Methods and devices for safe operation of undersize autonomous vehicles on public roads

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle which may be miniature in size vehicle for operation on the public roads is disclosed. The vehicle carriers a marker which makes the vehicle more visible. The marker is varied in illumination, reflectivity, position or other ways to increase visibility at selected times. The variation may be controlled by a sensor detecting a nearby vehicle, the condition of other vehicles and the speed or other state of the subject vehicle. The purpose is to avoid accidents. The motion of the marker may affect stability of wind resistance of the vehicle. A processor can evaluate sensor and other information to decide the variations with a first determination to place the marker or visibility element in a first condition and a second determination to place the marker or visibility element in a second condition. Speeds of the subject vehicle and other vehicles may be taken into account.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method of avoiding accidents comprising:
 (a) operating a driverless first vehicle on public roads with the vehicle comprising:   a visible marker controlled by a data processing device with a first sensor to detect the presence of a second vehicle and a second sensor to measure the speed of the base vehicle, and   a data processing device with a sensor to detect a second vehicle,   (b) running a program on the data processing device to determine the presence of a second vehicle, and   (c) modifying the visibility of the marker as a function of the determination of the presence of a second vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises turning on light emissions. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises repeatedly turning light emissions on and off. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises moving the marker to a position more visible by the second vehicle. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the marker is controlled by a data processing device and comprises a graphic display which is modified to modify the visibility of the marker. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the visibility of the marker is modified at least in part on the basis of the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2  wherein:
 the visibility of the marker is modified at least in part on the basis of the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3  wherein:
 the visibility of the marker is modified at least in part on the basis of the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4  wherein:
 the visibility of the marker is modified at least in part on the basis of the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5  wherein:
 the visibility of the marker is modified at least in part on the basis of the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         11 . A device to avoiding accidents comprising:
 (a) a visible marker on an autonomous first vehicle controlled by a data processing device with a first sensor to detect the presence of a second vehicle and a second sensor to measure the speed of the first vehicle and   (b) a data processing device with a program to determine the presence of a second vehicle based at least partially on data from the first sensor;   wherein the visibility of the marker is modified when the program detects the presence of the second vehicle and the program determines based at least partially on the presence of a the second and at least partially on the speed of the first vehicle that additional visibility is required.   
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises varying the intensity of a visible light emission from the marker. 
 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 11  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises varying the position of the marker. 
 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 11  wherein:
 the modification of the visibility of the marker comprises varying the reflectivity of the marker. 
 
     
     
         15 . A method of safely operating a vehicle comprising:
 (a) operating a driverless first vehicle on public roads,   (b) making a first determination with a computing device and at least one sensor that there is a risk that the first vehicle will not be seen by a driver of a second vehicle which is a human driven vehicle,   (c) modifying a component of the first vehicle with a first condition and a second condition from the first condition to the second condition to increase the visibility of the first vehicle to the driver of the second vehicle as a function of the first determination,   (d) making a second determination with the computing device that the risk that the first vehicle will not be seen by the driver of the second vehicle has been reduced from the risk of the first determination,   (e) modifying the component as a function of the second determination from the second condition to a first condition.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein:
 the first condition and the second condition differ in the emission of visible light. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein:
 the first condition and the second condition differ in the position of a visible marker. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein:
 at least one of the first determination and the second determination are based at least partially on the speed of the first vehicle. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein:
 at least one of the first determination and the second determination are based at least partially on the presence of a third vehicle. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein:
 at least one of the first determination and the second determination are based at least partially on the presence of a third vehicle.