US Patent Issued to United States Postal Service on June 9 for "Automated hitch for automated vehicle" (Virginia, Maryland, Oregon Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,649,647, issued on June 9, was assigned to United States Postal Service (Washington).

"Automated hitch for automated vehicle" was invented by Edward F. Houston (Bristow, Va.), Leung Man Shiu (Gaithersburg, Md.), Michael Joseph Goldberg (Portland, Ore.), Mark David Bittenbender (Baltimore) and William Patrick McConnell (Woodstock, Md.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods for towing, hitching, and connecting devices are described. An autonomous guided vehicle includes an automated hitch capable of connecting to a variety of types of containers."

The patent was filed on July 13, 2023, under Application No. 18/352,128.

*For fu...