ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,617,415, issued on May 5, was assigned to TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).
"Hands-free state determination device for vehicle" was invented by Takanori Tanaka (Okazaki, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hands-free state determination device including: a torque imparting device configured to apply control torque to a steering transmission system between a steering wheel and a steered wheel; a steering torque sensor provided in the steering transmission system between the steering wheel and the torque imparting device; and a control unit configured to determine that the driver is in a hands-free state in which the steering wheel is ...