Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Identification With Adaptive Wayfinding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicles face challenges in identifying the correct passenger at a pickup location, leading to potential miscommunication and inefficient navigation, especially in complex environments, due to the reliance on limited sensor data and lack of effective wayfinding assistance for diverse riders.
Innovation Solution
A holistic approach that combines signal synthesis from various sensors, agent prediction, and situational awareness to accurately identify the passenger's location, providing adaptive navigation through visual, audible, and haptic cues, and enabling remote agent interaction via mobile devices to support wayfinding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple sensor types are combined to identify the customer, then the identification accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor types (cameras, radar, lidar, acoustical sensors) into a unified perception system that processes data from all sensors simultaneously. This merging approach enables the system to achieve high identification accuracy by cross-validating signals from different sensor modalities while managing complexity through integrated processing architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The perception system is designed as a multi-functional platform that performs multiple tasks: detecting customer presence, identifying the correct customer, tracking movement, and providing situational awareness. By making the sensor system universal, the patent avoids adding separate specialized systems for each function, thereby improving accuracy without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Measurement precision
If the vehicle waits longer at the pickup location to identify the customer, then the identification accuracy is improved, but the loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary customer identification using sensor data before the vehicle fully arrives at the pickup location. By starting the identification process early and continuously updating customer status as the vehicle approaches, the system reduces waiting time while maintaining high accuracy through progressive confirmation of customer identity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where sensor data is constantly processed to update the likelihood that a detected pedestrian is the customer. This real-time feedback allows the vehicle to make timely decisions about when sufficient identification confidence has been achieved, balancing accuracy requirements with time efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If the vehicle provides comprehensive wayfinding assistance, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the customer's mobile device as an intermediary to deliver wayfinding information. Instead of requiring complex in-vehicle displays or audio systems, the patent leverages the customer's existing device to provide turn-by-turn directions, distance information, and vehicle location updates, thereby improving ease of operation without significantly increasing vehicle system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The wayfinding system allows customers to independently navigate to the vehicle using information provided through their mobile devices. The system provides directional guidance and status updates that enable customers to self-guide to the correct pickup location and vehicle, reducing the need for complex automated guidance systems within the vehicle itself.
Data Source
AI summary
The technology employs a holistic approach to passenger pickups and other wayfinding situations. This includes identifying where passengers are relative to the vehicle and/or the pickup location. Information synthesis from different sensors, agent behavior prediction models, and real-time situational awareness are employed to identify the likelihood that the passenger to be picked up is at a given location at a particular point in time, with sufficient confidence. The system can provide adaptive navigation by helping passengers understand their distance and direction to the vehicle, for instance using various cues via an app on the person's device. Rider support tools may be provided, which enable a remote agent to interact with a customer via that person's device, such as using the camera on the device to provide wayfinding support to enable the person to find their vehicle. Ride support may also use sensor information from the vehicle when providing wayfinding support.