US 12,374,217 B2
Managing communication in a group of vehicles
Norman Lu, Fairview, TX (US); and Maximilian Parness, Takoma Park, MD (US)
Assigned to TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US); and TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Aichi-Ken (JP)
Filed by TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US)
Filed on Jun. 27, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/850,173.
Prior Publication US 2023/0419825 A1, Dec. 28, 2023
Int. Cl. G08G 1/01 (2006.01); G08G 1/00 (2006.01); H04W 4/46 (2018.01)
CPC G08G 1/0141 (2013.01) [G08G 1/22 (2013.01); H04W 4/46 (2018.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
determining, by a vehicle from a group of vehicles, that the group of vehicles is insufficient to perform a designated energy charging task;
sending a request from the vehicle to a different vehicle in a different group of vehicles requesting merging of the different vehicle from the different group of vehicles with the group of vehicles;
merging the different vehicle with the group of vehicles to create a set of merged vehicles,
establishing direct vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between the different vehicle and the group of vehicles based on the merging;
receiving, by the vehicle, a first V2V communication with an indicator of how much energy is available at the different vehicle;
transmitting, by the vehicle, a second V2V communication from the vehicle to the different vehicle with instructions to perform the designated energy charging task based on the energy available at the different vehicle; and
controlling the merged set of vehicles to perform the designated energy charging task at a location associated with the designated energy charging task.