Unlock and authentication for autonomous vehicles

A system comprising one or more computing devices configured to:

• receive information assigning a vehicle to a client computing device and a pickup location for the client computing device, the information further including an encryption key for authenticating a client computing device to the vehicle;
• when the vehicle is within a given distance of the pickup location use the encryption key to authenticate the client computing device to the vehicle;
• when the client computing device is authenticated, estimate a first distance between the client computing device and the vehicle based on a strength of a signal received from the client computing device;
• determine when to unlock the vehicle by selecting between a first distance value and a second distance value, wherein the first distance value is selected when the first distance is greater than a threshold value and the second distance value is selected when the first distance is less than a threshold value, and wherein the first distance value is different from the second distance value;
• and
• automatically unlock the vehicle based on the determination.

A tangible, non-transitory recording medium on which instructions are stored, the instructions when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving information assigning a vehicle to a client computing device and a pickup location for the client computing device, the information further including an encryption key for authenticating a client computing device to the vehicle;
• when the vehicle is within a given distance of the pickup location using the encryption key to authenticate the client computing device to the vehicle;
• when the client computing device is authenticated, estimating a first distance between the client computing device and the vehicle based on a strength of a signal received from the client computing device;
• determining when to unlock the vehicle by selecting between a first distance value and a second distance value, wherein the first distance value is selected when the first distance is greater than a threshold value and the second distance value is selected when the first distance is less than a threshold value, and wherein the first distance value is different from the second distance value;
• and
• automatically unlocking the vehicle based on the determination.