System and mechanism for upselling products on autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10507787-B2
Application number	US-201816046978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2018
Priority date	Jul 28, 2017
Publication date	Dec 17, 2019
Grant date	Dec 17, 2019

Abstract

Provided herein is an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle fleet comprising a plurality of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles for containing, securing, and delivering at least one of a first item and at least one of a second item after a customer places an order for a first item, operating autonomously or semi-autonomously, and a fleet management module for coordination of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle fleet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A platform for autonomously or semi-autonomously upselling an unordered item to a customer, the platform comprising:
a) an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle comprising:
(i) a locking compartment configured to contain and secure at least an item ordered by the customer and at least an item unordered by the customer, wherein the locking compartment comprises a sensor configured to detect an absence of at least one of the ordered item and the unordered item;
(ii) an input device configured to receive at least one of a customer verification and a selection of the unordered item by the customer; and
(iii) an autonomous or semi-autonomous propulsion system; and

b) the platform further comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with a computer program including instructions executable by a processor to create an application comprising:
(i) an ordering module configured to receive an order from the customer, the order comprising the ordered item and a customer location;
(ii) a delivery module controlling the autonomous or semi-autonomous propulsion system to direct the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to the customer location; and
(iii) a customer verification module confirming an identity of the customer based on the customer verification and unlocking the locking compartment based on the confirmation of the identity of the customer; and
(iv) a release detection module determining that the ordered item has been removed from the compartment based on the absence of the ordered item, determining that the unordered item has been removed from the compartment based on the absence of the unordered item, or both.

2. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises at least one of a barcode scanner, an RFID reader, a scale, a pressure sensor, a switch, and a camera.

3. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the input device comprises a Wi-Fi input device, a Bluetooth input device, a cellular input device, a button, a touchscreen, a camera, a USB input, a keyboard, or any combination thereof.

4. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the application further comprises a database module.

5. The platform of claim 4 , wherein the database comprises a customer data associated with the customer, and wherein the application further comprises a prediction module configured to determine the unordered item based at least on the ordered item and the customer data.

6. The platform of claim 5 , wherein the prediction module determines the unordered item by a machine learning algorithm.

7. The platform of claim 5 , wherein the prediction module is further configured to send a loading instruction to a loading administrator based on the determination of the unordered item.

8. The platform of claim 4 , wherein the database module comprises a plurality of unique identifiers comprising at least a first identification and a second identification, wherein the first identification is associated with the ordered item, and wherein the second identification is associated with the unordered item.

9. The platform of claim 8 , wherein the ordered item comprises a first indicator associated with the first identification, the unordered item comprises a second indicator associated with the second identification, or both.

10. The platform of claim 9 , wherein the release detection module detects that the ordered item has been removed by detecting the first indicator and release detection module detects that the unordered item has been removed by detecting the second indicator.

11. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the locking compartment is configured to contain and secure 2 or more ordered items, 2 or more unordered items, or both.

12. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the locking compartment further comprises a vending mechanism configured to vend at least one of the ordered item and the unordered item.

13. The platform of claim 1 , further comprising a communication device configured to receive an instruction from a fleet management module.

14. The platform of claim 13 , wherein the instruction comprises at least one of the customer location, and the customer verification.

15. The platform of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of an energy storage device, and an energy collection device.

16. The platform of claim 1 , further comprising a screen configured to display a media.

17. The platform of claim 16 , wherein the media comprises a media based on the ordered item, a media associated with the unordered item, a price associated with the ordered item, a price associated with the unordered item, the selection, the order, the absence of the ordered item, the absence of the unordered item, the customer location, the customer verification, or any combination thereof.

18. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the application further comprises a payment module configured to charge the customer based on the ordered item being removed from the compartment, that the unordered item being removed from the compartment, or both.

19. The platform of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the application is performed aboard the vehicle.

20. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the processor resides aboard the vehicle.

21. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the ordered item comprises a plurality of ordered items, the unordered item comprises a plurality of unordered items, or both.

22. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle further comprises a vehicle length greater than a vehicle height.

23. The platform of claim 1 , wherein the locking compartment comprises an ordered section and an unordered section, wherein the ordered section is configured to contain and secure the ordered item, wherein the unordered section is configured to contain and secure the unordered item.

Assignees

• Nuro Inc

Inventors

• Ferguson David
• Zhu Jiajun
• Jirapinyo Pichayut
• Ransohoff Nan

Classifications

• G01C21/343

  Calculating itineraries (travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047) · CPC title

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

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

• G07C2209/63

  Comprising locating means for detecting the position of the data carrier, i.e. within the vehicle or within a certain distance from the vehicle · CPC title

• G07C9/00896 Primary

  specially adapted for particular uses · CPC title