FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10, rule 13)
“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC PASSENGER SHARING
AMONG VEHICLES”
SONY CORPORATION, of 1-7-1, Konan, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 108-0075, Japan
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to
be performed.
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[DESCRIPTION]
[Title of Invention]
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC PASSENGER SHARING
AMONG VEHICLES
[Technical Field]
[0001]
Various embodiments of the disclosure relate to automotive technologies. More
specifically, various embodiments of the disclosure relate to a system and method
for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles.
[Background Art]
[0002]
Currently, autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle technology and associated
automotive electronics are one of the most burgeoning segments in the automotive
industry. Various experiments are conducted related to the development of
automotive electronics for use in vehicles. Currently, vehicles with the autonomous
or semi-autonomous drive capability are primarily evaluated for error free drive and
for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). However, development of
technologies and systems related to a better utilization of such autonomous, semiautonomous,
or even non-autonomous vehicles during drive is still at a nascent
stage. In certain scenario, sharing of a single vehicle may be initiated at the
beginning of a journey by use of various available applications that may be installed
on computing devices of passengers. However, the use of such applications is
limited to initiate a shared ride in a shared vehicle. Typically, two travel requests
raised by two passengers for same destination are mapped to two different vehicles
that were nearer to the current location of the corresponding passenger. In such
scenarios, two different vehicles are used for commuting to the same destination
along the same route. This results in wastage of available resources and contributes
to undesired environmental pollution. Thus, an advanced, intelligent, and an
automatic system may be desired to provide a better utilization of resources for
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vehicles and facilitate automatic passenger sharing among the vehicles travelling
along the same or similar routes.
[0003]
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches
will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described
systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of
the present application and with reference to the drawings.
[Summary of Invention]
[0004]
A system and method for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles is
substantially as shown in, and/or described in connection with, at least one of the
figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.
[0005]
These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure may be
appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the present
disclosure, along with the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals
refer to like parts throughout.
[Brief Description of Drawings]
[0006]
[FIG. 1A]
FIG. 1A is a block diagram that illustrates a network environment for automatic
passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the
disclosure.
[FIG. 1B]
FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D illustrate exemplary scenarios for one or more route matching
rules for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 1C]
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FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D illustrate exemplary scenarios for one or more route matching
rules for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 1D]
FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D illustrate exemplary scenarios for one or more route matching
rules for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 2]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates various exemplary components or systems
of a vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 3A]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among autonomous or semiautonomous
vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 3B]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among autonomous or semiautonomous
vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 3C]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among autonomous or semiautonomous
vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 3D]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among autonomous or semiautonomous
vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 3E]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among autonomous or semiautonomous
vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 4A]
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FIGs. 4A and 4B collectively, depict a first flow chart that illustrates exemplary
operations for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 4B]
FIGs. 4A and 4B collectively, depict a first flow chart that illustrates exemplary
operations for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 5A]
FIGs. 5A and 5B collectively, depict a second flow chart that illustrates exemplary
operations for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[FIG. 5B]
FIGs. 5A and 5B collectively, depict a second flow chart that illustrates exemplary
operations for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosure.
[Description of Embodiments]
[0007]
The following described implementations may be found in the disclosed system and
method for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles. Exemplary aspects of the
disclosure may include a system that may include one or more circuits in an
electronic control unit (ECU) of a first vehicle. The one or more circuits in the ECU
may be configured to communicate a vehicle sharing request to at least one
remaining vehicle of a plurality of vehicles. The vehicle sharing request may include
at least first seat mapping information and first route information associated with the
first vehicle. A second vehicle among the at least one remaining vehicle of the
plurality of vehicles is identified for sharing passengers. The second vehicle is
identified based on a comparison of the first route information and the first seat
mapping information with second route information and second seat mapping
information received from the at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of
vehicles. A target vehicle is selected from the identified second vehicle or the first
vehicle to allow one or more first passengers of the first vehicle and one or more
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second passengers of the identified second vehicle to share travel in the selected
target vehicle.
[0008]
In accordance with an embodiment, the vehicle sharing request may be
communicated from the first vehicle to the at least one remaining vehicle of the
plurality of vehicles through a vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication. The V2X
communication may comprise a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, a
vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) communication, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)
communication, and/or vehicle-to-device (V2D) communication. The communicated
vehicle sharing request may further include first vehicle information of the first
vehicle. The first vehicle information of the first vehicle may correspond to a vehicle
identification number, a vehicle type of the first vehicle, and details of window seats
in the first vehicle. The first seat mapping information of the first vehicle may be
determined based on one or more images captured by one or more imaging devices
provided in the first vehicle.
[0009]
In accordance with an embodiment, the first seat mapping information of the first
vehicle may correspond to a count of vacant seats, a count of occupied seats, a count
of the one or more first passengers, seat booking details, and demographic details of
the one or more first passengers in the first vehicle. The first route information of the
first vehicle may correspond to a first travel route of the first vehicle. The first travel
route may comprise a source location, a destination location, and one or more
intermediate transit locations. A destination location of the identified second vehicle
may be same as that of the destination location of the first vehicle. In some
embodiments, a second travel route of the identified second vehicle may correspond
to at least a portion of the first travel route of the first vehicle. The first travel route
of the first vehicle may correspond to at least a portion of the second travel route of
the identified second vehicle.
[0010]
In accordance with an embodiment, the one or more circuits may be configured to
receive an acceptance notification for the communicated vehicle sharing request
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from the identified second vehicle. The first seat mapping information may be
compared with the second seat mapping information received from at least the one
remaining vehicle of the plurality of vehicles in accordance with one or more seat
mapping rules. The first route information may be compared with the second route
information received from the one remaining vehicle of the plurality of vehicles in
accordance with one or more route matching rules. The selection of the target
vehicle may be based on one or more selection parameters. For instance, the one or
more selection parameters may comprise at least a travel route parameter.
[0011]
In accordance with an embodiment, the one or more circuits may be further
configured to communicate a halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to stop the
first vehicle at a next intermediate transit location that is common to the first vehicle
and the identified second vehicle to transfer the one or more first passengers into the
identified second vehicle to share travel, based on the selection of the identified
second vehicle as the target vehicle. In some embodiments, the one or more circuits
may be configured to communicate the halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to
stop the first vehicle at a next intermediate transit location that is common to the
first vehicle and the identified second vehicle to transfer the one or more second
passengers into the first vehicle to share travel, based on the selection of the first
vehicle as the target vehicle.
[0012]
In accordance with an embodiment, the one or more circuits may be further
configured to generate new seat mapping information to include the one or more
first passengers of the first vehicle and the one or more second passengers of the
identified second vehicle into a common vehicle to share travel. The common
vehicle may correspond to the selected target vehicle. The generation of the new seat
mapping information may be done based on a feedback received from the one or
more first passengers and the one or more second passengers. The one or more first
passengers and the one or more second passengers may be seated in the selected
target vehicle in accordance with the new seat mapping information. The generated
new seat mapping information may be presented to the one or more first passengers
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and the one or more second passengers through a user interface rendered on a first
display device in the first vehicle and a second display device in the identified
second vehicle, respectively. In some embodiments, the one or more circuits may be
configured to communicate with the identified second vehicle by V2C
communication based on an association of the first vehicle and the identified second
vehicle with a common travel group.
[0013]
In accordance with an exemplary aspect of the disclosure, the system for sharing
passengers among a plurality of vehicles, may comprise receipt of a vehicle sharing
request including at least first seat mapping information and first route information
associated with a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from the second vehicle.
An acceptance notification may be transmitted for the received vehicle sharing
request to the second vehicle. The acceptance notification may be transmitted based
on at least a comparison of the first route information and the first seat mapping
information of the second vehicle with second route information and second seat
mapping information of the first vehicle. A halt instruction in an in-vehicle network
may be communicated to stop the first vehicle at a specified common transit point of
the first vehicle and the second vehicle to include one or more first passengers of the
first vehicle and one or more second passengers of the second vehicle to share travel
in a target vehicle. The target vehicle may be selected from the first vehicle or the
second vehicle. The specified common transit point of the first vehicle and the
second vehicle may correspond to a next intermediate transit location that is
common between a first travel route of the first vehicle and a second travel route of
the second vehicle.
[0014]
FIG. 1A is a block diagram that illustrates a network environment for automatic
passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the
disclosure. With reference to FIG. 1A, there is shown an exemplary network
environment 100A. The network environment 100A may include a plurality of
vehicles, such as a first vehicle 102 in a first location 104 and a second vehicle 106
in a second location 108. There is also shown one or more external communication
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devices, such as a first communication device 110, a second communication device
112, and a central communication device, such as a server 114, a first wireless
communication channel 116A, a second wireless communication channel 116B, and
a wireless communication network 118.
[0015]
The first vehicle 102 may include an electronic control unit (ECU) 120, one or more
display mediums 122, a navigation unit 124, and one or more video-capturing units,
such as a video-capturing unit 126. There is further shown a first user 128 associated
with the first vehicle 102 that may be in motion along a first travel route 130. The
first travel route 130 may include a source location 130A, one or more intermediate
transit locations 130B to 130C, and a destination location 130D. There is further
shown one or more first passengers 132a to 132c travelling in the first vehicle 102
along the first travel route 130. The second vehicle 106 may also include an ECU
134, one or more display mediums 136, a navigation unit 138, and one or more
video-capture units, such as a video-capturing unit 140. There is further shown a
second user 142 associated with the second vehicle 106 that may be in motion along
a second travel route 144. There is further shown one or more second passengers
146a and 146b travelling in the second vehicle 106 along the second travel route
144. The second travel route 144 may include a source location 144A, one or more
intermediate transit locations 144B and 144C, and a destination location 144D. A
plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f may be installed in the interior of the
first vehicle 102 to capture one or more images or video of in-vehicle users, such as
the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c, of the first vehicle 102. Similarly, a
plurality of second inner cameras 150a to 150f may be installed in the interior of the
second vehicle 106 to capture one or more images or video of in-vehicle users, such
as the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b, of the second vehicle 106.
[0016]
The first vehicle 102 may refer to an autonomous vehicle or a semi-autonomous
vehicle, for example, as defined by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA). In some embodiments, the first vehicle 102 may refer to a nonautonomous
vehicle. The first vehicle 102 may travel along the first travel route 130.
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Examples of the first vehicle 102 may include, but are not limited to, a car, a hybrid
vehicle, and/or a vehicle with an autonomous drive capability that uses one or more
distinct renewable or non-renewable power sources. A vehicle that uses renewable
or non-renewable power sources may include a fossil fuel-based vehicle, an electric
propulsion-based vehicle, a hydrogen fuel-based vehicle, a solar-powered vehicle,
and/or a vehicle powered by other forms of alternative energy sources. There are a
plurality of differ categories or levels of vehicles of what is considered to be semiautonomous
and autonomous. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) in the United States proposes a classification for driving
system as follows. The system and method of the present disclosure may be applied
for vehicles with an autonomous function such as autonomous braking, autonomous
cruise control, autonomous driving, etc. In the following examples, the system and
method of the present disclosure may also be applied for vehicles from Level 1 to
Level 4. According to the NHTSA, in “Level 0” category of vehicles, the driver
completely controls the vehicle at all times. A Vehicle of “Level 0” category may
also be referred to as non-autonomous vehicle. In “Level 1” category, individual
vehicle controls may be automated, such as electronic stability control or automatic
braking. In “Level 2” category, at least two controls may be automated together
simultaneously, such as an adaptive cruise control together with a lane keeping
control. In “Level 3” category, the level of autonomous control increases, where a
vehicle may perform safety-critical functions in certain conditions. The vehicle may
sense when conditions require the driver to retake control and provides a
"sufficiently comfortable transition time" for the driver to do so. A Vehicle of
“Level1”, “Level 2”, or “Level 3” category may also be referred to as partiallyautonomous
or semi-autonomous vehicle. In “Level 4” category, the vehicle may
perform all safety-critical functions where the driver is not expected to control the
vehicle at any time. As this category of vehicle may control all functions from start
to stop, including all parking functions, it may be a driverless vehicle (also referred
to as self-driving vehicle, fully-autonomous vehicle).
[0017]
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The first location 104 may refer to a current geo-location point along a current travel
route, such as the first travel route 130, undertaken by the first vehicle 102. For
example, the first user 128 may want to begin a ride from a current location, such as
the source location 130A, of the first vehicle 102 to the destination location 130D
through one or more intermediate transit locations 130B and 130C. To begin an
autonomous or semi-autonomous drive, it may be required to at least feed the
destination location 130D by use of the navigation unit 124 of the first vehicle 102.
The navigation unit 124 may calculate a route from the source location 130A to the
destination location 130D via the one or more intermediate transit locations 130B
and 130C to be undertaken by the first vehicle 102 during the ride. This route
calculated at the start of a ride may be considered a current travel route, such as the
first travel route 130, of the first vehicle 102. The ECU 120 of the first vehicle 102
may receive the input information that includes the current travel route, such as the
first travel route 130, to be undertaken by the first vehicle 102, from the navigation
unit 124, via an in-vehicle network of the first vehicle 102.
[0018]
The second vehicle 106 may refer to an autonomous vehicle, a semi-autonomous
vehicle, or a non-autonomous vehicle. The second vehicle 106 may travel along the
second travel route 144. Examples of the second vehicle 106 may include, but are
not limited to, a car, a hybrid vehicle, and/or a vehicle with or without an
autonomous drive capability that uses one or more distinct renewable or nonrenewable
power sources. Examples of the renewable or non-renewable power
sources may include fossil fuel, electric propulsion, hydrogen fuel, solar-power,
and/or other forms of alternative energy.
[0019]
The second location 108 may refer to a current geo-location point along a current
travel route, such as the second travel route 144, undertaken by a different vehicle,
such as the second vehicle 106. The second location 108 may correspond to a
location that is within a communication range of the first vehicle 102. For example,
the first vehicle 102 may be capable of communicating with any other vehicle that is
within a communication range, for example, a radius of “500 meters” from a current
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location of the first vehicle 102. In such a scenario, the second location 108 may
correspond to the location that is within the “500 meters” radius from the current
location of the first vehicle 102. It should be readily understood that that
communication range may be dependent on factors such as, for example, the
communication technology, surrounding environment, communication medium, and
so on.
[0020]
The first communication device 110 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,
interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to communicate with the first vehicle
102, via the first wireless communication channel 116A, such as a dedicated shortrange
communication (DSRC) channel or other short or medium range wireless
communication channel. The first communication device 110 may also
communicate with the central communication device, such as the server 114, via the
wireless communication network 118. The first communication device 110 may
comprise one or more sensors, such as a geospatial position detection sensor, a
movement detection sensor, and/or a speed sensor to detect a position, a movement,
or a speed of a vehicle, such as the first vehicle 102, from a defined proximal
distance. The first communication device 110 may be configured to communicate
(receive and/or transmit) various types of information from/to a wireless
communication system of the first vehicle 102. Examples of the first communication
device 110 may include, but are not limited to, a road side unit (RSU), a mobile
device, a wearable device worn by a user of the first vehicle 102, such as a smartglass,
and/or a communication device removably coupled to the first vehicle 102.
[0021]
The second communication device 112 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,
interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to communicate with the second
vehicle 106, via the second wireless communication channel 116B, such as a
dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) channel or other short or medium
range wireless communication channel. The second communication device 112 may
also communicate with the central communication device, such as the server 114,
via the wireless communication network 118. The second communication device
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112 may be configured to communicate various types of information from/to a
wireless communication system of the second vehicle 106. Examples of the second
communication device 112 may be similar to that of the first communication device
110.
[0022]
The server 114 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/or code that
may be configured to establish a communication channel with one or more vehicles,
such as the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106. The server 114 may be
configured to receive information from the various vehicles, such as the first vehicle
102 and the second vehicle 106. The server 114 may be a cloud server, a web server,
a database server, a file server, an application server, or a combination thereof. The
server 114 may be implemented by use of several technologies that are well known
to those skilled in the art.
[0023]
The first wireless communication channel 116A may include a short or a medium
range communication medium through which the first vehicle 102 may
communicate with one or more other vehicles (such as the second vehicle 106)
and/or the first communication device 110. A direct communication between the
first vehicle 102 and the one or more other vehicles (such as the second vehicle 106)
through the first wireless communication channel 116A may correspond to vehicleto-
vehicle (V2V) communication. In such type of communication vehicles
communicate with each other directly without any intermediate device (such as the
first communication device 110 or the second communication device 112). A
defined proximal distance within which the first vehicle 102 may communicate with
one or more other vehicles by use of the first wireless communication channel 116A
may correspond to the communication range of the first vehicle 102. In some
embodiment, the one or more other vehicles (such as the second vehicle 106) may
not be in the communication range of the first vehicle 102. In such scenarios, the
first vehicle 102 may communicate with the one or more other vehicles (such as the
second vehicle 106) through the first wireless communication channel 116A by use
of vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication. For example, the first vehicle 102 may want
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to communicate with the second vehicle 106 that is out of the communication range
of the first vehicle 102. Thus, the first vehicle 102 may transmit the information to
be communicated to the second vehicle 106 to the first communication device 110
through the first wireless communication channel 116A (i.e., V2X communication).
The first communication device 110 may further transmit the information to the
second communication device 112, which in turn communicates the information to
the second vehicle 106 through the second wireless communication channel 116B
(V2X communication). Examples of the first wireless communication channel 116A
may include, but are not limited to, a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC)
network, a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), a vehicular ad-hoc network
(VANET), Intelligent vehicular ad-hoc network (InVANET), Internet based mobile
ad-hoc networks (IMANET), a wireless sensor network (WSN), a wireless mesh
network (WMN), the Internet, a cellular network, such as a long-term evolution
(LTE) network, a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, and/or a Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN). The first vehicle 102 may be configured to connect with various
devices in the network environment 100A via the first wireless communication
channel 116A, in accordance with various wireless communication protocols.
Examples of such wireless communication protocols may include, but are not
limited to, IEEE 802.11, 802.11x, 802.15, 802.16, 1609, Worldwide Interoperability
for Microwave Access (Wi-MAX), Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments
(WAVE), cellular communication protocols, Transmission Control Protocol and
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP), Long-term Evolution (LTE), File Transfer Protocol (FTP),
ZigBee, EDGE, light-fidelity (Li-Fi), infrared (IR), Bluetooth (BT) communication
protocols, and/or variants thereof.
[0024]
The second wireless communication channel 116B may include a short or a medium
range communication medium through which the second vehicle 106 may
communicate with one or more other vehicles (such as the first vehicle 102) and/or
the second communication device 112. Examples and functionality of the second
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wireless communication channel 116B may be similar to that of the first wireless
communication channel 116A.
[0025]
The wireless communication network 118 may include a long range communication
medium through which the one or more vehicles, such as the first vehicle 102 and
the second vehicle 106, and the external communication devices, such as the first
communication device 110 and the second communication device 112, may
communicate with the server 114. Examples of the wireless communication network
118 may include, but are not limited to, the Internet, Internet based mobile ad-hoc
networks (IMANET), a cellular network, such as a long-term evolution (LTE)
network, a cloud network, and/or a Wide Area Network (WAN). Various devices in
the network environment 100A may be configured to connect to the wireless
communication network 118, in accordance with various wireless communication
protocols. Examples of such wireless communication protocols may include, but are
not limited to, IEEE 802.11, 802.11x, 802.15, 802.16, 1609, Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-MAX), Wireless Access in Vehicular
Environments (WAVE), cellular communication protocols, Transmission Control
Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Long-term Evolution (LTE), File Transfer Protocol
(FTP), ZigBee, EDGE, Li-Fi, and/or other wireless communication protocols.
[0026]
The ECU 120 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/or code that
may be configured to receive input information that includes at least a current travel
route (such as the first travel route 130) to be undertaken by the first vehicle 102.
The ECU 120 may be configured to access sensor data from one or more vehicle
sensors of a sensing system, and/or other vehicle data associated with the first
vehicle 102. The sensor data may be accessed by the ECU 120, via an in-vehicle
network, such as a vehicle area network (VAN) and/or in-vehicle data bus, such as a
controller area network (CAN) bus. In accordance with an embodiment, the ECU
120 may be configured to communicate with various other vehicles (such as the
second vehicle 106), external communication devices (such as the first
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communication device 110) and/or a cloud server (such as the server 114) via the
first wireless communication channel 116A and/or via the wireless communication
network 118 by use of V2X communication. The V2X communication may include
V2V communication, V2C communication, V2I communication, and/or V2D
communication.
[0027]
The one or more display mediums 122 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,
interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to display various types of
information and/or entertainment content under the control of the ECU 120. The
interface may be a customized user interface (UI) configured to display the various
types of information and/or the entertainment content to occupants of the first
vehicle 102, such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c. In accordance
with an embodiment, each of the one or more display mediums 122 may be installed
at one or more seats in the first vehicle 102. The one or more display mediums 122
may be a touch screen configured to receive an input from the one or more first
passengers 132a to 132c when the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c are
boarded in the first vehicle 102. In some embodiments, the one or more display
mediums 122 may correspond to a front windshield, a rear windshield, and other
side windows of the first vehicle 102. The front windshield, the rear windshield, and
other side windows, such as left windows and right windows of the first vehicle 102,
may be configured to display various types of information and the entertainment
content. In some embodiments, in accordance with yet another embodiment, the
interior of an autonomous vehicle, such as the first vehicle 102, may be adapted such
that various types of information and entertainment content may be displayed to one
or more first passengers 132a to 132c. In case of an autonomous ride, the front and
rear windshield may not have a necessary requirement to be transparent or
interference free visually as against a manual ride (from driver’s viewpoint) of a
non-autonomous vehicle, such as a manual car. The scope of the disclosure may not
be limited to the one or more display mediums 122 as display devices installed in
the first vehicle 102, the front windshield, the rear windshield, and other side
windows of the first vehicle 102, or the modified interior of the first vehicle 102.
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Other display mediums, for example, a heads-up display (HUD), a heads-up display
with an augmented reality system (AR-HUD), a driver information console (DIC), a
projection-based display, a see-through display, and/or an electro-chromic display,
may be used as the one or more display mediums 122. The AR-HUD may be a
combiner-based AR-HUD. The one or more display mediums 122 may be a
transparent or a semi-transparent display screen.
[0028]
The navigation unit 124 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/or
code that may be configured to calculate a travel route (such as the first travel route
130) for the first vehicle 102. For example, the navigation unit 124 may prompt the
first user 128 to feed a destination location. In some embodiments, the navigation
unit 124 may allow the first user 128 to select preferences for one or more
intermediate transit locations to reach the destination location. The navigation unit
124 may then calculate a route, such as the first travel route 130, from the source
location 130A of the first vehicle 102 to the destination location 130D to be
undertaken by the first vehicle 102. The calculated route from the source location
130A of the first vehicle 102 to the destination location 130D may further include
the one or more intermediate transit locations 132B and 132C. The one or more
intermediate transit locations 132B and 132C may be defined for a particular route,
selected based on received user preferences or automatically calculated by the
navigation unit 124. For instance, the source location 132A may correspond to a
current location of the first vehicle 102. In such a scenario, the navigation unit 124
may calculate the first travel route 130 from the current location of the first vehicle
102 to the destination location 132D. The navigation unit 124 may comprise one or
more sensors, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, and/or a speed
sensor to detect a current location, or a speed of a vehicle, such as the first vehicle
102. The navigation unit 124 may use one or more route identification algorithms
known in the art for the calculation of the route. In accordance with an embodiment,
the navigation unit 124 may further take into account traffic conditions along
various routes connecting the source location 130A and the destination location
130D for the calculation of the route (such as the first travel route 130) for the first
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vehicle 102. For example, the navigation unit 124 may calculate a route connecting
the source location 130A and the destination location 130D that has minimum traffic
in comparison to traffic on other routes connecting the source location 130A and the
destination location 130D.
[0029]
The video-capturing unit 126 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces,
and/or code that may be configured to capture one or more videos while the first
vehicle 102 moves along the first travel route 130. In some embodiment, the first
vehicle 102 may include a plurality of video-capturing units, such as the videocapturing
unit 126. Examples of the video-capturing unit 126 may include, but are
not limited to, an action cam, an image sensor, a wide-angle camera, a closed-circuit
television (CCTV) camera, a camcorder, a night-vision camera, and/or other such
vehicle cameras.
[0030]
The plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f may comprise suitable logic,
circuitry, interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to capture one or more
images of the in-vehicle users, such as the one or more first passengers 132a to
132c. Examples of the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f may include, but
are not limited to, an action cam, an image sensor, a wide-angle camera, a closedcircuit
television (CCTV) camera, a camcorder, a time-of-flight camera (ToF
camera), a night-vision camera, and/or other such in-vehicle cameras or sensors.
[0031]
In accordance with an embodiment, the ECU 134, the one or more display mediums
136, the navigation unit 138, and the video-capturing unit 140 of the second vehicle
106 may be similar to that of the ECU 120, the one or more display mediums 122,
the navigation unit 124, and the video-capturing unit 126, respectively, of the first
vehicle 102. The ECU 134 may be configured to communicate with various other
vehicles (such as the first vehicle 102), various external communication devices
(such as the second communication device 112), and/or a cloud server (such as the
server 114) via the second wireless communication channel 116B and/or the
wireless communication network 118. In accordance with an embodiment, the
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plurality of second inner cameras 150a to 150f of the second vehicle 106 may be
similar to that of the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f of the first vehicle
102.
[0032]
In operation, a user, such as the first user 128, may feed a destination location (such
as the destination location 130D) by use of the navigation unit 124 of the first
vehicle 102. The navigation unit 124 may calculate a route (such as the first travel
route 130) from a current location (e.g. the source location 130A) to the destination
location 130D via the one or more intermediate transit locations (such as the one or
more intermediate transit locations 130B and 130C) to be undertaken by the first
vehicle 102. The one or more intermediate transit locations 132B and 132C may be
defined for the first travel route 130, selected based on received user preferences or
automatically calculated by the navigation unit 124. The first vehicle 102 may be
operating in an autonomous drive mode, a semi-autonomous mode, or a manual
mode. One or more individuals (such as the one or more first passengers 132a to
132c) may board the first vehicle 102 to commute along the first travel route 130.
The ECU 120 of the first vehicle 102 may communicate a start command to each of
the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f to initiate capture of a video and/or
one or more images of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c by the plurality
of first inner cameras 148a to 148f. The plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f
may capture a video and/or one or more images of the one or more first passengers
132a to 132c, who are seated in the first vehicle 102. The plurality of first inner
cameras 148a to 148f may be installed in the first vehicle 102, such that each first
inner camera in the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f captures the video
or the one or more images of a passenger within the first vehicle 102. For instance,
the first inner camera 148a may be mounted such that the first inner camera 148a
may capture the video and/or the one or more images of a passenger (such as the
first passenger 132a) seated on a seat with the seat identification number “S_1”. In
some embodiments, the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f may be enabled
capture a 360 degree view of the interior of the first vehicle 102.
[0033]
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The ECU 120 of the first vehicle 102 may be further configured to retrieve various
types of information related to the first vehicle 102. The various types of
information may include first route information associated with the first vehicle 102.
The first route information of the first vehicle 102 may correspond to information
pertaining to a travel route to be taken by the first vehicle 102. For example, the first
route information of the first vehicle 102 may correspond to the information
pertaining to the first travel route 130, which may further include details related to
the source location 130A, the destination location 130D, and the one or more
intermediate transit locations 130B to 130C included in the first travel route 130.
The ECU 120 may retrieve the first route information of the first vehicle 102 from
the navigation unit 124.
[0034]
The various types of information related to the first vehicle 102 may further include
first seat mapping information. The first seat mapping information may correspond
to details related to a count of vacant seats, a count of occupied seats, a count of one
or more first passengers (such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c) in
the first vehicle 102, seat booking details, and demographic details of the one or
more first passengers 132a to 132c in the first vehicle 102. The ECU 120 may be
configured to determine the first seat mapping information of the first vehicle 102
by the videos or one or more images captured by the plurality of first inner cameras
148a to 148f. The ECU 120 may execute one or more image processing techniques
known in the art on the captured videos and/or the one or more images to determine
the first seat mapping information of the first vehicle 102. For example, the ECU
120 may use the captured one or more images and/or video to determine the count of
vacant seats, the count of occupied seats, the count of one or more first passengers
132a to 132c, and the seat identification numbers of the plurality of seats in the first
vehicle 102. The ECU 120 may further use the captured one or more images and/or
video to determine the demographic details (such as the gender and/or age) and the
seat booking details of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c in the first
vehicle 102. For example, the ECU 120 may execute one or more face detection
algorithms on the captured one or more images and/or videos to detect face (i.e.,
SP368146WO00
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facial portion) of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c. The ECU 120 may
extract details of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c from a passenger
database server (not shown) based on a matching of the detected faces of the one or
more first passengers 132a to 132c with previously stored passenger details in the
passenger database server. The details of the one or more first passengers 132a to
132c may include, for example, the demographic details and seat booking details of
the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c.
[0035]
The various types of information related to the first vehicle 102 may further include
first vehicle information associated with the first vehicle 102. The first vehicle
information of the first vehicle 102 may include a vehicle identification number
(such as “FS-234”), a vehicle type (such as “semi-sleeper”, “full-sleeper”, “airconditioned”,
and/or non-air-conditioned”) of the first vehicle 102, and/or details of
window seats in the first vehicle 102. The details of window seats in the first vehicle
102 may further include a count of window seats and a seat identification number of
the window seats in the first vehicle 102.
[0036]
The ECU 120 may be further configured to communicate a vehicle sharing request
via the first wireless communication channel 116A to remaining vehicles in the
plurality of vehicles (such as the second vehicle 106). Alternatively stated, the first
vehicle 102 may correspond to a transmitting vehicle that transmits the vehicle
sharing request via the first wireless communication channel 116A, such as in a
V2V communication broadcast. In some embodiments, the first vehicle 102 may
transmit the vehicle sharing request via the wireless communication network 118
(such as in a V2C communication broadcast) to communicate with vehicles that are
out the communication range of the first vehicle 102.
[0037]
The vehicle sharing request may include the information (such as the first route
information, the first seat mapping information, and the first vehicle information)
associated with the first vehicle 102 which is retrieved by the ECU 120. The vehicle
sharing request may be received by the remaining vehicles in the plurality of
SP368146WO00
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vehicles that are in the communication range of the first wireless communication
channel 116A. For instance, the communication range of the first wireless
communication channel 116A may be “500m”. In such a scenario, the remaining
vehicles that are within “500m” of the current location of the first vehicle 102 may
receive the vehicle sharing request of the first vehicle 102. For example, the second
vehicle 106 may receive the vehicle sharing request from the first vehicle 102. In
some embodiments, the vehicles that are not in or outside of the communication
range of the first wireless communication channel 116A and are associated with a
same travel group as the first vehicle 102 may receive the vehicle sharing request
from a cloud server (such as the server 114) through V2C communication.
[0038]
The ECU 134 of the second vehicle 106 may be configured to receive the vehicle
sharing request from the first vehicle 102. The ECU 134 may further retrieve various
types of information related to the second vehicle 106. The various types of
information may include second route information, second seat mapping
information, and second vehicle information associated with the second vehicle 106.
The ECU 134 may retrieve the second route information, the second seat mapping
information, and the second vehicle information from an in-vehicle network of the
second vehicle 106. The ECU 134 may further compare the first route information
included in the received vehicle sharing request with the second route information.
The ECU 134 may compare the first route information with the second route
information in accordance with one or more route matching rules. The one or more
route matching rules may include a complete route match rule and a partial route
match rule. The comparison of the first route information with the second route
information in accordance with one or more route matching rules is described in
detail, for example, in FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D.
[0039]
The ECU 134 may be further configured to compare the first seat mapping
information and the first vehicle information included in the received vehicle
sharing request with the second seat mapping information and the second vehicle
information of the second vehicle 106, respectively. The ECU 134 may compare the
SP368146WO00
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first vehicle information with the second vehicle information and identify a match
between the first vehicle information with the second vehicle information. For
example, the first vehicle information of the first vehicle 102 may be (vehicle id:
FS-234, vehicle type: semi-sleeper and air-conditioned) and the second vehicle
information of the second vehicle 106 may be (vehicle id: FS-235, vehicle type:
semi-sleeper and air-conditioned). The ECU 134 may compare the first vehicle
information with the second vehicle information. The ECU 134 may establish that
the first vehicle information matches with the second vehicle information based on
the comparison.
[0040]
The ECU 134 may be further configured to compare the first seat mapping
information with the second seat mapping information in accordance with one or
more seat mapping rules. The one or more seat mapping rules may include a first
seat mapping rule based on which passengers of same gender are seated at adjacent
seats and a second seat mapping rule based on which passengers with same booking
identifier (id) are assigned adjacent seats. The one or more seat mapping rules may
further include a third seat mapping rule based on which a disabled passenger is
assigned a “disabled person seat” and a fourth mapping rule based on which a seat is
assigned to a passenger in accordance with a pre-specified seat specification of the
passenger. For example, according to a pre-specified seat specification of a
passenger, the passenger may want to be seated at a window seat. In this scenario,
according to the fourth seat mapping rule the passenger may only be assigned a
window seat. The ECU 134 may compare the first seat mapping information with
the second seat mapping information to determine whether the one or more seat
mapping rules are satisfied. The ECU 134 may establish a satisfaction of the one or
more seat mapping rules if the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c may be
accommodated in the second vehicle 106 along with the one or more second
passengers 146a to 146b without violating the one or more seat mapping rules. The
ECU 134 may further establish a satisfaction of the one or more seat mapping rules
if the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b may be accommodated in the
SP368146WO00
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first vehicle 102 along with the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c without
violating the one or more seat mapping rules.
[0041]
The ECU 134 may be configured to transmit an acceptance notification to the first
vehicle 102 for the vehicle sharing request, based on the one or more seat mapping
rules and the one or more route matching rules being satisfied. The ECU 134 may
transmit the acceptance notification to the first vehicle 102 via the second wireless
communication channel 116B or the wireless communication network 118. In some
embodiments, the ECU 134 may not transmit the acceptance notification based on
the one or more seat mapping rules or the one or more route matching rules that is
unsatisfied or not satisfied.
[0042]
In some embodiments, the ECU 134 may communicate the retrieved information
related to the second vehicle 106, to the first vehicle 102. In such embodiments, the
comparison of the first route information with the second route information and the
comparison of the first seat mapping information with the second seat mapping
information may be executed by the ECU 120. In this scenario, the ECU 120 may
transmit a comparison result to the second vehicle 106 based on the one or more
route matching rules and the one or more seat mapping rules being satisfied. Hence,
the ECU 134 may transmit the acceptance notification to the first vehicle 102 based
on the comparison result. The comparison of the first route information with the
second route information and the comparison of the first seat mapping information
with the second seat mapping information are explained in detail, for example, in
FIGs. 3A to 3E.
[0043]
The ECU 120 may be configured to receive one or more acceptance notifications
from remaining plurality of vehicles that is in the communication range of the first
vehicle 102 and for which the one or more route matching rules and the one or more
seat mapping rules are satisfied. The ECU 120 may be further configured to identify
a vehicle from the remaining plurality of vehicles for sharing passengers based on
the received one or more acceptance notifications. Alternatively stated, the ECU 120
SP368146WO00
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may identify a vehicle (such as the second vehicle 106) for sharing passengers based
on the comparison of the first route information and the first seat mapping
information with the second route information and the second seat mapping
information, respectively. For example, the ECU 120 may identify the second
vehicle 106 for sharing passengers based on the acceptance notification received
from the ECU 134.
[0044]
The ECU 120 may be further configured to select a target vehicle from the identified
second vehicle 106 or the first vehicle 102. The target vehicle may be selected to
allow the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c of the first vehicle 102 and the
one or more second passengers 146a to 146b of the second vehicle 106 to share
travel in the selected target vehicle. The ECU 120 may select the target vehicle
based on one or more selection parameters. The one or more selection parameters
may comprise a travel route parameter, a passenger count parameter, and a seat
mapping parameter. For instance, the ECU 120 may select a vehicle (i.e., the
identified second vehicle 106 or the first vehicle 102) that has a maximum count of
passengers (i.e., the passenger count parameter) as the target vehicle. For example,
the first vehicle 102 has three passengers (i.e., the one or more first passengers 132a
to 132c), whereas the second vehicle 106 has two passengers. Therefore, the first
vehicle 102 may be selected as the target vehicle by the ECU 120. In some
embodiments, the one or more seat mapping rules may be satisfied when it is
determined that the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c can be exclusively
accommodated in the second vehicle 106 along with the one or more second
passengers 146a to 146b. Thus, the ECU 120 may select the second vehicle 106 as
the target vehicle. In this scenario, the selection of the second vehicle 106 as the
target vehicle is in accordance with the seat mapping parameter as preference is
given to the satisfaction of the one or more seat mapping rules irrespective of the
count of passengers in the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106.
[0045]
In some embodiments, a travel route of a vehicle may be a portion (e.g. a small
stretch/sub-route) of a travel route of another vehicle. For example, the first travel
SP368146WO00
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route 130 of the first vehicle 102 may correspond to a sub-route of the second travel
route 144 of the second vehicle 106. In this scenario, the ECU 120 may select the
second vehicle 106 as the target vehicle. The selection of the second vehicle 106 as
the target vehicle is in accordance with the travel route parameter. The selection of
the target vehicle based on one or more selection parameters is further explained, for
example, in FIGs. 3A to 3E.
[0046]
The ECU 120 may be further configured to generate new seat mapping information
to include the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c and the one or more second
passengers 146a to 146b into a common vehicle for the shared travel. The common
vehicle may correspond to the selected target vehicle and the new seat mapping is
also generated for the selected target vehicle. For example, the ECU 120 may
generate the new seat mapping information for the first vehicle 102 if the first
vehicle is selected as the target vehicle to include the one or more first passengers
132a to 132c and the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b. The ECU 120
may be configured to transmit the new seat mapping information to the second
vehicle 106.
[0047]
The ECU 120 may be further configured to communicate a halt instruction to stop
the first vehicle 102 at a next intermediate transit location that is common to the first
vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106. The next intermediate transit location may
correspond to a next transit point that is common to the first travel route 130 and the
second travel route 144. The ECU 120 may further communicate an instruction to
the second vehicle 106 to synchronize the halting or the stoppage at the detected
next intermediate transit location. The first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106
may be halted or stopped at the next intermediate transit location based on the
communicated halt instruction to include the one or more first passengers 132a to
132c and the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b in the selected target
vehicle. For example, the first vehicle 102 may be selected as the target vehicle. In
such a case, the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b may be transferred into
the first vehicle 102 to share travel for the remaining travel route with the one or
SP368146WO00
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more first passengers 132a to 132c in the first vehicle 102. In some embodiments,
the second vehicle 106 may be selected as the target vehicle. In such a case, the one
or more first passengers 132a to 132c may be transferred into the second vehicle 106
to share travel for the remaining travel route with the one or more second passengers
146a to 146b in the second vehicle 106. The one or more first passengers 132a to
132c and the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b may be seated in
accordance with the new seat mapping information in the selected target vehicle.
The selected target vehicle may then start the travel for the remaining route from the
stoppage point and the other vehicle may stop the travel. For example, the first
vehicle 102 may be selected as the target vehicle. In such a case, the first vehicle
102 may start the travel for the remaining route after the one or more second
passengers 146a to 146b are accommodated in the first vehicle 102 along with the
one or more first passengers 132a to 132c. The second vehicle 106 may stop the
travel at the stoppage point.
[0048]
In accordance with an embodiment, the first vehicle 102 may be configured to
periodically transmit the vehicle sharing request to the remaining vehicles in the
plurality of vehicles. For example, the first vehicle 102 may transmit the vehicle
sharing request to the remaining vehicles after every “one minute”. The repeated
transmission of the vehicle sharing request by the first vehicle 102 may continue
until an acceptance notification is received by the ECU 120 of the first vehicle 102.
In another scenario, the repeated transmission of the vehicle sharing request by the
first vehicle 102 may continue until there is no vacant seat in the first vehicle 102.
The acceptance notification may further include vehicle information related to
vehicles that are participating in passenger sharing. For example, the first vehicle
102 and the second vehicle 106 may be in communication with each other to share
passengers between them. In such a case, the acceptance notification may include
the first vehicle information and the second vehicle information. Further, the first
vehicle 102 may be in communication with the second vehicle 106 for passenger
sharing and receives an acceptance notification that includes vehicle information of
the second vehicle 106 and a third vehicle (not shown) but does not include the first
SP368146WO00
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vehicle information. In this scenario, the ECU 120 may discard the acceptance
notification and continue to transmit the vehicle sharing request.
[0049]
In accordance with an embodiment, new passengers may board the plurality of
vehicles (such as the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106) at one or more
intermediate transit locations along the travel route of the plurality of vehicles. Thus,
the seat mapping information pertaining to each vehicle in the plurality of vehicles
may be updated when new passengers aboard the plurality of vehicles. Each
passenger (such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c and the one or
more second passengers 146a to 146b) may be associated with an access card, such
that while boarding a vehicle (such as the first vehicle 102 or the second vehicle
106) each of the one or more passengers may swipe the access card to book a seat in
the corresponding vehicle. The booking ids of each of the one or more passengers
may be determined based on the access card swipe. In some embodiments, each of
the one or more passengers (such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c or
the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b) may book a seat in a
corresponding vehicle (such as the first vehicle 102 or the second vehicle 106) by
use of a personal device, such as a dedicated smartphone (not shown). The ECU 120
may further determine an alighting location of each of the one or more first
passengers 132a to 132c based on the determination of the booking id of each of the
one or more first passengers 132a to 132c. In accordance with an embodiment, the
ECU 120 may further extract the demographic details of the one or more first
passengers 132a to 132c from the corresponding social media profiles of the first
passengers 132a to 312c. For example, the ECU 120 may execute one or more face
detection algorithms on the captured one or more images and/or videos to detect
faces (i.e., facial portion) of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c. The ECU
120 may further identify the social media profiles of the one or more first passengers
132a to 132c based on a matching of the detected faces of the one or more first
passengers 132a to 132c on the social media websites. Thus, the ECU 120 may
extract the demographic details of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c
from the identified corresponding social media profiles. The ECU 120 may further
SP368146WO00
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store the demographic details of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c in a
passenger database server, such as the server 114. The extracted demographic details
of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c may be included in the seat
mapping information of the first vehicle 102.In some embodiments, the booking id
of each of the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c may be used for the
extraction of demographic details.
[0050]
In accordance with an embodiment, the second vehicle 106 may move beyond the
communication range of the first vehicle 102 after transmitting the acceptance
notification. In such a scenario, if the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106
are associated with same travel group, the first vehicle 102 may further
communicate with the second vehicle 106 by using V2C communication. For
example, the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106 may be owned by a same
travel agency “X”. In this scenario, if the second vehicle 106 moves beyond the
communication range of the first vehicle 102 after transmitting the acceptance
notification, the first vehicle 102 may further communicate with the second vehicle
106 through a dedicated cloud server (such as the server 114) of the travel agency
“X” by use of V2C communication. Thus, the first vehicle 102 may transmit the new
seat mapping information to the second vehicle 106 via the first wireless
communication channel 116A and/or the wireless communication network 118. In
some embodiments, the first vehicle 102 may communicate the new seat mapping
information to the first communication device 110 (e.g. an RSU) which in turn is
further communicated to the second communication device 112 (e.g. another RSU).
The second communication device 112 may further communicate the new seat
mapping information to the second vehicle 106 via the second wireless
communication channel 116B.
[0051]
In accordance with an embodiment, vehicle information of vehicles participating in
the vehicle sharing may be transmitted along with the new seat mapping
information. For example, the ECU 120 may transmit the first vehicle information
and vehicle information of identified vehicle (i.e., the second vehicle information of
SP368146WO00
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the second vehicle 106) along with the new seat mapping information to the second
vehicle 106. The transmission of the vehicle information along with the new seat
mapping information confirms that the received new seat mapping information is
based on a previously transmitted acceptance notification. Thus, the ECU 134 may
discard received new seat mapping information, if the second vehicle information is
not received along with the new seat mapping information. The new seat mapping
information may be presented to the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c and
the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b through various user interfaces
rendered on the one or more display mediums 122 and the one or more display
mediums 136, respectively. The one or more first passengers 132a to 132c and the
one or more second passengers 146a to 146b may further provide feedback for the
new seat mapping information by use of the one or more display mediums 122 and
the one or more display mediums 136, respectively. The ECU 120 may be further
configured to modify or update the new seat mapping information based on the
feedback provided by the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c and the one or
more second passengers 146a.
[0052]
In accordance with an embodiment, the ECU 134 may be configured to receive the
vehicle sharing request from the first vehicle 102 if a pool flag in the ECU 134 is set
to “1”, else the ECU 134 may discard the received vehicle sharing request received
from the first vehicle 102. In other words, a vehicle may set preferences to opt in for
vehicle sharing by setting the pool flag to “1” and allow receipt of vehicle sharing
request or opt out from vehicle sharing by setting the pool flag to “0”.
[0053]
In some embodiments, the first vehicle 102 may also act or operate as a receiving
vehicle at certain time instances and the second vehicle 106 may correspond to a
transmitting vehicle. In such a case, the vehicle sharing request may be received by
the first vehicle 102 from the second vehicle 106.
[0054]
FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D illustrate exemplary scenarios for one or more route matching
rules for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance with an
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embodiment of the disclosure. FIGs. 1B, 1C, and 1D are explained in conjunction
with elements from FIG. 1A. With reference to FIG. 1B, there is shown an
exemplary scenario 100B that includes the first travel route 130 and the second
travel route 144. The first travel route 130 is represented by a solid line and the
second travel route 144 is represented by a dashed line. The first travel route 130
may include the source location 130A, the one or more intermediate transit locations
130B and 130C, and the destination location 130D. The second travel route 144 may
include the source location 144A, the one or more intermediate transit locations
144B and 144C, and the destination location 144D.
[0055]
In the exemplary scenario 100B, the first travel route 130 and the second travel route
144 are illustrated to be different with respect the path of the first travel route 130
and the second travel route 144. However, the source location 130A, the one or
more intermediate transit locations 130B and 130C, and the destination location
130D of the first travel route 130 may coincide (or may be the same) with the source
location 144A, the one or more intermediate transit locations 144B and 144C, and
the destination location 144D of the second travel route 144. In some embodiments,
the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144 may be same with respect
to source location, one or more intermediate transit locations, destination location
and path followed.
[0056]
The ECU 134 may compare the first route information of the first vehicle 102 with
the second route information of the second vehicle 106. The first route information
may include the details of the first travel route 130 of the first vehicle 102 and the
second route information may include the details of the second travel route 144 of
the second vehicle 106. The comparison between the first route information and the
second route information may be in accordance with the one or more route matching
rules. The one or more route matching rules may include the complete route match
rule and the partial route match rule. The ECU 134 may be configured to check
whether the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144 satisfies the
complete route match rule. In a scenario, if the first travel route 130 and the second
SP368146WO00
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travel route 144 satisfy the complete route match rule, the ECU 134 may establish
the satisfaction of the one or more travel rules without checking for the satisfaction
of the partial route match rule. Two travel routes may satisfy the complete route
match rule if source location, one or more intermediate locations and destination
locations of both the travel routes coincide. The path included in the two travel
routes may be same or different.
[0057]
The ECU 134 may determine that the first travel route 130 and the second travel
route 144 (as illustrated in the exemplary scenario 100B) satisfy the complete match
rule. The source location 130A, the one or more intermediate transit locations 130B
and 130C, and the destination location 130D of the first travel route 130 coincide
with the source location 144A, the one or more intermediate transit locations 144B
and 144C, and the destination location 144D of the second travel route 144. Thus,
the ECU 134 may not further check the partial route match rule and may establish
that the one or more route matching rules are satisfied.
[0058]
In some embodiments, the ECU 134 may determine that the complete route match
rule is not satisfied by two travel routes. In this scenario, the ECU 134 may be
configured to check whether the two travel routes satisfy the partial route match
rule. The check performed by the ECU 134 to determine the satisfaction of partial
route match rule is explained in FIGs. 1C and 1D.
[0059]
With reference to FIG. 1C, there is shown another exemplary scenario 100C that
includes the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144. The first travel
route 130 may include the source location 130A, the one or more intermediate
transit locations 130B and 130C, and the destination location 130D. The second
travel route 144 may include the source location 144A, the one or more intermediate
transit locations 144B and 144C, and the destination location 144D. In the
exemplary scenario 100C, the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144
are illustrated to be different with respect to their source location. However, the
destination location 130D of the first travel route 130 may coincide (or may be the
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same) with the destination location 144D of the second travel route 144. In this
scenario, the ECU 134 may establish that the complete route match rule is not
satisfied. Thus, the ECU 134 may compare the first route information and the
second route information based on the partial route match rule.
[0060]
A first condition to satisfy the partial route match rule is when two travel routes
(such as a route “A” and a route “B”) have a common destination location and at
least one common intermediate transit location that is adjacent to the common
destination location. The source location and other intermediate transit locations
apart from the at least one common intermediate transit location of the route “A”
and the route “B may be same or different. A second condition to satisfy the partial
route match rule is when one of two travel routes (such as the route “A”) is a portion
(a small stretch/sub-route) of the other travel route (such as the route “B”) and
further a destination location of one of the two travel routes (i.e., the route “A”)
coincides (or may be the same) with an intermediate transit location of the other
travel route (i.e., the route “B”). In other words, if at least one intermediate transit
location adjacent to the destination location and the destination location of the route
”A” coincide (or may be the same) with two adjacent intermediate transit locations
of the route ”B”, the partial route match rule is satisfied. The source location and
other intermediate transit locations apart from the at least one intermediate transit
location adjacent to the destination location of the route “A” may be same or
different from the route “B”. The ECU 134 may establish that the partial route
match rule is satisfied if one of the first condition or the second condition is fulfilled.
[0061]
In the exemplary scenario 100C, the ECU 134 may determine that the destination
location 130D of the first travel route 130 is same as that of the destination location
144D of the second travel route 144. Further, the intermediate transit locations 130B
and 130C of the first travel route 130 coincide (or may be the same) with the
intermediate transit locations 144B and 144C of the second travel route 144. Thus,
the ECU 134 determines that the first travel route 130 and the second travel route
144 illustrated in the exemplary scenario 100C satisfies the partial route match rule
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based on the first condition of the partial route match rule and further establishes
that the one or more route matching rules are satisfied.
[0062]
With reference to FIG. 1D, there is shown another exemplary scenario 100D that
includes the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144. The first travel
route 130 may include the source location 130B, the one or more intermediate transit
locations 130C, and the destination location 130D. The second travel route 144 may
include the source location 144A, the one or more intermediate transit locations
144B and 144C, and the destination location 144D. In the exemplary scenario 100D,
the first travel route 130 and the second travel route 144 are different with respect to
their final destination locations. However, the destination location 130D of the first
travel route 130 coincides with the intermediate transit location 144C of the second
travel route 144, the intermediate transit location 130C coincides with the
intermediate transit location 144B, and the source location 130B coincides with the
source location 144A. In some embodiments, the source location 130B may be
different from the source location 144A.
[0063]
In the exemplary scenario 100D, the ECU 134 may determine that the complete
route match rule is not satisfied by the first travel route 130 and the second travel
route 144. Thus, the ECU 134 may compare the first route information and the
second route information based on the partial route match rule. The ECU 134 may
further determine that the destination location 130D of the first travel route 130 is
different from the destination location 144D of the second travel route 144. Thus,
the first condition of the partial route match rule is also not fulfilled by the first
travel route 130 and the second travel route 144. However, the ECU 134 may further
determine that the destination location 130D coincides with the intermediate transit
location 144C, the intermediate transit location 130C coincides with the
intermediate transit location 144B, and the source location 130B coincides with the
source location 144A. Thus, the first travel route 130 is a portion of the second
travel route 144. Hence, the ECU 134 determines that the first travel route 130 and
the second travel route 144 (as illustrated in the exemplary scenario 100D) satisfy
SP368146WO00
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the partial route match rule based on the second condition of the partial route match
rule. The ECU 134 may further establish that the one or more route matching rules
are satisfied based on the satisfaction of the partial route match rule.
[0064]
In some embodiment, the source location 130B may be different from the source
location 144A. However, the second condition of the partial route match rule is still
fulfilled. Thus, the ECU 134 may determine that the first travel route 130 and the
second travel route 144 satisfy the partial route match rule based on the second
condition.
[0065]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates various exemplary components or systems
of a vehicle, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is
explained in conjunction with elements from FIG. 1A. With reference to FIG. 2,
there is shown the first vehicle 102. The first vehicle 102 may comprise the ECU
120 that may include a microprocessor 202 and a memory 204. The first vehicle 102
may further comprise an audio interface 206, an outside rear view mirror (ORVM)
208, and the one or more display mediums 122 communicatively coupled to the
ECU 120. The first vehicle 102 may further comprise a body control module 210, a
sensing system 212, and a powertrain control system 214. The sensing system 212
may include a plurality of vehicle sensors 212a, the navigation unit 124, the videocapturing
unit 126, and the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f (FIG. 1).
The powertrain control system 214 may include a steering system 216 and a braking
system 218. The first vehicle 102 may further comprise a vehicle power system 220,
a battery 222, a wireless communication system 224, and an in-vehicle network 226.
The one or more display mediums 122 may be associated with one or more user
interfaces (UIs) 228a to 228d.
[0066]
The various components or systems may be communicatively coupled via the invehicle
network 226, such as a vehicle area network (VAN), and/or an in-vehicle
data bus. The microprocessor 202 may be communicatively coupled to the audio
interface 206, the one or more display mediums 122, the sensing system 212, and
SP368146WO00
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the wireless communication system 224. The microprocessor 202 may also be
operatively connected with the body control module 210, the powertrain control
system 214, the steering system 216, and the braking system 218. The wireless
communication system 224 may be configured to communicate with one or more
external devices, such as the first communication device 110 and the server 114
under the control of the microprocessor 202. A person ordinary skilled in the art will
understand that the first vehicle 102 may also include other suitable components or
systems, in addition to the components or systems which are illustrated herein to
describe and explain the function and operation of the present disclosure.
[0067]
The microprocessor 202 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/or
code that may be configured to execute a set of instructions stored in the memory
204. The microprocessor 202 may be configured to communicate a vehicle sharing
request to remaining plurality of vehicles (such as the second vehicle 106). In
accordance with an embodiment, the microprocessor 202 may be configured to
automatically control one or more components or systems, such as the powertrain
control system 214, the steering system 216, the braking system 218, the sensing
system 212, and/or the body control module 210 of the first vehicle 102, when the
first vehicle 102 is in an autonomous operating mode. Examples of the
microprocessor 202 may be an X86-based processor, a Reduced Instruction Set
Computing (RISC) processor, an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a
microcontroller, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU),
a state machine, and/or other processors or circuits.
[0068]
The memory 204 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces that may
be configured to store a machine code and/or a set of instructions with at least one
code section executable by the microprocessor 202. The memory 204 may store
various types of information related to the first vehicle 102. Various types of
information may include the first rout information, the first seat mapping
information, and the first vehicle information related to the first vehicle 102.
SP368146WO00
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Examples of implementation of the memory 204 may include, but are not limited to,
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), Random
Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Hard Disk Drive (HDD),
Flash memory, Solid-State Drive (SSD), and/or CPU cache memory.
[0069]
The audio interface 206 may be connected to a speaker, a chime, a buzzer, or other
device that may be configured to generate a sound. The audio interface 206 may also
be connected to a microphone or other device to receive a voice input from an
occupant, such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c, of the first vehicle
102. The audio interface 206 may also be communicatively coupled to the
microprocessor 202. The audio interface 206 may be a part of an in-vehicle
infotainment (IVI) system or head unit of the first vehicle 102. The in-vehicle
infotainment, for example, may include a combination of hardware devices and
software that provides audio or video entertainment to occupants of a vehicle, such
as the first vehicle 102. In accordance with an embodiment, the one or more display
mediums 122 may also be communicatively coupled to the IVI system.
[0070]
The body control module 210 may refer to another electronic control unit that
comprises suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to
control various electronic components or systems of the first vehicle 102. The body
control module 210 may be configured to receive a command from the
microprocessor 202. The body control module 210 may relay the command to other
suitable vehicle systems or components for access control of the first vehicle 102.
For example, the body control module 210 may relay the command to automatically
lock or open the door of the first vehicle 102.
[0071]
The sensing system 212 may comprise the plurality of vehicle sensors 212a, the
navigation unit 124, the video-capturing unit 126, and the plurality of first inner
cameras 148a to 148f. The plurality of vehicle sensors 212a may include traffic
condition detection sensors. The traffic condition detection sensors may also include
a vehicle speed sensor and the video-capturing unit 126 installed on the vehicle body
SP368146WO00
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of the first vehicle 102. The sensing system 212 may be communicatively coupled to
the microprocessor 202 to provide input signals to the microprocessor 202. For
example, the sensing system 212 may be used to sense or detect the sensor data by
use of the plurality of vehicle sensors 212a. Other examples of the plurality of
vehicle sensors 212a, may include, but are not limited to a yaw rate sensor, a vehicle
speed sensor, odometric sensors, a steering angle sensor, a vehicle travel direction
detection sensor, a magnetometer, an image sensor, a touch sensor, an infrared
sensor, and a depth sensor.
[0072]
The powertrain control system 214 may refer to an onboard computer of the first
vehicle 102 that controls operations of an engine and a transmission system of the
first vehicle 102. The powertrain control system 214 may control ignition, fuel
injection, emission systems, and/or operations of a transmission system (when
provided) and the braking system 218.
[0073]
The steering system 216 may be configured to receive one or more commands from
the microprocessor 202. The steering system 216 may include a steering wheel
and/or an electric motor (provided for a power-assisted steering) that may be used
by the first user 128 to control movement of the first vehicle 102 in manual mode or
a semi-autonomous mode. In accordance with an embodiment, the movement or
steering of the first vehicle 102 may be automatically controlled when the first
vehicle 102 is in autonomous mode. Examples of the steering system 216 may
include, but are not limited to, an autonomous steering control, a power-assisted
steering system, a vacuum/hydraulic-based steering system, an electro-hydraulic
power-assisted system (EHPAS), or a “steer-by-wire” system, or an autonomous
steering system, known in the art.
[0074]
The braking system 218 may be used to stop or slow down the first vehicle 102 by
application of resistive forces such as electromagnetic and/or frictional forces. The
braking system 218 may be configured to receive a command from the powertrain
control system 214 under the control of the microprocessor 202, when the first
SP368146WO00
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vehicle 102 is in an autonomous mode or a semi-autonomous mode. In accordance
with an embodiment, the braking system 218 may be configured to receive a
command from the body control module 210 and/or the microprocessor 202 when
the microprocessor 202 preemptively detects a steep curvature based on the set
current travel route of the first vehicle 102, an obstacle, or other road hazards.
[0075]
The vehicle power system 220 may regulate the charging and the power output of
the battery 222 to various electric circuits and the loads of the first vehicle 102, as
described above. When the first vehicle 102 is a hybrid vehicle or an autonomous
vehicle, the vehicle power system 220 may provide the required voltage for all of
the components and enable the first vehicle 102 to utilize the battery 222 power for a
sufficient amount of time. In accordance with an embodiment, the vehicle power
system 220 may correspond to power electronics, and may include a microcontroller
that may be communicatively coupled (shown by dotted lines) to the in-vehicle
network 226. In such an embodiment, the microcontroller may receive one or more
commands from the powertrain control system 214 under the control of the
microprocessor 202.
[0076]
The battery 222 may be a source of electric power for one or more electric circuits
or loads (not shown). For example, the loads may include, but are not limited to
various lights or lighting systems, such as headlights and interior cabin lights,
electrically powered adjustable components, such as vehicle seats, mirrors, windows
or the like, and/or other in-vehicle infotainment system, such as radio, speakers,
electronic navigation system, electrically controlled, powered and/or assisted
steering, such as the steering system 216. The battery 222 may be a rechargeable
battery. The battery 222 may be a source of electrical power to the ECU 120 (shown
by dashed lines), the plurality of vehicle sensors 212a, the video-capturing unit 126,
and the plurality of first inner cameras 148a to 148f of the sensing system 212,
and/or other hardware units, such as the one or more display mediums 122. The
battery 222 may be a source of electrical power to start an engine of the first vehicle
SP368146WO00
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102 by selectively providing electric power to an ignition system (not shown) of the
first vehicle 102.
[0077]
The wireless communication system 224 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,
interfaces, and/or code that may be configured to communicate with other vehicles
(such as the second vehicle 106) and/or one or more external devices (such as the
first communication device 110) via the first wireless communication channel 116A,
and one or more cloud servers, such as the server 114, via the wireless
communication network 118. The wireless communication system 224 may include,
but is not limited to, an antenna, a telematics unit, a radio frequency (RF)
transceiver, one or more amplifiers, one or more oscillators, a digital signal
processor, a coder-decoder (CODEC) chipset, and/or a subscriber identity module
(SIM) card. The wireless communication system 224 may wirelessly communicate
by use of various communication protocols of the first wireless communication
channel 116A and the wireless communication network 118 (as described in FIG. 1).
[0078]
The in-vehicle network 226 may include a medium through which the various
control units, components, and/or systems of the first vehicle 102, such as the ECU
120, body control module 210, the sensing system 212, the powertrain control
system 214, the wireless communication system 224, the audio interface 206, and
the one or more display mediums 122, may communicate with each other. In
accordance with an embodiment, in-vehicle communication of audio/video data for
multimedia components may occur by use of Media Oriented Systems Transport
(MOST) multimedia network protocol of the in-vehicle network 226 or other
suitable networks for audio/video data communication. The MOST-based network
may be a separate network from the controller area network (CAN). The MOSTbased
network may use a plastic optical fiber (POF) medium. In accordance with an
embodiment, the MOST-based network, the CAN, and other in-vehicle networks
may co-exist in a vehicle, such as the first vehicle 102. The in-vehicle network 226
may facilitate access control and/or communication between the microprocessor 202
(and the ECU 120) and other ECUs, such as a telematics control unit (TCU) of the
SP368146WO00
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first vehicle 102. Various devices or components in the first vehicle 102 may be
configured to connect to the in-vehicle network 226, in accordance with various
wired and wireless communication protocols. Examples of the wired and wireless
communication protocols for the in-vehicle network 226 may include, but are not
limited to, a vehicle area network (VAN), a CAN bus, Domestic Digital Bus (D2B),
Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP), FlexRay, IEEE 1394, Carrier Sense Multiple
Access With Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) based data communication protocol,
Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C), Inter Equipment Bus (IEBus), Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) J1708, SAE J1939, International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) 11992, ISO 11783, Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST), MOST25,
MOST50, MOST150, Plastic optical fiber (POF), Power-line communication (PLC),
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus, and/or Local Interconnect Network (LIN).
[0079]
The one or more UIs, such as the UIs 228a to 228f, may be rendered on the one or
more display mediums 122, under the control of the microprocessor 202. The
display of the first seat mapping information of the first vehicle 102 to the one or
more first passengers 132a to 132c or the first user 128 may occur by use of the one
or more UIs 228a to 228f.
[0080]
The functions and/or operations performed by the ECU 120, as described in FIG.
1A, may be performed by the microprocessor 202. Other operations performed by
the microprocessor 202, are further described, for example, in FIGs. 3A, 3B, 3C,
3D, and 3E.
[0081]
FIGs. 3A to 3E illustrate exemplary scenarios for implementation of the disclosed
system and method for automatic passenger sharing among vehicles, in accordance
with an embodiment of the disclosure. FIGs. 3A to 3E are explained in conjunction
with elements from FIGs. 1A to 1D, and 2.
[0082]
With reference to FIG. 3A, there is shown an exemplary scenario 300A that includes
a plurality of vehicles 301. The plurality of vehicles 301 includes a first bus 302
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with a communication range 303, a second bus 304, a car 305, a third bus 306, and a
fourth bus 307. In accordance with the exemplary scenario 300A, the plurality of
vehicles 301 corresponds to the plurality of vehicles of FIG. 1A.
[0083]
The second bus 304, the third bus 306, and the car 305 may be in the communication
range 303 of the first bus 302. The fourth bus 307 may be out of the communication
range 303 of the first bus 302. Thus, the first bus 302 may communicate with the
second bus 304, the third bus 306, and the car 305 through V2V communication by
use of the first wireless communication channel 116A. The first bus 302 may further
communicate with the fourth bus 307 through V2C communication by use of the
wireless communication network 118, if the fourth bus 307 and the first bus 302 are
associated with same travel group. In some embodiments, the fourth bus 307 and the
first bus 302 may not be associated with the same travel group. In such a scenario,
the first bus 302 may communicate with the fourth bus 307 through the first
communication device 110 (e.g., an RSU) and the second communication device
112 (e.g., an RSU).
[0084]
With reference to FIG. 3B, there is shown an exemplary scenario 300B that includes
the first bus 302, the second bus 304, and the third bus 306. There is further shown,
a first ECU 302a and a first navigation unit 302b provided in the first bus 302, a
second ECU 304a and a second navigation unit 304b provided in the second bus
304, and a third ECU 306a and a third navigation unit 306b provided in the third bus
306. There is also shown a first set of passengers 308a to 308c, a second set of
passengers 310a and 310b, and a third set of passengers 312a to 312f seated in the
first bus 302, the second bus 304, and the third bus 306, respectively. There is
further shown a first travel route 314 to be taken by the first bus 302, a second travel
route 316 to be taken by the second bus 304, and a third travel route 318 to be taken
by the third bus 306. The first travel route 314 may include a source location 320, a
first set of intermediate transit locations 322 and 324, and a destination location 326.
The second travel route 316 may include the source location 320, the first set of
intermediate transit locations 322 and 324, and the destination location 326. The
SP368146WO00
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third travel route 318 may include the source location 320, a second set of
intermediate transit location 328, and a destination location 330. There is further
shown a vehicle sharing request 332 communicated by the first bus 302 to the
remaining vehicles of the plurality of vehicles 301. The plurality of vehicles 301
may be at the location 320 at current time instant. A person having ordinary skill in
the art will understand that the plurality of vehicles 301 may include all the elements
included by the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106 as described in FIG. 2.
[0085]
The first ECU 302a of the first bus 302 may retrieve various types of information
related to the first bus 302. The various types of information may include first route
information, first seat mapping information, and first vehicle information associated
with the first bus 302. The first ECU 302a may retrieve the first route information of
the first bus 302 from the first navigation unit 302b. The first route information may
include details of the first travel route 314 of the first bus 302. The details may
include the source location 320, one or more intermediate transit locations 322 and
324, and a destination location 326 of the first travel route 314. The first ECU 302a
may determine the first seat mapping information based on one or more images
and/or videos captured by cameras (such as the plurality of first inner cameras 148a
to 148f) installed in the first bus 302. The first seat mapping information as
determined by the first ECU 302a may include a count of vacant seats, a count of
occupied seats, a count of passengers, seat booking details, seat identification
numbers of a plurality of seats in the first bus 302, or demographic details of
passengers in the first bus 302. Table 1, shown below, illustrates the first seat
mapping information as determined by the first ECU 302a.
SP368146WO00
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[0086]
With reference to Table 1, the seat booking details may correspond to the booking id
and allotted seat identification number of each of the a first set of passengers 308a to
308c. For example, the booking id of the first passengers 308a is “b190” and the
allotted seat identification number is “S_5”. The demographic details of passengers
may correspond to gender and age of each of the first set of passengers 308a to
308c. For example, the gender of the first passengers 308a is “Female” and age is
“23 years”.
[0087]
The first ECU 302a may further retrieve the first vehicle information of the first bus
302 from a memory device of the first ECU 302a. The first vehicle information
includes a vehicle identification number, a vehicle type, and/or details of window
seats in the first bus 302. Table 2, shown below, illustrates the first vehicle
information of the first bus 302.
[0088]
With reference to Table 2, the details of window seats may include a seat
identification number of the window seats in the first bus 302. The first ECU 302a
may communicate the vehicle sharing request 332 to remaining of the plurality of
vehicles 301, if the pool flag in the first ECU 302a is set to “1”. In other words, if
SP368146WO00
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the first ECU 302a opts to share passengers among the remaining of the plurality of
vehicles 301, the first ECU 302a may communicate the vehicle sharing request 332
to remaining of the plurality of vehicles 301. In this scenario, the first bus 302 may
correspond to a transmitting vehicle. The vehicle sharing request 332 may include
the first route information, the first seat mapping information, and the first vehicle
information. The vehicle sharing request 332 may be received by the remaining
vehicles of the plurality of vehicles 301 that are in the communication range 303 of
the first bus 302. The second bus 304, the car 305, and the third bus 306 may be in
the communication range of the first bus 302 and the fourth bus 307 (associated with
a different travel group from the first bus 302) may be out of the communication
range 303 of the first bus 302. The second bus 304, the car 305, and the third bus
306 may receive the vehicle sharing request 332. However, the pool flag of the car
305 may be set to “0”, due to the absence of vacant seats. Thus, the vehicle sharing
request 332 may be discarded by the car 305.
[0089]
The second ECU 304a and the third ECU 306a may retrieve various types of
information related to the second bus 304 and the third bus 306, respectively, based
on the reception of the vehicle sharing request 332. The various types of information
related to the second bus 304 may include second route information, second seat
mapping information, and second vehicle information. Table 3, shown below,
illustrates the second seat mapping information as determined by the second ECU
304a.
[0090]
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The various types of information related to the third bus 306 may include third route
information, third seat mapping information, and third vehicle information. Table 4,
shown below, illustrates the third seat mapping information as determined by the
third ECU 306a.
[0091]
The second ECU 304a may compare the first route information and the first seat
mapping information included in the received vehicle sharing request 332 with the
second route information and the second seat mapping information, respectively.
Similarly, the third ECU 306a may compare the first route information and the first
seat mapping information included in the received vehicle sharing request 332 with
the third route information and the third seat mapping information, respectively.
[0092]
The third ECU 306a may determine that the one or more route matching rules are
not satisfied based on the comparison of the first route information with the third
route information. The third travel route 318 includes the source location 320, the
intermediate transit location 328, and the destination location 330. Thus, the third
travel route 318 does not satisfy either of the complete route match rule and the
partial route match rule. The third ECU 306a may therefore discard the vehicle
sharing request 332.
[0093]
SP368146WO00
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The second ECU 304a may establish that the route matching rules are satisfied
based on the comparison of the first route information with the second route
information. The second travel route 316 includes the source location 320, the one
or more intermediate transit locations 322 and 324, and the destination location 326
which are same as that of the first travel route 314 of the first bus 302. The second
ECU 304a may further check whether the first vehicle information matches the
second vehicle information. For instance, the second ECU 304a may determine that
the vehicle type (i.e., “full-sleeper” and “non-air-conditioned”) of the second bus
304 matches the vehicle type (i.e., “full-sleeper” and “non-air-conditioned”) of the
first bus 302. The second ECU 304a may further determine that the first set of
passengers 308a to 308c may be accommodated in the second bus 304 along with
the second set of passengers 310a and 310b without violating the one or more seat
mapping rules. For instance, the first set of passengers 308a, 308b, and 308c may
have specified to occupy window seats. The second bus 304 has at least three vacant
window seats, such as P_1, P_4, and P_5 to accommodate the first set of passengers
308a, 308b, and 308c. Thus, the one or more seat mapping rules are satisfied. The
second ECU 304a may further determine that the second set of passengers 310a to
310b may be accommodated in the first bus 302 along with the first set of
passengers 308a to 308c without violating the one or more seat mapping rules. For
example, the second set of passengers 310a and 310b may have specified to occupy
window seats. The first bus 302 has at least two vacant window seats, such as S_1
and S_4 to accommodate the second set of passengers 310a and 310b. Thus, the
second ECU 304a may establish that the one or more seat mapping rules are
satisfied by the first bus 302 and the second bus 304.
[0094]
With reference to FIG. 3C, there is shown an exemplary scenario 300C that includes
the first bus 302, the second bus 304, and the third bus 306. There is further shown,
the first ECU 302a and the first navigation unit 302b provided in the first bus 302,
the second ECU 304a and the second navigation unit 304b provided in the second
bus 304, and the third ECU 306a and the third navigation unit 306b provided in the
third bus 306. There is also shown the first set of passengers 308a to 308c, the
SP368146WO00
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second set of passengers 310a and 310b, the third set of passengers 312a to 312f, the
first travel route 314, the second travel route 316, the third travel route 318. There is
further shown an acceptance notification 334 communicated by the second bus 304.
[0095]
The second ECU 304a may transmit the acceptance notification 334 to the first bus
302 based on the satisfaction of the one or more route matching rules and the one or
more seat mapping rules (described in FIG. 3B), and a match of the first vehicle
information with the second vehicle information. The second ECU 304a may further
communicate the first vehicle information, the second vehicle information, and the
second seat mapping information to the first bus 302 along with the acceptance
notification 334. The first ECU 302a may receive the acceptance notification 334.
For instance, the first ECU 302a may further receive other acceptance notifications
from other vehicles, for example, the fourth bus 307. The first ECU 302a may
discard the acceptance notifications that do not include the first vehicle information.
The first ECU 302a may identify a vehicle (such as the second bus 304) for sharing
passengers based on the acceptance notification 334 and the other acceptance
notifications. For example, the first ECU 302a may identify that the second bus 304
satisfies the complete route match rule instead of another bus, for example, the
fourth bus 307, for which only the partial route match rule is satisfied. Thus, the first
ECU 302a may identify the second bus 304 to share passengers instead of the fourth
bus 307. In some embodiments, the first ECU 302a may identify that the second bus
304 has a larger count of passengers in comparison to other buses for example, the
fourth bus 307, from which the acceptance notifications are received. Thus, the first
ECU 302a may identify the second bus 304 to share passengers instead of the fourth
bus 307.
[0096]
The first ECU 302a may be further configured to select a target vehicle from the
first bus 302 or the identified second bus 304 to allow the first set of passengers
308a to 308c of the first bus 302 and the second set of passengers 310a and 310b of
the second bus 304 to share travel in the selected target vehicle. The first ECU 302a
may select the target vehicle based on the one or more selection parameters. The one
SP368146WO00
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or more selection parameters may comprise the travel route parameter, the passenger
count parameter, and the seat mapping parameter.
[0097]
The first ECU 302a may determine that the first bus 302 and the second bus 304
satisfies the complete route match rule and the one or more seat mapping rules are
satisfied. The first ECU 302a may further determine that the first bus 302 has larger
count of passengers in comparison to the second bus 304. Thus, the first ECU 302a
may select the first bus 302 as the target vehicle in accordance with the passenger
count parameter.
[0098]
With reference to FIG. 3D, there is shown an exemplary scenario 300D that includes
the first bus 302 and the second bus 304. There is further shown, the first ECU 302a
and the first navigation unit 302b provided in the first bus 302, and the second ECU
304a and the second navigation unit 304b provided in the second bus 304. There is
also shown the first set of passengers 308a to 308c, the second set of passengers
310a and 310b, the first travel route 314, and the second travel route 316. There is
further shown new seat mapping information 336 communicated by the first bus
302, and updated new seat mapping information 338.
[0099]
The first ECU 302a may generate the new seat mapping information 336
considering both the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second set of
passengers 310a and 310b that are to be accommodated into the selected target
vehicle (i.e., the first bus 302) for sharing travel. The first ECU 302a may generate
the new seat mapping information 336 in accordance with the one or more seat
mapping rules of the selected target vehicle (i.e., the first bus 302). Table 5 shown
below illustrates the new seat mapping information 336 as determined by the first
ECU 302a.
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[0100]
With reference to Table 5, the one or more second passengers 310a and 310b are
allotted seats (such as S_1 and S_4, respectively) in the target vehicle (i.e., the first
bus 302) The new seat mapping information 336 corresponds to updated information
related to one or more of count of vacant seats, count of occupied seats, count of
passengers, seat booking details, seat identification numbers of a plurality of seats,
or demographic details of passengers depending on the accommodation of the first
set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second set of passengers 310a and 310b into
a common vehicle, such as the first bus 302 in this case, for shared travel.
[0101]
The first ECU 302a may further communicate the new seat mapping information
336 to the second bus 304. The first ECU 302a may further communicate the first
vehicle information and the second vehicle information along with the new seat
mapping information 336 to remaining vehicles of the plurality of vehicles 301
periodically so that remaining vacant seats may also be optimally utilized.
[0102]
With reference to FIG. 3E, there is shown an exemplary scenario 300E that includes
the first bus 302 and the second bus 304. There is further shown, the first ECU 302a
and the first navigation unit 302b provided in the first bus 302, and the second ECU
304a and the second navigation unit 304b provided in the second bus 304. There is
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also shown the first set of passengers 308a to 308c, the second set of passengers
310a and 310b, and the first travel route 314.
[0103]
The first ECU 302a may be configured to detect a next intermediate transit location
(for example, the intermediate transit location 322) that is common to the first travel
route 314 and the second travel route 316 of the first bus 302 and the second bus
304, respectively. For example, at a current time instant the first bus 302 may have
started the travel from the source location 320 in the first travel route 314. At the
current time instant, the second bus 304 may have travelled “1km” towards the
intermediate transit location 322 from the source location 320 in the second travel
route 316. Thus, the first ECU 302a may detect that the next intermediate transit
location that is common to the first travel route 314 and the second travel route 316
of the first bus 302 and the second bus 304 is the intermediate transit location 322.
Thereafter, the first ECU 302a may be configured to communicate a halt instruction
to a powertrain control system, via an in-vehicle network of the first bus 302 to stop
the first bus 302 at the detected next intermediate transit location 322. Similarly, the
first ECU 302a may communicate an instruction to the second bus 304 to
synchronize stoppage of the second bus 304 with the first bus 302 at the detected
next intermediate transit location 322. In some embodiment, the second ECU 304a
may concurrently detect the next intermediate transit that is common to the first
travel route 314 and the second travel route 316 of the first bus 302 and the second
bus 304, respectively. In such as case, the second ECU 304a may also communicate
a halt instruction via an in-vehicle network of the second bus 304 to stop the second
bus 304 at the detected next intermediate transit location. In certain scenarios, where
the first bus 302 or the second bus 304 may not be autonomous vehicles. In such
scenarios, a recommendation may be generated for the driver of the respective buses
to stop at the detected next intermediate transit location 322 that is common to both
the first bus 302 and the second bus 304. Thus, the first bus 302 and the second bus
304 may be stopped at the next intermediate transit location 322 that is common to
the first travel route 314 and the second travel route 316 of the first bus 302 and the
second bus 304, respectively.
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[0104]
The second set of passengers 310a and 310b may be transferred to the first bus 302
at the intermediate transit location 322. The second set of passengers 310a and 310b
may be seated in the first bus 302 along with the first set of passengers 308a to 308c.
The first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second set of passengers 310a and
310b may share the remaining travel, which is from the intermediate transit location
322 to the destination location 326 in the first bus 302. The second bus 304 may
remain stopped at the intermediate transit location “b” until a new travel route is
generated for the second bus 304.
[0105]
In some embodiments, the second set of passengers 310a and 310b may be seated in
the first bus 302 along with the first set of passengers 308a to 308c in accordance
with the new seat mapping information 336. In such embodiments, before actual
transfer of passengers from one vehicle to another, the new seat mapping
information 336 may be presented to the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the
second set of passengers 310a and 310b through various user interfaces (for
example, the UIs 228a to 228f) rendered on one or more display mediums (such as
the one or more display mediums 122 and 136) provided in the first bus 302 and the
second bus 304, respectively. The first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the
second set of passengers 310a and 310b may provide feedback for the new seat
mapping information 336 by selection of one or more graphical buttons (not shown)
rendered on the one or more display mediums. For example, the second passenger
310a may not want to be seated at a front seat of the first bus 302 and thus may not
approve (disapprove) the new seat mapping information 336. In this scenario, the
first ECU 302a may update the new seat mapping information 336 based on the
feedback provided by the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second set of
passengers 310a and 310b. For example, in the updated new seat mapping
information 338 (this refers to an update in the new seat mapping information 336),
the second passenger 310a may be assigned the seat with seat identification number
“S_12”. The first ECU 302a may further communicate the updated new seat
mapping information 338 to the second bus 304.
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[0106]
In some embodiments, the first bus 302 at certain time instances may also act or
operate as a recipient of vehicle sharing request 332 (in addition to transmitter of the
vehicle sharing request 332) from the remaining vehicles of the plurality of vehicles
301. In such embodiments, the first ECU 302a may receive the vehicle sharing
request 332 and communicate the acceptance notification 334. In some
embodiments, the first ECU 302a may further communicate another vehicle sharing
request periodically to utilize the remaining vacant seats in the first bus 302 until no
vacant seat remains in the first bus 302.
[0107]
FIGs. 4A and 4B, collectively, depict a first flow chart that illustrates a first
exemplary method for facilitating automatic passenger sharing among autonomous
vehicles or semi-autonomous vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the
disclosure. With reference to FIGs. 4A and 4B, there is shown a flowchart 400. The
first flow chart 400 is described in conjunction with FIGs. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2, 3A,
3B, 3C, 3D, and 3E. The operations, implemented at the ECU 120 for facilitating
automatic passenger sharing among autonomous vehicles or semi-autonomous
vehicles, begin at 402 and proceed to 404.
[0108]
At 404, a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping information
and first route information associated with a first vehicle may be communicated to at
least one remaining vehicle of a plurality of vehicles. The ECU 120 may be
configured to communicate the vehicle sharing request including at least the first
seat mapping information and the first route information associated with the first
vehicle may be communicated to at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of
vehicles. The vehicle sharing request may further include first vehicle information of
the first vehicle. An example is shown and described in FIG. 3A, where the first
ECU 302a retrieves the first route information, the first seat mapping information,
and the first vehicle information of the first bus 302. The first ECU 302a further
communicates the vehicle sharing request 332 to the plurality of vehicles 301.
[0109]
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At 406, a second vehicle among the at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of
vehicles may be identified for sharing passengers. The ECU 120 may be configured
to identify the second vehicle among the at least one remaining vehicle of the
plurality of vehicles for sharing passengers. The identification of the second vehicle
may be based on the comparison of the first route information and the first seat
mapping information with second route information and second seat mapping
information received from the at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of
vehicles. The identification of the second vehicle may be further based on an
acceptance notification received from the at least one remaining vehicle of the
plurality of vehicles. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 3A and 3B, where
the first ECU 302a identifies the second bus 304 as the second vehicle for sharing
passengers based on the acceptance notification 334. The second ECU 304a may
communicate the acceptance notification 334 based on the comparison of the first
route information and the first seat mapping information with second route
information and second seat mapping information.
[0110]
At 408, a target vehicle may be selected from the identified second vehicle or the
first vehicle to allow one or more first passengers of the first vehicle and one or
more second passengers of the identified second vehicle to share travel in the
selected target vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to select the target vehicle
from the identified second vehicle or the first vehicle. The selection of the target
vehicle from the identified second vehicle or the first vehicle may be based on the
one or more selection parameters, such as the travel route parameter, the passenger
count parameter, and the seat mapping parameter. An example is shown and
described in FIGs. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D, where the first ECU 302a selects the first
bus 302 as the target vehicle to allow the first set of passengers 308a to 308c of the
first bus 302 and the second set of passengers 310a and 310b of the identified
second bus 304 to share travel in the selected target vehicle.
[0111]
At 410, new seat mapping information may be generated to include the one or more
first passengers of the first vehicle and the one or more second passengers of the
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identified second vehicle into the selected target vehicle to share travel. The ECU
120 may be configured to generate the new seat mapping information for the
selected target vehicle to include the one or more first passengers and the one or
more second passengers into the selected target vehicle to share travel. An example
is shown and described in FIGs. 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the first ECU 302a
generates the new seat mapping information 336 for the selected target vehicle (i.e.,
the first bus 302) to include the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second
set of passengers 310a and 310b into the first bus 302 to share travel.
[0112]
At 412, the new seat mapping information may be transmitted to the identified
second vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to transmit the new seat mapping
information to the identified second vehicle. The first vehicle information and the
second vehicle information may also be transmitted to the identified second vehicle
along with the new seat mapping information. The ECU 120 may transmit the new
seat mapping information to the identified second vehicle via V2V communication.
For instance, the identified second vehicle may go out of reach of the
communication range of the ECU 120. In such a case, the ECU 120 may transmit
the new seat mapping information to the identified second vehicle via V2C
communication, when the first vehicle and the second vehicle are associated with a
same travel group. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 3A, 3B, and 3C,
where the first ECU 302a transmits the new seat mapping information 336 to the
second bus 304 (i.e., the identified second vehicle).
[0113]
At 414, the new seat mapping information may be presented to the one or more first
passengers and the one or more second passengers. The ECU 120 may be configured
to present the new seat mapping information to the one or more first passengers and
the one or more second passengers through a user interface rendered on a first
display device in the first vehicle and a second display device in the identified
second vehicle, respectively. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A,
3B, and 3C, where the first ECU 302a presents the new seat mapping information
336 to the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second ECU 304a presents the
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received new seat mapping information 336 to the second set of passengers 310a
and 310b through a user interface (such as the UIs 228a to 228f) rendered on a first
display device (such as the one or more display mediums 122 or 136) in the first bus
302 and a second display device (such as the one or more display mediums 122 or
136) in the identified second bus 304.
[0114]
At 416, a feedback provided by the one or more first passengers and the one or more
second passengers may be received. The ECU 120 may be configured to receive the
feedback provided by the one or more first passengers and the one or more second
passengers for the presented new seat mapping information. The one or more first
passengers and the one or more second passengers may approve or decline the
presented new seat mapping information by providing their corresponding feedback.
The ECU 120 may further update the new seat mapping information based on the
feedback provided by the one or more first passengers and the one or more second
passengers. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D,
where the first set of passengers 308a to 308c and the second set of passengers 310a
and 310b provides the feedback for the presented the new seat mapping information
336 and the new seat mapping information 336, which is updated to the updated new
seat mapping information 338.
[0115]
At 418, a halt instruction may be communicated in an in-vehicle network to stop the
first vehicle at a next intermediate transit location that is common to the first vehicle
and the identified second vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to communicate
the halt instruction in the in-vehicle network of the first vehicle to stop the first
vehicle at the next intermediate transit location that is common to the first vehicle
and the identified second vehicle. The ECU 120 may further instruct the ECU 134 in
the identified second vehicle to communicate the similar halt instruction to stop the
second vehicle at the next intermediate transit location. An example is shown and
described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the first ECU 302a and the second
ECU 304a communicate the halt instruction in the corresponding in-vehicle network
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(such as the in-vehicle network 226) to stop the first bus 302 and the second bus 304
at the next intermediate transit location (i.e., the intermediate transit location “b”).
[0116]
At 420, the first vehicle and the identified second vehicle may be stopped at the next
intermediate transit location based on the halt instruction. A powertrain control
system of the first vehicle and the identified second vehicle may be configured to
stop the first vehicle and the identified second vehicle at the next intermediate transit
location based on the halt instruction. The first vehicle and the identified second
vehicle may be stopped to transfer the one or more second passengers or the one or
more first passengers into a common vehicle based on the selection of the target
vehicle. The common vehicle may correspond to the target vehicle. An example is
shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the powertrain control
system (such as the powertrain control system 214) of the first bus 302 and the
second bus 304 may stop at the next intermediate transit location (i.e., the
intermediate transit location 322). The second set of passengers 310a and 310b are
transferred to the first bus 302 (i.e., the selected target vehicle) for sharing travel
with the first set of passengers 308a to 308c for the remaining travel route. The
control may pass to the end 422.
[0117]
While the first flow chart 400 has been described with reference to an exemplary
scenario, when the first vehicle corresponds to a vehicle that transmits the vehicle
sharing request (such as the vehicle sharing request 332), it will be understood by
those skilled in the art that in another exemplary scenario (illustrated later in FIGs.
5A and 5B) the first vehicle may correspond to a vehicle that receives the vehicle
sharing request 332.
[0118]
FIGs. 5A and 5B, collectively, depict a second flow chart that illustrates a second
exemplary method for facilitating automatic passenger sharing among autonomous
vehicles or semi-autonomous vehicles, in accordance with an embodiment of the
disclosure. With reference to FIGs. 5A and 5B, there is shown a flowchart 500. The
flowchart 500 is described in conjunction with FIGs. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C,
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3D, 3E, 4A, and 4B. The operations, implemented in the ECU 120 for facilitating
automatic passenger sharing among autonomous vehicles or semi-autonomous
vehicles, begin at 502 and proceed to 504.
[0119]
At 504, a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping information
and first route information associated with a second vehicle of a plurality of vehicles
may be received by a first vehicle. The ECU 120 of the first vehicle may be
configured to receive the vehicle sharing request from a second vehicle. The vehicle
sharing request may include the first seat mapping information, the first route
information, and the vehicle information associated with the second vehicle. An
example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the second
ECU 304a in the second bus 304 (i.e., the first vehicle 102) receives the vehicle
sharing request 332 from the first bus 302 (i.e., the second vehicle 106).
[0120]
At 506, it may be determined by the first vehicle whether the pool flag is set to “1”
or “0”. The control may pass to 508 based on the pool flag being set to “0”. Else, the
control may pass to 510. At 508, the received vehicle sharing request may be
discarded by the first vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to discard the
vehicle sharing request based on the pool flag being set to “0”. An example is shown
and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the second ECU 304a in the
second bus 304 (i.e., the first vehicle 102) may discard the vehicle sharing request
332 based on the pool flag being set to “0”. The control may pass to the end 530.
[0121]
At 510, the first route information and the first seat mapping information of the
second vehicle may be compared with second route information and second seat
mapping information of the first vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to
compare the first route information and the first seat mapping information with the
second route information and the second seat mapping information of the first
vehicle. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D,
where the second ECU 304a in the second bus 304 may compare the first route
information and the first seat mapping information of the first bus 302 with the
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second route information and the second seat mapping information of the second bus
304 (i.e., the first vehicle 102).
[0122]
At 512, it may be determined by the first vehicle whether the one or more route
matching rules and the one or more seat mapping rules are satisfied or not, based on
the comparison. The control may pass to 514, based on the one or more route
matching rules and the one or more seat mapping rules being unsatisfied (i.e. not
satisfied). Else, the control may pass to 516. At 514, the received vehicle sharing
request may be discarded by the first vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to
discard the vehicle sharing request based on the one or more route matching rules
and the one or more seat mapping rules being unsatisfied (i.e. not satisfied). The
control may pass to the end 530.
[0123]
At 516, an acceptance notification may be transmitted by the first vehicle to the
second vehicle for the received vehicle sharing request. The ECU 120 may be
configured to transmit the acceptance notification to the second vehicle for the
received vehicle sharing request based on the comparison of the first route
information, the first seat mapping information, and first vehicle information with
the second route information the second seat mapping information, and the second
vehicle information of the first vehicle. An example is shown and described in FIGs.
1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D, where the second ECU 304a in the second bus 304
transmits the acceptance notification 334 to the first bus 302 (i.e., the second vehicle
106) for the vehicle sharing request 332 based on the comparison of the first route
information, the first seat mapping information, and the first vehicle information of
the first bus 302 with the second route information, the second seat mapping
information, and the second vehicle information of the second bus 304 (i.e., the first
vehicle 102).
[0124]
At 518, new seat mapping information may be received by the first vehicle from the
second vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to receive the new seat mapping
information from the second vehicle. The first vehicle information and the second
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vehicle information may be transmitted along the new seat mapping information. An
example, is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D, where the
second ECU 304a in the second bus 304 receives new seat mapping information 336
from the first bus 302 (i.e., the second vehicle 106).
[0125]
At 520, it may be determined by the first vehicle whether the second vehicle
information is received along with the new seat mapping information. The ECU 120
may be configured to determine whether the second vehicle information is received
along with the new seat mapping information. The control may pass to 522, based
on the second vehicle information that is not received along with the new seat
mapping information. Else, the control may pass to 524. At 522, the new seat
mapping information may be discarded. The ECU 120 may be configured to discard
the new seat mapping information when the second vehicle information is not
received along with the new seat mapping information. The control may pass to the
end 530.
[0126]
At 524, the new seat mapping information may be presented to the one or more first
passengers and the one or more second passengers. The ECU 120 may be configured
to present the new seat mapping information to the one or more first passengers and
the one or more second passengers through a user interface rendered on a first
display device in the first vehicle and a second display device in the identified
second vehicle, respectively. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A,
3B, and 3C, where the second ECU 304a presents the new seat mapping information
336 to the second set of passengers 310a and 310b and the first ECU 302a presents
the new seat mapping information 336 to the a first set of passengers 308a to 308c
through a user interface (such as the UIs 228a to 228f) rendered on a first display
device (such as the one or more display mediums 122 or 136) in the second bus 304
(i.e., the first vehicle 102) and a second display device (such as the one or more
display mediums 122 or 136) in the first bus 302 (i.e., the second vehicle 106).
[0127]
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At 526, a halt instruction may be communicated in an in-vehicle network to stop the
first vehicle at a specified common transit point of the first vehicle and the second
vehicle. The ECU 120 may be configured to communicate the halt instruction in the
in-vehicle network of the first vehicle to stop the first vehicle at the specified
common transit point of the first vehicle and the second vehicle. The ECU 120 may
further instruct the ECU 134 in the second vehicle to communicate the similar halt
instruction to stop the second vehicle at the specified common transit point. The
specified common transit point of the first vehicle and the second vehicle may
correspond to a next intermediate transit location that is common between a first
travel route of the first vehicle and a second travel route of the second vehicle. An
example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 3C, where the second
ECU 304a of the second bus 304 and the first ECU 302a of the first bus 302
communicate the halt instruction in the corresponding in-vehicle network to stop the
second bus 304 and the first bus 302 at the specified common transit point (i.e., the
intermediate transit location “b”).
[0128]
At 528, the first vehicle and the second vehicle may be stopped at the specified
common transit point based on the halt instruction. A powertrain control system of
the first vehicle and the second vehicle may be configured to stop the first vehicle
and the second vehicle at the specified common transit point based on the halt
instruction. The first vehicle and the identified second vehicle may be stopped to
transfer the one or more second passengers or the one or more first passengers into a
common vehicle based on a selected target vehicle. The common vehicle may
correspond to the target vehicle. An example is shown and described in FIGs. 1, 2,
3A, 3B, and 3C, where the powertrain control system (such as the powertrain control
system 214) of the second bus 304 (i.e., the first vehicle 102) and the first bus 302
(i.e., the second vehicle 106) may stop at the specified common transit point (i.e.,
the intermediate transit location “b”). The second set of passengers 310a and 310b
are transferred to the first bus 302 (i.e., the selected target vehicle) for sharing travel
with the first set of passengers 308a to 308c for the remaining travel route. The
control may pass to the end 530.
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[0129]
In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, a system for sharing
passengers among a plurality of vehicles, such as the first vehicle 102 and the
second vehicle 106, is disclosed. The system (such as the ECU 120 (FIG. 1)) may
comprise one or more circuits (hereinafter referred to as the microprocessor 202
(FIG. 2)). The microprocessor 202 may be configured to communicate a vehicle
sharing request (such as the vehicle sharing request 332 (FIG. 3B)) including at least
first seat mapping information and first route information associated with the first
vehicle 102 to at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of vehicles. The
microprocessor 202 may be configured to identify a second vehicle (such as the
second vehicle 106 (FIG. 1)) among the at least one remaining vehicle of the
plurality of vehicles for sharing passengers based on a comparison of the first route
information and the first seat mapping information with second route information
and second seat mapping information received from the at least one remaining
vehicle of the plurality of vehicles. The microprocessor 202 may be configured to
select a target vehicle from the identified second vehicle 106 or the first vehicle 102
to allow one or more first passengers (such as the one or more first passengers 132a
to 132c (FIG. 1)) of the first vehicle 102 and one or more second passengers (such
as the one or more second passengers 146a to 146b (FIG. 1)) of the identified second
vehicle 106 to share travel in the selected target vehicle.
[0130]
In accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure, a system for sharing
passengers among a plurality of vehicles, such as the first vehicle 102 and the
second vehicle 106, is disclosed. The system (such as the ECU 120 (FIG. 1)) may
comprise one or more circuits (hereinafter referred to as the microprocessor 202
(FIG. 2)). The microprocessor 202 may be configured to receive a vehicle sharing
request (such as the vehicle sharing request 332 (FIG. 3B)) including at least first
seat mapping information and first route information associated with a second
vehicle (such as the second vehicle 106) of the plurality of vehicles from the second
vehicle 106. The microprocessor 202 may be configured to transmit an acceptance
notification (such as the acceptance notification 334 (FIG. 3C)) for the received
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vehicle sharing request 332 to the second vehicle 106 based on at least a comparison
of the first route information and the first seat mapping information of the second
vehicle 106 with second route information and second seat mapping information of
the first vehicle 102. The microprocessor 202 may be configured to communicate a
halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to stop the first vehicle 102 at a specified
common transit point of the first vehicle 102 and the second vehicle 106 to include
one or more first passengers (such as the one or more first passengers 132a to 132c
(FIG.1)) of the first vehicle 102 and one or more second passengers (such as the one
or more second passengers 146a to 146b (FIG.1)) of the second vehicle 106 to share
travel in a target vehicle. The target vehicle may be selected from the first vehicle
102 or the second vehicle 106.
[0131]
The ECU 120 of the first vehicle 102 manages to retrieve various types of
information related to the first vehicle 102 for communicating a vehicle sharing
request. Thus, based on the current information related to the first vehicle 102 the
vehicle sharing request may be automatically initiated by the ECU 120. The vehicle
sharing request is meant for sharing passengers among a plurality of vehicles. For
instance, “3 passengers” may be traveling in a first vehicle with capacity “10
passengers” and “4 passengers” may be traveling in a second vehicle of capacity “10
passengers” along same route. In such a case, the “3 passengers” of the first vehicle
may be transferred to the second vehicle. Such sharing of passengers among the
plurality of vehicles reduces the congestion along roads and further helps in a better
utilization of resources, for example, fuel and transport vehicles.
[0132]
However, in conventional systems, such sharing of passengers may only be initiated
before the departure of the plurality of vehicles. The ECU 120 enables the first
vehicle 102 to share passengers with remaining vehicles in the plurality of vehicles
in real-time. The ECU 120 utilizes V2V communication to communicate with the
remaining vehicles for automatic identification of potential vehicles to share
passengers. In a scenario, when the potential vehicles go out of range the ECU 120
may utilize V2C communication to provide uninterrupted communication between
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the vehicles to initiate passenger sharing. Thus, the sharing of passengers among the
plurality of vehicles may be independent of any human intervention. The ECU 120
further takes into consideration various seat mapping rules and route matching rules
in order to ensure a proper passenger sharing. The disclosed system and method
further targets the ever increasing problem of pollution by reducing the number of
vehicles that are travelling along the same route based on passenger sharing among
the vehicles. The disclosed system and method is beneficial for both service
provider of transportation services and travelling passengers. For service providers,
the better resource utilization may improve revenue generation and for passengers,
the cost of travelling may reduce due to sharing the same vehicle with more number
of passengers that are transferred from other vehicles. The ECU 120 improves the
operating speed and accuracy of itself and the vehicle in which it is installed to
provide a capability of identifying a vehicle from tens, hundreds, or thousands of
near-by vehicles for sharing passengers. As the ECU 120 is configured to
continuously or periodically analyze route information and the seat mapping
information, received via V2V or V2X communication from near-by vehicles, a
solution for vehicle sharing using V2X is provided by real time automatic matching
of such real-time generated/provisioned information. Typically, a conventional
vehicle or car sharing services performs the matching process using pre-registered
user information, such as destination before using the vehicle sharing service. Real
time or near-real time generated seat mapping information is not used for vehicle
sharing service. Further, in conventional systems once a passenger boards a vehicle,
further optimization or vehicle sharing may not be possible as information about
passengers, and seat mapping information is not updated. Additionally, as the
travelling route of a vehicle is retrieved from a navigation unit by the ECU 120, the
vehicle sharing process is accurate and capable of suitably and automatically
responding to changes in travel routes.
[0133]
Various embodiments of the disclosure may provide a non-transitory, computer
readable medium and/or storage medium, and/or a non-transitory machine readable
medium and/or storage medium stored thereon, a machine code and/or a computer
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program with at least one code section executable by a machine and/or a computer
for sharing passengers among a plurality of vehicles. The at least one code section
may cause the machine and/or computer to perform the steps that comprise
communication of a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping
information and first route information associated with the first vehicle to at least
one remaining vehicle of the plurality of vehicles. A second vehicle among the at
least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of vehicles may be identified for sharing
passengers based on a comparison of the first route information and the first seat
mapping information with second route information and second seat mapping
information received from the at least one remaining vehicle of the plurality of
vehicles. A target vehicle may be selected from the identified second vehicle or the
first vehicle to allow one or more first passengers of the first vehicle and one or
more second passengers of the identified second vehicle to share travel in the
selected target vehicle.
[0134]
Various embodiments of the disclosure may provide a non-transitory, computer
readable medium and/or storage medium, and/or a non-transitory machine readable
medium and/or storage medium stored thereon, a machine code and/or a computer
program with at least one code section executable by a machine and/or a computer
for sharing passengers among a plurality of vehicles. The at least one code section
may cause the machine and/or computer to perform the steps that comprise receiving
a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping information and first
route information associated with a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles from
the second vehicle. An acceptance notification for the received vehicle sharing
request may be transmitted to the second vehicle based on at least a comparison of
the first route information and the first seat mapping information of the second
vehicle with second route information and second seat mapping information of the
first vehicle. A halt instruction may be communicated in an in-vehicle network to
stop the first vehicle at a specified common transit point of the first vehicle and the
second vehicle to include one or more first passengers of the first vehicle and one or
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more second passengers of the second vehicle to share travel in a target vehicle. The
target vehicle may be selected from the first vehicle or the second vehicle.
[0135]
The present disclosure may be realized in hardware, or a combination of hardware
and software. The present disclosure may be realized in a centralized fashion, in at
least one computer system, or in a distributed fashion, where different elements may
be spread across several interconnected computer systems. A computer system or
other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein may be
suited. A combination of hardware and software may be a general-purpose computer
system with a computer program that, when loaded and executed, may control the
computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein. The present
disclosure may be realized in hardware that comprises a portion of an integrated
circuit that also performs other functions. It may be understood that, depending on
the embodiment, some of the steps described above may be eliminated, while other
additional steps may be added, and the sequence of steps may be changed.
The present disclosure may also be embedded in a computer program product,
which comprises all the features that enable the implementation of the methods
described herein, and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out
these methods. Computer program, in the present context, means any expression, in
any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system
with an information processing capability to perform a particular function either
directly, or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to another language,
code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form. While the present
disclosure has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be
understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and
equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present
disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular
situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing
from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to
the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present disclosure will include all
embodiments that fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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We Claim:
[Claim 1]
A system that handles transportation of passengers among a plurality of vehicles, the
system comprising:
one or more circuits in an electronic control unit (ECU) for a first vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles, said one or more circuits are configured to:
communicate a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping
information and first route information associated with said first vehicle to at least
one remaining vehicle of said plurality of vehicles;
identify a second vehicle among said at least one remaining vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles for sharing passengers based on a comparison of said first route
information and said first seat mapping information with second route information
and second seat mapping information received from said at least one remaining
vehicle of said plurality of vehicles; and
select a target vehicle from said identified second vehicle or said first vehicle
to allow one or more first passengers of said first vehicle and one or more second
passengers of said identified second vehicle to share travel in said selected target
vehicle.
[Claim 2]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said vehicle sharing request is
communicated from said first vehicle to said at least one remaining vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles through a vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication, wherein said
V2X communication comprises a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, a
vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) communication, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)
communication, and/or vehicle-to-device (V2D) communication.
[Claim 3]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said communicated vehicle sharing
request further includes first vehicle information of said first vehicle.
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[Claim 4]
The system according to claim 3, wherein said vehicle information of said first
vehicle corresponds to at least a vehicle identification number, a vehicle type of said
first vehicle, and details of window seats in said first vehicle.
[Claim 5]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to determine said first seat mapping information of said first vehicle
based on one or more images captured by one or more imaging devices provided in
said first vehicle.
[Claim 6]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said first seat mapping information of said
first vehicle corresponds to a count of vacant seats, a count of occupied seats, a
count of said one or more first passengers, seat booking details, and demographic
details of said one or more first passengers in said first vehicle.
[Claim 7]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said first route information of said first
vehicle corresponds to a first travel route of said first vehicle, wherein said first
travel route comprises a source location, a destination location, and one or more
intermediate transit locations.
[Claim 8]
The system according to claim 7, wherein a destination location of said identified
second vehicle is same as that of said destination location of said first vehicle.
[Claim 9]
The system according to claim 7, wherein a second travel route of said identified
second vehicle corresponds to at least a portion of said first travel route of said first
vehicle.
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[Claim 10]
The system according to claim 7, wherein said first travel route of said first vehicle
corresponds to at least a portion of a second travel route of said identified second
vehicle.
[Claim 11]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said first seat mapping information is
compared with said second seat mapping information received from said at least one
remaining vehicle of said plurality of vehicles in accordance with one or more seat
mapping rules.
[Claim 12]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said first route information is compared
with said second route information received from said at least one remaining vehicle
of said plurality of vehicles in accordance with one or more route matching rules.
[Claim 13]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said selection of said target vehicle is
based on one or more selection parameters, wherein said one or more selection
parameters comprises at least a travel route parameter.
[Claim 14]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to communicate a halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to stop said
first vehicle at a next intermediate transit location that is common to said first
vehicle and said identified second vehicle to transfer said one or more first
passengers into said identified second vehicle to share travel, based on said selection
of said identified second vehicle as said target vehicle.
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[Claim 15]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to communicate a halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to stop said
first vehicle at a next intermediate transit location that is common to said first
vehicle and said identified second vehicle to transfer said one or more second
passengers into said first vehicle to share travel, based on said selection of said first
vehicle as said target vehicle.
[Claim 16]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to generate new seat mapping information to include said one or more
first passengers of said first vehicle and said one or more second passengers of said
identified second vehicle into a common vehicle to share travel, wherein said
common vehicle corresponds to said selected target vehicle.
[Claim 17]
The system according to claim 16, wherein said generation of said new seat mapping
information is further based on a feedback received from said one or more first
passengers and said one or more second passengers.
[Claim 18]
The system according to claim 16, wherein said one or more first passengers and
said one or more second passengers are seated in said selected target vehicle in
accordance with said new seat mapping information.
[Claim 19]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to present said generated new seat mapping information to said one or
more first passengers and said one or more second passengers through a user
interface rendered on a first display device in said first vehicle and a second display
device in said identified second vehicle, respectively.
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[Claim 20]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to receive an acceptance notification for said communicated vehicle
sharing request from said identified second vehicle.
[Claim 21]
The system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more circuits are further
configured to communicate with said identified second vehicle by using vehicle-tocloud
(V2C) communication based on an association of said first vehicle and said
identified second vehicle with a common travel group.
[Claim 22]
A system that handles transportation of passengers among a plurality of vehicles, the
system comprising:
one or more circuits in an electronic control unit (ECU) for a first vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles, said one or more circuits are configured to:
receive a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping
information and first route information associated with a second vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles from said second vehicle;
transmit an acceptance notification for said received vehicle sharing request
to said second vehicle based on at least a comparison of said first route information
and said first seat mapping information of said second vehicle with second route
information and second seat mapping information of said first vehicle; and
communicate a halt instruction in an in-vehicle network to stop said first
vehicle at a specified common transit point of said first vehicle and said second
vehicle to include one or more first passengers of said first vehicle and one or more
second passengers of said second vehicle to share travel in a target vehicle, wherein
said target vehicle is selected from said first vehicle or said second vehicle.
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[Claim 23]
The system according to claim 22, wherein said vehicle sharing request is received
by said first vehicle from said second vehicle through a vehicle-to-X (V2X)
communication, wherein said V2X communication comprises a vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) communication, a vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) communication, a vehicle-toinfrastructure
(V2I) communication, and/or a vehicle-to-device (V2D)
communication.
[Claim 24]
The system according to claim 22, wherein said vehicle sharing request further
includes vehicle information of said second vehicle.
[Claim 25]
The system according to claim 22, wherein said specified common transit point of
said first vehicle and said second vehicle corresponds to a next intermediate transit
location that is common between a first travel route of said first vehicle and a second
travel route of said second vehicle.
[Claim 26]
A method for handling transportation of passengers among a plurality of vehicles,
the method comprising:
communicating, by an electronic control unit (ECU) of a first vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles, a vehicle sharing request including at least first seat mapping
information and first route information associated with said first vehicle to at least
one remaining vehicle of said plurality of vehicles;
identifying a second vehicle among at least one remaining vehicle of said
plurality of vehicles for sharing passengers based on at least a comparison of said
first route information and said first seat mapping information with second route
information and second seat mapping information received from at least one
remaining vehicle of said plurality of vehicles; and
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selecting a target vehicle from said identified second vehicle or said first
vehicle to allow one or more first passengers of said first vehicle and one or more
second passengers of said identified second vehicle to share travel in said selected
target vehicle.