Multi-Modal Car Sharing Routing System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current car-hailing and car-sharing services face challenges such as high costs, long travel times, and inconvenient access due to limitations in service availability and station locations, particularly when users have different pickup and drop-off points or when stations are far from their locations.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that combine car-hailing and car-sharing services by identifying optimal routes and prioritizing them based on factors like the number of cars, traffic congestion, returnability of vehicles, distance, fare, and waiting time, allowing for seamless transitions between services to minimize user wait and travel time and maximize driver profit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If car-hailing service is used for long-distance travel, then user mobility is ensured, but service cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the journey into multiple phases: car-hailing from origin to nearest car-sharing station, car-sharing for intermediate travel, and car-hailing from nearest car-sharing station to destination. This segmentation allows users to leverage cost-effective car-sharing for long-distance segments while using car-hailing only for short access/egress portions, thereby reducing overall service cost while maintaining mobility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges car-hailing and car-sharing services into an integrated multi-modal transportation solution. The system automatically combines both services in a single journey, allowing users to benefit from the cost advantages of car-sharing while retaining the convenience of car-hailing for point-to-point transportation, thus optimizing the cost-mobility trade-off.
2Area of stationary object
If car-sharing station is located far from user's present location, then service coverage is expanded, but user accessibility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces car-hailing service as an intermediary transportation mode that bridges the gap between user locations and car-sharing stations. Instead of requiring users to physically access distant car-sharing stations, the system uses car-hailing to transport users to the nearest station, thereby maintaining service coverage expansion while preserving user accessibility through on-demand door-to-door transportation.
3Productivity
If users gather at predetermined car stand for car-sharing, then vehicle sharing efficiency is improved, but user travel convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically identifying and routing users to the nearest car-sharing stations before they need to use the service. By pre-calculating optimal routes and proactively guiding users to nearby stations via car-hailing, the system maintains high vehicle sharing efficiency while eliminating the need for users to actively seek out or travel to distant predetermined car stands, thus preserving travel convenience.
4Ease of operation
If car-hailing service is used for all trips, then user convenience is maximized, but service cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the service parameter from single-mode car-hailing to a dynamic multi-mode combination of car-hailing and car-sharing. The system automatically adjusts the service mix based on trip characteristics, user preferences, and real-time conditions, allowing users to maintain convenience through door-to-door car-hailing segments while reducing costs by substituting car-sharing for intermediate long-distance portions where convenience requirements are lower.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for providing a car sharing service includes a processor configured to: extract at least one car-sharing station candidate between a departure point and a destination point; generate at least one route that combines and provides a car-hailing service and a car-sharing service from the departure point to the destination point; determine a priority of the at least one route using at least one of a number of cars providing the car-hailing service, a car-hailing success probability, a state whether traffic is congested around the car-sharing station candidate, a state whether it is possible to return the car, a distance from the car-sharing station candidate to the destination point, a distance from the departure point to the car-sharing station candidate, a fare by the route, a driving distance, an estimate driving time, or an estimate waiting time; and provide the determined priority to a user terminal.