Outrider Technologies, Inc.

A path for an autonomous tractor to move a trailer from a start spot to an ending spot has at least one path segment and a variation indicator that indicates a path variant for the autonomous tractor to follow for the path segment. The autonomous tractor follows the path variant to reduce wear caused by repetitive use of the same path by the autonomous tractor. The path variant may be selected as a least frequented path variant or may be selected as having carried the least amount of weight.

A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.

This invention provides a system and method for allowing motion of a robotic manipulator on an AV truck in connecting to a native gladhand on a trailer front that represents and constructs a model of this free space on-the-fly, in the manner of an Obstacle Detection and Obstacle Avoidance (OD/OA) system and process. A robotic arm on an AV truck is adapted to connect a pneumatic line to a gladhand on the trailer front. A first 3D sensor generates a pointcloud, and is located at an elevated position on the truck to image the trailer front. A second 3D sensor also generates pointclouds at during robot motion, located adjacent to an end of the robotic arm. An occlusion mapping process generates an occlusion map of the trailer front, and a map update process updates the occlusion map to add and remove voxels therefrom to allow safe guidance of the robot.

A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.

This invention provides a system and method for allowing motion of a robotic manipulator on an AV truck in connecting to a native gladhand on a trailer front that represents and constructs a model of this free space on-the-fly, in the manner of an Obstacle Detection and Obstacle Avoidance (OD/OA) system and process. A robotic arm on an AV truck is adapted to connect a pneumatic line to a gladhand on the trailer front. A first 3D sensor generates a pointcloud, and is located at an elevated position on the truck to image the trailer front. A second 3D sensor also generates pointclouds at during robot motion, located adjacent to an end of the robotic arm. An occlusion mapping process generates an occlusion map of the trailer front, and a map update process updates the occlusion map to add and remove voxels therefrom to allow safe guidance of the robot.

A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.

Systems and methods determines that a trailer being towed by an autonomous electric tractor has its brakes applied when a motor current value of a drive motor of the autonomous electric tractor reaches or exceeds a first current threshold. a recover handler initiates a set of actions to recover resolve the trailer brake problem. A trailer lift status indicating whether a landing gear of the trailer is off the ground and a lift metric indicative of a height of the landing gear off the ground are determined by a perception module using one or more of images, point clouds, and radar data that include the trailer.

A system and method for operation of an autonomous vehicle (AV) yard truck is provided. A processor facilitates autonomous movement of the AV yard truck, and connection to and disconnection from trailers. A plurality of sensors are interconnected with the processor that sense terrain/objects and assist in automatically connecting/disconnecting trailers. A server, interconnected, wirelessly with the processor, that tracks movement of the truck around and determines locations for trailer connection and disconnection. A door station unlatches/opens rear doors of the trailer when adjacent thereto, securing them in an opened position via clamps, etc. The system computes a height of the trailer, and/or if landing gear of the trailer is on the ground and interoperates with the fifth wheel to change height, and whether docking is safe, allowing a user to take manual control, and optimum charge time(s). Reversing sensors/safety, automated chocking, and intermodal container organization are also provided.

A path for an autonomous tractor to move a trailer from a start spot to an ending spot has at least one path segment and a variation indicator that indicates a path variant for the autonomous tractor to follow for the path segment. The autonomous tractor follows the path variant to reduce wear caused by repetitive use of the same path by the autonomous tractor. The path variant may be selected as a least frequented path variant or may be selected as having carried the least amount of weight.

A method detects and prevents stall of a drive motor of an autonomous electric tractor. A stall detector receives, at intervals, a motor current value from a drive circuit of the autonomous electric tractor, determines when the motor current value reaches or exceeds a first current threshold and applies brakes, inhibits a throttle controlling the drive motor, and sets a motor stall flag. A method determines a height above the ground of a landing gear of a trailer coupled with a tractor. A lift detector controls a hydraulic pump to pump a hydraulic fluid into a chamber of a piston coupled to a fifth wheel of the tractor to raise the fifth wheel. The lift detector senses, at intervals as the fifth wheel rises, a pressure value of the hydraulic fluid in the chamber and processes the pressure value to determine when the landing gear is lifted off the ground.