Determining VTOL departure time in an aviation transport network for efficient resource management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11295622-B2
Application number	US-201916367874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2019
Priority date	Apr 24, 2018
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

A request for transport services that identifies a rider, an origin, and a destination is received from a client device. Eligibility of the request to be serviced by a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is determined based on the origin and the destination. The client device is sent an itinerary for servicing the transport request including a leg serviced by the VTOL aircraft. Confirmation is received that the rider has boarded the VTOL aircraft and determination made as to whether the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders. Instruction are sent to the VTOL aircraft to take-off if one or more conditions are met.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request for transport services transmitted over a network, the request including data identifying a rider, an origin, and a destination;
determining, using one or more computer processors and based on the origin and the destination, that the transport request is eligible to be serviced, at least in part, by a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft;
sending over the network, to the client device, itinerary data for servicing the transport request, the itinerary data identifying a leg serviced by the VTOL aircraft;
receiving confirmation data indicating that the rider has boarded the VTOL aircraft;
accessing historical demand data indicating a variation in demand over time and that includes an expected number of riders in a given time period;
determining, using the one or more computer processors and based on a comparison between the historical demand data and a current time and day, that the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders, wherein determining that the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders comprises:
calculating, using a machine-learning model trained with the historical demand data by a minimizing a loss function retrained over time with data corresponding to actual transport requests serviced, a value indicative of a probability that an additional rider will board the VTOL aircraft within a specified time, and
determining that the VTOL aircraft should wait if the probability exceeds a threshold; and
after the VTOL aircraft waits in response to the probability exceeding the threshold, sending an instruction over the network to the VTOL aircraft to take-off responsive to one or more conditions being met.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the request is eligible to be serviced by the VTOL comprises:
determining a distance between the origin and the destination; and
determining the request is eligible if the distance is within a predefined range.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the request is eligible to be serviced by the VTOL comprises:
estimating a first amount of time to travel from the origin to the destination using only ground-based transportation;
estimating a second amount of time to travel from the origin to the destination using the VTOL aircraft; and
determining the request is eligible if the second amount of time is a threshold amount less than the first amount of time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein estimating the second amount of time comprises:
identifying a plurality of candidate VTOL aircraft;
identifying, for each candidate VTOL aircraft, a take-off location and a landing location;
estimating, for each VTOL aircraft, a total time required for the rider to travel from the origin to the take-off location via ground-based transportation, from the take-off location to the landing location via the candidate VTOL aircraft, and from the landing location to the destination via ground-based transportation;
selecting a candidate VTOL aircraft with a lowest total time; and
using the estimated total time for the selected candidate VTOL aircraft as the estimate of the second amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specified time is determined by:
estimating a take-off time for the VTOL aircraft that results in a threshold percentage reduction in journey time for the rider relative to using only ground-based transportation; and
setting the estimated take-off time as the specified time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical demand data comprises multiple values for each origin and destination and corresponds to different time periods and different days.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation that the rider has boarded the VTOL aircraft is received from the client device.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request for transport services transmitted over a network, the request including data identifying a rider, an origin, and a destination;
determining based on the origin and the destination that the transport request is eligible to be serviced, at least in part, by a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft;
sending over the network, to the client device, itinerary data for servicing the transport request, the itinerary data identifying a leg serviced by the VTOL aircraft;
receiving confirmation data indicating that the rider has boarded the VTOL aircraft;
accessing historical demand data indicating a variation in demand over time and that includes an expected number of riders in a given time period;
determining, based on a comparison between the historical demand data and a current time and day, that the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders, wherein determining that the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders comprises:
calculating, using a machine-learning model trained with the historical demand data by a minimizing a loss function retrained over time with data corresponding to actual transport requests serviced, a value indicative of a probability that an additional rider will board the VTOL aircraft within a specified time, and
determining that the VTOL aircraft should wait if the probability exceeds a threshold; and
after the VTOL aircraft waits in response to the probability exceeding the threshold, sending an instruction over the network to the VTOL aircraft to take-off responsive to one or more conditions being met.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the request is eligible to be serviced by the VTOL comprises:
determining a distance between the origin and the destination; and
determining the request is eligible if the distance is within a predefined range.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the request is eligible to be serviced by the VTOL comprises:
estimating a first amount of time to travel from the origin to the destination using only ground-based transportation;
estimating a second amount of time to travel from the origin to the destination using the VTOL aircraft; and
determining the request is eligible if the second amount of time is a threshold amount less than the first amount of time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein estimating the second amount of time comprises:
identifying a plurality of candidate VTOL aircraft;
identifying, for each candidate VTOL aircraft, a take-off location and a landing location; estimating, for each VTOL aircraft, a total time required for the rider to travel from the origin to the take-off location via ground-based transportation, from the take-off location to the landing location via the candidate VTOL aircraft, and from the landing location to the destination via ground-based transportation;
selecting a candidate VTOL aircraft with a lowest total time; and
using the estimated total time for the selected candidate VTOL aircraft as the estimate of the second amount of time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining that the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders further comprises:
estimating a take-off time for the VTOL aircraft that results in a threshold percentage reduction in journey time for the rider relative to using only ground-based transportation; and
setting the estimated take-off time as the specified time.

13. A compute

Assignees

• Joby Aero Inc

Inventors

• Goel Nikhil
• Petersen Jon David
• Badalamenti John Conway
• Moore Mark

Classifications

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/54

  for approach or landing · CPC title

• G08G5/52

  for take-off · CPC title

• G08G5/26

  Transmission of traffic-related information between aircraft and ground stations · CPC title

• G08G5/727

  from a ground station · CPC title