Mass transportation vehicle and dispatch management device of autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11834075-B2
Application number	US-202217678036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2022
Priority date	Feb 25, 2021
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

A mass transportation vehicle includes a stop selector and a dispatcher. The stop selector is configured to enable a passenger on the mass transportation vehicle to select a destination stop at which the passenger plans to get off. The dispatcher is configured to book dispatch of an autonomous vehicle to which the passenger transfers after getting off the mass transportation vehicle at the destination stop. The dispatcher sends information about the destination stop to a dispatch management device of the autonomous vehicle as information about a waiting point of the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mass transportation vehicle configured for travelling along a predefined operation route, passengers of the mass transportation vehicle getting on and off at stops located along the operation route, the mass transportation vehicle comprising:
an in-vehicle terminal including a processor, the processor including:
a stop selector configured to enable a passenger on the mass transportation vehicle to select, from the stops, a destination stop at which the passenger plans to get off;
a dispatcher configured to book dispatch of an autonomous vehicle to which the passenger transfers after getting off the mass transportation vehicle at the destination stop; and
a crowdedness estimator configured to
count a number of passengers in a passenger compartment of the mass transportation vehicle, and
estimate a crowdedness in the passenger compartment based on the counted number of passengers and a capacity of the passenger compartment, a threshold being set for the crowdedness,

wherein
the stop selector is configured to
in response to the crowdedness exceeding the threshold, extract, as an alternative destination stop, a stop earlier than the destination stop along the operation route,
output a message to invite the passenger to set the alternative destination stop as a new destination stop, the message including a text which indicates the crowdedness in the passenger compartment, and
perform a reset function to set the alternative destination stop as the new destination stop, in response to the passenger's input to set the alternative destination stop as the new destination stop,

the dispatcher is configured to, in response to the alternative destination stop being set as the new destination stop, send information about the new destination stop to an autonomous vehicle dispatch management device as information about a waiting point of the autonomous vehicle for the passenger's transfer from the mass transportation vehicle to the autonomous vehicle,
the mass transportation vehicle further includes a controller configured to control the travelling of the mass transportation vehicle, and
the in-vehicle terminal is disposed on a rear surface of a seatback of a seat, on an opposite side of a back supporting surface of the seatback of the seat in the passenger compartment.

2. The mass transportation vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor further includes a congestion information acquirer configured to acquire congestion information about the operation route from a current location of the mass transportation vehicle to the destination stop, and
the stop selector is configured to, in response to the destination stop being within a congested section, extract, as the alternative destination stop, a stop earlier than the congested section along the operation route.

3. The mass transportation vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the stop selector is configured to exclude, from candidates of the destination stop, a stop within a predetermined short distance from a current location of the mass transportation vehicle.

4. An autonomous vehicle dispatch management device, comprising:
a processor including:
a stop selector configured to send a selection image to a mobile terminal carried by a passenger on a mass transportation vehicle traveling along a predefined operation route, the selection image allowing the passenger to select a destination stop at which the passenger plans to get off;
a dispatch booking setter configured to obtain information about the selected destination stop and book dispatch of an autonomous vehicle to which the passenger transfers at the destination stop; and
a crowdedness estimator configured to
count a number of passengers in a passenger compartment of the mass transportation vehicle, and
estimate a crowdedness in the passenger compartment based on the counted number of passengers and a capacity of the passenger compartment, a threshold being set for the crowdedness,

wherein
the stop selector is configured to
in response to the crowdedness exceeding the threshold, extract, as an alternative destination stop, a stop earlier than the destination stop along the operation route,
output a message to invite the passenger to set the alternative destination stop as a new destination stop, the message including a text which indicates the crowdedness in the passenger compartment, and
perform a reset function to set the alternative destination stop as the new destination stop, in response to the passenger's input to set the alternative destination stop as the new destination stop, and

the dispatch booking setter is configured to, in response to the alternative destination stop being set as the new destination stop, set the information about the alternative destination stop as information about a waiting point of the autonomous vehicle for the passenger's transfer from the mass transportation vehicle to the autonomous vehicle,
the mass transportation vehicle includes a controller configured to control the travelling of the mass transportation vehicle, and
the autonomous vehicle dispatch management device is configured to be disposed on a rear surface of a seatback of a seat, on an opposite side of a back supporting surface of the seatback of the seat in the passenger compartment.

5. The autonomous vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 4 , wherein
the processor further includes a congestion information acquirer configured to acquire congestion information about the operation route from a current location of the mass transportation vehicle to the destination stop,
the stop selector is configured to extract, in response to the destination stop being within a congested section, as an alternative stop, a stop earlier than the congested section along the operation route, and
the dispatch booking setter is configured to set the new destination stop as the waiting point of the autonomous vehicle.

6. The autonomous vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 4 , wherein
the stop selector is configured to exclude, from candidates of the destination stop, a stop within a predetermined short distance from a current location of the mass transportation vehicle.

7. The mass transportation vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the stop selector is configured to exclude, from candidates of the destination stop, a stop within a predetermined short distance from a current location of the mass transportation vehicle.

8. The mass transportation vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the stop selector is configured to estimate the crowdedness in the passenger compartment based on the counted number of passengers and the capacity of the passenger compartment in response to the destination stop being outside the congested section.

9. The mass transportation vehicle according to claim 8 , further comprising:
an in-vehicle camera,
wherein the crowdedness estimator is configured to count the number of passengers in the passenger compartment of the mass transportation vehicle based on vehicle interior images captured by the in-vehicle camera.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakurada Shin
• Hoshi Katsuya
• Sugiyama Hiroaki
• Sawada Masahisa
• Ito Hiroyuki
• SEGI Makoto
• Hattori Hiroki

Classifications

• B60W60/00253 Primary

  Taxi operations · CPC title

• G01C21/3415

  Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents · CPC title

• G01C21/3691

  Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09) · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311 Primary

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• B60W2540/215

  Selection or confirmation of options · CPC title