To allow a movement limit or a dimension of a mover to be changed safely in a transport system in the form of a long-stator linear motor during operation of the transport system, a method provided that, during operation of the transport system, a new movement limit or a new dimension is predetermined for a first transport unit, and it is checked whether the new movement limit or the new dimension results in a risk of collision with another, adjacent transport unit or a barrier of the transport system due to the predetermined collision logic, and, if no risk of collision is recognized, the new movement limit is used in the collision logic as a collision movement limit for the first transport unit or the new dimension is used in the collision logic as a collision dimension of the first transport unit.

Apparatus and methods for controlling a path of an autonomous mobile device based upon defining a series of origination positions and destination positions, each destination position correlating with position coordinates. A current position of an autonomous vehicle is determined via location automation such as real time communication systems and an approved pathway is generated to guide the autonomous vehicle. The position coordinates may be a set of values that accurately define a position in two dimensional 2D or three-dimensional (3D) space. Position coordinates may include cartesian coordinates.

Techniques are discussed for controlling a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle, based on occluded areas in an environment. An occluded area can represent areas where sensors of the vehicle are unable to sense portions of the environment due to obstruction by another object or sensor limitation. An occluded region for an object is determined by the vehicle as part of an occlusion grid, from the perspective of the vehicle. The vehicle may receive another occlusion grid from another source, such as another vehicle or a remote computing device that stores and distributes occlusion grids. The other occlusion grid may be from a different perspective than the occlusion grid generated by the vehicle, and may include occupancy data for the region that is otherwise occluded from the perspective of the vehicle. The vehicle can be controlled to traverse the environment based on the occupancy data received from the other source.

Disclosed herein are a cooperative driving method based on driving negotiation and an apparatus for the same. The cooperative driving method is performed by a cooperative driving apparatus for cooperative driving based on driving negotiation, and includes determining whether cooperative driving is possible in consideration of a driving mission of a requesting vehicle that requests cooperative driving with neighboring vehicles, when it is determined that cooperative driving is possible, setting a responding vehicle from which cooperative driving is to be requested among the neighboring vehicles, performing driving negotiation between the requesting vehicle and the responding vehicle based on a driving negotiation protocol, and when the driving negotiation is completed, performing cooperative driving by providing driving guidance information for vehicle control to at least one of the requesting vehicle and the responding vehicle.

A delivery method according to the present disclosure includes a step of delivering packages to designated destinations by mobile bodies traveling autonomously, each of the packages having a delivery priority level. The delivery method further includes a step of, when a number of mobile bodies gathered in a bottleneck section is larger than a number of mobile bodies capable of passing through the bottleneck section at the same time, preferentially causing a mobile body delivering a package of which the delivery priority level is higher than a package delivered by another mobile body to pass through the bottleneck section.

An electronic control system is configured to control operation of a platoon including a plurality of vehicles. The electronic control system may be configured one or more of operate each of the vehicles to provide operation emulating the lowest non-platooning vehicle performance capability among the plurality of vehicles of the platoon, operate an individualized predictive cruise control (IPCC) process for each of the vehicles and a corresponding supervisory safety process for the platoon, and operate a cooperative predictive cruise control (CPCC) process for each of the vehicles and a corresponding supervisory safety process for the platoon.

A travel control device includes: a controller configured to control traveling of a plurality of mobile objects on a basis of a travel schedule of the mobile objects; a planner configured to generate a plurality of tentative travel schedules by changing part of the travel schedule; an evaluation value calculator configured to calculate evaluation values of the tentative travel schedules based on state features of the mobile objects in the tentative travel schedules; and a model including the state features of the mobile objects and evaluation values associated with them. The evaluation value calculator calculates the evaluation values based on the model and the state features of the mobile objects in the tentative travel schedules. The planner performs search calculation of repeating to select one tentative travel schedule from the tentative travel schedules based on the evaluation values, and to update the travel schedule with the one tentative travel schedule.

Autonomous vehicles may be dynamically directed to rendezvous with autonomous vehicle trains or convoys. Current location and/or route information of the Autonomous Vehicle Train (AVT) may be received by an autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may compare its current location and/or route information to determine a rendezvous point with the AVT. The autonomous vehicle may route itself to the rendezvous point with the AVT. Once there, the autonomous vehicle may verify the identification of the AVT, such as by using sensors/cameras to verifying a lead vehicle of the AVT (e.g., by verifying make/model, color, and/or license plate). The autonomous vehicle and lead vehicle may communicate to allow the autonomous vehicle to join the AVT. A minimum level of autonomous vehicle functionality may be verified prior to the autonomous vehicle being allowed to join the AVT. As a result, vehicle traffic flow and travel experience by passengers may be enhanced.

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.

A charging pad according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include an input terminal connected to a high-priority charging pad; an output terminal connected to a low-priority charging pad; a charging unit configured to charge a robot positioned on the charging pad in accordance with a preset operating state; and a control unit configured to switch an operating state of the charging unit from an operation stop state to an operation standby state when a status signal for the high-priority charging pad is received from the input terminal. The control unit is configured to output the status signal for the charging pad through the output terminal when occupation of the charging unit by the robot is detected in the operation standby state.