Granted Patent B2

US 12,311,978 · App. 17/259,867 · Granted May 27, 2025

Inventor: Nan Wu (Beijing, CN)

Assignee: BEIJING TUSEN ZHITU TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

B60W60/00256B60W50/14G06K7/10366G06Q10/06315G06Q10/08B60W2420/403

Abstract

Claims (68)

1. A system for automated goods transportation, comprising a management system, a loading/unloading control device, and an autonomous driving control device provided on an autonomous vehicle, wherein:

the management system is configured to manage goods information and transportation status of the autonomous vehicle, generate a transportation task at least based on the goods information and the transportation status of the autonomous vehicle, and transmit the transportation task to the autonomous driving control device of the autonomous vehicle,

the autonomous driving control device on the autonomous vehicle is configured to control, upon receiving the transportation task, the autonomous vehicle to complete transportation in accordance with the transportation task, and

the loading/unloading control device is configured to control a loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle,

wherein the transportation task contains a loading position, and the autonomous driving control device being configured to control the autonomous vehicle to complete the transportation in accordance with the transportation task comprises the autonomous driving control device being configured to:

control the autonomous vehicle to move from a current position to the loading position; and

control, upon determining that the loading is completed, the autonomous vehicle to leave the loading position,

wherein the autonomous driving control device is configured to determine that the loading is completed upon

identifying, using a predetermined voice model, a notification message indicating a vehicle identification (ID) number of the autonomous vehicle and completion of the loading onto the autonomous vehicle as broadcasted by a voice broadcaster,

wherein the management system is configured to select the autonomous vehicle by:

determining, for goods to be transported, a matching condition indicating a vehicle type, based on the goods information of the goods to be transported comprising a goods type;

determining a first set of autonomous vehicles each having the vehicle type indicated by the matching condition,

selecting, from the first set of autonomous vehicles, a second set of autonomous vehicles each having a vehicle status being idle,

in response to the second set of autonomous vehicles including more than one autonomous vehicle, selecting, from the second set of autonomous vehicles, the autonomous vehicle that is closest to a transportation start point of the goods to be transported, and

in response to the second set of autonomous vehicles being null, selecting, from the first set of autonomous vehicles, the autonomous vehicle having goods transportation end point closest to the transportation start point of the goods to be transported,

wherein identifying, using the predetermined voice model, the notification message comprises:

identifying, using the predetermined voice model, the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transportation task further contains an unloading position, and the autonomous driving control device being configured to control the autonomous vehicle to complete the transportation in accordance with the transportation task comprises the autonomous driving control device being configured to:

control the autonomous vehicle to move to the unloading position; and

control, upon determining that the unloading is completed, the autonomous vehicle to leave the unloading position.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the autonomous driving control device is configured to determine that the unloading is completed when:

an instruction indicating completion of the unloading from the autonomous vehicle is received from the loading/unloading control device, or

an instruction indicating completion of the unloading from the autonomous vehicle is received from the management system.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the autonomous driving control device determines that the unloading is completed when:

a notification message indicating completion of the unloading from the autonomous vehicle as broadcasted by a voice broadcaster is identified using a predetermined voice model.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transportation task further contains an unloading position, and the autonomous driving control device being configured to control the autonomous vehicle to complete the transportation in accordance with the transportation task comprises the autonomous driving control device being configured to:

control, upon determining that the loading is completed, the autonomous vehicle to move from the loading position to the unloading position; and

control, upon determining that the unloading is completed, the autonomous vehicle to leave the unloading position.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous driving control device is configured to determine that the loading is completed when:

it is determined that a gravity value outputted from a gravity sensor mounted on the autonomous vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined gravity threshold and the gravity value has not changed for a predetermined time period.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the loading/unloading control device being configured to control the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle comprises the loading/unloading control device being configured to:

receive a loading/unloading instruction from the autonomous driving control device of the autonomous vehicle corresponding to the loading/unloading device, and control the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the loading/unloading instruction.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the loading/unloading control device being configured to control the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the loading/unloading instruction comprises the loading/unloading control device being configured to:

determine, when the loading/unloading instruction is an unloading instruction, a target storage position corresponding to the goods to be unloaded from the autonomous vehicle, and control the loading/unloading device to unload the goods to be unloaded from the autonomous vehicle to the target storage position.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous driving control device is further configured to transmit a transportation task completion message to the management system when determining that the transportation task is completed, and

the management system is further configured to update, upon receiving the transportation task completion message, the goods information and the transportation status of the autonomous vehicle based on the completed transportation task.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the loading/unloading control device being configured to control the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle comprises the loading/unloading control device being configured to:

obtain the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle which comprises a license plate number or a serial number preset for the autonomous vehicle and corresponds to the loading/unloading device, determine a loading/unloading instruction corresponding to the autonomous vehicle from a predetermined correspondence between vehicle ID numbers and loading/unloading instructions, and control the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the loading/unloading instruction.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the loading/unloading control device being configured to obtain the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle corresponding to the loading/unloading device comprises the loading/unloading control device being configured to:

capture a picture of the autonomous vehicle using a camera provided on the loading/unloading device, and

identify the vehicle ID number from the picture using an image identification technology, the picture containing the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle.

12. A method for automated goods transportation, comprising:

generating, by a management system, a transportation task based on goods information and transportation status of an autonomous vehicle,

transmitting, by the management system, the transportation task to an autonomous driving control device of the autonomous vehicle,

controlling, by the autonomous driving control device upon receiving the transportation task, the autonomous vehicle to complete transportation in accordance with the transportation task, and

controlling, by a loading/unloading control device, a loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle,

wherein the transportation task contains a loading position, and

wherein controlling, by the autonomous driving control device upon receiving the transportation task, the autonomous vehicle to complete transportation in accordance with the transportation task comprises:

controlling, by the autonomous driving control device, the autonomous vehicle to move from a current position to the loading position; and

controlling, by the autonomous driving control device upon determining that the loading is completed, the autonomous vehicle to leave the loading position,

wherein determining that the loading is completed comprises: identifying, by the autonomous driving control device using a predetermined voice model, a notification message indicating a vehicle identification (ID) number of the autonomous vehicle and completion of the loading onto the autonomous vehicle as broadcasted by a voice broadcaster,

wherein the method further comprises selecting, by the management system, the autonomous vehicle by:

determining, for goods to be transported, a matching condition indicating a vehicle type, based on the goods information of the goods to be transported comprising a goods type;

determining a first set of autonomous vehicles each having the vehicle type indicated by the matching condition,

selecting, from the first set of autonomous vehicles, a second set of autonomous vehicles each having a vehicle status being idle,

in response to the second set of autonomous vehicles including more than one autonomous vehicle, selecting, from the second set of autonomous vehicles, the autonomous vehicle that is closest to a transportation start point of the goods to be transported, and

in response to the second set of autonomous vehicles being null, selecting, from the first set of autonomous vehicles, the autonomous vehicle having goods transportation end point closest to the transportation start point of the goods to be transported,

wherein identifying, by the autonomous driving control device using the predetermined voice model, the notification message comprises:

identifying, by the autonomous driving control device using the predetermined voice model, the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining that the loading is completed comprises:

determining, by the autonomous driving control device, that a gravity value outputted from a gravity sensor mounted on the autonomous vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined gravity threshold and the gravity value has not changed for a predetermined time period.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein controlling, by the loading/unloading control device, the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle comprises:

obtaining, by the loading/unloading control device, the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle which comprises a license plate number or a serial number preset for the autonomous vehicle and corresponds to the loading/unloading device, determining a loading/unloading instruction corresponding to the autonomous vehicle from a predetermined correspondence between vehicle ID numbers and loading/unloading instructions, and controlling the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the loading/unloading instruction.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein controlling the loading/unloading device to load goods onto or unload goods from the autonomous vehicle in accordance with the loading/unloading instruction comprises:

determining, when the loading/unloading instruction is a loading instruction, a goods ID number and a storage position of the goods to be loaded corresponding to the autonomous vehicle, and controlling the loading/unloading device to obtain the goods to be loaded corresponding to the goods ID number from the storage position and to load the goods to be loaded onto the autonomous vehicle, or

determining, when the loading/unloading instruction is an unloading instruction, a target storage position corresponding to the goods to be unloaded from the autonomous vehicle, and controlling the loading/unloading device to unload the goods to be unloaded from the autonomous vehicle to the target storage position.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein obtaining, by the loading/unloading control device, the ID number of the autonomous vehicle corresponding to the loading/unloading device comprises: capturing a picture on the autonomous vehicle using a camera provided on the loading/unloading device, and identifying the vehicle ID number from the picture using an image identification technology, the picture containing the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle, or

reading an electronic tag provided on the autonomous vehicle using an inductive reader provided on the loading/unloading device to obtain the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle, the electronic tag containing the vehicle ID number of the autonomous vehicle.

Assignments (4)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (46)