US 11,869,360 B2
Empathic autonomous vehicle
Eric V. Kline, Pine Island, MN (US); and Sarbajit K. Rakshit, Kolkata (IN)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Dec. 21, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/128,515.
Application 17/128,515 is a division of application No. 15/802,628, filed on Nov. 3, 2017, granted, now 11,151,883.
Prior Publication US 2021/0110718 A1, Apr. 15, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G08G 1/00 (2006.01); G08G 1/16 (2006.01); G08G 1/0965 (2006.01); G05D 1/00 (2006.01); G08G 1/0967 (2006.01)
CPC G08G 1/205 (2013.01) [G05D 1/0088 (2013.01); G08G 1/0965 (2013.01); G08G 1/096791 (2013.01); G08G 1/161 (2013.01); B60W 2556/65 (2020.02); G05D 2201/0213 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body;
sensors deployed on the vehicle body to sense surroundings of the vehicle body; and
a processing element coupled to the vehicle body and the sensors,
the processing element being configured to receive information from the sensors, to control driving operations of the vehicle body in accordance with the received information, to interpret at least a portion of the received information as being indicative of an incident and to determine that towing or vehicle maintenance is needed to address the incident,
the processing element being further configured to:
develop a plan for addressing the incident,
calculate a capability level of features of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with autonomous vehicle information that defines a tow capability level for accomplishing the towing and a supply of assistance tools for accomplishing the vehicle maintenance and in accordance with current driving conditions,
calculate an empathy level of an owner of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with historic owner information that defines a willingness of the owner to stop and offer the towing or the vehicle maintenance and in accordance with owner instructions,
determine whether the developed plan is consistent with the capability and empathy levels, and
refine the developed plan in accordance with a determination of whether the developed plan is consistent with the capability and empathy levels to generate a refined developed plan.