IP Library Granted Patent US 12,418,780
Granted Patent B2
US 12,418,780 · App. 17/946,824 · Granted Sep 16, 2025

Human assisted live operations systems and methods

Inventors: Theresa Foy (San Francisco, CA); Christopher Warren (Seattle, WA); Livia Johanna (San Francisco, CA); Bharatkumar Patel (Fremont, CA); Leah Meyerholtz (San Francisco, CA); Qingxuan Li (San Mateo, CA); David J. Shuckerow (Seattle, WA); MinJie Tong (Issaquah, WA); Vinayaka Dattatraya (Mill Creek, WA); Kendal Sparks (New York, NY); McKenna Morey (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: GM Cruise Holdings LLC
H04W4/40B60W50/14B60W60/0015B60W60/00253G06F3/0481G06F3/0484G06F3/165G06V40/28G09B21/006G09B21/009G10L13/02G10L15/005G10L15/18G10L15/22G10L25/51H04M3/51H04M3/56H04N7/181B60W2050/146B60W2420/403B60W2420/54B60W2540/21B60W2540/223B60W2555/20B60W2556/45G10L2015/088
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,418,780
App. No.
17/946,824
Granted
Sep 16, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

There is disclosed a method of operating an autonomous vehicle (AV), including: detecting an alert condition within the AV via data from an electronic sensor suite of the AV; based at least in part on detecting the alert condition, automatically initiating a call with another party; and communicatively coupling a passenger of the AV to the conference call, whereby the passenger can communicate with the other party via the conference call.

Claims (46)

1. A method of operating an autonomous vehicle (AV) for a ride-hail service, comprising:

determining an alert condition within the AV via electronic sensor data of the AV;

initiating a conference call that only an operator of the ride-hail service can terminate;

communicatively coupling a passenger of the AV to the conference call;

communicably coupling a further party to the conference call, whereby the passenger can communicate with the further party via the conference call but cannot terminate the call at will; and

providing and filtering data of the AV and/or the passenger of the AV to the further party.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a graphical user interface to allow a human agent of an operator of the ride-hail service to add and remove parties to the conference call.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conference call is initiated by the operator.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data of the AV comprises a live video stream from an internal or external camera of the AV.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data of the AV comprises seat weight data from a weight sensor within cabin seats of the AV.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

terminating the conference call for all parties coupled to the conference call by the operator when the alert condition is resolved.

7. An autonomous vehicle (AV) operator for a ride-hail service, comprising a processor circuit, a memory, and instructions encoded within the memory to instruct the processor circuit to:

determine an alert condition within an AV in a fleet of AVs providing the ride-hail service via electronic sensor data of the AV;

initiate a conference call that only an operator of the ride-hail service can terminate;

communicatively couple a passenger of the AV to the conference call;

communicably couple a further party to the conference call, whereby the passenger can communicate with the further party via the conference call but cannot terminate the call at will; and

proxy and regulate data of the AV and/or the passenger of the AV being provided to the further party.

8. An autonomous vehicle (AV) operator for a ride-hail service, comprising a processor circuit, a memory, and instructions encoded within the memory to instruct the processor circuit to:

determine an alert condition within an AV in a fleet of AVs providing the ride-hail service via electronic sensor data of the AV;

initiate a conference call that only an operator of the ride-hail service can terminate;

communicatively couple a passenger of the AV to the conference call;

communicably couple a further party to the conference call, whereby the passenger can communicate with the further party via the conference call; and

proxy and regulate data of the AV and/or the passenger of the AV being provided to the further party.

9. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are to further instruct the processor circuit to:

provide a graphical user interface to allow a human agent of an operator of the ride-hail service to add and remove parties to the conference call.

10. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the conference call is initiated without passenger intervention or initiation.

11. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the data of the AV comprises a live video stream from an internal or external camera of the AV.

12. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the data of the AV comprises seat weight data from a weight sensor within cabin seats in the AV.

13. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are to further instruct the processor circuit to:

terminate the conference call for all parties coupled to the conference call by the AV operator when the alert condition is resolved.

14. The AV operator of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are to further instruct the processor circuit to:

resume a previous conference call when the passenger requests assistance within a time threshold from a time that the previously conference call was terminated.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored thereon executable instructions to cause a processor to:

determine an alert condition within an AV in a fleet of AVs providing a ride-hail service via electronic sensor data of the AV;

initiate a conference call that only an operator of the ride-hail service can terminate;

communicatively couple a passenger of the AV to the conference call;

communicably couple a further party to the conference call, whereby the passenger can communicate with the further party via the conference call but cannot terminate the call at will; and

control data of the AV and/or the passenger of the AV being provided to the further party.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the executable instructions are to further cause the processor to:

provide a graphical user interface to allow a human agent of an operator of the ride-hail service to add and remove parties to the conference call.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the executable instructions are to further cause the processor to:

terminate the conference call for all parties coupled to the conference call by the AV operator when the alert condition is resolved.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the executable instructions are to further cause the processor to:

resume a previous conference call when the passenger requests assistance within a time threshold from a time that the previously conference call was terminated.

Assignments (2)
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE PROPERTY NO. ON COVERSHEET: 17946741 17946824 17946895 17946912 14946904, SHOULD BE 17946741 17946741 17946824 17946895 17946912 17946904 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 061126 FRAME: 0823. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Mar 11, 2023
From: FOY, THERESA; WARREN, CHRISTOPHER; PATEL, BHARATKUMAR; MEYERHOLTZ, LEAH; JOHANNA, LIVIA; LI, QINGXUAN; SHUCKEROW, DAVID J.; TONG, MINJIE; DATTATRAYA, VINAYAKA; MOREY, MCKENNA
To: GM CRUISE HOLDINGS LLC
Reel/Frame 063054/0513 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 16, 2022
From: FOY, THERESA; WARREN, CHRISTOPHER; PATEL, BHARATKUMAR; MEYERHOLTZ, LEAH; JOHANNA, LIVIA; LI, QINGXUAN; SHUCKEROW, DAVID J.; TONG, MINJIE; DATTATRAYA, VINAYAKA; SPARKS, KENDAL; MOREY, MCKENNA
To: GM CRUISE HOLDINGS LLC
Reel/Frame 061126/0823 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 17946741 · Sep 16, 2022
Related Publication 20240098464A1 · Mar 21, 2024
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