Patent ID: 11958499
Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A method comprising:
generating, by a sensor system of a first vehicle, sensor data comprising a current condition of a road, wherein the sensor system comprises at least one of a camera, a radar device, a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, and an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device, and wherein at least a portion of the sensor data is autonomously generated by the camera, the radar device, the LIDAR device, and/or the IoT device in communication with the first vehicle;
receiving, from one or more databases, road records data and road features data associated with the road;
receiving, from the one or more databases, road cartographic data including map information associated with the road;
receiving, by one or more processors and from the first vehicle, the sensor data;
receiving, by the one or more processors and from one or more other vehicles, crowd-sourced data comprising road-related information;
predicting, by the one or more processors, a functional condition of the road based on evaluating the sensor data in combination with the crowd-sourced data, wherein the functional condition is a future condition of the road;
identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the current condition of the road, and/or the future condition of the road, a first deterioration value for the road, the first deterioration value associated with at least one of one or more road markings, traffic signs, traffic signals, and/or infrastructure elements that support autonomous driving operations;
determining, by the one or more processors and based on the functional condition of the road, the first deterioration value, the road records data, the road features data, and the road cartographic data, a level of support offered by the road for autonomous driving operations;
assigning, by the one or more processors, the road a first classification based on the level of support offered by the road for autonomous driving operations;
determining, by the one or more processors, a second deterioration value associated with the first vehicle, wherein the second deterioration value provides an indication of an ability of the first vehicle to autonomously travel on any road;
comparing the first deterioration value and the second deterioration value;
determining that the first deterioration value is less than or equal to the second deterioration value;
determining, by the one or more processors, first autonomous driving capabilities of the first vehicle with respect to the one or more road markings, traffic signs, traffic signals, and/or infrastructure elements that support autonomous driving operations;
determining, by the one or more processors and based on the first classification assigned to the road, the determination that the first deterioration value is less than or equal to the second deterioration value, and the first autonomous driving capabilities of the first vehicle, a viability of the first vehicle to travel on the road;
autonomously re-routing, by the first vehicle, the first vehicle based on the level of support offered by the road; and
recommending, by the one or more processors, one or more repairs to address the first deterioration value and/or the second deterioration value.