Vehicle ride sharing system and method using smart modules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11599833-B2
Application number	US-201615227940-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2016
Priority date	Aug 3, 2016
Publication date	Mar 7, 2023
Grant date	Mar 7, 2023

Abstract

A vehicle sharing system includes a vehicle having interior transceiver modules associated with different passenger seating areas and a vehicle computing system (VCS) including a processor and a memory in communication with the modules and programmed to detect occupancy status of each seating area based on signals from the modules and to communicate the occupancy statuses to a remote server to facilitate scheduling of ride-sharing passengers for a specified seating area of the vehicle. The reserved seating location may be used to align the seating location/door with a passenger during pick-up, adjust vehicle accessory settings associated with the reserved seating location, and activate a visual indicator to direct the passenger to the assigned/reserved seating location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle sharing system, comprising:
a vehicle having interior transceiver modules associated with different passenger seating areas; and
a vehicle computing system (VCS) including a processor and a memory in communication with the modules and programmed to detect occupancy status of each seating area based on signals from the modules and to communicate the occupancy statuses to a remote server to facilitate scheduling of ride-sharing passengers for a specified seating area of the vehicle, wherein the VCS is programmed to position the vehicle to align a vehicle ingress predefinedly associated with a reserved passenger seating area with a passenger location, for a passenger scheduled for pick-up and located outside the vehicle, in response to triangulation of signals received from a passenger mobile device by the modules and used to determine the passenger location with which the vehicle ingress should be aligned, such that the vehicle stops in a manner that places the ingress at the passenger location.

2. The system of claim 1 , the vehicle further comprising a visual indicator associated with each of the passenger seating areas, the VCS programmed to activate the visual indicator that is associated with a reserved passenger seating area in response to the vehicle approaching a pick-up location associated with the reserved passenger seating area.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the visual indicator comprises a video display, the VCS further programmed to transmit a passenger name and associated destination to the video display.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the visual indicator comprises a vehicle interior light.

5. The system of claim 1 , the VCS configured to transmit a message for receipt by a passenger mobile device associated with an occupied passenger seating area in response to approaching a drop-off location associated with the occupied passenger seating area.

6. The system of claim 1 , the VCS configured to receive passenger preference settings from the remote server associated with a passenger pick-up reservation for a designated passenger seating area.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the VCS is programmed to control at least one vehicle accessory associated with the pick-up reservation for the designated passenger seating area based on the received passenger preference settings.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the VCS controls a vehicle accessory associated with a reserved seating area prior to arrival at a scheduled pick-up location in response to received passenger preference settings for the reserved seating area.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the VCS is programmed to verify a passenger identity for a reserved seating area based on communication with a passenger mobile device, and to control at least one of a vehicle lock and a vehicle door in response to verifying the passenger identity.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the ingress includes a vehicle cargo area access aligned with the passenger location in response to receiving reservation information indicating the passenger scheduled for pick-up has luggage.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the VCS is programmed to unlock the vehicle cargo area in response to arriving at the passenger location.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the passenger location is a passenger pick-up location received from the remote server and wherein the VCS is programmed to unlock the cargo area in response to reservation information indicating the passenger has luggage and in response to an encrypted handshake with a personal device of the passenger scheduled for pick-up.

13. A vehicle sharing system, comprising:
a vehicle having interior transceivers each associated with one of a plurality of passenger seating areas; and
a vehicle computing system including a processor and a memory in communication with the transceivers and configured to detect occupancy status based on signals received by the transceivers from a passenger mobile device and to communicate associated occupancy statuses to a remote server that schedules passengers for unoccupied passenger seating areas, wherein the vehicle computing system is further configured to position the vehicle to align a vehicle cargo area access location, different from a passenger entry location designated for the passenger, on a vehicle, with a passenger location, for a passenger scheduled for pick-up, in response to receiving reservation data indicating the passenger has luggage, the passenger location being determined based on triangulation of a passenger device, such that the arriving vehicle lines up the cargo access location to the passenger location.

14. The vehicle sharing system of claim 13 wherein the vehicle computing system is programmed to verify a passenger identity for a reserved passenger seating area in response to communication with a passenger mobile device, and to control at least one of a vehicle lock and a vehicle door in response to verifying the passenger identity.

15. The vehicle sharing system of claim 14 further comprising a plurality of visual indicators, each associated with one of the plurality of passenger seating areas and in communication with the vehicle computing system, wherein the vehicle computing system activates respective visual indicators in response to receiving a reservations from the remote server for specific passenger seating areas.

16. The vehicle sharing system of claim 13 wherein the vehicle computing system is further configured to unlock the vehicle cargo area in response to arriving at the passenger scheduled for pick-up and in response to an encrypted handshake with a personal device of the passenger scheduled for pick-up.

17. The vehicle sharing system of claim 16 wherein the vehicle computing system is further configured to unlock the vehicle cargo area upon arrival to a passenger destination in response to the passenger destination being associated with a passenger having luggage in the vehicle cargo area.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Buttolo Pietro
• Salter Stuart C
• Rankin Ii James Stewart
• Surman James J
• Huebner Annette Lynn
• Wallace Jeffrey A
• Gardner Cornel Lewis

Classifications

• B60W60/00253

  Taxi operations · CPC title

• G06Q10/109

  Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting · CPC title

• G01C21/3438

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• G06Q10/02 Primary

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title