Coordination of dispatching and maintaining fleet of autonomous vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9958864-B2
Application number	US-201514756995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

Various embodiments relate generally to autonomous vehicles and associated mechanical, electrical and electronic hardware, computer software and systems, and wired and wireless network communications to provide an autonomous vehicle fleet as a service. More specifically, systems, devices, and methods are configured to manage a fleet of autonomous vehicles. In particular, a method may include determining destination locations for autonomous vehicles, calculating, at an autonomous vehicle service platform, delivery locations to which the autonomous vehicles are directed, identifying data to implement a delivery location associated with an autonomous vehicle, and transmitting data representing a command to the autonomous vehicle. The command may be configured to cause navigation of the autonomous vehicle to the delivery location.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
determining a destination location for an autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles;
determining a plurality of origination locations to which the plurality of autonomous vehicles are to be directed;
maintaining policy data for selecting individual autonomous vehicles of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to service respective requests associated with the plurality of origination locations, the policy data including one or more of:
a distance that the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed to maintain from external objects;
one or more types of road lines that the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed not to cross;
one or more lanes in which the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed to travel; or
one or more road segments or intersections that the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed to bypass;

generating routing data that indicates at least a route from the destination location of the autonomous vehicle to an origination location of the plurality of origination locations;
selecting the autonomous vehicle to navigate to the origination location based at least in part on the routing data and the policy data;
generating command data for the autonomous vehicle using the routing data; and
sending the command data to the autonomous vehicle, the command data causing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to the origination location via the route.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of origination locations comprises:
determining the plurality of origination locations for a geo-fenced region.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a computing device, a request for transportation by one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles; and
determining a location associated with the computing device,
wherein determining the plurality of origination locations comprises determining at least the origination location based at least in part on the location associated with the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a change in a routing characteristic associated with a portion of a first route between the autonomous vehicle and the destination location;
identifying a second route for the autonomous vehicle;
generating additional command data for the autonomous vehicle; and
sending the additional command data to the autonomous vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein
the additional command data causes the autonomous vehicle to navigate via the second route to the destination location.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the additional command data causes the autonomous vehicle to navigate via the second route to another destination location.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving a teleoperator command via a teleoperator computing device to send the additional command data to the autonomous vehicle, wherein the additional command data causes the autonomous vehicle to navigate via the second route.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a computing device, a request for transportation by one of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
determining a location associated with the computing device;
selecting an additional autonomous vehicle to service the request for transportation, the additional autonomous vehicle being located at a station;
generating additional command data for the additional autonomous vehicle, the additional command data configured to cause the additional autonomous vehicle to navigate from the station to the location; and
sending the additional command data to the additional autonomous vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying the origination location as a region at which to park the autonomous vehicle, the region comprising an area in which the autonomous vehicle may safely transition from a drive state to a standby power state; and
identifying an absence of a request for transportation for the autonomous vehicle,
wherein the command data further instructs the autonomous vehicle to transition from the drive state to the standby state.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying an absence of a request for transportation for the autonomous vehicle,
wherein the command data further instructs the autonomous vehicle to transition from a first power state to a second power state, wherein the first power state is associated with a drive mode for the autonomous vehicle and the second power state is associated with a standby mode for the autonomous vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an additional destination location for an additional autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
identifying additional routing data that indicates at least an additional route from the additional destination location of the additional autonomous vehicle to the origination location;
determining a first time associated with the autonomous vehicle navigating to the origination location via the route;
determining a second time associated with the additional autonomous vehicle navigating to the origination location via the additional route; and
determining that the first time is less than the second time;
wherein selecting the autonomous vehicle is further based at least in part on determining that the first time is less than the second time.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
evaluating fleet management data associated with the autonomous vehicle; and
identifying one or more values of an autonomous vehicle characteristic,
wherein the routing data further indicates the one or more values of the autonomous vehicle characteristic.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles includes a same type of autonomous vehicle.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from a teleoperator computing device, an update to the policy data for selecting the individual autonomous vehicles.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from a teleoperator computing device, a new policy to add to the policy data for selecting the individual autonomous vehicles.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy data further includes:
one or more types of road lines that the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed not to cross;
one or more lanes in which the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed to travel; and
one or more road segments or intersections that the individual autonomous vehicles are instructed to bypass.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a first distance to a parking area is less than a second distance to an autonomous vehicle station;
determining to cause the autonomous vehicle to navigate to the parking area based at least in part on the first distance being less than the second distance;
causing the autonomous vehicle to park in the parking area, wherein the parking area is located along an additional route; and
causing the autonomous vehicle to transition from a first state of operation to a second state of operation.

18. A system comprising:
one or more computing devices including one or more processors, the one or more computing devices configured to:
determine a first destination location for a first autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles;
determine a second destination location for a second autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles;
determine a

Assignees

• Kentley Klay Timothy David
• Gamara Rachad Youssef
• Zoox Inc

Inventors

• Kentley-Klay Timothy David
• Gamara Rachad Youssef

Classifications

• G08G1/202

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

• G08G1/20 Primary

  Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/164

  Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles · CPC title

• G07C5/00

  Registering or indicating the working of vehicles · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title