Waymo LLC

Google Inc.

Renaud-Roland Hubert

Jennifer Arden

Brian Douglas Cullinane

Min Li Chan

Joshua Seth Herbach

Salil Pandit

Nathaniel Fairfield

Philip Nemec

Anne Kristina Aula

Daniel Jules Switkin

Michael Epstein

John Wesley Dyer

Christopher Kennedy Ludwick

Matthew Paul McNaughton

Juliet Rothenberg

David Tse-Zhou Lu

Calvin Karl Johnson

Julien Charles Mercay

Keith Hutchings

Hans-olav Cavelie

Saswat Panigrahi

Johan Engstrom

Anne Kristiina Aula

Lorena Zalles

Son-Ca Nguyen

Noah Eisen

Lauren Tindal

Jessica Gong

Nirmal Jitendra Patel

Peter Crandall

Maria Moon

Matthew Corey Hall

Ryan Powell

Guilherme Villar

Lauren Schwendimann

Jeffrey D Yaksick

Neel B Parekh

John H Palevich

Paul Joyce

Ming Jia

Matthew Paul Mcnaughton

Hans-olav CaveLie

Julien Mercay

Guiherme Villar

Aspects of the disclosure relate to arranging a pickup between a driverless vehicle and a passenger. For instance, dispatch instructions dispatching the vehicle to a predetermined pickup area in order to pick up the passenger are received by the vehicle which begins maneuvering to the predetermined pickup area. While doing so, the vehicle receives from the passenger's client computing device the device's location. An indication that the passenger is interested in a fly-by pickup is identified. The fly-by pickup allows the passenger to safely enter the vehicle at a location outside of the predetermined pickup area and prior to the one or more processors have maneuvered the vehicle to the predetermined pickup area. The vehicle determines that the fly-by pickup is appropriate based on at least the location of the client computing device and the indication, and based on the determination, maneuvers itself in order to attempt the fly-by pickup.

Arranging passenger pickups for autonomous vehicles

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 relates to actively looking for an assigned passenger prior to a vehiclereaching a pickup location. For instance, information identifying the pickup location and client device information for authenticating the assigned passenger is received. Sensor data is received from a perception system of the vehicle identifying objects in an environment of the vehicle. When the vehicle is within a predetermined distance from the pickup location, authenticating a client device using the client device information is attempted. When the client device has been authenticated, the sensor data is used to determine whether a pedestrian is within a first threshold distance of the vehicle. When a pedestrian is determined to be within the first threshold distance of the vehicle, the vehicle is stopped prior to reaching the pickup location, to wait for the pedestrian within the first threshold distance of the vehicle to enter the vehicle.

Early boarding of passengers in autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a vehicle for maneuvering a passenger to a destination autonomously. The vehicle includes one or more computing devices that receive a request for a vehicle from a client computing device. The request identifies a first location. The one or more computing devices also determine whether the first location is within a threshold outside of a service area of the vehicle. When the location is within the threshold distance outside of the service area of the vehicle, the one or more computing devices identify a second location within the service area of the vehicle where the vehicle is able to stop for a passenger and based on the first location. The one or more computing devices then provide a map and a marker identifying the position of the second location on the map for display on the client computing device.

Automatically requesting vehicles

Aspects of the disclosure relate to providing information about a vehicle dispatched to pick up the user. In one example, a request for the vehicle to stop at a particular location is sent. In response, information identifying a current location of the vehicle is received. A map is generated. The map includes a first marker identifying the received location of the vehicle, a second marker identifying the particular location, and a shape defining an area around the second marker at which the vehicle may stop. The shape has an edge at least a minimum distance greater than zero from the second area. A route is displayed on the map between the first marker and the shape such that the route ends at the shape and does not reach the second marker. Progress of the vehicle towards the area along the route is displayed based on received updated location information for the vehicle.

Pickup and drop off zones for autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the disclosure relate to enabling roadside assistance to a vehicle that requires assistance having an autonomous driving mode. For instance, a technician may be assigned to the vehicle that requires assistance. A signal corresponding to user input at a remote computing device requesting a change to a state of the vehicle may be received. The signal may be based on details of the assigned technician. Based on the validation, an instruction may be sent to the vehicle to change the state of the vehicle.

Roadside assistance for autonomous vehicles

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a vehicle having one or more computing devices that may receive instructions to pick up a passenger at a pickup location and determine when the vehicle is within a first distance of the pickup location. When the vehicle is within the first distance, the computing devices may make a first attempt to find a spot to park the vehicle and wait for the passenger. When the vehicle is unable to find a spot to park the vehicle on the first attempt, the computing devices may maneuvering the vehicle in order to make a second attempt to find a spot to park the vehicle and wait for the passenger. When the vehicle is unable to find a spot to park the vehicle on the second attempt, the computing devices may stop the vehicle in a current lane to wait for the passenger.

Attempting to pull over for autonomous vehicles

This technology relates to dynamically detecting, managing and mitigating driver fatigue in autonomous systems. For instance, interactions of a driver in a vehicle may be monitored to determine a distance or time when primary tasks associated with operation of the vehicle or secondary tasks issued by the vehicle computing were last performed. If primary tasks or secondary tasks are not performed within given distance thresholds or time limits, then one or more secondary tasks are initiated by the computing device of the vehicle. In another instance, potential driver fatigue, driver distraction or overreliance on an automated driving system is detected based on gaze direction or pattern of a driver. For example, a detected gaze direction or pattern may be compared to an expected gaze direction or pattern given the surrounding environment in a vicinity of the vehicle.

Systems and methods for detecting and dynamically mitigating driver fatigue

Growing community of inventors

Gilroy, CA, United States of America

Renaud-Roland Hubert