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SonyGranted patentCars & transportInterest 7/10

Sony patents car system that predicts when you can take over driving

Sony has been granted a patent for a system that uses machine learning to determine if a driver is ready to take control of an autonomous vehicle. The system analyzes data about the driver and the surrounding traffic environment to estimate exactly how long it will take the driver to become safe to drive manually.

Why it mattersThis is interesting because it addresses a key safety gap in self-driving cars: knowing exactly when the human driver is alert enough to take over control if the system fails.

In the filing’s own words

A configuration is achieved in which driver information and environmental information are input and a safety index value indicating whether or not a driver who is performing automatic driving is in a state of being able to perform safe manual driving or a manual driving recovery available time is estimated. The configuration includes: a driver information acquisition unit that acquires driver information of a movement device such as an automobile; an environmental information acquisition unit that acquires environmental information of the movement device; and a safety determination unit that receives, as an input, the driver information and the environmental information, and learns and calculates a safety index value indicating whether or not a driver in the movement device during automatic driving is in a state of being able to perform safe manual driving. The safety determination unit further estimates a manual driving recovery available time including a time required until the driver in the movement device during the automatic driving becomes able to start the safe manual driving.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An information processing device, comprising: circuitry configured to: acquire driver information and environmental information, wherein the environmental information includes a state of a traffic light which is on a travelling route of a vehicle; generate a machine learning model based on the driver information and the environmental information; calculate, based on the machine learning model, a manual driving recovery available time, wherein the manual driving recovery available time includes a time required for a driver of the vehicle in an automatic driving mode to start driving of the vehicle in a manual driving mode, and in the machine learning model, the driver information and the environmental information are associated with the manual driving recovery available time; and control generation of a prompt for the driver to switch the vehicle from the automatic driving mode to the manual driving mode, wherein the generation of the prompt is at a notice time specified by the manual driving recovery available time.

Facts

Company
Sony (SONY GROUP CORPORATION)
Official title
Information processing device and movement device to perform safe manual driving based on driver and environmental data
Patent number
US12735077B2
Application number
18297391
Filed
Apr 7, 2023
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
14

Classified under

B60W 60/0053 Operations & transportB60W 40/08 Operations & transportB60W 50/14 Operations & transportB60W 60/0015 Operations & transportB60W 60/0057 Operations & transportB60W 60/0059 Operations & transport
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.