Autonomous vehicles

US9436182B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Google LLC · US

Inventors

• Philip Nemec · San Jose, US
• Anne Kristiina Aula · Mountain View, US
• David Tse-Zhou Lu · Menlo Park, US
• Brian Douglas Cullinane · Palo Alto, US
• Calvin Karl Johnson · San Francisco, US
• Albert Shane · Berkeley, US
• Christopher Kennedy Ludwick · Los Altos, US
• YooJung Ahn · Mountain View, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 8, 2014
• Grant date: Sep 6, 2016
• Expiry date: Aug 8, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G08B25/016
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a vehicle for maneuvering a passenger to a destination autonomously. The vehicle includes one or more computing devices and a set of user input buttons for communicating requests to stop the vehicle and to initiate a trip to the destination with the one or more computing devices. The set of user input buttons consisting essentially of a dual-purpose button and an emergency stopping button different from the dual-purpose button configured to stop the vehicle. The dual-purpose button has a first purpose for communicating a request to initiate the trip to the destination and a second purpose for communicating a request to pull the vehicle over and stop the vehicle. The vehicle has no steering wheel and no user inputs for the steering, acceleration, and deceleration of the vehicle other than the set of user input buttons.