VEHICLE DRIVE MATCHING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20130226365A1
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Brozovich, Shawn Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

A vehicle includes a route collection module that collects drive history data describing a plurality of routes traveled by the vehicle and associated departure and arrival times for each of the routes, and a vehicle computing system that sends the drive history data and, in response, receives contact information for at least one driver of at least one other vehicle based on a similarity between the collected drive history data and drive history data associated with the at least one other vehicle. The vehicle further includes an interface that displays or plays the contact information to facilitate ride sharing between a driver of the vehicle and the at least one driver of the at least one other vehicle.

Claims

1. A drive profile matching system comprising:

at least one processor configured to

(i) receive a plurality of drive histories associated with a plurality of vehicles, each of the drive histories identifying one of the vehicles and a plurality of routes traversed by the one of the vehicles and each of the routes having associated departure and arrival times;

(ii) generate data values representing a similarity between at least two of the routes each traversed by a different one of the vehicles based on a path defined by each of the routes and the associated departure and arrival times;

(iii) identify at least two or more of the vehicles based on the generated data values; and

(iv) provide output about the identified vehicles to facilitate ride sharing among drivers of the identified vehicles.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to rank the identified at least two or more vehicles based on the generated data values.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the drive histories further identifies a driver.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein each of the drive histories further identifies driver defined preferences.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the identification of the at least two or more of the vehicles is further based on the driver defined preferences.

6. A vehicle comprising:

a route collection module configured to collect drive history data describing a plurality of routes traveled by the vehicle and associated departure and arrival times for each of the routes;

a vehicle computing system configured to send the drive history data and, in response, to receive contact information for at least one driver of at least one other vehicle based on a similarity between the collected drive history data and drive history data associated with the at least one other vehicle; and

an interface configured to display or play the contact information to facilitate ride sharing between a driver of the vehicle and the at least one driver of the at least one other vehicle.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the route collection module further comprises a navigation module configured to report vehicle position data defining the plurality of routes traveled by the vehicle.

8. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the interface displays or plays the contact information based on a degree of the similarity between the collected drive history data and the drive history data associated with the at least one other vehicle.

9. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the interface is further configured to receive input selecting the contact information and to initiate a telephone call to the at least one driver associated with the contact information.

10. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the interface is further configured to receive input selecting the contact information and to send a short-form message to the at least one driver associated with the contact information.

11. A method for drive profile matching comprising:

receiving, by a processing device, a plurality of drive histories associated with a plurality of vehicles, each of the drive histories identifying one of the vehicles and a plurality of routes traversed by the one of the vehicles and each of the routes having associated departure and arrival times;

generating data values representing a similarity between at least two of the routes each traversed by a different one of the vehicles based on a path defined by each of the routes and the associated departure and arrival times;

identifying at least two or more of the vehicles based on the generated data values; and

providing output about the identified vehicles to facilitate ride sharing among drivers of the identified vehicles.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein generating data values representing a similarity between at least two of the routes further includes ranking the at least two routes based on a degree of similarity between the routes.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein each of the drive histories further identifies a set of driver defined preferences.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the at least two or more vehicles are further identified based on the sets of driver defined preferences.