Autonomous Taxi Gesture Recognition and Passenger Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomous taxi systems face inefficiencies in utilizing fleets and prolonging passenger wait times, as they lack effective methods for recognizing and responding to hailing gestures and managing passenger requests efficiently.
Innovation Solution
An autonomously driving taxi equipped with an external camera arrangement and analysis module to capture and interpret hailing gestures, coupled with an external display to show a portrait image of the passenger, allowing for real-time communication and passenger management, even when the taxi is occupied, and integrated with a communication interface to relay information to other taxis in the system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If autonomous taxis operate without gesture recognition capability, then device complexity is reduced, but passenger pickup efficiency deteriorates and wait times increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the taxi fleet into multiple independent units, each equipped with gesture recognition capabilities. This allows parallel operation of multiple taxis to serve different passengers simultaneously, improving overall pickup efficiency without requiring a single complex centralized control system.
Solution Approach 2:
The gesture recognition system enables preliminary identification and confirmation of hailing passengers before the taxi arrives. The external display shows passenger portraits in advance, allowing the taxi to prepare for pickup and reducing actual wait time at the pickup location.
2Measurement precision
If external camera arrangement and analysis module are added to detect hailing gestures, then passenger pickup accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external camera arrangement serves multiple functions: detecting hailing gestures, capturing passenger portraits for display, and monitoring the surrounding environment. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized devices, mitigating the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The analysis module automatically processes camera images to detect gestures and extract passenger portraits without requiring manual intervention. The system self-manages the complex image processing tasks, reducing operational complexity despite the advanced computational requirements.
3Productivity
If external display is used to show passenger portraits, then communication efficiency with passengers is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external display operates periodically rather than continuously, activating only when a hailing gesture is detected or when the taxi is approaching a pickup location. This periodic operation maintains communication efficiency while significantly reducing overall energy consumption compared to continuous display operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomously driving taxi having a driving module for autonomous driving of the taxi based on sensors assigned to the driving module, wherein the taxi has an external camera arrangement for capturing images of surroundings of the taxi and an analysis module for analyzing the images of the surroundings of the taxi for a gesture that is interpreted as hailing a taxi, wherein the taxi includes an external display for displaying information outside the taxi and an external-display controller for displaying on the external display an image of the person associated with the gesture that is interpreted as hailing a taxi.