Patent ID: 11904902
Assignee: WAYMO LLC
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for identifying a customer of a vehicle that is configured to operate in an autonomous driving mode, the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors of a computing system of the vehicle, perception information regarding a set of objects in an external environment of the vehicle;
determining, by the one or more processors, that the set of objects in the external environment includes a plurality of pedestrian objects, each pedestrian object corresponding to a person;
obtaining a likelihood that each pedestrian object is the customer, wherein obtaining the likelihood includes:
applying first information from a client device of the customer to a localization model; and
applying second information from a sensor source type other than the client device of the customer to the localization model;

evaluating, by the one or more processors, the likelihood that each pedestrian object is the customer; and
upon determining that the likelihood for a given one of the pedestrian objects indicates that the given pedestrian object is the customer, performing at least one of: (i) sending a notification to the client device of the customer regarding a pickup location to meet the vehicle, (ii) adjusting the pickup location, (iii) causing modification to a driving operation of the vehicle in the autonomous driving mode, or (iv) transmitting information about the given pedestrian object to a remote management system.