COUNTING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS ENTERING A RIDESHARING VEHICLE
A ridesharing vehicle, comprising a vehicle body; a communications interface within the vehicle body for wirelessly communicating with a remote server configured to electronically receive shared-ride requests from a plurality of users; at least one sensor associated with the vehicle body and configured to detect entry of passengers from the ridesharing vehicle; at least one processor within the vehicle body, the at least one processor being programmed to receive, via the communications interface, information about passengers to be picked up, the received information including a pick-up location and a scheduled number of passengers expected to be picked up at the pick-up location; after arriving at the pick-up location, receive from the at least one sensor a number of passengers actually picked up at the pick-up location; compare the actual number of passengers picked up at the pick-up location with the scheduled number of passengers; and initiate a remedial action when a difference exists between the scheduled number of passengers and the actual number of passengers as detected by the at least one sensor.
1 . A ridesharing vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body;
a communications interface within the vehicle body for wirelessly communicating with a remote server configured to electronically receive shared-ride requests from a plurality of users;
at least one sensor associated with the vehicle body and configured to detect entry of passengers from the ridesharing vehicle;
at least one processor within the vehicle body, the at least one processor being programmed to:
receive, via the communications interface, information about passengers to be picked up, the received information including a pick-up location and a scheduled number of passengers expected to be picked up at the pick-up location;
after arriving at the pick-up location, receive from the at least one sensor a number of passengers actually picked up at the pick-up location;
compare the actual number of passengers picked up at the pick-up location with the scheduled number of passengers; and
initiate a remedial action when a difference exists between the scheduled number of passengers and the actual number of passengers as detected by the at least one sensor.
2 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the remedial action includes providing at least one of audio or visual feedback within the ridesharing vehicle.
3 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the remedial action includes wirelessly transmitting an indication of the difference to the remote server.
4 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the indication enables the remote server to reassign a pending pickup to a ridesharing vehicle.
5 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the indication enables the remote server to take into account the current number of passengers in the vehicle when making future assignments of passengers to the ridesharing vehicle.
6 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the remedial action includes identifying an unscheduled passenger and determining a desired destination of the unscheduled passenger.
7 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of: an infrared sensor, a volumetric sensor, a weight sensor, a proximity sensor, and an image sensor.
8 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to facilitate determination of identities of passengers.
9 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor includes an image sensor, and wherein facilitating determination includes comparing image data from the image sensor with image-related data wirelessly received.
10 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor includes an image sensor, and wherein facilitating determination includes causing data from the image sensor to be wirelessly transmitted to a remote server for passenger identity confirmation at the remote server.
11 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to receive, via the communications interface, identifying information from a mobile communications device of a passenger and to thereby confirm an identity of the passenger based on data obtained from the mobile communications device.
12 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the information about passengers to be picked up includes an indication of scheduled passenger's luggage capable of impacting capacity of the ridesharing vehicle.
13 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the information about passengers to be picked up includes details of at least two shared-ride requests associated with the scheduled number of passengers expected to be picked up at the pick-up location; and the at least one processor is further configured to identify which of the at least two shared-ride requests associated with the difference exists between the scheduled number of passengers and the actual number of passengers.
14 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:
after arriving at the pick-up location, receive from the at least one sensor an indication of passenger's luggage actually picked up at the pick-up location;
compare the actual passenger's luggage picked up at the pick-up location with the scheduled passenger's luggage associated with the pick-up location; and
initiate a remedial action when a difference exists between the scheduled passenger's luggage received via the wireless connection and the actual passenger's luggage as detected by the at least one sensor.
15 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive, via the communications interface, information about a drop-off location and a number of passengers scheduled to departure at the drop-off location.
16 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the at least one sensor is further configured to detect one or more passengers exiting from the ridesharing vehicle and the at least one processor is further programmed to:
after arriving at the drop-off location, receive from the at least one sensor a number of passengers actually departed at the drop-off location;
compare the actual number of passengers departed at the drop-off location with the scheduled number of passengers associated with the drop-off location; and
initiate a remedial action when a difference exists between the number of passengers scheduled to departure at the drop-off location and the actual number of passengers departed at the drop-off location.
17 . The ridesharing vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the remedial action includes a first action if the scheduled number of passengers is less than the actual number of passengers as detected by the at least one sensor, and the remedial action includes a second action if the scheduled number of passengers is greater than the actual number of passengers as detected by the at least one sensor, the first action being different from the second action.
18 . A method for counting a number of passengers entering a ridesharing vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving from a remote server information about passengers to be picked up, the received information including a pick-up location and a scheduled number of passengers expected to be picked up at the pick-up location;
receiving, from at least one sensor configured to detect entry of passengers from the ridesharing vehicle, a number of passengers actually picked up at the pick-up location;
comparing the actual number of passengers picked up at the pick-up location with the scheduled number of passengers; and
initiating a remedial action when a difference exists between the scheduled number of passengers and the actual number of passengers as detected by the at least one sensor.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the remedial action includes wirelessly transmitting the difference to the remote server.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein communicating the difference is provided to enable the remote server to take into account the current number of passengers in the vehicle when making future assignments of passengers to the ridesharing vehicle.
21 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the remedial action includes identifying an unscheduled passenger and determining a desired destination of the unscheduled passenger.
22 . 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 counting a number of passengers entering a ridesharing vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving from a remote server information about passengers to be picked up, including a pick-up location and a scheduled number of passengers expected to be picked up at the pick-up location;
receiving, from at least one sensor configured to detect entry of passengers from the ridesharing vehicle, a number of passengers actually picked up at the pick-up location;
comparing the actual number of passengers picked up at the pick-up location with the scheduled number of passengers; and
initiating a remedial action when a difference exists between the scheduled number of passengers and the actual number of passengers.
23 - 127 . (canceled)