Sharing Autonomous Vehicles

• US 20150338852A1
• Filed: 08/12/2015
• Published: 11/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Hyundai Motor Company Korea (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: Madhusoodhan Ramanujam
• Inventors: Ramanujam, Madhusoodhan
• Granted Patent: US 10,220,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/175 Autonomous driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/186 Displaying information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1868 according to driving situations
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/566 Mobile devices displaying vehicle information
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/175 Autonomous driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/186 Displaying Information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/1868 according to driving situations
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/195 Blocking or enabling display functions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/566 Mobile devices displaying vehicle information
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/656 the user being a passenger
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/80 Arrangements for controlling instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

Technology is described for sharing an autonomous vehicle. An autonomous vehicle may receive a request to perform a task. The autonomous vehicle may determine whether the task conflicts with previously scheduled tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may add the task to a schedule of tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle when the task does not conflict with the previously scheduled tasks. The autonomous vehicle may provide commands to enable the autonomous vehicle to perform the task in accordance with the schedule.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for sharing an autonomous vehicle, the instructions when executed perform the following:

receiving, using one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle, a request to perform a task at the autonomous vehicle;

determining, using the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle, whether the task conflicts with previously scheduled tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle;

adding, using the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle, the task to a schedule of tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle when the task does not conflict with the previously scheduled tasks; and

providing, using the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle, commands to enable the autonomous vehicle to perform the task in accordance with the schedule.

2. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein providing the commands to enable the autonomous vehicle to perform the task further comprises:

providing commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to a defined location at a selected time to pick up a user in accordance with the task;

or

providing commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to the defined location to drop off the user at the selected time in accordance with the task.

3. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is shared between a selected group of users.

4. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the task is added to the schedule of tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle for a user that is authorized to create or modify the schedule of tasks.

5. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the task performed by autonomous vehicle is a recurring task or a one-time task.

6. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the autonomous vehicle performs the recurring task at a predefined time and according to a predefined frequency.

7. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

determining that the task conflicts with at least one of the previously scheduled tasks on the schedule; and

recommending an alternative time for the autonomous vehicle to perform the task.

8. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

determining that the task conflicts with a previously scheduled task on the schedule; and

sending a message to a user associated with the previously scheduled task that conflicts with the task, the message requesting the user to modify a time associated with the previously scheduled task in order to accommodate a performance of the task.

9. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

providing a notification to a mobile device when the autonomous vehicle is in proximity to a selected location associated with the task.

10. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

determining that a selected time associated with the task is to be delayed, the selected time including a drop-off time or a pickup time;

calculating an adjusted time based, in part, on traffic information for a route being used by the autonomous vehicle to perform the task; and

notifying a mobile device of the adjusted time, the mobile device being associated with a user for which the task is to be performed;

or

providing the adjusted time for display on a display screen inside the autonomous vehicle.

11. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

determining to prioritize the task over a previously scheduled task that conflicts with the task, wherein the task that is prioritized is added to the schedule and the previously scheduled task is removed from the schedule.

12. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors of the autonomous vehicle performs the following:

providing, at the autonomous vehicle, commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to a base location or park in an available space between tasks on the schedule.

13. A mobile device operable to communicate with an autonomous vehicle, the mobile device comprising:

a processor;

a memory device including a data store to store a plurality of data and instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

send a request to the autonomous vehicle for performing a task, the request including a current location of the mobile device, the request defining the task to be performed at a current time;

receive a message indicating that the autonomous vehicle is available to perform the task at the current time and an estimated arrival time for the autonomous vehicle to arrive at the current location, wherein the mobile device receives the message after the autonomous vehicle verifies that the task does not conflict with previously scheduled tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle; and

receive a notification when the autonomous vehicle is in proximity to the current location of the mobile device.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the task includes picking up a user at the current location and dropping the user off at a selected drop-off location.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the mobile device is associated with a user in a selected group of users that are authorized to share the autonomous vehicle.

16. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive an additional notification with an updated estimated arrival time when the autonomous vehicle is delayed in route to the current location.

17. An autonomous vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

a memory device including a data store to store a plurality of data and instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a request to perform a task at the autonomous vehicle, wherein the task includes picking up a user at a selected pickup location and dropping the user off at a selected drop-off location;

add the task to a schedule of tasks to be performed at the autonomous vehicle when the task does not conflict with previously scheduled tasks on the schedule; and

provide commands to enable the autonomous vehicle to perform the task in accordance with the schedule.

18. The autonomous vehicle of claim 17, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive the request to perform the task from a user who is included in a selected group of users that share the autonomous vehicle, wherein the task is a recurring task or a one-time task.

19. The autonomous vehicle of claim 17, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine that the task conflicts with a previously scheduled task on the schedule; and

recommend an alternative time for performing the task.

20. The autonomous vehicle of claim 17, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

provide commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to a default location between tasks that are to be performed according to the schedule.