Transit Computing System for Eco-Friendly Trip Planning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to provide an all-in-one service for planning trips based on environmental impact, as they do not offer users the ability to select and purchase travel options with associated environmental data within the same platform, leading to continued use of less environmentally friendly options and lack of awareness about alternative, lower-emission choices.
Innovation Solution
A transit computing system that receives trip data from users, determines travel options with projected environmental impacts, displays these options, and allows users to select and pay for the most environmentally friendly option within the same system, integrating with payment networks for transaction processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate systems are used for trip planning, environmental impact assessment, and transaction processing, then each system can be optimized independently, but the service complexity increases and user convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines trip planning, environmental impact assessment, and transaction processing into a single integrated transit computing system. The system receives trip requests, calculates multiple travel options with their environmental impacts, presents them to users, and processes transactions all through one unified platform, eliminating the need for users to switch between multiple separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The transit computing system performs multiple functions: it acts as a trip planning tool, an environmental impact calculator, a recommendation engine, and a transaction processor. This multi-functional approach allows a single system to replace what would traditionally require multiple separate systems, reducing service complexity while maintaining comprehensive capabilities.
2Ease of operation
If traditional travel planning systems are used without environmental impact data, then the system simplicity is maintained, but user environmental awareness and ability to make eco-friendly choices are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates environmental impact data for all available travel options before presenting them to the user. By preparing this information in advance as part of the trip planning process, the system makes environmental data readily available without requiring additional user actions or separate assessment steps, thus maintaining simplicity while providing comprehensive information.
Solution Approach 2:
The transit computing system acts as an intermediary that automatically gathers, calculates, and presents environmental impact data between the user and travel options. This mediator function provides environmental information seamlessly integrated into the trip planning interface, eliminating the need for users to separately seek out environmental data while keeping the interface simple and unified.
3Loss of information
If environmental impact data is provided for travel options, then user environmental awareness is improved, but the computational requirements and system processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates environmental impact metrics for all travel options when the trip request is initially received, rather than computing them on-demand during user interaction. This preliminary computation approach consolidates the computational load into a single initial processing phase, reducing ongoing energy requirements while ensuring environmental data is immediately available for user decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A transit computing (TC) system for determining travel options is provided. The TC system includes at least one TC device including at least one processor communicatively coupled to a database configured to receive a request including trip data including a start location and an end location. The at least one processor is also configured to determine at least one travel option, wherein each travel option is associated with a mode of travel, and determine, for each travel option, at least one projected environmental trip detail, including a respective projected emissions output for each travel option. The at least one processor is further configured to receive user selection of a selected travel option and process, based on the user selection, at least one transaction associated with the selected travel option, wherein the at least one transaction includes a payment and confirmation, sent to the user computing device, of the payment.