# US 11,443,634 B2 · Smart signs for autonomous vehicles

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 11,443,634 B2
- Document ID: US11443634B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/075,898
- Filed: 2020-10-21
- Published: 2021-04-08
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2018-10-10
- Assignees: Waymo LLC
- Applicants: Waymo LLC
- Inventors: John Wesley Dyer; Philip Nemec; Joshua Newby; Michael Epstein
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11443634B2

## CPC

- G06Q 50/40: Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083)
- B60W 60/001: {Planning or execution of driving tasks}
- B60W 60/00253: {Taxi operations}
- G01C 21/3438: {Rendezvous; Ride sharing}
- G05D 1/00: Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots (drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00)
- G08G 1/202: {Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching}
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04L 67/52: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
- H04W 12/06: Authentication
- B60W 2420/408: Radar; Laser, e.g. lidar
- B60W 2510/18: Braking system
- H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
- H04W 4/024: Guidance services
- H04W 4/027: {using movement velocity, acceleration information}
- H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
- H04W 12/33: using wearable devices, e.g. using a smartwatch or smart-glasses
- H04W 12/63: Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

The disclosure relates to smart signs or physical markers for facilitating passenger trips for autonomous vehicles. For instance, a physical marker remote from the autonomous vehicles may receive a first notification indicating a request for a trip has been made via a client computing device. The physical marker may determine when the client computing device has reached a physical marker, and in response to the determination, the physical marker may send a second notification to a dispatching server computing device indicating that the client computing device has reached a physical marker. Other aspects of the disclosure relate to various features and uses for the physical marker.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for facilitating passenger trips for autonomous vehicles, the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more server computing devices having one or more processors, a first request for a first trip from a first client computing device associated with a first passenger;
in response to receiving the first request, assigning, by the one or more server computing devices, a vehicle to the first passenger;
receiving, by the one or more server computing devices, a first notification indicating that a second passenger has reached a physical marker;
assessing, by the one or more server computing devices, whether to reassign the vehicle from the first passenger to the second passenger; and
based on the assessment, reassigning, by the one or more server computing devices, the vehicle to the second passenger, before the first passenger takes the first trip.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, after assigning the vehicle to the first passenger, receiving a second request for a trip from a second client computing device associated with the second passenger.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, receiving a second notification indicating that the first passenger reached the physical marker, wherein the second notification is received after the first notification.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing includes determining whether reassigning the vehicle to the second passenger reduces an amount of time that the second passenger waits for a vehicle to complete a trip.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing includes determining whether reassigning the vehicle to the second passenger reduces an amount of time that the vehicle waits for an assigned passenger.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing includes determining that the vehicle is able to complete a trip requested by the second passenger.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification is received from the physical marker.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification further indicates that a second client computing device associated with the second passenger has made physical contact with the physical marker.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification further indicates that a second passenger associated with the second passenger has provided biometric information to the physical marker.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving the biometric information from the physical marker.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification further indicates that an RF-enabled security badge has been used to identify the second passenger to the physical marker.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving the first request, assigning the first passenger to the physical marker based on a current location of the first client computing device.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein assigning the first passenger to the physical marker includes selecting the physical marker from a plurality of physical markers.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the physical marker is based on a current demand at the plurality of physical markers.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, after assigning the passenger to the physical marker, providing authentication information to the physical marker to enable the physical marker to authenticate the passenger.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the first notification further indicates that a second client computing device associated with the second passenger has been authenticated by the physical marker.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving the first notification, sending a second notification to the first client computing device instructing the first passenger to proceed to the physical marker.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein reassigning the vehicle to the second passenger enables the second passenger to use the vehicle to complete a second trip.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, after assigning the vehicle to the first passenger and prior to reassigning the vehicle to the second passenger, first reassigning the vehicle to a third passenger.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, receiving information from the physical marker identifying a number of pedestrians proximate to the physical marker.