Vehicle servicing system

• US 10,025,310 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2017
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Poeppel, Scott, Letwin, Nicholas G., Kelly, Sean J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bendidi, Rachid
• Application Number:
  US15/784,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20180164815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 274 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems and methods for addressing a user-reported vehicle condition are provided. In one example embodiment, a method includes receiving a service request for a vehicle service for a user. The service request is indicative of a location associated with the user. The method includes sending first control signal(s) to an autonomous vehicle that is configured to provide the vehicle service. The first control signal(s) indicate that the autonomous vehicle is to travel to the location associated with the user. The method includes receiving a communication indicative of an existence of a condition that reduces a suitability of the autonomous vehicle to provide the vehicle service. The condition is identified by the user. The method includes determining action(s) to be performed by the autonomous vehicle based, at least in part, on the existence of the condition. The method includes sending second control signal(s) to the autonomous vehicle to perform the action(s).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of addressing a user-reported vehicle condition, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices that are remote from an autonomous vehicle, a service request for a transportation service for a user;

communicating, by the computing system with the autonomous vehicle, to indicate that the autonomous vehicle is to provide the transportation service;

receiving, by the computing system from a user device, a communication indicative of an existence of a condition associated with the autonomous vehicle that reduces a suitability of the autonomous vehicle to provide the transportation service, wherein the condition is indicated by the user via user input provided to the user device;

determining, by the computing system, one or more actions to be performed by the autonomous vehicle based, at least in part, on the existence of the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle; and

sending by the computing system, one or more signals such that the autonomous vehicle performs one or more of the actions, wherein the actions comprise the autonomous vehicle transporting the user and travelling to a maintenance location after transporting the user or the autonomous vehicle travelling to the maintenance location without transporting the user.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication indicative of the existence of the condition is a rejection by the user of the autonomous vehicle for the transportation service.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

communicating, by the computing system with another autonomous vehicle, to indicate that the other autonomous vehicle is to provide the transportation service to the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the rejection is associated with the user input, wherein the user input is provided to a user interface displayed on the user device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user input is indicative of one or more characteristics associated with the condition.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

confirming, by the computing system, the existence of the condition.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein confirming the existence of the condition comprises:

receiving, by the computing system, data indicative of the condition from one or more systems on-board the autonomous vehicle; and

confirming, by the computing system, the existence of the condition based, at least in part, on the data indicative of the condition from the one or more systems on-board the autonomous vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein confirming the existence of the condition comprises:

receiving, by the computing system, image data indicative of the condition from the user device; and

confirming, by the computing system, the existence of the condition based, at least in part, on the image data indicative of the condition.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user device is a mobile device of the user.

10. A system for addressing a user-reported vehicle condition, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a service request for a transportation service;

identifying an autonomous vehicle to provide the transportation service;

communicating, with the autonomous vehicle, to indicate that the autonomous vehicle is to provide the transportation service;

receiving, from a user device, a communication indicative of an existence of a condition associated with the autonomous vehicle, wherein the condition reduces a suitability of the autonomous vehicle to provide the transportation service, and wherein the condition is indicated by a user via user input provided to the user device;

sending one or more signals such that the autonomous vehicle performs one or more of the actions based, at least in part, on the existence of the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle,

wherein the actions comprise the autonomous vehicle transporting the user and travelling to a maintenance location after transporting the user or the autonomous vehicle travelling to the maintenance location without transporting the user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication indicative of the existence of the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle indicates that the autonomous vehicle is not suitable to provide the transportation service to the user.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the user device is a mobile device associated with the user, and wherein the user device is configured to display a user interface via a display device of the user device, and wherein the user input is provided via interaction with the user interface.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a volume of service requests for the transportation service, and

wherein one or more of the actions are based at least in part on the existence of the condition and the volume of service requests for the transportation service.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle does or does not exist.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

applying a reward to a profile associated with the user when it is determined that the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle does exist or a penalty to the profile associated with the user when it is determined that the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle does not exist.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the reward comprises at least one of an increase in a user rating or a monetary discount for the vehicle service.

17. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a service request for a transportation service for a user;

identifying an autonomous vehicle to provide the transportation service to the user, wherein the autonomous vehicle is included in a fleet of vehicles of a service provider;

receiving, from a user device, a communication indicative of an existence of an adverse condition associated with the autonomous vehicle, wherein the adverse condition is identified by the user via user input provided to the user device;

determining one or more actions to be performed by the autonomous vehicle based, at least in part, on the existence of the adverse condition associated with the autonomous vehicle; and

sending, one or more signals such that the autonomous vehicle performs one or more of the actions, wherein the actions comprise the autonomous vehicle transporting the user and travelling to a maintenance location after transporting the user or the autonomous vehicle travelling to the maintenance location without transporting the user.

18. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the adverse condition reduces a suitability of the autonomous vehicle to provide the transportation service.

19. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the user device is associated with the autonomous vehicle.

20. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the user device is a mobile device of the user.