A surveillance drone system is provided herein generally including an UAV, a base power station, and, a tether for connecting the UAV to the base power station to provide electrical power to the UAV when airborne. The base power station may include a cable take-up assembly for releasing and taking up the tether. A plug or power module is provided at the free end of the tether configured to be detachably coupled with the UAV, to transmit electrical power to, and, possibly, data to and from, the UAV. With the plug or power module being detached, the UAV is free to fly unrestricted. This arrangement allows for the UAV to be airborne for prolonged periods to allow for monitoring a region and for release to allow the UAV to investigate anomalies in the monitored region.

A power system for a vehicle includes: a high voltage battery; a low voltage DC-DC converter configured to step down a voltage of the high voltage battery and to output the stepped down voltage; a low voltage battery charged by an output current of the low voltage DC-DC converter, where the low voltage battery includes a first cell group including a plurality of battery cells, and a second cell group connected in parallel with the first cell group and including a plurality of battery cells; and a plurality of switches configured to electrically connect or disconnect the first cell group or the second cell group with the low voltage DC-DC converter, electrical loads configured to receive power from at least one of the low voltage DC-DC converter and the low voltage battery; and a controller configured to control opening or closing of the plurality of switches.

The vehicle control device controls a vehicle configured to receive power by non-contact from a power transmission coil when passing over the power transmission coil. The vehicle control device includes a processor configured to prohibit lane changing by the vehicle in a predetermined range up to an end point of a power supply area where the power transmission coil is installed when the vehicle is running in a lane of the power supply area.

A ground utility robot and implement attachment apparatus having a ground utility robot, at least one implement, at least one solar panel, at least one battery that is chargeable by the at least one solar panel, a power take-off system that is connected to the ground utility robot and to the at least one implement; where the battery powers said ground utility robot and the implement; a safety system that has a computer, a safety program that utilizes a processing logic on the computer, where the safety program initiates precautionary measures that are carried out by the ground utility robot and the power take-off system if an object comes within a predefined distance from the ground utility robot and implement attachment apparatus.

A work vehicle comprising: a drive wheel unit that is provided in a vehicle body and is configured to be driven by a travel drive mechanism; a work unit that is provided in the vehicle body and is configured to perform work on a work target; a battery provided in the vehicle body; a motor that is configured to receive electric power from the battery and drive the work unit; an inclination sensor configured to detect an inclination of the vehicle body relative to a horizontal plane; and a first captured image acquisition unit configured to acquire a captured image that shows surroundings of the vehicle body when the work is being performed.

An equipment inspection system receives data captured by a sensor of an autonomous vehicle (AV). The captured data describes a current state of equipment for servicing the AV. The equipment inspection system compares the captured data to a model describing an expected state of the equipment. The equipment inspection system determines, based on the comparison, that the equipment differs from the expected state. The equipment inspection system may transmit data describing the current state of the equipment to an equipment manager. The equipment manager may schedule maintenance for the equipment based on the current state of the equipment.

A charging system includes a charging station having input configured to receive a first type of electrical power, and a power converter connected to the input. The power converter is configured to convert the first type of electrical power from the input to a second type of electrical power different to the first type of electrical power, the second type of electrical power including DC electrical power. The charging station has outputs connected to the power converter, the outputs configured such that DC electrical power is providable to each of the outputs simultaneously. Each of the outputs is configured to connect to a respective electric vehicle for charging of the electric vehicle.

Leading and trailing electrified vehicles are coupled together in a towing arrangement for in-flight transfer of an electrical charge between their battery systems. With the vehicles connected by a towing device, a parking maneuver is initiated in which the trailing vehicle leads the leading vehicle. For the parking maneuver, one of the vehicles is designated (e.g., automatically or by driver agreement) to be an active steering vehicle and the other vehicle to be a passive steering vehicle. At least the passive steering vehicle comprises an electrically-controlled steering actuator. During movement, a turning (e.g., steering angle) of the active steering vehicle is monitored. Based on the turning of the active steering vehicle, an assistive steering angle is determined for the passive steering vehicle. The electrically-controlled steering actuator is commanded according to the assistive steering angle. The parking maneuver may be reverse or forward.

A moving robot includes: a main body; a traveling unit configured to rotate and move the main body; a sensing unit configured to sense position information of a specific point of a front portion of a docking device; and a controller configured to, based on sensing result of the sensing unit, determine i) whether a first condition, which is preset to be satisfied when the docking device is disposed in a front of the moving robot, is satisfied, and ii) whether a second condition, which is preset to be satisfied when the moving robot is disposed in a front of the moving robot, is satisfied, to control an operation of the traveling unit so as to satisfy the first condition and the second condition, and to move to the front so as to attempt to dock in a state where the first condition and the second condition are satisfied.

To obtain a vehicle control device capable of creating a route that facilitates tracing by a vehicle in autonomous driving and improving positional accuracy of the vehicle at the time of tracing. A vehicle control device (520) of the present invention includes an oversteer angle determination unit (508) that determines whether or not a steering angle of a vehicle (10) is an oversteer angle, a stationary steering determination unit (509) that determines whether or not stationary steering operation is performed on a vehicle, a route storage mode detection unit (505) that determines whether or not a route storage mode is set, a specific operation detection unit (507) that determines whether a steering angle is the oversteer angle or the stationary steering operation is performed in the route storage mode, and an output unit that outputs a control command of steering angle restriction control that restricts steering operation of a driver in the route storage mode in a case where the specific operation detection unit determines that a steering angle is the oversteer angle or the stationary steering operation is performed.