TRANSPORT VEHICLE CONFIGURATION FOR IMPAIRED RIDERS

• US 20170316696A1
• Filed: 04/27/2016
• Published: 11/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Bartel, Emily
• Granted Patent: US 10,255,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/00 Input parameters relating to occupants
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

A system can accommodate riders of a transportation arrangement service that have certain physical impairments, such as visual, hearing, or movement impairments. In certain aspects, a transportation facilitation system can create rider profiles that specify a particular impairment, and vehicle profiles indicating accommodation features. The transport facilitation system can receive a pick-up request, utilize the rider profile and vehicle profiles of vehicle proximate to a pick-up location, select a vehicle to service the pick-up request, and generate a configuration set to configure the selected vehicle to accommodate the impaired user.

Claims

1. A self-driving vehicle (SDV) comprising:

a sensor system to detect a physical environment of the SDV;

a plurality of configurable components;

acceleration, braking, and steering systems;

a control system to execute an instruction set that causes the control system to;

process sensor data from the sensor array to operate the acceleration, braking, and steering systems to autonomously control the SDV along a current route through the physical environment;

receive a directive from a backend system to service a pick-up request from a requesting user, the directive indicating a physical impairment of the requesting user;

based on the physical impairment of the requesting user, execute a set of configurations to aid the user over a trip duration between a pick-up location and a destination, wherein executing the set of configurations includes controlling or adjusting one or more of the plurality of configurable components.

2. The SDV of claim 1, wherein the physical impairment is a visual impairment, and wherein the set of configurations causes the control system to output audio assistance to aid the requesting user in entering and exiting the AV.

3. The SDV of claim 2, wherein the set of configurations causes the control system to dynamically monitor the user, based on the sensor data, in order to output the audio assistance.

4. The SDV of claim 2, wherein the set of configurations causes the control system to initiate a speech recognition control interface to enable the requesting user to control the plurality of configurable components by provide voice input to the SDV.

5. The SDV of claim 4, wherein the plurality of configurable components comprises one or more of a seat adjustment component, an audio system, one or more windows of the SDV, a locking system, a climate control system, or a network service system.

6. The SDV of claim 1, wherein the directive is received from a backend transport facilitation system that manages a transportation service for users throughout a given region, and wherein the set of configurations is based on a set of configuration commands received from the transport facilitation system to accommodate the requesting user.

7. A transport facilitation system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

store a rider profile for a user of a transportation service, the rider profile including data indicating a physical impairment of the user;

receive a pickup request from a mobile computing device of the user, the pick-up request indicating a pick-up location for the user;

access the rider profile to identify the user'"'"'s physical impairment based on the data;

select a transport vehicle to service the pick-up request; and

generate a first set of configuration commands to configure the transport vehicle to accommodate the user, based on the physical impairment, over the trip duration.

8. The transport facilitation system of claim 7, wherein the selected transport vehicle is a self-driving vehicle (SDV), and wherein the physical impairment comprises a visual impairment.

9. The transport facilitation system of claim 8, wherein the first set of configuration commands, when executed by the SDV, causes the SDV to initiate a speech recognition control interface to enable the user to control a number of configurable components of the SDV by providing voice input to the SDV.

10. The transport facilitation system of claim 9, wherein the configurable components comprise one or more of a seat adjustment component, an audio system, one or more windows of the SDV, a locking system, a climate control system, and a network service system.

11. The transport facilitation system of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

store vehicle profiles for a plurality of transport vehicles throughout the given region, the plurality of transport vehicles including human-driven vehicles and self-driving vehicles (SDVs), wherein at least some of the vehicle profiles indicate one or more accommodation features to assist users with physical impairments.

12. The transport facilitation system of claim 11, wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to select the transport vehicle to service the pick-up request by (i) receiving vehicle locations of proximate transport vehicles within a predetermined proximity to the pick-up location, and (ii) perform a matching operation based on the physical impairment of the user, the accommodation features of the proximate vehicles, and a distance or time for each proximate vehicle to the pick-up location.

13. The transport facilitation system of claim 7, wherein executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a second set of configuration commands to configure the mobile computing device to accommodate the user, based on the physical impairment, over a trip duration in which the transport vehicle transports the user to a destination; and

transmit the first set of configuration commands to the mobile computing device for execution over the trip duration.

14. The transport facilitation system of claim 13, wherein the physical impairment comprises a visual impairment, and wherein the first set of configuration commands, when executed by the mobile computing device, causes the mobile computing device to generate audio and haptic cues on the mobile computing device to aid the user over the trip duration.

15. The transport facilitation system of claim 14, wherein the second set of configuration commands, when executed by the mobile computing device, causes the mobile computing device to (i) establish a wireless connection with the SDV, and (ii) initiate a speech recognition control interface that enables the user to control a number of configurable components of the SDV by providing voice input to the mobile computing device.

16. The transport facilitation system of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

identify, in the rider profile, a correlation between a pick-up area and a preferred pick-up location;

determine that the pick-up location indicated in the pick-up request is within the pick-up area; and

transmit route data to the transport vehicle to pick up the user at the preferred pick-up location.

17. The transport facilitation system of claim 7, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

determine a plurality of hotspot locations throughout a given region in which transportation services are managed by the transport facilitation system, each respective hotspot location providing a predictable rendezvous point for users in a respective crowded area;

wherein the pick-up location is within the respective crowded area, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to;

transmit a confirmation to the mobile computing device requesting that the user rendezvous with the selected transport vehicle at the respective hotspot location; and

transmit route data to the transport vehicle to rendezvous with the user at the respective hotspot location.

18. The transport facilitation system of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to determine each of the plurality of hotspot locations by (i) identifying problematic rendezvous instances between transport vehicles and users in the respective crowded area over a duration of time, (ii) identifying seamless rendezvous instances between transport vehicles and users in the respective crowded area over the duration of time, (iii) determining an optimal location corresponding to the seamless rendezvous instances and not the problematic rendezvous instances, and (iv) establishing the optimal location as the respective hotspot location for the respective crowded area.

19. A mobile computing device comprising:

an audio system;

a display screen;

a microphone;

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing a rider application that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

generate a user interface on the display screen corresponding to a transportation service;

receive user inputs by a user on the user interface to request transportation for a user from a pick-up location to a destination;

transmit a pick-up request to a backend transport facilitation system based on the user inputs;

receive a confirmation that a transport vehicle is enroute to the pick-up location; and

execute an accommodation mode on the rider application, based on a physical impairment of the user, to aid the user over a trip duration in which the transport vehicle transports the user from the pick-up location to the destination.

20. The mobile computing device of claim 19, wherein the transport vehicle comprises a self-driving vehicle (SDV), and wherein execution of the accommodation mode on the rider application causes the one or more processors to:

establish a wireless connection with the transport vehicle;

initiate a speech recognition control interface on the mobile computing device to enable the user to control a number of configurable components of the AV by speaking into the microphone;

receive voice input from the user to adjust or configure a respective component of the SDV;

translate the voice input into a set of control commands; and

transmit the set of control commands to the SDV over the wireless connection for execution in order to adjust or configure the respective component.