Autonomous Vehicle Drop-Off Guidance for Rider Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous vehicle riders often experience confusion and disorientation upon drop-off, struggling to determine their exact location and navigate to their final destination, leading to inefficiencies and potential difficulties in reaching their intended location.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of sensors such as seat sensors, camera sensors, and inertial measurement units in autonomous vehicles to determine a rider's relative position and provide visual and audio cues for exiting the vehicle, along with augmented reality wayfinding experiences, to guide riders to their final destination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If autonomous vehicles provide basic drop-off service without additional guidance systems, then device complexity is reduced, but rider orientation and navigation efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary guidance system that includes sensors, processors, and output devices positioned within the vehicle. This intermediary system mediates between the autonomous vehicle's drop-off function and the rider's need for orientation, providing directional guidance without requiring complex infrastructure changes. The guidance system acts as a bridge that translates vehicle location data into rider-friendly directional information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical navigation aids (such as physical maps or manual direction-giving) with an electronic sensor-based guidance system. The system uses sensors to detect rider orientation and provides automated directional feedback, substituting mechanical or human intervention with an electronic automated system that reduces complexity while improving ease of operation.
2Productivity
If autonomous vehicles implement comprehensive sensor systems and wayfinding guidance, then rider navigation efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guidance system is designed to perform multiple functions: detecting rider orientation, determining vehicle location, providing directional guidance, and adapting to different rider preferences. By consolidating these functions into a single multi-functional system, the patent improves navigation efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity. The same sensor array serves multiple purposes, from orientation detection to guidance provision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects rider orientation and provides directional guidance without requiring manual input from the rider. The sensors continuously monitor rider position and the processor automatically calculates and communicates the appropriate direction to the final destination, enabling the system to serve itself and the rider efficiently without complex manual intervention mechanisms.
3Loss of time
If autonomous vehicles provide only minimal drop-off information, then device complexity is minimized, but rider confusion and time loss increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides directional guidance information to the rider before the vehicle completes its drop-off journey. By preliminarily informing the rider of the direction to the final destination and the expected walk distance, the system allows the rider to mentally prepare and plan their post-vehicle navigation, reducing confusion and time loss upon exiting the vehicle.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously provides feedback to the rider about their orientation relative to the final destination. Through sensors that detect rider position and processors that calculate directional information, the system delivers real-time feedback about which direction to proceed and how far the rider needs to walk, enabling the rider to make informed navigation decisions and reach their destination more efficiently.
Data Source
AI summary
An example method for assisting autonomous vehicle (AV) riders reach their destination after drop-off can include navigating the AV to a drop-off location associated with a user in the AV, receiving sensor data from sensors associated with the AV, determining, based on the sensor data, an orientation of the user in the AV and a location of the AV relative to a final destination of the user, generating a recommendation for how to exit the AV at the drop-off location based on the orientation of the user in the AV and the location of the AV relative to the final destination of the user, and providing the recommendation via a display, a speaker, a light-emitting device, and/or a client device, the recommendation including a visual indication of an exit direction or an AV door to use to exit the AV, audio instructions for exiting the AV, and/or visual exit instructions.