Vehicle management system

• US 10,249,110 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2017
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aurora Operations Incorporated (Aurora Innovation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Poeppel, Scott, Letwin, Nicholas G., Kelly, Sean J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US15/730,234
• Publication Number:
  US 20180164814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means

Abstract

Systems, methods, and vehicles for taking a vehicle out-of-service are provided. In one example embodiment, a method includes obtaining, by one or more computing devices on-board an autonomous vehicle, data indicative of one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle is configured to provide a vehicle service to one or more users of the vehicle service. The method includes determining, by the computing devices, an existence of a fault associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle. The method includes determining, by the computing devices, one or more actions to be performed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the existence of the fault. The method includes performing, by the computing devices, one or more of the actions to take the autonomous vehicle out-of-service based at least in part on the fault.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices on-board an autonomous vehicle, data indicative of a parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle;

determining, by the computing system, an existence of a condition associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle and a threshold,

wherein the threshold is indicative of a requisite level of the parameter required for the autonomous vehicle to travel to and arrive at one or more maintenance locations, and wherein the threshold is dynamically adjustable based on the one or more maintenance locations; and

causing, by the computing system, the autonomous vehicle to initiate travel to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the existence of the condition.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising;

obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of the one or more maintenance locations, wherein the data indicative of the one or more maintenance locations is indicative of at least a geographic location for each of the respective one or more maintenance locations;

determining, by the computing system, a travel route to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the geographic location of the at least one maintenance location;

obtaining, by the computing system, data indicative of one or more travel factors associated with the travel route; and

determining, by the computing system, the threshold based at least in part on the travel route and the one or more travel factors, wherein the threshold is indicative of the requisite level of the at least one parameter required for the autonomous vehicle to traverse the travel route and to arrive at the geographic location of the at least one maintenance location.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein determining the existence of the condition associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle and the threshold comprises:

comparing, by the computing system, the parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle to the threshold as the vehicle is travelling.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the one or more travel factors comprise at least one of a current traffic level associated with the travel route, a historical traffic pattern associated with the travel route, a predicted traffic level associated with the travel route, a weather condition associated with the travel route, or construction associated with the travel route.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold is adjustable as the autonomous vehicle is travelling.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the parameter comprises an amount of available data storage in an on-board memory of the autonomous vehicle.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold indicates a threshold amount of available data storage required for the autonomous vehicle to autonomously navigate to the maintenance location.

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

providing, by the computing system to one or more remote computing devices that are remote from the autonomous vehicle, data indicating that the autonomous vehicle is unavailable to provide a vehicle service to a user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the condition is associated with at least one of an amount of available data storage onboard the autonomous vehicle, a charge level of the autonomous vehicle, or a fuel level of the autonomous vehicle.

10. A computing 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;

obtaining data indicative of a parameter associated with an autonomous vehicle;

determining a threshold that is indicative of a requisite level of the parameter required for the autonomous vehicle to travel to and arrive at one or more maintenance locations, and wherein the threshold is dynamically adjustable based on the one or more maintenance locations;

determining an existence of a condition associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle and the threshold; and

causing the autonomous vehicle to initiate travel to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the existence of the condition.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the threshold is determined in real-time as the autonomous vehicle is travelling.

12. The computing system of claim 10, wherein determining the threshold comprises:

obtaining data indicative of at least a geographic location for each of the respective one or more maintenance locations;

determining a travel route to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the geographic location of the at least one maintenance location;

obtaining data indicative of one or more travel factors associated with the travel route; and

determining the threshold based at least in part on the travel route and the one or more travel factors.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the autonomous vehicle provides a transportation service to a user travelling in the direction of the at least one maintenance location.

14. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the operations comprising:

denying a service request for a transportation service in which a user requests to travel in a direction away from the at least one maintenance location.

15. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the one or more travel factors comprise at least one of a current traffic level associated with the travel route, a historical traffic pattern associated with the travel route, a predicted traffic level associated with the travel route, a weather condition associated with the travel route, or construction associated with the travel route.

16. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the parameter comprises an amount of available data storage in an on-board memory of the autonomous vehicle and wherein the threshold indicates a threshold amount of available data storage required for the vehicle to autonomously navigate to at least one of the one or more maintenance location.

17. The computing system of claim 10, further comprising:

providing, to one or more remote computing devices that are remote from the autonomous vehicle, data indicating that the autonomous vehicle is unavailable to provide a vehicle service to a user.

18. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the condition is associated with at least one of an amount of available data storage onboard the autonomous vehicle, a charge level of the autonomous vehicle, or a fuel level of the autonomous vehicle.

19. An autonomous vehicle 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;

obtaining data indicative of a parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle, wherein at least a portion of the data is provided by one or more systems on-board the autonomous vehicle;

determining a threshold that is indicative of a requisite level of the parameter required for the autonomous vehicle to travel to and arrive at one or more maintenance locations, and wherein the threshold is dynamically adjustable based on the one or more maintenance locations;

determining an existence of a condition associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the parameter associated with the autonomous vehicle and the threshold; and

causing the autonomous vehicle to initiate travel to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the existence of the condition.

20. The autonomous vehicle of claim 19, wherein determining the threshold comprises:

obtaining data indicative of at least a geographic location for each of the respective one or more maintenance locations;

determining a travel route to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations based at least in part on the geographic location of the at least one maintenance location; and

determining the threshold based at least in part on the travel route.

21. The autonomous vehicle of claim 20, wherein determining the threshold comprises:

obtaining data indicative of one or more travel factors associated with the travel route; and

determining the threshold based at least in part on the one or more travel factors.

22. The autonomous vehicle of claim 19, wherein the parameter comprises an amount of available data storage in an on-board memory of the autonomous vehicle and wherein the threshold indicates a threshold amount of available data storage required for the vehicle to autonomously navigate to at least one of the one or more maintenance locations.

23. The autonomous vehicle of claim 19, wherein the condition is associated with at least one of an amount of available data storage onboard the autonomous vehicle, a charge level of the autonomous vehicle, or a fuel level of the autonomous vehicle.