Autonomous Vehicle Hailing via Direct Multi-Modal Signaling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for hailing autonomous vehicles often require inputting desired pick-up locations through smartphones or central servers, which can be cumbersome and may not allow for quick or anonymous hailing, and can lead to false detections due to the lack of standardized signaling protocols among different fleet operators.
Innovation Solution
A system that enables hailing autonomous vehicles using direct wireless communication and multiple signaling modes, including visual, audible, and gestural cues, allowing potential riders to send hailing requests directly to vehicles without needing to specify a pick-up location, and using devices such as smartphones or fixed hailing devices that can broadcast requests to nearby vehicles, reducing false detections through standardized protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional smartphone-based hailing systems are used, then centralized control and service management are improved, but hailing speed and user anonymity deteriorate due to cumbersome input requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the hailing request functionality from the smartphone application layer and implements it directly at the vehicle level through onboard receivers. This allows the hailing action to be performed simply by approaching the vehicle and using basic signaling (visual, audible, or gestural cues) without requiring smartphone interaction, thereby dramatically simplifying the user operation while maintaining service management capabilities through the extracted hailing detection function.
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous vehicle is equipped with self-service hailing detection capabilities through onboard receivers that can directly detect and process hailing signals from potential riders. This eliminates the need for external smartphone mediation, allowing the vehicle to autonomously receive and process hailing requests through multiple signaling modes (visual cues, audible cues, gestural cues), thereby improving hailing speed and reducing operational complexity.
2Productivity
If centralized server processing is used, then service management and coordination are improved, but response time and hailing efficiency deteriorate due to multiple communication hops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the hailing system into distributed components: individual autonomous vehicles are equipped with onboard receivers that can independently detect and process hailing signals. This segmentation eliminates the mandatory centralized server mediation for the actual hailing detection and initial response, allowing direct vehicle-to-rider communication while maintaining overall fleet coordination capabilities, thereby reducing response time and improving hailing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces multiple signaling modes (visual, audible, gestural cues) as intermediaries between the rider and the vehicle's hailing system. These intermediaries enable direct communication without requiring smartphone-based app mediation, allowing the rider to hail the vehicle through natural signals that the onboard receiver can detect and process directly, thus reducing communication hops and improving response time while maintaining service management integrity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple signaling modes are implemented, then hailing accessibility and user experience are improved, but false detection rates and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple signaling detection capabilities (visual cue detection, audible cue detection, gestural cue detection) into a unified onboard receiver system. By combining these detection modes and processing them through integrated algorithms, the system can cross-validate signals and distinguish genuine hailing attempts from false cues, thereby maintaining high adaptability and accessibility while improving detection accuracy and reducing false positives through synergistic multi-modal processing.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, an indication is received through a user interface of an intention of a potential rider to use an autonomous vehicle. In response to the receipt of the indication, a hailing request is sent by a signaling mode to at least one autonomous vehicle that can receive the hailing request directly in accordance with the signaling mode.