IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,597,115
Granted Patent B2
US 12,597,115 · App. 19/294,071 · Granted Apr 7, 2026

Systems and techniques for vehicle inspection and condition analysis

Inventors: Mark Brighton (Buffalo, NY); Margaret Donnelly (Buffalo, NY); Livio Forte, III (Lloyd Harbor, NY); William Giegerich (Buffalo, NY); Frank Pollina (Pendleton, NY); Philip Schneider (Amherst, NY); Prajwal Shubhodaya Shetty (Buffalo, NY); Justas Birgiolas (Milton, VT); Stephen Christopher Hull (Bushnell, FL); Akhil Kanna Devarashetti (Amherst, NY)
Assignee: ACV Auctions Inc.
G01N21/8851G06T7/0002G06V10/12G07C5/0808G06T2207/30248G06V2201/08
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,597,115
App. No.
19/294,071
Granted
Apr 7, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and techniques for inspecting vehicles, such as cars or trucks. Some embodiments provide a method for inspecting a vehicle using a vehicle inspection system. The vehicle inspection system may include a vehicle exterior inspection system having a plurality of exterior sensor arrays, the plurality of exterior sensor arrays including respective sets of sensors oriented in different directions. The vehicle inspection system may include a vehicle undercarriage inspection system having an undercarriage sensor array including cameras configured to capture images at different angles, and a sensor configured to output vehicle position/motion data. In some embodiments, the method includes: moving the vehicle and/or vehicle inspection system; triggering capture, by the exterior sensor arrays and undercarriage sensor array, of sensor data about the vehicle; capturing the sensor data; stopping capture of the sensor data; stopping movement of the vehicle and/or vehicle inspection system; and generating a vehicle condition report.

Claims (87)

1 . A system for vehicle inspection, the system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system, comprising:

a first support member, comprising:

a first set of cameras configured to image an exterior of a vehicle, the first set of cameras comprising:

a first camera oriented to capture images of the vehicle as the vehicle approaches the first support member;

a second camera oriented to capture images of the vehicle as the vehicle is alongside the first support member; and

a third camera oriented to capture images of the vehicle as the vehicle moves past the first support member;

a second support member, comprising:

a second set of cameras configured to image at least one wheel and/or tire of the vehicle; and

a wheel light source configured to illuminate the at least one wheel and/or tire of the vehicle; and

an undercarriage imaging device, comprising:

a third set of cameras configured to image an undercarriage of the vehicle, the third set of cameras including a first, second, and third camera oriented to capture images at different angles relative to the undercarriage of the vehicle; and

an undercarriage light source configured to illuminate the undercarriage of the vehicle; and

a processor configured to:

receive image data from the first set of cameras, the second set of cameras, and the third set of cameras; and

process the image data using at least one trained machine learning model to determine one or more defects of the vehicle.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one trained machine learning model comprises:

a vehicle exterior machine learning model trained on images of vehicle exteriors;

a wheel and tire machine learning model trained on images of wheels and/or tires; and

an undercarriage machine learning model trained on images of vehicle undercarriages.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first support member further comprises a vehicle exterior light source configured to illuminate the exterior of the vehicle, and/or wherein the first support member further comprises an infrared camera.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to perform:

identifying, from the image data, an image containing personally identifiable information (PII);

identifying a region of the image containing the PII; and

distorting the region of the image containing the PII.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein;

the first support member further comprises a time of flight sensor, and

the processor is configured to trigger capture of the image data based on an output of the time of flight sensor.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more defects include: scratches to an exterior of the vehicle, cracked windows, mirrors, or windshields, chipped paint, dents to the exterior of the vehicle, misaligned body panels, missing vehicle parts, non-standard replacement parts, non-standard paint, aftermarket vehicle accessories, rust/corrosion on the vehicle, damaged wheels, damaged tires, bald tires, tire sidewall bubbles, broken tire valves, wheel misalignment, mismatched tires, brake rotor discoloration, brake rotor damage, brake rotor wear, and/or suspension modifications.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate, using photogrammetry, neural radiance fields or Gaussian splatting, a 3D model of at least a portion of the vehicle using the image data; and

generate a visualization of the 3D model.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the image data comprises a plurality of images, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

identifying a subset of the plurality of images for subsequent processing to identify whether the vehicle has one or more defects, wherein the identifying is performed based on a pose of the vehicle in images of the plurality of images, the identifying comprising:

determining a degree of matching between the pose of the vehicle in images of the plurality of images and vehicle poses of a reference set of vehicle poses; and for each vehicle pose of the reference set of vehicle poses, identifying an image in the plurality of images having at least a threshold degree of matching and including the identified image in the subset of the plurality of images; and

processing the subset of the plurality of images using at least one trained machine learning model to determine one or more defects of the vehicle.

9 . A system for vehicle inspection, the system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system, comprising:

a first support member, comprising:

a first set of cameras configured to image an exterior of a vehicle;

a second support member, comprising:

a second set of cameras configured to image at least one wheel and/or tire of the vehicle; and

a wheel light source configured to illuminate the at least one wheel and/or tire of the vehicle; and

a set of microphones configured to capture audio of the vehicle; and

a processor configured to:

receive image data from the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras;

receive audio data from the set of microphones; and

process at the image data and the audio data using at least one trained machine learning model to determine one or more defects of the vehicle.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the set of microphones comprises a plurality of microphones configured to capture audio from different portions of the vehicle.

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one trained machine learning model comprises:

a vehicle exterior machine learning model trained on images of vehicle exteriors; and

a wheel and tire machine learning model trained on images of wheels and/or tires.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one trained machine learning model is configured to output:

the one or more defects of the vehicle; and

one or more likelihoods that the one or more defects of the vehicle are present.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle exterior inspection system comprises an undercarriage imaging device, comprising:

a third set of cameras configured to image an undercarriage of the vehicle, the third set of cameras including a first, second, and third camera oriented to capture images at different angles relative to the undercarriage of the vehicle; and

an undercarriage light source configured to illuminate the undercarriage of the vehicle,

wherein the processor is further configured to receive image data from the third set of cameras.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a composite image of the undercarriage of the vehicle by combining images captured by the third set of cameras based on speed of the vehicle.

15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one trained machine learning model comprises an undercarriage machine learning model trained on images of vehicle undercarriages.

16 . A system for vehicle inspection, the system comprising:

a vehicle exterior inspection system, comprising:

a first support member, comprising:

a first set of cameras configured to image at least one wheel and/or tire of a vehicle; and

a wheel light source configured to illuminate the at least one wheel and/or tire of the vehicle;

an undercarriage imaging device, comprising:

a second set of cameras configured to image an undercarriage of the vehicle, the second set of cameras including a first, second, and third camera oriented to capture images at different angles relative to the undercarriage of the vehicle;

an undercarriage light source configured to illuminate the undercarriage of the vehicle; and

at least one microphone; and

at least one sensor configured to collect alignment data of the vehicle relative to the vehicle exterior inspection system; and

a processor configured to:

receive alignment data from the at least one sensor;

trigger, based on the alignment data, capture of images by the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras;

receive image data from the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras;

process the image data using at least one trained machine learning model to determine one or more defects of the vehicle;

receive audio data from the at least one microphone; and

process the audio data using the at least one trained machine learning model to determine the one or more defects of the vehicle.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a ranging sensor.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the undercarriage light source comprises a plurality of individual light sources configured to illuminate at different angles relative to the undercarriage of the vehicle, wherein the undercarriage light source comprises constant current light emitting diodes.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein:

the vehicle exterior inspection system further comprises:

a second support member, comprising:

a third set of cameras configured to image an exterior of a vehicle, and the processor is further configured to receive image data from the third set of cameras.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein:

the at least one microphone is a plurality of microphones, and

the plurality of microphones are distributed along a width of the undercarriage imaging device.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 23, 2026
From: BRIGHTON, MARK; DONNELLY, MARGARET; FORTE, LIVIO, III; GIEGERICH, WILLIAM; POLLINA, FRANK; SCHNEIDER, PHILIP; SHETTY, PRAJWAL SHUBHODAYA; BIRGIOLAS, JUSTAS; HULL, STEPHEN CHRISTOPHER; DEVARASHETTI, AKHIL KANNA
To: ACV AUCTIONS INC.
Reel/Frame 073567/0235 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 19009882 · Jan 3, 2025
Provisional Application 63689539 · Aug 30, 2024
Related Publication 20260063565A1 · Mar 5, 2026
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