Self-driving vehicle systems and methods

• US 9,915,949 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2017
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Drivent LLC
• Original Assignee: Eric John Wengreen, Wesley Edward Schwie
• Inventors: Schwie, Wesley Edward, Wengreen, Eric John
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kong, Sze-Hon
• Application Number:
  US15/589,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20170357258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 309 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/00 Arrangement or adaptation of acoustic signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/06 Automatic manoeuvring for parking
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• 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 1/12 Target-seeking control
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1807 using prosody or stress

Abstract

Self-driving vehicles have unlimited potential to learn and predict human behavior and perform actions accordingly. Several embodiments described herein enable a self-driving vehicle to monitor human activity and predict when and where the human will be located and whether the human needs a ride from the self-driving vehicle. Self-driving vehicles will be able to perform such tasks with incredible efficacy and accuracy that will allow self-driving vehicles to proliferate at a much faster rate than would otherwise be the case.

Claims

1. A method of picking up a person with a self-driving vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a vehicle management system, a logout notification comprising a notification that the person has logged out of a computer located remotely relative to the self-driving vehicle, wherein the logout notification occurs before the self-driving vehicle picks up the person;

sending, by the vehicle management system, a first wireless communication to the self-driving vehicle in response to receiving the logout notification; and

prompting the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person and pick up the person.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prompting the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person and pick up the person occurs at least partially in response to receiving the first wireless communication, and wherein the person has a remote computing device, the method further comprising searching, by the vehicle management system, for location data of the remote computing device in response to the logout notification.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending, by the vehicle management system, the location data of the remote computing device to the self-driving vehicle.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining, by the vehicle management system, whether the remote computing device is located within a predetermined distance of the self-driving vehicle, wherein the first wireless communication prompts the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person having the remote computing device in response to the remote computing device being located within the predetermined distance.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising sending, by the vehicle management system in response to the remote computing device not being located within the predetermined distance of the self-driving vehicle, a second wireless communication to the remote computing device, wherein the second wireless communication prompts the remote computing device to determine whether the person wants the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person.

6. A system for picking up a person with a self-driving vehicle, the system comprising:

a vehicle management system configured to receive logout notifications and send wireless communications;

a logout notification received by the vehicle management system in response to the person logging out of a computer located remotely relative to the self-driving vehicle, wherein the vehicle management system is configured to receive the logout notification before the self-driving vehicle picks up the person; and

a first wireless communication sent by the vehicle management system to the self-driving vehicle in response to receiving the logout notification,

wherein the first wireless communication is configured to prompt the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person and pick up the person.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the vehicle management system is located onboard the self-driving vehicle.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the vehicle management system is remotely located with respect to the self-driving vehicle.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising a remote computing device communicatively coupled to the vehicle management system and operated by the person.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle management system is configured to receive location data of the remote computing device.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a second wireless communication received by the remote computing device, wherein the second wireless communication prompts the remote computing device to determine whether the person wants the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a third wireless communication received by the vehicle management system, wherein the third wireless communication comprises at least one of a first instruction to position the self-driving vehicle in a parked state and a second instruction to move the self-driving vehicle towards the person.

13. A method of picking up a person with a self-driving vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a vehicle management system, an indication that the person has requested a ride from the self-driving vehicle, wherein the indication comprises a logout notification that the person has logged out of a computer located remotely relative to the self-driving vehicle;

determining, by the vehicle management system, that the person has a scheduled appointment within a predetermined amount of time of the occurrence of the indication;

sending, by the vehicle management system, a first wireless communication to the self-driving vehicle in response to determining that the scheduled appointment occurs within the predetermined amount of time of the occurrence of the indication, wherein the first wireless communication prompts the self-driving vehicle to move towards the person; and

receiving, by the vehicle management system, the logout notification, wherein the logout notification occurs before the self-driving vehicle picks up the person.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, by the vehicle management system, that a location of the scheduled appointment is located less than a predetermined distance from the computer; and

sending, by the vehicle management system, a second wireless communication to the self-driving vehicle in response to determining that the location of the scheduled appointment is located less than the predetermined distance from the computer, wherein the second wireless communication prompts the self-driving vehicle to perform at least one of move away from the person, not pick up the person, and position the self-driving vehicle in a parked state.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the vehicle management system, that a location of the scheduled appointment is located greater than a predetermined distance from the computer, wherein sending, by the vehicle management system, the first wireless communication to the self-driving vehicle also occurs in response to determining that the location of the scheduled appointment is located greater than a predetermined distance from the computer.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, by the vehicle management system, a second wireless communication from a remote computing device associated with the person, wherein the second wireless communication comprises instructions to perform at least one of move away from the person, not pick up the person, and position the self-driving vehicle in a parked state.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the vehicle management system, location data of a remote computing device associated with the person; and

arriving, by the self-driving vehicle, at a requested location of the person.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, by the vehicle management system, a time of arrival of the person at the requested location; and

arriving, by the self-driving vehicle, at the requested location before the time of arrival of the person.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the vehicle management system, that the indication occurs during a predetermined time of day, wherein sending, by the vehicle management system, the first wireless communication to the self-driving vehicle occurs in response to receiving the indication and the indication occurring during the predetermined time of day.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising posting, by the vehicle management system, a status on a social network.