IP Library Granted Patent US 12,411,489
Granted Patent B2
US 12,411,489 · App. 18/184,040 · Granted Sep 9, 2025

Vehicle control method, control device, and vehicle control system

Inventors: Kazuya Koyama (Kobe, JP); Tomoya Takagi (Kobe, JP); Haruo Harada (Kobe, JP); Yasuomi Kimura (Kobe, JP); Miki Hitotsuya (Kobe, JP)
Assignee: DENSO TEN Limited
G05D1/0022A61G5/1051G05D1/0061G05D1/0088
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 12,411,489
App. No.
18/184,040
Granted
Sep 9, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle control method to be executed by a controller for controlling a vehicle that travels in an area including a plurality of floors, wherein the controller is configured to: in a case where detecting occurrence of a disaster and determining that a floor on which the vehicle exists is different from a floor on which a first evacuation place being a priority evacuation place exists, set a destination to a second evacuation place existing on a floor that is a same as the floor on which the vehicle exists; and cause the vehicle to move to the second evacuation place.

Claims (41)

1. A vehicle control method to be executed by a controller for controlling a vehicle that travels in an area including a plurality of floors, wherein

the controller is configured to:

set a destination to a first evacuation place;

in a case of detecting occurrence of a disaster and determining that a floor on which the vehicle exists is different from a floor on which the first evacuation place being a priority evacuation place exists, change the destination from the first evacuation place to a second evacuation place existing on a floor that is a same as the floor on which the vehicle exists; and

cause the vehicle to move to the second evacuation place.

2. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein

the vehicle is a vehicle on which a person is riding.

3. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein the area includes a building.

4. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller is further configured to:

cause the vehicle to move to the second evacuation place having an area in which a plurality of the vehicles are able to be collected and accommodated within the movable range of the vehicle.

5. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller is further configured to:

cause the vehicle to move to the second evacuation place that is close to an available evacuation exit within the movable range of the vehicle.

6. The vehicle control method according to claim 5 , wherein

the controller is further configured to:

select the evacuation exit through which the vehicle is moved from among a plurality of types of the evacuation exits from each of which a user is able to move to another floor, in accordance with an attribute of the vehicle or the user that is riding on the vehicle.

7. The vehicle control method according to claim 6 , wherein

the controller is further configured to:

cause the vehicle on which nobody is riding to stand by so that the user who moves between the floors in the area is able to ride on the vehicle after moving between the floors.

8. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller is further configured to:

in a case in which determining that communication with an external device that calculates the second evacuation place has been lost, cause the vehicle to travel following the surroundings.

9. A control device capable of acquiring a situation of an area including a plurality of floors in which a vehicle is traveling, the device comprising:

a controller configured to:

set a destination to a first evacuation place;

in a case of detecting occurrence of a disaster and determining that a floor on which the vehicle exists is different from a floor on which the first evacuation place being a priority evacuation place exists, transmit information changing the destination from the first evacuation place to a second evacuation place existing on a floor that is a same as the floor on which the vehicle exists, as an evacuation destination; and

cause the vehicle to move to the second evacuation place.

10. A vehicle control system comprising:

a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle that travels in an area;

and a monitoring device that monitors a situation of the area, wherein

the monitoring device includes a first controller configured to:

set a destination to a first evacuation place;

acquire information indicating a floor on which the vehicle exists; and

in a case of detecting occurrence of a disaster and determining that the floor in the acquired information is different from a floor on which the first evacuation place being a priority evacuation place exists, transmit information changing the destination from the first evacuation place to a second evacuation place existing on a floor that is a same as the floor on which the vehicle exists, as an evacuation destination, and

the vehicle control device includes a second controller configured to:

set the destination to the second evacuation place received from the monitoring device to move the vehicle to the second evacuation place.

11. The vehicle control method according to claim 1 , wherein

the controller is configured to determine whether a user can move between floors by themself, and to select the second evacuation place based on whether the user can move between floors by themself.

12. The vehicle control method according to claim 11 , wherein

the controller selects stairs as the second evacuation place when the controller determines that the user can move between floors by themself and the controller selects an elevator or an escalator as the second evacuation place when the controller determines that the user cannot move between floors by themself.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 15, 2023
From: KOYAMA, KAZUYA; TAKAGI, TOMOYA; HARADA, HARUO; KIMURA, YASUOMI; HITOTSUYA, MIKI
To: DENSO TEN LIMITED
Reel/Frame 062985/0965 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTJP2021010400 · Mar 15, 2021
Related Publication 20230213934A1 · Jul 6, 2023
References Cited (22)
US 9368026B1 · Herbach · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 10769902B1 · Kronz · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20090012666A1 · Simpson · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20090079575A1 · Bouressa · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20090281850A1 · Bruce · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20150174755A1 · Rhodes · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20170266069A1 · Lozano · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170320705A1 · Honda · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20180224853A1 · Izhikevich · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20190012887A1 · Troesch · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190129420A1 · Yoshizaki · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190213888A1 · Koishi · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190278278A1 · Yasuda · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20200113755A1 · Seko · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200150658A1 · Ueda · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200364819A1 · de Hoog · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20210086757A1 · Sugano · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210312356A1 · Higashide · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20220005142A1 · Mrozek · 2022 [cited by examiner]
JP 2017131501A · 2017 [cited by applicant]
JP 2018010579A · 2018 [cited by applicant]
JP 2020144129A · 2020 [cited by applicant]