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WaymoPatent grant

Waymo was granted a patent for scoring autonomous-vehicle pullovers.

What happened

In September 2026 Waymo patented a system for assessing safe stopping locations, used by autonomous vehicles when selecting where to pull over.

Source

patents.google.comSep 29, 2026

US patent US12747955

Quality scoring for pullovers for autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to evaluating quality of a predetermined pullover location for an autonomous vehicle. For instance, a plurality of inputs for the predetermined pullover location may be received. The plurality of inputs may each include a value representative of a characteristic of the predetermined pullover location. The plurality of inputs may be combined to determine a pullover quality value for the predetermined pullover location. The pullover quality value may be provided to a vehicle in order to enable the vehicle to select a pullover location for the vehicle.

patents.google.com/patent/US12747955Read the full source

Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Signal
Patent grant

What this signalsA new patent often shows where a company is putting its R&D budget.

Grant date
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
4
Patent number
US12747955
Assignee
Waymo LLC

The full record

From the Signal API record

People

  • Salil PanditInventor
  • Daniella GutlanskyInventor
  • Eamonn DohertyInventor
  • Eric FriedmanInventor
  • Jonathan PedersenInventor
  • Andrew ChanInventor

Details

Primary CPC class
G01C 21/3461
USPTO assignee
Waymo LLC
What the invention does
A method that combines factors about a possible roadside stopping place into a score so the vehicle can choose a better pullover location.

Topics and mentions

Tags

  • Intellectual Property
  • Research & Development
  • Autonomous Technology
  • Automotive

Technologies named

  • autonomous vehicles
  • route planning
  • location scoring

Extraction

Detected
Sep 30, 2026
signal_type
patents-company
signal_subtype
patentGrant

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This page shows a preview. The full patents-company record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/38cd4581-6a8a-53dc-b814-73c65a347f82 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for waymo.com.

{
  "signal_id": "38cd4581-6a8a-53dc-b814-73c65a347f82",
  "signal_type": "patents-company",
  "signal_subtype": "patentGrant",
  "detected_at": "2026-09-30T17:07:33+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Waymo",
    "domain": "waymo.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "cpc": [
      {
        "code": "G01C 21/3461"
      },
      {
        "code": "B60W 30/095",
        "label": "Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units; road-vehicle drive control systems"
      },
      {
        "code": "B60W 60/0015",
        "label": "Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units; road-vehicle drive control systems"
      },
      {
        "code": "B60W 60/00253",
        "label": "Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units; road-vehicle drive control systems"
      },
      {
        "code": "G01C 21/3438"
      }
    ],
    "tags": [
      "Intellectual Property",
      "Research & Development",
      "Autonomous Technology",
      "Automotive"
    ],
    "detail": "In September 2026 Waymo patented a system for assessing safe stopping locations, used by autonomous vehicles when selecting where to pull over.",
    "summary": "Waymo was granted a patent for scoring autonomous-vehicle pullovers.",
    "event_at": "2026-09-29",
    "inventors": [
      {
        "name": "Salil Pandit",
        "status": "resolved",
        "is_primary": true,
        "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/salilsp"
      },
      {
        "name": "Daniella Gutlansky",
        "status": "unresolved",
        "is_primary": false
      },
      {
        "name": "Eamonn Doherty",
        "status": "unresolved",
        "is_primary": false
      },
      {
        "name": "Eric Friedman",
        "status": "resolved",
        "is_primary": false,
        "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/efriedman"
      },
      {
        "name": "Jonathan Pedersen",
        "status": "resolved",
        "is_primary": false,
        "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanpedersenid"
      },
      {
        "name": "Andrew Chan",
        "status": "unresolved",
        "is_primary": false
      },
      {
        "name": "Gaurav Agarwal",
        "status": "unresolved",
        "is_primary": false
      },
      {
        "name": "Bruce Mai",
        "status": "resolved",
        "is_primary": false,
        "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucemai"
      }
    ],
    "event_kind": "grant_date",
    "grant_date": "2026-09-29",
    "source_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US12747955",
    "cpc_primary": {
      "code": "G01C 21/3461"
    },
    "patent_title": "Quality scoring for pullovers for autonomous vehicles",
    "patent_number": "US12747955",
    "uspto_assignee": "Waymo LLC",
    "patent_abstract": "Aspects of the disclosure relate to evaluating quality of a predetermined pullover location for an autonomous vehicle. For instance, a plurality of inputs for the predetermined pullover location may be received. The plurality of inputs may each include a value representative of a characteristic of the predetermined pullover location. The plurality of inputs may be combined to determine a pullover quality value for the predetermined pullover location. The pullover quality value may be provided to a vehicle in order to enable the vehicle to select a pullover location for the vehicle.",
    "precision_class": "structural",
    "invention_explanation": "A method that combines factors about a possible roadside stopping place into a score so the vehicle can choose a better pullover location.",
    "technologies_mentioned": [
      "autonomous vehicles",
      "route planning",
      "location scoring"
    ]
  }
}

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