A method for operating a vehicle having at least one surface region designed to come into direct contact with a user, and at least one sensor to register a direct contact between the at least one surface region and the user. The method includes registering the beginning of a use of the vehicle by the user, registering direct contacts of the user with the at least one defined surface region by using the at least one sensor, registering the end of the use of the vehicle by the user, evaluating the registered direct contacts of the user with the at least one surface region, wherein the surface region is classified with respect to a potential degree of soiling of the surface region caused by the direct contacts during the use, and outputting a notification on the potential degree of soiling of the surface region.

A monitoring method includes, among other things, within a vehicle, providing a first electrical system with an auxiliary battery, and a second electrical system with a primary battery. The method further includes electrically coupling the first electrical system to the second electrical system, electrically loading the auxiliary battery and the primary battery, and comparing an electrical parameter of the auxiliary battery to a threshold value to assess a state of the auxiliary battery.

Systems and methods are provided herein for determining a tire characteristic of an electric vehicle's tires and notifying a user of the tire characteristic. This may be accomplished by an electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) receiving an image of an electric vehicle in response to detecting the electric vehicle. The EVCS can use the received image to determine a tire characteristic (e.g., tire tread depth) of one or more tires of the electric vehicle. The EVCS can then notify the user of the electric vehicle. For example, the EVCS may display a notification on a display of the EVCS. The EVCS may also recommend one or more locations where a user can take the electric vehicle to have the one or more tires serviced.

A computer-based method for maintaining an autonomous or self-driving vehicle is provided. The method is implemented using a vehicle controlling (“VC”) computer device installed on the vehicle. The method may include determining that a maintenance operation is required for the self-driving vehicle, retrieving an operator schedule for an operator of the self-driving vehicle, retrieving a facility schedule for a facility, determining a time for performing the maintenance operation based upon the operator schedule, the facility schedule, and an amount of time required to (i) complete the maintenance operation, (ii) drive the self-driving vehicle from a first location to the facility to arrive at the determined time, and (iii) drive the self-driving vehicle to a second location, instructing the self-driving vehicle to drive from the first location to the facility to arrive at the determined time; and/or instructing the self-driving vehicle to drive from the facility a second location.

Provided is a communication device and a control method, according to which in a configuration in which a plurality of processing units having a master-subordinate relationship therebetween, processing for controlling an abnormality and the like that has occurred in the subordinate processing unit can be performed by the master processing unit. A communication device includes a master processing unit and a subordinate processing unit, and the subordinate processing unit performs processing regarding communication, the master processing unit controls activation of the subordinate processing unit, the subordinate processing unit periodically transmits a signal to the master processing unit, and the master processing unit controls an operation of the subordinate processing unit in accordance with the signal that is periodically transmitted by the subordinate processing unit.

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.

Methods and systems for communicating between autonomous vehicles are described herein. Such communication may be performed for signaling, collision avoidance, path coordination, and/or autonomous control. A computing device may receive data for the same road segment from autonomous vehicles, including (i) an indication of a location within the road segment, and (ii) an indication of a condition of the road segment. The computing device may generate, from the data for the same road segment, an overall indication of the condition of the road segment, which may include a recommendation to vehicles approaching the road segment. Additionally, the computing device may receive a request from a computing device within a vehicle approaching the road segment to display vehicle data. The overall indication for the road segment may then be displayed on a user interface of the computing device.

A crash sensor system for a vehicle capable of operating in an autonomous mode includes an electronic control unit (ECU) having a processor circuit. The ECU triggers an occupant restraint system of the vehicle in the event of a severe impact event with the vehicle. Satellite sensors are electrically connected to the ECU and are mounted at the front end, the rear end, the right side and the left side of the vehicle near or on an outer surface thereof to detect low severity impact event with the vehicle that does not cause activation of the occupant restraint system. The processor circuit executes an algorithm to confirm, via data from the plurality of satellite sensors, whether the low severity impact event with the vehicle occurred and if so, the ECU triggers a brake controller and a steering controller to cause the vehicle, while in the autonomous mode, to pull over and stop.

Embodiments of the invention include a vehicle telematics system including a telematics device, wherein the telematics device detects, using a processor of a telematics device, a vehicle ignition off event and reconfigures at least one parameter of an accelerometer for a low power mode of operation while in the vehicle ignition off state, and places the telematics device in a sleep mode of operation, wherein an accelerometer generates an interrupt to wake the processor of the telematics device from the sleep mode of operation upon detecting an acceleration event that exceeds a threshold, and the processor of the telematics device analyzes the accelerometer data stored in a FIFO buffer of the accelerometer.

An example method involves receiving, at a computing system, vehicle diagnostic information from a vehicle. The vehicle diagnostic information may include one or more sets of parameters corresponding to parameter identifiers (PIDs). The method further involves identifying a first set of parameters corresponding to a PID representing a state of a particular system of the vehicle and determining, using the first set of parameters, a current value of the PID. The method may also involve performing a comparison between the current value and a predetermined value for the PID and determining a health of the particular system of the vehicle such that the health reflects a difference between the current value and the predetermined value for the PID. The method may also involve displaying, by the computing system at a graphical interface, a vehicle health record representing the health of the particular system of the vehicle.