A method of illuminating a vehicle rack includes detecting a crash status of a vehicle; detecting an occupancy status of the vehicle; illuminating a light source positioned within a groove of the vehicle rack in a first illumination state; and altering the illumination of the light source to a second illumination state based on a change in the occupancy status of the vehicle.

Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with the operation of a vehicle are provided. For example, a wheel unit system can receive vehicle data including information associated with states of a vehicle. Further, the vehicle can include wheel wells associated with wheel units that are configured to generate indications associated with the states of the vehicle. The wheel unit system can also determine indications to generate on the wheel units based at least in part on the vehicle data. Furthermore, the wheel unit system can generate the indications on the wheel units. The indications can, for example, include visual indications or auditory indications.

A vehicle lighting system is provided primarily for use with emergency response vehicles. The vehicle lighting system includes at least one luminescent planar sheet affixed to a vehicle's mounting surface. The luminescent planar sheet includes a non-luminescent printed circuit board in the shape of a letter or number which has a top surface of a color which contrasts with the mounting surface's color. The luminescent planar sheet includes a plurality of light emitting LEDs which are surface mounted upon the printed circuit board so as to be arranged in the shape of the desired letter or number with the LEDs covering no more than 20% of the printed circuit board's top surface. Preferably, the LEDs cover no more than 7% the printed circuit board's top surface.

Methods and systems for a detecting an intruder near or within a vehicle are disclosed. Specifically, a method to detect and identify a person near or within a vehicle as an authorized or an unauthorized user is provided. In the event an unauthorized user is detected within a vehicle, the system may take a number of actions. In one embodiment, the actions comprise providing notice to one or more authorized users of the vehicle, disabling the vehicle, notifying emergency personnel or police, and emitting a visual or audio alarm.

Methods and systems for a complete vehicle ecosystem are provided. Specifically, systems that when taken alone, or together, provide an individual or group of individuals with an intuitive and comfortable vehicular environment. The present disclosure includes a system that provides various outputs based on a user profile and determined context. An output provided by the present disclosure can change a configuration of a vehicle, device, building, and/or a system associated with the user profile. The configurations can include comfort and interface settings that can be adjusted based on the user profile information. Further, the user profiles can track health data related to the user and make adjustments to the configuration to assist the health of the user.

A method, by a computing device of a first autonomous escort vehicle of a convoy that includes multiple autonomous escort vehicles, that includes: receiving, from a central computing device associated with the convoy, an instruction to prevent one or more environmental vehicles from interfering with movements of the convoy, wherein the instruction is determined by the central computing device based on first sensor data from one or more autonomous escort vehicles in the convoy and the movements of the convoy; determining, based on second sensor data from one or more sensors of the first autonomous escort vehicle, a set of movements for preventing the one or more environmental vehicles from interfering with the movements of the convoy; and performing the set of movements.

In some embodiments, a dynamic shading system of a vehicle includes one or more occupant sensors, a window configured for dynamic shading, and a control unit communicatively coupled to the one or more occupant sensors and the window. The one or more occupant sensors are configured to output a signal indicative of a position of each of one or more occupants within the vehicle. The control unit executes logic to shade areas of the window based on the position of each of the one or more occupants in order to shade each of the one or more occupants in accordance with a shade preference of each of the one or more occupants.

Method and apparatus are disclosed for mobile device tethering for a remote parking assist system of a vehicle. A vehicle includes a camera and a body control module. The body control module sends an instruction to a mobile device and captures, with the camera, an image of the mobile device. The body control module also analyzes the image to determine an initial location of the mobile device relative to the vehicle, and based on the initial location, performs dead reckoning on the mobile device to track the mobile device. When the mobile device is within a threshold distance, the body control module enables autonomous parking.

A system includes a display screen positioned to display on an exterior of a host vehicle, a user interface of the host vehicle, and a computer communicatively coupled to the display screen and the user interface. The computer is programmed to, in response to detecting a target vehicle having prespecified indicia, instruct the user interface to output an instruction to an occupant of the host vehicle, and in response to detecting personnel from the target vehicle, instruct the display screen to output a message to the personnel.

A variable beam pattern lamp system for a driver provides an input device that receives personal information of the driver, a lamp driving device that drives an indoor or outdoor lamp of a vehicle to output a beam pattern matched to the driver, based on the personal information of the driver, the personal information being input through the input device, and a vehicle controller that determines whether the personal information is registered driver information or unregistered driver information, when the personal information of the driver is input through the input device, and controls the lamp driving device to drive the indoor or outdoor lamp of the vehicle using beam patterns respectively corresponding to that the personal information is the registered driver information and that the personal information is the unregistered driver information.