IP Library Granted Patent US 12711863
Granted Patent B1
US 12711863 · App. 19/220,789 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

Systems and methods for path routing of a plurality of vehicles

Inventors: Stuart C. Salter (White Lake, MI); Krishna Bandi (Novi, MI); Vyas Darshan Shenoy (Canton, MI); Brendan Diamond (Naples, FL); Ryan O'Gorman (Beverly Hills, MI)
Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
G08G1/096844G08G1/096725G08G1/096783
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12711863
App. No.
19/220,789
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
B1
Abstract

A method includes the generation of a chosen route to be followed by a plurality of vehicles based on a developed baseline route, the transmission of one or more commands instructing each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to traverse a marshaling environment based on the chosen route, the determination of whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds a tolerance-related threshold associated with the chosen route, and the initiation of a dynamic path routing process in response to determining that a traverse of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold.

Claims (68)

1 . A method comprising:

generating a chosen route to be followed by a plurality of vehicles based on a developed baseline route;

transmitting one or more commands instructing each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to traverse a marshaling environment based on the chosen route;

determining whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds a tolerance-related threshold associated with the chosen route; and

initiating a dynamic path routing process in response to determining that a traverse of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold, wherein the dynamic path routing process causes the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to return to the chosen route.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an initial baseline route from at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles or an operator associated with the marshaling environment;

observing a deviation corresponding to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the initial baseline route; and

generating the developed baseline route based on the observed deviation.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining an acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route based on one or more of an estimated deviation, an observed deviation, and an allowed deviation, wherein each of the estimated deviation and the observed deviation correspond to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the developed baseline route, and wherein the allowed deviation corresponds to a predefined maximum distance each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is allowed to be located relative to the developed baseline route; and

calculating an average deviation based on the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles that is within the acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route, wherein generating the chosen route is based on calculating the average deviation.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

monitoring the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles across the marshaling environment, wherein whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold is determined in response to monitoring the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles across the marshaling environment.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tolerance-related threshold corresponds to a frequency of an occurrence of a tolerance-related event, and wherein determining whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold comprises:

determining whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at a location along the chosen route exceeds the tolerance-related threshold, wherein the tolerance-related event corresponds to one or more deviations including a distance of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a radius of a turn associated with the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a speed of the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to a path setting associated with the chosen route, or a combination thereof.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds a maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold; and

initiating the dynamic path routing process for each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles in response to determining that the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds the maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more correction factors based on one or more configurations of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles and a drive surface associated with the chosen route; and

adjusting the one or more commands in response to determining the one or more correction factors.

8 . A system comprising:

an infrastructure system configured to:

generate a chosen route to be followed by a plurality of vehicles based on a developed baseline route,

transmit one or more commands instructing each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to traverse a marshaling environment based on the chosen route,

determine whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds a tolerance-related threshold associated with the chosen route, and

initiate a dynamic path routing process in response to determining that a traverse of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold; and

the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles configured to:

receive the one or more commands, and

return to the chosen route in response to the initiation of the dynamic path routing process.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the infrastructure system is further configured to:

receive an initial baseline route from at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles or an operator associated with the marshaling environment;

observe a deviation corresponding to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the initial baseline route; and

generate the developed baseline route based on the observed deviation.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the infrastructure system is further configured to:

determine an acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route based on one or more of an estimated deviation, an observed deviation, and an allowed deviation, wherein each of the estimated deviation and the observed deviation correspond to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the developed baseline route, and wherein the allowed deviation corresponds to a predefined maximum distance each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is allowed to be located relative to the developed baseline route; and

calculate an average deviation based on the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles that is within the acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route, wherein generating the chosen route is based on calculating the average deviation.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the infrastructure system is further configured to:

monitor the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles across the marshaling environment, wherein whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold is determined in response to monitoring the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles across the marshaling environment.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the tolerance-related threshold corresponds to a frequency of an occurrence of a tolerance-related event, and wherein the infrastructure system configured to determine whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold is further configured to:

determine whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at a location along the chosen route exceeds the tolerance-related threshold, wherein the tolerance-related event corresponds to one or more deviations including a distance of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a radius of a turn associated with the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a speed of the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to a path setting associated with the chosen route, or a combination thereof.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the infrastructure system is further configured to:

determine whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds a maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold; and

initiate the dynamic path routing process for each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles in response to determining that the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds the maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the infrastructure system is further configured to:

determine one or more correction factors based on one or more configurations of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles and a drive surface associated with the chosen route; and

adjust the one or more commands in response to determining the one or more correction factors.

15 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

generate a chosen route to be followed by a plurality of vehicles based on a developed baseline route;

transmit one or more commands instructing each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to traverse a marshaling environment based on the chosen route;

determine whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds a tolerance-related threshold associated with the chosen route; and

initiate a dynamic path routing process in response to determining that a traverse of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold, wherein the dynamic path routing process causes the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to return to the chosen route.

16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:

receive an initial baseline route from at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles or an operator associated with the marshaling environment;

observe a deviation corresponding to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the initial baseline route; and

generate the developed baseline route based on the observed deviation.

17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:

determine an acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route based on one or more of an estimated deviation, an observed deviation, and an allowed deviation, wherein each of the estimated deviation and the observed deviation correspond to the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to the developed baseline route, and wherein the allowed deviation corresponds to a predefined maximum distance each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is allowed to be located relative to the developed baseline route; and

calculate an average deviation based on the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles that is within the acceptable deviation from the developed baseline route, wherein generating the chosen route is based on calculating the average deviation.

18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the tolerance-related threshold corresponds to a frequency of an occurrence of a tolerance-related event, and wherein the at least one processor caused to determine whether the traverse of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles exceeds the tolerance-related threshold is further caused to:

determine whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at a location along the chosen route exceeds the tolerance-related threshold, wherein the tolerance-related event corresponds to one or more deviations including a distance of a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a radius of a turn associated with the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the chosen route, a speed of the vehicle of the plurality of vehicles relative to a path setting associated with the chosen route, or a combination thereof.

19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:

determine whether the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds a maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold; and

initiate the dynamic path routing process for each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles in response to determining that the frequency of the occurrence of the tolerance-related event at the location along the chosen route meets or exceeds the maximum bound of the tolerance-related threshold.

20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further caused to:

determine one or more correction factors based on one or more configurations of each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles and a drive surface associated with the chosen route; and

adjust the one or more commands in response to determining the one or more correction factors.