Patent ID: 11938970
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. A control device that is mounted in a second vehicle which a plurality of first vehicles each having a following travel function are detachably connected to or loaded on, the control device comprising a processor configured to execute a program stored in a memory so as to perform:
detecting another vehicle that is within a predetermined range from the second vehicle in a state in which the second vehicle has the plurality of first vehicles connected thereto or loaded thereon;
comparing a scheduled travel route of the other vehicle to a scheduled travel route of each of the plurality of first vehicles once disconnected from the second vehicle;
transmitting following instruction information to a specific first vehicle of the plurality of first vehicles whose scheduled travel route is the same as some or all of the scheduled travel route of the other vehicle;
after the comparing and the transmitting, disconnecting the specific first vehicle from the second vehicle such that the specific first vehicle travels with the detected other vehicle as a preceding vehicle by the following travel function; and
disconnecting from the second vehicle other first vehicles of the plurality of first vehicles, the other first vehicles being vehicles for which no other vehicle that has a scheduled travel route that is the same as some or all of the scheduled travel routes of the other first vehicles was detected, and the other first vehicles being disconnected from the second vehicle at points at which the scheduled travel routes of the other first vehicles branch from the scheduled travel route of the second vehicle so that the disconnected other first vehicles travel from those points by an autonomous travel function of each other first vehicle,
wherein the specific first vehicle is disconnected from the second vehicle by way of a slope that is provided in the second vehicle.