Identifying cost-effective parking for an autonomous vehicle

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a vehicle parking module stored in memory and executing on a processor using one or more sensors, a predetermined pick up notification warning period by receiving the predetermined pick up notification warning period from a user of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the predetermined pick up notification warning period represents an amount of time that the user of the autonomous vehicle can wait between instructing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to a predetermined pick up location and the autonomous vehicle arriving at the predetermined pick up location;

identifying, by a vehicle parking module, in dependence upon available parking spots accessible from the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period, a plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, the plurality of available parking spots located a distance able to be navigated in a route to the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period;

determining, by the vehicle parking module, a total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, wherein determining, by the vehicle parking module, the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle comprises:

determining, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a first cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from its current location to the parking spot; and

determining, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a second cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from the parking spot to the predetermined pick up location; and

selecting, by the vehicle parking module, a target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising reserving, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises selecting the available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises selecting a reservable available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying, by the vehicle parking module, the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises determining, by the vehicle parking module, the predetermined pick up location.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the target parking spot further includes selecting the target parking spot in dependence upon a likelihood associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots that a parking spot of the plurality of available parking spots will become unavailable.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the target parking spot further includes selecting the target parking spot in dependence upon availability of other parking spots that are proximate to each of the plurality of available parking spots in an event that a parking spot of the plurality of available parking spots becomes unavailable.

8. An apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to:

determine, by a vehicle parking module stored in memory and executing on a processor using one or more sensors, a predetermined pick up notification warning period by receiving the predetermined pick up notification warning period from a user of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the predetermined pick up notification warning period represents an amount of time that the user of the autonomous vehicle can wait between instructing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to a predetermined pick up location and the autonomous vehicle arriving at the predetermined pick up location;

identifying, by a vehicle parking module, in dependence upon available parking spots accessible from the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period, a plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, the plurality of available parking spots located a distance able to be navigated in a route to the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period;

determine, by the vehicle parking module, a total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, wherein determine, by the vehicle parking module, the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle comprises:

determine, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a first cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from its current location to the parking spot; and

determine, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a second cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from the parking spot to the predetermined pick up location; and

select, by the vehicle parking module, a target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to reserve, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein select, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises select the available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein select, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises select a reservable available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein identify, by the vehicle parking module, the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises determine, by the vehicle parking module, the predetermined pick up location.

13. A computer program product including a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out:

determining, by a vehicle parking module stored in memory and executing on a processor using one or more sensors, a predetermined pick up notification warning period by receiving the predetermined pick up notification warning period from a user of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the predetermined pick up notification warning period represents an amount of time that the user of the autonomous vehicle can wait between instructing the autonomous vehicle to navigate to a predetermined pick up location and the autonomous vehicle arriving at the predetermined pick up location;

identifying, by a vehicle parking module, in dependence upon available parking spots accessible from the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period, a plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, the plurality of available parking spots located a distance able to be navigated in a route to the predetermined pick up location within the predetermined pick up notification warning period;

determining, by the vehicle parking module, a total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle, wherein determining, by the vehicle parking module, the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle comprises:

determining, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a first cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from its current location to the parking spot; and

determining, by the vehicle parking module for each of the plurality of available parking spots, a second cost associated with navigating the autonomous vehicle from the parking spot to the predetermined pick up location; and

selecting, by the vehicle parking module, a target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to carry reserving, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein selecting, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises selecting the available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein selecting, by the vehicle parking module, the target parking spot in dependence upon the total cost associated with each of the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises selecting a reservable available parking spot associated with the lowest total cost.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein identifying, by the vehicle parking module, the plurality of available parking spots for parking the autonomous vehicle further comprises determining, by the vehicle parking module, the predetermined pick up location.