GoogleGranted patentCars & transportInterest 8/10

Waymo patents driverless cars with just two buttons for passengers

Illustration of the invention — Illustration based on the patent drawing. Not a photo of a real product.

Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a self-driving car that has no steering wheel or pedals, relying instead on a simple set of buttons for passengers. One button serves two roles: starting a ride and pulling the car over to stop, while a separate button is dedicated solely to emergency braking. The system uses lights or text to show when these buttons are active, ensuring passengers know how to control the vehicle's movement.

Why it mattersIt simplifies the passenger experience in driverless cars by removing complex controls, making it easier for anyone to request a stop or start a trip without needing to drive.

In the filing’s own words

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a vehicle for maneuvering a passenger to a destination autonomously. The vehicle includes one or more computing devices and a set of user input buttons for communicating requests to stop the vehicle and to initiate a trip to the destination with the one or more computing devices. The set of user input buttons consisting essentially of a dual-purpose button and an emergency stopping button different from the dual-purpose button configured to stop the vehicle. The dual-purpose button has a first purpose for communicating a request to initiate the trip to the destination and a second purpose for communicating a request to pull the vehicle over and stop the vehicle. The vehicle has no steering wheel and no user inputs for the steering, acceleration, and deceleration of the vehicle other than the set of user input buttons.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A system comprising one or more processors configured to: receive a pickup location and a destination; prior to a vehicle reaching the pickup location, attempt authentication of a user; responsive to successful authentication of the user, allow the user to board the vehicle at the pickup location; subsequent to the user boarding the vehicle and initiation of travel to the destination, cause a user input in an active state to be visually indicative of the active state via presentation of at least one of a word or a color, wherein an input from the user at the user input in the active state initiates a request for the vehicle to pull over during travel to the destination; receive, at the user input, the input from the user; and in response to receipt of the input at the user input in the active state, cause the vehicle to pull over and stop.

Facts

Company: Google (Waymo LLC)
Official title: Autonomous vehicles
Patent number: US12782936B2
Application number: 18374257
Filed: Sep 28, 2023
Granted: Nov 3, 2026
Inventors: 8
Claims: 18

Classified under

G05D 1/0055 Physics & computingB60K 28/02 Operations & transportB60K 35/10 Operations & transportB60K 35/28 Operations & transportB60K 35/656 Operations & transportB60W 30/06 Operations & transport

Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

More from Google in Cars & transport

Waymo patents system to detect cyclists losing control before they fall Sep 8, 2026
Waymo patents self-driving cars that hear sirens and pull over Sep 8, 2026
Waymo patents AI that moves self-driving cars out of traffic jams Sep 29, 2026
Waymo patents AI that predicts driving scenes from sensor data Oct 1, 2026
Waymo patents method for self-driving cars to predict when they can see hidden hazards Sep 8, 2026

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.