Selecting vehicle type for providing transport

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10395285-B2
Application number	US-201816032914-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2018
Priority date	May 13, 2015
Publication date	Aug 27, 2019
Grant date	Aug 27, 2019

Abstract

A transport arrangement system operates to receive a transport request from a user, and to make a selection of a vehicle type for the user based at least in part on a set of criteria associated with the transport request or user information. For example, the determination of whether an autonomous vehicle is to be provided can be based at least in part on the destination specified with the transport request.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system for operating an autonomous vehicle, the computer system comprising:
a memory that stores a set of instructions;
one or more processors which use the set of instructions to:
make a determination as to a selection of a particular autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles to be provided for a transport request, wherein the particular autonomous vehicle is selected based at least in part on determining that a cost metric satisfies a criterion associated with the transport request, wherein the cost metric is based at least on a likelihood of a route deviation for the particular autonomous vehicle to fulfill the transport request; and
dispatch the particular autonomous vehicle to at least a first service location associated with the transport request in response to the selection.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors make the determination as to the selection of the particular autonomous vehicle by determining at least one of (i) an estimated time of arrival for the particular autonomous vehicle to at least the first service location, or (ii) a trip time for the particular autonomous vehicle to fulfill the transport request.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors determine the estimated time of arrival or the trip time by determining a route for the particular autonomous vehicle to at least the first service location.

4. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to:
obtain a preference of a user of the transport request with respect to at least one of the estimated time of arrival or the trip time; and
wherein the one or more processors make the determination as to the selection of the particular autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the preference of the user.

5. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein the transport request and the preference are received from a mobile computing device associated with the user.

6. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors determine whether one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles is to be provided for the transport request based at least in part on one or more special requests made by the user in conjunction with the transport request.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors use the set of instructions to communicate, to the user, that the transport request will be fulfilled using the particular autonomous vehicle in response to the determination that the particular autonomous vehicle is to be provided for the transport request.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , further comprising providing the user an opportunity to alter or overrule an assignment of the transport request to the particular autonomous vehicle.

9. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the criterion is based at least in part on a limitation of the particular autonomous vehicle in navigating to the first service location.

10. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are located at a remote server that communicates with the particular autonomous vehicle over a network.

11. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors navigate the particular autonomous vehicle to the first service location by transmitting, from the remote server, a set of vehicle instructions to the particular autonomous vehicle, wherein the set of vehicle instructions causes the particular autonomous vehicle to travel to the first service location.

12. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are components of the particular autonomous vehicle.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors navigate the particular autonomous vehicle to the first service location by controlling a vehicle interface system to move the particular autonomous vehicle to the first service location.

14. A method for arranging transport, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising:
making a determination as to a selection of a particular autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles to be provided for a transport request, wherein the particular autonomous vehicle is selected based at least in part on determining that a cost metric satisfies a criterion associated with the transport request, wherein the cost metric is based at least on a likelihood of a route deviation for the particular autonomous vehicle to fulfill the transport request; and
dispatching the particular autonomous vehicle to at least a first service location associated with the transport request in response to the selection.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein making the as to the selection of the particular autonomous vehicle includes determining at least one of (i) an estimated time of arrival for the particular autonomous vehicle to at least the first service location, or (ii) a trip time for the particular autonomous vehicle to fulfill the transport request.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the estimated time of arrival or the trip time is determined by determining a route for the particular autonomous vehicle to at least the first service location.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
obtaining a preference of a user of the transport request with respect to at least one of the estimated time of arrival or the trip time; and
wherein the one or more processors make the determination as to the selection of the particular autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the preference of the user.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations that comprise:
making a determination as to a selection of a particular autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles to be provided for a transport request, wherein the particular autonomous vehicle is selected based at least in part on determining that a cost metric satisfies a criterion associated with the transport request, wherein the cost metric is based at least on a likelihood of a route deviation for the particular autonomous vehicle to fulfill the transport request; and
dispatching the particular autonomous vehicle to at least a first service location associated with the transport request in response to the selection.

Assignees

• Uber Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Ross William
• Bares John
• Larose David
• Sweeney Matthew

Classifications

• G01C21/3438

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• G01C21/3492

  employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G01C21/3484

  Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles · CPC title

• G08G1/20

  Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title