Route Reservation Method

18) A method (200) for reserving a journey, within the context of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), each capable of being in an available or unavailable state, said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) among at least one arrival position stored beforehand, said selection step (202) automatically initiating the following steps:

• automated determination (206) of data relating to at least one position (308), called departure position;
• communicating with a plurality of vehicles (140) through a communication unit (142);
• assessing the status of each of said plurality of vehicles (140) based on a vehicle state data communicated through said communication unit (142)
• determining an availability of each of said plurality of vehicles (140) at each of said plurality of sites (104);
• automated identification (210) as arrival site (324), of an available site that is the closest to said arrival position (322) among said plurality of sites in order to return a rented vehicle thereto;
• said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324).

20) A method (200) for reserving a journey, within the context of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), each capable of being in an available or unavailable state, said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) among at least one arrival position stored beforehand, said selection step (202) automatically initiating the following steps:

• automated determination (206) of data relating to at least one position (308), called departure position;
• obtaining geographic data of any number of a plurality of departure sites (310);
• obtaining vehicle data associated with each of said plurality of departure sites (310);
• assessing an availability of a vehicle at each of said plurality of departure sites (310);
• calculating a distance between each of said plurality of departure sites (310) having at least one available vehicle with a departure location;
• identifying (208) the departure site (310) having the shortest distance between said departure site (310) and said departure location;
• automated identification (210) as arrival site (324), of an available site that is the closest to said arrival position (322) among said plurality of sites in order to return a rented vehicle thereto;
• said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324).