Selecting vehicle type for providing transport

• US 10,037,553 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Ross, William, Bares, John, LaRose, David, Sweeney, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Ismail, Mahmoud S
• Application Number:
  US15/849,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20180114258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 223 Days
• Field of Search: 701 25
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• 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 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/227 Handing over between remote control and on-board control; Handing over between remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/243 Means capturing signals occurring naturally from the environment, e.g. ambient optical, acoustic, gravitational or magnetic signals using passive navigation aids external to the vehicle G05D1/244; using signals from positioning sensors located off-board the vehicle G05D1/249
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/644 Optimisation of travel parameters, e.g. of energy consumption, journey time or distance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/692 involving a plurality of disparate vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

A transport arrangement system operates to receive a transport request from a user, and to make a selection of a vehicle type for the user based at least in part on a set of criteria associated with the transport request or user information. For example, the determination of whether an autonomous vehicle is to be provided can be based at least in part on the destination specified with the transport request.

Claims

1. A system for arranging transport, the system comprising:

a memory that stores a set of instructions;

one or more processors which use the set of instructions to;

receive a transport request from a user, the transport request including a service location;

identify a plurality of vehicles for fulfilling the transport request;

determine whether the transport request will be fulfilled using an autonomous vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, wherein whether the transport request will be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle is based at least in part on an evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules; and

cause the autonomous vehicle to navigate to the service location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vehicles is identified based at least in part by:

identifying one or more available vehicles out of a plurality of human-driven vehicles and autonomous vehicles; and

comparing the identified one or more available vehicles against routing information comprising the service location.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the routing information comprises a drop-off location specified with the transport request.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the evaluation of the information specified with the transport request comprises a determination of whether an autonomous vehicle from the plurality of vehicles satisfies the one or more autonomous vehicle rules.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous vehicle rules comprise at least one selection rule defined based on one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to navigate an environment or setting.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the information specified with the transport request comprises a service location, a drop-off location, and a time of day for the transport request; and

the at least one selection rule comprises;

a first selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate proximate to the service location as a function of the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to navigate an environment or setting proximate to the service location;

a second selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate proximate to the drop-off location as a function of the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to navigate an environment or setting proximate to the drop-off location;

or

a third selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate during the time of day for the transport request as a function of the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to navigate environments or settings during the time of day for the transport request.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to determine whether to fulfill the transport request will be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle from the plurality of vehicles by determining that the transport request will be fulfilled using a human-driven vehicle in response to determining that the transport request will not be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is an experimental or prototypical autonomous vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is dedicated to operating in an autonomous mode.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to receive input from a human operator.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the input from the human operator comprises a brake, slow down, or stop action.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to communicate, to the user, that the transport request will be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle in response to a determination that the transport request will be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising providing the user an opportunity to alter or overrule an assignment of the transport request to an autonomous vehicle.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the transport request does not specify a preference for autonomous vehicles or human-driven vehicles.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the transport request is received from a mobile computing device associated with the user.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to evaluate the information specified with the transport request against the one or more autonomous vehicle rules.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle is determined in response to receiving the transport request.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes an autonomous vehicle system that operates within the autonomous vehicle.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes one or more servers that communicate with the autonomous vehicle.

20. A method for arranging transport, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:

receiving a transport request from a user, the transport request including a service location;

identifying a plurality of vehicles for fulfilling the transport request;

determining whether the transport request will be fulfilled using an autonomous vehicle from the plurality of vehicles, wherein whether the transport request will be fulfilled using the autonomous vehicle is based at least in part on an evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules; and

causing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to the service location.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein identifying the plurality of vehicles includes:

identifying one or more available vehicles out of a plurality of human-driven vehicles and autonomous vehicles; and

comparing the identified one or more available vehicles against routing information comprising the service location.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations that comprise:

receiving a transport request from a mobile computing device of a user, the transport request including a service location;

identifying a plurality of vehicles for fulfilling the transport request; and

determining whether the transport request will be fulfilled using a vehicle of the plurality of vehicles that is dedicated to operate in an autonomous mode, wherein whether the transport request will be fulfilled using the vehicle is based at least in part on an evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules; and

causing the vehicle to navigate to the service location.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the plurality of vehicles is identified based at least in part by:

identifying one or more available vehicles out of a plurality of human-driven vehicles and autonomous vehicles; and

comparing the identified one or more available vehicles against routing information comprising the service location.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the autonomous vehicle is an experimental or prototypical autonomous vehicle.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the transport request does not specify a preference for autonomous vehicles or human-driven vehicles.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the system includes an autonomous vehicle system that operates within the autonomous vehicle.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the system includes one or more servers that communicate with the autonomous vehicle.