US Patent 11299073 Deployable driver station for an autonomous driving vehicle

A deployable driver station including a seat utilizing both a front-facing driver seat bottom and a coupled rear-facing passenger seat bottom. In a driver configuration, the driver seat bottom is used in a conventional manner, being disposed behind the steering wheel or other steering control and the interior panel, while the passenger seat bottom is disposed more centrally within the passenger compartment. In a passenger configuration, the passenger seat bottom is used like the adjacent rear-facing passenger seat bottom(s), when used, while the driver seat bottom is disposed under the interior panel such that it does not take up space in the passenger compartment. Likewise, the steering wheel or other steering control is disposed under the interior panel. A common two-sided pivoting seat back is alternately used for the driver seat or the passenger seat by pivoting to an appropriate angle for the configuration.