IP Library Granted Patent US 12,214,698
Granted Patent B2
US 12,214,698 · App. 18/192,348 · Granted Feb 4, 2025

Automated vehicle seats

Inventors: Christopher Matthew D'Eramo (Bethel Park, PA); Nicolas Bryan Chan (Detroit, MI); Janna Urbanski (Dearborn, MI)
Assignee: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
B60N2/01A47C3/04B60N2/002B60N2/0248B60N2/0252B60N2/06B60N2/14B60N3/001B60N2/0256B60N2/0268
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,214,698
App. No.
18/192,348
Granted
Feb 4, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices associated with the operation of a vehicle are provided. For example a vehicle computing system can receive occupancy data that includes information associated with occupancy of a vehicle that includes seats. One or more states of the vehicle can be determined. The states of the vehicle can include a disposition of any object that is within the vehicle. Further, a configuration of the seats in the vehicle can be determined based on the occupancy data and the states of the vehicle. The configuration can include a disposition of the seats inside the vehicle. Furthermore, at least one of the seats can be adjusted based on the configuration that was determined.

Claims (48)

1. A vehicle comprising:

a plurality of seats; and

a vehicle computing system configured to:

receive, from a remote computing device, occupancy data indicative of a desired layout for the plurality of seats within the vehicle;

determine a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data, wherein the seat configuration is associated with an orientation of a seat of the plurality of seats;

determine an order in which one or more passengers will enter or exit the vehicle; and

adjust, based on the order, the seat of the plurality of seats within the vehicle, wherein adjusting a seat of the plurality of seats is indicative of reconfiguring an interior of the vehicle based on the occupancy data.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle computing system is configured to:

determine one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the one or more states are indicative of a disposition a particular seat of the plurality of seats;

communicate, to the remote computing device, the one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the remote computing device modifies a particular state of the one or more states of the vehicle; and

receive, from the remote computing device, one or more updated states of the vehicle based on the remote computing device modifying the particular state of the one or more states.

3. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the vehicle computing system is configured to determine a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data and the one or more updated states of the vehicle.

4. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the one or more states of the vehicle are indicative of at least one of (i) a number of passengers occupying the vehicle, or (ii) an article of cargo occupying the vehicle.

5. The vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the one or more updated states of the vehicle are indicative of a modified disposition of a particular seat of the plurality of seats.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle computing system is configured to adjust a seat of the plurality of seats within the vehicle by communicating one or more signals to adjust at least one of (i) a position of a respective seat of the plurality of seats, (ii) a location of a respective seat of the plurality of seats, or (iii) other portions of the interior of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the occupancy data is indicative of at least one of (i) a number of passengers to occupy the vehicle, or (ii) an article of cargo to occupy the vehicle.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the remote computing device is associated with a passenger of the vehicle.

9. A vehicle control system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory comprising one or more computer-readable media, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a remote computing device, occupancy data indicative of a desired layout for a plurality of seats within a vehicle;

determining a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data, wherein the seat configuration is associated with an orientation of a seat of the plurality of seats;

determining an order in which one or more passengers will enter or exit the vehicle; and

adjusting, based on the order, a seat of the plurality of seats within the vehicle, wherein the adjusting the seat of the plurality of seats is indicative of reconfiguring an interior of the vehicle based on the occupancy data.

10. The vehicle control system of claim 9 , wherein the operations comprise:

determining one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the one or more states are indicative of a disposition a particular seat of the plurality of seats;

communicating, to the remote computing device, the one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the remote computing device modifies a particular state of the one or more states of the vehicle; and

receiving, from the remote computing device, one or more updated states of the vehicle based on the remote computing device modifying the particular state of the one or more states.

11. The vehicle control system of claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise determining a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data and the one or more updated states of the vehicle.

12. The vehicle control system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more states of the vehicle are indicative of at least one of (i) a number of passengers occupying the vehicle, or (ii) an article of cargo occupying the vehicle.

13. The vehicle control system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more updated states of the vehicle are indicative of a modified disposition of a particular seat of the plurality of seats.

14. The vehicle control system of claim 9 , wherein the operations comprise:

communicating one or more signals to adjust at least one of (i) a position of a respective seat of the plurality of seats, (ii) a location of a respective seat of the plurality of seats, or (iii) other portions of the interior of the vehicle.

15. The vehicle control system of claim 9 , wherein the occupancy data is indicative of at least one of (i) a number of passengers to occupy the vehicle, or (ii) an article of cargo to occupy the vehicle.

16. The vehicle control system of claim 9 , wherein the remote computing device is associated with a passenger of the vehicle.

17. An autonomous vehicle control system comprising:

one or more processors:

a memory comprising one or more computer-readable media, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a remote computing device, occupancy data indicative of a desired layout for a plurality of seats within a vehicle;

determining a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data, wherein the seat configuration is associated with an orientation of a seat of the plurality of seats;

determining an order in which one or more passengers will enter or exit the vehicle; and

adjusting, based on the order, a seat of a plurality of seats within the vehicle, wherein the adjusting the seat of the plurality of seats is indicative of reconfiguring an interior of the vehicle based on the occupancy data.

18. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 17 , wherein the operations comprise:

determine one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the one or more states are indicative of a disposition a particular seat of the plurality of seats;

communicate, to the remote computing device, the one or more states of the vehicle, wherein the remote computing device modifies a particular state of the one or more states of the vehicle; and

receive, from the remote computing device, one or more updated states of the vehicle based on the remote computing device modifying the particular state of the one or more states.

19. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 18 , wherein the operations comprise determining a seat configuration for the plurality of seats based on the occupancy data and the one or more updated states of the vehicle.

20. The autonomous vehicle control system of claim 18 , wherein the operations comprise determining a portion of one or more of the plurality of seats that will be visible to one or more passengers of the vehicle.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 14, 2024
From: UATC, LLC
To: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 067733/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 30, 2023
From: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: UATC, LLC
Reel/Frame 064782/0381 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 29, 2023
From: D'ERAMO, CHRISTOPHER MATTHEW; CHAN, NICOLAS BRYAN; URBANSKI, JANNA
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 063156/0138 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 17843229 · Jun 17, 2022
Continuation 16171827 · Oct 26, 2018
Provisional Application 62748846 · Oct 22, 2018
Provisional Application 62716057 · Aug 8, 2018
Related Publication 20230256869A1 · Aug 17, 2023
References Cited (71)
US 1758826A · Dellert · 1930 [cited by applicant]
US 1911224A · Dellert · 1933 [cited by applicant]
US 2132279A · Wicknick et al. · 1938 [cited by applicant]
US 2563347A · Long · 1951 [cited by applicant]
US 2642119A · Dary · 1953 [cited by applicant]
US 3463539A · Racine et al. · 1969 [cited by applicant]
US 3632161A · Arfaras et al. · 1972 [cited by applicant]
US 3637253A · Maule et al. · 1972 [cited by applicant]
US 5653262A · Hanemaayer · 1997 [cited by applicant]
US 5738408A · Wu · 1998 [cited by applicant]
US 6030037A · Ritch et al. · 2000 [cited by applicant]
US 6264261B1 · Krafcik · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 6338518B1 · D'Annunzio et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 6350972B1 · Wright et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 6540279B1 · Bargiel · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 6925679B2 · Wallach et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 7066519B2 · Rhodes et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7090274B1 · Khan et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7156442B2 · McManus et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 8010230B2 · Zini et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8182016B2 · Kaip et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8186735B2 · Maceri et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 9256852B1 · Myllymaki · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9463715B1 · Rawlinson et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9510682B2 · Hasegawa et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9533625B2 · Krishnan et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 9815388B1 · Lindsay · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 10040373B2 · Rawlinson et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10300832B1 · Folks et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10372130B1 · Kaushansky et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10611269B1 · Larner et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 10730407B2 · Guy et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20050028543A1 · Whitehead et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20060103174A1 · Queveau et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20070156540A1 · Koren et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20080185893A1 · Behrens et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20090179447A1 · Woodhouse et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20100052374A1 · Bell et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20150006005A1 · Yu et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150379468A1 · Harvey · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20160142877A1 · Gujral · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160280095A1 · Frye et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170166173A1 · Lauffer et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170313208A1 · Lindsay · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170334313A1 · Ahn et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170341532A1 · Sowinski et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170354996A1 · Lim et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20180105071A1 · Lange-Mao · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180141468A1 · Goto et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180186274A1 · Gurin · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180356897A1 · Hoggarth et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190126786A1 · Dry et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190299897A1 · Gramenos · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190303729A1 · Gramenos et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20200039387A1 · Umetani · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200047641A1 · D'Eramo et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20210323444A1 · Fields · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210380022A1 · Kanitz · 2021 [cited by examiner]
CN 203623483 · 2014 [cited by applicant]
CN 105189313 · 2015 [cited by applicant]
DE 4200476 · 1993 [cited by applicant]
DE 19822694 · 1999 [cited by applicant]
DE 102010055365 · 2011 [cited by applicant]
EP 1247473 · 2002 [cited by applicant]
EP 2258579 · 2010 [cited by applicant]
FR 2920011 · 2009 [cited by applicant]
JP 6270307 · 2013 [cited by applicant]
JP 6262937 · 2014 [cited by applicant]
KR 100783510 · 2007 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2012060462 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
WO WO2017156586 · 2017 [cited by applicant]