Patent ID: 11960621
Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B  H | IPC B  G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method for protecting privacy of one or more occupants of an autonomous vehicle, the method comprising:
in a first operating mode of the autonomous vehicle and in response to a triggering event, capturing first image data corresponding to video of an interior of the autonomous vehicle via one or more cameras integrated with the autonomous vehicle;
switching from the first operating mode of the vehicle to a second operating mode of the vehicle based on usage patterns, a pre-determined policy, or manual adjustments by one of the one or more occupants of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the first operating mode is a normal mode and the second operating mode is a privacy mode; and
operating the autonomous vehicle in the second operating mode, wherein operating the autonomous vehicle in the second operating mode comprises:
continuously capturing second image data corresponding to video of the interior of the autonomous vehicle via the one or more cameras integrated with the autonomous vehicle;
transforming the second image data to remove personal identification information of the one or more occupants of the autonomous vehicle;
comparing observed behavior of the one or more occupants provided in the transformed image data with a database in order to identify a concern;
audibly requesting a response from the one or more occupants based on the concern; and
responsive to not receiving the response from the one or more occupants, deploying a mitigation strategy based on the concern.