US Patent 11049402 Cryptography-based platooning mechanism for autonomous vehicle fleet management

Disclosed are techniques for managing a platoon of autonomous vehicles. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising establishing a network connection between a plurality of autonomous vehicles, the plurality of autonomous vehicles operating as a platoon; receiving a request from a first autonomous vehicle to deviate from the platoon, the request comprising a digitally signed message from the first autonomous vehicle; assigning the first autonomous vehicle as a second master autonomous vehicle; permanently recording the assignment in a blockchain data structure; instantiating a new platoon path using the first autonomous vehicle as a head of the new platoon path; and disconnecting one or more autonomous vehicles associated with the new platoon path upon determining that the new platoon path is stable, the disconnecting causing the second master autonomous vehicle to manage the one or more autonomous vehicles using a second blockchain stored on the second master autonomous vehicle.