SELECTING VEHICLE TYPE FOR PROVIDING TRANSPORT

• US 20180114259A1
• Filed: 12/20/2017
• Published: 04/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Ross, William, Bares, John, LaRose, David, Sweeney, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,163,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0234 using optical markers or beacons optical beacons per se G01S1/70
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/227 Handing over between remote control and on-board control; Handing over between remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/243 Means capturing signals occurring naturally from the environment, e.g. ambient optical, acoustic, gravitational or magnetic signals using passive navigation aids external to the vehicle G05D1/244; using signals from positioning sensors located off-board the vehicle G05D1/249
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/644 Optimisation of travel parameters, e.g. of energy consumption, journey time or distance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/692 involving a plurality of disparate vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

A transport arrangement system operates to receive a transport request from a user, and to make a selection of a vehicle type for the user based at least in part on a set of criteria associated with the transport request or user information. For example, the determination of whether an autonomous vehicle is to be provided can be based at least in part on the destination specified with the transport request.

Claims

1. A system for arranging transport, the system comprising:

a memory that stores a set of instructions;

one or more processors which use the set of instructions to;

receive a transport request; and

determine, based at least in part on evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules, whether to fulfill the transport request using an autonomous vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information specified with the transport request includes a pickup location.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more autonomous vehicle rules comprises at least one selection rule defined based on one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to reach the pickup location.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to determine whether the pickup location is inaccessible or difficult to reach.

5. The system of claim 4, the one or more processors use the set of instructions to determine whether the pickup location is inaccessible or difficult to reach by determining whether the pickup location is near construction or heavy pedestrian traffic.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more autonomous vehicle rules comprises at least one selection rule defined based on one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to understand an environment.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the information specified with the transport request comprises a pickup location and a drop-off location for the transport request; and

the one or more processors is configured to use the set of instructions to determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle by;

predicting a route for the transport request based on the pickup location and the drop-off location for the transport request;

identifying one or more environments that may be encountered along the route during fulfillment of the transport request; and

applying the at least one selection rule against the identified one or more environments.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the information specified with the transport request comprises a pickup location, a drop-off location, and a time of day for the transport request; and

the at least one selection rule comprises;

a first selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate proximate to the pickup location as a function of the one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to understand an environment proximate to the pickup location;

a second selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate proximate to the drop-off location as a function of the one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to understand an environment proximate to the drop-off location; and

a third selection rule defining an ability of the autonomous vehicle to operate during the time of day for the transport request as a function of the one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to understand environments during the time of day for the transport request.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the information specified with the transport request comprises a pickup location and a drop-off location for the transport request; and

the one or more processors is configured to use the set of instructions to determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle by identifying whether a variation to the pickup location or the drop-off location is required to fulfill the transport request.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on one or more special requests made by a user in conjunction with the transport request.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on availability of the autonomous vehicle.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is an experimental or prototypical autonomous vehicle.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle is a vehicle dedicated to operating in an autonomous mode.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the transport request originates from a mobile computing device associated with a user.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on one or more routes determined for the autonomous vehicle to a destination.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to use the set of instructions to assign the transport request to the autonomous vehicle based on a determination of whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to dispatch the autonomous vehicle to a pickup location specified with the transport request.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors determine whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle in response to receiving the transport request.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes an autonomous vehicle system that operates within the autonomous vehicle.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes one or more servers that communicate with the autonomous vehicle.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations that comprise:

receiving a transport request, the transport request including a pickup location; and

determining, based at least in part on evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules, whether to fulfill the transport request using an autonomous vehicle, the one or more autonomous vehicles rules including at least one selection rule defined based on one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to reach the pickup location.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations performed by the computer system further comprise determining whether the pickup location is inaccessible or difficult to reach.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein determining whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle is based at least in part on availability of the autonomous vehicle.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the transport request originates from a mobile computing device associated with a user.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the operations performed by the computer system further comprise dispatching the autonomous vehicle to a pickup location specified with the transport request.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the computer system includes an autonomous vehicle system that operates within the autonomous vehicle.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the computer system includes one or more servers that communicate with the autonomous vehicle.

28. A method for arranging transport, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:

receiving a transport request, the transport request including a pickup location; and

determining, based at least in part on evaluation of information specified with the transport request against one or more autonomous vehicle rules, whether to fulfill the transport request using an autonomous vehicle, the one or more autonomous vehicles rules including at least one selection rule defined based on one or more limitations in the autonomous vehicle'"'"'s ability to reach the pickup location.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein determining whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle includes determining whether the pickup location is inaccessible or difficult to reach.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein determining whether to fulfill the transport request using the autonomous vehicle is based at least in part on availability of the autonomous vehicle.