Autonomously delivering items to corresponding delivery locations proximate a delivery route

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12416919-B2
Application number	US-202217878712-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2022
Priority date	Jun 13, 2017
Publication date	Sep 16, 2025
Grant date	Sep 16, 2025

Abstract

Various systems and methodologies may be utilized to determine whether a particular shipment/item is eligible for delivery between a manual delivery vehicle and a final destination location via an autonomous delivery vehicle. To ensure autonomous deliveries are performed in a resource effective manner, shipments/items deemed eligible for autonomous delivery may be vetted by comparing the destination for the autonomous delivery shipment/item against one or more manual delivery destinations (serviced by the manual delivery vehicle operator), and ultimately identifying an optimal launch location for the autonomous delivery vehicle to leave the manual delivery vehicle to complete the autonomous delivery. If the autonomous delivery location does not satisfy applicable autonomous delivery criteria, the autonomous delivery shipment/item may be reclassified for manual delivery by the manual delivery vehicle operator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying, one or more hardware processors, a delivery radius corresponding to at least one item and a delivery destination serviceable point;
determining, by the one or more hardware processors, that an autonomous vehicle delivery time radius corresponding to the delivery radius and the delivery destination serviceable point is below a threshold; and
determining, by the one or more hardware processors and based at least in part on determining that the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius is below the threshold, an autonomous vehicle launch location within the delivery radius for delivering the at least one item via an autonomous vehicle to the delivery destination serviceable point.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius is determined based at least in part on historical data associated with manual deliveries.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the autonomous vehicle launch location is from a ground-based vehicle and along a predefined travel path.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius is determined based in part on a minimum presence time that the ground-based vehicle is within the delivery radius.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a plurality of delivery destination serviceable points within the delivery radius;
determining a total delivery time to the plurality of delivery destination serviceable points; and
determining the autonomous vehicle launch location based on the total delivery time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the total delivery time is based on delivery times associated with delivery along a predefined travel path.

7. One or more non-transitory computer storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
identifying a vehicle delivery route for an item;
determining an autonomous vehicle delivery time radius corresponding to the vehicle delivery route and an autonomous delivery destination serviceable point;
determining, based at least in part on the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius, an amount of time an autonomous vehicle is likely to remain within a boundary associated with the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point; and
determining, based at least in part on the amount of time, an autonomous vehicle launch location along the vehicle delivery route for delivering the item via the autonomous vehicle to the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 7 , wherein the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius is determined based at least in part on historical data associated with elapsed amounts of time to complete an autonomous delivery from a ground-based delivery vehicle, each of the elapsed amounts of time associated with a distance from the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 8 , wherein the distance for each of the elapsed amounts of time is a standardized distance from the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 7 , wherein the autonomous vehicle launch location is within the boundary.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 7 , wherein the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius corresponds to an amount of time that a ground-based delivery vehicle from which the autonomous vehicle is launched is within a threshold distance from the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 7 , wherein the autonomous vehicle launch location is determined based on a recipient of the item indicating a preference to autonomous delivery over manual delivery.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer storage media of claim 7 , wherein the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point corresponds to a residence.

14. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
identify an autonomous delivery destination serviceable point for an item;
determine an autonomous vehicle delivery time radius based at least in part on a minimum presence time for an autonomous vehicle within a bounded area surrounding the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point; and
determine, based at least in part on the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius, an autonomous vehicle launch location along a delivery route for delivering the at least one item via the autonomous vehicle to the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising identify other autonomous delivery destination serviceable points within the bounded area and determine the minimum presence time for the autonomous vehicle within the bounded area based on the other autonomous delivery destination serviceable points.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the autonomous vehicle launch location is from a ground-based vehicle along the delivery route.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the autonomous vehicle delivery time radius comprises a first autonomous vehicle delivery time radius corresponding to a first bounded area surrounding the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point and a second autonomous vehicle delivery time radius corresponding to a second bounded area surrounding the autonomous delivery destination serviceable point, the first bounded area being larger than the second bounded area.

Assignees

• United parcel service america inc

Inventors

• Cooper Jeffrey

Classifications

• B64U80/86

  Land vehicles · CPC title

• G08G5/80

  Anti-collision systems · CPC title

• G08G5/57

  for unmanned aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/55

  for a single aircraft · CPC title

• G08G5/54 Primary

  for approach or landing · CPC title