PURPOSEFUL UNDER-UTILIZATION OF VEHICLE CAPACITY IN A RIDESHARING FLEET
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for managing a fleet of ridesharing vehicles. In one implementation, the system may include a communications interface configured to receive requests for shared rides from a plurality of users; a memory configured to store indications of passenger-capacity for specific ridesharing vehicles in the fleet; and at least one processor configured to receive information from the communications interface and access the memory The at least one processor may be further configured to assign, to ridesharing vehicles already transporting users, additional users for simultaneous transportation in the ridesharing vehicles; track a current utilized capacity of each specific ridesharing vehicle; and implement a threshold block that prevents assignment of additional users to a ridesharing vehicle when the ridesharing vehicle's current utilized capacity is above a threshold being less than the ridesharing vehicle's passenger-capacity.
1 . A system for managing a fleet of ridesharing vehicles, the system comprising:
a communications interface configured to receive requests for shared rides from a plurality of users;
memory configured to store indications of passenger-capacity for specific ridesharing vehicles in the fleet;
at least one processor configured to receive information from the communications interface, access the memory, and:
assign, to ridesharing vehicles already transporting users, additional users for simultaneous transportation in the ridesharing vehicles;
track a current utilized capacity of each specific ridesharing vehicle; and
implement a threshold block that prevents assignment of additional users to a ridesharing vehicle when the ridesharing vehicle's current utilized capacity is above a threshold being less than the ridesharing vehicle's passenger-capacity.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to implement the threshold block to prevent at least 20% of the specific vehicle's capacity from being utilized.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory is further configured to store information about the ridesharing vehicle.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a value for the threshold based on information stored in the memory, the value is specific to each ridesharing vehicle.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the determined value for a specific ridesharing vehicle is one seat less than the passenger-capacity of the specific ridesharing vehicle.
6 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the determined value for a specific ridesharing vehicle is two seats less than the passenger-capacity of the specific ridesharing vehicle.
7 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the determined value for a specific ridesharing vehicle is three seats less than the passenger-capacity of the specific ridesharing vehicle.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein when a specific ridesharing vehicle has more than ten seats the determined value for the specific ridesharing vehicle is less than ten seats.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to override the threshold block in response to a received indication of an inclement weather condition.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to override the threshold block override in response to a received indication of a special event condition.
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to override the threshold block when an estimated time in which the ridesharing vehicle's utilized capacity is above the threshold is less than a predefined period of time.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to override the threshold block in response to a received indication of an unscheduled-user condition.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cancel the assignment of a first rideshare vehicle and re-assign a second rideshare vehicle in order to enable the first rideshare vehicle to pick-up a passenger not originally assigned to the first rideshare vehicle.
14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to implement the threshold block across a fleet of ridesharing vehicles.
15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to track passengers' luggage capable of impacting capacity of the ridesharing vehicle.
16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to track a passenger's physical condition capable of impacting capacity of the ridesharing vehicle.
17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for managing a fleet of ridesharing vehicles, the method comprising:
receiving via a communications interface requests for shared rides from a plurality of users;
accessing a memory configured to store indications of passenger-capacity for specific ridesharing vehicles in the fleet;
assigning, to ridesharing vehicles already transporting users, additional users for simultaneous transportation in the ridesharing vehicles;
tracking a current utilized capacity of each specific ridesharing vehicle; and
implementing a threshold block that prevents assignment of additional users to a ridesharing vehicle when the ridesharing vehicle's current utilized capacity is above a threshold being less than the ridesharing vehicle's passenger-capacity.
18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
overriding the threshold block in response to at least one of: a received indication of an inclement weather condition, a received indication of a special event condition, and a received indication of an unscheduled-user condition.
19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a value for the threshold based on stored information about a capacity of the ridesharing vehicle.
20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
overriding the threshold block when an estimated time for which the ridesharing vehicle's utilized capacity is above the threshold is projected to be less than a predefined period of time.
21 - 184 . (canceled)