Rideshare service fleet optimization using vehicle sensor data

Abstract

A method is described and includes acquiring sensor data produced by sensors of a plurality of vehicles traversing an area including a location of a user, wherein the vehicles traversing the area comprise a subset of a fleet of vehicles for providing rideshare services; processing the acquired sensor data to determine a category of the user; selecting a vehicle from the fleet of vehicles based on the category of the user, wherein the selected vehicle comprises at least one accommodation corresponding to the category of the user; and dispatching the selected vehicle to a pick-up location designated by the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 acquiring sensor data produced by sensors of a plurality of vehicles traversing a rideshare service area, the plurality of vehicles comprising a portion of a fleet of vehicles for providing rideshare services;   processing the acquired sensor data to determine accommodation needs of users located in the rideshare service area as detected using the acquired sensor data;   selecting a second plurality of vehicles from the fleet of vehicles, wherein the second plurality of vehicles comprise accommodations that meet the determined accommodation needs; and   dispatching the second plurality of vehicles to the rideshare service area.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, subsequent to the dispatching, communicating information to at least one of the users in the rideshare service area using a mobile app. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the communicating occurs subsequent to a rideshare request by the at least one of the users using the mobile app, wherein the rideshare request identifies a pick-up location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the information comprises information regarding accommodations provided by a particular one of the second plurality of vehicles dispatched to a pickup location selected by the at least one user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the accommodations provided the particular one of the second plurality of vehicles meet the accommodation needs of the at least one of the users. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the information comprises an estimated time of arrival of the particular vehicle of the second plurality of vehicles at the pick-up location selected by the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the accommodation needs comprise accommodations for at least one of a wheelchair, large cargo, a bicycle, a child, an infant, and an animal. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the accommodation needs comprise accommodations for a group of individuals. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented system comprising:
 a processor; and   one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 acquiring sensor data produced by sensors of a plurality of vehicles traversing a rideshare service area, the plurality of vehicles comprising a portion of a fleet of vehicles for providing rideshare services; 
 processing the acquired sensor data to determine accommodation needs of users located in the rideshare service area as detected using the acquired sensor data; 
 identifying a second plurality of vehicles from the fleet of vehicles, wherein the second plurality of vehicles comprise accommodations that meet the determined accommodation needs; and 
 dispatching the second plurality of vehicles to the rideshare service area. 
   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise, subsequent to the dispatching, communicating information to at least one of the users in the rideshare service area using a mobile app. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 10 , wherein the communicating occurs subsequent to a rideshare request by the at least one of the users using the mobile app, wherein the rideshare request identifies a pick-up location. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 11 , wherein the information comprises information regarding accommodations provided by a particular one of the second plurality of vehicles dispatched to a pickup location selected by the at least one user. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 12 , wherein the accommodations provided the particular one of the second plurality of vehicles meet the accommodation needs of the at least one of the users. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 9 , wherein the accommodation needs comprise accommodations for at least one of a wheelchair, large cargo, a bicycle, a child, an infant, an animal, and a group of individuals. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 9 , wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 9 , wherein the sensors comprise at least one of a computer vision (CV) sensor and a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor. 
     
     
         17 . A dispatch system for a fleet of autonomous vehicles for providing rideshare services, the dispatch system configured to:
 process sensor data acquired by a plurality of autonomous vehicles comprising a portion of the fleet of autonomous vehicles traversing a rideshare service area associated with the dispatch system;   process the acquired sensor data to determine accommodation needs of users located in the rideshare service area as detected using the acquired sensor data;   select a second plurality of autonomous vehicles from the fleet of autonomous vehicles, wherein the second plurality of autonomous vehicles comprise accommodations that meet the determined accommodation needs; and   dispatch the second plurality of autonomous vehicles to the rideshare service area.   
     
     
         18 . The dispatch system of  claim 17 , wherein the dispatch system is further configured to communicate information to at least one of the users in the rideshare service area using a mobile app subsequent to receiving a rideshare request from the at least one of the users, wherein the rideshare request identifies a pick-up location. 
     
     
         19 . The dispatch system of  claim 18 , wherein the information comprises information regarding accommodations provided by a particular one of the second plurality of vehicles dispatched to the identified pick-up location, wherein the accommodations provided the particular one of the second plurality of vehicles meet the accommodation needs of the at least one of the users. 
     
     
         20 . The dispatch system of  claim 17 , wherein the sensor data comprises at least one of computer vision (CV) data and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data.