Skip to main content

Google awarded patent for driverless car technology

Google has been awarded a US patent for a “landing strip” which will be used to transition a mixed-mode vehicle from human to autonomous control. The Intellectual Property Rights explain how the car would know when and where to take control and where it is located and the direction it needs to drive in. Google describes several methods for the technology and says that a range of aspects can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. The enabler
March 27, 2012 Read time: 1 min
1691 Google has been awarded a US patent for a “landing strip” which will be used to transition a mixed-mode vehicle from human to autonomous control. The Intellectual Property Rights explain how the car would know when and where to take control and where it is located and the direction it needs to drive in. Google describes several methods for the technology and says that a range of aspects can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. The enabler for the technology which may trigger actions is the landing strip which Google says could simply be a mark on the ground, a sign on a wall, or lines or arrows. To study the full patent document, %$Linker: External 0 0 0 oLinkExternal visit this link Full Patent Document false http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,078,349.PN.&OS=PN/8,078,349&RS=PN/8,078,349 false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Open dialogue on USDOT ITS Strategic Plan
    July 26, 2013
    The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is offering the public a great opportunity to share its views and be a part of the development of the Department's next ITS Strategic Plan. This plan will identify the ITS-related research, development, and education areas that the USDOT will focus on for the rest of the decade. Various opportunities exist for the public to provide input, including an online feedback site.
  • Polis issues position paper on open transport data
    June 28, 2013
    The Polis Traffic Efficiency & Mobility Working Group has been working on the topic of open transport data for more than eighteen months, with the aim of sharing information among Polis members on local experiences of publishing transport data, lessons learned and future plans. Polis has now issued its position paper, detailing the knowledge shared and the insight gained into the fast evolving area of open data, which has enabled it to produce informed recommendations to the European Commission in relation
  • Nashville meeting smooth path to Tokyo
    May 29, 2013
    Plans for each ITS World Congress to smoothly transition into its successor took a step forward at the April 2013 ITS America Annual Meeting in April. Dr Hiroyuki Watanabe, organising committee chairman for the 2013 event in Tokyo met Jim Barbaresso, his counterpart for the 2014 follow-on in Detroit, Michigan to progress high-level cooperation. Barbaresso, vice president for ITS at engineering company HNTB and a former president of ITS Michigan, told ITS International there will be a common focus on lesson
  • Dutch Automotive Week 2015 announced
    October 21, 2014
    The Netherlands’ high profile international Automotive Week, which takes place from 25 March to 1 April 2015, will highlight innovation in mobility and the development of new technology, leading concepts and the interaction between the road user, roadside and vehicle. The week’s activities will mainly be focused on national and international professionals, with events including the Automotive Congress, the opening of a new, national innovative traffic management centre and demonstrations on and around th