Waymo LLC

Maria Moon

Peter Crandall

Ryan Powell

Matthew Corey Hall

Nirmal Jitendra Patel

Bruce Mai

Kyle Bechtel

Philip Nemec

Julien Charles Mercay

Clement Wright

Ji Un Choi

YooJung Ahn

Keith Hutchings

Lauren Schwendimann

Paul Lee

Hiu Ying Chan

Chun Chen

Kevin Joseph Malta

Orlee Smith

Salil Pandit

Renaud-Roland Hubert

Hans-olav Cavelie

Guilherme Villar

Lynn Wang

Jonathan Willing

Samrat Kansara

Erik Wolsheimer

Kathleen Allen

Yang Li

Joshua Newby

Thomas Southworth

Melissa Cefkin

Jonathan Lee Pedersen

Ganesh Balachandran

Victor Chan

Juliet Rothenberg

Vishay Nihalani

Daniella Gutlansky

Reed Morse

Steven Kleiser

Cong Li

Suneet Shah

Ryan Hendrickson

Ricardo Gonzalez Ramirez

Hans-olav CaveLie

Kerry Brennan

Sven Krome

Guiherme Villar

Aspects of the disclosure relate to enabling playing of content at an autonomous vehicle. For example, a request to transport a user on a trip may be received. The autonomous vehicle may be assigned to the trip. Whether the user has enabled a content feature may be determined. In response to determining that the user has enabled the content feature a request for a device identifier is sent to the autonomous vehicle. The device identifier generated at the autonomous vehicle is received. The received device identifier may be sent to a content-enabling computing system including one or more processors in order to enable the user to play content from the client computing device at the autonomous vehicle during the trip.

Enabling content playing in autonomous vehicles of a transportation service

Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface

The technology includes communicating the current status of a self-driving vehicle to users, such as passengers within the vehicle and other users awaiting pickup. Certain information about the trip and vehicle status is communicated depending on where the passenger is sitting within the vehicle or where the person awaiting pickup is located outside the vehicle. This includes disseminating the 'monologue' of a vehicle operating in an autonomous driving mode to a user via an app on the user's device (e.g., mobile phone, tablet or laptop PC, wearable, or other computing device) and/or an in-vehicle user interface. The monologue includes current status information regarding driving decisions and related operations or actions. This alerts the user as to why the vehicle is taking (or not taking) a certain action, which reduces confusion and allows the user to focus on other matters.

Application monologue for self-driving vehicles

The technology uses augmented reality (AR) elements for enhanced wayfinding with autonomous vehicle pickups and drop-offs. The approach includes generating, for presentation in a first region of a client device UI, trip information regarding a trip. Map information associated with the trip is generated for presentation in a second UI region, including at least one of a pickup location for a rider, a walking path from a current location of the rider to the pickup location, a planned route of the vehicle to the pickup location, or a current location of the vehicle. An AR indicator is generated for presentation in the second UI region. Upon selection of the indicator, the system modifies the second region into a first section to display at least a portion of the map information and a second section to display an augmented reality view, or replace the map information with the AR view.

Augmented reality wayfinding

The technology employs a holistic approach to passenger pickups and other wayfinding situations. This includes identifying where passengers are relative to the vehicle and/or the pickup location. One aspect leverages camera imagery from a rider's client device when providing rider support. This enables an agent to receive the imagery to help guide the rider to the vehicle. Another aspect provides audio information to the rider to help them get to the vehicle. This can include selecting or curating various tones or melodies, giving the rider advanced notice of sounds to listen for, and modifying sounds as the rider approaches the vehicle or to address ambient noise in the environment. Different wayfinding tools may be selected for presentation to the rider based on their proximity state to a pickup location or to the vehicle. Gracefully transitioning between different tools can enhance their usefulness and elevate the rider's experience for a trip.

Holistic and inclusive wayfinding

Vehicle sign

Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface

Aspects of the disclosure relate to providing sensor data on a display of a vehicle. For instance, data points generated by a lidar sensor may be received. The data points may be representative of one or more objects in an external environment of the vehicle. A scene including a representation of the vehicle from a perspective of a virtual camera, a first virtual object corresponding to at least one of the one or more objects, and a second virtual object corresponding to at least one object identified from pre-stored map information may be generated. Supplemental points corresponding to a surface of the at least one object identified from the pre-stored map information may be generated. A pulse including at least some of the data points generated by the sensor and the supplemental points may be generated. The scene may be displayed with the pulse on the display.

Displaying sensor data and supplemental data as a mask for autonomous vehicles

Display screen portion with icon

Aspects of the disclosure relate to arranging trips for an autonomous vehicle transportation service. In one instance, a request for a first trip from a user is received. The trip may include a pickup location and a destination location. Whether the user has previously completed the first trip may be determined by comparing the pickup location and the destination location to a trip history for the user. Based on the determination, a notification suggesting that the user establish a routine may be provided for display to the user. Confirmation that the user wants to establish a routine based on the pickup location and the destination location may be received. The routine may be stored in memory for later use.

Establishing routines for autonomous vehicle transportation services

Aspects of the disclosure provide for displaying notifications on a display of an autonomous vehicle. In one instance, a distance from the vehicle to a destination of the vehicle or a passenger may be determined. When the distance is between a first distance and a second distance, a first notificationmay be displayed on the display. The second distance may be less than the first distance. When the distance is less than the second distance, a second notificationmay be displayed on the display. The second notification provides additional information not provided by the first notification.

External facing communications for autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the technology relate to assisting a passenger in an autonomous vehicle without a driver. For instance, after a door of the vehicle is opened, a predetermined period of time may be waited by processors of computing devices of the vehicle. After waiting the predetermined period of time and when the vehicle's door remains open, a set of instructions for closing the vehicle's door may be played by the processors through a speaker of the vehicle. Once the door of the vehicle is closed, an announcement may be played by the processors through the speaker requesting that the passenger press a first button to initiate a ride to a destination. In response to the first button being pressed, the ride to the destination may be initiated by the processors by maneuvering the vehicle autonomously to the destination.

Audible passenger announcements for autonomous vehicle services

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Maria Moon