Passenger classification-based autonomous vehicle routing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10152053-B1
Application number	US-201816029218-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 6, 2018
Priority date	Jul 6, 2017
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

An autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system includes a communications interface, one or more processors, and a memory that stores instructions that cause the processors to receive, a request for a ride using an AV from a wireless communication device of a user. The request may include a pick-up location of the user. The instructions also cause the processors to identify demographic information related to the user, determine a vulnerability score and a priority of the user based at least in part on the demographic information, and receive location information from a plurality of AVs in a fleet of AVs. The instructions further cause the processors to identify a particular AV from the fleet of AVs based at least in part on the vulnerability score, the priority, the pick-up location of the user, and the location of the particular AV and cause the particular AV to pick-up the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system, comprising:
a communications interface that is in communication with a fleet of AVs;
one or more processors; and
a memory configured to store instructions thereon that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive, using the communications interface, a request for a ride using an AV from a wireless communication device of a user, the request comprising a pick-up location of the user;
identify demographic information related to the user;
determine a vulnerability score and a priority of the user based at least in part on the demographic information;
receive, using the communications interface, location information from a plurality of AVs in a fleet of AVs;
identify a particular AV from the fleet of AVs based at least in part on the vulnerability score, the priority, the pick-up location of the user, and the location of the particular AV; and
cause the particular AV to pick-up the user.

2. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
identify any current and identified future riders that are scheduled for each of the plurality of AVs whose rides overlap with the user; and
determine demographic information associated with the any current and identified future riders, and wherein the particular AV is identified from the fleet of AVs based at least in part on the demographic information associated with the any current and identified future riders.

3. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
determine whether any additional people are within a predetermined threshold distance of the pick-up location;
receiving demographic information about the additional people and wherein identifying the particular AV is further based on the demographic information about the additional people.

4. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
identify any current and identified future riders that are scheduled that are scheduled to overlap with the user for the particular AV;
determine demographic information for each of the current and identified future riders;
determine that at least one of the current and identified future riders should not share the particular AV with the user; and
issue a command to a different AV from the fleet of AVs to pick-up the user or at least one of the identified future riders based on the determination that at least one of the current and identified future riders should not share the particular AV with the user.

5. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 4 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
communicate a notification the user that the different AV has been dispatched, wherein the notification comprises an estimated pick-up time for the different AV.

6. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 4 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a video feed from an interior of the particular AV; and
analyzing the video feed, wherein determining that at least one of the current and identified future riders should not share the particular AV with the user is based on the analysis of the video feed.

7. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 1 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
communicate a notification to the wireless communications device of the user that the particular AV has been sent to pick the user up.

8. An autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system, comprising:
a communications interface that is in communication with a fleet of AVs;
one or more processors; and
a memory configured to store instructions thereon that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a plurality of requests for rides using an AV, wherein each of the plurality of requests is provided by a wireless communication device of one of a plurality of users, each request comprising a pick-up location of the a particular one of the plurality of users that is associated with the request;
identify demographic information related to each of the plurality of users;
determine a vulnerability score and a priority for each of the plurality of users based at least in part on the demographic information of each of the particular users;
receive location information from a plurality of AVs in a fleet of AVs;
identify a particular AV from the fleet of AVs for each of the plurality of users based at least in part on the vulnerability score, the priority, the pick-up location of each of the plurality of users, and the location of each of the plurality of AVs, wherein users having higher priorities are assigned an AV from the plurality of AVs with earlier pick-up times than users with lower priorities; and
cause each particular AV to pick-up at least one of the plurality of users.

9. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 8 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive crime data for an area associated with the pick-up location for each of the plurality of users, wherein the vulnerability score and the priority for each of the plurality of users is based in part on the crime data.

10. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 8 , wherein:
at least one AV from the plurality of AVs picks up multiple of the plurality of users during a single trip.

11. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 8 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive weather data in an area associated with the pick-up location for each of the plurality of users, wherein the vulnerability score and the priority for each of the plurality of users is based in part on the weather data.

12. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 8 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
alter a route of at least one of the plurality of AVs to accommodate vehicle requirements of a particular one of the plurality of users.

13. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 8 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that a particular one of the plurality of users had additional members in a ride party;
identify demographic information associated with the additional members;
store the demographic information in a profile associated with the particular one of the plurality of users; and
use the stored demographic information in a future identification of a particular AV from the fleet of AVs.

14. The autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet management system of claim 13 , wherein:
determining that the particular one of the plurality of users had additional members in a ride party is based on video analytics of an interior of the particular one of the plurality of AVs associated with the particular one of the plurality of users.

15. A method for controlling a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AVs), comprising:
receiving

Assignees

• Cubic Corp

Inventors

• Smith Gavin
• Reymann Steffen

Classifications

• G01C21/3438

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• G06Q10/02 Primary

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G01C21/3453

  Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments · CPC title

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic