Patent ID: 11927955
Assignee: WAYMO LLC
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B  H | IPC B  G

Claim 9:
10. A method of operating a vehicle in a fully autonomous driving mode and in a partially autonomous driving mode, the method comprising:
controlling the vehicle's driving system based on first information received from a perception system to maneuver the vehicle in the fully autonomous driving mode along a route towards a destination;
in response to a signal received by the vehicle from a remote device while in the fully autonomous driving mode, entering a search-for-leader mode that is set to expire after a selected amount of time;
while in the search-for-leader mode, identifying, by one or more processors of a control system of the vehicle, a lead vehicle to follow, wherein the lead vehicle is traveling along the route;
authenticating, by the one or more processors, the identified lead vehicle along the route; and
upon authentication of the lead vehicle, performing a following operation towards the destination by the one or more processors controlling the vehicle's driving system in the partially autonomous mode of the vehicle in accordance with trajectory information received from the lead vehicle and second information received from the perception system.