Dynamic Re-Assignment of Ridesharing Vehicles

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . An automated ridesharing dispatch system, comprising:

a communications interface configured to:

receive ride requests from a first plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of users, wherein each ride request includes a starting point and a desired destination corresponding to each of the plurality of users;

receive location information from a second plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of ridesharing vehicles; and

at least one processor configured to:

assign a first ridesharing vehicle to pick-up a first group of the plurality of users;

determine pick-up locations for the first group of users, wherein for at least some of the first group of users, the determined pick-up locations differ from the starting points;

send data to the at least some of the first group of users to guide each user to a respective pick-up location different from a corresponding starting point of each said user;

use information received from a first communications device of a first user to predict when the first user will arrive the assigned first pick-up location;

prior to the first user arriving at a first pick-up location, cancel the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to the first user while maintaining the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to others of the first group of users;

predict when a second ridesharing vehicle may pass the first pick-up location;

compare the predicted passing time of the second ridesharing vehicle with the arrival time of the first user; and

re-assign the first user to the second ridesharing vehicle when the predicted passing time is after the predicted arrival time.

22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to continuously receive location information from the first and second pluralities of communication devices to estimate arrival times at respective pick-up locations, and to cancel the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when the estimated arrival time of the first ridesharing vehicle is before the estimate arrival time of the first user.

23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cancel the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when the estimated arrival time of the first ridesharing vehicle is more than a predetermined period of time before the estimated arrival time of the first user.

24 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to continuously receive location information from the first and second pluralities of communication devices to estimate arrival times at respective pick-up locations, to predict a delay in an arrival of the first ridesharing vehicle at the first pick-up location, and to cancel the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when a delay is predicted.

25 . The system of claim 24 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cancel the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when the predicted delay in arrival of the first ridesharing vehicle at the first pick-up location is more than a predetermined period of time compared to an original estimated arrival time of the first ridesharing vehicle at the first pick-up location.

26 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cancel the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle and re-assign the second rideshare vehicle in order to enable the first rideshare vehicle to pick-up a passenger not originally assigned to the first rideshare vehicle.

27 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to re-assign the second rideshare vehicle in order to minimize a total waiting time of the plurality of users.

28 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to automatically update a route of the first ridesharing vehicle after cancelling the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to the first user.

29 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to automatically update a route of the second ridesharing vehicle after the re-assigning of the first user.

30 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to guide the second ridesharing vehicle to the first pick-up location.

31 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the second ridesharing vehicle is carrying at least one second user while being assigning to the first user.

32 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to assign the first user to the second ridesharing vehicle based on a current location of the second ridesharing vehicle and a desired destination of the at least one second user.

33 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to change at least one drop-off location of the at least one second user after assignment of the second ridesharing vehicle to the first user.

34 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to assign to the second ridesharing vehicle already transporting at least four second users for simultaneous transportation with the first user.

35 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send to at least some of the first group of users walking directions to the respective pick-up locations.

36 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send to at least some of the first group of users at least one of a location and an address of the respective pick-up locations.

37 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the information used for predicting when the first user will arrive at the assigned first pick-up location is derived from the ride request.

38 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the information used for predicting when the first user will arrive at the assigned first pick-up location is derived from a GPS of the first communications device.

39 . 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 ride requests from a first plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of users, wherein each ride request includes a starting point and a desired destination;

receiving location information from a second plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of ridesharing vehicles;

assigning a first ridesharing vehicle to pick-up a first group of the plurality of users;

determining pick-up locations for the first group of users, wherein for at least some of the first group of users, the determined pick-up locations differ from the starting points;

sending data to the at least some of the first group of users to guide each user to a respective pick-up location different from a corresponding starting point of each said user;

using information received from a first communications device of a first user to predict when the first user will arrive the first pick-up location;

prior to the first user arriving at a first pick-up location, cancelling the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to the first user while maintaining the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to others of the first group of users;

predicting when a second ridesharing vehicle may pass the first pick-up location;

comparing the predicted passing time with the arrival time of the first user; and

re-assigning the first user to the second ridesharing vehicle when the predicted passing time is after the predicted arrival time.

40 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 39 , wherein the method further comprises:

cancelling the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when an estimated arrival time of the first ridesharing vehicle is more than a predetermined period of time before an estimate arrival time of the first user.

41 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 39 , wherein the method further comprises:

cancelling the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle when a predicted delay in arrival of the first ridesharing vehicle at the first pick-up location is more than a predetermined period of time compared to an original estimated arrival time of the first ridesharing vehicle at the first pick-up location.

42 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 39 , wherein the method further comprises:

cancelling the assignment of the first rideshare vehicle and re-assigning the second rideshare vehicle in order to enable the first rideshare vehicle to pick-up a passenger not originally assigned to the first rideshare vehicle.

43 . An automated ridesharing dispatch system, comprising:

a communications interface configured to:

receive ride requests from a first plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of users, wherein each ride request includes a starting point and a desired destination corresponding to each of the plurality of users;

receive location information from a second plurality of communication devices associated with a plurality of ridesharing vehicles; and

at least one processor configured to:

assign a first ridesharing vehicle to pick-up a group of the plurality of users;

determine pick-up locations for the group of users, wherein for at least some of the group of the plurality of users, the determined pick-up locations differ from the starting points;

send data to the group of the plurality of users indicating appointed pick-up times at the determined pick-up locations;

use information received from at least one of the plurality of ridesharing vehicles to predict when the first ridesharing vehicle will arrive to a first pick-up location assigned to a first user;

prior to a first pick-up time associated with the first user, estimate that the first ridesharing vehicle is going to be late to the first pick-up location by more than a time threshold;

identify a second ridesharing vehicle to be assigned to pick-up the first user;

cancel the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to the first user while maintaining the assignment of the first ridesharing vehicle to others of the group of the plurality of users; and

assign the second ridesharing vehicle to pick up the first user.

44 . The system of claim 43 , wherein the time threshold has a value between 5 minutes and 20 minutes after the first pick-up time.

45 . The system of claim 43 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the second ridesharing vehicle can pick up the first user before the first ridesharing vehicle.

46 . The system of claim 43 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that, by assigning the second ridesharing vehicle to pick up the first user, a first time delay of at least one passenger riding in the first ridesharing vehicle is lower than a second time delay of the at least one passenger when the first user is assigned to the first ridesharing vehicle.

47 . The system of claim 43 , wherein the information used to predict when the first ridesharing vehicle will arrive at the first pick-up location includes GPS data from the first ridesharing vehicle.

48 . The system of claim 43 , wherein the information used to predict when the first ridesharing vehicle will arrive at the first pick-up location includes real-time traffic updates from the plurality of ridesharing vehicles.

49 . The system of claim 46 , wherein the first time delay is higher than the second time delay by a threshold.

50 . The system of claim 49 , where the threshold is twelve minutes.

51 - 184 . (canceled)