Hailing a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244094-B2
Application number	US-201615240072-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2016
Priority date	Aug 18, 2016
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

In general, an indication is received through a user interface of an intention of a potential rider to use an autonomous vehicle. In response to the receipt of the indication, a hailing request is sent by a signaling mode to at least one autonomous vehicle that can receive the hailing request directly in accordance with the signaling mode.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at an image capture device of an autonomous vehicle (AV), one or more pulses of light emitted by a display of a device at a geographic location;
decoding, by one or more processors of the AV, the one or more pulses of light;
identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more decoded pulses of light, a request for transportation services at the geographic location;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a stopping place at the geographic location; and
causing, by the one or more processors, the AV to stop at the selected stopping place.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to identifying the request for transportation services, sending, by the AV, a receipt confirmation to a user device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulses of light are in a near infrared spectrum.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for transportation services includes a destination location.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for transportation services includes a number of riders.

6. A method comprising:
receiving, at an audio subsystem of an autonomous vehicle (AV), one or more audio signals emitted from a user device at a geographic location;
decoding, by one or more processors of the AV, the one or more audio signals;
identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more decoded audio signals, a request for transportation services at the geographic location;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a stopping place at the geographic location; and
causing, by the one or more processors, the AV to stop at the selected stopping place.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
in response to identifying the request for transportation services, sending, by the AV, a receipt confirmation to the user device.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the request for transportation services includes a destination location.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the request for transportation services includes a number of riders.

10. One or more non-transitory computer storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at an image capture device of an autonomous vehicle (AV), one or more pulses of light emitted by a display of a device at a geographic location;
decoding, by one or more processors of the AV, the one or more pulses of light;
identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more decoded pulses of light, a request for transportation services at the geographic location;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a stopping place at the geographic location; and
causing, by the one or more processors, the AV to stop at the selected stopping place.

11. One or more non-transitory computer storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at an audio subsystem of an autonomous vehicle (AV), one or more audio signals emitted from a user device at a geographic location;
decoding, by one or more processors of the AV, the one or more audio signals;
identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more decoded audio signals, a request for transportation services at the geographic location;
selecting, by the one or more processors, a stopping place at the geographic location; and
causing, by the one or more processors, the AV to stop at the selected stopping place.

12. An apparatus comprising:
a display screen;
one or more processors;
memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the one or more processors, user input requesting transportation services;
modulating light emitted from the display screen, the modulated light encoding the request for transportation services; and
receiving, by the one or more processors, a message from a vehicle acknowledging the request for transportations services.

13. An apparatus comprising:
an audio subsystem including one or more microphones and one or more loudspeakers;
one or more processors;
memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the one or more microphones, speech input;
determining, by the one or more processors, that the speech input is requesting transportation services;
modulating audio emitted from the loudspeaker, the modulated audio encoding the request for transportation services; and
receiving, by the one or more processors, a message from a vehicle acknowledging the request for transportations services.

Assignees

• Nutonomy Inc

Inventors

• Iagnemma Karl
• Robbel Philipp

Classifications

• G08G1/202

  Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching · CPC title

• G08G1/005

  including pedestrian guidance indicator · CPC title

• H04M1/72522 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06K9/00791

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title