Vehicle control system and method for coordinating in-person meetings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11320276-B2
Application number	US-201916262434-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2019
Priority date	Feb 15, 2018
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a vehicle control system including a plurality of vehicles, a storage that stores information relating to a user who is on a vehicle for each of the plurality of vehicles, at least one processor configured to receive a matching request for requesting meeting with a user who is on one of the plurality of vehicles, specify a first vehicle which a first user matching the matching request is on, on the basis of the information stored in the storage and perform control on the first vehicle so as to let the first vehicle and a requesting source of the matching request meet each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control system comprising:
a plurality of vehicles that obtain identification information of users from integrated circuit (IC) cards carried by the users upon entering and exiting any of the plurality of vehicles,
wherein each of the plurality of vehicles is a vehicle which can autonomously travel based on a move command;

a storage that stores information relating to each of the plurality of vehicles, the information including whether each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is carrying one of the users or not and the identification information of the users who are on each vehicle;
at least one processor configured to:
receive a request for meeting a first user from a second user and identification information of the first user;
determine whether the first user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles;
specify, when the first user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles, a first vehicle which is carrying the first user based on the information stored in the storage;
determine whether the second user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles;
specify, when the second user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles, a second vehicle which is carrying the second user based on the information stored in the storage;
determine a meeting point for meeting with the requesting source,
wherein the meeting point is a midpoint located on a route between a current location of the first vehicle and a current location of the second vehicle; and

perform control on the first vehicle and the second vehicle so as to let the first user and the second user meet each other by transmitting a first move command for moving to the meeting point to the first vehicle and transmitting a second move command for moving to the meeting point to the second vehicle.

2. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the meeting request is requested by a user terminal of a second user.

3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein if the meeting request is requested by a user terminal of a second user who is on none of the plurality of vehicles,
the at least one processor is further configured to transmit a move command for moving to a location of the user terminal, a getting-on command for the second user at the location of the user terminal, and a move command for moving to the meeting point from the location of the user terminal, to a different vehicle other than the first vehicle among the plurality of vehicles.

4. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the first vehicle and the second vehicle meet each other at the meeting point, and one of the first user and the second user changes the vehicle to the second vehicle or the first vehicle, the at least one processor is further configured to transmit a move command for moving to a predetermined location to one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle, which a user is not on.

5. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to request confirmation of the meeting request of the first vehicle and, when a response is received from the first vehicle, the at least one processor is configured to perform the control on the first vehicle.

6. A vehicle control method executed by a control apparatus that controls a plurality of vehicles, comprising:
obtaining identification information of users from integrated circuit (IC) cards carried by the users upon entering and exiting any of the plurality of vehicles,
wherein each of the plurality of vehicles is a vehicle which can autonomously travel based on a move command;

storing information relating to each of the plurality of vehicles in a storage, the information including whether each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is carrying one of the users or not and the identification information users who are on each vehicle;
receiving a request for meeting a first user from a second user and identification information of the first user;
determining whether the first user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles;
specifying, when the first user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles, a first vehicle which is carrying the first user based on the information stored in the storage;
determining whether the second user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles;
specifying, when the second user is riding on any one of the plurality of vehicles, a second vehicle which is carrying the second user based on the information stored in the storage;
determine a meeting point for meeting with the requesting source,
wherein the meeting point is a midpoint located on a route between a current location of the first vehicle and a current location of the second vehicle; and

performing control on the first vehicle and the second vehicle so as to let the first user and the second user meet each other by transmitting a first move command for moving to the meeting point to the first vehicle and transmitting a second move command for moving to the meeting point to the second vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Muta Takahiro
• Ando Eisuke
• Hishikawa Takao

Classifications

• G08G1/202 Primary

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

• G01C21/3438 Primary

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• G08G1/205

  Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental · CPC title

• G06Q10/00

  Administration; Management · CPC title