TRANSPORT PROCEDURE BY MEANS OF AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FOR THE DRIVER OF A VEHICLE TO BE DEPOSIT

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for transporting a driver to a station for handling vehicles to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped a vehicle off in a predetermined drop-off space among a parking lot of drop-off spaces, using at least one transportation vehicle able to navigate, in an autonomous driving mode, at least one pre-established operational domain, including at least said handling station and said predetermined drop-off space, and at least lanes for driving between the handling station and said drop-off space, said transportation vehicle comprising a preloaded digital map (11) of said operational domain, said method comprising steps of generating parameters of a guidance route without taking into account obstacles, and furthermore of detecting surrounding obstacles and of generating instructions to modify parameters of the guidance route in the case where an obstacle is detected.

Description

Title of the invention: Method for transporting a driver from vehicle to drop-off using an autonomous vehicle

[0001] [The present invention relates to a method for transporting a driver to a pick-up station after dropping off a vehicle at a determined location.

[0002] Valet parking services are known to be used to park a vehicle, such as a hotel or restaurant guest's vehicle. Automated valet parking systems have been proposed.

[0003] For example, patent application US2020 / 0207338 discloses a method for performing an automated valet parking service that allows a (driverless) transport vehicle to move and park autonomously in an empty parking space by communicating with a parking infrastructure. It also allows a (driverless) transport vehicle to move autonomously from a parking space to a pick-up area by communicating with a parking infrastructure. This patent application deals more specifically with the management of obstacles that may be found on the path of the transport vehicle. The automated valet parking method includes determining a first target position and a first guidance route using a preloaded map, and detecting an obstacle using data from sensors, and wherein an infrastructure updates the map based on the detected obstacle to generate an updated map.

[0004] Furthermore, in the case of the logistics management of rolling stock leaving a production line of a manufacturing plant, in particular motor vehicles for individuals such as cars or for professionals such as trucks, coaches, it is usual to store these vehicles by bringing them from a collection point to a drop-off place within the manufacturing plant, often in large parking lots, for example offering 10,000 parking spaces. Most often, a team of drivers, also commonly called "jockeys", takes charge of the vehicles to be dropped off, one per driver, to drive them to a specific drop-off location. It is then necessary to bring the team of drivers back, once each driver has dropped off their vehicle. To this end, a transport vehicle with driver comes to pick up each driver at the drop-off location of the vehicle they were in charge of, and once all the drivers have boarded the transport vehicle, the driver returns with them to the pick-up station, so that the drivers can again pick up other vehicles to be dropped off, and so on. To pick up drivers from the parking lot, the chauffeur-driven transport vehicle must go from drop-off location to drop-off location, as the locations may be far apart, and wait for a driver to drop off their vehicle, which can be time-consuming and requires the driver of the transport vehicle to monitor the drop-off locations. Such a driver transport operation can be repeated 200 times a day, which represents a relatively high time consumption.

[0005] The invention aims to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. In particular, it aims to facilitate the transport of a vehicle driver, once the vehicle has been dropped off, to a specific location such as a vehicle drop-off collection station. In particular, it also aims to facilitate the transport of a plurality of vehicle drivers, once their vehicle has been dropped off, to the vehicle drop-off collection station.

[0006] To this end, the present invention proposes a method for transporting a driver to a vehicle pick-up station to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped off a vehicle at a predetermined drop-off location among a batch of drop-off locations. According to the invention, said method comprises the use of at least one transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous driving mode, said transport vehicle comprising a preloaded digital map of at least one pre-established delimited operational domain. Said delimited operational area includes at least said pick-up station, said predetermined drop-off location, and at least traffic lanes between the pick-up station and said predetermined drop-off location.

[0007] According to the invention, said method further comprises the following steps: - A) Establish a guidance route for the transport vehicle from the vehicle pick-up station to the predetermined drop-off location by providing a route generator module with: - the coordinates; on said digital map, of the predetermined drop-off location, - the coordinates and heading of said transport vehicle on said digital map, then generate the parameters of the guidance route by a random exploration algorithm that comprises said route generator module, in the form of a set of points over a sighting distance chosen between 30 and 70 meters, including the coordinates of the vehicle, the heading of the vehicle, the curvature of the route trajectory, the speed of the vehicle, the acceleration of the vehicle; then - B) Provide said guidance route parameters to an obstacle management module; - C) Detect obstacles present on said guidance route, and in the event of detection of at least one obstacle, provide the coordinates of said obstacle on said digital map to said obstacle management module, so that the latter generates instructions capable of modifying parameters of the guidance route, in particular the speed and / or acceleration of the transport vehicle; - D) Send the data relating to the guidance route from the obstacle management module to the vehicle control module which converts this data into commands, - E) Send the commands generated by said control module to the actuators of the transport vehicle to activate them.

[0008] Preferably in step A), the route generator module generates the parameters of the guidance route as a set of points over a chosen sighting distance between 40 and 60 meters.

[0009] Preferably in step A), the generation of the parameters of the guidance route by the route generator module comprises a first generation of parameters by a random exploration algorithm of the “rapid exploration random tree” type, also known by the English acronym “RRT”, which comprises said route generator module, then an optimization of these first generation parameters by a smoothing by polynomial approach, in order to generate the parameters of the guidance route in the form of said set of points over a chosen sighting distance between 30 and 70 meters (in particular between 40 and 60 meters), comprising the coordinates of the vehicle, the heading of the vehicle, the curvature of the route trajectory, the speed of the vehicle, and the acceleration of the vehicle.

[0010] In particular, said method comprises in step C): generating an instruction to stop the transport vehicle in the event of obstacle detection according to an instruction that said obstacle management module includes, to avoid a collision with an obstacle.

[0011] In particular, said method comprises a step of instructing said transport vehicle in autonomous driving mode to stop near said predetermined drop-off location, so that the driver can board said transport vehicle once said driver has dropped off a vehicle at said predetermined drop-off location.

[0012] In particular, said method may comprise the step: - Activate the autonomous driving mode of said transport vehicle upon departure from said vehicle to said predetermined drop-off location, in particular by remote control.

[0013] In particular, said method may comprise a step: - Activate a manual driving mode of said transport vehicle once stopped near said predetermined drop-off location, said transport vehicle thus being able to come under the control of a driver, in particular up to said pick-up station. In particular, said manual driving mode is activated by deactivating the autonomous driving mode, and in particular by remote control.

[0014] The invention also relates to a method for transporting at least one first driver from among a plurality of drivers, each driver having to drop off a vehicle respectively at a predetermined drop-off place from among a batch of parking spaces. Said method comprises the use of a transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous mode, said transport vehicle comprising a preloaded digital map of at least one pre-established delimited operational domain. Said delimited operational domain includes at least said pick-up station, a parking area comprising said batch of parking spaces, and at least traffic lanes between the pick-up station and said parking area.

[0015] Said method for transporting at least one first conductor among a plurality of conductors comprises the steps: - Digitize said lot of parking spaces from information provided by the digital map to a parking placement module, - Assign a numerical position to each space in said lot of parking spaces by said placement module, - Assigning a drop-off location to each of the vehicles to be dropped off by the plurality of drivers, by said parking placement module, so that said drivers must each go to the drop-off location assigned to their respective vehicle, and in the shortest time that the transport vehicle will need to travel the required distance to said drop-off locations, - Determine a drop-off location constituting, among all the drop-off locations assigned to the vehicles to be picked up by said plurality of drivers, the first drop-off location for a first vehicle to be dropped off driven by a first driver, where the transport vehicle will go to ensure the transport of said first driver once said first driver has dropped off said first vehicle.

[0016] Said method for transporting at least one first driver from among a plurality of drivers comprises at least one of the steps described previously, in particular steps A) to E), for the method for transporting a driver to a vehicle pick-up station to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped off a vehicle at a predetermined drop-off location from among a batch of drop-off locations, the driver being said first driver, and the predetermined drop-off location being said first drop-off location.

[0017] Said method for transporting at least one first conductor among a plurality of conductors may also comprise at least one of the following steps: - Activate the autonomous driving mode of said transport vehicle upon departure from said transport vehicle to said first predetermined drop-off location, in particular by remote control, - Activate the manual driving mode of said transport vehicle once stopped near said first predetermined drop-off location, and in particular by remote control, said transport vehicle thus being able to pass under the driving of said first driver.

[0018] According to a particular embodiment, the method for transporting at least one first conductor from among a plurality of conductors, comprises the steps: - switching the transport vehicle to a manual driving mode under the control of said first driver having dropped off his vehicle to be dropped off, for example by activating the manual driving mode of said transport vehicle once stopped near said first predetermined drop-off location, in particular by remote control, then - go to the drop-off places respectively assigned to the other vehicles to be dropped off by the other drivers of said plurality of drivers, following an order indicated by the parking placement module in order to collect said other drivers after they have dropped off their respective vehicle to be dropped off, then - bring the plurality of drivers back to said pick-up station.

[0019] The invention also relates to a use of the method for transporting at least one first driver from among a plurality of drivers, for managing the logistics flow of storage of motorized rolling products leaving a manufacturing plant, in particular motor vehicles leaving a manufacturing line, on parking areas within the manufacturing plant, teams of drivers being responsible for transporting said products to drop-off places, said method being applied to each team constituting a plurality of drivers.

[0020] The invention also relates to a system for managing the transport of at least one driver of a vehicle, said driver leaving and returning to the same determined location such as a station for picking up vehicles to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped off said vehicle at a predetermined drop-off location among a batch of drop-off locations, said management system comprising: - at least one transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous driving mode and comprising a digital map of a pre-established delimited operational area, - a parking placement module configured to assign the coordinates on said digital map of a batch of drop-off places, and to determine said predetermined drop-off place among said batch of drop-off places, - a vehicle positioning module configured to generate the coordinates of said transport vehicle and the heading of the transport vehicle on said digital map, - a route generator module configured to communicate with said parking placement module and said vehicle positioning module, and to generate the parameters of a route for guiding the transport vehicle to at least said predetermined drop-off location, - an obstacle management module configured to communicate with said route generator module and an obstacle detection module, and with a vehicle control module, to generate instructions for modifying parameters of the guidance route in the event of obstacle detection, in particular the speed and / or acceleration of the transport vehicle, and send the parameters of the guidance route and said parameter modification instructions to the vehicle control module.

[0021] Preferably, said route generator module of said management system comprises a random exploration algorithm of the "rapid random tree" type (also known by the English acronym "RRT"), and a smoothing of polynomial form, in order to generate the parameters of the guidance route in the form of a set of points over a given sighting distance.

[0022] In particular, said system for managing the transport of at least one driver of a vehicle to be dropped off is configured to implement a method for transporting a driver of a vehicle or a method for transporting at least a first driver from among a plurality of drivers as described previously.

[0023] The invention also relates to a computer program comprising the instructions for executing the steps of a transport method according to the invention, when said instructions are executed by one or more processors.

[0024] The invention also relates to a computer-readable medium on which the computer program of the invention is stored. "Computer-readable medium" means any memory, storage device, storage mechanism, and other storage and signaling mechanism, including interfaces and devices such as network interface cards and buffers therein, as well as any communication device and any received and transmitted signals, and any other current and evolving technology that a computer system can interpret, receive, and / or transmit. This concept includes not only a computer-readable medium such as a hard disk connected to a central processing unit and with which the recorded program is directly executed, but also any other computer-readable medium that records a program to be executed after installing it on a hard disk. A program here includes not only a program that can be directly executed, but also a program in source format, a compressed program, and an encrypted program.

[0025] Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from reading the description given below of a particular embodiment of the invention, given for informational purposes but not as a limitation, with reference to the single attached drawing.

[0026] [Fig. 1] represents a diagram of the arrangement of the transport management system relating to the transport method according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0027] The invention is described here in detail in the context of an application to the management of the logistics flow of vehicle storage leaving a motor vehicle manufacturing plant.

[0028] As they leave the production line, some newly manufactured vehicles are parked in large car parks, for example with 10,000 spaces, for temporary storage within the factory grounds.

[0029] Vehicles coming off the production line arrive at a pick-up station, to be picked up as drop-off vehicles by a team of drivers (“jockeys”).

[0030] For example, the team consists of four drivers, each driver having to drive a vehicle to be dropped off, from a common pick-up station to a predetermined drop-off location, then return to the pick-up station to drive new vehicles to be dropped off, and so on.

[0031] The method of transporting drivers to bring them back to the pick-up station will be described according to an embodiment in accordance with the invention, and with reference to [Fig. 1],

[0032] With reference to [Fig. 1], the method is based on a system comprising three digital data input modules 11, 12, 13 which will feed a route generator module 14 to establish a guidance route for the transport vehicle.

[0033] An autonomous electric vehicle, capable of operating in an autonomous driving mode and in a manual driving mode, is used to return drivers to said pick-up station, once said drivers have dropped off said vehicles to be dropped off at the respective drop-off locations.

[0034] For this purpose, the transport vehicle picks up each driver near the respective drop-off location for the vehicle in their charge.

[0035] First, a delimited operational area is established and a detailed digital map is drawn up for this operational area. According to the example, this delimited operational area extends over an area covering the station of handling of vehicles to be dropped off, parking, and related traffic lanes. This digital map 11 constitutes one of the digital modules.

[0036] The establishment of the digital map is based on centimetric precision information relating to the delimited operational area, coming from a high-precision global geolocation system (commonly known by its English acronym "GPS" for "Global Positioning System"), and from sensors on board a vehicle (LIDAR, cameras).

[0037] The digital map 11 relating to the delimited operational area is preloaded into a memory of the transport vehicle. Said map 11 can use global or local coordinates. According to the example, the coordinates are local coordinates whose point of origin is located close to the manufacturing plant. The map lists in particular the navigation routes on the operational area, the entrance to the parking lot, the exits, the road priorities, the possibilities of turning.

[0038] In addition to the preloaded digital map 11 described above, the other modules are, on the one hand, the positioning module 12 of the transport vehicle, and on the other hand, the parking placement module 13, also called here the parking placement module.

[0039] The positioning module 12 makes it possible to locate the transport vehicle on said digital map 11, and in a precise manner. It can be composed of a single system or of several positioning systems combined with each other within the module. According to the example, it is based on a high-precision differential global positioning system known per se such as the system using real-time kinematics, called "RTK" (acronym for the English equivalent "Real Time Kinematic"), which can provide measurements with an accuracy of 2 cm. The latter can be combined with a simultaneous localization and mapping system, called "SLAM" (acronym for "Simultaneous Localization and Mapping"), known per se, in order to improve the map of the vehicle's environment and to locate itself there, and thus for better reliability and robustness of the system.

[0040] The positioning module 12 provides the position of the transport vehicle in X,Y coordinates, called the coordinates of the transport vehicle, and the heading (orientation) of the transport vehicle, on the digital map.

[0041] The parking placement module 13 made it possible to digitize the parking area, thanks in particular to detailed information provided by the digital map. Said placement module 13 assigns a digital position to each parking space. Said placement module also includes the management of the final destination of the newly produced vehicles, leaving the production line, by assigning them their drop-off place, places where the drivers must each go in the shortest time that the transport vehicle will need to travel the required distance to the drop-off places and the final destinations of all the drivers of a given team.In other words, once each vehicle has an assigned drop-off spot, each jockey must drive their vehicle to the spot assigned to them and, at the same time, the said first driver who drives the transport vehicle to pick up the other jockeys, makes an optimized route to pick them all up in the minimum possible time.

[0042] From the data coming from said three modules 11, 12, 13, the route generator module 14 provides a guidance route for the transport vehicle. The coordinates (X, Y) and the orientation (heading) of the transport vehicle provided by the positioning module 12 are used to establish the desired path to bring the transport vehicle to its first destination in the parking lot, establishing for said first destination in the parking lot, the final coordinates and the orientation of the transport vehicle.

[0043] For this purpose, the route generator module 14 uses a movement planning algorithm based on a method performing a random search in the environment, until finding the desired final configuration. According to the example, the route generator 14 uses a random exploratory algorithm of the type known as "rapidly-exploring random tree" or by its corresponding acronym "RRT", which makes it possible to optimize the route from the starting point of the vehicle, i.e. the pick-up station, to the first destination, that is, the first drop-off location in the parking lot. The said RRT algorithm is smoothed using a polynomial approach to minimize the trajectory curvature and provide a short-term path planning for the transport vehicle, i.e., provide the path conditions within a short sighting distance. The random exploratory algorithm actually gives just a few straight segments that are able to pre-calculate the complete route. This small number of segments, for example 2 to 4 segments, causes loss of resolution and continuity from one segment to another, a local planner will then, and if the sighting distance is short, transform these few straight trajectory segments into a suitable polynomial function that provides smoother and more continuity to generate the route.

[0044] A set of path points including the following parameters: vehicle coordinates (X, Y), vehicle heading, trajectory curvature, vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration, to provide path conditions over a sighting distance, also called horizon distance, of 50 meters.

[0045] The mode for generating the guidance route by the route generator 14 does not take into account the presence of obstacle(s) not previously listed on the digital map, because the environment of the route concerns a pre-established and relatively constant delimited operational domain, therefore relatively safe from a road safety point of view. For example, maximum travel speeds can be established, assuming that a maximum of 20 objects / hour could interact, and that the average is 11 objects / hour. Planning a route with a horizon distance of 50 meters may be sufficient. In fact, it is possible to prioritize a dedicated lane between the pick-up station and the entrance to the parking lot, the speed of the transport vehicle being able to be a maximum of 40 km / h for example, and once on the traffic lanes of the parking lot, the speed of the transport vehicle can be a maximum of 20 km / h for example, and plan that the transport vehicle has priority at the crossing of traffic lanes.

[0046] It is nevertheless planned to be able to act during the route via an obstacle management module 16 as explained below.

[0047] To manage the surrounding obstacles that may be present on the guidance route, the system comprises an obstacle management module 16 supplied with data by said route generator 14 and by a surrounding obstacle detection module 15. Said surrounding obstacle detection module 15 comprises sensors (for example: cameras, lidar, radar, ultrasonic device), making it possible to detect obstacles that may interfere with said guidance route. Said obstacle management module 16 comprises means for positioning the obstacles thus detected on the preloaded digital map 11 and for managing each detected obstacle in an appropriately safe manner.To this end, said obstacle management module 16 is able to modify the speed and acceleration profiles which have been previously assigned to the transport vehicle by the route generator module 14, so that in the event of obstacle detection, it is able to generate instructions for modifying the speed and acceleration of said transport vehicle. In particular, said obstacle management module 16 may have the instruction to stop the transport vehicle to avoid a collision with an obstacle detected during the actual movement of the transport vehicle.

[0048] The guidance route is thus refined at the output of the obstacle management module 16 to provide the target guidance route to the control module of the transport vehicle 17, so that the latter 17 generates the control commands of the actuators 18 of the transport vehicle as a function in particular of the target speed for the transport vehicle and the orientation of the vehicle.

[0049] The transport vehicle control module 17 is also controlled by the transport vehicle driving mode management module 10 which allows the activation or deactivation of the autonomous driving or manual driving modes.

[0050] This latter module 10 may comprise a physical control such as a control button, or a remote control such as an application allowing the activation / deactivation of the autonomous driving mode in order to switch from an autonomous driving mode when the vehicle travels without a passenger along the target guidance route from the pick-up station to the parking lot, up to the first predetermined drop-off location, to a manual driving mode once the first driver, after having dropped off the motor vehicle of which he was in charge at the said first drop-off point, is installed in the transport vehicle and takes the wheel of the said transport vehicle to proceed with the collection of the other drivers of the team at the respective drop-off points of the other vehicles taken in charge thus deposited, and return to the collection station.

[0051] For example, said first driver can thus, once he has dropped off said first vehicle to be dropped off, and once installed in the transport vehicle, put the transport vehicle into a manual driving mode to go and pick up the other drivers of the plurality of drivers at the other assigned drop-off locations following an order indicated by the parking placement module and then bring said drivers back to said pick-up station.

[0052] In autonomous mode, since the transport vehicle is without passengers, there is no need to take into account the comfort of the passengers on board, so that parameters applied to the vehicle such as acceleration, braking, turning, are not limited by good acceptance factors. It is thus possible to prioritize travel time, for example, which simplifies the logistical management of vehicles to be dropped off.

[0053] The transport method according to the invention is implemented by means of a transport management system for at least one driver which comprises all of the modules described previously in connection with Figure 1. This management system typically comprises one or more processors (for example a microprocessor, a microcontroller or other), in particular programmed to implement the method according to the invention. It may also comprise communication means, optionally bidirectional. The processor(s) may comprise storage means which may be a random access memory (RAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, an external memory or other. These storage means may, among other things, store received data, a control model, one or more maps and one or more computer programs.]

Claims

Claims

1. [A method for transporting a driver to a vehicle pick-up station to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped off a vehicle at a predetermined drop-off location among a batch of drop-off locations, said method comprising the use of at least one transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous driving mode, said transport vehicle comprising a digital map (11) preloaded with at least one pre-established operational domain including at least said pick-up station, said predetermined drop-off location and at least traffic lanes between the pick-up station and said drop-off location, said method comprising the following steps: - A) Establish a guidance route for the transport vehicle from the vehicle pick-up station to the predetermined drop-off location by providing a route generator module (14): - the coordinates, on said digital map (11), of the predetermined drop-off location, - the coordinates and heading of said transport vehicle on said digital map (11), then generating the parameters of the guidance route by a random exploration algorithm that comprises said route generator module (14), in the form of a set of points over a sighting distance chosen between 30 and 70 meters, comprising the coordinates of the vehicle, the heading of the vehicle, the curvature of the route trajectory, the speed of the vehicle, the acceleration of the vehicle; then - B) Providing said guidance route parameters to an obstacle management module (16); - C) Detecting obstacles present on said guidance route, and in the event of detection of at least one obstacle, providing the coordinates of said obstacle on said digital map (11) to said obstacle management module (16), so that the latter generates instructions capable of modifying parameters of the guidance route, in particular the speed and / or acceleration of the transport vehicle; - D) Send the data relating to the guidance route from the obstacle management module (16) to the vehicle control module (17) which converts this data into commands, - E) Sending the commands generated by said control module to the actuators (18) of said transport vehicle to activate the latter.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that in step A), the route generator module (14) generates the parameters of the guidance route in the form of a set of points over a sighting distance chosen between 40 and 60 meters.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that in step A), the generation of the parameters of the guidance route by the route generator module (14) comprises a first generation of parameters by a random exploration algorithm of the “rapid exploration random tree” type that said route generator module comprises, then an optimization of these first generation parameters by smoothing by polynomial approach, in order to generate the parameters of the guidance route in the form of said set of points over a sighting distance chosen between 30 and 70 meters, comprising the coordinates of the vehicle, the heading of the vehicle, the curvature of the route trajectory, the speed of the vehicle, the acceleration of the vehicle.

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said method comprises in step C): generating an instruction to stop the transport vehicle in the event of obstacle detection according to an instruction that comprises said obstacle management module (16).

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said method comprises a step of instructing said transport vehicle in autonomous driving mode to stop near said predetermined drop-off location.

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises at least one of the following steps: - Activate an autonomous driving mode of said transport vehicle upon departure from said vehicle to said predetermined drop-off location, in particular by remote control, - Activate a manual driving mode of said transport vehicle once stopped near said predetermined drop-off location, in particular by deactivating the autonomous driving mode, and in particular by remote control.

7. A method for transporting at least one first driver from among a plurality of drivers, each driver having to drop off a vehicle respectively at a predetermined drop-off location from among a batch of parking spaces, comprising the use of a transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous mode, said transport vehicle comprising a digital map (11) preloaded with at least one pre-established delimited operational domain including at least said pick-up station, a parking area comprising said batch of parking spaces, and at least traffic lanes between the pick-up station and said parking area, said transport method comprising the steps: - Digitizing said lot of parking spaces from information provided by the digital map (11) to a parking placement module (13), - Assign a digital position to each space in said lot of parking spaces by said parking placement module (13), - Assigning a drop-off location to each of the vehicles to be dropped off by the plurality of drivers, by said parking placement module (13), so that said drivers will each have to go to the drop-off location assigned to their respective vehicle, in the shortest time that the transport vehicle will need to travel the required distance to said drop-off locations, - Determining a drop-off location constituting, among the set of drop-off locations assigned to the vehicles to be picked up by said plurality of drivers, the first drop-off location of a first vehicle to be dropped off driven by a first driver, where the transport vehicle will go to ensure the transport of said first driver once said first driver has dropped off said first vehicle, and said method comprising at least the steps according to the method for transporting a driver of a vehicle to be dropped off according to one of the claims 1 to 6, said conductor being said first conductor, and said predetermined drop-off location being said first drop-off location.

8. Method for transporting at least one first conductor from among a plurality of conductors according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises the steps: - switch the transport vehicle to manual driving mode under the control of the said first driver having dropped off his vehicle to be dropped off, - going to the drop-off places respectively assigned to the other vehicles to be dropped off, following an order indicated by the parking placement module (13) in order to collect the other drivers of the plurality of drivers after they have dropped off their vehicle to be dropped off, then - bringing the plurality of drivers back to said pick-up station.

9. Use of the method for transporting at least one first driver from among a plurality of drivers according to one of claims 7 to 8, for managing the logistics flow of storage of motorized rolling products leaving a manufacturing plant, in particular motor vehicles leaving a manufacturing line, on parking areas within the manufacturing plant, teams of drivers being responsible for transporting said products to drop-off places, said method being applied to each team constituting a plurality of drivers.

10. System for managing the transport of at least one driver of a vehicle, said driver leaving and returning to the same determined location such as a vehicle pick-up station to be dropped off, after said driver has dropped off said vehicle at a predetermined drop-off location among a batch of drop-off locations, said system being configured to implement the method for transporting a driver of a vehicle according to one of claims 1 to 6 or the method for transporting at least a first driver among a plurality of drivers according to one of claims 7 to 8, the management system comprising: - at least one transport vehicle capable of navigating in an autonomous driving mode and comprising a digital map of a pre-established delimited operational area, - a parking placement module (13) configured to allocate the coordinates, on said digital map (11), of a batch of drop-off places, and determining said predetermined drop-off place among said batch of drop-off places, - a vehicle positioning module (12) configured to generate the coordinates of said transport vehicle and the heading of the transport vehicle on said digital map (11), - a route generator module (14) configured to communicate with said parking placement module (13) and said vehicle positioning module (12), and to generate the parameters of a route for guiding the transport vehicle to at least said predetermined drop-off location, - an obstacle management module (16) configured to communicate with said route generator module (14) and an obstacle detection module (15), and with a vehicle control module (17), to generate instructions for modifying parameters of the guidance route in the event of obstacle detection, and send the parameters of the guidance route and said parameter modification instructions to said transport vehicle control module (17), and said route generator module of said management system comprising a random exploration algorithm of the "rapid exploration random tree" type, and a polynomial-shaped smoothing, in order to generate the parameters of the guidance route in the form of a set of points over a given sighting distance.