US Patent Issued to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, TOYOTA JIDOSHA on Aug. 25 for "Hitchless towing system for predicting and compensating for an intervening obstacle" (Michigan Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,717,331, issued on Aug. 25, was assigned to TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA INC. (Plano, Texas) and TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. (Toyota, Japan).

"Hitchless towing system for predicting and compensating for an intervening obstacle" was invented by Shaurya Panthri (Ann Arbor, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hitchless towing configuration comprises a follow vehicle following a lead vehicle without a physical connection between the lead vehicle and the follow vehicle. Data received from at least one sensor of the lead vehicle or the follow vehicle is evaluated to determine an object is performing an action to move into ...