ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,358,503, issued on July 15, was assigned to MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG (Stuttgart, Germany).
"Method for operating an automated vehicle" was invented by Christoph Keller (Stuttgart, Germany) and Holger Mielenz (Ostfildern, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for operating an automated vehicle involves recording traffic congestion ahead of the vehicle and determining whether hazard lights of a vehicle following the vehicle in its lane are switched on. When the hazard lights of the following vehicle are switched on, a rear collision risk is evaluated as being lower than when the hazard lights are switched off."
The patent was file...