Systems and methods for transport completion using lane-constrained vehicles and personal mobility vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11807131-B2
Application number	US-202217698691-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2022
Priority date	Jun 6, 2018
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

Personal mobility vehicles, their various components, methods and systems for controlling, using, tracking, and/or interacting with personal mobility vehicles, and methods and systems for integrating personal mobility vehicles within dynamic transportation networks so that a personal mobility vehicle (PMV) can be used in combination with a vehicle of a transportation provider to efficiently complete a transportation request are discussed. For example, a PMV may be used in combination with a lane-constrained vehicle to improve travel time between two locations in situations where the time it may take for a lane-constrained vehicle to reach the starting location may be affected by traffic congestion at the starting location. The PMV may transport a transportation requestor from a starting location to an intermediate location away from the traffic congestion to then transfer to a lane-constrained vehicle for the remainder of the trip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
subsequent to receiving, by a dynamic transportation matching system, a transportation request for transporting a transportation requestor from a first location to a second location:
identifying, by the dynamic transportation matching system, a lane-constrained vehicle capable of transporting the transportation requestor from the first location to the second location at a travel efficiency;
identifying, by the dynamic transportation matching system, a personal mobility vehicle capable of transporting the transportation requestor based on a distance between a location of the personal mobility vehicle and either the first location or the second location;
determining, by the dynamic transportation matching system, an intermediate location accessible by the personal mobility vehicle and the lane-constrained vehicle;
determining, by the dynamic transportation matching system, that using a combination of the lane-constrained vehicle and the personal mobility vehicle to transport the transportation requestor from (i) the first location to the intermediate location or (ii) the intermediate location to the second location improves the travel efficiency; and
matching, by the dynamic transportation matching system, the transportation requestor with the personal mobility vehicle and the lane-constrained vehicle, wherein the lane-constrained vehicle is instructed to transport the transportation requestor (i) from the first location to the intermediate location or (ii) from the intermediate location to the second location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, by the dynamic transportation matching system, the transportation requestor with instructions for navigating to the location of the personal mobility vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the travel efficiency is based on one or more of a traffic density of a route capable of being used by the lane-constrained vehicle for traveling between the first location and the second location or a traffic condition of a route capable of being used by the lane-constrained vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that a second distance between the location of the personal mobility vehicle and the intermediate location is travelable by the personal mobility vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that a route between the location of the personal mobility vehicle and the intermediate location is travelable by the personal mobility vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that rendezvousing of the transportation requestor with the lane-constrained vehicle is accomplishable at the intermediate location.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intermediate location further comprises a docking area for the personal mobility vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the intermediate location is based on one or more of a distance of the lane-constrained vehicle from a starting location, a road condition of the first location or a road condition of the intermediate location.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
predicting, by the dynamic transportation matching system, that there is lane-constrained vehicle traffic within a threshold distance to the first location or the second location; and
identifying, by the dynamic transportation matching system, the intermediate location away from the first location or the second location, the intermediate location being outside the lane-constrained vehicle traffic.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising;
positioning a plurality of personal mobility vehicles, based on the predicting that there is lane-constrained vehicle traffic within the threshold distance to the first location or the second location, within the threshold distance away from the first location or the second location.

11. A system comprising:
one or more physical processors; and
one or more memories coupled to one or more of the physical processors, the one or more memories comprising instructions operable when executed by the one or more physical processors to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
subsequent to receiving a transportation request for transporting a transportation requestor from a first location to a second location:
identifying, a lane-constrained vehicle capable of transporting the transportation requestor from the first location to the second location at a travel efficiency;
identifying, a personal mobility vehicle capable of transporting the transportation requestor based on a distance between a location of the personal mobility vehicle and either the first location or the second location;
determining, an intermediate location accessible by the personal mobility vehicle and the lane-constrained vehicle;
determining, that using a combination of the lane-constrained vehicle and the personal mobility vehicle to transport the transportation requestor from (i) the first location to the intermediate location or (ii) the intermediate location to the second location improves the travel efficiency; and
matching, the transportation requestor with the personal mobility vehicle and the lane-constrained vehicle, wherein the lane-constrained vehicle is instructed to transport the transportation requestor (i) from the first location to the intermediate location or (ii) from the intermediate location to the second location.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
providing, by the dynamic transportation matching system, the transportation requestor with instructions for navigating to the location of the personal mobility vehicle.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the travel efficiency is based on one or more of a traffic density of a route capable of being used by the lane-constrained vehicle for traveling between the first location and the second location or a traffic condition of a route capable of being used by the lane-constrained vehicle.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that a second distance between the location of the personal mobility vehicle and the intermediate location is travelable by the personal mobility vehicle.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that a route between the location of the personal mobility vehicle and the intermediate location is travelable by the personal mobility vehicle.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the intermediate location further comprises determining that rendezvousing of the transportation requestor with the lane-constrained vehicle is accomplishable at the intermediate location.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the intermediate location further comprises a docking area for the personal mobility vehicle.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the intermediate location is based on one or more of a distance of the lane-constrained vehicle from a starting location, a road condition of the first location or a road condition of the intermediate location.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
predicting, by the dynamic transportation matching system, that there is lane-constrained vehicle traffic within a threshold distance to the first location or the second location;
identifying, by the dynamic transportation matching

Assignees

• Lyft Inc

Inventors

• Whitt Carlos Ellis
• Martisauskas Steven James
• Levi Dor

Classifications

• B60L58/13 Primary

  Maintaining the SoC within a determined range · CPC title

• G01C21/3423 Primary

  Multimodal routing · CPC title

• B60Q1/346

  with automatic actuation · CPC title

• B60Q1/444

  with indication of the braking strength or speed changes, e.g. by changing shape or intensity of the indication (B60Q1/1407, B60Q1/442, B60Q1/447 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60R25/245

  where the antenna reception area plays a role · CPC title