ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,211,362, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to GM Global Technology Operations LLC (Detroit).
"Vehicle beacon mode" was invented by Russell A. Patenaude (Macomb Township, Mich.) and Michael A. Gutierrez (Dearborn Heights, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Method of using a vehicle to alert to potential risks includes determining that a user of the vehicle will be absent; determining an estimated absence time; and sending an alert to authorities, via a control system, if the user does not return within the estimated absence time. The method may include receiving the estimated absence time from the user, or the control system of the vehicl...