Location-aware notifications and applications for autonomous vehicles

An article of manufacture including a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• controlling driving of the autonomous vehicle without human interaction in an autonomous mode;
• determining a status of the autonomous vehicle including a location of the autonomous vehicle;
• determining occupancy of one or more current passengers of the autonomous vehicle;
• determining a possible destination for the autonomous vehicle based on passenger information associated with the one or more current passengers of the autonomous vehicle;
• generating a hint related to the possible destination based on the status of the autonomous vehicle including the location of the autonomous vehicle;
• sending the hint;
• receiving input related to the hint;
• based on the input, determining whether to navigate the autonomous vehicle to the possible destination;
• and
• after determining to navigate the autonomous vehicle to the possible destination, directing the autonomous vehicle to travel to the possible destination.

A method, comprising:

• controlling, by the control system, driving of an autonomous vehicle without human interaction in an autonomous mode;
• determining a status of the autonomous vehicle including a location of the autonomous vehicle;
• determining occupancy of one or more current passengers of the autonomous vehicle using an autonomous vehicle application manager;
• determining a possible destination for the autonomous vehicle based on passenger information associated with the one or more current passengers of the autonomous vehicle using the autonomous vehicle application manager;
• generating a hint related to the possible destination based on the status of the autonomous vehicle including the location of the autonomous vehicle using the autonomous vehicle application manager;
• providing the hint using the autonomous vehicle application manager;
• receiving input related to the hint at the autonomous vehicle application manager;
• based on the input, the autonomous vehicle application manager determining whether to navigate the autonomous vehicle to the possible destination;
• and
• after determining to navigate the autonomous vehicle to the possible destination, the autonomous vehicle application manager directing the autonomous vehicle to travel to the possible destination.