Methods for passenger authentication and door operation for autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025242781-A1
Application number	US-202519084520-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 19, 2025
Priority date	Aug 29, 2019
Publication date	Jul 31, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed are computer systems and techniques for authenticating a passenger of an autonomous vehicle and operating doors of the autonomous vehicle. For passenger authentication, the computer system is configured to receive a ride request, generate a passcode, transmit the passcode to a user account and the autonomous vehicle, authenticate the user using the passcode, and enable departure of the autonomous vehicle. For door operation, the computer system is configured to detect environmental conditions surrounding an autonomous vehicle, determine based on a set of operational conditions whether one or more doors of the autonomous vehicle are desirable for use, and operate a door if the door is safe to operate and desirable for operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
one or more computer processors; and one or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause performance of operations comprising:
receiving, at an autonomous vehicle, a request to pick up a passenger at a first location;
in response to receiving the request, navigating the autonomous vehicle to the first location;
based on a determination that the autonomous vehicle has arrived at the first location, determining that at least one door of the autonomous vehicle is obstructed;
based on a determination that the at least one door is obstructed, causing the autonomous vehicle to move;
responsive to moving and based on a determination that the at least one door is no longer obstructed, causing the autonomous vehicle to open the at least one door;
based on a determination that the passenger associated with the request has entered the vehicle, enabling a process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle includes:
enabling display, via a display device, of an affordance corresponding to a request to initiate departure of the autonomous vehicle from the first location, and in response to a determination that the affordance has been selected, initiating departure of the autonomous vehicle from the first location.

3 . The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
after receiving the request to pick up the passenger at the first location, enabling one or more actions to be performed at the autonomous vehicle, including:
receiving a request to perform a first action; and
in accordance with a determination that the request satisfies a first set of criteria, wherein the first set of criteria includes a first criterion that is satisfied when the request is initiated, performing, at the autonomous vehicle, the first action.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to pick up a passenger at a first location includes an indication of a number of expected passengers for riding in the autonomous vehicle.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein enabling the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle is further based on a second criterion that is satisfied when a number of passengers detected in the autonomous vehicle matches the number of expected passengers, the operations further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that the second criterion is not satisfied based on a determination that the number of passengers detected in the autonomous vehicle does not match the number of expected passengers, initiating a process for rectifying passenger count.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein enabling the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle is further based on a third criterion that is satisfied when a face is authorized using a facial recognition process.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the facial recognition process includes:
detecting facial characteristics of the face; comparing the facial characteristics of the face to a facial profile associated with the user account; and in accordance with a determination that a threshold amount of the facial characteristics of the face match the facial profile associated with the user account, authorizing the face.

8 . The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
foregoing enabling the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with a determination that a user account has not been authenticated, wherein the foregoing includes initiating contact with an entity associated with the first electronic device.

9 . The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that a first set of location-based criteria are met, permitting access to an interior region of the autonomous vehicle; and in accordance with a determination that the first set of location-based criteria are not met, restricting access to the interior region of the autonomous vehicle.

10 . The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that one or more doors of the autonomous vehicle are not closed or the at least one passenger is not restrained by a seatbelt, delaying departure of the autonomous vehicle; and in accordance with a determination that all doors of the autonomous vehicle are closed and all passengers are restrained by a seatbelt, commencing departure of the autonomous vehicle.

11 . A method comprising:
receiving, at an autonomous vehicle, a request to pick up a passenger at a first location; in response to receiving the request, navigating the autonomous vehicle to the first location; based on a determination that the autonomous vehicle has arrived at the first location, determining that at least one door of the autonomous vehicle is obstructed; based on a determination that the at least one door is obstructed, causing the autonomous vehicle to move; responsive to moving and based on a determination that the at least one door is no longer obstructed, causing the autonomous vehicle to open the at least one door; based on a determination that the passenger associated with the request has entered the vehicle, enabling a process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle includes:
enabling display, via a display device, of an affordance corresponding to a request to initiate departure of the autonomous vehicle from the first location, and in response to a determination that the affordance has been selected, initiating departure of the autonomous vehicle from the first location.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
after receiving the request to pick up the passenger at the first location, enabling one or more actions to be performed at the autonomous vehicle, including:
receiving a request to perform a first action; and
in accordance with a determination that the request satisfies a first set of criteria, wherein the first set of criteria includes a first criterion that is satisfied when the request is initiated, performing, at the autonomous vehicle, the first action.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the request to pick up a passenger at a first location includes an indication of a number of expected passengers for riding in the autonomous vehicle.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein enabling the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle is further based on a second criterion that is satisfied when a number of passengers detected in the autonomous vehicle matches the number of expected passengers, the method further comprising:
in accordance with a determination that the second criterion is not satisfied based on a determination that the number of passengers detected in the autonomous vehicle does not match the number of expected passengers, initiating a process for rectifying passenger count.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein enabling the process for requesting departure of the autonomous vehicle is further based on a third criterion that is satisfied when a face is authorized using a facial recognition process.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the facial recognition process includes:
detecting facial characteristics of the face; comparing the facial characteristics of the face to a facial profile associated with the user account; and

Assignees

• Motional Ad Llc

Inventors

• Kim Junsung
• Xu Yunpeng
• Pai Melgangolli Vasudeva
• Sandler Brett
• Sweeny Scott

Classifications

• H04L63/0861

  using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231) · CPC title

• G08G1/202

  Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching · CPC title

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W4/44

  for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] · CPC title

• B60W60/00253 Primary

  Taxi operations · CPC title