Local assistance for autonomous vehicle-enabled rideshare service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12097877-B2
Application number	US-202117554413-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2021
Priority date	Dec 14, 2021
Publication date	Sep 24, 2024
Grant date	Sep 24, 2024

Abstract

A method is described and includes subsequent to an autonomous vehicle becoming immobilized, initiating a local assistance request; subsequent to the initiating, receiving local assistance input from a passenger of the autonomous vehicle; and using the local assistance input to determine an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle to mobilize the autonomous vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
issuing a local assistance request to a passenger in an autonomous vehicle;
determining that a trust score assigned to the passenger is above a threshold trust score;
presenting, based on the determination that the trust score is above the threshold trust score, a user interface for tracing a path on a map;
receiving local assistance input from the passenger subsequent to the issuance of the local assistance request, the local assistance input including a traced path;
determining an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the local assistance input, wherein the local assistance input is weighted by the trust score assigned to the passenger;
evaluating a quality of the local assistance input to determine whether the quality of the local assistance input exceeds a quality threshold;
executing, by the autonomous vehicle, a maneuver based on the determined action and the evaluation of the quality of the local assistance input;
positively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the quality of the local assistance input exceeds the quality threshold; and
negatively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the quality of the local assistance input does not exceed the quality threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trust score is assigned based on at least one of a level of experience of the passenger with a rideshare service provided by the autonomous vehicle and a quality of a previous local assistance input provided by the passenger.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluating further comprises evaluating the local assistance input based at least in part on a result of the autonomous vehicle taking the determined action.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluating further comprises determining whether the determined action resulted in damage to the autonomous vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluating further comprises determining whether the determined action would result in a violation of safety standards.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the local assistance request is issued in response to an on-road event experienced by the autonomous vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting the passenger a list of options, including an option to input the traced path.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a number of options included in the list of options is based at least in part on the trust score of the passenger.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the list of options is based at least in part on the trust score of the passenger.

10. A method comprising:
presenting a passenger in an autonomous vehicle with a list of options for responding to an on-road event experienced by the autonomous vehicle, wherein the on-road event causes the autonomous vehicle to be temporarily immobilized and wherein the list of options is selected based at least in part on a trust score assigned to the passenger;
presenting, based on a determination that the trust score assigned to the passenger is above a threshold trust score, a user interface for tracing a path on a map;
subsequent to the passenger selecting an option from the presented list of options, the selected option including a traced path input via the user interface, evaluating an efficacy of the selected option in safely addressing the on-road event;
executing, by the autonomous vehicle, a maneuver based on the selected option and the evaluation of the efficacy of the selected option in safely addressing the on-road event;
positively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the efficacy of the selected option in safely addressing the on-road event exceeds a quality threshold; and
negatively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the efficacy of the selected option in safely addressing the on-road event does not exceed the quality threshold.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the evaluating further comprises determining whether causing an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle based on the selected option would result in damage to the autonomous vehicle.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the evaluating further comprises determining whether causing an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle based on the selected option would result in a violation of safety standards.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the on-road event comprises an inability of the autonomous vehicle to classify an object.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing an incentive to the passenger to select the option from the list of options presented to the passenger.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the incentive is based at least in part on the trust score assigned to the passenger.

16. A computer-implemented system comprising:
a processor; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
issuing, in response to an on-road event experienced by an autonomous vehicle, a local assistance request to a passenger in the autonomous vehicle;
determining that a trust score assigned to the passenger is above a threshold trust score;
presenting, based on the determination that the trust score is above the threshold trust score, a user interface for tracing a path on a map;
receiving local assistance input from the passenger subsequent to the issuance of the local assistance request, the local assistance input including a traced path;
determining an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle in response to the on-road event based at least in part on the local assistance input, wherein the local assistance input is weighted by the trust score assigned to the passenger;
evaluating a quality of the local assistance input to determine whether the quality of the local assistance input exceeds a quality threshold;
executing, by the autonomous vehicle, a maneuver based on the determined action and the evaluation of the quality of the local assistance input;
positively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the quality of the local assistance input exceeds the quality threshold; and
negatively adjusting the trust score assigned to the passenger if the quality of the local assistance input does not exceed the quality threshold.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 16 , wherein the trust score is assigned based on at least one of a level of experience of the passenger with a rideshare service provided by the autonomous vehicle and a quality of a previous local assistance input provided by the passenger.

18. The computer-implemented system of claim 16 , wherein the evaluating further comprises evaluating the local assistance input based at least in part on a result of the autonomous vehicle taking the determined action.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 16 , wherein the evaluating further comprises determining whether taking the determined action would result in at least one of damage to the autonomous vehicle and a violation of safety standards.

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Plascencia-Vega Diego
• Gidon Dogan
• Grace Nestor

Classifications

• G05D1/222

  operated by humans · CPC title

• G06Q50/40 Primary

  Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title

• B60W60/0016

  of the vehicle or its occupants · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• B60W2540/215

  Selection or confirmation of options · CPC title