Operation management apparatus of vehicle, operation management method, and transportation system

A method of managing an operation, the method comprising:

• generating a travel plan for each of a plurality of vehicles which form a vehicle line and which travel autonomously along a prescribed travel path, each of the plurality of vehicles comprising a respective surroundings sensor, position sensor, memory and controller;
• detecting, by the surroundings sensor, a periphery of surroundings of each vehicle;
• detecting, by the position sensor, a current position of each vehicle;
• storing, by the memory, a detection result of the surroundings sensor and the position sensor;
• performing control, by the controller, to drive a drive unit to execute autonomous travel based on the detection result of the surroundings sensor and the position sensor;
• judging a transportation demand of passengers based on at least one of travel information, which is information related to a traveling state, or passenger information, which is information related to a passenger who is a user of a vehicle, transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles;
• judging a necessity of an increase or a decrease in the number of vehicles forming the vehicle line based on the judged transportation demand of the passengers;
• when it is judged that the increase in the number of vehicles forming the vehicle line is necessary, determining a position of addition of a new vehicle in the vehicle line based on at least one of the travel information or the passenger information, transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles, and generating the travel plan for adding the new vehicle at the position of addition;
• and
• transmitting the travel plan to the new vehicle.

A transportation system comprising:

• a vehicle line comprising a plurality of vehicles which travel autonomously along a prescribed travel path, wherein
• each vehicle comprises:
• a surroundings sensor that detects a periphery of surroundings of each vehicle;
• a position sensor that detects a current position of each vehicle,
• a first memory storing a detection result of the surroundings sensor and the position sensor;
• a controller that performs control to drive a drive unit to execute autonomous travel based on a detection result of the surroundings sensor and the position sensor;
• and
• an operation management apparatus that manages operations of the plurality of vehicles, wherein
• each of the vehicles transmits, to the operation management apparatus, at least one of travel information which is information related to a traveling state of the vehicle or passenger information which is information related to a passenger,
• the operation management apparatus comprises:
• a second memory storing executable instructions;
• and
• a processor programmed to execute the instructions to:
• generate a travel plan for each of the plurality of vehicles;
• judge a transportation demand of passengers based on at least one of travel information, which is information related to a traveling state, or passenger information, which is information related to the passenger who is a user of a vehicle, transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles;
• judge a necessity of an increase or a decrease in the number of vehicles forming the vehicle line based on the judged transportation demand of the passengers;
• when it is judged that the increase in the number of vehicles forming the vehicle line is necessary, determine a position of addition of a new vehicle in the vehicle line based on at least one of the travel information or the passenger information transmitted from each of the plurality of vehicles, and generate the travel plan for adding the new vehicle at the position of addition;
• and
• transmit the travel plan to the new vehicle.