Personalized customer service for ridehail vehicle passengers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12198144-B2
Application number	US-202217940692-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2022
Priority date	Jun 29, 2022
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

There is disclosed a method of providing rider service for an autonomous vehicle (AV) system, including operating an AV to provide a trip to a passenger; associating the passenger with a unique passenger identifier (UPID); receiving passenger metadata for the passenger according to the UPID; and responding to a rider service instance, comprising customizing the response according to the UPID and the passenger metadata.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of resolving service instances to riders participating in a ride-hail service provided by a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AVs), comprising:
operating an AV to provide a trip to a passenger along a first route;
associating the passenger with a unique passenger identification (UPID);
retrieving passenger metadata for the passenger according to the UPID, wherein the passenger metadata comprises historical data associated with past service instances of the passenger;
monitoring, by the AV while navigating, for a service instance;
triggering, by one or more sensors of the AV, a data-driven event, wherein information relating to the data-driven event includes AV sensor data;
determining, by the AV while navigating, an occurrence of the service instance based on the triggering of the data-driven event;
determining, from the historical data associated with the past service instances, that past sentiments during past service instances has a tendency to rise in severity at a speed that exceeds a threshold;
responding to the service instance, comprising customizing the response to the service instance according to the UPID and the passenger metadata, wherein customizing the response comprises escalating a severity level of the service instance; and
rerouting, by an onboard computer the AV, navigation of the AV via a second route based on the customized response.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata includes data associated with one or more of: social media interactions, interactions with an onboard tablet of the AV, interactions with a website of an AV operator providing the ride-hail service, and interaction with a smart phone app of the AV operator.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata includes one or more of: destinations selected by passenger, and average time or distance to destination.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata includes accessibility or disability settings.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata includes how many passenger service instances are associated with the UPID.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata comprises past passenger sentiment information, the past passenger sentiment information based on sensor data captured by one or more AVs during the past service instances.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata comprises present-state passenger sentiment information, the method further comprising:
identifying a present-state passenger sentiment based on data from the one or more sensors of the AV.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein passenger metadata comprises traceability data sufficient to trace the passenger to one or more AVs that the passenger has ridden in.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data associated with past service instances of the passenger comprises resolution or steps executed to resolve the past service instances.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data associated with past service instances of the passenger comprises satisfaction ratings in response to resolutions of the past service instances.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data indicates whether the passenger has a pattern of past service incidents.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata further includes passenger preferences provided by the passenger via an end user application used to access the ride-hail service.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata further includes user accessibility or disability settings.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata further includes usage information of the ride-hail service associated with the UPID.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger metadata further includes usage information of other service(s) provided by the fleet of AVs associated with the UPID.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inferring, from the passenger metadata, one or more of: the passenger's preferred routes, most common destinations, most common routes according to time of day, most common routes according to time of week, and most common routes according to time of month;
wherein the second route is based on information inferred from the passenger metadata.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining from the historical data associated with the past service instances that the past service instances has a tendency to be severe;
wherein customizing the response comprises escalating a severity level of the service instance.

18. A computing system, comprising:
at least one processor circuit;
a memory; and
instructions encoded within the memory to instruct the at least one processor circuit to:
operate an autonomous vehicle (AV) to provide a trip to a passenger along a first route;
associate the passenger with a unique passenger identification (UPID);
retrieve passenger metadata for the passenger according to the UPID, wherein the passenger metadata comprises historical data associated with past service instances of the passenger;
monitor, by the AV, for a service instance;
trigger, by one or more sensors of the AV, a data-driven event, wherein information relating to the data-driven event includes AV sensor data;
determine, by the AV, an occurrence of the service instance based on the triggering of the data-driven event;
determine, from the historical data associated with the past service instances, that past sentiments during past service instances has a tendency to rise in severity at a speed that exceeds a threshold, the past sentiments based on sensor data captured by one or more AVs during the past service instances;
respond to the service instance, comprising customizing the response to the service instance according to the UPID and the passenger metadata, wherein customizing the response comprises escalating a severity level of the service instance; and
rerouting, by an onboard computer the AV, navigation of the AV via a second route based on the customized response.

19. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon executable instructions to instruct a processor to:
operate an autonomous vehicle (AV) to provide a trip to a passenger, including an onboard computer of the AV navigating the AV from an origin location toward a destination location via a first route;
associate the passenger with a unique passenger identification (UPID);
retrieve passenger metadata for the passenger according to the UPID, wherein the passenger metadata comprises historical data associated with past service instances of the passenger;
monitor, by the AV, for a service instance;
trigger, by one or more sensors of the AV, a data-driven event, wherein information relating to the data-driven event includes AV sensor data;
determine, by the AV, an occurrence of the service instance based on the triggering of the data-driven event;
determine, from the historical data associated with the past service instances, that past sentiments during past service instances has a tendency to rise in severity at a speed that exceeds a threshold;
respond to the service instance, comprising customizing the response to the service instance according to the UPID and the passenger metadata, wherein customizing the response comprises escalating a severity level of the service instance; and
rerouting, by the onboard computer the AV, navigation of the AV via a second route based on the customized response.

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Foy Theresa
• Meyerholtz Leah
• Shuckerow David J
• Warren Christopher
• Li Qingxuan
• D'Avanzo Yosser Andres
• Tong Minjie
• Johanna Livia
• Collins Bridget
• Thengvall Daniel Paul
• Araja Jyothi Babu
• Sturkop Steven
• Zhou Hailun

Classifications

• G05D1/81

  Handing over between on-board automatic and on-board manual control · CPC title

• G05D1/692

  involving a plurality of disparate vehicles · CPC title

• G05D1/69

  Coordinated control of the position or course of two or more vehicles · CPC title

• G05D1/227

  Handing over between remote control and on-board control; Handing over between remote control arrangements · CPC title

• G06Q50/40

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