SELF-DRIVING VEHICLE SYSTEMS AND METHODS
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of using a self-driving vehicle when the vehicle picks up a person other than a prospective rider who requested a ride, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a vehicle management system, a first identity indicator of the prospective rider;
detecting, by a sensor of the vehicle, a second identity indicator of the person;
sending, by the vehicle, the second identity indicator to the vehicle management system;
determining, by the vehicle management system, that the first and second identity indicators are not indicative of the person being the prospective rider;
providing, by the vehicle, the ride to the person rather than to the prospective rider who requested the ride; and
prompting, in response to the determining, another vehicle to pick up the prospective rider.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
When a human driver picks up a passenger, the driver typically looks at the passenger to determine if the passenger is the individual who is supposed to receive a ride. Self-driving vehicles often do not have a human in the vehicle to make this decision. Several systems and methods described herein enable self-driving vehicles to know if they are picking up the correct person.
51 Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method of using a self-driving vehicle when the vehicle picks up a person other than a prospective rider who requested a ride, the method comprising:
-
receiving, by a vehicle management system, a first identity indicator of the prospective rider; detecting, by a sensor of the vehicle, a second identity indicator of the person; sending, by the vehicle, the second identity indicator to the vehicle management system; determining, by the vehicle management system, that the first and second identity indicators are not indicative of the person being the prospective rider; providing, by the vehicle, the ride to the person rather than to the prospective rider who requested the ride; and prompting, in response to the determining, another vehicle to pick up the prospective rider. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 36)
-
-
20. A method of using a self-driving vehicle having a speaker and a microphone system configured to enable two-way audio communication, the method comprising:
-
receiving, by a vehicle management system, a first identity indicator of a prospective rider; detecting wirelessly, by a sensor of the vehicle, a second identity indicator of a person; sending, by the vehicle, the second identity indicator to the vehicle management system; and initiating the two-way audio communication between the person and a human representative of the vehicle while the human representative is located remotely relative to the person and the vehicle, wherein the two-way audio communication is automatically initiated in response to detecting, by the vehicle, at least one of the vehicle moving within a proximity range of the person, the person approaching the vehicle, and the person entering the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 18)
-
-
23. (canceled)
-
24. A method of determining a prospective rider is authorized to receive a ride from a self-driving vehicle by verifying an identity of a remote computing device, the method comprising:
-
receiving, by a vehicle management system while the prospective rider is located outside of a direct detection range of the vehicle, a first identity data of the remote computing device of the prospective rider, wherein the first identity data is associated with a user account; detecting wirelessly, by a sensor of the vehicle, a second identity data of the remote computing device while the remote computing device is located within the direct detection range of the vehicle; and determining, by the vehicle management system, that the prospective rider is authorized to receive the ride from the vehicle by determining that the second identity data of the remote computing device is associated with the user account. - View Dependent Claims (27)
-
-
25. (canceled)
-
26. (canceled)
-
31. A method of using a self-driving vehicle to pick up a prospective rider at a pickup location, the method comprising:
-
receiving remotely, by a vehicle management system, a first identity data of a first remote computing device of the prospective rider; moving the vehicle to the pickup location; detecting directly and wirelessly, by an antenna of the vehicle, at least partially in response to the prospective rider requesting a ride, a second identity data of a second remote computing device of a person located at the pickup location; and determining, by the vehicle management system, that the first identity data of the first remote computing device and the second identity data of the second remote computing device are indicative of the person being the prospective rider. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
Specification