Coordinated autonomous vehicle automatic area scanning

A computer system for coordinating automatic passive searching using autonomous vehicle components, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a communication unit configured to communicate between the one or more processors and computing devices via a communication network;
• and
• a program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to:
• receive an indication of a situation triggering a passive search;
• determine a plurality of passive search parameters based upon the indication of the situation, including a search area;
• identify a plurality of vehicles traveling along routes on road segments within the search area, each of the plurality of vehicles having one or more sensors associated with autonomous vehicle features of the vehicle;
• generate an indication of search criteria based upon the plurality of search parameters;
• communicate the indication of search criteria to a plurality of computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles via the communication network using the communication unit, the indication of the search criteria;
• receive a response from at least one of the plurality of computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles via the communication network using the communication unit, the response including an indication of sensor data meeting the search criteria from at least one sensor of the corresponding vehicle while traveling along the respective route of the vehicle on the road segments within the search area;
• and
• implement an action based upon the response.

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions for coordinating automatic passive searching using autonomous vehicle components that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• receive an indication of a situation triggering a passive search;
• determine a plurality of passive search parameters based upon the indication of the situation, including a search area;
• identify a plurality of vehicles traveling along routes on road segments within the search area, each of the plurality of vehicles having one or more sensors associated with autonomous vehicle features of the vehicle;
• generate an indication of search criteria based upon the plurality of search parameters;
• communicate the indication of search criteria to a plurality of computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles via a communication network, the indication of the search criteria;
• receive a response from at least one of the plurality of computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles via the communication network, the response including an indication of sensor data meeting the search criteria from at least one sensor of the corresponding vehicle while traveling along the respective route of the vehicle on the road segments within the search area;
• and
• implement an action based upon the response.