Using Autonomous Vehicles in a Taxi Service

• US 20150339928A1
• 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 9,805,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

Technology is described for operating a fleet of autonomous vehicles. A request for a taxi service may be received from a mobile device. The request may include a current location of the mobile device. They request may indicate that the taxi service is to be performed at a current time. An autonomous vehicle may be selected from the fleet of autonomous vehicles to perform the taxi service based in part on an availability of the autonomous vehicle and a proximity between the autonomous vehicle and the current location of the mobile device. Instructions may be provided to the autonomous vehicle to perform the taxi service according to the request. The autonomous vehicle may be configured to provide commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to the current location of the mobile device in order to perform the taxi service.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for operating a fleet of autonomous vehicles, the instructions when executed perform the following:

receiving, using one or more processors, a request for a taxi service from a mobile device, wherein the request includes a current location of the mobile device and indicates that the taxi service is to be performed at a current time;

selecting, using the one or more processors, an autonomous vehicle from the fleet of autonomous vehicles to perform the taxi service based in part on an availability of the autonomous vehicle and a proximity between the autonomous vehicle and the current location of the mobile device; and

providing, using the one or more processors, instructions to the autonomous vehicle to perform the taxi service according to the request, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to provide commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to the current location of the mobile device in order to perform the taxi service.

2. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the request for the taxi service includes at least one of:

a pickup location, a drop-off location, a number of passengers, or a selected vehicle type.

3. 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 performs the following:

estimating an amount of time to perform the taxi service based, in part, on the current location of the mobile device and a drop-off location indicated in the request; and

selecting the autonomous vehicle when the amount of time to perform the taxi service does not conflict with a previously scheduled taxi service for the autonomous vehicle.

4. 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 performs the following:

determining an estimated arrival time for the autonomous vehicle to arrive at the current location of the mobile device; and

sending a confirmation to the mobile device that the autonomous vehicle is to arrive at the current location of the mobile device in order to perform the taxi service and the estimated arrival time.

5. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 4, further comprising instructions which when executed by the one or more processors performs the following:

sending an additional notification with an updated estimated arrival time when the autonomous vehicle is delayed due to road traffic.

6. 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 performs the following:

tracking a location of the autonomous vehicle when the autonomous vehicle is driving to the current location of the mobile device; and

sending a notification to the mobile device after the autonomous vehicle has arrived at the current location of the mobile device.

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 performs the following:

determining that the autonomous vehicle has completed the taxi service; and

marking the autonomous vehicle as being available to perform additional taxi services.

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 performs the following:

instructing the autonomous vehicle to drive to a default parking space after completing the taxi service and wait for instructions to perform an additional taxi service.

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 performs the following:

adding additional taxi services to a schedule associated with the autonomous vehicle; and

sending the schedule to the autonomous vehicle, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to perform the additional taxi services in accordance with the schedule.

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 performs the following:

maintaining a list of autonomous vehicles that includes, for each autonomous vehicle on the list, a current location of the autonomous vehicle and a taxi schedule associated with 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 performs the following;

receiving an additional request, from the mobile device, to modify a route associated with the taxi service in route to a drop-off location;

verifying that the additional request to modify the route does not conflict with a previously scheduled taxi service for the autonomous vehicle; and

instructing the autonomous vehicle to perform a modified taxi service in accordance with the additional request from the mobile device.

12. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for operating a fleet of autonomous vehicles, the instructions when executed perform the following:

receiving, using one or more processors, a request for a taxi service, the request including a pickup location and a selected time for the taxi service;

identifying, using the one or more processors, an autonomous vehicle from a fleet of autonomous vehicles that is available to perform the taxi service at the selected time; and

adding, using the one or more processors, the taxi service to a schedule associated with the autonomous vehicle, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to provide commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to the pickup location at the selected time in accordance with the schedule and perform the taxi service.

13. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the autonomous vehicle is identified based, in part, on an estimated distance between the autonomous vehicle and the pickup location at the selected time.

14. The at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising sending a confirmation to a user indicating that the autonomous vehicle is scheduled to arrive at the pickup location at substantially the selected time.

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

tracking a location of the autonomous vehicle when the autonomous vehicle is driving to the pickup location, wherein the autonomous vehicle is configured to use traffic information to determine a starting time for driving to the pickup location in order to arrive at the pickup location at substantially the selected time; and

sending a notification to a user after the autonomous vehicle has arrived at the pickup location.

16. 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 instructions to perform a taxi service in accordance with a request for the taxi service, the request indicating a pickup location;

select a route for travelling to the pickup location; and

provide commands to drive the autonomous vehicle to the pickup location according to the route in order to perform the taxi service.

17. The autonomous vehicle of claim 16, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

verify that a user at the pickup location submitted the request for the taxi service before permitting the user to enter into the autonomous vehicle.

18. The autonomous vehicle of claim 16, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

select the route for traveling to the pickup location based on traffic information.

19. The autonomous vehicle of claim 16, wherein the instructions indicate that the taxi service is to be performed at a current time or an upcoming time.

20. The autonomous vehicle of claim 16, wherein the plurality of data and instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

notify a taxi service system after the taxi service has been completed and the autonomous vehicle is available to perform additional taxi services.