An information processing apparatus acquires images captured by a plurality of vehicles each including a camera that images a periphery of the vehicle while the vehicle is parked by wireless communication. The information processing apparatus includes a control unit. The control unit is configured to execute acquiring information on a status of each of the vehicles, selecting an imaging vehicle serving as a vehicle that performs imaging among the vehicles based on the information, generating a command to perform imaging, for the imaging vehicle, and transmitting the command to perform imaging to the imaging vehicle.

An energy management system determines two or more fuel components that represent fuel consumption by a vehicle system completing a trip over one or more routes. A trip plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system at one or more of different locations, different distances along the one or more routes, or different times is generated or modified. The trip plan is based on the fuel components. The fuel components include a delta elevation component of the one or more routes, a delta speed component of the trip, a mean drag component of the vehicle system, a curvature component of the one or more routes, a base fuel component of the vehicle system, a minimum braking component of the vehicle system, a braking auxiliaries component of the vehicle system, and/or a drag variation of the vehicle system.

Methods and systems for identifying autonomous vehicle users are described herein. An autonomous vehicle may receive a request to transport a first user to a first destination location. While travelling along a route to the first destination location, the autonomous vehicle may receive a request to pick up a second user at a second starting location and transport the second user to a second destination location. The autonomous vehicle may travel to the second starting location when the second user is within the threshold distance of the autonomous vehicle. Upon arriving at the second starting location, the autonomous vehicle may detect whether a person approaching the vehicle is the second user by detecting a biometric identifier for the person. As a result, the second user may be allowed to enter the autonomous vehicle and/or the autonomous vehicle may begin travelling to the second destination location.

Described are devices, systems and methods for managing power generation, storage and/or distribution in autonomous vehicles. In some aspects, a system for power management in an autonomous vehicle having a main power source and one or more alternators includes a vehicle control unit, a secondary power source, and a power management unit. In some embodiments, the power management unit is configured on an autonomous vehicle having a single alternator-charging system for battery charging and battery power control with different battery packs. In some embodiments, the power management unit is configured on an autonomous vehicle having multiple alternator-charging systems for battery charging and battery power control for different battery packs.

The invention relates to a system and method for navigating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) that utilizes an-onboard computer and/or one or more ADV control system nodes in an ADV network platform. The on-board computer receives battery monitoring and management data concerning a battery stack. The on-board computer, utilizing a battery management system, determines the current state of charge (SOC) and other information concerning the battery stack and determines if the estimated total amount of electrical power required to navigate an ADV along a generated route to reach the predetermined destination is available. In response to determining that the ADV cannot reach the predetermined destination, the on-board computer automatically initiates a dynamic routing algorithm, which utilizes artificial intelligence, to generate alternative routes in an effort to find a route that the ADV can navigate to reach the destination utilizing the current state of charge (SOC) of the battery stack.

A method to select one trajectory, the so-called Selected Trajectory (ST), out of a set of trajectories (T1-T3) to be used by an autonomous or semi-autonomous ground vehicle (GV), wherein the method includes the following steps: (i) assessing said set of trajectories (T1-T3) with one, two, or a multitude of verification modules (VM1-VM4) and returning Quality Assessments (Q11-Q43) for each of the trajectories (T1-T3); (ii) ranking said trajectories (T1-T3) with a Ranking Scheme (RS), wherein the Quality Assessments (Q11-Q43) are taken into account when ranking the trajectories (T1-T3), and (iii) selecting exactly one trajectory, the Selected Trajectory (TR), based on the rank of the trajectories (T1-T3).

An acceleration rate is controlled so that a vehicle speed during autonomous driving is caused to approach a target vehicle speed. When a host vehicle has caught up with another vehicle traveling ahead of the host vehicle, the vehicle speed of the host vehicle is limited in accordance with a headway distance to the other vehicle. An acceleration rate is changed in accordance with a frequency with which the host vehicle catches up to a preceding vehicle, which is another vehicle immediately ahead of the host vehicle, and to another vehicle ahead of the preceding vehicle.

A vehicle control system of an embodiment includes a recognizer that recognizes a peripheral environment of a vehicle, a driving controller that performs driving control based on speed control and steering control of the vehicle on the basis of a recognition result of the recognizer, an acquirer that acquires a remaining energy amount of a terminal device, and a notifier that performs a notification for prompting an increase of the remaining energy amount when the remaining energy amount acquired by the acquirer while an occupant is aboard the vehicle is less than a first threshold in a case where an instruction to cause a vehicle to enter a parking area in which the vehicle is able to be parked by traveling based on the driving control or an instruction to cause the vehicle to exit the parking area is performed by the terminal device.

A grounds maintenance system comprising: a robot tractor comprising; a robot body; a drive system including one or more motorized drive wheels to propel the robot body; a control system coupled to the drive system, the control system configurable to store a mow plan that specifies a set of paths to be traversed for a grounds maintenance operation and control the drive system to autonomously traverse the set of paths to implement the mow plan; a battery system comprising one or more batteries housed in the robot body; and a low-profile mowing deck coupled to the robot body, the mowing deck adapted to tilt and lift relative to the robot body, wherein the control system is configured to control tilting and lifting of the mowing deck and cutting by the mowing deck.

The invention relates to a system and method for navigating an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV) that utilizes an-onboard computer and/or one or more ADV control system nodes in an ADV network platform. The on-board computer receives battery monitoring and management data concerning a battery stack. The on-board computer, utilizing a battery management system, determines the current state of charge (SOC) and other information concerning the battery stack and determines if the estimated total amount of electrical power required to navigate an ADV along a generated route to reach the predetermined destination is available. In response to determining that the ADV cannot reach the predetermined destination, the on-board computer automatically initiates a dynamic routing algorithm, which utilizes artificial intelligence, to generate alternative routes in an effort to find a route that the ADV can navigate to reach the destination utilizing the current state of charge (SOC) of the battery stack.