Autonomous Vehicle Pickup Point Selection for Precise Passenger Handoffs
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing taxi services, including those involving autonomous vehicles, often lack precise information about pickup and drop-off locations, leading to inefficiencies and uncertainty for users.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize pre-stored map information and a set of heuristics to identify a recommended pickup or drop-off location for autonomous vehicles, considering user preferences, proximity to building entrances, and other criteria, while providing a display of potential locations and walkable paths on a client device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If taxi services use physical signals or phone calls to arrange pickups, then users can request transportation, but users lack exacting information about pickup or drop-off locations
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to users by displaying the exact pickup location on a map interface, allowing users to see where the autonomous vehicle will stop. This resolves the information loss by giving users precise location data before the pickup occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system (autonomous vehicle control system with map display) between the user and the pickup location information. This intermediary processes and presents location data in a visually intuitive format, improving both information delivery and operational ease.
2Extent of automation
If autonomous vehicles operate in fully autonomous mode, then passengers can provide minimal input, but the system must determine precise stopping locations independently
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-determining and displaying stopping locations on the map before the autonomous vehicle arrives. This allows the automated system to resolve location precision issues in advance, showing users exactly where the vehicle will stop for pickup or drop-off.
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous vehicle system serves itself by automatically selecting and displaying appropriate stopping locations based on pre-stored map information and heuristics, without requiring human driver input. This maintains high automation while ensuring precise location determination through algorithmic decision-making.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system provides multiple pre-determined locations for vehicle stops, then users have more options, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pickup location selection into multiple pre-determined points on the map, each representing a valid stopping location. This segmentation provides users with options while managing system complexity by pre-calculating and displaying discrete location choices rather than requiring real-time complex computations.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the disclosure relate to arranging a pick up and drop off locations between a driverless vehicle and a passenger. As an example, a method of doing so may include receiving a request for a vehicle from a client computing device, wherein the request identifies a first location. Pre-stored map information and the first location are used to identify a recommended point according to a set of heuristics. Each heuristic of the set of heuristics has a ranking such that the recommended point corresponds to a location that satisfies at least one of the heuristics having a first rank and such that no other location satisfies any other heuristic of the set of heuristics having a higher rank than the first rank. The pre-stored map information identifying a plurality of pre-determined locations for the vehicle to stop, and the recommended point is one of the plurality of pre-determined locations. The recommended point is then provided the client computing device for display on a display of the client computing device with a map.