IP Library Granted Patent US 11,062,535
Granted Patent B2
US 11,062,535 · App. 16/554,711 · Granted Jul 13, 2021

Vehicle management system

Inventors: Scott Poeppel (Pittsburgh, PA); Nicholas G. Letwin (Pittsburgh, PA); Sean K. Kelly (Pittsburgh, PA)
Assignee: UATC, LLC
G07C5/0808G06Q10/047G06Q10/0631G06Q10/20G07C5/008G07C5/0825
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,062,535
App. No.
16/554,711
Granted
Jul 13, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems, methods, and vehicles for taking a vehicle out-of-service are provided. In one example embodiment, a method includes obtaining, by one or more computing devices on-board an autonomous vehicle, data indicative of one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle is configured to provide a vehicle service to one or more users of the vehicle service. The method includes determining, by the computing devices, an existence of a fault associated with the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle. The method includes determining, by the computing devices, one or more actions to be performed by the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the existence of the fault. The method includes performing, by the computing devices, one or more of the actions to take the autonomous vehicle out-of-service based at least in part on the fault.

Claims (46)

1. A computer-implemented method of taking a vehicle out-of-service, comprising:

obtaining, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, data indicative of one or more parameters associated with an autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide a transportation service;

determining, by the computing system and based at least in part on the one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle, an existence of a fault associated with the autonomous vehicle;

determining, by the computing system and based at least in part on the existence of the fault, that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service; and

in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service, removing, by the computing system, the autonomous vehicle from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the computing system to the autonomous vehicle, data indicating that the autonomous vehicle has been removed from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of autonomous vehicles comprises a pool of vehicles that are designated as available to provide the transportation service to one or more users.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service comprises:

receiving, by the computing system from the autonomous vehicle, a request for confirmation of the existence of the fault.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service comprises:

determining, by the computing system, a level of severity of the fault based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the fault; and

determining, by the computing system, an operational state of the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the level of severity of the fault, wherein the operational state is indicative of whether the autonomous vehicle is in condition to provide the transportation service.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the operational state indicates that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the operational state indicates that the autonomous vehicle is in condition to complete a provision of the transportation service to one or more current users before being removed from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the computing system to the autonomous vehicle, data indicative of one or more maintenance locations.

9. A computing system for taking a vehicle out-of-service, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

obtaining data indicative of one or more parameters associated with an autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide a transportation service;

determining, based at least in part on the one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle, an existence of a fault associated with the autonomous vehicle;

determining, based at least in part on the existence of the fault, that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service; and

in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service, removing the autonomous vehicle from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

10. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

providing data to the autonomous vehicle indicating that the autonomous vehicle has been removed from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

11. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein removing the autonomous vehicle from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service comprises:

removing the autonomous vehicle from a service queue associated with the transportation service.

12. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service comprises:

receiving a request for confirmation of the existence of the fault.

13. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

providing one or more control command signals to the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to initiate travel to a maintenance location.

14. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the parameters is indicative of an amount of available data storage on-board the autonomous vehicle.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein:

determining the existence of the fault is based at least in part on a comparison of the one or more parameters to one or more thresholds; and

the one or more thresholds include at least one threshold indicative of a threshold amount of data storage.

16. One or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media that collectively store instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

obtaining data indicative of one or more parameters associated with an autonomous vehicle of a plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide a transportation service;

determining, based at least in part on the one or more parameters associated with the autonomous vehicle, an existence of a fault associated with the autonomous vehicle;

determining, based at least in part on the existence of the fault, that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service; and

in response to determining that the autonomous vehicle is not in condition to provide the transportation service, removing the autonomous vehicle from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

17. The one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of vehicles are associated with a service provider.

18. The one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein the one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media are associated with the service provider.

19. The one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

providing data to the autonomous vehicle indicating that the autonomous vehicle has been removed from the plurality of autonomous vehicles designated as available to provide the transportation service.

20. The one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the one or more parameters are associated with one or more image capture devices of the autonomous vehicle that are configured to acquire image data to be used for operation of the autonomous vehicle, and wherein the fault is associated with storing the image data.

Assignments (7)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 14, 2024
From: UATC, LLC
To: AURORA OPERATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 067733/0001 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE TO REMOVE THE LINE THROUGH APPLICATION/SERIAL NUMBERS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 054805 FRAME: 0001. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Jul 20, 2022
From: UATC, LLC
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 060776/0897 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE INCLUSION OF SEVERAL SERIAL NUMBERS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 054805 FRAME: 0002. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Jan 12, 2022
From: UATC, LLC
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 058717/0527 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 8, 2021
From: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: UATC, LLC
Reel/Frame 054940/0279 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 18, 2020
From: UATC, LLC
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 054805/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 2, 2020
From: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: UATC, LLC
Reel/Frame 054637/0041 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 3, 2019
From: POEPPEL, SCOTT C.; LETWIN, NICHOLAS G.; KELLY, SEAN J.
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 050251/0268 →