Autonomous vehicle consumption of real-time public transportation data to guide curb access and usage

A method of dispatching an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

• receiving an input requesting an autonomous vehicle ride from a requested pickup location;
• identifying expected occupancy times of a reserved zone within proximity of the requested pickup location for autonomous vehicles in a fleet of autonomous vehicles, the expected occupancy times being identified based on current locations of the autonomous vehicles and planned routes to the reserved zone from the current locations of the autonomous vehicles;
• retrieving public transportation data specifying an expected arrival time of a public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone from an external computing system, the expected arrival time of the public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone is based on a real-time position of the public transportation vehicle;
• evaluating availability of the reserved zone during the expected occupancy times of the reserved zone for the autonomous vehicles based on the expected arrival time of the public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone;
• selecting the autonomous vehicle from the fleet of autonomous vehicles for the autonomous vehicle ride, the autonomous vehicle being selected based on the availability of the reserved zone during the expected occupancy times of the reserved zone for the autonomous vehicles such that the autonomous vehicle is expected to travel along a planned route to the reserved zone from a current location of the autonomous vehicle and arrive at the reserved zone while the reserved zone is available;
• and
• transmitting a trip request for the autonomous vehicle ride to the autonomous vehicle, the trip request causes the autonomous vehicle to travel along the planned route to the reserved zone from the current location of the autonomous vehicle, arrive at the reserved zone while the reserved zone is available, and stop in the reserved zone for pickup for the autonomous vehicle ride.

A method of dispatching an autonomous vehicle, comprising:

• receiving an input requesting an autonomous vehicle ride from a requested pickup location;
• selecting the autonomous vehicle from a fleet of autonomous vehicles for the autonomous vehicle ride;
• retrieving public transportation data specifying an expected arrival time of a public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone from an external computing system, the expected arrival time of the public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone is based on a real-time position of the public transportation vehicle and an identifier of the public transportation vehicle, wherein the real-time position of the public transportation vehicle and the identifier of the public transportation vehicle are detected by at least one differing autonomous vehicle in the fleet wherein the identifier specifies the public transportation vehicle from a plurality of public transportation vehicles, and wherein the at least one differing autonomous vehicle in the fleet reports the real-time position of the public transportation vehicle and the identifier of the public transportation vehicle to the external computing system;
• evaluating availability of a reserved zone within proximity of the requested pickup location during an expected occupancy time of the reserved zone by the autonomous vehicle based on the expected arrival time of the public transportation vehicle at the reserved zone;
• and
• transmitting a trip request for the autonomous vehicle ride to the autonomous vehicle, the trip request causes the autonomous vehicle to travel to and stop in the reserved zone for pickup for the autonomous vehicle ride, wherein the trip request comprises information specifying a time period during which the reserved zone would be available, and wherein the trip request causes the autonomous vehicle to delay arriving at the reserved zone until the time period during which the reserved zone would be available.