Routing both autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles
AssigneeVia Transportation, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Ramot, Oren Shoval, Shmulik Marcovitch, Erin Abrams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for managing and routing ridesharing vehicles. In some implementations, the systems and methods may count the number of passengers entering a ridesharing vehicle, distribute vehicles in need of charge to charging stations based on predicted future demand, manage a fleet of petrol and electric ridesharing vehicles, route autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles, automatically adjust drop-off locations based on safety constraints, and preschedule a rideshare with an unknown pick-up location.
Claims19
A system for directing manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles, the system comprising:
- at least one communications interface for receiving ride requests from a plurality of users and for communicating with a plurality of vehicles-for-hire including manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- memory storing information identifying a driving mode of each vehicle-for-hire as either a manually-drivable vehicle or an autonomous vehicle, and information identifying roads restricted to at least one of manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- at least one processor programmed to:
- receive, via the communications interface, a ride request from a prospective passenger, the ride request including information related to a pick-up location and a drop-off location of the prospective passenger;
- receive current vehicle location data for the plurality of vehicles-for-hire, wherein the current vehicle location data includes global positioning system (GPS) data generated by at least one GPS component associated with each vehicle-for-hire;
- electronically assign a specific vehicle-for-hire with capacity to fulfill the ride request to pick up the prospective passenger based on the current vehicle location data;
- access the stored information to determine the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- select a mode-specific route for the specific vehicle-for-hire that avoids roads restricted to the specific vehicle-for-hire based on the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- and
- wirelessly transmit the selected mode-specific route to the specific vehicle-for-hire.
A method for directing manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles, the method comprising:
- communicating with a plurality of vehicles-for-hire including manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- accessing stored information identifying a driving mode of each vehicle-for-hire as either a manually-drivable vehicle or an autonomous vehicle, and information identifying roads restricted to at least one of manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- receiving a ride request from a prospective passenger, the ride request including information related to a pick-up location and a drop-off location of the prospective passenger;
- receiving current vehicle location data for the plurality of vehicles-for-hire, wherein the current vehicle location data includes global positioning system (GPS) data generated by at least one GPS component associated with each vehicle-for-hire;
- electronically assigning a specific vehicle-for-hire with capacity to fulfill the ride request to pick up the prospective passenger based on the current vehicle location data;
- accessing the stored information to determine the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- selecting a mode-specific route for the specific vehicle-for-hire that avoids roads restricted to the specific vehicle-for-hire based on the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- and
- wirelessly transmitting the selected mode-specific route to the specific vehicle-for-hire.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for directing manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles, the method comprising:
- communicating with a plurality of vehicles-for-hire including manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- accessing stored information identifying a driving mode of each vehicle-for-hire as either a manually-drivable vehicle or an autonomous vehicle, and information identifying roads restricted to at least one of manually-drivable vehicles and autonomous vehicles;
- receiving a ride request from a prospective passenger, the ride request including information related to a pick-up location and a drop-off location of the prospective passenger;
- receiving current vehicle location data for the plurality of vehicles-for-hire, wherein the current vehicle location data includes global positioning system (GPS) data generated by at least one GPS component associated with each vehicle-for-hire;
- electronically assigning a specific vehicle-for-hire with capacity to fulfill the ride request to pick up the prospective passenger based on the current vehicle location data;
- accessing the stored information to determine the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- selecting a mode-specific route for the specific vehicle-for-hire that avoids roads restricted to the specific vehicle-for-hire based on the driving mode of the specific vehicle-for-hire;
- and
- wirelessly transmitting the selected mode-specific route to the specific vehicle-for-hire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.