Autonomous vehicles as a social network platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018330622-A1
Application number	US-201715592151-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 10, 2017
Priority date	May 10, 2017
Publication date	Nov 15, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

This invention describes a method, the information processing system and the autonomous vehicles that enable in-person socializing of passengers in multiple traveling autonomous vehicles. Under the collaborative control of one or more information processing system and on-bard controllers, multiple traveling autonomous vehicles carrying passengers who have matching interests or requests, overlapping travel routes and times are connected together mechanically while traveling at normal operating speed to establish a connected space to allow in-person interactions and socializing. A cluster of connected autonomous vehicles moves as one integrated vehicle.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method of enabling and managing in-person socializing of passengers in multiple traveling autonomous vehicles comprising
Accepting and/or storing information of passengers on current interests, friendships, and/or requests for in-person socializing while traveling in an autonomous vehicle, and ongoing or planned traveling route and traveling time of passengers in two or more autonomous vehicles; Performing match processing to find one or more matches of two or more passengers who are in two or more autonomous vehicles for in-person socializing while traveling in an autonomous vehicle, and overlapping traveling route and traveling time of ongoing or planned trips; Managing the wireless communication with two or more traveling autonomous vehicles and/or devices carried by passengers in the vehicles to collect information from and transmit information to such vehicles and/or passengers; Computing a plan for two or more autonomous vehicles carrying passengers who are matched by match processing wherein the plan includes one or more of traveling route and time information of each vehicle, and information for two traveling autonomous vehicles to complete a connection; Communicating information to two or more autonomous vehicles for them to execute the plan; and, Receiving updates from two or more traveling autonomous vehicles and/or devices carried by passengers in the vehicles and adapt the plan based on the received updates.

2 . The method in claim 1 wherein the plan further includes where, when and how two connected traveling autonomous vehicles make a separation.

3 . The method in claim 1 wherein the plan further includes using a small capacity autonomous vehicle to carry passengers, connecting one or more small capacity autonomous vehicles to a large capacity autonomous vehicle and managing the transferring of passengers in the one or more small capacity autonomous vehicles to the large capacity autonomous vehicle.

4 . The method in claim 3 wherein the plan further includes separation of the one or more small capacity autonomous vehicles from the large capacity autonomous vehicle after the passengers on the one or more small capacity autonomous vehicles have transferred to the large capacity autonomous vehicle.

5 . The method in claim 1 further comprising presenting a search interface for passengers in two or more autonomous vehicles to search for passengers in other vehicles who share a route or portion of route for potential in-person socializing either prior to, upon or after the start of the trip; presenting an interface for the passengers to select among the search results;
and sending the requests for in-person connection to the selected passengers in other one or more vehicles.

6 . The method in claim 1 further comprising transmitting and presenting a request for in-person socializing to one or more passengers in a second autonomous vehicle when one or more passengers in a first autonomous vehicle select one or more passengers in the second autonomous vehicle to request for in-person socializing; and initiating the coordination of the connection of the traveling autonomous vehicles after receiving confirmation of acceptance of the in-person socializing request and when the two vehicles share an overlapping route over a time period, wherein the selection by one or more passengers in the first autonomous vehicle and presentation of the request to the one or more passengers in the second autonomous vehicle occur either prior to, upon or after the start of the trips.

7 . The method in claim 1 further comprising transmitting and presenting a request for in-person socializing to one or more passengers in both a first autonomous vehicle and a second autonomous vehicle when one or more passengers in each autonomous vehicle select one or more passengers in the other autonomous vehicle for in-person socializing;
and initiating the coordination of the connection of the traveling autonomous vehicles after receiving confirmation of acceptance of the in-person socializing request from one or more passengers in both autonomous vehicles and when the two vehicles share an overlapping route over a time period, wherein the selection by one or more passengers in each autonomous vehicle and presentation of the request to the one or more passengers in each autonomous vehicle occur either prior to, upon or after the start of the trips.

8 . The method in claim 1 further comprising presenting one or more recommendations for in-person socializing to passengers in two or more autonomous vehicles; receiving their decision of whether to accept one or more of the recommendations; and recording as a match for in-person connection when passengers in two or more autonomous vehicles accept a recommendation of connection of the two or more autonomous vehicles, wherein the presentation of the recommendation, receiving of the decisions and recording of the matches occur either prior to, upon or after the start of the trips.

9 . The method in claim 1 further comprising initiating the coordination of the connection of two or more autonomous vehicles and communicating information to the two or more autonomous vehicles for them to execute the plan after having received confirmation from passengers from the two or more traveling autonomous vehicles.

10 . The method in claim 1 further comprising cancelling an ongoing connection procedure of connecting two or more autonomous vehicles upon receiving a command of cancelation from a passenger in one of the traveling autonomous vehicles to be connected.

11 . The method in claim 1 further comprising starting a separation procedure for a first autonomous vehicle in a cluster of two or more connected autonomous vehicles to disconnect from the other vehicle(s) in the cluster upon receiving a command of separation from one or more passengers in the first autonomous vehicle.

12 . An information processing system for managing and connecting autonomous vehicles to enable in-person socializing of passengers in multiple traveling autonomous vehicles comprising
One or more data modules that accept and/or store information of passengers on current interests, friendships, and/or requests for in-person socializing while traveling in an autonomous vehicle, and ongoing or planned traveling route and traveling time of passengers in two or more autonomous vehicles; One or more match processing modules that find one or more matches of two or more passengers who are in two or more autonomous vehicles for in-person socializing while traveling in an autonomous vehicle, and overlapping traveling route and traveling time of ongoing or planned trips; One or more planning and controller modules that compute a plan for two or more autonomous vehicles carrying passengers who are matched by the one or more match processing modules wherein the plan includes one or more of traveling route and time information of each vehicle, and information for two traveling autonomous vehicles to complete a connection, manage the wireless communication with two or more traveling autonomous vehicles and/or devices carried by passengers to collect information from and transmit information to such vehicles and/or passengers, communicate information to two or more autonomous vehicles for them to execute the plan, receive updates from the two or more traveling autonomous vehicles and/or devices carried by passengers in the vehicles and adapt the plan based on the received updates.

13 . The information processing system in claim 12 wherein the plan further includes where, when and how two connected traveling autonomous vehicles make a separation.

Assignees

• Liang Biyonka
• Liang Ping

Inventors

• Liang Biyonka
• Liang Ping

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title

• G01S2013/9325

  for inter-vehicle distance regulation, e.g. navigating in platoons · CPC title

• G08G1/163

  involving continuous checking · CPC title