Transport facilitation system for configuring a service vehicle for a user

• US 10,744,965 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2018
• Issued: 08/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Zych, Noah
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US16/009,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20180290610A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 701 25
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/037 for occupant comfort , e.g. for automatic adjustment of appliances according to personal settings, e.g. seats, mirrors, steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2400/00 Indexing codes relating to detected, measured or calculated conditions or factors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/30 Auxiliary equipments
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

A transport facilitation system can receive a pick-up request from a computing device of a user of a transportation arrangement service, the pick-up request comprising a unique identifier and a pick-up location. Using the unique identifier, the system can perform a lookup in a database for a profile indicating vehicle setup preferences for the user, and select a service vehicle to service the pick-up request. The system can further determine a seat assignment within the service vehicle for the user, and based on the vehicle setup preferences indicated in the profile, the system transmit a set of configuration instructions to the service vehicle, the set of configuration instructions to configure one or more adjustable components of the service vehicle for the user.

Claims

1. A transport facilitation system comprising:

a database storing profiles indicating service vehicle setup preferences for users of a transportation arrangement service;

one or more processors; and

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

receive a pick-up request from a computing device of a user of the transportation arrangement service, the pick-up request comprising a unique identifier and a pick-up location;

using the unique identifier, perform a lookup in the database for a profile indicating vehicle setup preferences for the user;

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

determine a seat assignment within the service vehicle for the user;

select a route for the service vehicle to travel to the pick-up location based on the seat assignment of the user; and

based on the vehicle setup preferences indicated in the profile, transmit a set of configuration instructions to the service vehicle, the set of configuration instructions to configure one or more adjustable components of the service vehicle for the user (i) prior to the service vehicle arriving at the pick-up location, (ii) at the time of the service vehicle arrives at the pick-up location, or (iii) after the user enters the service vehicle.

2. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to cause the service vehicle to adjust the one or more adjustable components in accordance with the vehicle setup preferences while the service vehicle is traveling to the pick-up location.

3. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to communicate instructions to the service vehicle, to extend or delay the route taken by the service vehicle to the pick-up location in order to configure at least one vehicle setup preference in accordance with the profile.

4. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to provide a preference menu for the designated application to enable the user to input at least some of the vehicle setup preferences.

5. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to communicate to the user that one or more features for implementing the user'"'"'s profile is not available on the selected service vehicle.

6. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the service vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle.

7. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle setup preferences in the profile indicate at least one of a seat positioning preference, a temperature preference, a home page display preference, a language preference, a radio station preference, or an interior lighting preference.

8. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

communicate the seat assignment to the computing device of the user.

9. A vehicle 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;

receive, from a transport facilitation system, a transport invitation associated with a user,

wherein the transport facilitation system comprises a database storing profiles indicating service vehicle setup preferences for users of a transportation arrangement service, and

wherein the transport invitation comprises;

(i) a pick-up location;

(ii) a seat assignment for the user; and

(iii) a set of configuration instructions based on a profile stored in the database, the profile indicating vehicle setup preferences for the user;

receive, from the transport facilitation system, a route for the vehicle to travel to the pick-up location, wherein the route is selected based on the seat assignment of the user; and

based on the set of configuration instructions, configure one or more adjustable components of the vehicle for the user (i) prior to the vehicle arriving at the pick-up location, (ii) at the time of the vehicle arrives at the pick-up location, or (iii) after the user enters the vehicle.

10. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive instructions to travel along a specified route to the pick-up location.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, further comprising:

one or more sensors generating sensor data comprising a surrounding environment of the vehicle; and

acceleration, braking, and steering systems.

12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

process the sensor data to autonomously operate the acceleration, braking, and steering systems along the specified route.

13. The vehicle of claim 12, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

delay autonomous driving along the specified route to the pick-up location in order to configure at least one vehicle setup preference in accordance with the set of configuration instructions.

14. The vehicle of claim 12, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

extend the specified route to the pick-up location in order to configure at least one vehicle setup preference in accordance with the set of configuration instructions.

15. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the one or more adjustable components comprise a seat positioning component, a temperature component, a display component, or an audio component.

16. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the vehicle comprises a human driven vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a pick-up request from a computing device of a user of a transportation arrangement service, the pick-up request comprising a unique identifier and a pick-up location;

using the unique identifier, perform a lookup in a database for a profile indicating vehicle setup preferences for the user;

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

determine a seat assignment within the service vehicle for the user;

based on the vehicle setup preferences indicated in the profile, transmit a set of configuration instructions to the service vehicle, the set of configuration instructions to configure one or more adjustable components of the service vehicle for the user (i) prior to the service vehicle arriving at the pick-up location, (ii) at the time of the service vehicle arrives at the pick-up location, or (iii) after the user enters the service vehicle; and

communicate to the user that one or more features for implementing the user'"'"'s profile is not available on the selected service vehicle.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to cause the service vehicle to select a route for the service vehicle to travel to the pick-up location based on the seat assignment of the user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to communicate instructions to the service vehicle, to extend or delay a route taken by the service vehicle to the pick-up location in order to configure at least one vehicle setup preference in accordance with the profile.

20. A transport facilitation system comprising:

a database storing profiles indicating service vehicle setup preferences for users of a transportation arrangement service;

one or more processors; and

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

receive a pick-up request from a computing device of a user of the transportation arrangement service, the pick-up request comprising a unique identifier and a pick-up location;

using the unique identifier, perform a lookup in the database for a profile indicating vehicle setup preferences for the user;

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

determine a seat assignment within the service vehicle for the user;

based on the vehicle setup preferences indicated in the profile, transmit a set of configuration instructions to the service vehicle, the set of configuration instructions to configure one or more adjustable components of the service vehicle for the user (i) prior to the service vehicle arriving at the pick-up location, (ii) at the time of the service vehicle arrives at the pick-up location, or (iii) after the user enters the service vehicle; and

communicate to the user that one or more features for implementing the user'"'"'s profile is not available on the selected service vehicle.