US 12,018,953 B2
Detecting types of travel corridors on which personal mobility vehicles travel
Henry Weston Bradlow, Stanford, CA (US); Punit Nitin Shah, San Francisco, CA (US); Wubai Zhou, Mountain View, CA (US); Jinsong Tan, Fremont, CA (US); Emad El-Haraty, Emeryville, CA (US); and Li Jiang, Cupertino, CA (US)
Assigned to Neutron Holdings, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by Neutron Holdings, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 21, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/659,448.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/870,530, filed on Jul. 3, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/748,197, filed on Oct. 19, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0124430 A1, Apr. 23, 2020
Int. Cl. G01C 21/00 (2006.01); B62J 99/00 (2020.01); B62K 11/00 (2006.01); B62K 15/00 (2006.01); G01C 21/34 (2006.01); G01C 21/36 (2006.01); G06Q 30/0207 (2023.01); B62J 45/20 (2020.01); B62J 45/40 (2020.01); B62J 50/20 (2020.01)
CPC G01C 21/3461 (2013.01) [B62J 99/00 (2013.01); B62K 11/007 (2016.11); B62K 15/006 (2013.01); G01C 21/3602 (2013.01); G01C 21/3658 (2013.01); G06Q 30/0207 (2013.01); B62J 45/20 (2020.02); B62J 45/40 (2020.02); B62J 50/20 (2020.02); B62K 2202/00 (2013.01)] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
collecting surface type sensor data generated by a vehicle while traveling on a travel pathway, the surface type sensor data being indicative of a pattern of a travel pathway surface;
wherein collecting the surface type sensor data comprises any of:
collecting the surface type sensor data while the vehicle travels at a speed in a range between a low threshold and a high threshold;
collecting the surface type sensor data over a designated travel distance of the vehicle; and
collecting the surface type sensor data from a sensor at a frequency sufficient to detect a structural pattern of the travel path surface including periodic discontinuities;
determining a surface type of a travel pathway the vehicle is traveling on by comparing the pattern of the travel pathway surface indicated from the collected surface type sensor data to a set of known patterns, each of the set of known patterns being indicative of the surface type of the travel pathway;
wherein the comparing includes calculating a similarity measure between the pattern of the travel pathway surface indicated from the collected sensor data and each pattern of the set of known patterns, wherein the similarity measures at or above a threshold value are considered matches, and wherein a highest match is a determined type of travel pathway surface; and
adjusting an operation of the vehicle based on the determined type of travel pathway.