Floating Fleet Car-Sharing System for Gated Parking Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing car-sharing systems require users to pick up and drop off vehicles at dedicated locations, which can be inconvenient due to potential distance from the user's location and destination, leading to additional transportation needs.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle floating fleet system that allows users to pick up and drop off car-sharing vehicles at any gated parking facility, utilizing a server computing device and user interface to determine vehicle locations and facilitate rentals and returns within nearby facilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users pick up and drop off vehicles at dedicated locations, then vehicle management and tracking are simplified, but the distance users need to travel increases and convenience decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system transforms dedicated pick-up and drop-off locations into universal gated parking facilities where users can perform both operations. Any gated parking facility becomes a potential vehicle access point, allowing users to pick up and drop off vehicles at multiple locations rather than being restricted to specific dedicated sites.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically determines vehicle locations and availability at multiple gated parking facilities based on real-time data. The server computing device continuously updates vehicle positions and communicates availability to users, enabling flexible pick-up and drop-off decisions based on current conditions rather than fixed location assignments.
2Reliability
If vehicles are restricted to dedicated pick-up and drop-off locations, then fleet control and monitoring are improved, but vehicle distribution across the service area deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the fleet management function across multiple gated parking facilities rather than concentrating control at a single dedicated location. Each facility becomes an independent node where vehicles can be picked up and dropped off, with the server computing device coordinating across all segments to maintain overall fleet control.
Solution Approach 2:
The server computing device acts as an intermediary that maintains fleet control and monitoring while enabling distributed vehicle access. It receives location data from multiple facilities, determines vehicle availability, and communicates with users to coordinate pick-up and drop-off operations across the distributed network of gated parking facilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments herein are directed to a vehicle floating fleet vehicle system for determining a location of a user and one or more car-sharing vehicles. The system includes a server computing device operated by a floating fleet service provider. The server computing device includes at least one processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and machine readable instructions stored in the memory. The machine readable instructions cause the vehicle floating fleet system to perform at least the following when executed by the at least one processor receive a request for the one or more car-sharing vehicles, determine the one or more car-sharing vehicles in one or more nearby gated parking facilities, send information about the one or more car-sharing vehicles to the user, and receive a selected car-sharing vehicle in a nearby gated parking facility of the one or more nearby gated parking facilities from the user.