Estimating time to pick up and drop off passengers for improved stopping analysis in autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide for stopping a vehicle 100 to pick up or drop off a passenger at a location. An example methods includes maneuvering a vehicle towards the location 680. An amount oftime for the passenger to enter or exit a vehicle is estimated. Once the vehicle is a predetermine distance from the location, a set of possible places to stop the vehicle are determined. For each place of the set of possible places, a corresponding threshold value is determined. For each place of the set of possible places, the estimated amount of time is compared to the corresponding threshold value. A particular one of the set of possible places is identified based on the comparisons and the vehicle at the particular one to allow the passenger to enter or exit the vehicle.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application is a continuation of US Patent Application Serial No. 15 / 682,754, filed August 22, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Background technique [0003] Autonomous vehicles, such as vehicles that do not require a human driver, can be used to assist in the transport of passengers or items from one location to another. Such a vehicle may operate in a fully autonomous mode, in which a passenger may provide some initial input, such as a pickup location or a destination location, and the vehicle steers itself to that location. [0004] When a person (or user) wants to physically transport between two locations via a vehicle, they can use any number of transportation services. Until now, these services typically involved a human driver who was given dispatch instructions to go to a certain location to pick up the user and pick them up. In many cases, the human driver and user are a...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This is not easily achievable in an autonomous vehicle without a human driver

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