US 12,420,826 B1
Failsafe control of shared backup power for multiple power domains in an autonomous vehicle
Quresh Sutarwala, Fremont, CA (US); Paridhi Desai, San Mateo, CA (US); Heba Mustufa, Mountain View, CA (US); Noopur Divekar, Santa Clara, CA (US); Julien Lambert, Mountain View, CA (US); Albert Ng, Cupertino, CA (US); and Michael Lepkowski, Plymouth, MI (US)
Assigned to NURO, INC., Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Nuro, Inc.., Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/958,997.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/251,450, filed on Oct. 1, 2021.
Int. Cl. B60W 60/00 (2020.01); B60W 10/30 (2006.01)
CPC B60W 60/001 (2020.02) [B60W 10/30 (2013.01); B60W 2510/0666 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle comprising:
a first power distribution unit configured to distribute power to a first set of vehicle components within a first voltage domain;
a second power distribution unit configured to distribute power to a second set of vehicle components within a second voltage domain;
a shared backup battery configured to concurrently supply backup power to the first power distribution unit and to the second power distribution unit;
a primary power source for supplying high voltage power;
a voltage converter configured to convert the high voltage power from the primary power source to low voltage power, the low voltage power being received by the first power distribution unit and by the second power distribution unit; and
wherein, while the shared backup battery concurrently supplies backup power to the first power distribution unit and to the second power distribution unit, the first power distribution unit is configured to generate a first control signal to selectively decouple the second power distribution unit from the shared backup battery and the second power distribution unit is configured to generate a second control signal to selectively decouple the first power distribution unit from the shared backup battery, and wherein the shared backup battery is shared by the first power distribution unit and the second power distribution unit, and wherein the shared backup battery is configured to concurrently supply backup power to the first power distribution unit and to the second power distribution unit in response to a fault associated with one or more of the primary power source or the voltage converter.