Arranging passenger pickups for autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10401858-B2
Application number	US-201715689283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2017
Priority date	Aug 29, 2017
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to arranging a pick up and drop off locations between a driverless vehicle and a passenger. As an example, a method of doing so may include receiving a request for a vehicle from a client computing device, wherein the request identifies a first location. Pre-stored map information and the first location are used to identify a recommended point according to a set of heuristics. Each heuristic of the set of heuristics has a ranking such that the recommended point corresponds to a location that satisfies at least one of the heuristics having a first rank and such that no other location satisfies any other heuristic of the set of heuristics having a higher rank than the first rank. The pre-stored map information identifying a plurality of pre-determined locations for the vehicle to stop, and the recommended point is one of the plurality of pre-determined locations. The recommended point is then provided the client computing device for display on a display of the client computing device with a map.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a request for a vehicle from a client computing device, wherein the request identifies a first location;
using, by the one or more processors, pre-stored map information and the first location to identify a recommended point according to a set of heuristics, wherein each heuristic of the set of heuristics has a ranking such that the recommended point corresponds to a location that satisfies at least one of the heuristics having a first rank and such that no other location satisfies any other heuristic of the set of heuristics having a higher rank than the first rank, the pre-stored map information identifying a plurality of pre-determined locations for the vehicle to stop, and wherein the recommended point is one of the plurality of pre-determined locations; and
providing, by the one or more processors, the recommended point to the client computing device for display on a display of the client computing device with a map.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a previously identified user-preferred location included in a trip history for a user associated with the client computing device and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a previous location at which a user associated with the client computing device was picked up or dropped off and (2) included in a trip history for the user and the previous location being within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a predesignated preferred pullover spot for the vehicle according to the map information and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location, and the map information identifies a plurality of predesignated preferred pullover spots for the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a predesignated preferred pullover spot for the vehicle according to the map information and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) within a predetermined distance of a known entrance of a building according to the map information and (2) the first location is within a building outline of the map information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) within a predetermined distance of a handicapped parking spot according to the map information and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being within a predetermined distance of a location of a street address corresponding to the first location when (1) the first location is a GPS location of the client computing device and (2) the GPS location corresponds to a residential area identified in the map information.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being a closest predetermined stopping location to the first location according to the map information identifying a plurality of predetermined stopping locations for the vehicle to pull over.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a current location of the client computing device;
determining a walkable path between the current location and the recommended point using the map information; and
providing the walkable path for display on the map with the recommended point.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the map information identifies a set of predetermined locations for the vehicle to stop, and the method further comprising:
identifying a subset of the plurality of pre-determined locations that are within a predetermined radial distance of the first location; and
providing the subset for display on the map when a user pans on the map.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a request for additional pre-determined locations for a new location;
identifying a second subset of the plurality of pre-determined locations that are within a predetermined radial distance of the new location; and
providing the second subset for display on the map when a user pans on the map.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the map information identifies a set of predetermined locations for the vehicle to stop, and the method further comprising:
receiving a current location of the client computing device;
identifying a subset of the plurality of pre-determined locations that are within a predetermined radial distance of the current location; and
providing the subset for display on the map when a user pans on the map.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a request for additional pre-determined locations for a new location;
identifying a second subset of the plurality of pre-determined locations that are within a predetermined radial distance of the new location; and
providing the second subset for display on the map when a user pans on the map.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a confirmation message identifying the first location; and
dispatching a vehicle to pick up or drop off a passenger at the first location.

16. A system comprising including one or more server computing devices having one or more processors configured to:
receive a request for a vehicle from a client computing device, wherein the request identifies a first location;
use pre-stored map information and the first location to identify a recommended point according to a set of heuristics, wherein each heuristic of the set of heuristics has a ranking such that the recommended point corresponds to a location that satisfies at least one of the heuristics having a first rank and such that no other location satisfies any other heuristic of the set of heuristics having a higher rank than the first rank, the pre-stored map information identifying a plurality of pre-determined locations for the vehicle to stop, and wherein the recommended point is one of the plurality of pre-determined locations; and
provide the recommended point to the client computing device for display on a display of the client computing device with a map.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a previously identified user-preferred location included in a trip history for a user associated with the client computing device and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a previous location at which a user associated with the client computing device was picked up or dropped off and (2) included in a trip history for the user and the previous location being within a predetermined walking distance of the first location.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one heuristic corresponds to the recommended point being (1) a predesignated preferred pullover spot for the vehicle according to the map information and (2) within a predetermined walking distance of the first location, and the map information ide

Assignees

• Waymo Llc

Inventors

• Pandit Salil
• Patel Nirmal
• Guney Tacettin Dogacan
• Rawlings Kevin
• Feenstra Laurens Andreas

Classifications

• G08G1/202

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

• G06Q10/025 Primary

  Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation · CPC title

• G05D1/0088 Primary

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

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic

• G05D2201/0212

  Physics · mapped topic