Autonomous vehicles may be automatically refueled by routing the vehicles to available fueling stations when not in operation, according to methods described herein. A fuel level within a tank of an autonomous vehicle may be monitored until it reaches a refueling threshold, at which point an on-board computer may generate a predicted use profile for the vehicle. Based upon the predicted use profile, a time and location for the vehicle to refuel the vehicle may be determined. In some embodiments, the vehicle may be controlled to automatically travel to a fueling station, refill a fuel tank, and return to its starting location in order to refuel when not in use.